Our First Pet

 His name is Johnifer Beck, but we call him J.B.

Cohen named him all by himself.

He's a Betta fish, and we sure hope he likes him new home!

We think he's happy, and we LOVE watching him eat.

We feed him twice a day, so the boys each take a turn,

once at breakfast and once at dinner.   

 Brendon REALLY wants to reach in and grab him.

Co could watch him forever.

 Welcome to the family J.B.!

Lunch date on Campus

 Headed down to to Brock's school, and right by our house we saw about 30 horses and these wagons. Only in Texas! I have no idea what they were doing, but the boys loved it!

 Little chilly, but we love extra time with Daddy!!

 Ate lunch, played shadow tag and baseball, rode the elevators multiple times....

 We love you Student Dr. Brock Kitchen!

M Y   B O Y S

Cohen Todd Kitchen

3.5 years old

34 lbs

3'3" tall

{picture from Preschool last week}   

    Cohen must be going through a growth spurt, he's been sleeping in til 9:00 am some days, eating two waffles and a full serving of oatmeal and a banana.

Cohen is learning to read, and loves to sound out words wherever we are. His first words I heard him read by himself we were riding in the car with my parents and he saw an "Open" sign at a restaurant and spelled it, then read it. He lit up the whole car he was so happy and proud! Then he read "Stop" on a stop sign and "Bank" as we passed one. Can't believe he's old enough to read!

Some funny sayings from him as of late:

"When I drink pop, it's like it explodes in my mouth!"

During a family home evening lesson Brock asked him what makes him happy and he replied, "When mom doesn't yell at me." Dagger to my heart! That alone has made me not raise my voice so many times in a day.

Cohen LOVES to watch the toilet flush, and he HAS to flush it.

He has been enjoying exploring more than playing anything else.

He loves getting in Brendon's crib with him after he wakes up.

 

 Cohen had a double ear infection the second week of January, and I had NO idea. I knew he didn't feel good because of his fever off and on, but on his worst day he fell asleep on the floor and slept there for just over an hour. That was the FIRST time he's every fell asleep on the floor.

Poor boy, he was tough and got better fast.

Thank you modern medicine and prayer! 

 {picture of a proud Batman after eating two eggo waffles}

 Happy. Positive. People-lover. Determined.

Sweet/big heart. Leader. Reasoner. Thinker.

Brendon Lee Kitchen

18 months old

25 lbs

2'10" tall? 

{picture of him climbing to sneak more popcorn}

 This boy of mine is FINALLY starting to talk. We have all been waiting patiently, but there is still plenty of mumbles. He says about 10 words, that we can at least understand. He LOVES books still and would let you read ten in a row to him. He also likes to sit and look at books alone. He has 4 top and 4 bottom teeth plus all 4 molors, his I teeth are on their way. He turns EVERYTHING into a bat and ball; a drumstick to hit a soccer ball, a spatula to hit a golfball, etc. He LOVES his baseball tee and bat and ball from Christmas and can hit homeruns. :) Loves to hit balls and play swords. Climbs on EVERYTHING. Now takes his turn to say family prayer and mumbles something sweet, then giggles.

 Would carrying his bat everywhere if I let him. Still LOVES his binkie way too much {only gets it when he sleeps}. Snuggles so good still and loves stuffed animals and blankets, finds comfort in them both. He is quickly catching up to Cohen in height and copies Cohen's every move. Still a Daddy's boy! And looks and acts more like him daily, in my opinion. He has a temper than I'm trying to learn how to handle. It's such a tricky thing because he's so mellow but when the buttons are pushed the temper comes out full force. I love him for this really! He is a go with the flow boy. Easy child for the most part. :)

 Mellow/low-key. Smiley. Determined/Stubborn.

Possessive. Happy. Ball player. Independent.

  I love you my boys,

to the moon and stars 

and Texas 

and back! 

R A N D O M  January Happenings

 Here in TX, it likes to snow, and then the next day it will be 75 degrees, PERFECT PICNIC WEATHER. We definitely take advantage of these days.

 Cohen is starting to read and LOVES when he sounds out words completely by himself. A few weeks ago I found Alpha nuggets at Walmart. They make lunch more fun for EVERYONE!

 Graham cracker snack outside the library, soaking up some sunshine on a cooler day....

 Every now and then the boys need a bribe or two while we're all grocery shopping, especially when my list is extra long. Last week was one of those days. They each got a quarter to use in the arcade area. I explained they could either choose to get a candy or play a game....without hesitation Cohen chose a treat because then he said he could just pretend to play the games and still have fun. Smarty pants.

They had fun and the bribe worked.

Then we hustled to the car to sanitize.  

 Air popped corn and a new movie from the library...fun for them, a little down time/break for mommy to stay sane on a rough day.

 We love January this year!

Thank You, Sunrise!

 Can I just tell you how grateful I am for the sunrise?

That it happens every day without fail, and gives me a NEW day to be a little nicer, have a better attitude, not yell so many times at my boys, kiss my husband a few extra times.....the list goes on and on and on.

Some days I find myself looking and feeling a little draggy and blah like this....  

 and sometimes other days like this....
Not so blah, mostly put together, more positive, easy to smile.

 My point is, most of my days are far from perfect.

Lately, I have been getting down on myself {mostly loosing ALL patients} and everything around me far too easy and far too often. I know I'm not the only one, and I'm not feeling sorry for myself by any means.

I read something the other day my sister-in-law Emily shared with me. It was a post from a blog that a lady wrote titled Drops of Awesome. In a nutshell, she talked about how naturally we are a little hard on ourselves and we easily focus on picking out everything we do wrong, or the things that make us mad, or the things we SHOULD HAVE done. She made the point of how we need to find Drops of Awesome in every day. And don't find a Drop of Awesome then shoot yourself right back down after. For example: "I spent extra quality time with my boys today and it felt great and did us all good! But it only happens once in a blue moon."

One of my goals this year is to engrave something in my boys AND myself, so it becomes a habit, and that is:

FIND GOOD IN ALL THINGS!
I believe there is GOOD in ALL things.

Even all things on my very worst days.

My life as a young mom brings out the best AND worst in me, but mostly the best. And I'm going to keep trying to focus on seeing the best everyday.

Thank you, Thank you, Sunrise!

free day at

ASI GYMNASTICS

in Keller

 Oh how I wish I had $200 extra dollars a month to put my crazy, energetic, handsom boys in gym. ASI Gymnastics had a free gym day and my girlfriends and I hopped right on it! It was CRAZY busy and stunk like stinky feet, but it was TONS of fun. The kids went wild and didn't stop moving for an hour straight. Such a cool place! {Thanks to my friend Angel for taking most of my pictures}

Kristen & Sophia Montgomery, Camee & Kaylee & Jayce Montgomery & Angel & Jersey Blain came with us.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves..... 

  Two little lovers, gorgeous Jersey and Brend.

They are checking out the door prize we all got as we left.

FUN DAY AT THE GYM!

S N O W  in  T X

 FREEZING! This happened the second week of January.

I'm not going to lie, I kinda was jealous that we missed the WHITE CHRISTMAS in TX when we were in Utah, so having snow for a half a day made up for that. And a half a day is all I need!

The boys were not interested in playing in it at all, maybe due to the fact that we don't have snow close or anything close. 

 Merry Christmas in January!

Chelsea & Gabe's

Wedding Week

I LOVE when visitors come to my house to stay!!

The boys and I got lucky and we had my mom and grandma fly home with us and stay four days to come to my cousin Chelsea's wedding in Dallas. SO FUN to have them stay with us, and also to have my Grandpa John, Ann and Aunt Danna come to Dallas too.

Chelsea, the bride to be, and Davita and Em came to Fort Worth Friday morning for a pre-wedding breakfast. We went to Our Cafe, a yummy cafe close to my house. Such a fun way to start our day.

 These two boys were kinda crazy and drove me bonkers, but nothing a mickey mouse pancake and playing on the iphone wouldn't fix. ;)

We did a little shopping at the mall, and made a pit stop at the play area and merry-go-round.

 Saturday morning we went down to the stockyards for Grandma and Danna to experience for the first time. Saw the bull run of course, and browsed the shops and at lunch.

 Danna thought it was well worth $5 to sit on the bull and get a few pictures. I agreed! Love her.

 Cute mom/grandma taking care of my boys.

It was a little CHILLY, but we had FUN!

 Fried PICKLES anyone? They were surprisingly GOOD.

I LOVE this picture, and love the people in it even more.

After we got home and rested for a bit and got ready, our babysitter came over and we were off to Dallas for the wedding and party. {no kids allowed, Thanks to Sarah H. for babysitting!}

I wish I had a MILLION pictures of Chels, because one picture does not even come close to showing how stunning she looked.

 We felt honored sitting on the second row in the family reserved section. ;) They had a beautiful ceremony performed by the preacher from the church they go to. My favorite part was when Chels entered the room and Gabe saw her in her dress for the first time. Priceless. They are so good for each other, and Gabe treats her like a queen. They are deeply in love, you can tell just being around them.

Danna, Grandpa John, Ann, Mom, Me & Brock

 The Larson Girls,

Grandma and her daughters

 The wedding was beautiful, Cathy {Chelsea's stepmom} designed and did everything herself! Incredible. The food was mouth watering, and the party afterwards was unforgettable. Brock and I haven't had that much fun at a wedding or on a date in a long time! We danced for hours, literally, and they were all fast songs. :)

 Grandpa John walked Chels down the isle and danced with her as well. Very special moment for them both i'm sure, but a hard one at the same time not having her dad and his son alive to do it. Grandpa was so sweet and cute to her, kodak moment.

 It was so good seeing my family from Salt Lake! And even more fun to dine and dance with them.

  Congrats Chelsea and Gabe!

We love you both and wish you a long life of happiness together.

x o x o x x o x o x o