Dedication.

Carter. Today we dedicated him at church. He looked so handsome. 7 months yesterday (my 'infamous' index card picture soon to follow).

He hasn't been around very long but he sure has been a blessing so far. He was born during a time where there were many changes happening in our family and he brought me such peace. He is very calm and content, has a great smile, gives these very intense/analytical stares, has started to protest when his brother takes away a toy, prefers to suck on a quesadilla, a piece of bread, anything, but isn't a huge fan of baby food, doesn't sleep very much-mommy isn't a huge fan of this- and does this hilarious army crawl/worm dance to get around all over the floor.

As we dedicated him to God today my prayer was that God will give Rob and I the wisdom and strength to raise him so that he will grow up to be a confidant, God fearing and honoring man, whom is loving, empathetic and compassionate, giving, merciful, and will chase after the dreams that God places in his heart.

Leaves.

Rob was home today. The world is a better place when daddy is home. I swear that the boys sleep in later, they nap longer, and have all together better days. Braden was thrilled to find out that daddy would be home "Daddy, you no workin?". So we hung out, laid low, played soccer, and jumped in the leaves.

(I can't figure out why the heck my layouts on my posts are coming out so retarded, i'll figure it out eventually).

My meatball.

I could just eat him. Something about those dimples, the smile, and the way he stares at you- it melts my heart. He's my little meatball. I took him out in the front yard to get these shots of him and my mom considered it borderline abusive- it was pretty brisk out. Reminds me that we're not in Virginia anymore..
I'll keep this short- my bundle of cuteness is still not sleeping through the night, sigh.

I don't like you.

Braden's vocabulary has really expanded. Every day he catches me by surprise with some whitty comment or phrase that he says. Usually, it's something that he's heard or something that I have recently said to him that he repeats and adds to his everyday usage. Every so often when I'm in the middle of disciplining him for something he'll bust out with something and I have to stop and look away for a moment so that I don't laugh hysterically.
His popular phrases or comments these days are:
"I don't want to"
"In a couple of minutes mom"
"I'm not ready"
The one I hear most often lately is "I don't like you"- I thought that he wasn't supposed to start saying that until he was a teenager??
If he doesn't like something I've told him to do, usually in response to misbehavior/discipline he says "mommy, that's not nice. you be nice to me."
It all usually makes me chuckle- even if it's not in the precise moment- but it makes me sad to realize how big he's getting. I guess in the end alot of his new phrases are part of him becoming independent and feeling like he has some control in making decisions- i'm sure that's what my Parents magazine would say! I'm just trying to enjoy him and cherish all of these funny and quirky moments.

This is in my sister's backyard. He's obsessed with trying to shovel this little pile of dirt. I thought the foot on the shovel ordeal was pretty funny. He must have seen someone do this at some point.

The backyard is full of these sticky pinecones!

My new goal is to try and take some photos everyday..we'll see how it goes!

Halloween Cookies.

On Friday we headed out to my sister's inlaws~Grandma Arlene's~ to bake halloween cookies. We had alot of fun. Braden is really into helping bake things (or as he refers to it "mixing eggs") lately so we've been doing some experimenting in the kitchen. Anyway, cookie making is right up his alley. He's ready to roll.
Joce's little hands practicing her rolling.

I'm not sure why it didn't occur to me that he should wear something lighter colored or even better an apron of some sort but it was part of the experience. He just looked like the pillsbury dough boy until we got home.



Tada! One of our first batches of decorated cookies. Some of them were pretty scary looking thanks to lots and lots of frosting and sprinkles but they were yummy.


And did I mention that they live out on a farm? It's awesome out there so after we made cookies we roamed outside for a bit.

Check out my dough boy and the giant pumpkin!

And I couldn't post without adding a picture of my littlest man. He's getting so big, almost 7 months! Closer every day to crawling and once he has that down he'll be giving his big brother a run for his money.

I can't believe that the weekend is already over! On to a new week.

Two.

Two is hard. I mean the age two. Let me say that Braden is an awesome kid. He has alot of energy, is super funny, sweet, an all around good kid. But then this thing happens..ugh. The amount of screaming and crying that happens on a regular day is incredible. At the drop of a hat the child can go from elated to devastated. I guess we can say that he feels things very intensely. So I'm learning as I go and trying to figure out what is best- for both of us. This afternoon on the way home from a quick stop at a store he screamed the ENTIRE ride back because he "wanted to go some place" (that place is yet to be determined).

But then there are those moments when we just sit and play and laugh and they are the best. I look at him and smile and remember how fast the time goes and I just want to squueze him.

Back to life, back to reality

We got back last night after being gone for a little over two weeks. A week in Cape Cod with Rob's family and a week in VA visiting friends AND picking up our belongings. As we drove up to where our POD was parked to move things into the truck, I felt emotional- seriously I thought I could cry. I'm still trying to figure out why but I think part of it was just the feeling that seeing or having our "stuff" (even if they are going to be in storage for an unknown amount of time) gave me. I think it was a glimpse of hope and a reminder that even if it feels like forever, it hasn't been. That doesn't make sense unless you know the whole story and the whole story would just take too long... But being away for two+ plus weeks really gave me an opportunity to escape- my worries, my thoughts, my overanalyzing of life. It was nice.

VA was great. It was nice to see friends, I miss them. It was awesome to spend time with one of my favorite families ever, the Munevars. They are so warm, open, and they love each other so much. As we sat around the dinner table our last night in VA I just looked around and smiled. As the kids told stories and we all laughed, I sat their hoping and praying that God would give Rob and I the strength and wisdom to raise respectful, loving boys that love God, each other, and us. That we will learn to love them the way they need to be loved and celebrate their differences. That they will still enjoy our company when they are teenagers, that they will get excited when dad comes home from work, that they will love us even though we aren't perfect and will make many mistakes because they have learned mercy and the power of forgiveness. Spending time with them this past week gave me hope- that even though parenting is never easy, it's not only possible but it's necessary and one day will reap amazing results.