Yet another one....

I told a couple people about our last milestone passing events and they all said I should blog about it, so here is another story for the books.

The boys were told that after their 3rd birthday party, they had to mail their bubbies (pacifiers) to the new babies to use. We built it up for a couple of weeks so that they were prepared and excited for it to come. We even asked them what they wanted from the babies as a thank you gift and they both agreed on puzzles.

Anyways, the night came to ship the bubbies off. We traced their hands on the box and addressed it to the new babies and then sealed it up. The boys walked the box to the mailbox and said goodbye to it.

That night we did the same bedtime rituals and laid the boys down. Cooper was just fine, but about 2 minutes after we closed the door and said goodnight Carson started crying. I was standing outside their door listening. Their conversation went as follows:

Carson: "Cooper, Cooper will you go get the bubbies? The new babies don't have them yet?" (all while crying for his bubby)
Cooper: "Carson, it's okay, you be okay. I love you Carson, you gonna be okay."
Carson: "please go get it Cooper, I miss it, I change my mind, I don't want the new babies to have it"

It went on like this for a couple of minutes and so I went in to comfort him. I gave him my bear that my dad had given me when I was younger (this had been set aside as a backup to help him through this). I told him that the new babies were excited to have bubbies to use and he was very nice to do this for them. After kisses, tucking in again and goodnights, I left the room (and, of course, continued to listen at the door).

Cooper: "Carson, you happy now, you okay now?"
Carson: "Yes, Cooper, I'm happy now"
Cooper: "I love mommy."

Yes, my heart melted. It was even greater hearing them lean on each other and help each other.

The next morning they got to go to the mailbox and get their gifts out. They were so excited and happy to get their wooden puzzles. They have spent many hours since then at the table doing those puzzles and have completely forgotten about their bubbies.



Tracing Cooper's hand on the box.



Carson getting a little more time with his bubby before sending it off.


BYE-BYE BUBBIES!!!!

3 year old boys!!!

Last night, I officially put my 2 year olds to bed for the last time. Tonight, I got to hold my 2-3 year olds in our comfy chair that we sit in each night before bed, read their favorite books to them (Richard Scarry) and sing their favorite songs with them (Jesus Loves Me, Pop Goes the Weasel, Deep and Wide, Zaccheus and Mommy Loves You). The last one was extra special. It is just a simple song that goes with the tune "Ferres Jacques", or however you spell it, that I sang to the boys for the first time exactly 3 years ago in the hospital.

It is amazing how much things have changed in the last 3 years. Some of the recent changes we have experienced:
1. We have finally got to start movie night once a week. This is something Chris and I have been looking forward to for quite some time. The boys think it is the neatest thing!
2. We said goodbye to pacifiers completely. Note the picture at the very bottom of the boys mailing off their "bubbies" to the new babies. They did tremendously well with this transition, as usual. (I will actually post an individual blog on this later because it is very touching.)
3. We are even closer to being potty trained. (again, an individual blog is to follow regarding this....not so touching).
4. The boys have developed their own opinions on quite a few things and are ready to share them with anyone and everyone.

God has blessed Chris and me with Carson and Cooper and we are so thankful for being given this opportunity to raise 2 very special and unique boys.

Please enjoy some pictures below of their birthday party.


This was a birthday of games (mommy's favorite so far)!! It seems like at age 3, kids are set free to play all sorts of games.....and we are quite prepared. It was be a blast teaching the boys to play all of the games they received on their birthday!

Cooper (yes he is getting quite big!!)
Carson (always looking for the camera)
Amazingly enough, the table with all of the kids eating was very calm and quiet. They were all very well behaved!


Daddy helping Carson open his card.
Our youngest guest, Claire.
Luke watching the boys open their gifts with his mom. He was very good at being patient while the boys opened all of their gifts.
Hopey enjoying the balloons they all got on their chairs.


The cake pops were a huge hit! Some of the kids weren't sure whether to lick them or bite them.
Cooper (as shocking as it sounds) dove right into his putting the construction to the test. It ended up being a ball for mom to hold while he took bites off of it.
Ella, finally deciding to bite it instead of licking it and getting nowhere.
The boys saying bye-bye to their "bubbies" (pacifiers) before we walked them out to the mail.

Final Christmas 2010

Modern Cranberry Noir Christmas

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Big Boy Beds

Again, a little late, but the boys did the big transition of leaving their cribs the beginning of August this year. We have had so many changes (leaving baby stages and going to boy stages) that it has been entirely too hard to keep up.

As usual, the boys made this transition with flying colors. I am pretty sure it was harder for me than it was for them.




I was wanting to get one last shot of Carson sleeping in his bed, so he laid down and pretended he was sleeping.

Of course, the first thing Cooper noticed were the car rugs....they were a big hit!

These beds now swallow them whole!! This is Cooper, by the way.

And this is Carson. Their stuffed animals take up more space in their beds than they do.

And, last but not least, this was the one hurdle we had to "nip in the butt". There was a week where I kept finding Cooper asleep in the chair during naptime. By the way, the blanket on the chair is the bedding Chris had when he was a little boy.

Fall Festival

We truly got to see an "ordinary" event differently this year thanks to the boys. Everything was so exciting and new to them. They soak up every moment they experience!!

I will apologize ahead of time about the music going on longer than the photos, I couldn't figure it out and my tech support (MJ) was most likely asleep when I was working on this.

Don't forget to pause the music on the right hand side of the blog.
Enjoy!

Alaska

In case you didn't know, Chris and I went on a cruise to Alaska for a week in May, 2010 (yes, I know that was 6 months ago). My mom and sister watched the boys for us so we could get away.

It is really hard to describe if you haven't been there before. It was serene and peaceful. The scenery was awe-inspiring! You could just sit there and look at the views forever. We saw bears, tons of eagles, mountains, huge waterfalls, gigantic trees, glaciers that are so white, they look blue, crystal clear water that reflected the mountains and glaciers on them, seals, killer whales.....you get the point.

I don't have many pictures to share because we have had some technological complications with our home computer that houses most photos, but here are a few I somehow managed to have on my laptop.

V-V-V-VOTE!!!!

Before going on, be prepared for a blog whirlwind. I am going to try my best to catch up on the last 6 months of life (or at least begin to do so).

I took the boys with me to vote last week (11/2/10). As we were all getting into the car I was explaining to them that I was going to take them with me to vote. I tried my best to explain what that meant. I think all they heard was that they were getting a big thing of raisins to snack on while I waited in line.

The voting part went quite well, except for the fact that Cooper kept crossing the "white line" that we weren't supposed to cross for people to vote and he was making the guy running that area quite nervous.

As we were walking out of the church where it was at the boys kept asking: "when are we going to go on the boat Mommy?.....is Gaga going to go on boat with us?...."

There were many chuckles coming from people as we walked out of the church:)