~Dog Days Of Summer~

We are seriously loving this summer.
I know its got to be lame to read about all of our adventures, but in the end this is for the boys to remember their summer.
Yesterday we went on a walk in the morning with the dogs, I went to yoga, came home, and then we walked to the pool.
It sounded like a good idea to walk, but trust me it wasn't.
When you have a 2 year old who is a here and now type kid.
About 1/16 of the way there he started yelling, "I want swim NOW"
Embarrassing doesn't even cover it!
Oh I forgot to mention Seth and I both wore flip flops on the two mile one way trip (FAIL)
We get to the pool and the lady tells us the wading pool has reached its capacity.
Wonderful!
Tears again as we decide to walk to the convenient store to get some drinks before attempting again.
We get back to the pool decide oh well we'll take him to the big pool.
Now let the fun begin.
I'm a freak. I watched their every move, and made sure Seth had both hands on him at ALL times.
The second the wading pool had room I scooped my baby out and took him where I thought he belonged!
He was much happier there, because he was more independent.
That is when the fun began.
I took one Seth took the other and we splashed for an hour.
I kept thinking yahoo they are going to sleep so good tonight! (I was wrong)
Finally we had to go and you seriously would have thought we took Krew's birthday away.
He cried, called me mean mommy, told us it was his pool, yelled swimmin the whole way out.
I'm loving the twos can you tell!
Needless to say we had a blast despite all the fits, and I cannot wait to go back, but you can bet it will not be without Seth!

On Nick Names

Well as most parents know your kids get the craziest nick names and you really have a hard time remembering how they came about.
Well this morning Krew started yelling Tater Chip and I just giggled thinking people probably think he's starving or something.
Well we've gone through so many nick names for Kade. It started as squish, then dish, then kader, then one day my dad looked at Kade and said, "They call me tater salad." I'm pretty sure it's a Ron White skit.
It just stuck.
Since that day he's been every sort of tater in the book.
Tater salad, Tater tot, Tater chip, you name a tater he's been called it.
Krew sticks with Tater chip and calls him that wherever we go.
I picked him up from the babysitter the other day and he started bawling and asking for "his" tater chip.
He gets in his face all the time and says, "hey, hey tater chip." Or "My tater chip"
Just a random thought on the crazy nick names we call our kiddo, that I'm sure he will hate me for when he is 16.
I guess its better than baby poo :-) roo bear, poo bear....etc.
These are a few of Krew's nick names.
These started with Parker who couldn't say her K's and always called him baby poo.

~Sweat and Sunscreen~

These are probably the two best summer smells on babies.
Don't get me wrong I don't want nasty sweaty adults around, but I love the smell of Krew and Kade's heads after we've been outside all day.
Yesterday was just that.
We got home and went directly outside to splash around in the water.
I drenched both of my pale faced boys in sunscreen and let the fun being.
Kade wasn't sure about it at first, but screamed bloody murder when I pulled him out of the pool.
Krew like always splashed until his lips went purple. (Literally)
We came inside wrapped in towels and cuddled the rest of the night.
Once I put Kader down I sat with my almost 2 year old in my lap and took it all in.
His smelly little head.
The fact his still snuggles with me.
Listening to him ask for his "tater chip" (Kade)
Then the big bear hug and "I love you mommy" to top it all off.

I can't get enough of days like this, and wish summer would put the breaks on just a little bit.

Catastrophe adverted

So I almost had a major catastrophe today.
I took a bin of out grown baby clothes to once upon a child yesterday, and today they called and asked me to come down to get money, and take the clothes they didn't need back.
I really didn't care about getting big bucks out of the deal, but with all the money I spent I thought a little cash would be nice.
So I walk in the lady explained that they weren't really taking baby clothes because they have so much, but since I had lots of name brand stuff they wanted to take those items. So she has me look through the basket and there it was.....
The outfit a friend bought for Krew when none of his newborn clothes fit. His little tiny preemie camo onsie. I froze in the moment took the cash, went to my car, and started bawling.
How did that outfit get in that bin?
I would never get rid of that.
Of all the outfits why would they want that?
I called my mom she told me to go back in a get it.
I called Seth and being as amazing as he is he took his break met me in the parking lot crying my eyes out, and said, "I got it covered honey don't worry."
Then 5 min later out he walked with my itty bitty camo onsie.
So as I mentioned before the catastrophe was adverted.
See why this shirt means so much to me. Wow he was/is just perfect!

{Baby cows, horses, and lots of baths}

The look I got every time I made him leave the horses.

As you can see this little boy was in love with horses this weekend. We went to the Orchard ranch where my dad has a hunting camp. Krew was exploring the entire time we were there. I'll put it this way he took a 3 hour nap yesterday that I had to wake him up from, went to bed at 7, and didn't wake up until 7 this morning. That was one exhausted little guy!
The first day we were there my parents watched him while I went on a ride with Seth, my sister, and Sean. We were gone for about 3 hours and when we came back my parent had given Krew a bath, lost him in the sage brush, let him fill water troughs with rocks (and maybe horse poo) they won't answer that question, and finally got him cleaned up again and ready for bed.
While Krew slept AMAZING there Kade was a whole different story. Everynight when Seth and I would get into our cabin he would wake up and scream until I pulled him into bed with us. (Ugh)





One Monday we went down for branding, and again this little guy was in heaven. He went in with my dad to "help" and Kade and I hung out on the sidelines. We had a blast watching Papa and Krew. Kade would fling his arms like crazy everytime a cow walked by us, or a horse got a little too close. I can't imagine what its going to be like next year with a 1 1/2 year old and almost 3 year old! I'm going to wear my heart rate monitor next year to see how many calories I burn in this "relaxing" weekend! Leaving was another story in itself. I'll put it this way, we were ok until we got off the dirt road. That's when the crying for the "baby tows" began. It was so sad I almost turned around :-)

I can't wait to do it all over again. Nothing better than watching boys be boys

This I know for sure

1. My house will never stay clean. (I pick up they pull out)
2. I don't care.
3. Nap time is not for cleaning. It is for relaxing, peeking in on sleepy babes, and ugh homework.
4. I can't contain my excitement for this weekend! I am taking my boys to what I consider heaven on earth. We will spend our days getting as dirty as possible, catching as many fish as possible, riding horses, and top it all off with a little branding.
5. My first babies (dogs) still love me, even though I'm not the greatest mom to them anymore. We laid on the living room floor last night like the old times, and when the baby cried Riley rolled over and ran to his room.
6. My husband still makes my heart thump every time I see him. (Especially in his police uniform)
7. Hearing Krew and Seth sing ZBB Free makes my heart smile. Such an amazing song with such meaning when sang by them. "All we need is LOVE"
8. Last night when I finally sat I looked around and realized I have EVERYTHING I need. (Home, love, family)
9. Tomorrow I turn 27 and will spend my birthday cleaning, packing, and then dinner with my hubby. (Funny how times change)
10. Packing for a family of 4 is hard work! Especially when its for 2 under 2!

Yep that's what I know for sure.

"Let him sleep for when he wakes he will move mountains."

~Imagination~Exploration~

If there is anything I NEVER want to hear my boys say its, "I'm bored."
There is nothing that makes me more crazy than people whining on facebook about how boring Casper is.
All I can think is they must not have had parents like mine.
The Gillilands didn't get bored.
The one reason is because if you said you were bored my dad found "something" for you to do.
This something was usually picking up after the dog, or cleaning a bathroom.
So instead of saying those words we became explorers.
Our backyard was a mountain, the Oregon Trail, or raging rapids.
I remember playing outside for hours and never watching TV until right before bed.
And those were the days our parents were at work.
On the days they were off we were fishing, prairie dog hunting, rock collecting, or just enjoying Wyoming for all it has to offer.
Moving on from my childhood to what I want to instill in my boys.
This time last year my dad said, "I'm glad you don't buy Krew a lot of toys."
I looked at him and thought is he serious?
Then he went on to point out that my son was 1 and playing with cars like a 5 year old.
His own dialogue that none of us could understand going along with the play.
Since that day I have been very mindful of the toys I do buy the boys.
My rules are: 1. They must be kid operated. By this I mean it can't be a toy that just lights up and spins. The boys must do something to make something happen. 2. IT MUST encourage imagination or exploration. That one is pretty self explanatory.
If you've ever been to the site fatbraintoys.com they break it down for you :-)
That being said while at my mom and dad's last night I was lucky enough to watch Krew explore their back yard with a stick, and a ball.
I will probably never know what he was discovering, but I do know his imagination was in full force.
Here is a little peek at Krew's birthday present, which he was given a moth early.

Ahhhh Summer

So it's finally here!
Sweet Summer TIME!
I get to have the best job for the next two and a half months....
STAY AT HOME MOM!
It's funny, because I will be the first to admit I am not someone who is cut out to be a stay at home mom full time. I love to work too much, but summer is just the right amount of time.
I get to nurture my boys and teach them so much without getting restless.
Every year come August I am itching to work again, now if only I could get my boss to let me bring my boys with me it would be the perfect mix!
I'm going to try and blog just to keep a journal of all out summer memories, if you're out there and you read this then great!
So Week 1 of summer break down!
This week we have done so much already! On Monday we had a play date with the adorable Maddux. This little guy is great! He could not be more different than Krew, yet I have a feeling they will be good friends. He is quiet, and he is that kid that when looking at him you can tell he is really studying everything. While Krew is the kid that says what he is thinking instantly! It's so fun to watch these two grow, because they are exactly 2 months apart. They are both still at the parallel play stage, but you can see them moving towards wanting to play together. I'm sure by the end of summer they will be playing perfectly together! Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we were park rats! I swear having a park two blocks away is a curse, and a blessing. Blessing, because we walk there several times a day, a curse, because we walk there several times a day! lol
Thursday Kade had his helmet fitting, and it went great! The doc took his measurement, and we go back on the 16th for the scan. He told me that everything I notice in his face is something only a mom would notice, but the helmet will fix it. One thing he said that threw me off was, "Some parents don't want to do this because they are embarrassed." Wow really who could be embarrassed of helping their kid?
Anyway so far summer has been amazing! I can't wait until Seth has some time off, we get to go branding, start swimming lessons, and get serious on some potty training!