TTT: Season 4, Episode 8

1. Have you noticed that I always preface every paragraph that contains any form of complaint with a disclaimer? I have a fantastic life. I'm really far more blessed than I deserve to be. So any form of complaining is totally out of line and reminiscent of the spoiled behavior I often get on to my children for exhibiting. So I'll start with my usual disclaimer: I love my house. It's hard to believe that Mark and I managed to buy a home like ours in our twenties. We're very blessed. But with that being said, I'm fairly certain that we purchased one of the very few homes in The Woodlands without a sprinkler system. (at least it seems that way...some of the yards around here are insane!) Sure, there are tons of houses that have nasty carpet like ours, unpainted walls like ours, and yucky couches like ours. But not missing sprinkler systems. It's either spring, summer, or fall here year round. So nothing ever dies. It never turns brown. Ever. The plants and weeds, that is. Grass is another story. If you don't water it, well then the green weeds just take over and there you have it. We tried to do our own watering last spring, summer, fall...ok, year, and there's just no way to keep up. Letting the sprinklers run, going out and moving them, hoping your getting the right areas...it's exhausting. So we finally saved up enough and got our new sprinkler system installed this week! And I've got to say, we've now got the coolest system on the block. I love my sweet husband, and really, he doesn't ask for much. Ever. But the one thing he has always wanted is a pretty lawn with lots of sprawling grass. So I'm hoping this is the first step to the lawn of his dreams. Sure, we're going to have to get some new sod in the back because it's beyond repair, but hey, at least we're not setting the kitchen timer and running out to the yard every twenty minutes to move the sprinklers. And there are no longer hoses stretched out all over the grass for the kids to trip on. I'm proud of our "little" house and the future aspirations of our lawn. 

2. Y'all know that I love my three little boys, but did you know that they aren't actually my first baby loves? No, I was blessed to have my first baby love at a very young age. Eight, to be exact. Every little girl loves to play house and play with babies, right? And dreams of having her own real baby. Lucky me, I actually did. He's my youngest brother, Dave. His crib was in my room and I pushed him down the street in his stroller as if he were my own. I cried hysterically while screaming at him in anger when he hid under a bed for a long time as a little boy and we were all convinced something horrible had happened to him. Just like a mom would. I shared a good portion of my first year as a real mom with him when he lived with me while Kolbe was a baby Mark was away at PA school. I have loved Dave since the day he was born. Dave is now twenty-two, graduated from college and will be moving out to Los Angeles this week to pursue his dreams. I can't believe the man he has turned out to be. Kind, loving, compassionate, honest, courageous and so handsome. He has spent the last several weeks here in The Woodlands ironing out the details of his big move and we have loved every opportunity we've had to spend time with him. As much as the boys love their other uncles, there's just a special spot in their little boy hearts for Uncle Dave. Kinda like their mama's heart. A little part will always be his. He spent his entire day on Monday painting my bathroom for me for no reason other than that he knew I really wanted to have it done. I am so proud of Dave because he is so uniquely himself. He doesn't feel the need to be pressed into the mold of being "just like the other Hefferlys" and has become both entirely himself and uniquely Hefferly. I dream only the best dreams for Dave and have the highest hopes for his future. I can't say that I've always been the best big sister to him, but if nothing else, I hope that he knows how greatly he's been loved in my heart since the very first day of his life. He's the best baby brother a girl could have and no matter where life takes him, I will always love him just as he is.

3. Have you ever wondered what God looks like? I had the most precious exchange of words with Kolbe a while back on the topic. And it just has to be documented. It went a little something like this:
(while discussing the fact that one of our good friends is pregnant, thus adding to the huge number of people we know that are pregnant...)
Kolbe: Well why don't you get a baby in your tummy too?
Me: Well it doesn't work that way. I can't just up and decide to have another baby. Every baby has to have a mama and a dada and God....three different things....to create one little baby.
Kolbe: A baby is made by a dada and a mama and God?
Me: Yes. God decides to send down a precious soul and someday your soul returns to God too.
Kolbe: Well....you know how I look just like you when you were little and Rudy looks just like Dada?
Me: Yeah?
Kolbe: (long pause) Grant must look just like God. He doesn't look like you and Dada.

So there you have it. Isn't the understanding of a child just the most precious thing ever?! And heck, since we're all made in his image and likeness, maybe he's right. Maybe Grant does look just like God. So when people ask us "Where did he get those blue eyes!?!" I can respond with "from God." Maybe kids' thoughts aren't so silly and our grown-up notions are the ones that are nonsense. Either way, life is so beautiful.

Whadaya think? Not Laura, not Mark...must be God!

We got to spent Saturday afternoon at my sister-in-law's sister's house for our nephew's first birthday party! Happy Birthday, Will! (or as Mark says, "Guillermo Marcos.")

Puggy had a blast on the Kim's slide...his hair is a static magnet!

Abby and Andy have 2 boys, Jae and Jenny have 2 boys, we have 3 boys...it was boys "daglore" (as Rudy says) 

Pinkie, Pa, and Dave came too (as well as Abby's parents)...Pinkie was brave enough to hit the slide with the kiddos.

Saturday was also our first soccer game for the spring season.  Practice got rained out during the week so it took this guy a little bit to get warmed up but he was right back at it in no time!

And guess who's playing with the big boys this season!?! Rudy! He's playing up a league so he's definitely young and not totally sure what's going on but he loves it.

Nothing like throwing in to your big brother. 

And there's number 3 back in action!

The new sprinklers in progress!

My south paw working on his birthday thank you notes!

TTT: Season 4, Episode 7

1. Happy St. Valentine's Day to all you love bugs out there! Valentine's Day was actually pretty fun for us this year. Since Kolbe goes to his pre-school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was quite exciting that he was going to have school on the actual "holiday." He spent a good bit of time yesterday writing out all of his valentines for his friends. And then last night my brother Dave came over to watch the boys for a bit so Mark and I could go get a bowl of my favorite tomato basil soup at Le Madeleine. Not a major Valentine's date, but hey, even an hour to get away with my love is nice! And he got me a cute little pair of red Toms, too. Something I hadn't asked for that he saw and just decided to get me. Those make the best gifts. And yes, they are, in fact, comfy! Today, while Kolbe was at school, Rudy, Grant and I had fun making chocolate dipped strawberries for the family. After picking Kolbe up from school, we stopped by Sonic happy hour to get slushies with the Valentine's money G-ma sent the boys. Gotta love a sweet treat in the afternoon, though it nearly killed me not to get a Coke. More on that in a minute. After Sonic we dropped some of our strawberries by my parents' house and then went home ate the rest ourselves. It was a fun day with my boys. And when I asked Kolbe who his valentine was (hoping he'd say me), he answered with "my whole family...because that's who I love." Good answer, son.

2. But back to the Coke. I'll try to only address this once. 'Cause really, giving something up for Lent is no good if you're just going to sit and belly-ache about it. It's a positive, not a negative! So here we go-- For those of you who really, really know me well, you know that this is huge: I finally gave up Coke for Lent. And maybe-hopefully-hypothetically for good. But don't hold me to it. (the "for good" part, that is) I think every year when I pray and decide what kind of sacrifice I should make to draw myself closer to Christ in the forty days before Easter, my beloved Coke always jumps immediately to the forefront of my mind. But in the years past, there was always some sort of reason that I shouldn't give it up. And all of them closely related to the caffeine aspect of the drink. But this year I realized that all my thinking on that subject was really just a cop-out. I drink Coke because I love the way it tastes. It's comforting. When I'm stressed or feel like I'm going crazy, it's my go-to indulgence. But really it does nothing good for me at all. And really, I'd hope that I'm at least mentally above the irrational thoughts that I have to have it. (Though I'd be lying if I said I didn't have to talk myself down from the ledge a few times in the past two days.) Again, y'all know I love my Coke. Love. Love. LOVE. But if it does nothing for me other than satisfy my taste buds, it really has no business having such a power in my mind. And the Lord knows that my giving it up for Lent has definitely had me calling out his name way more than usual in the past two days! Though it honestly hasn't been too bad. Just breaking a bad habit and turning more to God during stress than a sweet drink. Still...pray for me, people!

3. As I mentioned last week, my sweet boy Reagan Mark turned four this week. Four. Four. If any one of the boys has grown up too fast, I think it might be him. Just fifteen months behind Kolbe, he has seemed to just acclimate himself to achieving at the same time as his big brother. Like already learning to read while Kolbe learns. Riding a bike at age three. Sure, he does seem to copy Kolbe quite a bit, but on the other hand, he's so uniquely himself. Creative, imaginative, sensitive, compassionate...a dreamer. He seems to carry all of the "right brained" traits of both Mark and me. And his Mama's left-handedness too. Rudy melts my heart. He could stay four forever.

"Happy Birthday to Ru..." 

Forget the cake. I could just gobble him up instead. Those eyes.

Rudy really wanted a pirate ship cake. Unfortunately, I'm not America's Next Great Baker so this is what he got.

Though he has never seen the movie, he now officially has all of the "Avengers." He's definitely a super hero lover. 

Sporting his raptor shirt that G-ma sent him

Three brothers on Ash Wednesday

Hard at work on addressing his Valentines. (I provided the spelling; he had to write them all out.)

Making dipped strawberries with my sweetheart!

Decorating Valentines

"Hi, ladies..."

This guy LOVES cars! And apparently organization, too.

TTT: Season 4, Episode 6

1. Well, one thing is for sure: I've gotten quite lax with pulling off the Three Thought Thursday on Thursday. Yeesh. I used to be such a stickler...staying up late just to make it happen. Working on it throughout the week instead of just on Thursday night. Now it's more like Oh heck, it's Friday. I never did a blog post yesterday! Maybe one of the changes I should have proposed for the blog for 2013 is exchanging Three Thought Thursday for My Weekly Blog Post on Whichever Day of the Week I Finally Post It. Y'all know I have the best of intentions. I guess I've just finally gotten around to easing up on my perfectionistic ways and allowing myself a little leniency from time to time. And I do have a good excuse right now. Mark went on a men's retreat so I'm flying solo with the crew for the weekend. Hey, most hubbies are off on golf excursions, hunting trips, or other man-trips...if Mark decides to go on a pre-Lenten retreat to pray our little nut house (and more, of course) I certainly won't discourage it! And it gives me cause to do plenty of fun things with the boys "since Dada is gone and it's just us." Yep. I skipped making the bed today. Didn't cook dinner and went out instead. And of course, fudged a little on our healthier eating. We miss Dada, but we're having fun in the process!

2. One of my favorite, favorite weekly happenings that we've been doing lately is our Friday trips to the library and the waterway. Our local library is on the same grounds as The Pavilion (an outdoor amphitheater where big name concerts are held) and backs up to The Woodlands Waterway. With the weather as wonderful as it has been lately, we've created a good routine of loading up our bikes, scooters, and stroller on Fridays, heading to the library to check-out our weekly reads, and then cruising the waterway for some sunshine and exercise. When my Dad is in town he likes to join us too. The boys love it and look forward to it every. single. week. Today was no exception. We loaded up our lunches and a big picnic blanket and just enjoyed our time together. I know it won't always be this way. Schedules will get busy. School will occupy the Friday morning time slot. And heck, even when those two don't interfere, the Houston summer heat will definitely stop our routine a few months from now whether we like it or not! I told Kolbe we'd have to have a breakfast picnic instead. He argued that there's no way we could bring cereal and yogurt and milk out on a picnic blanket. I contested that we'd just have to get donuts instead. Disagreement over.

3. Tantrums, Treasures, and Tidbits
- I won't bore you with more videos of the boys riding their bikes. But I'll just say that they've been riding for two weeks as of today and Kolbe rode down the staircase beside the skate bowl at the park yesterday. I'm pretty sure when I started riding a bike, I was lucky to make it down the street smoothly at week two. Twenty-some-odd years later and I'm still not riding down a staircase.
- At this time four yeas ago, I was writing a blog post about Kolbe's last days as an only child. My little Rudy's fourth birthday is on Sunday! It is oh, so hard to believe. But one of the beauties of blogging is being able to head back to a certain time and re-live each day, moment, and feeling. I love being a mom.
- Anyone want to throw me a secret remedy for splinters? Grant has one on each of his palms that we cannot get out! Let's just say that he's not a cooperative patient. But I know they're bother him. We've tried a myriad of things, but he's always quick to stop the process and we end up giving up or risk total baby breakdown. I'd rather not torture him but we've got to get them out!

I finally remembered to take my camera to our Friday morning Waterway trip today so I'll leave you this week with pics from our adventures:

It's time to ride!

Or roll...

Cross bridges...

Climb walls...

Check out the scenery...

Just hang and be brothers...

Exercise with the lunch-breakers...

Grab a drink from the water fountains...

Show off our riding skills...

Watch the trolly roll by...

And, of course, enjoy lunch!

While someone hogs all of the grapes.

And because he's the birthday boy this weekend and is the most irresistible three-almost-four-year-old ever, here's my favorites of my Rudy from today:

Swoon. 

TTT: Season 4, Episode 5

1. So. In case you haven't noticed, we're not where we usually are. We're back on the old family blog! I mentioned at the beginning of the year that I had some changes planned for my weekly blog posts. This being the biggest. It's funny how plans and views on the whole blogging thing evolve over time. Years ago, I moved my weekly journal over to my Sweetheart-n-Sunshine blog site. At the time, I was kind of planning to make that site more sewing and craft related. Like a sewing, shop owning, working-at-home mommy kind of blog. And I had been encouraged to sort of combine my mommy ramblings with my shop ramblings. Instead, it simply evolved into the weekly journal and photo album of our family. All the while, my business has continued to grow and change, and I've reached the point where I really need a site that's dedicated strictly to my shop. Etsy certainly has it's perks, but, for example, only five photos can be added to each listing. And with some items, I'm really needing more exposure than that. Sure, I think my kids are adorable, but I'm guessing that when my customers visit my blog site, they aren't expecting to only find photos of the boys! So with no further explanation needed, I've decided to move Three Thought Thursday, our family's weekly journal, back to the site where I used to post photos and descriptions of big events in our lives such as vacations and holidays. I think it will be more appropriate, easier to manage, and overall a better set up for both our family journal as well as my shop's organization and advertising. Welcome back to www.theasmussenfamily.blogspot.com!

2. January in The Woodlands is much like April or May in many other parts of The US. May through September, we're usually at the pool or holed up indoors trying to survive the heat. But right now is our spring. Seventies every day, it's the perfect time of year for long walks, time outdoors, park visits and more. I'm sure we may have one or two more cold spells before "the winter" is over, but this time of year is slowly becoming my favorite. We've been living outdoors! And with all the time outside, comes all sorts of new exciting things for the boys. If you missed it on Facebook earlier this week, our biggest development has been that both Kolbe and Rudy learned how to ride without training wheels! These guys had been cruising along on their Razors for weeks with fantastic balance. Rudy could ride at least half the length of our street without having to push off. So we were all pretty convinced that if they could balance that well on the scooters, surely they could figure out the bike, too. Sure enough, within one day, they were both riding like pros with no help. Not even that moment where they sit on the seat and start pedaling while you hold on and gradually let go. Nope. Just jumped on and rode off. It was so precious. And brought tears to my eyes at the same time. These are the same boys that I was teaching how to use the toilet just a few short years ago. And now they're riding bikes? The days are long but the years are short. And my babies seem to not be babies any longer.

3. Ok, everyone, prepare yourselves. I'm about to vent. I've been doing really well with my lupus flare ups lately. Not to gross anyone out, but I'm all but convinced that the flares are highly hormone related. As in, I noticed a very obvious cycle occurring where my flare ups happen at the same point in my female cycle each month. So I've gone out of my way to make sure that I don't over exert myself at that point each month in order to avoid the flare ups and carry on with life as normal. But alas, another lupus problem has really reared its ugly head over the past several months and has got me feeling frustrated. Even before I was diagnosed with lupus, I began developing a condition called Raynaud's Disease. The first time I remember having a problem with it was my senior year in high school when I was playing my flute in the marching band. I had an open hole flute, meaning my finger tips had to cover the holes on top of each key as I pressed it down in order to play the correct note. I noticed that if it was even slightly chilly or windy, I couldn't feel my finger tips and couldn't tell if I was covering the holes on the keys or not. Then I started to notice how my fingers would turn completely white when cold and then purple or blue and were totally numb. And as they warmed up, they would burn and tingle in the same way a limb does when it has "fallen asleep." I later found out that this was called Raynaud's Disease and is a common component of systemic lupus. I've managed to do pretty well with it through the years. Gloves, hand warmers, etc.--they help. And really, just avoiding being outdoors when it's cold is the best strategy. With really little ones, that wasn't too hard. But now that the boys are older and want to be outside all of the time, it's hard to avoid the outdoors when it's chilly. And living down in Houston makes it even trickier. The seventies are right on the borderline. While my body thinks it feels great out, my hands can't maintain a normal temperature and within seconds have lost blood flow. This has made the past few months really tough for me, and a new component of it has developed. I continue to get extremely painful blood clots in my finger tips. The blood flow to my fingers is cut off when the little capillaries constrict and then when the blood flow returns, clots often form and take about a week to break up. It is so painful. You'd never think that a teeny tiny blood clot would be much of a bother, but it feels like a big needle being stuck deep into your finger tip every time it so much as taps on any surface. Believe me; I've had steroid injections directly into my wrist joint and of course, spinals for my C-sections...it feels just about the same. The medical solution is to take a blood pressure medication to increase blood flow, but my blood pressure is already so low that this isn't an option for me. So there. That's my rant. I don't really need or want any pity, just kinda needed to let it off my chest as it's such a huge frustration for me. I'm thankful for a husband that fully understands, three little boys that do their best to help mommy when they know I have a booboo, and a God who always cares for me. Oh, that this tiny bit of suffering might get me closer to Him!

My two little blood clots from this past week. They're actually much smaller when they start out...like a tiny red pin-prick. This is the stage where they're finally breaking up and dissipating. (if that's the right word for a blood clot.) :(

Enough of that! On the the fun stuff!!!

Yes, that's my husband pushing my baby in a jogger in a skate bowl. That's how we roll, people. Never a dull moment. This was definitely the highlight of this baby's day! (And yes, I was hysterically laughing, praying for Grant's safety and adding "buy 3rd helmet" to my to do list all at the same time.)

My baby sweetheart.

My hubby sweetheart! (on a date night! Woohoo!)

Kolbe is so desperate to get outside each morning that he's resorted to doing chores without asking to expedite the process. Score.

We've moved on from our small neighborhood skate bowl and are now visiting the huge local skate park. Scares me to death, but these guys are in heaven!

This guy.
As a cup drinker, he has only used cups that have straws. He has never figured out the concept of lifting a glass to take a drink. So when we are at my parents' and we forget his straw cups, someone has to give him a drink like a little birdie. Pitiful, I know.
But look at that awesome, wavy hair.