Happy Mother's Day!

I must first pay honor to my mother. She does SO much for me...always has and still continues to do so. She is a very strong, loving, and nurturing woman. She has given me and my family so much love and attention. I hope that I can one day repay her. I just like to say that I have an ongoing bill that will never be closed.

My mother's day was actually celebrated on Wednesday. My wonderful hubby went out of town for the weekend for rugby training. It really wasn't that big of a deal for me. I mean he did get me a wonderful new purse from the kids.

I spent the morning with my parents. We headed over to Market Square in the Woodlands and ate at Potbelly's. The boys really liked it because they had a guy playing a guitar. Jace kept telling us over and over that there was a guitar, like we didn't know or something.

It was a beautiful day so headed over to the water fountains and let the kids play. I was surprised that my boys were very hesitant at playing in the water. Cade was actually the first to head over to them and Jace couldn't resist after a while. Cade may turn into a future soccer player. He insisted on kicking all of the water shooting out.

Then we went for ice cream and called it a day. It was a little toasty outside and the boys were pooped.

We headed home for them to take a nap. When they woke up, we immediately packed up and headed over to my mother-in-law's house. She was nice enough to get me an hour massage for Mother's Day AND volunteered to watch the kids. So I jumped at the chance! It was absolutely wonderful. I think it was undoubtedly the best massage I've ever had too!

I think this is my the best Mother's Day to date for me! How couldn't it have been? Check out these little faces.

(In the one picture, I told the boys to get closer together. I suggested that they touch their heads together. They thought it was absolutely hilarious.)

I'm SOOO thankful for my Mother. I also SOOO thankful for my wonderful family. I have the opportunity to raise 3 amazing children. I think they are already pretty amazing. They are all such unique little people and I can't wait for the next chapters of their childhood to unfold.

The Art of Manipulation

The boys are at a new phase in their 2 1/2 years of life. They recently have learned the art of manipulation.

Bedtime is not their favorite time of day anymore (it's still mine!). They like to prolong it as long as they can.

We have a routine...we start with a bath. (They usually enjoy this and have begun to want to stay in longer). Then for some reason their bath causes them to be rejuvenated! So by the time I chase them down to put on a diaper and dress them in their pjs (which Jace insists on wearing his Lightning McQueen ones for the 3rd day in a row now...of course Nana has been nice enough to wash each time) I'm usually sweating.

Then we take our nighttime medicine (Singulair) and they usually insist on one last snack. WHICH by the way Jace can now open the childproofed pantry doorknob (I'm screwed now).

At our house we are constantly saying "One more, then NO more". They usually do very good once they are told this is the last time. It seems to make it clear in their little minds that there is no more after this one!

Then we head back into the bathroom to brush their teeth while they enjoy turning the water on FULL blast. Jace is pretty good at doing it himself, but Cade likes for me to "help" him PLUS he likes to drink the water out of my "cupped" hand.

Once we're finished with all of THAT, we start saying our goodnights. We must tell Daddy good night and give 2 kisses and 2 hugs....(b/c of one more, then no more)....then we go down to Sissy's room and give 2 kisses and 2 hugs. Now they insist on Brittney coming into their room to say their nighttime prayers with them.

We all must kneel down and say "now I lay me down to sleep" 2 times. (one more, then no more). Then I put Jace in his crib first - where I must cover him the correct way and receive a hug and kiss. Next is Cade...same thing. Before I walk out I usually have to give one more hug and kiss but then it's ONE MORE, NO MORE!

If anything is out of order, I don't hear the end of it. One night I was so tired b/c the nighttime ritual was going so slow I skipped brushing their teeth. As I was leaving their room Jace was yelling "teeth, teeth". I ended up raising my voice saying "no teeth tonight, I love you, go nigh-nigh". Am I the mother of the year or what? Here is my 2 year old lecturing me on oral hygiene. I was just exhausted though.

Sometimes I feel manipulated, but who can resist one more hug and one more kiss from such adorable little ones.

When Steve is out of town, it is hard because telling him goodnight is part of the routine. How dare him make life harder for me!

Ashlea's Birthday Party

My niece turned 6 and had her birthday party this past Saturday. Luckily my sister-in-law also has Trae, an almost 2 year old, and planned to have Ashlea's party at 6:00 p.m. It allowed the boys to get a good nap in and be refreshed before the party began.

It was at an indoor gym that holds classes for all ages and also home to a competitive cheer team. I mean that covered ALL of our bases. The boys were THOROUGHLY entertained and so was Brittney.


They had a huge "mountain" of stairs covered with plush carpet. Jace and Cade were in heaven climbing all around. They had slides, rope swings and a "foam" pit. Jace absolutely LOVED for me to toss him up as high as I could into the pit. They also had trampolines all over the place that were ground level. So that translates into...Jace and Cade wouldn't go flying off of any trampolines. They jumped and jumped and jumped.

At one point in the party, all of my kids were huffing and puffing. They had so much room to run around, do back hand-springs, and just burn off all kinds of energy. Cade, of course, made time to eat in between all of the playing. He is definitely my child. Then Jace also proved to be my child. He was covered from head to toe in icing and ice cream at the end of the party. Cade wanted nothing to do with it. Strange, I know.

My camera batteries were practically dead, so all of the pictures turned out kind of weird.

What a great time we all had. Daddy even made it to the party. He's been out of town for Ashlea's last few parties. We both enjoyed seeing all of the kids have such a good time.