Snail Mail

Tyler FINALLY got his Father's Day box! admittedly, I sent it a bit late... but sheesh! I forgot how long it takes!

It's a good thing I'm sending his Birthday box today, since his birthday is July 29th.. maybe he'll get it in time.. or early, to make up for the late Father's day.

A long time ago, Josh was making a list of things he wanted to send Tyler for Father's day- and on that list he had "Daddy letters."

Of course, I was thinking about letters we would write to Dad.. but Josh had something else in mind. You see, before Ty left for Iraq he worked very hard on some Josh letters (J O S H) and Wyatt letters (W Y A T T) for their bedrooms. You know, the wooden block letters? Joshy's are camouflage and Wyatt's are brown with white polka dots. I thought it was SO cute once Josh explained to me that he actually meant D A D for Daddy letters.

So, we went to Hobby Lobby, got the letters and some paint pens and spray paint and worked just as hard on those letters as anyone has ever worked on any Daddy letters.

As you can see here in the pictures, it was a hit.

We also found a cute question mark box full of candy. Josh had to get some for Dad because, after all, they are the Super Mario Bro's Wii champions.

And here are the luxurious living conditions for Ty.. Please notice the comfy looking cot mattress pad there.. that was a very sad anniversary present to Ty from me.. hoping it would keep his back from giving him agonizing pain.. He said so far it's working and everyone else in the tent is jealous. However, this is making me wonder.. Ty, do you want me to send you a better pillow? That one is so small!!

Not pictured: Water balloons, bug repellent, wipes, magnet game, a hacky sack, and two grow-your-own Venus Fly Trap kits. (I'm very excited to see how those turn out..)

The Little Gym

I decided since we're here in Arkansas with my parents for so long, I would enroll Josh into a class during the week so he could play with some kids his age and just get some of his ya-ya's out.. It's hard to keep up with him when I have a new baby to take care of too... I'm still just getting the hang of having two kids.

anyway..

I was talking to Tyler about it and rambled off a list of classes we could enroll him in. Immediately Tyler says, "Gymnastics!"

ok.. Not really my first choice, but sure.

So- Monday was his Gymnastics class. We walked in, and he went into the room and all of the other kids started filing in. Yes. Josh is the only boy! And all the girls are wearing adorable little gymnastics suits! And no, you're eyes aren't playing tricks on you.. those ARE tiaras! It just happened to be "Fairy Princess Day"... which promptly changed to "Fairy Princess and the Prince Day."

Too bad though, to that Josh replied, "Uhh, that's good but.. I'm not a Prince. I'm a King." ahh, yes. He seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit.

So, I look at all the other mom's and say, "No wonder my husband thought he'd have more fun in this class! Look at all the cute little girls!"

All the girls were very nice to Josh and talked to him and invited him to sit by them when they were listening to the instructors.. It was a lot of fun to watch and VERY cute.

Well, he had a blast at Gymnastics as Ty was sure he would- but I wanted to give him a couple choices so I decided to enroll him in Karate the next day. The problem was, the instructor decided that since Josh is so big and he did so well in Gymnastics class, he should be in the 6-8 year old class instead of the 4-6 year old class. errrr... ok. Keep in mind he just turned 4 in March.

Karate went great. They started out with some basic exercises, which Josh helped instruct.. This is Josh almost losing balance out of his hoola hoop.

After the basic exercises, they went around to different stations and did cartwheels, balance beams with high-kicks, etc. Pretty much the same thing he did in Gymnastics, but with a cool karate flair.

Well, we did have one little run-in. Josh was going pretty slow on one of the stations.. he had to grab onto some straps with handles on the bottom and do a swing/jump type thing and land on his feet. It made him kinda nervous at first- and one of the boys behind him (who was older than him) was being kind of impatient. So- what does a boy do?? But PUSH the kid in front almost knocking him off the stand. Josh didn't like that too much. He turned around, kinda got in his face and said sternly, "DON'T PUSH ME.. I'M TAKIN' MY TIME."

Josh turned back around to swing off and he got pushed again.. and again I heard, (a little louder and a tad closer this time) "HEY! I SAID DON'T PUSH ME!"

At that point, the instructor ran over and broke it up and told the kid to stop pushing and helped josh with the exercise.

I have to say, I was grinning from ear to ear and SO proud of my boy that 1) he stood up for himself and 2) he didn't push back!!! Of course immediately afterwards, the boys were back to smiling and having a great time.

SUCCESS!!!

Well, on the way home from class I asked Josh what class he liked best so far.. His answer? Gymnastics. His reason? "The cute little girls." ..I guess he heard me talking about it or something? Or maybe we're just in big trouble with him.

He has another class tomorrow.. a Pre-Sports class for 4-6 year olds. We'll see if that changes his mind.

Otherwise, he will continue to be King.

Beautiful Arkansas

I never thought I'd say it... ever... but I could totally see us becoming permanent NW Arkansas residents in the future. I mean, just look at how beautiful it is here!! And no, this isn't just a pretty farm... this is what it looks like EVERYWHERE!!

We have an awesome task of picking the produce off this farm for the next couple weeks because my mom's friend who lives here is going out of town. It's so much fun- Josh loves to run around and eat the berries off the bushes. And the yellow and patty pan squash, zucchini and cucumbers are amazing.

Rock The Vote for Kelle

I stumbled upon this blog a while back and absolutely fell in love with it and it's author, Kelle Hampton. She has an amazing story, and an incredible love for her girls Lainey and Nella. She is inspiring and real. She is an amazing photographer and her blog shows a true talent for writing and an honest life-journal that anyone could relate to.

She is trying out for a new show on the Oprah network.. All about connecting as mothers and being more interactive and celebrating our children. Visit her blog to see her video and vote for her!

Good Luck Kelle!

This is the link to the audition tape.

twins.

iphones are amazing. My dad has a mustache app on his phone and this was the result of some fun we had. I love the resemblance.

Happy Father's Day

Tyler,

We wish you could be here with us for Father's Day, but instead we'll just think about you and talk about you like we do every other day. To make it special though, I decided to take some videos.

Remember that song you made up that day we took you to work? Well, Josh requests it at night now for a bed time song. He loves that you love him so much..

Don't take too much offense to this one.. Josh likes to make up words.. maybe he's been hanging out with Lissy too much, because it all sounds like German to me. lol But, moral of this video? Keep up on your games. :)

We love you so much. Please stay safe, take care of yourself and call when you can.

Thursday

Wyatt's nickname list is increasing rapidly.

Some of them include:

Squish

BoogyMan Jr

Jr Bacon Cheese

Little-itty-bitty-teeny-tiny-little-baby

and Wy-Wy.

He seems to like them all the same.

And Josh, is slowly realizing his goal of becoming a Super Hero. Being a big brother is helping.

Camel Spiders!!!

ACK! Tyler found a Camel Spider! This one is dead, and he said that the other camel spider this one was fighting was torn in half on the ground.. He found one alive when he first got to Iraq and kept it as a pet but accidentally fed it poisoned flies and it died too... What a weirdo!!

Josh figured out..

..how to take snapshots of Dad on Skype!! I couldn't decide which picture was best.. After all, that mustache of his makes it VERY difficult.. ;) So I thought I'd just post them all!

Here's the picture we took of him yesterday with my cell phone:

And here are the pictures taken with the Skype snapshots:

Poor guy is in 120 degree weather on a daily basis- and he's been working in the connex, so that makes it even hotter for him.

Josh and I are working on a big box to send to him, hopefully that will lift his spirits a little.

If any of you want to send him anything, I have his address posted up on the top right corner of this blog! He would love to hear from any of you!

Smiley Wyatt.

Reading with Dad.

Tyler sent over 4 different DVD's of him reading along with a couple books each for the boys...

I love that he took the time after hot, long days at work in Kuwait (knowing he wouldn't get the chance once he got to Iraq) to record himself reading books to Josh and Wyatt when he could have been getting some much needed sleep. He is such an amazing Dad.

We finally got 1 of the 4 packages yesterday in the mail. Josh was so excited, he was near tears. We've already watched it at least a dozen times. We look forward to getting the rest of them.

Sorry for the crummy pictures.. I left my camera at home, so I've had to use my cell phone. My friend is sending my camera to me, so hopefully we should be getting some better pictures soon.

Road Trippin'!

We made it! Well, we actually got here late Saturday night.. about 17 hours after our adventure began. Can you believe we did it in one shot?? I almost died. I have promised myself never to do a road trip like that in one shot with two children and a cat ever, ever again.

But, to be fair.. under the circumstances the boys did amazingly well- So did Mauser, as long as she didn't have to be shoved in her kitty carrier.. she was much happier in laps and on the dash board. I'm so glad we brought her, she has given some much needed comic relief!

Some pictures:

Her favorite spot...
...even though we had to keep re-positioning her when she would start sliding off. lol

A gas pump we used.. I was sure we were going to breakdown after this, luckily we didn't.

Welcome to Oklahoma/Arkansas! The bugs were so excited for our arrival, they flocked to greet us.. It didn't turn out so good for them..

Nana and Papa are loving having us here, and the boys are loving it too! This should be a fun couple of months!

Random.

Tyler said it's suppose to be about 128degrees today in Kuwait.. that's right, 128degrees. yikes.

Meanwhile, here in crazy Colorado Springs.. this is what I walked out to after my Dr's appt today. Keep in mind, when I walked in, it was partly cloudy- but sunny.

Also, a cute picture of my sweet baby Wyatt in the sink this morning taking a bath. It's his favorite thing in the world. :)

One last thing.. a funny story about Josh at my Dr's appt..

We walked into the exam room. Josh was sitting in the sitNstand stroller with Wyatt, playing on my itouch. Once we got in there, he looked around and got all nervous! I looked at him funny and caught his attention. He just looked at me and said, "MOM! We gotta get outa here!"

I asked, "How come?"

he said, "Cause their gonna try to put Wyatt back INNN!!!"

hahahaha!!

I assured him that Wyatt wasn't going anywhere.. but I just had to see the Dr to make sure I'm all healed up from when Wyatt came OUT. hee hee.

I've been giggling about that all day long. :)

"A Note to Mom from Wyatt."

In the mail today, I received a sweet poem written by my wonderful Grandma Velma. It was just too great not to share!

Hello, Colorado! Here I am!

I'm not Bob or Jack or even Sam..

But named for a peacemaker of mighty fame

and T. Wyatt Adams is my name!

Born to the tribe of peanut butter and jelly,

Sired by Dad Tyler and Mother Kelly.

Joshua's my big brother who I adore,

He'll watch out for me 'cause he's already four.

Mom says I'm a blessing from above,

I'm so happy to have a home so filled with love.

My Cousin Reagan and my Auntie B.,

really love to come visit with me.

Then there's my dear sweet Nana and my Papa Jim..

Hope I grow up to be tall like Dad and him.

Oh! And there's my Grandma Julie, and I don't know why,

but I also have a Grandma named Cherry Pie!

I've lots of other relatives that I don't know.

I'm sure I will meet them as I grow.

Until then I'll listen to my family pray to God.

Keeping us on the narrow path,

by holding tight to the Iron Rod.

I thank Heavenly Father for sending me here,

To this special family that to me are so dear.

Altho I'm still so very small,

I just want you to know "I love you ALL!"

Love you Mom, Dad and Josh.

-"Wyatt"