Newest News!

We found out this week that we will be heading to Fort Benning, GA in September (a year from now) for Chris to attend a 6-month school. From there, we will go back to the fleet (either back to 29 Palms, CA or to Camp Lejeune, NC). We should tentatively know where we will be going probably in the next 6 weeks or so. Stay tuned..... In the meantime, it's great to know we have another year here with all of the wonderful friends we have made. Even though we were hoping to be in Quantico for 10 months, we know that the Lord just has other plans for us .... and we look forward to seeing what those will be!

Bowling FUN!

Let me just say that bowling has always been a HIT in our house with Jake. He loves the plastic bowling set we have (and so does Cole, for that matter) - and Jake loves watching bowling on Wii. BUT.... nothing quite compares to actually doing it in person, which we did yesterday for the FIRST TIME. Jake hasn't stopped talking about it, either, and wants to go back like .... NOW! :-) Here are some pictures from our bowling day yesterday! We went with our friends "Miss" Ginger and McKenzie. We may have to make it a weekly occurrence.

Here is McKenzie going first and showing Jake how it's done (McKenzie has been several times, so she's quite the pro)!!

Here's Jake .... (i love watching them carry the ball - haha)!!


The best part about Jake AND McKenzie bowling is that they didn't stick around to see how many pins they knocked down. They pushed the ball, cheered for themselves (definitely cute), and ran back to see what was happening on the scoreboard, b/c usually it show some type of picture!! So, here is Jake cheering and running back :-) :-)


"I did it"!!!!!! (taking a quick second to look at the ball) ....


Guess we'll have to teach him in other sports you have to keep your eye on the ball ;-)

Yay!! (see the ball is not even halfway down to the pins yet) :-)
In the process of a high-five!!!




Having FUN!
Here is a video of Jake bowling .... kind of funny, b/c he actually dropped the ball off the ramp - the only time he did it - and I got it on video :-) This was towards the beginning before he realized that if you PUSH the ball down the ramp, it goes faster :-)

McKenzie - almost bowling a strike!!

Here is Jake again ....

Shout out to Chris!

I have an AMAZING husband - honestly, the BEST that there is! I mean, don't get me wrong, he's not perfect (that role can only be reserved for me - haha...kidding), but in all seriousness, Chris is such a great husband and Dad. Chris has a job that demands a lot of time - he works 12+ hours a day, works on Saturdays - sometimes Sundays .... and never really has much time for himself. When he does get home at night around 7pm or so, the boys can't get enough of him, so I captured some of their "nightly routines" on camera this week .... and as I was capturing these moments, I became a little overwhelmed with how blessed I am to have this man in my life. I know that at nights, he has to be exhausted after getting up at least between 4-5am most mornings (sometimes earlier) and not getting home before 7pm .... and still getting down and playing "bullseye" with the boys (as Jake likes to call it) - and reading them stories before bedtime. I'm just thankful for that - I'm thankful for how invested he is in his kids and in me! It would be easy (and almost understandable) if he just came home and crashed, but he comes home and the laughter and fun begins! So, Chris .... not that I go too often without saying it, but thanks! Thanks for being the husband and the Dad that you are. I feel incredibly blessed to be married to you - and to have had you in my life for so long .... and I feel blessed as a Mom to know that our boys have such a loving, invested, wonderful Dad! And I am thankful - especially for who you are at home - but also how hard you work outside the home, too - serving our country and keeping us safe (something that most people take way too much for granted these days)! My love for you is beyond words....

Fang Teeth & Sippy Cup!!

Cole has had his 2 bottom teeth for a while now. He also has had his "fang teeth" coming in - but now when he smiles REAL big or laughs, you can see them - it's hilarious!! I wonder if I can work those in to his halloween costume?!?! :-) The first 3 pictures are me trying to capture his fang teeth - a couple of them, you can't see the teeth, but the smile was too priceless NOT to post!

If you blow this picture up, you can see 1 of his "fang" teeth :-)
Cole LOOOOVES sitting and sleeping with his arms behind his head - it's "his thing" - always has been, and I think it's so awesome!
Ahhhh, sippy cup!! It's so hard to believe it's TIME (and probably has been time) for him to use the sippy cup! He has transitioned pretty well to it (he still gets a bottle for feeding), but he also just likes to CHEW on it - but he does drink from it as well (when he's not chewing) :-) I have especially liked it, b/c it causes him to sit still for minutes at a time!!! Ha!

Oh, and I had to throw this picture of Jake in here, b/c when I'm taking pictures of Cole, Jake decides he wants to "cheese" it up and have HIS picture taken, so - here's my big, big boy saying it's "Jake's turn" for a picture (love the 3rd person talk)!!
More sippy cup and cuteness!

Quietness

Quietness: 1. Making little or no noise

2. Free of loud noise; hushed

3. Calm and unmoving; still

4. Free of turmoil and agitation; untroubled

5. Restful; soothing

6. Tranquil; serene

7. Not showy or garish; subdued

8. Restrained in style; understated

Quietness is something I do not take for granted these days :-) Sure, I only have 2 kids - and only 1 physically running around right now, BUT - sometimes I might as well have 5! ha! So much fun, so much energy! I find myself as the referee a lot of times - even at this young of an age. Cole wants to be doing everything Jake does - and Jake wants Cole WATCHING everything he does, but NOT TOUCHING anything that he is doing! So, that leaves me wearing black and white stripes and blowing a whistle (okay, not really) :-)

However, the other day..... the 2 of them were sitting next to each other - playing INDEPENDENTLY - no fighting, screaming, yelling, MOVING (that one is for Cole since he is non-stop)! I had to snap a quick picture - just to remind myself it DOES happen. I mean, it only lasted 30 seconds..... but what a DIVINE 30 seconds it was :-) (on a serious note, though - I am glad that my boys are active and like to be active - but the quiet can be nice, too, sometimes)!

Cute Faces...

Can't get enough of this preciousness (oh, yes.... and if you blow it up, his face is blue, b/c he was eating a crayon .... ooops) .....

and this....
oh, and THIS.....
precious, precious, precious (yes, jake is in cole's exersaucer)
and is STUCK (go figure)!
they crack me up!!

Playground FUN

Oh, finally the weather is getting nicer! It's kind of the "perfect" weather, in my opinion, b/c the humidity is pretty much gone, and even though it's still in the upper 80s to low 90s, it's not excruciatingly hot .... and we can enjoy being outside - and the beach, if we choose, so it gives us lots of options! We have been to the playground almost every day this week .... and even this morning, and I'm thinking there's a good possibility we might go back when they wake up from naps :-) Jake and Cole both LOOOVE being outside - I'm so glad!

Merry-go-round with friends.... (cole is making sure to keep his eye on his big brother, though)!

Yep, that is Cole falling over .....
Here is the BIIIIGGG slide (14 steps - sorry Aunt Becky, I told you 20, but still....there's a lot)!

Proud Mama...

Here is Cole (probably about 10 days ago now) standing up without hands! He is trying to walk - it still may be a little while, but he definitely gets an A+ for effort!!

And here is the big brother - answering some Bible questions :-) We've been working on a few new questions every week, so I wanted to capture it on video .... he has such a good memory (definitely gets THAT from his daddy - b/c mine is horrible)! I know at the end of the video Jake said he wanted to see the "picture" (meaning video), and I thought he said puzzle - it wasn't until I turned off the camera that I realized that, but since it's obvious, I figured I'd let people know I did figure out what the 2-year old was saying :-)

A little bit of Jake and Cole

Oh the jakester (he loves carrying around dunkin' donuts coffee .... and i let him until it starts spilling out....) :-)

Fun new play place .....
(see, jake still has the coffee)
cole loves it down there .....
casey spending the night at our house while her mom had baby kendall ....
so sweet (it took SO LONG to get them both to look at the camera and smile at the same time... i was trying for cole, too - but it just wasn't happening)!
mr. helper!!

sweeeet face :-)
love it - love him!
there he is again - under the table :-)