Lunch at School

Today Chris, Henry, Jack and I joined David at school for lunch. We brought pizza, juice, and cupcakes for his class to celebrate his birthday. It was SO cute to see David showing Henry the ropes at school and to see them interacting with the other boys in the class. (His class is 8 three year old boys.) After lunch they have story time, and I read the story to the class. It was so fun! Chris thinks I'm such a dork for enjoying it so much. I hope to do it again soon. David's teachers were so nice to Henry, including him in everything while we were there, and he was sooo proud of himself. He loves to go to "Dadid's cool" as he says. Good thing, because I just registered him today to start in September. While we were there, David said, "Mama, Spencer doesn't know your name." (Spencer is a boy in his class.) I told David he could tell Spencer my name and David replied, "I did. I told him your name is Mama, but he said that it's not!" Spencer told me as I was passing out the pizza that his family doesn't go to Pizza Hut "because they get low cleaning scores". I cracked up that a three year old knows that Pizza Hut gets low scores from the health department!

On the way home after school Jack was crying in the car. David said, "Mama, PLEASE turn Jack off!" I told him that I couldn't and he said, "Just press the button. The one on his belly will turn. Him. Off." Oh, if it were just that easy! He also said, "Honey, thank you for my special day at school today." I thought that he called me honey but wasn't sure, so I asked what he said and he repeated it. Too funny.

David's Birthday Party

We had David's party today at a local train store. He had so much fun!

Of course I got a little crafty for the party. Here are the cookies we gave to his friends. I made sugar cookies and frosted them with royal icing. Each child got two train cars, a D and a number 4.

This is the fruit I did. I wanted it to be similar to the arrangements from Edible Arrangements. It looks better to me in the photo than I thought it looked in person! *Please note -- I've said I wanted it to be similar to Edible Arrangements -- not that I thought it looked like I got it there. I got a nasty comment from someone saying that "Edible Arrangements are hand-sculpted culinary desgins, not a pile of fruit on skewers". I never claimed to be a fruit artist.

And, of course, the cake. It was a white almond sour cream cake with strawberry jam filling and buttercream icing. We had very little left, so it must have been good!

All of our family friends were there, our family - Gigi, (Grampy couldn't come -- he had to be at the store) Gramps, Nan, Uncle Clayton, Auntie Vanessa, "she's Jarrod", Uncle Jack, Aunt Evelyn, as well as three of his friends from school. David was so excited to see them all! Here are a couple more photos. And a big thank you to all of our friends for coming to share his day -- he had a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday David!

Yesterday was David's 4th birthday. How is he four already? The Farmer's Almanac says this about his birthday:

If Your Birthday Is March 28
Positive and aggressive, you enjoy having people around you. The men born on this day are fortunate and successful in business. The women are good housekeepers, insofar as management of the household and family affairs are concerned, but actual housework is distasteful to them.

David has had quite a busy year as a three year old! He had his adenoids and tonsils removed and in that process had his first overnight stay at the hospital. He learned to ride both his tricycle AND his big boy bicycle. He started preschool and is thriving in his class. He learned all of his shapes, the alphabet, can count to 47, and knows all of his colors. He learned letter recognition, knows the letters of his name, and memorized his grandparents' telephone number. He completed speech therapy far before anyone expected him to and has continued to do so well with his speech development. And he became a big brother for the second time.

David's personality has really started to develop this past year. And, as time goes by, he's becoming more and more like his mama! (Lucky - or not - for him!) He's very head strong and opinionated, and can sometimes be a bit bossy. He's a wonderful big brother to Henry and Jack. He says several times a day that Henry is his best friend, and the feeling is certainly mutual. He loves Jack and wants so much to help him, take care of him, and play with him. David is such a sweet, thoughtful boy. He's very affectionate, but is already starting to act more like a big boy. For example, he'll tell me to kiss his head instead of his mouth because, "I'm big." He's definitely more cautious than Henry, but he's the mastermind behind most of the plans!

David's favorite things to do are by far play with his cars and trains, play outside, and read books. He loves to go for walks or bike rides, play on the swingset, go to the park, and play in the sandbox. His favorite movies are any Thomas movies, Cars, and Babe. His favorite foods are pancakes, waffles, string cheese, strawberries, grapes, blueberries, apple slices with peanut butter, cinnamon toast, rice with butter, baked chicken, sliced turkey, crackers, raisins, fruit snacks, bananas, salmon, french fries, carrots dipped in ranch dressing, peanut butter sandwiches, apple juice, strawberry milk, and popscicles.

I'm so proud of David and the person he's becoming. He's a confident, friendly, polite little boy. He's definitely got the best parts of his daddy and me combined, and we're so thankful every day that we get to be his parents.

Happy 4th birthday David!

March 28, 2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

Animal House

I seriously live in a fraternity house. Yesterday David was in the big boys' room while Henry was napping. (David was "resting". Or not.) He started knocking on their bedroom door and wanted to come out. I opened the door and told him he had ten more minutes. As I was closing the door, I noticed his bum was naked. I said, "David, where's your diaper?" (He wears a diaper to bed.) He said, "Henry's smelling it." OK, WHAT?! I look over at H, and the poor child was asleep with a pee-soaked diaper pee side down. ON. HIS. FACE. He didn't wake up. GROSS!

New bib

Jack's new bib, courtesy of his future mother-in-law Julie.

In case you needed a close up.

He loved it and showed the love by promptly spitting up all over it.

Chocolate Allergy

My last post got me thinking about Henry's cocoa allergy. We discovered he was allergic on Halloween of 2006, after he ate some M&Ms. This was not the first time he ate chocolate, nor the first time he had hives. However, it was the first time they were this extreme and the first time we determined what was causing them. I've read several articles regarding food allergies and the very relaxed attitude a lot of people have about them. For example sending PB&J sandwiches to peanut free schools, etc. All of our family and friends are obviously aware of Henry's allergy and have always been overly considerate of him -- there are always chocolate free cupcakes, snacks, treats, etc. for him, even if it means they've gone out of their way to accommodate him. (I hope everyone knows how much we appreciate you always thinking of him!) It's been very easy to control thus far, but I am anxious about what will happen when he goes to school in the fall. He knows that he can't eat chocolate, and he almost always asks if something has chocolate, but he is a very small child. I certainly can't expect him to be as diligent in ensuring there's no cocoa in something he's eating. Just to give people who are unfamiliar with the reaction one can have from a food allergy, this is a series of photos of his reaction from a small handful of M&M's. Henry has not had chocolate - anything at all containing cocoa - since October 31, 2006. While he very well may not be allergic anymore, I'm certainly not willing to risk him looking and feeling like this again just so he can have a piece of candy!

Day 1 -- probably 5-7 hours after having the candy

Day 2 -- this photo was taken after getting a steroid shot at the pediatrican's office.

Day 3 -- His eyes were swollen shut that morning when he woke up and his lips were swollen with hives. That mottled/brown skin look on his trunk and arms lasted two weeks.

Happy Easter!

What a day! The Easter Bunny (EB from here on) came and left lots of goodies for my good little boys. He left two eggs as a teaser in D&H's room, and they were SO excited to see them when they got up this morning. I heard H on the monitor say, "DADID! I found a egg! And LOOK! A nudder egg!" David was equally excited, and that was made evident by him taking the egg and whipping it against their bedroom door which opened it and caused the change inside to rain down. That scenario was repeated approximately 15 more times on the kitchen floor, as it was the method employed to open ALL of the hidden eggs. The EB is a loser, because there were lots of eggs hidden which = lots of egg mess to clean up. I have a strong disdain for holiday cleanup! As they were hunting for eggs (at 5 AM, which I forgot to mention) David kept squealing, "This is just like an EASTER EGG HUNT!" Um, do you think so? The EB brought some serious loot to our house, as well as to both grandparents' houses for our many men. I had a proud mommy moment when, after tucking into their baskets, the first things D&H wanted to do were read books together then brush their teeth with their new toothbrushes. (BTW, the toothbrushes light up and flash until you are supposed to stop brushing. . . how cute is it that Henry wanted to brush his teeth in the dark because, "Dis brush is weally neat"?) The other huge hits were the money in the eggs (duh), the water balloon kits (which the EB managed to find in two kits -- one with all red balloons and one with all blue balloons, the big boys' favorite colors), enormous pencils, and pop-up bubbles. They're really not very interested in the candy at all, and thankfully didn't get much. They're not big candy eaters, David especially. And Henry is allergic to chocolate, so we never give/get chocolate treats. Thank God, because I would totally eat that but won't eat Starbursts or Skittles. We had a great dinner with my parents, my sister and Jarrod, my uncle Clayton, and Chris' parents. It was a very, very nice day. Henry crashed on the floor in their room while watching a movie with David and Chris' dad. It was 3:30 when he fell asleep, and he's still sleeping. David fell asleep mid-meltdown at about 5:30. He was mad because it was approximately 45 degrees out and Chris wouldn't let him go back out to play. In shorts, a t-shirt and Crocs with no shoes. Mean daddy. Here are some photos from today. I hope you had a great Easter!

No Words Needed

The Thrill of the Hunt

We took the boys to an Easter Egg hunt this morning at the Sam Davis House. (samdavishome.org) It was the first organized egg hunt they've done. After some pre-game tips from Big Daddy, it was interesting to observe their "strategies" to gather the eggs.

When they rang the bell, Henry immediately BOLTED to the far end of the roped off area. We're talking a flat out sprint. He stopped randomly to pick an egg up, but I didn't really see what he was getting until I got closer and looked in his bucket. Every single egg he got was blue! He would deliberately pass by other eggs to get to a blue one. He even tried to take a blue egg out of a little girls basket!

David for some reason was overwhelmed and only got like 6 eggs. He stayed pretty much right where we were waiting to start. I was really disappointed at the behavior of a lot of the parents there. The egg hunt our boys were in was for 0-3 years old. I would say probably half of the parents were crazy grabbing all the eggs they could and stuffing them into their child's basket. HELLO! It's for CHILDREN to do, not parents. I suspect that might have had something to do with David's apprehension -- he thought he was hunting eggs with kids, not 40 year olds. Regardless, D&H had fun, and everyone got the same amount of candy. The eggs were taken to the "prize station" and were traded for a scoop of candy.

Jack's Appointment

Jack had his two month appointment yesterday, and all is well. He's 11 pounds 13 ounces and 23 inches long. He didn't like his shots (duh) but recovered quickly and slept most of the day! He'll go back again at 4 months!

Jack's Photo Spread

Henry's new pillow.
I'm pretty sure he's busting an '80's dance move here.

"I'm thiiiiis big!" He's so cute I could eat him.

Please, no more photos.Again with the dancing. I'm pretty sure he's doing the Cabbage Patch.

His kissy-face look. I can't decide if he looks like an Olsen twin with that lame face they make in EVERY single picture I see of them, or like he's trying to pick up the ladies. I'm leaning toward picking up the ladies.

Two Months Old!

How, how, how is it possible that Jack is already two months old?! He celebrated last night by partying like a rock star until 2:30. I can only assume he was waiting for cake to go with his milk nightcap? He's getting so big. He goes for his two month well check tomorrow morning. Just for comparison, at two months David was 11 pounds, 6 ounces and 22 inches long. Henry was 14 pounds, 11 ounces and 22.5 inches long. I'm guessing Jack's somewhere around 12 pounds, 22 inches long. He's smiling and laughing all the time now, especially at David and me. David and Henry seem more interested in him these days, which I suspect will continue as Jack gets bigger and more interesting himself. He's still a champion eater, and I think he would eat all day if I would let him. He really has no "comfort object" (other than me!) so I'm trying to get him to like something. Anything! He's not crazy about a pacifier, so now I'm pushing a blanket similar to what Henry had when he was a baby. (For those who don't know Henry, he has a blanket he's in love with, named "Mr. Silky".) Hopefully he'll find something soon to help soothe himself, because it's not going to be me forever!

Here's a photo of Jack when he was two days old. . .

And one of him now, two months old!

Tuesday Twelve

This picture is such a good representation of our days -- everyone on top of me, clamoring for a spot! We are all sitting in a chair. . . and not a large one!

1. The Easter bunny better get hoppin' around here, because that rabbit's got some freaking work to do. Those eggs won't fill themselves!

2. D, oh child of mine who never stops talking, said in the car yesterday, "Mama, that red octagon over there says S-T-O-P stop." OK, what?! How does he know that?

3. Hurricane Henry needs to slow down. I swear he knocks his head on something, falls down, trips, etc. every single day. That child will visit the ER more times than the other two children combined, I suspect. Today he smacked his head on the train table while he was bending over. HELLO! Look where you're going!

4. D got his ass whooped at school yesterday by the smallest boy in the class. And, were I not such a classy gal, I might have whooped the boy who did it! He smacked D in the eye with a cup at lunch. And the teacher didn't say anything about it to me! I'm going to talk to them in the morning when I drop him off.

5. J must be having a growth spurt, because yesterday he was a major crab and spent the day crying or eating. Literally, eating all day long. Today he's done nothing but sleep. He has his 2 month check on Friday at the pediatrician, and I can't wait to see what he weighs.

6. D and H were playing outside yesterday and BOTH peed and pooped in their pants. Seriously, what are they thinking? They both know to come in to go to the bathroom. And today David did it again! OK, I can buy that an accident will happen occasionally. Um, 2 days in a row? I think not. I made him come in and wouldn't let him go back out after he got cleaned up. That's just laziness that caused the poop today.

7. I got new Bare Escentuals makeup this weekend and am LOVING it.

8. I do at least two loads of laundry every day, but I can never seem to put it away! I fold it, put it in the basket with the best of intentions, and it doesn't get put away until I need the basket again. WHY is that such a difficult thing to get done around here?!

9. My children have been playing outside tons lately, now that the weather is nicer. I love it, and they love it, and they get super tired. That, however, makes them go from fun normal boys to INEEDTOGOTOBEDRIGHTNOW children. It's 5:45, and all three of them are asleep.

10. Speaking of sleep, J has been sleeping from about 11-4 or later each night. YAHOO! I love it! I've probably jinxed myself for tonight!

11. Tomorrow D has an Easter party at school, and we're bringing the sandwiches. J&H have a playgroup Easter party also. That means I need to make 20 Easter egg shaped sandwiches, a salad for our playgroup party, get everyone (including myself) bathed and dressed and out the door. All by 8:45! Thank God Chris will be home in the morning!

12. Since everyone is asleep, I'm off to enjoy my scallop dinner by myself in silence while I read an actual book. I love it when that happens!

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

This morning Jack and I hit the town to run some errands. I dressed him like my grampy Chet used to dress. (OK, my grampy probably didn't wear a onesie with a huge monogram across the front, but he wasn't a Southern boy!) I went to WW. I was down .6 pounds again. Again I was not happy about that! Granted, I'm not up .6 pounds, but seriously? I've lost 8.6 pounds since I started WW and 29 since having Jack. It is a much slower process this time. That makes no sense to me, as I don't sit down all day, but hopefully next week's scale result will be better. Just as a reference, here's a photo of my grampy from 30+ years ago. Notice the plaid bathing suit. He must be who I get my love of plaid from, because it certainly isn't my mama!While Jack and I were out, Chris and the boys played outside. Big Daddy took the baby swings down and up went the big boy swings. Hung about 6 inches from the ground. D&H think they are VERY cool on these new swings and are very proud to swing by themselves. And H only fell off about 97 times. It was beautiful out today, and you know my children can't be playing outside with clothes on. No shoes, no shirt, no problem is our motto. They played out all morning with Big Daddy and from one until five this afternoon. With no clothes on. Not abnormal for them as they generally are not big fans of getting dressed whether they'll be in or out, but it is March. Thankfully it was almost 80, so it was fine!
While they played out, I decorated my father-in-law's birthday cake. Now, before people go telling me how irresponsible I am to allow my children to play outside by themselves, our yard is fully fenced, gate locked, and I can see them from the window or door in the kitchen. And trust me -- they come in frequently enough that I never have a question of whether or not they're safe. Here's the cake.

Wacky Wednesday

A walk in the park.

Handy Henry

David: Henwy, wet's hoad hands.

Henry: OK Dadid. I wuv you.

YUM!

Dressed this morning for "Wacky Wednesday" at school.

Oops. Henry "missed" the dry erase board. And tried to erase it.

Stolen From Amy's Blog

The person who wrote this clearly was hiding in my house taking notes.

So You Wanna Have A Baby?
Subject: 15-step program for ParenthoodThinking of Having Kids? Do this 15 step program first!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive) Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.
Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
1. Take an egg carton. Using a pair of scissors and a jar of paint, turn it into an alligator.
2. Now take the tube from a roll of toilet paper. Using only Scotch tape and a piece of aluminum foil, turn it into an attractive Christmas candle .
3. Last, take a milk carton, a ping-pong ball, and an empty packet of Cocoa Puffs. Make an exact replica of the Eiffel Tower .

Lesson 7
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 8
1. Get ready to go out.
2. Sit on the floor of your bathroom reading picture books for half an hour.
3. Go out the front door.
4. Come in again. Go out.
5. Come back in.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the sidewalk for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely, and ask at least 6 questions about every cigarette butt, piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue, and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbors come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house. You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.

Lesson 9
Repeat everything you have learned at least (if not more than) five times.

Lesson 10
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 11
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air. You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 12
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 13
Move to the tropics. Find or make a compost pile. Dig down about halfway and stick your nose in it. Do this 3-5 times a day for at least two years.

Lesson 14
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 15
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 14 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

This is all very tongue in cheek; anyone who is parent will say 'it's all worth it!' Share it with your friends, both those who do and don't have kids. I guarantee they'll get a chuckle out of it. Remember, a sense of humor is one of the most important things you'll need when you become a parent!

How You Know There's a Newborn in the House

I just went into D&H's room to check on them because they were very quiet. D was kneeling on the floor with his shirt yanked up around his neck and H was kneeling in front of D with his face pressed to D's chest. D was saying, "Good baby" and H was going, "Waa, waaa, waaa." I asked what they were doing and D, in a very nonchalant manner, said, "Oh, I'm just feeding my baby some milk so he'll stop crying."

Just Wanted to Let you Know

1. 4 Dixie Cups cannot successfully be flushed down our toilet. No matter how much, "I just trying to talk about flushing a couple down!"
2. It's not a great idea to ask an almost 3 year old to "please run into Jack's room really quickly and get a burp cloth for me." That translates to, "Please crawl as slowly as you can into Jack's room and when you get there empty the entire container of baby wipes onto the floor. Then please roll around in them and 'clean' underneath the crib. With all of them."
3. A floor register for the heat CAN in fact "eat" an entire large container of Legos. And a small jewelry box full of your Gigi's silver bangle bracelets. And this does not make your grandfather happy.
4. Peeing on the floor next to the potty is not "almost da same fing" as peeing in it.
5. Jack still doesn't have teeth. No matter how many times you pry his mouth open just to check. He's only 7 weeks old.

Life Lessons, by Henry.

Weekend Roundup

Helloooooo folks. I say that like there are so many people reading this -- Hello to the five people I know read it!! I hope you had a fab weekend. I have some photos to show what our's was like.

I know I'm totally biased, but I seriously think Jack gets freaking cuter every single day. Even more so now that he's --wait for it -- only getting up once a night to eat!! I seriously thought the day would never come. It's amazing what sleeping in his vibrating bed while strapped into a carseat does for him. If we ever go to Vegas all we have to do is bring a stack of quarters and he's all set. Now, if he would just stop puking on me I'd be totally happy.

Thursday we went back to Super Target (shocker, I know) and got the cutest chick Easter cupcakes. Yes, I bought cupcakes somewhere else! David and Henry were BEGGING for them, so I relented. David ate it like he was a homeless child, and Henry didn't want to touch it so he ate his while bent over the table not using his hands. We also got a cute St. Patrick's day shirt for Jack, some Easter egg placemats, and a bunch of other crap we don't need. And I haven't been back since! Can you believe it?

Friday I had a LOVELY day with Julie, Lily June, and Jack. We spent the majority of the day in Franklin doing some shopping and going to lunch. Chris stayed home with the big boys. And I felt guilty the entire time. I know I shouldn't, but I did. I know how tired he gets around like 1, so I felt bad that I was gone. I didn't have to though, because everyone was asleep when I got home! You might remember the photo I posted in July of our friend's new baby, and she was tiny. Well, that child is Lily June, and as you can see from this photo with Jack, she's tiny no more!

Yesterday it SNOWED! Actual snow on the ground. Granted it didn't last the entire day, but long enough to go "play" in. It took me more time to get David and Henry dressed than they spent outside! After they played outside, we colored Easter eggs. It was the most miserable thing I've done in a long time! Coloring eggs with two very energetic little boys sucks. I hated every minute of it. And they loved it -- I'm not sure why, because I'm quite certain I was probably a bitch the whole time. It was messy, stressful, and not fun at all for me! Today they each wanted to eat one. David was pissed his wasn't orange inside, and Henry said his tasted like "dog poop". I didn't even question why or how he knows what dog poop tastes like. You never know with Henry. He licked frosting, literally, off the floor in my parents kitchen this afternoon.

Today we went to dinner at my parents house. For real, that woman can make a meal that would sabotage the best Weight Watchers point counter in town. It was a beautiful day out, so we played outside for a while, went for a walk, and had a great day. For those who don't already know, my sister and her boyfriend Jarrod have moved to TN, and today was our first real family dinner with them here. It was nice! And David and Henry played with a dead bird. That was not nice. It was really, really gross. And my dad wasn't there, so I had to shovel the thing up and throw it next to the barn. Hi, I don't shovel up dead birds. And I probably wouldn't have, had David not picked it up in his damn bare hands and then tried to run over it with his bike. I think I threw up a little bit in my mouth.

I will leave you with my favorite picture of Jack ever. I'm bummed that I already got his birth announcement photos, because this would have been it.

Thankful Thursday

All three monkey boys piled into the crib.

David made this at school for Valentine's Day.

When asked, "Who do you love?" This was his answer.

It's so freaking cute it makes me want to cry!

My babies snuggling in my bed.