Oh Yeah, It's a...

 So along with most of my posts, I'm behind on my blogging.  It seems to take the back seat most days, but I do hope to one day look back on this blog and hope that it stirs some memories of mine, so for that reason I continue to post even when things happened, well let's say almost two months ago.  One of those sweet memories, that I want to always remember is the day we found out that this sweet baby growing in my womb was a GIRL!  Sometimes it's weird for me to even write that...my brain is so wired for boys..it's all I've known for the past 5 years.  My world consists of blue and dirt and mud puddles and trucks and fighter planes and superheroes and wrestling and loud, wild voices and endless hours of pretending to be good guys who lock up the bad guys.  All I know is talk of guns and shooting and baseball and super powers.  I could tell you anything you wanted to know about F-14 aircraft or Lego Police.  Part of me just assumed we would always have boys, even though in my heart I wanted a house full of boys and at least one girl.  On my 10 year anniversary (more about that in a separate post), God blessed me with this sweet news...that I get to be the mother of a baby girl.  I cannot even begin to tell you how blessed I feel!  Honestly, I feel blessed beyond words that God is so good that He gave me two amazing little boys who are such good friends and are so close with each other and now a sweet little girl whom my boys and I get to love and protect!  When I heard the news, I literally sobbed.  Tears of shock yes and tears of joy, absolutely!  So thankful for this precious gift that even now kicks from inside.  Oh and ps...I thought I should mention that ever since we found out that we were pregnant with "baby C" as my boys call her, Braden has been wanting a sister.  Asher (my wilder child) wanted a brother...(why not, it's one more person to wrestle with), but Braden has been wanting a sister.  In fact, last summer, he and I were outside swinging one day when he told me he wanted a baby sister.  If you know Braden, then you know his heart and his faith and he immediately prayed to God in a sweet innocent prayer that simply went "Dear Jesus, Please put a baby girl in mommy's tummy next summer.  And please name her Sally because that's a really nice name for a lady.  Amen."  And sure enough, God answered that prayer because this summer, God did just that and put a baby girl in my tummy!  I can assure you, her name will not be Sally, but this was such a sweet prayer from a little 4 year old.  Anyway, here are some pictures from our day -

Here we are on our 10 year anniversary, on our way to dinner.  The boys stayed with a sitter while Austin and I went to dinner.  We had had the ultrasound earlier in the day and took the boys with us so that they could see the baby and hear the heartbeat.  Wish you could have seen their faces when they heard the heart of this sweet baby girl beating!  Anyway, we chose to find out the sex of the baby over dinner instead of at the ultrasound -

Here is the card Austin and I opened over dessert...I honestly was speechless when I read this surprise.  The tears started to fall and I couldn't even get the words to come out of my mouth to tell Austin that we were having a daughter -

The next morning we told the boys that in order to find out whether they were going to have a baby brother or a baby sister, they would have to bite into a cupcake and see what color icing was in the middle.  They absolutely loved this.  Here is Braden showing his cupcake...

And Asher showing you his...

A sweet little surprise for all of us!  We are so excited to meet this little one...only 14 weeks left!!!! 

Fall Fun...

Fall is here in all it's splendor and I must say that I love it...the leaves, the cooler weather, the fun decorating and all the excitement of the upcoming holidays!!!  The boys are so excited too which makes it even more fun and we've found so many fun ways to enjoy the fall.  Earlier in the week we made a visit to the local pumpkin farm with my mom...here are some pictures from our day!

The boys in the tee-pee

Fun on the tire swing...Asher could literally sit on here all day long...and Braden actually enjoyed the pushing more then the riding so it worked out lovely...for a few minutes :)

 So this is what happens when you have a tired three year old who decides to have a melt down about who knows what in the middle of a tunnel in the straw maze...it was a bit interesting for this pregnant momma to get him out of there...

 Toto, me and the boys before the tractor ride -

Speaking of fall, this has become our favorite fall weekend activity!  We bought a fire pit recently and every weekend now we spend our evenings sitting by the fire and roasting marshmallows.  My boys don't really like the taste of roasted marshmallows, (just the cold ones as Braden would say) but the dog sure does, so he eats the majority of their labor and that keeps all parties happy if you know what I mean.  It's been such a fun family thing for us and the boys will literally sit for an hour next to us and just watch the fire and talk with us...this is pretty amazing if you have little active boys like I do! 

Speaking of fall, it hit me today that November is just a few short weeks away which means that Thanksgiving, Christmas and baby girl's birth are just a few months away.  15 weeks is all we have left till my due date...time is flying and we have so much to do get ready for a little one again! 

A Batman Birthday Party

Per Asher's request, we had a Batman Birthday party to celebrate him turning three.  Since Asher LOVES to swing (and by love, I mean the boy will literally sit on a swing for an hour straight if I let him), we headed to one of our favorite playgrounds and spent the afternoon with friends, family and Batman celebrating my little man.  Here are some pictures of our fun afternoon -

Asher spent the first half hour of his party fast asleep on Toto.  He fell asleep on the way to the party and kept on sleeping for about 40 some minutes.  I think my momma got the best job of the party.  It's not often that three year old boys sit still long enough to cuddle - 

 Asher and I in front of his Birthday Banner -

 Braden and one of his favorite buddies -

 The Batman cake -

 Blowing out the candles -

 Our best attempt at a family shot -

 So thankful for friends and family to celebrate life with us -

 Batman and his Nana -

 Big Batman and Little Batman -

Happy Birthday Asher!

Well, my baby officially turned three last week and I still can't believe it.  I so distinctly remember being pregnant with him so it's hard for me to believe that he is no longer a baby, no longer a toddler, but now a big boy.  We celebrated in true Asher style with lots of sweets, a trip to the playground to swing and at the pottery place to paint since art is one of Asher's favorite things these days.

Asher awoke to batman balloons all over his floor...that's birthday tradition around here.  The boys love waking to a floor covered in balloons -

 Another birthday tradition around here is making pancakes in the shape of your birthday age -

Later that day, Asher and I went on a special date to the pottery place to paint and it was so sweet to spend some one-on-one time with him on his birthday -

Earlier in the day, Asher and I made his birthday cake...the boy loves to cook, so it was fun letting him help in the kitchen make one of his favorite sweets.  After we picked Braden up from school, he and Braden decorated the cake...they were going for a Fourth of July theme I guess.  Asher's trying to show me how old he is -

Our family of four (soon-to-be five) -

 

Playing with the camping set that Asher got for his birthday -

 Celebrating at school with his class full of boys the next day -

Sweet Asher, I'm so very thankful for the gift and blessing you are to us.  You bring more joy to my life then I ever thought possible.  I love that you are so very happy and that you know how to make someone laugh, even when that someone is your dad and I when we are trying to discipline you.  It makes it quite hard to punish you when you make us laugh so hard that we have to walk out of the room so you won't see us laughing! God has truly blessed you with the ability to bring smiles to others faces for you are truly one of the funniest people I have ever been around.  You are carefree and fearless, determined and outgoing.  I love that at three we can have lengthy conversations about almost anything as you love to talk and listen and ask questions and explore.  You are my little buddy and I love you more then you will ever know.  Happy 3rd Birthday sweet little boy! 

Baseball

It's official...we have a baseball player in the house now and from the way Braden is talking, it looks like it may stay that way for quite awhile.  We did the soccer thing last year and Braden tolerated it, but it seems that he has really taken a liking to baseball the past few weeks and I must say he looks pretty stinkin' cute in his little uniform.  Of course Asher wants to play now too, but not only is he too young to play, but I'm afraid that one practice and one to two games a week keeps us busy enough.  Good thing Asher loves to stand on the sideline and cheer on his big brother!  Anyway, I feel like just in the past month we've been thrown into the thick of busy parenting between school starting and after school activities, but I better enjoy it now because I'm sure as the years pass it's just going to get crazier!  Here is my little baseball player with one practice under his belt and ready for his first game...ps...you Kentucky readers will appreciate the fact that Braden calls his team the Blue Wildcats even though I'm pretty sure their team mascot is some other animal -

 Such good buddies and each other's biggest fans...love that!!!

Nothing like playing baseball with your buddies...these guys have been together since they were 6 weeks old -

 After the game, Braden and Asher decided to work on their sliding skills -

 

So dirty, but oh so proud...thank goodness for Oxi-Clean - 

 

Hanging with Austin aka one of the assistant coaches in the dugout after the game - 

 

And they're off...

To school that is, and the house is a bit quieter some days and the rooms a bit neater, and the clutter a little more picked up (for a few hours that is), but I have to say I miss my little friends.  I mean of course the break is nice and I've actually gotten a few things done each day, but I do look forward to seeing their sweet faces and hearing their stories about life on the playground.

So Braden started Junior-Kindergarten at a sweet little private Christian school and he goes three days a week.  It's kind of like real school in that he goes to Spanish and P.E. and Bible class and Art and Music...plus he wears a uniform.  The worst part though is that he has to be there at 8am on the dot or he gets a tardy...that is certainly hard for this momma (who has never been on time for anything in her life).  I'm just still trying to wrap my brain around how we are at this point...where my little boys are grown up and going to school.

 And whatever Braden does, Asher has to do...

Asher definitely misses Braden on the days he's at school, I am always hearing him walk through the house saying, "where's Bray-Bray?"

 My boys

 The Junior -Kindergarten class parade -

 Asher goes to Mother's-Day-Out twice a week at the same school that he and Braden attended last year together.  I get to have Asher with me on Wednesdays while Braden is in school and I sure am thankful for his sweet little companionship on those days.  He's like my little buddy, my shadow that just bums around with me all day long.  I just hate that he too is growing up so very fast!!!

Here he is ready for his first day...gazing out the window, ready to get in the car well before I was - 

 

 He was so excited to see all of his friends from last year -

And our "first day of school" tradition (3 years strong now) is to go and get ice cream to celebrate a new year...                    

Braden turns 5!

My sweet Braden turned 5 a few weeks ago and I'm still trying to figure out how this is possible.  He has my heart and is such a delight and we are so very proud of him.  At five, I love him for his sweet, caring heart which is full of compassion and genuine concern for others.  I love Braden for his childlike faith that I see so often throughout almost everyday as he calls on God and stops to pray or tells me truth about Jesus and how big He is and how much He loves us.  I love him for the way he loves and cares for his brother.  Asher truly is his best friend and for that I am so thankful.  I love Braden for his crazy big imagination and for the ways he shows me how to be a child again myself.  I love him for the way he is still so affectionate and cuddly, still climbing in my lap almost daily.  I love Braden for the gift of encouragement that I know God has given him.  He is forever saying, "momma you're so pretty," or telling Asher that he is proud of him or that Asher is doing a good job doing something.  I love the little boy that he is becoming and I can see how God is shaping and refining him to be more like Christ.  I just wish I could slow it all down and take it in deeper. 

Anyway, if you know Braden, then you know that he is super into dressing up in costume and imagining that he is everything from a fighter pilot to an army guy to an astronaut to a police man.  I love it and I love his imagination!  So after much deliberation he decided on an army party.  Here are some pictures of his birthday weekend with friends and family.  Wish I had gotten some better pictures, but I realize that photography is not one of my best skills...maybe one day!!!

Braden eating his pancakes in the shape of a 5...our annual birthday morning tradition...

I took the boys to the Science Museum to spend the day on Braden's actual birthday.  It was his choice of places to go and we had such a good time playing together.  Here he is pretending to be a fisherman -

For dinner we went out to his favorite Mexican restaurant and ate quesadillas as he requested.  They came out and sang to him and gave him the sombrero to wear.  He got really embarrassed when the waiters came to sing Happy Birthday to him and wipe cake on his face, but he warmed up for a smile for the camera -

 Eating cake with his brother.  Braden's actually not a big fan of cake or anything sweet for that matter, but his brother sure is -

Probably the only decent picture I got of Braden at his birthday party.  Am I the only one who has a hard time getting their kids to sit still for a picture -

Asher thoroughly enjoyed himself on the water slide, this child has no fear -

 Let the games begin...
Throwing water balloon grenades at the bad guys...apparently Asher thought this game was hilarious-

  

 

Water gun fight with Daddy -

Blowing the candles out of the cake which Braden helped to decorate  -

And remember when thirsty at a party, one must know where to go for juice boxes -

All in all, we had a great party.  It was such a fun day celebrating Braden.  I love that little boy so much and I'm so thankful that God chose him for me.