TTT: Season 3, Episode 18

1. Can you believe it's May already!?! It feels like Christmas was just yesterday. It's so true...when you're young, time goes by so slowly. But as you get older, it flies by. Really. Yesterday was Christmas. And the day before yesterday I was pregnant with Grant. And now look. Tomorrow is already summer. In fact, we're just on the brink of entering full on summer mode around here. Making plans for going to the pool, signing up for sports and vacation Bible school, filling out a calendar of all kinds of fun stuff for the months to come. Actually, the next two weeks are going to be pretty eventful around here. Mark leaves on Sunday for a training conference in San Antonio. He'll be gone for a full week. A full week. Should be interesting! On a high note, I'm going to sneak over there on Wednesday with Grant to spend an evening on the river walk with the hubs and help my brother Andy out on Thursday while he's at a job interview. Kolbe and Reagan get to hang behind with Pinkie for the night! Anyway, Mark returns Saturday night, we have Sunday together, and then the boys and I take off for South Padre Island for a week of long-desired beach time. I. Can't. Wait! I'm definitely a beach person. There's really nothing quite like the feeling of awe when standing beside the ocean. It's just amazing to me and makes me feel so close to God. But I digress. We are spending the week at the beach with my parents and brother Dave. The only bad part being that Mark has to stay behind and work. Sad. A vacation just isn't quite the same without our whole family. But I still plan on having a blast with everyone else. And hopefully Grant-on-the-beach won't be too much of a nightmare! Let the summer fun begin!

2. I've been more than forthcoming with my iphone obsession. Oh, the convenience! And though sometimes I've felt that it has a negative effect on my parenting/life, there are aspects of it that I feel really enhance our life at home. Case in point, Pandora. Pandora brings music in to our home and music in our home means peace. There's just something about music playing when tensions are running high that seems to mellow everything out. I play it when we're cooking. Play it when I'm sewing. Play it when we're working on puzzles. Or coloring. Or cleaning. I've honestly noticed times when the boys have been at each others throats and then completely chilled once we have music playing in the background. Of course, there are times when things just get too chaotic, the noise is out of control, and the music has to go. But for the most part, it has been such a positive addition to the house. Hook it up to my trusty ipod dock that my cousin Mandi gave me, and we're good to go.

3. We finally got Sir Grant's mosquito bite under control. Just in time to take on the arrival of his top two teeth. Can someone please tell me why God thought it would be best for teeth to emerge after birth? I mean, I know they don't need them for roughly the first year, but come on! Wouldn't it have been easier on moms if they were born with a full set? (other than the obvious biting potential) I guess they'd look pretty creepy and not so baby-esque if they came out with a bunch of chompers, but I think I'd take a creepy looking baby in exchange for no teething. Grant did well with the bottom two a few months ago, but the top two came in over the past week and we weren't quite as successful. Mis.er.y. I don't like to pump up the kids with non-stop medicine, but I'm not going to lie. Grant got several doses over the past few days just to keep things under control. Today was finally a lot better. Less fussy. Less drool. Less biting on everything. So now he's ten months old with four teeth. Standing un-assisted...until he realizes it and then he immediately panics and dives for me or crouches down to the ground. He's the happiest, friendliest fella I've ever seen. (other than while teething, of course!) He readily offers a smile, even to strangers. Is so very flexible with the constant chaos and is still a great sleeper. And like I said, it was just the day before yesterday that I was pregnant with this perfect little guy...

10 months

rubba dub dub, three men in a tub...

Kolbe, my little reader, with his magic reading pen

I've always loved chambray, so I was so excited when my mom got Grant an adorable chambray baby shirt. No kidding, it matches his eyes perfectly!

Pa surprised the boys by showing up at the park to show them his truck full of sod. They thought it was so cool!

Our magnolia in the front yard is in full bloom! I love magnolias. They remind me so much of living in Mississippi, the Magnolia State. So when we looked at this house a year ago, the magnolia tree was one of the first things I noticed and loved. They're such pretty flowers and smell so good!

All of our April showers definitely brought May flowers to our yard!