Football & Water.

We have had a fun kick-off to our Labor Day weekend. For one... it's the start of college football. If you know anything about me, you know that I love Jesus, and I love football. My boys are following suit... we have sung the Razorback fight song at least 291838 times this week. In the car, at the house, in the backyard. We start 'em young, and raise 'em right around here folks.

my 3 sweet future Razorbacks.
Before the start of our beloved Hogs first game, we snuck in a little lake time with some of our best friends. The weather is SCORCHING here, so being at the lake was basically the only thing we could do other than watch football :)

Tyler is SUCH a trooper. Life jackets are not made for comfort, andit's a bit clear right here. The only time he cried was when he got whopped in the head by the ski rope. Sweet boy!

Connor cracks me up. He equates boats and the lake to eating non-stop. He literally asked for a snack the minute his big toe touched the boat and didn't quit till we left the water. Lord help our pocket books when these boys are teenagers!
This is how we roll. Kids stacked up in the back and my best friend Katie doing flips on the wake board.

Chris and Katie had a ski board for the kids to use this weekend. Brayden was a little confused (and sad) that it didn't look just like daddy's wakeboard, but after a little lesson from Katie and Paige, Brayden tried it and got up. He loved it and was SO proud.

As if the lake wasn't enough for one day, we snuck in a little birthday pool party action in the afternoon. My boys literally were in the water the entire day!

this is the only picture I took at the birthday party. I was way too tired to chase the bigs around trying to get forced smiles.
We're all a little pooped tonight, and I am crossing my fingers that my boys all sleep in a little bit in the morning. Hope everyone is able to have fun celebrating Labor Day!

First Day of School.

This morning I woke up, and much like Nemo, proclaimed to all what a good day it was. It was the first day of school, which for me means that I'm able to have two days to run errands with only one child instead of three.
My boys were quite reserved, so although I was pretty stoked about kicking off our fall, they were a little nervous about the changes. I felt like we had all had a strange switch of roles; me excited for the new year, and them, dragging their feet, nervous about what may be in their new classes.

Thankfully we all exhaled and made it through the first few minutes of drop off. No tears were shed, unless you count those of the youngest brother, who much prefers being held over being carted around NWA in a car seat. Oh the plight of being the youngest of the family.


I let them both pick out their outfits today. Some battles are just not meant to be fought, outfits being one of them.

Look how much they've changed from last year:



For some reason I really like taking a picture of them from the back. Love their little backpacks.


Here's to another fun year with these two class clowns. Can't wait to see how much they learn and grow this year!   BRAYDEN: His favorite food is mac & cheese, His favorite movie is Avengers (he's never watched it, so that's an interesting answer), His best friends are Paige & Avery, His favorite color is BLACK, and when he grows up, he wants to be a golfball player :) CONNOR: His favorite food is chicken, His favorite movie is the Lorax, His best friends are Paige & Avery, his favorite colors are Blue & black, and when he grows up, he wants to be Agent Oso (so he can fly).

Dandelions and Soccer.

We have had a fun weekend here, although I would be lying if I told you I was a bit ready for the fall weather to return. That's right... our heat is back in full force and it looks as though we'll close out the summer with our traditional "cook an egg on the sidewalk" kind of days.

Friday I braved the store with all 3 boys. It actually went pretty well. So well, in fact, that upon coming home, I humored all of us and we baked homemade chocolate chip cookies. My boys were pretty excited, especially about licking the utensils.

Friday night was our soccer kick off event for Brayden. The boys were SO excited. We had so much fun meeting our other teammates (Drew's coaching this year, along with my friend Jenna's husband, Chris) and enjoying some of the festivities that were going on.

The big boys are so excited to play together!

It's been really hard watching Connor be so sad about not getting to play this year. It's hard for me to relate to, since I was the oldest and never had to watch another sibling do something I wasn't able to participate in. He's been a trooper, and I am he'll have a little buddy on the sidelines to keep him company. 

Connor's actually pretty good at running and kicking the ball, so he'll be a pro by the time he can play in 2 years.

they had inflatables for the kids. The boys LOVED this huge slide.

and of course, balloon swords are always a hit.

Brayden's first sword popped, so he asked for a spear. Simply a balloon blown up. Who knew that it would lead to such joy? :)

Connor picked out a green sword. He did the funniest little jig to celebrate. Wish I had gotten video. He is hilarious.

Saturday we had our first practice. It was pretty interesting trying to feed a baby, keep Connor off of the field, and get water to Brayden when he needed it. I'm thankful Jenna was there to help me out, otherwise I'm pretty sure it would have been a bit hilarious at me trying to juggle it all. Because I was so busy, I didn't get any pics. Drew and Chris did a good job keeping the kids entertained during practice, especially considering neither of them have ever played soccer :) On the way home Brayden got out of the van, looked at Drew and said "Dad, thanks so much for coaching my team." It about melted me on the spot, and I know it did Drew too.

Today's been a typical Sunday for us. Drew snapped this pic of me and the bigs before church today. I love them so much.

After lunch, Brayden came over to me and gave me this flower. These little years can be so exhausting, but these little moments make it all worth it.

A Five on Friday and Insta-Friday Mashup.

You guys. I promise I'll get back to regular blogging. We are wrapping up summer this week, and I've just not had enough energy at the end of the day to get my thoughts together. Of course, as my luck would have it, I've laid my head on my pillow at 11pm with words to blog posts flowing through my mind, but no energy to get back out of bed to write. I'll get back to it. Someday. In the meantime, this is what we've been up to lately.

(I'm combining my InstaFriday with a Five on Friday post as well, so I'm linked up on both Life Rearranged and Darci @ the Good Life Blog!)

{ONE}

Tyler had his 2 month check-up this week (only a month late, but hey, it happens). The big boys got a little bored, and at one point I looked over to see Brayden pretending to be a walrus. Thanks Wild Krats, for the imagination booster.

Seriously, this kid cracks me up. I love his little sense of humor coming out as he gets older.

{TWO}

People are always asking me how the boys have adjusted to Tyler, and really, things have gone surprisingly well. Brayden absolutely LOVES Tyler, and is very in tune to his needs and wants. It's so sweet watching him love his brother so well. He has begged to feed Tyler a bottle, and this week, his wish came true.

{THREE}

I tried this beauty for the first time this week. It won't be the last. So yummy, especially after a day where the wee one was crying for atleast 3 hours of the evening (OY VEY). Also, I told Drew that just holding a 24 oz can of alcohol made me feel a bit redneck. haha!

{FOUR}

You guys, if you have not had cookie nookie peanut butter and you like cookie dough and/or peanut butter, you NEED to try this. It is SO SO SO good. It's a bit pricey at almost $6 for a jar of it. BUT. It's basically heaven in your mouth. Trust me. You'll thank me later. (I got it at Walmart, but I know you can buy it online too).

{FIVE}

Thursday I had open house for the boys MDO program. Later that afternoon we went to the park to feed the ducks (where we had to literally stand on top of the picnic table so we wouldn't get attacked-- crazy ducks!). I looked down and noticed I had baby poop on my shorts. No idea how long it had been there. Awesome. Motherhood has a way of humbling you, doesn't it?!

Tyler Paul {3 Months}.

Today marked the first day of school for a lot of people. I got a little sappy thinking that in one year I'd have a real first day of school pic to share of my first baby. They grow up so fast.

I've also thought a lot lately about how having multiple kids is one of the best gifts of grace God has given me. For all the things that I messed up the first and second time around, I am able to get a third chance with Tyler. Not saying that I am getting it right this time around either, but atleast I get that chance.

And of all the things I've learned in parenting over the past 4 years is that life is fleeting. My days with babies can be so, so hard and exhausting. But in the grand scheme of parenting, it is but a tiny moment.

And so, I've really cherrished every little moment with Tyler. I have been sad to see the newborn phase come and go so quickly, and yet, even in the sadness of realizing that this is more than likely my last time in this phase with my own kids, I have relished in the new phases that Tyler has grown into.

His little personality has come out and it is AWESOME. After having a third child, I am confident that Drew and I produce the most social children ever created. Tyler is happy and content if people are around him. He loves to watch his brothers play, and kicks his little legs whenever he sees them out having fun.

Tyler is probably one of the happiest babies I have been around. If he has a clean diaper, a full tummy and is well rested, the boy will just sit and grin and talk to whoever is willing to lend him some time. I joke with people that I prayed it into him. I think God knew I probably couldn't handle another refluxy/colicky baby.

Tyler had his 2 month well visit today. He's only a month late ;). He's officially a chunker, weighing in at 15lbs 7oz. That's 90th percentile if you're keeping track. He's just over 24 inches long, which lands him in the 50th percentile.We just love our big boy and are so grateful for all he brings to our family.

:: 3 Month Highlights ::

• 15.5lbs, 24 inches long. 
• wearing size 3 diapers all the time now (we just ran out of size 2's today). 
• wearing an assortment of clothes sizes. Size 3-6 months is getting pretty snug in a lot of his outfits, so I've pretty much gone to 6 months and 6-9 month clothing.
• He's finally fell into a pretty predictable schedule, which makes everyone happy. Right now he eats 6 times a day, every 3 hours. He stays awake for about an hour, and will take a nap in the morning, one in the afternoon and a cat nap before dinner. He's awake longest before bedtime (usually about 1.5 hrs). 
• He's still getting breastmilk exclusively, although he gets a lot of bottles. I went through a rough patch of breastfeeding this past month, and we just figured it was best for all involved for me to pump a lot more than feed. Out of his 6 feeds in a day, atleast 2-3 of them are actually nursing. When he takes a bottle, he takes anywhere from 4-6 ounces. 
• He is FINALLY sleeping through the night (PRAISE JESUS!). This means that I don't feel like a walking zombie. 
• His naps are hit and miss. He still sleeps primarily in the swing for naptime. Past Lindsey would have FREAKED OUT about this scenario. Present Lindsey realizes that there are limitations that one must face when being the mother of 3 children. Momma aint got no time to be trying to figure out optimal waketimes, when to swaddle, how high to turn on the sound machine, etc, during the day with no one else around to make sure the bigs don't do something to (a)destroy the house and/or (b) injure themselves. If a swing is where Ty will nap in peace and everyone else is allowed to remain unscathed, he'll nap in the swing.
• Smiles & coos up a storm. He's also found his feet, although he hasn't realized he can grab them yet. 
• rolls from tummy to back and is trying really hard to roll from back to tummy.

We love you Tyler Paul, and are so grateful that God has given us the gift of your life!

A Weekend of This and That.

We have had a whirlwind week and weekend, so I haven't had much time for blogging. After literally having every night not having the family sit down to dinner together, I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief tonight when we were able to stop and enjoy each others company.

This weekend was the semi-annual Rhea Lana sale in our area, so I was busy volunteering for the sale most of the week/weekend, shopping for my kids clothes and then watching the kids while Drew took a shift on Saturday night. The boys were pretty excited about their new clothes, especially Connor. His favorite were the new "snowy boots"; the boy wouldn't take them off and kept asking when it would snow. He's got a while to wait ;)


while Drew was working Saturday night I had all 3 kids by myself. I was exhausted, so wasn't that strict on normal house rules. Which meant an entire bag of Cheerios made it out of the house somehow. And it ended up like this. I was kind of bummed about it, but by then I was too tired to clean it all up. I was so happy to find out that the little sparrows eat Cheerios, and were kind enough to clean up the mess this morning while we went to church. Score one for everyone.

SO after the Cheerio debacle, getting all 3 kids to bed (which is not an easy task by yourself) and a huge load of laundry folded, I was ready to sit and relax. Imagine my frustration when I opened the ice cream bin to this. Someone in my house has a sick, sick sense of humor.

Today was a grocery run day for us at Sams, but since bringing the whole family was not really in the books, I took Connor by myself. He was SO sweet, talked to me the whole time, and used his manners when other people gave him samples. I love having one on one time with him.

THEN... we got home. And he played the Dr Jekel and Mr Hyde game. The boy was all sass and no manners at dinner, but he kept saying the funniest things so it was really hard for us to keep a straight face. At one point Drew told Connor to sit down and eat his chicken, and Connor responded with "well, I'm mad at you. I'm going to throw food in your face." Mercy. That child. Then later, after we had had several talks and he STILL wasn't eating his chicken, I asked him again to eat his chicken. And he responded with "well, I have a baby in my tummy. And he doesn't eat chicken, just like baby Tyler. he only eats milk and pickles." I can't even make this stuff up folks.

And this one is really blurry, but had to throw it on here. Brayden is quite the brave one, and told me tonight it was like he was surfing. Boys are so funny.

This is our last week of summer before school starts back and fall activities begin. I'm trying to keep the schedule free as much as possible, because after this week it will be whirlwind for sure.

A Weekend in the Water.

We went into the weekend on Friday with hardly any plans, and somehow ended the weekend with a full set of activities.

Friday night was actually really cool, and since Connor is trying to learn how to handle a big boy bike, we decided to spend some family time outside. (funny sidenote: our little neighbor couldn't figure out why I was taking pictures with "that thing"- a camera- and not a phone. Clearly these are signs that I now use outdated technology. haha!)

sweet baby feet


I took all 3 boys by myself to Chick-Fil-A Friday morning (go me!). Brayden was SO excited that he got his own watch and wore it all weekend.

learning how to pedal. He can coast on his Strider bike really well, but he has no clue how to pedal. So now we're learning that trick, and will combine the two soon for him to be completely two wheeled.

Love these two goobers (also, note how C has no pants on. We like to keep it classy 'round these parts).

he watches the big brothers with such intent. When they ride bikes, Tyler will start kicking his legs. Already wanting to be like the bigs!

Saturday morning Drew helped a friend move, the big boys headed to the gym for some play time, and I stayed at home with Tyler. While Tyler napped, I went through all of the winter clothes for Tyler and hung up everything until I ran out of hangers. He has SO much clothes thanks to most of the hand-me-downs from his brothers, but also from my friend, Jenna, who was kind enough to give me all of the clothes from her boys. Needless to say, Tyler will be WELL dressed this winter.

This was just 1 of 3 piles of clothes for the little guy.

Saturday afternoon we headed to our neighbors house for a little party. Our kids were the only kids there, which can sometimes mean a stressful time for momma and daddy, but the boys did so well. They also got to swim, which is always a hit.

We didn't get back to our house until late Saturday evening, so we decided to rest in (no sleeping around here that much) Sunday morning before we headed to the lake with our good friends, Chris and Katie.


Tyler was pretty excited about his first boat ride. Clearly.

fun on the tube

Connor hasn't really wanted to do anything on the lake this year (I think he likes the food we bring on the boat more than the water). But today he was all about going out.At one point, Connor was on the tube with me, and FELL ASLEEP while we were riding. ha!

B went wakeboarding with Drew. He kept saying "look, just one hand!" So brave for a 4 year old

it's a rough life, but somebody's gotta do it.

Connor decided he wanted to wakeboard too. At first I wasn't sure it would go that well.


But then he warmed up to the idea


(I double heart love this picture. The boys have such an awesome daddy... can't imagine anyone else I'd rather raise 3 boys with than this man.)

Paige was my little helper with Tyler

hanging out eating snacks. That's what the lake's for! Also, Katie and I secretly hope that Paige and Brayden end up together. Arranged marriage anyone? ;)

We had such a fun time this weekend, but we all came home a little pooped. I forgot to put something in the crockpot before we left this morning, so we ended the weekend with a good pizza and movie.

We don't have much on the agenda during the days this week... just trying to relish in these last few days of summer before the boys and I start our fall schedule. Hope everyone has a great week!

(I'm linking up with Life of Love blog for This Weekend I....)