Grow Box

Our Little Garden...

 Meet SID, the newest memeber of our family.

He is a sturdy little tomato plant, first plant in the garden.

 I love teaching our boys.

I love even more watching them learn from Brock. He teaches in such a simple way that keeps you wanting more.

The boys loved planting Sid.

  Wish us Luck!

Sid, we will do our best. :)

P.S. HOW DO I KEEP MY BOYS CLOTHES ON?!?!?!?

IMPOSSIBLE. 

Chuck E Cheese

There is a first time for everything.
The boys went non stop for THREE HOURS at Chuck E Cheese for the first time. Our neighbor across the street, Molly, invited the boys for her birthday party. Cohen couldn't wait to take a picture with the giant mouse. Brendon is his sidekick in everything, but once he ran up there next to him he froze, didn't move or look up at me. Ha.  

 Molly turned 4. She is such a doll.
All the kids had their favorite spots I think, and just kept running from one thing to the next. It was very entertaining and enjoyable to see them have so much fun and discover so many NEW things.

 These pics of Brend will forever make me laugh. He nearly used every one of his tockets for this game/ride. The screen makes you feel like you're flying over a big city, and the seat moves a little and vibrates. He almost fell asleep in it! Kylie, Molly's mom, was so sweet to give both boys a huge cup full of tokens and really this is all Brend wanted to do.

 There was a cool photo booth that you could print a sketch for one token. I was way more exited about it than the boys were.

 Happy Birthday Molly!
You are a sweetheart. 
Thank you for being such a great friend to my boys.

what's been going on?

Theeee one and only CORT came to town on a business trip. YAY! I love when that happens. We met up for dinner at Lizzano's. It just feels heavenly to be around him.

I am borrow my mom's old guitar to teach myself how to play.

Thanks to youtube and one of Cort's guitar music books from high school, I'm making progress! It's kind of addicting actually. My finger tips hate me after one night of really trying to jam. We'll see how long it takes me to play "Tears in Heaven". ;)

TORNADO SEASON! Hate Hate Hate.

We were watching sweet Jersey one night and the kiddos loved watching the rain storm. No scares too close to Ft. Worth this year so far. But Oklahoma has been hit so HARD. My heart breaks for those affected in Moore, OK. :(

I love my "baby"....but MAN he is challenging me right now.

Pretty much in every aspect of his life. I don't wish it to be any other way, because I LOVE his stubborness and determination and curiousity and love of learning. The hardest struggle we have right now is communication. He can say so many words, and copy any word you ask, but he has a hard time knowing how to express his feelings or desires in words. There is progress though. I'm hopeful! And he is busy. SO busy that sitting still for more than 10 seconds is odd for him. Is he mellow? Yes. Easy going? Yes. But just not in a quietly-sit-still kinda way. If that makes any sense. Last Sunday, it was just one of those time where I was out of energy, physically and emotionally. The stickers were there, and so was my arm. Then they moved on up to my neck. And I was perfectly fine with that. Brock and I thought it was hilarious, and probably somewhat irreverent to those around us. Oops! But it worked. 

This kid can CLIMB! I am afraid he might be jumping the fence to go play with Tank, Vicki's dog, any day now.

 BUNK BEDS ROCK! Best $50 spent. Great entertainment, and the boys LOVE sleeping by each other, and are becoming best friends.

  Life Is Good.
Simple as that.
Exhausting and emotionally draining? Right now, Yes. Brock is studying for boards and doing well. He studies at least 12 hours a day. And doesn't ever complain! He is amazing, and definitely the ROCK of our family right now. Can't wait for 3rd year of med school to start. WE ALL NEED A CHANGE!
And Utah trip.....come so much quicker!
July 24th just sounds oh so far away.

B U N K   B E D   B R O S

We are officially bunk bed owners! WOO!!

I was doing my friend's hair one day {Marion Minnich, RS Pres in our ward} and we were talking about my boys and she asked if I plan on them ever sharing a room....I said YES. I then told her I was in the process of trying to find a bunk bed for them and she said, "well I have one in my garage you can have!" PERFECT! $50 later, and help from the amazing Ashton's in our ward, the bed was ours set up in the boys room! WE ARE IN LOVE WITH IT!

I'm not going to lie, the first time Brend climbed right up there and stood up and started jumping I nearly passed out. We have a rule NO STANDIN ON THE TOP BED, EVER. It has worked so far, no scares yet! They love it, they are so entertained by it, and the best thing of all.....Brend sleeps in it SO WELL! The first night he was so excited but I just expected the worst from him. He only came out one time, and Brock and I only had to go break up the playing and laughing once each. Then they slept all night! Tonight is night 4 and every night has been perfect. Brend has got out once. He has even taken his 2 hour nap all 5 days and stayed in bed then too. MIRACLE! I did not expect this from him. The stubborn, spitfire boy he is I thought it was going to be a nightmare. I was WRONG.

Here are some pics from the first morning they woke up together:

They were darling! And becoming such good buddies. 

 We obviously don't have bedding for Brendon yet, working on that. So I just grabbed every little blanket I could find to make the best padding I could.

Just a few things about the boys and bedtime:

Co finally doesn't have to sleep with his blankets, one on each side of his face. He doesn't even sleep with them at all. Lately Co has been not wanting to sing a song, he just says, "Mom, could we just talk for a bit?" Melt my heart. LOVE HIM.

Brend isn't really attached to ONE thing when going to sleep other than THE BINKIE. He does have to have blankets to snuggle, he has about 4 that he chooses from. He also sleeps with a little penguin Uncle Jaden and Aunt Tiffy gave him. :) I'm ready to be done with the BINK, but oh man, that's going to be a tough one with this boy. I guess he may suprprise me again! 

    

YAY for bunk beds!!

Mother's Day

The night before Mother's Day I told Brock all I wanted was him to stay in bed with me and sleep in until the boys woke up and then we could all four snuggle in our bed.....and that's just what we did. PERFECT. After the 1,000 time of Co begging for us to come make breakfast cause he belly told him he was SO HUNGRY, we got up.

Upon request, Brock made me sweet orange rolls, crispy {semi burnt} scrambled eggs and hash brown patties. He also made the boys blueberry muffins. So yummy!

The boys were so excited for me to open my gifts from them and Daddy. Brock gave me new piano music that I've been wanting {When I Was Your Man by Bruno Mars} and the boys gave me the sweetest book called Mom & Me, the conversation recorder.

We then headed out for a walk around the neighborhood. 75 degrees felt great.

Cohen rode his bike the whole time around the neighborhood for the first time on a long walk. He did great! And Brend wanted to ditch the stroller and he walked to whole way. Right as we turned the corner to our house Brend finally asked to be held. I was very impressed with them both.

My sweet parents sent me the perfect addition to my husband and wife statue. Two little brothers! I love it. It sits in my window seal in the kitchen, and makes me happy.

This is what the boys did while I took my sweet time getting ready for church. I love SUNDAYS!

Church was great. Cohen sang for the first time with the primary in sacrament meeting. He was right up front, but I missed it since I was playing the piano for them. :(

Dinner request: BBQ hamburgers and fries and fruit, and strawberry shakes. :) My kind of Sunday dinner.

I'm not gonna lie, these next two pictures only took us about 45 tries. And we were suppose to be QUICK since we were walking out the door for church. Thanks Brock for being a sport!

My boys are so handsome, and their are filled with the light of Christ. What perfect, pure and innocent examples they are to me.

What it all comes down to is there is never a good reason to get angry or frustrated. Maybe lots of reasons, but none that are good enough. These sweet boys are just learning, growing and experiencing LIFE, just as they should. I have been trying to keep this mind set more consistently, our days always go much better when I do. It's SO TRUE that Mom controls the house.

To my boys,
I love you with my whole heart. 
You make me proud to be a mommy. 
You make me want to learn and grow and become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you for being just what I need in this mortal life, for trying my patience, for making me happy beyond words, and for loving me even when I have bad days. You are growing up speedy fast right before my eyes, and want to make every moment meaningful. I hope you always know how much I love you and always will.
I love you to the moon and stars and St. George and back!

Love, MOM
xoxo
   

PRAYER ROCK

 For family night last week, we talked about personal prayer and how important it is to create a habit to prayer morning and night.

For our activity we went outside and found rocks, then the boys painted them.

Then we had ice cream. :) 

After they dried we placed them both on each boys' dresser to help remind them to say their prayers. 

I hope I can be a good example to my children about having a strong testimony of personal prayer, always.

Mr. Cohen

 Two months shy of 4 YEARS OLD.

 A little update of my sweet boy:

- He is reading! He read the first BOB book by himself with confidence, might I add, so we went on a date to pick a prize at walmart. At of everything to choose from {cheap things only} he chose a gatorade drink with a spin lid.
- At Walmart this week he ran up to the butcher and gave him a high five and yelled "I just gave that Doctor a high five!" Also the same trip he starred down a guy with huge gage earrings in his ears, and said VERY loudly "Mom, are those earrings? Boys don't wear earrings!".
- When I was rinsing his hair out in the tub he said "Mom good thing I have a head so water doesn't get on my brain when you rinse it." 

- Two things Cohen said to me tonight when I was tucking him in bed, "Mom, don't you wish we were at the airport on our way to my Grandma's house?" {DO I EVER! He says this daily} and the other thing was when we were saying we love each other we always say 'i love you to the moon and stars and back' which then turns into a war of who loves the other more...tonight Co said, "Mom, I love you FOREVER!" I think he won the war. :)

- "Mom you're legs are brown now, why aren't they white anymore?

-this was after our get a way to the Beach Park in Granbury.

- I love to listen to him talk and say WAY grown up words.

- He is starting to be very good at addition! Loves to play our own little version of Monopoly and to add up the dice total.

- When he's tired, he's tired and he lets me know. Still sleeping 12 hours or just under every night. He hardly ever has scary dreams anymore {YAY!} And he is extremely happy the second he wakes up. Always ready to start a new day and make it good. 

- He is starting to be more consistent about being a nice and patient big brother. I think he's really realizing that Brendon doesn't understand everything, and he's ok with it.

- If doesn't want to do something or doesn't think he can he'll simply say "Naw, I don't want to, I'll do it when I'm 4."

- Wants to have his birthday party at the Fire Station. Workin' on that one...

- Says the sweetest compliments to me throughout the day that make me smile, even when I want to get really mad at him for doing something naughty.

- He is testing the waters with telling LIES. But for the most part, he won't follow through with it, he ends up telling us the truth.