Mom...Mom...Mom.

Chloe loves to yell for Mom. Several times throughout the day, she will sit on the stairs by the big open window and yell "Mom" repeatedly, like she's calling for me to come in from outside.
The funny thing is, she knows I'm not outside. She'll be calling for me out the window and then she turns around and looks at me standing behind her a laughs. I guess she thinks she's pretty funny, but then again, so do I! What a goof!

{What's that funny face?}

{Chloe saw a bug and couldn't take her eyes off it!}

{Runny nose, but still cute.}

Babysitting.

I was doing some painting yesterday and I had to go upstairs and look for a few of the brushes I had packed away from our move. When I left the basement, Chloe was still asleep and Cooper was playing with some trains. I was probably gone for about 5 minutes and when I came back, I didn’t see Cooper. It didn’t take long to hear that he was in Chloe’s room, talking to her. I walked into her room to find this:

Cooper had gotten all the baskets of toys from Chloe’s shelves and unloaded them all into her crib. The two of them were sitting in her bed as happy as can be. Cooper said, “Sorry mom, but Chloe was calling for you so I thought I’d help her play.” Awww, what a little babysitter Coop has become.
Of course, I ran and got the camera, and when Chloe saw me leave her room she immediately started crying. She was probably thinking, “Mom, don’t leave me in here in this mess with him!”
So when I returned with the camera, Chloe was no longer happy as you can see in the photos below. She just wanted out of that bed. But Cooper was so proud of himself, saying, “Mom, aren’t I a good big brother?”
{Also, notice Chloe’s hair, also Cooper’s handiwork. In addition to the toys in the crib, he had gotten down her hair accessories and chosen a headband for her to wear. I’d say he’s about as good at doing hair as Jason is!}

Beach Bound

We have booked our annual fall family vacation, and after much thought and many options, we have chosen our destination: Myrtle Beach.
We wanted to go somewhere warm that will enable us to get out and enjoy the great outdoors during our trip since we're going in November. With three little ones, even after you bundle them up, they still complain about being cold if outside for extended periods of time in cold weather, or at least our three little ones do.
We also wanted to choose someplace that we could drive to in a day. South Carolina is cutting it close, with our destination being 19.5 hours from home. But it's better than California, which we drove back in 2004. Gabe was 19 months old, I was about 4 weeks pregnant with Cooper and we drove straight through over 1600 miles the first day, spent the night in Reno, Nevada, and drove about 400 more miles the following day to get to our destination: Yosemite National Park in California.
Oh my goodness, did I mention that I was pregnant and Gabe was 19 months old. I was sick, literally, vomiting on the side of the road. Gabe was more than tired of riding in his car seat. And Jason was tired of listening to us both complain! Needless to say, it was a long road trip!
After that long journey, anything else seems like a cake walk to us!
Gabe is super excited about our vacation because he's been asking to go see the ocean ever since he saw the movie 'Waterhorse', which I highly recommend by the way. I hope he's not expecting to see a sea creature!
And what could be better than getting photos of the kids and our family like this one:

{obviously not our kids, but picture our kids and family in their place. I will have endless photos to share after our vacation!}
Anyway, it sounds like there's a ton for a family to do while in Myrtle Beach. Our resort, which is an exchange we made through our timeshare, is a beach front getaway and has 3 bedrooms for our family to dwell in for the week. Who could ask for more?!?
So have any of you been to Myrtle Beach, or nearby sites we are considering visiting like Charleston, Tybee Island or Savannah, Georgia? If so, what activities are must-do and what sites are must-sees while we're there?
Any input would be appreciated...just leave a comment!
Now, only two months until vacation!

Just the Two of Us

Cooper & Chloe are becoming good buddies since Gabe is at school.
When Gabe is home during the day, he loves on his sister and takes care of her, hardly giving Cooper a chance to interact with Chloe.
But now that Cooper is the big boy at home during the day, he has taken it upon himself to take care of Chloe. He gets her drink for her, gets her toys for her and tells me when she's ready for a nap. {This happens whenever she cries. To Cooper, Chloe's cry signals that it must be naptime, like today when I discovered him trying to put her in the laundry basket and then push her around in it on the tile floor. She was crying, I came to the rescue and Cooper said it's because it's her naptime. Funny boy.}
Of course, it's a little lonely at times with Gabe not here. Gabe's absence during the day has been a transition for all of us, including his brother, evident when Cooper asks several times a day, with those big sad eyes, "When is Gabe coming home from school?"
But seeing a new bond form between Cooper & Chloe has been sweet.

I had been doing bills when Cooper yelled, "Mom, get your camera and take a picture of this!" I looked up and saw the two of them on Chloe's ride-on car, both with big smiles on their faces.
"I'm helping Chloe ride cause she's my friend," Cooper said.
That's all it takes to melt a mother's heart!

School Bus

Along with starting school, Gabe now has another "first" under his belt: riding the school bus. He started riding the bus yesterday {Monday.} And he loves it!
I told him I was going to have to pick him up from school on Wednesday because he has a ear doctor checkup right after school and you'd think I had ruined his whole day!
"Ahhh, Mom, I'd rather ride the bus," Gabe replied.
He even has a couple of friends on the bus. They're really sweet girls that live just down the road from us and go to our church.
{If you're reading this, Hi Dawn & Sarah!} They've been watching out for Gabe on the bus and making sure he's ok. When he got home today, Gabe immediately told me, "I got to sit with Sarah!" I'm so glad they're on the same bus route!
And I really am so thankful he is loving school and loving the bus. I pretty much knew he'd love school. Gabe is extremely outgoing and is a people person who loves to be on the go. A full day of school is perfect for a child like him.
But I was a little fearful that he wouldn't like waking up early to ride the bus in the morning, and would hate the long bus ride after school. {He gets on the bus by 7:15 a.m., and doesn't get home after school until 4:20 p.m. That's a long day for a five-year-old!}
But so far, Gabe is relishing in this new routine, and is excited for every school day.
Hopefully this novelty doesn't wear off too much!

All About Cooper.

This morning Chloe was taking her morning nap and Cooper wanted to go for a walk outside around our house. I, of course being obsessed with taking pictures of everything, took the opportunity to take some photos.
I guess our walk turned into an impromptu photo shoot. I have a few funny stories to go along with some of the photos, as often happens when takings photos of the kids :)
Here's some of the best takes of Coop.
I'd love to know which one is your favorite, and why!
{I love these first three. To me, they really capture his sweetness!}


{Right before the photo below, Cooper said, as he moved closer to the camera, 'I'm gonna get up close & personal mom!' I have no idea where he heard that!}

{I love this one. He looks like he's trying to do a superman pose with those little hands on his hips!}

{Cooper loves to smell flowers. We can't walk past a flower without him stopping to smell it!}

{This is when he was telling me the sun was in his eyes.}

{In this photo, he told me he needed to hold up his 'heavy head.' Where does he get this stuff?}

{Here's Cooper looking rather GQ! I do have a sun hood for the camera, but I kind of like the effect the suns rays has on this shot.}

Three Cheers for Comments

I have been trying to enable comments on my blog for a few days with no avail. But I got it figured out and now you can officially leave comments on this site! So, please feel free to do so. {Thanks by the way to those of you who have been sending me comments about the blog through e-mail. Now I've hopefully made it easier for you to communicate to me directly through the blog!}
Back when I was a newspaper editor and wrote for a daily publication, I would get feedback from readers through the 'letter to the editor' section. To me, comments on this site are like letters to the editor. They give me feedback and let me know what you think. They let me know that I'm not really crazy, that maybe you are experiencing some of the same things I am. Or maybe they let me know that you think I'm crazy, lol. Either way, I like feedback. I'd love to read your thoughts, and love to know who you are & what you think!
I have to tell you all, I am such a curious person who just plain likes to know things, like who out there from California, Pennsylvania, Texas, etc., is a follower of this blog. Do I know you, or did you just happen upon this site?
Please, please, please satisfy my curiosity by letting me know who you are. Don't worry if you're a blog stalker. I'm a blog stalker too, so we have something in common already!
So please, let the comments begin... go ahead...just click on the little 'comments' section at this end of this post...it's located just to the right of the "posted by" section...right below this sentence...lol.

Inspired by Pottery Barn

I started painting birdhouse gourds for Jason's mom to sell on the pumpkin farm. Every year I help the family pumpkin farm by painting gourds to sell and painting pumpkins for decorations. The fact that these painting projects have already begun has gotten me thinking...can it be that the summer is almost gone and fall is almost upon us? Is it just me, or did this summer fly by?

Anyway, since I have my paints out, I have decided to finally get around to painting some artwork for Chloe's room. Over the winter I painted two pictures for the boys' room that they had picked out of the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. I LOVE Pottery Barn, but it's usually a little out of my price range, so I look through the catalog and try to recreate the decor for less. Gabe & Cooper wanted "rockstar" themed artwork. Specifically, Gabe wanted a drum set and Cooper wanted a guitar. So thanks to Pottery Barn for the inspiration, I created these paintings:



I paid $30 for the two canvases and used paint I already had to freehand these Pottery Barn re-creations. I got for $30 and some time what I would have gotten for $120 each if I had ordered them through Pottery Barn. So not only did I save money, but painting it myself is more meaningful for the boys too! Can't beat that!
On to Chloe's room...I was flipping through the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and have decided to do one of the following projects:




I'm loving the tree collage utilizing the different size canvas hangings to create one overall picture. But all of them are pretty cute, so I'll have to make up my mind.

So which one do you like the best?

First Day Best Moments.

I wanted to post a few of my favorite moments from today so that I can have a record of these moments and don't forget them. After all, that's in a way what this blog is about. Having a record for myself and getting to share the moments with all of you!

Story 1:
Cooper was acting a little out of sorts as Gabe got ready for school. I thought to myself, 'Is Cooper sad that Gabe's leaving for school, or am I just reading into his clingy behavior?' My question was soon answered...
As I was holding Cooper, Gabe came over to tell us goodbye before he left for school. Gabe told me goodbye first, and then turned to Cooper who was sitting on my lap and said, "Bye Coop!" Cooper looked at Gabe with big, sad eyes and in such a genuine tone said, "Bye Gabe! I'll miss you!"
If that's not precious enough, Gabe's reaction only added to the moment. A huge smile overcame his face and he gave Cooper a hug and said, "Thanks Coop!" Little details like that make such a priceless moment between two brothers, two playmates, two friends.

Story 2:
When I picked Gabe up from school, he was happy to see me, but holding back from telling me too much about his day. It's like he's already reached that middle school mentality that a lot of kids that age have where they're too cool to show too much emotion. Gabe's been in that stage for a while now. I asked him how school was, and he replied, 'Good.' Then I thought maybe that was too general of a question, so I asked him how music class was. His reply: 'Good.'
Same when I asked him about recess, lunch, meeting new friends, playing with old friends, his teacher, library, etc. All questions yielded the same result...'Good.'
But after we got home, he couldn't hold it in anymore. The act of playing cool was over, and one by one the details started to reveal themselves through Gabe's overflowing excitement.
I have many examples, but here's a couple of the more humorous ones...

Gabe: 'Hey mom, you know what?' *Not even waiting for my response he continued...* 'I painted a picture today!'
Me: 'Wow, that sounds fun! What was the picture of?'
Gabe: 'Ummmm, I don't know yet. I'm still trying to figure that out.'

Gabe: 'Hey mom, you know what's crazy?!?' *Again, too excited to wait for a response.* 'Mrs. Dwars counts when we take a drink at the drinking fountain, like this...1...2...3...4...5...you're done. Next! 1...2...3...4...5...you're done. Next! And she does that for every single person!'
Me: 'Really?'
Gabe: 'Yeah...isn't that crazy?!? Why does she do that?'
Me: 'Maybe so that everyone gets a drink and doesn't take too long.'
Gabe: 'No, I think it's because she really likes to count.'

These are the stories, brief moments in time that are gone unless we write them down. So, here I am, doing just that.

And now to end this post, as the old saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words. So, here are some of those too...

First Day.

Gabe woke up bright & early this morning, filled with excitement.
My first conversation this morning with Gabe went a little like this:
{Note the words between the ** were not said, just thought. I assume this would be evident, but could be confusing if not understood, lol.}
Gabe: 'Mom! Do you know what day it is?'
Me: 'I think so...'
Gabe: 'It's my first day of school!!!'
Me: 'Oh my goodness. That's great!' *trying to act very excited, but crying on the inside*
Gabe: 'Are you excited for me Mom?'
Me: 'Yes, so excited!' *excited, but sad*
Gabe: 'Mom, are you gonna cry all day without me?'
Me: 'No silly.' *Actually, just part of the day*
Gabe: 'Mom, I've asked Dad to take me to school so that you don't cry. But don't worry, you can pick me up.' *Who's the adult here, me or you?*
Me: 'That's a good idea Gabe!'
Gabe: 'Yeah, I know. I have lots of good ideas now that I'm in Kindergarten!'

So, that was our conversation. My little baby is all grown up and at Kindergarten as I type this. I'll post photos of the exciting first day later, but wanted to share the story while it was fresh in my mind.

And don't worry, I won't really cry all day! Just a little.

T-ball Recap

Both boys played t-ball this summer...well, sort of. Gabe was officially on the team and Cooper wasn't because he's only 3, but since there were very small teams this year and he really wanted to play, he was able to.
Cooper was hilarious his first few games. He never showed interest in t-ball before, and had always chose to play something else while Gabe & I would play ball. So, due to this lack of practice, lack of prior interest, and general spaciness of a 3-year-old, Cooper was completely clueless at his first at-bat. He didn't really know how to swing the bat, and when he did, he tried swinging it the wrong way and hitting the ball backwards, towards the backstop. Then, once he finally did hit the ball the right direction, he would go and field the ball he just hit instead of running to first base. When he finally did run to first base, he wouldn't stop there. He just kept running. When Jason asked him, ''what are you doing Cooper,' he replied, 'Ummm, I'm just running,' exactly like Forrest Gump. It was too funny. A friend said she was tucking her four-year-old into bed, who was on the team we played against in Cooper's first game, and her son said, "Mom, that Cooper was crazy! He was like his own team!" And he was, he hit the ball and fielded the ball, all himself. Oh, and one more Cooper story, when he was suppose to be fielding and would get the ball, he would throw it directly at the runner instead of throwing it to the base. I guess he thought this was more like dodgeball.

Anyway, Cooper was great entertainment and had a wonderful time. And towards the end of the season, I'm thinking he could have earned 'most improved' because he was finally starting to get it. Cooper was starting to lose interest during the last few games and would slyly walk off between the innings and head over to the nearby playground. I guess after one round of fielding and batting, he'd had his fill and it was time to play. He is just so funny...gotta love him!

Gabe is still a hardcore baseball player and can still really rip the ball. It's been said he gets his swing from his mom :) Wonder who said that {my dad, my biggest fan ever & always of course!} My dad always loves to tell everyone how I only played one game of t-ball and then was recruited by the little league coach because I was beyond my years in skill, lol. If you can't tell, my dad likes to brag about me a little. But really, Gabe can hit that ball and just loves to play, so he had a wonderful time and would look forward to each and every game.

So, with the season now over, I thought I'd share a few photos. The only ones I have are of the last game, because the ones I took at the beginning of the season got corrupted on a different memory card. Bummer! So, you'll notice no photos of Cooper playing ball. He only lasted one at-bat that last game and then wandered over to the playground as he always does.

And now for the photos...here's Gabe hitting the ball.

Here's Gabe throwing the ball to his best friend and teammate, Brayden, playing first base.

Gabe & Bradyen playing some form of baseball kung fu.
{Five-year-olds still tend to get a little distracted once & a while on the field!}

Here's Cooper. He found a couple of playmates on the playground.
{Side note: After I took this picture, the blond girl said, 'Are you Cooper's Mommy?' I said, ''Yes, do you know Cooper?' She replied, "Yes, he's the boy we girls love." It was so funny...she was so serious! Guess I have another ladies man on my hands!}

And my other ladies man, Gabe, with his preschool friend, Kinzley.
{There's been talk of marriage between these two, so I guess we'd better keep a close watch on them. I do have to admit, they are quite a cute couple.}

Here's Brady, another of Gabe's friends from preschool. {I love this picture of him, what a cutie!}

Kinzley, Gabe & Brady being silly. {Love their expressions!}

{And all smiles...}

State Fair

We went to the state fair last Friday. Of course I have a ton of photos from our fun-filled day. Here's the highlights...
I got plenty of photos of all three kids!

doing cute things like holding hands to cross the street...

And playing farmers for the day at the 'Little Hands' Exhibit...




We ate plenty of great fair food...




But don't worry, we washed our hands before we ate...

We traveled around the fair relaxing by stroller...

by backpack...

and by foot, wearing backpacks {that weren't even ours, silly Gabe}...

We saw some cute animals...

And some familiar faces {Dan Wardell, the IPTV Reading Icon}...

And we even rode some rides, thanks to some nice strangers we met during our lunch who gave us free tickets...


even some rides I thought Gabe would never ride, like this roller coaster...

that obviously wasn't made to fit grown men riding with two small boys {look at Jason's leg hanging out of the side}...

The fun was written all over our faces!
Some were dirty...

and smiling...


And as it got dark...

some got sleepy...


{The End}