memorial day

we had a really busy weekend, so today, we opted to have a family day. we have passes to the local waterpark, and that's what today was all about. it was sooo nice! tysen is old enough to play in the kid area without my help....i like to sit in the water close by, but i'm glad to not have to chase him around all the spraying part. :) the boys loved it!! and there's a little lazy river that they both really like...tysen enjoys that with a life jacket on, but is still getting used to wearing one of those. he doesn't want me to touch him, but i have to help him keep his head up...he'll push me away, and say "no mommy. no mommy! let me do it!".....i forgot to get a family picture, but got a few of the boys....

funny quirk

tysen is talking sooooo much now! he's really a delightful kid [until he screams...his vocal cords can literally pierce your ears all the way to your brain].....well, he's become quite attached to his blankie. i'm glad because i know that sometime in the near future, when i muster up the courage, we will be taking his bedtime passy away. i actually tried to on a whim once, and was not mentally prepared for the raging fit he threw...so he won that little battle. [don't judge me, i know its pathetic, but i'm not kidding when i say that "i" was NOT ready]. i will have to really prepare for that. when that day comes, i want him to have something that he's attached to...to help with that transition. anyway....he's attached to this blankie. but he's sooo funny about it. 90% of the time, he wants his shirt off. he'll come up to me, pulling at the bottom of his shirt, and say, "i take a shirt off mommy? can i, mommy? can i, mommy?" [its really quite sweet] ....but then he will walk back out, with this blanket wrapped around his shoulders. and that's where it stays!! he will color, and play with his toys, and eat...everything is totally normal, but that blanket must be around his shoulders. i don't really know why he started that, but its one of his funny little quirks.

[side note: its also really funny when he's going to sleep, he has to be holding the tag of his blanket...he will run the edge of the blanket all the way around until he finds the tag, then that's what he holds as he goes to sleep...so cute.]

this is pretty common...

this is a pretty common sight in our house. andy picking up a few tips from joey...and the boys wanting to be a part of that. they are constantly trying to tune their guitars (but they won't hold a tune)...logan has asked for 'a new guitar that sounds better'. :) at least he can hear that its out of tune! (and yes, 95% of the time, the little boys are shirtless)

my little scholar....

logan has really developed his reading skills, and was showing some interest in reading the bible. one day, andy found him sorta reading his bible, and was pretending to write in it. he'd turn a page, and mark something up...but with a pretend pen, and all. andy asked what he was doing, and he said, "i'm doing my homework".....i guess he's been watching andy (in school at DTS) who has a lot of homework that is bible oriented. :) andy told logan that he could write in his bible "for real" if he wanted. logan's eyes widened and he got really excited. so andy taught him that when you are reading, if you see a word that is repeated...you can circle it...or if you find something that means something special to you, underline it....or if you think the word means something good, mark it....
well, logan is highly organizationally oriented, so this concept thrilled him. and after about an hour, this is what his bible looked like:

he started in the book of acts, cuz that's where they were in sunday school. andy told him that when he wakes up in the morning, he can stay in his bed, and read his bible...and even gave him a flashlight in case it was too dark to read. this only worked for a couple of days, as we noticed the evenings were becoming a struggle, and we could tell he was just exhausted. we had no idea what time he was actually waking up....it could have been like 5am....so we had to make a new rule and take away the flashlight, and said that he could only read if it was light enough in his room. that has worked much better. he has a pen attached to his bible, and still leaves it in his bed...and even works on it during the day some. he's currently in chapter 7.
So, the other funny part is that a few chapters into acts, he asked andy what he was reading...andy told him romans, so he decided to give that a shot.
this is romans:

after the first couple chapters, he decided it was a little confusing and too much, so he told andy he was going back to acts. :):)

these are the days....

...i'm grateful for my brother....

every other week we take the boys to a friends house while we go on a date, and they are already asleep when we pick them up, so they usually konk out in the car too...but i thought this night was especially sweet....

kindergarten roundup

Logan was 1 of 4 kids in his class who was chosen to sing in the performance at kindergarten roundup. and since ian is headed for kindergarten next year...we got to be there to see him!! ian is officially registered for school next year! he is thrilled!!

mothers day

one proud momma...

i am so blessed to have 3 perfect little men in my life....i had a wonderful mothers day...we actually 'celebrated' on saturday night...the boys took me to "fuddruckers"...a family favorite. then when we got home, the boys each presented me with a present they had picked out all by themselves...
logan had picked a yellow journal (actually quite cute)...and as he handed it to me, he said "i thought maybe you could write some of your recipes in this"...yes, i got a little choked up at his thoughtfulness.
ian picked out a little princess coloring page...because being the only girl, of course, i love princesses....he also suggested bringing home some flowers, which are proudly displayed on my table right now.
tysen picked some yellow socks...which he proceeded to wear all night long...:)

this year was super special...i think now that they are older, they seem to understand it a little more, and really get into it....and i love that andy takes them out and lets them pick something all on their own....

thank you, Lord, for my sweet, sweet boys...

chocolate popcorn

this is chocolate popcorn. how can we increase the amount of calorie and sugar consumption with a bowl of popcorn? just dump a package of melted chocolate chips on top...o my gosh...this is sooo good...but not something i can leave lying around.

i got the idea from my friend, molly. we were talking about teacher gifts and wanting something new to bake for them....she suggested bagging it up cute with a blockbuster giftcard...pretty cute!

1 bag of popcorn

1 bag of chocolate chips (i use ghiradelli which are amazing, but they also don't have milk!)

1/4c butter

melt the butter and chocolate chips. stir in the popcorn. drop onto a lightly sprayed wax paper...and let the chocolate harden!

i think next time i will use a lot more popcorn, cuz the best pieces are ones that just have a little chocolate on them. they are pretty heavily coated since this was the first time, but it might work even better to just drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn and stir a little....that way they don't get submerged in the chocolate.

i'm going to also try this with vanilla almond bark...the choc chips are good since they are milk-free for ian, but they don't harden as well as almond bark....make sure you have someone to give this stuff to....its very addicting!

i see it once again...

people may get tired of this, but i never get tired of seeing the distinct differences between logan and ian. i want them to be different and their own person...but i'm still always very amused....i found these the other day...i literally laughed out loud, and then grabbed my camera.

one is perfectly straight...toothpaste pushed all the way up to the top...(logan's)

one is just squeezed...whatever and whenever...(ian's)

i'm still so curious to see where tysen lands in the midst of all this testosterone....