Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a time there were two little girls who used to play together...

They grew up and one moved to the big city, where the other one came to be a part of her special day...

Her two boys, her mom and Grandma all went with to celebrate...

The two boys were carted around the city in matching pink strollers...

Until they came across the lovely bride's reception...

Where they got cool sunglasses, had awesome food, danced and played!

A little time went by, and the city gal got pregnant, while the other one was pregnant with her 3rd...All this time the city gal's parents lived where she was raised.  But, with babies, they bring changes!

And the city gal's awesome parents decided that they don't want to be away from their granddaughter once she arrives...

So, their friends decided they needed to have a lunch before they moved to the big city!

At the lunch, they got a lot of practice to take care of their little wee granddaughter, being silly...

And giving comfort...

And after all of that, Chris and Kathy, got sent on their little way to join their new expanding family.  They will be missed very much, but the joy's they are going to have with their son-in-law, daughter and granddaughter will be amazing!  Take care of each other, and we look forward to hearing and seeing the new one soon!  

Much love to you all!  XOXOXOX.

Go DUCKS and a couple other Pictures

Carson going to his first Duck game with dad!  9.15.12

Carson and the Duck.  :)

Carson in our seats.

The smoke from all the cannons at Science Works.  9.16.12

Finn resting on mom.  9.16.12

BIG Changes!

9.7.12  The Coster 5 before heading home.

These last couple of weeks have included some large changes for us, which we are all adjusting to.  Finn finally joined us on the 4th, and Carson started Kindergarten on the 10th.   

The boys have welcomed Finn into the fam from day 1.  They would be all over him all the time, if it was allowed.  They love and adore him, which is such a blessing!  I am trying to get used to being up a lot more at night for at least an hour at a time and during the day, trying to juggle Finn with daily activities.  It is such a blessing to have Finn be a part of our lives though.  I really feel like we are a whole family now (not that I felt like we were lacking before).  Finn had his 1st doctors appointment on Monday, the one that doesn't feel too good for the little guy.  :(  He was up 1/2 an ounce on his birth weight, so that is good.   

Carson loves school!  It has been very interesting see the different behavior from day to day once he comes home.  We are doing early bed time though, so he can get up in the morning at get things done before heading out for the morning.  We are learning kids names and slowly hearing about what they do during class.

Thank you friends and family for your visits in the hospital.  And for the lovely flowers and peaches that you blessed us with! 

Hope you are enjoying the end of your summer days.  It is nice and warm here, but the days are definitely getting shorter!  Fall is coming fast! 

Aloha.

Offer

A dear friend, Deborah, asked a while ago if she and her family could have Carson and Gabe over for the night.  At first, I thought it would only be Carson to go and have a "camp out" in their pop tent trailer.

When it came down to the planning of it, they wanted to have both boys over.  I was a bit concerned since it would be their first time together, at a house that we aren't blood related to.  But, Deborah was sure she wanted to have them both.  So.  I stepped it up and got OK with it.  Kinda of.  :)

When I went to pick them up before nap time the next day, I was greeted with "Mom!  I don't want to go home.  I want to stay here!"  I am so happy that Carson missed me so!  :)  Everything went well, from what I have been told, and the boys had a great time!

It is so weird to keep having that feeling of "are they really old enough for this?  I am sure they are just little babies and aren't ready for this..."  I know that I will continue to have this feeling for the rest of their lives.  I wonder if it ever gets easier, or if it always feels like a little piece of my heart gets cut out with the next big step they take!?

Carson and Gabe ready to head to the Quast's house.  7.26.12

 

Thank you Quast family for having the boys over!  It is greatly appreciated!  Love you all. 

AlohA!

Lately

 Hope you have been enjoying your summer!  It was pretty hot here last week so we enjoyed the pool as much as we could!  The boys are getting so much better in the water!  Here is what has been going on with us... 

Carson and Gabe playing Lego's on the front porch.  7.10.12

We caught two grasshoppers in one day!  Here, the boys are checking out their friend, Hopper.

  7.11.12

Pool time!  Gabe asks all of the time if we can go in the "cool."  They are jumping from the ladder and ducking under the water a bunch now.  7.11.12

Carson pulled out his top tooth!  7.14.12

Trever is the white spot spying on the Coyote that visits.  He is behind the far right bush, in the shade.  7.15.12

The Coyote walking from one bush towards the creek.

Carson and Gabe on their new bunk beds!  7.16.12

After the first night in the bunk beds, we are all tired!  Gabe was up several times to have his nose blown and needing a little comfort.  Carson was up, b/c Gabe was up.  Trev and I were up b/c Gabe was up.  Needless to say, we survived the first night and are looking forward to more sleep!  :)

I am about 7 weeks away from being able to meet the baby!  And we are so excited!  These last 33 weeks have gone by fast (looking back)!  I am happy we are able to be outside enjoying play time and pool time!  And this cooler weather this week is great!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

AlohA.

Is it Time?!

I have very inconsistently been trying to get Gabe to go potty on the big boy potty.  In the last couple of days he has taken more of an interest by himself.  A few days ago, after he woke up from his nap we had this little conversation:

G:  Ooooh nuts!  I forgot!
M:  What did you forget?
G:  I forgot to go pee!
M:  You have your diaper on, you can go...

That wasn't good enough, I guess, because he marched upstairs to sit on the Diego potty and go pee.  And he went! 

After nap today, he said the same thing, that he forgot to go.  So, we headed into the bathroom, took off the almost dry diaper and then he went!  Carson's big boy pants were in there and so he put those on, backwards so that Spiderman was on the front, and then his pants.  He went potty several more times on Diego and once outside on our walk.  He did have one accident of pee and the start of an accident of poops.  We rushed to the toilet, again he sat on Diego and he went a ton more! 

We are so proud of him, as any parent is of their potty training child!!!  This is fantastic to be doing this now!  So proud of my little 3 year old! 

Randomness

If you have heard our car arrive, you might have noticed the squeak that goes along with it when we stop.  Needless to say, we have needed new brakes.  Yesterday, after a lot of research, Trev changed out our front brakes all by himself!  I am so proud of him for taking on a task that he had never done before and getting it done.  A bonus is that they brakes work!  :)  And there is a lot less squeak!  The back brakes are next!

                         

 The boys and I watching Trev test the brakes...

As many of you know, Mother's Day is this Sunday!  I really had no idea what to get my mom, and was thinking about a plant of some sort.  Then, with a suggestion of getting a plant from the Grower Market, I came up with the gift idea of a pizza garden.  I had seen Roger Cook, on This Old House, make one and looked for the video, but couldn't find it.  So, I did a search and came up with a list of herbs to put in the garden.

The boys and I went to the Market yesterday, and after a lot of looking around, purchased pesto, an orange pepper plant, parsley, and creeping thyme.  We went to my moms, spiffed up a planter with some horse manure (thank you Uncle Cam's horses!) and planted the herbs/pepper plant in their new home.  There are also going to be 6 tomato plants after this weekend planted, so I passed on putting a tomato plant in the little pizza garden.   

 Carson is holding the sign we made for Grandma that tells her what is in her new pizza garden!

This morning, since it is at her house and she will see it, we gave it to her, even thought it is a bit early! 

Hope you all enjoy your Mother's Day weekend, whether you are being celebrated or celebrating with your mom!

AlohA!

One More String

Carson, right now, is at a birthday party. No biggie, right? Wrong. This is his first party that is a non family member, and his first party of being left there. Alone.

He had a bit of a hard time letting me go, but after a couple talks, a few hugs and me waving to him from the street and car, I left.

I gotta say, this is making me sad. I know it is a bit silly, but it is just one more thing that cuts the ties between needing us and being the independent guy that he will be one day too soon. Carson taking that step to become a big boy, is hard on this mom.




Am I the only the one that this has been hard on???

Aloha.