music to a mommy's ears!

So yesterday I heard the sweetest thing I have heard from my boys so far, and I had to write it down here so that I do not ever forget the first time I heard it.

While I was cleaning up Jake's mess of a dinner in the kitchen he went over to sit with Brock on the couch...all I could hear from over the backside of the couch was giggling from BOTH of them. Jake must have been doing something funny, because Brock was cracking up at him and Jake, in turn, Jake was laughing too. It was seriously the sweetest thing I think I have EVER heard. Just within the past week Brock has begun to give me an occasional chuckle...and to hear him laughing both at and with his brother was like time stood still and nothing else mattered. I am so thankful that Jake has loved his brother so much. I know that there will be MANY days where they want to ring eachother's necks, but for right now I am soaking in the sweetness of little giggles from "my favorite little boys in the whole wide world"!

we have a 3 month old!

Just a couple of quick shots of our little cutie who is sitting up in his Bumbo, smiling like crazy, talking up a storm, eating us out of house and home and growing like a little weed! Yes, we know...we are incredibly blessed!

San Antonio, finally

Well it is about time I got to posting some of the fun we had while in SA. These are some highlights from our stay:

hangin' with friends:

Boat drivin'


jet ski ridin' (with "mini-Erin" on the back)


waterparkin' (in the nude)

don't worry Brock was LOVIN' it all too

Seein' family we had not seen in a LONG time

and some trouble makin' with our cousin Travis

Sitte even had to throw down on them and cause separation at times...major memories for her, I am sure!!


All in all it was a very good trip to allow family to see Brock as well as some good hang time with old friends that we don't get to see much these days. Jake got a MAJOR ear infection, so think pretty much sucked the life out of him...and I am sure had a lot to do with his fussiness. But we are all good now...phewww! Now we are onto teething again with both boys...oh joy!
Why is it though, you need a vacation from your vacation sometimes? That is pretty much what Joe and I felt like upon our return.
Thank you all who allowed us to crash your places! We had a great time!

something to do

While Joe is out of town at the coaching convention we have needed to be creative around here with stuff to do. One of them was a build a sweet little message for our daddy while he is away.

We Miss you daddy-o!
This afternoon includes: sidewalk chalk, sprinkler time and some good summer-time snacks until our buddy Ms. Claire comes to babysit so mommy can get out of the house :-)

help me!

I had to just quickly put up this pic...the look on Brock's face is just too priceless!
Hope it gave you as good of a laugh as it did me!

catch me up

So, a lot has been happening around here, I have not been able to do a good job keeping up with this blog. It makes me sad because I like using this as an online journal, if you will, that I can make into a book for the boys. So, because of my lack of posts, I am going to do a quick catch up one and then hope that I can get back to more regular postings.
Here are our little Monstah's. I LOVE these shirts, from our Hardy friends, because I have always had a thing for Boston.
How cute are these boys?!?

Brock is officially sleeping through the night...COMPLETELY!! It has been amazing. This week we started the act of putting him to bed after his 7:30 feeding, same time as his brother and letting him sleep it out. The first night he got up 2-3 times, but I just went up and calmed him down and turned back on his sleep sheep and he fell back asleep. Then after that he has been coasting through until about 6-7am! Hallelujah!!
He is getting so big! He holds up his head so well...he can even sit up in his Bumbo chair for short periods of time. He smiles ALL THE TIME and is even giving us some really goofy laughs, if you will, from time to time. I cannot believe we are FINALLY past the first 2-3 months that we were dreading so much. It seemed like it would never end while we were in it, but now that it is over it feels like it FLEW by...funny how the mind plays tricks on you like that.

Jake is doing awesome too! He just got over having some really yucky inner-ear infections...so we are so excited to have "happy-Jake" back! He is like a whole other person when he is sick. It is aweful! Today is the first attempt at a nap in his big boy bed...and as I am writing this it is a success! Hallelujah!! I cannot believe it! I thought we would have more trouble with it...and I am sure I am speaking too soon. But I have to say that I am quite proud of him!
Maybe this means we can get rid of a crib soon?!?

Other than that...life is going great. Joe is transitioning in Rice FCA awesome-ly...we LOVE it...
I am going nuts again with business...which I am so incredibly thankful for. We are working on getting lots of little projects done around the house...like finishing design touches on our bedroom and actually making a dining room out of our "storage room". Ahhh...to be able to eat at a table when people come over and not have our china in boxes anymore. Not that I am complaining...there are so many other important things in life.
Once some of those things are done, pics will come. But until then...
Sheesh...I still need to edit our 4th of July and San Antonio pics...hopefully soon!
-Kel

it's official!

Jake and Brock will be doing this for a while to come.
Lots of FCA camps, fields and kids that we are going to be touching.

Joe is officially the Rice University FCA director ONLY! Huge praise!
It has taken the past year, but the change was official as of July 1st and we just found out the exciting news on Monday. There is still a TON of support faith that we are stepping out on, but after a lot of prayers answered Houston FCA decided to push Joe on in that direction. This means that he will be able to fully commit to that campus and those kids! AMAZING! We cannot wait!
Like I said in a previous post about these changes, we totally feel like this is where the Lord is calling us, so we know, for a fact, that He will provide for our needs. We are so thankful.

We are thankful for our child-like faith in Him, and eventhough it might sound stupid or crazy to some, we are confident (with many humanly moments of doubt :-)).
We are thankful that God will provide, because eventhough we are not 100% supported financially yet, we KNOW that He will not leave us. No matter what.
We are thankful for all your prayers. It could not have happened without your constant requests to God and your encouragement and inquires on status to us!
We are thankful, to those of you who felt a calling to, for your donations. It is obvious here that this position could not have been put into motion without you!

So, here we go. We are jumping on total faith. We cannot wait to see where this faith takes Joe and our family...major things to come...I can feel it!
We love you all!

be back soon!

So we're in SA for the week...sorry for the lack of posts...but lots of pics to come soon.
No worries...we are having a BLAST!