It's a new year!

You're probably thinking that I'm going to apologize for my complete blog absence for the last four months. But I'm not. Truth is, nothing has happened over the past four months. Nothing at all. There has just been nothing to blog about. 

Ok, who am I kidding?! So much has happened that I can't even seem to manage my email account on some weeks. So I'll close out the year of 2013 with some pictures from the last four months. (and spare you our Christmas until the next blog post!)

Happy New Year, friends! We wish you all a happy, healthy, adventurous 2014 filled with peace, love, and lots and lots of joy.

The cutest little guy in the world started Little Saints in September. He goes on Tuesdsays and Thursdays from 9-2 and LOVES it. 

He also played flag football this fall. Even though it's a whole lot of chaos, he had tons of fun and keeps asking to sign up again. Mom fail, though…Kolbe played yet another season of soccer and I either never brought my camera or did and was too distracted by either his awesome soccer skills or chasing my two-year-old to take any usable pics. 

We got to get ALL the cousins together while Jackson and Kennedy were down to visit. They are quite the crew!

We celebrated Mark's 30th birthday!

These boys sure love their Dada.

And have a fun little birthday party with local family and friends…and an awesome Texas Tech birthday cake that our friend Veronica made!

Mark and I took a quick weekend trip up to Dallas for his birthday. We got the see the Red Raiders play their first game of the season!

We saw looooots of high school football on Friday nights. It's our favorite thing to do in the fall.

In October, we were so proud to see Mark complete his first half marathon. It rained the ENTIRE time. But we had so much fun and he did great. 

And this guy's greatest achievement was mastering the toilet. That, and going from a vocabulary of about ten words to no less than ten thousand...

Kolbe's school held a storybook parade. He was the most adorable Woody ever!

And all three were loads of cuteness in their halloween costumes

We always swing by my parents' neighborhood first as we're there often and have made friends with all of their neighbors. There are three families, all with boys the same ages as ours. Little boys galore! (and this was with one family missing still!)

A certain little boy turned six. SIX.
It's going by soooo fast.

He's still just the neatest little boy and we're so proud that he's ours.

Thanksgiving was spent here in The Woodlands with my side of the family. We finally got to meet "Pat's honey" (as Grant calls her) Ana is awesome and we're fairly certain that Pat is way out of his league.

The boys had fun playing checkers with Pa and cousin John.

And spent lots of time at the park.

Despite Grant having bad ear infection and me having pneumonia, we still managed to squeak in our annual family photo shoot. We alway do these by scoping out pretty places around town and then propping our camera on a bench or ledge. May never end up looking super custom, but hey, it's free and looks about as naturally "us" as it possibly could.

Kolbe's class held a 50s day party…he felt like such a stud with his Mom tattoo.

And we also got to accompany his class to the farm! Grant and Rudy had a blast...

As did our fearless cowboy.

We also learned some awesome archery skills... 

Had loads of fun playing sports... 

And, as always, plenty of trips to mass.

Note to self: This blog post took you thirty minutes. You CAN spare a little time from here to there and make these more frequent!

Note to you: I'm really, really, going to try to get back into my weekly routine of blogging. I'm not a huge fan of Facebook for sharing pictures…the public side of things kinda keeps me out. But I post pictures on Instagram several times a week, if you Instagram. You'll have to send me a request because my account is private, but it's another fun way to follow along with our family. (not that our lives are just soooo riveting or anything!)

Three Thought Thursday- 8/22/13

Hello, world! We're baaaaack!
I can't exactly use the phrase "a little behind." I think that applies to two, maybe three weeks. Not two months. Shameful, I tell you. I mean, really...twenty-some-odd years from now when I want to revisit the summer of 2013...my thoughts, the little nuances of life, the ups, the downs....I'll have nothing. Well nothing except scrolls and scrolls of pictures! So here's to that: a close-out to the July and August of The Summer of 2013.

We took a trip to Brenham, TX for the 4th of July to visit Andy and Abby and we had a blast! On the 4th we enjoyed an adorable little small town parade in Chappell Hill. Really, the cutest parade ever.

And no trip to Brenham is complete without a visit to the Bluebell Ice Cream factory. Yum, yum! 

We had all ages represented- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And it was impossible to get a good shot of all 5 without at least one making a break for it!

This little man...

Little Will is just the cutest ever. He's such a pleasant, mellow little guy!

We had a great time with the Hefferlys and can't wait to go back!

When our plans to go swimming at the country club fell through, we hit the kiddie pool in the front yard. True American style.

And then shivered a bit as the sun was setting.

What 4th of July is complete without Bomb Pops?

Even if they make you look a bit like a vampire.

And of course we finished it off with a small town firework show. Such a fun little trip!

Our next adventure was a "glad we did it but never again" success story of a trip flying standby on Southwest to Lubbock. We're so, so glad we did it and were so thankful for the free tickets, but never again with little ones. If I had been keeping up with the blog, you would have heard a long tale of dramatic woeful proportions but I'll simply leave it at standby during the summer saves you nothing. Including sanity. 

But we got to enjoy story time with Papa Jeep.

Wrestle-mania with Uncle P (who happened to be in town for a wedding!)

A trip to the movies with grandparents (in outfits to match the movie, no less!)

A backyard BBQ with cousins on both sides of the family

Two best buddies catching up like old times. (and Mark and I got a night to catch up with adult family and friends too!) 

Backyard shenanigans (yes, I let my kid run around like that. He got bit by something and I was trying to make sure he didn't breakout too badly!)

Just being adorable, as always. 

Time catching up with Krista never goes by too slowly.

And guess who loves tire swings?!?

No trip to Lubbock is complete without a visit to "Castle Park."

Swinging with his grandparents....

And checking out bunnies with buddy Jacob.

And then there was the flight home...all this made the trip well worth it! SO glad we got to visit Lubbock this summer!

So beyond our two trips, what else have we been up to??? Oh, just things like...

My cousin having the sweetest little baby girl ever who I fully intend on kidnapping...

...Mark smoking his first set of ribs, and man, were they good!....

...the annual summer trip to Chuck E Cheese...

...and don't even get me started on this. Root canal + Laura's lupus = epic fail.  Horrible inflammatory response which resulted in having to have my tooth filed down so the back two don't even touch now. And to think I still have to have the crown done! Grr!.....

...but that episode was redeemed by a fun trip to see the Astros play with Pinkie and Pa and the Hefferly Clan (Andy's family)...

...We had a blast at Minute Maid Park...

...sat up in the rafters and enjoyed every minute...

...and then I got to go on a date with this little slice of heaven...to pick out school supplies and talk about life...

...and somewhere amidst the summer, my baby turned into a boy...

...and a little boy room got a massive makeover (that's still in progress- waiting on a new dresser this weakend!)...

...And these two cheesers celebrated seven years of marriage with a night out....

...and a night in--as a family tradition, we always celebrate the birth of our family (our anniversary) with a candle-light dinner for the whole clan, in hopes that we teach our boys the importance of marriage, love, and commitment. And on the fine china and with a table cloth!)...

So hopefully back to our normally scheduled routine. With school starting on Monday and a weekend getaway for Mark and me to follow, I certainly have lots to "talk" about. See you soon!