Trash Stache

Five years ago tonight, Pat and I were at our rehearsal dinner surrounded by our closest family and friends. There were toasts, sunflowers, it was a perfect spring evening at the place where it all began, Kildaire Farms.

Tonight, there were not toasts. There was pizza, and brownies, and....mustaches.

Ladies and Gentleman I introduce to you...

The classy mustache. (Because she's British)

The pedophile mustache.

The Whimsical Mustache.

The "this mustache is illegal in 47 states" mustache.

The underage  mustaches.

So we're in a little bit of a different place 5 years later. Still just as fun.

Dinnertime Desperation

Cole's been doing this fun little routine this week where he's hungry, I give him food, he eats one bite, he throws his hands in the air and yells, "All done", and then he fusses until the next meal because he's hungry. Really, it's more fun then it sounds. 

Tonight, I gave him all his favorite foods, he wanted to be all done and I wasn't having it. Thus the game was born:

If there is any confusion from the pictures, basically I put silverware in my mouth, wag my head back and forth like a dog, and while he's laughing I shove food in. 

As weird as it is, it worked. Cole ate more then I did for dinner and was much more content. This will NOT be a regular habit, but desperate times...

Also Cole, if you read this one day, go ahead and print this entry out to bring to your therapist. It should explain a lot about your food issues. You're welcome and I'm sorry :o)

Better Than Coffee...

We had the sweetest start to our day this morning. The last 3 night have been sad for me as we've been making Cole cry at night when he wakes up instead of me going in and nursing him. I know it's crazy I still do that but I'm such a softie and I honestly have loved that quiet time with him and his cuddles. However the boys are staying with my parents in a month for 3 days and I knew it was either we had to make Cole cry now and get better at sleeping, or Pops would do it himself when they were there :o)

This morning I heard Cole call out for us and I was dying to see him. Pat brought him into me and we gushed over him and told him how proud we were of him and he looked up at me while I snuggled him and with a big sigh said, "Yay!". He was just SO happy to be with me, it made me tear. We snuggled quietly together with me kissing on his cheek until Fin crawled in and joined us. It was cold in our house because someone *cough* Pat *cough* forgot to close the windows last night and it was 39 degrees outside, so the boys were happy to snuggle in our little nest. Pat leaned in and kissed each of us before he left for work and took this picture:

Excuse the state of myself. I have an afro bun on top of my hair and I'm pretty sure a rat tail in the back. I never understand how people wake up looking pretty, but I sure as heck don't. To be fair, I did warn Pat before we got married that my hair turns into an afro while I sleep, so he had been warned!

After I got up to put in my contacts and turn on the heat, I came back and found the boys still perfectly still cuddling with each other. Melt.my.heart.

They stayed like this for awhile and it was the sweetest thing.

Mornings like this could make me become a morning person.

For Finley...

Since this is our version of our family photo album that you can look back on one day and see all the neat things you did and said, I wanted to write you this note.
   Tonight you had a hard time going down to bed. You've been testing things a little bit by wanting to get the last word in, in every conversation and you've become a master staller at things you don't want to do. Tonight we talked to you about this and you had to go to bed early as a consequence. You cried going down, I went in to give you a warning. You cried about needing a stuffed animal, I went in and gave you your teddy and a hug and kiss. You cried a third time b/c you wanted me to sing your lullaby from when you were a baby. I'm sure of the fact that it wasn't so much you wanted to be sung to, you were just trying to gain control over a situation you were not happy about. So for that reason I said no. And it broke my heart to do it, but I had to. Because you need to know that you are not in charge, your parents are. And more importantly your Heavenly Father is. And I know these lessons are hard and they don't make sense now, but it's these little incidents that mold your character, and I'm DETERMINED to do right by you as your parent, by God's grace.
     But I want you to know that after you fell asleep, I went back into your room, stroked your cheek and your fuzzy head, and sang you your lullaby. Because you and Cole are my heart. And parenting is hard. And sometimes I have to ignore my desires to "give in" because it's for your own good and that's hard too.
     But I love you and will always love you. And so tonight I sang you your lullaby. And I just wanted you to know.

Ain't nothing cuter...

Than brothers playing together with sponge capsules in peace.(Notice Cole stirring his with his toothbrush).

 Than a little boy riding his first pony and thinking he's big stuff.

Than a boy on the way to see his first Peter Pan play.

Than getting to sit with your favorite people to watch Tinkerball flit around the stage and Peter Pan fly above you.

Than seeing your boy see a real live Captain Hook and Mr. Smee for the first time.

Than seeing your mom and son cuddle together as they watch the play.

Than seeing your boys in big boy polos lookin all sharp.

I'm a sucker for the cute. And I'm partial to homegrown cuteness. Sue me.

Survival the only way I know how...

Oy this week is about to do me in. Nothing major, just lots of thunderstorms, lots of sleepless nights because of said storms, lots of whining babes from sleepless nights, and lots of laundry thrown into the mix. I think I'm just in a little funk.

So today I did just what the doctor ordered to perk us all up...if the doctor was an obese 300 lb man who condoned pure sugar for breakfast. We headed to Krispy Kreme.

I texted my friend who's 8 months pregnant and we were out the door by 8:30. That's what I love about preggos, you can always count on them to go along with your sugar whims.

LOVE this pic of Cole with Zeke in the background both doing the same thing. They could pass for twins.

Progression of trying to get a pic of the three kids with their hats.

Photo 1: Big brother helping little brother with his hat.

Photo 2: No really, brother. Keep the hat on.

Photo 3: I ain't havin' this mom...take it away.

We waddled away with our bellies full of warm sugary goodness and knew it was going to be a good day.

The process of winning

The State game was today. And man was it intense. We watched the first half at a friends house and the second at ours. I CANNOT take the intensity of these games. This game I documented Pat's emotional journey to the Sweet Sixteen. Disclaimer: ALL of these pictures were taken as candids. He didn't know I was taking pictures until the end.

Phase 1: Tense facial expressions, lots of yelling at the players, but still sitting and clothes still on.

Phase 2: Starting to hyperventilate. Someone get this guy a paper bag.

Phase 3: Moving on to unintentional yoga poses.

Phase 4: Aaaaand now the shirts off. Any strong displays of emotions require Pat blindly ripping off his shirt. I believe this was a result of Scott Wood making a clutch 3.

Phase 5: We're winning with 10 seconds left. Pat starts wagging his tongue and yelling. Shirt still off. Nice abs though :o)

Phase 6: We've won. Pats running around the house while I'm screaming for him not to wake the boys from their naps. Shirt's still off and frankly, we're lucky he's still wearing shorts.

Great, great win. So pumped about Friday's game.

Chicken Wings and Cupcakes

Earlier this week Fin asked Pat, "Dad can we go by ourselves and get chicken wings...just me and you?". What man is going to say no to that? So tonight Fin and Pat had their own alone time and went to Danny's BBQ to eat as many wings as they could stomach. Fins total: 1. Pats total: 12.

Fin was SO cute and excited to go with Pat. He changed his outfit b/c he wanted to look sharp.

While they had "man time", I got to hang out with this little leprechaun.

I made Cole's favorite of apple slices and Mac&Cheese and then we headed to Waverly place to play some and meet up with Pat and Fin after their date. But first...Cole and I had to grab a little somethin' somethin' for ourselves.

This little beaut is called 'Chocolate Chip White Midnight Magic'. It's flavor lived up to it's name. To.Die.For. I anticipate all my future playdates revolving around GiGi's cupcakes.

Cole thought he was big stuff in the playground with my undivided attention.

Nothing Cuter.

He jumps off everything, no matter the height. Gives me a heart attack everytime b/c he has no fear. We will definetely have a broken leg in the next year. You heard it here first.

I love that I didn't see Fin for one hour and when he met us at the park, he ran up to me like he hadn't seen me in a week and smothered me with hugs and kisses. Hoping I get the same reaction when he comes home from college one day.

It was such a beautiful night. We had to drag the boys away when it got close to their bedtime but I see many summer nights spent there. Sweet time with my boys...and my cupcake.

Chew on this, Keegs

Your tears, Pops. They taste so sweet. Almost as good as $20 to Goodberry's will taste.

Jammies at John Deere

We spontaneously brought Pat breakfast at work today. He had left his ipad at home by accident so we brought it out to him, but ironically we ate, played, got covered in mud, and drove away with the ipad.

The boys LOVE going to pats work. They thought it was so funny that they got to run around in their jammies. Cole especially took such an interest this morning and was all boy jumping off sod rolls, throwing rocks, and rolling around in the dirt.

How cool is this tree? I can't believe they actually sell them this big. And that people actually drop $1,000 on them.

We like to measure our boys not in the conventional way, but rather in how many bags of bark mulch tall they are.

Pullen Park

Cross it off the Spring Bucket List. We did Pullen Park today! I was so excited to go because I'd grown up going here on special occasions and couldn't wait to see the renovation. That place is amazing and I was so impressed. SO kid friendly, so much to do and the rides were so cheap. Add in there that there were no signs not to feed the ducks and I'm a fan for life.

It would have been a perfect morning had Cole not immediately started melting down upon arrival. As in melting down like I had never seen him do before. But then again, life's not perfect so you take what you get, right? Had he been my first child I probably would have been more stressed but with him I was more Buck up friend, because I'm riding this train with or without you. I'm so sympathetic.

Fin loooved riding the boats. I almost let Cole but I was not 100% confident he wouldn't throw himself into the water. You're welcome park employees.

Riding the train. The kids were all Aw, this is fun. Jamie and I were all This is the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life. Do you kids realize how lucky you are to be riding this train right now with the breeze in your hair?? Stay at home moms. We don't get out much :o)

Cole was fine once we hit up the playground

Really, thrilled to be here mom.

The ducks were fed a smorgasbord of wheat thin stix, goldfish and Cole's cheese stick.

Cole went up to each picnickers blanket, knelt down, beamed "Hi!" to them and checked out what he could scrounge up from them. Clever thief.

Jamie's supermom. She rode a carousel supervising Annie while wearing Noah in a makeshift sling. Impressive.

Can you take the cuteness of his excitement? He was so sweet all morning and so excited.

Cole decided to take the boss man chair approach to the carousel. Smart boy. Over sized horses and bunnies are overrated.

5 1/2 lb Noah on this first carousel ride. We kept telling him to calm down, he just was such a party animal.

Sweet brothers.

Great hot, sandy, sweaty, picnicky morning.