Backyard Easter Egg Hunt

More snow

Watching from inside with girlie, who did not appreciate cold fluffy things attacking her face ~

She finally took a nap. And I got to play too ~

Snow Day

He has been waiting for it for months. 

Then, it's January Mom. Why isn't it snowing?

Finally. 

As brief as it lasted, it tasted as good as he had hoped. 

My favorite photo from the holidays ~

It says everything about what I felt this year. 

and then there was Halloween

And it went something like this~

Yes, the boys were spiderman last year. 

They wanted to be batman. I went to the store to get costumes, and they were $30 (that's $60....). And then I saw batman pj's for $10. I hoped for the best and brought them home.  Thankfully they were thrilled, and begged me to wear them. For 2 weeks. 

I guess by the time the big day arrived they had lost their luster, so the muscle suits from last year won again. 

Lil' would have been a cute, well, anything. Catwoman(baby)? But hey, I had boots and pigtails. 

Pumpkins in December

Not really. 

This was back in October. On a freezing day at a pumpkin patch.

And of course today, 18th of December, my boys were running outside with shorts on. 

Are you confused yet?

Can you tell I'm playing a bit of catch-up? 

Life is just too short, and too sweet. 

It begs to be remembered. 

Even if it looks like this.....

(we were really having much more fun than it appears)

see....

that's more like it. 

fun. 

Though the hay ride was a little scary for one little one ~

Just 2 weeks earlier, on a sweltering class field trip ~

Pigtails

I'm so excited to have a pair of them now! 

And a little girl to sew for. 

If I could sew.....

or even liked to sew.

But sewing for me usually involves cussing and duct tape. 

My Mom though, she works magic. 

I gave her an adult shirt from the thrift store and asked if she could do something with it, and she came up with this! It deserved it's own photoshoot. Or three. 

Sam turns 4

Ok Sam, give me your best fake smile. 

And tell me how old you are now? 

And I hear you'd like a princess broccoli cake? 

How many presents would you like? 

My sweet little Sambino. 

I can't call him that much longer. 

Actually, he's already corrected me. 

Just Sam please. 

It's been a huge year for him. His first year of school started out rocky and had me questioning for quite a while if it was too early for him. But we've been so encouraged by his growth. He's making his own friends, loving all the fun things they do, and even learning a thing or two.
He's the Linus of the class, carrying his "bwoo bwanket" everywhere he goes. I hear it plays multiple roles though - often playing a ghost or masking a bad guy on the playground. By all the kids.
xoxo. 

His wit keeps me in stitches
and his affection wrapped around his finger.

My current favorite thing he says is when we are driving somewhere "far" (like more than 15 minutes)~
"Are we still on the pwanet earf"?
or,
"Is this place really far away, like in Africa?"

His brother is straightforward and black and white.
Sam, curvy and complex.
I love that about each of them.

Charlie's favorite color has always been blue. Always.
Sam's changes by the week.

While drawing a horse recently Charlie started asking all kinds of questions. "What color horses are there? Can they have spots? Are their tails like this?"
As usual, needing to get it just right.

Sam held his paper high and said, "Mom! Look at my blue robot horse!". 

And speaking of robots....

He's been wanting a robot party for 8 months. Never wavering. We weren't even sure he knew what a robot was. 

When I told him I made robot cupcakes for his class he was so upset...

"But Mom, I wanted a robot CAKE! With a controller!"

Geesh. 

But thankfully he was happy. So fun to see him all grown up with his friends at school. 

But I did pull through with a robot CAKE for the party. I just had to break it to him that the "controller" wasn't really going to make him move...

That morning our neighbor knocked on our door with popcorn that we had ordered from his boyscout troop. It went perfectly with a new robot movie. 

Then on to a party with his cousins. 

Despite it being at a park on a dreary day, and very little effort from me going towards food/decor/etc., it was all that he dreamed of and more.
His words when he opened his robot from Grandmama were, in a whisper, "just what I wanted".

I could have never dreamed up this little guy. 

And he is just what I wanted. 

a few more from today...

A stroll on Highland Ave., 

and a romp in it's park. 

A fabulous lunch (at Rojo) outside with friends, and we ended the day with this ~ 

Lil' and I made it through hotdogs and 'smores before we decided to retreat to warm beds and plumbing. We were there with friends and lot's of kids ~ so fun. But not very Kumbayah, that's for sure. More loud, sticky, and "be careful". But I hope for the boys that their first overnight camping experience was is all that they dreamed it would be, and more! And that Bryan won't feel the need to sleep all day tomorrow....

A stroll on Highland

An amazing fall day

and a picture to remember it by. 

(thanks to my friend heather!)

I thought that when the boys started school that life would slow down, and maybe I'd even get a little time to myself. Evidently it doesn't work that way! Busy, busy. But good, worthwhile busy. A friend recently explained it this way ~ when you move from a small to a big house with big closets you think those closets will never be filled. But of course they always are. And it's the same with time. 

I want to fill my time with quality, not quantity. 

It's a work in progress. There some things that I really do need to make time for, and things I need to let go of. But for the most part I don't regret our busyness. 

Yet I'm thankful for the moments when life slows down a bit and we quit the running. 

And go for a stroll. 

Baby sister had a baby

Baby sister had a baby. 

And these photos don't leave much else to say about that ~

superheroes

My superheroes. 

They save me every day. 

Really they do. 

Without them I just may be doomed. 

To myself. 

I would read more, my house would be cleaner, and my muscles would be much more toned I'm sure. 

My coffee wouldn't get cold, my showers would be longer, and my wardrobe more extensive I know. 

And money. Well I'm not even going to talk about money. 

Of course I don't really know what I'd be doing without them. 

God would have used some other way to save me. But I'm thankful for these little caped crusaders.

It was on a day like this that I was washing dishes, and thinking (as I usually do while washing dishes. and folding laundry. and driving....and any other moment of the day where I'm not talking).

 I was thinking of all the conversations that I wish had gone differently, of how I misunderstood I felt,  and just getting stuck in my head as I like to say. 

If you know me, you know I do this a lot. Get stuck in my head. It's not healthy.

And then one of these guys runs in and says, "Mom! You're on fire! There is fire all over you! I'm going to save you!" as he begins to douse me with his invisible "water sprayer". And I snap out of it and play along. 

See. 

They save me. 

They really do.