This Week in Pictures

Tyler is sitting up like a pro so he usually ends up playing on the floor with a bunch of toys around him. I love this phase; he can sit and play, but is still immobile. Pretty soon he'll be crawling around and getting into everything. This makes me nervous because we have lots of legos that don't always get put away. Plus, I'm going to have to sweep the floor more often...

Spencer got to go to a couple of birthday parties at parks this last week. They were for two of his good friends who are both moving. He'll miss them a lot. 

Spencer is a great car washer and Brant usually gets soaked when Spencer's in charge of the hose. 

Tyler's first time sitting up in a shopping cart- he looks like he's hanging on for dear life. He seemed to like it, though, because up until now he's only seen Target from out of his carseat in the back of the cart. 

Just a minute before Spencer said, "No, I'm not tired!" I carried him to bed and he slept another two hours. 

We surprised Brant at work with a Wendy's picnic. He just finished his very last college class EVER. I think I'm as excited as he is. He has his big exams coming up next month, but after that he gets to spend his days researching the exciting world of accounting! The boys loved the view from the third floor window. 

A rare moment of actually playing on the grass in Texas! Aside from the fire ants and other creatures, usually the grass is too hard to sit in. Thanks to lots of rain this year and lots of hard work by Brant, I think our lawn is as green as it possibly could be. 

I am so grateful for these boys of mine. The days are crazy and loud, but I still want time to slow down because I feel like they're growing up way too fast. 

Everyday Life (the last 5 months)

I'm a little behind on the blog so I thought I'd catch up on the last 5 months at one time. :) 

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Rich came in January and built a new soccer net for the boys. We are working on our soccer skills! 

The boys were thrilled someone else was willing to push them on the swings instead of having to ask me all of the time. 

Our happy Tyler!

We spent family night at a little carnival in the parking lot of the mall. Tickets were really expensive so we weren't going to go on any of the rides, but then a family gave us 5 of their tickets that they weren't going to use. Normally this airplane ride would have been 9 tickets for the three of us, but the guy in charge of this ride let us go on twice for just 5 tickets total. I really appreciate it when people are so nice! 

Spencer reading an astronaut book from Aunt Danille to his little brothers. 

One of Brant's proudest moments- first time golfing with Spencer. 

Our little Ohio State Buckeyes (even in Texas)

The Easter Egg Hunt at the George Bush Library. One of our favorite activities in College Station. 

The boys being silly...love them!

Our Tyler in his car seat, he spends much more time there than he would like. 

Poor Gavin had a stomach bug for a few days and was so sad. We watched a lot of movies and spent a lot of time cuddling. 

Airplanes the boys got in their Easter baskets. 

Texas A&M baseball game! 

Love this man!

Brant decided to get in the tub with the boys- they thought it was hilarious. 

Camping in the backyard. Spencer pumped up the air mattress almost all by himself. He was getting really tired, but kept pumping. 

Gavin 'helped' him for a little while. 

They didn't get much sleep. Brant says suburbia is a lot louder than the forest. Also, sharing an air mattress with a 2 and 5 year old doesn't lead to a good night's rest. Tyler and I were nice and cozy in our beds inside the house. :)

Superman helping me at the grocery store. 

These boys spend half the day dressed up, usually as superheroes. They always make me feel safe. :) 

Snack time on the fort -- love the boys' expressions.

This is our construction zone. We get lots of use out of our water table, even when it's too cold for water. 

Pirate time! 

Every time Spencer makes a new lego creation he wants me to take a picture and send it to Lego Magazine. One of these times I should actually send it in...

Ice cream cone on the swings! 

Conga line around the house

I asked Spencer to write his testimony in his new journal and he wrote, "Whenever I pray it makes me feel happy". I knew that because that's what he told me, not because I can decipher his spelling yet. It's cool to see how he sounds out the words in his head and writes them how he thinks they're spelled. 

We've had lots of rain this Spring and Gavin is always more than willing to jump in the mud puddles. Spencer wanted nothing to do with the mud because he says he does not like to get dirty. 

Muddy boy

My little sister, Karissa, visited us and the boys loved having her here! 

Here they are pretending to be statues at the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory. 

Best part of the tour- ice cream! 

The only picture I got with Karissa while she was here. I need to be better at taking pictures... and updating our blog a little more often. :)

December in Texas!

Spencer is becoming quite the builder. He builds things out of his imagination all the time. He had some help from Brant for this beauty, though. 

Spencer also loves to take pictures. This one is pretty good for a 5 year old. 

There's a grocery store in Texas called HEB (Literally stands for Here Everything's Better). It's our favorite grocery store and we happen to know the general manager which meant we got a VIP tour complete with dinner and an HEBuddy visit! You can tell Spence is excited since he usually doesn't run up and hug giant grocery bags. 

We've had some sick days this month which meant lots of cuddles. Spencer had a stomach bug and is still super paranoid about throwing up. Almost every day he asks me if he's going to throw up again. Poor little guy. Gav was being a pirate here with his telescope. 

For some reason Spencer enjoys giving other people shots, but definitely does not like getting them. He and Gavin got their flu shots a little while ago and he was not a happy camper. 

Here's this year's gingerbread house along with 3 silly boys!

We had the Olsons and Thurgoods over for Christmas Eve dinner. This is the only picture I took (why do I not think to take a picture until after everything's over?), but I'm glad it shows Spencer's and Tucker's matching shirts and they are enjoying their pie and ice cream. 

On Christmas Eve we have a tradition of opening up a new game and playing it together. Gator Golf was a huge hit! 

The best (and cutest!) Christmas present ever! 

I love watching everyone open presents on Christmas morning! 

Gavin's new scooter from Grandpa Rich and Grandma Pam. 

All of the boys' presents. There were lots of cars!

Baby Tyler's presents. He was obviously ecstatic. 

Spencer got right to work building his new Captain America legos and Gavin's Batman legos. 

We had a great Christmas and are grateful for our little family! Here's a picture of Gavin doing some 'tummy time' with Tyler. Whenever I put Tyler on his tummy Gavin wants to show me that he can do it too. :)