M&C

Mason: you are growing like a weed again! You started army crawling everywhere! You can get yourself up on all 4's and you kind of get yourself all ready...than you face plant and use your head to scoot to what you want. I have had to get the pack n play out lately because you are all over the place!
You are making the "Ba" sound but nothing much else beyond just being a lot more vocal. You do seem to grunt and growl at us when you want something. It is pretty hard not to laugh and completely forget that you are wanting something.
You think it is beyond funny to blow raspberries in a kind of competition when your mouth is full. We definitely play back because we all have tummy aches from laughing so hard!!
You are still waking up EVERY night between 1-4 (give or take ha ha). We are sooo not used to this because your big brother never ever dared to wake up past 2 months old. So some nights it is a struggle!! But even on the nights we so desperately want you to sleep when we walk in your face lights up and your entire body is so happy! It is a little but of sunshine at 2am. Which in return makes it near impossible to be mad anymore.
You are eating most all foods on your own.
Including:waffles, strawberries, gerber bites, toast, all veggies cut up, potatoes, you have even gotten a french fry from your bro. it was pretty cute, I certainly didn't stop him.
Your still in 6-9 month clothing. and still can not wear shoes because you have itty bitty feet!

Cayden: Bubs your vocabulary is astounding. You are not very good at saying your ABC's or counting by yourself...but if we do it with you, you chyme along. You are slowly potty training. We will just leave it at that. You are in a size 7 shoe and 3t clothes.
Likes: your starting to get into boy shows like Bob the Builder, Chucks Trucks on Netflix and some superheros. You love church. You can hardly contain yourself on the way there and never want to leave when it is time to go. You are still a fireman at heart and light up at the sound of a siren, you love to play baseball and lately you taught yourself to do a somersault! You rarely eat dinner because I refuse to be a made to order cook. But do not worry you are not famished in any way.
You love on your brother like he wont be here the following day.
You are loving on us more than ever and I love every second of it. You say "goodmonin" every morning and you have a bed time ritual of two books, prayers and mommy or daddy drawing circles on your back. You are so my child...I mean really.
 And lastly you are still napping everyday, although if it is late by the time we get home (past 2p) I have a hard time getting you to sleep.
It is still a daily struggle to get you to sleep passed 7am. It is what it is I guess. You have learned to raid the fridge though if mom or dad forget to shut your day. You have helped yourself to mac and cheese, cottage cheese, cheese slices (noticing a trend?!?) and essentially any other food you can get a hold of. Sigh...

HUGE MILESTONES + POOP DOG

my goodness. Although I am there for just about every single milestone my boys have...I still feel like they are growing up faster than I can handle! It seems when one does something new the other has to top him. I guess I should get used to this huh?

Cayden...you have had your tricycle since Christmas from your Mamaw + Papaw. You love your bike! It folds up so we can throw it in our car and head to the nearest park! But on August 24 you got on your bike (at aunt Kim's house) and just started riding it down the sidewalk like you had been riding it for months!! I was scrambling to get my phone out to take video. I was afraid you wouldn't do it ever again for some reason...stupid mom brain. To my dismay you rode that bike for the rest of the night and lots of people got to see you do this! Mamaw and Papaw were so happy to see you accomplish this. I have a feeling Papaw will be trying to buy you a big boy bike for Christmas or your birthday. He is a sneaky one!

Potty training is still a daily struggle. I can with utmost confidence tell you that it is mostly our fault. We have not devoted 100% to it. BUT on the contrary you do not seem to get the idea that poop is not cute to to sit in IN YOUR BIG BOY UNDERPANTS!!!!!

SPEAKING OF POOP...OHHHH "POOP DOG". HOW MUCH I LOATHE YOU "POOP DOG". oh, you want to know what poop dog is?! Ask C. Go ahead...but when you ask him you may want to take a mask so you don't have to smell his breathe. YUP. UGH.

PS. never show your toddler dog poop (thinking I was being a good mom so he wouldn't step on it...but instead he became obsessed)

Mason...my little itty bitty bitty baby whom I literally can not keep track of how old you are because I'm stuck on your being my blue eyed newborn angel. On August 22 not only did you begin eating cut up table food (macaroni and bananas) but when I left to go run an errand you proceeded to pick up the food and eat it with your own fingers!! SERIOUSLY BATMAN! You are also pulling yourself up with our finger and any day now you will be pulling up completely with out guidance.

God is so GOOD. My boys amaze me every single day. I seriously have to step back and take a deep breathe so I completely take in this moment. I do not want to miss a beat.

DRUMMMMMRRROOOOLLLL PLLLLEEAAASSSSEEEE....
JORDAN IS AN OFFICIAL FULL TIME FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC. He starts on September 4th!!! I have never been more proud of this man. You guys I am so beyond blessed!!! God is so GOOD! Did I mention that already?!?

“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 4:19

1st family of 4 photos.

I am so excited to show off our new photos! Megan of belle + blanc which is owned by a friend of ours Neysa Ruhl. She has such an amazing talent and taught Megan all she knows. Megan did such an amazing job, every single picture I kept saying..."I LOOOOOOOVE THIS ONE"!!! I am currently making an order right now because if you know me you will know that I have a problem ordering pics and actually putting them up! I suck. I'm aware. So here is a little treat of our first family of four photo shoot!!!

thank you so much Megan for being so AMAZING! I am already

thinking about when we should take more ha ha!

GREAT weekend + GAP underwear

What a fun weekend! I have had something up my sleeve for the past 3 weeks or so, planning a surprise birthday dinner for my hubby! I managed to get ALL of his close family and my best friend in the same resaurant at the same time! It has been so so hard, more specifically because J is TERRIBLE at surprises even gifts! So this was especially fun for me. When we entered the restaurant the whole family was seated in the very back of Wild Ginger, HANDS DOWN BEST SUSHI EVER (well I guess all around food too). We walked to the back and they yelled SURPRISE!!! Boy was he surprised he could not believe that everyone was there and he did not have a stinkin clue! The WIFE IS GOOD!

C is attempting potty training!!I am not pushing the issue, he is doing this with his own free will. I ask, and if he declines thats it. We have started to notice that he now knows when he needs to pee and does not like the feeling. Poo...NOT SO MUCH. So when I was diverting J so his family could get into the restaurant we went to Gap. They had 30% off F+F so we picked up one pack of underwear for him. Dang my boy can rock the Gap briefs. So far when he wears them (inside only) he does relly well. But once diaper is on its like it was all a dream...I have not a clue what I am doing so wish me well and any advice you may have I would LOVE it.

They have dinosaurs on them. Tear.

"aunt" sara + Mas

Mommy + Mas before Sara and I went to check out the craft stores.

Mamaw + Papaw came over to play before they left to

go back home. It was really nice to have company over!

Mamaw + Mason cuddling <3

Mason, your smile is so contagious.

we may or may not bribe for potty time.

dont judge.

Cayden, mommy and daddy are so proud of you for trying to start potty training. You get so excited when you pee pee. The best part is you think you have to PUUUUSSSH it out lol. We had a good laugha about that one.

Mason, you are finally eating food with more texture and love to watch your brother play. You have been trying to play w big bro's toys now more specifically his fire trucks. Go figure.

BIG NEWS!!!!!

So...usually I try to combine topics when I post because I'm a terrible blogger. BUT I just can not hold this one back. After 2 and a half years of my husband applying...testing...driving (all over GODS green earth), not getting high enough score of 100?!?!?...our time has finally come.

Background:

        (For those that do not know he has had two fire jobs as a fire fighter/paramedic which pay (kind of well) BUT in OHIO they offer NOT A SINGLE STINKIN BENEFIT!!!!!! So...like when your wife and unborn child are almost crashed in an OR and you have to take off days a whole month early, instead of the days you had originally planned!! YUP...there is no PTO to cover that. Thanks for the extra stress OHIO. It was pretty nerve racking watching my baby all tachy and not a single acceleration to be noticed...look like absolute shit on a monitor and my husband searching for people to help him cover his shifts and trade them all out.

 ONLY IF YOU GET HURT ON THE JOB DO THEY "HELP". I have choice words which I will hold back.) No benefits meaning...no sick, no vacation, no PTO/GTB, no health insurance no diddly nothing. That's where my job comes in. The Lord blessed us with the job I currently have we could not have been more blessed with our circumstances. For many reasons...most of which being...I refuse day care and even If I found one I was semi comfy with I would probably never be able to afford it! We needed me to have a job that kept me home on the days he worked, and something that kept my foot in the door with nursing. And boy did God come through! He is great RIGHT??

Anywho:

He interviewed for a local department a couple of weeks ago. They loved him (obviously) ha ha And all seemed a go. BUT (there is always a BUT in our life). There would be no new job for J if this Special fire/police levy did not pass. Dear Lord, I was considering going door to door with my kids. "please, please really old people...you DO REAALLY want the fire department to come with in an hour to your home catching fire...RIGHT?...NO? UGH. The levy would be held on August 7, 2012. That day came slower than molasses. My stomach was in knots. This very decision by people we have never met would change our lives dramatically. And by the grace of God, the ballots were in thankfully people are not as dumb as we think and it was pretty unanimous that YES we should let the fire/police still exist (DUH!?!?).

FAST FORWARD:

J is @ work and he calls me to tell me he has his final chief interview. Which is the final step! After this, he will be an official full timer. My heart is dancing all around just typing this. My hubby on the other hand...he is showing not a single emotion (go figure) and keeps saying, "ill believe it when I get the offer letter or phone call". Can not blame the guy, I would be the same way.

SOO...Can you PLEASE PRAY. Pray HARD. That everything goes well and he gets his offer and we can celebrate all of our hard work (ie: going to a one car family to save money). And by celebrate I mean go buy a new to us car so we can stop taking family trips to work. I dearly miss my quiet drive to work, with my KLOVE radio and my coffee. SIGH.

The "SICK" has left the building!!

Oh I feel like I just got my first slap in the face with having 2 kiddos. This past *almost 2 weeks we have been in a battle with this summer bug. First mason got it, and it was just 102 temps & an achey body (i think). So as soon as mas was beginning to feel better and just starting to sleep a lot because those fevers just broke his poor little body down, OF COURSE Cayden had to join in the fun! There are a lot of similarities between these boys. But one major difference is how they cope with being sick...I can already tell! Mason was nearly throwing himself all over the bed, refusing sleep and just being a (sweet) MAD sick boy. I felt sorry for his big brother because he was requiring so much of my undivided attention.

                                   happy M, post bug                     sad M, during bug.

We were honestly already having really funny talks with C about how every part of his body had a "boo boo", just so he could get more attention. He even broke out the temporal digital thermometer because he was sick (per Dr Cayden). UNTIL I got home from work about 4 days ago...and I noticed some rosey cheeks. My first thought was daddy just gave him a bath, but when I went to love on him I almost instantly started to sweat upon contact. AWESOME...so for an addition 4 days we turned our heads to the ACTUALLY sick C.

Today although was a one fever...one round of Tylenol kind of day! We are about done with this junk! In saying that I blame that for not being efficient with my dining table progress. O well, all will be done tomorrow! I can not wait.

Now we just need to make a decision on chairs and paint colors. Because we live in a condo we will not be painting the walls. We will be painting the sideboard and the metal Ikea rack the kitchen. I'm sticking with a sunflower yellow, teal(ish), white and persimmon.

Anyways, just wanted to make an update on my progress and the boys. If anyone has any pointers on my final step (polycrylic application over black flat paint) PLEASE leave me your two sense!

I will have the final dining table (minus chairs) tomorrow! YAH!

PS. On August 8, MIddletown had a special levy day. It was to decide on fire and police cuts or adding on fire/medics. Jordan has this new job in the bag and all he needed was for this levy to pass. God has answered our prayers!!! We will not believe it till we see it, but we know God has BIG...HUGE plans. Nuff said.

DIY project meltdown!!!

OK so this post has no photos, it has no happy comments and nothing that interesting at that. I am DIY'ing our dining room table. It WAS a yellowish wood table for 8 with a bench which I adore and 4 chairs which I do not adore. I took on the task of painting this thing last week. I wanted a black table and white chairs. Done? SSOOOOO not done!

First...the lady at Lowes sold me what I thought was a black brown paint, liquid sandpaper and some brushes. EASY PEASY RIGHT? NOT! the color was sooo not black brown, it was Hersheys chocolate brown. So the next day I went to Home Depot because it was on my way home and bought a beautiful flat black. It looks so good!!! I was really lifting my spirits in thinking that I could do this on my own. SIKE.

OK so yesterday I went and bought what I thought was polyacrylic to top off my table which eneded up being polyurathene! Its a good thing I only painted one side to test!

Now upating you to today...I went BACK to HD to return my product to get the water based one when THE paint guy told me I SHOULD NOT get that kind and should just get lacquer in spray paint form. Either I am the worst spray painter EVER OR this product was not for my project.

It is now 12am, and I have RE liquid sanded & re painted AGAIN. So I am going to bed and getting up in 5 hours for work, and when I get off work I will be going back o LOWES to buy the polyacrylic AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

LORD HAVE MERCY ON MY DIY'N soul!

Sick day & Family day

As eager as I was to get back into blogging, I am not so eager that I would blog while one of my kiddos is sick. Which was what we did all Tuesday. M ran 100-102 from about 6am till 9 that night! Poor thing also has two front teeth coming in and what might be those "fangs". The day quickly went from pool day to stay on the couch and watch Disney movie day ALLLLL day. C on the other hand was not so thrilled with this decision once he got bored. Poor guy, I tried to give him more attention but he just was not getting it. He complained of his toe being sick, his "bewey", you name it became an ailment.

Big brother tried so hard to make him smile.

He loves his "Mas" so much.

I did however try to have some fun with him and we built a tent smack in the middle of the living room. I think I got mom points, we even pulled out daddy's lantern (behind his head).

Shh...while C was taking a bath sick boy

(who flashed his first smile of the day)

took a load off in the tent.

And then we ended the evening watching some Disney. I just love this picture, I never thought I would get to this day where both of my boys look like such big boys! God is so Good!

I absolutely couldn't wait for J to get home! Thankfully M slept all night probably from pure exhaustion over this fever and woke up with no fever. Woo Hoo!!! Watching J pull up this morning was the best feeling. I was just so exhausted and needed another parent. It took a little while for us to get around but when we finally did I remembered we had not been to the local Root Beer Stand. I grow up at this place with my family, and is one of the few good memories I have with my parents and brother.

C's first time eating here. I love sharing my past with my family.

He didn't believe me that he was drinking the exact same pop as mom and dad. We do not give him pop EVER. He gets sips of something we have but its rare. Honestly he gets more from stealing my Diet Coke. Yes that is a gallon of their Root Beer. It is epic.

Eating here was a win win! We got to sit and eat yummy food, daddy and I got to talk (I know right?) and C got to play! He had lots of energy to burn. Notice the infamous ambulance. It goes everywhere, beats a Binky!!!!

Nothing says old fashioned drive up style place than your food in a box!

 I love it!

...and the infamous chili dog. If you go, you must get the foot long.

It is illegal to get smaller.

Goofball with his first gum ball. I was a tad nervous I can not lie.

But, he didn't get it and swallowed it every time.

Oh hey little guy! Good to see you up and smiling.

After lunch and playing we headed to the half price book store. Cayden got two books and 2 movies and mommy got a book called "Happy mommy" it looks really funny. I will have to let you know what I think.

I hope everyone has a great night! Tomorrow we are swimming with a sweet friend and I am tackling my first BIG DIY!!!! More info tomorrow!

a fun packed family day!

Yesterday was a family day for sure! We both were off which is obviously very rare but always guaranteed to be a jam packed day where we never get anything done, no chores get completed and were guaranteed to be late to everything. But I would not change it for the world because we cherish our days off together! We tried to go to the early service @ church but mommy was a lazy bum and just couldn't get out of bed. (might of been because someone was up until 1 or so updated her blog that has been highly ignored (no more of that non sense promise).

Daddy caught mommy and M sleeping

I was so excited to get to church! it is always such an uplifting experience for me, rather it is a hair raising sermon or an average one for me it is so much more. I praise with my hands held high during worship and I can feel him near me, i sit and listen to Dave talk and I swear sometimes he is speaking specifically to me. He spoke about a dead branch, and how it was disconnected from its source (God) and how it needed to get back to its tree of life to regain life. There were a few other meanings that came from this but more specifically he asked us, "How do you keep your faith and stay alive and continuously grow with him?" That spoke directly to my heart because I desperately need to get into a small group I just seem to make up dumb excuses why I have not entered into one. Lastly he made one last point and said, "remind yourself all the time that he will never leave you and he is always there to bring you back to him." He than in true Vineyard fashion quoted a macho man movie..."stay with me...TOGETHER WE CAN FIGHT!" ha
Do you ever feel the way I do when you just get so over whelmed by the power of God? Hands down top feeling ever. I could feel that feeling every Sunday.

When all was said and done he lead us in prayer and once again I felt like he was speaking directly to my soul. I have such a heavy heart about my brother(I will write about that soon, just not sure what I want to write because I do not want to be angry when I do). He is so lost and so sick in his head fighting addiction, and there is nothing (at this moment) that I can do. I can not be his big sister and save him. I can not blind fold him and send him to my church and have everyone pray over him. This is a battle that he has to desire for himself. Nuff said. I do just ask for now that you pray for him and the ones who love him, more specifically his daughter...my niece.

Wowzers, on to happy Sunday blogging! After church we went to our cousin Tallies 3rd birthday pool party! It was not as hot as i would of liked for swimming but it was still nice. Cayden played and played with his 3 other cousins all 2 and 3 years old. They played play dough together around a round table outside, each with their different colors and it was just too precious watching them all play with one another. None of us wanted to leave because they were playing so well. There will be so many more memories of the babies playing and eventually of Mason and the cousins that are more near his age. We are so blessed to have the family we have, there are times when you wonder why we are still family and why should I have to "deal" with certain people but at the end of the day we are family...and family is all we have.

We did not leave aunt Kelly's home until after 7, and obviously C fell asleep before we hit the highway. So when we got home, we put the boys in bed and the hubby and I enjoyed a beer (or 2) out on our balcony. It was such a wonderful night for that. It is so hard to get in an adult conversation let alone complete alone time, so when we do I feel like I could talk the poor guys ear off. I'm sure he doesn't mind less that he has to say. I think one of the best parts about feeling like our family is complete (at least for the next 4-5 years if not permanently), is finally being able to work on our relationship and learn about each other! Being pregnant is hard on your relationship sometimes. For me it is at least. I am a much more relaxed, fun, awake (ha ha) person when I have my own body with only one heart beat. God has blessed us with two angels and I would never take it back for the world (obvi) BUT i would be fine if my woman parts accidentally disappeared in my sleep....JUST SAYIN.

blew the dust off & gave the blog a face lift. Perfect.

Yeah I really do not have too much to say on how and why I have not blogged in ohh...2 months?! Lets just go with, after about 2-3 weeks I was not sure of where to even begin to catch up so I pretended I still couldn't figure out my Google password. In fact, I am very good at making myself believe these fabricated story lines. Anyways..here is a very short view into our life the past 2 months.

Mommy: I have been really trying to get this baby weight off! I am finally back down to my weight pre baby (both of them)! But it most definitely does not look like it (blaming shift in gravity on this one!) So my next goal is to start to tone this "gravity" issue. Nasa really should work on this! I have been doing some major redecorating in our home! I will get some pics up soon!

Daddy: this guy has been interviewing for full time fire/medic positions, and I think finally hit his break! BUT (there is always a BUT in our life), the levy must pass or else no job. Sheesh, he deserves this more than anyone I know. He loves what he does, he works super hard and ya know, sometimes...it is just time to get a break. We have given up a lot and embraced our wonderful life that our Lord has given us and we sure have been praying about this. I just hope that he is hearing our prayers.

Cayden: ooooh boy. Bud, you are for sure ALL boy. You are (I pray) in the prime of your "terrible twos". Everyday seems to be a struggle. Sometimes we just have to send you to your room for a few so you can collect yourself and lets be real here, so we can collect ourselves! But, when we open your door because you have stopped screaming and beating down the door you are like a new boy. The boy we are familiar with. With the most adorable smile and biggest heart EVER. I sometimes wish you were always like that, but I guess if you were always googly eyed we would be exploding inside wishing you would act out. You brush your teeth on your own, you speak in nearly complete sentences. You love to help cook and clean, your job is to put silverware away!! You talk about the potty and such...but no such luck with consistent anything. Oh well. You can however swing a bat and throw a baseball like a champ. That dad of yours smiles like a kid on Christmas day. This summer you began a very timid swimmer...but NOW! you get in your little inner tube or arm floats and swim your little heart out. You are a fish and I would have it no other way. Lastly you are really loving reading books now! You are even starting to "read" on your own.

Mason: you will be 7 months tomorrow and you have 2.5 teeth...began sitting up with absolutely no assistance about 2-3 weeks ago. You have the most contagious belly laugh and still are just the sunshine of our day. Your beautiful eyes are still blue. And although everyone asks when you will get hair, you do have hair its just blond! You love to be held but usually facing out to see your world. You are still sleeping through the night but for the last 2-3 weeks you wake up for a 4-5 oz bottle than your back out until around 7-8, you eat breakfast and back down at 10. You kinda like your sleep ha ha, I try not to think about what it was like "to sleep when they sleep". BULL. You are enamored by your big bro and you laugh harder when he plays with you than with anyone else. It is so sweet to hear you and your brother laugh with one another. No words yet but mainly yelling and an occasional mouth movement like you want to say something. You had your first table foods on 7/25. I gave you some corn bread (were super healthy up in here) but you did have a little scrambled egg dad made you a couple days later.

Well, that is a "quick" update of us. Here are some pics to smile at.