Some pictures

 One Saturday Dean was fixing something in his car, and Grant grabbed one of my recipe books, laid it in front of him, and started "working" on his big wheel (pretending like he was looking at his "manual" for direction every so often).

Drew will often hold up something and say "Mommy, take picture my ah-yah" ("ah-yah is his blanky).  Then he says "me see!"

I still swaddle Molly every night (at over 4 months old).  I don't swaddle her too tightly anymore, but she settles down so much better that way.  She usually sleeps until about 5am now (although occasionally it's earlier).  But she doesn't sleep well during the day (I can't remember the last time she slept over an hour at a time).  But it's difficult getting her on a consistent nap schedule when we're out three days per week taking the boys to school (and picking them up). 

The boys wrestle with each other during the day, then with Daddy when he gets home:

We pulled out the jumperoo last week for the first time.  She likes it, at least for a while.  It doesn't seem like she should already be big enough for this!

Drew is so silly....every time he eats a piece of pizza, he eats it backwards, starting with the crust.  Every time!

See this little plastic bag?  It's just a ziploc bag that he filled with Valentine cards and other things, then carried it around for a few days.  He and Drew are constantly filling bags, backpacks, lunchboxes, and other containers with toys and other stuff.  They don't play with the toys, they just cram them into the container, carry them around, and dump them out again.  I hope this stage ends soon! 

We found the Volkswagen Star Wars commercial from the super bowl on You Tube.  I knew the boys would like it.  Grant is all about Star Wars right now!  He wanted to watch the "Dark Thader" commercial over and over again.

They boys love jumping off the coffee table (in our formal living room) onto either the couch or their beanbag.  At night before bathtime/bedtime, they're either wrestling with Daddy or doing something like this.

 This particular night, Dean recorded them on his phone and they wanted to see the video replayed.  Grant tries really hard to cross his arms (I guess he thinks it makes him look bigger), and so of course Drew tries doing the same thing! 

Our life in one word: CHAOS

Oh my goodness!  Life is so crazy right now.  I would love to blog every couple of days (there are always memorable and funny things that happen, especially with my crazy boys and their antics), but I guess it's just not going to happen right now.  When the kids go to sleep, I have about 25 things I'd like to do before going to bed, not to mention other things that just need to get done (laundry, cleaning the kitchen, getting somewhat prepared for the next day, etc.).  I only get pictures uploaded about every ten days, and by that time I don't even remember the context of many of them!  Aah!  Anyway, here's a rundown of what's going on in early 2011 in our house:

- Molly is four months old now and is such a joy.  She's my little companion wherever I go....I just adore her (of course- she's my child!) and can't get enough of her.  Well, actually, I guess that's not totally accurate....she doesn't sleep well during the day (another reason for the lack of blog posts), so by the evening she's really fussy and we're all ready for bedtime!  But for the most part, she's smiley and adorable and loves getting attention from her big brothers....her face lights up when they come near her.   

- It's been a hard winter!  We've had lots of really cold days that have made it impossible to be outside.  And that's tough when you have two little boys who drive their momma CRAZY fighting and making messes inside.  I know they're just boys and I'm really trying to not let the messes bother me.  I'm not a clean freak (our house is hardly ever dusted or mopped), but the clutter just gets to me sometimes.  But I'm really trying to work on this, so I don't spend their childhood scolding them for basically just being normal little boys.

- Our dear pastor, John-G, died of cancer on Jan 27.  We've only belonged to this church for 2.5 years, but we loved him and learned so much from him.  He was an amazing teacher and an incredibly down-to-earth guy.  He was a New York City police officer before he decided to go into ministry.  He was only 48, and he and his wife Kim have four kids (their youngest boy is seven).  It just makes me so sad when I see the kids who will finish growing up without their dad.

- The kids and I have been exploring neighborhoods and finding fun parks where they can play- our days are much more fun when we get out of the house.  Sometimes I'll let Molly sleep in the car and we'll just drive around while the boys watch a movie.  It's a break for me, because I love driving around different neighborhoods and finding new places where we can explore.  We'd have so much fun if every day in Texas was 70 degrees and we could be outside all the time!

- We joined the YMCA at the end of January.  Today was my first day to go (two weeks later!).  I haven't worked out since Grant was born, so I am desperately out of shape.  I went to a kick-boxing class today, which was quite fun.  I'm also wanting to try pilates and step aerobics. 

- The boys are good friends now.  Drew is talking a lot more, so they can actually have real conversations.  It's really cute to watch (except when they argue.....then it's not so fun!).  They wrestle and chase each other and they do a lot of pretending together.  It's fun to see them actually acting like real buddies now.

- I hate cooking!  It is so hard trying to get something made for dinner right in the middle of a frustrating afternoon.  And Molly is usually incredibly fussy that time of day.  AND I'm never prepared ahead of time, so I always end up looking in the fridge at 1pm and wonder what in the world I'm going to make.  If it didn't cost so much money, I'd suggest we go out to eat three times a week!

Pictures hopefully coming soon!

MONTHLY update? How sad!

Okay, well I guess my computer is telling me that it's time to go to bed.  I uploaded some pictures from the camera tonight and was actually planning on writing something.  But now my computer is beeping at me.  So I guess that means I need to go to bed and do it tomorrow instead.  Every day there are so many funny and memorable things that happen, and I'd love to have time to blog every night (I do keep a Word document open and I write many of them out as they happen, just for my own record).  But I guess putting together coherent blog posts a few times per week is just not going to happen with all these crazy kids! 

So more tomorrow (or three weeks from now)....

Early January

The kids got a bounce house for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa, and Mommy and Daddy.  We had cold, rainy weather during the week after Christmas, so we finally set it up on New Year's day.  The boys thought it was too cold and didn't want to be out there while Dean was setting it up, but they wanted to watch.

 

 And they had lots of fun once they got out there.  I am counting on them spending a lot of hours in here in the spring and summer!

 

Miss Molly (who turns 3 months old today!):

Every once in a while, the boys like to put their Buzz and Woody toys in Molly's swing for a ride. 

The boys don't ask to hold Molly as much now as before.  But it makes me laugh....when Drew wants to hold her, he says, "me hold it." 

 The band-aid on Drew's head?  We took Grant for his 4-year checkup in late December, and the boys were running in the waiting room while I was distracted talking to a friend.  (They were only doing it for a minute, though....I promise!)  The next thing I knew, Drew was screaming and had fallen into a door hinge, splitting his head open.  Hey, at least we were at the doctor's office!  Yeah, this just about perfectly describes my life right now.  We are a total mess when we go almost anywhere.....I think the ladies at the doctor's office must cringe when they see us come in the door!

And a few more cute shots of Molly from the last week:

During a nap yesterday, she pulled her little headband down over her face.  It looked like a bow tie when she woke up!

See below for a few more pictures of Molly from a few weeks ago.  I started a post a while back, then forgot about it and just finished it up tonight. 

Miss Molly at two (and a half) months

I know I haven't posted pictures of any of the kids in so long.  Here are a few of Molly....she's the only one who has changed a lot in the last few weeks!

In the middle of some babbling....

My friend Erin pointed out that she has chubby cheeks and a pointy little chin:

One of my favorite pictures....I love how she squints her eyes sometimes when she smiles.

She loves bathtime now....

I finally ordered a pacifier keeper for her.....those Soothie pacifiers roll all over the place when they fall on the floor!  

Another squinty-eyed smile!

Roll Tide!  Thank you, Mrs. Mosteller, for the kids' cute Alabama clothes!