sweeties!

Love how sweet my boys (usually) are to each other. Especially to Maxer. He is pretty spoiled :)

Nothing...

Tonight I was reading a book about Construction machines to the boys. I have to say I couldn't name anything beyond a tractor and a concrete mixer up until a few years ago. Thanks to my boys I could drive through a construction site and throw out names of this and that with the best of them. I might even fit in there! So many reasons to love my boys. 

Anyway, on one of the pages I realized that a woman was driving the excavator. I pointed it out to the boys, "See boys, there is a lady driving this one! How cool is that? Maybe I'll hop on one of those someday...maybe tomorrow I'll go do that!" I joked.

Timmy said, "No Mom, you should not do that."

Me: "Why not?!"

"Because I want you to stay and play with me all day long. I don't want you to drive that excavator, I want you to stay home and keep doing nothing!"

This made me laugh so hard.  I totally know what he meant. He digs my company. He's happy I'm here. The feeling is mutual. I just can't wait for tomorrow...a full day of playing and...nothing! 

;) 

5 months

This precious boy turned 5 months yesterday! Time is flying more than ever. I took the boys to the gymnastics place yesterday and they went crazy for a couple of hours on the bouncy houses and trampolines. Max was rolling around on the mat and trying to scoot everywhere. It's the craziest thing, he lays on his back and kicks his legs and manages to move himself. He wants so badly to be a part of the action. I can tell he will be a little go-getter! I'm kind of glad he can't walk yet. I love holding him! He only likes facing outwards in the carrier because he wants to see everyone. It's funny walking down the aisle at the store with him in the carrier and people will have a normal serious looking face until they look over and spot this little guy grinning at them from ear to ear. It totally transforms people's whole face when they see a smiling baby. My little charmer. 

hopscotch

Is Hopscotch not the best game of Spring?

For real.

 The boys and I are making new courses each day. At this rate we'll be through another bucket of sidewalk chalk by the end of the week. Call me old school, but it's the best!  Hopscotchin' it in rubber boots...

Good times.

3-0!

Well..I did it! I turned thirty... 30... The big three-oh.

Honestly, when they say "Age ain't nothing but a number", I guess they're right. Maybe it's the busy-ness in my life or the fact that several of my friends (oh, and my hubby) have been there and done that...but it really was no big thing in terms of feeling too old or whatever else is supposed to come with hitting a milestone birthday. Phew. A sigh of relief.

Although, now that I've joined the rank of "older folks",  it's kind of like one of those new excuses that you suddenly get to use. Just like the one you get to use once you have kids. 

"Sorry, can't stay...kids are tired!"

Now it's... "Sorry, can't stay. I'm 30." 

I'm sure people totally understand.

;)

My very best girls, aka sisters, aka kindred spirits (I love you Anne of Green Gables!) treated me to the most amazing time. They pulled out all the stops and knew just how to make this girl feel special. What in the heck would I do without them?

Knowing that my littlest bambino would be only 3.5 months old at the time of the big day, they asked if I would be comfortable being away for the night. After all, I am his food source. Not to mention, he's such a charmer that I admit, I'm attached.

Well, the best part about having an amazing husband is that I knew one night away would be OK. He can handle anything! Besides having an amazing husband, I also have an amazing breast pump! Between those two, they had it covered!

We left Saturday morning on our adventure which included a long walk with beautiful scenery, followed by an afternoon at the spa and wonderful dinner and drinks. We also did lots of walking and even walked to dinner from our hotel. Why is it so much fun to walk to dinner? It just is. Despite the rain...which was OK with me and just made me feeling better for not doing anything with my hair. This gave us time to talk, and talk, followed by more talking.  We laughed because we were late for our dinner reservations. Oops. No kids and what was our excuse? Too much gabbing and when we finally looked up at the clock we had to rush to get ready! Honestly, we could go on forever. No joke. Just ask my husband, he'll tell you! He will tell you quickly, nicely, and to-the point. I love that guy, I do!!

I loved our hotel, I loved the food but most of all, I loved my time with the girls. Between the 4 of us, we have 13, read: THIRTEEN kids. Time away together is a treasure, a true gift. A perfect way to celebrate a birthday, and the 30 years that I am so thankful for!

haha. Thanks, self-timer.

Cheers!

Self timer got a break. Thanks, Mr. Server! Too bad you didn't get the live piano player right behind us in the pic. You were talented, Mr. Piano guy!

Self timer...gettin' good!

I loved the style in our hotel! So cool.

a visit from the sisters

My kids are so lucky. They have cousins everywhere they look! I always knew kids growing up that had a ton of cousins at school or in their neighborhood and I was always confused which cousin went to which family because they were always together. 

Personally I didn't have many cousins around but I know it would have been so much fun!

We got to watch the sister pair of Anika and Rosie a few weeks ago just for the weekend. To say my boys had fun would be an understatement. They loved it!

Speaking of love...Rosie loves us, too :)

I wasn't sure how she would do since we hadn't watched her before but she was a perfect little angel for us and didn't shed a single tear all weekend...until her parents came to pick her up! 

Thanks for coming little girlies! We loved hanging out with you! You are both nothing but fun!

And you wonder why Timmy loves Anika? Digging in her dress...that's right!

for laughs...

Timmy cracks us up. We've had a few conversations about how much I like his ideas and the way his brain works, and that he shouldn't let anyone tell him his ideas are bad.  

Imagine the a-ha moment for him when he comes in from the garage with a gallon of paint. 

Me: "Wow, Timmy. I don't think it's such a good idea to use that paint. Let's get out your kid paints and you can use those instead."

Timmy: "Mom, this was one of my ideas....None of them are bad! You said that!"

Ahh. 

Jackson is becoming a two and a half year old little man. See this pose?

It came naturally to him. Big boy. He's keeping up just fine! The other day we met up with Mal and the kids at the park. Jack ran around intensely telling us, "I'm really, really FAT! I'm so FAT!" 

None of us had the heart to correct him. He was running super FAST, after all. :)

And..my baby boy at 4 months has the beginnings of two new bottom teeth. You can barely see them poking through. His smile remains as cute as ever. 

                                                All  ready for a fun weekend, yay!