Trunk or Treating!

Here are my boys all dressed up for halloween. Krew as a Monster and Gray as a shark: (the white on Krew's face is suppose to look like teeth; I know it looks bad... just play along)

I usually make our costumes but this year I was a little worried that Bennett would come before we got a chance to wear our costumes and I didn't want to put a whole lot of effort into something we wouldn't wear, So we just bought the boys outfits this year. And now that Bennett has not arrived yet, I'm kind of wishing I would have done something a little more creative. Oh well, they really liked their costumes. Krew has been wearing his a lot. And he has definitely been in character for about a month, he has been Going around saying "I'm a MONSTER RRRAAAAAWWWWRRRRR!!!!!

The day of our trunk or treating I decided Brandon and I should have somewhat of a costume I found this idea on a blog and thought it would be fun.

Showing an x-ray (sort of) of our bellies, Bennett trying to get out of mine, and a burger and fries in Brandon's.

A side view of our bellies

Me with my Monster and shark

Here are a few halloween crafts I made as well:

I made these trick or treat bags for the boys, I first made the Ghost and Frankenstein and I showed Krew and he first said "Mom those are so cool I love them" and I asked him which one he wanted and he said "oh, I don't want one of those I want a pumpkin" I tried to convince him to want one of the ones I already made but he was already set on having a pumpkin, So I guess Bennett already has a trick or treat bag for next year.

And here are some jars I had and made them into a Ghost, Pumpkin and Frankenstein I love them, They are so fun and look cool at night with a candle.

3 Weeks Left...

I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left till Bennett gets here. I'm so excited an so nervous to be a mother of 3. I don't feel old enough to have 3 kids but yet here I am. We have been trying to get things ready for him. I have all of these ideas of things to do and things to get done that I feel like I'm going crazy some days. But I have been getting quite a few things done surprisingly. I still have a little energy left at the end of this pregnancy so I have been trying to organize and clean our house as much as I can. I also finally finished Grays quilt (it only took me a year) So now that Grays quilt is done we have been transitioning him into a big boy bed. The first couple of days were a synch! He would just lay right in the new big boy bed and fall right to sleep just as if he were in his crib he didn't come out of the room once till the morning, I thought it was amazing. Then I think he realized that he could get out no problem, and now that he knows how to open the doors he has been having a hard time staying in his big boy bed. So we have been switching back and forth. Hopefully he will start doing better. Once Bennett starts sleeping fairly well he is going to need that crib.

Gray just turn 18 months which means he is in Nursery now at church and it's AMAZING!!! I love it and he is doing so well. They tell me he mostly is very quiet and just plays. It has been so nice to not have him in primary with me running around disrupting the kids. He has also been getting better about talking, it's still hard to understand him he mostly grunts when he wants to say something. We have been trying to encourage him to talk more but sometimes he gets more frustrated and stubborn about talking if we try to force it. Here are a few words that he "knows":

first of all he has been signing a lot more if I show him the sign and ask him to sign it he will try. right now he knows, more, please, banana, and sorry.

here are the words that he will actually speak:

Dada

Mama

Kew (Krew)

Baba (baby)

Wawa (water)

Buba (could be either blankie, Bongo his monkey pillow pet, or Binky)

Baa (Ball)

Baba Gam (Barton Graham)

Ge cu (thank you)

Uh (up)

Bu (bug)

aga (again)

And then the rest of his talking consists of grunting the right "pitch" (anything we tell him to say he will grunt it just like we said it, it's kind of hard to explain I guess) He LOVES LOVES to sing and he sings pretty much right on pitch I always know what song he is singing and he sings all the time, every-time we are shopping he will just be in the cart singing his heart out and I always have people stopping and commenting about his singing. His favorite song right now is "Popcorn Popping" he loves to do the actions with it, and he also LOVES to dance anytime there is music he is dancing, it doesn't matter where we are if he hears music he will stop and dance.

He just had his 18 month check up and he is:

26 lbs 12 oz

33 inches long

He's getting so big I can't believe that soon he wont be my baby anymore.

Krew is also getting so big all of his clothes all of the sudden don't fit him anymore. but the problem it he is SO skinny that the next size up in pants is the perfect length but fall right off his little bum. He just had a check up as well and is 33 lbs and 3 feet tall. The thing that he talks about the most is how he is getting big big big like daddy. The other day he turned to Brandon and said:

"Daddy? Mommy doesn't want me to get big big big she wants me to stay little, but she is going to stay little little and I'm going to be BIG BIG BIG just like you"

He also loves to run. The other night we were having a picnic dinner outside and we told Krew to run around the house and we would time him, he ran around our house 18 times he LOVED it!!! He kept asking if he did better on his time, his best time was 24 sec. He's pretty fast.

Another thing that happened actually yesterday, usually Krew doesn't eat much of his food and Gray will eat A LOT and we have to keep coaxing Krew to eat with treats at the end of dinner and sometimes he hasn't been able to earn his treat but Gray will, well last night Gray wouldn't touch his dinner and we always say all you have to do is try it and he wouldn't try it so he didn't earn a treat and he threw a fit wanting a treat. Krew then turns to me and says

"Please mommy can you just give him a treat" and I had to tell him "no I'm sorry I know he wants one but he didn't try his dinner so he doesn't get any" and then Krew said "Well if you cant give him some can I share mine with him" Of course I said yes how can you say no to that. What a sweet boy I have. (he is also naughty a lot lately but we wont get into that) When ever I am upset at him he just looks at me and says "Mommy I love you" and then gives me a big hug! Sometimes it's frustrating because then I think oh man how can I punish him now he's so sweet. (I think he might know how to manipulate me.)

Oh something else he said yesterday we thought was pretty funny he said "Mommy if you touch my M&Ms I'm going to be real angry like this" .... then he shows me his angry face and points to one eyebrow then the other. I reassured him I would not touch his M&M's

i guess since I have shared what Krew and Gray have been up to lately I will share what Brandon and I have been up to lately

Lets see

Brandon ........ School/studying

Diedre......... Cleaning the house/taking care of 2 boys and growing a third boy

Yep that's about it

Homecoming and other family fun!

Sco had a homecoming party a few weeks ago and we had a BLAST!! The dinner was good, I bet you can't guess what the dinner was ok you probably can because it's what we eat in the south BBQ pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw mmmm. I never thought I would EVER like coleslaw but being here in the south slaw is SO good. I made my own the other night, it was a HUGE batch and I was thinking we are probably going to have to throw some of this away because I thought we would never eat it all before it would go bad. But sure enough we finished it and pretty fast too. Anyway I am totally off topic. The Homecoming party had a lot of fun games,They had a Bouncy house for the little kids (that Krew went in and freaked out because he couldn't control how he bounced so came running right out and refused to go back in) Then the had other blowup "gladiator" games things for the adults I wish I could have played some but alas being 8 months pregnant I could not. They also had a rock wall that I think would be so much fun maybe next year when we go Brandon and I can challenge each other. My all time FAVORITE thing though was the balloon man. He was AMAZING, the line for him to make a ballon animal was very long, and he would make anything that the kids would come up with, some of our favorite things that we saw him make was a unicorn, motorcycle, Elmo and a fish on a fishing pole just to name a few. He was super cool here are a few pictures of the boys with the balloons that were made for them and Brandon and the boys plying on some of the blow up games.

Krew with his good friend Michelle.

Gray trying to shoot for the basket

Krew trying too.

We had a really good time and look forward to next year when we can go again.

A few weeks ago we decided to get a pass the the childrens museum of memphis. The boys LOVE this place. It is really cool. We went all together for the first

time as a family here are a few pictures of that day

The costume section, You put on a costume then dance on stage.

Krew as Batman:

Then Spiderman:

Gray as a construction worker, he loved dancing on stage with daddy:

My boys being pilots:

Fishing, this is a favorite place for the kids they have fishing nets and fishing poles, they love to watch the fish swim down and then catch them.

Gray the policeman on the super cool motercycle

Firemen Krew and Gray

The same day that we went to the children's museum my boys had a lot of fun goofing around, while I made dinner.

They saw the cabbage on the counter and thought the leaves looked like hats so they picked them up and wore them around thinking of different people that wear hats, they were cowboys at one time grabbing golf clubs as their horses running around saying YEEEHAAWW and then they were peter pan and the lost boys running around with their swords. It was a lot of fun to watch them playing, I love when they get together with their daddy and play pretend, Brandon is such a great dad and thinks of some really fun things to do with me boys,

4D baby bennett pictures and prego belly

I had to get another ultrasound done because my first one showed that my placenta was too low, and they were a little worried. Everything is where it should be now and Bennett is very healthy. While I was getting the ultrasound done. I asked to get more pictures of my baby so she took some 4D pictures for me. I thought they were so cute, so I thought I would share them.

Puckering up to blow mommy kisses!

Yes that is his leg and arm he looks so cramped in there.


20 weeks

30 weeks

Krew wanted to show off his belly too.

Troys Visit

It has been a while since I have updated what we have been up to lately. a couple of weeks ago my brother Troy came to visit for a few days. He was in Virginia working for the summer and drove down on his way back home. We had a really fun time with him. We had one day in particular that was full of excitement. We woke up to it raining out so the boys and Troy ran through the rain. They had such a great time. Then Brandon told us he got an e-mail from a lady in our ward telling us that there was a Jason Aldean concert to see that night and we could get free tickets plus $50 if we were willing to stay after to clean up. We thought that it sounded awesome. We didn't know what time the concert started but were told to be there at 6 so we assumed that the concert started at 7. They also said in the e-mail that we could just get the 50 if we just wanted to come at 9:45 and clean so then we assumed the concert either ended at 9:30 or 10 and that we would be done cleaning in about an hour. It sounded GREAT so we decided to go. I mean it's not everyday that you get to go to a free concert that would normally cost us $50 just to go to, and get $50 too. Well, the concert finally started at 8 so we were there 2 hours before it even started and the concert was ok, it wasn't my favorite concert ever, I mean was really good, and the first guy who was an opener for him was pretty good but the other guy that opened for him was TERRIBLE!! I mean awful, he could not carry a tune and he was trying to do some sort of country rap and it was not good (Colt Ford... HIGHLY do not recommend). he didn't even have good lyrics. Oh man it was pretty bad. Also it was an outside concert so everyone around us was smoking, I haven't been around that much smoke I think ever and being pregnant I felt really dizzy with all the smoke and we were on the grass so there wasn't any way of sitting down after a while So I started feeling really bad by the end, which ended up not being till almost 10:30. And by the time everyone was gone and we were ready to clean up it was 11 So I was thinking "ok this is ok, We will be done by 12 get home take the babysitter home, i think it will be ok." I called our babysitter she said that would be fine. and then they told us, there is NO WAY we will be done until 3 in the morning "WHAT?" I couldn't believe it. I called our babysitter again and told her that I could just leave and go take her home and leave Troy and Brand there, But she told me" no it's fine I will just sleep, just wake me up when you get in" (ps she's a teenager and had school in the morning. ) So I Said "are you sure?" (what I should have said is let me call your mom and tell her the situation, I should have never put her on the spot, and had her make the decision) a few min later I got a phone call from her mom upset saying she wasn't comfortable with her daughter staying at our place by herself till 3. Of course I understood so I left after only an hour of cleaning (the place was a DISASTER by the way I have never seen so many beer cans and my feet were soaked with me stepping in puddles of beer. Oh it smelled so bad, so I wasn't complaining that I had to leave. Anyway, I got her home around 12:30. I feel awful that I put her in that situation. Brandon and Troy didn't get home till 3. If we knew that it would have ended up like that we wouldn't have done it it was NOT worth $50. But I guess you live and learn. Plus it makes an okay story...

The rest of the time with Troy was really fun. most of the time we just kind of hung out and chatted, but I'm sooooo glad that I was able to see him. An added bonus of him coming to visit is he brought us a car. (It was my dads car and we bought it from him) It has been SO nice to have another car. I don't feel stranded anymore. I can actually get out and do fun things with my boys. I will be FOREVER grateful to my wonderful dad for letting us buy the car from him. We LOVE it!!! I wish I would have gotten more pictures of when my brother was here. We really enjoyed having him come.

Our Boys

Since Gray turned 1 in April and Krew turned 3 in July we decided to get their 1 year and 3 year pictures taken, Thanks to our friends here we were able to get it done. And I think they turned out GREAT!! Thank you so much Shurtz family!!

We also officially decided on a name for our 3rd little boy that will be coming to our family in 12 weeks. His name will be Bennett Hoyt Sloan. Bennett is just a name that we have both liked and Hoyt is my grandfathers name who passed away almost exactly a year before Bennett is due (late last October). We have so much respect and love for my grandpa When he passed away Brandon and I talked about if we had another boy we would like to name him after him because he is a man of integrity, who has so much love for family and is such a hard worker, When I think of a man who is pretty much perfect my grandpa comes to my mind first. I feel very blessed to be able to name my boy after him. We are getting more and more excited and also more and more nervous to have him come. But I know once he gets here it will feel like he has always been in our life.

Krew Turns 3

I can't believe that Krew is now 3 it seems like yesterday he was born, but also that he has been in my life forever! I Love him so much he brings a lot of joy into our lives. He is so fun and everyday is like an adventure! He is so smart, I am always surprised at the things that he knows even just yesterday I asked him what he learned in nursery and he told us pretty much his whole lesson, about John the baptist. How they showed him the picture and he knew it was John the baptist and then told how he held Jesus and baptized him. I couldn't believe how much he had learned that day and what he told us, usually when I ask him he talks about the toys they played with and the songs they sang. anyway, He also helps a lot at home. He is always wanting to help me and actually does a good job, I don't feel like it's a chore to have him help me anymore. He is also so sweet and loving and polite. He always makes sure he says please and thank you. He is also I really good big brother, He sometimes has a hard time sharing and forgets that Gray is smaller than him but for the most part he is really sweet to Gray and is always aware of my belly, when he sits on my lap he will say oh no am I hurting baby brother, then pats my belly and says hi baby brother and kisses my belly. I know I'm rambling on and on about him I just love him so much and feel like the luckiest mom in the world to have him as my son. Happy Birthday Krew!!

Just a little warning there are a TON of pictures. Krew had 2 parties, a family party and a friend party so we got a lot of pictures!

Here's the birthday boy eating his Birthday breakfast just what he asked for Chocolate chip pancakes!

Here are a few pictures I took of him in the afternoon:

After Brandon got home from work we decided to open up presents:

Here he is opening up his Helmet and Knee pads from Grandma Sloan

What do you think this could be who knows

A NEW BIKE!! He was so excited and couldn't wait to go outside and ride it.

Riding his bike, He has a little bit of a hard time peddling it, I know he will get it but he just gets so frustrated with it and wont ride it for very long.

Eating birthday dinner Mac and cheese and meatball sandwich

Birthday cookies (since we were going to have cake for his friend birthday party we thought we should shake things up a bit!)

Krew had a SUPERHERO birthday party with his friends it turned out GREAT!! It was so much fun! Thank you to all of Krews friends who were able to come and celebrate his 3rd birthday with us.

Here are all of the superhero capes and masks for each of the kids, and the goodie bags for thanking them for coming.

Here are pictures of each kid in their superhero costumes:

Birthday boy "Super" Krew

"Super" Gray

"Super" little Jaxson

"Super" Hayden

"Super" Kinsley

"Super" Kaitlyn

"Super" Big Jaxson

"Super" Maya

"Super" Desmond

Superhero Training Camp:

Save the citizen......

Vaporize the Villain....

Leap over "building" (sprinkler) in a single bound....

Time for a "SUPER" lunch.....

Radioactive punch

Eat for super strength

Power Pizza Pockets

Kryptonite, Green Lanterns Ring, and Wonder Woman's Truth Whip

Krew next to his cake

Blowing out the candles

Enjoying his cupcake

Gray enjoying the cupcakes

Time to open up presents ( he had a lot of helpers)

Enjoying those cupcakes again after dinner!