Just Me, My Boys, and a Girl!: The latest with us...

Matt turned 36 years old! Yay! His driver's license expired on his birthday, so he took half a day off work to get it renewed. It was wonderful! I dropped the kids off with my mom, and Matt and I spent most of the day with just the two of us. We don't get much time alone, so we loved it! We also celebrated our 4 year anniversary in January. Crazy how fast it has gone! I love staying home with my boys! I didn't realize how much more a financial hardship it would be without that extra bit of income I added! So it has been definitely hard, but so worth it! I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world! I feel like I've become a better mom since I quit. Just not having the stress of that work weekend coming up has made it so I have more energy to try new things with the kids, new ways of disciplining, and I seem to have a lot more patience! My boys are just cute as always! Josh is nearly 3 years old! He is so sweet, but also wild and defiant! I tell him not to step one foot past the backyard or he goes in the house, so he will look at me, smile, and jump across the line I tell him not to cross! At bedtime I tell him if his hand crosses past the door, the door is closed, and he will put his hand out right next to it and say, "I'm not past the door!" He's getting so smart! It amazes me how quick they learn! He put some quarters in a slit I have on my piano that has a switch if I want to mute the sound. I was so mad! I yelled and sent him to his room. I went up to talk with him, and said,"I'm sorry for yelling so much, but you broke my piano, and it broke my heart!" Josh said, "Don't worry, Mom! Dad will fix your heart, and he will fix the piano!" It was so cute! Later that day Matt managed to get all but one quarter out, and Josh told me, "Dad isn't done fixing your heart, yet. He still has one more quarter to get out of the piano." He is such a joy to have around! And Anthony is just adorable! He babbles all the time, and is mimicking our words now. His favorite is when I tell him, "Don't bite me!" He will say, "Bite me!" My fam gets a kick out of that one:) He is crawling all over the place! He loves going up the stairs, but will then stop in the middle and try to sit straight back! I guess his mom always catching him gives him a little false sense of security! And he just started refusing to eat baby food. ANY baby food! It was the day we let him eat spaghetti with us. After that, I guess he just decided he was now a big boy, because he won't eat the baby rice or oatmeal cereal, any bottled food, or anything pureed! So I guess it is a really good thing he has 7 teeth, and one on the way! Oh, well, enough of my writing a novel about my family, I'll just do the picture captions, now:) Oh, yeah! Almost forgot! I just had both my kids weighed last week. Anthony is 18 lbs 11 oz or 19th percentile, and Josh is 27 pounds even-the 9th percentile! My tiny little kids! Well, hopefully someday they both grow:)

Matt's birthday cake. It was hard fitting all the candles in, and took 7 matches to light them all!

Of course, Josh had to help blow out the candles:)

Josh helped me pick out his Daddy's birthday gifts, and Anthony loved the card! The dog on it hopped up and down on the pogo stick:)

On our anniversary, we put the kids down to bed, and Matt surprised me with candles lit over then entire room! He hooked our computer up to the tv, and played a video of a fireplace:) We ate food from Chili's in bed, and it was wonderful!

Josh loves helping out with his little brother! He decided while I was in my bathroom brushing my teeth, he would go to his bathroom and brush Anthony's teeth! So the blue on Anthony's face and head is toothpaste:)

Josh is always wrestling and crawling with his baby brother. The other day I was washing my hands, and heard Josh saying, "I'm gonna get ya, baby boy! I'm gonna get ya!" He was crawling after him:)

Matt loves to tickle both his boys, and the boys love it! If you look close, you can see Anthony got fangs on top, and is just now getting one of his center teeth:)

Josh loves snuggling with his "bear blanket" Matt's grandma, Mimi, gave him.

Yes, I'm just now posting Christmas pics:) Matt had a Star Wars Christmas.

I got a lot of random stuff, mostly scrapbook or crochet related:)

Anthony and Josh LOVE taking rides it the wagon Santa got them. I forced Giz to stay in just long enough for a pic!

How cute is he? I love that little grin on his face! He loved his Cookie Monster. Josh got a matching Elmo. It is still taking work reminding Josh that he doesn't get both toys:)