Mother's Day

Mother's Day this year could not go wrong. With 75* weather, everything was perfect. Saturday night, we had my family over for some mmm, mmm, mmm bbq'd steak. Then Sunday, we went to church, stopped by "Uncle Josh's Yogurt Shop" for some fro-yo, had some friends over for a couple hours, then headed over to Sheri's house for another steak and halibut bbq. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

 We attempted a beautiful Mother's Day photo opp.......

Sweet Baby Landon played in the pool with the boys that afternoon.

Down at Sheri's for dinner. The boys are at a great age to start playing in the yard by themselves.

Of course, I have to watch Nate. The first thing he did when he realized the lake was water - walked straight in up to his knees. Clothes, shoes and all. He probably would have kept going if I hadn't grabbed him!

Wouldn't this be a great place (minus the boats) for family pictures? The wheels in my head are turning......

After the boys saw Uncle Reed take Auntie Katie for a boat ride, they desperately wanted to go too.

Love this picture, but who's that girl in the pink life jacket?

These guys sure do make it fun to be a mom!

Reminiscing Summer

I didn't post many pictures while the sun was visiting us the last couple weeks. I'm sure I'm forgiven.

Helping me wash the car:

Apparently Nate doesn't mind the taste of car soap?

One of the nights last week, John was working on the deck as I was putting the boys to bed. James asked to go downstairs to get something and when I came down to find him, he was outside helping Dad. John said those were the memories he loved most about his dad - staying up late to help with projects. So James got to stay up as late as he wanted.  :-)

Although, he quickly found tools and started working on his bike.

The boys have THE MOST fun when they get to ride on the lawn mower with John.

This was one of the colder-sunny days. Don't worry, I looked really cute in my layers too.  ;-)

Mother's Day:  We enjoyed the afternoon between events with some friends and the kiddie pool.

The picture I put up on facebook (that Nate will kill me for one day). I wish I could zoom in on the excellence....

Oh wait, here's a better shot. Nothing but manliness here.

Again in the pool.  (Yes, those chairs lined up is my genius idea for a baby gate. It's only a 10ft drop off the edge.)

Fearless Nate.

And James... who would rather be cleaning something.   :)

Helping Mom

 

The full picture: James grabbed Nate's arm every time he started to walk away. "No Nate! Help 'acume!" I'm pretty sure they only vacuumed that 2 foot space, but it kept them busy for a while.

The full picture: James carefully washed the toilet seat. Nate plunged his washcloth into the toilet bowl and held it up over the wood floors for me to see - with a huge smile of course!

The full picture: James carefully dumped Hugo's food in his bowl - 3 pieces at a time. Nate picked up scattered pieces off the floor and either tried to eat them himself, or tried to throw them in Hugo's water bowl.

The full picture: Nate didn't actually mow the lawn by himself.  ;-)

Praise Ye the Lord

This is a story of how sweet God is in the little things. It feels like every few weeks I get in a funk with being a mom - housework, parenting, teaching, organizing, you name it. I'm not crazy or moody, I just want time for myself and everything is getting in the way of my selfishness! (The nerve.)

A couple days ago, I read the post that has been going around facebook: "How to Miss a Childhood" from Hands Free Mama.  Ugh. Super convicting and encouraging. I need to pin it.  ;-)  I don't know how to summarize the post other than asking: what is more important to me - my phone or my kids.

After reading that post, I decided to get my "intentional mom" hat back on. Now, we're getting into a summer routine - including time for "helping mom" do housework, playing outside every day, and reading together. And more importantly, making the boys and my home the first priority.

Gramma-Three (yes, that's her name!) gave the boys a "My First Hymnal" book recently. We read and sang through one of the first songs that afternoon - "Praise Ye the Lord" and that night James sang himself to sleep. Standing outside his door listening to him sing was such a confirmation that the little things I do every day really do make a difference.

"Hallelujah, hallelujah...... Praise the Lord. That's Elmo's world. La la la la..."

Deck Progress

For a couple of years, John and I have talked about plans for our deck. With the nicer weather upon us (as I'm typing this, I can hear the rain beating on the roof top - I BELIEVE the nicer weather is coming!), John and Reed decided on a whim to drop the old, grungy, hasn't-been-used-in-14-years hot tub out of the deck to make way for much more deck space and a perfect little area for an *adult* patio set. The Fisher Price picnic table and camping chairs aren't really cutting it for company!

Before

The boys loved watching Daddy and Uncle Reed "workin' "

I don't have a final picture, but we now have a dangerous gaping hole in our deck. Woo-Hoo! 

One step closer....  :)

Eli, Eli, Eli.

We spent this morning with a friend and her 2 kids, Eli and Kaiya.

This was our conversation on the way home:

James:  "Eli Eli Eli...Eli Eli Eli...Eli Eli Eli...I love Eli...Eli Eli Eli...Eli Eli Eli...I love Eli...Eli Eli Eli...Eli Eli Eli...Eli Eli Eli...I love Eli...."

Me:  "Sounds like you had fun with your friends. Do you love your friend Eli?"

James:  "NO!! Nate loves Eli."

Me:  "Well, do you love Kaiya?"

James:  "NO!! Nate loves Kaiya!"

Me:  "Well, then who do you love?"

James:  "Auntie Keri!" 

Busy, Busy

It feels like the last few weeks have flown by. I'll get to the other updates later, but I just wanted to get a few pictures up here to relieve my guilty conscience.

We've been keeping busy with all the usual these last few weeks - plus sunny days. And here in Washington, that means drop everything and go outside!

Just a few days ago, I was thinking that the boys are about due for some sick days. Sometimes the weeks fly by and all my responsibilities are met, but no other forward-progress gets done until I have a few solid days at home. Well, God heard my thoughts and gave ME the sick days. Ugh. I've been on the couch the last 2 days.... being sick. I'm so thankful for John who has stepped in big time with the boys. He even ran to the store at 11:30 last night because I wanted saltines. He's a keeper!

This afternoon, the rain was back so we spent a little time playing in the garage with a sick mama.

Nate found a blanket in the stroller and got tired, I guess...

Then we headed inside to color pictures for Daddy.

That was today, but the last couple weeks have been filled with sun and playing outside:

Poor Nate has slid down that ladder twice. His belly and hands are all scraped up and he has a big scar on his lip.

Kankles?

This picture makes me laugh. It's SO Nate!

Hugo trying to grab some shade.

And this is how Hugo helps me weed - by laying right on top of the weeding area!

That's the last couple weeks. Super exciting, right?

I must return to bed now. Sickness calls.....  :(

We're Home!

We just got home yesterday from a weekend in Windsor, CA with John's family. It was such a great Easter weekend. I'll post our pictures tomorrow, but first comes recuperating from vacation!

March Recap / April Goals

March was a good month. But, man, how can it be April already?

MARCH RECAP:

- Sugar-Free March begins again!  - Success-ish! Overall, I’ve eaten way better than I have the last few months. And I’ve even tried some new ingredients and meals. I give myself a B+ for when I was at home or doing everyday things. I give myself an F for going out with friends, dinner with John, or having people over. BUT, big picture, thumbs up! I think next year, I’m going to call it “Sugar-Awareness March”. Just to take away a smidge of self-imposed guilt!

- 30-Day Shred. All 30 days.  – Fail. It took me 15 days to get through the first 10 level 1 workouts, 4 days to be motivated to try level 2, 3 days to recuperate from that, and the other 8 days to decide I’ll never finish in time so why bother….   :-)

- Proverbs every day.  – Half way there. I’ve been writing down verses in my index-card-flipper-thing as I go, so it’s been slow. I’ll finish this month.

- Get the Dyson fixed.  – I'll take it into the repair shop soon, but phone calls are done and it should be completely fixed soon.

APRIL:

April is filling up quickly already, and it IS my birthday month, so I don’t want to plan a lot of extra things. ;-)  Like many other people, I'm totally getting into Spring cleaning mode and am starting to throw out or organize everything. I'm also hoping to wrap up a few loose ends from previous months:

-  The garage! I’ll just clean up what I can.

-  Upload the rest of our pictures to Shutterfly.

-  Read once a day to the boys. I've gotten out of the habit, but I think the boys really enjoy the time reading.

-  Begin a running routine after my birthday. I don't know exactly what this will look like, but with it being light out later and (hopefully) getting warmer, I'd like to try to run a little after boys go to bed. Or something! I miss it.

-  Print pictures to replace some frames in the hallways. Poor Nate is in 1 picture that's hanging on our walls. He's almost 1 1/2 - that's bad!

-  Have a great vacation. California! Woo Hoo!

-  Have a great birthday (week?/month?). Could this month be any better? I think not.  :-)

This just makes me laugh. Nate was very excited to wear James' Elmo slippers when he was upstairs sleeping!