We caught a couple cute videos this last week, and just wanted to share them.

The first one was taken at the beginning of the week while my mom was here. Jake loves to have my mom draw stick figures on his giant coloring pad, and this time my mom drew us and herself and my dad, whom we all call Gramps, but Jake insists upon calling ”Ron” {his first name}. We have no idea where he came up with this.

Anyway, you probably have to know my dad to get a kick out of this video, but when my mom asked Jake what my dad says, this is what he came up with:

Oh yes, by the way, I have no idea what my mom was thinking when she drew me??? Sheesh, Mom, thanks a lot! ha.

This last video is just a little glimpse of the craziness that goes on in my house. I’m telling you, Evy thinks Jake is HYSTERICAL! He literally just has to catch her eye just a little bit and she will die laughing at him. She is such a laugher! I really can’t remember her NOT laughing, I think she starting laughing at about 8 weeks or so.

Hope you enjoy the videos!

xoxo

Having a little girl is so much fun. She is much more gentle, cuddly, calm, smiley and just plain squishy than Jake ever was. She also laughs and giggles constantly. I love that. Jacob was always soo intense, which is funny to me because he is such a crack up now.

But what I love the most about my little girl is that she is sooo me! It’s amazing! I never thought I would have a little girl with my white{ok, maybe translucent! } skin and my colored eyes, especially with Brandon’s genes. When I look into Evelyn’s eyes, it’s like looking into a mirror. Kinda creepy actually.

Another thing about Evy is that she is so strong. Almost stronger than Jake was, which I thought would have been impossible. Jake rolled over at 5 months, Evy at 3 1/2. Jake sat up at 6 months, Evy at 5. It will be interesting to see when she crawls and walks – dear Lord, I hope she doesn’t beat Jake there, he walked at 8 months!!

Anyway, here is my precious girl sitting up unassisted. Isn’t she beautiful?

xoxo

Well, I learned a very valuable lesson today.

Never, EVER leave a little boy alone with a stamp. NEVER.

Here’s why:

Yes, that is the same stamp from the cute little post below, which I had taken away from him before I left the room to feed Evy and get her in the car for her Dr’s appt. Apparently he found it.

Of course, this made us late to Evy’s Dr’s appt, and since it didn’t wash off Jake’s hand and mouth, the Dr’s office thought this was hysterical. Too bad it’s my fireplace and my child, not theirs.

Any suggestions on how to get this off the fireplace without ruining the paint?

Well, we had another crazy weekend {no shock there, I know}. Brandon’s cousin Jena got married on Sunday in Pismo Beach, so the Miraflor family went in full effect. It was great to see everyone, and the wedding was just beautiful, but unfortunately Evy came down with a very high fever {102.5!} during the reception, so we drove home last night. We walked in the door at 1:30 AM…we are EXHAUSTED! Poor Brandon had to be on the Amtrak to Bakersfield at 7 AM. {Thanks Josh for taking him to the station!]

Anyway, Auntie Jena gave all the kids a great little bag full of goodies at the wedding and Jake has been beside himself with excitment about that bag. He calls it his “new bag” and he just found this:

Yes, that is a Sally stamp{from the movie Cars, for those non parents out there}, and did you know how messy a stamp can be? Well, let me show you….

And of course, nothing would be complete without a visit to the mouth…

Well, that’s all for now. I was hoping to post some pictures of Jena’s wedding, but when we got to the hotel, I pulled out my camera only to realize I left the memory card in the computer. Story of my life…

Fall is our favorite season. The leaves turn colors, the air gets cool and it will even occasionally rain! So fun.

Brandon’s sister Bryony, her husband David and Scout were visiting from Texas, as well as a surprise visit from our cousins Brandy, Johnny and Katelynn from St. Louis, so several of us decided to take the kids to the pumpkin patch.

It was a little late by the time we got there, but did we ever have fun! David, of daso photo , is an accomplished Brooks Institute trained photographer- as soon as he pulled out his high tech camera, we all put ours away and just simply asked for copies. Isn’t he incredible? And these are just unedited snap shots, you need to check out his professional work….

Hunting for pumpkins

This is David and Bryony’s little girl, Scout. Isn’t she precious?

Jake found his pumpkin! Rolling it over to get weighed. We will make “Dinner In a Pumpkin” {an old recipe my mom used to make for us when we were kids} with it on the 31st just before the family festival. Maybe I will post the recipe??

The Miraflor cousins: Evelyn, Katelynn {holding Evy, Brandy’s daughter}, Jake {who was crying because we made him sit still for a minute, tragic, I know}, Madison {Brooke’s daughter}, and Scout.

Apparently the corn was yummy!!

The pumpkin patch had an incredible petting zoo, Jake was in HEAVEN touching every single animal…

Scout, not so much. She only liked the ones in the cages, that couldn’t get her dirty. Her words when she got out, “It’s disgusting!”.

Taking a ride in a tractor, Scout holding on for dear life.

The pumpkin patch also had an incredible tire hill, which Jake thought was the best thing ever.

OK…..

Now that you have seen David’s out of the world pics, here’s ours. Try not to be too critical ha ha.
We have a tradition that Brandon wheel Jake into the patch in the wheelbarrow.

Look at the chicken hitching a ride on the goat’s back!

And this post would not be complete without a good shot of our photographer, David. This was taken right before Jake pooped his pants while sitting on David’s shoulders, but we’ll try not to remember that part.

Last, but not least, here is a good picture of Brandon’s sister Bryony and David, with Evy. This visit is the first time they have been able to meet her. Thank you for coming and visiting us guys, we love you!

Happy Fall, everyone! xoxo

I have found that being a mom is the hardest job I have ever done. Hands down. It has this incredible ability to make you smile and laugh uncontrollably, or cry hysterically. Since I have been doing mostly the latter today {been a very rough day}, I decided before I went to bed I needed to focus on the former.

So here’s my winning story of the day:

This morning both kids left me alone long enough to take a nice long shower and {here’s the clincher} WASH MY HAIR. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, the phone rang, so I quickly grabbed my robe, twisted my hair up in a towel, and answered the phone.

As I chatted on the phone to Heidi, one of my closest friends, Jacob asked to go out in the backyard. He played outside for a few mins, and then came running frantically back inside with a doormat- the one that used to be on the front door step but graduated to the back when we got a new one this week. Well, that seriously stressed Jake out. He ran to the front door, swung it opened {WHY in the world was it unlocked??}, and tried to put the old mat over the new one. Of course I explained that’s not how it worked, so he ran into the front yard yelling for Brandon {who was at work}, apparently thinking this would solve the problem. When he couldn’t find Brandon he ran into the street. My son was wearing the following:

1) Diaper
2) PJ tee shirt
3) Bright green crocs
4) Bike helmet with ducks on it

I was wearing…well I already told you.

Soo… I start yelling from the front door for Jacob to come back into the house. Jake is standing in the middle of the street yelling for Brandon, not listening of course. A car starts coming down the street, I keep yelling, to no avail. Finally, realizing Jake was not going to listen, I sprint out into the street {in my lovely robe and hair in towel}, to pick up the screaming 2 year old who doesn’t want to listen, and drag him into the house.

The funny thing is just before this all happened, Heidi and I were talking about grace. How God gives us so much of it when we are moms. How our prayer lives are so interrupted and nothing ever goes as planned. How being a mom is so very tough and that God sees our children as our ministry, so we must never give up. Grace is so powerful.

So if you saw me out in the street wearing my snazzy ensemble yanking a screaming boy back into the house, I’m sorry. I hope you can find it in your heart to show me a little grace.

And if you are mom who is having a bad day, I hope you can read this story and laugh.

Really laugh.

Heidi and me at a youth convention with our two crazy little ones almost 2 years ago:

Whew…thanks for listening! This blogging is SO therapeutic! xoxo

Since this blog is dedicated to my children, I have a confession to make to them.

I AM NOT CREATIVE