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.

Dear Brock,

 {May 3th-6th, Thurs-Sun}

Last week you attended a Orthopedic Conference in West Virginia. You were gone for 4 days, 3 nights. Four VERY long days and three sorta scary/nerve wrecking nights. You would be proud how tough I was staying home alone. I wasn't even that scared too many times. I think due to my extreme tiredness I didn't have too much time to be scared before my head hit my pillow and I was OUT.

There were many times I told myself, out loud once or twice, it will be a might miracle if I make it until Sunday!

I'm so glad you had a great time, and enjoyed the incredible resort you stayed at. But I missed you too much.

Time apart truly does help two people grow closer together.

It just didn't feel right laying in bed alone at night.

I hope there are few nights like this in our future.

While you were away, we stayed plenty busy to 

help the time seem to pass quickly...

Friday morning we swam at Andy and Beka's house, Brendon's first swim ever. He LOVED it and just wanted to dive right in.

 On the other hand, our little Cohen wasn't too sure about it after the pool cleaning machine sprayed him. Even after Beka took it our and turned it off, he still wasn't too sure about the water. That surprised me. We bought him new floaties and he could not stop talking about swimming with Nix until we got there.

Maybe better luck next time?

 Friday night all the Young Women leaders of our ward, including myself, had a girls night at my house after the boys went down.

I learned a very valuable lesson from this night - laughing hard for a long period of time is healthy in all aspects of life. So needed I can't express. We all brought delicious food, and ate and talked and LAUGHED for hours.

Just what I needed.

Saturday, we headed to Dallas to get our van door lock fixed, which a great excuse to GET to see the Garzas. We went to Mike Anderson's BBQ. This sweet little joint that was very cozy and delicious, they also had free soft serve ice cream which I'm a huge fan of. Our time was too short with Garzas, it always is.

 It was high 90's during the day, so we pulled out the extra tiny kiddie pool and plenty of popsicle and frozen Gogurts.

Yes, Cohen is naked in the pool. Most of the time.

He has this funny quirk about hating the feeling of wet clothes of any kind on him. We desperately need to brake this habit.

 We counted down hours until you came home!

We only went to the first two hours of church, then headed to the airport to pick you up.

 Our home was not complete.

It felt empty and blah.

I missed you like crazy.

xoxoxoxo