Enjoying the Outdoors...weather permitting!

We are so ready for summer at our house! The boys want to be outside every minute that I'll let them, who cares if it's only 40 degrees and raining! We have made the most of the occasional nice weather, though. Here and some pictures of what they've been up to. Most of them are a month or so old because I've been a major blog slacker...but here they are!

We got this new swingset and after about a month of assembly, it is finally completed! Poor Joe, he was wrapping up busy season at work, studying for the CPA and had to come home every night and work on the swingset ... notice he's still in his work clothes! The boys loved to be out there "helping" but we can all guess how helpful that really was!

But the long wait paid off because the love it!

They always want to eat their lunch outside, here's Sam and Jacob (one of the boys that I babysit) enjoying a sunny day. Andrew had to eat on the patio table because there wasn't room on the picnic table.
We got this bike for Sam at a garage sale last fall and he's been so excited to try it out once the weather got nice. I was amazed that he just jumped right on and took off. He especially loves having the elbow and knee pads, although he has requested a pad for his bum too!
Andrew is always trying to keep up with his big brother! Hopefully the sunny weather will come and stay a little longer because we are so sick of being couped up in the house! Our big project once the weather will allow is to paint our house....FINALLY!!! Stay posted, I hope to post pictures soon....

Mama's Boy

I hadn't loaded the pictures from our camera to our computer in like two months, I was finally doing that today and I saw this picture for the first time...

What a sweetheart! He is such a cuddly and loving boy, I can't believe how big he is getting!

He's got a way with words...

This morning we decided to tell Sam that I am pregnant and try to explain to him what that means. We explained how there's a baby in mommy's tummy, which is why I've been sick so much lately, that it's really small now but will get bigger and so will my tummy...then we'll have a new baby brother or sister in several months.

He had a very contemplative look on his face and then said, simply, "Huh, that's strange."

Then he went right on eating his cereal.

The Clock is Running!

We found out yesterday that Joe passed the first section of the CPA exam!!! Hurray!

One down. Three to go!

That means he now has 18 months to pass the other three. That's the outside time frame, we're hoping to be down with it by Halloween. That would mean mean passing ALL of the sections of the first try...let's hope!

Good job honey, I'm so proud of you!

We have another child...

...and his name is ANDREW!!!

I was just looking over the last several entries that I have put on here and realized that I've been neglecting my youngest! So, here's a little about what's going on with him...

Andrew is 18 months and just started nursery a few weeks ago...hallelujah! He loves nursery and being with the other kids. He thinks that he is as big as his brother and can (and should be allowed) to do everything Sam does.

He's very independant and loves to do things for himself...here he is getting himself some breakfast.

I'm not sure how it got started, but he loves putting stickers on his face. Everytime we go to the bank or get out the sticker books at church, his face becomes a work of art. Here's a very mild application, he's much more thorough now. It's gotten so normal for me that I don't think anything of it, but we get some funny looks at the grocery stores...
Here he is opening the "Toad-ally Awesome" valentine that he got from G&G Lodge. He is truly my son because .... he loves chocolate!

He is a happy and smart little boy. He's started talking lately so that's exciting to try and learn his new words with him. It's so fun to watch him figure out that he can actually communicate with us...he gets so excited! He still loves to snuggle when he wakes up, which I love! He's so big, but for those few minutes I get to pretend like he's still my baby!

I love you Andrew!

Sam's Valentine's Date

Sam got to have dinner with Callie on Valentines Day, she even made him a cute little card which he loves!

Earlier in the week we'd been talking about what Valentines Day is and how it's a day that we do nice things for the people that we love. I asked him who he loves, expecting the basic answers...you know...Mom...Dad...Grandma....Grandpa.....but who does he say first? CALLIE!!!

They are such cute little friends, I can't wait to remind them of this 10-12 years down the road!

I live for mornings like that!

I just have to document what a wonderful day I had yesterday. Nothing spectacular, but it was the kind of day that reminds me why I love being a stay-at-home-mom.

The morning started off normal. I went for a run and came home just as Joe as about ready to leave. After a quick breakfast with my boys, I decided to do my pilates workout. When that was over and the boys were STILL playing nicely together I snuck up to the kitchen to get some things done. By 11:00 AM I had made a lasagna that was ready to be baked for dinner, prepared FHE treats (PB bar cookies with PB and chocolate frosting...mmmm!) and done all of the dishes! And the boys were STILL playing together. I went to check it out to see what was causing all of the giggling, I was suspicious by this point!

Sam had pulled the mattress from his old toddler bed (we just got bunkbeds and so now he's on a regular mattress) out of the closet. He had put it in his doorway at the end of the hallway. They piled all the blankets and pillows that they could find on top of it and were running from the end of the hallway and diving. A bit of mess but all very harmless and they were having such a good time...TOGETHER! It gave me hope that they can actually be in the same room for more than a minute without annoying eachother!

I love being a mom and I love these little monsters so much! I wouldn't trade anything in the world for my happy little family. I need to document moments like that because sometimes we need a reminder, right?