FSU/UF Game 2014

It was our Thanksgiving Take 2 at Mom & Dad's house (Thanksgiving #1 are still on my phone).  We had a lot of little boys to play/feed/nap this year, but it was great having them all together.  Connor bonded with Bo in the backyard, we fought to keep Noah from yanking any ornaments off the tree, and the twins were too cute sitting all upright now like big boys all of a sudden.  Mom made a delicious meal and FSU pulled off another win to end a nice day!  I tried to snap pics in between all the fun & chaos!

These two...

The soon-to-be-Mr-and-Mrs and their fur child

Noah hitched a ride with Bennett & Auntie Nicole on our walk

Family walk & bike ride

Half way through our walk, Noah discovered he was, in fact, confined in a stroller, so wanted out!

Bo loves his ball like I love cake :)

Oh the production involved in this grandkid photo!

Look at all these cute boys :)

Some baby cousin bonding time

My favorite part of the day was watching Bennett chuckle.  He got a kick out of Connor playing fetch with Bo.  Baby giggles are the best!

I had Connor take a break from fetch to squeeze in a picture while Bennett was all smiles and BOOM... smiles gone.  :)

Brooks saved up some smiles for me too! Oh these squishy babies are the cutest!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It may be a little early, but I wanted to thoroughly enjoy Christmas with my boys this year.  So by day we had C's birthday party, and by night, our tree is up!  Boys were in their Christmas jammies,  Charlie Brown Christmas was on the T.V., and I was enjoying the memories being made.  

Connor wanted to help with the tree so badly.  He insisted on carrying each container of ornaments downstairs, he insisted on carrying the tree downstairs with Matt, and he insisted on hanging all the ornaments on the tree.  I had to remind myself that we were creating memories, as much as I cringed every time C hung a fragile ornament or hung clusters of ornaments.  We only had one rule; that no ornaments be hung at the bottom half of the tree.  Noah Monster is all sorts of trouble and one of his favorite hobbies is throwing things.  Throwing all things.  Although our tree is partially naked and ornaments are not even close to perfectly spaced, our tree represents both of my kids this year, so it is nothing short of perfect.

Noah can't get enough of the lights.  And I'm trying to teach him the one finger touch rule.  It's a work in progress. :)

(Although less than lovely camera quality on my phone, I still love these)

The look from the trouble maker, himself.

Between the Charlie Brown Christmas and his new Lego Marvel Superhero video game, I convinced him to smile by the tree for me, since its rare he'll wear a jammie shirt to bed & I could not miss a shot of this handsome elf. 

Let's hope the Christmas tree in the daylight tomorrow doesn't welcome mischief from the Noah Monster.

The Fair and a 6th B'day Party!

We've been enjoying some chilly weather lately.  Mr. Football Head can wear his big brother's cold weather hats :).

This amazing weather was perfect weather to head to the fair!  Connor and his best bud, Michael, had a blast riding just about everything there!  These goobs make me laugh when they're together.

The petting zoo was a hit will all the kids we had in tow.  The babies enjoyed it the most!

My Ninja Turtle loved feeding the goats too :).

If the fair wasn't enough fun for the kiddies, we headed to Zoomers the next day for C's big 6th birthday party!  It was the first time he didn't need me to ride any rides with him.  It's amazing how he can seem so big at times, yet still seem so little.

We went on quite a bit!  After two days of rides, I'm pretty sure Connor & Michael were in Heaven!

Noah was a trooper, tagging along with the big kids.  He enjoyed all the attention too.

This fenced in ramp area to let this munchkin run free was Noah's highlight of the day!

My biggest boys :).

This was, by far, my least stressful kid party to date.  Why have I not always had our b'day parties at places that set up, organize, and clean up for me?!  It was a win for all! :)

Birthday festivities!

I live for my kids' birthdays.  I get such joy out of making everything just the way they prefer it.  I strategically wrap each gift, so it looks like a lot more.  I make sure to use wrapping paper and gift bags that would make him happy.  I set everything out in just the right spot once the kids are both asleep the night before their birthday.  The birthday banner must be hung.  We have birthday cake for breakfast.  Every little detail must be catered around them.  It means more to me than the kids to make it all just right, but I do it anyway!

So let's start with the night before C's b'day.  C was so excited for his birthday that he had a hard time settling to sleep.  I kept fearing he'd come sneaking down the stairs & see me laying all his presents out, so I waited and waited until I knew he was sound asleep.  Noah's been sleeping through the night for a while now, but for some reason he kept waking every 20 mins after I put C to bed now.  I went into his room to settle him to sleep the first time.  Shortly after, Noah was awake again.  I watched him on the monitor for a few minutes and then realized...

oh my gosh, Noah's sneakers are still on his feet...

I was so focused on getting the boys to bed that I completely overlooked the fact that after we came in from outside (I slip Noah's sneakers over his footie jammies if we play outside after bath, but before bed), I never took his shoes off.  His shoes kept getting in the way of him laying in his bed comfortably!  Once I went in, took his shoes off, he settled to sleep for the night!  Poor kid!

Around 6am, Connor snuck into my bed & whispered to me as I lay there blurry eyed & half dead, "I have an idea, Mom.  When I open my Ninja Turtle gifts, I can cross them off my Ninja Turtle flyer, so I can keep track of what I get.  Is that a great idea?!"

No matter how big he gets, his excitement never fades.  I love it!

We layed in bed for about 20 minutes together, before Noah woke for the day.  We decided it was okay to get up for the day & go check out his b'day goodies.

All gifts from us were opened by 6:45am, cake was eaten for breakfast, and Mario Kart was being played!  Noah enjoyed the balloons everywhere and C was in Heaven.

We took C to school, decked out in his Ninja Turtle hoodie, and then headed to Target to pick up the cupcakes for C's class.  It was a mad dash from there to get home, get Noah down for a nap, get myself presentable, pull Noah out of bed, head to McD's to pick up the b'day boy's Happy Meal, got to C's school, managed to juggle a wiggly 1 year old, a Happy Meal, and 24 cupcakes into the cafeteria.  How cute is my birthday boy?!

 (I got a kick out of the teacher's crown she made out of bulletin board border.)

It was loads of fun passing out cupcakes while Noah stuck his hand in the frosting of each one! :)

After school, the boys played together on the porch as the temperature continued to drop.  It was a countdown until Matt was home from work, the pizza was there, and Nana & Papa were coming!

More gifts were opened!  Lots and lots and lots of Ninja Turtle goodies!  It was everything C had wished for!  No kid party is complete without a toy assembly committee!

To keep the tiny monster from mixing up all the parts to assemble, Nana took the goobs on a box ride!  

Singing, cupcakes, pretend play...

It was a good day!

More fun to come this weekend with C's buddies at Zoomer's!

Big, big, big thank yous to Nana, Papa, Auntie Katie, Uncle Eric, Bo-bo, Auntie Nicole, Uncle Craig, B & B, G.G. & Poppy Charlie for your kind contributions to C's b'day fun! :)

Happy 6th birthday!!!

I say this every year, but how in the world is my baby SIX?! 

SIX????!!!!!!

He has become so independent over the last year.  He showers by himself.  Uses the restroom by himself.  Reads a book to ME.  Remembers to brush his teeth in the morning and at night all by himself.  Rides his bike without training wheels.  Walks down to his best buddy, Michael's, house on his own (with me watching on at the mailbox, of course).  He brings toys to Noah when he's fussy, without me asking.  He's the first one in the car in the morning, eager to get to school early.  He's been the Star Student in class, as well as the Star Student in P.E. already.  He was one of two kids in his class that was chosen to read his A.R. books at home (instead of being read to by the teacher with the rest of his class), since he's reading so well already.  He is one smart cookie and makes me so proud!

I love both of my boys so incredibly much.  I will, however, always have a unique love for this boy.  Just talking about how proud I am of Connor makes me cry.

On November 18, 2008, my heart swelled to a ridiculous size.  My life was only beginning.

Thank you for being my Connor.  I could not imagine life without you.

Happy birthday sweet, sweet boy!

Family photo session 2014

No one understands the stress of a family photo session like a Mother.  The thought that does into each outfit for each person.  The bag of tricks you must possess in order to get your kids to cooperate.  Planning the session around nap time.  Saying things like "stinky feet" and "poopy pants" to make your 5 year old smile a real smile & not that squinty-eyed cheese face.  Pretend sneezing to get the baby to smile.  Remembering to fix my own hair and suck in my stomach all while getting everyone else to look just right.  The best part of it all was having a sweet friend take all the pictures.  It was so great having a fellow mom there to get the kids to smile.  Noah was distracted by the birds, sand, and well, everything, so getting him to smile was not easy at all.  Ironically, once the photo session was over & I let the boys climb the tree on the beach, Noah was ALL smiles.  Story of my life. :)

I'm thrilled with how our family photos turned out & will be spreading them throughout the house now :).

He was mesmerized by the birds.

Oh & it took about 2.2 seconds on the beach for Noah's shorts to be soaked & him completely covered in sand.  I wasn't surprised a bit. 

My big boy looking WAY to big all of a sudden.

Connor always makes Noah happy :)

One cute squishy toosh.

The reason for my being...

I pray this kid is always my best bud.

Noah Monster would only smile with a weird piece of tree in hand.  Whatever works.

My heart swells for these boys.

Dad knows how to get chuckles.

Connor's new favorite hangout.

No smiles, but one handsome little mug.

HUGE thank you to Britt for the family pictures!  Another big thanks to my kids for being so naturally adorable :).