My Valentine Cuties

Having three boys in my house makes Valentine's Day a little extra special for me.  Our holiday started with a pre-Valentine's Day trip to the grocery store.  As you can see, Aiden never misses a chance to be Mr. Cool like his daddy:)

What made this ordinary trip to the grocery store special for me was what happened while I was picking out produce.  We hadn't mentioned anything about Valentine's Day to Aiden before making the trip because it was still a few days away.  While I'm trying to pick out some bananas, I overhear Aiden say "daddy, let's go over there so I can give mommy some of those flowers."  As my heart is melting, I decide to pretend I don't hear what's going on and just see what happens.  Scott takes him over to the flowers, he picks out the ones he likes, walks them over to me, hands me the flowers and says, "Happy Valentine's Day Mama, I love you."  Oh my precious.  I have gotten quite a few flowers in my time, but these are by far the most special.

Later, we did our usual Valentine's Day tradition of baking daddy some sugar cookies and then decorating them ourselves. 

And finally, February 14th.  This mama felt so loved this year with three sweet boys to be my Valentines.  Life doesn't get much better:)

Finally, we have some brotherly cuddle time.  Sweet baby Miller.  How I love you and all your affection.  It melts my heart that both of my boys are so loving and affectionate, but to see them be that way with each other is nothing short of a gift from God.  How can one mother be so blessed?  I don't know, but I'm taking it!

much love,

Gina

Forts, Toilet Paper and Smores

It's funny how many "wise" things you say before you have children.  Like, "I will NEVER use the TV as a babysitter" or "I can't believe she is just letting that kid throw a fit in the middle of the store; I'd put a stop to that immediately".  Oh, how you eat your words.  We have just spent the last two weeks snowed in at home and daddy has been off of work for most of it with us because his Ford Taurus work car wasn't exactly equipped to handle the ruts we had in the roads.  I have let my child watch more TV than he probably should have and there have been quite a few tantrums, both the kids and the parents:)  How do you pass the time when you're trapped snowed in a house with two young boys and a husband who feels like he is in prison if he can't get outside each day?  Well, it's not easy.  We almost pulled our hair out on quite a few occasions, but we made it through and we are officially back to normal.  Thank the good Lord!  Here are a few pictures of what we did to keep those boys happy:

  Miller helped Daddy work from home:

We built them a huge fort in the living room:

This would be another example of me eating my words.  "I would NEVER let me baby out of my sight...especially after they are mobile!"  Yea......so I turned my back and when i looked back, my speedy crawler was nowhere to be found.  I finally found him like this:

We also spent a little time watching the ice cycles growing on our back porch:

We built a snowman:

I got out one day and bought them matching pyjamas at Carters.  Yes, I know I swore I would never dress them alike, but look how cute they look!  Can you blame me?!?!

Miller has discovered that he LOVES to feed himself.  He had just finished some carrots and wanted to show mama all his teeth!

Finally, we baked smores in the fireplace.  Aiden thought this was the coolest treat he has ever had!

Delicious!



We also lost Scott's grandma, Leona Rainer, last Saturday but I will post more about that next time.  She was quite a lady and we will miss her greatly.  There were times that I thought it was never going to end, but we made the most of it and tried to have as much fun as we could.  I have to say, I am extremely giddy about the temperatures for this week!  This snow can't get out of here fast enough, but it was fun while it lasted.

much love,

Gina

Snowmageddon

The best way I know how to describe what being trapped in the house does to my husband is to say that it makes him act like a caged animal.  I really thought he was going to break the doors down or something if I didn't let him get out and go to Target yesterday.  So, against my better judgement we went up the street and I stayed in the car with the kids while he went inside and looked around.  It turned out to be a good deal because he found Aiden a thermal underwear set for $4.  I love a good bargain!

I'm not really sure how much snow we actually got, but we have a drift in our back yard that is up to our hips! 

Cabin fever had set in for us all and Aiden was EXTREMELY excited to go outside and play in the snow........

.....until he stepped out in it and started sinking.  He said "Daddy!  Hurry!  I need some help!"

We tried letting him sled down the drift, but it wasn't wet enough to slide on and he didn't get too far.  Maybe in a few days when it starts melting some.

Even Scott had a hard time walking in it!

So he decided to show Aiden how to run and dive into the snow.

I was just there to observe:)

They tried to have a snowball fight, but Aiden was having such a hard time walking in the snow that every time he would get a snowball made, he would fall down and drop it.  Ha!

So, daddy decided to jump back in the snow with him.  Fun times!

Even though we all have a bit of cabin fever, we have really been enjoying having all this family time together.  Scott has been building us a fire every morning and Aiden and I love to lay by it and rest while Miller is napping.  It has been really fun but I will be over the top excited ready for school to start back up! 

much love,

Gina

Miller Evan Ousley at 9 Months

My sweet baby boy,

You put a smile in my heart and bring me joy in so may ways.  I never knew love could be so deep until I had you and your brother.  I always thought raising children would be about me teaching them how to live, and it is, but you and Aiden have taught me so much too.  About life, love, patience, joy, happiness, and who I want to be in this world.  Just walking into your room brings a smile to my face because the whole room smells like you.  One day, that baby smell you have will be gone, so I am trying to breathe it in as much as I can.  Daddy and I have started calling you Bulldog because you look like one when you are crawling around the house, grunting with every move and your chubby little cheeks wiggling.  It is so precious!  I don't know what I ever did without you.  You have brought so much joy to our home and I thank God for each day he gives me to be your mother.  No matter where you are, or what you do, I will always love you.

Mommy

My amazingly talented sister-in-law, Carissa took Miller's pictures again and she did a fabulous job as always!  She had an especially tough job this time because Miller was cutting FIVE teeth at one time and he was VERY fussy.  I have two of the happiest kids on Earth, but if it's picture day, you can bet they're going to be crabby.  I hate Murphy's Law:(  Even so, she get some amazing pictures.  Here are just a few of them:

Here are some facts about you at 9 Months:

*You are 30 3/4" tall.

*You are 22 pounds 3 ounces

*You say dada and wawa (water) and have said mama once:)

*You have EIGHT teeth!

*You know sign language for "more".

*You are crawling like crazy.

*You pull up on everything and I think you may have even

taken a few steps along the side of the bath tub

when I wasn't looking the other day.

*Your eyes are blue on the outside with hazel/gold next to

your pupil.  They are beautiful! 

*Your hair is medium to dark brown.

*You are so in love with your brother.  You think anything

he does is so funny and try to make sounds like he does.

*You really want to eat big people food!  You were begging for

ground beef when I was cooking it the other day.

*You don't really seem too attached to your pacifier.  You only take it

 during the day if your are fussy, but I put you to sleep with it

and you always take it out and throw it out of your crib.

I'll have to post about "Snowmageddon" tomorrow.  We plan on getting Aiden out to play in it as much as we can.  We are all itching to get out of this house!

much love,

Gina