The big 3-0! The Actual Day

Again a draft that I am just now posting...

Chris happened to have a 4 day weekend surrounding Valentines Day, so it ended up being a weekend event, but here is what happened on my actual birthday.
Chris cooked breakfast, breakfast tacos, yum.
We then went to visit the duck pond again, this time so daddy could see John. Kirsten and her girls also joined us. Ben was awake most of this time and was not so impressed with the wind, so I wasn't able to be out there as much as before. But the wind did make for some good kite flying weather, and a fun story. See below

A whole bunch of finches joined our feeding party, and actually ate more of the crackers than the ducks

So, did I mention it was windy. So windy in fact that the kite blew itself right into the tree when Natalie was flying it. Chris was our hero and recovered what we thought to be a lost cause.

Natalie and John cheering him on.

Natalie flying the recovered kite!
John watching it fly
A view of the kite
And another view

So, after playing with ducks & flying kites, Chris took us out to Outback Steakhouse for lunch. I told him that I wanted steak for my birthday "dinner." So we decided to celebrate dinner early & ate lunch at Outback. We even splurged on a blooming onion, and even though our waiter took nearly 10 minutes to come get our drink order, he redeemed himself by bringing us ice cream with chocolate syrup for my birthday without having everybody join and sing! Yay, got the dessert without the embarrassment!



Ben thought the ice cream looked good, but unfortunately (for him!) he didn't get any!

Me & my boys. Nice hat hair John!

After getting ridiculously full, we returned home where the boys took a nap. My mom had sent me a package that I knew had some stuff for the boys, so I waited to open it til after they woke up.
Here is John helping me:

Checking the tag (not really sure why, he never does that!)

Opening his Valentine!



Ben being cute for the camera

Finding a new toy to look at. He was fascinated by the lights this made.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out as a family, then Chris & I watched a movie after the kiddos went to bed. I can't even remember what movie it was now. I guess I should probably blog a little closer to the time the events occur, so I can remember minute details like this!

The progression to potty training

The progression to learning how to use the big boy potty:

First, attempt to get on the thing
Get one foot stuck in the hole
Get two feet stuck in the hole
Pull one foot out
Then the other
Find some good reading material

And then folks you are set to go poopoo in the big boy potty, just like our John bug did today!! Forgot to take a picture I was so excited, but you got some of the days preceding it!

Really, what happened was we saw him trying to poop, caught him, and I think surprised him b/c he stopped trying and walked around like he had something in his diaper. When we changed him, there was the beginnings, and so we placed him on the potty, and ta da, business was done!

Yay Johnbug!

Impromptu photo shoot

So, I "realized" after T & Sarah left our house that our boys were wearing the same outfit. I kinda did that on purpose, cuz they were both wearing their Aggie t-shirts that T & Sarah had given them for Christmas. Here's some pics of our attempt:

My unsuspecting targets
Not wanting to sit still, and mad that I had taken him off his brother
"Ok, I'll oblige and put my arm around him."
"Actually it feels better on top of his head, that way I can still be on top of him."
John pushing Ben b/c he didn't want him near him anymore
Me distracting John to get a smile while Ben is fixing to fuss. The joys of trying to get a good pic in our family!

The big 3-0! The Party

Back to catching up...

My b-day started a little early. As my birthday is on Valentines' Day and since most everyone we know is married and would like to do something romantic with their spouse, my sis and bro-in-law and bro and sis-in-law came up on Saturday Feb 7th and threw me a big party. At first Chris wanted it to be smaller, so he didn't invite many people other than our Bible Study until the week before the party when I kept asking him if so and so was coming. I think he realized that just counting our family (his and mine), our Bible Study, and our neighbors, we were already having a big shindig, so might as well invite everybody (that was on Facebook who could possibly make it, that is!). Unfortunately, due to the late notice some people couldn't come who would have otherwise been there.
We were originally going to have it at our church, since it was going to be our Bible Study and a few extra people, but decided to switch it to a park. We cooked everything (Fajitas, rice, peppers & onions, cake, chex mix) for everyone, well rather Chris & my sister cooked everything, and I kind of wandered back and forth between them attempting to help, but not getting a lot accomplished with the boys constantly needing my attention.


Sarah before she started cooking took some time out to spend with her nephew. He was pointing out the lions in his book.

Well, although the temperature was great Feb 7th, we were under a wind advisory, gusts up to 30 mph, so the park ended up not being a great idea. We all met there, and the kids played a while, and then we decided it would be pretty much impossible to eat with the wind that crazy so we ended up going back to our original plan, the church.
I got to spend the evening hanging out and catching up with dear friends, new and old, and have my kids be under someone else's watchful eye. It was perfect. Chris even made it more special by having people share things that they appreciated about me. I couldn't stop crying. It was truly the best way to spend my 30th birthday. I couldn't have asked for anything different.
Ben, before Chris took him and he fell asleep. And the only pic of me that day!! And I even gave the camera to someone else to take pics. Go figure!

Lisa serving the ice cream

Brice being silly for the camera

Ron & Leslie, Chris's old commander and his wife and their baby Trey, born 9 days after John. She actually found out she was pregnant, a month before we did, and we ended up being due before they were. Craziness!!

Lisa's son, Miller cheesing for the camera

Danny & Andrea, a dear like-minded couple who graced our group for only a few months before the army shipped them to Colorado.

Chris, Lisa's hubby, with their daughter Virginia. "Ginny" is 2 weeks younger than John.

My Chris, doing his favorite cheese pose for the camera.

Eric & Stephanie, my fellow Montanans!

Mikaela enjoying some ice cream

Lisa's oldest daughter, Taylor

Amanda Wiley & Zavier made it up from San Antonio. They happened to be in the area that weekend, and stopped by. It was fun to see them and catch up.

Our neighbors Guy & Kirsten, and their two newly adopted girls

Laura with Kiera. Kevin had to work that evening.

People missing from the pics: Dave & Ashley Pflug. Dave was the cameraman, and unfortunately the only pic he took of Ashley wasn't very flattering. Greg & Jennifer Poppy & their boys. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the camera out of my bag until after they left. It was really fun to catch up with them and meet baby Gabriel. Also missing were my family. Dave & Sarah left early cuz Dave got sick. T & Sarah arrived late from their 10 hour drive from Galveston. Really the drive isn't that long normally, but for some reason everything went wrong on the trip, so it took them forever to get in.
So, these next pics are of my family, mainly for you mom:

I kept all three in, b/c I couldn't figure out which was the best, and that way mom, you can figure it out!!

Sarah & Dave poses:




Tim & Sarah "poses." Unfortunately they woke up late and were in a hurry to get out the door Monday morning, as T had an "interview" with Houston PD at noon, so we didn't get any cute couple shots
Tim getting ready for the interview
John was "helping" Sarah roll up her bed. Sorry Sarah for the bad shot.