Celebrating Father's Day & the Crazy Days of Trying to Pack for a Big Move with Two Rambunctious Boys! ;)

Sunday we spent chillin' out with Aaron and honoring him for Father's Day...the boys gave him plenty of opportunities to demonstrate what a wonderful father he is, haha...they were a tad feisty, but it's no wonder since they've been cooped up a little more than usual as I flurry about the house prepping it for our big move coming up next week. We enjoyed a yummy Father's Day dinner out at Grimaldi's...Mmm, good pizza...and here are some pics of our nice evening.

They gave the boys some uncooked dough to play with while we waited for our pizza to cook...sorta like edible play dough...they LOVED it!

Yesterday the boys had about had it with being cooped up inside...so I took them out for pizza and games at Peter Piper's...they have a fun time and got a lot of their energy out...hooray for all of us! ;)

I'm off to continue moving prep while my little dudes are napping!
*Grace*

For Tio & Uncle Matt

On the way home from Dallas we stopped at Firehouse Subs and both boys got these cute firefighter hats (helmets?). Of course anytime we see anything having to do with being a firefighter we have a wonderful opportunity to tell the boys about how their Tio and Uncle Matt are firemen...which, of course is super cool for little boys to be able to look up to their uncles like that, to look up to them as heros, because they are! Anyways, here are my two little firemen, obviously not in their full gear since going out to fight a fire in just your undies would be quite crazy! ;)








We love you Tio and Uncle Matt. Thanks for all you do to help the communities you serve and for giving of yourself to protect and keep others safe.

Love,
Grace and your two adoring nephews!

Finding {Home}

We recently returned home after a house hunting trip up to the DFW metroplex. Aaron graduates residency in a little over a week (yay!) and will be starting up his "real" job with a medical group up there. So we have to pack our bags, box up our life really, and make the move to North Texas. It was odd, trying to find a house that will be home, trying to find a place where we'll make new friends and trying to locate that "perfect" spot to make new memories. Bittersweet, really. Our trip was successful tho, and we found a beautiful place that will become our new home. Home is where the heart is, or so the saying goes, so I think that Corpus Christi will always feel like home to me...so many wonderful things happened here, it would be hard for it not to feel like home.

Since we had blocked out two weeks of time for house hunting but only ended up needing one day for that (yep, found it and leased it in one day!) and only needed a few days for other personal business stuff we had lots of time to catch up with some of the folks we love dearly in our "new neighborhood." We spent time with all the family and caught up with several friends during our trip too. Looking back I didn't take many pics...too busy having a good time I guess...but here are some of my faves that capture our Dallas trip...

Don't you just love the creative way we came up with to strap our new iPad to the back of my seat so Johnathan could watch his movies on the car trip??? I was quite proud of it, even if it was a bit redneck! ;)

Johnathan was totally mesmerized by it!
The boys in a real live dump truck!
Sand for all at Grandpa and Grammy's.
Enjoying the water show at the Fairview splash park.
Me and my sweet boy hanging out at the water show.
The spray shot up about 50 feet! Pretty cool!
Aaron being "Amateur Nacho" at the Nacho Libre party we had at Gwen & Matt's...Eli didn't like the mask too much...:(
"Shh, secret tunnels"...da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da...
Nacho & Encarnación (Baby Cole & his mommy, Gail).
Eli enjoying playing at his cousin's house!
Levi with his "wrestling mask" on! ;)
Eagle powers!
It's hard to be a superhero without your trusty pig! (Greta, this pic's for you!)
Chancho!
The new place we'll call home!

Blessings,
*Grace*

It's Going to Be Okay

Every night before bed I sing to Johnathan...someday in the future I will do this for Eli too, but right now that little guy conks out while nursing so the singing will come later, when he needs other forms of comfort besides his milkies. Anyways, back to Johnathan...

We had gotten into quite a routine with our singing at bedtime. The same 4 songs, You are My Sunshine, Jesus Loves Me, Gideon's Lullaby & Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in the same order every night. Snuggling after. Then sleep for my sweet boy. Until one night those four songs didn't seem to be enough, and some unknown worry caused Johnathan to cry out for me after I thought he had long been asleep. So, I came up with another song that is now in the number 5 spot on our nightly singing list...it's simple and it just lets Johnathan know that everything is going to be alright and that lots of people love him. It's Going to Be Okay. It goes a little something like this:

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Mommy loves you, Daddy loves you too
Jesus loves you, Eli loves you, BoBo loves you too

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Aunt Jenna loves you, Uncle Robert loves you too
Arden loves you, Kenny loves you, John and Mear-Bear too

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Nana loves you, Papi loves you too
Tio Tia love you, Ava, Aunt Karen love you, Great-grandma Celia & Evelyn too

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Grammy loves you, Grandpa loves you too
Princess loves you, Aunt Glo loves, Geenz and Brosky too

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Auntie Fay loves you, Uncle Gaffin loves you too
Baby "Cold" loves you, Grandma Pepa love you, Mema & Papa too

It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
It's going to be okay, It's Going to be okay
Uncle Matt loves you, Aunt Gwenny Gwen loves you too
Miles loves you, Levi loves you, EVERYONE loves YOU!

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Now Johnathan is not a singer, he doesn't go around with a tune on his tongue or anything like that...but sometimes, when he's trying to calm Eli down, he will sing this song, and it is so sweet. His version is...It go be okay, it go be okay, mommy loves you, Uncle Matt loves you, It go be okay...haha! Too precious!

*Grace*

Ryan & His Brother are {With Jesus}

I have been watching the live feed of this family's story. Sweet Ryan Hamil was found this morning and joined his younger brother in Heaven with Jesus. They were both victims of the storms. My heart breaks for this family. The boys' pregnant mother is recovering from two surgeries she had from injuries received during the storm and their sister is also in the hospital recovering from surgery as well. They still need your prayers.

*Grace*

Prayers for a Boy We've Never Met

As a mother I really get emotionally involved when I hear stories of other children the same age as my own who are going through tragic situations. With all the recent deadly weather happening in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and beyond one story has stood out in particular. Ryan Hamil. 3 years old. Missing. I am not certain of all the details of this story, but I do know that this little boy went missing during the recent storms in Oklahoma. His family has already suffered loss, and it is going on day two of trying to find this precious boy. Please click the link below and pray for this sweet little boy.



Prayers for the Hamil Family-Find Ryan Facebook Page.


*Grace*

"I'm Sorry, Mama"...

Today was Eli's 12 month check-up...stats further down in this post...and the visit to the doctor was at a tricky time...10:30 am, typically Eli's nap time and Johnathan's mid-morning snack time. So, needless to say the boys were a wee bit cranky as we loaded up in the car to go to the doctor. Once inside and in the room Johnathan really started to show his defiant side and would not listen to me for anything. As the nurse came in and started to ask all the typical check-up questions I was trying to wrangle Johnathan down without dropping Eli, tried to get him to sit down but he insisted on standing (jumping) on the chair and was overall just being a disobedient boy. When I tried to reason with him amidst answering questions from the nurse and laying Eli down for height/temp check, etc., Johnathan kicked me in his anger!....I think the nurse was shocked because she told him, "Don't kick your mother" just like he was her own, to which Johnathan stamped his foot at with a humph! Oh, boy!

Fortunately, Aaron just so happened to be working with our pediatrician today and so he got to have a nice, long talk with Johnathan about his attitude problem once we all alone in the office room together. The talk helped Johnathan to shape up and afterward he was a sweet boy again. Phew! ;)

Later on in the day I was attempting to take a little cat-nap with Johnathan. Just as I was about to drift off to sleep I heard his small voice, barely louder than a whisper say, "I'm sorry, Mama. I'm sorry I kicked you at the doctor's office. I love you."...my heart melted right there on my pillow. I turned over and looked into his sweet face, told him how much I appreciated what he had told me, all on his own, and then we both turned over and went to sleep...me with such a full heart, thankful that even though Johnathan can be a stinker at times that his little spirit is tender enough to know when he's wrong and to ask for forgiveness. What a lesson to be learning at such a young age!

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Eli's 12 Month Stats: Eli is a little short-stack! At 12 months he is 27 inches tall, 17 lb. 11 oz. and I think his head circumference is about 18 inches. He is small-ish, but he is right on track milestone-wise and already thinks he's a big boy. He wants to do EVERYTHING that Johnathan does, wants to eat EVERYTHING Johnathan (or we) eat and is overall a very independent little dude. He is cruising furniture, will walk/take steps with our help and can crawl a mile a minute. He likes to babble and Johnathan will tell me, "Mommy, Eli is talking now"...and then will ask me what he's saying! So, at 12 months Eli is healthy and thriving and we couldn't ask for more!

*Grace*

Happy Birthday, Sweet Eli Robert!!!

Yesterday was this little guy's birthday...


...and what a special day it was! We had a low-key day and spent it just lovin' on our sweet lil' one year old boy. Of course we had the traditional baby gets to eat cake moment where Eli thoroughly enjoyed getting his fingers (and face and hair) all sticky. It was a wonderful day celebrating a wonderful boy...the littlest light of our life!

We love you, sweet Eli Robert. Our prayer is that you grow up to know Christ as your personal Savior and that you become a man of God.

Pics of Eli's first birthday.....



















































*Grace*