Going along with things that are boyish, I agreed that this would be a great thing to get the boys when Andy asked what I thought. Here is our ant farm. It lights up, and the cool blue gel is the home and food for the ants. This is the first day we put the ants in. They are carpenter ants, and I put them in the refrigerator to literally chill them out so we could get them from the tube into this ant farm. All in all, there about 20 of them, but it is hard to count them since they constantly move, and they all look identical.

After one night, this is what the ants had done. Lots of tunnels. Boy are they busy.

After two nights, here is what they have done. They connected all the tunnels, and have a few more started. I find myself staring at them too. I did put a little duct tape on the sides of the top since I keep finding the boys on stools trying to touch the ant farm. I have this fear about them getting out and being everywhere in the house. These things are mean. Austin hit the side of the farm, and they all scrambled to the top ready to fight. I won't be messing with them.

Here's what you get when you ask Braeden to show you his muscles. Too cute!

On Memorial Day, we took the boys fishing on Daddy's boat. They had a blast. We saw dolphins, stingrays, jellyfish, and other fish in the water. When you go out to the jetties, the water is clear and beautiful so you can see all that stuff.

I think Austin likes fishing, what do you think?

I see a patience here that we rarely see now. Braeden fished for a long time before accidentally dropping his Batman pole into the water.

Since we weren't catching any fish, we let the boys get into the water tank on the boat where we would put the fish if we caught them. They had a great time and got to cool off in the water.

Braeden had no problem holding a live shrimp. It wiggled in his hand and he just laughed. When he dropped it on the boat though, he squealed and screamed like it was going to get him!

Ok, so the idea was to take pictures of our sunflowers that we planted Easter weekend each week to track their growth. I don't know what I was thinking, because that is too much pressure on me! Anyway, here are the first of our pictures. This was taken May 4th. The plants in front of them are the sunflowers we planted.

Just a few weeks later, and look how they have grown! This picture was taken on May 27th.

On our way out the door for our last day of school. They are getting so big!

The last day of school was great. It was also "Water Day" where the kids play with shaving cream, and tons of other water activities. They get soaked and they love it!

This is Ms. Laura with Austin. If we are lucky Braeden will have her next year.

I couldn't snag a picture of Braeden with his teachers because he was being a bit temperamental. He must have sensed that there was something different about this day. The sweet lady covered in shaving cream leaning on the fence is Ms. Joan. We LOVE her, and we will miss seeing her next year. I had a child in her room the last two years. Ms. Anne wasn't there the last day because her son was getting married, so she was out of town. We LOVE her too! Those ladies take a room of 8 babies that are 15 months old and grow them into amazing toddlers who love to be with them. I don't know how they do it! Notice the shaving cream on Braeden's little bottom. So cute!

I got to help out in Austin's room the last day because Ms. Kim's son was graduating from Pre-school, so I stayed with the kids so she could go. I knew they had a lot of boys, and that it must be pretty crazy for them, but wow, I really had no idea. They are amazing teachers to be able to do this twice a week!

The big day started off with our traditional age-shaped pancakes. Here's Braeden's 2 pancake.

We had cupcakes before the party. Braeden loves chocolate, and I couldn't resist this picture. He has a chocolate goatee!

All the family was there and we bounced...

we bubbled...(These boys with us are Ty and Gavin. They are the perfect friends for us. Ty is Braeden's age and Gavin is Austin's age and they are brothers just like us!).

Braeden LOVES trains (which he calls Choo choos) so a Thomas the Train cake was the perfect cake for him.

He blew out his candle perfectly (while adorned in his engineer outfit). Sorry about the camera difficulties.

Blue Bell ice cream is the best.

Lastly Braeden enjoyed opening all his gifts. It was a wonderful day!

"Everybody's got to get away sometimes..." as it says in Pat Green's song.

Well, Daddy and Mommy got away for a couple of days. They went to the Texas Hill Country to the Cherokee Musical Festival, and loved it. There was good food, live music, and well just look at the scenery!

Pat Green even hung out with us for the weekend. Of course he started off the music festival by performing for a small audience of which Mommy and Daddy were lucky to be a part of. It was amazing! Mommy and Daddy wish they lived in the Hill Country, and really miss it.

These boys LOVE getting wet outside.

They both loved having bottles to pour the water over their heads, dump it down the slide, or just scoop and pour it.....

Unfortunately they also thought it was fun to pour the water on poor Jack. I tell you that dog will put up with so much from them.

Austin's first t-ball team. What a bunch of cute boys! Austin is the second from the right on the first row.

His first professional sports photo....Hmm, can't you just see this on a baseball card for a professional team? We'll see if he stays interested in baseball, or if he switches to another sport.

Braeden came home from Mother's Day Out with this sweet gift for me. I love Miss Anne and Miss Joan. They had Austin last year, and I still have his potted picture too. What an adorable idea. The note that came with it says, "Our children are our flowers, who need tender loving care. If we water and feed them, give them sunshine and love, they will blossom into the greatest gift from above." So true....my boys are the most amazing gift from above!

Austin made this picture frame for me. He painted it blue since that's my favorite color, glued all of the trinkets on it, and I love the picture of him building his block tower. He told me that he didn't even knock any of those blocks over. Impressive! My absolutely favorite thing about this gift though is the note. When his teachers asked him what he loves about his mommy, he told them because I hug and kiss him. It made me tear up. I am so glad it wasn't because I give him candy or toys, but that he sees how much I love him!!

This was sent to me in an email, and it is just so true. I am so happy to be the Mother of two wonderful boys who bring me such joy, love, and wonderment! My absolute favorite part of my day is when I go kiss the boys one last time at night while they are sleeping in their beds. I always say a prayer to God thanking him for these precious blessings in my life!

Before I was a Mom ,

I never tripped over toys

or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not

my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on,

Pooped on,

Chewed on,

Peed on,

I had complete control of my mind

and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child

so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night

watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because

I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces

when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small

could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of

having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel

to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond

between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small

could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night

every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth,

the joy, the love, the heartache,

the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,

before I was a Mom .

Two boys + Two of Daddy's white shirts = Our Little Angels

After days of rain, the weather was nice enough to go outside. Just as we got outside and started to play, the rain returned. Mom decided that since there was no thunder and lightning, and she couldn't take another afternoon of playing inside, what the heck! Let's play in the rain. It is something she remembered being extra fun, and from the looks of it the boys thought it was too!

Last weekend Hope and Hardt stayed overnight at Mimi's house and Braeden and Austin got to go hang out with them. To say that Braeden LOVES Hope is an understatement. He thinks she is the greatest! Getting a picture of all 4 of them was impossible, here is my best attempt. That's Austin who wiggled out of the picture.

Seriously, Braeden LOVES Hope!

Yeah, I spend every day with these boys, and every day is special, but we took a trip to the zoo just the three of us, and we really had a great time. Sometimes I get overwhelmed with all the everyday stuff I commit to, and we don't just relax and spend an entire day having fun together. Whenever I do, we have such fun together. All the chores, errands, and worries were dropped for the day, and we just had fun. We have some pretty amazing boys, and I love to see how they are really starting to enjoy hanging out together more and more every day. I am committing to doing this more this summer.

Braeden's absolute favorite thing was the Choo-choo train (although by the time we got on it, it was nearing nap time, hence the droopy eyes and thumb-sucking). He loves them, and any time we drive over train tracks in the car, he says choo-choo while looking for one to come by. We are having a train-themed party for his second birthday in a couple of weeks. I can't believe he will be 2!!

I am posting all the favorites of the boys animals we saw. There was an 11 week old giraffe, and he was really cute.

See, even elephant kids hold "hands" with their mommy!


That's a grizzly bear sleeping under that tree. I was amazed at the size of it's claws! To think that Andy and I saw one like this a few hundred yards away from us while we were camping in the back country in Glacier National Park scares me even more now than it did then!