Today and the past week!

TODAY

I went on my last first date 6 years ago today!! It wasn't intended to be a first date, Brandon and I were in a dance class together and to get extra credit ( That was our excuse but really Brandon and I just really wanted to hangout with each other. I mean, come on, who really needs extra credit for a dance class? definitely an easy A) we decided to get a group together to watch "swing kids". We invited quite a few people from our class but no one else showed up to watch the movie.(Really I paid them not to come j/k) I'm glad they didn't show because that was the night that Brandon and I became a couple! Brandon and I have now been together for 6 years I can't believe how fast the time has flown by! I love him more and more every day. We have done some amazing things together and I wouldn't change anything!! Thanks for the best 6 years of my life babe I LOVE YOU!!

This is us 6 years ago!

LAST WEEK

The boys have all been sick this past week and our cars brakes have been making some sounds, we got it all fixed now butBrandon didn't want me driving it till we got it fixed and there was no way I was going to be at the mechanic by myself with 3 kids for who knows how long so I was with out a car for a whole week! Sick kids and no car means we were stuck in this house!! So I thought what better time to potty train Gray, I know he's only 22 months but, he has been really curious about the toilet and for the past like 3 weeks he has gone #2 in the toilet every day. So far it has been going fairly well. The first couple of days was a little rough pee on the floor a lot. It seemed like a lot of times he would sit on the toilet pee a little bit and then I would get him off and he would pee on the floor, Just a little frustrating!! But I think he is starting to understand a little more now, Yesterday he actually told me he had to pee and went went to the toilet and he did pee. It was awesome!! I hope it just continues to get better!! We will see how today goes. so far no accidents.

Here he is in his new big boy pants!!

So with us being stuck in the house, I decided I should try to get a little bit of cleaning done. Krew really wanted to help so I gave him a spray bottle with water in it and a rag and had him wash windows he thought that was the most awesome thing and has been asking me almost every day if he can use the spray bottle again.

Here he is wash'n windows

2 weeks ago Brandon dropped his phone and it shattered into a million pieces, it was going to cost him $250 to get the glass replaced by apple, but then he found a guy on ebay that fixed iPhones glass for $35. but he had to mail it to the guy which meant he would be away from his phone for 6 days. Brandon is very dependent on his phone so he was having a really hard time with having it gone for 6 days.

I have been taking pictures of Bennett each month but I keep not posting the pictures. And since he just turned 3 months old this week I thought I would share how much he has been growing. I can't believe it has already been 3 month since he was born. He is such a smilie kid. He's starting to laugh too with is so much fun! He is such an amazing baby! I feel so blessed to have him as my child! He is very go with the flow baby. Gray LOVES him so much, sometimes maybe a little too much if you know what I mean. He is constantly wanting to give him hugs and hold him and show me that he has EYES!! Poking him all the time. And it seems like Bennett doesn't even mind.

1 Month

2 Months

3 months

I love my boys so much!! I feel like the luckiest mom in he world!! I saw a quote the other day that said something like....Out of all of the kids in the world how did I end up with the best ones! That is certainly how I feel! But I'm sure every mom feels that same way about their kids! Now we just need to shake off this sickness so we can get out of this house!!

EyeBall

Brandon and I got to go on an actual date, with no kids!! This doesn't happen very often people! We went to the SCO dance called the EyeBall (I know we are really witty here!!) It was so much fun! It was so nice to get out of the house and do something with just Brand and I! We met in a dance class and our real first date was at a dance and we hadn't been to a dance since until now 6 years later, almost to date. Brand and I were on the dance floor almost non stop from 8:30 to 10:30. We went with a big group of people from our ward. The best thing was is our group had the dance floor all to ourselves for probably about an hour and a half. Everyone else had to "have a few drinks" before they could start dancing. we knew it was about time for us to go when we started getting beer spilt on us and noticed that someone had puked on the floor. Thats one of the many reasons I don't drink. It was pretty much perfect!

Here we are dropping off our kids to our wonderful friends! Thanks again Mark and Amy! But you better be coming with us next year!

At dinner Mongolian BBQ mmmm it was super good.

With our wonderful Friends at dinner!

At the dance.....Lets PARTAY

Me with an amazing group of girls, We had so much fun dancing together. They got to see my crazy side...not many people get to see my crazy side.

See there I am going crazy!!

Our good friends Ashley and Todd

Yep.....I think I was a little too excited to be out dancing with my man with out kids!! 6 years and 3 kids later..... we still know how to have fun!

Christmas

Christmas was a BLAST!!! Krew is at such a fun age!! He was able to tell us exactly what he wanted, witch was a robot and a computer, that's all he wanted. It started out just a robot that could swim (I don't know where he got the idea of a swimming robot, he had a really hard time explaining to me) He ended up just saying he wanted a robot and a computer, I found This little guy and showed him to Krew to kind of coax him into wanting him instead of a robot and a computer how about a robot that is a computer (well sort of). anyway, long story short it was fun to talk to him about christmas, telling him about why we celebrate Christmas and trying to be more like Jesus everyday. I tried something that was pretty fun it will be more fun once Gray understands and not just Krew. Every night we would go around and say a good deed that we noticed someone else had done and they would get a piece of candy if they did a good deed that day. It was fun to hear the things Krew would think about like.... "Gray played with his toys with me" ...."daddy played with me"....and "Mommy made dinner" That's pretty much what he said every night, I tried to get him to branch out and think of other things that happened through out the day but he insisted on using those same good deeds. We definitely had a blast bringing the Christmas spirit into our home!

Here we are making cookies! The boys had a lot of fun, I think their daddy had more fun than they did he was the one throwing flour around!! The boys thought it was pretty funny!

The boys and I went to a little christmas party with some other mothers and their kids and Santa showed up Krew was ECSTATIC!!

This is the moment that he saw santa. Santa walked in and Krew Yelled it's Santa and ran up to him (of course as he was looking at me grinning as if to say can you believe that Santa is here) And shook his hand.

Here is Krew telling Santa "Yep, I want 2 presents, a robot and a computer!!"Gray was a little more hesitant but because he saw Krew so excited he went along with it all and sat on Santa's Lap.
Bennett Just sleep'n a way didn't even notice I passed him off to Santa.

Christmas Eve we had a bunch of friends come over for dinner and it was a lot of fun. The adults Laughed and Cried together ( well I cried) while the kids played together, We all had this idea to have the kids dress up and "act" out the manger scene but most of the kids didn't want to do it, My kids thought it was awesome and got dressed up so here we have Joseph Chill'n with a shepherd. Aren't they so cute! Oh I love my boys!!!Our little Family Christmas eve in front of our tree!

The kiddos in their Christmas eve Jammies!! Oh we sure love our friends here! We had a Blast! Thanks Cheryl for putting it all together for us!
My 3 boys in their Christmas Jammies!! I love matching my boys ( I match them as much as I can because I think it's so fun even though I get the comment all the time "Oh what cute twins"... or " Oh wow you have twins and another little boy" Maybe I shouldn't dress them a like so much, But I think it's super cute!!)
Our living room Christmas morning!!

Lights off and on:

(The Candy Cane Wrapping Paper is Santa's Gifts that He Brought)

I told the boys to give me their excited face....I think they were still a little tired ( and yes we did wake them up, it was a lot of fun!! plus we had church at 9 and we wanted to have the boys open at least one gift before we left)
Krew and Grey with their stocking loot!
Bennett with his stocking and present from Santa!
Bennett with his gifts
Gray with his gifts
Krew with his gifts
Me with my gifts
And Brandon with his gifts
Every year we get a family gift that is a puzzle, Brandon and I put our puzzle together in 3 hours the next night it was so much fun!After that we had the puzzle itch and the next couple of nights we did 2 more puzzles here are our masterpieces!
All in all we had a fantastic Christmas!! And hope you all had a Fantastic Christmas as well!!

Christmas Card 2011

2011’s update brings greetings with soul from the South,

With love from our hearts and kisses from our mouths.

This year has been fun; it’s been busy; and especially grand.

And the biggest news this year fits in the palms of our hands.

However I suppose I should start from the beginning

By the end I sure hope you will at least be grinning.

Brandon’s been busy with schoolwork and more.

Painting the whole house from ceiling to the floor.

His first year is now gone with a few shakes of his fist.

Just two and a half more and he’ll be an optometrist.

It is hard to believe he’ll be a doctor, but yet,

It sure will be nice to start paying off some of this debt.

Diedre stays busy with what comes with being a mom.

From wiping some... faces to picking up each little crumb.

She does a great job simply raising our boys.

With an occasional shout when she steps on some toys.

Then little by little she started putting on weight,

One pound in February, by November Thirty Eight.

We thought “is she over eating? possibly thyroid disease?”

Before I go further let me put you at ease.

What came next was a blessing that occasionally cries.

Measuring 21 inches, and 7lbs 14 oz in size.

Krew’s been busy learning about a billion new words.

Now when he poops he flushes his turds.

He’s big and he’s strong very picky with his food.

Incredibly smart with a big attitude.

His first imaginary friend has arrived and his name is Bert.

When I accidently sit on him Krew’s feelings get hurt.

“Dad can’t you see that your sitting on my friend?”

It’s so stinking’ cute and his creativity never ends.

Gray is our eater, that never stops smiling.

He makes his art canvas every inch of our tiling.

He never quits echoing Krew’s each minute move.

And if there’s ever music playing he’ll be “busting a groove”.

Singing about twinkles and stars 24-7.

It makes your heart melt as if it was coming from heaven.

Bennett Hoyt is the name of our newest addition.

Going from 2 to 3 boys has been quite the transition.

Lucky for us he has made it quite easy.

From his melancholy demeanor, to his grin that’s quite cheesy.

Literally sleeping about 18 hours a day.

The other 6 hours spent breast-feeding away.

In short we hope this message reaches you well.

The fact that you got one means we think that you’re swell.

We are so very blessed, and we’re thankful a lot.

Owing all to our Savior who’s given all that we’ve got.

2011’s been great and it’s end is quite near.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good year.

Bennett's Baby Blessing/Thanksgiving

So this year for Thanksgiving all of Brand's family came and we hosted our first ever Thanksgiving dinner at our little house in Walls MS. It was so much fun! Brand's Mom, brother, 2 sisters, and 11 nieces and nephews (Not to mention our 3 kids as well) all came and it was one crazy house. The main reason why we had Thanksgiving here was the fact that Bennett was born just 3 weeks earlier and we didn't want to do any traveling but Brand also blessed him the Sunday after Thanksgiving with all of his family in town. It was so nice simply because for Krew and Barton Graham's blessings there really wasn't ever any of Brand's family... just Diedre's.

So it all started with most everyone coming into town the Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then us all eating our hearts out all day on Thursday. Friday was basically our Christmas eve since we don't get to see our family often whenever we do get together we hold a Christmas gift exchange and that was set for Saturday. So Friday we bought all sorts of gifts on "Black-Friday" specials to exchange on our Christmas on Saturday. Then we woke up at 6 am on Saturday and opened up presents... EVERYTHING was under that tree, from remote control helicopters to neck ties to kindles! It was soooo much fun! Lastly on Sunday right before everyone left we went to church and Brand blessed "Bennett Hoyt Sloan" and he did a wonderful job. We are so thankful that Brand's family could all come and see us and can't wait till next time. Here are some photos...

Bennett Hoyt in his "Blessing Outfit"

Our "Not So Little Family"

Sloan Kids (wish Meg could have been there)

Krew Putting the Star on the Tree..

Gray Opening his Present from Grandma

All the Grandkids!!!

Visitors from New Mexico, Texas and Idaho

I know it's been over a month since my sisters and my mom came to help me out when Bennett was born, but I needed to share how much fun we had and how amazing they are!! I am so grateful for them, for their sacrifices to come here and all that they did to help. They sure did help A LOT!! Considering Gray and Krew got sick the day Bennett was born I am so glad I didn't have to do that all alone, it would have been AWFUL!! Both of my sisters each brought 2 kids and all 6 toddlers had a BLAST with each other. The day that they left Krew was crying and saying he didn't want his friends to go home he wanted them to stay here with him I had to explain to him that they missed their daddies and wanted to go see them, so then Krew said "their daddies should just come here." Oh if only it were that simple.

These 3 boys are lined up oldest to youngest spaced by 3 months and played so well together

Here they all are lines up this time not oldest to youngest but they are all there!

Playing with Oma at the park

Dancing with Oma (my mom is a dance teacher for 3-5 yr olds and is so good at it) The kids absolutely LOVED it!!!

Bennett with Aunt Gretchen and cousin Wendy

Bennett With Aunt Heidi! ( he's giving her kisses) He sure does love his Aunts!!

Me with my best friends, my sisters!! Love you both so much!!

Bennett with Oma! Thanks mom for coming you are truly amazing!! I love you!!