Monkey Around

Oh my stars!!! At Micah's school today, all the classes had a "Noah's Ark" parade. A couple funny things about that statement are that 1 ~ pretty sure they had all of the kids dress up as animals so they could avoid the monsters, superheroes, bratz, and sicky costumes. 2 ~ when I say "parade" I mean that the classes marched around the desk in the church lobby twice. It was so stinkin' cute! Micah went as a monkey, and his favorite part of his costume was the squishy belly! We saw lots of lions, bunnies, dinosaurs, and other monkeys, but I have to say that one of my favorite costumes (besides my monkey) was a little boy who was a parrot. All that needs to be said is.............RAINBOW FEATHERS!!!!!!!!!! He was made up with rainbow boas, and even had rainbow feather anklets!!!! That has my name written all over it!

So, today is halloween, and our pastor had a fantastic idea of what to do to be outside without celebrating the day (if you didn't want to). He called in "Light Night"! Leave all your lights on, go outside, pass out candy, and meet your neighbors!!! So, that's exactly what we did! Les hauled our grill to the driveway, he grilled lots of hot dogs, I made brownies, and Carter and Micah passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. We had a ball! We knew some of the people that stopped by, so it was fun visiting with them. I'm glad we got to meet some new people too! I wasn't sure that people would eat our food......like maybe they would think we were trying to poison them or something, but they did!!! It gave us some time to talk to them a little bit, introduce ourselves, and let them know we have a bible study at our house every week. I think this might be a new family tradition!

Carter loving her hot dog!

They loved passing out the candy

Toby was NOT too sure about the goopy insides!

Nap time......

This is just one of so many reasons why I love little kids..........

Micah during his nap today

He is super cute when he is sleeping, but that's not what I wanted you to see. Did you notice the alligator he is sleeping with? He lays him down on his back in order for him to go to sleep. :) He usually has a line of sleeping cars and dinosaurs on his window. I love this boy.

Boys......

One reason I love my husband so much is because he sees the importance of date night with me AND our kids! He starts it when they are too little to remember, but you know what? Les remembers! So, it was Micah's turn the other night. Les took him to play ball at Lifetime, get something to eat, and go throw rocks of course. It's not true guy time if you don't hurl something for no apparent reason. Since Micah was born, we've prayed 4 specific words over him: Servant, Leader, Prayer, Warrior. Les talks to him about those words a lot. SO, when they were eating dinner, Les leaned over and said, "Micah, what 4 words are so important to Strech men?" Now, Les only has about 8 seconds with Micah before he tunes out and starts growling like a dinosaur or whipping his head around just for fun. Makes me dizzy watching him do it, but whatever. So, right after Les asked him that question, Micah leans forward, eyes big (like "oh dude, I've so got this answer"), and goes, "KISSING."

WWWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT???!!!!

Les about fell out of his chair laughing at him!!! He was so serious! A total GUY!!!! What's important to Strech guys? kissing! You have GOT to be kidding me!!!

Here's a sweet one.....

We were putting them to bed and I asked Micah what he would ask God for........if he could ask him for anything in the world. (We had just read about King Soloman and how he asked for wisdom). Micah looked up and goes, "for Jesus to hug me".

Yes, sir. Me too.

First Days

It still isn't real to me that Carter is in Kindergarten. What am I even talking about?! Isn't she still walking around toothless trying to say the word "pink", but all that comes out is "meese"? Isn't she still the little girl who when she was told to do jumping jacks, she squatted down and walked across the room with tiny steps as if she was sneaking up on someone? And of course we all clapped for her wonderful jumping jacks?? How is it that I am dropping her off at school at 8:00 and not picking her up until 4:00???? I have to say though.......she DOES love going to school. :) Her teacher, Ms. Paek (sounds like "peck"), is sent straight from the Lord. She might possibly be the happiest person on the face of this planet. So naturally, I love her! Every day when I see her after school, I squeeze her forever, and I know that one day she is gonna be waaaayyy to cool for that.....then it's like the game 20 questions. Except it's more like 57 questions. I just wish there was a way that I could be at her school all day long without her seeing me........just so I can watch her. Actually, that might be dangerous because if someone hurts her feelings, I'd probably unleash the fury.

So, I would like to erase the first day of Carter's kindergarten since almost everything went wrong. It was nothing like what I expected it to be like. First of all, everyone in the entire city was there to walk their children in. That meant unexpected traffic and LONG LINES. At that time I realized that I had forgotten all the papers that I stayed up until almost midnight signing and every camera that I own. I had to wake up Micah in order to leave on time which meant he was eating a bag of cereal in the car, I had crammed food down Toby's mouth, and I'm still not sure if I was completely dressed or not. By the time we got there I barely had time to say goodbye to her. Aw. Ful. I was bound and determined not to let that happen the second day, so sure enough, I set my alarm for 6:30 (I thought I was done setting alarms), got myself ready, woke Carter up, got her ready, boys got up, got everyone breakfast, and left the house EARLY!! A full 15 minutes earlier than the day before. So, when we got there, the doors weren't even open yet. There were about 8 other families there, and I was lovin' life! I decided that day would be counted as our first.......even though I did take pictures of Carter on her real first day.

She picked a Dora backpack for this year

our sweet little girl whose not really little anymore!

So, my mind has been on the fact that Carter is at school all day, and I was getting used to just hangin' with my boys at home! Loving it! Kind of quieter because Toby just says like 3 words, and there is NO ONE TELLING ON THE OTHER PERSON! Glory!!! Well, today was Micah's first day at his little preschool, and I'm not sure that I was totally prepared. Micah on the other hand forgot all about me as soon as he spotted a dinosaur counting book and another hippo book. Peace out mama! A lot of me was super sad that he was so fine with me leaving him there on this monumental day, but at the same time, I was thanking the Lord that he was so happy there and in good Hands. (and sweet teachers too). :) He is going to His Kids at Second Baptist, which is where Sarah works!!!! So, she got to pop in on him today! She said that he was in line with a "bubble in his mouth".........you know, what the teachers have the kids do to keep them quiet. When she told me that, I just kept picturing it over and over. I was teary because why is he so big??? I think because I never see him NOT attached to Carter or one of us. How could he be by himself with little friends that he just met today, obeying the teachers without me telling him to, and happy?? Jesus. Thank you Jesus.

when did he get to be 6 ft. tall??

in his classroom this morning

he found the hippo book that he was looking for

Micah and one of his teachers, Ms. Connie

look at that sweet face

Micah had a great day and is super excited to go back tomorrow. He is going 2 mornings a week. He would probably love to go more, but no way Jose. Mama ain't ready.

We've taken big steps here in our little Party of 5 these past 10 days. New chapters. Sometimes all I can do is stare at Les or any of our little ones and thank Jesus for letting me have these people for the breath that is our life.

Gotta Love Pool Parties!

I know I've already said this, but I looooooooooooove summer!! I love that I have a little boy who has a summer birthday because that means.........POOL PARTIES!!!! We had Toby's birthday party at our neighborhood pool, and we were rebels because we didn't reserve the clubhouse for the occasion. We just had a few friends and some family here, and oh what's that?? Oh, right. A nugget tray, some chips and salsa, aaaaaaaaaaand cupcakes. Yes, it's a party! I was nervous that the lifeguards were gonna come up to me and ask for the fee to reserve the clubhouse and the moola to actually have the party there. NOPE!! These lifeguards could give a rip. I'm pretty sure the only two things they look and listen for are kids drowning and thunder. Thunder means a 30 minute break for them. You'd think that's all it did here in Pine Mill Ranch.

Back to the party! We had lots of fun. We all went swimming for about an hour. Then, we had some yummy food, which included some homemade salsa (thank you Lindsey for the recipe!). It is now a staple in our house. I also made cupcakes, but the most important part was the icing. I had looked up how to make buttercream icing. The great thing was that I remembered someone else making it and saying how easily it melted. Check that......we'll leave the cupcakes in the house until it's time to watch Toby smash it in his face. It's a good thing because at the end of the party (in August remember) you could see the butter starting to pool. Gross? You'd think so, but I'm pretty sure I had 3 of them that day. I kept thinking, "hey, at least the icing is organic." Organic food is a whooooooooole other post which I will be writing about shortly. :) Good stuff! I have to crown Toby as the Strech kid champ of making a mess with the cupcakes. He straight bicep curled that cupcake right into his face. It was awesome!!

this was Micah on his first birthday

I mean, Toby's giving it all he's got! He might be smaller, but the boy can cram a cupcake!

assessing the damage

back for more

he's like, "ok, this time, can you tell I shoved a cupcake in my mouth?"

I also have more good news..........the two bottom teeth that have come in which are about 17 feet apart are NOT his middle ones!!!! One has broken through in the middle! I'm still not sure whether or not there is a second middle one or not. I was starting to really get used to that look though.

pretty sure Toby's looking to see if Micah has a cupcake for him to eat

handsome Papa and cute Toby

Stanley (John) is playing Toby's favorite game with him!

Sugar Bear (Sarah) and the birthday boy! (how beautiful is my sis??!)

He got some really cute stuff for his birthday! The lawn mower and the Choo Choo Train rider has been a hit with all three kids! They all take turns riding it...........which translates into me setting a timer for 2 minutes each, then making sure they give Toby his turn.

Micah's new favorite place to be

Toby is starting to communicate more and more. He has his own signs for a lot of things. We taught him the sign for "more" which he did right at first. After a while, he transferred the rubbing of his chest to the rubbing of the back of his head. Do you know how much food was in his hair at the end of the day? I mean, seriously, it was crunchy. He now has it back to his chest! Also, anytime we get in the car, he'll play for a few minutes, but then he wants us all to sing songs. You would think he was directing a choir, but that's just him saying he wants us to sing. He loves music!! His dancing cracks me up!!! We put on Sugar Bear's (Sarah) jump cd and he just goes to town! He usually watches me and tries to repeat it. You should've seen him shimmy............ok, just kidding. Kind of. :)

Tobias, my little squirrel monkey, we love you to pieces!!!

Undercover Birthday

Oh man does my husband know me!!!!!!!!!!!!!! About 3 or 4 weeks ago, Les told me that he had been planning a special something for my birthday! He is REALLY good at this, so I was super excited. All he told me was that there were only going to be a few of us, it would be an all day thing, and we would have to get up at 6:00 and drive for an hour and 1/2. At first I just knew it was going to be a day at the spa with the girls. Then he said, "you'll never guess this." Aaaaaaaaaannnnd he was right. I was thinking the total opposite of what he was really planning..........and I am so thankful it wasn't a day of pampering at the spa. Don't get me wrong, I love getting a massage, and even though I've never had a facial, I'm sure I wouldn't mind someone rubbing mud or soap on my face. Love pedicures, love soft fluffy robes, love hot tubs before and after massages, looooooove "slumber rooms" when I actually get a chance to read my current Karen Kingsbury book without someone running at full speed straight into me, drooling on me, or playing referee because it's someone else's turn to be the dog in the "dog/trainer" game!!! Seriously.

SO, Les tells me before I leave where I'm going..........

The Bell's ranch to spend 8 hours shooting Mr. Bell's guns at his outdoor gun range!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously wanted to call Jennifer Garner and ask her if she wanted to come with me. Sidney Bristow is my hero. So, 0600 comes along and Sarah, Amie (Luke's wife), and I are headed out to learn the ropes.........but first, there's no celebration until we start the day with donuts. Now, for the past month our family has started eating nothing but natural/organic food for several reasons. Donuts? Not so much organic. I'm pretty sure those were inhaled in about .4 seconds. Loved them! Even though I felt a little sick right after. I gotta press on!!!

So, we get to their ranch and this is what is waiting for us.....

this is all for me!

Mr. Bell, a police officer who teaches concealed hand gun carrier license classes, and a guy who just graduated from St. Mary's ROTC were there to instruct us. Mr. Bell is a former Army Ranger and knows EVERYTHING about guns and bad guys...........and he has a pretty cool daughter. :) Love you Bella!! (that's "beautiful in Spanish). We learned so much from him!!! We had so much fun!!!! He first had us shoot at targets, then we'd have to put 3 rounds into the target. Then we'd have to take a step out and shoot. Then we'd have to start with our hands up in a surrender postition, grab the gun out of our holster (yes, that's right) cock it, and shoot! Booya!!!!!! After lunch we would do different drills like shoot the target while walking straight at it, shoot 5 different targets while walking from right to left or left to right, start with our backs to the target, turn around find the bullet, load it in the magazine, load our gun, cock it and shoot.........all in a few seconds!!!

Sarah, me, and Amie

Mr. Bell!!!! Best instructor......very serious when he needed to be, and very encouraging when we needed to hear it. :)

Sarah shooting at the targets "hiding" behind the trees!

Mr. Bell and Amie.......she was a natural!

We enjoyed this day so much, that we didn't want to leave when it was over. Soooooooooo, he let us shoot these at the end of the day......

Thank you, thank you, thank you Les for a phenomenal birthday present!!!!!!!!!!!!

this was my target when I got done with him after a couple of hours. :)

Tobias Gage Strech is ONE!

It's bizarre to think that just a year ago I was going up and down the elevator every chance I could to see our new baby boy in the NICU!! And for no reason!!! They HAD to take him up there for 48 hours because my weird body had a fever when I went into labor. We still aren't sure why. Who cares?! We have a precious little squirrel monkey!! I remember for the first couple of months when he was still trying to control his bobble head, he would just lay it on my chest. Actually, he would find that place right in between my jaw and my shoulder, and nuzzle right in my neck........eyes open just looking around with his head down. Our little squirrel monkey. Now he's one!!!! Is he walking yet??? I would say more like, taking one step and diving into whoever will catch him. He is funnier every day! He loves to get a reaction out of people, he growls at anything that is an animal or out of place (for example, he growled at the coffee maker the other day), the child can HUM a ball, he loves certain songs like "If You're Happy and You Know It", aaaaaaaaannnddd he has the most jacked up teeth I've seen on a baby. :) His top two middle teeth came in, with a lot of room in between.......then some bottom two teeth came in. We're praying they aren't supposed to be his middle ones. Check it out......

can you see his two bottom teeth???

Oh we love this boy! He is very happy, and goes with our flow very well. Carter and Micah are so giddy about him still. Sometimes a little too giddy. Usually every day I have to pull Micah off of Toby because he thinks he is hugging him, but it looks more like something my brother and I used to watch on WWF.

He's up now and trying to type this himself........that's my signal......over and out!

Happy Birthday Toby!!!

Can you guess who put this tupperware container on his head? and it wasn't Les...

Carter's Birthday!

Ok people..........5 is a big one for me!!!! 5 means school everyday ALL day!! Let's just be honest, I'm panicking. What am I going to do without her everyday? It's so hard because I want to sit and cry every time we talk about her going to school, but at the same time, I don't want her to think SHE needs to cry about it. How am I supposed to handle this?? Her 5th birthday was so fun! I think she had about 4 parties. One at school, one with Grampy and Hershey, one with the five of us, and one with her friends. This girl loooooooooooves getting pampered on her birthday, that's for sure. "Micah, I'm first because I'm the birthday girl." That got old pretty quick. :) Les was like, "ooookay, we've got to steer this another way."

at her school

look at Toby checking that cupcake out

these are 2 of her classmates that came to her party....one I'm sure all of you have heard of. Tyler.

AND...............summer is here!!!!!!!!!!!! I think the first day that we didn't have anywhere to go, we just stayed in the house and didn't get out of our pjs until 5:00 that night!!! That was so great! We've been swimming as much as we can. I think our neighborhood pools opens up for good this weekend, but we've been going to the pool at Lifetime. I'm so thankful my kids love to swim. Even Toby seems to like it already. :) It's so funny/sad when babies accidentally put their face in the water because they don't see the difference between air and water. Thankfully, I've always been holding him when he's done that! He just sucks his breath in, licks his lips, and goes on splashin!

Toby is crawling now, which means he doesn't cry when I sit him down and walk to another part of the room!!!! Now, he just follows me. :) His personality is really starting to take shape. I just usually find myself smiling and laughing at him. He is pretty funny, and he LOVES to make us react to him......probably because he has a dramatic mama and he thinks I'm a toy. Love this boy!!

Micah is into alligators and dinosaurs!!!! I'll hear him walk around the house going, "I'm a Spinosauras!!!" or "I'm a Triceratops!!" or of course a t-rex. His wrestling techniques are getting more advanced. He used to just run from another room, full blast I might add, straight into you. (you'd better be watching, or you'll lose some teeth.....or get whiplash). He now adds a flying karate kick in mid air. Les informed me of that a couple of nights ago. Love it!

Stay tuned for some cute summer pics!!

He Is Risen!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!!!!!!! We had an absolute beautiful Easter weekend! Beautiful weather, friends in town, family over, peeing in pants, baby spit up.........oh wait! Those last two just kind of go with everything. :) Ok, the story on that is that we were sooooooooo excited to send Micah and Toby to church in semi-matching Easter outfits. They are two little hunks. One with a big bootie, and one with big eyes. I did get a couple of cute pictures before we headed off to church.

But before we even walked out the door, Micah already had BLUE toothpaste on his little sweater vest. I have NEVER seen him get it on his clothes before. His face?? Yes, all over it. His clothes? Nope............not 'till Easter Sunday. Of course. So, ok, I caught it mid-teeth brushing, so I got most of it out. We take them to church, take them to their classes, I take Toby up to the "mommy room" to feed him, and he surprised me and ate super fast. I was so excited because that meant I might get to sit and listen to Pastor Gregg preach!!! I had prepared myself to be sitting in the "mommy room" listening to burping, pooping, and mommy stories. Speaking of burping, I guess I didn't pass the Toby burping test that morning. I took him to his class all spiffy......he only had to stay there for about 30 minutes until I would come to get him. SO, by the time we went to get our children, Toby had some cowboy onsie on because he had spit up "all over his shirt", and Micah had some cool jeans on and some different undies on because he had forgotten to "point it down". He definitely scored cool points on the jeans. The undies?? Thank you for them, but who are we kidding here? First of all they were probably a size 47, and to top that off, THEY WERE WHITY TIGHTIES!!!!! I think it scarred me more than him. :) So, there went the day of matching boys. Oh well, let's have an Easter egg hunt!!

This is a little side story or two...........

We were in the grocery line the other day and some lady behind us was talking to Carter about Easter coming up. She goes, "Is the Easter bunny coming to your house this weekend?" and Carter laughs and says, "Noooo." I waited to hear if Carter was going to continue, but she didn't. Rewind about 5 months ago, we were at our good friend, Tiffany's, house. Tiff asked Carter if Santa was coming to her house, and Carter once again laughs and says, "Nooooo." Tiff looks at me and back at Carter and goes, "What? Why?" aaaaaand Carter definitely whips out with, "He's dead!!!" Oh my reindeer and elves!!!!!!! When we talk to them about Christmas, we make sure they know the most important thing about it is Jesus' birthday. Then we tell them about St. Nicholas, and how he was a real man who loved Jesus, and gave presents to children for Christmas. Now he is in heaven with Jesus. Awesome..........she's gonna be the one who makes her friends cry. Not only is Santa not real........he's DEAD! :)

Back to this weekend......we went home and Les' family came over for some yummy grub that Grammie and Amie were already cooking when we got there! Angels! We had some laughs, played Guesstures, had an egg hunt, more food, birthday cake for Leah, and called it a night. It was so fun!!! Some of the eggs were filled with gum, which we don't let Carter and Micah have yet. So, Les ate pretty much every piece...........at one time!

this is the field next to our house which I'm sure won't be here in a couple of years

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter!!!