Fam Jam 2010

Last weekend we got to attend a family reunion for my dads side of the family-family came from way North Oklahoma and way South Texas and we met in the middle at Turner Falls.  It was so amazing to see my dad and his cousins (they are all so close yet don't get to see each other very often) and all the generations before and after.  The oldest was in her mid 80's and the youngest was only a few weeks old.  While i didn't even break my camera out of it's case the entire weekend, we still got some amazing family shots by others! This weekend was especially special for everyone as it was the the first time in a long time us Oklahoma family had gotten to see our dear cousin Peggy who is battling brain cancer and has been through and still going through so much.  It was so special to see all the older cousins hugging! 

FUN FUN weekend full of lake time, boat time, drinking time, game time, funny times, snuggling times, and everything else! 

I love my family so much and am so happy this is the start of our annual FAM JAM weekend!

My mom and sister...this was the first night where all us women folk had a pow wow around a few bottles of wine and margaritas!

My brother and Coleman in early morning PJ time

The youngest member--sweet baby Asher with his grandpa and cousin

My daddy and his cousin Peggy

My sister, brother, and immediate cousins--we do this pose at every gathering! the boys hate it :)

My dad, his sister, and their immediate cousins!

My dad and mom and all of us

all the youngins...can you believe not ONE girl in this whole bunch!!!

The whole Fam Damnly!! (as Nana always says!)

weekend in slow motion

This past weekend was one of the best weekends ever spent at home! We had a full weekend of NOTHING to do! This is a first for the Krout family lately, it seems like all we do is go go go! We spent the whole weekend, playing, cleaning house (which BooderBean and i love to do so it was fun), reading books, playing the Wii, baking, cooking, and just hanging out!  I laugh because the highlight of our weekend was when the boys and I took a little trip to Wal-Mart and spent 2 hours there!  I really dont' mind grocery shopping with the kids as long as I have plenty of time and it's not crowded, oh yeah...and if everyone is in fun moods!  The reason we spent so long at the dreaded Wal-Mart was because BooderBean received a $5 bill in the mail this weekend and it just had to be spent!  We went up and down every toy isle and played with just about every single toy...it was the not most creative or "fun" thing in my mind that him and i did, but to him it was pure Heaven! He has told me and others a million times "we got to go to TOY ISLE and i got to get a toy and pay for it ALL BY MYSELF!".  Pure, simple, fun!

Because we had all weekend with nothing particular to do...we snapped some fun random pictures.  Enjoy the randomness that was our weekend!

Boys both playing so good on a play mat, each doing their own thing but totally entertained!  Yes, BooderBean is in his undies and it was just about lunch time, it was Saturday and he refused to put on clothes :)

BooderBean being very meticulous about how he was building his army men and their camp

I was trying to be like GreyGillfish and capture a cute shot...i think she is WAY better, but I had to try.  

BooderBean and MilitaryMan built a boat for boat races at school

now that he is sitting so well he loves to sit in his bed, surrounded by his toys...BrotherBean loves to put all the animals in his crib and then play "where's the baby"

Caught him playing so he flashed me a big grin!

tried the sippy cup for the first time this weekend, he of course used it more as something to chew on than drink out of.

my first BEAN

Age three is most definitely the most challenging age I think.  If I am wrong, and if it only gets worse, then let me be in the dark on this one for awhile. 

Military Man and I both think that BooderBean is destined to be a politician, the boy can argue and wheel and deal you out or into anything! And oh the questions he has too...it literally amazes me the things he comes up with to ask! We've had to deal with some pretty different things in his 3 years that most 3 year olds don't, so he has alot of experiences to ask questions about.  When BrotherBean was in the PICU at the hospital at 10 weeks old and was very very sick for a long time BooderBean never questioned any of it. Since then we have had 3 long hospital stays and things have been pretty scary a few times, but to BooderBean hospital life was just part of our life and just something that we did. So now when he asks random questions about it it catches other people off guard to hear such horrific questions come out of a child's mouth, but to us it's ok, it's just something he experienced that he now will have questions for for a long time.  And it is pretty cute to hear him ask the questions in the most matter-of-fact way. 

Another thing he has seemed to master lately is WAF (wild ass fits--as a dear friend has dubbed them when her daughter does the same).  And the acronym is so fitting because it literally is out of the blue, wild, crazy, and uncontrollable for a tiny bit.  They are happening quite frequently at our house but we have found a way to manage them and end them much quicker.  We have found that ignorance works wonders!  Until he starts to follow you around the house to get your attention still throwing a WAF! I'm sure in the moment I'm about to loose it, but afterwards it's just hilarious to me! It really is quite an entertaining scene! and KNOCK ON WOOD, they have only happened at home, never in public!

This cutie patootie little boy will be FOUR years old in just 3 and a half short months!  I have no idea where the time has gone!

(taken this morning on the way to school)

(taken on the Friday before 4th of July for before we headed out for school)

Family Fun

Lots has been going on over the last 6 months in the Krouts Sprouts house hold! The latest was a week long hospital stay for Military Man for a massive Staph infection in his back where he only a week prior had back surgery!  Life is crazy at the moment and will remain that way for the next 5 weeks it looks like!

But we were able to have a wonderful 3 day Independence Day weekend in Ponca City with family!  My mom's brother (whom we haven't seen since our wedding nearly 6 years ago was able to make it!).  Here are a few shots from the weekend. I, once again, was too wrapped up in the fun to take many photos!
Also i have decided to go back to the real reason i started this blog....to document my life. i will no longer be posting about ONLY the cute things my boys do, but about the random happenings in life!
AND i make a vow right now to slow myself down and blog at least 2 times a week! too many things happen in our lives that i don't want to forget about!!!

Mimi and Grandbabies making fruit Kabobs on the 4th!

My crazy brother and cousin..enjoying some pool time and beers

My amazing dad and his amazing sister (my aunt)

My awesome sister and her sweet middle son

BooderBean coloring a 4th of July guy

NeNe and BrotherBean--she tried to do a cute pose but he wasn't having it

A visit to the Dentist

What a big big boy my BooderBean is!  He had his first visit to the pediatric dentist today and did SO good and loved every minute of it!

Getting a good look at his pearly whites

Such a trooper when they stuck all the hardware in his mouth to get a good photo!

Getting pictures taken of his teeth (x-rays)

He loved that they gave him cool animal glasses to wear while they shined the big light on him.

Sad news....fillings and caps are in our future...our close future...

Kaw Lake Day!

Military Man bought a new toy this summer--our first boat! 

We recently took some of our most best friends out with us for a little Kaw Lake Day!  Our families have been through a lot together, including a few deployment, they are more like family to us we just love these people so much!  Here are a few pictures of the day--you can guarantee they will be in many more!

The girlies and BooderBean loved the water!

Playing on the bank...looks like BooderBean is walking the plank!

BooderBean and Mike--best buddies the entire day!

Everything Mike did....BooderBean did!

I miss this face!

Military Man and BooderBean have been on a Krout family vacation all week, due to BrotherBean being so sick for so long I didn't have enough vacation time to leave for the full week so BrotherBean and I have had some fun of our this past week.

BrotherBean and i will be making the 5 hour drive again on Saturday to join the family for the night and

I can't wait to see this little boys face!!! I miss him so much!

This photo was taken a few weeks ago when him and I decided to have an indoor picnic for our morning snack!  After it was all set up he decided that some friends needed to join us :)

30-OH!

Sooooo behind on my posting lately!! and there are SO MANY things going on that require a proper post!
I'll just start with this one and hope that i can play catch up soon :)

Military Man turns the big THREE-OH!!!
I threw my hubby a birthday party at our house with just close family and close friends.  If you know my husband, you know that parties or anything aimed at him are sooooo not his thing! So i had to keep it very low key and very small.

The party turned out wonderful and i even got to surprise him with a "toast", not that he was too thrilled by it but at least we got to honor him and let him know how much he is loved!
Here is the only family photo we got from the night!  I dressed the boys in matching outfits and had this perfect photo in my head all day that i wanted to get of us all on Military Man's 30th...and it didn't happen. oh well--you get what you get right :)

Anyway, happy 30th Birthday again babe!

teething TWO at a time!

This is not the best photo of my little BrotherBeans teeth, in fact you can't even see them at all! BUT i had to post this of him b/c so far it's the only photo I have of him on the day he cut his first TWO teeth!!

yes, TWO, the poor kid cut 2 teeth through at the same exact time!!

I have GOT to get out of the habit of whipping out the blackberry camera

every time i want to take a quick photo!!! this is the quality i get!

Everyone have a fun and safe Memorial Day weekend--we'll be celebrating Military Mans 30th Birthday!!!

Way-Back Wednesday

This coming Sunday will mark Military Man's big THREE-OH birthday!!  I decided for my Way-Back Wednesday posting we would take a look at where Military Man was this time last year and a few years before...

He was enjoying some homemade carrot cake that BooderBean made for him

He was enjoying his favorite past time...shooting guns

He was enjoying being goofy with BooderBean after dinner

He was 4-wheelin' with his awesome wife and kiddo

He was enjoying a walk around his land with his boy

And he was being recognized as Soldier of the Year

another milestone

BrotherBean has had another of his "firsts" recently--he's been eating cereal for about 2 weeks now!  The photos didn't turn out well at all--lighting was awful, location was awful, no one was prepared, we look a mess--but i dont' even care, i wanted to capture his first bites of cereal so you get what you get right!

please dont' judge by the messy and very cluttered dinning nook and our sloppily dressed selves..we'd had one of those weeks and we were told by his Pulmonologist that day to start cereal and Prilosecthat evening so we just let everything else go and tended to our babies! Please tell me everyone has times like this in their homes?

Enjoy the photos of his first bites of cereal!

if you don't smile something is wrong..

If you don't look at these two boys all smiley and bust out a smile yourself then something is wrong!!

Happy almost FRIDAY!!!

my cute little mess of a boy!

This past weekend BooderBean was the ring bearer in our cousin Toni and Greg's wedding in Kansas! We had a really great time and everything was so beautiful at their wedding! BooderBean and i called it our Roadtrip!
So...BooderBean is 3 1/2 years old and was supposed to be still and quiet and reverand during a wedding ceremony...can we see where this is going???
He did pretty good, he did about as good as you can expect a 3 1/2 year old to do after not having much of a lunch and missing nap time! Below are a few of the highlights from his first wedding experience:

• holding ring pillow in mouth like a dog
• pretty sure BooderBean thought everyone was there to see HIM, he hammed it up quite a bit

• he earned $2 from the groomsmen, they bribed him to stand on his "X"

• he wondered around the stage a few times...in circles, lookin' for his momma
• had a super sad meltdown looking for his momma in the congregation when he couldnt' see me. it wasn't a bad meltdown, it was a sad one.
• insisting that he had to go back on "stage" to stand with Jenna, the flowergirl and his new BFF
• getting bored and sitting on the steps to the alter
• taking the fake rings off the pillow and playing catch
• sticking one of the fake rings IN his mouth and causing me to hyperventilate thinking he was going to choke
• smiling so sweetly as he walked down the isle with the flowergirl, and then helping her pick up all the petals after because they "needed" to be back in the basket!

• smiling so sweetly for photos before and after, because he thought he had just gotten married (this is what he told me after)

No i didn't get any funny photos of him during the actual wedding but i am sure the photographers snapped a few...because Lord knows they had plenty of opportunity :)