the actual PARTY

{june 23rd}

 So about a month ago Cohen told me he wanted an "Arnie" birthday party. I had no idea who Arnie was, and it took a good two weeks to figure it out. For those of you that know who Sid the Science Kid is {one of Co's all time favorite shows to watch} Arnie is Sid's HUGE green dinosaur stuffed animal that you RARELY see. So...I started searching the internet. NO ARNIE ANYTHING. There is ONE, literally one, image alone of Arnie and it had Sid standing in front of him {which we used for pin the nose on Arnie}. Well, I was lucky enough that the whole "Arnie" party idea sorta turned into a dinosaur party. I tried to tie Arnie in a little, but mostly went with a green dino party. Turned out quite well for the budget I let myself have.

 Those in attendance:

Vicki {next door neighbor, she fills in as Grandma}

Matt, Telicia & Bridger Webb

Josh, Mary, Henry, Jane & Will Gillett

Camee, Ty, Kaylee & Maddie Montgomery

Grandma & Grandpa {my parents}

Melissa & Brooklyn Garza

Party Activities:

- pin the nose on Arnie

- dug for dinosaur bones in the sandbox

- pinata

- opened gifts

- cake and ice cream

 Brock is the cake maker in our family, and I'm sure he always will be for birthdays. The dinosaur cake was much harder than he thought it would be, but it turned out great.

 The kids got juice boxes with their cake and ice cream, 

green ones of course.

 Cohen has WONDERFUL friends, and parents of friends.

We're lucky to be surrounded by so many genuine people.

 Cohen was counting down the HOURS til it was time for his party.

And thanks to fun friends and lots of sugar, I think it met all his expectations.

This was our first "real" kids birthday party to plan.

We had a blast!  

Can't wait til next year.

Happy 3rd Birthday 'Party' Co!

Cohen's 3rd Birthday

{june 20th}

 I have a 3 year old now.

And he's mighty proud to be one.

I feel like according to Cohen to his day was perfect.

He was on cloud 9 the whole day, smiling and VERY happy with life.

I hate to admit that I deleted all the pictures of his birthday breakfast and opening gifts, SAD. The night before his birthday Brock and I snuck in his room and hung streamers and balloons across his whole cealing. He was quite surprised, to say the least, when he woke up. We had orange rolls, muffins, fruit & yogurt for breakfast. And he was the best ever this time at opening gifts. He loved it! It was like this was the first time he really understood what was going on.

After opening gifts, we headed to Storytime at our library. Cohen LOVES Storytime. They sing, dance, read books, and make a craft once a week. And they even sang Happy Birthday to him, which he thought was pretty dang cool.

 After Storytime, we went to Let's Jump with Co's cute friends Ty and Kaylee. They are such cute friends and the best examples for Cohen. They played nonstop for about two hours. After jumping, we ate Lunchables in our van with the a/c blasting, a park was WAY too hot.

 {Ty & Kaylee Motgomery}

 After dropping Ty & Kaylee off, we headed home for a little R&R and naptime. After recharging our batteries, we went swimming at our friends The Webb's neighborhood pool. I think this was the most fun part of the day for us all. It wasn't too hot, wasn't crowded and we spent the perfect amount of time there, before we got kicked out by some serious black rain clouds.

 Cohen is becoming quite brave in the water, big progress.

 Brendon on the other hand, is FEARLESS.

 On our way home from the pool, we ended the day with dinner at "Old McDonalds" requested by Cohen. He snarfed his happy meal down, then played in the play area just like a three year old.

 He is proud to be three.

On our drive home from dinner, he said "Mom, am I STILL three?" which was asked a few more times for the next couple of days.

When he was talking on the phone to some family wishing him a happy birthday, he was telling them about his new book, 'Who's Your Hero?' which is a children's book about scripture stories.....during telling them about it he was asked who his hero was and he said, "my dad is my hero!" all on his own. 
And I believe him.

The whole day was special.

Very close to a perfect day.

Happy Birthday to my sweet 3 year old!!

I LOVE YOU CO.

hydrocele cyst

 The last part of May, Brock discovered a lump in Brendon's groin area, seemed like it showed up over night. After taking him to the pediatrician, getting an ultrasound done in radiology, and seeing a pediatric surgeon ALL IS WELL. 
The lump went away by itself.

We found out that is was a hydrocele cyst, which is fairly common for little boys this age. It was there for about 3 weeks total {a nerve-wrecking 3 weeks}, and now seems to be completely gone. What a blessing. We were so nervous and it definitely gave us a scare. So grateful it is gone, now just hoping it doesn't return.

At the hospital where we saw the surgeon, there was the coolest play area in the commons area. Brendon loved climbing and exploring, so naturally I snapped a few pictures.

father's day 2012

 There's a reason why Father's Day is on Sunday every year...

So we can take a WHOLE DAY and celebrate and honor our Daddy's without other distractions that we have during the week.

The daddy of our house deserves months of celebration.

Father's Day was very relaxed this year.

We had a yummy breakfast and he opened his gift, a new white pinstriped button up shirt. We had a big Father's Day feast saturday night, grilled steaks and mashed potatoes. Sunday we had our sweet neighbor Vicki over for the holiday, which was perfect.

We have an outstanding Daddy in our home.

He works so hard for our growing family and somehow ALWAYS finds time to fit everything into his crazy schedule.

Family is first to him ALWAYS.

Which means the world to the boys and I.

Happy Father's Day Brock!

xoxoxo 

Update.

 Brendon will be a ONE YEAR in two weeks.

He is becoming quite the spunky stubborn kid. I will guess he will give us a run for our money, so watch out world!

He is WALKING, no more crawling at all. He took his first steps at 10 months old. He still only has 3 teeth, two bottom, one ALMOST two top. He eats more than Cohen 95% of the time. He will gum pretty much everything we eat, other than steak or too hard of foods. He loves pizza, chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, CHEESE, fruit, sugar snap peas...pretty much anything we give him. His new love - POPCORN! Big mistake letting him eat some yummy air popped popcorn with butter and salt. He is saying more sounds, still only Mama, Dada, Nana {banana I'm pretty sure}.

Wants to be Cohen's shadow, even if Cohen is bullying him a little. He doing pretty well now a days at keeping up with him.

{soccer ball and goal was a birthday gift from Papa & Nana}

 When Brendon cries Co either brings him a blankey {which in Cohen's world makes EVERYTHING feel better} or sings him a primary song. He is being to be a very polite boy and working hard at being a patient big brother. Recently we were deciding what park to go to and Co said "Mom, can we go to the red park that has lots of people that I can talk to?" He is a social butterfly to say the least. Shopping at any store we make plenty of friends. Co seems to be not having as many scary dreams {ANSWER TO PRAYER}. Cohen is getting tall and skinny, and has been called the Coppertone kid with a pretty sweet tan line.

These boys can make me a little CRAZY,

but they are what life is all about.

Love them.

summer break so far...

 running through sprinklers

playing/eating sand

Popsicle

game nights

A LOT more dad time

family runs

playing at parks 
A LOT of desserts
dinner parties with friends

 Just for practice to make sure I could do it all by myself, Brock graded me on my job of changing a tire.

 I got REALLY dirty, but passed with flying colors.

 With Brock home A LOT more gets done around the house...

While cleaning one day, Cohen discovered how cool it is to vacuum the feathers off our couch cushions, pretty sure he did not miss one feather when he was all done.

 The finish product - he was so proud that he wanted a picture of it. Made me proud!

 Such a good break so far,

but it's already flying by.

And as Cohen would say...

"2 more tubbies and Grandma and Grandpa come to our house!!"

Which is true.

Cohen is 3 tomorrow then my parents come Thursday.

SUCH A GREAT WEEK.

5 YEARS

IN LOVE

  Happy Anniversary to us on June 9, 2007.

I am more in love with my best friend more today than I was 5 years ago. Love is a wonderful thing when you share it with your best friends.

We spent the day celebrating our LOVE, even though the first part was spent shopping at the mall with our kids. :)

 This was the best pic Cohen took of us, not too bad! While we stopped to take a break to rest our feet, Co threw coins into the fountain to make wishes.

 We ate lunch at the food court, Brock and the boys got pizza, I tried a new Panini joint that was to die for!! They also had the perfect crunchy ice {pasta factory ice as I would call it} and free refills of diet coke, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ME!

After we ate we went to the play area in the mall to let the little ones get some serious energy out...

 We were all worn out by the end!!!

 The real fun begins....

That evening Beka watched the boys for us while we went downtown to dinner. We ate at Cantina Laredo. HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone that likes mexican food. It's a little pricey but well worth the money.

 Apple pie is a MUST to order. We will be back for that alone.

After dinner we walked around downtown. It was a beautiful night, even with the blisters on my feet.

 Surprise gift Brock had wrapped in the car on our way home...

Heaven is Here, by Stephanie Nielson.

Perfect day of LOVE.

one YEAR down.

 This is the day the boys and I have been waiting for.

Brock has finished his first year of med school and is on

a six week break. WOO HOO!

The boys and I have just been following him around and hanging out him. If we're lucky he'll still be sane when he returns

back to school. We are all in heaven and don't really

know what to do with our selves.

It's great!

 GOOD JOB DADDY!