Happy Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Boys! What a very special day to celebrate two very special little lives.

Two little boys who love to dance, who love to smile and to giggle. Two little boys as sweet as they come and two little boys as wild as they come. You have gentle hearts and an endless amount of fearless energy. You're bright. You're sharp. You're so very, very smart. And you're quick!

You have so many folks who love you, who adore you. You've brightened our worlds by an inmeasurable amount of happiness and joy and we give Thanks to God for masterminding it all!!

Happy Birthday, babies!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Yes, I did WATCH my baby burn his poor little hand! What was I thinking!?! And NO, we did not let them EAT the whole cakes, we removed big portions before they "dove in." And YES, my 16year old baby is in a cast - for a broken thumb obtained playing (duh!) basketball! ;-( poor baby!)




"Hurry up, Mommy, Oh-pen, oh-pen!"
My best friend Anne ROCKED out my babies' Hi-5 Birthday Cakes!!
They EACH got their OWN cake!
Look at that beauitful, happy boy!! We love you, Logan!

Can you see my baby's dimple!?! We love you, Austin!!

Okay folks, we're collecting birthday wishes/thoughts for the boys. So, lurkers, De-lurk!! I know you're out there! And wether you've been on this journey since Day 1 or you've somehow found us along the way, the boys want to hear from you! It's super easy to leave a comment, just give it a try!

Some hotties!

Okay, still no pictures, but I did manage to get a video uploaded! But there's a lot of me talking which I normally try and spare yall 'cuz I'm loud and then right next to the microphone I'm even louder! So....sorry...you may want to turn down your volume!

During the car giggling montage (we were waiting for Da-Da and I was trying to entertain them!), make sure you check out their cute madras shorts AND their little tan Polo tennis shoes that have little navy polo horses on them!! In Feb, we (And by we, I mean Nonnie) bought them a size up AND they barely fit now. ;-(

Okay, enjoy! I'm working on my camera issues.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Life...

Nothing to post here! We've been under attack by massive amounts of rain for three days now. I don't mind because before that we were all swimming in yellow pollen. Seriously! It was nasty.

So, yay for the rain for making it go away!

My camera is misbehaving. Badly. I can't seem to download pictures. That's not good, is it?
Austin and Logan have grown 5 inches since I last posted. Well, it seems that way. And every minute they are doing or saying something new, something I've never seen them do or heard them say.

I'm not kidding, it's like someone told them that they will be 2 years old very soon (on the 29th!!) and that that brought on a whole bunch of new privileges or something. Whatever it is, I cannot keep up with all of their accomplishments!

In other news, Gary and I started swim lessons with them last week. These classes are great and came highly recommended. On the first day, Austin and Logan were holding their breathe under water! Pretty cool. The whole family is going on vacation in May. We have a house at the beach with a pool, so we'll be ready by then to enjoy it (safely!).

Here are a few pictures I managed to download the other day:

Nonnie got these shirts off of Cafepress.com. You can't really see them, but there are two hearts (one USA and one Guatemala) and it says, "....because that's where I was." The boys in their basketball shorts - just life EVAN!!
This is when my camera started misbehaving. Austin and Logan (AKA: Baldy 1 and Baldy 2)wanted to sit at the big table and eat strawberries with spoons. And they wanted to eat off of "big" paper plates. Seriously, where did all that autonomy come from!?!

The Unveiling!

(Okay, I did warn that this was not HUGE, just a big change!)

As evident by the "puddin' - no shoes and shirts" pictures on the previous post, it was a little hot this weekend. Gathering over at my mom's Sunday night, Austin and Logan's long, thin, sweaty, comb'over hair was a hot topic of discussion.

And in the end, we unanimously agreed to take action.

Nonnie breaks out the tools:


Logan innocently eating his poc-corn.
And Buzzfest 2008 begins.
My brother Brian takes over as he is the resident expert who does this to his own hair.

Logan didn't mind the process at all.
And Austin watched on completely unfazed by what was happening.....
Daddy moves in to finish Logan. Austin NOT liking his new spot IN the chair. Evan jumps in to try and hold him still.
And I stop taking pictures at this point to try and help soothe my baby.

Here's a hilarious video of how it all played out.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Did you hear Austin in my lap saying "tickle, tickle?" That's what we told them we were doing to their hair. It obviously did not help when we went to tickle his hair!! And I LOVE it when Logan sees the camera and gives me a big old "Cheese!" Too funny!

Calm is restored by the traditional bath and "pop-pop" celebration to complete the process!

And while I don't "mind" the buzz cut look, I have to admit I'm secretly hoping that the shock to their roots will maybe bring me the full, thick Guatemalan locks that have thus far eluded us!!

Maybe not the most exciting news, I hope that you all will agree with me that buzz cutting your babies' hair is dramatic and that this was a BIG change for us!!

(I tried to download more pictures of their after look, but having camera difficulty! Will try again later.)

Puddin! and some wine, too!

Most days I think I'm a pretty good mom. Most days I'm convinced of that.

Then there are days like today.

Days where my patience is tested to the brink. Days where temper tantrums occur more often than I can keep up with. Days where every little issue is challenged. Days where more time is spent IN time out than out of.

Today I was pretty convinced my active, feisty little "almost" two years old somehow found and read "How to be a Temper Tantrum Throwing Two Year Old" book and read it cover to cover. Today I couldn't keep up with them.

There are days when you think you need a drink to make it through. Today I didn't think. I knew I needed that drink. So I had me a little glass of vino during "Naptime temper tantrums, protests, stroller didn't put them to sleep either and gas is just too darn expensive to drive around and nap" time.

So, cheers! Cheers to more days like yesterday and fewer days like today!! LOL

Here are some pictures from this weekend, before they found the aforementioned book that turned them into little....well, we'll just let your imagination fill in that blank!

The boys enjoying some puddin' on the deck. Aren't they sweet?

I love their little toesies!

And this is them once they finished their puddin.....isn't that sweet, too!?! LOL

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And STAY TUNED - (I'm pullin' a "Bobbi" and committing blog abuse), in the next day or two I will have "dramatic" news. tee hee hee!! (Nothing HUGE, just a big change!!)

Quirky!

I was tagged by Laurie last week to list 10 quirky facts about me-self. So, here goes!

1. I am the least anal person I know.
2. I am a neat freak, though I am not a clean freak. Austin and Logan are making it very hard to practice my neat freakish ways. So, I currently live in Cluttersville.
3. I have an uncanny ability to arrive exactly on time…unless either my husband or my best friend are involved, then I’m very late (and very angry!).
4. I love my closet to be color coordinated. It's hardly ever that way, but when it is, I could sit it all day long it makes me so happy!
5. Gary and I play “The Price is Right” whenever we go shopping. I have probably nailed the EXACT cost on the cash register approx. 20-30 times. Yet “picking the right numbers” doesn’t extend to the lottery! boo!
6. Whenever I play putt-putt, bowl or shoot pool, I am either 100% on my game and spank everybody else or I am not even in the competition because my game is so far off. There’s no middle ground. LOL
7. I am a procrastinator. I am not very productive until its crunch time and then I can accomplish amazing feats!
8. I play a mean game of Pictionary! And can guess correctly when others only see a blob. (Quirky fact #6 does NOT apply to Pictionary. I always got my game on!)
9. I love quiet. If I’m the house by myself, I do not have the TV or the radio on. It’s so delightful!
10. Austin and Logan are always dressed a like or in coordinating outfits. If one messes up his outfit during the day, I change the other one, too. It somehow keeps the Order of the Universe straight in my head.

Tee hee hee!! Aren't I Quirky!?! Okay, anyone else out there wanna join us on the Quirky Facts Tour?

Happy Anniversary!

Five years ago today, I married my man and became a mother to Mason and Evan, then 14 and 11 years old. It was an absolute fairy tale day for me.

When Gary proposed, he asked me to "Become his wife and to become a mother to his children." Mason and Evan were right there beside him with big ole' grins on their faces. At the wedding, they were Gary's best men. We gave them pendants during the ceremony and made a pledge to our new family. They gave the most heartwarming toast at our reception. It was truly a day celebrating all of our new lives together.
When Evan found out that I would want a special dance with him at the wedding, he asked if we could rehearse. My college roommate, Gena came over several times and we choreographed an awesome little number for the big event. Evan even added the Top Hat and Cane for full effect. It was so much fun!!
And I couldn't find a picture, but Mason came up with the brilliant idea of "joking the whole reception." When Gary and I started our first dance in a very romantic moment, we had the DJ switch to "Baby's got back" and the WHOLE wedding party turned around and started shaking their butts. Hilarious!! (Edited to add "butt dance" picture! Momma found one and scanned it for me!)
I had always thought I was going to be married right out of college....and start havin' babies right away, of course. God had other plans for my life, and I don't regret being single through out my twenties and early thirties. In fact, I found "me" during those years.

So, even though I got married years away from my "timeline" when it came time for my actual wedding day, I never once thought "Why couldn't we have found each other sooner?" All I remember thinking is PURE JOY that we had found each other. Later, I would hold onto to that thought all during the adoption process. I knew I would not spend the rest of my life thinking, "If only I could have been there for their first x-amount of months." I just knew that the day I got them, I would again experience PURE JOY!

How FULL is my life now! I have two amazing older boys that are phenominal and have taught me so much, including how to be a good Mom. I have two little boys that exhaust me during their most quiet times and fill me with joy all of the time. And at the center of it all, is the most, wonderful, supportive (he does all the laundry and cooking!), hardworking hubby around.

I love you, Gary! Thanks for filling my life with so much JOY!

More Fun Times by the Dancing Duo!

Mason loves "wild" music. ;-) Austin and Logan LOVE it when Mason "cranks" the music in his room. They will stay in there forever and the four boys will have a major dancin' throw-down. I usually don't get to videotape because Mason and Evan KNOW it's going to go on the website. But I begged and got a little bit of footage...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

And if you haven't heard already there is some awesome celebrating going on over at Steph's site: http://journeytoeli.blogspot.com Go join in on the fun!!

Toss!

Scenario: The following footage was shot while I was inside my closet (doing my spring cleaning). Gary and Evan were "playing" with the boys outside the closet, in the room. So, the footage is a little "tight." sorry.

But this is hilarious....and a first time event as far as I know.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sleeping!

This is how Gary found the boys this morning:

Is that not cute!?!