How old are you, Kyler?

Three!

I can hardly believe that it has been three years since I have given birth to my little man! And that is exactly what he is - a little man. He is curious, excitable, loving, confident, and kind. We are so very lucky to have such a wonderful son...all parents are a little partial to their own children. Standing 40.5 inches tall and weighing in at 36 pounds, he is a lean, mean, playing machine!

I asked him to tell me ten things that make him happy and here is how he answered (in no particular order, since 3 year-olds don't really have a concept of ordering things)
-Toy Story (1, 2, AND 3!)
-Spiderman
-Rockets (due in part to Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story)
-Daddy (he tells me that his daddy is his best friend...cute!)
-Chocolate is his favorite food.
-Blaker (that's his nickname for his bro)
-Mommy
-Jumping off things
-Reading books (I often catch him sifting through his books in his room)
-Blue is his favorite color.
Kyler Allan makes me happy and we are very thankful to have this little man in our lives!

Blake is Three Months!

WOW! Blake is now three months old and developing into his own little person! As his mother, he is so fun to watch. When Blake was in utero I was convinced he was going to be a girl simply because the pregnancy was vastly different from Kyler, however, now I have realized it is probably because they are their own little people. I am so grateful the Blake is not exactly like Kyler...but I wish he would sleep through the night like Kyler did at 8 weeks! Having the different personalities keeps things new and exciting! I love you Blaker!

My little photographer!

Whenever we get the camera out, Kyler insists on taking photos! Here are a few of his masterpieces! All artists have to start somewhere, right?!

Happy Father's Day!

Josh is simply the BEST father that a child and a mother could possibly ask for! This past week he really had some quality time with the boys while I took classes and went out with some friends. After the three days straight with the boys, Josh was ready to "get away". So on Saturday, we decided to take a drive up to Allenspark to meet Brian, Courtney, Adam, Ally and a bunch of their friends while they were camping. It was Blake's first camping encounter. I'm not too sure just how much he liked it, however, Kyler thoroughly LOVED it! Kyler got over his "stage fright"!

We toasted all of the fathers in an early Father's Day celebratory dinner -- camping style!Yup, they are shotgunning beers! We all came home filthy and smelling of campfire, but we had tons of fun!

On Sunday, we just hung out around the house and enjoyed each other's company!Happy Father's Day to the best father I could have asked for for my children! I love you Joshua Allan!

Jealous

Kyler rarely gets jealous of Blake, but when he noticed that I was uploading video of Blake onto the blog I could sense a little resentment. He asked if I would take video of him and upload it as well. I love you, Kyler Allan!

Mr. Smiles

Blake is generally a very happy baby. Lately, one of my favorite things that he does is smile when you talk to him. He is recognizing voices and responds with an amazing grin!

Summer Project

With the beginning of summer comes the beginning of a summer-long "honey-do" list. This summer we decided it was time to do some upgrading to the inside of our house (we replaced two trees and some plants outside last summer). Our house is nearly 10 years old and all of the contractor-installs are becoming faded and worn. We had been wanting to paint the inside of the house since we moved in six years ago. Although at that time there was no real reason to paint since the house was fairly new and in great condition. However, I did paint a few rooms. Then as our two lovely children came along we painted their rooms. But the main living areas needed to be refreshed, so after talking about painting for at least two years we finally broke down and did it. Boy, was it a LONG process (I shouldn't be admitting this but, Kyler watched a lot of T.V., and Blake slept a ton - as newborns do). It took us about 4 - 12+ hour days to paint all of the ceilings, trim, and walls in our living room, dining room, kitchen, and hallway. It was very painstaking, but the end result was definitely worth it!

BEFORE
AFTER
With the paint all finished up and the addition of a new ceiling fan in the living room, our house feel less like a "cookie cutter" home and more homey! Now onto painting the exterior?

Sweet Summertime

One morning shortly after we had been woken up by Kyler, Josh headed out to the kitchen to make our daily pot of coffee as he usually does. Then he realized it was a beautiful morning by the stream of sunlight that was shining through our kitchen windows. So we decided to enjoy our coffee on the patio that morning, and I recall Josh raising his coffee cup and telling Kyler, "This is why Mommy and Daddy are teachers!" It is not truly the reason we are teachers, however, it is an added bonus!

Along with being home with my family, these are just a few of my favorite things about summertime:
Buzz cuts
Pool time
Extra brotherly love
Shirtless Shenanigans (by the boys of course) We are absolutely LOVING summer! I have been on maternity leave since the week before Blake was born, so staying home is nothing new to me. However, Josh is finished up with teaching, and Kyler is home from Debbie's for the summer. It is so nice to have all my boys home to soak up summertime with!