life is beautiful

cousins?

celebrations, sisters, vacation

nah, more like best friends 🙂

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my sister came home for a few weeks and we celebrated the whole time! i can’t imagine the memories that were made for these little guys these past few weeks.   gramp’s yard took a beating but i think it was totally worth it.  if you’re looking for a story about our non-stop three weeks, well it is, as always, best told in pictures…

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can you tell i just wanted to capture their whole visit?  these kids were inseparable and that was my absolute favorite part of holly’s visit.   how blessed are we that basically eight kids under the age of eleven were completely happy for  three weeks straight.  so sad that this means another summer is coming closer to an end but as always we can’t wait to see what next summer has in store for us!!

we miss our cousins already!

xxoo

sweet smiles

cousins

well my sister just texted us that she is back home…  she was able to spend almost  t h r e e  weeks here in texas.   it was a wild and crazy ride but so many memories were made!  the kids are all completely over tired but the smiles for  t h r e e  weeks were so worth it.   we sure are going to miss her and her cuties being here!

braedon kyle

{age 9}

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andrew michael

{age 7}

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sydney anne

{age 4}

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seth robert

{age 2}

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can’t wait to get pictures of baby girl 🙂

{due early november}

thank you holly for making the trip down here to create such great memories for all of us!

xxoo

sweet summertime…

celebrations, kids

yes, this will be a huge lump sum of photos from the past month really 🙂  from pool time to play time to a little mama get away and zoo time… we have been doing nothing but relaxing and having fun here.   we had a scare of chicken pox which kept us home for the fourth of july.  it turned out negative after all but we had our own fun.  samuel you enjoyed the fire works!  you also enjoyed running in the street.  jack tried his hardest to be excited about them but ran inside and found a tv channel to watch them on.

jack and samuel you are the best of buds this summer.   “you jump, i jump”  is the motto you live by daily.   🙂   you two are nothing but “non stop”  entertainment.   i love your adventurous sides this summer!

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here’s to one more month of summer adventures!  i hear there are a lot more in store!! 🙂

xxoo

 

bonjour

dada, kids

 

it has been a while.   what a crazy week we had.  the week before father’s day weekend daddy left for training in france.   jack, you couldn’t believe it.   the night we found out, daddy broke the news to you that he was going to be gone for  a week in france.  you asked where it was and then quietly said …”i didn’t know you worked with pope francis…”   so the whole week we missed daddy, you would ask.. when daddy was coming home from being at pope francis.  🙂

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oh boy was it a long week.  we had no problem staying busy.  it was also the week that we had doctors appointments and i had training at the end of the week as well!   we improvised alot!  thank goodness for family!  thank you to nana and papaw for staying a night and day.  thank you also to gramps for keeping the  boys through the unexpected crazy weekend.

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samuel,  we saw your eye doctor at the beginning of the week.   she was as thrilled as we were!   you aren’t quite where she wants you but she decided she needs to give you a little more time!   she couldn’t say enough how great of an improvement you have made in just these 3 short months.   she also let us know you are “calendar perfect”  for their eye associate calendar. 🙂  we will see her in september for another follow up.  st. lucy pray for us!

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jack,  you have been a hoot these last few weeks.   we had a lot of time to chit chat, just me and you.   i realized i need to start writing down all the funny things you are saying.   just like daddy working for pope francis, this week you found a little figurine of the statue of liberty, a past student of mine had given me.  you asked if you could have it, i said sure!   it has now moved to samuel’s dresser.  you let me know  ” i asked her to pray that sam be a good listener the next day.”  oh my.

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i don’t know if those prayers are working because well, brother samuel has a mind and temper of his own lately…

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he finally mastered the “joey’s”  a little bit this weekend with gramps.   he may need longer legs and a few more lessons though…

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so happy daddy is home now and we are spoiling him all week!   he was greatly missed!

xxoo

 

 

thirty something.

celebrations

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another birthday came for mama 🙂 we enjoyed celebrating with a noon mass  at st. michael’s and a burger at a park near by.

an older woman stopped me outside of the church when i was taking the boys picture.  she asked if she could take one of all of us.  i was actually really excited!  it was my birthday why not!?

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DSC_0009on the way home from the park, jack you were quite upset we hadn’t gone to my birthday party yet.   we decided last minute you could help me plan a party for us that night.   we stopped off for cupcakes… (we conveniently were near a cupcake bakery).   daddy picked up a pizza for us that night and we ended the night playing candy land together.   it was pretty perfect.   thank you so much for making it so special!  also thank you to everyone who sent messages and called,  it always makes a birthday so special!

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 loving this time of my life!!

xxoo

another graduate in the family!

celebrations, cousins

on the last weekend in may, samuel and i made our trip out to chad and mendy’s for taylor’s high school graduation.  it seemed like such a fast trip, as my little lap buddy was on my lap, hip or bed almost the entire time.   oh my samuel, how we all learned a little more about you this weekend.  you are very head strong and you can get louder than everyone thought you could 😉  you also ended up not feeling so well.  as excited as we were to get away,  we were ready to get you back home to where you are most comfortable.

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our stay was so wonderful.  i love love love seeing all these girls together and it makes my heart so happy to hang out with chad and mendy like old times!   mendy always knows how to host her guests.  the graduation was so special and the party was just wonderful!   taylor, you are such a beautiful young woman!  be so thankful for what our lord has blessed you with.  this weekend proved  He surely has blessed you!

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taylor, seems like yesterday you were the size of a carry on 🙂 can’t believe you are college bound… even if you still feel ten.   you will do so great!  continue to make us proud!   thank you chad and mendy for hosting all of the family.  we wouldn’t have missed it.  we made great memories…love and miss you guys more than words could say!  even though i was ready to get samuel home and happy, it was so hard to leave you guys!

xxoo

the “see you later” party

celebrations, friends

our best friends have set on their way for their summer adventure!   before they left they had a “see you later” bbq.   it was just perfect!   i told nadia… truth was i dreaded going because i didn’t want to say goodbye!   i know it’s for a short time and i am so thankful for that.   i am so so happy for them and their new adventures ahead!   thank you for letting us play one last time together 🙂

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we never get a picture with just us and our babies…

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the more natural picture, trying to get sienna to get in our picture…

DSC_0341we finally get her and…. its blurry!  well maybe we can try again at your welcome back party :).  love you so much!  take care of those sweet babies!

see you soon sister!

xxoo

jack anthony

kids

 

the other day i realized we are about at the 1/2 marker.   our big boy is 3 1/2 years old.   i think it’s time we do a little update just for him.   oh jack, where do we even start?  you keep our conversations going all day!  usually with question after question 🙂    you love everything thomas the train and anything about cars.   because of our recent cut back on channels, you have discovered the old tom and jerry episodes.   you love watching that with daddy every evening before bed.  you get to giggling so hard its pretty contagious.

{you haven’t noticed  yet, but you no longer get to watch paw patrol or bubble guppies… i may have to pull that up on the computer when you do.}

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you love going to our library.  you are not a fan of library time but you love going to find new books and cds.  you will climb up and check them out all on your own.  you   especially love your elephant and piggie books.   these are so much fun to read to you boys.  sam just screams and giggles when you do.  it’s quite entertaining.

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i feel like you have been talking non stop since your first birthday.  sometimes you ask so many questions i’ll tell you to just talk to samuel for a minute.  🙂  surprisingly you really do.   you love telling him what we are doing or where we are going.   if you are not chasing each other, i can usually find you both on your bed reading books.   you guys definitely have something special.   we couldn’t ask for a better big brother for samuel.

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you always want him to enjoy the moment with you.

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today you couldn’t wait to play in the sprinkler with him!

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he follows every move you make.  if you do something he is right behind you waiting his turn.

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you think your tennis shoes are faster than the other shoes you have.  today we let maudie run with us and you couldn’t believe how fast she was.

“maudie is faster than my shoes daddy!!”

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you love to sing and dance.  when you hear a song, you always ask what the song is called and whose song it is.   ” oh mama this is your song!”   you have been calling daddy “love” or “richard”  alot lately.  it’s always out of the blue or when you are shouting for him and it always makes us laugh.

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you still close our night prayers for us and ask us what we are thankful for.  you usually have so many things that you are thankful for and we just let you keep going because well, we do have so much to be thankful for!  it’s one of my favorite times of the day to hear all you remember from our day.

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you love, love your cousins and you love hearing stories about them.  you are still the pickiest eater in the house.  your favorite foods are chicken nuggets, hamburgers, french fries, corndogs and tacos.   today we surprised you and went to eat at your favorite burger place.  you were so excited and reminded us “we haven’t been here in a lot of days… can we come back tomorrow?”   jack anthony  we love your excitement for each day!  we love your love for samuel and for us.   i still love when you come in the room in the morning and just want to lay with me for a bit.   you are still a huge cuddler and i am so thankful for that because when you aren’t running around like a little rambunctious boy you can be,  i usually get you right by my side 🙂  the times we find it difficult to parent you are the times i realize why God chose us to be your parents.  you can really challenge us to stay strong!  we love you like crazy little man.   i can’t wait to answer all your questions tomorrow 🙂

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xxoo

 

friday fun day…

cousins, firsts, kids

last friday was quite a big day… we started off with mass at mama’s old school.   it was the eighth graders last school mass.  this eighth grade class was super special to me because it was my first class to teach!   i have so many memories with them.   seeing them again was so great!  they hadn’t changed one bit!  they just got a little bit taller.   oh how i wish i could have gotten pictures with them, but for now that day is etched in my memory.  they were my first babies before these babies.   i couldn’t have asked for a more special morning.

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after visiting with all my old students we headed out to bc.  the boys could not wait!  we added a new addition to the boys toys…

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samuel, this was the first time you got the hang of your four wheeler (aka joey).  you had a blast.

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sam didn’t stay still too long. 🙂  we will be back out soon again to play!

xxoo

blessed indeed….

celebrations, kids

 

 and spoiled!  oh you boys had nothing but treats for me this weekend.  balloons, flowers and food, food, food.    i think we all gained a few pounds but it was oh so yummy!  the best part of this mothers day was just watching you boys work with daddy in the kitchen.   jack you were thrilled to say the least, to help out in the kitchen.  you get to giggling so hard when you are working on something you are excited about.

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2014-05-11 09.10.01you guys worked hard  on some pretty amazing french toast…  for the record i could only eat one slice.  i think it expanded in my stomach after i ate it.  oh it was so good!  we quickly got ready for mass.  we made it on time and you boys were pretty good.  pretty entertaining at times but good overall.   🙂

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we enjoyed a trip to sonic and a late afternoon nap.  that evening  we got a little play time  outside before helping daddy in the kitchen again.   daddy  made us a yummy 🙂  italian dish and i requested that he help you boys create your own pizza.  oh you had so much fun!  samuel, we were quiet impressed you followed directions (after trying to spoon the sauce in your mouth).  you both did an awesome job and jack you were so proud to eat a pizza you made!

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DSC_1032i can’t say it enough,  i am so very blessed that god chose me to be your mama.  i’m also so blessed to have such a wonderful mama as an example.  she raised me to fully appreciate this vocation of motherhood.  there isn’t anyone else i’d rather spend my days and nights with than my babies!

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thank you for another wonderful weekend!

xxoo