Brothers!

These two are just so much fun!!! I really have no other way to explain it, because these two are just so goofy with each other.  Granted, they have their fights and their whiny moments, but when these two play together and get along, everything just feels perfect.  As you can tell from this photo, Brayden seriously loves and admires his big brother.  He wants to do everything Jacob does, which sometimes creates some problems. Brayden doesn't communicate that great yet, so he resorts to screaming and crying when he is frustrated. So, he sometimes turns into a threenager, stuck in a 21 month old body, who can't talk. So, we have our moments! LOL

However the conversations between these two, are pretty much the most hilarious things ever!!! Also, just Jacob being 3 and having the vocabulary of a 7 year old makes for some amazing conversations...

Bath Time Conversation:

Jacob: "Brayden sit down! I don't want any poop to pop into my face!!" (For the record, Brayden as never pooped in the tub before, just Jacob has LOL)

 Me getting dressed:

Jacob: "I want to have boobies so I can wear a bra!"

Prediction on when baby Jordan will arrive:

Debbi: "Jacob when is baby Jordan going to come?"
Jacob: "hmmm 3 days"
Debbi: "3 days? Okay, morning, afternoon, or night?"
Jacob: "hmmm morning."

Coming in from a fishing trip:

Jacob singing the following song: "Did I catch a bobber? Yes I did!, Did I catch seaweed? Yes I did! Did I catch a fish? No I didn't!" (One of the best made up songs ever!)

Reading him a book while being 9 months pregnant:

Me: "Are elephants small? No! Elephants are HUGE!"
Jacob: giggling
Me: "Jacob what's so funny?"
Jacob: "You're huge like an elephant mommy!!"

Seeing the Giraffes at the zoo:

Jacob: "Daddy, what do giraffes eat?"
Mike: "Plants."
Jacob: "Oh so they are herbivores?" (what kid knows that word?!?!?!)

Talking with Dayton:

Jacob: "Grandpa, what does the word identical (he mumbled it) mean?
Grandpa: "What word?
Jacob: "Identical" (Again mumbled)
Grandpa: "Where did you hear this word?"
Jacob: "I heard it on Sesame Street."
Grandpa: "Okay say it slower."
Jacob: "I...heard...it...on...Ses..ame...street.." (saying it super slow)

 

These conversations have been so much fun!! I can't wait for Brayden to talk more and for baby Jordan to get here to see them both interact with him!! Having these brothers is the best hing that could have happened to our family. And I know Jordan will make a great addition!!


 

Noni and Grandpa's New House!!!

When we moved up here 2 years ago, it was only a distant dream that our families would follow us.  We made the decision to move here out of necessity for our family unit, but it was not one that was easily made.  We knew we were taking a risk by moving away from family.  Then 4 months ago, one of our favorite things happened!!! Noni and Grandpa Dayton moved 7 minutes away from us!!! And I guess I should mention the spectacular place they chose... 10.5 acres, giant pond, theater room, and great lawn for a soccer field :0) It really is a piece of property that I can see our boys growing up in! They already love it!!! And Jacob could not be happier that Noni is as close as she is! He says "Now I can see Noni everyday!" Now his second dream will come true when he can see Everett everyday! Hint Hint Kiki!!

The boys favorite place is the lake! There are fish, turtles, polliwogs, frogs, crawdads, and the most recent addition... Otters!!! It's crazy to see the amount of nature just in their backyard!! As mentioned in a prior blog, the boys are getting so much more comfortable in the water (obviously by Brayden being full in the water with clothes on!) There is a little row boat that we take the kids out on and fish.  One of the best things is seeing Matt and Mike teach the boys fishing.  Granted Matt and Mike took me fishing once and it was hands down the most sketchy thing I have done in my life (lightning and a metal boat and we didn't catch anything), but I will say they have stepped up their safety skills in teaching the boys how to fish.

The lake has a huge sand area to build sand castles and dig with the boys trucks.  We also are in no short supply of squirt guns!! The water play at their house is off the charts!!

Hands down my mom's favorite part is to go exploring the property and seeing all the neighbor's animals. The boys were slightly nervous near the horses, which I don't blame them, but they do love watching them from a distance!

The neighbors seem so far away, but it's so nice to see their animals up close!!

There is tons of pavement space for the boys to ride pretty much every toy in the world there! And there are two fire pits as you can see in the background... we have had a few s'mores nights this summer!

And the grass area is just insane!!! If any of these boys grow up to be professional soccer players, it will all be in thanks to the space they grew up with!! Obviously I'm starting them young!! :0)

We seriously could not be more excited to have Noni and Grandpa so close to us!! Oh and we can't forget Great Papa!!!  The boys have loved getting to know Great Papa, and it is priceless to hear Brayden yell "Papa!!!" every time he comes through the door.

Summer Times!!

There is so much to blog about this summer!! I guess I should just start at the beginning! This June, Jacob's favorite cousin and BFF turned 3!!! I cannot  believe how big these little guys are getting! Everett spent his big 3rd birthday at the steam trains at Tilden Park.  It was the perfect location, not only because the boys LOVE trains, but because it was nice and cool!! It was a great weather break for everyone! And the boys had a blast running around everywhere!!

Us adults do love the steam trains too! It actually is really beautiful and quite a nice ride! One thing I will always remember (and wish I caught it on camera) is Brayden's face coming out of the tunnels!! He would semi fake scream, but was also slightly nervous with the dark. It made for one of the best awkward moment faces ever!

June is a crazy month for us! We have multiple birthdays, Mike gets off of work (this year for the last time forever! YAY!), and the boys are done with daycare! So things get a little hectic (in a good way) fast! But another birthday happened this month... Tutu turned 91!!! We celebrated in style with just a little get together at her house.  The boys LOVE their Tutu (and so do I), that they could have hung out there all day!

Besides going to birthday parties this Summer, we have been spending so much time at the pool, ponds, and lakes around our house! I swear we live in the best location!!! We have Noni's lake/pond/beach, 7 minutes from our house, an awesome water park/pool 2 minutes from our house, Lake Tahoe a little over an hour from our house, and Lake Folsom 10 minutes from our house! Although the drought has been bad this year and has affected our lakes tremendously, there is a bonus. Boats have been banned, so we pretty much have these ginormous lakes to ourselves to play in!! 

It honestly broke my heart a bit to see both Lake Tahoe and Folsom Lake this year, and I can only hope that the El Nino they predict is true, but the boys had an absolute blast!! They both have gotten so much more comfortable in the water. Jacob especially! He went from being scared and super whiney, to just jumping in and swimming across the pool!  Brayden does fantastic, and even will occasionally put his head under water, until he gets cold.  Once this kid gets slightly cold, he has a total emotional 180 and is just done!

The pool is honestly where we have spent most of our summer days.  Our gym pool is amazing!!! And it's hardly ever crowded! That is where the boys have really taken off in their swimming skills.  I honestly could not be more proud of them! They have come such a long way with water, I can only hope that they continue to love it! One thing that is extra awesome is, Jacob asked me the other day if he could get the surf board down and go surfing! Ah, a boy after my own heart!

I should also mention that we have spent a lot of time in our own backyard.  When we were looking for a house, all Mike cared about was that the backyard was big enough for the boys to play in.  Well, another one of dreams came true with this house. The boys LOVE having a water slide, running through the sprinklers, playing on the playground, and riding their 5 million different types of "bikes" around. They seriously could not be happier!

Due Date is Here!!

So today is officially my due date, my belly is super duper low, but other than that there is no signs of this little one making his arrival today.  But honestly, who can really predict those things?!?!? Jacob is so excited to meet his newest little brother; in fact he keeps talking about how he wants three baby brothers. LOL!!! I mean, granted right now his favorite number is three because he is three years old, but I still find it super cute. Now Brayden... I can honestly say that I am a little nervous for him.  I have always been his number one (along with Grandpa Eddie), but his attachment to me lately has been off the charts!! He wouldn't even let Grandpa Eddie put him down the other night! I know he senses something, but I just hope he adjusts okay.

A little reminiscing about this pregnancy, was when we found out the sex.  I find it hilarious that I will be out with the boys and a complete stranger will say, "Oh I sure hope that ones a girl!" and I politely always say "Nope! It's a boy! I'm kind of the mom of boys!"  When we got the ultrasound done, I actually sat there for a second in a panic of "Oh my gosh, what if this is a girl?!?!" I realize that if this baby was a girl, it wouldn't be a problem, but at that moment in time I realized how much I absolutely LOVE having my boys!! Regardless if this is our last pregnancy or not, having all brothers is something that is truly special! And watching Jacob and Brayden bond, fight, wrestle, and totally love each other has been so much fun!! I cannot wait for Jordan to join that brotherhood!

Dayton has been asking for weeks for a comparison photo of my bellies because he swears I am bigger this time.  I will definitely say that I am huge, but I don't think I am bigger than I was with Jacob, so let's hope this isn't another 10 pounder!! Well Jordan, I officially finally dedicated a blog entry about your pregnancy, I guess it is official that you can come out now! We are so ready to meet you!!

Easter 2015!!!

Yup, it's almost September and here I am finally blogging about Easter! LOL  This year was a little more hectic than usual with Easter because we got home from Disneyland the day before. And when I say day before, I mean 10 pm the night before. But what was awesome was that the Easter bunny totally came and visited that night, so us parents could get some sleep!  It also rained (shocking, I know!), but we were all pretty happy about that because we needed the water, and Jacob really wanted to wear his new Thomas rain jacket that he has not gotten to wear much!  My dad came up to visit, which of course the boys loved!! So we just did dome egg dying and a hunt.  Nothing too crazy, but just enough so it felt like Easter.

 Jacob got really pretty good at dying eggs this year! He was very focused and intent on using a spoon, which made me slightly nervous, but he honestly did great!  He loved saying the colors in both English and Spanish!

Brayden wanted to use a spoon also because his brother wanted to use one.  That was very hard as a mother to watch a 15 month old use a spoon with food coloring and eggs.  Eventually he decided himself that it was not the easiest route, so he just used his hands.  Granted I think his hands were stained for about 2 days, but nothing else was!

The hunt went really well too! Jacob actually did a pretty good job sharing with Brayden and allowing him to find some eggs. They were both so excited when they found one, but then they would quickly get over it and try and find another... in true Wood competitive spirit!

This is just one of my all time favorite pictures of Brayden... he looks so sweet and innocent! Not that he isn't sweet and innocent, he just isn't ALL the time lol!

The Easter bunny got the kids some pretty cool stuff this year too!! They got nets, some toy wooden trains, some plastic food, and car/train shooters! The boys were so so excited, as you can see in this video...

Updated Photos!!!

Thanks to my dear friend Ashlee... we got some much needed photos done of our family.  I realized that we hadn't gotten any done since Brayden's newborn photos!!! Crazy!! So this blog is just a gallery of my favorite photos from our shoot. Already I look at these and see how Brayden has changed... and he actually looked a little chunky, whereas now he is a total bean pole!

 

It's funny because these pictures were done without me getting to do my hair because the power went out that morning and Mike ended up getting sick in the middle of it and threw up! LOL So all things considered, they turned out really well!!

 These are some of my favorite... our boys are such cuddle bugs, when they want to be!

So hands down the above photos are my absolute favorite!!! Brayden's face is priceless!!

I feel like Brayden's face has changed so much since these photos, but there is one thing that has stayed true.  He still makes the same goofy faces!! I swear this kid is the next Jim Carey!

And of course mister serious Jacob.  He looks about five in these pictures!!! CRAZY!!

Thanks Ash for all the amazing pictures!!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

I have been delaying this post for a while because I know it is going to take forever to write!! But, we made it to Disneyland this spring!!! It was so much fun, completely exhausting, and worth every penny we spent!!! I can't wait to take the kids back again!! We were able to sneak away from jobs and all go to Disneyland for 3 days!!! I realize now that I honestly didn't take enough pictures, and I am not exaggerating, shockingly.  I think the boys were in shock almost the entire time, but I know they had a blast because to this day Jacob asks to go back.  It was a few days of eating junk, riding rides, and sleeping in strollers, but we would not have wanted it another way.  Seeing as I was pregnant, I couldn't do many of the rides, so I was often used as the guarder of kids or strollers.

Speaking f junk food, the boys had dessert a few times a day, I think.  This photo collage demonstrates a few things.  Number one, how badly Brayden wants to be bigger.  He still struggle with that. And the next thing is, Brayden's love of food that isn't his. He makes it seem like he didn't get dessert, but I promise you he did.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.  We got all the kids Mickey ears, seeing as that has to become a tradition! Although Jacob wouldn't wear them at Disneyland, he has become extremely fond of them since we returned home.  I think he is reliving the memories when wears it.

Brayden barely wore the hat too... and I wish I could say he wears it all the time after we returned home, but no that is an epic fail.  He only wears his Niners hat or a beanie... he is kind of a "too cool for school" kid.

Some of the favorite rides by the kids in ranking order; 1. the trolley in California Adventure.  It came as a nice reprieve too because it was hot and it was nice to sit for 20 minutes LOL. 2. Nemo!!! There were a lot of adults in our group that hate that ride (cough cough Kimmy), but the kids absolutely LOVED it!! 3. Autotopia... I couldn't go on this one because I was pregnant, but the boys had a blast!! Brayden spent the time napping while the two older boys drove.

4. The train that went around Disneyland... the boys absolutely LOVED!!! There were some tunnels that made them a little nervous, but other than that they had a blast!

This picture is from the train ride

Overall it was an amazing trip!! The boys did great...I may be looking back with rose colored glasses on, but I think it went pretty dang smoothly for having a 1, 2, 3 year old, and a pregnant lady.  As you may have noticed, Mike is not pictured in many photos, well... since Disneyland is located outside the Tri-Valley, he got sick.

The boys had a great time with the fireworks... well mostly. Jacob was a little nervous, and I think Brayden honestly had the best time! LOL  And yes, this was the best picture we could get of the three of them!

 

When going to Disneyland, everyone has input on the characters or always wants to know how you think your kids will do with the characters... Well, Brayden hated them when they got close, but didn't mind saying hi if they walked by.  Everett liked them from afar also... and liked to show them his little characters of the actual character he was seeing.  Jacob did the best, but still not great.  The best he did was the first day with Dale (which of course he would because Dale is my favorite). But then it went downhill from there LOL. 

Random fun Days...

When playing catch up on my blog, I am looking back at the amount of photos I have taken and I realize, "Dang, I take a lot of photos that have nothing to do with each other!!!" So, I guess it is only fitting to compile them all into one blog post, so that you see that we don't only do HUGE trips or birthdays.  We do the pretty normal everyday activities that most people do... the park, the zoo, swimming, Children's Museum, etc.The above picture is use just watching cartoons in the morning. Jacob has been really into Miles, PAW patrol, and of course Peppa. Whereas Brayden could really care less about TV; the most he'll watch is some Sesame Street. And even then he just yells ELMO at the screen the whole time.

We have had many days of just visiting with our favorite people. My dad comes up a lot, so the boys absolutely love that!! Also Deb and Dayton moved up here, so we get to see them a lot more. As Jacob will tell you, "My Noni's new house is so close we can see her everyday!" That will be another blog for another day, but their house is amazing and we LOVE hanging out there!!

The Children's Museum has become a hit again,  now that Brayden is older.  They love going!! Brayden doesn't quite have the painting down, he really likes to be an abstract painter and paints his hands and clothes mostly. However, it is a great place for the boys to spend energy on really hot days!

Of course there has been loads of trips to the park!! We have about 5 different parks that we go too. Jacob absolutely loves the "Acorn Park" which has a lot of acorns that he can throw into the stream. this summer we hope to discover more parks in our area! Can't wait!!

Brayden has been really into hats lately, which has been so funny to watch.  He has this hunter looking hat that he absolutely LOVES to wear!! And he usually pairs it with some Winnie the Pooh slippers and no pants.  So it makes for an amazing photo op that we just haven't done yet, so just visualize PLOL! He is just about as cute as you can get!!

So I have to include the Cozy Coop (although this photo is from school). We have some of Noni and Grandpa Dayton's toys at our house, so now we have two cozy coops!! Which the boys have been racing in the backyard. Now Jacob has been watching a show called Blaze and the Monster trucks (or something like that) which teaches him a lot about cars. So the start of races usually begins like this...

J: Mommy you have to say start your engines!
Me: Ok START YOUR ENGINES!!
J: Wait Mommy! I have to put gas into my gas tank and my turbo booster so I can win the race!!

(Grandpa Eddie would be so proud!)

And last but definitely not least... we have made multiple and multiple trips to the ever so famous PANCAKE HOUSE!!! There is a woman there that does balloon animals and both our boys always want swords (boys!!!). We have had some epic sword fights in front of PCH, all while entertaining some very old people! LOL They find these boys to be the cutest things, and I would have to agree. So, some of you may know Brayden and his eating habits, but this kid can put down a a meal... the come eat your food. So, we now order him a whole dutch baby, sausage to split with Jacob, and scrambled eggs when we go to this place. I can't imagine what our grocery bill will be when they are teenagers!! AHHHH!!!!