Who are these people?!?!?

...and what did you do with the parents who raised me?!?!?

I don't know who these people are!

Case in point #1: My mom told me the other day that she tried to feed the boys oatmeal for breakfast. She said that Heath ate it just fine, but Hunter wouldn't touch it. So she ended up giving Hunter a donut. A donut! Do you mean to tell me that you have taught my children that if they don't like the food that is placed in front of them that they can just hold out for a donut? That's not the way I was raised. How many times was I told growing up that I would eat what was in front of me and I would like it, then I was reminded of the starving children in foreign countries. Thanks Mom, but I still am holding fast that I will not be a short order cook for this family.

Case in point #2: My father lays on the floor and lets the boys climb all over him. He also lets them pull all of the items out of his front shirt pocket and play with (including chew on) his pens. This is the same man who would have a fit if I even touched his pens, let alone stuck them near my mouth. Both boys know exactly where he keeps his cell phone on his belt. He will hand it over to them with out thinking and let them play with it for hours. I used to have to BEG to borrow his cell phone when I was going out of town, and I'm pretty sure that he didn't even like handing it over to me when I was going to use it in the same room.

Case in point #3: Mom mentioned to me the other day that Heath can throw a pretty good fit when he wants to. I, in turn, asked her if she swatted his bottom when he did this. She looked at me horror struck with a face that implied how dare I think that these sweet, innocent, little darlings could ever deserve a swat. Hmmm. I have now ordered time out mats. Maybe the babysitter will be better with time outs.

All that to say this, I don't know who these people are, but they are NOT the same people that raised me. They are so much nicer! It must be a grandparent thing!

I still love you Mom and Dad :) and I am so very thankful that you are such a part of the boys lives. What a blessing you both are!

Getting Ready for Football Season!

I guess the one good thing about school starting back is that football season is right around the corner. Here in West Texas, we love our Friday night football.

So Chris has already got the boys started on their tackling drills for the upcoming season. Check out Heath's laugh at the end. So Precious!

Goodbye Summertime!

OK, I know that summer will stick around for a few more months, but tomorrow starts my first day back at work. So, for me, summertime is over. It makes me sad. I love my job, but I love my babies more.

This summer my sweet baby boys:
*have gone from 7 and 8 teeth to 11 and 12 teeth. (Boy, that was FUN!)
* have given up their pacifiers.
* both talk and chatter all day long and I can now understand some of it.
* have both gained about 4 or 5 pounds.
* have given up their morning naps.
* play with each other. I mean they really play. Heath came into the living room to get Hunter the other day, and said, "mon" which is his version of "Come On" to Hunter. The best part was that they happily ran off to the play room together.
*They have learned to swim with their life jackets on.
*have become more active. To call them busy little monkeys is an understatement. They wear me out!
*understand more commands and they know how to put up their toys.

I guess, basically, I can no longer call them my "babies" any more. They are definitely full blown toddlers.

Who can resist these adorable faces? I'm sure going to miss them while I'm at work.

Aghh! It Moves!?!

I decided a quick trip to the mall to pick up a thing or two didn't warrant hauling the stroller all the way to San Angelo. The boys can walk and Mom was with me so I figured we could handle it. Well, my boys must have inherited their Daddy's strong dislike of the mall because they did not want to walk by me or hold my (or Mimi's) hand.



So, while mom was duking it out with the man at the cell phone accessory store, I finally gave in and allowed the boys to go sit on the ride-on toys.

They had a blast. They sat on it and pretended to drive it and all around loved it...until...I got the bright idea to actually start one of them.

That was all for Heath. He was done. It scared the poor baby so much that he wouldn't get back on one whether it was moving or not.

In most of the pictures you will find that Heath is either missing or quickly exiting the ride!

Hunter Loved them all, whether they were moving or not.

What goofy children!

The Water Park

Chris, the twins, and I along with our good friend Melissa and her son, Kayin, all went to an awesome swimming pool last week. This pool was perfect for the little kids because it had so much that they could do on their own.

I didn't have my camera for all of the attractions, but there was also a little kids slide that all of the boys loved and a big slide that we all loved. We would just put the babies on our laps and go down the big slide. We had to do it over and over again because they enjoyed it so much, but we got pretty tired of climbing the stairs.

Checking out the water shooting up from the ground. Daddy taught them that if they stand on it, when they let their foot off it shot up farther.

Thankfully, there were 3. One for each of them.

Lots of summer time fun. We don't want summer to end!

FROGS!

Daddy caught us a coffee can full of frogs.

Gooey. Slimy. Icky. Jumpy. Frogs. (Maybe that was Mom's opinion)

We were perfectly happy, as long as the frogs stayed in the coffee can with the lid shut. OK, so maybe we liked stealing a peek at them every now and then.

It's just part of being a boy!

My Little Swimmers

The boys have had a lot of swim time this summer. We have wonderful neighbors who let us borrow their pool, plus we swim at the river, and at Mimi and Papa's house and Lolly and Pop's house. There has been tons of swimming this summer. Their Daddy is determined to teach them to swim without a life jacket before next summer rolls around. Usually we just use the boys life jackets when just one of us takes the boys swimming, because they have these neat little handles on the back and I can keep one hand on each of the handles (as seen in the Devil's River photos). However, when Daddy gets to go with us, we have these really cool little suits that keep us afloat. They do pretty good for 19 month olds.

When bath time rolls around, they practice kicking their feet, which makes for a lot of water on the floor and a big mess for Momma, but the boys LOVE it.

Please excuse the terrible videoing of these two videos.