Water Weekend!

Since most of our time this past weekend was spent in the water, I thought it was only fitting to have the post title "water weekend". We literally went from our house, to the pool, to the store, out to eat and then back home again ALL WEEKEND LONG! It was beyond fabulous to not have a ton of things planned because the next several weekends are slammed packed. Thank you to who have and do serve in our military, I am forever grateful for the sacrifice you make for me and my family on a daily basis! 

I neglected the camera this weekend and tried to be in the moment so please forgive me for not having a ton of pictures. Since Westin is still by my side most of the time, he gets most of the pictures, the only one of Will and Luke I got was below in the pool. I think they were in the middle of wrestling. Boys....

I snapped this picture of Westin when he was OVER the pool. This was Sunday afternoon and he really didn't want to still be there but you can see big brothers heads popping up in the water behind him. I posted this on instagram and my Mom called me not real happy with me. She said that I shouldn't put pictures of him so upset because he is always such a happy boy. Although he is always super happy, there is nothing wrong in showing this side of him as well. We all have our moments. ;-)

On Monday we were at the pool for over 5 hours. Westin did NOT want to be at the pool so he took a two hour nap shortly after arriving. After he woke up he was a different kid and kept jumping in the pool. He had a ball. He has a puddle jumper that he isn't fond of but it is the best thing ever, allows the wild man to have his fun while being safe as well.

Nothing says summertime fun like taking a long nap in the shade, at the pool with lots of noise around. Mommy had several thoughts of joining the little man.  

He is going through a phase and won't let me take pictures of him looking in the camera. He grins like this most of the time and will look down, I had to beg him to look at me just one time. Silly boy!!! As you can see once he did look at me he had to pretend to poke his belly with the mini flashlight he was playing with... I mean seriously, the child is hilarious!

Today we went for hair cuts while I got my hair done as well. Thank you Lord, I was starting to look rough! I guess Luke grabbed my phone and took this picture of himself. He is my favorite little goober of all time!

I am enjoying my time off with the boys. Next week starts a new adventure for me and our family but I am beyond excited about what the doors that the Lord has opened for me. He is a mighty and powerful God, I am fully trusting Him with these new adventures! 

Have a blessed Wednesday! 

~Katie~

May Days!

May might be one of my favorite months. It is always a busy one but it is the kick off to the summer which is always lots of fun! May 2014 has brought our family many changes. From looking for houses to Mommy making a job change. I could not be more excited about what we have going on right now in our lives and sitting back to see how God is blessing are family makes it that much more amazing. Just a few nights ago we sat back and discussed how different our lives are right now than they were even a month ago, God is truly amazing. When we thought there was not a way, He made a way! May all of the Glory be to God!!!

Ok, back to my May post. Here is a sweet picture of Will and Luke from this Thursday, May 22, 2014 on their last FULL day of school. They had a half a day Friday which I told them they didn't have to go but they insisted so of course I let them go. I can't believe next year I will have a 5th grader and 3rd grader. I could not be more proud of these two boys. They truly are a gift from God and they constantly keep us laughing and are so smart. We love them both so much! 

Here is Westin with Luke's t-shirt and cleats on. He wants to be so much like his big brothers and often doesn't know at all that he is not their same age. He's a silly one and he constantly keeps us cracking up all the time. 

Another sweet picture I captured of this busy boy last week while he was watching Daddy do the yard. This is serious business people. 

I went to the zoo on May 15, 2014 with Luke's class. These were the sweet kids they gave me. This is Luke's buddies in his class: Elijah, Tanner, Luke, Laci and Eric. Laci is my niece. She was there with her class and when she saw me she had to go with us. It was super fun and they all were such wonderful kids. I love being able to do fun things like this with the boys. Luke was so happy to have me there with them! 

Westin is a huge handful and just like I said before, he wants to be like his big  brothers and pitches a fit to sit in Luke's seat. So, he got his way while we were going through the neighborhood. Silly boy!  

My beautiful iris' finally bloomed this year. This is one of the reasons I feel in love with this little house 10 years ago but about 4 years ago they stopped blooming. A lot of it had to do with me stopping the maintenance on them, not that it's much but I stopped cleaning out this flower bed and well this year I gave them some love and more mulch, they approved and within 2 weeks they were in full bloom. I am becoming more and more like my Momma, love my flowers!!

J's parents live on some land and we have been going to their house each weekend to help in their yard. They just can't keep up with it all anymore so we are trying to help them out. Westin hopped in the wheel barrel and loved every minute of Daddy pushing his around the yard. He doesn't look happy in this picture but I promise he was having a ball!

Luke is still involved in baseball right now. I snapped this picture on our way to one of his games a few weeks ago, love these sweet brothers! 

Another one of Westin's fits is always revolved around the shopping buggy's. He likes to have his own and I thought this was hilarious in Walgreen's last weekend. He is the funniest and most head strong boy I've ever seen. Our Kroger has small kid buggy's and that is much better than this one at Walgreens. 

I hope you all are enjoying your month of May full of fun memories! We are enjoying our weekend and I will post about our great Memorial Day weekend. 

Love to all! 

~Katie~

Are you going to try for that girl?!?!

Whenever I'm asked about our kids and how many we have, etc.. After saying we have 3 boys; ages 10, 7 & 2 it is always followed by "Are you going for that girl next?". (after a huge smile followed with a look like that person feels sorry for me, ha)

While, having more children would be a great idea, asking me right now I smile and say "no thank you, we are done." Now, we made this decision together and it is official that we can't have children the good ole fashion way. So, technically we are done. However, the first year after Westin was born I think we thought about this decision on a weekly basis and I even discussed with my doctor ways to make it happen after we made the final choice to close that chapter in our lives. It is not that we are crazy people but we actually thought having 3 children would be overwhelming to us and also come with a financial burden that we didn't know we could handle. After Westin was born we realized that adding him to our family didn't change one bit, just another little boy to fill our home with laughter and joy (and the occasional tears). So, the first year of Westin's life we questioned the decision we made, met with my doctor on how to change it but then the day came when Westin became a little older, the tide has started to change. 

Westin just turned two and although he is still a huge blessing added to our family, we could not feel more complete with him. He is a funny little guy, we say the funniest toddler we've had yet but I remember all of the boys being hilarious and us thinking no one will ever be this funny. He is the most head strong of our children as well. He wants to be so much like his big brothers that it can cause him confusion, which always ends in the loudest screams. He honestly doesn't understand why he has to ride in his car seat (when "Well" doesn't have to) or why he can't walk in the grocery store instead of riding in the buggy. Dealing with these challenges on a daily basis makes me more and more thankful that we have made the decision to close the "baby making" chapter in our lives. 

Those days were the best of our lives but it is time for us to look forward to the next chapter that will also be the "best days of our lives." We are looking forward to the rest of the days with our three boys. God knew exactly what He was doing when He gave us three boys. I would not change one thing about these little beings that we are raising to be young men. They are the light of our lives and I am forever grateful to Him for trusting me with three healthy, smart, handsome young boys! I am forever grateful to the Lord for giving me peace about our family and allowing me to look forward to the many fun times we have ahead for our family. We in the middle of many changes for our family but they all are for the good. Thank you Lord for giving us all peace, the 5 of us are the most important things to each other and I could not be happier about our family! 

"Are you going to try for that girl?" : No, thank you for asking but we are so blessed to have our three perfect boys! 

I pray you all are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend! We have a laptop now in this household so I should be posting a lot more often. Many love and thanks to all of you! 

~Katie~