Camron and Caden are 8

It's hard for me to believe when I look at Camron and Caden's big ole sweet eyes, that they were tiny little 2 pounders when they were born.  They are feisty little boys now and they were feisty little boys then.
Camron is hilarious.  I mean, that child is a character and I have NO idea where he gets it from ;).  He is a perfectionist in every sense of the word and that comes straight from Daddy-O.  When we are doing school I see Daddy-O in him daily!  He loves his siblings, legos and minecraft.  Rough housing with Daddy-O is fun but a mama's boy at heart.  Which of course I love!
Caden is my silly boy.  He is just plain goofy and giggly and his laugh is contagious to all who hear it!  He is a free spirit.  During school he and Camron are opposites on the perfectionist spectrum!  Like Camron he loves his siblings, legos and minecraft.  He too is a mama's boy, especially when he's hurt.  He's super sensitive and I make it better.  This makes me happy!
They love each other so much and the twin bond they share is amazing.  Being a twin is such a blessing.  While sometimes they are too dependent on each other, the bond they share is awesome.  They are taking music lessons right now and are ridiculously good to have only had a few lessons.  And yes their teachers say so too ;).  My house is sometimes crazy loud with drums and the guitar but I wouldn't have it any other way.  These 2 bless us immensely each and every day!

Jaxon is 10

Every day when I look at Jaxon, I can't get over how grown he is.  He is such a "big boy" and wise beyond his years.  He is my biggest helper, has the kindest heart of any kid I know, he's my biggest fan and I am his.  He made us parents 10 years ago when we didn't know what we were doing but longed to be parents so badly.  God knew exactly what he was doing when He gave us Jaxon.  He is Daddy-O's mini-me.  He looks up to him in every way and tries to be like him too.  (Yes, even in the ways that make me wanna knock him into the middle of next week....smile).  Jaxon loves nature and everything in it.  He would give anyone the shirt off his back and every penny he has.  He loves to be outside, playing baseball, or anything else adventurous.  He is THE best big brother anyone could ever ask for.  We are blessed beyond belief by being his parents.  For the kids birthdays they get to pick breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  He wanted me to cook sausage, bacon, and eggs for breakfast, we ate Longhorn for lunch and he asked for Sheetz hot dogs for dinner (no I'm not kidding).  We spent a wonderful day together doing what he wanted which of course included a trip to PetSmart just to look around.  I sure do love my Snuggle Puppy :)

Family Birthday Party

Anyone who knows me knows that I throw big ole shabangs (yes it's a word, don't ask) of a birthday party!  I tend to over-do it and invite way too many people.  Well, this year the boys had just a family birthday party.  No bells and whistles, just cake, ice cream and our family.  It was a great time!  Now, I'm not saying we haven't enjoyed all the parties prior to this one but it was nice to have a more intimate time....and a lot less mess ;).

And because my kids are fun and crazy, we let them do things like this in restaurants. I mean, it WAS their birthdays ;)

Oh Oak Island beach, how I love you

Our beach trip to Oak Island is a favored vacation by us all.  My boys have called that house "our beach house" because we have visited it as long as they can remember.  It is cozy.  It is comfortable.  It really does feel like our home away from home!  We are so blessed to be able to visit here (almost) every year!  There is something about being at the beach, listening to the waves break, that makes you feel just a little closer to heaven.  

As usual we had a wonderful time.  Joss was NOT a fan of the ocean.  Poppi got her a little pool so she could stay cool.  She LOVED that and digging in the sand.  The boys would have stayed in the ocean from sun up to sun down had we let them. And yes, this includes Daddy-O!  With a little sweet talking from my Jax, I even got in the ocean a few times and so did Nana!  The grands took the kids to the aquarium and Fort Fisher one day where they came back full of knowledge on all things ocean and war ;).  Daddy-O and I enjoyed the relaxing day just hanging out!  

And as for drama for the week (cause you know we had some since it was us and a vacation), Caden fell out of the bed one night and busted his eyebrow wide open.  Blood squirting everywhere.  This is my child that hates blood.  Once I calmed him down a bit I preceded to wake every other adult in the house to confirm he didn't need stitches.  We made a make shift steri-strip, stuck a bandaid on it and we were good.to.go.  Now don't blame me if the kid has a massive scar....

Choosing pics to post after our trips are just so hard.  I'm sure I'm leaving out some favorites.  But ding-dong me left me camera at home so these are all iPhone pics.  (hey, I'm doing good to only leave a camera when I'm packing for 6 people and a dog!)

Fun stuff

A few fun things we did, with pics I can't NOT post....
The boys went to the Grasshoppers game with Nana

Joss got to play with her bestie, Mercy

We had the last Family Fun Night at Life on Lexington.

Camron turned into Buzz Lightyear ;)

                   Caden got (pretend) glasses just like Cam's throwing everything in mass hysteria.

Blue belts!!!!

My boys amaze me with their ability to remember their forms for the different belts as well as the verses that come along with them.  I'll be honest, when they have testing, my stomach is in knots!  They have to get out there in front of strangers and boy do they perform!  This past testing they rocked it with their green belt form, broke boards like a boss, sparred like nobody's business and recited God's word with ease.  Makes my mama heart happy!  I didn't get many pictures because I was too busy taking videos :)

"First Day of School"

As with many homeschool families, we don't necessarily have a "first day", because we are always learning something ;).  At the traditional start of the school year, or changing over of some curriculum "stuff", we make the traditional pencil cake!  This year, since food choices have changed in our home and this cake was anything but healthy, I even let them eat it for breakfast.  Yep, you heard read that correctly!  My kids ate funfetti cake for breakfast.  Go on and hand out the cool mom points ;).  I posted a cute little collage of the past pencil cakes on IG so here ya go.  I canNOT believe how my loves are growing!