My New Obsession

Some of you know...some may not. I have a new obsession. Some may call it a hobby. Others, a good deed. But really. It's an obsession. And I'm okay with that. Her name is Ashley (sorry sis...). And she's a good 900 pounds. Dark skinned. And if I could bring her home with me, I would (sorry honey).

The first time I met her, she was offstandish. Ignored me and the boys. Wouldn't come when she was called. But, she would be a good horse to learn on (or so I was told). A dream of mine is to own a ranch of sorts. With lots of land to let all of the animals I love to roam freely. Horses. Lots of horses. And dogs. The beauty of it all is that they all can live in the barn. Outside of my home. But that's another blog post in itself.

Anyway, the boys and I started going out to the stables to learn the ropes with Ashley. She has been a school-horse her whole life. The stables she resides at now adopted her from a not-so-great situation. After learning her story, I better understood her character. She truly just needed attention. And love. And that, we could give her. We immediately started spoiling her with carrots and apples and lots of grooming. From there, I've been getting lessons in the round-pin and arena, not only in the saddle, but on the ground as well. I've been learning so much. And so has she.

Now when we come out to see her, she comes right up to the fence to greet us. She listens to me and my commands and adores the boys. She's such a good horse. I swear, a truck could drive right up to her and she wouldn't spook. Trey loves putting his hand in her nostrils and walking under her belly. His head grazes the bottom of it and he laughs...both boys like riding her. Although Drake says "woah" a lot, which confuses her. But it's so fun. It's become part of our routine. The barn owner keeps telling us how much healthier and happier Ashley has become since we've started coming out there. And that...that makes me happy =)

Things I don't want to Forget

Dear Baker and Bird-

I just wanted to take a minute to write down a few things that I don't want to forget. So while this is addressed to you, it's really more for me.

Drake- You hate Lunch Bunch. You cried the whole time because you thought Mrs. Sullivan forgot to bring you to me in the parking lot. You ask me to wait for you in the car every day when I drop you off. You love Scooby Doo, every super hero and something called Sym Bionic Titan. I have no idea what that is. But you talk about it often. You are addicted to chocolate milk, although I've found that if I give you plain milk, you don't notice. You have however, started to enjoy water. In a cup. With an open top. You know how to get out of your carseat and out of the car for that matter. You also know how to get Trey out. This somehow makes me feel better. You hide all of your good toys from your brother. And tell on him when he's getting into trouble or doing something that might hurt him. I love that. When you see me in carline at school you get a smile a mile wide on your face and scream "Mama!". Brightens my whole day. You like gymnastics. Your teachers think that you're going to be a stuntman when you grow up. You can walk the whole balance beam on your own. You will only wear Crocs. You love to brush your teeth and take showers by yourself. You beg to play in the front yard with the big kids. And you had a pet frog named Pointy- for one whole day.

Bird- You are a monster. A good monster. But a monster all the same. You get into anything. And everything. Specifically the toilet. And garbage can. And dog food. And dog bowls. And the dog water bowl. You love playing on the lanai. You love drinking out of anything with a straw. You have 8 teeth. But I think your molars are coming in. You love the wagon. And wearing your brother's shoes. You're obsessed with remotes and phones. You pretend to talk on the phone a lot. And say something that sounds sort of like "hi". Daddy claims you said "ball", but I haven't heard it, so I'm not sure I believe it. You love to dance. You enjoy riding Ashley and walking underneath her. You often pretend that Cougar is a horse and try to ride him. He hates it. Tolerates it. But hates it. You chase the dogs often. And think it's hilarious when they eat out of your hand. You cry when Drake takes toys away from you. And you cry even harder when he locks you out of rooms. I'm sorry about that, give him a year or so. 

To the both of you- I love you more than you'll ever know. Daddy too. I thank God every day for blessing me with the two of you. 

XOXO- Mama

Visual Aids

I'm obviously obsesssed with my kids. And taking pictures of my kids (can't wait for my new camera for Christmas honey!!). And editing pictures of my kids. With the abundance of football in our lives right now (woo-hoo), I have a lot of time to edit. So here you go. A look into the life of Team Keraus.

Thanks for the Cookie Monster brother.

"C" is for Cookie! I love him =)

The new Dragon pool...

Mama love... <3

Catchin' something!

Sandy Kid...

Loves swimming in the ocean!

Cover Model

I love my cheese crackers...pretty much the ONLY thing my brother doesn't take away from me!

What's this in my toes??

Like I said. Always. Climbing.



That face...



The eyes...

Future's so bright...

So as I'm doing this, I'm becoming very aware of the ratio of Trey pictures to Drake pictures. And I must plead my case here. I'm not favoring one son over the other. It's simple. Drake won't let me take his picture anymore. Any time I pull out the camera he runs. Or at least stops whatever cute thing he was doing at the moment. I swear.
Thanks for looking...more to come =)

It's Fall!

Yay! It's Fall!
Okay. Truthfully, we live in Florida. We won't REALLY ever SEE Fall. But the weather has started to break. A little. Really. Like today, it was only 75 when we woke up. That's something. I swear.
But without a doubt- it's October. One of my favorite months. I love decorating the house (even though Matt hates it and complains about it...yada yada yada). I love making Halloween cutout sugar cookies with orange frosting and sprinkles. I love talking to Drake about what he wants to be for Halloween as the costume catalogs pour in. Today it's the Green Goblin. I will Tweet daily about what he wants to be. Let's see how many times he changes his mind. I refuse to buy a costume until a few days before as I'm sure he will want to be 12 different things before the 31st. 30 days? That's a LLOONNGG time to a 3 year old. And Trey. Poor Trey. He will just have to be the sidekick to whichever hero or villain Drake decides to be. As long as Drake doesn't want to be Beavis, I think we'll be okay.

Hey! That's MY Name!

Things are going well around here. Drake seems to be liking school...although he's gotten into the habit of saying that he doesn't want to go in the morning. I chalk that up to me waking him up in the morning. Anyone that knows my kids knows that they like to sleep in. They get that from me. When there isn't an alarm, we get up around 8:15 or 8:30. So, I know why he's saying he doesn't want to go to school. But after some waffles and chocolate milk, he's geared up and ready to go. Once we are at school, he's anxious to get into the classroom, but never fails to tell me to wait in the car. Today his teacher said, "You know Drake, that's an awful long time to wait in the car!" He said, "That's okay." Ah. Gotta love him.

Thanks for the Firetruck Grammy and Grampy Keraus!

Trey. Where do I begin? It's monkey see-monkey do. All. Day. Long. Drake goes in the other room. Trey goes in the other room. Drake is drinking with a straw? Trey must drink with a straw. You get the picture. Unfortunately, he also must try anything Drake tries. Hence the reason every chair in our house is either hidden or on it's side. The kid is like Houdini. Climbs onto everything. Scares the heck out of me. He's trying to talk too. When he hears one of us say "Hi" to anyone, he chimes in with some sort of babble that sort of sounds like "Hi!". And the dancing. So fun. Whenever a song with a good beat comes on, he'll stop whatever he's doing and start dancing. Arms up and everything. Very cute.
I'd love to go on, but Drake just puked in the leather chair. And for those of you that know my husband, if I don't attend to it immediately, the sky might fall on us all =)

Diary of a Preschool Mommy

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings I find myself wondering...imagining. Generalizing. Stereotyping. Wondering how bad the morning was to make a mother give in when her son wanted to wear a beach hat, sunglasses and cowboy boots to school. Although we have yet to walk out the door with cowboy boots on, I'm sure our day will come. Well, we don't have cowboy boots, but we have fireman rain boots. So I'm mentally preparing myself for what outfit will go with said boots.

Imagining. Imagining what each one of these women is off to do after dropping their precious cargo off for a few hours. I imagine that the plethora of women that show up in yoga wear are off to do one of two things. Half of them are actually off to bikram yoga or bar method as their perfectly toned bodies suggest. But I firmly believe that the other half just want us to THINK they are. Or maybe they have every intention of going, but then daily errands and housework get in the way. Next are the moms that are dressed to the nines, racing down the hallway already thinking of the day that they have ahead. Hoping they have time to stop for a caffeine fix before heading to the office. My favorite kind of mom to watch are the moms that are dropping off one, holding another by the hand and have one in their belly. I both envy and feel for these women. I envy the state that they are in, however, I feel for them because I can only imagine the craziness that they are about to embark upon! Last but not least, there are always a few moms that show up in their pajamas. They'd like to think that we don't realize that they are pajamas. But we know. We ALL know. I hope I'm never that mom.

While I'm on the subject of moms I don't want to be. I have already done what I have always said I wouldn't. I was the last mom there the other day to pick up Drake. While he didn't seem to mind, Mom, I vividly remember what it was like to be the last one at school to be picked up. Like, there were a few times that I remember the janitors were there to clean the school and I was STILL sitting there. Wondering when my mom would show up. I hated that feeling. So here it was, 11:40 and I was at the horse barn. 20 minutes away. I knew I was going to be late, but I also knew that no one would be in the office, so I couldn't call. I pulled up at 12:03 (pickup is 11:50). The parking lot was empty. As soon as I was in sight, I could see all of the teachers staring at my car. Wondering. Was Drake's mom finally here? Poor Drake was sitting on the ground all by himself, playing with dirt. My heart dropped. I felt so bad. He of course was fine. I apologized to everyone giving some lame excuse as to why I was late. And I vowed to myself and my son that it wouldn't happen again...

Drake has been doing great in school. When he gets into the car after school, we break it down. Did you sing? Yes. What? I don't know. Did you read books? Yes. Which books? I don't know. Did you eat your snack? No. What was it? Cheese crackers AGAIN! AND I had to drink water! Out of an open cup! Lol. Did you play? Yes. With who? I don't know his name. He had a dinosaur shirt on. But the girls wouldn't let us play with them....

That's what I like to hear. Good girls.
Every Friday he brings home all of his crafts. I find it quite humorous, as you can tell he did the bare minimum. Just enough to show the teacher he did it. For example, on a cutout cookie, he was told to put chocolate chips on it. There are literally two chips. Two little dots that say, "Here, I did it. Can I go back to playing now?" I get that. Matt doesn't. He's not nearly as impressed with Drake's drawings as I am. He claims that mediocrity won't be allowed in our house. Ahh. Men. I guess they just want better for their children. Want them to want to do the best they can- be the best- from day one. And I suppose I get that too.
I can't wait to look back on these days when Drake is grown. Well, I take that back. I can wait. I'm having too much fun to wish these days away =)

A Day All About Trey

A child's first birthday. I think that every mother can say that this day is a bittersweet one. On one hand we think- YAY! We made it through the first year! For most it means that we are sleeping through the night again, we are done breastfeeding, most of the teething is over with and we once again feel okay about leaving the baby with the sitter to enjoy a night out on the town. On the other hand we think- WAIT! Where did the year go?? Where is my sweet snuggly newborn with whom I could waste a whole day just lying around and staring at each other?? Why doesn't he need me in the middle of the night anymore? Why doesn't he need me to feed him? I want my baby back! 
It's because of this "other" hand I believe a lot of women keep having babies. We like to feel needed. Loved. Unconditionally. My babies never cared if I had showered, gotten out of my pajamas or brushed my teeth for that matter. If I was having a bad day, they were there to love on me and remind me that nothing could be that bad. For that, I am grateful. But I'm also realistic. Sure. I'd love to have a whole gaggle of babies (I think a gaggle relates to geese somehow...idk. I like the way it sounds). But right now we can house, feed and send the two we have to college. So for now, we are done having these sweet, adorable and cuddly babies. For now =)

So onto the topic at hand...Trey Jaxson! One year ago today at 10:44 am, we welcomed you into our family with loads of love to offer you. You made our family of 3 an even 4. Of course mommy and daddy loved you, but Drake absolutely adored you. My cup over floweth. I never thought I could love my second as much as my first. But you proved me wrong. From the get-go you were an easy baby. You would go to anyone, sleep like an angel and had the most laid back demeanor. Then all of a sudden you started moving...at what? 6 months? Crawling. At the speed of light. And as if that wasn't enough, you decided that you had to keep up with Drake, so walking was a must. At 9 1/2 months. We weren't ready for that! Trey Bird is your nickname...although often it's just Bird. Or lately, Monster. Because seriously, you are into EVERYTHING. Toilets? Check. Garbage? Check. Dog Bowls? Double Check. You want everything Drake has. And of course, that is causing major problems on the toy front. You love chocolate milk, grapes and peaches. Chili, spaghetti and chicken are high on your list too. You love to look at pictures of yourself and of course your brother. Drake started school last week, and on day one, you cried the whole time he was gone. You just didn't know what to do without someone to follow. But day two? We came home and you didn't know what to play with first. For the first time ever, the entire house was yours, toys and all. You aren't talking yet, but I'm convinced that Drake has something to do with that. When you have something to say, you'll say it. I'm not worried. 

Anyway, Happy Birthday Son. Mommy, Daddy and Drake love you more than you'll ever know.  

Busy Week!

Wow. It's been one of those weeks where you look back and think- "what the heck just happened?" Now that Matt's back at school, the boys and I have found that we like to get out and do things again (for those of you that know my husband, know that he's a lounge around the house kind of guy...and it's contagious!). So anyway, here are a few things that we tackled this week...

 

We went to a local horse stable...the boys adored the horses! And the horses truly adored them and loved the attention that they were given by them...we definitely want a horse now. Stella here (the horse with Trey) is up for adoption. Daddy please???

We went to another new (well not new, but new to us) park with Katie, Hazel and Allison. It's really fun to get out with other moms (and moms-to-be!) and just relax. The adult conversation is always a plus too! 

 

 Drake's favorite thing to do after eating at CPK is head to the water fountains at Waterside. He chucks pennies into the water and LOVES dipping his feet in through the bars...the things he's teaching his little brother!!

While Matt golfed, we hit the water park...I hope it wasn't the last time of the summer, but with schedules filling up and the park's hours dwindling, it just may have been. It was fun while it lasted though!

And last, but certainly not least, the boys had their first "costume party"! It was Addie's 3rd birthday and the kids were to dress as their favorite princess or super hero...I was shocked that Drake didn't want to dress as Bumblebee or Optimus Prime. Ahh, the whims of a three year old. And Trey, well Trey doesn't talk yet, so Trey doesn't get a say =)

So...that's that. Busy week. But we all know that I wouldn't change it for the world. What's up for next week? Preschool for Drake and Mommy's first football game...wish us luck!