Ohhh Boys!!

Linking up with Greg's General Store today for Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful for my oh-so-amazing children,

the fact that all of our needs and many of our wants are met,

a warm place to call home in this cold season,

a flexible job that allows me to be available as a parent,

friends who are like family,

family who are like friends,

social networking, which makes it easier to keep in touch with those I love who are far away,

and so much more!

 Austin @10 months/Kheaven @14 months

Things are going well in our home this autumn.  

Austin's got some standardized testing coming up.  Last time he did great in everything but phonemic awareness.  His education specialist is going to start working with him once a week to make sure he doesn't get behind in that area.

Kheaven continues to be very vocal.  The other day he said robot, over and over again.  He's always amazing!  There are some issues with his infant child development team right now and we are praying for all of them.  It's a mix between them or their family members being VERY sick...  and it's heartbreaking because they all have the sweetest hearts.  Until we can see them again we are working on communicating using words and signing and also working on standing, cruising and guided walking.  :)

Nayeli is my quiet learner.  She observes everything around her and then one day she shows me she knows it.  She has started drawing more recently and is very good at circles and faces.  It's beautiful and she gets so excited when she makes a picture.  She's been getting into some things lately and continues to color in books and rip pages, but we're working on it!

I have been working more over the past month and it's great.  I work at night while the kids are sleeping and get home on time to get a little sleep before they wake up.  J is still helping watch them when I work, and when he's not available my close friend/Kheaven's God-mother watches them.

Austin's birthday/Thanksgiving was wonderful!  We enjoyed the company of each other and made new friends as well.  We visited with one of my co-worker's family for the holiday and they were very kind and welcoming.  There were plenty of kids there for them to play and interact with and they loved it!

Thank you to all of our family and friends who sent a gift!

♥

AND, this was us on Thanksgiving/Austin's 6th birthday!

:)

♥My heart is full.♥
What are you thankful for this Thursday?!

Autumn, Finally

Life hasn't been easy for the past month or so.  God is giving me strength, I believe, because if he wasn't I wouldn't be able to type this now.  Jeremy and I are no longer together.  I see no point in trying to hide it, or not writing about it.  I'm public about a lot of my life, I always have been.  Sometimes people find strength in the observations of another's struggle.  Maybe some good can come of this?

The kids are doing well!  Halloween was fine, we all still went out trick-or-treating as a family, and that was nice since he's been living with a friend lately.  From what I can tell the kids take their emotional cues from me.  If I'm okay, they're okay...  It's good to see them okay, because then I think I must be holding it together nicely.  ;-)  

^LOOK!^ Cheese-heads in Kansas.  There IS a reason I love it here!

Kheaven was in the hospital at the beginning of the month with croup.  We spent three days there, with him getting breathing treatments and shots of steroids.  A couple of days after he was released both of the other kids and myself got sick.  We are all on the tail end of it now though, and I am SO glad!  Sick babies while you're a sick mama is NO fun!

I am very blessed to have the support system I have.  My co-workers, especially, have been extraordinary.  They are my pseudo-family.  :)  I am also very blessed to have a non-coworker "family member," Kheaven's God-mother.  She has been very helpful and supportive.  I shouldn't forget to mention Kheaven's Infant Child Development team.  They are and always have been amazing people!  I know that I will endure and eventually life will seem normal to me again.  


I will continue to update when I can.  If I don't have the chance to update beforehand.  

♥Happy Thanksgiving to all!♥

My Lovey Loves

I've been so busy playin' with these beautiful little people that I hardly can find the time to blog.

In the spirit of keeping up with the 31 for 21 challenge I leave you with more pictures.

 We know autumn will be here soon...  til then, short sleeves work.

Our First Buddy Walk

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Our First Buddy Walk

Wichita, KS

10/9/10

^By his sign^

^Walk, walk, walk^

^He wins!^

^Checkin' out the medal some more.^

^With his Dah^

 ^With the God-mom, watchin' sis play^

 ^Ready for more^

^Basketball^ 

 ^Football^

 ^Face Painting^

^Fishing^

 ^More fishing^

 ^The McDonalds and Nayeli^

(Toby Jr. came to live with his "Forever Family" just a couple of months ago!♥)

What a day!

:)

I Heart Faces: They Wear Their Sunglasses at Night

Don't MESS with these two!

Okayyy, they're not both wearing sunglasses.  But Science goggles work too.
RIGHT?!  

And 3D glasses?

Gosh it looks fun to be a kid!

So glad I'm a witness (and often a participant) of this duos adventures.

;-)
The future's looking bright, especially if you go visit I Heart Faces and check out the other cool peeps who gotta wear shades.

Summer Lovin'

We are busy enjoying some of the last days of summer around here.  We recently made a visit to Tananyika Wildlife Park and are hoping to get to the Wichita Botanical Gardens before school starts.  We loved seeing and learning about the animals at the park.  Austin and Nayeli got to feel a lemur, goats, turtles, giraffes and rabbits.  Austin and I also got to share our very first camel ride with one another.

I am so blessed to be able to spend the majority of my time with my beautiful children.

♥

Aside from turning on and off the stove, Austin made eggs all by himself the other day!

~Love in our home is sharing first experiences.~

We finally had a day where as far as I know there were no heat advisories in effect!  We took advantage of the "cooler" weather by playing outside, snapping a few pictures, and taking a wagon ride!

~Love in our home is keeping each other entertained.~

Austin and Nayeli have both been great helping Kheaven to sit and stand lately.

~Love in our home is teaching each other and helping each other learn new things!~

Austin wanted to give Nayeli a ride in the wagon.  It looks like Kheaven wanted to help!

~Love in our home is taking turns, and sharing tasks.~

After our walk Austin and Nayeli were content to enjoy their sleeping baby brother.

~Love in our home is being grateful for and enjoying the little things.~

To share what love looks like in your home visit One So Blessed.

Some of My Favorites of the 4th!

I made sure to take some pictures of the kids before heading to the park for our picnic...  

I KNOW how fast they destroy white shirts.  ;-)

And tonight,

almost a week later,

we get to have our fireworks!  

(We have last weeks rain to thank for that.)

Are they for real?!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm raising a baby, a toddler and a pre-schooler or if somehow I've been relocated to an alternate universe where my children are all of a sudden pre-teens.  Austin wasn't really a sassy toddler.  It was just him and me,(no siblings to compete with for attention) and he, as far as I can remember, seemed to listen wonderfully.  Nayeli has been a little more demanding.  I expect this from her, because she's my little princess.  The fact that she now defies me using complete sentences is a little disheartening.  I wonder why she's so reluctant to just come when I call her name... When I call for her a second time she yells back, "Why?"  I call her again and she says in a snobby tone, "What mama?!"  I don't think I talk to her, or anyone else like that.  Does she get it from Disney movies?  TV?  Or is this just how she is?

(She hasn't put her "cell phone" down in three days!!!)

Austin has become more of a free thinker than he was in his toddler days.  He too now questions my authority.  For anything I ask or say it seems I must have an explanation.  My least favorite thing is when I tell him not to do, or to stop doing, something he asks, "What will happen if I don't?"  It's not an unacceptable question, but I feel like he should know the answer...  a time out, or grounding from a game or toy, depending on the situation.  When he asks it feels like I can tell that he's weighing what he wants to do with the consequence.  This is probably a good skill for him to develop, but inside I'm thinking, "Do what I say because I say it.  I'm your mother and that's how it should be!"  

(Is he telling me to talk to his hand?!)

Kheaven got upset today because I wouldn't let him have a plastic bag.  He LoVeS crinkly things.  There's no way I'm letting him play with a plastic bag though.  I replaced the bag with a crinkly toy.  He was very upset and proceeded to start crawling toward the bag.  (It had the supplies I needed for cleaning out the hamster's cage in it.)  I moved it again and it was the end of him.  He pushed himself up on his arms as far as he could and threw himself over.  It was a fit.  Nine months old and throwing his first fit isn't too bad I suppose.

(Time for music lessons, already?!)

:-)  I "complain" but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I guess I didn't expect my children to be this way so early in life, but I'll just use practice for when they're this way and their older...  I pray by then they understand respect and have enough for me to not do some (if not all) of these things.  And of course, the wonderful things that fill my heart with enormous amounts of love and joy occur more than the "teenagey" things.