Brothers

I can't think of a better gift to give these two than the gift of one another.....

Hair

This kids hair is out.of.control. It's impossible to tame. I wet it down after bath time, and comb it into an infant comb over, but when I go to get him the next morning it looks like this.....

If only....

uncle Eric could ride with us on every car ride!

Preschool

I've often stood around wishfully talking about the day that my little boy would go off to school, and dreaming of what I'd do with all the free time, thinking of how long my house would stay clean...... And then....that day came...

I excitedly talked about school as I puledl him out of his crib, I ask him what he wanted for breakfast on his very special day, and he replied chocolate bagel, and I of course comply, we talk about what he's going do at school, how much fun he'll have and all the kids he'll meet. I quickly realize that it's not him that needs the pep talk for school.

I get him dressed in first day of school outfit, comb his hair, pack his backpack and hand him his lunch box. I try and snap a few pictures, but he's being a toddler and has no interest in standing still. We pile into the car, and head in the direction of school.

We arrive early, first ones in the classroom to be exact. He immediately begins to play and I talk to the teacher. Not long ago, I was the one that parents were approaching nervously, and I can't believe I'm on this end of the conversation now!

I nervously watch him walk around the room, picking things to play with. Soon, other children begin to arrive and I want to walk over to them and tell them what an awesome friend my little guy is and somehow convince them to go over and play with him. I don't, but I do say a prayer that they will find that out on their own and choose to be a kind friend to him. Pretty soon his best friend Bella walks in, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that someone who knows him and loves ( it will break my heart when they move away in October) will be there to keep him company today when I can't. He settles in and John nudges me and I know that now is a good time to go. We both say goodbye to him, but honestly, he can't be bothered, he's having too much fun. Initially it makes me sad, but quickly my heart begins to sing because he's a confident little boy who is ready for this not so small milestone.

We leave, but I keep making up excuses to go back to the room, just to make sure he hasn't started to cry ...he hasn't .

I can't help but think of him a million times this morning. I've done multiple loads of laundry, cleaned most of my house and spent a little time searching for the end of the Internet, but ooh nelly is it quiet around here.

Bram is sleeping, and I keep looking at the video monitor burning into my memory his little face, the sounds he makes when he sleeps and looking forward to seeing his smile when he wakes, because today I found out just how quickly the time I get him all to myself goes.

Ketchup day

I had a teacher that would slam a bottle of Heinz ketchup down on her desk and declare that "today is ketchup day."

So here I am, slamming my imaginary ketchup bottle on my kitchen counter, and declaring it "ketchup day" on my blog.

We took a much needed vacation ( reference the crying at a total stranger in the airport) to the lake back in the beginning of July. Here's our trip, in pics :)

John and I celebrated 7 years of marriage while out there.

While there, we also celebrated the 4th of July. In true lake fashion, people shot fireworks days prior to the 4th as well as days after, and of course it was done well into the night. I'm all about wishing America a happy birthday, but in a way that doesn't wake my sleeping children.

Ambrose absolutely LOVED being at the lake. The last time we took him he was 4 months, and really couldn't participate in any of the traditional lake activities. He made up for it this time and boated, swam and fished his little heart out.

Bram's lake experience was much like Ambroses first lake experience, a lot of sitting on the dock, a short dip in the pool and frequent eating and sleeping breaks.

It would not have been a vacation without Pia (John's mom) around! While there I didn't cook a single meal, wash, dry or fold a stitch of dirty clothes (and there were plenty!) and I had ready and willing hands to hold a crying baby anytime day or night! It was AMAZING, so thank you mom Fisch, it would not have been the relaxing vacation it was without you and your ever present helping hands.

This one here is showing more and more of his personality. He smiles all the time, which is a far cry from a month ago and a change from his older brother.

A little behind?

Why yes, yes I am.

shortly after we came back from the lake, John left for 3 TDY's almost back to back. Needless to say, things here were busy, and any down time I had, I wanted to sleep!

In that time, this little guy turned 3 months.

*Look at those blue eyes!*

Ambrose still loves his Strider, and we are in the desert monsoon season *insert eye roll here* which means that it rains a little more often then never, and with the cloud cover/rain comes cooler temps. So, we went to the skate park with Ambrose and let him ride his Strider. He wasn't so sure at first, but he warmed up and had a great time!

Home sweet home

We're back. the return travel....wait for it....... wasn't so bad.

For starters, Mr. carseat hater eased up a bit and actually slept for over an HOUR on the drive up to Kansas city. That folks, is a big deal.

We arrived and rather than waiting in the outside check in line, which was a balmy 90 degrees, Pia (grandma) let us sit in her air conditioned car in the loading/unloading area, and we just jumped out when John was at the front of the line.

Boarding the flight went much smoother,largely in part because we bought our way to an earlier check in. Southwest allows( aka scams)you to pay 10.00 and you can board earlier. I did that with my ticket, I boarded and quickly found a middle seat. Conveniently Bram begins to scream, and wouldn't ya know, those two seats beside me stayed open until John and Ambrose could board.

The actual flight itself was pretty good, but what made the trip totally awesome was the fact that our flight to Dallas continued onto El Paso, so we didn't have to deplane, didn't have to chase our two year old through the airport, didn't have to dodge every candy stand, didn't have to take said toddler to bathroom and listen to a play by play of all the bathroom activities taking place...fan freaking tastic idea Southwest!!. We make it back, all luggage arrives and kids are fairly happy.

the drive back involved some crying, but nothing that makes me want to rip my ears off, we drive through Mc Donalds, and we finally make it back home.

The trip....TOTALLY worth it!

I am trying to upload some pics, but for some reason Blogger is on the fritz...I'll be back later.