7 Years... Really? It feels like more:) In a good way!

I wrote about Monday in the previous post, so I'll quickly recap Tuesday-Sunday of last week.

TUESDAY

The highlights were getting to be a family while doing errands, haircuts on Austin st. & Costco

WEDNESDAY

Picked up Trav from his night shift; poor guy had been awake for 30hrs.

Took a walk down Austin st. with Camden and Whitney:

this included french fries, and waving at the trains! 

THURSDAY & FRIDAY

We had a cleaning day where I put on the Les Mis soundtrack in the background and the songs were in order so Maddix began asking questions and before you know it we were basically watching the movie in our minds as I explained the battle songs, and the struggle between the characters (obviously edited for a child), and before we knew it we'd been cleaning for almost 2hrs and the songs were over. Now Maddix walks around talking about the movie. 

SATURDAY

We rallied at the church to get it clean and was super pleased to find at least 15ppl there cleaning!

We played in the pool out back before Trav had to go back to the hospital.

SUNDAY

This was our 7yr Anniversary!

Although Travis was at the hospital the day still started out special because Maddix and Aaron fixed me breakfast:) Big bowls of cereal. Made kept saying sweet things about how wonderful it was that it was our Anniversary. My next surprise came when the boys basically played amongst themselves and let me finish Travis's gifts while Travis slept. 

Then off to church. 

Travis and I were able to make dinner together, something we love to do, and just 

enjoyed having time together. So here is to a happy and crazy 7yrs together; bring on eternity! 

I love this man

And I loved this dinner!
Honey glazed Garlic Chicken over Rice

Love These Summer Weeks!!

~WhAt A GoOd WeEk~

It went fast. It was fun. And we played with SO many different people! 

This weeks just seemed to zip by thanks to having lots of activities scheduled,

and somehow Travis was able to be home most days around 5:00pm! 

We tried arresting Nala while riding scooters in the back alley...

...unfortunately this didn't end well for Aaron when he tripped on some very

jagged blacktop and scraped his face up good. 

The next morning didn't start out much better for him when Maddix let the dog out to the bathroom and accidentally knocked him down our back patio stair; my poor little baby. 

He was actually calm at this point, but when I asked if we should
send a picture to Travis he gave a pathetic, "yeah" and then started up the waterworks.
As soon as the pictures was done, he stopped. 

The week got better for him though. We enjoyed snacks out in the back since the weather was perfect this week. 

We had a playdate at the park with several mom's from the ward, and although none of the kids are our ages, we still had fun having others to be with; plus the boys make friends wherever they go.

I'll tell you though, the kids here are thugs. Don't love them. 

The boys accompanied me to our weekly Costco run.

Made cookies in honor of Gma Donna's Birthday... and then ate them:)

~Happy Bday Gma Donna~

Wished my Dad Happy Birthday as well

We enjoyed the delicious summer fresh veggies and fruit and opportunities to grill. 

We had an amazingly fun day with Whitney and Camden walking over to the fire station, playing in forts, coloring with chalk, and playing in the pool out back. Then they left just as Travis showed up early!

The  long weekend (including today)was AWESOME! 

We have been trying hard to make some large decisions regarding school and we've felt pressed to make it to the temple; however it's been closed and it's difficult finagling a sitter. LUCKILY we have our adopted Grandparents, the Castles here and Carol watched the boys for us, allowing us some needed temple time! 

The trip to the temple was.... challenging. So many things with the subway system just seemed to go wrong. For once we gave ourselves some extra time to get there, but even with that we ended up stranded in a part of town that wouldn't connect us to the temple... so I hailed my first cab! 

We BARELY made it in time, only to find out the session was full. 

Then they offered us a sealing session, so we ran to the elevator! And there guess who we ran into??

Sis. Neilson, wife of the mission President while we were in Poland :D

We knew she and her husband were there serving a mission, but we'd yet to run into them. We chatted at the elevator and she told us Pres. Neilson was actually the one conducting the sealing session; 

without going into detail I'll just say that was one of the most amazing and spiritual sealing sessions I've ever been apart of. 

And we were meant to miss the endowment session. 

The Church is True. 

Period. 

Pizza is supposedly the best in Manhattan; rated
by the celebrity wall

While Carol had the boys she spoiled them with baking cookies, their favorite movies, a trip to the park, etc. They were worn out! That's the best kind of sitter right there. 

Sunday was actually a pretty good day. 

Usually they're rough what with Aaron not napping because of church. 

But after a major Sabbath day fail last Sunday, coupled with multiple lessons on keeping the Sabbath Day Holy we were determined to make this Sunday a "sign to God" as our lesson called it. 

We worked on puzzles together, 

dreamed about the future, 

Polished our shoes :) 

The boys were behaved at church

Then had the sisters over for dinner. Good Day. 

Happy Bday Gpa!

Happy Bday Gap!

They held their annual Picket against my choice of dinner...
this is their third annual sit-in. Sigh.
Love those boys. 

And today was a fantastic Monday of having Travis home! First of all I got to go running! It felt so so so so so so so so awesome! And here were the views from my run: 

Manhattan Skyline

Our Beautiful park

Then it was Beach Day~ Need I say more? 

Other than make sure at the beach you reapply sunscreen after coming out of the water!

Lesson once again learned. 

Buried:) 

Zonked Out

Red as a Lobster

Oh and here are a couple photos from the F.H.E. project: Built and Painted a bird house

~Boy, these boys~

 Since my boys have grown and love to run and wreck,
         pillage and plunder, there is a saying I've completely adapted into my lives,
               "Boys will be boys."

~BoYs WiLl Be BoYs~

ODE TO MY BOYS: 

Boys will splash in pools, boys will climb in trees.

Boys will fly in Rocket ships, or Sail the stormy seas. 

Boys will scream, and spit, and fart like it's going out of style. 

Boys will run and run and run... and keep running for awhile.

Boys will also cook with mom,

start a rockband,

chase their puppy. 

Best is when they hug extra long, 

just to whisper how much they love me.   

More than ever, my life is wrapped up in my boys. I am lucky/challenged enough to be a stay at home mom. At this point in my life I am writing and blogging about the boys because they are truly the center of my life (and Travis's, of course; he is still around if you didn't know).  We do have other interests:) And sometimes we even have moments during the day when they boys aren't around! Even if at this moment it's 10:00pm and Aaron is still awake; seriously. 

TRAVIS: Well this man saves us $120.00/mo by walking to and from the hospital, even after working 14hr days. He is typically a favorite on any rotation he is in because let's face it, he is very likable/reliable/intelligent. In his free time he can be found playing Mario with Maddix, playing catch, wrestling Aaron, grooming/trimming Nala, helping me clean up at night, surfing news websites, or planning out our future with me as we fall asleep. He has about 5 free hours a week in which to fit all this in; as we've said before, such is the life of a med student. 

~Friday Night Take-out while watching a Fam. Movie~

LACEY: I am all over the place honestly; I feel like I can't find a routine, however we're creating some that seem to flow real well. I still like to go running while I listen to my books on tape (even if only get to do that twice a month at this point). I'm really trying to master my callings at church and constantly think about them. I'm very into the t.v. show Scrubs right now; it makes me feel like I know a little bit more about hospital life so I can stay close to Travis;)! I just completed 21Day Fix and started the second round today. School starts back up in three weeks... boo. 

Maddix: This boy is also gearing up for school. He's becoming more patient, focused, fair, and grown up. He likes to prep breakfast in the morning, does his chores, opens my doors, and wants so badly to be a man. He talks about how he'll run his home someday. Today he tried to explore some independents by taking Daddy's electric razor (daddy left out from grooming the dog) and giving himself a haircut. :( He has three bald spots and his bangs are choppy. He is so blessed to have not nicked his head. It could've been worse, but I really don't know how to fix it ha ha.... DON'T want to shave it! He is a sweet older brother. He is full of sass and emotions, but he works so hard to be the best boy he can be. And he has SO much love and awareness for his Heavenly Father. 

Damage is done.

Aaron: As I said it's now... 10:15pm and we just found him in his bed surrounded in books, papers, crayons, and a trail of all of the above leading to the closet where he found the church bag and emptied it everywhere. Earlier he was trying to sleep on the floor. Before that he was trying to get into his brother's bed. Today was NOT a good day for him. Normally he has been a really pleasant little boy. He is mischievous. Curious. Loud. Giggly. Lovable. He is a creature of habit... not that he won't try new things but it's that once he's discovered something he likes he does it several times in a row before doing something new. Like he's carried this JetBlue plane for weeks. But has moved on from it. He slept in until 8:00am on the dot for three days in a row, then out of the blue kept waking up at 6:50ish for a few days in a row. He must close all the doors some days, or insists on helping make breakfast on other days, but it's like he obsesses over one thing for a few days then moves on. I don't know how to explain it. He is just a high maintenance little boy, but we try not to let him be picky. He always requests kisses and hugs as he goes down for naps or bed. Everything he says is cute in his little voice and lately he says a lot! He can basically say all words, but just says two words at a time mostly. He has this light hearted energetic presence in our home and wants nothing more than to be like Buddy. If you ask him who we are he'll tell you, "Mom, Dadt, Nawa, and Buddy." :) Always "Bud," or "Buddy." So cute. There is too much to say about Aaron, but just know that he is someone you want to get to know ;) 

Nala: Loves New York. For the first time in her life she gets to live with her whole family and in a home where she completely welcomed and free to go in every room:) Not to mention she has a little back alley that she LOVES to run up and down chasing the pigeons. She pretends to be annoyed with the boys so we'll give her sympathy pets, but in reality won't take her eyes off of them and loves following Maddix around. She likes to sleep behind the rocking chair because it's safe. Has chosen to sleep the nights under the desk in our room, but only if the chair is also pushed in so she's completely "denned in." She is back down to 58bls from the 74lbs she came to NY weighing;thanks to Travis. Safe to say, she is the happiest she's ever been. She also just received a home grooming to save money and Travis and I are still laughing today over the hack job we gave her! Some money is worth spending... so next time we'll leave it to the professionals; poor dog! 

Rainy Day Rocket Ship Games

Rainy Day Cookie Baking

Maddix's reward for being good was renting a movie,
popping popcorn, drinking pink Lemonade, and snuggling together.

That's us these days:)