OK, now I get it!

It only took me this long to figure out there are some PERKS to having multiple childrens. :) Disregard all the hardships (grocery shopping, fighting over toys, 2 carseats, etc) of having more than ONE, and you can spot the sweet moments. My boys are 3 years apart, and they are starting to interract more, and I'm LOVING it!

like reading books together

eating breakfast together

poppin a squat together

making each other laugh

popcorn parties

painting together

and helping me vaccuum! :)

Hello, Robin

WOW. I guess that should sum him up. Did anyone catch Robin Thicke on Oprah? I sure hope so. He has a beautiful voice and whoa, he's a stunner. He writes songs and plays piano too. I was impressed. But not to worry, he is taken. Married to an equally gorgeous girl. And when Jer came home, I just had to google him so he could feast his eyes upon my new innocent crush. Talk about a secure guy, he not only admitted to his gorgeousness, he even smiled at me and told me he thinks it's so cute that I think Robin is so cute! Now I consider myself a pretty secure girl, but I'm not sure how "cute" I would think it was if I found Jer googling some celeb and practically drooling...

My Preschool Grad

Brayden has been going to Shari Yee's little Montessori preschool since he turned three and he graduated this week! I still remember his very first day, the outfit he wore, his nervous but excited little smile, the painting he brought home. I had just had Koston and I was also excited for him to be able to go to school and make friends and learn. I was so proud and sad at the same time, I gave him a hug and kiss and told him to have fun. As I was leaving the classroom, he was already sitting with the class, and he turned back to say, "Bye Mama... have fun." I still remember like it were yesterday.

Well now seeing him with his classmates at the graduation, I had to ask myself, "is this the same Brayden?" he TOWERS over most of his classmates, he looks so much older, and ready to move on. The kids walked out in their white caps and gowns to the graduation song, and out came my son, plugging his ears. Yes, he is very awkward when it comes to songs, or dancing, etc. He gets embarrassed. But then he sat down and spotted me in the crowd and gave me the perfect camera pose, over and over again. That boy LOVES the camera.

Well, I had promised him that we could go to Chick Fila for lunch after graduation, but since it was over by 9:30 am, oops, we had about three hours to kill. So what better to kill time than with Target and PetsMart and then Click Fila, oh my. Everywhere we went, Brayden kept his graduation hat on, and random people kept telling him Congratulations! It was so fun to see his proud smile. At Target I told him he could choose a small graduation gift. He was so cute. He wanted a new game for his little V-Smile video game thing. I put all of the games that were in his age range in a pile and he carefully laid them all out and studied the front and back of each package until he was confident with his perfect choice. Such a careful consumer, I think he must get that from me. :) Then off to Petsmart, Kosty's FAVORITE place. Every time we go there, he kisses each of the cat cubicles individually, without me telling him to! He is terrified of the birds for some reason. I have to say I was VERY tempted to pick one of the 3 adorable teeny kitties that were there that day. Too bad they grow up! They were adorable. I have been telling Brayden that when he gets older and responsible enough to clean out the tank every week, he can get a fish. How sad is that, a fish!? BORING. But I'm allergic and I think its way too hot to keep an animal outside. Well Brayden told me, "Never mind, Mama. I don't want a fish anymore. When we come back, I want that kitty. She really likes me." How much I wanted to buy her, right then and there. Quick! Distraction. Time for Chick-Fila, where we met up with our friends and got this CUTE pic of all of them! I love how little Kosty ran in there at the last second and posed. Well no more school, eek. I have to get busy on keeping Brayden very busy this summer!

A Mini Steve Nash

I took Kosty to this little Gymboree class a while back and he pretty much parked himself at the basketball hoop and was just giddy during the whole class, but I didn't sign him up ($70 a month for 1 class/week) anyways, fast forward...one of our neighbors has a little kid basketball hoop and Kosty just goes CRAZY for it, I mean he seriously dribbles first, then shoots (in practically perfect form), and sometimes even swishes the ball into the hoop! It is so cute. After a LONG time of standing out in the heat while he does his thing, I then have to grab him kicking and screaming all the way home with his stop-sign-red cheeks, yelling, "ball, ball, ball" all the way home. So I decided to get smart and go get him his own hoop! DUH. He played so hard all evening in our backyard (under the patio :) and the next morning I woke to the sound of his pitter patter with Brayden's shoes on, in his pj's, ball in hand, ready to go shoot hoops. He even loves watching basketball games with Jer on TV. It is so much fun when you have 2 kids and you get to see all the differences in their personalities, and their own little hobbies and talents. Oh and by the way, the poor SUNS! dang, what a disappointment, Jer was practically in tears over their defeat.

Oh yeah, I forgot to post these pics when we went to the Desert Breeze park in Chandler a while ago, and it was really fun! Its like Freestone, but much better. It has a way cooler train and longer ride, and a little water squirter park, merry go round, and swings, and ducks on the lake.

Brayden has been sick the last couple days, and it seems to be getting worse. He has a tight cough and last night he woke up at 4 am with a fever and coughing so hard that I had to do a breathing treatment. So there went all of our plans this weekend, we wanted to go see the new Shrek but didn't want to spread any diseases! Bummer. And right before his preschool graduation. I sure hope he recovers QUICKLY in the next 4 days. Poor guy, I am trying to keep him "quarantined" on the couch with constant water and juice, and a blanket over his mouth when he coughs, and keeping him FAR AWAY from Kosty. One sick kid is no fun, but 2 sick kids- MISERABLE. He still has his wit though. We were telling knock-knock jokes last night and I said "Knock Knock." Bray-"who's there?" Me- "Justin." Bray- "Justin who?" Me- "Justin time for bed!" (lame, I know) Bray- "how bout Justin Timberlake?"

Music to my ears

Major breakthrough in our home today! Koston finally said, "I love you!" (more like I wuv woo) it was so stinkin cute! Jer said it to him this morning and he actually said it back for once. All three of our jaws dropped, quickly we cheered and said "again!" just to verify. Sure enough he repeated his happy and triumphant "I wuv woo!" This is BIG for our little Kosty cone, he is actually starting to put words together, its so much fun. Oh yeah and he says, "one moa" for "one more" every time we read books. Well he must be burnt out because all day long, I've been making him say it over and over and I'm sure he thinks his mom is crazy! Sorry but there's nothing like hearing your baby say I love you for the first time!! :)

ACM Awards!

Yay! The Academy of Country Music Award show was on tonight, and it did not disappoint! I was so happy watching it, there were so many awesome performances! I have always been a country music girl at heart. I was so happy to see Faith and Tim perform, they are both so gorgeous and adorable. Even Reba (whom I am normally not a HUGE fan of) had a great duet with Kelly Clarkson. Big and Rich (also not normally a fan) sang with John Legend, another great performance! its fun to see country music broaden its horizons a little! Faith looked so beautiful and her new song was really good. Tim also sang a new song, and did a tribute to all the fallen heros' families, tearjerker. Rascal Flatts did a song in memory of the Virginia Tech victims. Now you just wouldn't be shedding any tears at a trashy MTV awards show... and thats why I LOVE country!

Nothing better...

than the blessing of being a mama! I love my boys so much. I woke up at 10:00 (yes!) this morning (is that still considered morning?) to the most handsome waiters. Brayden brought me a plate of pancakes and orange juice, and Jer brought me some beautiful sunflowers and sweet card, and cleaned the kitchen too! Brayden has been making me different Mother's Day cards all week, every day he asks if he can still make one and of course I say yes! At preschool his teacher took his pic and interviewed him and he colored it and she laminated them, I love those things! Here's his interview:

My Mom's name is: I call her mama
She likes to eat: chicken
She makes me laugh when: she says "ookie!"
I make her laugh when I : go crazy!
She looks the prettiest when: she wears her wedding dress
Her favorite place to be is: at restauruants
She does not like it when: I do naughty things
She always says: I love you
She cooks the best: chicken
She loves me because: she really does
I love her because: she takes me to fun places and movies

One of my favorite parts of each day is probably when I tuck them into bed. (Not only because they're outta my hair!) Brayden always says " I love you way past SUPER infinity and back" and other sweet nothings. Kosty lets me snuggle him up in the rocking chair, and I savor every second of it because he is so "go, go, go" all day long and doesn't have much time for snuggling! He recently mastered his kisses and I can't get enough of them, he has the cutest little juicy lips and he puckers them up so big and makes a loud "smoochy" sound! Its to die for! One of my all time favorite sounds is the pitter-patter his adorable little feet make when he rushes around the house. We always know when he's comin, and I can't help but smile everytime I hear that sweet sound! Both my boys are such blessings and I'm so proud to be their mom!

The end of MISERY!

Two weeks of utter MISERY later, and I am one happy girl! Apparently I have been living under a rock. But now, I can proudly say that 19 months later, my little one is finally an independent sleeper, NO BOTTLES, NO BINKY'S, NO ROCKING, and NO BOOB! and NO MORE CRYING! (the best part). Please excuse my over excitement, as this is probably normal to most of you, but not in my house. My kids have both been SPOILED to death as far as sleeping goes. I can discipline all day long with zero guilt, but something about when the sun goes down, I morph into a freakin' doormat for my baby to walk all over. And don't even get me started on Jer, total WUSS! So I had heard about the horrifying "Cry it Out" methods before, and I would just scoff at the idea. I never in my wildest dreams would have thought I would nor could do it. I thought it was so cruel. But oh no. After a full week of Kosty partying till basically midnight, it did me in. I knew something needed to happen or I was off to the insane asylum. And since I couldn't think of any around here, I did the next best thing. I went to Barnes and Noble and literally had about 8 different books in a pile, I narrowed it down and took my 2 selections to the counter, where even the clerk had her own advice for me, "you might as well put them both back if you can't be tough!" But the straw had already broken the camel's back, and I was on a mission. I laid him down for a nap when we got home, and tried to speed read through the book, but I couldn't even concentrate. He screamed for almost 2 hrs straight. The first week I was an emotional wreck. It was probably the hardest thing I've had to do. I dreaded nap and bed time. But I was DESPERATE. Once he started getting the sleep he needed, he instantly became a happier boy, he started eating better, his attention span grew, and he was way less irritable. (Which, DUH! evidently he was showing all signs of an overtired child, hello!) Wow, hard lesson learned, and I WILL NOT make the same mistake with my third! (if that ever happens,eek) FREEDOM! Now I can actually enjoy my evenings with my husband, my shows, and my computer. :)