Summer Fun

Tuesday night we met Wes at the YMCA where we belong for the boys to swim. We have a great Y right by our house, but I am not quite brave enough to take the boys by myself because they both have no fear of the water. Sam is doing great going under water and trying to swim. I was thinking he was going to need swim lessons, by he might just figure it out on his own.  Here are a few pictures. Sam has tubes in his ears, that is why he has bright green ear plugs. Cute huh?

Micah was so hungry after swimming that he ate a whole PB&J, so I thought he needed his picture taken. That is pretty good for only being 14 months old. 
Wednesday morning we met Jenny and Caleb at the zoo. Having a zoo membership is fantastic. It doesn't matter if we only stay for a couple of hours since we didn't have to pay to get in. My brother gave the boys our membership for their christmas present. It is the gift that gives all year. 

Sam had a whole conversation with this monkey. I think they are best friends now. 

Only for a Best Friend

My best is having a baby in January. She has just hit that stage where your boobs, butt, arms, hips...well, everything starts getting bigger. If you have been pregnant you know, the "fat stage" of being pregnant. Where people don't really know if you are just fat or pregnant. So I told her that I would put up some pictures of me when I was 10 months pregnant with Sam (he was 10 days late...so I was really pregnant). I hope these make you feel better. 

Not sure what I was thinking with my hair color. My roots look terrible! But then I was pregnant and couldn't make good decisions, right?

For those of you who don't know, I was the maid of honor in my sister's wedding and Sam was due 6 days later. 
This one should really make you feel better. The fat arms and double double chin. 
All of our cute friends...and me. 
Okay...I hope this makes you feel better, oh friend of mine. And Mere, I am going to call you because she needs my maternity clothes from you. I know you are probably ready to get rid of them. 

Random Info

Friday night we went out to eat with the fam for my dad's birthday. My sister, Audrey, had not seen Sam since he started wearing big boy underwear. When she asked him about them, he had no problem pulling down his pants to show off his Mickey Mouse underwear. He is so proud! 

SAM IS POTTY TRAINED!!! At least in my book. Last night he wore big boy underwear to bed!!! He tells us when he needs to go. My dad said that when he can go in there by himself, then he is really potty trained. But since I don't have to buy any kind of diaper or pull up for him anymore...he is done! I am so proud of him!! It really was pretty easy with Sam, but then again most things are. Micah is the one that might be a different story. 

I helped with a shower this weekend. I was in charge of the centerpiece so I decided to make a diaper cake. Have you ever made one? They are so fun to make and really easy. Here is a picture of my cake. 

So today the boys and I are just hanging around the house. We might go swimming when they wake up from naps. I have everything done that I need to do...laundry, clean house, pay bills, do dishes...you know the usual. BeBop went swimming with us on Friday. She got to see Sam go under and jump in from the side. He is doing great! 

Happy Birthday PopPop!!!

Happy Birthday Pop Pop!!! We love you very much!!! Hope you have a great day!! 

Thanks for being a Dad and Pop Pop! We love you! 

What a day!

Okay, the day started out great! The boys and I had a fun morning at home just playing. Pop Pop and BeBop came over to watch Micah, so Sam and I could go to his first Astros game. Sam was so excited. 

Sam loved sitting in the big chairs and cheering whenever the Astros did something good. He did whatever his daddy did. If Wes clapped, so did Sam. If Wes yelled, so did Sam. It was really cute. 

Sam and I had to leave the game early because Mom and Dad were cooking at church that night. Of course when Sam and I went to leave, it was pouring! We put a rain jacket on Sam and I took Wes' jacket, off we went to walk 7 blocks the car. The whole time we walked to the car Sam had to tell me over and over again that it was raining. A little worn out when we got to the car and it still pouring, I put Sam in the car on the passenger side and also threw all of our stuff in with him...including the keys. I pushed the unlock button to open my door and then closed Sam in the car. As I walked through the rain around the car to my side, I was thinking I was so glad to finally be dry and heading home. I pulled on the handle, but the door did not open. Great, I didn't hit the button like I thought. So I walked around to where Sam was and tried to open the door, but it didn't open either!

 Panic!!! My child is locked in the car!!! 

Calmly I told Sam to start pushing buttons. He just looked up at me with this sweet face and said, "Okay Mommy". So he started pushing every button on the panel. The window buttons were first, then he finally started pushing the lock button. Trying to explain to a two year which button you want him to push is not easy. 

"Sam, put your finger on the button that you just pushed. Now push the other side of that button." That did not work. I don't even know what I said to get him to push the unlock button, he might have just pushed it by chance. Well...IT DIDN'T WORK!!! 

Okay, stay calm. "Sam, go to Mommy's side." Still pouring outside. 

I told him to just start pushing buttons again. We repeated everything we had done on the passenger side and again he finally pushed the right button. IT DID NOT WORK! 

Starting to panic! 

"Get Mommy's keys and push push those buttons." Still not working. 

Then I called Wes, who is in the game, and told him the problem. He tried to calm me down and said he was on his way. I was thinking at this point we were going to have to break a window because I wanted him out of the car. And all this time people are walking past us and I am trying to not act like I had just locked my child in the car. 

I now needed to get him to slide over the manual lock. Again, explaining this to a two year old is not easy. I told Sam to put his finger on mine and then side his finger down with Mommy's finger. I told him to stop when he got to the black rectangle. His sweet little face smiled so big when he found it. Then I think I yelled, "push it over" and he did it!!! When  I opened the door the alarm was going off, but I was so happy to hug Sam! 

So...

I felt like a terrible mom the rest of the day. Let's hope that was the last oops moment I have with my children. I am sure it isn't, but I can only hope! 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Happy Birthday Wes!!!! We love so much! Thank you for being a wonderful husband and a great Daddy! Our lives are so much better because of you! Happy Happy Birthday (a couple of days late). 

We started the day at 5:30am because Micah thought that was a good time to get up. Because it

was Wes' birthday, I thought I should be the one to get up with him. After Sam and Wes got up and we were all eating breakfast, Sam had to go to the bathroom so Wes took him and I got up to do something, when I turned around this is what I saw. Sweet Micah James was asleep in his highchair. I just thought it was so cute! 

The boys and I surprised Wes with a cake and balloons at church. He was working with his youth group and with the group from New Mexico trying to clean up around their middle school building. He had no idea we were coming and was pretty excited. 

After we left the church, I rushed home to bake a cake and decorate the house for his real party. My parents came over and a few friends. But I had this problem with my cake. I don't know what I did wrong.  

But I did find these really cool pens that you write on the cake with. They are awesome! 

So that I thought that was the end of my problems with the cake, but when Sam woke up from his nap and wanted to put sprinkles on Daddy's cake...it had fallen apart. As you can see in the picture. The cake tasted great...just didn't look so pretty. Why do things like this happen at the exact moment that you want everything to be perfect?

We love you Daddy and we hope you had a great birthday!!! 

The Weekend

Wow! We have been so busy I am a little behind on blogging. We had a great weekend. Friday we worked in the yard a little and then my sweet husband gave me a few hours alone, since I have been potty training all week. I went and had my nails and toes done. It was great! Just laying in the massage chair and having my feet and hands massaged was great! Then that night some our friends came over. We put the pools in the back yard and the kids played and we had burgers. Ella is Micah's girlfriend, aren't they cute together? I love the summer time! 

Friday night my in-laws came in town late, so saturday we spent the day at the pool. Sam is doing so well with learning to swim. He has no fear! Saturday night Wes and I finally got to have a date! It seems like forever since we have gone out. We went to eat at Chili's because we had a gift card, so that was free meal and it always tastes better when it is free! Then we went to the drive-in. It was so fun!!! It was packed and everyone had their lawn chairs and blankets. It was really fun. I went to the drive-in when I lived in Abilene, but I just didn't remember how fun it is, we had a great time! Thanks Gywnne and Steve for giving us a night out! Sunday was a full day too. We gave a group from New Mexico a tour of Houston and then went to eat with them. This was Sam's first day to be gone all day and he did great! No accidents! He had a pull up on, just because I am not ready to risk the chance of an accident, but he did great! 

Hip Hip Hooray!!!

I am so proud of Sam, he is doing AWESOME!!! Yesterday he went all day without one accident, well...he pooped in his underwear, but that was it!!! I am so excited! He is not to the point where he says that he has to go, but when I tell him he needs to try and go tee-tee, he does. He have even graduated to the big toilet. This morning we went to Target to get a toy because he is doing so well. Of course he picked another McQueen car. His daddy told him he could get two cars if he poops in the toilet today. We will see what happens. But I am so happy, he is doing great!!! 

As a little break from the potty training yesterday, we went outside and the boys played in the water. Here are a few pictures of them enjoying outside. 

Trying to make the best of potty training

We are still going with this potty thing. Yesterday things got put on hold in the afternoon. Our neighbors from Columbia have a dog that looks just like Toby, a Westie. Well, he was out yesterday in the front and he got hit by the garage truck. It was terrible. She was so upset. They spent the afternoon with us because she didn't want to be alone. She has a daughter that was two in April. It was a good thing for the kids to play and let the mom gather her thoughts. It makes me realize that we are lucky when little things like that happen. We took Toby for a walk last night and played with him more than we usually do. 

So back to the potty training thing...Sam is doing pretty good I think. He was made it to the bathroom three times today so far. But we have also had several accidents. This potty training thing is my least favorite thing to do as a mom! But we are still trying! I have to say that he looks pretty cute in his big boy underwear and it makes me a little sad because this is just another step to show that he is growing up. 

Sam wanted to color this morning and so Micah had his first coloring experience. He did really well. He seemed to stay on the paper and not eat the crayons, so I think that is pretty good at 14 months. 

I am sure that Sam is going to hate me for this picture later, but I just couldn't resist. 

I think this potty training thing is really exhausting to a two year old. I love it when they fall asleep like this. 

We will keep you posted, right now going to sit on the potty every 30 minutes to an hour to so boring, but the look on his face when he actually goes in the potty is worth it. 

Potty Training

Thank you so much for those of you who gave advice and if you still have some I would love to hear it. We started this morning after breakfast and have already cleaned up two accidents, but I have not given up. We are staying in the dining room and the kitchen only so that I don't have to clean up the carpet. Good thing he like cars and they are really fun to play with on the tile. Stay tuned to see how it goes. I am hoping that we can master this in a week or least get a really good head start. We will see. I am sure I will have pictures later of him in his big boy underwear. 

Help!!!

Okay...I need some major advice. I am going to finally really try and potty train Sam. I tried once before. Well, several times actually. Try #1: I tried he had just turned two and I thought this can't be that hard...my child can do this at two! Well....that didn't really work out the way I had planned. Here are some of the pictures. And he also had a really bad haircut in these pictures. 

I put him in big boy underwear which he loved and Monkey even got to wear the big boy underwear! He was really excited about it and wanted to do it. But we were standing by the toilet explaining everything to him and he just started peeing. I thought, he is not ready. He has no idea what the feeling is before he goes to the bathroom and so we decided to wait.

Try #2: I think it was at the beginning of the summer. I decided to put him in big boy underwear again and just stay in the parts of my house that does not have carpet and run him to the bathroom when he started to go. Also I read somewhere to reward them for staying dry. So I would ask him every 30 minutes or so if he was still dry and when he was I would give him an M&M. He went a couple of times on the big boy potty, but I was so distracted with Micah that I decided Micah needed to go to my mom's for me to train Sam. It just seemed like everytime I would go to get something for Micah or feed Micah that is when Sam would wet his pants. Also Micah always wanted the book Sam was trying to read while sitting on the potty. So I was going to wait and give all my attention to Sam. 

So now we are at Try #3. I think Micah was just an excuse and I really need to do this. He knows when he is dirty, he can pull down his shorts, he is really excited about wearing big boy underwear, and I think he wants to do this. I don't know what all the signs are to know if they are ready. He is two and a half right now. 

So HELP!!!! I would love whatever advice or tips you have for doing this. Also how long did it take your kids? How long do I need to plan on staying home and not going anywhere? I know it will be so much better to not be buying diapers for two... but I just have to make myself do this. I don't really know what it is that is holding me back. Please send your advice!!!! 

Mini Trip

I have the most wonderful husband! My mom's sister, Aunt Susan flew in town on Friday and we decided to have a little mini girl's trip. I really needed a little girl time. When Audrey got off work she came over and mom picked up Aunt Susan and came to over too. We were headed to mom's house in the country to spend the night. Wait, I forgot the most important info. When we went to the beach with the cousins the boys got some kind of virus where you have a fever for several days, not just a low fever...Sam had a fever of 103.6 on Thursday night. Well, I hate fevers, it just makes me really nervous. So we had Sam in the bathtub Thursday night trying to bring down the fever. But Sam was oh so happy because Wes put the TV in the bathroom so he could watch Cars. Yes, the child is still obsessed with the movie. Anyway, that night I told Wes that maybe I should just stay home, and he insisted that I still go. Well, then Micah got the fever. And let me tell you that we love our Sweet Micah, but he can be a little stinker. I like to refer to him as our birth control right now. But he, like most kids, is much worse when he doesn't feel well. My great husband kept both of our boys while they both had fevers and were not feeling all so hot! Thank you so much honey!!!! Okay back to the girls mini trip. We went to eat and then to my mom and dad's country home as I call it. Mom and Dad have a house close to Roundtop that they are fixing up. Really cute. Anyway, we had plans to go to San Antonio to go shopping. A few years ago my mom got these sandals at May Fest in Tulsa, so we wanted to go by the place and see if we could all get some. Here is a picture of the sandals. Please ignore the fact that I really need a pedicure. 

Aren't they cute? They are awesome! They are so comfortable! The man who makes them has been doing it for 30 years and he is an ACU grad!! What a small world. Anyway, the guy and his son make these shoes at their home. Here is their website www.pipersandals.com  The top straps are one piece of leather so you can tighten them to fit your foot exactly. The soles mold to your feet like Burks do. They come in all colors. Mom got a red pair and Audrey got a dark brown pair. But they have green and navy...I really don't know all the colors. If you are looking for new sandals these are great! 

Then we ate at the Thai place called Thai Taste. If you like Thai food you should try it because it was really good and Tonya, my sister in law who lived in Thailand, said it is good too. 

Then we just shopped for a little while and headed back. But it was a great trip! We laughed so much and it was nice to not have to worry about someone else. You know? Thanks Mom for a great mini vacation!!! 

Fireworks

When we went to Padre with the family we were not able to do fireworks because of the burn ban so we just brought them home with us. Well, Sam never forgot about doing fireworks. So, Tuesday was Justin's birthday. Happy Birthday Justin!!! We love you!!! We all went out to eat and then everyone comes over to our house because Micah is usually ready to go to bed, and we have cake and ice cream. Here is Uncle Justin and Sam blowing out his candles. 

Then we thought we would go outside to do fireworks. We started with a few sparklers and Sam did great. He is not scared AT ALL and just waves them around in the air, no big deal. 

Then Wes did a few tanks and Sam just watched calmly with his Daddy. 
Then Wes said, "Hey Sam, do you want to try two sparklers at one time?" 

Of course!!!! But he did not just hold the two sparklers and wave them around. 
He ran around waving them in the air like McQueen and making cars noises. 
It was the cutest thing ever. We all laughed so hard! He is such a little character. 

Beach Trip

For the 4th of July we went to North Padre with the Fikes fam. We had a great time. Sam was so excited to be going to the beach. I made the mistake of telling him several days before and he did not understand why we had to wait several days before we could go. He was so excited the morning that we left that he fell asleep in the car on the way there. 

Here are all the cousins in their matching 4th of July shirts. Micah was not too happy to be out of Daddy's arms. The boys are all very close in age. Corban is the oldest and he is 4, Sam is 2 and 1/2, Esan is 5 months younger than Sam, Micah is 14 months and Teagan is 4 months younger than Micah. So when we get together we are very busy! 
Esan was so excited to see Sam. He wanted to hug and tickle him all the time. 
Here is GiGi with the older boys making sand castles on the beach. 
The boys loved the sand. I was kind of worried because Sam is one of these kids who doesn't like to be dirty, but I was glad that it didn't bother him. 

This is Corban Scout 
And Esan Ray
And Teagan Race
 I think they liked playing in the pool the most. Sam learned to swim. He is a little fish, going under water and everything. Big cousin Corban was a great encouragement to Sam. We had a great trip! 

Now I have got to clean my house. I have not unpacked from the beach trip and we have been home since Monday. My sweet husband says nothing, but it is driving me crazy because we have crap everywhere!!!