Joe-sy & Samsy

 can we help?

Today we made chocolate, chocolate chip cookies w/pecans :)  YUM!  The boys love to help in the kitchen, & if you've ever had 2 boys under the age of 4 trying to help you.. you know how that goes!  I think they ate half a dozen of the first batch before Sean even got up to get one! Of course, Joe's face is a result of beater licking :)

This week has been good. I actually had Thursday- Sunday all to my  family :)  I only work Mon-Wed consistently, but occasionally work Thursdays or Fridays & with vacation & extra work, it's been a little hectic around the house lately!

Yesterday my niece Jolie got baptized.. I can still remember watching the 3 older kids while Michelle was in the hospital having Jolie (side note to remind myself how old I feel).  Earlier in the day we went to the lds bookstore to find something special for Jolie.  Sam & Joe fell asleep in the car, so my mom (who is awesome) rode along with me & sat in the car while I ran in the store.
Since we were already over there, I had to stop by & snap a picture of my favorite place in the world :)

It was a very nice baptism- minus the totally out of control little boy that wouldn't stop making car noises & yelling papa (Joe).  The Ayala girls sang a beautiful song that brought me to tears.

 Jolie looked beautiful in her pretty white dress & smiled big for the hundreds of pictures that were taken.

Afterwards, we went to the Ayala's for hot dogs &  a pluthora of goodies.  

Last Sunday we took a little car ride out to the new Gilbert temple site.  I thought it would be fun to see how it is looking... amazing, by the way.  There is a construction trailer on the site with some nice older male missionaries that explained everything you would want to know about what the floor plans are & how the grounds will look. It was awesome! 

Some day the boys can look back at this picture & feel old that they were around when this beautiful temple was being built.  Maybe one of them will even get married there :)

As for Brucey.. he is fitting in very well with our family.  The boys like to run him ragged, but he seems to like it just fine.  He is pretty obedient & very loyal.  Somehow he always seems to dig a hole to get out the side gate.  But when he does, he just ends up sitting on the porch for us.  Funny dog!  He also likes to spend some meditation time in the wagon out back.

Joey is saying more & more words & turning into a little boy instead of my little baby.  He started saying Sam's name this week.  Sammy!!
Sam's toe nail finally fell off yesterday.. yuck, I know.  A few weeks ago Joe threw a huge rock on Sam's foot.  Hopefully the nail will grow back quickly!

My nephew Des got his mission call on Friday to the Guatamala,  Retalhueleu mission.  We all went over that night to watch him open his call.  I seriously can't believe he is 19.  On the way to the Steven's house Sam jumped into the car & said " We've got a mission!!!!".  Then when I explained to him that he would go to South America & speak Spanish, he said - "with Dora?".  :)  :)  :)

We had some pretty amazing meetings at church today. I'm so grateful for a loving Savior, & for an amazing  & forgiving husband.  I only hope I can deserve all of my boys someday :)

thoughts

Even though I didn't go to bed til 1am, here I am at 7am up.. the life of a mother.  Actually, I should probably consider myself lucky that I got to sleep in that late!  Joey: " Milk mama.. milk!! Bot, Mama, Bot! "  - what I wake up to daily.  Bot is the character from umizoomi, Joey's obsession.
Last night Sean & I finally got a little time away together.  It's been awhile since we've gone on a date.  Grantylicious babysat for us & got both kids to sleep pretty early when... da duh da.....Joey woke back up freaking out for a good half hour for him :(  Hopefully this doesn't mean he will never babysit for us again!
We went to Pizza Al Forno in Glendale.  We saw it on diners, drive ins & dives last week & wanted to try it.  The pizza was amazing!
This last week was one of those rare weeks that I ended up working 5 days. YUCK!  It wouldn't be so bad, but.. oh wait.. yeah it is.  It's really really hard for me to be away from the boys that long! & my house suffers alot too.  It looked like a bomb went off yesterday before I kind of started cleaning.  Today Sean is starting his tutoring for the lsat.  His tutor is coming here, so me & the boys gots to scram later on.  Meaning, I gotta clean like a madwoman here in a few minutes!
Sam starts preschool in 3 weeks & I can't tell who is more excited, Sam, or grandma ! :)  My mom is going to be his preschool teacher & she it is really cute how much she prepares & really cares about the kids, I'm lucky to have her to teach him!
Why did I seem to think when I was young that as soon as I grew up, got married & started having kids that my life would be magical & easy?  Each day presents new stressed & problems. I feel lucky to have been blessed with a husband that really cares about me & who I know I can share all things with, & grow with.  I never thought a males opinions would matter more to me than my dads :)

Alright, one last note-  if you are reading this, & have never looked at my picture blog, feel free to check it out HERE.  Even though there have been a few times I've even gotten pretty far behind on it.. it's probably the closest thing to picture how my life has been this year & I LOVE to share it with people :)  & nobody ever comments on it, so feel free to do that do if you want  :) 

here we go!

I'm taking my sister JoDee's advice & just starting to blog again.. not necessarily catch up... just start to blog.
I'm trying to type while my boys climb all over me & Sean teases them relentlessly.  Sounds about right.
My boys are growing up so fast!! Joey is saying more & more things that just astonish me.  Yesterday he told me "cuckoo clock mama!".  He likes to repeat Sam a lot, & since Sam NEVER stops talking.. it's not hard to pick things up quickly!
Things at our house are, of course, insane busy.  We went on a trip to California & Oregon a week &  half ago, & I still haven't recovered.  I just barely finished going through my pictures, & I can't quite get the house to feel clean.  I'm working 5 days this week & I'm not sure how I'm going to make it through!!! I think of Sam starting preschool next month & Sean starting his new classes & my mind gets so overwhelmed.  The months fly by & I feel like with work, I can't seem to keep up with the days!  Sean starts his tutoring for the LSAT next week.  & it very well could be that in 6 months he will be applying/interviewing at a few schools.  Where is my life going?  I'm going to make a stronger commitment to blog a little each day.  So many things the boys say & do are going undocumented, & I feel badly about it!
The other day Joe teased Sam for the first time. Sean thought it was hilarious.  Joey held a toy up so Sam couldn't reach it & then just giggled & giggled that he couldn't get it.  Joey LOVES watching Team Umizoomi right now. He asks for Bot over & over again.  Joey's vocabulary ...(real meaning cereal, apes -grapes, milk, Bot, Bruce- the dog, mama- for both me & Sean, clock, B- for blanket, daha-soda, bac bac- chicken, his numbers, some letters, set.. go! ). just to name a few.  He has the cutest little voice in the world, so to hear him say anything just melts my heart.
Sam's vocabulary increases all the time also.  I guess I've been saying the word sweetie lately- Sam asked me, mom, what is sweetie?   :)
The boys play together all day & love to be outside, as usual.
ok, more to come, every day.. hopefully :)