Our Babies are 2!!

Yes their Bday was on the 2nd... so I am a little behind, but I still thought I needed to do a bday post!

*Warning* This is a long post... more of a journal entry. Also it is a little mushy... I don't know what my deal is lately!!

I am just still in shock that they are really 2! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing them home from the hospital. I really can't believe how fast time goes. They are growing and changing so fast. In the past year they have turned into little boys! They definitely aren't babies anymore.

One funny thing Mason has been doing lately is .... in this cute voice like he hasn't eaten anything in days (this is usually within 10 minutes of waking up in the morning) he says "yellow cracker." If I don't hop right up, he continues to say "yellow cracker, yellow cracker." The translation for this is a graham cracker. The box is yellow so I guess that is why he says it! They aren't 100% with knowing their colors so that is another reason why it is hilarious because he totally knows it is a yellow box!!

Mason is such a sweet boy... sometimes he will just walk in the room that I am in and in a sweet voice.. kind of high pitched he will say "hiii." I wish I could type it how he says it, but he just draws it out. Another sweet thing he does is he will just walk up to me or Josh and say "sit lap" or "sit by you." He is an excellent cuddler and loves to lay on the couch with us in the morning and watch cartoons. He loves any ball and has been able to name every type of ball for several months. Papa Joe and NinNin got them a basketball hoop for Christmas and he loves to "shoot it" or have Josh and I shoot it!!He really gets excited when Josh plays basketball with him! Mason loves to read, and would let us read to him all day if we would. He knows so many words now we have quit keeping track of the words that they are saying! Mason overall is just a sweety... he will sometimes just go give something to Maddox if he knows Maddox wants it (like a toy or treat). He then will say both "thankyou" and "yowelcomm." He takes care of the politeness on both ends!! Mason loves his Daddy.... Josh has always done really well with him even when he was a colicky newborn, but Mason just loves it when Josh is home and it is evident that he really thinks his Daddy is awesome.

On to Mr. Maddox... He is a total Momma's boy right now. I will have to say that when he is being sweet and cuddly I am flattered, and love having a baby or I guess a toddler (sob, sob) who loves me and needs me so much!! There are moments where I just need a little space, but I try to remember that in a few years he won't want me to hold him and cuddle him and he won't constantly be saying "mommy, mommy." The one thing I do wish is that he will someday be able to go to nursery without Josh or I there with him!! Cross your fingers that he will be ok without me by the time he is a sunbeam!! As needy as Maddox is, he sure thinks he is the boss around here!! Any toy Mason has, Maddox immediately needs!! He will take whatever measure necessary to get it too! This can range from a two arm tackle, to pinning Mason down, and sometimes into a nasty bite!

Maddox is the silliest boy. He already has such a hilarious sense of humor. He just does things that are so goofy and funny. One of our current favorites is sometimes he will just beup to the table eating and he will just close his eyes and kind of look up! It is so random, but we laugh hysterically every time he does it so now to get a good laugh he just knows to randomly close his eyes for a few seconds. Another random one is he will just starting making this awesome sound effect... "ah - ssss, ah- ssss, ah- sss." (I hope that doesn't look like it is a bad word. It doesn't sound like one it is totally broken up!) We think that he is going to be our little comedian who loves to make people laugh. He is just a crack up already!!

They are getting to the point where they will just say "I love ew mommy" or "I love ew daddy" and if we are really lucky they will grab our cheeks and kiss us! They both love the movie Cars, and make some pretty awesome sound effects. Maddox really knows how to revv an engine like "queen." He is awesome with the sounds. They are also really into Dinosaurs and they like to roar like a dinosaur... again Maddox is really dramatic with sound effects. Then they will say "scary." They both love to eat popcorn with Daddy. This is a new development at our house. Josh will pop popcorn and as soon as they see the bowl they hurry down to the family room and get situated for Josh to sit in between them. They both always go to the same spot, Maddox on one side and Mase on the other, and Josh sits down in the middle. With the 3 of them, they finish off a bowl pretty quick! They love French Fries and are always super excited when we take them out to eat.. McDonalds and Wendys are the new family outing!!

Maddox and Mason both have such sweet and unique personalities. I am so so grateful to be their Mom. I think I said this last year on their bday, but I honestly had no clue of my capacity to love until I became a mother. There are days where I just look at them and I know this sounds cheesy, but my heart just swells. I am so eternally grateful to be a mother... more specifically their mother. I am so glad Heavenly Father trusted me enough to be their mommy. I always knew I wanted to be a Mom, but I have told Josh lately that I really just feel like I was made to be a mom. This doesn't mean that I think I am great and have everything under control, because this definitely isn't the case... I am sooo far from having everything together! I just know that this is where I am supposed to be, and raising our kids is what I am supposed to be doing.

P.S.

I failed to mention that they both are still super in love with their blankie and binkie!! We are going to have problems when we try to take the binkie away... ehh scary!! I don't even want to think about it! They sometimes even want to take their blankie to the table with them to eat. This causes some problems because they aren't very clean eaters... and then they never want me to take the blankie away to get washed... ewww.

Sisters

{Katie, Me, Kylie}

I am pretty sure I have posted this picture before, but tonight as I was going through pictures on our computer trying to organize them I came to it again, and I was just overwhelmed with emotion. I have no clue why, but I just started to tear up and I continue to have a lump in my throat as I type this.

Katie is 4 years older than me. I always wished we were closer in age. When we were younger and shared a bed she always made me sleep on the tiniest sliver of the bed, but I didn't care.... I still thought she was awesome. When she would swing me around like a rag doll and call it "the crazy dance" I laughed like crazy and begged to do it again. She would agree to play barbies with me and then quit once she had decorated the house... but i was just glad she would play for a while. The only time Katie and I were ever in school together was in elementary for 2 years. I don't remember what grade I was in, either Kindergarten or 1st, but I remember being sick on the bus on the way to school. I threw up on the bus and felt awful. I don't remember very much about the day but I do remember being so glad that Katie was there take care of me. I am so glad she was there that day, and that she is still always there to take care of me when I need someone to talk to about a problem or just to get help making a decision. Sometimes Josh gets a little annoyed because I go to Katie for a lot of advice!! We can be shopping somewhere and I can't decide on what swim trunks to get the boys... so I call Katie and describe them and she helps me! It is a little pathetic I know, but man she knows how to make a decision! She makes my life easier... because I unfortunately suck at making decsions. Recently she told me that she is enabling me and she might cut me off from advice on simple decisions!! (I hope she doesn't mean it!)

Katie is the best mom, wife, and friend someone could ask for. I remember at my baby shower in WA. after everyone had left I just broke down and started crying. I was feeling overwhelmed about having twins, but I was just nervous that I wouldn't be as good of a Mom as Katie (and my mom). She truly is a wonderful mother and loves her kids more than anything. She truly is a selfless woman. She is such a good example of being strong and dealing with any trial that is set before her. She always continues to move forward and I am so grateful for her example. Mostly I am just grateful that Heavenly Father let us be sisters.

Kylie and I are 7 years apart. I am not sure what my parents strategy was with family planning... but I am so grateful to have Kylie as a sister. I will have to admit, I wasn't overly excited to hear the news of me being a big sister. I remember laying on the couch with my mom for a while just crying. I had been the baby for so long... I guess I just wanted things to stay that way. (My poor mom probably wasn't expecting that reaction!!) Well as soon as she was born my feelings were changed! She was the most beautiful baby and I just wanted to touch her the whole time she was in the hospital. I couldn't wait for my mom to bring her to school to show to my class!! I remember as she got older I loved playing school with her. Since I was older, I think we mostly played school and store... so I could be the boss of course! As I got older I got too cool for my little sister I think. I don't think I hung out with her as much as I could have... and for a while, she didn't think I was all that awesome. In fact she sometimes would call me "you big fat momma heifer." (I promise I really wasn't) "She just wasn't that into me!!" (If you were wondering...I am not permanently scarred, and we laugh about this a lot now. Keep in mind she was probably in 2nd or 3rd grade when she called me this.) Kylie has always had a mind of her own, and she is a little sassy!! It is what makes Kylie Kylie. Now that I am older and married and she is a smart, beautiful almost 17 year old we have really had a chance to become good friends!! (unless I steal her cool clothes.. then we aren't friends). Kylie is a beautiful, smart girl...I am so thankful that we are friends and that I have her as my sister.

This is such an extremely mushy post... but I just really felt like I should post it. (Even though I am behind on my blogging)I think about it often how different my life would be if I didn't have my sisters. In fact I tell Josh that I want to for sure have 2 girls, because I just can't imagine having a daughter that doesn't get to have a sister.

Katie and Kylie... I love you guys so much. Thanks for putting up with me... the needy, indecisive, middle sister.

To everyone else... if you aren't close with your sisters, try to fix it! If you are... just make sure they know how much you love them!

Ok.... It was Maddox!

Ok the last picture is Maddox! Most of you guessed it right, so good job! But I think it made you think!! Here are a couple profile pictures of Mason too.... I don't know if these ones really show how much they look a like from the side... but I don't feel like looking through all our pictures!!

{Mason}

{Mason}