March Continued

March just keeps on going and we are just keeping busy! This little girl has discovered that she likes anything she can tear apart. Papers, diapers in drawers, toilet paper, etc. She will have no interest in a bunch of toys, but if you put them all into a bin for her to empty, she has a hay day! This was the first time she ever pulled herself up onto her knees....to see into the diaper bin of course!

 This last week she has started to look more toddler-ish to me. It's making me very sad. Maybe it's all her hair, but she just keeps looking more and more grown up. Her favorite game is flying on her belly while we chase the boys. She laughs and laughs. She's also become super ticklish!

 After school Brody sat down and worked very hard on this little picture. He said Hannah gave him a piece of paper at school, so he thought she might like a picture. I love to see the little pictures he comes up with, but I wasn't going to make a big deal out of this picture for a girl thing. I wasn't sure how serious he was being, but of course when I went to put his lunch box in his backpack the next morning, it was already in there ready to be delivered at school. The day before as we were leaving there were 3 little girls that walked by. When Brody said hello to them they all giggled and huddled all googley eyed. Brody was completely oblivious, but it made his mom laugh pretty hard! He's just like his dad. As long as we stick to drawing pictures and not kissing girls in Kindergarten (ahem, Jared) I think we'll be okay. :)

 My friend Meredith who is part of our coop pre-school sent this to me one day while I was out shopping. It was her turn to teach and they were water coloring. Parker was so excited that he figured out how to make the water orange by mixing red and yellow that he said, "Sister Rotz, you need to take a picture of this and send it to my mom!" Can you tell he has one parent that we share most accomplishments with via text?! He has been trained well, I know. 

 At the library this week, Capri just looked so big. I was sitting there marveling at what a beautiful little person she is, and also trying to figure out how she's so grown up already. Birth to one year old really does blow my mind. How in the world do they change so fast. It is SO sad and exciting all at the same time. Just for records sake, her eyes are exactly like her big brother Brody's with the little white specks that go all the way around. I absolutely love them.

 Capri still loves to play peek-a-boo. This is usually how she does it. Gets her arms up like this and then pulls them down. She thinks it's hilarious!

 9 month old toddler baby. :( 

 I feel so bad for this little girl. I always have to wake her up to take Brody to school or to pick him up after school or take one of them to practice. I hate having to get this sweet thing out of her peaceful rest:

 Jared took this one of Parker and Capri while at Parker's soccer game. It's rare to have one of just the two of them! I think I need to do better about that.

 Last Saturday after a baseball game and soccer game, we introduced Jared to "Frozen" on a rainy day. He said there was too much singing for his taste, but otherwise he liked it. My boys don't go around singing the songs like I've heard a lot of other kids do, but you better believe they quote it a lot. The favorite one lately is in response to someone picking their nose, "But all men do it, mom!" Thank you, Disney!

 My friend Colette has teenage boys that play a lot of sports. Therefore, she has a very nice camera for action shots. Her nephew is one of Parker's friends and just so happened to play against Parker last Saturday. As a result, we got some awesome action shots from Colette. Parker scored a goal and they all said his reaction was hilarious (I was at Brody's baseball game so I missed it.) He ran down the field fist pumping one arm and yelling very enthusiastically. Parker doesn't do anything half way. I love watching him play soccer because he's all smiles from ear to ear. He always volunteers to play if someone doesn't want to and played 3/4 periods this last game. He looks forward to it all week and just has so much fun!

 Parker's buddy Jace (with his tongue out) playing against Parker:

 Photo bomb by Daddy in the back! He was trying to take good care of our little girl. It worked out better with her nap schedule for Jared to take her to Parker's game (Brody's is longer and further away), so Jared was a good sport and took her. When Jared is home Capri doesn't want much to do with me. She cries even when he hands her back to me. She loves her dad. He's such a great dad for these kiddos!

 Multitasking Dad: cheering on Parker while trying to get shoes back on a little girl who likes to pull them off:

 Brody had his first T-ball/baseball game! He had a lot of fun also! I think this is going to go better than soccer did as Brody really looks forward to baseball and gets so excited about it. This particular game was quite cold. I had packed him a coat but he took it off and one of the coaches felt bad for my shivering guy and gave him his sons...even though it's a couple sizes too small. I got a good laugh out of it.

 I always forget that because Brody's a lefty batter, I need to go on the other side to take his picture. 

 Batter up!

 In his league, they do 3 coach pitches and if they don't hit them, they go off the T. He's about 50/50 on what he hit for the first game. Not too bad if you ask me! He's great off the T! He got to first base without being tagged out every time also. He's a fast runner!

 Just a funny little story. My kids have been begging me for a dog. We saw a yorkie at Home Depot last weekend and Parker told the owner, "We want to get a dog, so we should get one. Can I come to your house until then?" Mind you, this is a total stranger, but Parker talked about that dog for hours after we left Home Depot. All my kids love dogs (even Capri), so despite their mothers ideal situation, I'm sure a dog is in our future. We got a flyer in our mailbox today for a donation thing with this picture on it. Parker says, "See, Mom, even the mailman thinks we need to get a dog!" haha! Nice logic, Parker, but it's not happening quite yet.

 Capri loves her bath time. She doesn't get to play as long as the boys did when they were babies because I'm always trying to juggle 3 kids needing baths, books, scriptures, songs, prayers, etc before bed and there just isn't time for it. Tonight I let her play for a while, though, and she was absolutely loving it. We may have a cute little swimmer on our hands. 

One more quick story. Parker has been full of questions for me today. When he was half awake on the way to dropping off Brody at school today he wanted to know if he was going to be baptised by John the Baptist. Then he wanted to know how I knew people went to heaven after they died. Then he wanted to know why fireman needed oxygen tanks to breathe. Why do they need helmets? After learning the reasons, he decided he was NEVER going to be a fireman. Inquisitive little soul who keeps me on my toes! 

March Madness and Spring Break!

We have really been enjoying our March this year. The weather is getting a little nicer (sometimes) and so we've been able to venture out a little more and stop hibernating. It's been wonderful! It has still been cold/rainy/windy on quite a few days, but there have been a days of sunshine in between which has been so good for us. Jared has continued his Monday through Friday project in Chicago and has even had to stay over a weekend or two.   It's been very busy as usual, but lots of fun too!

One of our new favorite spots is Urban Air Trampoline Park that just opened down the street from us. Parker and I scoped it out during a pre-school playtime and he was in heaven! 

 Capri and her little baby friend, Lauren, sat and looked at each other. 

 Playing in the foam pit:

 Parker man looking way too old lately:

 As a result of me going to Indianapolis for the funeral and Jared not coming home the next weekend, there were 3 weeks where we only saw each other for about 2 hours of awake time. When Jared came home on February 28th, he brought home Valentine's flowers. haha Better late then never! We just hadn't seen each other since Valentines day to celebrate. I loved them. Thanks Jared!

 My Parker plays so hard. He goes full throttle at everything all day long. He makes me laugh and gives me a run for my money all at the same time. I hope all of his determination in life will serve him well someday. He's getting to be a really good little soccer player and looks forward to it all week. His second game this season he scored 2 goals! He was very proud of himself and we were too!

One problem when you play so hard, though, is that you wear yourself out. It is such a struggle to keep him awake in the car. This day I took a shower late in the day after a run while Jared took Brody to baseball practice. I came out of the shower (at 5 p.m.) to find Parker with his backpack on sound asleep on my bed. He slept for about 45 minutes and then was up and back at it!

 This may sound so funny, but one of my favorite parts of Sundays are getting up and getting Capri dressed for church. Maybe because I like her clothes way better than mine and it's fun to dress her up while she still can't protest. I was excited for her to finally fit into a dress my wonderful Kbabe friend got for her when she was born. Her hair is also long enough now for a clippy. Such a pretty girl:

 Example #2: Middle of the day. How can that be comfortable?

 Parker and Brody also love getting in Capri's crib with her in the mornings. Brody is so funny in that he wakes himself up early every day so he has time to play before school. He is then usually the first person to hear Capri awake and yells, "The little sweet one is up!" She is adored by her two big brothers.

 I have also learned that nothing is safe anymore. She loves shoes and emptying out the shoe bucket. That's all fine and good until I'm fishing a clump of mud (I sure hope it was mud) she pulled off the bottom of Parker's cleat out of her mouth. SO disgusting. Caught in the act:

 Capri also started riding in carts this past week the right way. Those little feet just kicked and kicked the whole time. She smiles at every who looks at her and makes lots of friends wherever she goes!

 Another Sunday dress:

 Mr. Brody has started baseball practices (games start next week) and is so far having lots of fun! His coach is a pretty interesting guy, but I hope it'll be a good experience for him. 

 Brody has been drawing and coloring a lot lately. I love his pictures he makes me and the fact that he "lices" me a lot.

 I think he said Dad was winning a trophy in this one, but I don't remember for what. I'll have to ask him.

 Just a selfie for dad one night!

 This week has been spring break for Brody. It has actually been lovely because it feels like life before we were strapped to a school schedule. It was so nice to be able to wake up, ask the boys what they wanted to do that day, and go do it. Parker was dying to show Brody the trampoline park, so one day we went. We went as soon as they opened and had the whole thing to ourselves for the first 30 minutes. Apparently everyone but us sleeps in during spring break. We've enjoyed park days, play dates, the library, slushies at Race Trac, and just playing at home like Brody loves to do. It's been a great week!

 Brody shooting hoops:

 Parker loved this part of the trampoline park. I had a hard time getting him out of here. We may have to try their hands at basketball soon to see if they like that!

 He wasn't happy at all, was he?!

 I took this picture more for me than anyone else, but I wanted to share it so I remember the lesson I learned that accompanied it. There was one day a few weeks ago that I decided we'd take a walk to the Race Trac (gas station that has frozen yogurt and slushies). Brody rode his scooter there and Parker rode his bike. It's a little over a mile walk there and with two little boys who are pretty timid on their new equipment, it took absolutely forever.  My patience was running pretty thin because they weren't being super cooperative, it was hot, Capri was crying, etc. You get the picture. After RaceTrac Brody rode Parker's bike home for me and Parker rode in the stroller to the park where they burnt off some energy and I regained some of my patience. Well, I remember turning around while being a little frustrated with Brody and seeing a face very similar to this one. He was having so much fun and I was so upset with myself for being short and frustrated with him as he learned to ride this bike. I felt even worse after we got home and he started having coughing fits and it turned out the poor kid had pneumonia. I felt like the mother of the year and shed a few tears about it. 

Well, this week was the first time we tried this little journey again. It was a beautiful day and I was determined to make it a better experience than last time. Parker was actually the one struggling a lot more this time, but I remembered how horrible I felt last time so I tried very hard to be patient with both of them. When we got to a similar spot, I had a little epiphany and thought that I should take a picture of this face so it was more than a mental one for me to remember with. I was so happy and learned a lesson. I was grateful for a do-over. Parenting is such a journey of trial and error and sometimes you get it right and sometimes you just don't. I was grateful for the life lesson that I can always pick myself up and try again. Loved this happy little face and knowing that he was having such a wonderful time!

 I did learn another life lesson that day. Stay a distance away from little boys still learning how to control a bicycle. Sweet Brody saw a friend and wasn't watching where he was going so his bike pedal went right across my leg. It took a half a container of baby wipes before this stopped bleeding! I will probably have a forever scar to also remind me of this little experience. Ha!

 The kids and I decided to make it feel a little more spring like this week with the addition of some beautiful flowers (from Costco!). They smell so wonderful and make me happy as soon as I walk in the door!

 Miss Capri turns 9 months old this week. I can hardly believe it. She has really taken to her dad and cries whenever he leaves the room. She also likes to make huge messes and prefers stacks of papers to baby toys. She's going to keep my on my toes! She is still a very sweet baby who as of this week has two bottom teeth! I hope these teething nights get past us pretty soon! Poor girl has been pretty miserable. 

She's a big girl!

 Getting up on her knees more lately:

 Look at this little sass-a-frass smirk! SO cute!

 Love this happy baby!

 Her hair is coming in super curly like the boys. I love it and can't wait to see what it looks like all grown out.

We're just keeping busy here in the Musick house. Texas has some crazy weather that is keeping us guessing, but we're hoping for more consistent warm weather here soon!