EastCoastLove

Sweet Shepherd! You are ten today! Can't believe it. All these squishy baby pictures seem like yesterday and also more than a decade ago. You are a sweet and caring boy. We are thankful for you and who you are growing into.  Our first born. We were learning how to be parents. Stumbling in the dark most days praying that what we were doing was 'right'.  You were a good baby and slept pretty well, but never through the night lol  As we added brothers you adjusted so well, and just wanted to hold the newest little baby.  You are a great big brother. Hoping y'all stay close as long as you live.  You already have style and everyone you meet is a friend. Our little happy social butterfly.   We love you and are so thankful for you! Excited to see what i ahead for you! 

Hey y'all! My sis and I have started a 'book club' back at the start of 2020! Its so fun chatting with her about the characters and what we loved or hated about each book! She lives in VA so it's a fun way for us to 'hang out'. She is an avid reader and I am picky. She will research all things before she is interested in, or makes a decision, I sorta wing it.  It all started with the Outlander book series. She got me hooked and I anxiously await the 9th book. I've had friends who read constantly and widely and admired them. I usually just stick to movies or music. But during all this time at home due to COVID, I was able to read a few more, while adding more to my read list.  I reread the outlander book 5 of course cause its my favorite :) with a couple more sprinkled in. Here are three books that I adored and totally recommend.  On a recommendation from a friend we read "The Alice Network"by Kate Quinn.  A beautiful historical drama about a women ...

There is only so much rough house and wrestling this momma can take before I loose my mind! With all the rain we had last month I had to get some puzzles and games for these wild boys! We don't want the screen time to go up just cause its raining, even though that's the easy answer. We try to let their imaginations fly and create but sometimes they need guidance. I am not a crafty person. The thought of glitter makes me twitch. So thankfully we can find these puzzles and games to help us through the wet days. I even saved up toilet paper and paper towel rolls for them to build with. They built eye glasses, spy glasses, binoculars and telescope. As well as boats and floats they tested in the tub which failed and ended the fun. When COVID restrictions hit Kimmel and I got some new games to try and entertain them. We have lots of fun playing all of these and even a few they can do on their own!  The newest one we tried is Scrabble Junior. I saw a family on insta...

We were in Virginia when our little Jack turned 10 months.  My nephew Noah graduated from High School and i had my 20 year high school reunion. It was a crazy 10 days but we all made it. We spent lots of time with my sister and her kids, the boys loved playing with all the new toys and fun cousins. Mom wanted a picture with all her grandkids, so at my sisters' house one day we snapped a couple but it was super hot so none of the kids lasted long :)       We took one morning to spend on the beach and the boys loved it, jack not so much he cried when i put his feet in the water and the sand. Took them to the spot i would drive to during high school. It was overcast and super windy but we had a blast. We met my friends Monica and Rob with their twins. Asher played in the sand with all the toys our friends brought and shepherd ran in and out of the water having a blast!  We had a blast even if we were all so exhausted and cran...

Really wanted pictures of the boys in these shirts we got for Jack's birth day. So with the weather being Falltastic we gave it a shot. Two boys wouldn't stand or sit still unless they were holding the baby. The baby wouldn't give us any expressions really..i think he was confused as to what was happening. So i got some cute pictures but you totally can't see the shirts!! hahaha  Ever since we got these shirts and i explained to shepherd what they say, he calls Asher Big brother. He says Hey big brother asher lets go play. Then he will say he is the biggest brother and that Asher has to listen to him.  So thankful for these boys! Its fun watching their personalities bloom. What an adventure we will share! 

Its been almost two weeks since we added Jack to our family. In some ways it feels so normal and like he has been here for ever! I am soaking up every minute of it let me tell you! Wanted to share some pictures from that day. Our good friend Dustin offered to take pictures when the family came to  meet him, we were very thankful for that!  The boys came up when i all was done and we were in recovery, so they wouldn't be up there all day! We had to get the boys t-shirts for the big day! Shepherd picked out the big 'digger' and asher got a fox. Biggest brother and big brother. We have a small onesie for the little guy too that says little brother, he'll wear it soon.  My mom got cupcakes for us to celebrate his birth! So visitors could have a yummy treat! We left some for the nurses when we left and they were VERY thankful!  Gia and Layla's first look and kisses! Opa and family hold and snuggle the newest addition  He's perfe...

I have had a two 'dreams' for life that started way back when i was little. To live near the ocean and raise a house full of boys. One out of two isn't bad? On National Sibling day (yesterday) we took shepherd to our 20 week sono for baby number 3! He just didn't believe us when we would say, 'there's a baby in mommy's tummy'. He would sweetly say "no there isn't". So i thought even though he may not be able to really tell whats on the screen at least he would get the idea of the X-ray of mommy's tummy and believe the dr! It is coming to our family in August so thought he should be ready. We didn't not post for a specific reason really. Im always a bit more hesitant til after the first trimester due to our past, but then after that it was like i couldn't figure out how i wanted to post it. Excited about our third edition i just had to make it spectacular! lol We told family and close friends but i just wanted it to be gr...

Tried to do pictures with the boys yesterday in the falling snow in the afternoon, but asher fell with in the first seconds of us being out there...                          He wouldn't let go of my hand, so i had to put him inside and he kept crying. I guess it was just too traumatizing. Shepherd really didn't want anything to do with it either so back inside we went. Short and no fun.  Today we tried again and it was a bit more successful. Not much playing for them, Asher kept crying. We pulled them in a box sled and Shepherd liked it but Asher not so much. Hoping its an age thing. :( Kimmel decided to burn some of his brush pile today. Did i mention asher was crying :( I think we had fun :) Hope you and your family did too!

Man i am really out of shape with keeping up with the blog. It is a habit that i have dropped and can't seem to pick up well yet. Thanks to you who read this still! :) This month seems to have become our month of birthdays for friends and family. Kimmel's best friends' is on the 27, 4 from his family and My best friend's since first grade is the 13th, while another best friend, from college is the 15th and couple others i noticed on Facebook. Yesterday was Kimmel's bday! 29 years old. He went to work with homemade cards and blueberry muffins in his new shirt. He spoke at FCA in the morning at his middle school! Said it went really well. We have plans for dinner and Mockingjay over the weekend to celebrate! Last weekend we celebrated the newest addition to our birthday month Asher. Found a cute teepee invitation and went with that for the theme.  The best gift of all my sister flew in for it and surprised us all!! So much fun! The boys love...

Growing up my family didn't really participate in the halloween shenanigans of knocking door to door. I remember going to churches saying verses for candy. I know people of different opinions and thoughts about the day but for me i love the dressing up. So darn cute! Exhibit A: Exhibit B:  We will go to Opa and Layla's for dinner and then to their churches trunk or treat and walk in their neighborhood too. Should be a fun night! Be safe and get lots of treats!! Trick or treat! 

So we live 25 mins from a man made lake with a beach area and being the water lover i am we try to go once a week. Asher will just walk straight out into the water and put is face in it if i don't hold on to him! Our boys are pretty fearless when it comes to water. Since Texas is our home, its hot for a good part of the year and the water isn't too cold, we get to enjoy this thru out the year. We were the one of two families there this morning, and last two times we went we were the only family there! Gonna milk all these nice empty days cause summer will be swamped with families I'm sure.  When the boat came by we tried to jump the little waves as they came in to shore.  Shepherd did good asher just splashed them with his hands and then face. :)  Two cute little water bugs! Cant wait for all the water adventures ahead with them! 

We have been in our house for about two months now and its feeling like home. I wondered how i would do moving from the suburbs to small town Texas.  Kimmel always said that once i gave birth in Texas i would be a texan, but i don't agree. I will say that our land and house now makes me feel a bit more texan and the fact that i own a pair of boots after a decade of living here. I'm still and east coast girl at heart. The week of july me and the boys moved in we got 11 inches of rain and we were worried that kimmel wouldn't be able to get us home from the airport. Thankfully we made it.  Our front stoop was muddy for days. I just got it all nice and clean and we had rain again this past weekend, back to muddy ugliness. We live off a country dirt road and we don't have any gravel or paved driveway. Therefore when it rains of any kind of substance its a muddy mess. I don't think i am a girlie girl. I kill bugs, while screaming, i don't wear makeup cause it t...

I forget how long it takes to feel like 'me' again after having a baby. Asher is now 5 months and i realized two weeks ago i thought man this feels like 'me'. Didn't know i wasn't me.  Then this past wednesday i took shepherd to an empty Let's Jump in the morning and after he woke early from his nap i said...lets go to the zoo!! He has been talking about the zoo loads cause we watch a curious George episode about the zoo and his cousin Eleanor has a T-shirt from a zoo she went to and told him all about it last week. Wednesday is half price day and when we got there no one was taking money to park! Kids are free 2 and under so it was a whopping $6 for us all!! Thought about asking friends to go but i didn't think anyone would be ready to be so spontaneous :) Last time we went with friends we missed the baby elephant by like 15 mins. So i was really hurrying to get there in time. We did and when we say them shepherd kept saying loudly 'baby elephan...