June has already come and gone which means we are already halfway done with summer! How does that happen so fast?! But we packed it in with a lot of things that deserve to be documented.

Caleb played his first t-ball season! It was entertaining watching 4, 5, & 6 year olds play which basically looked like chaos on the field, but Caleb had an absolute blast! It was definitely his jam. (Coaching t-ball to preschoolers is however NOT Nick’s jam.)

He got to play with his very best buddy and he already can’t wait til next year. These two love them some baseball!

We made sure to be his biggest fan club every week. (His last game in JUNE had us all in jackets and pants because Colorado.)

VBS also whizzed right by in a whirlwind! This year’s theme was ROAR! which had us hanging out on an African safari. Nick is still reluctantly our funny character on the stage which Caleb LOVES. I say it every year but the family that VBS’s together stays together. One of the best parts of both working in ministry is when our whole family gets to be apart of it together. Makes all the long days worth it. 😉

Another huge thing we did in June was paint the outside of our house! Unfortunately we painted it the WRONG color.

And it was our fault so we definitely paid to learn that lesson. So then we painted it again! I’ve never been so happy to see the right shade of blue.

June is my birthday month so my friend Bri and I had another murder mystery party to celebrate our birthdays again! This year we did a roaring 20’s theme and it was SO fun.

I love that we have such a fun group of friends that enjoy dressing up like mobsters and flappers and being ridiculous! I even ended up being the murderer this year. Whoops.

Nick took the youth group to Estes Park for Student Life Camp so I took the boys up to join them for a night. It is never easy to pack up the kiddos and join the student ministry for events or things like camp but I definitely feel like it’s worth the effort for our family to be apart of Nick’s ministry. Before we had kiddos, I played a way more active role by always going to camp and doing all of the things. Although I can’t really do that anymore, I want the boys to see the importance of Nick’s job by being able to witness the students learning about Jesus. Ministry is a vital part of our family and I want the boys to be apart of that.

Caleb has been coming to camp with me since the womb so he was excited for it to be Lukey Bear’s first time.

Caleb did end up getting altitude sickness which meant getting sick in a hotel room in the middle of the night while also sharing a room with a baby. It was pretty much a mom’s nightmare come to life but we survived. Like I said, it’s never easy. Ha! Thankfully he was feeling better in the morning but we definitely headed home earlier than planned.

When Nick got home that Friday, we celebrated my birthday as a family since Caleb was so devastated that he didn’t get invited to my birthday party. Luke had his first ‘pool’ experience and loved it.

One of our favorite things to do this summer is walk over to the park in the evenings and play ‘basketball’ together. I sure do love my boys.

That weekend we met up with our small group where they were camping. There was a huge lake so lots of fun things happening with kids everywhere. Lukey Bear enjoyed all of the people watching.

And that brings us to July which seemed like we already packed a ton in just the first week! Summer is always a busy time in our fam but we’ve been having a blast. Big trips are on the horizon so we are soaking in some time at home before that happens.

Now back outside to the sunshine!

A little over a month ago, I shared a compilation of quotes from Caleb since Luke entered the scene. They were super fun to share so I figured I would continue to record the silly and sweet things he says. And believe it or not, the kid does not keep me lacking for material. It helps that words never stop coming out of his mouth.

Caleb loves to take care of Luke and chat with him. He has started to mimic the silly little phrases that I say to Luke and pretends to have conversations with him. Sometimes he ‘talks’ for Luke or sometimes he just pretends that he understands his babbles. One day he was talking for both of them and their ‘convo’ when a little like this…

Caleb: We are best friends Luke.

Caleb as Luke in his baby voice: What’s a best friend?

Caleb: I don’t know how to explain it.

Luke is probably wondering why he even brought it up then. 😂

Having a little brother has definitely made him start wondering about his future family. We’ve had many conversations about who his wife will be, how old will he be when he’s a dad, where he will live, etc. Here’s one example…

Caleb: Will I ever be a daddy? Who will be my kiddo? But I won’t ever have a baby inside my tummy!

Yup. Way to remind me that only women get that pleasure.

So obviously with any 4 year old, there’s a little confusion about who he’s able to marry. When he brings it up, he always says that he wants to marry his cousin Maddie or marry me. So we’ve had to explain multiple times that we don’t marry family.

Caleb: I just love you so much Mom, we are gonna get married! Well I know we’re not. But we do get to dance together like Daddy did with JoJo.

Yes we do, sweet boy. Melt this mama’s heart.

He always wants Luke to be included in everything. For VBS, he wanted to know if the nursery would be decorated for Luke and assured him that he would come home and tell him everything he learned at VBS. When he went to the zoo the other week, he did the same thing…

Caleb: Luke, when I get home from the zoo, I’ll answer any questions you have. You too, mom. I know you’ll for sure ask me if I had fun.

Apparently I’m pretty predictable.

I shared on my last blog of his quotes that since I seem to always be tired, he says that God must have just made me that way. Ha! Well he’s at it again, y’all.

Caleb: I’m sleepy. I was really sleepy yesterday too.

Me: Why are you so tired?

Caleb: I don’t know! I turned into Mom!

The kid coming through with the zinger. That of course got a huge laugh from both Nick and I so now he continues to say it all the time. Ahhh, kids.

It really is so much fun to see Caleb in his big brother role. He always wants Luke to be in the same room as him, loves helping with him, and is quick to go grab anything Luke may need. As Luke has gotten older, it’s so sweet to even watch him get excited when Caleb is near (usually two inches from his face) and laugh at all of his big brother’s antics. I’m sure the quotes will just keep on coming!

I may be living in a Colorado world, but I will always be a Texas girl. Last year we went for Mother’s Day weekend and haven’t been back since because of the whole having a baby thing. This has been the longest that I’ve ever gone without going to my favorite state. It only seemed fitting that we returned on Mother’s Day weekend but this time with a whole different purpose.. my Nana’s 80th Birthday Party! And of course to introduce our newest member of the fam to everyone. So off we went on Luke’s first flight adventure (really his first trip anywhere!).

We were up early on Thursday morning. Caleb LOVES having to wake up early for the airport. He thinks it’s the best thing ever, especially if the destination is to see some of his favorite people ever.

Luke actually did great for having to wake up so early. Since Daddy wouldn’t share his coffee with him, he was already ready for a nap by the time we boarded.

The boys did fantastic! We then headed to Nanan’s where she got to be reunited with all the grandkids.

And then of course the next stop was Mexican food! Because Texas. They had a little backdrop set up and all the kids’ personalities got to shine. Except poor Luke who looks straight confused. Or frightened.

On Friday, the kids got a lot of play time. Dylan was all about Luke this time which works well since Maddie and Caleb often leave him in the dust. He’s probably thinking that Luke should hurry up and get big so he’s got a buddy to play with.

We got the big kids out of the house and Nanan and Luke got to do their favorite thing together…

That evening, we got to have a bit of reunion with some of my besties and their families. We usually just do a girls night when I come in town but we decided to get all the hubbies and kids together too. Ensue a fun night of chaos and catching up.

The next day was the big day for Nana! It was so fun celebrating the head lady of our family. My nana has always had a special spot in my heart. Some of my favorite memories are playing dress up in all of her clothes and jewelry when we were little. And then when I was in college, I would go work for her once a week and then I would be sent home with shoes or purses that she was done with. She’s always been our accessory queen! She always encourages that if you just put a little lipstick on, you will feel better. If that’s not a true southern woman quote than I just don’t know what is. 😉 (Love you Nana! It was so fun celebrating you!)

It was also an added bonus that we got to see so much family! And of course people got all their baby snuggles.

On Sunday it was Mother’s Day but also the day we headed home! We put all the kiddos in shirts that said ‘Cousin Crew’ and forced them to take pictures which is always a good time. I’m so glad that even though we live states away, the love between these four will always be strong.

Then it was time for lots of hugs and goodbyes! I got a picture with these two amazing moms for Mother’s Day…

And then it was straight real life motherhood at the airport for Mother’s Day. Hard to be pampered when you’re flying with two littles but my boys still made it a sweet day.

We had such an awesome trip! The best part? Getting to introduce Luke to the best state in the country. 😉

May is here and life is crazy! Something about life with a baby makes me want to be sure to get back to blogging and document these days of my boys being littles. Especially when they are experiencing things for the first time.

A few weeks ago, Nick’s Papa left this world to go be with Jesus. He was an incredible man and we were so glad that Nick was able to go to Maryland to celebrate his life. That left the boys & I alone for a couple of days for the first time since Luke was born, but we survived! (I also realize that this is the reality of many of my friends whose hubbies travel every week. I fully believe that Starbucks should give them free coffee everyday.) One night after I finished Luke’s bedtime, I headed to do Caleb’s and found him like this…

Whoops. Apparently I wasn’t fast enough for him and he just put himself to bed.

We spent as much time outside as possible and Luke was introduced to the world of baseball hats. Caleb let him know that this was pretty much a must if he wanted to hang with him and Dad.

And I’m pretty sure this next picture is around the time that Caleb got a splinter in his booty. Which is now known as Splinter 2.0. And for sure goes down as one of my craziest mom stories. (It would definitely need a whole blog post in itself to explain.)

We had friends over one night and we finally got to meet Benjamin who is just three days younger than Luke! We literally moved out of our room at the hospital and they moved in. (Seriously.)

And Caleb always loves playing with Grayson!

While Nick was gone, I let Caleb have his first impromptu sleepover with me. Which pretty much MADE his life. And yes, he’s just as chatty falling asleep as he is awake. And he also had a lot of rules… face him, get off my phone, fall asleep on the count of 3. It was all very peaceful.

Then Daddy came home with new hats in tow which made the boys very happy!! (Well at least the big one. The little one looks a bit freaked out.)

The Kerstetter’s were in town from Ireland and I’m so glad that I got to spend time with Denise (& Russ too.. I guess!). Although I didn’t get a pic with them, I did make them take an awkward one with the boys. They were one of the very first people we met at our church so they will always have a special place in my heart.

Caleb had his second t-ball practice last week and got his BlueJays uniform! He’s so excited to play with his best buddy.

His first game this weekend was one of the cutest and most hilarious things I’ve ever seen! I don’t think any of the kids knew what was happening a majority of the time, but they all definitely seemed to have fun.

His best friend and his daddy are definitely his favorite.

We then headed right over to our friends’ crawfish boil (aka one of the best days of May!).

Holding a baby at a crawfish boil is a bit tricky so thank goodness for good friends that are willing to feed you the crawfish! True friendship at its finest.

Or they just take the baby altogether which also works!

We ended the weekend with a night out with friends for Cinco de Mayo. Random fact about Nick… he loves Cinco de Mayo. So he took care of childcare and all of the logistics so we could go to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. (Although the picture definitely makes it look like we ate at Chick-fil-A.)

Whew, that’s all for now! Talk about a random assortment of things. This week we are gearing up for our first trip to Texas as a family of four! Get ready Lone Star State, we are coming for ya!

One of the sweetest parts of having Luke enter our family is seeing how much Caleb loves him. Watching him become a big brother has been so precious because he takes it so seriously. He is constantly checking on him, talking about him, playing with him, helping me with what I need for him, and chatting with him. Believe me when I say that Luke always has a 4 year old in his face. I think this picture captures their relationship perfectly…

Luke has no choice but to love the kid. 🙂 Caleb does make him smile big though!

Ever since Luke was born, I’ve been keeping notes of the funny and/or sweet quotes of things that Caleb says. I know these are things that I’ll always want to remember, so I figure why not write a post about it and everyone can enjoy a good laugh!

About a week into Luke’s life, Caleb really wanted a big role in helping with him.

Caleb: When can I help you figure out what he needs?

Me: You’re doing a great job already helping me.

Caleb: I’m doing most of the work, aren’t I?

Probably not the best thing to say to a lady who’s sleep deprived and nursing. He’ll learn when he’s a husband. 😉

Around that same time after he was born, Caleb was starting to learn that Luke would just cry sometimes. A couple times he would voice his frustration…

Caleb: Its hard work taking care of a baby. I’ve sang to him twice and gave him his pacifier. And he’s STILL crying.

Caleb: It’s a MYSTERY. He doesn’t tell us what’s wrong – he just cries.

Welcome to motherhood, man.

One thing that Caleb finds hilarious?? That you pretty much know anytime that Luke poops since you can hear the noises. Absolutely cracks him up. #boymomlife

Caleb: Because sometimes when you eat, you gotta poop. At least that’s what happens to me.

And apparently he thought we needed an explanation about it all.

Caleb absolutely loves helping with Luke’s bath time. Him & Nick have a whole system of who does what and Caleb takes it very seriously. It finally clicked to him one night that Luke gets a bottle at bed and so now he says often…

Caleb: Man, I wish I got to eat right before bed!

We assured him that he always has dinner and sometimes even dessert and that tastes WAY better than Luke’s bottle.

Obviously being a mama of a 4 year old and a 4 month old, I’ve erred on the tired side the past few months. To which Caleb doesn’t really let me forget…

Me: Gosh, I’m so tired.

Caleb: You’re always tired. That’s just how God made you.

Touché.

Every night before bed, a part of Caleb’s prayer is…

I thank you that we would get good sleep, especially Luke.

Clearly he knows the importance of baby sleep.

Now that Luke has started eating baby food, Caleb is all in on the action. He likes to help pick out what food we should give him, he reminds me of which foods it doesn’t seem like Luke likes, and he loves to watch all the faces Luke will make while eating. One of the cutest things though is that Caleb calls Luke’s bibs aprons.

Caleb: Look, he has a Lightning McQueen apron!

It’s easy to see the confusion there. And kind of too cute to correct.

I’m sure there will be many, many more to come!! Especially since the kid never stops talking. 😉

Easter is always such a huge holiday in our family and this year was no different! With both of us being on church staff, it is a busy season and then add in the element of our own kiddos and we’ve got ourselves lots to do. Thankfully we are still able to take the time to truly celebrate the reason for Easter.. God sent His Son to die on a cross for all of us that we may be with Him for eternity!!! If that’s not a reason to celebrate, then I don’t know what is!

Last weekend, we attempted to attend an Easter egg hunt & festival at a nearby college. I use the word attempted because we did indeed go, but it snowed the entire time and the poor people in charge basically crammed a two hour event into 30 minutes. You know who didn’t care? This guy!

We were all soaked (it was a wet snow!) by the end of it, but Caleb played games and hunted for eggs like it was all totally normal. I guess he’s a Colorado boy now.

Luke stayed nice and warm in his stroller all covered up the entire time. That’s one way to spend your first Easter egg hunt. 😉

The Chick-Fil-A cow was there, because who needs the Easter bunny??

On actual Easter weekend, we kicked it off with our Good Friday services at church. We had two services so our plan was to attend one and work the other. Welp, Lukey Bear had different plans. The poor guy cried the entire first service because church on a Friday night apparently is not his jam. We ended packing up the crazy train and heading home. So the only picture I got was of Caleb rockin’ his favorite pose in front of our garage.

On Saturday, we were able to have a great family day. I figured out when Caleb was either 1 or 2 that Easter baskets just can’t really happen on Sunday morning for us since Daddy was usually already gone when Caleb woke up. So we now do Easter baskets and his own personal egg hunt on Saturday. That way no one is rushed and we all get to participate. Unfortunately, I didn’t snap any pics. Afterwards, Nick and Caleb worked in the yard and I did get a picture of the audience.

On Easter morning, the 4 of us were pulling out of our driveway at 7 am. Our church had an 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00 service and we were ready! We did make sure to get pics as soon as we got there (and by we, I mean I insisted) because once we all went our separate directions, I didn’t have high hopes of how we would look after the morning.

It was such a fantastic morning getting to serve and celebrate the Resurrection with our church family! The boys had to hang in their classes for all 3 services and they were absolute champs. It’s a lot to ask of little kiddos and I’m so thankful they were able to have a great morning as well. I told Nick that there must be extra treasure in Heaven for a ministry kid. 😉

After church consisted of a quick run home for a few more pics in our cute clothes before we changed into comfier clothes. (Can you hear all my boys groaning from there??)

Three years ago, we started celebrating Easter with some families from our church and now it’s turned in to our annual gathering which we love. It’s full of lots of people, lots of food, an Easter egg hunt, and just having a great time together. This year Luke definitely won the award for most snuggles because there was pretty much a line to hold him all day long. Which he didn’t complain about one single bit.

It was a long but fantastic day! I think it was definitely a win for Luke’s very first Easter. And just because I can’t miss the opportunity for a nostalgic throwback, here’s pics of Caleb’s first Easter…

Hope everyone had a lovely time celebrating our Risen Savior! And here’s to it officially being spring time, amiright? (I’m looking at you Colorado – NO MORE SNOW.)

Before we had Luke, our life was crazy and chaotic and it was definitely the norm that we would have something every night of the week. Add in a baby and it turned in to quite a tailspin! We allowed ourselves to take a step back from some things in order to add some margin to our lives to adjust to this whole family of 4 thing. And now here we are at 4 months so I wanted to give an update of life lately…

We have done lots of snuggling.

We have *finally* enjoyed some nice weather.

We also have still had quite a bit of snow. BOOOOO. (This Texas girl is OVER it.)

We got to watch Caleb sing in his preschool Spring Program.

We have also taken a LOT of brother pics. Because holy cuteness.

We have also gone baseball crazy over here. (These children have been inundated by Rockies gear – please send Astros gear ASAP.)

And our littlest guy is learning to play and getting so big.

All in all, it’s been quite the four months. Nick and I are very much aware how amazing it is that God decided that we get to parent these two little guys. It may not always be easy, but we sure are thankful. Here’s to many more chaotic, crazy months in our future!

The baby stage is totally not my jam. Yup. I said it. And I’ve pretty much always known this about myself.

Well it’s no secret that I just recently had a baby. And before you try to take him away from me, just hear me out. I am a person that thrives on plans, routines, and consistency. My mom and sister even used to laugh at the fact that my two year old would constantly ask me what the plan was for the day. Because that’s how we roll in our house… we have plans. We know them. We abide by them.

Welp.. if you know anything about babies, they are pretty much the opposite of plans, routines, and consistency. Especially at the beginning of their little lives. They may decide to eat every three hours or they may just randomly decide that they are actually hungry only an hour and a half later. A nap? Could last forever laying sweetly in a swing or he could decide to only sleep in your arms while standing and swaying with one foot in the air. And guess what? You NEVER know which is going to happen when. Because clearly babies can’t talk. These things are the epitome of unpredictable. And YES… there are a million books and blogs that teach you how to sleep train, how to decipher the 8 different cries, how to put your baby on a schedule, how to transition your baby from this to that, on and on and on. But at the end of the day, each one will usually say something like ‘But each baby is different so do what’s best for your baby and you as a parent!’ Gee, thanks. There goes having a special formula that is going to get me back to being that somewhat sane person that used to actually sleep. It all can leave this planning mama stressed out, exhausted, and exasperated.

BUT GOD.

Every New Years, I am one of those people that picks out a word to be a sort of theme for my upcoming year. I was convinced this year that it should be patience. Makes sense, right? I had just had a baby and I already have a 4 year old… surely that combination resulted in me needing a big ol’ dose of patience. Well in the middle of the night while feeding that sweet little baby, I kept hearing JESUS.. that JESUS is my word, not patience. It is way too easy for me to become consumed in this season of trying to figure my sweet little baby out. All of my thoughts become all about trying to think through why this tiny human does the things he does. I become hyper-focused on his sleeping, his schedule, if I’m doing all of the right things, and it’s just a downward spiral from there. And before you know it, I’ve totally lost sight of the One who created this precious little baby and decided that I should be his mother. So right in the middle of the night when the thoughts tend to run the most crazy, God chose to remind me of exactly that.

I was confessing all of this to a group of girls the other week so I asked them for accountability. I want to set my eyes on JESUS instead of relying on myself to do all the things or become obsessed with looking things up. One of the girls said ‘God over Google’ and now that’s pretty much on repeat in my brain. When my baby randomly wakes up at an odd time, will I turn to the Lord or will I google to try to figure out why? Anytime my baby does anything that’s not according to some plan, will I choose to focus on God or will I choose to fall down the rabbit hole that google allows? I am choosing God. Now don’t hear me saying that it’s sinful to be knowledgeable on all things baby or that it’s wrong wanting to use any tools or resources that are available out there. I just know that my heart and mind are easily swayed to believe that I should figure things out all on my own. Which is not what God desires for my life.

So to all the other mamas stressed out and trying to figure it all out (whether it is sleep training, common core math homework or teenage drama), let’s all just remember that the God of the universe designed our children. He knows them far greater than we ever will so our first call for help should always be to Him.

God, grant me the wisdom to parent my boys well.

Remind me daily that you chose ME as their mom.

Thank you for your grace as I make a million mistakes.

And most of all Lord, let me remember that my biggest call in motherhood is pointing them to YOU.

Amen.

Two months ago, I was officially welcomed back to the land of sleep deprivation, spit up, and baby snuggles. On December 10th, our little baby boy decided it was time to come join us in the world. It started with a wake up call at 4 am (here’s to no traffic!) and ended with Luke Richard Jones being born at 11:35 am.

My whole plan of how he would be born was pretty much thrown out the window immediately but thankfully God’s plan is much better than mine. As we were faced with the decision of having another c-section, we prayed together and trusted the Lord with the decision. We didn’t know it until the middle of my surgery, but the cord was wrapped four times around our sweet boy’s neck. So basically any laboring or pushing at all would have put Luke in distress and would have led everyone rushing me to the OR. Praise God for His protection over our baby’s life! We are so thankful for His faithfulness to us in all of the details.

Luke was 20 inches long and 7 pounds, 2 ounces. Definitely smaller than his big brother who was 8 pounds, 9 ounces when he was born. The doctor told me there was a chance I might have a smaller baby living in higher altitude and clearly she was right!

We are all so in love with our sweet little boy. Caleb has jumped into the big brother role head first and has loved every minute. Everyone warned us that we may see some behavior issues with him (and we did see a few at first!), but nothing directed towards Luke. Caleb has always wanted to be right by him, help with him, sing to him, kiss and hug him, etc etc etc. That has definitely been a huge blessing to have that brotherly love start immediately. And mama has to admit, it’s pretty nice to have a built in little helper that’s happy to go grab things or watch little brother while I’m in the other room.

It definitely is true that when you’re the second kiddo, you better be chill because you’re gonna be tagging along to way more things. Luke was only a week old when he got traipsed to big brother’s preschool Christmas program and has also already experienced his first Stockshow and his first big youth event among other things.

We are so very thankful for all of the million ways that people have loved us so well in these past two months. People have come to visit us, sent gifts, shown up with food, coffee, diapers, toys for Caleb, and just to hold the baby so I could shower. Since Caleb was born in Texas, this was the first time we’ve had a baby in Colorado and it ended up being an amazing experience. We’ve only lived her for three years, but it feels like so much longer. So thank you to all of our people. You sure know how to welcome a baby into this world.

Thank you Jesus for our precious family.