i'm lucky...

...because I get to be "Mama" to these sweet boys:

The above picture cracks me up. This is so not Bosten....sitting still with his hands folded in his lap?! I don't think so. This is more like his real little self:


I hope they always know how much we wanted them in our family.
I hope they know how long we waited for them.
I hope they always know what it took to get them here.
And, I hope they know that they were meant for our little family.

the army party

Last week we went to Collin's (a cousin) birthday party. The boys were both super excited that it was an army party! First, they got their war paint on and got dog tags:

Next it was off to training:


Then target practice:


They had a tug of war and water grenades too:


They made a really cute tank cake too, but I didn't take pictures of that.
So, so great.

the project, part 2

I'm telling you, this project was WAY more than I planned.

-Spray primer has sawdust particles that fly out when you're spraying (and it went everywhere!)

-I went through 5-6 cans of spray paint in no time flat...and it didn't even get everything coated. I ran for more paint, and they were out of the color I was using. Right then I decided that spray paint was NOT the way to go. I ended up switching to an already mixed color that was pretty close. It turned out really nice. Note to self: painting a royal/navy blue takes LOTS of coats.

-It was so stinkin' hot when I started that I couldn't get the paint on without it drying. Made me crazy because I couldn't get the drips before they would dry. So annoying.

Enough whining....here's the end results:

I'm really happy how it all turned out. Next time, I'll just know better and do things the way I already know how to!

the project, part 1

Several weeks ago, Kaden and I had the great idea of doing a project together. We thought we'd paint his headboard and a new bookshelf (well, new from KSL) for his room. He was so excited!

All of the decorating blogs I've been reading lately says to use spray primer and spray paint for your project. In all my previous projects, I've never done it that way but figured I'd try it.

BIG MISTAKE.

A simple paint project turned into way more than I planned on.

Here's some of the before pictures:

We got everything put in his room last night. I'll post some pictures later of how it turned out, along with some details of why I'll NEVER spray again.

its about that time

If you didn't already know this,

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

College football is my absolute favorite. We've geared up with new t-shirts and sweatshirts, and we're just waiting for opening kickoffs.

Hopefully this will be a fun season.

GO BEAVERS!

GO COUGARS!

giggles in the rain

We've been having some really good storms here the last couple of weeks. On one of those nights, I took the boys outside to play in the rain. They thought I was crazy at first, but soon got right into it. I wish I could have captured the squeals and giggles as they splashed around.

I love moments like these with the boys....gotta love
those impromptu ideas that turn into big fun.

army, army, army

For the last couple of months, Kaden has been really into Army stuff. I think it started way before the 4th of July, but getting his picture taken with this big tank certainly helped fuel the fire.

I'm not kidding. When I ask him what story he wants me to tell him, he wants me to make up some story with tanks and lots of cannons involved.

When we went to Old Navy and found some stuff on sale, guess what he picked out?!

He LOVES this shirt. We've also accumulated a long sleeve shirt, shorts, and pants just like it. He'd love to wear them all together sometime, but I won't let him. I tell him one at a time.
I know, I'm such a mean mom.

He's been dying for some Army toys. We hit the jackpot on a recent trip to DI...


We found a huge bag full of Army guys, tanks, cannons, airplanes, trees, guns, etc. It also had a couple of Army CD-Rom games. I'm telling you, he was in heaven. I didn't see or hear from him the rest of the day. We've hauled it down to my mom's house several times so that the kids could play with it too.

One night he had the great idea of making parachutes for all of his green men. We used a pattern, string, and tissue paper.

As you can tell, it didn't work out the way he'd hoped, but it was sure fun to try.
(He's the one that took all the pictures of this little project...He was so excited about it and wanted to be the photographer for the event!)

His birthday is still 6 months away, and he's already talking about an Army party.

I love this kid.