Chuck E Cheeses

... taking the boys to Chuck E Cheeses about once a month and they love it. It is amazing how quickly they get out of the house when it is something they want to do.

Ashton is quite the "basket-b-ball" star. He is so cute playing and is quite good.

This is a clip of Hunter and Ashton competing against one another. Ashton won... poor Hunter- his athletic drive (not ability) is hopefully just delayed. Maybe he will just be strong like his daddy. I also have a cute clip of them playing air hockey (Hunter did win that one because Ashton had a meltdown) but it would not load.

This is officially Shepherd's first ride

We then went and grabbed a bite to eat and Shep blew up his diaper and his clothes again (I HATE HUGGIES!) and somehow the mother of three did not have any wipes and the other two boys had just started eating; so hot water and napkins with a complete strip down is what ol' Shepherd got in the middle of the food court.

Before I sign off for today, here was a conversation that Ashton and I (with a input from Hunter) had this morning.

Ashton- where is my pacy?

Me- I don't know, but it would be nice to send your pacies to the babies that are in heaven!

Hunter- Mommy, pacies cant go to heaven they don't have hearts. Only peoples can go to heaven.

Me- Ashton, when are you going to be all done with pacies?

Ashton- How about no?

The soccer connection.

...quite sure that my children would walk onto the sports field and be flat out awesome. I will try to be humble here, but I was quite the athlete and feel confident that with some training could be whipped right back into soccer shape.

Here is a clip from his last game on Fire (team name). He actually does touch the ball in this one (EDIT- actually, I believe he had the assist on that goal)!!! His team is in red.


However, my first soccer mom experience, at the beginning of March, gave me a reality check. Yes, Hunter was the youngest on his team. And no, I dont think he quite comprehends competition yet, but I still expected him to score a goal or attempt to slightly care about the game. I mean in our backyard, he is quite good and has a blast. However, once thrown in with basically complete strangers, he is totally care-free and could careless about the game. It is official that his first ever score was for the other team and it was really his only attempt to go after the ball all year.

As his first season ended yesterday, I came away with a couple things.

1. His coach was so patient and kind... what a God send
   
2. Hunter really did have fun and though I am not so sure... said he wants to play in the fall. And he is already signed up for t-ball.
3. Though at first I thought is was ridiculous, he loved his trophy and asked me what it did.
   
   
   
4. I WILL NOT be that parent that pushes their child too much.
5. Lastly, I need to get a grip. It is U6 soccer for goodness sakes and even if it was high school athletics, I need to relax. By the end of the season, I had my sense of humor back and was able to enjoy the games without preconceived expectations for my poor 4 year old.

Shepherd food attempt 2

Obviously, I think I really will wait a couple weeks. He really doesnt like it. My other two took to cereal much better than this.
Just another example of his blowing bubbles/ splitting. Every time I got the spoon close to him, he would blow it back at me.



I am also researching Baby Led Weaning. Basically, you totally skip the nasty pureed foods, goopy cereals. You start with manageable pieces of slightly cooked vegis, steamed fruits, and finger foods, but you dont start anything before 6 months old and the parent is totally hands off in the feeding process. As the parent, you just supervise; you dont use a spoon in the beginning and baby feeds himself -- parent DOES NOT feed the baby. The idea is that if the baby cant pick up the food by himself it is probably too small for him to eat anyway (thus why the parent should not feed since we can pick up smaller pieces). It is a messy/ playful introduction to food but it might work for us. Plus it eliminates the middle ground of baby food and is cheaper as baby eats (within reason) what we eat.

So, my plan is to wait another couple weeks until he is 6 months and then maybe introduce table food. He is probably taking every bit of 40-43 oz of breastmilk a day so food is definitely going to need to be in his future.

Ahhhhh, Hair Cut

....loving Ashton's hair since the moment I laid eyes on him and saw his white/ platinum hair. He gets compliments on how pretty it is ALL THE TIME. Ever since it started coming in really good when he was 4 months old, it has been beautiful. Here is a picture of him at 4 months when his hair stood straight up.

Welp, tonight was haircut night for my guys. I started with Ashton and messed up on the front. Once I realized I couldnt fix it without making it worse, I took the clippers with an 8 guard to it.Plus, he will be 2 1/2 tomorrow and needs a big boy haircut.
I seriously teared up while I did it. Thankfully, I think it turned out really good. I am hoping that it will stand up like it did when he was a baby. Here is his after picture.

Weekend Brag 1

I could blog multiple times a day with funny sayings or brag worthy moments, but in the interest of keeping it organized; on the weekends I will post brag worthy moments of the week in a semi- concise form.

Shepherd- Blows bubbles all the time.... finishes a bottle = blowing bubbles... giving kisses = blowing bubbles... getting tired = blowing bubbles. He cracks me up. He has also started growling. I wish I had a video clip of it because it is quite funny. I think he will have a low voice based on his growl.

He also has the funniest expression. The best way I can describe it is a squishy face/ scowl/ smile. I know... kind of contradictory, but here is a picture of it.

Ashton- Hilarious child. Picked him up from church today and his teacher said that he told them all about me and his daddy. He told them our names and what we do. According to Ashton, "Chad works but he doesnt know what he does and Hannah washes clothes and feeds Shepherd." I would say that is pretty accurate.

Ashton also has been getting the Boppy pillow, putting it around him and saying loudly "I am Santa". I dont know why I find it so funny but even when I am annoyed with him, it gets a smile.


Hunter- Every Sunday his Sunday School teachers are so impressed by how much of the Bible he knows. He answers all their questions and can seriously find any story in the Bible faster than I can.... if only I could get him to recognize all his numbers... sigh.

Hunter also has quite the imagination. He is always pretending and wanting everyone else to pretend with him. I, too, used to have quite the creative streak... I wander where it went?!?! Because I am quite tired of being Princess Eloise (from the Pirates Who Dont Do Anything.) Hunter is normally Elliot (Larry), Ashton is normally Robert (the bad pirate) or George (Pa Grape), Daddy is whichever one Ashton is not, and Shep is Sedgewick (Lunt). Even Molly has a role as Willery (Archie). If you havent seen "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" it is worth the 90 minutes and is quite cute.


The saying/ word of the week is from Ashton (it is actually a couple weeks old but he still says it).
"maybe me dues"
Transalation- maybe I do

First food

... trying to decide when to start the ever life changing event of solids (dripping sarcasm). I dont know why I dread this decision... maybe because it means Shep is growing right in front of my eyes... maybe it is because I really dont enjoy feeding baby food... maybe it is because it will be awhile before I make this decision again (seriously.)

Regardless, I made him a little bowl of rice cereal tonight and let him experiment with the new texture. He handled it really well. Though he didnt love it, he did tolerate it by pushing most of it back out. I dont think it will become a daily event yet, but I wanted to give it a try.

He has also been piddling with a sippy cup for about a week now. I dont think he enjoys the coolness of the water and itty bitty bit of juice. He still likes his milk at body temperature so he has some adjusting to do.

I also have been letting him play around with apples. He licks it then makes a funny face, then licks it again.

So, I guess the process has begun. He is growing so fast.

Here is a series of pictures from his first solid experience.


ug, mom, what is this?


and out it comes


spitting it at me


and I am forgiven for putting that foreign substance in him mouth

Whats in a name?

... thinking for weeks now of beginning a blog but coming up with a name for a blog proved to be a challenge. I think it is harder than naming a child, it is even more permanent. I decided on hasboys because my initials are HAS and I have 3 boys. Yes, eventually I hope to (much later) have one more and I suppose there is a chance it could be a girl, but that does not negate the fact that I have boys so I decided to go with it.

HAS also makes up the letters to my kids first names. Hunter is my oldest, Ashton is middle kid, and Shepherd is my baby. Though not originally on purpose, once I realized I had "h"and "a", I had to find a "s" to complete my initials.

The actual name of the blog though is H.A.S. been.... again for my initials and this phrase will hopefully begin each of my posts. I was thinking of all the things that "have been". Some phrases that came to mind.
HAS been...
...redeemed by the blood of the Lamb
...chosen before the beginning of time to follow Christ
...blessed beyond measure
...chosen to be a mom of boys
...married to a Godly man (who loves football) for almost 7 years
...a daughter to amazing parents
...a sister to wonderful brothers
...a granddaughter, a cousin, a friend, the list goes on


I also struggled with the public forum that is blogging. However, I feel like I have forgotten so many funny moments, interesting stories, and cute sayings over the past 4 years. So... better late than never, I am embarking on the blogging path not so much for others to keep up with us but for me to keep up with myself and the boys.

Lastly, though I was a computer high school teacher for 5 years, I am the queen of typos. So, if you are anal about English (mom/ Anna) then just cringe and ignore my fault (notice that is singular).

So, I go back to the title of this post... "whats in a name?"... obviously I put too much thought into it.

Below is a picture of us from Easter.