Holden 's Poopy Party!

A huge accomplishment in Holden's life this spring was mastering potty training! While he caught on to #1 very quickly, #2 was really hard for him. We had many soiled pairs of underwear, and two frustrating months, but he finally got it! He was so proud of himself, and so are we! As an incentive to go on the potty, we promised him when he was fully trained, we'd spend the night at the Chateau hotel. He calls it the "Ho-Castle," a combination of hotel and castle, which cracks us up because it sounds like a brothel or something! Jay and I had our wedding reception there, and it looks like a castle. Holden has always been intrigued with it when we drive by. So once school was out, my mom came and stayed overnight with Hunter (he still poops his pants, as Holden would tell you) and we took Aunt Allie and cousin Chelsey and went to the "Ho-Castle" to have a "Poopy Party." He would tell this to perfect strangers at the hair-dressers, Walmart, church, etc, and I always wondered what in the world they must think he was talking about! Ha!

Mommy and Daddy with our big boy!

Can you tell he was excited?

Holden had to test out the beds right away.

He and Chelsey gave a fortune in change to the Chateau courtesy of my wallet into the wishing well. I hope they made some good wishes!

They also thought it was really funny to sit on this elephant in the lobby.

They also liked exploring.

We had lots of fun in the pool and hot tub.

At dinner time, we walked over to Chili's. Holden had mac n' cheese and a heaping plate of fries.

Here we all are back at the "Ho-Castle." We have a picture of Jay and me kissing in front of this fountain on our wedding day!

Heading back in to the Chateau.

I bought him some new Toy Story pj's for our hotel stay.

We ended the evening with DVD's on Jay's laptop.

All in all, it was a very fun poopy party! Holden told me the next morning, "Mommy, I am SO VERY SAD that my poopy party is over!" Then I reminded him that Hunter will need to learn how to use the potty in a few years, and that as big brother and helper trainer, Holden will need to help us celebrate that poopy party! :)

Cornbelters (What We're Up To This Summer Part 2)

Our town has a a new minor league baseball team this summer, the Cornbelters. They even have a fun mascot, "Corny," who looks kind of like a giant rodent with a kush ball nose. :) Holden loves going to games! Jay's dad has season's tickets, so he's been to quite a few. They have kind of ruined Jay's softball for him. He will cry and whine and say he'd rather go see Corny, and that Jay needs to play better so he can be a Cornbelter! Poor Daddy.

This was taken before the opening night game. Holden went with Daddy, Pepaw (Jay's dad), Papa, (my dad), and Big Pepaw. (Paul's dad.) Hunter and I stayed home but we included him in the picture. :)

My dad took some pictures at the game for me. Holden is going through a phase where he either hates the camera and glares at it, or makes super cheesy, fake smiles. Stinker!

My good friend, Annie's dad has box seats through his work. We have been invited on a couple of different nights now and always have a good time. It's much nicer to have a box with the babies, and the boys have fun together.

Here are the "big boys;" Colin (5), Cade, (2), and Holden (3). They switched places between the back and front shots. :)

One night, someone brought in a big tub full of ice cream cups as a thanks to Annie's dad. What did the boys like best? Playing in the ice!

Annie's mom took this picture. I am on the left with Hunter, who was 8 weeks old, in the stroller. Annie has Chase in the baby Bjorn at 2 weeks old, and her sister-in-law, Sarah, is pregnant with her and Brad's first baby, due in July.

She also took these two beautiful pictures of my baby. :) Love his big eyes in the second one!

These are from last week's game. I took Colin, Cade, and Holden around the venue area. They always have fun things to do. I let them get their faces painted right before bedtime; sorry, Annie! They looked so cute, though! Cade was a tiger, Holden was a lizard, and Colin got a baseball. I also included the two babies. Chase is in the top (love his big blue eyes!) and Hunter is the bottom right.

Here are the three amigos. One of the Cunninghams' friends taught them how to make paper airplanes. They thought they6 were so cool! Holden and Cade were excited to see Corny, and they all had fun in the bounce house.

Finally, a picture of the little guys. I love that Hunter already has a best buddy in his infancy! :)

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Happy Father's Day!

These two little boys are SO blessed to have such wonderful men in their lives!
(This is my new favorite picture of the two boys, by the way! Note the matching dimples in their chins, the way both of their heads are tilted back...a coworker described them as twins three years apart.) :)

Wishing a very happy Father's Day to their Daddy and my wonderful hubby. The boys adore you, Jay! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Also wishing a happy Father's Day to "Pepaw," "Papa," and "Big Pepaw." :) The boys love each of you very much!

And wishing a very happy Father's Day to Great Grandpa Kerber. We can't wait to see you when you return from Colorado!

Happy 6 year anniversary!

June 19 marks six years since I married my best friend. A lot has changed since then, but not my feelings for him. In fact, I feel that with each passing year, I continue to love him more and for different reasons. Our marriage is definately not perfect, and there are plenty of ups and downs, but at the end of the day, he is my partner for life, and I wouldn't want it any other way!

I was searching for recent pictures of the two of us, and realized they all include the boys! We will have to remedy that soon, but I find it fitting since they are also the loves of our lives. This is the stage of life we are in: Buzz Lightyear underwear and diapers, running after a tricycle and pushing a stroller, wiping up muddy footprints and baby drool, humming the Max and Ruby tune in our sleep (when we get to sleep!), packing 12 bags just to leave the house and then realizing we still forgot an essential item like a pacifier or sippy cup, chasing lightning bugs, making S'mores, playing dinosaurs, firefighters, doctor, policeman, sharks, and whatever else a little boy can imagine, looking like ninnies while making crazy noises that make a baby laugh, thinking we'd be rich if we had a quarter for everytime we heard, "what?" "why?" "Mommy," and "Daddy," and collapsing at night just to do it all over again very early the next morning. I am so glad we are in this together! And truly, I know that for all the craziness life holds at the moment, we will someday really miss all this. We are truly blessed to have each other and our precious boys.

Celebrating Holden's potty success at the "Ho-Castle." (Combination of "hotel" and "castle;" it is not a brothel! )

With our little peanut, Hunter, on a recent summer night.

Happy Anniversary, Jay! I love you! Looking forward to our date night courtesy of Grammy and Papa. :)

What We're Up to this Summer Part 1

I am loving my summertime with my boys! Teaching is truly the best of both worlds; I get to have the career that I love, and I also get to have a lot of downtime to enjoy my family. As we all know I take a zillion pictures, and I truly don't even post half of them! Here are just a few things we've been up to lately:

On one of my last days of maternity leave in May, my mom and Bridget accompanied us to a local pottery place. I wanted to get Hunter's footprints just like we'd done when Holden was a baby. Holden picked out a cool train box to paint and took his painting very seriously. Hunter slept through the entire trip and paint on his feet!

Memorial Day:

Dad and I took the boys to the parade. Jay was working overtime and I thought it would be fun to take both of them. Ummm...let's just say Hunter was NOT a fan of the 90 degree heat index with major humidity and blazing sun! Nor did he appreciate the drums and sirens. Oops! Sorry, little guy! To top it off, I made him wear a cute little boat hat that he detested. He kept turning his little head and then would get stuck in his hat. Dad and I took turns standing under the one lone tree in our vicinity with him. Holden LOVED everything about the parade and actually told me to take pictures of things. :)

After the parade experience, Grammy and Papa offered to watch Hunter in the good old AC while I took Holden to the pool. We had a great time for all of about 10 minutes before they had to clear it for imminent weather. I thought it would rain a little and clear up, so we sat under a big umbrella to wait it out. Once the wind started blowing so hard the trees were bent, and it was lightning and thundering, I realized we'd have to throw the towel in. At least we were already wet?!

Summer always brings the Fun Run. This is Holden's third year participating. He is so grown up this year! He gets the concept of running the track rather than looking at rocks, walking over to the grass, etc. Our first night there, he insisted on running practice laps with Daddy. Poor guy, it was soooo hot that he was beet red and sweaty by the time the actual run began

We enjoy seeing lots of our friends on Fridays for the run! Bridget and Ryan bring Natalie, Kara and Gary bring little Corinne, and the Cunninghams run, too. I love the picture of Annie with baby Chase in the Baby Bjorn; they needed to shade his head so they improvised with an adult Cubs hat. Wrong team, but still funny. :)

Daddy loves his hammock time in the backyard with the boys! He and Holden even did nap time out there one day...although Holden eventually had to head to his room because it was just too exciting outside to fall asleep. :)

Holden spends lots of time in the sandbox.

Daddy enjoyed Cardinals opening day with Hunter while Holden was napping. Hunter wore the lucky onesie that Holden wore as a baby, and it brought them a win again! Yeah!

When Holden got up he joined in with his Cardinals attire. I love Hunter's expression in this picture!

Crack me up at Holden's cheesy smile!

Baby smiles are plentiful these days, and we eat them up! Sooo sweet!

Love me a happy baby!

Hunter likes chillin' in his crib...

Holden likes spending time with neighbors...

Holden shares his stories and knowledge with his brother...

And sometimes they have differences of opinions...but similar outfits...

And I can't get enough photo ops of sweet baby parts. Dimples on tiny hands, the way his hair whorls on the back of his head, chubby little arms, the baby butt, little legs sticking out like a frog, baby feet.....so in love with this baby!

Part II coming soon...cousins, S'mores, Discovery Museum, the pool (without a thunderstorm!), baseball games, etc. Life is never dull around here.