October in Review

Wow! What a crazy month.  It began with a quick trip to Colorado Springs.  Sam and I went to our dear  friend, Lee's wedding.  The weather was amazing and it was so great to spend time with good friends that we don't get the opportunity to see nearly enough.  The wedding festivities took place at a lodge called Garden of the Gods Club.  Just to give you an idea of our hideous view, this is what we saw every morning when we looked out the window.

When we came home, Sam and I immediately noticed something strange about Ayden's voice.  It sound strained and almost as if he was chocking on something.  It first, I thought it might be drainage.  However, when it didn't seem to clear up, I took a look at his throat.  I was completely shocked to find that his tonsils literally took up his entire throat.  After taking him to our pediatrician as well as a ENT, we decided he would need to have them removed.

While we were preparing and anticipating for the Ice Cream Fest, we made our annual journey south for Sam's favorite holiday of the year.... The Red River Rival!!  We change things up a little this year though.  Since we had left the kiddos behind only the week before, we decided to make it a family trip this year.  We stayed with our wonderful friends Paige and Ryan Hayes.  The boys were pumped because the Ryder and Paisley, Paige and Ryan's kids are some of their very best friends!

After our 55-17 stomping of the Longhorns, it was time to head home and get Ayden's tonsils taken care of.  It really was not the piece of cake surgery I thought it would be.  He had some complications and ended up back in surgery several days later and got the pleasure of spending the night in the hospital.  After about two weeks, he was back to his old self.  And just in time for Halloween!!

Ayden had been planning his Captain Rex costume for months.  Poor Beckham the hand me down kid got a choice of a Turtle or a Lion.  He wanted to be Nemo, but I didn't have one of those in the attic!  Don't feel too sorry for the little terrapin though, he totally rocked it.  He looked like a professional trick or treater.  He had down the "trick or treat" "thank you" "bye" "hap hap hap Happy Halloween"  The Sullivant's came over to trick or treat with us.  We are so excited because they are finally moving home from Kansas City.  We will be able to spend so much more time with them now!!

OK, OK, I know I am so far behind!  This seems like the fastest year of my life!  The boys celebrated their birthdays (5 week ago).  They truly are growing up before my eyes!  Ayden turned 5 though he acts like he is ten.  The one to swallow is Beckham.  How can he be two?  Not my baby! This year we did a joint party.  With birthdays only 8 days apart, I really didn't want to plan two parties.  It took a little convincing to get Ayden to agree.  He was hoping for a Star Wars party, but when I told him the Cat in the Hat party would come complete with Spaghetti Eddie (a local kids band), he was all in!  As I usually do, I just about killed myself planning and preparing.

I spent hours and hours making these darling party hats.  I used scrapbook paper and boas.  I was completely bummed when none of the kids wanted to wear them.  Oh well, I guess they make cute decorations!

Mom made the boys red and white hats.  Beckham loved his, but Ayden wouldn't wear his.

Spaghetti Eddie was the hit of the party.  The kids did some serious boogieing!

It turned out to be and incredible party.  To see how happy my sweet boys were makes all the stress, late nights, and hours of preparation completely worth it.  Happy birthday my darlings.

Boys of Summer

The summer of 2011 might just have been the busiest couple of months of my life.  We were defenantly out of town more than we were in.  It was also by far the hottest couple of months I can remember.  That is why when we were in town we stayed very close to a pool.  We made our annual trip to Minnesota again this year.  The Sullivants joined us for the second year in a row, and this year our dear friends the Raff's joined us as well.  This gave us a grand total of six adults and six little boys between the ages of 1 and 5!  What and adventure!  There is not a better place on earth for six fun loving little boys to run and explore.  I am amazed at how smoothly the trip went.

                                                        five of our six boys 

Probably the funniest thing to happen (which we didn't really find that funny at the time) was a run in with a couple of goats.  We decided it would be fun to rent a pontoon boat so everyone, including the kids could hang out on the lake together.  Our first disappointment occurred when the boat arrived... It was a total DUMP!!!  Anyways, we just laughed and climbed aboard.  

We take of put putting across the lake (literally, putting).  We get to what must be the dead center of the lake and, OMG, our boat just dies!  Wow, the six of us and our six small children are stranded in the middle of the lake.  Lucky for us, Bob was near by and rescued us!  We continued on to our destination, Gooseberry Island.  The moment we arrived, we realize we had forgotten to load the ice chest and the kids were starving. Sooo, we all decide to stay on the island while Sam and Michael (along with baby Finn) return to the house to retrieve the ice chest.  Big Mistake!  Two hours went by as we sat on this sorry excuse for an island freezing with no food except a bag on stale cheese balls and no cell phone.  Perhaps the most disturbing part of the whole experience occurred when we were invaded by a couple of goats.  Beckham was sitting in the sand happily eating the whole bag of cheese balls when suddenly a large white goat stole them away.  If not for Wes snatching Beckham up by his life jacket, I feel pretty confident they might have eaten my youngest son as well!  Needless to say, the moment Sam and Michael arrive with lunch we all climb aboard the boat with out speaking a word and requested a ride back to the house.

Seriously though, aside from the above describe incident (which we are all able to laugh at now) the trip was amazing!  Good times were had by all.  I hope our friends enjoyed it as much as we did.  Ayden did lots of fishing.  By "lots" I mean as soon as he dropped his hook in the water, he came up with a fish.  I am proud to say I took a major step as a mother of boys.  I swallowed my disgust and actually took a couple of fish off the hook!!  The boys also had the chance to spend some quality time with their PawPaw!

Adventures in Denver

So we recently returned from family vacation in Denver.  Just a little bit of history; Denver is one of Sam and my favorite places.  For as long as we have known one another we have loved going to Denver.  It is a place where some of the greatest memories of our lives were made.  We have seen Widespread Panic at Red Rocks Amphitheater so many times most people think we are crazy!  In fact, it was in Denver in June of 2003 that Sam proposed.  It was a beautiful day, as most are in Denver during the summer, we were surrounded by our closest friends when Sam got down on one knee and asked me to "spend the rest of my life with him."  Of course I said yes!!

When Ayden was 11 months old, we took him to Denver for the first time.  All he really cared about was getting to fly on an airplane!

Four years later, we finally made it back.  This time we had both boys with us.  We stayed at the Warwick, which is the only hotel in Denver with a rooftop pool.  By the way, the pool is where we spent the majority of our trip!

We did manage to get the boys out of the pool long enough to do a few other things.  Charlotte came in from Albuquerque to spend some time with the boys.  She took them to the Denver Zoo where Ayden apparently slept most of the time in the stroller! A Denver trip would not be complete without spending a little time with the Boys!  By "Boys," I mean JB, Schools and the rest of the Widespread Panic gang!  While Charlotte had our boys, we took in some music in a place I think must be one of the most incredible venues in the world.

We did some sightseeing, lots of walking, eating, and tons of family bonding.  I am reminded that life in unpredictable.  You have no guarantee on tomorrow and no second chances at today.  I am so thankful to have the opportunities to make these memories with my family.

Father's Day Festivities

The boys, especially Ayden, have been looking forward to Father's day for a while.  We did the total cliche theme for Father's Day this year... everything golf!  Which, by the way, is very appropriate since just last week, Sam took golfing for the first time!

I framed this picture of Sam from our trip to hawaii in May of 2009.  I took it while he was golfing in Poipu Bay www.poipubaygolf.com.  

I took the boys Academy to pick out their gifts.  Of course they both went straight for the golf balls.  The Tee's were a big hit as well.  We ended up with some OU golf balls, a giant bag of golf tee's, a golf glove, Shorts, and a golf shirt.  Ayden could not wait for Sam to get up and open his gifts.  

Bob came over for a Father's Day Brunch.  I made breakfast casserole, banana bread, fruit salad, mimosas and of course bacon.  Because no father's day meal is complete without bacon!  It was a great celebration of a fabulous dad!  As with every Father's Day, It was a little bitter sweet.  As happy as I am to celebrate and recognize the wonderful father of my children, I do wish my own dad could be with us.  He would get the biggest kick out of seeing the boys and I know they would adore him!

I know, I know, it is not my day.  But, Beckham did decide to give me a little gift of my own... A little poopy in the potty!  I'm not kidding myself.  I know we have a long way to being "Potty Trained"  but this is a wonderful start!  Go Beckham!