Memorial Weekend according to the Stephenson

Sunday we had a Stephenson bash at Apex Park to celebrate 5 family birthdays. We had a great time filled with good Denise food, water fights, and Pat squashing Fins pet worm by accident. Cole came ready to party as usual

Before we left the boys had some play time in the crib together. Hats were modeled.

Fin and Sammy water fighting it out

Cole and I hanging. Poor lovey was a sweating fool.

Uncle Mike and Coley Bear

How we all felt at the end of the day.

We feel so blessed with the family we have. I love that the boys are growing up so close to both sides of the family. We also don't take for granted the babysitters we have either. Holla!

Memorial Weekend according to the Keegans

So we had a crazy weekend. 4 parties in 24 hours. Cait's graduation, relatives visiting from PA, 5 Stephenson birthdays celebrated. Umpteen cupcakes consumed. I'm going to do breakdown the weekend from 2 perspectives to make it easier. And I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking as I'm still in the midst of a sugar hangover. It's not pretty folks.

The grad and Cole paying homage in his baby way

Our entertainment of the evening was Fin being a robot.

Suuuuper Caiiiit!

Family pic minus sleeping baby Cole.

We are so proud of Cait and had such a great weekend celebrating her. She is a beautiful girl inside and out and one of my best friends. Also she's now Pat's #1 sister now b/c she's going to State, sorry girls.

Don't talk about it, be about it.

Well after 2 months of threatening to do it, he's finally done it. Cole has a tooth.

We've been on the lookout for a loooong time as he's all the classic symptoms.

Not sleeping at night? Check. And by the way Cole, it is not necessary for us to check in with each other every 1 1/2 hours in the night. I am the same at night as I am in the morning...only grumpier.

Chewing on random objects such as straws and rubber ducky heads? Check. Note: he's chewing on a straw from an empty drink below. We haven't started giving him milkshakes...yet.

So it's an exciting day around here. Fin was over the moon. He keeps saying "Good job Coley Bear, I'm so proud of you big brudder". He's still a little confused who's the big and who's the little brother. You'd think it'd be self explanatory :o) He also was loving sticking his finger in Coles mouth to feel the tooth. Note past tense. There may have been a gagging incident where Fin was seeing how far his finger would fit down Cole's throat.

Somedays you win, somedays you...survive

Somedays you let your two year old watch more television than you'd like b/c you NEED to clean and you don't want to do it with his "help" because his ratio of spraying Febreeze is half a bottle per room and your house smells like a 70 year old lady wearing cheap perfume.

Somedays you swear that today is the day you will finally move the piles of clean folded laundry from the floor of your room to their rightful place...instead of just doing a load a day and adding to the existing piles.

Somedays you throw an assortment of random objects to your baby because they're new and interesting and will keep him occupied for a longer time. Plastic hammer and water bottle anyone?

Sooooo motherhood is hard ya'll! This week has left me humbled, bewildered and more than a little sleep deprived. I love my boys, I LOVE and am so grateful I can stay home with them but it is by far my hardest job. I think that's a good thing b/c I am daily reminded that I do not have everything figured out but the Lord does and he is always ready and willing to listen to my vents (which may or may not have the phrase "why won't he just poop??" in them a little too often" lately).

The Sodfather

One of the perks of Pat's job is that they don't mind if he landscapes his lawn for free. We had planned for awhile to finally grind up our backyard and lay down sod on Saturday. Unfortunately the morning of, I woke up DYING of the stomach flu. Seriously, I was actually wishing that silly man had been right about the rapture yesterday. The highlight of my day was Fin bringing me soup in bed in the evening and shouting "Happy Mothers Day!". I guess he thought I was living the good life in bed yesterday. I would rather have had my toenails pulled out.

So poor Pat, or 'The Sodfather', as he refers to himself had to tackle this project without my help with it or the boys. Super Aunt Sarah swooped in and saved the day by watching the boys for most of the day which we were so grateful for.

We're pretty happy with how it all turned out. It's so nice to have a backyard the boys can run around and play in now. Pat's about as sore, sleep deprived and dehydrated as they come, but that's all part of the job description in being 'The Sodfather'.

Fin kept putting a large piece of bark on his head and saying, "Look I'm a bug" in a weird monotone voice. Odd child :o)

This guy...

turned 8 months old today. I'm so sad. He's getting so big and plays with his big brother and flirts with other girls (especially the blondes) and overall oozes sweetness. Some of Cole's highlights are:

-Fake laughs and fake cries. It's hilarious. Especially when he starts to fake cry and you smile at him and he can't help but give you a huge gummy grin.

-rolls everywhere and grabs everything. He even has started getting up on all fours like he wants to crawl. I know! When I caught him doing this I pushed him over and grounded him and took away all his nummies. Just kidding. But I really wanted to because that's how serious I am at him not.becoming.mobile.

-Gives huge wet kisses where he might latch onto your face for a leeetle too long b/c he thinks you're a boob.

-Nurses every 2-3 hours although he would nurse every hour if I let him.

-Is bipolar about baby food but has been getting better and better at using a spoon.

-Loves sitting in the tub with his brother now.

-wears 9-12 month clothes. Wait till you see the rolls in his bathing suit. I die.

-Lights up our life. He and Fin ADORE each other and he gets so excited when Pat comes home from work.

Cole is truly the easiest, happiest baby and my forever little buddy.

Give me all your duggies

(titled dedicated to Kier who turned the rap song "Teach me how to duggie" into "Give me all your duggies" for Fin. Funny...yet questionable)

I was pulling into Dunkin Doughnuts this morning to meet up with Kier and Anna before they skipped town for camp this summer. Right as I was about to turn the car off, Kanye Wests' song 'Golddigger' came on the radio. I.love.this.song. It's basically my anthem. I mean, we live the high life out here in Holly Springs.

So anyways, I was torn. Listen to the song while Fin and Cole squirm and fuss in the backseat b/c they can sense when they are within 5 miles of a doughnut store, or turn off the song and start unloading the boys. I sighed and took the keys out of the ignition. Right as I started unbuckling the boys, Kier and Anna pulled up in the ol' minivan bobbing and blasting with the windows down to none other than...'Golddigger'. Love.

why you no give me duggies?

Shoes for Sibs

Awesome night out with the siblings. Bittersweet because this is the last time we will all be together for two years. Seriously, who are we? World travelers? No thanks, give me the old 27540 zip code any day.

For graduation we gifted Kier, Sage and Bethy with new shoes. So we all met up at the food court at Cary Towne Center (yes it still exists). After dinner we headed to Rack Room where we were presented with the unforseen problem of two out of the three girls having feet the size of eight year olds. Much searching and in impromptu shimmy from Cait later and we had sucess. Of course we had to take a picture to document it. Will insisted on being in the picture because he said his shoes were just as cool as theirs but we bumped that idea.

Love my siblings. So very sad everyone is separating. I know I'm supposed to be happy for them and in my reasonable seconds of the day I am, but during my selfish hours I miss them already.

O how the tables have turned

So I was getting ready to take a shower this afternoon when I noticed a huge cut on my leg. I have no idea how I got it but it was long, and bleeding and would impress any two year old boy. Excitedly I went and found Finley who was watching cartoons and thrust my leg by his face. "Look at this!" I said proudly.

"Oh",said Fin, barely glancing at it.

"No look Fin, isn't this a gross boo-boo?", I insisted. Surely he hadn't really seen it.

"Mmm-hmmm", he mumbled, keeping one eye glued on Tom and Jerry.

Deflated I made my way back to my room, walking with a slight limp as a last ditch effort for sympathy. I glanced back aaaaaand...nothing, glazed eyes still on the tv.

This is the child that can remember a stubbed toe from Christmas. Who insists on bambaids for his stuffed Ernie's stomach. Who winces before you even cut his fingernails for goodness sake.

Don't think I'll forget this the next time I'm buying bandaids for his fake boo-boos. Generic it is!

On another note, we had a great time at the Seabrook park this weekend, or the "Zebra" park as Fin puts it. We all left the house growling at each other b/c it takes us 12 hours to get ready to go anywhere, but by the time we had picked up a diet coke and rocked out to some tunes we arrived civil and smiling...until Fin wiped out 5 seconds later running down a wet wooden ramp.

Pat and I put the boys in the swings and threw balls at them to see how far they could kick them while swinging. Cole included. Just because you're 7 months old doesn't mean you can't learn to kick a ball...moving....in midair. We're Stephensons after all.

Where my boys at?

Everytime Pat takes Fin somewhere, when they get home I fling open the door and sing "Wheeeeere my boys at?" to the tune of 'Where's your head at?'. If you don't know this song, I judge. Anyways, it's hilarious to Fin and that's all that matters. Plus it gives me a chance to showcase my new Zumba moves without embarrassement. Although Pat points out I should probably still be embarrassed...

So I'm showcasing my boys in this post. First there's Pat. He's my hilarious best friend who I happen to be married to. We met as lifeguards, I always thought he was way out of my league (still do), but somehow we ended up dating and getting married. We still look at each other sometimes and laugh that we are married with two kids. Obviously, God does have a sense of humor. He works so hard at his job so that I can stay home with our boys which I love him for. He can do a mean shimmy and has recently fallen back in love with wearing wife beaters around the house, much to my horror. I will only refer to him as "sexy lady" when he insists on wearing them, but he seems to like the title unfortunately. He is the best leader to our family and I wish I was more like him.

Next is Fin. Fin is a hilarious and exhausting mixture of sweetness mixed with two year oldness. He insists that we're best friends (which we are) and that we eat "duggies" (doughtnuts) as much as possible (which we do). He's my little buddy and I treasure this time when he loves nothing more then to roll a ball back and forth with Pat and I. We may or may not brainwash him at night by whispering to him while he's asleep that he never has to leave him but can stay here forever.

Lastly is Cole, or Coley Bear as we call him. He is joy in a 7 month old body. He is so stinkin happy and cuddly. His new trick is he sits up, which proves he's a genius. He's ambivalent about baby food, thinks Fin is hilarious, and loves to head bob to imaginary music. Cole's only faults are he does not sleep through the night (I like to think he misses me) and he tries to out sing me when I'm singing him to sleep. There's only room for one Celine in that room, buddy.

In conclusion: I love my boys and am not sure why God has blessed me so much but he has. Abundantly. And I'm grateful and in love.

Just do it

Well I'm doing it. I love blog stalking and have always felt intimidated having one of my own. However, having a two year old that says hilarious things daily, two small boys who are growing up too fast, and 2 sisters leaving the country (stink eye to them!), I decided to just do it. This could be boring to anyone not related to me (and maybe even if you are related) but I want to remember the days to days of my sweet family.