Soo much to catch up on...

In no particular order I will try and catch up a little on the last few weeks in pictures. Quick update on the boys because I feel like I woke up one day last week and they were all the sudden so grown up!!! Jack is talking very elaborately these days saying things like "daddy did you listen to your story quietly at school?" and "daddy did you eat all your snack and obey your teacher at school?" (he is clearly fascinated with the fact that Erik goes to 'school' now) and "oh look guys, it's our big happy family!". EVERY night we have pitching practice because Jack will tell us to put on the baseball glove and hold it out for him. Then he gets in his stance and says "I'M CLIFF LEE" which all you Ranger fans would know as the newest Ranger ace starter :) He is also being such a good big brother saying "jakey is my best bud, mom". They have also been playing together all the time which is AWESOME. A lot more freedom for mommy. Jacob is also getting very vocal and he says snack, thank you, juice, milk, more, "jaja" (JackJack), dada, mama, no, all done, please, and so much more that I probably don't notice because his big brother talks constantly. He is the sweetest boy and is naturally obedient which is such a change for us because Jack requires constant correction and spankings (please no anti spanking comments, please). Jacob is really into books and will get 2-3 books and bring them to us and sit in our laps so we can read to him. Again, totally different than his brother who is constantly moving and would never sit still enough to read a book! One thing I am SO.EXCTED.ABOUT is that Jacob can swim with floaties! Yessssss that means I can actually be in the pool HANDS FREE or I can lay out if they are in a shallow pool. Ahhh. This is a very new thing for me. I could get used to it:)

The boys before church on July 4th. Erik was a little sleepy:)

Kirsten, Noah, and Gavin over for a playdate

Mommy and Jack on July 4th

So excited about fireworks with dad.

Ashleigh with Jacob and Gage.

Love my sweet little man.

Jack covering his ears while the loud firetrucks pass us at the July 4th parade.

All boy playdate. Gage, Jack, Jacob, Noah, and Creighton. (Gavin was eating but he was there, too!)

Cutie Jacob.

CHEESE!

technology handicapped

Just thought I would say we are still here but we are having an unexpected break from technology. After I went running one morning last week, I put my iphone on top of Erik's car so I could stretch and well, I forgot about it and he drove to work. Bye Bye iphone. The new one won't be in until later this week so somehow I've survived a week now with no phone! We also had been having problems with our camera and so we are waiting on our new one to arrive next week as well. I will catch up on the boys as soon as I have a way to take pictures again! Erik is also in the middle of his first 2 MBA classes and I'm getting used to not having him home a few weeknights a week. Camille and Brooke- you are my heroes....don't know how you do it with a hubby in med school. Needless to say, I am SOOO ready for MDO to start!!! :)

Cool like Uncle Jeremy

Jack and Jeremy outside Babe's in Frisco watching the train.
These two are one of a kind. When Jack was born we thought he resembled my brother Jeremy a lot and turns out they have a lot in common. One weird thing is that they use both hands for different tasks. Jack is almost 3 and STILL uses his left and right hand depending on what he's doing. When he is swinging (golf clubs, baseball bats, etc) he has always done so left handed. When he is writing or throwing, he uses his right hand. When he is eating, he uses both. You may think this is strange except this is exactly how my brother Jeremy is so we think it's kind of cool that finally Jeremy has someone else just like him:)

Time in Texas (lots of pictures)

We were in Dallas for over a week the beginning of June and we had a great time. We saw friends, I helped host a baby shower for my good Baylor friend Lindsey, and then we finished off our trip with my brother Jeremy's wedding in Stephenville, Texas. The boys had a blast. Here are lots of pictures from our visit

Jeremy and Courtney at their rehearsal with their nephews.

Jack making a scary face at the Ranger game with Jeremy and Courtney.

At one of our favorite parks/splash pads in Frisco. Jacob's first time at a splash park!

Uncle Jeremy's married!

Jack dancing with the flower girl, Kelsey. Don't let this picture fool you, he tried to punch her in the face the night before because she was trying to make him bow to her:)

My brother Josh and his beautiful girlfriend, Rebecca. Jack and Jacob LOVE her!

dancing the night away

Love my baby boy!

I met my cousin Janae's cute baby Jae for the first time. Jacob kept trying to give her kisses and she wasn't too happy about it!

A little golf

Jack got to drive the cart

His golf bag is a little heavy but he's getting better:)

Jack with the best man, uncle Josh.

The groom and his nephews. They love uncle Jeremy!

Jack and Mackenzie finally got to spend some time together. They hold hands literally every time they around each other....they also hug and kiss goodbye like they are the best of friends! Erik and I actually met her parents, Jeremy and Lindsay, in childbirth class at Plano Presby. Friends ever since!

Jack and I used to go to Willow Bend play area at least once a week but this was Jacob's first time to be able to play there! He LOVED it.

Once again, a place we used to frequent. Jeremy having fun with the boys at Stonebriar Mall.

Jack had a wonderful reunion with Gloria's and we even got to sit on the patio. He had 5 bowls of black bean dip in front of him and wouldn't let anyone touch it!

So sad my camera wasn't working for this picture. My friend, Lindsey, having a baby girl in July. Loved helping with her shower and seeing Baylor friends.

Jacob got to swim a lot on this trip.

Jeremy took Jack to watch his favorite player, Ian Kinsler, warm up.

Lesson Learned

We are still here! We got back from our trip to Texas last week and I haven't had the time to sit and blog about everything so I'll start with a quick update on our year. It has been a year now since we have lived in Edmond and I think that's a pretty good milestone for reflection. Honestly, we don't love it. It's been a HARD year for us. We left an amazing kid-friendly city and some pretty awesome friends/family behind. Erik's job is going well but that's really about the only thing that has been consistently good. I know people who live in Oklahoma read our blog and I don't want this to sound negative toward the 'geographical location' because it has nothing to do with that...sort of:) lt has everything to do with God wanting us to be right here, right now, to learn more about Him. We learned that just because you are a Christian and you obey and follow where God is leading doesn't gaurantee 'happiness' in your circumstances. We learned that life is not about our 'comfort' but rather it's about sharing the gospel with those around us. I don't know where I got off track but somewhere along the way I got too comfortable with my circumstances in Frisco and thought life revolved around me. The Bible clearly teaches against this, in fact, the Bible is filled with stories of how people had to leave their comfort zones to follow Christ and share Christ with others. I think God witheld (sp?) certain blessings like finding friends in a timely manner, finding a church easily, finding good restaurants (shallow, I know...but we like to eat) so that we could learn more about the true character of God. That is a very abbreviated description of our time here. And all that to say, Erik starts his finance MBA on Monday and he will finish up next August. We aren't wishing the time away because that would teach a terrible lesson that contentment depends on circumstances and we want our sons to know that Jesus is all the contentment we need BUT.... we can't help but think about where we may be next:) Okay, enough thinking ahead before Erik reprimands me:) Pictures of our time in Texas coming soon!

Great ending to a looong year

This Friday we will be going back to the north Dallas area to stay for about 10 days!!!! I am SO SO SO excited...mainly to see friends/family and catch up. But there is a big part of me that is super excited to be back in a place where there are ENDLESS amounts of activities for kids and maybe a little bit of shopping for me:) This month will be a year since we moved and I will definitely do a posting about the year in review. But for now, we will enjoy seeing familiar faces in familiar places:) Here are some pictures of some of the things we miss the most. These kids have gotten so much bigger in the past year and some (most) of them have a sibling or sibling on the way:) Can't wait to see as many of you as possible!!!!

Pumpkin family activity at the RoughRiders field (clearly after the ou/texas game)
the cutie kiddos at a Halloween playgroup

Playtime at the park

Momma Bears at the arboretum with friends

The hot air balloon festival

Jack and Mackenzie...he misses her sooo much!

Jack and Mack enjoying one last shake together before we moved:)

Jack and Collin enjoying a popsicle

Trip to Lincoln, Nebraska

Over the long weekend we went to Lincoln, Nebraska where Erik grew up. His entire family is still there and so we were able to go to his cousin's wedding and see lots of family. Jacob had never met most of them!

They Loooove Grandpa!
Us with Erik's grandparents. It was their 58th wedding anniversary!

The great grandparents with all their great grandchildren. Yes, they are all boys!

At the wedding with Grandpa

Happy boy!

Loving being in Lincoln.

Erik's parents, sister, brother and sister in law, grandparents, and our family.

Jacob was so excited to see everyone!

Erik and his older brother, Leif.

Jack practicing his smile with his great grandpa:)