It's Raining!

It's pouring and the Hingst family couldn't be happier! I'm so excited for lots of springtime thunderstorms, I have missed them so much. Monsoon's just aren't the same as a good midwest thunderstorm.
This morning the doorbell rang at 7:30am, it was the UPS man and Kayden got a surprise in the mail. He grabbed it from the porch and brought it to my bed to open it in front of Breck (Breck and I had just woke up!). He said he loves surprises, opened it and saw that it was his raincoat surprise and couldn't wait to get it on. Then he noticed that Breck and I didn't have surprise from Grandma, so he grabbed the receipt, ripped it in half and gave Breck and I each a half of the receipt and told us that was our surprise from grandma and asked if we liked it:-) He was 100% serious and it was all I could do not to bust out in giggles.
Then he waited all day for the rain to come. He watched the clouds in the distance, listened to the news man say rain was on it's way and just waited. Then last night after dinner the rain started falling. He almost fell down running to get his rain gear on and then spent about 30 minutes out in the rain showers dancing around, stomping in puddles and watching the rain drain down the gutters. He also made mommy get her umbrella and dance in the rain with him. Breck and daddy watched under the porch wrapped up in a blanket.
We love you rain! We love the fun you give us and the great smell you make!

He likes it....

You know Kayden likes something if he asks you where you got it!

"I like my new toothbrush mommy, where you get it from?"
"I like my new bug catcher namma, where you get it from?"

If he likes it, he wants to know where it came from...I guess so if he looses it he can get himself another? Not sure what his little mind is thinking!

"Tank you"...ie-Thank you

Thank you is Kayden's new favorite word. It's pronounced "Tank you" and we hear it alot these days. I love that he is loving using his manners and love the way he says it. We get thank you for some very funny things now that he loves saying it. And he uses it so frequently I feel like I'm a super star mom some days b/c I get thanked so often:)

Tank you mommy for helping me find my cricket.
Tank you mommy for putting my shoes on.
Tank you mommy for making me food.
Tank you mommy for playing with me.
Tank you mommy for getting me gum.
Tank you mommy for getting me dat spider, I love it so much!

The list could go on and on. My little man is very thankful for everything we do all day long. I could just listen to him say "tank you" over and over b/c it's so cute.

"Enjoy it, it goes so fast"

My 2 little Sonshines!

People love to tell mommies that. Whenever I'm out with my two precious little boys I see older women smiling, watching, gazing at them with yearning eyes. I can't even think of a time that I've been out with them that I don't have at least one person comment about "how fast it goes", "enjoy each moment", "cherish it, it goes too fast", "what I wouldn't give to have those days back". It always makes me wonder, am I cherishing it enough? Do I enjoy it enough? Do I take this perfect time in their innocent little lives for granted? But everytime someone says this to me and I question myself, I always come to the same conclusion, I do cherish it and enjoy it and try to never rush it or take it for granted. I hope when I'm older and my babies are grown that I don't look back with regret for wasting that time or wishing I would have been in the moment more becuase I feel like I do relish each second. When my boys are awake, I spend my time with them. I use their naptime to clean, cook, surf the web, etc. I don't take time away from them to do those things. I just soak them up for the hours I get them each day.
When my babies are tiny I hold them to my hearts content, I don't listen to anyone about "letting them cry" or "holding them too much". I snuggle with them all night long, I rock them to sleep and sit with their heavy, sleepy bodies laying on mine for as long as I want. I breath in their milky breath and watch their chest rise and fall. I don't worry about those people saying "if you hold them they won't sleep when you put them down", b/c I know they will and if they don't then I just get to hold them more. I get on the floor with them and tickle and roll and laugh with them all the time.
And Kayden and I play, do crafts, play games, pretend play and romp around on the floor to our hearts content. We go on dates and talk about whatever his little mind brings to our plate. We get dirty and know that we can jump in the bath to get clean when we are done.
Sometimes my dishes wait till the next day or my floors don't get mopped as often as I'd like. But I would rather those things suffer than my little guys. So I hope I don't have to shake myself in 20 years. I hope with each baby I have I enjoy it to the fullest and remember that it is such a short time. I am going to keep trying to be intentional in each day and always enjoying each moment I get with my little men because as every woman tells me, it goes too quick and I'm sure in a few years "I'll give anything to have these days back"!

The Bunny

Came to our house. He found it even though we moved:) All 4 of us woke up in our bed because Kyle's parents and Heather, Hattie and Gabe were all here for Easter. Who am I kidding we usually all end up in our bed regardless of how many beds are free in the house:)
Kayden woke up to find that the bunny had snuck inside and left he and Breck's Easter baskets right inside our patio door. He ran and grabbed them and then brought them up into our bed so we could all see the fun stuff that bunny had left. I love being in bed with our little kids uncovering all the fun surprises of a Holiday. We started our bedtime suprises back when Kayden was a baby and I hope it's a tradition we continue.
After our bedtime fun Gabe came in our room to tell us it was time for the egg hunt! Kayden and Gabe walked outside to a yard colored with eggs. They hunted and hunted to their little hearts content and ended with a basket FULL of eggs for each of them. These are the moments when family is so great. Seeing him have such a fun time with his cousin was the best Easter present.
Of course we had the classic Easter meal and the kitchen was alive with activity and the tummies were full. Kayden's cousin Hattie celebrated her 19th birthday that day too! And we celebrated Marty's 60th birthday late with him so we got to stuff ourselves with ice cream cake and carrot cake!
The day was a gorgeous one so we spent the afternoon outside in the yard soaking up the sun and letting Gabe and Kayden entertain us with their antics.
It was a good day. A great Easter and a true blessing from above. Holidays are my favorite and make me so happy.

Breck is 5 Months!

Baby boy you are now 5 months old. You turned 5 months during the craziness of a really big move. We moved from AZ to KS with you and your brother this month. You were a trooper and when the movers were at our house packing us and mommy and daddy were trying to run around and finish all we had to do you were as happy as could be playing on your playmat or sleeping in your carseat. You did get a little cranky on our flight from AZ to KS when you needed your diaper changed but we couldn't do it because we were about to land. At that point I realized I was very happy to be moving to KS and being only a drive away from your family instead of a flight away. We had to stay in a hotel while we waited for the movers to arrive with our things and you slept like a champ in the hotel bed and went swimming in a pool for the first time at the hotel! Seeing your chunky legs in your swimsuit made me smile:-) Baby chunk is the best kind (well really the only good kind I guess:-)! You survived us unpacking and getting the house in order and are now a KS baby. You will grow up with a green grass yard, big green trees and rolling hills. That makes my heart very happy. You'll also get to be spoiled by your grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins frequently and that makes my heart even happier. Thanks for being such a trooper these past 2 weeks.

At 5 months:
-You love your mama! You cry if I leave the room and if I'm holding you and hand you off to someone else you let us all know you don't like it. You also think if I walk into a room I should come straight to you and scoop you up (I happen to agree so we have no problems there!). I love you wanting me. I know it doesn't last for long so I enjoy the mama only stage.
-LOVE your brother. Love love love him! He makes you laugh and laugh and if he's in the room your eyes are on him. You think he's the coolest and I love the way your face lights up when you see him!
-Love to snuggle with me while you sleep and I *heart* this :)
-Really enjoy being read to now. You just stare and stare at the pictures when we read you books.
-Belly laugh all the time. I just love your belly laughs!
-still like to be swaddled for naps.
-27 1/4 inches long. Just had to move you up to the LAST spot on the exersaucer.
-19 pounds of love!
-Teething, love chewing on everything and you drench your shirt with slobber while you chew
-love playing with all your toys now of course chewing on them is a favorite
-Very ticklish! If I brush my hand over your belly when your nursing you burst into laughs, it's one of my favorite things with you right now:)
-you go to bed around 7:30 and wake up around 6:30 or 7am every morning. Our wakeups are one of my favorite times of day. You always greet your sleepy mama with a huge smile and coo and goo me awake. Even though I want to keep sleeping you make me too happy to even close my eyes again.
-nurse on demand, no foods yet. I did let you lick a banana I was eating the other day and you grabbed for it and got mad at me when I took it away. So I'm guessing your going to like real food when we try it at 6 months.

Breck you are just such a delight all the time. I love you to pieces and can't get enough of you. Your laugh always lights up my day and can make anyone around you smile. Your cuddly and oh so loveable and I am just the happiest mommy ever that God gave you to us. We are forever blessed. I am just loving learning more and more about you! Mommy and daddy and brother love you to the moon and back baby boy!

How do you explain?

To a 2 year old that the people he has seen at least once a week His. Whole. Life. will no longer be available at his fingertips. Not sure how. Not sure how to even grasp it myself. Moving before we had these 2 little people with us was so much easier. So much easier to pack and organize. So much easier to say goodbye. Now it's hard. Hard to to pack. Hard to coordinate the move. Hard to teach him the depth of the goodbye. Goodbye for the day or week is alot easier than goodbye for...?
Kayden moved a week before we did. We flew to KS to find a house and at the last minute decided Kayden would stay for that week with my parents and brothers in Kearney instead of flying back to AZ and then in a week doing it all over again. I'm glad we did it that way. We had so much to wrap up because it was such a quick move that it was very nice to not have a demanding 2 year old with us. I had never been away from Kayden for more than 1 night. Not even when I had Breck, I was gone for exactly 24 hours when Breck was born, I left the hospital as soon as possible to get back home to K. So a whole week seemed impossible to do. But with all we had to do the week flew by!
The night before Kayden left AZ we went over to Jac Jac's house to say goodbye to T. That day he had said goodbye to Tula, Mav, Camila and Evan. It was alot of goodbyes and way harder on me than him. Not even sure what to write about it because it makes me so sad that they won't be apart of our daily life anymore. I know the move was for the best but it doesn't make leaving those important people any easier.