Mother's Day 5.9.10

Mike, Jeff, and Kim
Mom and Grandma

Logan and I

Dad and Shaneo

The mom's!!!!!

Oh how I love Mother's Day! I love everything about it. I love that it's a day to honor the mother's in your life. I love that it's a day where it really doesn't matter what you do, it matters who you spend your time with. I love that it happens in the Spring so 9 times out of 10 we get to do something outside. I love that it reminds me how lucky I am. That I have such an amazing mother and that I was blessed to be Logan's mom. It's just a great day no matter how you slice it. This year, Dad, Mom, Grandma, Jeff, Kim, Shane, Mike, Logan, and I decided to head to a quaint town close by and do lunch and then check out the local shops. It also happens to be right on the water so we were able to see boats, seagulls, and the boys had a great time peering over the edge of the dock (making me incrediably nervous in the process) to look for fish. Lunch was delicious and since it was a special occasion we all splurged on dessert. We were all able to get together and with our family that just doesn't happen every time with work schedules and life schedules. And there's just something magical that happens when the whole family gets together. Everyone was just on (if that makes sense). Thanks everyone for helping to make my Mother's Day absolutely perfect! And to all you mom's out there...cheers! You all amaze me. Life is so good being a mom!

The Great Cow Pie Drop 5.8.10

Craig, Logan, and Karen at the lemonade stand.
Drop that cow pie!!!

Come on girls, you can do it!!

Karen and Brett

These boys had such fun!

So for the past three years I have participated in Relay for Life; a fundraiser/walk to support research and finding a cure for cancer. It has been a very rewarding experience and I look forward to doing it for years to come. This year as we got closer and closer to the Relay, Karen and I wanted to find a fundraising activity to do that would bring in good money and be fun. Well, Karen and her mom came up with the perfect idea. You see Jolene (Karen's mom) lives on a diary farm. So their thought was, take a field, divide it into squares, sells the squares for $20 a pop, then let a cow loose in the field and wherever the cow "dropped it's pie" would win. The winner would get a third of the pot and the rest of the money would go to Relay for Life. It was brilliant. So, after selling all the squares (and then some), we all got together today to watch the big drop happen. It was hoot knowing that 20 some odd people were all standing around waiting for a cow to poop. :-) What fun! Karen even put together a little lemonade stand so Craiger could sell lemonade and chips. I hope this was the beginning of a new fundraising tradition. Life is good when you raise money for a good cause and have a blast doing it!

Happy Birthday Shane and Jeff 5.1.10

Shaneo reading his birthday card.
Logan and Shaneo were having a tissue paper fight!

Logan and his present.

Which led immediately to reading. :-)

And then it was on to Logan's favorite part about birthdays.

Today we gathered at my parents house to celebrate Shane and Jeff's birthdays. We had great food (thanks Kim), wonderful visiting, and got to see some very excited guys opening gifts. Kim had gotten her guys a Wii. They were so excited to play that they set it up right there at Mom and Dad's. It was so fun. We Wii bowled and raced cars. Logan was SO into it. Logan got a couple new books from Grandma as well. What a lucky little boy. We also had some delicious ice cream cake and lots of laughs. What a fun day. Here's to Shane and Jeff. Happy Birthday guys! Life is good.

Superhero Dinner 4.21.10

Karen, Craig, and Brett stopped by today for an imprompt visit and stayed for dinner. The boys were all superheroed up and of course did not want to unmask themselves for dinner. So, it was superhero dinner time. What fun these boys have together. Life is good.

What we do when we stay home sick 4.14.10

We watch the garbage man do his thing.
We play on the computer.

We color.

We nap.

We read.

After a fun-filled Spring Break, Logan apparently was partying it up too much and got sick. He's had a darn cough for about a month now and last night it got really bad. Neither of us slept much at all, so I called in sick so we could stay home, get better, and sleep. It's so hard to size up in the middle of the night if Logan is sick enough for me to keep him home. Today I was really glad I did because even though he played and seemed good, he desperately needed sleep. He was still coughing a lot by the evening so I called in sick again and as it turns out we had a great night sleep that night, so it really wasn't necessary. Oh well, live and learn. Life is good when you can stay home when you're not feeling well.

Tulip Season 4.11.10

I had to get the purple and gold together for my Vikings!
Grandma and Mom

Logan, Mom, Grandma, and Shaneo

These dark purple one's are some of my favorites.

Kim and Shaneo in a sea of red!

It's a tradition. One that I hope will continue for years and years and years. Grandma, Mom, Kim, Shaneo, Logan, and I all gather at our beautiful tulip fields and smell, see, touch (no, no Logan), and marvel over these beautiful flowers. Every year I'm amazed at the colors, the sheer amount of flowers, and the farmers who mastermind the fields. It never fails to be very crowded, which is fine, everyone should be able to enjoy this sight, but it still makes it a bit difficult, especially with Grandma's walker. Nevertheless, we not only toured the beds that were arranged, but we also headed out into the fields (Grandma too)! The boys always have so much fun running around the fields and trying "not" to get dirty! Oh boys! Honestly, the pictures don't do it justice. The fields really are quite amazing. One of these years I would love to take a helicopter tour of the fields. Can you imagine? Good times. Life is good.

SRB 4.6.10

Watching the train go by!
We splurged and got this scrumptious S'mores dessert.

Karen and Brett

Logan

Craig

In celebration of Karen's birthday week, we decided to go out to dinner Tuesday night to our local brewery where kids eat for $1.50 on Tuesday's. :-) The brewery is located right next to some train tracks as well so the boys were excited to see if any went by and sure enough one did. The whole building shook, it was fantastic! Anyway, besides the boys eating pretty cheaply, they also happen to have the best Caesar salad I have ever tried...freakin' delicious!! :-) It was a very fun evening and a great way to help Karen celebrate her birthday. Life is good.

Easter 4.4.10

Shane on the hunt.
Logan with some of his eggs.

The boys and their precious finds.

"THANK YOU EASTER BUNNY!"

Sweet cousins!

Every year we spend Easter at my folks and it never fails to be a wonderful day and this year was no exception. On our way down to Mom and Dad's we picked up Grandma and got some oh so delicious Starbucks! The day was so fun. Mom had made a delicious lunch/dinner, the boys got Easter baskets from my parents, and then it was the Great Easter Egg Hunt! It was very windy but we decided to do it outside anyway and oh did those boys love it! What fun to watch them run around the house searching high and low for eggs. What I found just precious this year is that Logan was able to recognize "S" eggs for Shaneo and "L" eggs for Logan. Mom puts S and L stickers on the eggs so the boys can find an even amount and it was just so sweet to see Logan run up to an egg, see an "S" and then yell out, "Sano, dere's an S egg for you over here!" And when all the eggs were found, as we went back inside and the boys opened them all up, Logan looked up to the sky and screamed out, "THANK YOU EASTER BUNNY!!!!!" Priceless. Life is good.

Easter Morning 4.4.10

Something to entice the Easter bunny.
I guess it worked. :-)

Logan's new Batman costume from the Easter bunny. :-)

My daper young man.

Happy Easter!!! This year we really got into the spirit of Easter, both the religious element of it and also the bunny element. Logan is getting such a fantastic education at preschool, both the ABC's of it all and the religious aspect of it. So, as we're driving in the car Logan starts telling me about Jesus and how the rock was there and couldn't have moved and then it did and Jesus was gone. He says to me, "It's magic Momma!" It was so sweet and I love that he's learning about the Lord. So, the night before Easter we put food out for the Easter bunny. Logan also wanted me to wake him up when the Easter bunny came. It's so fun to see him so into it all. Life is good.

Dying Eggs Part Deux 4.1.10

The Paas packs brings back so many memories from my own childhood. ;-)
In case you were curious, this is Wolverine. :-)

Before...

...During...

...After.

Okay, so the second time around I didn't boil the eggs as long (too many cracks in the eggs last time), Logan got into it a little more, and no superhero stickers this time. We decided to be purests this time around. I really do love this Spring activity...the smell of vinegar, the bright colors, and then all the egg salad sandwiches that follow! Mmmmm, good times. Life is good.

Daffodils 3.31.10

Today's Spring Break activity consisted on a daffodil hunt! Again, it wasn't the nicest day (weather wise) ever, but Logan and I (and Norm too, of course) were determined to go find some daffodils. And boy did we ever. There were multiple fields just blooming with vibrant daffodils. Once we got some pictures of the daffodils we decided to continue on our adventure and look for tulips as well. And again, we were not disappointed. Spring in the Northwest, while quite rainy, is simply beautiful. I can't imagine living anywhere else. Life is good.

Firemen at the park 3.30.10

Logan loves this slide...who wouldn't?
Pierce was so brave on this spinning thing...I would have lost my lunch for sure. :-)

Kara and Sam...he's getting so big!

Logan and Pierce :-)

With Spring Break in full swing, Kara and I decided to take the boys to one of our local parks. The weather was a bit chilly, but unless we're looking at a complete downpour, living in the Northwest requires you to get used to murky weather if you want to spend any time outside. :-) It was only after we met up that we realized we had dressed all the boys in bright yellow firemen jackets. It was perfect. We spent about an hour there. I think the boys would have played longer, but we mom's were getting a bit chilly. It was great fun though and it reminded me how much I love spending time with Kara and the boys (and Jonathan too, of course.) Hopefully, this summer we'll have loads of playdates. Thanks for a fun afternoon Kara (and for providing snacks! Brilliant I say!) Life is good.