It's finally/already JUNE?

{Co doing front flips off the couch into a pile of pillows}

  

Most of the time I find myself saying "WOW! This month is already almost over" because time seems to be flying extremely fast...but why is it when I am PATIENTLY waiting for my parents trip to our house this month to come it just can't come fast enough???

Just life, I guess.

I can't believe it's June.

I can't believe Brock has finished his FIRST YEAR of med school.

I can't believe I will have a 3 year old THIS MONTH.

I can't beileve I'll also have a 1 year old NEXT MONTH.

I can't believe my almost 3 year old is doing 

front flips off the couch into a pile of pillows.

I can't believe my almost 1 year old is standing and trying SUPER hard to take steps.

Quite honestly, I can't believe I've been married for 5 years this week, with two babies, in medical school, making "big girl" decisions.

YIKES.

Time sure does fly when life is oh so good and simple.

P.S.  For FHE yesterday, we went to a new park we found close by and did some service by picking up trash before we played and lost a few pounds from sweating so much. It was ONLY about 98 degrees plus humidity at 7:00 pm. {shouldn't be possible}

It was a successful experience teaching Cohen what service is. 

He enjoyed the reward of feeling good afterwards.

ALSO - random thought - I cooked red cabbage for the first time tonight. YUM! Never new cabbage could be so good. It did cook for 4 hours in sugar, vinegar, butter and grape jelly though. Still nutritious, right? 

Colleyville Splash Pad

@ McPherson Park

 After running some errands in the neighborhood, we decided to have a picnic at the Splash Pad in Colleyville.

 Pictures speak louder than words...

We had a BLAST.

refreshing weekend
{Memorial Day}

 I use the phrase "it was well needed" often these days, especially when I'm referring to a break from our normal mundane activities... but when I say this holiday weekend was "well needed" I mean it. It was the first time this semester that Brock did not have test on Monday {which meant he didn't have to study all weekend}. Also, the first time after his test on Friday that he didn't have lecture afterwards. So he was a FREE man the whole weekend. BEAUTIFUL! Even though I was feeling under the weather due to a nasty sinus/bacterial infection, we took advantage of the break and played hard.

We were able to go to the Dallas Temple while the Garza's watched our boys and had lunch at their house afterwards.

We had a water fight out back with the hose.

Many games of Hide and Seek.

Built tents in Cohen's room.

Played Yahtzee and made strawberry shakes.

Went shopping as a FAMILY.

Went to Colleyville splash pad at McPherson Park. {pics coming}

Swam at Andy and Beka's.

Brock gave me a Priesthood blessing to help my sick body, and that is always a wonderful experience and gift from God.

 The boys and I were at Brock's side for the weekend. Co & Brend wanted to be literally touching Daddy the whole time. Whenever Brock was near Brendon he was crawl extra fast to try to get to him first.

 We love holiday weekends!

And one week from now Brock will be done with his first year of med school. 
Six weeks off! We can't wait.

THE BOYS as of late...

 Our life as the Brock and Melissa Kitchen family is going FULL SPEED at all times. Brock and I keep hearing from each other "When are things going to slow down?". Well, we realize they just aren't. SO....we have put on our big boy/girl pants and take it one day at a time. And it's great.

The picture above shows how active and crazy our two boys are. THEY. DON'T. STOP. Period. Keeps me busy and.....entertained.

These three pieces of art work are by Mr. Cohen Kitchen.

We have been going to story time at the library once a week and it's the perfect little outing: Brendon has his morning cat nap during this time, Cohen gets out of the house and interacts with friends while singing, dancing, story time and crafts, while me and other Mamas get our "adult conversation time" in for the day.

 Brendon @ 10.5 months:

- Stands. - Walks along things, hasn't taken steps, but getting close. - Says "mama" A LOT in one day now. - LOVES wrestling and playing rough with Co now, finally, instead of whining cause he's scared he's going to get hurt. - Discovered he LOVES snap sugar peas. - NOT a fan of baby food anymore. - Eats almost anything until he gets sick of his highchair. - Definitely shows when he gets his feelings hurt now, like when Cohen shuts a door so he can't come in. - Still only two bottom teeth, working on another bottom one. - Tries to do anything Cohen does, like stand in the tub and try to turn the water on, or stand and throw a ball or toy. He's Co's little shadow already.

 

 It's been so hot here, so the boys do a lot of "diapers and undies" out back where no one can see us......

And somehow they always end up NAKED.

Cohen @ almost 3:

- Can't stop saying "I'm 3 in one month!" He's so excited. - Has tried floaties for the first time this year and has done great. He is a little shy in the water so these pictures of him swimming at his friends Audrey's house are impressive. - We have been doing "alone time" during naptime on days that he's not so tired or slept in late in the morning. He does his thing, I do mine. Most of the time he is in his room reading books, doing puzzles or playing quietly. I'll let him watch a show every now and then during this time. - His quotes keep getting more funny: "Mom my peepee is screamin' cause he has to go potty!" or when we freed a butterfly that was trapped under our grill cover out back he said "See you later butterfly, I hope you find your home!" or he keeps hugging me the past week and saying "I really hope you feel better" {this started from me being sick recently and it just kinda stuck} - He is into TRICKS, mostly on the couch, or I should say jumping or rolling of the couch. 

 My friend Ashley invited us over to swim at her fun pool. The boys loved it! It has a beach entry that is perfect for little kids. I was proud of Cohen for being brave in the water, he's making progress.

 Goodbye May, Hello June!

Mother's Day 

2012

 It's definitely a privilege.

I'm who I am today because of my boys.

All THREE of them. ;)

{Co, Brend & Brock - that was NOT announcing anything}

Brock was once again a dear and got made my one heck of a Mother's Day card. I'm thinking of laminating it to keep it forever. Also, a new battery for the laptop so it can be a laptop again instead of a desktop. 

He's a babe.

 Co made this flower for me and the library at Story Time the week before Mother's Day.

 And on Sunday he made these sweet cards at Nursery.

 My choice of breakfast before we went to church was Orange rolls, Cinnamon rolls and hashbrowns.

YUM! Yes,sugar.

Church was relaxing and refreshing.

The Garza's came over for dinner afterwards.

Chocolate cake and ice cream.

 Melissa Garza is one mother that I look up to in every way.

We can never get enough of these Garza's.

Can't wait for Brock's break then we'll be having some serious fun. Quick funny story - Us adults were chatting inside and the kids were playing out back...we looked out the window to see Cohen and Brooklyn NAKED looking at each others private parts! OH MAN. It's starts already, not even three.

They were dressed and inside VERY quickly.

  Happy Mother's Day

T E N D E R   M E R C I E S

For more reasons than one {my toddler} I've been feeling a little discourage at the end of most days lately. Not for a long period of the night, just until Brock snuggles me for 30 seconds is all it takes, and lends a listening ear. I believe it is Satan trying to convince me that I wasn't a good enough Mom that day, or that I don't have the strength to make it another day, or there's not enough of me to go around - 

the mom, the wife, the friend, the daughter, 

the sister, the neighbor, the young women's leader...

Good thing I'm one tough woman.

I fallen MANY times but I don't feel like I've fallen for these tricks for too long EVER, and hope to never let it happen. Life is wonderful, but far from perfect. We are not here on earth to live a perfect life, thank Heavens. The older {and wiser} I get the more I realize how important it is to let the small things slide and not let them put a cramp in my groove. My dad and I were talking about this yesterday. He reminded me of this and he is a wonderful example to me of keeping an eternal perspective on things.

Brock is done with his first year of Med School in 3.5 weeks. It's been an interesting year, but one of the best of my life. BY FAR the hardest of my life so far. Contradicting, I know. But hopefully you can relate. I am truly grateful for the "TENDER MERCIES" that I have been giving from those around me, 

even the so called small ones like:

- Brock running to light a candle for me when the power went out while I was taking an extra long shower one night due to my crazy/hard day.

- My running group {Telicia Webb, Charity Jordan, Diana Loveland} dragging me out of bed every morning to keep my body feeling healthy and strong, and most importantly socializing and being unknown answer to my prayers.

- RAIN & RAINBOWS. When I thought my evening couldn't get any worse it DIDN'T. The rain quenched my lawn's thirst, cleaned the earth, and the rainbow put smiles on my family and I's faces and calmed our house down.

Tenders Mercies are very needed in my life.

I hope that I will never be so blind that 

I can't recognize them in my daily life.

just shy of A YEAR old

 I realized I have very few pictures of Brendon with a serious expression on his face. He is extremely HAPPY through sunshine or rain. I figure I should take this chance while he was content on Daddy's lap watching a show.

 I have caught him in some pretty funny sleeping positions. He still is sleeping 11 hours during the night, and takes an hour morning nap and two hour afternoon nap.

 On hard surfaces he has been doing the stinkbug crawl, just like Cohen was at this age.

 HIS TONGUE IS ALWAYS OUT!
This boy cracks me up. A bug could fly right on in so easily.
I guess it's when he's really focused/determined, the tongue hangs out.

 He wants copy Cohen's every move! Which Co isn't always a fan of. I'm trying to convince Cohen that Brendon is his friends. ;) They play fairly well together for the most part. Brend is pulling himself up to almost anything and crawling full speed through the house. He has only been doing both of these for a week, I can't believe how much he as progressed in one week. He is much more content and entertained, which I didn't think was possible.

 What an eater!
He loves food of any kind just like his mama.
If he wants more of something he still circles his wrists very fast, and jabbers at you. One of my favorite things Brend does when he eats is if he is picking something up that has a slimy texture he'll squeeze it in his fist until it pops out the top of his hand by his thumb then he'll slurp it up.

 Believe it or not this goose egg on the side of his forehead wasn't from Cohen. He was playing out back and he was climbing into the empty baby pool and dove head first onto the cement. I wasn't quite quick enough! 
This boy is going to be a tough one.

 He LOVES to let sand run through his fingers.

- He has been jabbering like he's carrying on a serious conversation and saying sounds like "Ba" and "Duh" and "Ma" but never an actual Baba or DaDa or Mama. But....yesterday on Mother's Day was his first time saying Mama.
Best present ever.

I have a VERY soft spot for my sweet Brend in my heart.
He's growing WAY too fast, but still loves to snuggle.

my ALMOST three year old

We wanted to blow bubbles REALLY bad the other day but for some odd reason there wasn't a stick in the jar of bubbles.....

So we made one out of tin foil.

Worked great, surprisingly.

 Random thoughts about Co:


- He says his person prayers at night before bed and they are the sweetest. Bedtime is SO WONDERFUL in more ways than one. He last prayer I snuck a listen on went something like "Heavenly Father, I'm grateful for my good family, and my toys, and my stuff, and that, and that, and this, and this, and that, and bless I can have no bad dreams, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 
- He is learning phonics a little, mostly from his favorite show Word World, and on the show there is a song about two O's make the sound "eewwww". He was drawing recently and said "Mom, I just drew an Eeeewww!" I went over and there was two O's on his page.
- Him and I were eating a popsicle out back and our weeds are quick high by our back fence...he got really excited when he picked a weed and it looks JUST like a helicopter. His imagination and world of "pretend" has expanded big time in the past month.
- Cohen and I ran to Kroger on Saturday to grab a few things and we walked holding hands down the aisles and he said "Mom, we're on a date!" We sure were. Just me and my boy. We grabbed a candy bar while checking out and shared it in the front seat of the van. Boy, did that make his day. Date with mom and sitting up front in the van eating chocolate.
- A phrase that he picked up from a show and says it multiple times a day whether it's true or not is "Mom, I'm not feeling so well." Mr. Proper. Also, whether the day is going good or not in my opinion he has been saying "This is the best day EVER!" He got that from Sid the Science kid I'm sure. We like watching Sid, he has a positive outlook on life.
- He is definitely in the terrible TWO almost THREE phase. He is sweet while others are around and when we are at church and with friends, but at home with just mom and dad....that's not the case. We are now doing wall sits for a punishment because Time Out no longer works. They are working well so far! :) It breaks my heart in half after a single discipline in over and he apologizes on his own now and says "Mom, I'm sorry you got mad."  Disciplining is wearing me down, but we do have good days. Most days I am emotionally DRAINED. This too shall pass. I'm not going to lie, most days I have to remind myself that I LOVE BEING A MOMMY FULL TIME. ;)

Cohen has grown a lot recently and feels SUPER big in my arms.
I can't believe I have an ALMOST THREE YEAR OLD.
I live for the sweet snuggling moments with him, because they are few in number these days.