Happy LOVE Day

 I sure love all of my little loves in my life.  They make every day worth living, every struggle and hardship I face okay, and each moment worthwhile.  {not to mention they are a bundle of fun...most of the time}

  {all pictures taken last Friday before our "movie night" together watching "Alpha and Omega"}

and of course, I couldn't forget the man that made these three possible.  I wish I could say I have a picture to post of him, but I don't.  One of these days I need to whip out a camera when he is around.  Unless I am too busy snuggling him that is :)

How old are you?

"FOUR"

{insert slightly excited but exasperated eye roll}
**and please note the way he holds up his fingers....he hasn't quite figured out how to hold up four fingers without assistance from the other hand.  Every time I see this it makes me want to give him a big squeeze because he looks so deliciously cute and innocent; and yet he wants so badly to be so mature and grown up ;)**

{and this is about as good as it gets when trying to get a picture of this cutie}

I am such a birthday kind of girl.  I literally get jittery myself just thinking about how much fun we will have on each of my kids birthdays {and let's be honest, mine as well}.  It's just that I remember my birthday being so magical as a child and I want my own children to feel the same excitement.  This year I was so excited to be able to give Robby a real friend birthday party of his own.  I was also looking forward to having it be a day all about him.  The only downer was that Daddy had to leave to go out of town that morning for a business school interview.  Here's some of our fun we did have: 

Loaded up in the car early that morning (6:30ish--yuck) and drove Daddy out to go to the airport. 

Had birthday balloons tied to Robby's chair in the kitchen {Thomas the tank engine and Cars of course}.

 Sang Happy Birthday to Robby while we drove, complete with our festive "cha cha chas". 

Robby decided he wanted homemade Buttermilk pancakes and hot cocoa for breakfast, so we quickly hurried home and cooked his specialty and got kids ready for school.

Off to school for Miss M and preschool for Robby.

Picked up Robby several hours later.

Frosted the frozen cupcakes and put together the party goody bags.

McDonald's lunch per the birthday boys request with HAPPY meals {loves the current monster trucks they give away in the boy meals--mom doesn't love all the stickers that go on them though, takes forever}

Pick up Miss M from school and load up for the party!

Bounce House fun with Robby's buddies, siblings and cousins complete with fun bouncing/playing, birthday song singing, balloon playing, present opening, and cupcake eating.

{He was in heaven to be able to have his own special party at the Bounce House}

Ate Chicken Noodle Casserole {again per R's request).

Opened family presents and ate some leftover cupcakes from earlier!

R's Party Pictures:
{the kids were all super excited to go into the bounce rooms}

Maddie decided she wanted to do the "spiderman" suit and jump on the wall. Too bad she was just a bit too small for the outfit. One of the girls helping with R's party assisted in sticking her to the wall after several of her own failed attempts.  I think it actually scared her a little when she was stuck and couldn't get down :)

Eli eventually got brave enough to climb up this slide and go down.  Notice the traffic backlog behind him, it took him multiple attempts before he successfully climbed his way to the top.  I was so proud of the way he never gave up and his face was priceless when he finally made it all the way.

Our cute neighbor boy, Luke, taking a swing at the baseball bouncer.  Robby pretty much considers him his BFF for life.  They love digging in the dirt together, racing their bikes up and down the street, pushing each other in the wagon or on Daddy's longboard, playing trains/cars/geotrax, the list can go on and on.

I love this picture of all the boys lined up waiting for their turn to play baseball.

{Jude, Robby, Matthew, and Asa watching Luke play}

Eli, Maddie, Kaylin, Ellie, Zack, and Aunt Lori

Luke, Matthew, Asa, Robby, Jude, and Peyton

{The girls running the party clearly did NOT have kids of their own.  When they were filling up drink cups for the kids they filled them almost completely to the brim.  Needless to say, Eli practically took a bath in his root beer...}

Birthday Night:
I have to admit it was a LOT of fun doing something small and simple for Robby's birthday in the evening.  Normally we have our big extended family party where I am in charge of cleaning, cooking, entertaining, and directing the flow of the party.  It's always a lot of fun, but also can be sort of stressful.  This year with just us home, we went completely simple on dinner plans and then did an easy present opening/cupcake eating evening.  It was relaxing and fun to open a few gifts, play with them and then head off to bed!

All in all a fun day for Robby and the best part is we had one more party for him four days later with some of our extended family :)

Love my boys...

Thanks Nona for the hats, especially the last few days when it has been especially cold around our part of the woods :)

FOUR

 It's hard to believe that our "Rubba Dubba" is already four years old.  The time seems to slip by these days.  Robby has been so excited this year to have his birthday and was quite upset last week to discover he still had one more week to go.  Luckily the time came quickly and he had "the best day ever" according to the birthday boy :)

 Four Things about Robby at Four years old:

#1: fearless.  {he seriously is not scared of anything.  whether it's riding his bike down the side of a hill--and almost wiping out, running in the middle of the street to act as a street controller, or jumping off our concrete fence he is not afraid to try anything.  he scares me to death on a daily basis}

#2: friendly.  {he loves to meet people and now proudly walks around telling everyone "hi, I'm Robby James Toronto".  he especially loves the daddy and Grandpa type and will become buddy's instantaneously with you if you fit that description.

#3: curious.  {Mr R loves to find out how everything works and is detail oriented in this regard.  he will sit and study a helicopter and want to know what every little piece is used for.  he also loves to know how cars, trains, garbage trucks, etc work and what happens inside the engine to make them run}

#4: dislikes "button up" shirts.  {he is very meticulous at making sure to not pick out those types of shirts to wear every day.  I try to trick him into wanting the polo type shirts but he is never fooled and will promptly hang them back up and pick out his own choice} 

  We all love you so much buddy and couldn't imagine our family without you.

Another birthday post to come on the actual celebrations :)

Two Wheels

 We are so excited and proud to announce that we are officially a "two wheeler" family.  Both Maddie and Robby have successfully ditched the training wheels and have learned how much faster you can go on two wheels. {Robby has actually been back and forth between training wheels and two wheels since the fall, but has finally learned how to safely get on and off his bike independantly}.  They both have BIG bikes {18 in wheels) so it took a little longer for Miss M to be brave enough to ride like this~ although she still is learning how to get on and off the bike without help. 

Last Friday we had a great time taking the kids down to the creek and riding up and down the bike path.   Eli was the only one not on a bike, and instead got to ride in the bike trailer!  The kids were so excited to show Mommy their "special park" that Daddy takes them to on the way home from Miss Marie's house.

{because we only have one car, many days Jesse will bike over to the babysitters after Maddie gets home from school,  pick up the boys, and then take them all over to the creek where there is a park.  They have eaten many picnic dinners over there together, and I have to admit I have been a bit jealous of this}

January 2011

 {Miss M jamming on my Ipod before her gymnastics meet}

 {super blurry picture of Abby and Uncle Jerry}

 Some of the fun things we have been up to this month include:

*building forts in my closet with the laundry hampers, some old large picture frames and plenty of blankets

*lazy mornings~ seriously not getting out of bed before 8am, which is heaven :)

*Robby getting a seriously bad haircut by my other half....Jesse was trimming up the hair right by R's ear and ended up practically shaving that portion of his hair, which resulted in having to attempt to even up the rest of the hair..

*Miss M hitting her brother and telling me it was an accident.  As I enquired further she proceeded to say that she "accidentally" hit him on the head when he wouldn't stop taking her make-up.  We then had to sit down and have a discussion on doing something "accidentally on purpose"

*Second half of the school year started.....yeahh!

*I started my new schedule one month ago and am LOVING the fact I can sleep in my own bed every night....even if it isn't until 2:30am

*Robby got a pretty fun "Cars Water Station" that we have been loving playing with.  This has also resulted in plenty of time cleaning up the water all over the kitchen floor as well

*celebrated Aunt Abby's birthday at my inlaws; so crazy to think that Jesse's youngest sibling is now NINETEEN years old.  My kids loved the pinata and all especially all the candy. My fave was Abby's adorable new couch she bought for her room :)

*still sharing one vehicle, but hopefully this will change in the next month

*whirlwind of MBA applications for the Mr and a trip to cold Chicago for an interview....hopefully some great news will come our way in this department over the next few months! 

*most disappointing anniversary thus far in our marriage {not the Mr's fault....I had to work that afternoon/evening and he was busy busy busy turning in an application due the next day}.  We basically didn't see each other at all that day.  We are hoping to go somewhere without kids over the next three or four months to make up for this :)

*Several fun birthday parties for my kids: a fave was our next door neighbor Tyler's that he had at Chuck E Cheese.  My kids LOVED all the fun games to play.

*Running "London's Run" this past Saturday.  I did the 10K in 59 minutes and Jesse ran the half-marathon in 2:09 minutes.  We are pretty sore afterwards but it felt good to get out there and run! My parents were nice enough to come to Schnepf Farms and watch the kids for a few hours.  Robby loved the police helicopter on scene and was even able to climb inside and learn all about the helicopter from one of the nice pilots.  Maddie loved the alligator and iguana that they had for the kids to pet.  We had to practically drag her out of there so other kids could have a turn.  Eli sure loved the balloons they got and is still playing with them around the house. {My next goal is to run a little faster.  I was proud of myself for running the entire time though, and not feeling like I was going to die at any point in the race.  I took it slow from the get go and then actually had enough energy to run faster the last mile and a half}

*"Monster Truck Rally" at US Airways: the Mr took Maddie and Robby to this last Saturday while I was at work.  They had so much fun climbing on big trucks and ATV's and stuffing their faces with lots of junk food.  Robby was so excited that the next morning he climbed in bed with me at 6am to tell me all about it.  He now wants a big ATV of his own....

*Yogi Bear in 3D.  I took all the kids to see Yogi Bear in the theater one night when Jesse was busy with MBA stuff.  We had so much fun on a "kid date night" as Maddie called it.  They were all very well behaved and so afterwards we stopped in at the food court and had some dinner as well. {this is one of the things I am loving about my kids getting a little older: it seems like I can take them more places to do fun things}

*Uncle Jerry came into town (Jesse's uncle), and we were privileged to host a dinner at our house for the family.  It was fun to get all the family together and have some yummy dinner followed by smores cooked over the firepit outside. 

 {Maddie had a big scrape on her face at Chuck E Cheese from a certain accident in the bike trailer a few days before.  Jesse was taking the kids the next street over to a friends house, didn't buckle the kids in and hit a curb, flipping the bike trailer on it's side.  Unfortunately Maddie was on the side that flipped and ended up with some pretty bad road rash.}

....and hopefully this will be followed closely with some more fabulous posts:)

Gymnastics Meet

It's so much fun to watch your child develop a passion for something. Particularly fulfilling when it happens to be a passion that you yourself share.  I have secretly hoped that she would NOT like it and that she would quickly move onto something else. It seems Maddie is mesmerized by this sport though and literally practices it day and night at our house, the grocery store, school, and in the street on our cul-de-sac.  This passion she shares with me is called "gymnastics". A little over a year ago, she begged me to put her in gymnastics class over and over until finally we found a cute little gymnastic club and started her in lessons last March.  Her excitement has not diminished since then, even though she now takes twice a week.  She has been having so much fun learning new "tricks" and I have especially enjoyed going to LA Fitness during her lessons to work out.  In fact I think I do this so frequently that I am constantly surprised when she shows me new tricks she has learned.  Perhaps it is time to stay and watch one of these days!  Just the other day she was so proud to tell me that she can do her "pullover" on bars and loves to practice her handstand, bridge, kickovers landing on "two feet". 

Yesterday she had her second "gymnastics meet" at the gym.  In actuality it isn't an official gymnastics meet because they are not competing against any other team, but it is a fun way for them to learn what a meet is all about and how to perform in front of an audience.  It is hilarious to watch her get out there and do her routines.  She was not shy in the least bit and could care less that the whole crowd was watching with a judge critiquing her.  Instead she marched right up without a care in the world, flashed her salute, would do her routine, and march right off the floor with a big grin on her face.  She especially loved sitting on the "Maddie's lap" one of the "big" team girls during the meet.

One of greatest parts about her having a little gymnastics meet for me, was the fact we got a babysitter for the boys!  It was so nice to be able to sit down and watch my little Maddie without having to constantly worry about what the boys were getting into.  Then after the meet, we stopped and had a wonderful time at Neilson's frozen custard together.  Maddie kept telling us how much fun she was having and would constantly remind us that she was on a "Mommy, Daddy, daughter date night" :)  Not to mention that the concrete was pretty yummy as well!

Once we got home Jesse put in Lord of the Rings and we all curled up on the couch and watched part of the movie together.....the perfect ending to our fun night!!  (although I have to admit that after about 30 minutes of this, we scooted Miss M off to bed so we could cuddle without any kiddos around)

I found these pictures from a year ago on my computer; I am amazed at how much Miss M has grown since then and also how much she has improved.  Her favorite "tricks" to do right now include:
*handstands*
*cartwheels*
*press handstands on the wall*
*round-offs*
*handstand, bridge, kickovers*
*pullovers on bars*

It seriously makes me start to tear up to see what a big girl she is turning into:

She was so excited to get "first place" at the meet :)

At Neilson's Maddie had some fun snapping pictures back and forth with me.  She would take a picture of me and then hand back the camera and say "okay Mom, now it's my turn."  Sure love that girl of mine!

(she loves her new medal and wore it the entire night)

Garbage Day

Mondays are always a great day at our house. 
It's the beginning of another wonderful week.

The little Miss once again goes back to school.

It's a day of re-organization after the weekend.

But best of all, it's garbage day.

The boys look forward to it every week.

They stand by the front window with a gleam in their eyes,
 waiting for those "cool" trucks to come driving by.

As soon as they hear the trucks coming down our street,
they are out on the driveway with Eli yelling "wow".

They always LOVE the big claws that snatch the garbage cans high into the sky
 and dump the trash in their trucks. Robby always asks me where they are taking the trash

Once they have finished our street my boys are already standing on the family room window
waiting for the trucks to come rolling by on the street behind us.

This is quickly turning into a weekly tradition at our house and oh how I love it!

I never knew boys could be so much fun :)

 (Robby was even nice enough to hold Eli's hand so he wouldn't fall)

Eight Years Ago Today.....

I married my best friend for time and all eternity.

We have had our ups and downs, but have always stuck by each other's side through good and bad.

I never thought marriage would be so hard, but also never knew it would be so wonderful.

We are sooo looking forward to a year of change, of growth, and of many more laughs.

Love you honey....and thanks so much for the beautiful roses this morning :)