A Houseful (or house full) of Personality

 Since it's been MONTHS since I've blogged, I thought it was high time I updated on our little lives! Let's start with Deckland: Deckland turned the big ONE on August 30th! He is a crazy kid, climbing on everything and then yelling, "Ma Ma Ma Ma" to make sure I see how proud he is for climbing up a pile of boxes! (Maybe he's trying to hint to me that I need to unpack or move out some of these boxes?!)  He just learned how to say, "Hi!" and will wave hello and goodbye and constantly declares, "Uh Oh!"  My favorite thing is sticking him in front of a mirror and do kissy faces! His are SO cute! I just love this stage with him . . . although he is so keeping me on my toes!

 Sevy started 1st grade at Sleepy Hollow Elementary with the same Principal that Jon had while he was there! She loves it and is meeting tons of new friends and learning how to read and spell! She amazes me every day with what she knows! We just learned last week that she has followed suit of Jon and I and needs glasses! She's actually excited about it . . . and I'm already not looking forward to years of struggle with glasses, and then contacts!  Moo Cow is still her best friend, and for Christmas she is asking for clothes for her, because apparently the one outfit she has is not enough! She is still my crazy little tomboy but is getting girlier (which I love too!). Love this girl!

Teikers! This big boy turned FOUR on June 27th and is a big boy now! He loves his new school (he goes to PreK at Quail Creek) and loves his teachers and LOVES Deckland! Poor kid gets attacked by Teik daily! He is currently obsessed with the Hulk (of all heroes!), and legos and all things boy! We put him and Sevy in soccer camp last month and both loved it! He and I are spending time working on letters and I have recently learned he loves to draw and is actually pretty good at it! He is my little snuggle bug and insists on hugs and kisses before bed or else it really is devastation city! I just love this kid and love to see how he is growing and changing!

Jon and Myself: Well, we moved to Amarillo this summer and Jon started working in July at the Sheman Group and LOVES it! He works with some great Dentists and the office staff there are amazing! It's such a relief that he actually loves going to work and doing what he does!  I am teaching at a couple gyms here and love my classes, although the times are less than ideal! Oh well!

That's basically the quick update! Life is good and the kids are great! What more could I ask for?!

Graduation

 One day I will figure out blogger! In reverse order of excitement . . . Jon GRADUATED!!! I am so proud of him! Here he is, showing off his gloriously hard earned degree!

 Jon's proud and super supportive parents came down for the celebration!

 Some of his great friends that we know we couldn't have done Dental School without! (Jon, Garrett, Jeremy, and Richard).

 Jon, showing off his cape!

 Another great friend Zeeshon!

 Pointing at the capes!

 Jon getting caped (or whatever it's called!)

 Jon receiving his diploma!

So happy to be coming off the stage! 

We are so proud of you Jon! It's been a long time coming, and super hard on all of us at times, but I know it will be totally worth it! We found out the day before graduation that he passed his boards, so once all the paperwork is done, he is officially a licensed dentist!!! AHHH! Dr. Jon! It suits you!

So it's been awhile . . .

 I sadly realized I haven't posted in over a month. So here's a bit of what's been going on! Firstly, we've been going to the beach! Not terribly often since Deckland isn't the funnest guy to deal with there, but we have hit up a bunch of beaches we had never explored yet!

 Teik is my fantastic big boy! He loves chillin' with Deckland and crawl in his crib which makes me so mad, and makes Dex so happy! What do ya do?! Today, he went in for round two of tubes in his ears, and has recently started speech therapy, so we are hopeful we will get him caught back up with his clarity of speech!

 We recently went to the zoo with our good friends the Sampert's! They had a BLAST and LOVE hanging out with their friends! So sad to be moving from them!

 Another beach shot! This was my first adventure by myself with the three at the beach. We survived, so that was good!

 Deckland! This kid is growing too fast! He is officially 8 months today, properly crawling, pulling up to standing, and tries to walk while pulled up. He constantly has bruises and bumps on his head from his constant falls, but rarely cries unless he's REALLY hurt . . . like when he face-planted in my bathroom and his binky cut into his gums! Poor kid! He needs the helmut Teik rocked!

 Last night we got together with our Dental School crew! This is a picture of the original group that started together . . .

And this is our crew now! We have added Angie, the Welch's, and 6 kids! Not bad for four years!

I am a Warrior!

Oddly, I have to start with this picture! We parked offsite and had to ride school buses to the race.

Can I tell you how excited Teik was to ride a school bus for the very first time?!

Words cannot describe!

Warrior Dash 2012.

Seriously, probably the coolest event I've done yet.

Well, it's up there with the MS 150, but this was only one day, and we got Viking Helmuts as swag!

They call it a "hellish" 3.2 mile obstacle race. I call it awesome!

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Some of the events: crawling through disgusting bark water they called mud while getting the bark stuck everywhere. Scarier than a day at the beach. Climbing up and over cargo nets. The slippery slide, which was sadly not that slippery so it was easier to walk down. Not pictured is a steep incline, and a wall climb with a rope (these 2 I was overly proud to have passed, seeing I've ever done either before!). There was a "catamaran crossing" which was running across floaties over water "Ninja Warrior"-style. Lots of mud and rivers were trudged. Spiderman crawl over cargo nets. Up and unders with little walls and barbed wire. A step up climb to a fireman pole you slide down. You get the idea of what we were dealing with!

Apparently while I was racing, the kids were being decked out in awesomeness!

Yes, this is me "heal-clicking" over fire! Yes, Jon caught it! Teik's response over the whole fire-jumping: "Mom! Why did you jump over fire?!"

Did I mention I ran the race with my friend Tiffany?!

Did I mention how awesome we were to finish it WITH both shoes still on?!

Yeah, we are awesome!

(And so is Jon for coming with all three kids, and staking out the great picture opportunities for us!)

After the race, there is a fire truck to hose us down!

I still had bark and mud everywhere!

I mentioned the cool swag, right? We got these rockin' helmuts, medals (Tiffany has around her neck), actually cute t-shirts, sunglasses (once again, rock out Jon for getting them!),

and free beer and stein if you are into it. Not bad for a rockin' race!

Who's in to run the next one with me?!

Spring Break, so far.

(The kiddos and their kites)

Sevy is off for Spring Break this week and with all boring stuff we HAVE to do, we've been trying to throw in some FUN stuff as well. Monday afternoon, Jon had off, so we made the most of the time we had to play!

(Sidenote: the trip to the beach was very much NOT planned. Hence me in jeans.)

This trip to Galveston is officially Decklands FIRST trip to the beach! He loved the sand and HATED the water! I think it was a bit cold for his taste!
What he did love about the beach was Jon throwing him in the air there! The temperature was perfect, so who wouldn't love that?!
Totally out of order. Before our random trip to the beach, we went strawberry picking at Froberg's Farm. It has been raining like crazy, so mud was EVERYWHERE! You can't really see it, but Sevy is wet clear up one side from a "slip'n'slide" like trip on that tarp. As our bucket holder, she didn't save our strawberries from the fall!

We finished the day off by going to Mario's--a little italian restaurant in Galveston that we have been passing for years now--for some super delicious pizza! GReAT! Family day out!

What's been going on . . .

Jon is still busy busy with school. The light is on at the end of the tunnel though and he is on track to graduate in MAY! Whaaa WHAAAA!

I got a girls night out to the rodeo! After living in Houston for 4 years now, it was great to FINALLY go to the famous month long rodeo! Needless to say, it was super fun!

Teik is a total monkey! His personality is getting funnier by the day! He loves to be helpful, but not so much with things I actually need him to do! I can't believe how fast he's growing!

Deckland is my little cutie patootie! He started basically crawling this week at a ripe old age of 6 months! What?! I figure it's to get AWAY from his siblings who love him so much!

Sevy is almost 6! She LOVES school so much and is really the best older sister to her brothers!

She recently lost her top front tooth and I can't help but smile every time she flashes her toothless grin!

Our family is doing great! We are super busy with trying to get our house ready to go on the market, packing, church callings, and all the many projects I put upon myself! It keeps us busy but happy!

My Boys

I grew up basically in a family of girls. We weren't raised girly, and I am admittedly more tomboy that girly-girl, but still, it was a very girl-centered household. Sevy is so easy, but now I find myself the mother of two boys, and Teik is truly a boy. The kid loves to wrestle, and sadly who he's wrestling is Deckland. He's my little Viking who loves sharks. He tries to do front flips on the couch and doesn't understand why I freak out when trying to catch him before he hits the ground. He's ALWAYS dirty, CONSTANTLY changing his clothes, and REPEATEDLY ignores what I ask him. The best part . . . HE LOVES ME! Regardless of the many times I yell and freak out--he always wants hugs and kisses and politely thanks me for the little things. I'm trying to learn what it is to be a mom to boys. I want to learn the fine-line of letting them be crazy boys but still being respectful, and kind, and centered. I want to be THAT mom that people tell me, "I love your boys!" because they are GOOD kids. Now comes the fun part of figuring out how to make that happen!