Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

My friend Tara put it so well. Here my poor lonely blog sits with no updates in 6 months. What is wrong with me?! Oh wait, I have two littles at my heels all day and on the rare occasion that I do sit down at the computer for a good length of time - Facebook sucks up all my time. Dang Facebook. I really do want to document my life right now. And more importantly, I want to capture every moment of cuteness from my little ones. I so desperately do not want to forget this time in my life. The hilarious things Wesley says. The (loud) little noises and words and sounds that Reeve makes to so desperately communicate with us. I want to capture it....remember it. Let's see....since my last update Reeve turned 1 and Wesley turned 3. They are the cutest boys in the whole world and love each other dearly. Wesley is so sweet and kind to his little brother. He gives him hugs often and when they are riding in the double stroller together he will lean his little head on Reeve's shoulder and say, "Mommy, I love my brudder". Melts my heart every time. Wesley continues to talk up a storm! Some of his current favorite phrases are:
"Mommy, I have a good idea!" (I can almost see the light bulb going off in his head and the look of glee on his face makes me smile)
"That will be fun!" (what he says after describing something he wants to do and uses the phrase to convince us that we will all have fun doing it too)
"Reeeeeve!" (said in a very serious drawn out tone to his brother when he sees him doing something wrong. He is my little policeman.)
"My Daddy (or insert anyone really if they are not there...Nana, Papa, Grammy) said I could do that"
Some of the cute things he says that we do not want to correct him on are:
"Hangabur" (hamburger)
"Yem" (them, as in, "Mommy, the boys gave me a sticker. Yem are nice.)
Wesley talks in the cutest little high pitched voice and when he gets going, it's hard to get a word in edge-wise. He asked me tonight as I was tucking him in bed, "Mommy, can we talk?". After I said yes he let it fly. Went on all about our upcoming trip and what he was going to do, etc. He wrapped it up after a few minutes and let out a big sigh. He had said his peace and was ready for bed! :) Some of his favorite things right now are sports (he talks a lot about baseball, soccer, football and how he is going to play all those things when he gets bigger), race cars, Calliou and Word World (the PBS shows), Dinosaurs, singing, hoping on one foot (he just learned how do this a few months ago), his Papa, Nana, Grammy & Grampy, books, practicing writing, any kind of story telling.

As for Reeve, well he is just a love bug! Some of my favorite names for my little 17 month old are: Reevie, Reever, Reever-Deever, Bugga, Bugga-Bugga, Punky, Little Mister. He brings us such joy! He is still such a happy-go-lucky baby! He smiles CONSTANTLY! And I'm not even lying. You go to get him in the morning - smiling at you from the crib. You look at him in the car - huge smile spreads across his face. I can stop whatever I'm doing...whenever and just look at him and say, "Reeeeeve" and he give me a great big smile. It is so much fun and definitely a good pick me up on hard days. The best part about his smile is the little dimple that pops up on his right cheek. His laugh is infectious. I love to really get him going when I tickle him. He is also really LOUD! He lets out the loudest noises I've ever heard! It's rather embarrassing in public, but I just have to look at him and smile because he is so passionate! He will point at things - out in public, in a book, something he sees while driving in the car and let out the cutest LOUD "DAAAAHHH!" which I thing means "LOOOOOOK!". He has learned several words including: hi, hello (hewhoa), mama, dadee, nana (banana and his Nana), mimi (Grammy), choo-choo, ball (Baaw), big ball (ig baaw), NO (he got this one really quick from his brother), up, all-done (di-do), night-night (nigh-nigh). And his way of kissing is going up to you, leaning over you and saying, "mmmmm-aaaa" with his cute little mouth closed. Reeve LOVES his big brother and wants to copy everything he does and says. He also knows how to push is big brothers buttons....funny how that happens at such an early age. Lord help me!

Okay, enough of the novel. I'm back to blogging today...we'll see what tomorrow holds. :) Goodnight.

Our happy-go-lucky little guy. Can't believe he is going to be one in a few weeks. Man this year has flown by.

Happy Birthday to my wonderful beautiful wife! Talk about disappointing, while she is celebrating her special day I'm out-of-town for business. Thank you Nana and Papa for driving up in my absence (and baking an awesome cake).

Let me brag on my beautiful Tracy. For seven years she has perfectly loved and taken care of me: From simple things like cleaning, shopping, and social events. And the more personal tasks like listening, understanding, and praying. In addition, for the last two years she has played the role of Super Mom: changing diapers, feeding, early morning wake-ups, chef, etc. Thank you for your sacrifice and joy honey. You're the best!

I love Tracy's passion for life. She lives in the moment and savors what the "here-and-now" provides. I love that she finds reasons to celebrate so many of life's occasions. Without her, we would be a VERY boring household indeed. I love that our kids look a lot like her, because they are so cute!

Thank you for sharing your life with me, it gets better every year. I love you!

In the words of Stevie Wonder: "Isn't she lovely...isn't she W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L, isn't she precious, less than one minute old." Okay, she's a little older than that but we love her just the same! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENNIFER JOY ROBBINS!!!!! You are the coolest aunt, sister and sister-in-law the world has ever seen! Show those German's how birthdays are done right - Partei heute Abend wie haben Sie vorher nie gefeiert! =)

Oh and for all six of my faithful readers...let me just say that my personal retreat was F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S! I highly recommend it to all you moms of tots out there! Have the hubs whisk the kiddies out of the house overnight - or at the very least - an afternoon. I must say - I did miss them though! The old saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" is so true! Towards the end of my retreat I found myself looking out the window waiting for them to pull in the driveway. And when my 2 year old burst in the house yelling, "Mommy!" I melted! What a precious gift my boys are!

Here I sit...all alone in my house...just me, myself and I and a warm cup of tea (I know it's 98 degrees outside but I don't care!). And it's 10:30 p.m. Why do you ask - am I all alone in my house at 10:30 p.m.? What have I done with my husband and my babies? Well folks, Steve took the boys and left me. Don't worry - it's a good thing! It's a beautiful thing actually! I'm on a much needed personal/spiritual retreat! My incredibly loving, selfless, WONDERFUL husband agreed to give me the gift of peace and quiet for a full 24+ hours. No 5 month old, no 2 year old, no getting up at 6:00 a.m. to nurse, no Blue's Clues, no Sesame Street, no ESPN, no whining, no phone calls, no television, no dirty diapers! I would say no computer but obviously that would be lying! I'm just updating the blog though - that's it! The theme for my retreat is: What could I say or do but offer this heart , oh God, completely to you? NOTHING ELSE MATTERS! I realized about a month ago that I was really weary - life was beating me down and I felt like I was suffocating under the weight of it. That's when I knew it was time. Time to get away with the Lord for a one-on-one smack down! Time for uninterrupted worship and time in the word. Time to turn the stereo up ever so loudly (sorry neighbors) and dance around like a fool while singing at the top of my lungs! Oh, it's been wonderful! I can't remember the last time I was able to do this. Was it before I was married? Well, even then I had roommates. Honestly, I can't remember. All I know is that I think this needs to be a yearly event from now on - maybe even bi-yearly! Thank you Mike and Jeanne for taking your son and grandkids in for the night! I am forever grateful!

Oh, and I highly recommend the new Hillsong United CD! Powerful!