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. :)

November 2012

Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye! Tyler has no chance of escaping it. 

Gavin always says, "Hold you! Hold you!" whenever I'm holding Tyler because he wants me to hold him instead. This is how I can hold both of them at the same time. 

Our first camping trip with three boys! They all did a great job, including Tyler who wasn't even 5 weeks old yet. 

It was a little chilly the other morning (in the 60s) so Gavin wanted his gloves and hat on. Living in Texas he of course needed sunglasses too. 

I love this picture Spencer drew of our backyard. It has our swing set (which I drew), a tree, the sky, a fire ant mound...it's the brown thing under the tree. We get a lot of fire ants. 

Spencer's first letter to Santa. He thought it would be best to draw all of the things he wanted like a transformer, a new bike, and legos. He told me what he wanted to write so I helped him out. It says, "Dear Santa, This is for you! Love, Spencer". We put it in the mailbox to send it to the North Pole. 

Brant trying to get Tyler to smile. I got the first smile, though, just a few minutes later. :)

Love the bib, thanks April and Frances! 

I forgot to take a picture of our Thanksgiving feast so I got one afterwards. So thankful for all of our blessings!