Skinny Boys and More Food

Hagen is getting so tall. I really want to try to measure him one day soon to see how tall he actually is. I bought the boys this sprinkler thing for this summer. I took a few pictures of the boys in their new swim trunks and I thought - man, Hagen is skinny. Then Jeremy saw the pictures and he said, 'Maybe we aren't feeding him enough.'

Thus began the 'feed Hagen more' campaign. He asks for more at every meal, I usually give him seconds, but when he asks for thirds I don't give in because I think we still have another meal coming up and I want him to eat good for that meal. The requirements for the FHM (feed Hagen more) campaign were to feed him until he signaled all done.

Well he must have a tape (sp?) worm - because the boy can eat!!!! He not only takes thirds, but we are working on fourths and fifths. I never have leftovers anymore. Maybe its a growth spurt - if not, Jeremy is going to need to work even more overtime!!!

'You want me to do what?'

H running up to the sprinkler...

H and Momma - water was a little cold.

H & M

Every time I take a picture of them together - they always look at each other and laugh. It always makes for a great picture -- it's just funny that they always do it!!

Mason

Hagen

Daddy Gets Older and A Day on the Farm

On Daddy's birthday, I sent the boys in one at a time with a sign, "Happy", "Birthday" (I had to bring in the sign that said "Daddy"... too bad we didn't have another child - I'm just saying.) You can't really read the signs, but that is what they say.We had ice cream cake, per the birthday boy's request. H & M thought that was an excellent idea and gobbled it up.Then we headed off to the farm to have a fun day with Uncle Matt, Aunt Trish, and Cousin Cambry.

Jeremy's favorite part of the day -- driving Uncle Matt's riding lawn mower. (This looks dangerous, but the blades were up and not running.)

Cambry let the boys drive her tractor. They had so much fun!!

Here is Daddy giving Mason a pep talk.

Hagen was in tractor heaven.

My favorite picture of the day. Cambry taking the boys on a tour of the farm.

She also took them on a ride in the wagon.

Then she took both of them on rides in her jeep.

'I don't know where she is taking me?!' cried Hagen.

In case anyone was unsure of who the 'ladies man' of the house was...

At some points, Mason is even pointing out where he would like to go.

'Drive woman!'

Yep, we know we have our hands full... but we love it.

O-R-E-O

Bluebonnet Pictures

We were not in the mood for pictures - when does it get easier to take pictures?? - but here they are...

If I had only not chopped off his head!

If I could only photoshop his eyes open!

With our Cousin Lily

Are we done yet?

My Little Sicky

Mason has been battling his second ear infection and a cough for a few days now. We just got out of quarantine and the colds just keep piling on!! He started wheezing the other night so the next morning we took him to see Dr. D. He ended up getting a breathing treatment. For those of you that have never experienced one of these joyful experiences, let me paint you a picture.

The nurse comes in with this little black box and a mask that looked like a dinosaur mouth. I was showing the mask to Mason, trying to get him to think it was cool and that he could possibly want to wear it (ha ha), while the nurse was setting up the machine.

Then she says, 'Hey Mason, you want to try the dinosaur on?' -- at this point I am thinking, 'nope, you really don't know my kid...'

She starts the loud machine and some steamy stuff starts coming out of the dinosaur, aka mask. Then she looks at me and says, 'Put the mask over his face.' If only it were this easy!

He starts to squirm and is doing anything to get away from it. The nurse turns the machine off to apparently give me a pep talk. She tells me that I need to use my leg to strap down his legs and one arm to hold his arms.

She turns the machine on again and this time helps me position him, so he is strapped down. I have him sandwiched between my legs, one arm strapped over his arms, my chin is trying desperately to hold his head in place, and my other hand is holding the lovely dinosaur mask over his face. He is screaming, coughing, and don't forget wheezing through it all. There is snot and a few tears flying.

The nurse then says, 'Looks like you've got it. I'll be back in a few.'

WHAT?? Okay, I'm a rookie here. How long will we be doing this? Is this even really effective. Will he be scarred for life because his mother strapped him down and gassed him? But, I was too focused to ask any of that.

Fast forward about 10 minutes and the nurse reappears. Both Mason and I are exhausted and covered in snot and tears. Then dr. d comes in and my first comment/question is 'Please don't send me home with one of those.' He laughs and says, 'Fun, was it?' You have no idea...

So, basically he has a cold that caused his airways to be inflamed (restricted??). The breathing treatment helped calm the airways. We were sent home with an antibiotic (for the ear) and a liquid form of the breathing treatment. He said if he continues wheezing over the next several days, we might get one of those 'oh so fun' torture machines.

We got home and Mason was beyond exhausted. While I fixed dinner, he fell asleep on the floor in our bedroom.

The sweetest part of my day: Hagen laying beside his sick, sleeping brother! We couldn't find Hagen and sure enough he found his brother and was comforting him. I couldn't get the video camera - but we saw him patting his brother and laying beside him. Ahhh. So sweet!!!

I did find my camera and got these pictures.

This is my fault. I asked him to lay beside his brother and he tackled him. So much for re-enacting.

Dallas World Aquarium

We heard the Dallas World Aquarium was a really neat place - so on one of Jeremy's days off (that fell during the week), we decided to check it out.

I will be honest - first of all, it is about $20 per adult. So, with both of us going - that was $40! We also had to pay for parking - $5. For $45 we were almost expecting them to let us swim around in the tank with them! It was also pretty crowded for a Monday.

To be fair - it was a really neat place. I think it was geared for children that are a little older than the boys. (Jeremy said this early on...) But - I still love getting the boys out and seeing things other than our house and the park across the street. My recommendation, go if you have children probably 4 and older.

Here we are headed to the entrance.

Checking out the penguin.

One really neat thing, you start at the top (3rd floor) and wind down. So at this point, we are seeing birds and monkeys - once you finish on the first floor, you are below the shark tank (they are swimming above you. (I thought that was really neat!) A toucan.

I loved how everything was very rainforesty. (yep, my word.)
spotted stingrays

a tunnel with fish above us.

greeting the penguins.

hello flamingos

We loved the penguins so much, we had to adopt one.

Mason kept giving him hugs - so cute!

Hagen adopted a frog.

More hugs for the penguin. Hagen introducing the frog and the penguin to his other friends.

Mamaw

Jeremy and I both have grandmothers that we call 'Mamaw'. To us, Mamaw is more than a name we call our grandmothers. We love our Mamaws dearly and will always remember all the times we shared with our Mamaws.

Jeremy told me when he first moved back to the area, he lived with his Mamaw and Papaw. He loved when his Mamaw cooked him dinners. He also said she would cook him big breakfasts. We know how important our Mamaws are to us, so it is fun when the boys can spend a little time with them.

The other day, Jeremy decided to take the boys to his Mamaw's house.

Here is Mason with Mamaw.

Hagen playing with Mamaw's toy phone.

Mason getting one more book read to him.

Thanks Mamaw - I know the boys had lots of fun!

Raincoat anyone?

**Don't forget to let me know YOUR opinion on our preschool choices!**