Roar! Ruff!

So sunday we decided to stay home from church because the kids weren't feeling 100%.  Instead, we pulled out old Halloween costumes and played in the toy room...it was kinda funny cause Judah's costume is for an 18 month old, but he was dying to be a puppy...and Lucas only tolerated the mane for a little while before he yanked it off.  But it was a really fun 10 minutes ;)

We tried to skype with Lance's parents but they weren't home, I took pictures to show off their costumes on the blog instead.  It was too cute not to somehow show off.

Now to figure out what they will be for real halloween...and it probably needs to be way less complicated and dramatic than these costumes cause like I said, 10 minutes may be the max in a costume like these...lol. I could take a lot of pictures in 10 minutes, but they probably wouldn't get much candy in 10 minutes. I guess I'll just have to think of something fun and creative that they can wear (like lion pajamas) instead.

Is it too early to be plotting for Oct 31st? :)

Roar!!!!!!!!!!

Ruff!  RuRo!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my kids to distraction!!!

Sometimes I get this vibe from our culture that being happy to be a mom and loving our kids to distraction is frowned on.

"Don't post too many pictures of your kids on facebook/twitter/instagram...don't be 'that mom'" 
I would argue that each moment is precious and so many of our families and people who want to be included in our lives live so far away, the more the merrier I say!

"Don't gush on and on about the amazing things your child does because it might seem like you are bragging and trying to one up a friend who also has kids."
I would argue that we should celebrate each others children and not make everything a competition and create a need to apologize for being proud of our kids.

"If you spend tons of time with your kids, you probably aren't focusing on your marriage"...the date night clan tries to assimilate you.
I would argue, my husband and I have been forced to communicate about things and at a level we never would have if there wasn't a tiny negotiator pulling us in different directions at all times, my marriage is growing stronger by us becoming a parenting team.

"If you aren't independent of your children you will lose your identity as a woman."
I would argue that the second we find out we are going to bring a child into the world, our identity changes...and not in a bad way...in a way where our hearts and our lives and our perspectives grow!

I try to shake off the feeling of being judged for loving my kids...and there are moments that come along that only make that easier.  Lucas making a monkey noise. Judah winking. Lucas pushing wooden blocks across the living room and clapping at his success.  Judah asking for one more "mad kiss" while I give him a "wobbly kiss".  Seeing Lucas on the scale at the doctors office and knowing he's growing strong.  Watching Judah ask the doctor to listen to his heart. Seeing the boys respond to their daddy as he says good bye and leaves to fly. Feeding Lucas peas and carrots while his brother insists he only wants a tortilla for dinner. Reading bedtime stories, nursing Lucas as he drifts off to dream land.
And these moments were only from today...and only a few of them.

My heart overflows daily with love for my kids...and guess what? it comes out in pictures I put on Facebook and Instragram, it comes out in tweets about how awesome my kids are, I kiss my husband a couple extra times because he's so sweet to our children (while they watch) and I revel in the fact that these children are little pieces of my heart, pieces of me, walking around in the world.

I guess I'm a rebel, I happen to think it is a privilege to raise the next generation, and that this life as a full time mommy is full of things that need to be celebrated and shared!
Golly, I love being a mom.

Flip Flop Olympics

What do you get when you take away internet access, make people eat food pot-luck style, hide all the clocks, let the kids roam free and leave people who have ADD tendencies to their own devices?

That's right...Flip Flop Olympics.

My husband came up with this idea but a little healthy competition got everyone going...well, not me, I don't run.

Those little kids have no idea that they are racing against highly competitive, easily amused, slightly bored adults...

My husband and my sister...somehow this is poetic.  They are very alike in some areas, like competition for instance...ha. Somehow I married someone who is a lot like the sister...funny how that happens.  They don't always see how they are alike...and it's hard to put into words, but sometimes there are moments I don't need to use words, because I have captured it on the camera...ha :)  Just wait until the Synchronized portion of the Flip Flop Olympics debuts...you'll see what I mean...

A fight to the finish...

Somewhere along the line, Jessi ended up getting stuck in this red ball which she claims everyone was supposed to travel through before going to the finish line...and was also claimed to be the reason she LOST. haha. 

See how she points at the red ball and declares the race unfair?

So they go again...

Equally matched, the flip flop olympics turned Synchronized...

This is where Jessi falls behind....

Throwing her hand up in the air seemed like a good idea at the time ;)

But in the end, the red ball got her again...that darn red ball.

Jessi walked away with the silver medal...Lance got the Gold...and he has video footage to prove it...I'd post it, but you would want to barf. No really.  Okay fine, I'll post it...give me a minute...

Here's a link that might work...um...I hope   Flip Flop Olympics Link

Ahhh...good times. Can't wait until the next Flip Flop Olympics...I'm sure the athletes will be training vigorously until then...

If your name is Jessica, chances are you have kept me alive before...

These two ladies have both been my angels.  Jessica on the left is my sister by birth, Jessica on the right is my sister by marriage.  Jessica on the left lived with me during my Judah pregnancy and Jessica on the right came and stayed (with her two kids) for over a month to take care of me during my Lucas pregnancy.

Jessica on the left had no idea what she was getting into, but she isn't afraid of a challenge and when I called her after several days of keeping no food down and begged her to come help me, she was in her car and on the way to Nashville within a couple hours.  She kept me sane and helped me survive the worst of HG, something I had previously never even heard of.  She left after a month or so and when I ended up in the hospital, she was back helping me again.  And of course at the very end, she's the one who took me to the hospital when my water broke.  Forever grateful.

Jessica on the right saw how much I was suffering from afar and felt the prompting of God to come and help me with Judah and pray for me every day and do whatever she could to help me.  She brought her two beautiful kids and spent basically 6 weeks in an unfamiliar city, with a really sick person and took on another child all while living in a spare bedroom.  She got Judah to try new foods (I had previously been feeding him cheese slices and tortillas cause that's all I could prepare without puking), she kept me company and brought life back into our dreary home.  It was a gift.  Again, forever grateful.

I know it was not with out personal sacrifice that these two ladies helped me through my two pregnancies that were just plain awful.  They have both blessed our family in ways I never would have anticipated or expected.  Thank you sisters!

"Field" trip

When we were in Chicago we spent some time at the Field Museum.  Quite a treat, if you ever get the chance to go, it is totally worth the cost of admission (which ain't cheap...but like I said, worth it.)

Lance carried the stroller up all these stairs, what a man!

This is Judah's rockstar pose..."look mom, I'm sticking out my booty!" He cracks me up.

Hello Sue!

It was great....we saw tons of stuff but Judah's favorites were the rocks and the dinosaurs.

All of the exhibits were so colorful and interesting.  I won't bore you with gobs of pictures like a slide show from vacation your grandparents made you sit through as a child...just a few fun ones that I really liked.

It's hard to tell, but the dark spot in the bottom right is Judah...he wanted to touch all the colorful circles.

Judah went through this twice, he really loved seeing the mummy's and climbing the stairs and all the other Pyramid type activities that were involved.  It was fun to see him enjoy it so much.

We saved the best for last though....

Our bony friends, the Dinos!

It really was impressive.

(see the boys in the background admiring the dino?)

I didn't take any pictures of the rocks that Judah loved, at the time it didn't seem all that exciting.  A room full of rocks.  But of course my kiddo loved it and talked about it afterwards and I felt bad I didn't snap any photos at his "favorite" spot of the day. Ha. Oh well.  

Back down the stairs with the stroller daddy-o went.

water break!

what a lovely view...if only it didn't snow so much in Chicago...it could be a cool place to live...but I'm spoiled now by our TN winters...

One last stop before we climbed into the car for more adventures.

It was a fun "Field" trip!

crash!

The boys and I met up with Lance in Chicago at the end of July.  It was fun to show the boys his

 "crash pad" (home away from home) and spend the day in Chicago as a family.

(in case you wondered, Lance commutes to work...Nashville is a SWA city, 

but it is not a domicile...so he flies out of Chicago every week...he's a commuter.)

So here is a unique look into a pilot's life...so glamorous (not).

This is just a few blocks away from the airport, so Lance rolls his roller bag behind him 

and walks his handsome self to and from the crash pad, we've had lots of interesting 

phone calls during that short walk.

His fancy bunk bed in a room he shares with 3 other guys.  The top floor is men, the bottom floor 

is women.  Our christmas card is on all the fridges, so that was fun to see in person.

So close to the airport means lots of LOUD airplanes coming and going all the time!

I think it is safe to say, Lance really really really loved showing his boys where he goes when he 

leaves for work a day early or has to stay a day late.  Worlds colliding! the ultimate crash!