Where did my babies go?

I know...I know...I get behind, and then I promise to catch up and I never do!  One of these days...or at least that's what I keep telling myself!  But one thing that did recently happen...the twins turned 5!  How is that possible?

 

How can my sweet little Austin and Aiden, so tiny, so precious, so loved...

 

...now be such fun, energetic, still so loved, crazy 5 year olds???  Seriously where does the time go?  At times it feels like "wow - they are ONLY 5 because it feels like they have always been a part of our family.  But most of the time it feels like "how can they POSSIBLY be 5 ALREADY?"  I am not sure I'm ready to send them to kindergarten in August!  I am, but you know what I mean!

And I just love this picture.  For Christmas, Austin got the Cowboy's uniform and Aiden didn't really seem interested.  Well, he had decided he liked the Bears and a couple times before his birthday he asked for his own Bears uniform.  We got him one and I love seeing them "posed" here together.  I envision lots of football action in the years to come!!!

 

Love these two!  Now don't even get me started on Landon turning 8 in April!  That's just crazy!

Dad's Shadow

Austin is Dave's little helper.  It seems like almost any time Dave is working on something, especially something outside, Austin is right there helping, or trying to learn what it is all about.  I see many, many years of this as he grows and I love it.  Aiden and Landon - so far they aren't quite as interested.  I think it's the work they don't want to do - ha!

A few weeks ago when it was nice, it was time to put away some of the swing set stuff.  Here is Austin helping pull the wagon to the playset.

Swings loaded up - time to haul them back to the shed!!!

Now time to empty the sand box...Austin was really excited to see he got to use the little shovel that looks just like dad's big shovel!   

Such a good little worker!  He was seriously throwing the sand around the yard just like his dad - it was so cute! 

Bye bye sand box - see you in the spring! 



Always in my heart

I've been thinking a lot lately about Devin and Elizabeth. I never know when they will be on my mind more - I mean, I think of them at some point each day, some days more than others. But lately it's been a lot more than usual. Maybe it's the holidays...maybe it's approaching the end of the year, which means January is once again around the corner. I'm not sure.

It is often hard for me to put into words what I feel when I think of them, other than loving and missing them. I've said many times before that I can't imagine what it would be like to have 5 children - yet I know that had Devin and Elizabeth lived we would not have the 3 blessings we have today. I know that we would have been done with 2. So I know that God had a different plan for our family - and I am so thankful.

I was reading a blog that I read almost daily and many of her words in this recent post really hit home - how my heart feels. (Read the post here - In This Wonderful Life - A year and a half) Especially her line "I don't have any ideal scenarios..." That's a good way to describe it - I don't have an ideal scenario in my mind - I wish all 5 of my children were here in this house with me every day - but that was not God's plan. And even for all the pain, I am more grateful than I can say for Devin and Elizabeth, and for my tree precious boys Landon, Austin and Aiden.

Thank you for listening! :)

So proud!

I cannot believe that these two cuties...


...are now THIS big...


And able to do this...

Turkey by Aiden (he's been trying really hard with his coloring!!!)

Turkey by Austin (he's so good at coloring already!!)


They also did some painting and told their teachers at school what they were thankful for!


Aiden's list - so nice!


Austin's list - very nice!


And how is this little cutie...


...now in First Grade and bringing home special notes like this???

So proud of my boys! :) Who are growing way to fast, if I do say so myself!!!

Star of the Week - Austin

This week has been Austin's special week - he's been the Star of the Week! Just like Aiden, he was so excited for his special time. I was able to see him going through the things he had put in his box when I picked them up one day, which was cute to see how excited his face looked to show his friends some of his very own toys!

When we did Aiden's box, we got started on Austin's box as well because he was just so excited!

Then last weekend I finished the page for the top of his box and he got to decorate that! Look at that smile!

He works so hard on his "projects!" He actually got very frustrated because when he was trying to draw a circle around the whole page, he accidentally wrote over some words. He was just so heartbroken! I was able to convince him it was perfect just the way he did it, but it's tough to sell to him! We'll see how it goes when he's in school!

Monday morning - he's all ready to go! Our Star of the Week!

Showing me the stuff he put in the box...I love seeing his little hands!

Today he is so excited - and so is Aiden - because Grandma Day is coming in for his special guest at lunch time! I know they are all looking forward to another special visitor!!!

And here are his answers to some of my questions:

Favorite Color - Yellow

Favorite Food - Pizza

Favorite Ice Cream - Strawberry

Favorite Fruit - Apples

Favorite Stuffed Animal - Big Bear

Favorite Activity - Coloring at school

Favorite thing to drive - My Gator

Special memories!

Labor Day

Labor day - just a nice day at home. That whole weekend we didn't do too much, and it was nice!

Austin played some ball with Dad - he's not too bad at hitting!


Landon sitting on the swing set!


Aiden sitting up high!


The boys have been playing "school" outside a lot lately - in fact, on this day I asked to play with them and they said "no, we are playing school alone." Okay then! Landon is the teacher on the left and the "students" sit on the right.


Of course, I had to make the pose for some pictures! :)


And of course - they had to make silly faces! Imagine that!


Next up - football for Austin and Dad! Good catch!


Austin with the pedal tractor...he's so strong!


Landon and Aiden assisting Austin up the hill!


Then they all played school! I think Landon is usually the teacher...


More silly faces!


We haven't played Ring-Around-The-Rosie in quite a while! I played with them, too - but couldn't get a picture of that - ha! I love the smiles on their faces.


And finally - Austin has his squirt gun! He wasn't quite done with his potty chart, but had been doing so well and it was a nice day - so we gave in a little early! He was so, so excited - as you can imagine! Good job, Austin!


Big smiles!


All three of my boys with their "awards" for their summer task! Good job guys!


I better watch out - yikes!


Austin got busy spraying everything in the yard!

August 28th

I keep hoping that one of these days I will truly be caught up with the blog - like something happens I want to blog about and within that week I get it posted. I'm not too far off...but here are some pictures from Sunday, August 28th. Just a day - nothing too exciting about it but I'm thinking of doing a blog book some day to have all this stuff printed, so the random days that I want to remember will make it in here, too! :)

Aiden and Austin had a project for their class - they needed to decorate some people and they were excited!!! I remember when Landon did this, too! It's so interesting to see how each one responds to the project so differently!!! Here are their finished projects - good job, boys!


We headed over to Grandma's house in Sheridan - Aunt Michelle was there with her boys and also Makayla and Grant to give Deb and Chris a day to relax. (Little did we know Deb's twins would be born the next day - exciting!) Anyway - the kids had a lot of fun playing and even built a "camp-fire." It was cute to see them all use their imaginations together!


Sitting around just talking - cute!

They even took wagon rides as a group! Funny!

Austin running to catch up with Dave to check the peach trees! So cute! He loves to do whatever his dad is doing!

When we got home later, it was time to tend to the grass seed. Of course, Austin was right out there with Dad setting up the sprinklers. It was so cute to watch him just follow Dave around, following directions.

He even got to turn the water off and on - he thought he was pretty big stuff! Especially since his brothers were inside - just Austin and Dad!

Making sure the water was spraying where they wanted!

Potty Training

I don't have the pictures I wanted for this - there is one on my phone but I can't seem to get it sent for some reason. Anyway - I just wanted to remember how things have been going for the boys with potty training.

Dave and I thought these two would be faster than Landon but we were wrong. You can't force them to potty train - that is one thing we've learned for sure!!! We have to have them potty trained by mid-August when they start daycare again, but all last year they were in the "potty training room" and we thought they would progress.

Finally at the end of the year, Austin started making some major progress and even ended the last few weeks in underwear! We were so proud! He got through all his stickers at home and got to go to Target with me and pick out a toy. He picked a multi-car pack of Cars vehicles and loved it. I didn't get a picture - bad mom! In the recent days he's taken some back steps, but we are still making major progress and he is dry each night! All night! Way to go, Austin! You are doing it!

Aiden was much slower. Actually, in February he acted interested, but that was short lived. At the start of summer break he was determined NOT to go potty on the potty and we were getting frustrated. I tried being patient - but I'm not good when it comes to patience and potty training. I will admit it! But - we had a week where the pressure was off - Dave was in class, I was working at home and their Grandma Easterday was there helping! I think that helped Aiden - no pressure. I brought home candy one day as an incentive and after that - Aiden was ready! On Friday, June 17th he wanted to try and he's been in underwear ever since!!! In that one day he finished up his stickers and got to go to Target with me the next day. We were SO proud!

Here is Aiden eating breakfast that Saturday - his favorite - cinnamon rolls!


And after - playing with his big Bumblebee Transformer! His brothers were so jealous!

They have made great progress, but we are not accident free yet and that's okay. We have new incentives for them and it's helping and I am confident that by the start of school they will be ready! Way to go, Austin and Aiden! We are so proud of you!