Boys and Their Toys

This my friends, is the first thing I saw when I opened our garage one day last week. The John Deere had an oil leak that Kevin decided to repair with the neighbor, which took a little over a week. Our garage was in shop mode the past week... parts, tools, and shop rags all over the place! Kevin, Heath (neighbor), Riley (our dog), and Nic spent more time consumed by this in the garage than anywhere else.

During this escapade, I was faced again with just how far from things we really are! Oh, the perks of living in a small town. It is a good thing thing the great and amazing things here outweigh the inconvenient ones!  We had to drive to Poteau, OK, which is about an hour away, for a John Deere part so that Kevin could repair it.While at the tractor store, the overpowering love our little man has for tractors took over! Nic stood in absolute awe and in love over the many tractors that surrounded him. His smile, laugh, and excitement overfilled my heart with even more love than I thought was possible. See, that's the amazing thing with children... Just when you think you can't love them anymore, you find yourself falling more and more in love with them. There just aren't any words...

A little more than a week after tearing our lawnmower apart, it was back together and running... I walked outside looking for Kevin and found him and Nic driving all around the yard excited that it was back up and running!

These two amazing men in my life take my breath away (even with Nic's goofy looks and smiles)!

The Time Has Come

I know this and MANY other updates are far overdue, so enjoy catching up as I update our blog!

On November 10, 2011 we started our day off at Fort Bliss making sure we had everything completed and signed off on so that Kevin could final out at 1330 that afternoon. Needless to say, we ended up spending a couple of hours just walking around and killing time because we were able to get everything signed off on before his last day in the army! Well, last day that he had to show up before leave began! Hey, it's better to have it all done early and wait than to get to Transition and not have nearly enough of the signatures and be pushed off for days!

While we waited for time to pass, we walked all around Freedom Crossing with Nicholas, just looking all through the stores... "window shopping" mainly. We walked into Under Armor to meet and see one of my friends that I met via Family of a Vet, LeAnn. I was sad that I couldn't see more of her before leaving the following day! Nic had a fit over the fountain at Freedom Crossing and of course he managed to keep us entertained with it for quite a bit. He ran all around it and when the water would stop, he would get the guts to run right through the middle of the fountain. During one of his fits of laughter and runs, the water sprayed up right as Nic was over the top of it. He ended up soaked, but full of even more giggles!

After allowing Nic some time to dry and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed over to Transition. This step took a bit longer than we anticipated, but it was an amazing step to everything in this process. It is so incredibly hard to believe that Kevin will no longer have to report to the Army and that the life that we have grown to know so well is now a life of the past... During the finaling out process, Kevin and I were each given an award for the army life and he was awarded a flag and retirement pin. On November 11, 2011 Kev fell into his time of leave that will continue through January 12, 2012. As of January 13, 2012 Kevin will be officially Medically Retired from the Army.

Notice Anything?

Just the other day I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator just as I always do, in search of something to drink. As I was looking, something caught my attention that was mysteriously out of place on the shelf towards the bottom.....

Notice anything out of place?

As I stood there trying to figure out why in the world there was a water bottle that would belong to an animal in our refrigerator, the kids came in wanting something to eat. No surprise, but I completely forgot about the bottle as my attention was pulled in a different direction, closed the door, and made lunch.

Still, why was there a caged animals water bottle, filled with water, in the refrigerator door???

Later on in the day after I stumbled across the filled bottle, I managed to get lost in other things around the house when I heard someone messing around in the kitchen. When I walked around the corner, into the kitchen, this is what I found..................................

 Aha, now it all came to me on why we had an animal water bottle filled to the top, and keeping cold. Nicholas has discovered that he can successfully drink from this object. Now, should I be concerned? Had he been our first, then I am sure I would have been. Yet, with the things that I have seen from the other two, nothing really catches me too off guard. Still, what was he thinking? Over the next couple of days, we noticed no matter where we tried to hide this bottle, he would find it. Sadly enough, we would hear him drinking from this bottle and he sounded just like an animal would. Oh, and YES, the bottle is clean and has never been used, other than with Nicholas drinking out of it! 

Adventures in Haircutting

Last week was a personal catch up day for a couple of kids in the house. On Thursday I had to take Bre and Nic to the salon for haircuts, as you can tell in the pictures they were in much need on one! Breanna has decided to get more of a girl cut and get rid of the stringy hair that has been driving me crazy! She never wanted to take time to style it, so it was literally hanging in her face and just looked a mess! I LOVE her new cut and how she carries the style now. 

Nic was beginning to look real shaggy and close to like he had no home, so he was also in need of a cut. He did great through his time in the chair. Normally, Kev shaves his head, but this time we had to get it cut somewhere else. The picture of his final cut is as he was sitting in the chair and the stylist was trying to add gel to make it look cute. His hair was just not in an agreeing mood this day. (The cuts were on April 28, not 29).

Happy 4th Birthday to the Little Man of the House

Today was spent celebrating a special little man’s upcoming birthday! It is so difficult to believe that soon Nicholas will be four years old! This is the first year that Nicholas has truly understood the meaning of his birthday and showed pure excitement over it. It has brought smiles to my heart to see him so full of happiness. For the past few weeks the two of us have been out on the hunt for Spiderman Birthday items on a budget. We managed to succeed at this and to put it all together pretty nicely. Nic and I spent Friday cooking and prepping for today. We made almost all the food and baked all of the 50 cupcakes for today! The cupcakes were Nic’s favorite part of the whole ordeal. He especially loved the part that left us dying icing red and blue to fall into his Spiderman theme.

The girls and I waited until last night to wrap his gifts. We did this in order to leave Nic with no temptations of unwrapping presents! When he woke up this morning and discovered the gifts wrapped in the wrapping paper he picked out he ended up becoming overly excited, screaming that it was his birthday. It was so adorable to see this excitement. See, I took Nic a few weeks ago and let him pick out the wrapping paper for his presents. When he saw gifts wrapped up in it he knew that today was his special day!

Around this time the jumping balloon also arrived. Yes, it was Spiderman as well. He thought it was the coolest thing ever! Even though we still have a little over a week before he is four, he will tell you now that his age is four when asked. He says either “I four” or “I Nic and I four”.

Nic ended up with all kinds of clothing, trucks, spiderman toys, a robot, a truck flashlight, tools, a tool bench and more! He was very pleased with his gifts and the thoughtfulness behind them. He played hard outside after opening his gifts and ended up taking his robot everywhere with him. The robot and one of his trucks are right beside his bed at this moment while he sleeps in his new pajamas. I am so in love with this little man! When I tucked him in tonight he kept hugging me and telling me he loved me. I asked him if he had fun today and he told me “so much fun mommy. Thank you.” Then again he told me that he loved me. Nothing can melt a mom’s heart more than hearing her little ones express their love and gratitude. Not to mention there is just something extra special about a mama’s boy…. I now understand it all.

The girls were all mad at us because they got in trouble for fighting!

Thank you so much to the ones that came out today. And an even bigger thanks to Debbie for all the help with things today! I appreciate it so much!  Nicholas has truly had a wonderful day and is very blessed to have the ones in his life that he does! We all are!

Happy 4^th (almost) Birthday to the best little man that I could have been blessed with!

This is my favorite picture of Nic! So cute! 

Dino-Bath

If I took pictures of my son playing with his cars or in the bath (like the one I'm sharing with everyone) or anything else, you would have no other choice but to agree with me.... I think my son is OCD like his mom! This is no joke. He has to line his toys up perfectly while he is playing and if you even scoot one a quarter of an inch, he freaks! He'll ask you nicely to please not move them, then if you continue, he will get made and probably yell. The yelling part is just him being a three year old.

I walked into his room tonight and he had all of his books lined perfects along his floor and his cars in a line as well....

The dinosaur picture was taken a few nights ago. Note to anyone who may watch him, never push a dinosaur into the bathtub when he has them lined up on the edge... Just a warning in advance. 

- Posted using BlogPress from Britt's iPhone

Location:Biddle House

Naked Kid on the Run

Nicholas constantly keeps us on our toes! There is never a dull moment, calm day, or downtime in our house. Hence the reason it takes me so long to update our blog and when I do....it's the middle of the night! Right now it is after 1am and I just can't sleep.

For the past two days Nic has felt the need to streak in our backyard. If he's going to do it, better the back than the front I suppose. But, is it really necessary for him to drop his pants and run through our yard? He has gotten spanked two days in a row for this act. Today, the girls and one of their friends were playing in the backyard, with Nic out there of course. Out of nowhere I hear the girls yelling for me. I was upstairs, so I opened our bedroom window to see what was going on. I took pictures just to show everyone in no way am I exaggerating over what this child does! This is the view I saw when I looked out my window! Yes, he did get into trouble. Lol, he is always doing something. All boy and just like his Dad! I think Terri was right on her words earlier when she said that it won't be Caitlin that acts like Kevin as we originally thought. Nicholas is his payback for acting out so much and putting his mom through all he did! So, what did I ever do? I wouldn't trade these days for anything.... Well almost.....







- Posted using BlogPress from Britt's iPhone

Location:Biddle House

Sarah McLachlan Animal Cruelty Video

The night before last Nicholas came out of his room with tears streaming down his face. He ran straight to me, leaving me to think he had been hurt. I kept asking him what was wrong and in between his sobs he said, "Mommy. Puppy hurt". It took me a few minutes to get it all out and Caitlin's help to understand what exactly he was talking about. Turns out the Sarah McLachlan Humaine Society commercial was on TV and he was truly upset over the puppies that were hurt. He could not stop crying over it. Talk about breaking this Mom's heart! It took me a good half hour to convince him the puppy is better now. The video below is the one that broke Nicholas' heart. Another example of how amazed I am with the kids I have! How often do you have a three year old that is sensitive to an animal being hurt?

Crazy Kid

We took the kids out today, trying to get some ideas for furniture for our house. Luckily, Kevin and I agreed on pretty much everything we want to eventually purchase and the style! Everything is getting old and from being moved so much, we are going to have to pretty much replace most of what we have over the next few years. Before we left we stopped to look at a dining room set we both loved and Nicholas found something he found a liking to. He climbed on the tiger and sat there for a good twenty minutes roaring at people. All the sales people loved it! He is always the center of attention with the things he says and the way he acts! Now, of course he wants one for his room!

"Piderman" and Cars

What a successful couple of days! Nicholas has gone through the days pretty much accident free, he takes naps totally accident free, and he is FINALLY wearing his underware! Yay! Not going commando anymore! He loves his "piderman" undies over all the others and now tells us he wants Batman! However, he hates the boxer briefs. He is doing awesome with the whole potty training, letting us know as soon as he needs to go. Afterwards, he yells out "Yay, I did it!". It is the cutest thing ever! We are so incredibly proud of our little man, yet it makes me sad all at the same time. He is growing up so fast. Seems the diapers were the last of the "baby" stage and we are officially at the toddler/pre-k age now. Time sure has flown!

Strawberry Eating, Spongebob Watching Monster

I walked into the living room this morning to catch Nicholas eating strawberries straight from the container while watching Spongebob. I asked him what he was doing, his response "Listen Spongebob Mom. Eating stawberries". Haha. At least he was being neat while eating them. He went into the fridge and just helped himself! These are the things I walk into with the kids if I leave the room for even a minute!

Dinomaniac

Nic and I were on a hunt for a fish bowl for the Betta fish that we were on our way to purchase. I could not find anything that I wanted and just did not see fit to spent $20 or so on something to keep it in. So, we decided to head to Savers, a secondhand store that has used and new items. We ended up finding something we liked and of course, we ended up wondering throughout the store. Nicholas discovered a dinosaur that we ended up buying for barely over $2. Can't beat that for one of his toys. However, he does find it necessary to take it EVERYWHERE he goes! It even eats dinner sitting right next to him and sleeps beside him.... yes, under the covers with its head on his pillow. Cute, I suppose. He has become obsessed with dinosaurs, Spiderman, Batman, and still Cars!

Where Does The Time Go

Kevin and I took Nicholas to his yearly physical today. It is so hard to believe that he is three now! Really, where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday we were going in for the c-section and impatiently awaiting his arrival. It seems like yesterday when the doctors and Kevin told me it would be hours before I was really able to see him due to them having to put him in the incubator. Hard to believe that barely over three years ago we brought our newborn home from the hospital. Today Nicholas is a happy, healthy and very active three year old. He is always into and up to something. Nic is very curious to learn and do new things. His doctor said everything with him looks great! Always wonderful to hear. The tubes are still in his ears, I was even able to look! Once I looked in one ear he wanted me to check the other one out. We asked about his speech, she said there is nothing at all wrong with him. He is right on track with everything. His weight is in the 75% range and his height is in the 90% ranger. Big Boy! Nicholas is talking more and more everyday, putting words together to form sentences. He is doing so much now. She said his surgery looks to be a success. He has not been sick since he had his tonsils and adnoids removed as well as his ears drained and tubes put in.

Times like now make us more and more thankful that through everything we have gone through with the kids that they are here and overall healthy!

Nic's New Spot

It seems to be neverending with things I find in our house and here lately, in our bathroom! Tonight I discovered that Nicholas has a new place to put his toothbrush once he is done brushing his teeth. Now, he attaches the suction part to our mirror right at the sink. There is no telling where he figured this one out. I would say the girls, but my guess would be Kevin. At least we know he brushes his teeth! Lol.

Mr. Potato Head's Long Lost Family

The kids talked us into getting them a Mr. & Mrs. Potato Head set. At times Nic likes to think he can be one of them... Or maybe it is Breanna that enjoys trying to dress him as one. There is no telling! We were able to get pictures of Nicholas with Mrs. Potato Head's glasses...and yes, he thought it was so funny that he had the glasses on!

Jamming

Nicholas has discovered his love for music! He entertained us by playing one of the girls Hannah Montana guitars. This was an all evening event!

"Leave Me Lone"

We decided to leave Mena around 9 at night so we could drive all night while the kids slept and arrive in El Paso the following morning. After a few hours of driving one of the girls started to wake up and wanted the light on for something. It woke Nic up and got him pretty irritated! Out of nowhere, Nic started saying "Leave me lone", then pulled his blanket over his head. It was so cute and funny all at the same time. Though, I am sure Nic thought neither of these! He just wanted the light turned off and everyone to be quiet so he could go back to sleep!

Like Father, Like Son

Nicholas actually slept in while we were at Britt's Dads house! This is something neither of us are at all use to. Once breakfast was ready we decided we should wake the little man up. We walked in the room to find him still fast asleep... with his hands down his pants! Isn't he a little too young to be sleeping like this?

Starting Him Young

On the way to see Kevin at work, I stopped for a coffee. I decided to stop at Starbucks since it is easier to go through a drive thru with Nic other than getting out and keeping him with me while in a gas station. Okay, well that and the fact that I LOVE Starbucks but limit myself to only stopping there every so often. As soon as we pulled up to order, Nic started telling me he wanted a drink so I decided to get him a chocolate milk. How cute is he with his little Starbuck's coffee cup in hand? The girls are the same way whenever they so much as see a Starbucks. They instantly want a chocolate milk from there! I always tell them we will get chocolate milk at the grocery store only to hear, "Mom, that's not the same. They have that whipped cream stuff on top there that's so good"... Guess we are starting them all out young....

Out with "Ma & Da"

We took Nicholas out for a little while since Kevin decided to come home early. The girls where still in school and we just wanted to get out of the apartment. Brittney is at home all day everyday now. We went to the camper place just to look at campers. Of course we are not in the market to get one since we have no idea where the Army will send us over the next 13 or so years. However, it is always fun to look! Nic had a blast looking, as did the two of us. But by the end of the afternoon, he was a worn out little man!