Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Celebrations!

Our family does it right!  With two birthdays and two holidays in the same 5 weeks, we lump them all into one...they also fall smack dab in the middle of our busy season!  My Mom and Dad (Oma and Gomer) have a May birthday, and then there is Mother's Day and Father's Day as well.  We all met at my mom's house and had a wonderful brunch to celebrate aging, Mom's and Dad's!!!!!

Gomer cooked, as he always does, and never disappoints!  We had omelets, bacon, fruit, and english muffins, followed by a yummy no sugar ice cream cake.  We have the oddest diets when you put us all together (more on that later) but it all works out well!

I am so thankful for the blessings we have, and that we get to spend these perfect holidays all together!

I am thinking this photo came from a few days before the party~ but it is fitting here, so here it belongs!  Oma and her grandcrazies!!!!
You checking me out?  He is our wanderer boy...always on the move!
This coffee table has always been used for the kids~ ever since I was a kid!  The boys got right down to business eating right away upon arrival!  
Chef Gomer!
Doesn't every Oma have a tupperware cabinet to play in?  I am fairly certain I have this same photo, same outfit, but the boy in the outfit is Ayden!  Such a happy place!!!
Isn't everything meant to be a hat?  This one is rather fitting, with all the holes and the color of course!
Dog, dog!  I have had a dog lover (Ayden) and a dog hater (Mason) and we are back with another lover~ Reid!  I am thinking this is not the only trait that Reid shares with his oldest brother.  Hold onto your pants folks...I am in for a crazy ride!
Ayden loves them so much he isn't the least bit afraid to check out his pearly whites.  McGraw is so patient!  Uncle John helped with the dental exam!
Of course we can't leave out the cheesing it photo!
Long standing, perfect (with only minor flaws, but isn't that what makes it perfect) love!
Oma has it right...but there are not any candles.  Gomer has just decided to get rid of the noise and try to blow out Ayden!
Love love love!
New chings (sword language in our house)
And you would think they would do anything differently with chings???
It's ok, it is all in fun!  Gomer provokes the strangest things out of those boys.
And of course I got my blog all out of order!  This lovely brunch was before the departure of Oma Camp...all packed up and ready to go on the trip of a lifetime!
Notice the chings that came along for the ride????

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Oma Camp

I don't think there are words to fully describe the happiness that falls over me when I think about how lucky my boys are.  They have grandparents that would cancel all other plans to spend time with them.  They have grandparents that they can be themselves around.  They have grandparents that really know them, and love getting to know them even better!  While June was a busy month for our big boys and their grandparents...this post is dedicated to their precious Oma and the time and energy she puts into a special week for my wonderful boys.

Oma Camp was originally inspired by an article I read in the infamous Parenting Magazine.  A mother told the story of a week long summer trip that was meant to bring together all of the cousins...I quickly laid down the mag in 2008 and called my mom to see if she was in for the adventure.  She was more than excited to start this tradition and has exceeded all of our expectations each year since the 1st in 2008.

And again in 2009


This year was definitely no exception!  The boys had a terrific time with Oma, and I believe this was the easiest of the last three years for Oma.  The boys were older and a little easier to tote around and have constant fun!  Ayden and Mason went to the beach daily, Schlitterbaun, a boat tour, in the bay, and to their yearly trip to the Rainforest Cafe.  I think they may finally be getting past their fear of the Gorillas.  Gomer and John joined them for the last day of Oma Camp. 




















I really don't think I can think of any better way for two little boys to spend a week of their summer!  Fun loving and spoiling by the best Oma there is!
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Cowboy Up!

How does a girl play catch up blogging when there are 75 pictures waiting to be uploaded to 4 boys?  It feels like a task that is too big for me, so I am going to try to take it one post at a time.

The beginning of this month (it is still June right?) we celebrated the marriage of Kyle and Jessica, two people I have known for over ten years...time sure does fly when you are having fun!!!  We were so happy to be witness to their beautiful day.  There marriage will surely be one that others envy!

Jessica and Kyle's reception was at the tin hall.  Glenn decided to dress the part, and he looked wonderfully handsome doing it!

Enjoy...







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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Moments

This post is dedicated to IPhone photos.  You know the ones that you take because life surprises you and all you have to capture it is your trusty cell phone camera.  Or moments that you, the mom you are, forget the camera for something really cool or really special!  I really hope this post doesn't turn into one of those posts with 500 pictures and a bunch of captions...I am going to try to capture the story and tell you about those perfect moments!

I think you all have this next photo, just replace my silly face with yours...you know the photo your kids take of you and you try to be silly, and just look plain yucky!  We were at school, were each day we waited in the play room for thirty minutes before preschool let out.  Most days I visited with other mothers and conversed with Mason as he played, some days I had to work, some days I had to shhhh a fussy-need-a-nap baby, but this day, Mason and Mommy were just silly!

I get warm fuzzies when I think of this beautiful crisp February day in Florida when we were making our way to Mexico Beach for my sisters wedding.  We stopped at the courthouse to get the marriage license so the wedding could be official!  Only hubby and wife to be were allowed into the room in the courthouse, so my little nursling and I went to look for a bench or chair outside to nurse.  No chairs, no benches, but a gorgeous tree with a perfect view of the marina behind the courthouse.  It was such a sweet moment with Mommy, Baby and nature!

Festivities of a wedding...a daddy in a local restaurant calming his baby so a mommy can finish her meal without having one hand out of commission...a new husband and wife sharing a perfectly silly moment with only the sister and brother watching and smiling near by...and a sweet baby on his third plane ride ever!  



There was little way that I could sort through my IPhone and not include this precious picture of my friend S's little J!  The endurance of little boys is captured so perfectly in this photo.  Several times S tried to take J out of the swing and he woke half way and would grip the swing with all his might.  I need to add, this was the first week of this sweet little two year old's protest to his nap!  

Who doesn't want one of these photos?  The one the sitter sends you that is so full of happiness, you almost tear up at the thought of another loving your babe.  We have been blessed with two sitters for Reid, and now the boys with summer among us.  Leann toke this photo on one of their trips to the park, and one of his first happy swing rides!  

Oh yes, I am very proud of this next one, actually the next two, as I think I know what is waiting in que...You can't say I don't own it.  If you are a facebook friend of mine, you know from my frequent frazzled posts that I have an infant that HATES his carseat.  Not dislikes it, not fusses a little, but plane-jane-HATES his car seat.  So when he showed an interest in Praise Baby on our living room TV, a little light bulb sparked in mind and thought of the DVD player that sat in our drawer.  And we were left with the photo below.  A mother that has resorted to a TV in the car for her 7 month old baby.  But what you can't hear in this photo is the sound of nothing, well actually you would hear the sound of wonderful music, because the baby is not crying!!!!  He doesn't get mad in the car.  He has a distraction.  He has one happy stressless driver/mother!

Our baby jail.  After one too many falls, bumps and bruises from our little man with a 13 percentile weight, and 75 percentile head, we have resorted to a baby jail.  I have smartly not allowed the other boys refer to this as a jail.  I have just not been a mother that needs to contain in the past.  I just want to say...boundaries are healthy!!!!!  I have a safe baby for 30 minutes in the morning~ while showering happens, and 30 minutes in the evening~ while dinner happens, and any other short times in between where it is simply not possible to multi-task in a way that keeps a very active 7 month old safe!  

Just like the big boys.  Baby's first ride on a Merry Go Round.  We had a wonderful visit with friends Vicki and her sweet little girls!  Reid couldn't get enough of this ride that his older middle brother continuously feed tokens to!  Reid would of dove out of my arms and climbed into this spot if I didn't follow his directions and set him there for each ride!

Crawfish!  A Dominy spring is incomplete without a yummy crawfish boil.  We had fun with old and new friends in our backyard and 80lbs of crawfish.  This photo is of one of our new friends John, who is a champion crawfish eater and helped us polish off the last batch!

Another photo dedicated to baby food.  This one happens to be at 9:00 at night, when I was joined by a fussy teething baby.  I had boiling water and just couldn't stop peeling my apples, so I had to do what I do best~multitask.  Glenn had to snap a photo of this event in our kitchen.

And finally, what do you do when swim team has been cancelled because of a 10 minute torrential down pour and thunderstorm?  Even when the storm has clearly passed by the time your big boy's practice time starts?  Well I probably should of and could of walked in the house and grabbed the REAL camera, but my IPhone was just too easy.  Ayden eagerly awaited my instruction for which stroke and drill he needed to do, and asked me to time him each time.  Reid joined us on the lounge chair, tired from his recent transition away from the evening nap.  He calmly sat (a rarity) in my lap and watched the work out occurring in the pool!  It was a lovely way to end an evening...relaxing on a lounger with a snuggly baby and watching your first baby be such a big boy!







If this isn't soaking up the love in life, I don't know what is!!!!

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