So long 2013

Hello 2014! I must say, I'm excited about 2014. First off, I don't really like odd ending numbers (I know, I'm weird). Secondly, I will be a mama to 3 awesome children! Obviously I'm most excited about that. I already know Josiah and Layla will be great with Rocky. Side note: we have been calling him Rocky since I was 10 weeks pregnant because when I showed Josiah a picture of the sonogram and told him that was his baby brother or sister he said, "that's not a baby, that's a rock". So my friend, Jen Joy, suggested we call him Rocky, which we have for almost 5 months. Every day, more than twice a day, Josiah asks how Rocky is doing and if he's laughing when Josiah tickles my belly. He kisses my belly, asks to lay on Rocky, rubs it, scratches it, pats it, hugs it. You name it, he does it. He genuinely cares for his little brother whom he does not know but already loves. Layla, too, expresses interest in Rocky by hugging and kissing my belly. I can't wait to see them in action with Rocky. We have not chosen a name yet. We like about 5 or 6 but just can't decide. I still have 10 more weeks, so maybe when it becomes crunch time we will choose.
Another reason 2014 is going to be so awesome is because I will almost be done with my pre-reqs for nursing school. I honestly can't wait to take Anatomy. I know it will be difficult, but there are so many things that I want to learn about the human body. If you didn't know, my desire is to become a labor and delivery nurse, so I must learn about where everything is! If all goes as planned, I should be done with nursing school in May 2017. I know that sounds far off, but it's really not. The reason it took me so long to actually start with my pre reqs for nursing school is because I knew it would take 5 full years until I could practice nursing, and in my mind I thought 35 was too old to start a new career. At 35 I will have been out of college for 13 years. When I was 18 years old I had no idea what I wanted to become when I "grew up" so I just picked something. And that something turned into a non career of bouncing from job to job trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Then, at 30, I knew what I wanted to be, but it seemed too late. Then I thought, why would I continue to have a job that takes me away from my children that I only half like and am definitely not making a difference in other people's lives? Even if I don't get done with nursing school until I am 37, that still puts me in a career that I will absolutely LOVE for 30 years... nothing compared to the 12 measly years I spent doing work that I didn't love. Anyways, there's that.
2014 will be the last full year Josiah isn't in school every day of the week. He currently goes to school 2 days a week while I work and I love being home with him the other days. I can't imagine not being with him all day long other than the weekends. That's going to be a hard adjustment, I can already tell.
Chris and I haven't made any New Years resolutions yet. We did last year and did pretty well with sticking to them, so this year we are going to think about how we want our family's life to make a difference in our community. So, when we have some, I may or may not write about it.
I will do another blog later this week on how great my children are and some adorable pictures of them, but I've already written enough and am impressed if you got this far.  Cheers to 2014!

 Cute flashy Minnie shoes

 Sweet cousin love

 Boy cousins digging away

Superheroes!

Layla's getting older, yet I'm staying young

I cannot believe my BABY turned 2 on Thursday. I honestly do not know where the time has gone. She is one of a kind, I tell you. I figured that since we wanted to have so many children, one of them was bound to be a girl. I also knew that I would have no idea how to raise a girl since I am not your typical girl. I blow dry my hair about 2 times a year, I wear minimal makeup, I don't understand fashion, I prefer sports events over any other type of event, and the list goes on and on. For the first year or so of Layla's life she wasn't into girly things. In fact, she's always wanted to be like her big brother so if I put a doll in front of her she would choose to take Josiah's cars instead. Then around 15 months she REALLY started to like jewelry. The more the better. And the shinier the better. I was a little scared because I thought it was the beginning of her girly-ness. However, as the months passed she continued to want to be like her brother (she takes after her mama). When I looked in their playroom I saw little pink and MANY cars and sports balls. About a month or so ago she started liking Minnie Mouse. Now, this girl won't watch television to save her life, but she will watch about 5 minutes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. So immediately I bought her a couple of minnie mouse toys which she seemed to like.
When planning her 2nd birthday I decided on a Minnie Mouse theme. I was going to have a birthday party with all my friends who have little children, but quickly decided Layla wouldn't remember either way, so it was just our families who came. My mom and Aunt Judi did all the decorations and Judi made cute Minnie Mouse cupcakes and Rice Krispie treats. The only thing I did was make pigs n a blanket and that took all of 4 minutes. Let's just say my craftiness skills are below average. The party was super fun. Layla had a really good time and I loved having both our families together for a few hours. Aunt Mindy was even in town for it!! Layla got a lot of Minnie Mouse toys and her and Josiah have already had fun playing with them, and Aunt Mindy got Layla a 2 foot Minnie Mouse stuffed animal which Layla now sleeps with every night (and dances with!).
I'm sure you're wanting to know what Layla is like, right? Well, she's a little fireball! She is very independent. She won't let me put her in her car seat anymore. She insists on "climbing up" herself. If she doesn't like something she will let you know by either throwing a fit or scratching your face. Her vocabulary is huge and she talks all the time! Most of it I still can't understand, but I catch a few key words and we are good. She loves to sleep, and is not a morning person (like her father, unlike Josiah). She finally is getting her K9's in. She's a tattletale. She tells Chris if I spanked her (she reenacts the scene for him, spanking and all) and won't let Josiah get away with anything. She LOVES to dance to any music, but her favorite song it Ha la la (a children's Christian song from the 90s). If she's heard a song more than 3 times she knows most of the words and sings along. She doesn't like going to school. As soon as we pull up she says "I don't want teacher". This is the complete opposite of Josiah, as today he wanted me to leave him at the front steps so he could enter the building by himself (which of course did not happen, but as soon as his classroom was in eyesight he kissed me goodbye and didn't look back). She loves to share! She shares her food, her toys, my phone with anyone who wants it. If Josiah tells me he wants what she's playing with she will give it to him almost immediately without me even asking her to share. She loves her grandmothers! Sometimes she cries when I come to bring her home, which I don't like, but I'm glad she is attached to our mothers like that. She thinks that a bandaid and a kiss from mommy will cure almost anything. And lastly, she is a HUGE mama's girl. She will snuggle with me all day if I would let her. It can be an inconvenience at times, but I love my hugs and kisses from her! Oh, and for her actual birthday dinner we went to Sushi Naki because she LOVES raw salmon. She ate about 6 pieces and then had 2 pieces of a vegetable roll, followed by steamed broccoli. That's gonna be an expensive habit to feed!!

 Yummy raw salmon

 Light up Minnie Mouse shoes (this is the best I could get as she kept moving)

 Layla, unlike her mother, is a dog lover

 Munching on a delicious treat

 I'm 2? Huh?

 It's cool, mom. This yogurt will wipe right off

If you didn't know this, I'm obsessed with my children's feet. Look at those little things!

the hilarity of Josiah

Don't think I have a favorite kid. I will post about Layla after her 2nd birthday in a couple days. Josiah is a true sweetheart. He gets sweeter as the days go by. The other day I was watching him and Layla and Josiah picked her up kissed her cheek and said "you're my favorite girl". He didn't know I was watching, so that makes it all the sweeter. As soon as I pick him up from school he kisses my face, says "hi sweetie, how was your day?". I could go on and on. He is also HILARIOUS! Today I was on the phone with my mother and 5 minutes into the conversation Josiah says "I want to talk to Bebe", so I handed him the phone and he hung up. I said "Josiah, you hung up on Bebe". His response? "That's enough time on the phone!" On the way home from school today Josiah was talking about his friend Scarlett in his class (he is the only boy, but I don't think he minds). He said that she was nice and that they take a nap at the same time and then he covered his face and said she's pretty. I did not ask if she was pretty nor have I ever covered my face when saying someone was pretty, so I think it's pretty sweet that he has his first crush. He also has has this awesome dance move that he does, that I did not teach him. It must be engrained in him to love Elvis because he does Elvis's pelvis move. He also has great comedic timing and laughs at things that are actually funny. I hope he has his daddy's sense of humor because is one of the many things I love about Chris.

 Josiah, the ringbearer, and me

 He loves 10 gallon hats for some reason

His new favorite game. Setting up his pigs and Angry birds using daddy's guitar stand as a launcher. He spends hours playing this.

Saturday treasure hunt

I believe, as all wives should, that my husband is the BEST father in the whole world (with the exception of my father, of course :)). We didn't have any plans on Saturday except to hang out by the pool and spend time together as a family. Josiah has really been into Jake and the Neverland Pirates lately. We watch about one episode a day. Honestly, the show is not all that bad. It's fun and Josiah uses his imagination long after the show is over. Yesterday, Father's Day, we went to Sprouts to get some steaks to grill and the entire car ride Josiah pretended like he was Jake, Chris was Cubbie, I was Izzy, and Layla was Skully. Our car was Bucky and we had many obstacles to overcome on the 15 minute ride, including MANY coconuts to fly over using my pixie dust. It was awesome. And at some points, I think Chris and I were having more fun than Josiah. Who doesn't want to relive their childhood adventures?? Anyways, back to Saturday... Josiah and I were just chilling and Chris was at the kitchen table drawing. He then brings over this awesome map that he drew for Josiah to go on a treasure hunt for his squinkies (yes that is a word. they are rubber and Josiah has about 20 of them from Cars). Josiah thought that it was the coolest thing ever, and I was impressed at his drawings, because a donkey could draw a better stick figure than me. That's it. That's the whole story. I just wanted to give a huge shout to my baby daddy! The map is below. BTW... Josiah loved the first treasure hunt so much that he had his daddy draw another map for another treasure hunt.

My little ring bearer

The first weekend in May my dear friend, Kelly Bosse Burslem, got married in Brenham. Kelly and I met 7 years ago in Lusaka, Zambia where we served with Family Legacy Missions for a month. It was an amazing experience and Kelly and I bonded very fast as we wandered the streets of Lusaka trying to find a doctor for my staph infection. It was hilarious and I am forever grateful to her. Kelly met and fell in love with a wonderful English man and moved to London not too long ago. They got married a month ago in her home town and she asked Josiah to be the ring bearer. He was the cutest ring bearer the world has ever seen. Chris and I were extremely nervous that he was going to cry his way down the aisle, so we packed TONS of prizes and rewards for him. We tried to rehearse, but that was kind of pointless since there were no people to rehearse in front of. Cut to the ceremony and he was flawless. He pumped his chest out like he owned the place. It was awesome. Here's a picture (with the beautiful bride in the background).

Isn't he just the CUTEST thing ever?!?!

Mom fail

Today I tried to be a fun mom and failed. We live in an apartment, so we don't have a backyard and our patio isn't huge. The kids love playing in water and I haven't yet been able to find a water toy for the kids that fits well on the patio. So instead, like a genius, I bought a blow up pool. It rained pretty hard in our neighborhood last night so it was gross out this morning and the mosquitos are starting to creep back into our lives, so I thought it would be fun to put the pool in the living room (Chris helped lead worship this morning and was gone from 7am-3pm so I was alone in this). Josiah and I filled the pool with about 4 inches of water (which took a good 45 pitchers full back and forth from the bathtub) and the kids played in it for over 30 minutes. They had a really good time. They love bath time and going to the pool in our apartment complex, so I knew they would love this. Well, the water got cold, as it does, so I took them out and put them in their room to play while I moved the pool to the patio to drain it. Fast forward 1 hour and the pool is in our bathtub and the living room and carpet in our bedroom is soaked. I didn't get mad once because I could only blame myself for being so dumb as to think it wouldn't be hard to transport 4 inches of water (about 4 feet wide) by myself. However, the good thing out of this hilarious situation is that my kids spent one whole hour in their bedroom (they share a room) without fighting, reading. I really wish there was a camera on me during this because it would have provided people many hours of entertainment. Chris laughed pretty hard at this and is laughing as I type this. He sweetly pointed out that there is no difference between the pool in the living room and the bathtub 10 feet away and that I had my I Love Lucy moment. If you can't laugh at yourself, then what's it all for??