Star of the Week Movies

3'rd grade at our school has a Star of the Week setup that allows the parents to be involved every day of the week with a different activity. Last year for Brian I made a video surprising him about his life. He loved it and watches it all the time on his touchpad. Matt is up this week so I spent 6 hours today making another movie. (Oh how I miss those fat little cheeks!!!) Going back and watching Brian's, and spending all day making Matt's makes me so anxious for Luke to get to 3'rd grade so I can sit and have a treasure of him as well. I thought I'd upload the two I currently have...if you are lame like me you will sit here and watch with a slight tear in your eye and a weight on your heart...over and over and over... :)  :)

 

 

Another spontaneous vacation...Colorado!!!

Click to see Colorado!

Craig's company has a site in Denver and wanted him to come for two weeks for training and to meet his new employees/clients. Being that he has traveled so much since September, I was not looking forward to this two weeks on my own again. Fortunately for awesome deals I didn't have too! I found a flight deal for the boys and I for a whopping $237 total charge to my cc!!! We were able to fly in right smack in the middle of his trip and enjoy the weekend with him.

Holy cow what FUN we had on this trip! Craig left on Sunday and headed to Colorado Springs. We flew into Denver on Wednesday (after a four hour flight delay spent sitting in airport!) and spent the night there as Thursday was going to be a busy day. Fortunately I did my research and found a beyond cool restaurant for dinner...it had live cliff diving shows going on while we ate! They had this really neat pool with waterfalls set up right in the center of restaurant and we literally watched people diving off of them throughout our whole meal!

Thursday- First up we had an 8:30am tour of the US Mint to watch money be made. Brian and Matt both have been studying this in various levels and were so excited to se it in person! Luke was just excited to see money being made and the fact that he was missing school!!!  Our tour was awesome and we headed to our next stop...Bronco Stadium! From there we headed to Colorado Springs to meet up with Craig. Along the way we had another stop...the US Air Force Academy. The boys really liked this one...seeing the planes flying overhead, watching a video about how hard it is to be in the Academy and touring the campus was super neat and makes you so thankful for those who do this. Next stop was a ridiculously fun soda fountain for lunch with a 3 story slide attached to side of building and a whole lower floor designed to resemble a children's museum. We had a blast exploring, playing and eating :) Our final destination for Thursday was one of my favorites...the Olympic Training Facility. We had a complete tour of the campus, played on actual Olympic "toys", watched a movie that made us really excited for February, learned how the athletes are invited to stay on the campus and even saw the US men's and women's (I find this to be a weird sport for women!) wrestling teams in training, as well as the current silver medal holder in shooting practicing!

Friday was another day full of adventures...Craig had to work in the am so the kids and I were off to Garden of the Gods, a national park with the neatest rock (ok...giant boulder) formations! My guys were in heaven exploring, climbing trails, climbing rocks and pretending to be ninja warriors! Lunch was at yet another ridiculously fun restaurant...this time an old warplane converted into a restaurant! The kids were over the moon playing in the cockpit, pushing buttons and using the controls while we waited for food! After lunch we met up with Daddy at Cave of the Winds. This is a preserved cave that we took an hour and a half tour of carved right into the side of Pike's Peak! The cave was at 7500ft and it was freezing outside when we arrived but inside was a cozy 54 degrees! All of us enjoyed learning the history behind the cave, the peaks and exploring ourselves through narrow paths, low ceilings and tight curves!!! (And yes, I was the one who called ahead to verify that there in fact NO bats in this cave (much to Craig's embarrassment!!) before we paid for my admission ticket!)

Saturday was another early start...we had a train up the side of Pike's Peak to catch! This was one of our more anticipated events as it is something my Mom did as a kid and still talks about to this day. It did not disappoint!!! We bundled ourselves up well as the top of the peak is at over 14000ft and was expected to be -11 degrees!!! Yep, I said negative!!! Poor Luke literally had on 5 layers, starting with long johns and ending with his ski coat! We made it just shy of the full ride and took our train as high as we could go thanks to 70mph winds at the very top! The only thing we missed seeing was the gift shop/restaurant but both were closed thanks to the insane winds!!! The ride itself was incredible...we had the "good" side of the train and had the neatest views! The kids particularly enjoyed the frozen in midstream waterfalls with icicles over 5ft long! Our train let us out to play for 40 minutes (which was plenty of time in those temperatures!!!) and my guys had a ball cracking ice to touch actual water in the frozen over streams, throwing snowballs and ice at primarily me (the favorite target!) and running through the woods in the snow!  Once we made it back to the bottom we spent a few hours shopping for treasures in the little city below and enjoying a yummy lunch before Saturday's final stop...The North Pole! Yes...you read correct...we went to North Pole, Colorado...a Christmas-themed theme park on the side of the mountain!!! It was 34 degrees out giving us that Christmas feeling and we all loved exploring this adorable park full of rides and entertainment...all Christmas themed!

Sunday was our last day and we had one last adventure...going to the bottom of the Mollie Kathleen gold mine! The kids were so happy...this was only open weather permitting in the winter months and we got lucky! We put on our hardhats, climbed into a 3ftx3ft metal cage, and were lowered 1000ft into the ground (swinging the whole way!) into the mine. It was damp, dreary and the guys in my family loved it! (I would've been happy skipping this one but sadly was not offered the choice!!) Again...there was a bat inquiry made prior to my being locked in a cage!!! After the mine, we headed back down the mountain to North Pole to use the 2'nd day on our tickets.

What a fun, amazing, spontaneous trip we were fortunate enough to have taken! When I look back at how much we have traveled this year with the kids I am truly in shock...we went from coast to coast and a whole lot in between in a very short amount of time!!!

Football...Part 2

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Football finally came to an end today (after 7 hours and three games!). The boys team entered playoff this morning as the "Undefeated Losers" of the season...aka...they had not won a game yet :(  Playoffs was single elimination...the odds of us making it past round 1 were not good. Fortunately their team played their little hearts out and WON!!! Those boys were on cloud 9!!! The smiles on all 14 of them could've lit the sky! Round 2 was a nail biter and in overtime...we pulled out ANOTHER win!!! I swear these kids were flying on pride at this point!!! Round 3 was a tough loss, and only by one touchdown. The team we played had entered playoffs at round 3 (yes, they were that good!) and we kept them working the whole game. Our guys were literally exhausted at this point and fought hard the whole game. What a fantastic 1'st season at this extreme version of flag football! As a Mom I loved watching each game and cheering for my guys. The pictures I took are proof of the bond the two of them have...they are together in almost every shot. Matt was always blocking Brian so Brian could make the throw/handoff, they were always chasing down a guy together and you really are hard pressed to find one without the other in these pics. I cannot wait to watch them grow together in a sport they so dearly love! We can't wait for Spring season!!!

Halloween 2013

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 Halloween kinda snuck up on us this year. With putting our house on the market I didn't decorate this year, and have been so consumed with school, sports and keeping the house clean... it was Halloween before I realized it! We made a quick daytrip to Six Flags to get in the Halloween Spirit this year. The boys always LOVE the creepy, well decorated park and it did not disappoint!

We had two sets of close friends join us for dinner and trick or treating this year and the boys were giddy at having them over! Both families have girls in their classes and all of the kids get along great! It was perfect in my opinion...Dads were on beggar duty and took all the kids trick or treating while Moms stayed here and sat in driveway passing out candy and enjoying sangria ;)

This year Luke was on a man on a mission. He knew just wanted he wanted to be and wouldn't stop till we found it...snake eyes (from GI Joe!). He was giddy with his big muscle costume and face paint. Brian and Matt had ninja costumes that they had picked out and purchased...until they found out the girls were gonna be cheerleaders! My two stooges actually changed their costumes and went as football players!!! Lordy...I thought I had a few years before we were impressing girls!!! All in all we had a great Halloween...friends, food and begging for candy...what more could you ask for?!?!

Finally!!!

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After 5 cancellations and rescheduling's...we FINALLY made it back to Jellystone! I swear the trip is not meant to be! We started off the long weekend with Walker being born! Hooray for Aunt Christy and her good timing...we all got to meet our new little man on the way to the park Friday morning! He is absolutely perfect and we are all completely in love with the newest member of the family! Walker's birth meant Gaga & Papa only being able to come with us to Jellystone for one day but we changed plans easily and are so happy Walker is finally here!

We were fortunate enough to get one of the brand new cabins and it did not disappoint! Fans and working a/c in every room, a nice big shower, a huge loft and even a leather couch! This is my kind of camping!!! After checking in we hit the pool, mini golf and bikes. The kids had an absolute ball enjoying the very uncrowded park!! Luke was elated to be tall enough for all of the waterslides this time around and we finished off our first night with fishing, a campfire dinner and smores!

Saturday Gaga & Papa joined us for a full day of fun! They brought Luke all of his birthday gifts as well as an awesome Star Wars cake! We spent the first part of the day enjoying the pool and slides...and then the rain came! Holy cow did it come...we were absolutely poured on! All said and done we got almost 7 inches of rain in 20 hours! Gaga & Papa headed home and left us in mudville USA! Packing the car in the pouring rain Sunday am was not my idea of fun but the kids haven't stopped talking about Jellystone so I'm gonna say it was a success!!!

Back on the fields...




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Fall sports have arrived and once again I live on a field of some form! Luke is playing his last season of t-ball and really doing well! It's like everything finally clicked and he knows where to throw to, how to run, how to slide, he's hitting every time and all around doing great! Watching his team is one of my favorite activities...one minute they look like little ball players hitting and fielding and the next they are sitting on the field, drawing their names in the dirt and asking how much longer till snack!!!Brian and Matt are playing football again but we have moved them up to the next step...extreme flag football. They are now the proud owners of over $400 worth of equipment and having a ball! They wear helmets and pads in this league. They can block and shove, but not tackle! Since we practice these activities 24/7 around here they are doing awesome at this take on football! Brian generally plays quarterback and Moose is on the line. It is so neat to see them understanding so much about a sport and having so much fun with it! I have resumed my life of sitting in a chair cheering for my guys and loving my life as a Mom of these guys!!!

Luke is 6!!!!

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Little man is officially 6 and LOVING life! He was beyond excited for his big day and spent the day acting like a crazed maniac on a serious high of some form!!! Craig was on a flight home so Brian, Matt and I did the morning with Luke. We had a GIANT donut formed as a 6 for breakfast (much to the delight of both Luke AND Matt!), opened super awesome presents from relatives, and were off to school. Luke spent his morning at school and then I joined him for the rest of the day at lunch. We had a yummy lunch of Subway together, had Star Wars cupcakes (complete with lightsabers!!), chocolate milk and giant pixie sticks with his class and then the FUN began! Daddy was home waiting and we opened more presents...including Luke's beloved ITouch affectionately named "Orange Carrot"!

Luke's has a best friend in 8'th grade...Caleb. The two of them met last year when assigned as chapel buddies and have formed the neatest bond together. Caleb pushes Luke on the swings, Luke watches him play football. they bring each other weekly treats, they high five everytime they see each other in the hall and truly just love each other! Caleb came home from school with us for a playdate and then joined us for dinner at Chuck E. Cheese...Luke was over the moon excited about his big guest! The two of them played together at home for two hours before we headed off to dinner :) 

Chuck E. Cheese was everything Luke could've hoped for! He ran around like a maniac playing games, winning tickets, eating pizza and dancing with Chuck E.! In true Luke form, he managed to knock the entire platter of his cupcakes on the ground, smashing all of them!!! (Chuck E. Cheese priced ice cream with a candle became the new plan!) His buddy Caleb even went into the Ticket Blaster with Luke to help him win that magical 1000 ticket!!! It was definitely a long, exhausting but SUPER FUN day celebrating with Luke turning the BIG 6!!!

Ninja Nightmare!

Ugh! Luke is obsessed with American Ninja Warrior and deems himself a ninja these days! It is like having a toddler all over again!!! Between his ninja behavior and the other two bozos teaching him more ninja tricks...I am losing my mind!!! He literally climbs to the top of my fridge using the handles and sits on the top, spider climbs between wall frames (which he learned from Brian's wall climbing ability!), thinks he can fly (wears the super Luke cape from Aunt Key (thanks for that) and jumps down as many stairs at once as he can fly over, hangs sideways between walls and furniture and the list just keeps going!!! Ninja Luke managed to crack his head open last week while "in training" resulting in 3 staples in the back of his head!!!  BUT in true ninja form...he sat like a champ! I mean, holy cow...the kid didn't even flinch when they gave him two lidocaine injections straight into his head!!! The Doctor even looked down to make sure he hadn't passed out! 3 staples and 2 days later...the Ninja took himself of the "injured" list and smashed the front of his face into a dresser! We are now sporting a giant black eye that gets uglier by the day, complete with sold black eyelid, as well as a knot the size of a marble under the corner of eye! He actually hit his face so hard we had to get xrays to make sure he didn't crack anything! Thankfully bones are okay but we will apparently be sporting this marble sized hematoma for 2-3 months! If CPS shows up one day at least we have picture proof of our crazy ninja who thinks he's invincible!!!  Thank goodness I am heading to Kerry's this weekend to get some MUCH NEEDED girl time with 3 of my favorite 5 girls!!!

My Boys Are Gonna KILL Me!!!

Seriously...this is what my boys are up to! I always said I wanted all boys...word to the wise...Be Careful What You Wish For!!!  UGH!!!!!!

Feelin Sucker Punched!!!.

And my bum luck continues...so far this summer I have broken my ankle, ripped my fingernail off my finger and now had emergency gallbladder removal! For the past three months I have struggled with what I thought was severe heartburn...WRONG! I had even gotten on heartburn medication :) Apparently my gallbladder was on the verge of rupturing and I was clueless! I have actually had three attacks, lasting 4, 6 and 10 hours! The first time I truly thought I was having a heart attack...I have never experienced chest pain like this. The second time was even longer and I assumed it must be severe heartburn as the previous time wasn't a heart attack...WRONG AGAIN! The third and final attack was last Tuesday. It lasted 10 hours and over the course of the night I debated between going to the ER and searching the Internet for what could possibly be causing these excruciating chest pains. I stumbled on the word gallbladder and suddenly everything made sense. After a quick search of rupturing gallbladder symptoms it became very clear what had been causing me all this pain.
   

From there everything moved very quick! I called the gastro and was seen immediately. They agreed with my Internet diagnosis and sent me straight to hospital for labs and ultrasound. Ultrasound revealed my gallbladder was full of stone's and four times the size it should be. Next stop was straight to surgeon's office. He informed me that I needed a removal asap but wanted to wait 24 hours to let the inflammation from the attack die down a little. My parents arrived to help Craig with boys as well as brought a car full of freezer meals to help me while I recover! Friday morning I had surgery and am now home with a bloated, bruised stomach and feeling better everyday! The four holes they made in surgery are healing, the bruises are getting uglier and the bloating will last 4-6 weeks but the chest pains and heartburn are gone...whoohoo!!! Fingers crossed I get clearance on Friday to fly to Vegas and see all my girls this weekend!!!

Ninjas, Slime, Disney & Gators...

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(This is a little out of order but I had sooo many pictures to go through!!!)
What a super fun vacation we just came home from! Two full weeks of FUN!!! This time we took a roadtrip East to Florida!!! We left on a Thursday and drove to Orlando from Houston in one day, arriving at the Nickelodeon Hotel...a kids paradise! My friend Beth and her family joined us at the hotel. Beth has been one of my best friend's since we were both teachers WAY back when in Arizona! We have been close ever since and talk on the phone non-stop, as well as try to visit each other (though not as frequent as we would like!) She has 4 kids all around the ages of mine and we have been pregnant together with two of the kids! All 7 kids had an absolute ball getting slimed, playing on the waterslides, endless swimming, playing mini-golf and video games! Luke's dream came true when he dressed up in his ninja turtle costume and met the "real" ninja turtles! They couldn't have been cooler guys...Raphael actually stepped out of the pack to let Luke be the honorary Raphael with the rest of the guys! After LOTS of pics and a few ninja moves, he even got his shell signed!

Saturday the Williby's left us and we headed to our Walt Disney World Hotel...home for the next 8 nights!  We spent the week thoroughly enjoying all 4 parks...Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Epcot! Luke was tall enough to ride almost everything making his dreams come true! In true daredevil form...one of his favorites was Tower of Terror! Our little Star Wars fans had yet another magical experience when they were all chosen to participate in Jedi training at Hollywood Studios. The were given robes and light sabers, placed onstage and trained with Luke Skywalker!! As they thought they were ending...Darth Vader showed up for a battle! The kids all took turns fighting him and talked about this once in a lifetime experience for days!

We were also thrilled to be able to meet up with Aunt Chandelle and Serena for a day. We met at Universal Studios City Walk at the NBA Restaurant! (Yet another piece of heaven for my guys!) We had fun exploring the restaurant, had a yummy lunch and then let the kids play in the fountains for awhile! While we are so sad not to be able to see Aaron and Uncle Mike, we hope that next time we make it to Florida Aaron will be on the road to recovery and we can have a whole lot of fun together!!!

After spending 10 days completely exhausting ourselves...it was time to turn the car back towards Texas. But first...a few days at the beach! We left Orlando and headed for Destin and Pensacola beaches! We spent four days soaking up the sun and sand and playing in the waves! The big boys were giddy to spend one morning in their snorkel gear and heading 300yds out to a sunken pier and ship which has turned into a natural reef! After a few days of beyond delicious seafood dinners, long, lazy days on the beach and some well earned R&R...it was sadly time to head home! One more super fun find along the way in the heart of Mississippi swamps was Gator Ranch...the home of "Gator Boys" on Animal Planet! My car of people thought this was way too fun to miss so off we went in search of  gators. Holy cow did we hit the jackpot! We found gators of all ages and sizes, fed them beyond disgusting pellets that resembled dog poop, and even held a live gator! I personally would've been happy if they had left me at the outlet mall off the freeway but in the end am so glad we stopped at this side of the road freakshow! After our gator fun it was time to finally wrap up this trip and make the long drive home. Sadly school is literally less than a week away and we are so NOT in school mode!

First Day of School 2013

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Another school year has arrived and this one hit me hard...like running straight into a building hard! Not one of my kids cried last night telling me how much they will miss me and it means that they are growing up. Brian started 4'th grade, Matt started 3'rd and Luke started Kindergarten...the grade I taught that surely my baby cannot possible be big enough for! He is now going to school full time, five days a week and I am so, so sad. My M/F buddy for the past three years while in preschool is gone. In fact, everything I have spent the last nine years of my life doing is gone as I no longer have kids at home. I no longer have a sidekick that goes with me everywhere. I no longer have Disney channel on the whole day. In fact, I can now run my errands faster and far more productively, I can watch whatever I please on the TV, I can take a shower and go to the gym, I can have a life of my own for the first time in nine years. And you know what...I DON'T want it! I don't want to be alone. I don't want my kids to grow up and I most certainly would rather watch Disney than the horrific, continually depressing news! I literally feel like someone whose whole life has flashed before their eyes while trying to accept it will never be the same. I will never have kids at home during the day again and I am really having a hard time coping with this realization. So many people cheer when summer is over and they get to send their kids back to school. While I will admit there were certainly days this summer I was wishing for school to start, those thoughts were gone as soon as I tucked my three precious guys into bed. I will admit that I have cried more today than I have cried in the whole past year. I drove my own car to take the kids to school so I could cry all by myself (but my dear friend Beth did spend the whole car ride making me feel better and letting me be sad!). I just keep thinking of all the things Brian does now and how "mature" (ahem, ahem...some of you will get this!) some of these things are. It literally seems like yesterday he was the one I was walking into Kindergarten and now Luke is there. After dropping the kids off with Craig and then staying for morning chapel, Craig had to get back home to his career, his job, the thing that defines him. I will admit I was jealous. I stood there like a lost soul trying to figure out what to do next as I am in clear need of a career change after a forced retirement! Once I get through this week (particularly Friday which will be the hardest day for me without my Friday sidekick) I will surely have plenty to do with PTL, classroom volunteering, sports beginning, subbing, cleaning this disaster we call a home, the endless laundry, cooking, never ending errands and so many other things that define me. But for now...the biggest thing that defines me, being a stay at home Mom is really shaken up without the kids here to stay home with.

The good news is all 3 guys had a GREAT day! They love their classes and their teachers, they were excited to see their friends and overall happy to be back at school. After picking them up, (and yes, I was the lady sitting in my car an hour before school ended in my car in the parking lot like a complete stalker!), we went with a few friends for ice cream! WE created our own hand-dipped ice cream bars which was quite the hit for everyone! A fun dinner of the kids favorite meal...Chinese food, wrapped up our night and we are ready for day 2...only 174 more days of school left till summer!!!

Our Fantastic 4'th!!!

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For the first time in four years we skipped the beach on the 4'th and headed to Gaga & Papa's on the lake! Since our two week trip to Disney World and the beach is right around the corner, we decided some fun on the lake was in need! The boys had a ball!!! We went a day early to let the kids play on the lake without crowds and hit the jackpot! There was no one and the water was calm...perfect for tubing! After a few rounds of waterski attempts and a couple successes the boys hit the tube! They had a ball flopping all over each other and flying off into the water :)  We got home and had even more fun kayaking in the canal (now that we are old pros and all!) We even sat right underneath the fireworks on the lake to wrap up our fun weekend celebrating America!

Our mini Staycation :)

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Lake LBJ and the city of Marble Falls is less than 1 hour from our house. For Kerry's 30th we went to the Marriott Resort for a girls weekend. Somehow since my people were so close they showed up at the resort for one of the afternoons. The kids had so much fun we took them back for a few days the last week of June! I managed to kick the trip into high gear by ripping my fingernail completely off of my finger with the acrylic still attached to it as we were packing the car!!! One of the most painful things I have EVER done!!! A few stitches later to repair the finger I tore as well (under where the nail used to be!) we were late but on our way.

The Marriott at Horseshoe Bay is such a neat place. The grounds are extraordinary, there is a sand beach right on the lake, multiple pools, the coolest rock Jacuzzi I have ever seen, an 18 hole professional putting course that is like mini golf on steroids, fishing, marina and so much more. The kids had a ball with Craig for three straight days and I happily sat in a chair with my ankle up (yes, I am also coming off an ankle fracture!), finger dry and wrapped, pain pills on board and constant margaritas being the photographer. The kids all kayaked for the first time (I think we found a new family activity...they LOVED it!!!) and we also made fun use of my new "Mom-proof" phone...the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active...it has indestructible, shatterproof gorilla glass and is FULLY waterproof!!! The kids had a ball playing with my cell phone in the pool in aqua mode and I enjoyed watching the people around us look at me like we were insane taking a phone in the pool :)

Another "Successful" Swim Season :)



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We were officially swimteam slackers this year. We actually only made it to one meet at the very end of the season. Not because we had other commitments or activities...we just weren't that into it. The boys went to 3-4 practices/week since April and while they enjoyed the practices, they had ZERO interest in going to meets this year. Luke finally wanted to go to one just to show everyone that he can in fact make it all the way across the pool without touching the wall, lane lines or bottom. Brian and matt agreed to participate as well since they were going to watch their brother. Holy cow...we should've gone to more meets! My guys did GREAT! They all had multiple time improvements and placing's in the top 10 in their events (well...not Luke but he did complete his lap in a "record time" of 2:06, earning himself a GIANT gold medal from Mommy!!!) Click for a few pics of the one meet we actually participated in :)

Cool mom award...

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For Matt's Communion we were stumped by what to get him. Brian had been easy...he wanted money for the 42 inch tv he was buying. Matt was more difficult since he does not save...he blows every dime he has the second he has it! In search of a gift I stumbled into a jackpot that all three boys got to enjoy...basketball camp with The Harlem Globetrotters! Matt was excited that he got to go and thought it was super fun that his brothers were coming along! Being that my three guys are basketball crazy...they were so excited to spend a few hours hanging with players from one of their favorite teams! They had a ball learning tricks, playing their favorite sport and running drills. They came home with certificates, new basketballs AND tickets to their next Austin game! I'd say this knocked me up the cool factor list just a little :)

Our First 5K!!!

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Today the Rose family ran our first 5k! Okay...all the men in this family did! I was the one who signed us all up, was so excited to do it and then broke my ankle this month, causing me to be the family photographer, but who's really keeping score?!?!?

Smiles 4 Sammy is a foundation that was set up by close friends of ours who lost their baby girl Sammy to Trisomy 18 last year on Christmas morning. Sammy had beat all odds living for 10 months with the condition. She was expected to be stillborn, and then came home from the hospital with Hospice and less than a week to live. She was the heart and soul of our tight-knit small school and played baby Jesus in the Christmas pageant just two days before she went to actually meet Jesus. In her short 10 months here, she touched more lives than I could ever count with her larger than life personality and smile that lit up her face. Her two big sisters are in Luke and Matt's classes and the boys are very close with them. To be a part of a 5k honoring Sammy with all profits helping other families with children with diseases like Sammy was a gift to us. Sammy's Dad is a high school football coach and the support his entire school gives to the foundation is incredible to witness. The football team put on a football camp last night which my boys loved. At least 10 restaurants donated food for sale during a football scrimmage between next years teams with all profits going to Sammy's foundation. The cheerleaders were at the race today cheering on every runner. The baseball team ran with the kids in the 1k. The basketball team handed out water to everyone as they finished. Multiple clubs and other sports were there for set-up and take down. To see all of these people donating their first night and morning of summer vacation shows how loved Sammy was by all.

I am so proud of all of my guys! Luke stayed with me for the 5k, but ran the homestretch in with Matt! Brian ran the whole thing with his best buddy's Mom! Matt was right behind him with a close friend of mine and the 4 girls we spend most of our time with! Both of them finished in 37 and 38 minutes! I am so, so proud of them! Craig amazed me by running over half of the race. For a guy who couldn't walk a year and a half ago to complete a 5k is amazing in my eyes! It goes to show that with hard work and dedication you can overcome anything and I am so beyond proud of him! The kids 1k was immediately after the 5k. I thought the boys would be too tired to participate but they all lined up! Again...I am so proud of all of my little rockstars! Brian came in 2'd overall! Matt was in the top 20 and little man brought up the rear! Luke's little legs ran the entire two laps of the track with a smile the whole time! What a wonderful weekend for our family to be a part of in remembrance of our sweet angel Sammy.

Sammy's website can be found at:
http://www.smiles4sammy.org/samanthas-story/

Loving Matt...

I love all of my children equally and all of my children annoy me equally :) This past week my Matt decided to push that love as far as he possibly could with the most unbelievable, (now hilarious) 48 hours ever! There are those moments as a parent when you wonder what "gift" you could possibly have possessed to have been given the "privilege" of raising this child...this was one of those moments! FYI..Craig was conveniently out of town!

WEDNESDAY-Wednesday morning we head out to get in the car to leave for school...we are late & rushing, I am going on an all day field trip with Matt & Luke and get in the garage to find my freshly stocked deep freeze wide open, water pouring out and all of my meat thawed. An ear piercing "Matthew" comes out of my mouth, along with a few other things that should not be repeated ;) Matt had been digging for ice cream the day before (it was 90 degrees out and my car was hot) and never closed the freezer! Being that we were already late, I literally had to leave this mess for later. We arrived home and I spent 45 minutes tossing what totaled up to be around $700 worth of food, as well as cleaned out the freezer and squeegeed the whole garage.  Mess finally cleaned up, I poured a glass of wine and gave Matt a sip to taste in practice for his communion (so that he wouldn't gag on the altar!) I left the room to work on some school stuff and came back to find my three fools playing "communion". Each one was taking turns being the priest, they were handing out mini crackers and polishing off my glass of wine! Finally bedtime...I get them all tucked in and come downstairs to find my guest bathroom toilet fully clogged, along with smear marks all over the seat! A picture on my cell, back up the stairs demanding "who did this?" and giggles abrupt from three beds! After more laughing like fools and a whole lot of "not me's" it was concluded that Matt was the culprit!

THURSDAY- We all had to be at school by 7!! for Mom's & Muffins (which I was in co-charge of). I woke up at 5:45 to shower and a quick check of my email discovered that someone hacked my Walmart account overnight and bought themselves a $200 gc. I got to call both Walmart and Amex before 6am...ugh! After a long day in which I never left the school and the weather had gone from 90 to 45, we arrived home. Luke puts out and lets the dog back in and like a commercial, we have this wet, covered in mud dog shaking for all he's worth all over the family room. Mud is literally flying, the dog is getting screamed at so he is now running  in circles around the house, the kids are laughing like fools and I am horrified! Why was the dog covered in mud??? Because my precious Matt managed to leave the hose on and running since Tuesday! The entire sideyard is a giant, flooded, mucky mess! Being that it is 45 degrees outside, I then got to bathe this filthy, smelly dog in my bathtub, and then have wet dog in my house all night!

FRIDAY- We wake up, this week from hell is finally ending, hooray for Friday and Craig coming home! WRONG!!! As I am packing the kids lunches, I go into my laundry room to grab juice boxes from the fridge. And much to my utter disbelief...Matt left that freezer open last night! I can't make this stuff up! Had you opened your windows you would've heard me screaming from Round Rock!!! Thank GOD it is a top/bottom, and most of the stuff was popsicles and junk or I truly might've killed him dead on the spot! What child could possibly cause this much destruction accidently in such a short period of time??? One with his head up his ass as I "very kindly" pointed out to him in those exact words!!!  Oh, and just for added fun, I stopped by JCPenny's on the way to pickup kids to get Matt a new shirt and tie for Communion, got to the checkout and didn't have my wallet! This week will go down as a "Calgon take me away moment" for a good, long while!

Matt's First Communion

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Our middle boy is now official in the church as this weekend he made his First Communion. We are so proud of our handsome little man.  He did the first reading like a pro, drank the wine without making a face and looked absolutely precious in his boots and tie!!! Gaga & Papa and Aunt Christy & Uncle Johnny were here for the big day with us...we are so blessed to have parts of our family able to attend and those who couldn't were here in spirit celebrating right along with us!!!

Belated Birthday Trip!

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Brian & Matt have always wanted to go to Great Wolf Lodge. I will admit it is a very cool hotel with a full waterpark inside and an entire bottom floor of kids things to do. Think Vegas style hotel for kids :) Since we have season passes to Six Flags that includes FREE waterparks, it makes it hard to choke down the pricetag of Great Wolf Lodge. We decided to give the boys a night at Great Wolf Lodge as their bigger Birthday gift, along with a weekend at Six Flags. This was supposed to happen earlier in the month. Unfortunately due to Brian having ANOTHER concussion (3 in a year is more than I can handle!), it was delayed to this past weekend!

We had so much fun! We chose to ditch school on Friday in order to be able to have a day at the park without crowds. What a SMART choice! The park was dead and the kids got to ride the biggest coasters over and over without even getting off! Thankfully we did this...we went back Saturday for another day of fun and it was so crowded we didn't even go in! We literally drove through the parking lot and decided to be grateful we had already ridden everything! We made a spontaneous decision to go to the Botanical Gardens and the kids had a ball! We also found a super fun steakhouse that has a two story slide right in the center! Best restaurant ever!!!

Luke has finally reached a monumental milestone of 42 inches after spending the past two years crying at the bottom of roller coasters for being too short! He was overjoyed to finally be the next magical height and was running to ride the newest coasters he has previously been banned from! We even have saved one in Dallas to ride with Luke when he was finally big enough so we all got to ride the bobsleds for the very first time!

Matt also reached the next magical height and was allowed on the Superman Power Tower (the one that first launches you into the sky and then drops you back down!). He was a basket of emotions...so excited to get on, then his little face showed pure fear as they were waiting to launch, followed by a smile the size of Texas when it over!

After our two days of fun, Sunday morning we checked into Great Wolf Lodge! Best news for Luke...his newfound height worked again and was able to ride all but two slides! The kids were overjoyed to be there and we spent 9 straight hours playing in the slides, wave pool, lazy river and water structure! The kid cabin we had for our room was a huge hit! Monday morning (yes, another ditch day for us!) we were back in the water by 9am! After a few more hours of fun, we dropped Daddy at the Dallas airport for his week in Utah and the kids and I finally headed home for what would become a VERY long 36 hours...more later on that one! :)

Brian's Birthday!

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My biggest boy is 9! It's the last year before we hit the dreaded double digits and life will forever change :(   I cannot believe that my sweet firstborn is now 9! He has all of the wonderful things that make up a nine year old to go along with it...constant eye rolls, acting like I am completely retarded, arguing about everything, a reason for always being right, finding me completely embarassing and so much more! But on the other hand, when he wants to be he can be my most helpful, sweetest, most caring, most responsible and best of the bunch! He is suddenly concerned about his image, he has rules when I cut his hair and he has taken a notice in girls...ugh! I was actually informed by three Mom's in his class that he winks at the girls!The dreaded years are quickly approaching and I am so blessed to be the Mom of this little man!

Unfortunately to my guy playing hard and never thinking of the consequences, he is on his third concussion in a year! He fell on his head at recess this past week and has vision loss as well as pounding headaches. His birthday trip to Six Flags has been postponed as he is on a 10 day mandated period of doing absolutely nothing! No video games, schoolwork, any form of exercise or anything that strains his brain! Gaga & Papa came here instead and we took Brian to Animal World & Snake Farm, a place we pass all the time on our way to San Antonio and watched on Dirty Jobs!  What a fun place! The boys all held snakes, we walked around the coolest animal sanctuary and hand fed baby goats! After a lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse we returned home to a Lego cake! A pretty low key birthday for our usual daredevil but nonetheless...
super fun!!!

Easter...

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The day I have been dreading since I had kids is upon me...Brian figured out the truth. I have had a hunch it was coming, he has been complaining about Easter and what a dumb holiday it is all week. I even told Craig I think it's coming and we decided to play dumb, ignore it and hopefully it would go away. We were literally minutes from leaving the house to go see the Easter Bunny when Brian came into my room, locked the door and said "I've got a question". My stomach was in knots as the next question came..."are you and Dad the Easter bunny?" It literally took everything in me to not start crying. I sat him down and we proceeded to have a long discussion about both Santa and the Easter Bunny. He seemed delighted with his newfound news and not sad in the least. I on the other hand was a basket case just waiting for him to leave my room so I could cry. All said in done, I am proud that he is smart enough to figure it out, that he was gracious enough to lock the door so his brothers couldn't hear and happy that he is growing up...but I am just sad about the whole thing. On the plus, he didn't ask and I didn't tell about the tooth fairy so maybe there is some hope!

We still went and saw the bunny. Luke and Matt were still as excited as ever while Brian kept shooting me these "what he thought were not obvious" glances and eyes. He did take that knife and stab it deeper however when he got a picture hugging the bunny. It was like a final farewell for my broken heart.

Easter weekend was spent at Gaga & Papa's. Gaga thought there wouldn't be enough candy so she literally stuffed a full sized piñata as well! The kids had a ball beating the tar out of the 'never going to break piñata'! The hook came off, we tried various methods and finally Craig & DJ just tore it open! Seriously...longest piñata breaking I have ever witnessed! Family Birthday party was up next for all the March & April Birthdays! Kerry & Mackenzie even joined us via Skype! Brian and Matt were overjoyed with their loot, especially Uncle Johnny's original Super Nintendo that Kerry managed to re-gift from herself!  Egg dying is my annual least favorite activity and fortunately there was enough adults on hand that I did not have to partake in this god-awful tradition! Luke was on a serious Easter high and at 6:30pm announces to everyone "That's it, enough fun! Everyone, it is time to get to bed so the bunny can come!"

The next morning we woke up to find that the bunny did in fact come and leave us super fun baskets, along with money filled eggs hidden all over the house! Craig and I did partake in a new tradition...hiding Brian's basket as hard as we could. Since he knows it us, there can be no meltdowns as to "maybe the bunny forgot me". He obviously now knows we put it somewhere and now each year he is up for the challenge!

Matt's Party!

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It's time again for the coming of passage in our house...the 8 year old sleepover/campout! Unfortunately for Matt, the weather called for 40 mph winds overnight, as well as a 45 degree drop in temperatures so the campout became a movie party indoors instead! Matt had 7 boys over so including our own we had a house of 10 boys! The noise level was by neighbors all around :) The boys had a blast at the big playground, having weapon wars all over the yard, roasting s'mores and hotdogs, and enjoyed a super fun, kid friendly breakfast! Matt's magic candles were quite the hit (how do kids nowadays not know about these things?!?!?!) and minus the weather change the party was a HUGE success!!!

The final stop...Monster Truckin in Desert!

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This crazy roadtrip is finally coming to an end! But first we had one more stop...while driving from California to New Mexico we passed the Ostrich Farm again. This time the monster truck rides through the desert was open much to the kids delight! Of course we had to stop!!! We took a 45 minute ride through the desert on a monster bus and had a blast flying off of our seats and eating dirt! The kids voted this to be the perfect ending to a perfect trip!

All said and done, we covered 3900 miles in 12 days! This crazy roadtrip that didn't even exist three weeks ago will go down as one of my favorite family vacations thus far. Going with the flow and just stopping along the way added to the fun and I cannot wait until we do this again!

Legoland!

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After a late night arrival with again very little sleep (seems to be the theme of this trip!) we have arrived in Carlsbad, CA...home of Legoland! The kids were over the moon excited to be here! It is a place Brian has always wanted to come and the one in Dallas just didn't live up to his standards!!! We were literally the 7'th car in the parking lot (seriously..."we are driving 12 hours and have one day and dammit...we are gonna get our money's worth!") and in the park as they were opening the turnstiles.

I am so grateful we came. I have heard from so many people it is a place you can quickly get too big for and they were right. Brian was just pushing that age but fortunately not quite there yet! This was definetely worth every hour we spent driving and dollar we spent coming! We finished off our day taking the kids to the Pacific Ocean...we literally went as far west as we could on this spontaneous trip we seem to be on! We make the giant trek home tomorrow...New Mexico here we come!

Tucson & Phoenix...

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We have arrived in Tucson...I can say it has not changed much from when we left 6 years ago. There still is not much to do with kids and Brian and Matt have zero recall of ever living here. That being said, I made it my personal mission to show them the sights as well as the few fun things the desert has to offer :)

Monday we met my old friend Ashley for lunch at Eegee's. The kids were super excited for this as they have heard from all of their O'Brien relatives how yummy it is! They were NOT disappointed!!! As I write this I can say we managed to eat at Eegee's everyday that we were in Tucson!!! After lunch we took the drive over Gate's Pass to the Desert Museum. The drive was great...the kids LOVED seeing us nearly drive off the top of a mountain straight into Saguaro National Park. The Desert Museum...BIG letdown! What once was fun when I was young has been remodeled to more of a nature conservatory than a desert museum. Fortunately the cave was still there as we had most of our fun in it!  We successfully completed Monday night when Craig & I took the boys to Pinnacle Peak for a live cowboy show, a train ride, an old western town and a steak dinner.

Tuesday we got up and took a tour of homes past! The boys saw all of the homes Gaga & Papa had in Arizona, as well as the two homes they lived in with us. I stopped and showed them where we were married, as well as where we both went to high school. We shopped for UA gear for Daddy & Brian and met my friend Trisha for lunch (guess where!) and then proceeded to the park where Craig & I met lifeguarding.The kids had a ball...Trisha now has five kids, four of which are boys and three of which are the exact ages of my guys! The kids all played like long lost friends for a good three hours and were sad when time was up! Dinner was at the Krasinski's house. They are probably our oldest family friends in Tucson. Katie & Alexis were our flower girls, Katie was in my first Kindergarten class and Dr. Krasinski is who saved Craig when his stomach blew up! Seeing the kids all grown up was a sad fact of reality that we are getting older. Katie was Luke's age when she was in my class and now she is a junior in high school!

Wednesday the kids and I got up and headed to Phoenix to see Andrea & her kids. Andrea & I have been friends for over 25 years! We still see each other regularly and her son Lance is my godchild. We have not been able to get all of the kids together since Madison was a baby so we were way overdue! On the way to Phoenix we made a pitstop at Rooster Cogburns Ostrich farm. This has always been a side of the freeway, hole in the wall attraction but I thought the kids might enjoy it. Umm...that is an understatement!!! They have made some serious changes since I was last there in college and it was the coolest petting zoo ever! The kids got to hand feed donkeys, deer, goats, ostrich, prairie dogs, ducks and rainbow larakeets! The pens were also themed so each feeding was a unique experience! Our $5/person managed to give us over an hour of fun! Next stop, Phoenix Childrens Museum. Andrea & the kids met us there and we had a ball exploring the museum all afternoon, followed by a fun "linner" in the nearby mall foodcourt!

Thursday was supposed to be our day of rest and recovery but instead turned into another whirlwind of events all trying to be crammed into a few hours. We celebrated Matt's birthday a few days early with lunch at Little Anthony's. This 50's diner has been the birthday spot for pretty much everyone in my family and now Matt has experienced it as well, including the song and kiss! We also squeezed in mini golf and bumper boats at Golf & Stuff, as well as an up close tour of UA. Brian got to go into McKale and see where his beloved Wildcats play basketball. I took all my guys to see the pool where Kelly and I used to dive. They even got to go up on the platforms and see firsthand where I used to dive off of! They were all confident on the 5 & 7 meter but downright nervous on the 10 meter. Seeing my own kids up in the exact spot I used to go as a kid was one of the highlights of Tucson for me. We ended our fun with a quick swim in the pool, followed by a full pack up of the hotel...why you might ask?!?! Because Craig and I decided last minute to keep this roadtrip going and head further west! Legoland in CA is a place I have always wanted to take my boys. We have been to so many other theme parks with them but have always managed to skip this one. With Brian and Matt getting older and fearing they would get too big for it, we used the theory of "it's only six hours away" and added it to the agenda! We just met Craig after work, hopped in the car (and of course grabbed some Eegee's for the road) and are currently making the six hour trek to Carlsbad, CA for one last day of fun!

Flagstaff & Grand Canyon

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We finally made it to Flagstaff and the magical snow!  After leaving Gallup in the early am, we made a quick pit stop to see Meteor Crater...the largest, most preserved meteor site on Earth! The meteor actually hit 50,000 years ago and is pretty much just a giant hole.  I am the only one who has been there before so I was outvoted on the trip :) The kids actually enjoyed the museum and seeing the big hole, as well as touching a 1400 lb. piece of actual meteor straight from outer space!

Next stop...Flagstaff! The kids truly could not believe their eyes as to how much snow had actually fallen! It came up to my knees and Luke's waist! They were super anxious to get out of the car and just play so we drove through the NAU campus where Craig & I both graduated from, checked in to the hotel and quickly changed into play clothes. We headed back to campus to one of our old spots for snow playing....the football practice field! It has a giant, flat space, as well as great hills for sledding. We had so much fun playing, sledding, building a snow fort and having a giant snowball fight! Poor Luke...the snow was so deep he literally could not walk! He would try and take a giant step and fall down, getting stuck like a turtle! Needless to say, he spent most of the time being carried around like a sack of potatoes :)

We spent the evening at dinner with our friend Martin and his wife Ivy. I have known Martin since 7'th grade and Craig since high school. He went to college with us and he and Craig were in each others weddings. Sunday was Grand Canyon day! A day late thanks to the weather but still on the agenda! The kids loved it!!! They were all about climbing the rocks and now want to be big enough to raft the river...hmm....another adventure trip is formulating in my brain!!! Next stop...Tucson!

Adventure #2...Snow Tubing!!!

 

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Well these warm weathered Texas kids sure had a change of pace today...snow tubing! The place Mrs. Rinn sent us to was a BIG hit with my guys!!! They had seven hills, all with different jumps, steepness, curves, etc and a lift up to the top. The bummer was once you got to the bottom, you had a good 1/2 mile trek back to the lift! Our "early" spring break helped yet again...there were less than 30 people at the entire park the whole time we were there!!! We never once had to wait for tubes, in line, etc! We spent a solid 3 hours completely exhausting ourselves having a ball! Once again, I proved to have the daredevils for kids...my guys were going on the biggest runs primarily with adults...and headfirst!!! Little man was going solo whereas most kids his size were in doubles with parents! UGH...their teenage years are gonna kill me if at 5, 7 & 8 this is how they act!

After tubing the plan was to make the 7 hour drive to Flagstaff. Fortunately we are "go with the flow" people cause plans changed! About 3 hours out of Flagstaff we hit the motherload of snowstorms! Flagstaff apparently has received 18+ inches today! We drove a good 27 miles in complete whiteout with maybe 5 feet of visibility! The kids were troopers being silent so we could focus on driving!! Fortunately we had a few blips of random cell service and were able to get ahold of Kerry and my parents to quickly change our hotel plans and find us a new one in the next closest town on the freeway! And it's a good thing we did...by time we finally made it off the freeway, the hotels were jam packed!!! Needless to say we are spending the night cozy and warm in Gallup, NM. Tomorrow we will make the rest of the drive where the kids will be utterly shocked to see what 18+ inches of snow looks like!!!

11 Day Road Trip...

 

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 Craig learned a few weeks ago he had to be in Tucson for work over Spring Break...my wheels started turning and I quickly discovered we could all tag along at very little cost to us and have a super fun road trip! The plans were put in motion and the kids are over the moon that we are off to White Sands, NM, Ruidoso, NM Flagstaff, AZ, The Grand Canyon, Tucson, AZ and Phoenix AZ!

Stop #1 was White Sands, NM...oh what a fun "dumpy town" this is!!! Not much to look at but we hit the jackpot on activities! We left last (Wednesday) night around 8pm and drove through the night in order to be able to have as much time here as possible. I was literally at breakfast at 10am with two friends on Wednesday when Melissa informed me that there is an additional awesome activity only 40 miles from our hotel...you will see it in stop #2! (They are doing just the NM part of our trip  a few days after us so she did a much better job researching the area!) I literally packed a family of 5 in less than 4 hours to be able to leave at night rather than this morning!!!

We arrived at 4:30 am (the kids actually slept most of the drive which was great!), threw everyone into beds and our rested children woke us before 8...we were off for a LONG day of fun! Let's not forget Craig's 35'th Birthday is also today!!! Poor guy...drive through the night, get no sleep and now put on a Birthday smile to enjoy the day of fun! Our first destination was the New Mexico Museum of Space (nerd fest if you ask me!) The boys and Craig all really enjoyed seeing the rockets, missiles, pods, etc and it ended up being a very fun hour poking through the museum!

Next stop...White Sands Sledding Park! Oh what a hidden gem this is!!! 300 square miles of white sand dunes plunked right in the middle of this mountain desert area...it literally looks like someone just dropped sand from the sky! Being that it is the middle of the week and Spring Break isn't actually until next week...it was empty! We literally saw less than 25 cars on the 16 mile path through the place!!! Armed with our sleds from the Lichts (who were here last year and got "robbed" on the sleds and graciously let us borrow!) we found our own private "cul-de-sac" to spend three hours sledding! It is literally white sand hills that looks like fresh snow for as far as you can see. Climbing the hills over and over again is the hardest part!!! Towards the end, an older couple stopped to watch the boys sledding and the lady actually ended up borrowing a sled to give it a try as well!

After quick showers for our sand filled kids, we were surprised with a bday cake delivered to the hotel by my parents and had a fun dinner celebrating Craig's big day! Dinner was followed by swimming to clean all the nooks and crannies filled with sand that the boys didn't get out in the shower!

It is now 8pm and we are all in bed, exhausted, a little burnt and anxiously waiting for tomorrow's adventure...snow tube sledding!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am the luckiest girl in the whole world...I have not one but four Valentine's every year! Being the only girl does have some advantages on this Holiday!!! I get flowers from four handsome men, I get kisses from four awesome guys, I get to sit back and watch these four guys clean the kitchen from the yummy steak dinner I made them while I sip my favorite wine and I am told more times than I can count how much I am appreciated by these four guys! Seriously, not having to share this day makes it extra fun for me!!!

In all seriousness, I actually do just love Valentine's Day. I love being a stay at home Mom that gets to be at the school for parties. The boys all had parties from 2-3...yikes! Fortunately their classrooms are literally next to each other so I just went from room to room enjoying spending the afternoon with each of them :)

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The little things...

Being a Mom is hard. There are days where I truly want to "forget" I have kids just for a few minutes. Don't get me wrong, I love my guys with every ounce of myself, but the constant chaos of daily life, the fighting, the not listening, the arguing, the mess, the laundry, the not even having time to pee without being interrupted, the spills, the laundry, the endless cooking, cleaning, homework, sports, the laundry :), the falling into bed exhausted  and that damn alarm going off right as I just closed my eyes, the public scenes we cause just about everywhere...all reasons you just want one of those "Calgon take me away moments" now and then. And just when you finally get one of those few, precious minutes to yourself, you walk out to check why the house is so eerily quiet and find this....and all of those reasons listed above just sort of vanish as you stand there smiling taking as many pictures of this precious moment as you can so that you never, ever forget it.

My little stars...

Basketball season is in full swing! All three boys are on different teams with Craig coaching each of them :) You can imagine how my Saturday's are spent!!! (and I wouldn't trade it for anything!!!) I got a new long range lens for Christmas since I am the Momma of boys and it is designed for action/sports pictures which is my next 15 years :) Here are a few of my favorites of my three all-stars!