23 months

This little boy. You guys, he just has my heart. 

He's a little Mama's boy through and through. He loves his Daddy though. When he walks through that door at night, Austin comes running and throws his hands around Conrad's neck. It melts my heart to see my husband and his son and see their relationship grow. 

He's talking more and more. It's still not super clear to others but we know what he's trying to say. Some "fun" phrases he's used in the last few weeks 

No! 

No STOP! 

I lub you mama

more pleassss

drink drink drink

no mine!! 

No more

His growth has slowed down. He's doing just fine, I just keep waiting for a growth spurt. He seems to be stuck in the same size forever. I bought this shirt for him last year on clearance and couldn't wait for him to wear it this winter. It's just a 2t and it's HUGE! 

He's just the sweetest little guy ever. He's a little lover boy. He will just run in a hug me or cuddle. He waves bye and will run back over and give me kisses. Oh man, this kid. 

He's a picky eater. 

He copies his sister's moves. He screams much louder than they do. 

He cries the biggest crocodile tears daily. 

He loves to have Daddy fix his hair. He's not a fan of Daddy cutting his hair. 

He loves trucks and cars. He makes the vroom vroom noises. Points to "monster trucks" out the window. Wednesday morning are a favorite he gets to see and wave to the garabage truck. He loves fire trucks and the sound they make. 

He's better with his sleeping habits {thank you Jesus!}

He's just an absolute joy to have in our family. Next month, he'll be 2 years old, crazy how fast this has gone by. 

Two older than two Tuesday

I thought it would be fun to do a 2 under 2 update, like the good old days. Except now it's an almost 2 year old and a 3 year old update. How on earth did I survive the last 2 years? How am I surviving now? Caffeine, that's how. Lots of it.

How old are they?
Allyson: 3 years old 
Austin: 23 months and 2 days

Activities this week: Daddy had Monday off so we ran a few errands at Costco and the mall. Grocery shopping and a play date are the only other things planned for the week.  

Challenges this week? Allyson's constant why why why has really begun! She questions ev.ery.thing. She has started to delay bedtime. I'm thirsty. I have to go potty. I need ___ . It's too dark. It's not time to sleep. I can't sleep. Mommy, I need you. {breaks my heart to hear her cry those words.} The last week has ended with her crying then eventually falling asleep. I'd go back in there and no matter what I gave her, what song we sang, it would end in more tears. 
Austin is getting that two year old attitude. No Stop! No! and screeching are pretty common things to be coming out of his mouth. Naps during the day for him are far and in between. If he doesn't nap it does make bedtime a breeze.

A fun thing that they do is argue. No, you stop. No you. No you. Stop it! In the car. It's impossible to get either of them to stop when they get going. I have learned that turning the radio up will make one of them upset and they usual stop. Bonus points because I don't have to hear them.

Any milestones? Completely melting down before 8AM and your wonderful mama taking a picture of it and then posting to FB, check! 







such drama. He wanted in the fridge for some girl scout cookies. Sorry buddy! 

Likes: I hands down love how close they are. They are built in buddies. Sure they do fight. Just yesterday Allyson asked Austin to share his brand new car. He said NO! MINE! {of course} and took off running. Allyson grabbed her backpack and chased him, then took her back pack and whacked him. Later that day while at Costco they were sitting next to one another and hugging on each other. Poking each other and giggling. Best buds. 

Dislikes: I can't think of anything I really dislike. Boy, I never thought I could say that. I mean do I wish I had a clone that could do the house work while I played with them, sure do. Now, doing the things is a heck of a lot easier because I don't have to keep that extra eye on them. I know they are ok and that Austin will coming running in to tattle on his sis when she hits him. Allyson will come running in and report on what Austin is getting into or being the great big sister that she is, she will try to stop him from doing/touching/climbing on whatever. 

If you want to go back and look at the kid's past update, you can do that here. Holy cow, were they really that little?!?

Relaxing Sunday afternoon

Today has been a pretty low key day, my favorite kinds. 

We went to church this morning. We had lunch. I took an hour nap. Kids ran around playing. It was just a perfectly normal boring Sunday... and I loved every single moment! 

8/52

" A portrait of my children, once a week, every week for a year. " 

Monkey see

 

Monkey do. 

They've been really into copying each other this last week. All the good and funny things and even bad and very loud screaming and crying. 

 

Aubrey has been playing with her doll more and more. {it's about darn time} She even brought it to school to talk about in front of her class. 

Linking up for the 52 project 

Fashion on the 15th

Anna at Two Cent Sparrow started a fun monthly fashion link up. It's a real life, every day fashion, totally do able for me. It's the 15th of every month, yeah, I'm a tad bit late but hey, the 15th was my 9 year anniversary. Crazy long. 

I've been struggling with my weight for sometime and have been in some kind of denial, so I've been rocking yoga pants, baggy shirt and hoodie for some time now {after Austin was born to be exact}. I was totally that person that wore them every where. Embarrassing, I know. On our anniversary Conrad and I went out for a much needed kid free dinner and we did some shopping. 

I was finally embracing my body shape.  We had a great time trying on clothes, laughing and just enjoying each others company. I picked out a few new shirts that night. 

This is one of my new favorites 
 
It's a light shirt, it's comfy and it hides my fluffy area, helps with feeling self conscience about that spot. 


Shirt: target / pants and flats: American Eagle
Photo Credit: Kaylee 

Just getting dressed everyday is totally helping. I'm feeling more normal! Don't let this post fool you, I still have my yoga pants, I'm just not living in them as often. 

Haircut for Aubrey

Aubrey has always been tender headed. Brushing her hair in the mornings is a battle and those days where I actually fix her hair, most of the time it's a struggle for both of us. We are ready for change, off to get a haircut. 

Here's her before 
{the sun was TOO bright Mom! So she's covering her eyes and not facing the sun}
  

After


We both are so happy with it! It's just a bit shorter {so more of a trim?} but it's just perfect. It's easier for her wash and handle herself, less knots. It looks so much healthier and I can still pull it back if she needs it. 

I feel like it makes her a bit more grown up, the way she stared at her new hair. Running her fingers through it. even twirling it around her finger. She was beyond excited to show Conrad and to brush her hair before bed. I feel like I'm peeking into those adolescent years where I'm going to be begging her leave her hair alone and come out of the bathroom. Sigh.  

 

Aubrey last week

Oh my precious first born, Miss Aubrey. Little girl is full of sass. 
Brilliant. Thoughtful. Caring. Beautiful. Kind. Creative. Determined. I could go on and on about this little girl of mine. 

So Aubrey lost her tooth a few weeks back. Well the very next morning she woke up with two sparkly dollars underneath her pillow and informed me that her 2 front teeth were also loose. Seriously?! I couldn't believe it. 

 

She is obsessed with her Legos. She asked her teacher if she could bring them in and talk about them in front of the class. Who is this girl?? I could never get up in front of my class and do that. After school I asked her how it went and she said it was great!! 

 

Wednesday was her very first field trip in first grade. They went to the Gallo Center. 
 

Attitude. I don't know what I'm going to do in her teen years. 
 

Aubrey loves to write. She's always leaving me little notes which I absolutely love. Writing in her notebooks, she just loves to write. Her homework the last few weeks in her homework packet has included writing an informative essay about __ and Mr. Wright names an animal. We research a bit and then she's off. I love it. Seeing the ideas flow. Her complaining that there isn't enough room to write everything down. I love watching her hold her pencil in her left hand. Her hand writing is precious. 
 

Look at her dimples! I adore this girl!! 

7/52

Austin: He's been pulling some serious two year old attitude. He fights putting his shoes on but once they are on his feet you better not touch them. This shoe went untied for 2 hours.

Allyson: We made some yummy Valentine treats for some teachers at Aubrey's school. Allyson help by adding sprinkles and M&Ms. 

Aubrey: Oh you know, just working on her informative essay about bears. She loves writing these! 
  

The beginning of my journey to homeschooling

I've mentioned a few times that I feel like I'm being lead to homeschool our kids. Aubrey is currently in our local school and she's doing an amazing job. She's reading above grade level. She's meeting and exceeding every standard for her grade level. She's a great little first grade student. Her current education isn't what started this desire.

A few months back, I was doing a bible study and I came across Deuteronomy 6:6-9
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Proverbs 22:6 
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. 

I've seen these verses many times and for me I've always viewed it in regards to raising them up. Teaching them to love God, love each other, patience, self control etc. When I saw those verses that day something changed inside me. While I still feeling like it's about raising them and teaching them to love, I think that the time that I was going to be spending with them teaching these things would be changing. These are some specific instruction from God on how he wants Conrad and I to teach our children. I felt that gentle little push towards homeschooling. 

This is never something I even considered but I knew I needed to look into it. In reading a couple books about homeschool and socialization, talking with some people that were home schooled and friends that are home schooling now, spending lots of time in prayer and talking with Conrad. I began to see and feel like this is going to be the right choice for our family.

I had a wise friend tell me, to try it for a year and then reevaluate. That right there was so freeing and I knew that God gave her those words to say to me. To help me with this big choice. I wasn't making this permeant decision but a decision for what was best right now. 

So, I'm pretty excited to say that this upcoming school year, we are going to start homeschooling!! Conrad did want to let Aubrey finish out her school year with her classmates and for me to have time to get things in order. I'm so excited and nervous at the same time. I know that it's going to be a journey and I'm so excited to start! 

6/52

Austin: Enjoying some fresh air and his trucks at the park.

Allyson: Out in the rain and she loved every single second out there. 

Aubrey: She came in the the living room and announced that she has her books, her clothes and everything she needs and she's headed off to college but she'll visit at Christmas! 

Tooth #2

Aubrey lost another tooth!


It's been loose for about a month and really really loose and wiggly for the last 2 weeks. Her second grown up tooth was popping up right behind it, it came in fast! 

Right before bedtime is when that little girl decided to pull that baby out! She ran out of the bathroom. 

"I did it! I did it!!" 

We polished the tooth. She asked Allyson if she wanted to see it and hold it. Allyson said "YES!", Aubrey placed the tooth in her hand and Allyson said "EW!!!" and wanted it out of her hand. 

We filled out another invoice for the tooth fairy. I still don't know how much a tooth goes for these days, I know it's not the $10 that Aubrey seems think it's worth. We settled on $2 again. 
 

She admired her semi-toothless smile in her jewelry box. 


and then she was so precious and wanted to try her earrings on. That little ballerina in her jewelry box dancing away to the music. I felt like I could just see my little girl growing up. 

 

She told me that she's going to try to stay up all night so she can meet the tooth fairy. I tried to remind her that the tooth fairy only comes when you are asleep, she might just skip our house. I'm pretty sure she's set on waiting for her, it's 10:30 and I can still hear her in the room. 
 
I hope this little beauty falls asleep soon, mama is tired! 

For a walk down memory lane, here is where she lost her first tooth. 

Child Training Bible

Two years I had pinned this Child Training Bible . It was one of those things that was like yes, I totally want to do it and then pinned 50 other things and completely forgot about it.  About a year later, I was taking a parenting class at church and one mom there suggested something similar that worked for them, then it clicked. I needed to get that training bible I pinned ASAP!

Supplies Needed:

8 Highlighters

Colored Tabs

Bible

CTB

3 hours

You go through and you highlight each verse according to the key. Some topics are the same color and appear on the same page so you just write the topic near it. Easy peasy! It took about 3 hours to do and I really enjoyed reading through the verses and hearing what God has to say about some of the things even I'm struggling with. Here I thought I was doing this just for my kid's benefit. 

 
This is the front page and it lists all the topics. You just pick your topic and grab the tab underneath that matches and there's the verse that you need. 

This has been great for us. I don't have to try to remember and then recall that verse in that moment. It's a calm discussion and we can just see exactly what God says about wrong friendships or dishonesty. We are going straight to God's Word for the answers. 

 
Allyson enjoys it too. With her we try to stick to one verse that way she hears it and can hopefully stick. 

 
With Aubrey we are having her choose which verses to read and she reads them to us. 

The CTB comes with questions to ask your child and get to their little hearts. There's also a little prayer to pray with them. 



This has been such a great tool in our house. We have it in a basket on the counter so we can get to it easily. This has been such an amazing tool in opening up God's Word with my kids. 

5/52

Austin: He's really concentrating when he sticks his tongue out like this. 

Allyson: She's such a stinker. She was building a tower in front of the TV while brother was watching Thomas & Friends. She said "I'm sorry you can't see bubba, but I'm building a tower." 

Aubrey: Her jar was full of pom poms and got to go with Daddy to get a special treat. Hint it was only her favorite thing in the world, Legos. 

Happy Super Bowl Day!!