chasing the wind

Like mother like daugther

2012-01-25T07:15:00.000-08:00

Sweet baby girl is 5 months old today! I can not believe it. She is the sweetest, happiest, most content child ever. We sure were concerned those first two months...jk!
She is still tiny. She has chubby little thighs, but I don't think this baby will ever be big. She is a petite little thing.
Her personality is really starting to develop and she does more than just look like her mama...she is very much like her mama! Uh oh!
Caroline wants to be where the party is. She loves to be around people and can not sleep if a party is happening. She never cries, but never sleeps either! I have been saying she can say "hi." SHe is not making any "ma" or "da" sounds, but has been sounding like she is saying hi. Yesterday I got her to wave at me and say hi. I didn't catch the complete thing on video, so you will have to take my word on it or try to see it in the video, or just play along with this proud mama!
Happy 5 months, CJ...we LOVE you!

Bros in boots

2012-01-23T18:15:00.001-08:00

We got them rain boots and they are OBSESSED with them. This is coming home from school. Notice how sunny it is outside?!

It's flying

2012-01-19T07:21:00.001-08:00

Time, that is! CJ's 21 weeks!

It's finally here!

2012-01-10T08:01:00.000-08:00

The end of the Christmas posts!!! Aren't we all excited. You can tell it was the end of the holidays, too, because there were not very many pictures taken!

Granma and Granpa with all the kids. Granma...in every picture Caroline was covering you!!! This was the best I got.

Caitlyn and John

Gracey and Lauren

CJ and Caitlyn

Finishing up

2012-01-09T10:52:00.000-08:00

Last few shots before we move on to our "Hazzardous" Christmas!

Papa Joe kept saying he knew what to do with little girls!!

Yes, Owen, this is crazy

I wonder if anyone can look at Owen and Ric and tell what happened...

Grammy got herself a girl!!!

Mississippi x 3

2012-01-07T11:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was spent with the Stroh family. We were all feeling better that day and had a peaceful time celebrating!

CJ"s other greatgrandmother, Granny Stroh

I actually have a better picture...but CJ's face says it all. Isn't Granny a champ for attempting all three at one time!

Lots of love and lots of trouble!!

My sweet girl

This picture pretty much sums up Christmas! Lol!

Mississippi 2.0

2012-01-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Christmas eve with the Thompson/Gjertson/Freeman clan. We, well they, had so much fun. I woke up with a stomach bug and so I did not make lunch or present opening. I did make it mid afternoon and was able to go to the Christmas Eve service and hang out that night. Nate took these pictures because I was so sad to miss it!!!

Owen with Ga (Nate's grandmother)

CJ with Grammy

Very excited Blake with his remote control "monster truck." Can you see his missing teeth? They got knocked out a few days before and we had to have them pulled. Sad.

CJ waited a long time to meet her greatgrandmother and grandfather, Ga and Papa Joe.

Auntie and Uncle T with a big win with Lightning McQueen t-shirts

Post Christmas Eve Service

Sorry, Auntie, this picture was too funny! You think it would work for your frame?

Uncle T and Caroline. She was way over tired and just crying and crying. The only person who calmed her down...Uncle T. We said he must just have a way with the "Jeans!"

Mississippi Round 1

2012-01-04T07:50:00.000-08:00

We were in Mississippi for 7 days over the Christmas holiday. We had so much fun. We were all exhausted, in a good way, by the time we made it home. Here are a few of the fun things we did the first few days.

Pops got a toy hauler and so he and the boys had a camp out one night. Complete with the movie, "cars," and bubbles and beamer (their dogs) to cuddle with.

Nini took us to go bowling. Here's a high five for a good job!

The boys. In the middle is our cousin, Taylor.

Owen and Nini

Future league champs?!?!

The limelight

2012-01-03T10:59:00.000-08:00

The boys had the chance to be in two special Christmas programs this year. One was at school and one was at church.

The one from church was really funny. They used all the kids from preschool - about 2nd grade. The older ones had speaking parts and the preschoolers were animals at the manger. And the church joined in with carols in between parts. so.funny.

Blake didn't make it on stage eventhough he was the lone chicken at the stable. He saw us and came to sit in Nate's lap. Owen did really well until he saw me taking his picture and he started laughing his hearty Owen laugh and saying, "Mama...I ate a DONUT!" He was very proud of that.

The second program was at school. I haven't downloaded video from that yet. I was trying to be a cool, not over the top mom, and so I only took our small digital camera to video it. MISTAKE. I also showed up on time and not an hour early. MISTAKE. These preschool parents are serious!!!! We had to sit on the back row!!!! So we didn't get great pictures. Once they saw us they were so excited. Especially that daddy was there. Owen's class sang first. He made me laugh because he was mouthing words, not the right words, just words. You could tell he was too distracted by the people watching. Blake's class was second and he was mr. Cool. He had his Santa hat tilted a little and one hand in his pocket. He knew every word, but was very cool about his presentation. hillarious.
This picture is blurry...but it is still an all time favorite in my opinion!

Loved seeing them get to do fun things like this!

Maybe not to you...

2012-01-03T10:41:00.000-08:00

But to me, granma, grammy, auntie and maybe a few others...this is special :)

She's getting so big!!

Not even sure where to begin

2012-01-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

We have so many pictures from the past few weeks, that I am not even sure where to begin!!!! I know for sure that Grammy and Auntie were sad we didn't finish our daily advent posts...and then I have about 2 million to documents CJ's first Christmas. So I will try a few highlights here and there:

Christmas jammies

Our Christmas morning

Very thankful little boys for their big boy bikes

Santa pancakes...thanks again pinterest for providing all of Christmas ideas :)

Thanks Auntie and Uncle T for our cool bean bag chairs...we love to chilax (chill and relax) in them

Big boy bikes

Just for you, Grammy

2011-12-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

Check out those cool helmets and bells!

Good Stuff

2011-12-19T11:32:00.000-08:00

My sweet and smart friend, Lindsay, has started a blog to encourage young wives/moms. She has been doing a series called the 25 days of Christmas and while all the days have been great...this one is my favorite!!!!

Rubies and Rewards: 25 Days of Christmas: Behold the Lamb: We are over half way through our 25 Days of Christmas series! Most of it has gone according to the plan I had put together with a few ...

Day 13

2011-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

Big Idea: The shepherds got excited about finding the baby.

Activity: We made snowman soup! Super cute and easy. You take mix hot chocolate and whatever you want. We added marshmallows and candy canes. They mixed it themselves!

Excuse Blake's knees. You only get snowman cup pictures. The boys were over smiling :)

4 months

2011-12-15T09:15:00.001-08:00

Happy 4 months Caroline!!!! You are a true joy!!!

What to do...

2011-12-15T08:50:00.001-08:00

What to do on a rainy day...
Build a homemade race track with a wrapping paper roll, tape and straws!

Food for thought

2011-12-14T11:02:00.001-08:00

Thought I would steer away from our advent for a few minutes and show some recent found yummy foods!

I accidentally got this at the store the other day. I didn't look well enough to see that it is not the light kind. But oh.my.life. this stuff delicious! I let Blake have some today and he said, "it's ice cream yogurt?" Yummy. So if you are willing to spend 14g f fat and 39g of sugar per serving on yogurt, I highly recommend this :)

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This is another recent favorite find I have made. It is seasoned rice vinegar. I am not usually a huge vinegar person, but I do like vinagerettes. So I thought I would try this on salads for a whole 5 calories per serving. I love it. It is very sweet and a good subititute for salald dressings!!

This sandwich I made last night and it is scrumptious!!! It is from Cooking Light and so easy, so good and reheats well!!!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/mozzarella-chicken-sandwich-10000001185367/

Days 11 and 12

2011-12-12T22:07:00.000-08:00

Day 11 Big Idea: Good News was announced about a baby who would be Savior!
Activity: Made our teacher's gifts. We made vanilla brown sugar scrubs. I found this on pinterest and it was so great for them to help with. You can't mess it up!

Mix 2:1 Brown sugar and sugar

Add in Sunflower or Vegetable Oil and vanilla

Scoop into jars. I found these at walmart for $2

Then I put on some scrapbook letters and ribbons. We also gave them gift cards to our favorite place in Corsicana - 2 Doors Down! It's a coffee shop.

Day 12: Big Idea: An angel surprised the shepherds
Acitivity: We went to the library to get Christmas books. No pictures:) And a word to the wise...go BEEFORE Dec 12...or all the good ones are gone!!!

Day 9 and 10

2011-12-11T16:50:00.000-08:00

Sorry to be a little behind!!!
Day 9:
Big Idea: Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable.
Activity: Go to a live nativity.

It was pretty cold that night. Luckily Caroline had a warm outfit thanks to our buddy Elizabeth Anderson. When I put it on her she looked liked the kid from A Christmas Story. "I can't put my arms down!"

In true little boy form, they were more excited about the soldier at the entrance to Bethlehem. He did have a sword!

Daddy took our picture!

Day 10:

Big Idea: An angel surprised the shepherds.

Activity: We had to kind of "wing it" this day because we got to go to our cousin, John's, birthday party. So daddy took them to get donuts!!! Mommy got her hair done. So that means no picture!!!

Day 8

2011-12-09T11:51:00.000-08:00

Big Idea: That Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to register.
Activity: Go look at Christmas lights!

These videos aren't great, but here is the boys getting loaded to go and the other one is of the lights in the park that we drove through. Good job Corsicana on good lights!!!

This is how CJ felt about the lights!!!

Day 7

2011-12-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Big Idea: God has promised that Bethlehem would be Christ's birth place.

Activity: We made ornaments to give to our friends and had hot cocoa! (sugar free!)
At this point we realize the pictures are looking a lot the same and this is really for the granparents (and Auntie!)!

It was funny to see personalities come shining through. Owen could have done this for hours. He was very focused and wanted to complete the task. He actually did two by himself. One little piece of paper at a time.

Blake however, literally put about 5 pieces of paper in one ornament and called it done. However, he did finish his hot cocoa!!!

Day 6

2011-12-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

Big idea:
It was time for them to register for the census.

Activity: Make Brownie snacks. This idea was inspired by a pinterest idea. I saw some brownie tree pops. I changed it up a little and it was fn because the boys got to do more of the making, not just decorating. I poured the brownie batter into 2 pans instead of one so that they were thinner. Then we let the boys pick whatever christmas cookie cutter they wanted to make their own. Then we decorated. It was a success! And delicious!

She was there too :)

We needed baths afterwards and in true third child form...this is her first bath picture and she is almost 15 weeks old!! She's gonna have neglect issues!!

Look at that sweet bunny!

Day 5

2011-12-05T20:01:00.001-08:00

Big idea: Joseph took care of Mary while she was pregnant

Activities: tell the Christmas story with our nativity scene

And we went and delivered some clothes to a place called family services. It was so fun explaining to the boys that we are supposed to help take care of others because that's one way we can show God we love him. The best is to hear them repeat that to Nate. PRECIOUS!!!

Day 4

2011-12-05T11:27:00.000-08:00

Big Idea: That God had already told us that he would send His son this way.
Activity: Christmas card pictures! You can't see the final result...but I will let you in on what it's like to take a picture on a self timer with 4, I mean 3, kids :)

Nate's face kind of says it all!

again?!

here are a few cute shots

The Beans...he has a great smile. And he was promised candy. No I am not above that.

Yes, Caroline, this is what you are stuck with!

Day 3

2011-12-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

The big idea: The angel told Mary her son would save us from our sins.
Activity: Go to see the Christmas Parade...so much fun!
So much fun that when we got home, Owen came up to me and said "mommy thank
You for taking me to the harade!" (that isn't a typo...that's how he says parade)
We have a video that I'll try to post tomorrow!

Whose impressed at how we are keeping up!?!?!!?

Day 2

2011-12-02T17:10:00.001-08:00

Big idea: an angel came to Joseph to tell him about the baby.

Activity: watch Santa buddies... More fun for them than us!!!

Day one

2011-12-02T06:39:00.001-08:00

The "big idea" was that God made it possible for Mary to have a baby.
Our activity was making gingerbread men.
Here's the pics:

Thanks for the encouragement!

My last minute DIY advent

2011-12-01T16:35:00.001-08:00

So I have been wanting to do an advent calendar this year and with my pinterest app on my phone I have been seeing all kinds of cute ones for lots of inspiration. But of course, I am me, I am not very crafty and known for great ideas and little follow through. So of course since most Advents start on December 1st I put my thoughts together yesterday...which left me with today to make the calendar.

However, I am very happy with my last minute project. I am hoping to do a post a day this month to show all of the fun things we do. Again though, great ideas...little follow through...so we will see!!!

Here is where I started: I got this cute scrapbook paper from Walmart for $.97 and it had 7 pages in it...NOT BAD!

Then I found this cute heart shaped envelope tutorial on pinterest and so I cut out some hearts and made emvelopes:

Here is the envelope and m&ms to put inside

Inside each I wrote a verse that we would read as a family that night and two m&m's and the activity we would be doing for that day. I found the verse of of my friend Lindsay's advent blog found at rubiesandrewards.com

I then hung them on a ribbon with clothespins on our back doors

Here's a shot of both!

Not bad for not being crafty and doing it last minute! We'll see how I like it once we do it. Changes might come...

Thanksgiving and cuteness

2011-11-30T06:00:00.001-08:00

We had a great thanksgiving. We enjoyed Nate being home for the first part of the week and then we headed to my parents for the second half. We had a ton of fun being together and we have so much to be thankful for this year including the addition of our sweet Caroline! We even got our house fully decorated!!

Our best attempt at a group shot...taken at dusk...on a speaker...with 16 people...but we did it!

My little cowboy on his way to gramma and grampa's for thanksgiving. He was so excited to see all his "friends."

Just plain Caroline cuteness

Napping with grampa

My little turkey

Turkey trot - before picture - thanksgiving morning. We had so much fun doing it together. He smoked me!

Stroh kids...no pants in front of the tree

Here is our tree and mantel

Projects, projects, projects!!

2011-11-23T07:21:00.001-08:00

I'm so crafty...ok I'm not, but I sure like the idea of it. And as a mom of young kids you are forced to be!
Here are a few of our latest projects:
The boys, like every other kid, had to disguise their turkeys so they would not get eaten on thanksgiving...so how did my kids want to do it? Like Mr. The King and lightning McQueen. So here's out best attempts at that:

Then I attempted 2 Pinterest projects. One was this flower on CJ's hat:
And the other was this handprint tree:

And my last project has been CJ's turkey shirt. A picture of her in it to come!!!

Happy thanksgiving y'all!!!

2011-11-18T10:50:00.001-08:00

Happy early turkey day from two CUTE pilgrims!!!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

We had a very fun Halloween around here. The boys thought it was awesome that they got candy! They got to trick or treat at school, in the neighborhood, at a church, and we went to downtown Corsicana where the businesses were open and everyone trick or treated in them. It was really fun! Here are my two little astronauts and my little ballerina!

This picture is my favorite...I mean seriously...look at Caroline's face. It is like she is seeing, "do you see what I have to live with?!!?!"

What a difference a few weeks can make

2011-11-15T08:41:00.001-08:00

She's growing fast!!! Can't believe she'll be three months old on Thursday!
This picture is from a few weeks ago:

This is from two days ago...I like comparing her in size to Blake you can see she is taking up more space on his lap!

Brilliant

2011-10-26T15:39:00.001-07:00

A happy

2011-10-11T18:08:00.001-07:00

Caroline's Halloween happy from Nini and Pops

Seeing things your own way

2011-10-06T12:03:00.001-07:00

The boys started mothers day out/ preschool 2 days a week the week after CJ was born. I have been very impressed with the school and the positive impact it has had on them.
They are in separate classes and it has been so fun watching them develop on their own.
One thing I have seen confirmed in Blake is that he just sees things in his own way. I have always known this to an extent. For instance when we walk into church, Owen walks on the sidewalk and Blake meanders in a zig zag on the grass. In large crowds Owen is at our feet and Blake will follow any one taller than him. Unless he's running he is usually a good 5 feet behind me picking up sticks or watching squirrels. He's a free spirit.
Back to school...we have seen a lot of improvement in letter recognition. The other night while in the car, blake pointed out the 2 o's and 2 r's in the grocery store sign. So we know he knows his letters.
Today Owen came home with this picture. I asked Blake what letter this was... His reply, "I see all the o's mommy.". At first I though "what?!," then I realized he was looking at things in his own Blakey way.
I love that kid:)

Tweedle-isms

2011-09-22T13:25:00.001-07:00

I have some funny kid.
Here are a few of my favorite phrases:
Owen-isms
1.) one day he told Blake "you're makin' my nerves!"
2.) yesterday I asked him to do some thing and when he did o said thank you and his reply, " just doing my job!
3.) at the park the other day he kep saying- "mommy watch... I'm fixin' to do!"

Blake has funny words for things.
He calls his sheets, "sheeps."
Calls a map a "nap"
Yogurt is "urgurt"
Oatmeal "e-milk"

And they both call Caroline "carowine"

Sweet, sweet, sweet

Joy

2011-09-20T09:33:00.001-07:00

They love being big brothers...and big bubbles

Sweet girl

2011-09-17T15:48:00.001-07:00

Love her!

Testing, testing

2011-09-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

This is the boys first day of school. Aren't they so cute? I am also trying to see if text shows up now on my blog...so frustrating!

Our Carolina girl

2011-09-01T19:41:00.001-07:00

Well - she is hear! Caroline Jean Stroh arrived last Thursday, August 25 at 3:30pm. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs, 12oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She's taken our hearts!

She is so sweet, so calm, and best of all able to sleep through her brothers riding bikes all around her swing. I laugh when I think about babies who wake up with a door bell - not this girl!
Blake and Owen are adjusting wonderfully. Owen loves to kiss her and asks to hold her. Blake likes talking to her and will rub her head...but won't kiss her. They are doing so much better than we could have ever imagined!!! I think it has helped that daddy has been home with them to play with them all week.

My mom has been here and like with the boys she is super granma! She does the night shift. So I feed her and pass her off. I am hoping granma will move in!

Family of 5!

We have had lots of visitors! Granpa...

Granma

Aunt Tracey, Uncle Matt, John and Gracey

Grammy and Papa Ric

We are so glad she's here!

Who needs a bowling ball

2011-08-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

When you have a bike and a twin?

Set 'em up:

Crash 'em down:

A.W.E.S.O.M.E

Caroline's a-coming!

2011-08-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

We have 11 days! TICK TOCK! I am at a mix of emotions. Ready to physically not be preggers anymore, but also wanting to soak in every minute with my sweet boys. We have been making lots and lots of progress getting things ready for her. One major this is her room is 99% done! All we are waiting for is our mattresses for the guest daybed in her room.

Here are some pictures of her room:

And here is a onsie I made her and two I made for little Watson who will be born about 2 weeks after.

We have been asked a ton if the boys know what is going on. And my answer is YES! I have started nesting and I think that they have, too! Starting Monday they began to act like their monkey and giraffe are their babies. They want them to be in Caroline's room. Swing them, bounce them, tuck them into the crib...they also wanted to learn what everything was in her room and what is was used for. For the past 4 days we have spent most of our days in her room. They have even learned to swaddle! It's super sweet and excites me that they might do more than just ignore her when she gets here!

A month in pictures and a video

2011-08-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since I posted! Where has the time gone??? I guess to a baby with a broken arm...a mommy with a growing tummy...last minute trips to see friends...and just busy, busy, busy!

Here are a few pictures of the past few weeks:

Nate and I before our date for his birthday:

Blake is all grins coming home with his "Chick Hicks" cast:

First bath was not all smiles when he had to put a bag over his cast. Luckily Owen thought it seemed like a good idea and so he joined it. Next thing you knew we were bathing two boys with bags on!

Our last "trip" pre baby girl. We went to Houston for a wedding of some sweet family friends. We also got to stay with the Heston's - win-win!

And lastly, a sweet video of my little singing bird. Owen LOVES to sing. He's pretty good, too :). His top favorite is what he calls "Owen's song" which to everyone else is known as "Our God" by Chris Tomlin. Wish you could hear him better...but it is so sweet to hear him sing it!!!

One more...

2011-07-17T19:05:00.001-07:00

Here is the last picture from their birthday. I know...you get it...they are 3...but they are SO cute, too!

Swim lessons

2011-07-15T08:33:00.000-07:00

Blake broke his arm this past weekend. And the worst part about it...NO SWIMMING! We have LOVED being in the water this summer. It has been cool for this very pregnant mama and it wears these guys out! They took swim lessons at the end of June for two weeks and did amazing. Here they are:

More pictures!

2011-07-12T14:52:00.000-07:00

I got asked a lot of I made the cake and the answer is yes! I know everyone should be impressed/surprised. Of course I had the help of my mom and mother in law. It was super easy and a Betty Crocker cake idea. Thanks for the compliments!!!

Here are so more pictures from the big weekend!

Blake and buddy, Eli, eating some dinner:

Owen with Miles and Mariah:

Blowing out the candles:

Part of the party crew:

With Granma and Granpa:

Grammy and Papa Ric:

Waking up on their birthday - officially 3!:

Blake:

Owen:

Excited for more presents...and that there were balloons!!:

Eating birthday breakfast on their celebrate plates - monkey bread, watermelon and eggs:

Blake and Grammy

Owen:

Reading their new books with Daddy:

Ode to Caroline

2011-07-05T17:11:00.000-07:00

A lot of people ask me if the boys know what is coming with a little sister on the way. We talk about it, but I don't know what they will think when she gets here.
However, they have included her on our nightly song rotation. Every night we sing a song to each member of the family. Starting a few weeks ago, they asked to sing to Caroline also. Here they are with their song.

3 is for me!

2011-07-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little guys are three years old! We had such a great weekend celebrating with family and friends.

On Friday the boys finished up their two weeks of swim lessons and had a great surprise when they woke up...Grammy and Papa Ric were here! They had been waiting a while for them and knew that it meant the beginning of the PARTY weekend! We went to dinner Friday night and got to work for Saturday.

Saturday morning they got to go get donuts and go to another birthday party for another buddy in town. They came home, napped, and then woke up to a house full of people. With in 30 minutes of waking up the house was filled with 35 friends and family. We had so much fun.

Here are some pictures of the decorations.

More pictures of the actual birthday boys to come!

Father's Day

2011-06-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

We had a good day Sunday celebrating Nate. He is such a good dad. Not that I ever doubted, but every day he amazes me more and more with his love and adoration for Blake and Owen. I can not wait to see him with a little girl...I might have some competition!

We decided to get him a gift he could enjoy with the boys...so I got him Mario Kart for the WII! We have all had fun playing it and the best part is, the boys barely want to play just watch daddy play!

Love you Nate!

A horse is a horse

2011-06-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

This post really should not be about horses...but it is. This past Wednesday the boys and I got to go to my nephew, Cameron's, 6th birthday party. It was out at my brother's in law's house also known as the farm. It was about 45 minutes north of Dallas and so that made it close enough for us to get to go!

The reason there are only pictures of the horse riding is because I am 7 months pregnant, it was in the 90's outside and it was just me to chase the boys! So needless to say the camera was only pulled out during the horse ride.

We had such a fun time celebrating Cameron. Cameron is a boy after Blake and Owen's heart...he loves all things with wheels, loves to be outside and just simply loves being a boy! The boys had the best time playing on the swing set, jumping on the trampoline, playing with cars, pulling the big kids on wagon rides, eating cake and of course the horse ride that was at the end.

Blake told me to ride he needed his cowboy hat!

I had no idea what they would do once on the horse, but they in fact loved it. Caitlyn rode with Owen and Lincoln, Cameron's cousin on the other side, rode with Blake.

I love, love, love this picture!

We love being close enough to celebrate!!!!

The great escape!

2011-06-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, not really, but two weeks ago Nate and I made a run for the border...of the gulf! Ok, not really again, but we did enjoy a lovely 30th birthday/mother's day/5th and 6th anniversary/babymoon vacation to Orange Beach, Alabama. We went to Jackson first and left the tweeds in the fully capable hands of Grammy, Papa Ric, Nini and Pops. We all had a great time!

I will save you the 26 week pregnant maternity swimsuit shots and give you this:

View from our balcony before dinner one night:

And this is what the boys learned to do:

I am telling you we have two fish, or sharks on our hands. Nini said they swam twice a day! And we have been in the water every day but yesterday since we got back! They start swim lessons on the 20th.

And here they are with their cousin, Taylor!

SHARKS!

2011-06-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of the tweeds in their swim suits. We are really into sharks around here. This is before we went to swim at a friends house a few weeks ago. Be prepared for cuteness:

Most wonderful time of the year

2011-06-01T15:40:00.000-07:00

Some people say Christmas, I say MAY! It is after all my birthday month, you know!

We have had a really exciting few weeks. There will be lots of posts as I get them up but here is my written update.

We had mothers day...but no pictures! Lol

Then the next weekend Auntie came! It was so much fun getting to show her Corsicana and our new home! It was a beautiful weekend and so we went to the park, out to eat, grilled out, played in the backyard, watched movies and she even caddied for Nate at the country club! He even played his best game ever! She was his good luck charm!

We didn't get a ton of pictures, but we did get a few of Auntie and her boys. Blake had a hard time with the pictures before church, but Owen was charming her! We got a good one after!

And in case you hadn't heard, we have a baby name: Caroline Jean. Caroline is for meeting in North Carolina, and Jean is for Auntie! We love her!

We have also been swimming, and to Mississippi and Alabama for a beach vacation! More pictures to come soon!

Derrick Days

2011-05-06T13:59:00.000-07:00

Apparently Coriscana used to be a big oil town back in the day. And so to celebrate every year they have something called Derrick Days. It is a pretty cute small town festival. I kind of felt like I was in the movie, Hope Floats, as we walked up and down historic main street eating food, watching old ladies clog (dancing), going to the car show and of course riding rides!
The boys had a great time. The highlight of their day was certainly riding a train roller coaster. Have I told you they have no fear? There were kids twice their size and age riding the same thing who were terrified and being coaxed by their families to ride. Our little guys hopped right on and loved every minute!

First time around:

and the second...pros by this point!

In the middle of downtown

Owen was pouting because we didn't ride the carousel

Blake, Mommy and Caroline! (I am almost 6 months!)

Best friends

2011-05-02T12:12:00.000-07:00

I have heard all sorts of stories about relationships between twins. Some where they adore each other, some where they don't like each other and some about apathy towards each other. I seem to think it really falls on the types of twins they are...are they identical or fraternal, boy/boy, girl/girl or boy/girl. I think that has a lot to do with it. Most parents of identicals all seem to talk about the strong bond their twins have (of course some people don't agree).

All that I really know is that right now there are no bigger buddies in the world than Blake and Owen.

They talk about being best friends and they pretend to be characters that are best friends, i.e. Thomas and Percy (Thomas the Train). It is hillarious when they get into these love fests. They start hugging and telling each other they love each other and then of course tickling that leads to wrestling. And as seen below like to just snuggle up! I was getting ready one morning last week and walked in on them sitting like this watching Special Agent Oso. So cute!

Here they are tickling:

And yesterday I was trying to get pictures to send out "we've moved" cards and when I told them to put their arms around each other this is what they did:

By the way...daddy HATES this picture!

Finishing up

2011-05-02T11:39:00.001-07:00

So here are two more things from Easter...

One, the group picture of all the cousins...

And two, the video from Easter morning.

Enjoy!

Sigh

2011-04-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend. On Saturday the whole Hazzard clan came down to celebrate and we got to show them our house! We had a great meal, wonderful time to sit and visit and a backyard full of crazy kids! It was really nice that Blake and Owen are old enough to play with their big cousins and even nicer that their big cousins like them and want to play with them. They had so much fun.

We had a massive Easter egg hunt that every one enjoyed since they all ended up with their baskets FULL of eggs. You know you are spoiled when an 11 year old, 2 8 year olds, a 6 year old and 5 year old find eggs and put them in your basket for you.

I did get a really cute group shot, but it isn't downloaded yet.
Because we had such a fun Saturday, Sunday was a little harder. The boys woke up ok, but turned cranky very quickly. We tried to get Easter pictures before church and then is what we got on the first picture:

Then we got this one:

It was better. And that is the front of our house...cute, right?

We went to church and came home for some leftovers and literally couldn't lay them down fast enough...THEY NEEDED A NAP! But of course I tried to get a few more pictures

They woke up in better moods and we had a great few hours outside playing. See how much happier they were?

Then Owen fell off of the swing set. Seriously. He's okay. Nate and I were sitting down by them and he decided he wanted to be Captain Hook and take Nate's treasure. So he started laughing and going up the stairs got to the top of the slide, sat down, announced he was "going to get that treasure" and then lost balance and flipped off of the slide. He fell at least six feet and landed on his stomach. What a terrible thing to witness. Luckily, he was okay, cried for about 2 minutes and then just wanted Nate to hold him.

Then we started to get dinner ready and went inside and found out that our water had backed up again - that would be the 3rd time in 3 weeks. So the rest of the evening was not lovely...but we made it. Thankfully the plumber that came today thinks the whole city was backed up and that was our problem...sigh...

So that was our Easter weekend! Hope yours was great!

Corsicana Buddies

2011-04-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

God has been so good to us - well always - but there have been some very specific things since we moved.

When we found out we were moving to Corsicana...I lowered my expectations. We had a great life in Humble. We had a wonderful church, amazing friends, perfect house....besides Nate's terrible work schedule we were very happy. But that was exactly the point, even with those good things, Nate never enjoyed any of them because he was working so much and so hard.

It wasn't hard to give those things up if that meant we got to see him more. And if when he was home, he was able to be home and not stressing all of the time.

So like I said, I lowered my expectations. I knew we would be closer to my family and my sweet DFW friends, but I had no real expectations for making friends, liking our house, or finding a church. I thought I would spend every day thinking about how I didn't have Target, or Chick-fil-a.

God has so proved me wrong in the past 6 months (yes, we are 1 week short of being here 6 months!)

For one thing, we love our house. We have had some stressful plumbing problems, but we absolutely love it. We have already had tons of people over and enjoy sitting outside watching kiddos play and enjoying our nice patio...spreading out on our sectional and watching the boys run in circles inside the house. We also love the location and that friends can just stop by because they are driving by....it's so great!

Another things is we love our church! We feel so connected and a part and they have taken us in. We are so grateful.

And lastly, we have made friends!!! And not just us, but Blake and Owen, too! There are so many boys running around Corsicana! It has been fun to have some little guys their age to come and run with them. And I like their mommies, so it is fun for me too!

Here are some pictures we had of a little play date at the new house. We had been in for 5 days...so there are still boxes everywhere!

Here are some of the boys having lunch...Big Cooper (we have to differentiate between him and Cooper Heston!, Blake, Keller and Owen)

Cooper and Blake

Keller and Owen

Link

2011-04-14T14:40:00.000-07:00

Here is the post from two years ago: http://kimstroh.blogspot.com/2009/05/now-thats-commitment.html Warning...they are really adorable...so be warned!

Blubonnets 2.0

2011-04-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

The boys first spring I took their pictures in the bluebonnets. We missed last year for some reason, but this year I took them again and was a little smarter. For starters I had 3 other big people, Nate, Lindsay and Hal, to help me wrangle babies. Two, we went in the morning instead of the afternoon. Three, I didn't walk down in a ditch like last time. The result...a few very cute pictures of my boys in the great state flower! I also got Nate in his first bluebonnet shot. He said, "I am so embarrassed." I said, "Smile!"

Trouble....

I took one picture of Blake and this is exactly what he did...pose...again...trouble!

And the family shot!

Our days...

2011-04-10T11:19:00.000-07:00

Have been spent here for the past week and I am sure for the next few years!

View from the back door towards the playhouse:

View looking at the house:

This is the storage building. One half has an a/c unit and we hope one day to turn it into a little guest suite!

Looking down to the playground, or as the boys refer to it, "my park."

We are all moved in and almost all of the boxes are unpacked. We worked hard all last week and then had our own work crew, known as the Ramsey's, come all the way from Mississippi to help put some finishing touched on the house. Hal helped Nate break down boxes, move furniture around and clean out the garage, while Lindsay helped me decorated our 5,000 bookshelves. I think every picture and knickknack we own is being used in our living room on the built in book shelves. And Drew, well he kept Blake and Owen entertained!

I will post more pictures of the inside and front later, like, when I take some. We need to now get things ready for a garage sale to get rid of some things we don't have room for and all of those boys clothes since a sweet baby girl is headed our way!!!!

Waiting

2011-03-28T14:08:00.001-07:00

I am waiting on the tweedles to wake up so we can head over to the NEW HOUSE! We were not supposed to get the keys until Wednesday but they brought them by last night! We still are going to paint and the movers still wont be able to come until Friday, but it at least slows us down a little and give us a little more time to get out of the big house. We.are.so.ready.

So while I wait, a little catch up. Last weekend we missed the Heston's so much we kind of sprung a trip on them. We drove down Friday after work, spent the night and then went to the zoo on Saturday morning. We wore those kiddos out! We hate being so far away from our wonderful friends, but at least it gives us more people to go see!

Here is the gang on the train:

And Blake with the "eeh-phants"

We then decided to be crazy and left the Houston zoo, drove back to Corsicana, grabbed some hockey tickets, went to Euless, dropped off the boys, picked up my sister and Matt, and went to the Dallas Stars game. We had fourth row seats...so much fun! No pictures though...I was too tired!

This past weekend was also eventful. We closed Friday. Then on Saturday took the boys to the Navarro County Youth Expo. We saw a lot of boots, bedazzling, and animals! The boys really loved petting the cows and lambs and all of the other animals. Nate and I had a work dinner Saturday night in Grandview, TX and then Sunday I headed to the big D for the day. I had a shower for a sweet friend and then dinner with my old roomie, Elizabeth!

Whew....I am tired just thinking about the past few weeks. We have so much to do in the next few, too...such an exciting time!!! We need to get setlled and then we are having so many visitors I can hardly wait! The Ramseys, Auntie, hopefully the Hestons and my family will be making it down so soon! We are excited to show of Corsicana and our new home.

Maybe some pics of the house soon!

Putt Putt a Palooza

2011-03-16T15:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we took the boys to play Putt Putt and ride race cars! They had so much fun. They had been asking to play golf with daddy for weeks and so they were very excited to get to do it themselves.

We also took them on a go kart ride. I drove Blake and when we started he yelled out, "Whooooohhooooo...I am Lightning McQueen!!!" The kid loves some Cars!!!!

Here is daddy teaching them to put:

Too excited for a picture!

Here they are! Owen was very determined to do it. He worked so hard at getting it in the hole each time!

locks of love and lots of showing!

2011-03-15T15:50:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend I did something I have wanted to for a long time...I cut my hair! Specifically for locks of love. I had been growing it long for a while and realized when we moved here that I was with in the goal.

So on Saturday I cut of 10 inches! It was fun and I am glad I did it.

Here are the before and recent after:

Another photo of me...I have been asked to put up some pictures of me showing...I am 16 weeks and here is my self portrait with a cars booty in the back ground.

I know I am showing a lot!!! But I am still in my regular clothes! I wore maternity pants once last week and forgot how much I don't like them...so I went back to my pants.

Conversations

2011-03-09T19:43:00.000-08:00

No pictures...just a few recent conversations with Blake and Owen:

Me: "Owen, is Blake a girl or a boy?"
Owen: with a big smile "a girl!"
Blake: "I am not a girl, I am a boy...a COWBOY!"

Nate: "Owen who is your best friend?"
Owen: "My Bakey (Blakey)."

Me: "Blake, who is that?"
Blake: "That's a daddy Thomas (Thomas the train)."
Me: "Why is he the daddy?
Blake: "Because he is big and strong!"

This last one is from after Bible Study today where they talked about Lazarus:
Me: "Owen who did you talk about at church today?"
Owen: "Jesus"
Nate: "what did Jesus do?"
Owen: "he help sick"
Blake: "Man come out here NOW!!!!!!!!!!!"

Owen the great!

2011-03-07T18:06:00.001-08:00

So since O-dog takes terrible pictures lately and I feel like all the cute shots are of Blake I decided to dedicate a whole entry to him!

Also because the big man has been potty training and DOMINATING!!!!

We kind of figured he was ready, but I offically started (for the second time - the first attempt was for a whole 3 hours one morning in January) past Thursday and he has had ONE accident since! I am seriously...he's a potty training genius! He is wearing pull ups and naps and diapers at night so those times don't count but during the day he has been awesome!

Here he is in his Cars "undawares". He is very proud of wearing underware and pottying and likes to tell everyone, even the checker at walmart, all about it! ANd the second is another future blackmale photo...but look how cute that booty is!

This is a video of them being rockstars a week or so ago. My favorite part is when I ask Owen what he does when he sees a cute girl. All I can say is watch out ladies!!!

From Blake and Owen

2011-02-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

LOVE

YOU! (we couldn't seem to get a picture of them pointing at the camera...so just use your imaginations!!!!)

Happy Valentines Day!

We had a great weekend. After a movie and popcorn night Friday...we took the boys to my parents (yes, again, we are baby dumpers) and left them over night. We had a work event in Grapevine and decided to stay at the hotel next door Saturday night. We slept in Sunday, did a little shopping and a lot of eating and went to pick our little guys up Sunday evening. After dinner with the family...we headed back to Corsicana. We are thankful to be so close to family!!! We had a great weekend together and I even got flowers this morning! We reminisced about our past 6 valentines together and how different each one has been. My favorite memory has to be our 3rd one (2nd married one) where we went to Kroger and Nate said, very seriously I might add, "Honey, why don't you go get yourself some flowers and meet up front and I will pay for them."

He has learned his lesson which is why in the years since I have gotten flowers, jewelry, fancy dinners and now a night away!

Good day and Good pictures!

2011-02-09T13:15:00.000-08:00

So today has been a good day!!!
We had our 11 week appointment with a new doctor and we got to hear the heartbeat! It was such a relief to hear the heartbeat and to know that he/she is really in there!
We also sweet talked away into a ultrasound to see how many were in there and the answer is...........

ONE!
Whoohoo! We would have been okay with twins again, but seriously, 1 is the way to go! The baby was measuring 11 weeks and things looked good!

Another good thing is that we are suppose to be getting an offer on our home this afternoon! We are praying it is fair and we can take it! I am not sure which bit of good news Nate was happier with!!!

Lastly here are a few pictures:

These are from December when Nate ran with me in the Jingle Bell Jog. It was a 5k here in Corsicana. And to make matters worse he had not ran in 2.5 years and never ran a 5k before and he only walked twice - once for 1 minute and the second time for 30 seconds. Being tall and skinny makes me sick!!!! We had a lot of fun doing it together!

These are from the snow days last week. We got 6 inches Thursday night - but by the time the boys played in it Saturday morning it was starting to melt. They still loved it and had a blast shoveling the snow!
Blake with our little house in the background

Owen shoveling...he wouldn't look up for a smile!

Daddy and his boys!

That was fun!

2011-02-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

Since a few weeks after we moved the boys have mastered their bike riding ability. They can navigate them all over our tiny house. But their favorite part is to go outside and ride around the "big house."
Here is a little video of them riding. You can see the inside of our house at the beginning while they are talking and then see a shot of the big house we live behind. You will also get to hear some not so great singing at the end - by yours truly!!!

Miss me?!?

2011-01-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while folks...I am sure you missed me.

And I know someone other than my mom has missed my blog...Kelcy...she even facebooked me to tell me!

Now that we have our own internet here at the "big house" as the boys call it, updates will be more regular...sigh a sigh of relief. You can see those two little munchkins whenever you like

So a few updates before pictures:

1.) We are still in temporary housing. We are waiting for our house to sell in Houston...come on house! We are hoping that we are getting near...no propositions just hoping that the timing will be right soon enough! There aren't a ton of options in Corsicana, so buying one wont be difficult...we are just waiting for our other home to sell!

2.) We are pregnant! I am 7 1/2 weeks along and due some time around the end of August/early September. I am feeling great other than starting to be so tired and not wanting to eat!

3.) We have settled on a church home. We are attending a small bible church called Believer's Bible Church. We arrived here in a very crazy, very obviously God, way. This summer we had one of our most favorite college girls, Lauren, babysit the boys for us one night. She had some friends in from DBU and they came along. When we got home we sat around and visited with her and her friends. One of her friends, Abbey, told us that her dad was a pastor in Corsicana. Two months later we found out we were moving to Corsicana. I got in touch with Abbey who got us in touch with her parents. They are awesome! They have become sweet friends to us. BBC is the church he pastors and the people are amazingly friendly and right away we felt at home. Finding a church is a huge part of feeling settled...we are so glad we have found a church home.

Okay, that is it for now. We really are doing great! Here are some pictures from the Holidays!

Nini and Pops got some chickens! That is part of the fun going to their house! Here are the boys at Thanksgiving feeding the chickens with Pops!

We also have a new found love for dogs...especially Beamer and Bubbles...here is Blake with Bubbles at Thanksgiving.

Grammy and Papa Ric helped us start the Christmas season by taking the boys to Canton, MS. Their town square is very decorated with fun rides! Here we are on the Merry-go-round!

An advantage of being closer to Dallas means closer to family. We met my sister in law, Whitney, and my nieces and nephew in downtown Dallas to ride the trolley to the art museum for a day of free fun! Here they are on the trolley!

The boys got to be ring bearers in another wedding. This was a special wedding since it was a Heston wedding. We love those Heston's! The flower girls were Payton and Katelyn! They were precious! Here is Owen and Payton!

and Blake and Katelyn

and Daddy and Blake

Christmas was really fun this year. The boys understood more and loved helping bake and doing other Christmassy things!

Here they are making cookies...and eating them!

On our way to the Christmas Eve service

Christmas Eve in our new PJ's with daddy...singing Jingle Bells!

Blake eating seven layer dip watching a Christmas Story

Christmas Day we headed to my parents. Here are the grandkids...

Thanks Uncle Pete for this one:

Then the day after we headed to Mississippi for a week. I think most of my pictures from that week are on my other camera! So here is one for now:

The boys with their great grandparents...Papa Joe and Ga

Catch up

2010-11-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

So we have been gone for so long from the blog world! Mostly because we have officially moved! We got to Corsicana on October 30.

We are staying behind a bed and breakfast in a furnished former carriage house for this home built in 1898! It's two stores and is between 800-1000 square feet. We are so thankful to not be in a hotel with our sweet little guys! We even have a washer and dryer and a kitchen! It's tight, but quickly becoming home. The boys call it "the big house."

We have had a few good weeks. Nate is loving his new position. It has been a real eye opener to how hard it was on Conroe for the past 2 years. The boys and I are doing well. We have joined the YMCA and been to every park in town as well as story time at the library. We have even made a few friends, been out to lunch with people and had a few play dates! I think we are doing great!

We have visited two churches in town and like them both, we still want to visit one more and the hopefully we will pick one and dive right in!

That's enough for now...don't want to overload any one with our big comeback!

Get ready for some photos! These are out of order...but this has been our October!

This was our going away party that our sweet friends the Bates threw us before we left. This wasn't quite every one...but covered enough people. We had such a great time...we will surely miss these people dearly!!!

Here are the boys on Halloween! We had several fun filled days. with pumpkin carving, HAFBC fall festival, and we went trick or treating in a neighborhood we like to see if the neighbors were nice! Thanks Holly for a great idea!!! The boys were garden gnomes. Target had them! And if you didn't know, Nate is 50% Norwegian and gnomes are a big Norwegian deal! Their Santa looks like a gnome...so since the boys are 1/4 Norwegian we had to dress them like gnomes...plus it gives me the good embarrassing pictures to show their girlfriends one day!!!

Our home on Corsicana on our way to Trick or treat!

Fall Festival

See...embarrassing photo! Owen's outfit was too small, but I made him wear it anyway!!!

The carving kind of back fired on us. I thought it would be a good idea to tell them the inside of the pumpkin was gross and that might make them more likely to touch it, but instead they ran from it! But here is the family photo - taken with a timer...impressed?

Blakey's new favorite thing to say is "tada!" with his arms in the air. So here he is saying "TADA!" over his pumpkin.

We also had the whole Heston clan over one last time for dinner at our house. It was really fun to celebrate our time with them in Houston.
Erin snagged us in front of our house. It was a good house...

Here Blakey is with his ladies!

Happy Fall!

2010-10-24T16:01:00.000-07:00

These are a few weeks late...but still in time!

This was after Auntie left, but before the trip to HPU and that was all two weeks ago! I went with a moms group from our church to a place called Old McDonald's Farm for a day at the Pumpkin Patch. The boys had fun of course!!! There was even a train - which I might mention was the second out of three that they rode in ONE week! It was train heaven!!!

They loved all of the pu-kins they were shaped like balls!

When your husband is a garbage man

2010-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Nate had to work the National Night Out in Conroe and so the boys and I headed that way to be some support.

It was a fun night. There were trains, fire trucks, police cars and free hot dogs - it was a little boys dream! Here are some pictures from helping daddy!

TT

2010-10-13T14:05:00.000-07:00

Our anniversary was on October 1st and we celebrated our 5th anniversary!!! For the past four we have managed to sneak away for a trip which we decided would be our "gifts" to each other. This year we planned MONTHS ago that we would take a walk down memory lane by heading back to Charlotte where it all began.

Then Nate got a new job. And we found out we are moving November 1st to Corsicana, TX (that is an hour south of Dallas). So our trip went out the window.

Yeah for a job...Boo for my trip.

So last minute Nate's Aunt, Jean, aka, Auntie (pronounced with a Brittish tone) for Blake, and TT for Owen came to save the day!

Last year she visited as "Nantie" - a combo of Nanny and Auntie for those of you who are slow at my nicknames - and we went out of town for a few days...this year she returned but we stayed at our house and utilized a free babysitter. BTW she really liked us going out...because she loves us but loves having her great nephews to herself!

One fun thing she and I did was take the boys to ride their first train at Hermann Park. This was just as big of a hit as I had hoped. They are obsessed with trains and were so excited to ride! They proudly told their daddy for the next few days "I ride train! It go FAST!" We also got to play in the fountains, chase ducks, eat a picnic, see a horse and because it was by the medical center we saw LOTS of helicopters. It was an A+ day in the life of Blake and Owen.

Here are some pictures of our time with TT!

On the train!

Our date on our anniversary!

What 5 years brings you!

I have a few other videos...but this one pretty much sums up how Blake felt about the train!

HHHH-PPPPPP-UUUUUU

2010-10-11T13:06:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Holly and I took our four kiddos with out hubby's to our college homecoming! We had a lot of fun! It was a ton of work, but not nearly as bad as we had thought it would be. My group made it through the weekend with only one timeout and one melt down each! I thought that was pretty good!
It was fun taking the boys to such a special place and equally as fun seeing faces I hadn't seen in years. Howard Payne is a special place and I am proud to be a part of it!
Here are a few photo highlights!

Here we come! At 8:30am!!! We got to stay at some of the Heston's family friends...this was our view when we woke up!

Owen was very concerned with Booper (Cooper) all weekend...he was trying to get him to say "Cheese!"

At the parade - they really loved the band! I think it was a shout out to Uncle Pete and Aunt Whitney!

Holly and her crew!

The boys sliding at the "Little Jackets Nest" - a play area just for kids.

Payton was singing the Alma Matter and ready to say "Ahh Sting 'Em!"

Here the kids are in front of Old Main Tower.

Me and my crew! (they were very tired at this point!)

Me and Holly!

I.am.energy.

2010-09-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Labor Day and Kingdom Focus

2010-09-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

So over Labor Day we had the privilege of our friends the Ramsey's coming to stay with us! We hadn't seen them since May and they hadn't been to our home in 2 years! It was a blast having them here.

We also got to keep Drew one night so Lindsay and Hal could go to a wedding in the Hill Country. We had no idea what it would be like to have three 2 year olds (Drew is 4 months younger than B and O) - but I am pleased to say they did AWESOME! It was no different than having just two. I guess it helps that Drew is an easy kiddo!!!

We took them to the store and even made it to church ON TIME!!! It was so fun!

They are one tough gang!

Geeting ready for church was brought to you by Elmo on our bed!!!

On our way to church

This is our first night all together. We had been having a serious dance party...this is the calm version of it!

On another note...at our Mom's ministry meeting this morning God totally blew my socks off! I so happened to be sitting by a women who was really struggling with the fact that she had 3 miscarriages in the past two years and had not allowed herself to grieve those babies and was having a hard time moving out of her "low place" as she called it. I was able to share with her my story as well as pray with her. I am amazed at how God uses us and our stories to be his hands and feet to other people.

I have to go back tomorrow and most likely will be having another D&C...as I was sharing this with my sweet friend Abbey she told me she would be praying that I don't get stuck in the "why me's"...I don't want to get stuck there either. I want to be open and aware of the moments that are all around me that won't replace my baby, but that will allow me to minister to other hurting people and give them the same hope that I have. I want to maintain a kingdom focus through all of this and I am grateful for opportunities like this morning to see beyond myself and to see what this life is really about.

That is all I got for now!!!!

Wher oh where have we been?

2010-09-12T21:06:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I have been seriously lacking in my blogging. I think the only people affected by this are family who live vicariously through the blog to see those two sweet boys named Blake and Owen.
We have had a ton going on the past few weeks. On a serious and sad note, I had a miscarriage a few weeks ago. I was 9 weeks along and since have had a D&C that did not go according to plan and have had a really hard time recouping. I am hoping to be back to normal soon.

On other, happier notes we have had so many visitors. God made me to be a people person and so he had lots of trips planned before any of this happened. I was so thankful to have the past few weeks filled with family and friends to help me get through this time.
So here is to catching up. I can't promise rhyme or reason to pictures...but at least you can see how cute the boys are!
These first two are for Auntie...because she sent the boys these very cute outfits!!!
Thanks Auntie!

We also had a visit from Nini and Pops. They spoiled us all rotten! It was great! I did a really bad job with pictures, but one day we went to the Children's Museum in The Woodlands. We had a great time...the boys loved it.

Here are the best pictures I got.
They really loved getting to drive the fire truck!

And if you are wondering about Christmas presents...we love trains!

Ok! More to come later!

One cool cousin

2010-08-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

The boys are very fortunate to have some awesome cousins! Here they are a few weeks ago playing with John.
He had been dancing like this for a while...

Shamu, The Alamo and Deer...

2010-08-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took our first co-family vacation. We went to San Antonio with our dear friends, the Heston's. Despite the fact that it was 100 degrees outside we had such a great time. It is so much fun and such a blessing to have friends that are in the same stage of life and that are a ton of fun to be around.

We met them in San Antonio last Wednesday night. After getting everyone in and to bed we geared up for the next full day at Sea World. All of the kids (and adults) really enjoyed the animals and the shows despite the heat. We stopped mid day to go back and take naps and came back for a night full of a water park and two more shows.

Here are the Heston's enjoying some of the action!

Watching the water skiers...

I like the progression of these pictures.
Blake loves Payton (or Payti as he calls her)...and Blake doesn't care about being in charge....Payton and Owen on the other hand...they are both a little more dominate:). There was one point over the weekend where we were on a walk and Owen and Payton were trying to out run each other to be in the front. At the end of it all Payton is the leader of the pack. They are so cute to watch together. Here she is trying to round them up for a group picture.

The next day Nate and Clee went to play golf in the morning and then we switched that afternoon when Holly and I got to go shopping and get pedicures! That night we went to the Alamo and the Riverwalk. It was hot. But Nate has finally become a true Texan...he wore an Astros hat and learned all about Texas history from our tour guide and committed Alamo fan, Clee.

This is at the end of dinner...he was ready to go home :)

That night we drove out to Windermere. It is a little cabin in the Hill Country that we have gone to for our anniversary the past two years. We had a great time here for the rest of the weekend resting, playing games, catching up on naps and taking walks and looking for deer. It was a great end to a great few days.

Same yet different

2010-08-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

The proof is in the picture!

A day in the life

2010-08-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

People often ask me if twins are a handful...I always respond..."no they are just like having one!"

So for those of you who want to live in my shoes for 5 minutes - and this was literally all in 5 minutes - here you go.

We started with a clean house that turned in to this:

All of our jammies on the ground so we could practice putting them on...

That was fun, now let's wrestle... (You can see how fast this happened because the shirt on Owen's head in this picture is the one he was trying to get on in the picture above)

Ok, enough of that...let's dance!

Ok...now let's play chase! (I know this is hard to see but they are taking off from the living room and down the hall)

Around the corner through the kitchen

Back again...and they are down!!!!

I am tired just watching!

You're a Grand Old Flag

2010-07-21T11:03:00.000-07:00

rapping elephant

2010-07-19T14:49:00.000-07:00

I am so proud :)

Worth reading

2010-07-11T18:03:00.000-07:00

We have a couple at church who have just gone down to Recife, Brazil to adopt a set of siblings. This couple has been married for 15 years. They were once on the mission field in Recife, but Danyel, the wife, got seriously ill and they had to come home. Not only did they have to come home, but that also solidified the fact that they could never have kids.
God has taken them on a remarkably long journey in which he has led them back to adoption.
Like I said, they arrived in Brazil this week.
Here is their blog...it is worth your time to read!
uandmeplusthree@blogspot.com

Zooming our way to 2!

2010-07-07T11:19:00.000-07:00

The boys turned two this past weekend. I can hardly believe it. I felt like year one flew by...probably because I went sleepless for half of it...but year 2 went by even faster.
In the past year the boys have:
- been to 5 different states - flown twice- been to 2 different beaches- stayed in a hotel- been to the zoo- picked blueberries-been to a play- gone to church- learned to slide (water slide included :))- fed animals- rode a train- been in a wedding- gone to a cook off- hunted easter eggs- walked dogs- been to chuck e cheese- plus played a lot!!!!

This past year has been so great and full of healthy, happy memories. We had much to celebrate!

This past weekend we celebrated their birthday with family and "Houston family" - those who take care of us like family would :).

Grammy and Papa Ric came from Mississippi.

And Granma and Granpa came, too.

We had a car themed party, because, well, they love cars!
Here is the invite

Here are the birthday boys!

Plenty of help opening presents :)

With our bud, Maddox

Girlfriends...

More like sisters than friends... Clee with Cooper, Nate with Blake, Jens with Katelyn, Erin with baby girl #2, Kim with Owen, Holly with Payton

Here is the cake.

Singing Happy Birthday.

Blowing out the candles

Even Unlce Pete, Aunt Whitney, Caitlyn, Lauren and "mameron" came by!

Thanks for celebrating out boys with us!

O! - Hio!

2010-06-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

This past week we got to go to Ohio to see Auntie and Uncle T. We had so much fun!!! It was more like staying at Hotel Freeman than staying with family. Nate and I were spoiled by the cooking, dates, help with the boys, and movies in the media room. The boys were also spoiled with treats, toys, and some FUN outings!

On the way there we had a lay over in Charlotte where we got to see my sweet, wonderful friend, Abbey and her little man Allen! What a treat! It was so great to hug her neck!

The first day we took the boys swimming at the country club and later that night grilled out and played outside.

The next day Nate and I went on a date for lunch and a movie! WHOA! That night we took the boys to the cutest place I have ever been in my life. It was a local park where there were little rides. I wish I could replicate the atmosphere. There were people playing catch, swimming, grilling out, fishing...and in the middle of it all there was a little section of carnival rides you could go on for 75 cents! Plus it was almost all for toddlers! It.was.awesome!!!!!!!! They had a ride with cars. I think they rode it 5 times. They were so cute. They also got to ride a train. This is a new obsession...choochoo's! After we went to a little local place to eat ice cream out back on the picnic tables. I was in heaven...so were the boys!

The next day Nate and T played golf and Auntie and I took the boys on an Amish wagon pet feeding extravaganza! We fed all sorts of deer, cows, zebra, Brutus the Brahma and we saw a beefalo - part cow, part buffalo. It was an hour long and the boys even participated. BTW...I am very intrigued by Amish people!

That night Nate and I went on a surprise date planned for us by Jean and Tom. We went to a winery in the middle of no where...literally...where we got to sit outside and grill our own steaks. It was one of the most fun dinners I have ever had.

While we were there...the boys got to slip and slide! here are pictures from the next day reenactment!

There will be more pictures I am sure. We had the best time! now we are home gearing up for the big birthday weekend! 2 years old...here we come!

Let's hear it for the boys

2010-06-21T16:25:00.000-07:00

Look at the boys and their sweet daddy. He's a good daddy. He really adores his boys!

So...I swear I didn't teach them any of these things.

I guess boys just know how to make fart noises...it's like they come out knowing that and how to wrestle!!!

Blog

2010-06-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

Remember my friend with the twins you people are praying for?
If you look to the right there is a link to her blog about Kaylan and Dylan.
And here it is again: It is called Saving Grace...here is the link
http://kaylananddylan.blogspot.com/

Da Beach!

2010-06-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

A week and a half ago the boys (including my big boy), and I headed to Galveston for the weekend. We got to use the home of some of our sweet Houston friends. They literally live one street off of the sea wall...which in Galveston is as beach front as you get! All we had to do was walk across the street.

We wore the boys out! It was awesome! A few hours in the morning and a few in the afternoon made for tired, sleepy babies. That meant Nate and I got to read and sleep ourselves! We had a great time.

I don't know what he is doing...but look at that cute face!!!

Best pic of the whole trip!

They really liked being covered in sand/mud.

Nate buried Blakers in the sand. HILARIOUS!

CHEESE!

And I am done!

Remember this pose? http://kimstroh.blogspot.com/2009/07/okayday-2.html

That was almost one year ago!
Here is this years version!

Prayer Update

2010-06-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I asked you to pray for my friend, Jennifer and her twins. She was pregnant and on bed rest in the hospital due to growth restriction in her girl twin.
Many of you have asked and I keep forgetting to update. She had them last Friday. She was 29 weeks and 1 day.
The boy, Dylan Cash, was 3 lbs, 3 oz and 16 inches long.
The girl, Kaylan Grace was 1 lb exactly and 11 inches long.

The family has a long way to go before all are home. Please pray for Jennifer, her husband and their sweet twins!

The faces of trouble

2010-06-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

So...we figured out how to climb out of our cribs, we being Blake and Owen. Danger is the only word that comes to mind. I am very stressed about this. It happened first on Sunday for nap. Sunday evening and Monday nap were good - no battle. Last night the battle ensued again. We had to put them back in bed 12 times. Then today at nap time, the battle last 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Here are a few problems.

1.) It started with them doing it together. The first few times they would only come out together. Which means we don't know who started it (I think Owen), but they wait on the other one to escape and strut, and yes I mean strut, out to us. I think they think their is safety in numbers.

2.) Now they don't even come out, they just stay in the room playing. So if I go check and they are laying down we start the process over, but if I don't check they can just be in their playing cars which is how I found them today.

3.) Owen can turn it off, Blake can't. He just can't seem to stay put. Owen gets out a few times, but he doesn't like to be in trouble. So I take away his lovie (Giraffe), and he gets the point. I have said this for a while, but NOTHING PHASES BLAKE! You can take things, spank him, put him time out...he doesn't care. As long as people are watching, he will take it!

4.) They can also get out of their pack n plays - I tried that today.

Today was SO long for me. I was really hoping they would be kind of tough for Nate tonight so he knew what I dealt with, but no...only Blake got out and he only did it once!!!!!!!!!! WHAT?!?!

Maybe sticking to my guns made it happen.
Nate says it is because they know he is the boss. HA!

Here are my little faces of trouble.

And this video makes me laugh. It's on the way home from MS. Owen is calling "Bubbles", Pops and Nini's dog. I know there is a long pause in the middle with nothingness...but I still think this video is really cute!!!!!!!! And the scab on his lip is a carpet burn he got in Chick-fil-a. It was there all week, I just edited it out of pictures, but you can't on a video!

Mississippi

2010-06-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

So here are a few more pictures of our time in Mississippi.

The first few days I watched our friends, Lindsay and Hal's little boy, Drew. He is 4 months younger than B and O. They just moved to Brandon and so with the help of Nini, we corralled them for a few days.

The boys walked the dogs, Bubbles and Beamer

And this is how that turned out...lots of tangles!

Now they are trying to feed the dogs through the fence...with dirt and leaves.

Sitting with Pops!

Chuck E Cheese!

2010-06-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

When we were in Mississippi we spent a whole day with Grammy! It was so fun. She took the boys to Chuck-e-Cheese. They were a little overwhelmed at first, but warmed up quickly. They had cars that you could ride in, tokens to carry around, and games that I "Blake-ified". That means, I took games for big people and let Blake do them. He played skeeball and basketball. Here he is playing skeeball.

Here are the boys in the riding cars. Owen and his buddy Stuart little, and Blake with Barney. Look in Blake's hand. He LOVED that I let him carry around the tokens. He also loved putting them in the coin slots.

Here is Owen eating yummy cheese pizza with Grammy.

Here is Peggy and me at my birthday party that she had for me Friday night. And next to us is the best cake I have ever had!!

brothers

2010-05-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Makes me laugh every time.
Please note that Owen put those pants on his head.

BIrthday

2010-05-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

Last week I turned 29...YIKES...

But it was okay, because this is who I celebrated with:

Prayer

2010-05-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

In the past two years I have been amazed at the stores from people I have met who are having difficult pregnancies. And since I have had one myself I view the people I meet as an opportunity to connect with, love on and encourage.
It's a hard thing. No one can really understand unless you have been there yourself. However, one thing every one can do is pray.
I have a friend from high school, Jennifer. I found out a few months ago, thanks to facebook, that she is have a set of boy/girl twins. I have gotten to share some twin info with her for the past few weeks, but today found out that she needs some prayer.

She is 27 weeks tomorrow and is on bed rest at the hospital. She has pre-eclampsia and her little girl had stunted growth. She is touch and go on delivering every day. They are hoping she just makes it to the end of the week.
If delivered at this point, her twins won't be able to breathe on their own, will have to be tube-fed and will be seriously prone to disease. However, every day she can keep them in, they will be saved 3 days in the NICU.
Please pray for this family.
Thanks!!!

Going on a duck hunt...

2010-05-13T11:09:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I took the boys on their first picnic. We went to a near by pond to see the ducks and eat some lunch. We had a lot of fun...minus the ducks. This pond is in a neighborhood and so the ducks are more like pets and really like kids and assume they want to feed them. So there was a lot of chasing...meaning...the ducks were chasing the boys. We all know how they feel about animals!!
HA!

Owen

Showing me the ducks.

Train up a child in the way he shall go - HA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or in other words, start 'em young!

They are going to get me!!!

Can you tell he is running from them and they are coming after him?!

We shewed them away and he is telling them to stay away!

Enjoying the freedom to walk wherever!

Euless Visit

2010-05-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

So, like I said before, we went to Euless last week. I got to see some friends and all of the family. We are so blessed to be able to get there in a few short hours and even more blessed to have a hubby/dada who lets us go!

About 5 minutes after we got there. Granpa was already competing for the #1 spot by giving them fudgsicles!

John and Owen

Gracey and Blake

We got to see Pete, Whitney, Caitlyn, Lauren and Cameron also...

This is a true progression of pictures...please note how perfect Cameron is being!!