Has it been over a year?

Wow! I can't believe that it has been well over a year since I last posted! How do people find the time? Between blogs, facebook, meetup boards, twitter, texting, church, husbands, kids, family, friends, dogs, and your job how do we survive? I guess like me, by the skin of my teeth! What is up with that saying anyway? Teeth do not have skin? What the ????

I hope to get back in the swing of it.....

Bad to the bone....

Well, I've lost him! Ryan is officially "bad to the bone"! Tom has tatooed him and he is showing us his tuff side! Watch out girls!

Moms Weekend Away!

Every mom should do it! Get away for
the weekend with their friends that is!
I had the opportunity to go to Austin, TX
with 7 of the moms from my moms group.
We had a blast! Here we are on 6th Street
at Logan's!

A day at the park....

It was a beautiful 70 degree day here in Dallas today so we went to the park today after school with my Moms Group and boy did we have fun!

Jake is such a ham! He loves to smile and say cheese!



I can not believe that he climbed across this foot ladder without falling - he must have done it 5 times. Kinda funny that one time a really big kid met him right in the middle and I just watched the big kid stare him down, not willing to budge. But Jake held his own! He just stood there and stared right back up at him - not budging either! The big kid finally turned around and went back the other way. (Now I realize that Jake had no idea what to do - he didn't understand how to go back and I think the big kid realized that he just a little guy and gave him a break). But, in my mind - Jake is a superhero!


Hmmmm, I wonder what he is thinking about?? Ryan is such the thinker whereas Jake is such a meathead like his Dad! (said with so much love) It is amazing to see Ryan do the wall climbing at this park - they have 3 really big ones and whereas he used to just go up one level - he goes all the way up AND over now!

Moon brothers...

Well, here they are! So sweet and obviously having fun together. Ryan loves to ride Jake around on his motor toys - although Jake can reach the peddles on both - but drives right for the pool! We have to turn the wheel so he just goes around in a circle - but he seems happy with that!

You know, one huge difference in them is the way they respond to animals. Ryan takes after Tom. They love the horses and our dogs - but do not feel inclined to love ON them. Now Jake - he takes after me - he is constantly petting the dogs, laying with the dogs, kissing the dogs. I will find him just laying with both of them talking up a storm - like they are his people friends! He reminds me of me so much in this area - I loved laying with our dogs and hugging on them when I was a kid (and still do). Really neat to see his loving side (which does not come out very often!)

I live in the country....

Sometimes I forget that I live on a beautiful piece of property and tonight Tom made me take it all in. As usual, I was pulling my hair out while the boys were terrorizing each other, the house and me! Tom came home and I just burst out in tears and after a few moments he grabbed my jacket - put it on me. Grabbed a beer and gave it to me. Opened the back door and told me to go out to the pond - sit on the dock - throw my feet over the side and enjoy the outdoors.

And I did.

And it was wonderful! I just sat there and listened to the birds, the horses and the water and it really did calm me. I wish I had more moments like this in my life. Thank goodness I have a husband that makes me stop and smell the roses (or the horse poop) once in awhile.

I no longer have babies....

Well, today I took "Baby" Jake's crib down. He has been crawling out for about a week now and I guess it was time. Last night after putting him to bed in his crib - I walked out of his room and of course he crawled out - cried at the door for about 15 seconds and then all was quiet. I wondered where he ended up?

About an hour later I go in to see where he had fallen asleep and there he was on the floor in between the crib and his big boy bed flat on his back with the covers meticulously spread over him with his feet sticking out and arms stretched above his head snoring like no one's business!
He was sooo cute - I picked him up and put him in his big boy bed and he slept all night.

I am not sure how I feel about it - it is bittersweet. He is no longer a baby.

I remember the day when I was pregnant with Ryan that Tom and I went shopping for a crib. It seems like forever ago. We were so excited to be parents. Now, the Moon house does not have a crib in it. Don't get me wrong - I DO NOT want any more children - I am looking forward to this new stage in our life. (Now I just have to get everyone to wipe their own ass!) :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

So this is a conversation that Ryan and I had as I was dropping him and Jake off at school yesterday, Valentine's Day:

Ryan: Mom are you coming to my school valentine's party?
Me: Yes, Ryan.
Ryan: Are you coming in now?
Me: No Ryan - I will be back at 10am.
Ryan: Why don't you come in now?
Me: Mommy is still in her pajamas and she has to go home and take a shower and then I will come to your party.
Ryan: Oh.

(we pull up to the schools carpool line and as I stop a teacher comes to get the boys)

Teacher: Good morning!
Ryan: My mom is still in her pajamas and she has to go home to take a shower before she comes to the party!
Me: Completely humiliated!

(another teacher comes out)

Teacher 2: Good morning!
Ryan: My mom is still in her pajamas and she has to go home to take a shower before she comes to the party!
Me: Still completely horrified!

Gotta love them and their honesty!

Here are a few pics from a Valentine's playdate they had the day before.....

Ryan is on the right - eating a cookie that he just decorated!


Now Jake, on the other hand, chooses to eat his differently!


And there is the smile that we all love!

We Miss You Daddy!

Tom is out off town and the boys made this sign for him and wanted me to put it on the blog so he can see it in Costa Rica!

We miss you!!! Hugs and Kisses!

Exhibition night at the boys school!

Tonight the boys had an exhibition night for all the parents. It was quite an event! The parents went into the classroom with their child and they showed us some of the things that they work on throughout the day. Well, the school asked that you give your child your undivided attention during this time and to make sure we were prompt with coming and going as other classes still had to come. Well that is great if you only have one kid! How am I suppose to do this with 2 kids while Tom is out of town? Jake's class was scheduled to go at 6pm and Ryans at 6:30. So, to be fair to both the boys (and for me to be guilt free) this is what I had to do: Asked a friend to meet me in the parking lot of the school at 5:45pm - she climbed in our van and sat with Ryan watching a DVD while I took Jake in - after we were done and I chased him down and took him out to the van and exchanged him with Ryan! Whew! I give the single parents out there a shout out - cuz man - it ain't easy! Well, here are the boys showing me their work in the classroom as well as what is on display in the gym.


Jake was so cute - he got his mat out and unrolled it - went to the shelves and pulled out his favorites - animals!



Here is Jake (wearing one of his hats!) showing off his artwork.



Here is Ryan - showing me how the binomial cube works! The what? Binomial cube? How old are you? Time was up and we had to move to the gym and Ryan went running - so I tried to finish it and could not figure it out! I had to leave it out because I could not do it and then had to tell the teacher - how embarrassing! (She told me that normally Ryan puts it together in 2 min!) I am in TROUBLE!


And here Ryan is showing off his color bead chart. The color beads in Montessori teach you how to add!

Hats!

So lately, Jake has had an infatuation with winter hats (like the one he is wearing at the park a few posts ago). This is obviously something that he has inherited from his Great Grandma Helen - her passion for hats! He carries them all over! Around the house, in the car, to the dinner table and now he has to have them to go to bed! He chants over and over - hat, hat, hat! He has one in each hand - snuggles them up to his face and tells me nite nite! I have to say it is the cutest thing! Ryan has his blue blanket and now Jake has his hats!

Puzzle Playdate!!

Well, today was MLK day so the boys were out of school ~ so we hosted a puzzle playdate with the Moms group I belong to! We had a blast! Puzzles were being made all over the house and well kids were running all over too! It was great to be able to host again - I love having all the kids over (the moms too!).


Ryan and his buds - and sweet Hannah - the only girl at the playdate - but don't let her size fool you - she can hold her own with these boys.


Okay so we have how many tv's in the house? They HAD to watch Toy Story on the little DVD player of course!


The little ones takin a break!


I just love Jake's laugh here. He felt so cool being with the older boys!

Let's try this again....

GRANDMA!!!!


JAKE!!!


BIG BROTHER RYAN!!!


TOO CUTE!!!

Beautiful weekend in Texas!

We all had such a nice weekend - the weather was beautiful - 60's in January! My mom and I went out for lunches, dinners, movies and shopping! The kids had a great time playing with Grandma and showing her where they went to school and especially their classrooms and teachers.

I will post pics later as blogspot is not able to upload right now! :( AND, I am off to have margaritas with the girls! :) C ya!

My mom is coming! My mom is coming!

That's right! My mom is coming down to Texas for a visit (and to see a specialist) this weekend! I can not wait to see her - the kids are soooo excited too! I will post some pics of our weekend.......

Over 4 months since my last post

Well, it has been awhile, hasn't it? So much has been happening that I have not had a chance to stop and take a breath. I have wanted to start posting so many times, but I just did not know how to jump back in after what has been happening. I have wondered whether to post about it or not - what is the right thing to do? I read through all my posts and remember how much I enjoyed sharing stories and pictures of us. So tonight is the night. I have this to say....

My dad is gone and my mom is facing breast cancer - all in 2 months time. Not fair. Not fair at all. It continues to be a tough time in my life, but I will keep moving forward.

This is all I am going to say about this - I will keep this blog for precious and happy moments in my life. It brings me joy to share our life with our family and friends that live so far away. So, forgive me if this is slow going, but I would like to start sharing with you all again.

I would be remiss if I did not thank everyone for their love and support. Thank you.

Overnight trip in the RV

Well, Tom and I are getting ready to leave for an overnight trip in the RV. Kathryn our "awesome" babysitter is here giving both the kids a bath as I type and I am, as always, waiting for Tom to finish getting ready. We are heading out to Possum Kingdom Lake to the lake house of a co-worker of Toms. We are bringing the RV and will hook up to the house. This will be our last trip in it before we put her on the lot and sell her. THANK GOD! :)

Ryan's playdate...

Ryan and his friend playing ferocious animals!


At the "grocery store".....


Busy being artists...


Rockclimbing....


I can not believe that he is going to be 4 next month! Where did the time go??

Jake's playdate....

Where is Jake?


There he is!

Too cute!

The world is not a nice place sometimes.....

Well - the blog will be slow for awhile as the wonderful digital camera that my awesome husband gave to me on my birthday this past June was STOLEN! I just can not believe it! And of all places? A kids playhouse! Very upsetting to me - but I am glad that I walked out with my children and not my camera instead of my camera and not my children! I know that it was just something monetary but it still SUCKS!

See you all soon.......

Where I would rather be right now.....

The BAHAMAS!!! When things start to get really crazy around here, I lock myself in the bathroom, close my eyes and envision that I am back on this island! I can hear the waves, feel the sun and smell the salt water!


Gorgeous!

View from our balcony! Great snorkeling!

Another from the balcony.....

Private path from our house to the beach where there was a tiki hut that we sat under to get some rest from the sun!

Awesome beach 25 feet from our house!

View from the tiki hut!

Another gorgeous view from the house!

FYI - this is the Island of Eleuthera, one of the northern islands, Double Bay Beach - our house sat right on the beach and we only saw 3 people on it the entire time we were there! The name of the house was Hakuna Matada~No Worries! Just wanted to go down memory lane and thought I would take you all with me!

My family reunion!

I went ahead and posted a bunch of pics for my family to see and download if they wanted - easier than sending an email and having files waiting to come up etc... So note to my family - just double click on a pic and then right click on mouse and you can save it to your hardrive.

Now, there are so many that I did not get pics of and I am so sorry! I didn't even get a pic of my mom or my grandma! I just can't believe it! And all the babies! Well, hope you all enjoy what I did get......

Have to start off with the hottest guy there!

My man - Tom

Daniel, Tracy and Baby Noah!

Jessica and Dan!

My aunt Brenda and Uncle Andy!

Love this pic of my Uncle John!

Eric and Sarah!

My hottie young cousin Kristen!

My niece Tammy and her man Corey!

Baby Noah!

Again - my young hottie cousin Kristen - always chillin!

My godfather and uncle John! (and hottie Kristen's dad!)

Some of the gang - but there is my SIL Tracy and Baby James on the left!

My 2nd cousin Colin and nephew Michael!

My awesome Aunt Deb! (and my bro in the background)

Float trip pit stop!

My gorgeous OLDER sister Sandi!

Abby!

Abby's sister Emma!

My neice Rachael!

My cousin Eric without his BETTER half Erica!

My brother Andy and cousin Marc! (to all the singe ladies out there - he is available!) My cousin Marc that is - not my bro! :)

Annual Family Reunion

Here we are! 2007 Annual family reunion!


Tom and Ryan chillin out after a game of volleyball!


Awesome bonfire!


Can't see many of my peeps - but this is just a few of them! Also I want you all to know that I can not show many of the pics I took because so many of my wonderful peeps were giving me the bird!!! For shame! :)


Having an awesome time!

Annual Family Reunion float trip!

Here we are on our annual float (canoe) trip at our family reunion! This was Ryan's first time to go with us! He did very well getting in the canoe and about 15 min after we took off - this is what happened.....

He fell asleep!!!!! Can you believe it? Looks a bit uncomfortable - but as you can see at the pic below he was not phased by it at all!

He was in a water gun fight with my brother - Uncle Andy!

Jenn and Tom - Texas style!

Still squirting everyone!

Funny thing is that Ryan did not want to ride in our canoe at all - he spent the majority of the float in my cousins, Jessica and Dan's canoe! Can you blame him? Abbey is quite the cutie!

Mexican Villa

What is a Mexican Villa? It is a restaurant in Springfield, Missouri that Tom and I would go to when we were in college! They have awesome Sanchos! I get mine plain and Tom gets his enchilada style! They also have this wonderful sweet sauce to dip your chips in! Every time we are passing through Springfield - on our way to our family reunion or St. Louis we ALWAYS stop at "The Villa"! There are a few scattered throughout Springfield - but we always go to the one right down the street from campus - the one WE always went to when we were there - THE ORIGINAL VILLA!

Anyway - some of the same people are still working there and we just love going back! It is so surreal to have our kids with us - who would have ever thought - we would be coming back 20 years later married to each other with 2 kids! Great memories! Anyway - here we are at "the villa".....

Yes, those are little jukeboxes at every booth! They still work too!

Kinda blury - but gotta get Ryan and Jake caught at the villa!

Ryan's first buzz cut and THE FROG!

So I took Ryan to get his hair cut - he takes after his dad - he plays hard so he sweats hard! I thought it would be cooler for him with a buzz cut! OMG! Look how short it is! She said, "well let's start with a #4 and go from there" - GO FROM THERE??? There is nowhere to go from there! Oh well - all it can do is grow! And actually, I think it is cute! My little peanut is growing up!


Cheese!


Just chillin by the pool in his tighty whiteys!
He is gonna KILL me when he gets older :)



He is trying to catch a little frog that jumped in the pool.



Look Mom, I caught a frog! Ewww, go show your father! :)

Jake's first lunch date!

We had a playdate at our house and Jake thought Olivia looked pretty cute - so he made his move......typical boy - food before love!


"Hi there cutie, whatcha got there? It looks pretty good!"



"Okay, it looks like she is being distracted by the camera"



"I'm going in! I want that green bean!"

Baby Jake is growing up!

Tell me it ain't so! He decided yesterday that he was NOT going to sit in his highchair - that he wanted to sit at the big kids table! He did great! He didn't fall over or anything - he sat there for 20 minutes eating a banana and then some mandarin oranges! Baby Jake is becoming My little man! :(

Ryan starts school....

and he loves it! It was a decision (a very hard one) that Tom and I have made for Ryan and us.

We have decided to put Ryan in school from 8:30 to 3pm Monday thru Friday. He is going to a Montessori school. I was very unsure (aren't we always second guessing ourselves as parents?), but after today, I know that we have made the right decision for Ryan. Ryan is a very outgoing boy and needs to be constantly challenged and of course structure - more than I know how to give. I felt that I was losing him being at home with him. We were not communicating well at all with one another and both were getting very frustrated. No matter what I tried it just did not seem to work. Anyway..... when we dropped him off on his first day we all went in (even Jake) to get him settled in etc... and he was so excited! He sat right down (we went early to get him settled so he was the first one there) and started working on their materials - he was just so hungry to learn and be able to work his brain. It was an awesome sight to see - I had to interrupt him to say goodbye and he gave us all kisses and hugs and said "okay mom see ya later" and went back to working/exploring with all the new things there. When I picked him up - he had made new friends and gave them all hugs goodbye and talked about his day all the way home! It is amazing to see the change in his attitude toward Tom, Jake and me!

I am so excited for him and us - I am looking forward to "quality" time with him once again instead of the constant struggles we were looking at. Here is my peanut and his new school!


He is the little yellow dot by the front doors! Wanted you all to see a wide view of the school.

Fun on the 4th of July!

We had a great 4th of July - we grilled out while the kids swam and since we are way out in the country - fireworks are legal! So the kids had a BLAST!


Jake and buddy Vinci - they do not understand why they can't get out and run/swim with the big kids!


Some of my peeps! Dee, Me and Vickie!


Ryan with his sparkler!



Pretty cool! God Bless America and our Troops!

The kids!

Just a few casual pics of the kids to share.....

Just chillin!

I caught you!

This is Ryan and his friend Samuel playing in some Halloween costumes in the middle of the summer (whatever works to keep them entertained!) We really miss Samuel because he just moved to the Philippines for 2 years :(

How do I stay sane?

The answer: MY PEEPS!
I have to say, being a SAHM is wonderful, but I need friends! So, I have met some amazing women/moms on a local meetup.com site! It is great! We have daily play dates, Moms Night Out, Moms Night In and Family get togethers too! I have made so many wonderful friendships and so have Ryan and Jake! If you would like to find people with the same interests as you and that live in your area - check out meetup.com - it is great! Here are a few pics of some of the moms!


Moms Night In at my house (NO KIDS or husbands ALLOWED)



Moms Night Out at a local restaurant!

Love you ladies! Thank you for everything!

Say Chuck E Cheese!

I decided to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese the other day - yes, I said "I" not "we"! Now, I have done this before and it has been okay - Jake could not walk so I would just have him in the stroller and then we would follow Ryan around and play games etc... Well, now Jake can walk! So when we got there - Ryan had to go potty like always (but so did I). So here I am trying to pull my pants down - sit down - go potty - pull my pants up ALL WHILE holding Jake in my arms! I have done this at home when he was fussy - but in a public restroom - UGH! All the while Ryan is crawling under the stalls while I am screaming DO NOT to touch anything! What a site we all were! Okay - now we are ready for some fun.......

My Moon boys!



Trying to give me a kiss through the glass!



Jake loves to slide!

So it all looks fun right? Well for them, but not so much for me? Now that Jake is walking he ran off to the left and Ryan ran off to the right and I spent the next hour running around in circles! Ha! One funny story though - Jake was trying to crawl up the skeet ball game while probably an 8yr old boy was playing it - he was not very happy with Jake - before I could get there I see Ryan with his hands out saying "it is just Baby Jake!" The older boy was not amused but I thought it was hilarious! I grabbed both of them and left! Note to self - no more trips to Chuck E Cheese without daddy!

Trip to the playground!

We took a trip to the outdoor mall today and stopped off at the playground to let the boys run off some steam!


What a cutie!


Ryan is finally allowing me to take his picture! He loves saying CHEESE!


Peek a Boo!

Trip to St. Louis!

We had a great time this past weekend in St. Louis for my cousin Emily's wedding! It was great to see everyone and visit. Friday we left the airport and headed straight for White Castle's! YUMMY! I just love them! We got to my parents and got to see my new nephew Baby James for the first time! He is sooooo cute! Here he is with his cousins - Jake, Ryan and James!

We also took a family photo with my brother and sisters and parents which I thought I would share - gosh - time flies by! I remember when we were kids like it was yesterday! I love you all so much!!!!!!!!

My manly man!

Okay, so Tom could not believe that I did not add a picture of the barn for everyone to see! What a typical man! So, here it is....THE BARN!

On another note - my manly man is so proud of his new purchase - the commercial grade mosquito trap! I do have to say that it works GREAT! We have had it for less than a week and have caught/killed thousands of mosquitoes and flies! It is really awesome! Normally we don't have too much of a problem - but with all the rain that we got - it is really bad - BUT - not any more! It's amazing - we can sit outside or swim and not one bite! You should see how proud he his of this thing - he goes out there 5 times a day to look at it and see how many are in the bag! If he gets home after dark - he will take a flashlight outside to look at it! My manly man - proud of his mosquito catcher! :) Thank you Tom, for making our home a safer and more pleasant place for us to enjoy!

Home Sweet Home!

I just thought I would add some pictures of our place here in Texas! I know that a lot of family and friends have been here - but for those of you that have not - now you can picture where we are!

Our driveway thru the trees!



Home Sweet Home!


From the back pasture...


From the back, back, back pasture!

Splash park!

We went to a Splash Park today with some friends and had a great time! Ryan was taking a break and his friend was trying to convince him to go and play!

More from the Splash Park!

Jake is our water baby for sure! He had no fear whatsoever! He ran all over - big kids, little kids, lots of water - it did not matter - he had a blast!

Mama's little helpers!

Well, we all slept in today until 9am! My kids have NEVER done that! I awoke to find that Ryan had emptied the entire dishwasher and put everything in its proper place! When I opened it the only thing left were all the knives (cuz he knows he is not suppose to touch them!) What a wonderful helper! Now if I can just teach him to make the coffee in the morning! Hee-hee

Anyway - Jake got in on the action too as you can see in the pic!

My cowboy Ryan!

Here is my cowboy! He will soon be four - but man - he acts like he is 15!

Baby Jake

This is my baby Jake! He is 14 months old now and this picture won him the Kute Kids contest in a local moms magazine!

Still getting set up!

Well, I am trying to figure this out - so am posting some things!

The Moon's

Well, here we are! I am just getting started on this blogging thing - so we will see!

It's almost 2am and I need to go to bed but I am not tired at all!