Spoiled

Because I have friends who make me cute things like this.

Because every day, these cute boys let me be their mama.

Because I have boys that love building things for me.

Because every once in a while, the guy in the middle 

puts these little boys to sleep for the night..

or is it the other way around?

Strawberries

April is always a fun month and we started out by making our annual trek to the strawberry patch.  We all had a great time, consumed A LOT of berries and even made two batches of jam with our loot.  I keep thinking that one day, when we pull up the patch owners are going to tell us that the children will need to be weighed before and after they enter the field, to get a good estimate of how much of the crop they consume while picking...thankfully that was not the case this year.

Tuesday Joy

Matthew's favorite school song here lately goes a little something like this....I've got joy joy joy joy down in my heart, down in my heart, down in my heart TUESDAY.  Personally I think the little guy has joy in his little heart every day but I do love hearing about Tuesday.

Gobble Gobble

So Papa bear went turkey hunting last weekend and Matthew doesn't quite get the difference between a turkey and a chicken so yesterday as we were prepping dinner Matthew asked, "Mama, is Papa at work or chicken hunting"?  It made me laugh and picture William bringing home a frozen chicken, slung over his shoulder...which would be fine too.

Wordless Wednesday

THINGS I WOULD TELL MY KIDS IF I WERE THEIR SIBLING AND NOT THEIR PARENT

Totally stole this idea from http://www.texanmama.com/ but I wholly and completely identify with what she is trying to express.

1)  When Mama asks you to put something in your closet, the playroom, my room etc, what she means is for it to be put IN ITS PLACE in that room, not for you to walk in the appointed room and chunk the object in and run.

2)  The crazy nuts timeframe in which she is preparing dinner is NOT the time to request a snack.

3)  Her sewing machine is that, HERS.  Grubby little boys hands have no business touching it.  She shares EVERYTHING else with us (papa, her lap, her bed, her bathtime, her sleep, food, energy, quiet), let her have this little thing.

4)  Those random hugs, snuggles, sweet moments with Mama make her day EVERY SINGLE TIME.  So do it MORE!

5)  You know what toys go in which bins so putting them up the first time you are asked wins you GIANT brownie points in her book.

6)  Getting dressed is a NON-NEGOTIABLE.  As hard as I have tried to escape the house unclothed it has yet to happen.  So just get dressed and quit making a circus of the event.

Different

So I celebrated my 36th birthday today and I was reminiscing about how different life is now than it was say 6 short years ago.

On my 30th birthday weekend I;

   *  Enjoyed a fancy dinner out with some girlfriends and was surprised by a hubby that flew in from  Boston to wish me a happy day.

   *   Got my first and only tattoo.

   *   Flew to Boston and went to my first Red Sox game at Fenway Park.

   *   Before the game, we went to dinner and a bar...which oddly made me not able to remember parts of the aforementioned game (oops).

   *   Helped the hubby pack up the Boston digs and ride 5 million miles, at least that is what the trip from Boston to Atlanta felt like in a four wheel drive pick-up truck with my short legs propped up on a snowboard and a blender.


My 36th looked like this;

   *   Another Red Sox game, except this time no trip to the bar prior and the cutest player out there was my firstborn.

   *   No more ink, but there was some fun chalk and bubble play.

   *   The only roadtrips were within 10 miles of our house, thank goodness!

The years have definitely changed the shape of our celebrations but every single year I am reminded of how incredibly blessed and loved I am!