Will's New Friends....aka His Cousins!

A couple weeks ago my Brother-in-law and sweet nieces came to visit.  My sister-in-law was unable to come this time because she was with her mom....we missed her! They arrived on a Saturday early evening so we went out to MaMaw & PaPaws to see them.  Instantly they all re-connected. What's funny is Will did not remember them at all so he kept calling them HIS NEW FRIENDS.

We packed so much into the 6 days they were here that I can barely remember it all.  On Sunday we all went to church with my inlaws, had a delicious family lunch, and then had family pictures taken by my sweet friend, Lori. Lori came to us which was super nice and very easy.  We all love the pictures.. I just wish Aunt Kathy was in them.

Monday we went to White Water and then to Zach's baseball game.  It was a fun day!

The oldest cousin with the youngest cousin. They have a special bond!

Zach's cheering section at his game. This boy has no idea how lucky he is!

After the game my inlaws insisted that we go up to the office.  Kevin wasn't really wanting to open up the office and go up there but Karen just kept asking. I should have known something was up but I didn't.  When we got there my sweet inlaws brought in to wrapped gifts.  They had gotten their two sons new Henry rifle gun. The neatest thing is my father in law got the plates on the gun engraved with a bible verse...I can't remember which Psalms it is but it was something about a good son bringing pride to his parents...Need to look it up.

On Tuesday my sister drove an hour in the opposite direction to "kidnap" our Ruey and then we all met at the Keeter Center for lunch.  We loved having Ruey with us for another fun-filled day.

Cousin Lunch!

After lunch we went to see Jonah! The musical. It was good. The boys loved the underwater scenes.  Very impressive.


On Wednesday I had a dream morning with my nieces.  I dropped the boys off and took the girls to get manis & pedis.  We even had a little time for Target before we met everyone at Lamberts for thrown rolls.

I had to add another pic from our family shoot. These kids loved their time together.  Sweet Will kept asking when his friends were coming over every night when we got home.  He's still walking around asking about his new friends. Love this kid!

While we were at Target the girls and I picked up stuff for smores in the fire pit.  I had mentioned on the first night we were together that we like to look for frogs at MaMaw & PaPaws house.  Well it was a must do event but it didn't get squeezed in until the last night.  We all had our boots on to walk through the field to find frogs.  The funniest thing was all the adults thought I was nuts.  None of them actually thought we would go. But we did and it was the best time.  Within 10 minutes we had found 2 frogs.  The kids LOVED it!

Back with the FROGS!

Time with my sweet nieces was so much fun. They have grown up into very fine young ladies. Another huge blessing was seeing my brother-in-law Jeff.  He was in ICU for 5 days, the hospital for 9 days, and 6 weeks of rehab for a very rare disease he got in May.  Never did I think he would be able to drive to see us this summer. He still has symptoms but he is MUCH, MUCH better. We loved seeing him and thanking God for this MIRACLE!  

He's TWO folks! He's sweet....but he's a mess!

Our precious baby Will has officially hit the "terrible TWOS". Compared to most children he isn't terrible at all!  In fact he is rather sweet, funny, a good helper, and adorable...but recently he has been making HUGE messes!  These pictures are all from the same day.  We were doing laundry...see my pile on our couch? I was washing clothes and our bedding (that point comes in later)  Will has a play washer that he puts toys in and washcloths in. It's a cool toy.  However I looked over at him and he at "choc-ey" (aka Chocolate) all over himself. Next thing I realize is he put some hershey kisses in his toy washer. 

 He apologized, gave me the cutest look with his big brown eyes, and in the sweetest voice said, "you are the best MOM EVAH! "  I told him to go wash his hands.  Then I started to realize he was in the bathroom for a long time. I start to walk into the bathroom to check on him. When I entered the sink had standing water and was not draining.  He gave me a guilty look and I asked what happened. When I pulled out the stopper I saw something white.

Immediately, I turned into a plumber and started pulling toilet paper out of the sink.  It was gross.  Then I realized a pediatric toothbrush had been jammed down the sink.

 SUPER MOM to the rescue! I saved the sink and saved us a lot of money.

After the bathroom incident Will and I changed all the bedding on all the beds with our fresh, warm sheets. 

 Then I put him down for a nap. He naps in our bedroom.  We have a strict rule no food in our bedrooms.  When he woke up he came into the living room to say hello. I noticed he had brown on his back.  My first thought was POOP!  Literally. I ask him what happened and he took my hand and led me to our bedroom.  This is what I saw...

You are thinking POOP!  Nope...it was melted chocolate chips off of a Fiber One Bar that he confiskated from the kitchen counter.  Biggest Mess EVER! Seriously I had.just.changed.the.sheets! A task I really do not like.  So back into the washer went the sheets.  Poor little Will was in trouble.  Too many messes for this momma!

Visiting Ruey...and Freddy's new bench

Memorial Day weekend I took the boys down to Lockwood to visit Ruey.  The boys love to go down there but its always so emotional since Freddy passed away. 

First stop, I took the boys to the house I lived in from birth to 1st grade.  Lots of memories made there.  

 

We then went to Ruey's house, went to lunch, then went to the cemetery to see Freddy's new bench.  Before we drove to Lockwood the boys insisted we pick up candy bars to take to Freddy.  It took a lot of negotiating but we ended up getting flowers for Freddy & LaNee's graves.  

We all miss Freddy tremendously.  He made such an impact on all of us, his community, and especially his great-grandkids.   Zach has really had a hard time with this. I have too but Zach is grieving hard.  When he sat down on the bench he just lost it.  Sweet Ruey just held him.  This picture breaks my heart because our strong Ruey is consoling us while we should be consoling her.  

Ruey and Freddy picked out this bench years ago. I think its perfect! 

 After the cemetery we went back to Ruey & Freddy's house.  By this time we all had tears and shared funny memories.  Not sure when it is going to get easier that he is gone.

Saying our goodbyes until our next visit . We love you Rue Rue!

Summer Roadtrip with Grams

My mom and I are very similar in that we LOVE a good weekend away. This road trip was very spur of the moment. Kevin had a weekend fishing trip so we decided to head out of town too.   Our first stop was an outdoor home store.  Not what I was looking for but ended up LOVING the store and got some amazing ideas for our future home.  The boys favorite thing was this hanging chair. I could not get them out of it.  

Then we went to the boys favorite special request...Fritz's Train Place.  

Will was in Heaven...Zach is starting to think its not as cool as he thought it was when he was little but he was a good sport and played it up for Will.

 Next Stop Nordstrom and the Mall.  My mom gave both boys money to shop with.  Next thing you know they combined their money and bought 2 hermit crabs.  My biggest fear was caring for them in the summer heat and at the hotel. But the sales man reassured me they love the heat.  As much as I hesitated these crabs gave my mom and I extra shopping time at Nordy's and Dillards. The boys sat on the floor and watched their crabbies while we shopped, shopped, and shopped!

Mom and I really wanted to eat at Mimi's Cafe, one of our favorite places. They have the best salad, soup, quiche, and homemade muffins. We looked forward to it all day and then we pulled in and it was PERMANENTLY CLOSED!  What a bummer.  We ended up going to three other places but the wait was super long so we ended up at Houlihans.  In hindsight we should have just gone through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A because Will was done.  I snapped this selfie to text Kevin. Will was terrible at dinner and our food was not good.

 Back at the hotel Spidey and Mickey played and played. They really responded to Grams.

 Then it was pool time!

It turned out to be a very quick trip but we had a lot of fun and made lots of memories! 

FOCUS

In January Zach started begging to return to Martial Arts.   I have a rule only ONE extracurricular activity at a time.  So we finished out upward Basketball. Took a month long break from any activity. Then returned to Martial Arts USA in April.  Zach truly LOVES it and his behavior is so much better when he is in it.  We love the school that he goes to. Besides Martial Arts they encourage good grades, excellent behavior, goal-setting, and focus.  Towards the end of school Zach was really getting burnt out with 1st grade. He was chatty and uninterested in classwork.  I gave his teacher a form about focus. Zach and Mrs. Hoesch created a plan and when he followed the plan for 3 weeks she would nominate him for his extra FOCUS badge for his uniform. Sure enough 3 weeks went by and he earned his FOCUS! 

Since these pics he has earned A-Team (All A's), Academic, and the Responsibility badge.  So proud of this guy!

Pre-SUMMER Expecations!

Yep I just went from Valentine's Day to Summer!  For Real! I have slacked on my blog.  Totally bums me out but I I have to move on.  This summer has gone GREAT! To be 100% honest about 4 weeks before school got out I started having anxiety. I never have anxiety! However, I did and I had to realized why I was having it.  I realized I was nervous about having the boys home FULL TIME...I was nervous that they would aggravate, taunt, torment, and bother each other. I was also nervous that I would spend the entire summer picking up after the boys and their continual messes.  The love each other but they are brothers that are 5 years apart. Will LOVES and ADORES Zach and does not give Zach his required space.  This creates a lot of issues.  After 2 days of thought and searching online for way to eliminate my anxiety. I came up with summer rules, chore charts, and a game plan.  To introduce the rules and chores I thought it would be fun to have a Summer Dinner.  Do not be fooled....the boys were excited when they saw our dinner but not happy about the chore chart. What I thought was going to be fun turned out to be a meal of tears and sadness.  After we got through the rules we did a Bucket List. The boys like this and their attitudes quickly changed.  I know there is much controversy on Bucket Lists but for our ages and stages it was a must.  We did not put anything on our list...that we would not already plan on doing.  Nothing too expensive or outrageous.  Our list was strictly an outline of things to do together. A common goal for our family.  Our biggest risk was the ice cream man. HA!

A lot of people do not realize that I do about 20 hours of work for my husbands office each week....from home. Nothing really difficult but I have become accustomed to doing this work: Phone calls, Facebook Updates, Accounts Payable, marketing, etc while our 2 year old sleeps and the 7 year old is at school. I knew we needed to have a plan for us to have FUN but also be able to have days at home to get work done.  I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MY FRIENDS WORK FROM HOME (FULL-TIME) WITH THEIR KIDS AT HOME!  I created an "I'm Bored" jar for days that I work from home.  The funny thing is it's July 8th and it hasn't been opened yet.  I'm glad I have it for back up just in case.

Introduction to Summer Dinner!  Will and I set the table and made the cupcakes while Zach was at school.  As soon as I put the cupcakes on the table I looked over and Will was sitting there with his fork...waiting to eat. 

Summer Rules

 Daily Schedule

 Chore List....This has been amazing!  The boys know that we do not leave the house until the chores are done.  They know what they are required to do and what days they are to do them.  Best idea for my sanity yet!

 This picture was taken right before Zach broke out in tears.

 Let the fun begin. Zach started the Bucket List

 Will finished the bucket list. HA!

This was our first year outlining the summer plans and summer expectations.  My anxiety is gone and we have totally enjoyed every moment this summer.  My type A personality needed a plan and this worked for us!