My Mother's Day

My request for Mother's Day was a picnic lunch at the park with Tim and the boys so that's EXACTLY what we did. We loaded up the tricycles, stopped at McAllister's Deli for sandwiches for Tim and I and Subway for Jack & Mason and headed to the park.








It was PERFECT! Yes, we had a lot of company as many other Mom's had the same idea but that's okay.....we still had a great time. After the park we headed home for a nap and then spent the evening at Tim's Mom & Step-Fathers for dinner.





All in all.....a wonderful Mother's Day. Wish that I could have spent it with ALL the Mom's in my life but my awesome present from Tim and the boys (a new webcam) will allow us to chat online and SEE each other instead of just talking on the phone. I can't wait to try it out!!!

Big Boy Bed & Big Boy Room

We made the transition to a big boy bed this weekend and Mason is SO proud of himself. He LOVES his bed and so far so good as far as sleeping all night long w/o wandering around the house in the middle of the night. So, the dual crib room now houses TWO, count them TWO, big boy beds.

To change the theme from Classic Winnie The Pooh to something more "boy-like", I went with "Planes, Trains, and Trucks" by Olive Kids and at the suggestion from a friend, we changed the Pooh Prints out of the frames and put 3 pictures that Mason has done and 3 that Jack has done. They think having their artwork on the walls is so cool! I think it looks kinda nice too!

So...........here's a peek into the new room! What do you think!?!?

And this was how I found Mason yesterday when I went in to wake him up from his nap....

Mothers

Somebody said that a child is carried in its mother's womb for nine months. Somebody does not know that a child is carried in Its mother's heart forever.

Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby. Somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history.

Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct.

Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

Somebody said being a mother is boring.

Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good."

Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices.

Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.

Somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.

Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first.

Somebody doesn't have five children.

Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books. Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose.

Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.
Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.

Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. Somebody never organized seven giggling Brownies to sell cookies.

Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married. S

omebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home.

Somebody never had grandchildren.

Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.
Somebody isn't a mother.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the MOTHER'S in my life

but especially to my own Mom - I love you!!!!

Big Boy Underwear - CHECK! Patience - CHECK HOPEFULLY!

This weekend is the weekend that Mason graduates from diapers/pull-ups to Big Boy Underwear. We know he's ready, we're just not sure how ready we are. But as I am so gently reminded by BOTH of my parents, "he has to be out of diapers to go to college, you know?"....yeah, I know, I know.

Twice in the past 24 hours he has voluntarily gone into the bathroom and tinkled on his own.....that's a good sign!

So we're going to go cold turkey this weekend and just doing it! We've got PLENTY of Big Boy Underwear in all sorts of cool characters - the latest additions to our supply are The Hulk and Power Rangers, we've got a jar of skittles as incentive and I've been stockpiling my patience for the past couple of days.

Keep your fingers crossed that things go well........

"This Is The Easy Part!"

"This is the easy part!" is the comment that my Mom makes to me every time I share with her my trials and tribulations as a Mother. She should know, she did it three times with my sister, brother and I and we all turned out perfectly fine.

We have now entered what I am going to term as the TORRENTIAL THREES in our household! Some people call them the "trying threes", not for us.....it's a torrent and it's come on strong! Our son Mason is , well, the only way I can describe him is very strong willed. He knows what he wants and how he wants to do things. He has always shown Tim and I that he wants to be independent - getting dressed on his own, pouring his own milk, just about everything. "Me do it!" is a common phrase that we have heard out of his mouth for a long time; unlike his older brother Jack who is happier than a clam when he can get someone to do something for him.

How can two children be so completely different?!? They are from the exact same gene pool....and in this respect they are like night and day!

The past two evenings have been less than stellar at our house and it's simply because of the sheer determination of our wonderful 3 year old. The night before last, it was over when he ate dessert. He asked for dessert. We told him that he needed to take a bath FIRST and then he could have dessert (simple right?) - NOT! He screamed "Me have dessert AFTER bath Mamma!" as he stood in the bathroom bare naked and refused to get into the tub! Obviously thinking he was asking for dessert BEFORE bath and not AFTER because when I'd say "Fine, you can have dessert AFTER you take your bath" he'd just scream louder and repeat himself "Me have dessert AFTER bath Mamma!". Eventually we compromised and the world was a happy place again, I'll just leave it at that.

Last night, it was discovered that a black magic marker had found it's way to the hardwood flooring in our breakfast room. Thankfully, the floor is going to be replaced soon, so Tim and I were not too concerned, but when it was discovered that our cute 3 year old had done it, we wanted to show him that 1) markers only go on paper (which he already knows) and 2) he needed to clean it up since he had made the mess, I went to get a damp sponge to wipe it up as best as we could. Well....the sponge wasn't wet enough for Mason so he wanted to go soak it in the bathroom sink and carry it back through the house to the breakfast room. NOT! I tried to explain to him that it was wet enough and that he didn't need more water and was met with the "No Mamma! I do it!" screech that he does! UGH! When he yelled at me at the top of his lungs, he was very quickly escorted to his room where he screeched louder until he made himself sick (nice huh Mom?) and eventually calmed down enough to listen to me and gave in, understanding that he was NOT going to win that battle.

It's so difficult sometimes to reason with a screaming child. Especially one who so wants to be bigger and do things HIS way regardless of whether his way is the right way or not. I pick my battles......if it's something that a lesson can be learned from, I will stand my ground. If it's something that isn't that big of a deal....I will compromise to come to a resolution (wearing big boy underpants OVER his pull-up to school) but whatever it is I always hear my Mom's voice in the back of my head reminding me "This Is The Easy Part!".

Someday, the battles will be bigger and larger than this.......

Party-palooza Pics - Part II

Cinco De Mayo Party

Party-palooza Pics - Part I

So here are some of the pics from our party-filled day on Saturday.....

Luca's 2nd Birthday Party at The Whittle Train Shop

Watching a train go by outside

Mmm...yummy ice cream cake at 10:30am!!!

Awesome train pinata

When you have a party at Whittle Train Shop, they have you leave your handprint w/ your birthdate on the wall - this was one that I found....

Luca, the birthday boy, with his sisters Perry & Ella

Lucas, another good friends son

Luca, the birthday boy!

Addison, a good friends' daughter & Lucas's sister

Party-palooza Weekend!

Social butterflies we are NOT so when we found out we had TWO parties on the same day this past weekend we were thrilled! We're not used to that much activity in one day at all!

Saturday morning, I took the boys to the Whittle Train Shop in Valley Park, MO for the 2nd birthday party of my friend Amber's son Luca! We LOVE the Whittle Train Shop, they have a HUGE wooden train table that the kids can play on so of course the boys love it there. We had an awesome ice cream cake @ 10:30am WOO HOO FOR SUGAR (I want the recipe Amber) and lots of time to play. And.....we even had a real train go by on the tracks while we were upstairs partying - that was a hit.

Saturday afternoon/evening we celebrated Cinco De Mayo with one of Jack's former classmates from KinderCare. Her parents put on a wonderful "family" oriented party with constant games for the kids and lots of food and drink for the adults. There even was a bouncy bounce this year which at first Jack and Mason weren't quite sure of but eventually we couldn't get them out of it.

Of course we left the last party with the boys IN TEARS because they were having so much fun and headed home dead tired from the rush of activity that we had in one day.

Sunday.............well it was pretty much our run of the mill Sunday - nothing fancy or special. Daddy was a bit under the weather but nothing that we couldn't handle.

Pictures are still on the memory card of my camera and I promise that I will upload them tonight and get them onto my blog so you can see what fun we had on our Party-palooza weekend!