Two months and counting

Brooklyn has changed so much since the day she was born and she is only two months old!  I've told her several times that she is growing too fast and needs to slow down but she just isn't listening to me! :)  I've tried to savor the precious time of having a newborn but it goes so quickly.  It has been a wonderful two months. 

Here are the first real smiles I caught on camera. 



Now we get several smiles daily and each one is so precious.  It's almost a game to see who can get the best smile out of her.  The boys are constantly saying, "I saw a smile!" or "Brooklyn smiled at me!" or "She gave me a HUGE smile!"  





Here are the boys trying to get her to smile.  Poor girl takes it all so well.  Kyson especially is always in her face loving on her and trying to make her smile.  I'm so glad both boys adore her, she's just got to feel smothered sometimes!



And here they are bouncing a ball in front of her because they just KNEW it would make her happy:)


Kyson truly does love Brooklyn.  Although he is a little too rough sometimes, he is a sweet big brother.
 

Caleb asks several times a day to hold her.  He does not like to hear her cry so he will try really hard to comfort her and help her be happy.  He is great at helping me get things I need like diapers and wipes when she needs a diaper change.  I'm grateful for his help when I need it.



Brooklyn continues to be such a happy baby.  She still sleeps through a lot of the boys craziness and when she wakes up she will sit in her swing happily for quite a while.  She really only gets fussy when she is hungry or really tired.  She will often be sitting in her swing just looking around and the next thing I know she is off in dream land, sleeping away.  At night she still wakes up every 2-3 hrs to eat but I don't mind too much as long as she goes right back to sleep.  Some nights are hard, but I truly can't complain because she is so good overall.

Happy two months Brooklyn!  We sure love having you in our family! 

The great outdoors

The last weekend in April we decided to join our friends who were out camping at Bear Canyon Lake.  A few days before going, Jared went to Bass Pro and bought our boys fishing poles.  He has been promising them he would get them one and take them fishing for a long time.  They were SO excited!  Every day when Jared got home from work they begged him to take them outside to practice casting.  They both got pretty good at it.

FINALLY Friday came and we had to wait for daddy to get home from work.  I'm sure I was asked at least a hundred times how much longer it would be before daddy got home.  Once he FINALLY got here we took off.  It was a great drive up as all three kids slept most of the way.  The boys had woken up early because they knew it was the day we were leaving and just were too excited.  It sure made the drive up wonderful!!!

We made it to where our friends were camping and soon everyone was headed down to the lake to do some fishing.  I know the boys had a good time although it did get frustrating at times.  They kept getting caught on the rocks and things in the water and the fish just didn't want to bite!  Very few fish were caught so the boys would lose interest.  I think they still enjoyed being outdoors and having as much space as they wanted to run around and just be boys!  






When we weren't down at lake fishing or riding the boat, the boys were just running around getting dirty.  They played a lot of "baseball", hide 'n seek, digging in the dirt for worms, and whatever else they could think of.  Here are some random pictures.




This kid just LOVED the bat and ball.  He was pretty much carrying it around with him 90% of the time!


I was a little concerned about camping with such a young baby but she did great!  This is how she spent a lot of her time...

Karli brought stuff to make dirt with the boys (pudding, mashed up oreos, and gummy worms).  They definitely got dirty!





Overall I would definitely call it a successful camping trip!  I'm already looking forward to the next one as I know the boys are too (Father's and Son's is this weekend for them!).  I think I'll need a few trips out of the crazy heat this summer to stay sane:)

School time!

This school year Caleb has been going to preschool four days a week.  It has been a good experience for him.  He has learned a lot and grown up so much!  He seems to enjoy learning which I am grateful for.  He will start kindergarten in the fall, which brings on a lot of mixed emotions!  How did my sweet little boy grow up so fast?  He is just not so little anymore!  I am excited for him to learn new things, make new friends, and enjoy going to school...but I'm not ready for him to be away from me all day and have to face the big, crazy world out there.  I'm starting to realize that ready or not, kids grow up and there is no stopping them!  (Not that I want to stop them, I just wish I could pause time for just a bit every once in a while!)

With Caleb going to school most days, Kyson has been sad to not be able to join him.  Sometimes while Caleb is at school, I will work with Kyson at home, teaching him new things.  I have been so impressed by how he picks up on things and has such a desire to learn.  He loves numbers.  We will be driving in the car and Kyson often asks me to give him an addition problem.  I'll say something like, 3+4 and he will hold up three fingers on one hand and four on the other and add them together to get 7.  For some reason, he just loves doing this and is so proud of himself when he gets it right...I love it!  Just recently Kyson has been learning how to write his numbers and letters.  He is finally getting where he has a little more control of the pencil/marker.  One morning a couple weeks ago I sat down with both boys and helped them write the whole alphabet all by themselves.  I knew Caleb would be able to write most of it on his own, but I was so impressed with Kyson's determination to write the whole thing all by himself.  I definitely had to sit by his side and instruct him but he would not let me touch his marker or white board.  When he was finished I had to take a picture because it was such a huge accomplishment for him.  He really worked hard to complete it! 

They both wanted Brooklyn to join them for the picture:)

 
After finishing the alphabet they each wanted to write their names and take a picture of it themselves. 

Wishes do come true!

It's official! In 34 days we will be on one of these...

We will be headed here...

to make Kyson's wish come true.  

His wish was to meet

and 

We just got word that we will be going from June 5th-June 12th!  Not only that, but we get to go with the Warner Foundation!!!  Kurt Warner and his family (he has seven kids) spend the week with 10 wish families at all the parks in Disney World.  
Click here to learn about Kurt Warner, his family, and his foundation called First Things First.


I am so excited and humbled by this opportunity.  One year ago Kyson was going on five weeks in the hospital recovering from his third surgery.  Now, in just a few short weeks he gets to experience a trip of a lifetime because of the generosity of so many amazing people.  I am so excited to spend this time together as a family.  I know memories will be made that we will NEVER forget!