A little catch up time…

Three posts in one day followed by a few weeks of nothing.  We’ve just been too busy having fun and trying to keep cool from the dang Texas heat!

Lately…

Enjoying some snacks at one of our favorite parks

First popsicle.  It was all good until it fell off the stick

double trouble

Playing at Mayson’s house

Ben, Connor and Addie…sweet friends.  When Addie and Connor get married, Ben will be the best man!

Thanks for the bubble blower Grams!

This little guy loves nothing else than to play, even naked!  And he just learned the word naked and loves to say it now.  He says it with a snicker and just makes us laugh!

There are no words for this one!

First ice cream truck experience!  We were just about to go to bed and heard it so I got all excited and made a big deal about the noise.  Ben started jumping up and down saying, “let’s go!”, but not knowing why.  And I asked him what he wanted and he said “ice cream.”  Dork!  Of course now when he hears the music he thinks he’s getting ice cream again.

I’m a horrible teacher mom and this is the first time I’ve taken Ben to the library in over a year!  He found a Cars movie book and loved it!  I told him he could get any books he wanted so he grabbed one about Croatia.  Really?

And this is what Briggs did-pull all the books off the shelves.

Funny faces

One fish…

Two fish

Such a sweet little boy!!!

Back to the splash park in Fairview with some friends

He even looks sweet in mommy’s sunglasses

What is it about bubbles that make kids so excited!  We love Mrs. Jennifer’s backyard in the afternoons!

Ashley watched Briggs so I could take Ben to the Plano Children’s theater to see his first live performance.  It was supposed to be Seussical, Jr.  We were so excited.  Ben didn’t quite get what we were going to do, but he was excited to see some friends (with Levi above).  And once it starts it’s Babe, not Seussical, Jr.  The  kids were SO bored and I don’t blame them at all.  It was excrutiating and way over their head.  But, Ben did a great job considering.

Ben and Addie had enough in their seats so they decided to just lay down and watch.  The kids tried so hard to be good, but were SO bored.  I actually called and got a refund (the alternative was two tickets to a future show, but we passed on that).

My baby wearing his Gordy’s shirt getting ready for our trip!  Tuesday can’t come soon enough!!!

Pool time fun at Mrs. Stephanie’s!

Looking good in Ashlyn’s shades!

This poor little guy woke up earlier this week with a fever and a horrible croupy cough.  Dr gave him steroids and put him on breathing treatments and he’s doing so much better now.  But the kid is pretty good at taking his own temp now!

Ben joined Addie and Michelle at a tea party with some of Michelle’s old students.  He helped himself to many cupcakes!

Our new favorite thing to do-rough house together.  These two LOVE to jump, push, roll, and kick each other.  The harder they laugh, the harder the ‘fight’.  It’s all fun until someone gets hurt though!

That’s all folks!  Briggs is 15 months today!  Say what???  The dr postponed his checkup because he’s been sick so we’ll go after our trip.  But he’s hanging out around 24lbs and I think has a couple words.  Dada, Mama, NO, night night, bye bye and my favorite-Bah for Ben.  Love when he calls for him!!!  He eats just about anything and prefers meat over fruits/veggies like his daddy (Ben is the opposite like his mommy).  He sleeps a good 12-13 hours each night and naps for 2-3 hours in the afternoon with the occasional catnap in the car after a playdate.  He could drink a gallon of milk a day if we’d let him.  Oh yes, and he’s perfect!!!

Par-tay!

***3 posts in 1 night…Go Amy***

Oh Good Gracious!  I am NOT a party planner nor do I ever think I want to be one.  They stress me out like no other!  Our little monkey turning 3 was no different.  I decided months ago that I’d just have his party at the splash park during the week.  This way I didn’t have to worry about who to invite (unlike if I had a limit at a party place).  The kids could play and I’d have cupcakes and drinks for them.  Easy, simple-my style!  But Mother Nature had other plans.  Monday we were watching the weather and the forecast had storms for Wednesday.  I got worried and moved it to Friday.  Of course there was no rain Wednesday morning.  Figures!  And then Thursday the forecast says 60% rain Friday morning.  We had too many friends who couldn’t come next week so I had to do it Friday or not at all.  So to the mall we went.  My original RSVP list had over 40 kids so there was no way we could do our house.  Luckily we have some of the most amazing friends who still came to the mall to celebrate our little guy.  The kids played at first in the play area and then headed to the food court.  Due to a variety of reasons (all of which I totally understood) our guest list almost halved, but we still had fun.  And Daddy was able to sneak away from work for a little to join us (the boys went nuts when they saw him).  So thankful he was there so take care of my little koala bear baby.  And guess what-the weather today was PERFECT!  Ugh, so frustrating!

All sweaty from chasing daddy in the play area, but so excited for his party!

being shy while everyone sings

Make a Wish!

I think cupcakes are this kid’s favorite food!  He even sent Daddy back to work covered in orange!

Some of our amazing friends!!!

 

Potty Training…SUCCESS!!

That’s right, our Ben is POTTY TRAINED (well 95%)!  And we could not be more proud of him.  Ben has totally rocked at it.  I was originally going to wait until this weekend, but decided on Memorial Day weekend because Daddy was home for 3 days to help.  He’d used the potty here or there before and we talked LOTS about it so he was really excited.  He even wanted to start Friday night instead of Saturday.  We got back from swimming and when I tried to put his diaper on he refused and said he wanted to wear undies.  This was followed by 6 accidents in 3 hours, but hey, it was a start.  Saturday was filled with crappy undies (literally) and lots of wet floors (thank you steam cleaner).  But by Sunday he started to ‘get it.’  He’s in pullups for nap/night (we call them “night time underwear”) and if we’re going somewhere public like a store or church I’ll put him in one just in case (so far he’s stayed completely dry).  But at friend’s he’s in undies.  He’s totally loving the m&m’s he’s getting and all the tv we let him watch while he sat on the potty waiting.  Both are starting to taper down.  He knows when he has the urge and is staying dry during naps and almost always during the night!!!  And many times he taking care of business without being reminded.  And when we are in public he tells us when he needs to go!  Oh Ben, we are just so proud of how well you’ve done this.  We were SOOO worried that this would be a nightmare all summer, but so far, so good!  Way to go little stinker!  Keep it up!

 

I love this picture!  This was right after he put undies on for the first time!

Grammy and Grams both sent Ben some underwear and he was SO excited to get them.  He immediately took them out of the packages and looked at each pair.  I know he loved having all the support!

 

Keep it up!  We love you!!!

 

Charley Girl

This is one of those not so fun posts (but it does have a happy ending).  Our Charley girl has a new home.  It was not an easy decision and was one that we had been talking about for a long time, but was needed for our family.  Poor Charley was spending more and more time stuck outside in the back and not getting the attention and love she deserved.  When we’d let her in it generally resulted in chaos and Briggs on the ground screaming because a 60 lb dog just plowed him over or Ben screaming because she grabbed his toy and chewed it up.  I just started to worry more and more about her.  With the fabulous Texas heat I have been really.  So Memorial Day I decided to try to find her a new home.  I thought it would be really hard because there are so many innocent dogs needing homes and we’d only let her go if she was getting a good home.  I put an ad in Craigslist and had a few replies by the next morning.  Then I was searching the Internet and found a rescue website.  I entered all her info and literally in 2 hours I had three calls from people 1000 miles away!  Later that night I received even more calls and emails from people wanting our Charley girl.  They each tried to ‘campaign’ for her.  Turns out there are lots of people who love Bouviers and it’s almost unheard of for a young (healthy) female to be available unless you want to pay the breeder’s price (we just asked for a really small fee to make sure whoever took her really wanted her).  A family from San Antonio ended up adopting her.  She now has a sister (Chloe) who is also a Bouvier and only a month younger.  Her new mom, Heather, is really nice and asked if I would like updates and pictures (I said yes).  It was really hard for me to watch her go.  I can’t imagine how it would have been if I had really liked her.  But, I know she’s happy and thriving and loving all the attention she’s getting.  They’re even going to keep her name Charley!  The boys don’t seem to mind.  We told Ben that she was going to live with a new mommy and he didn’t really care.  I am excited to have my backyard back, but I do miss my little 4 legged vacuum after the boys are done eating!

 

Charley (on the left) and her new doggie sister and two of her new ‘brothers’.

Three…Yippee!

(Ben on June 3 each year so far)

Oh sweet boy, can you really be THREE???  Wasn’t it just yesterday I was holding you after that first picture was taken in the hospital?  I love, love, love you!  You are such an amazing little guy.  You love to laugh and make us laugh.  You are so incredibly stubborn and you frustrate the hell out of me many times.  But, you also have this amazing ability to make me go from wanting to lock you up in a closet to wanting to just snuggle and tickle you for hours.  You really are a boy now.  There is little to no baby about you anymore. 

You are done with diapers (do the happy dance).  The details will come in another post, but you did it kid, and really well!

You still love anything cars, but have slowly started to love action figures (except for The Hulk who scares the crap out of you).

You say “that’s my favorite” to just about anything that excites you.

You hate loud noises and sometimes tell me that you can’t hear the cars when we’re driving so that you don’t have to listen to the music.

You have an amazing sense of direction.

You’re a pretty lousy eater and you can thank your mommy for that 100%.

You were doing really well sleeping in your room, but now it’s hit or miss.

You’d be fine if you could go barefoot all the time.

You love your little brother as long as he’s not a.playing with your toys, b.heading in the direction of your food and c. crying (when he cries you tell us that you think he needs a nap).

You’ve lost your baby fat and have the CUTEST figure!!!  You have a long torso and wear a 4T top and 3T bottoms.  In shoes you’re a 9(ish).

You hate to have your finger and toe nails clipped.

You’ve developed a fear of bugs.

Like your mommy, you don’t like it bright first thing in the morning.

You’re super good when Mommy’s not around.

You tell us to share when you want what we have, but won’t share when we want what you have.

You’re perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben has been SO excited about his birthday.  He loves birthdays!  Boots, Gramma, Uncle Tommy and Aunt Kristin all came up for the night to celebrate our sweet boy.  He was SO pumped to see everyone, especially Boots.  They took him to Toys R’ Us to pick out his present and he pretty much could get whatever he wanted.  He walked out with an $18 playdoh toy.  Say what???

 

We gave him his bike (and a new helmet that fits) Saturday after dinner so he could ride it with everyone.

Training for the X Games early

Ben spent forever playing with Boots.

His train table was waiting for him when he woke up (I bought this for him on Black Friday and after all his Christmas loot we decided to hold off on giving it to him)

What’s a birthday in June without a sno cone!

and cupcake!!! 

You might not get presents on your brother’s birthday, but you certainly get to enjoy the cupcakes!!

More gifts after bath time

Happy Birthday sweet boy.  I can’t believe you’re 3!  I just can’t tell you enough how much I love you!!!