When You're the Best of Friends

 Have you ever ever ever in your life 

seen a cuter

 Woody and Buzz

Don't answer that if you have

YOU HAVEN'T

This picture so perfectly captures their personalities too.

Keegan- 

notice the mile wide grin

He is ready for the party, whenever, wherever.

He is goofy, happy, always ready to ham it up,

He is super silly, super fun

Gives the biggest sloppiest kisses

and wraps himself around you like a monkey 

for huge squishy hugs. 

He thought trick or treating was the best game ever.

Collin- 

notice the hesitant look

He is careful, he is cautious. 

He makes sure its safe before he joins in.

He likes things to be his way, always.

He already knows, and lets you know,  

if something is not fair.

He gives little pecks with his lips perfectly puckered up

and precise little hugs with a few back pats for good measure.

He sings the words to songs, 

and its the cutest thing ever.

He wasn't sure 

all the walking and talking to strange people

was worth the little amount of candy he collected.

They fight

A Lot

But they also play hide and seek together

neither one gets it

so they both hide

and then jump out and scare each other 

and laugh and laugh and laugh

then hide again in the exact same spot

and then do it again.

and again

and they notice when the other one isn't there

Collin says
 "Oh no! Keegie, mom, Keegie.  Keegie gone!"

Keegan says  
"Where Colly go?"

and then as soon as they see each other 

they go back to trying to ignore each other.

Here's to hoping
they will always be the best of friends.

Fingers crossed.

It’s A Christmas Miracle

 
All five 

are looking in the general direction of the camera

No one is crying

No one is screaming

I was able to crop out the candy cane bribes

(that kept the two above mentioned things from happening)

They are all staying in the near vicinity of where they were placed

No one can see what Ryan and I were doing 

to get the above pictured children 

to do or not do 

the above mentioned things

While not all are smiling, 

the majority don’t look like they are being tortured

I count this venture a whopping success.

Merry Christmas to me

I survived the adventure with my sanity intact

Well, mostly intact anyway.

The Giggle Pile

The straight faces and nice smiles don't last long

Because once one person starts giggling,

the whole pile starts to wobble 

 

and thats even funnier

and with every person laughing 

How could the babies resist 

such a huge pile of happiness

They didn't really get the point of the game

But they knew they wanted to be part of it.

And they laughed alongside the giggle pile

Because like I said

How could they resist.

The mood from a pile of happiness is contageous

Discovery Park with the Family

I love that

Family

in our little World

means so much more 

than just my brothers and sisters.

So when I say that the family went to the park

that means that

Logan

Silas

my sisters sister in law and her kids

Michael (pushing) and Carter (in Blue)

her brother and his kid

My sister

 and her husband 

Brynley Bug

 and kid

Vienna

India

and my sister in law with her two kids

Jovan, Cali and Hayli

Bryan

one of my very bestest friends and her kids

and Ryan 

 and I

 

and our kids went to the park,

 

oh, and one of Caden's friends from school.

Pretty safe to say we DOMINATED the park that day.

The weather was PERFECT and we had TONS of fun.

 Yay for the park in the springtime!

 P.S.- It is a really good thing

I decided not to bring my bow and arrows

or my horse

to the playground

because they are NOT allowed

This sign seriously cracked me up

Thanksgiving Point

One of the  

best investments we make every year

is a pass to Thanksgiving point

My kids never get tired of the dinosaur museum.

Never

 

They never get tired of 25 cent ice cream cones after either.

The babies have reached the

ripe old age of being able to eat dairy

so they got to have their first cones. 

It may be putting it midly 

to say that they loved it.

If it even looked like I was reaching for the cones 

they would shreak 

and arch

and clamp on with both hands

so that I could not take them away.

Collin made a huge mess

by eating the bottom of the cone first 

so whatever stayed in the top of the cone when upside down

then melted and ran out the bottom when turned right side up.

I don't know if Keegan spilled a drop. 

He ate every last piece of the dang thing.

I took this on the way out.

Cute kid huh?

I am such an observant mom 

that we were there for two hours

and as we were leaving

I noticed this.

Awesome 

What do you do huh?

I chose to laugh and move on

but secretly I was wondering how many people

were thinking 

"how the crap could his mom

let him leave the house that way."

But that quickly left too

and I just laughed again.

and got in the car

A glimpse

A really quick glimpse.
Via the iphone,
so don't expect too much okay?


The babies are rockin the big kid tub.
Collin loves it


Keegan is not so sure
and had a death grip on Kenna
almost the entire time


Keegan was not happy that I messed with his hair
(so curly these days)
and then
wanted a picture of his valentines day outfit
instead of snuggling him


Collin was cool with it


and so was Cohen.

Lots of love was in the air this day
we all went to see Gnomeo and Juliet

and true to form
Keegan was a pain in the rear,
(a dang cute pain, but still a pain)
would not be quiet
sit still or stop climbing all over everything.

Collin sat in the stroller enthralled with the movie
and thrilled that Kenna was feeding him popcorn

Grandpa Rick and Grandma Becky
came out for presidents day weekend.
the kids were in heaven
So were we!

Dad and Ryan installed a new kitchen faucet
(the other was bad bad bad- think leaky water hose)


and my neighbor was
tossing this baby out for free


so we snatched it right up
and dad and Ryan hung it up.


Then of course we had the standard presidents day fare
Pizza, Cherry Pie, and Ice Cream
and we watched the American President
since our Dave DVD was missing in action

The following weekend
Ryan had some vacation days he had to use or lose
So of course we decided to use them
and we headed up to Oregon
to visit the Holly Doll, Bryner Bug and Cory
and the rest of our fun family that lives up there.

I had great intentions to take pictures of everything.
didn't happen.
But here's a hodge podge

Our first full day there


I discovered
Craft Warehouse
Love, true love


but our trip through heaven was cut short
when Bryn's school called
and said she had bonked her mouth,
and could Holly come


Understatement of the century.
This is after a major clean up
Girlfriend had fallen against a metal step
Knocked out her two front teeth
(that weren't even a smidge loose)
Loosened the others
sliced and diced her lip up
and ripped her whatever its called
that connects your lip to your gums

Ouch

She was a trooper though
even when I was gagging
watching her try to eat a banana
that ended up slimy and smeared with blood
and watching her suck on the chunk of lip
that was hanging down
(the doctor said they don't stitch mouths, but it was bad, real bad)
I had to turn away every time she would do this

We shopped, we went to goodwill,
we ate donuts

And then we took my sick kids to the doctor
and had to pay lots of cash
up front
for anyone to even look at them
Even thought we have insurance
Grrr...


Collin got his first ear infection
and we hope his last.
He was not a happy camper.


Check out Keegan's
massive green snot
MMMmmm...
and fever red cheeks and ear.
Poor Baby


Kenna too.

Sicky vacations are not as fun
as non sicky vacations
Still fun but...


Keegan was enthralled with Mary's cat
Costello was almost as big as Keegan was
and he sat and stared at him forever


We also stopped to leave flowers at
Mom and Grandma's grave
while we were in Dallas
Caden got out of the car and helped out
even though it was raining


Vacation wiped us out


When we got back
Keegan learned how to climb up here
and MAN was he Proud of Himself
as you can see from the grin

They are almost walking
almost.
Any day now its going to get really crazy.

As if it wasn't before.


This big guy had his 4th Birthday
and he reminds us daily sometimes hourly
of all things he can do now.
Now that he is 4, Now that he is big.
Man, I love him.

even though he has randomly thrown up around midnight
two out of the last three nights
and it has been horrible to clean up
(I will spare you the pictures)
ten million times worse than Keegan's Puke Party.
and then insists in the day that he is not sick and feels fine
and has no other symptoms.


Doing my late night clean up routine last week
I found this guy
posed exactly this way.
I was laughing so hard
I had to hold my breath until I made it out of the room
so I wouldn't wake up the boys
He looks like
he is doing some kind of inappropriate dance move
or something
my favorite
is the bum sticking out and the hand posed just so.
I still laugh looking at it.
Its the little things in mommy hood
You know what I mean?

Last but not least


This is what I looked like
this week
last year.
C-R-A-Z-Y
I remember fervently praying
that I would go into labor on my birthday
Yeah, no dice.
But looking back,
What a cool thing that I got to be a part of
Its not every person that gets to grow two babies
and carry them full term
and be able to deliver them without a c-section.
Miracles happen every day.

30 was a very good year.
A growing year
A blessed year
Very Hard
Very Fun
Very emotionally charged with the good and bad

I am a lucky lucky lucky girl
I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Happy Birthday to me.
Here's to hoping 31 is just as great.