Tragedy for Buddy

For those of you that have had the privilege of meeting Buddy (purple is Colby's) we had a terrible tragedy on Thursday night. As Pat walked into the kitchen he held up Buddy's head and asked where the rest of Buddy was. I went in search of the rest of Buddy only to find Colby cuddling up with him. The good part is Colby didn't realize his head was gone. The next morning I was on a mission to find an alterations place to perform minor surgery. Thank goodness I found a lady that would take care of it in time for me to get it to the Montessori School prior to nap time.

The boys are doing well at Montessori school. Austin still cries in the morning but it doesn't seem to last long after I leave so they say. He is always very HAPPY to see us in the afternoon. Colby is quite the social butterfly. He hardly knows we leave and it always playing when we pick them up. Today when we picked them up they had a map of the world laying on the floor and the teacher was singing a song about the continents and Austin was told to point to North America and he did. Then of course Colby had to show us he knew where North America was too. I am so proud of them.

They are both singing their ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and most of Jesus Love me. We say our prayers every night and here are a few pictures I tried to snap. Colby is still my GREAT sleeper but Austin still tends to wake every night between 1:00 and 1:30. It's like clockwork.

We took the boys to the Children's Museum and the they had a great time exploring and playing in the water. They LOVE the water no matter where it is. They weren't too fond of the play horse but loved the old play cars and truck. The best toy by far was the helE-copter as Austin was say. "I love it". Who knows maybe he'll follow in his Mommy and Daddy's footsteps one day.





Our family had a very nice 4th of July though it was much different than the past years. We missed being at my Dad's in Arkansas with all the rest of the family. We had some friends over and just did some grilling, playing, visiting and fireworks. On July 3rd we watched the North Salt Lake fireworks with some friends and it was quite a show....almost as good as the one David did for us last year at Horseshoe. The boys stayed home with Natalie as it was past bedtime and they aren't very good when they are overtired and out in public.


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I am still going with my Army Reserve unit on Aug 2-15th for our annual training. We have changed locations from Utah to Fort Carson,Colorado. It will be a very interesting two weeks with not only a brand new unit but also being away from the boys. I know Pat will do great but he'll have his hands full and he won't have Natalie and Sean to help entertain the boys either. I'm sure we'll all be fine but none of us are looking forward to it.

Colby is due to have surgery to have tube put in his ear on the 18th of August. We won't know what time until the day before because they schedule surgery time according to age of the kids. Hopefully with him only being 2 he'll be one of the first on the schedule. He is really talking a lot more these days and I think it will be even better once he has the tubes.

1st Day of School...we made it!

July 1st was the boys 1st day of school. The great dream I had of how smoothly everything would go soon disappeared when I had to sleep on the floor in the boys' room Monday night because they would not go to sleep. They woke up on and off all night...both of them. We got up on schedule and prepared for our big day. Our schedule was interrupted by a bloody nose for Austin and Colby coughing which led to him throwing up. I re-grouped and got them dressed. They had their favorite breakfast, powdered doughnuts and strawberries. Then off to school we went.

They were a little apprehensive when we got there but soon started playing with some of the other kids and the teachers did a good job entertaining them and just letting them check out the room.

One funny thing though. On Monday we took the boys by the school so they could meet their teacher and the other kids. At one point Austin was over in the play kitchen area and so was another little boy. We saw the teacher go over there and Austin had shut the boy in the play oven and was not letting him out. I'm not sure that was a great first impression.

Back to our first day. The teachers said they did really well. They apparently only cried a little at first but they ate their lunch and took a nap. I only went by once to check on them and it happened to be during nap time so I got to talk to the teacher without them seeing me.

When we picked them up they were playing outside and I can not believe how dirty two little boys could be. We cleaned them up a little at the school then again once we got home and that night Pat gave them a bath and we laughed at how dirty the water was.

They had another good day today but only took a 30 minute nap instead of their normal 2 hr nap so I think they might sleep through the night. I can only hope.

Here are a few pictures of our big boys on their 1st day of school. I can't believe how big they are getting. Austin even sang part of the alphabet song to me today. I've been singing it to them but didn't realize he was actually paying attention to me.

Cancun..what a wonderful vacation with our family

Where to begin after such a wonderful vacation down to Mexico. We went with my whole family and our nanny, Heather....14 total. It was one of the best trips I have ever been on. I will say we were non-stop especially because the boys have so much energy these days and they loved the water. There was no kicking back in a hammock or lounge chair with a pina colada...so we took them to the swim up bar.

Natalie and Sean had a blast with their cousins from Arkansas, Matthew and Lauren. Daddy spent much of his time relaxing with a good book. We went snorkeling and saw sting rays, sea turtle and tons of beautiful fish.

We toured the Mayan Ruins with a private tour guide and it was really interesting and amazing how they did everything by hand. We also visited XCARET which is kind of like a rain forest with dolphins and a great Mexican show at night. I think the whole family really enjoyed it.

We look forward to going back one day and doing it all over again. I just loved being with my family and watching Natalie and Sean experience so much for the 1st time. They are great kids and we had a great time.

It was very hard to come home with no one to cook me 3 meals a day, serve me drinks whenever I wanted them and turn my sheets back at night with chocolates on my pillow. Maybe I should talk to Pat about that.

Now we are back in reality and the boys start their 1st day of Montessori school tomorrow. I think Colby is going to do great but Austin it might take a little time. He is such a mom ma's boy. But I hope they adjust well and I will be able to leave the parking lot. Don't tell Pat but I haven't planned much as far as work tomorrow just in case it's a rough day. I think it will be harder for me than Pat or the boys. They are just growing up too fast. I am so grateful for how far we've come but it makes me sad that times flies by.

Austin is doing much better sleeping in his toddler bed. Colby is not a problem at all but Austin tends to wake in the middle of the night for Mommy and chocolate milk and hopefully a trip to Mommy and Daddy's bed. I decided I had to keep him in his bed regardless of how many times he got out. The first night was a total of 91 times that I put him back in bed. Then at 3:00am for his 2nd waking it was only 4 times. Each night is different. Some nights he sleeps the whole night and some nights he still wakes...but I am remaining persistent as hard as it is. No one warned me about sleep deprivation in the toddler years.

Well enjoy the slide shows and I tried to pick some of my favorites though we took over 800 photos so I hope you have plenty of time.

Alexa

Cancun

Cancun

Our Resort...oh how awesome

Cancun...so much fun!