Beatin' the Heat

One last post for July! Here are the boys beatin' this crazy triple-digit heat! Photos edited with Instagram.

What's in a Name?

It's always an important, yet difficult task. Naming your child. In all honesty, Landon and Reid were only picked because we liked the names. Not because they have special meaning or are family names. After all, if you look up Landon you will find that it means a long hill. If you look up Reid you find that it means Red. These meanings aren't all that special. I've always thought a name is a name and the meaning gives no significance to the person whom it will represent. Plus, how many people out there have your name as well...probably more than you think! While I still believe this and am not at all stuck on meanings, we have found it a little more challenging to come up with our third boy name. Probably because we feel that, most likely, this will be our last time to do this. That being said, we have narrowed down our list to 5 names. We feel that we already know which one will represent our third little man, but just for fun we wanted to add a poll on this blog and get your opinion! The outcome of this will not make any decisions for us as we will make the final call based on what we feel is the best fit. We also reserve the right to use none of these names should another one we like pop into our heads. :)  The middle name will most likely be Lanier (la-near), which is my middle name. Aaron's middle name (Aaron) was passed on to Reid so we felt it only fair to pass on something from my family. If you would like, please vote to the right of the blog. You can vote for more than one! Here is a list of the names, their meanings, and a reason we are considering it.

Jordan-means descending. We just like this name but we also like that it represents a country that has some special significance to our family. :)

Mason-means stone worker. We just liked this name!

Josiah-means fire of the Lord. We just liked this name!

Micah-means who is like God. We also just like this name but we thought it was kind of neat that it is part of Aaron's first name, Michael.

Jacob-means the supplanter. Just like this one as well. It was actually one considered for Landon but at the time it just didn't make the top of the list!

Fun Pics Friday

These are not all from my phone today...which is why the post title is FUN pics Friday! :)

 Enjoying his birthday present from MiMi and Grandy

 Many of our days are spent in the water trying to keep cool...We love spending time at the pool with Claire and Julianna.

 We took Landon to see Cars 2.

 Laying out by the pool.

 Trying on one of Camille's headbands.

 The Devils Bowl...

 Sleeping soundly...in his big boy bed! He's done perfect with this transition from day 1!



Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh....BOY!

If you haven't heard, we have recently found out that we're expecting our third BOY! We unexpectedly found out a little earlier than normal during a level II sonogram. I remember finding out at 13 weeks with Reid...I guess with boys it's just easier to tell! Either that, or I just have some really proud boys! ;) If I were to be honest for just a moment, I did have a tiny bit of hope that this might be a girl. I think the main reason for that is because we have decided that this will be our last biological child (adoption has always been a thought for us). But, it only took a few seconds after finding out for me to get over that and be thrilled about another little boy. To say I was diasappointed is FAR from the truth! I am a little amazed at how some people react to the thought of all boys...like they feel a little sorry for me. As if it were my choosing in the first place. I even find myself feeling slightly guilty for not being able to provide a little girl to the grandparents. But why would I have it any different than what God has clearly designed for our family? It's obvious that Aaron and I are meant to raise little gentlemen. The world could use a few more God-fearing men and my hope and prayer is that we can contribrute 3 of them! I couldn't be more thrilled to add more snips, snails and puppy dog tails to our crew!

"A little boy is the only thing God can use to make a man." --Unknown

Boys in my House
Author: Erin Jo Kilmer
There are boys in my house - and Spiderman shoes
And 200 papers in various blues.
There's Bob (he's a builder) and Thomas the Train,
There's a fireman coat to wear in the rain.
They have cars on their shirts and frogs on their hats
There's a glove and a ball and a red plastic bat.
There's dirt on a face and a smudge on a nose;
Grass stains on knees and sand between toes.
There's bathtime at night with bodies to scrub,
And when we're all done there is dirt in the tub!
There's bandaids and bruises and curious bumps,
There's smiles and laughter and sometimes there's grumps.
There's odors most icky; there's boogers so green
There's more yucky things than I'll ever get clean.
There's piles of laundry; there's stories at night;
There's bedtime and bathtime and dinnertime fights.
There's cars and there's trains and there's books about trucks
There's Mickey and Manny and Donald the Duck.
Sometimes there are bugs, and sometimes there are frogs;
Sometimes they are lions, or dinos, or dogs.
There are cute little vests and darling neckties
Dragged right through the mud - oh what a surprise!
There's running and climbing and jumping and falling
And laughing and crying and hugging and brawling
And rolling and losing and finding and creeping
And whining and stealing and sometimes there's sleeping.
There's tantrums and time outs and extra loud noise -
There's love in my house shaped like one two THREE little boys!
~~~
These are the things that zoom around our house...

The things that I am constantly stepping on...

The things that fly past my head....

 

The things that make a little boy feel like a big boy...

 These are things I would never change about our house...and won't be able to for at least a few years! :)
~~~
And just for fun...some pics of our newest little guy at 15 weeks!

Legs...

 The little boy shot....

A Day on the Lake

Growing up, many of our summer days were spent on the lake...skiing, tubing, swimming, knee-boarding, parasailing...you name it! Against my will, I was forced to learn how to ski at the age of 5. I guess I can say I'm now thankful for that, but there is video to prove that I didn't appreciate it back then. Unfortunately as we've all gotten older our lake days have drastically decreased. The boys LOVE the water and many of my days with them are spent swimming! But, they haven't had much exposure to boats and the lake (or the BIG water as Landon calls it). We were able to take Landon out on the boat 3 summers ago when he was about 10 months old. Of course, he was a little small to do much then and he didn't seem to appreciate it anyways. Now that they are older, we were hoping for a different response. The beginning of our family trip to the lake on Sunday started out pretty much as expected. There were a few tears. But thankfully, after some gradual introductions, both boys really began to warm up and ended up having a great time! We're hoping there will be a few more lake trips before the end of the summer!

 I love everything about this next picture....It definitely would make a good "wordless wednesday" pic!

 Daddy kneeboarding....

 ...and is paying for it today!

 Since this is as close to the beach as our family will get this year, here are mine and Reid's "beach feet" pictures...

 

 Arianne parasailing...

 

 Aaron parasailing...if the first pic had a little bubble above Reid's head, it would say, "Where's Daddy?"

 

This next picture of the boys waving at Aaron was taken with my phone. I noticed a couple of hours later that Landon has his hand down the back of his pants...lovely!

 

I hate that this one is so fuzzy, but we were moving pretty fast when I took it...I just thought the sunset was pretty behind them!