Marbles

Yesterday we ventured out to Marbles Museum for a fun morning. Pat was out of town and when he has to travel I like to try and do fun adventure things with the boys so we don't sit at home all day staring at each other and asking when Daddy's getting home. We had SO much fun. It was one of those perfect mornings where the boys were in the best moods and just so excited. Doubly perfect was my mom took the morning off of work and came with us. Cole considered himself her tour guide, even though he had never been there himself :)
Fin became a veterinarian for awhile. No son, we still ain't getting a puppy anytime soon. Lets just teach Lilah to bark instead.




Cole fulfilled the dream of his life and "drove" a bus.




Captured fins face when he accidentally got sprayed at the water table.




Cole thought this tv screen showing underwater scenes was a Baby Einstein video and became very possessive. Don't mess with his passion for Baby Einstein.




Fin and Nanny in a pirate ship.




So.many.balls for Cole to play with. Mental note: make a ball pit in the house somewhere.




Building a car.




Testing it out. See his little face at the top?








Cole likes to dress the part of woodsman more so then actually touching the wood, much like his mama. Give me a flannel shirt any day.




Seriously, they let small kids use Real tools and saws? I would like the yearly count of appendages lost at that place.




Not appreciating me peaking at him. Apparently cooking pretend food is a private thing (said the toddler who announces his bathroom practices and expects high fives).




Great morning followed by short naps. You can't win 'em all.

Snow day.



Lots of sitting by the fire, playing with rice and trucks, drawing bugs and taping the sheets into Fin's first book, reading 'Mouse and Motorcyle' out loud, wrestling with daddy, tents being dragged into the living room, long play bath tubbies with new spongebob bubbles, baking lemon bars and sending Pat out for dinner and Mountain Dew pleaseandthankyou.
Ended the night watching 'The three stooges' with popcorn and snuggles.


Grateful for these days.

On MLK day we took advantage of the last warmish day and met my mom, SJ and Will at Pullen Park. Cole was in heaven with a choo choo and Fin...well Fin laughed and cried and laughed and cried, and came home, took a two hour nap and woke up a new child. Sometimes you have to feel every emotion possible in your little body within a span of two hours, just because. It was nice to see my even keeled kiddo return after naps though :)
The troops


Fin conquering Spider-Mans' spider web.


That carousel goes dang fast! Keegan's weren't made for that kind of speed. Will had to leave his giant rabbit he was riding on and come sit with me on the grandma/preggo bench mid ride, haha.


Fin and nanny hamming it up. Nanny let him switch animals mid ride; she apparently has better sea legs then all of us combined.

Fins first dentist visit

Last week was Fin's first visit to the dentist. Of course we took him to my dentist growing up, Dr.Dan. I love that office so so much. Just as Fin and I were sitting in the waiting room, every dental hygienist came out one by one to give me a hug and meet Fin. Other patients must have thought it was a big lovefest :)
When we got called back, Fins' face froze and he looked so scared. I grabbed his hand though and told him he got to pick out a new toothbrush and that Cole would think that was so cool, and that helped a little :) His dental hygienist, who had been mine, was so sweet to him and he was so still as they cleaned his teeth and did X-rays.









They whole time I was thinking, "please don't tell me he has 8 cavities". Because let's be honest, at this age if they have a cavity, it totally on the parent bc what four year old can brush their teeth perfectly? Thankfully he's cavity free.
Dr. Dan came at the end to do the final check and he was SO tickled we were there. I may have teared up, it was so good to see him. Love that man. We left with many o' prize, stickers, and promises to bring the baby into the office after she comes so everyone can hold her :)
Since his teeth were so clean, we stopped by Bo's on the way home to ruin that :) Any kid that can survive his first trip to the dentist with no tears deserves a reward in my book!

Writings on the wall

Making our mark before we painted the nursery walls...



Snoopy courtesy of pat, of course








It's starting to get real...

Our coley

This past week not withstanding, Cole is such a pure joy in our family. This past week was very very challenging with Cole being sick with the flu, doing breathing treatments, and dealing with high fevers, no sleep and relentless crying day after day. But we all survived it and he's is getting some of his old self back and starting to sleep again (thank you Lord)!




Cole loves all things puzzles, baby Einstein, every animal at the pet store, and shutting Fin in a closet. It's this new game they have where Cole closes Fin in a closet and takes off running while Fin bursts out of the closet and chases after him. Fin then tackles him to the ground and drags him by his feet for awhile until Cole closes him in a closet again. They both hysterically laugh through this. As you can imagine, this was a game invented and approved while daddy was watching them :)
Cole is my "passion" man with strong opinions but 99% of the time he is playing and loving hard and my happy boy. He loves to say "1,2,3" to Pat and I and then grin while he waits for us to smother him with kisses on both sides of his cheeks. At meal times, he will randomly throw his head back and yell "necky necky" and one of us will have to reach over and tickle his neck. The boy loves to be loved :)
Cole fluctuates between being a total mamas boy or a mamas boy who adores his daddy. He loves to climb up a rung on fins bunk bed ladder and holler to me "I go to the top?" Because he knows its forbidden unless I'm in the room with him. He is sensitive to loud noises and if someone's loud, even if it is a happy loud, he will come to me with a sour face and say, "that scares me".
The thing that kills me is Cole will go up to people all the time, grin, and say, "hi, my name is Toley" and if people ignore him, it is soooo sad. Most people say hi back and love it, but occasionally we will run into a grumpy old man (I'm talking to you, man in the chiropractors waiting room) who will Refuse to respond, even if Cole repeats himself. It's take all of me not to launch myself onto those people's back and yell, "Answer him!!!". Hormones, Rebecca, hormones.
I'm enjoying my love bug as my youngest for these last few weeks and am so grateful for the gift he is to me, Pat and Fin.

31 weeks and chugging along

31+ week belly photo. Thinking my size small tshirts are begging for retirement.


Lilah is a mover and a shaker, just like her brothers. I don't know if that means I have very active babies or if being 5'2", they are just trying to make space for themselves by trying to bust through the belly. I can put a remote or my phone on my belly when she's moving and she will kick it right off. Her different body parts stick out of different parts of my belly, which is always a little alien-ish to me :)
If she's still in the evening, Pat will start talk to my belly and every single time she wakes up right away and starts kicking hard. Would be sweet if it wasn't uncomfortable so I try to kick him away when he wants to wake her up :)
This pregnancy has definitely been my most uncomfortable with lots of sore muscles and ligaments, sciatic pain and other fun pregnancy symptoms. But truly, if she's healthy and thriving that's all that matters.
STILL have not started the nursery. Pat was supposed to paint last weekend but with Cole being sick that week with the flu and crying non stop, I told him I'd rather have his help then have him paint. He was more than happy to skip out of that chore :) It will happen this weekend though!

Right now the only decor I have for her nursery is this donkey and snake that Finley wanted to paint for Lilah...using primary camo colors...should be interesting to incorporate that one :) love his sweet heart.



Getting so ready to get through these next two winter months, have her here, and kiss all over her chub cheeks. Because if she's anything like her brothers, those cheeks are going to be delectable.

Theology at its finest

Tonight while Pat was bathing a sick Cole, Fin and I were in the kitchen making brownies. Fin out of the blue asked if God can still hear us when He's playing games. Deciding to bypass the topic of if God plays kickball or Go Fish, I told Fin God can hear everything we can say, day or night, good or bad. Fin's eyes grew huge at that one.
"Even if it's really bad, He can hear?", he countered.
When I assured him yes, he had another worse case scenario...
"Even if it's really really bad, like something a robber would say? Like if a robber would come up to you and say...(pause to think of the worst thing he can think of that anyone would say)...like if a robber whispered in your ear, "POOP IN YOUR PANTS"."
Literally, it was ALL I could do to keep a straight face. I could only nod yes and he ended with his final question...
"What if the robber just mouthed "POOP IN YOUR PANTS?". Can God hear that?".
After me reiterating He hears everything, he just said wow and let that soak in.
May his mind always be this innocent and may I improve upon my poker face before the questions start getting harder.

Rice and pebbles party

Colored rice, pebbles, spoons, bowls and mini trucks seem to be a winning combination here lately.











We spread out a quilt, they play for forever digging out rocks with their excavators and we shake the quilt out outside at the end. Love it.

We never claim to be normal or even semi. I was thinking about the boys favorite games yesterday and it occurred to me that they are pretty hilarious/odd and I wanted to record them before they move onto another interest/oddity.
By far the boys favorite game is "surgery". They come up to us, drape themselves on our lap or on the floor and beg for "surgery". We then tickle and scratch their back and pretend to open it up with a scalpel and pull out various animals from their backs. The go to animal is puppy dogs. Pat takes it a step further and hides props of mini animals from the boys zoo next to him to "pop" out of their backs and make the noises.
Dr.Dad and Cole




Mom and Fin




Pat sneaks snugs in while doing surgery. Malpractice suit waiting to happen.




Another game is Pat and Cole like to pull off different body parts from each other and pop it in their mouth and say, "I ate...". For example this is Pat eating Coles' chin. Half the time Cole loves it and half the time he whimpers,"noooo nose!".




Fin is obsessed with this half horse costume that my mother in law gave him for Christmas. He insists on wearing a plaid shirt or his "sharp shirt" with it and his hat every time. Don't tell me girls are the only ones that like to dress up!




Last one is a big time favorite for the boys. It's "shoot dad with a buzz light year gun while mommy scratches his head". They both get so jealous when Pat and I show each other any attention or affection. It's so funny that sometimes we will purposely hug or kiss right in front of them and count how many seconds before one or both try to squeeze in between us.
Since they got that dart gun for Christmas (thanks Aunt Kerry!), anytime I'm rubbing Pats head they sneak attack and shoot him, which then leads to him tackling them while they scream which then leads to the sound of silence shattered with loud boy noises.




Really, Matel should def take note from us.

Location:Trademarked Stephenson Games

Pregnancy brain

This third go around of pregnancy I have had the worst case of pregnancy brain. To you naysayers who are either childless or men, this condition is real and makes you feel like you're losing your mind. Allow some examples...

Item 1) For Christmas, pat received cigars from my parents in our stocking. I knew it would be one of his favorite gifts and that they were small enough to get easily lost, so I stuck them in a safe place immediately. Cue me later that evening unpacking our laundry basket of presents from my family and not finding the cigars anywhere. I was soooo confused because I had a specific memory of putting them in the laundry basket right away. I called my mom, no cigars had turned up. Pat was a good sport but was bummed. A week later I look in my purse for Chapstick and what do I find...the cigars...that I had stuck in my purse for safekeeping on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas pat.

Item 2) At Target yesterday, Cole was playing with 2 matchbox cars while riding in the cart. He kept throwing one down and looking at me impishly so after a warning, I took the car and stuck it in my pocket telling him it was in time out. Not five minutes later as we are leaving, I got him out of the cart and went to gather his 2 cars but could only find one. We looked all around us and I even retraced my steps back to the register to see if it had fallen out there. The whole time Cole is going "my car, my caaaaaar". No luck. 3 hours later as I'm changing I find the car in my pocket...still in timeout.

Item 3) The worst example I have is so bad I hope my dad doesn't read this bc he would die. At church one week, after a 2 hour service, I brought the boys to the car to strap them in and heard an engine running. Thinking to myself, "crap, somebody left their car on!", I quickly realized it was MY car. That I had left running in a parking lot for 2 plus hours. Praise The Lord we had had to take 2 cars to church that day so Pat was in his truck and didn't know, although I did try to casually drop it in a convo a week later. No beans.

There are many, maaaany more examples but suffice to say that my husband is a patient man, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills most days, and thank goodness I haven't left a child yet...knockonwood.