Ava's Birthday Party

Hard to believe another year has gone by and Ava is now 4! I have very distinct, fond memories of Natalie at my baby shower when she was about 39 weeks pregnant and looking radiant and ready! Amazing what's happened the last four years. The party was at South Hills again and unfortunately it was a bit cold and misty, but everyone had a great time and the rain held out so all the kiddos were out playing and running around.

It's such a nice, friendly group of families we've gotten to know and enjoy at these parties. The Schreier family goes all out to make sure everyone has plenty of food and fun. One of Tyler's highlights was the Princess Castle pinata. He's definitely at that stage and was very excited to participate and run for the candy. I was so impressed with how he handle himself and all the unsafe food. I tried not to make a big deal out of it and stay relaxed and think it really helped him stay relaxed too. He never once made a fuss about not being able to eat the candy or food. I was very proud of him and made a big deal of it when we came home.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon.

Happy Mother's Day!

Another one of my favorite days of the year! It started with my three adorable boys walking in the bedroom at 7:15 singing "Happy Mother's Day to you" while Adam gave me waffles and coffee to enjoy in bed! It really is the sweetest, most perfect way to start me day. They all were smiling, Tyler was really singing, Matty was just smiling, and I was bursting with love. Tyler was so excited to give me my card which was Mickey, Goofy, and Donald Duck. He hid it in another book and popped it out and said "this is your surprise". It was a nice peaceful, relaxing morning.
We went to church and the boys were very well behaved, always another good gift. I was feeling like such a proud Mama walking in holding Tyler's hand and walking behind the beautiful Adam and Matty. All my boys, I love it!

We had Wendy's lunch and then everyone took naps. When Matty woke up, the two of us took a nice, long bike ride to Creekside and back. He was loving it and would point to things like the butterflies and say "ohhh ohhh". I'll have to take him on more rides because he seemed so content behind me in his chair checking everything out. When we got back around 4:45, I played with the boys while Adam cooked a delicious fajita dinner and then we made our way to the campfire for some smores and fun. Of course, the boys were in their glory! Matty probably had 5 or 6 marshmallow and walked around eating the graham crackers. Tyler kept saying "yum, I love smores". It was great.

The boys started running around and playing after eating all the sugar. I love the above picture of Tyler showing his belly to Matty and I can hear them both laughing.

Then Tyler grabbed Matty's hand and walked him over to some of the higher grass and they played a fairly long game of follow the leader. I could have sat there for hours and hours watching the two boys playing together. This is really what Mother's Day is all about.

I'm incredibly grateful and blessed to have the opportunity to mother these two amazing children. They've given me the biggest and best gift in the whole world...to say I'm their Mommy. What an honor. And all I can promise is to do my very best. I love you, boys!!!

Arts in the Park

my best birthday yet!

The day was so much fun right from the start. Both boys got up about the same time (7:30) and gave me plenty of birthday wishes and love. Then, for whatever reason, we were getting them both ready in Tyler's room. Before I knew it both boys were running around naked and singing and dancing and being totally silly. They were playing with each other and then running and giving us some love and laughing the whole time. The moment only lasted about 5-10 minutes, but it's really moments like this that make me the happiest. Everyone was having a good time and something about the boys and their adorable, little naked bodies running around is just too cute for words and something that I know is fleeting. It was great and put me in the best mood.
Tyler had Jack and Jill and Matty and I were lucky enough to watch Gracie for the morning. She is the sweetest, easiest, most lovable little 2-year old. Even Bea and Aunt Willa came for some play and it was lots of fun. We played with the trains, blocks, dress-up clothes, read a few books, played peek-a-boo (in the above picture), and raided my closet. Gracie loved wearing one of my fancy dresses and a pair of shoes. It was lots of fun and special to a little girl to play with for the morning. Probably the highlight of the day was when Tyler "presented" me with a special picture for my birthday and Mother's Day. We were sitting on the couch going through his backpack when he gave the above picture to me. The picture says 'I love my Mommy because...' and then Ty filled in the blank by saying because 'she gives me lots of hugs and kisses'. Then he proceeded to tell me about the picture he drew and this is where I started to cry. He said he drew a picture of the two of us and he made his arms extra long because he was hugging me because he loves me so much and I'm "the best Mommy in the whole world". He said he wants me "to feel his love all the time even when I'm sleeping". He was just so incredibly sweet about it and kept hugging me. Of course, I started to cry and he smiled and said "yeah, you have happy tears". This was the first picture that actually that he drew (without someone telling him what to make) that looked like what he was describing and the fact that it was the two of us made me fill with joy.

The boys had great naps (another gift). When they woke we tried to give the boys an early dinner because we were headed to the Reager's home for a party. Matty found this slide and played on it for a solid 10-15 minutes of going up and down all by himself and with each time his smile seemed to get bigger.

Then the adults decided to get their part of the party started by taking a celebratory drink. That was one way to get warm and relaxed...

Tyler and Owen spent an incredible amount of time on the John Deer. It was adorable watching the two of the them driving all over the house. Sometimes they'd seem to disappear and then all of a sudden they'd pop out and be giggling and driving around in their own little world. I enjoyed watching the two of them having a great time on their own terms and not us mommies suggesting and facilitating the situation. It was awesome!

Then it was Tyler's turn to drive and it took him a little while to get the hang of it. Unfortunately some of Sarah's flowers might have taken hurt during the learning process. Fortunately she seemed to be laughing just as much as anyone else. Nonetheless, I'll make sure we don't "owe" her some new plants.

And the final wonderful surprise of the day....a homemade birthday cake for me!!! Daddy and the boys baked their very own cake the evening before and brought it over to the party. It's always a good feeling hearing your boys and friends singing happy birthday to me and giving me a homemade cake. The cake was just as delicious as it was special. What a perfect ending to a really fun filled day. It was the definitely the best birthday yet! God is Good!

playdate

We woke up to lots of rain and cold temperatures. A bit surprising considering we went to bed with sunny skies and temps in the high 70's. Typical May day. Fortunately, we had plans to go to our friend's, Kim, house to play. Natalie and her gang were able to come too so Ty and Matty played with Ava, Lucas, and Mikey. It's always nice to go to other Mom's houses because the kids have some "new" toys to play with and all of us Moms get to sit around and talk about anything under the sun. All the kids were well behaved and did a fairly good job playing with each other. Ava turned 4 yesterday so we sang to her and had my banana chocolate chip muffins. It was a great morning and went by quickly. Before I knew it, the time was almost 1:00 and now the boys are both napping and I'll be watching RR in a few!

Arbor

Adam decided to volunteer his time and talents to Jack and Jill. The new project is creating a large nature garden. An arbor was one of many things they were hoping to have donated and Adam decided it was something he was going to build for Tyler and all his school friends to enjoy. Adam had never built an arbor before and did some research for the project. He spent lots of time designing, creating, and building the structure and tried to have Tyler (and Matty) involved in as much of it as possible. The end result was spectacular!!! It was so well made you'd think he'd been doing this as a side job for years.

The four of us went to school to install the arbor in the garden. It was a beautiful night and the boys were running around in their PJ's (!?!) and helping where they could. Adam did an amazing job and it looks perfect (and fits perfectly) in the actual garden. Tyler should be very proud of his Daddy!

Red Dress Luncheon and surprise gift

This afternoon was the annual 'Red Dress Luncheon' and Willa once again was the chair of the event. She did a fantastic job! We had a great time being with other ladies, enjoying some good food, watching a fashion show, and listening to some incredible testimonials. I'm glad I was able to attend and proud of the good job Willa did.
When I arrived home around 4:15 all the boys were awake and ready to have some fun. I'm not sure how it all happened but somehow they decided it was time to give me my birthday present.

The boys helped me open it and I was quite surprised to find a very good set of knives inside!

What a sweet, generous birthday present. What a great family! I guess after all those times I've complained about our knives, Adam was actually listening :)