A Different Sort of Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!
"Mom, I love you. Mom, is that nice words, I love you?"

"Yes, those are really nice words."

"Good. So can I go swimming today?"

"Let's see if you can keep being nice."

"Fine. Hey when is Dad's day, for the boys?"

"Mother's Day is in May, Father's Day is in June."

"So the boys are in June, that's my day?"

"Well, no, because you are a kid."

"So when's children's Mother's Day?

We started off our weekend with some good friends and some fun animals at the zoo. We took the boat to Africa.
And looked at the monkey exhibit on the water-- which was empty and ready to lock some children in....
We had such a great time - the preschoolers loooooved the carousel.
Lucas loved shoving the stroller around while we waited. (No, i didnt' deprive him of the carousel - he just really doesn't like them... i'm not a mean parent!)
Actually, they all fought over the stroller seats the whole time - musical chairs pretty much.
The elephants got them....
They went for a ride in the jeep...

And you'd think with those ears that he'd listen better! We came back, napped, and then our friends came over and cooked us a delicious dinner and we all battled bowling on the Wii. Fantastic!

This morning was a little rough. Mother's Day started at 5:30 when the boys padded into my room, chirping away at me. It was ugly. I was sooo tired and so were they. They made me awesome cards at daycare and we shared a nice breakfast. I finally got them out the door and we took care of a few errands. I kept trying to explain to Ethan that it was Mother's Day and he was supposed to be nice to me. He wasn't convinced.

After long, and much needed naps, we headed to the Rec Center for some swimming with our friends again. Ethan was nervous at first, but warmed right up to the water. Lucas was pretty terrified, but by the end of it was loving splashing everybody.

And then, we headed to the house of one of the ladies who run the daycare for a BBQ. Delicious food and such nice people. Lucas did crash through the screen door and spend countless minutes opening and closing the sliding glass door, but all in all they were well behaved. Cute even!

It was a really great way to spend my 4th Mother's Day. I love being a mom. I love who I have become from having my boys. I may not have been spoiled today and may have spent quite a few minutes putting boys into timeouts, but I also was showered with kisses and hugs, and squeals and smiles. I love my boys!

It's official!

We had the house all ready for pictures today - closets stuffed and closed, everything moved around... we came home to this - made my heart jump a bit. But my favorite part? Ethan went through the house moving everything back to where it normally is - hampers out, closet doors open, etc. "All better mom. Don't worry."

Feeling Anxious

We move 1 MONTH from today.

I suppose that should have an exclamation point.

Acrobatics

I realize I should have stopped them....
But the laughing was contagious....

And these days after Daddy leaves are really rough....

So it was good to have some laughter.... I didn't stop them. I did give Lucas my hand so I could "scaffold" his jumping. That just made the giggles explode. And when I threw Lucas on top of Ethan - there was a giggle-quake all over this house.

I need giggles. So there.

2 Things...

I only have the energy to tell you 2 things and then I am going to bed. At 7. Because I am spent. So please excuse the incomplete sentences. Can only do so much right now.
1) We took the front off the crib and turned it into a toddler bed. Right around this age (actually a few months earlier), Ethan got really obnoxious about going to bed. The way we cured it was moving him into the toddler bed. Last night went great. The boys had spent the afternoon bouncing in it and Lucas went to sleep with only getting out of bed once and falling out of bed once. *We have a toddler rail but can't figure out how to make it work with our bed... so Lucas is learning to stay in bed the same way Ethan did.... Tonight has been a bit rougher (so i say at 630)... Lucas kept climbing out of his bed and into Ethan's. Ethan was getting really irritated, so he's in my room until Lucas goes to sleep. Lucas had one screaming fit after that, but seems to have settled down.
Yes, it might have made our life a whole lot harder.... but the screaming for 30 minutes every night at bedtime is a lot for this mama to take... so hopefully this helps.

2) We worked. From 730 this morning until about 300 this afternoon, we worked. We boxed, cleaned out, cleaned under, sorted, moved furniture, scrubbed, etc... The boys were suprisingly helpful By not being in our way. I now have about 20 trash bags to put out on Thursday. I'd already filled the big trashcan when Brian cleaned out the garage on Saturday. See? We worked!We ended our weekend with Daddy at Winger's. The boys were not altogether cooperative, but we survived. We dropped Daddy off and all pouted a little in the car. Came home and ate some cake. And then the bedtime festivities began.
As irritating as it is to go in there to put Lucas back in bed, I wish you could see the huge smile he has. It would kind of defeat the purpose to take a picture in the midst of my "no-no Lucas", so I can't show you, but I promise it's adorable.
Now it's time for bed. I am too tired to even be grammatically correct. Me and my tired feet say so! (Yep mom, that was a quarter in the grammar jar- just for you!) I'm kind of glad we have a meetings day tomorrow- hope my students remember. I didn't remember to tell them!

Did I Mention?

We are soooo happy to have Daddy here for the weekend!

Dragon Days of Summer (Winter)

One of my students got Ethan the perfect outfit for his party! He was feeling pretty stellar this morning!

It was freezing cold (like 40 degrees), but the kids didn't care. Lots of Ethan's friends met us out at Settler's Park and had a blast! The kids decorated their wings...

Ella really liked the glitter paint - and looked so cute in her wings!

Somehow Beth got the glitter in her hair......

All the kiddos really loved the playground and spent the most time just chasing each other around over there. It was hard to catch them in motion.

Liam was all smiles running all around.

Ethan loved being sung to....

And didn't even mind that we couldn't light the candles - the wind was too fierce...

We ate tons of cake, pizza, and chips to try and keep warm.

Lucas really liked the chips - and was the only one cooperative enough to wear his dragon wings the whole time! Who would've thunk it?

What a fun day with people we love! I may never eat again (except the cake is just sitting there calling my name) but it was a success. I have even stopped shivering!