And the verdict is...

I guess it is kind of fitting that this being our 100th post we get to announce that we are going to be having another boy. We had an ultrasound this afternoon and as soon as the technician got a good view of the baby I looked and said "that there, that means it is a boy, right?" She said "yes, it looks that way." He was definitely not shy, and we got a great video of him taking some nice big gulps of the amniotic fluid, the technician kept saying "yum, yum." And then we got a view of him with the umbilical cord in his mouth. I guess he is practicing for eating on the outside.

Anyway, we are excited for this little one to come.

JUMP!

As you can see we have been celebrating around here. Alan finished another semester and we are excited for his last semester of school (cross your fingers).



The boys had a great preschool activity last week and got to dress as pirates and go look for the true meaning of Christmas. They had a blast.

We set up our Christmas tree.
And believe it or not, it snowed here for about 30 minutes one day and here are the boys enjoying the little snow that fell. If you look closely at the second picture you can see a little snow piled up against the fence.

We took a ride on Cinderella's carriage as we celebrated with the season at a Baylor tree lighting ceremony where no trees were actually lit.

You May Have Noticed

That we changed the title of our blog page. Before it just said Alan, Minda, Samuel, and Jacob. Not only was this a really boring name it was also a bit inaccurate. We are adding another member to our family sometime in the end of May. Yes, that means we are pregnant. Almost 15 weeks now.

Many of you may already know this but we thought we would let the rest of you in on the little secret. For those of you who would like to tease us about having another set of twins let me put your minds to ease, it is only one this time around (I made the ultrasound technician check multiple times to make sure.)

We are extremely excited about the baby and maybe a little nervous about the timing. Alan graduates from school in the middle of May and the baby's due date is May 28th so it cuts things awful close. But we are looking forward to the adventure.

The boys are very excited and love to talk to the baby, it is very sweet. We will see how sweet they are when they realize what it means to bring a new baby home.

The new name I picked for our blog is not really all that exciting either so if any of you have any really great ideas for a new name leave me a comment on what you think it should be.

Silly Pictures and Heritage Family Farm

The boys are so ready for Christmas. They have been asking when Christmas will be here since before Halloween. We decorated for Christmas while Alan was out finding deals early on black Friday. The boys found these hats and have been walking around only answering to the name Santa Claus and they love it.
The other day Sam was having a hard time napping and he decided he would sit by his door against his dresser and wait until I let him come out of his room. Well I guess he fell asleep there as he waited because when I went to get him he was really out of it. I picked him up and carried him to the couch and he fell asleep on the couch. I came back a little while later to check on him and I found him totally asleep standing like this against the couch. We have never really ever had a good sleeping picture of the boys so this was a first for us.

Alan got out some old rubber boots he has so he could have dry feet as he went out to do field work. The boys thought they were really cool and have been wearing them all around the house. Here is Jacob sporting the boots.So our boys are deathly afraid of dogs but we took them to the Heritage Family Farm last Friday and they fell in love with this puppy (thanks to Hallie for the help with the puppy.) The farm was a lot of fun we got to see how to make yarn and fabric, we learned about making cheese, saw a demonstration on how to make cider, saw how to do some blacksmithing etc. The boys really loved the petting zoo the best though. Sam was so cute he kept kissing the dogs nose. (This dog was so sleepy it almost looked dead but it was breathing so we knew it wasn't.)
Sam sitting on a bale of hay.
Jacob and Daddy on a bale of hay.

Making Spirits Bright

My kids surprise me everyday with something they pick up from who knows where. The other day I was utterly confused though when Jacob came to me and said "Mom what are spirits?" I thought wow that is a hard one to explain. And so I tried to explain to him in the most simplest terms what I thought to be an acceptable answer. He looked very confused and looked at me like I was from outer space. I wondered where he had learned that word and I asked him and he said. "Mom spirits are bright." I was really confused about how he would have come up with that on his own. So I asked him what he meant. He said "Jingle Bells, making spirits bright."

When I realized what he was talking about I just had to laugh at myself for confusing him so much. It was a pretty simple question actually that he had asked. Oh well I guess I better learn to do some investigating as to what he is really asking next time.

New Couches

We got a call earlier this week from a family in our ward who were getting new couches and wanted to know if we wanted their old couches. Since our couches didn't match and the "new" couches were in much better shape then our own we took them up on their offer.
There are a lot of pillows and the boys have discovered how much they love playing and hiding in all the pillows. Here is a picture of them playing in the "forest"(that is what they call the pillow fortress they make for themselves.)

I thought this was a funny way to watch tv, but they love to sit here and watch tv like this.

Pumpkins and Halloween

Alan, Jacob and Samuel worked on our Jack O'Lantern this year. Dad Cut the top and the boys helped scoop out the guts. They did not really like that very much because it was so messy but they had fun watching dad. They told us they wanted a happy pumpkin so Alan worked on that for them.





I love this funny picture, Sam is pointing to the pumpkin while Alan has this cheesy smile and Jacob just looks confused.
Halloween night, the boys with mom and all their loot. I made them monkey costumes but everyone thought they were bears or dogs until they saw their tails.
Trunk or Treating, the boys in their costumes and their bananas.
These last two pictures were just some cute pictures of the boys that I thought I would throw in.
The boys in new jammies wrestling with Dad

The Pumpkin Patch and the Zoo

Yesterday Alan took the day off of school and we went to a "Pumpkin Patch" about a 30 minute drive away. When we got there we realized it wasn't really just a Pumpkin Patch (this was all they had for a pumpkin patch) but it was a lot of little activities for the kids.
(Believe it or not this was the best picture of the boys I could get with the pumpkins)

They had a cow ride, the boys rode all by themselves and loved it. Afterward Jacob informed me that he was very proud of himself, maybe that isn't the best thing to teach him.

They had a golfing area, but the boys are still not very good at that, and also this duck race area. The boys loved this. They raced their ducks using the pumps and Jacob again was very proud of himself, clapping and shouting when the duck got to the other end.

Sam struggling with the whole race concept.
Jacob intently focusing on the race.
They had a hayride and we had fun with our friends that were also there at the farm.

A couple of days ago the boys and I went to the zoo. I realized it had been a while since we had taken pictures of them at the zoo, so I brought the camera along with me. The boys with Nemo, although Nemo seems to be missing in action.
This is the boys at the new exhibit at the zoo. We got new orangutans and a kamodo dragon at the zoo and they have statues of each.
Here are the boys on the Chinese horses they have to go along with the whole Asian theme of the exhibit.

These are the kids we went with minus Brody. I love this action shot of Brylie and Atticus, it was the only shot I got with all four of them.

McKinney Home

So my wonderful Aunt Glenda and Uncle Tracy are trying to sell their home in McKinney Texas (just north of Dallas) and so I am posting their homes blog in case you know of anyone in the market for a wonderful historic home in North Dallas. Even if you don't know anyone looking, her house is amazing and they did a lot of the work themselves, it is gorgeous, so check it out.
www.northbradleystreet.blogspot.com

Fire Trucks

We have been trapped inside a lot lately because of so much rain so it was nice today to get. We went to the library for story time and today they were talking about Fire Men and Fire Trucks and afterward the Hewitt Fire Department brought over a truck and a rescue vehicle for the kids to check out. Sam was a little hesitant because he thought he would have to ride on it and he didn't want to. Jacob was so excited the whole library time and when it was time to go he started clapping, it was really cute.


Jacob and Sam with their new fire hats.
Jacob liked how big the tires were on the truck so I took his picture next to one.

The boys watching the Fire Men talk about the hoses.
When they got home they found our garden hose and pretended to be fire fighters, Jacob told me he wants to be a Police Officer, a Fire Truck Man, and a Doctor (that's a tall order.) Sam told me he wanted to be a big, big, big Fire Chief.
Funny Boys!

Clothing Bandits Strike Again

So you may recall that a few weeks ago Samuel and Jacob got a little wild when we had people at our house for visiting teaching. They removed all the clothing from their dresser and then started tearing their playroom apart including tearing up some of their books. Well yesterday I was watching my friends two little boys. My boys and her boys were having a great time watching Bob the Builder and playing with their cars and trains. Then I suggested that the boys all go play in the playroom while I got some things ready for dinner. I checked on them just to make sure we didn't have a repeat of a couple of weeks ago. But apparently I wasn't quite on top of things as I thought I was because when I went into their bedroom this is what I found. Every article of their clothing strewn throughout their room. Now I beg you what is a mother to do? I am totally out of ideas as to how to get them to stop taking their clothes out of their dresser, so if any of you have any good ideas please share.

A better Picture of Alan with his poster

AAPG Student Expo Houston

Alan has been spending a lot of time working on this poster about his research project to present it at the AAPG Student Expo in Houston. And when I say he spent a lot of time I mean he hardly slept last week because he was working on this poster. But it all paid off because out of the 95 people who presented he won first place! Congratulations Alan!

Not so cute

There are days when I think that these two little guys are just so dang cute (for those of you without kids, when you have kids you will think the same thing about your kids I promise you.) But today was not one of those days.

I knew my visiting teachers were coming today and I knew they would bring their children and so I intentionally didn't clean up the playroom (it wasn't too messy anyway) because I knew it would just get messy again. I put the boys table in front of their bookshelf so that my sweet innocent little boys would not be tempted to pull all of the books off of the shelf (this is something they have done a couple of times before.) But I was going to outsmart them this time. I also shut their bedroom door thinking that they would contain all of the mess in just the play room.

Well, the visiting teachers came and their children were very sweet and nice, my boys kept bothering me and finally when I went into their room like they asked me I saw every article of clothing that they own strewn all around the room. I got upset, but because the VTers were there I contained my anger and told them to put everything back (yeah right like that was going to happen.) Then finally when the visit was over I went into their room to help them pick up their clothes, I asked them why they had done it and they said that they wanted to show their friends their clothes. After this fun adventure I then went to assess the damage in the playroom.

The room was in shambles (I would have taken a picture but I was too livid). I expected it to be messy, but this. This had Samuel and Jacob at their worst written all over it. All the books were
off of the shelf and scattered around the room, some in pieces now. Every toy was off of the toy shelf and all over the room. I asked the boys who pulled the books off, they said that they did, I asked them who removed all of the toys from the shelf they said that they had done it.

To say I was upset would be an understatement. It took an hour and a half to clean up the room, I made them help and that is probably why it took so long. Needless to say reading books will now be a privilege and not a right in our home.

These cute little boys I am sure will do it again in the future, although they repeatedly were telling me they would never do it again.

Anyway, I am sure I am not the first or the last parent to have a child act out like this it is just frustrating when it is your kid doing it.

Just a little venting

Ok, so I know this blog is dedicated to keeping people up on what our family has been up to but I hope you will excuse me a moment to just vent a little. (Warning: If you don't want to hear the venting skip this entry.)

I just want to preface this entry by saying I do not mean to offend anyone who has been in the opposite position of me in this next story.

So it has been very rainy here for the past couple of days and going places has been a challenge with two little boys but they have taken it in stride and wear their new jackets with their hoods up and really don't complain too much.

Today we were out and about and I realized that I needed something from the grocery store. I usually avoid the grocery store on a Saturday because it is usually a nightmare but today I decided to brave it. With the rain it was even more difficult but I thought they have been so good with the rain why not.

We get in the store and the only real problem is this woman who is basically shouting orders to her poor husband. They have all three of their young children, one in a cart (even though it holds 2) a stroller with a child in it who probably could fit in the cart, and another child walking around. They have the whole aisle blocked up and this poor man is just trying his best to keep up with his wife.

I didn't think much about it until I went to leave. I pulled out to go to the exit and a minivan was in front of me and suddenly stopped popped its trunk and lo and behold there was the husband hopping out to load up his family and groceries in the car. Normally I would think it quite chivalrous of a man to go out in the rain and pull a car around. But by him doing that it cut off a man pushing carts from the parking lot to the store, another car who couldn't go by because the man pushing the carts was cut off, and me who was now stuck behind him. I looked over to the woman and her kids none of them were wearing anything other than t-shirts and shorts so I didn't see why if the rest of us had to brave the rain why did this woman feel she had the right to be treated differently? Here I was with my children going to the store without a husband and was able to make it to my car with my kids in the rain, why couldn't she do the same?

Now I know that I may be alone in this opinion but I was thoroughly annoyed, what do you think? Do you think it was ok for her to do that? Do you think it was as rude as I did?

Autumn is Coming

Earlier this week I was walking with a friend and she noticed that the trees were starting to change. It may be in the 90's still but autumn is coming. And what goes better with Autumn time than caramel apples. So I decided to make some for the boys. Samuel loved his but Jacob didn't have the patience for it (surprise, surprise.)
Here is Jacob, I had to help him a bit to start the apple.

Here is Sam with his apple. I know he is dressed the same as Jacob, it was the day of the BYU game against Oklahoma and so we had to show our school pride. Alan got to go to the game which was at the new Cowboys stadium in Arlington TX. BYU beat Oklahoma in a big upset, be we were so excited that they won. Go Cougars!




This week was a milestone for our boys. It was the first day of preschool. We are participating in a home preschool with two other moms and their 3 year olds. This week it was at our house and I got to teach. The boys were excited to bring their show and tell items and to put their new crayons, scissors, and glue in their backpacks. They had a lesson on their name, their age and the primary colors. We are excited for them and they are excited to be going to school like Daddy.
Our boys have some wierd obsession with diving. Ever since the Summer Olympics 2008 and we watched the divers the boys have loved diving all of their toys and building diving boards to dive their animals off of them. We recently have been swimming a lot and so Alan bought them some goggles and now they think they can dive off of the furniture and swim around the house in their goggles. It has been really funny watching them "swim" all around.
This week I also decided it was time to get pictures taken again. It has been since they were about 20 months since I have attempted to get pictures taken at a studio. But this time I had a plan. Because the only picture studio that I know of that I can afford is in Walmart I decided the boys could pick a treat of their choice if they took good pictures. So here are the boys with their candy dressed in their little outfits for the picture. (I know Jacob looks a little wierd in this picture, we are still trying to figure out this camera and it sometimes casts wierd shadows.)
Sam with a gummy worm mustache.

We have also been launching more rockets. This time our friends the Gunnells came with us. Yes they too have the same last name, and yes we probably are related somehow. We like to joke about us being family. Anyway they too are fans of rocket launches so they invited us to launch rockets together. We went to a park to launch the rockets. Here are our kids playing with their kids on the merry go round.
Sam, with Cassidy and Brody in the background.
Jacob alone on the merry go round.
Jacob, Brylie, and Sam.


First they had a successful launch and recovery then we launched ours and it landed in a pond (we think) or maybe a cow ate it, we aren't sure, at any rate we no longer have a rocket. Alan is in search of finding a new one and the boys ask about buying a new one almost daily. Anyway, we had fun launching them anyway, maybe next time Alan will use a smaller engine. Thanks for thinking of us Brad and Cassidy.