loving . . .

here is what i am loving right now -

1.  scheduled events - i never thought i would love to have my week scheduled out so much!  but with two little ones, if i don't have a plan they don't have a happy mommy!  the best weeks have been then ones where i know what we are doing every day!


2.  the science spectrum - liam LOVES it.  there is so much for him to play with.  i don't worry about losing him.  it is indoors away from the heat and mosquitos!!  we have a pass for a year, so it is, not free, but cheap!


3.  audrey napping regularly - we are finally getting on a schedule somewhat.  we take two shorter naps one in the morning and one in the evening, and we take a long 2-3 hour nap in the early afternoon.  plus she sleeps through the night as well!!  i know, i am blessed.  the Lord has blessed me with sleeping children!!


4.  summer - i had my mid-summer blues, but they are now gone and i am dreading going to back to school.  i am loving the lazy mornings, fun outings, naps in the afternoon, and just the general sense of relaxation.  i am not looking forward to the rushed morning that are just around the corner!!


5.  matt - he has just been great this summer.  love him!


6.  "the good guys", "psych", and the food network - funny, hysterical, and just plain yummy TV!!  (bradley whitford is just crazy fun to watch in whatever he does!!)


7.  being overly blessed by the Lord - i don't even know where to start!  

dallas in 2 days

welcome to our mini vacation in pictures!  we went to dallas and went to the world aquarium, we shopped a little bit at the grapevine mills mall, and for the grand finale . . . drum roll please . . . IKEA!!!

here we are getting all packed up.  we took matt's new truck for our first family road trip.  the room in the truck was great, and we had sirius satellite radio!!  praise be that both of the kiddos are great in the car.

 

 of course with little audrey we had to make a few stops for feeding and diaper changes.  and where better place than dairy queen.

dallas world aquarium and zoological gardens, here we come.  i love aquariums and will go to everyone that i can.  the place was amazing! 

 liam being just a bit short we had to lift him to see some of the animals, but he loved them all.  he really loved the turtles.  we both loved the look of wonder in his eyes each time we saw something new!

 

  

  at first we didn't see them.  then audrey had a poopy diaper and we might as well change liam while we are at it.  but when we returned, there they were, the manatees!!  there were two of them and they were beautiful.  liam and i had a great conversation with this one.  look at that face!!

 

here audrey 

and i are outdoors with the penguins.  it was so nice and cool inside that it felt like 20 pounds hit you in the chest when you went outside.  but there were penguins and daddy loves penguins!

this guy is so cool!  i loved all the colors and the way his eyes follow you. (sorry if it is a girl! i couldn't tell)  see you later aquariuam and zoological gardens.  

it is time for lunch.  since i can't have zaxby's raisng cane's will have to do.  and it does very well.  the sauce is killer. 

 

look at my big boy!  i love his hat.  he put his shoes on by himself!!  

  

mommy's disneyland!!  time to do some damage at IKEA!!  the swedes have it down.  they are so family freindly.  they have great family bathrooms and little stations for the kids to play at.  if i could redo my entire house, it would be done in ikea!! 

 we were there from 10 am when the doors opened until we pulled out of the parking lot at 2:30 pm.  we tried to buy out the whole store, but there was just too much stuff.  we did get a chair some storage and a few silly knick knacks!!  this is my happily exhausted look as matt is packing up the car and i am feeding audrey and trying to keep liam from running away. 

this is what IKEA can do to your kids.  they fall asleep while reading and give three peaceful hours in the car on the way home!!  thank you IKEA!  

here is one our trip would not have been complete if we didn't stop at the same dairy queen that we stopped at on the way up to dallas.  one last stop before home.  look still smiling!!   

this is one little girl who is glad to be out of her car seat?

it was a great trip.  the kids were great and everything we did was fun!!  mini vacations are the way to go.  you are gone long enough to have fun and you leave wanting just a bit more.

as summer continues to fly by, i am trying to enjoy the last moments!

the doldrums part 2 . . .

so maybe my emotional vomit yesterday helped.  the kids and i went to a pool party, audrey napped extremely well today, and i cleaned the bathrooms and straightened the house some.  i did not nap, but i am feeling much better.  i think i just needed to get the weight off my chest.  thanks for the thoughts.  motherhood is a full time job and it can get a bit overwhelming at times.  we mom's all need support and help, and i have a great support system.  

on another note, here are some pics of the kids of late!!

is there anything sweeter?

or cuter?

the grill master!!

zoned out after the feast!

the doldrums . . .

i have the mid summer blues.  i don't know what it is, but right now i cannot find the energy to do anything.  the joys of the freedom have gone and now it feels like work sometimes to figure out what to do with the kiddos.  i cannot spend all day with them in the house and sometimes going out is even more work.  i know this winy and i know tons of women do this everyday, it is just that at this point in time, i am not in the mood!  i love summer and i love the rest, but i am tired and in need of some get up and go!  i love my children and i love time with them, i just wish i was better at finding things and being more proactive in setting up activities.  it doesn't help that the weather has not cooperated and has rained off and on for many days now!


that is now my goal.  i am going to be better at finding things to do in and around my house.  so if you have any great craft projects or ideas for a 2 year old that can be done around or in the house (i am not a fan of heat!!) send them my way!  


i am giving myself this week to be blah and then it's over, and we are back on the summer fun track.  see you then.  

summer time, summer time, sum sum summer time!

summer is here, and we are loving it.  liam loves the water and loves to swim.  audrey loves to eat and loves to sleep.  i think that is how it is supposed to be.  it is so weird how much faster time goes by when you have two.  i remember i would just stare at liam for hours and now, i have to make sure and take time to stare at my beautiful daughter.  liam is so great and so tiring all at once.  he knows what he wants and when does he want it?  NOW momma!!  of course i can't always get it now and that leads to a disagreement between us.  he thinks i should put audrey down and not feed her or change her, and i think he needs to work on learning patience.  we both win about half the time!  

i was reading on a friends blog about she has not been as good about tummy time and all those things, and i promise i have been worse.  with an active toddler running around it is hard to remember to roll audrey onto her tummy and then be aware enough to keep her older brother from squishing her or poking her eyes out.  

i think the novelty of the new baby has worn off on liam.  he used to want to hold her at least once or twice  day and now it is maybe once a week that he asks and then very quickly decides this is not what i wanted to do.  he is still so sweet.  we were out and about the other day and audrey was in her bassinet stroller and i said "audrey is a sweet girl."  well what should i hear a few minutes later while i am looking at some shirts; liam leaning over the edge of the stroller telling audrey that she was "a sweet girl".  it doesn't get much cuter.  the boy will repeat just about anything and loves to talk and use his new words.  you can hear him saying things over and over again at night until he falls asleep.  so cute.  we are waiting on the potty.  he is not ready and neither am i!!  

audrey is just precious.  she is so alert and is always looking around.  she loves to sit up and sometimes spit up! audrey is a grazer when it comes to eating.  she will eat two ounces, act like she is done, and then be hungry 45 minutes later.  i feel like i do nothing but feed her somedays. but she is eating and growing and i can't complain about that. we go back to the doctor late in july, so i will update her stats then.  so for now, she is squirmy and wiggly and wonderful.  did i mention she is sleeping through the night!  thank goodness.  i am a mommy who loves her sleep.  she is becoming her own little person.  

mommy is doing well, especially since she is getting more sleep.  the summer spoils me too much.  i am not saying that is a bad thing, but it does make it hard when school rolls around again.  we all sleep until we get up and then matt and i stay up way to late reading or watching TV.  i can't get too far off schedule!!  especially since i am teaching 7th grade English next year and will have to start all over again lesson planning.  did i mention that the class starts at 8.  our mornings are now going to be more hectic.  i am excited to get back to jr. high.  i love jr. high kids and am looking forward to teaching them more.  i am still getting my jr. high and high school drama, but will maybe, hopefully be competing in some competitions this year.  i am not a competitive theater person, so this will all be new to me.  pray that i can find good plays and direct them well.  it should be exciting.  

daddy is great.  he is finishing his shop, after two years, and has a new truck (we lost the transmission on the old one that had 151,000 miles on it!), and is overall being a great dad and husband this summer.  he helps in the morning with the kids, goes to swimming lessons, the science spectrum, and other places with us.  he is awesome.  i may get onto him sometimes, but he really is a great dad and husband.  i am a spoiled woman because of him!  i thank God everyday for spoiling me with him.  did i mention he still has to finish is dissertation!!  we'll see how that goes this summer.  

well, that should get everyone caught up.  it seems to be harder and harder to find time to update, but i promise they will not all be this long and grueling.  here are some pictures of the summer for you to enjoy!  i hope you are all enjoying the heat and fun of summer.  i am excited about the 4th of July next weekend!  it is always one of my favorites.  well, i guess i will have to post on that in the next few weeks.  

splash pad fun

pooped after a day of swimming

the little artist

such a sweety

swim time with daddy

water fun

the bumbo wars!  who will win?

at the science spectrum

hugging on jacob and a spinny laura

spin daddy spin

aunt jonna and audrey (jonna is due in 5 weeks with a little girl, we can't wait!!)

we are off for now!  zoom zoom!!

where did i leave off . .

i can't remember and i haven't slept much since then, so i am just going with what i can remember.  opa finally made it!  no more of those pesky icelandic volcanoes to get in our way, instead this time it was mechanical issues at the lubbock airport.  but he made it and got to meet audrey.  i would have that picture but it was on the hard drive that fried.  :(  so sad!  so i am picking up where my camera picked up!  here are the most recent pictures and i shall tell you there story - enjoy!

we went to visit j.e., megan, and the kids for a few days.  

so here we have j.e. (my brother) he had a massive head injury

sadly, you can't tell any difference with him

as the family grows oma's hands get more full!

liam at the bundy drive in (who doesn't love the drive in)

oma and opa with grandkiddos!!  they were in heaven!

we had everyone over to our house.  so we also decided to thaw out liam's birthday cake that we never got to eat.  liam's party was postponed for many reasons 1) icelandic volcanoes 2) gallbladder surgery and 3) ear infections

aunt kristi came to visit and the snuggling ensued!

ros and bob came out for their texas reception.  but before the reception we had to get together more informally.  for bob that meant showing us a different side of him while playing games!  we partied like we were in college and then were miserable the next morning.  we are not as young as we used to be.

liam and g.g. had a great time at the reception.  they had a competition to see who could get the dirtiest in the shortest amount of time.  it was a tie in the end.

audrey's room is finally finished and all the guests have moved out!  i love her room.  it just makes me smile whenever i walk into it.

here is the other wall.  the colors are bright and cheery, but not too bright!  she is finally sleeping in her own room and really loving it.  she is sleeping between 6 and 8 hours at a time!

audrey in an adorable outfit that the lee's from san antonio sent her!  

i just though she looked gorgeous in it! 

liam had his first swim lesson today!  it was great.  he loves water and he loves to splash, but actually kicking and blowing bubbles we re going to have to work on.  we will see how he does the next two weeks! 

summer is in full swing at the byars' house!!  we are excited about the time off with the kiddos and hopefully some sleep.

where does the time go!

i just have to put something on here!!  i have not posted in over a month.  things are great here.  life is crazy busy, always, but my kiddos are precious!!  i would post some pictures but my hard drive fried and i lost everything.  we are sending it off to a laboratory to see if they can extract any information.  all my pictures from the last few months are gone!!  i am heartbroken!!  i knew i should have backed everything up, but i got busy and forgot!!  so we are starting new with a fresh hard drive.  so i will hopefully have some new pictures soon to post, sorry aunt spazzy!  time is flying and hopefully summer will help me to catch up.  liam is loving winnie the pooh right now, so in the words of tigger - TTFN (ta ta for now!)