Happy Mother's Day to me!

I like mother's day. It's my kind of holiday.

This year we started with flowers and cinnamon rolls, thanks to Ed and Ava who were busy working away while I slept in and then Ed had to come and get me before the kids, hiding in the dining room, exploded from all the excitement. Then church, where Henry made the day by falling asleep in his car seat (that never happens.ever.). We were hoping the sun would come out by lunch but it did not so we had an indoor picnic and watched some golf instead. Then I spent a good chunk of the day doing the most motherly thing I know...helping Ava make her first ever diorama (so much more on this later!):

Later I took these two monkeys to Starbucks for Frappy Hour (1/2 price frappucinos all week from 3-5 for you locals) where Ava bought all the treats herself. Big stuff.
(Could there be a better way to spend the day?)

We hurried home where Ed made some mac 'n cheese for the kids and then the babysitter came to play (yay for the kids, yay for us) and Ed and I went for a yummy dinner at one of our favorite places. The kids were sleeping when we got home but both Ava and Jack tottered out to say one more "happy mother's day" to me.

Full house

We had the whole family over for dinner Saturday night. My parents have a big enough table to fit all of us...we do not. So we put the grown-ups at the table and the kids wherever else we can fit them!

To the park:

Need a bigger teeter totter, eh?

Happy Mother's Day Mom!

I can hardly stand

all this

delicious

sweetness!

He is one sweet baby.

(more) too fast

Henry, one week:

Henry, yesterday:
And that blur is his fat little hand trying to grab the camera!

Confession

I vary rarely (if ever) put my babies on the floor. Thus, a houseful of late crawlers! But I just cannot do it, it bothers me on so many levels! Not the least of which is the fact that there is always someone ready to pounce on them. But Henry's edging up on eight months old and while he loves to roll around (only in his crib of course), he would way rather lay there sucking his thumb then try to get up on all fours. So, in an effort to get me and Henry to grow up, I put him on the floor yesterday and guess what? Jack came a -runnin'. He's handsy but he wouldn't actually squish him...Jemma however is a different story!

What to do...

when the weather is nasty? Put your sister in a pillow fort

and protect her from your grumpy mom who, while cleaning the laundry room again, found a pile of (expensive) dog-chewed lincoln logs. Side note: our dog is old and usually well-behaved but she loves to chew linclon logs when Ed's out of town...I can tell she blames me and she'd probably spit them at me if she could! For some reason she's always been a wood-chewer, never a shoe or bone, just a nice chunk of wood will keep her happy.

Time for some whine

So I went for my first post-baby 12-miler this morning and I.am.pooped. And annoyed. It's been frustrating starting all over this time around. And today was so windy, I actually stopped by the gym mid run and did two miles on the treadmill till my ears stopped ringing and I could head back outside. The only good news is that I got my long run out of the way a day early so I have time tomorrow to do all the things I need to do and then on Sunday I plan to do nothing. Here at this house, on Mother's Day, the mother doesn't do anything she doesn't want to do and while that usually only involves two things, wiping bottoms and emptying the dishwasher, I'm still looking forward to it!

Peach Sangria

I've had a bunch of requests for this one, so here it is:

1 bottle white wine
3/4 c peach schnapps (I use closer to the whole bottle)
6 T frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/4 c sugar
1 lb sliced white peaches (you can add other fruit but I wouldn't! Don't mess with the peachy goodness of this)
club soda

Dissolve the sugar in the lemonade, add wine, peaches, and vodka. Refrigerate at least a couple hours (overnight is good). Add club soda (maybe equal amount) just before serving. Warning: this stuff is potent...enjoy it. :) Make some today and pretend it's summer!

Too fast!

I was looking for a pic in my folder and got this one instead:

There is nothing like finally meeting the sweet baby you already love!

Bloomsday!

Ed and I were up at 5:00 on Sunday and on our way to Spokane to run a 12K with 55,000 other people. We've had a crazy cold spring but I have to say this may have been the hottest Bloomsday I've run...and I've run a lot of them! Ed was trained to run it in well under an hour this year and he was signed up with a corporate team so he could have had a head start and missed all the madness but he was nice enough to move back and run it with me instead. Bloomsday is one crazy packed (and hilly!) run!

I forgot to get a picture of us pre-race so here we are post race, post lunch, courtesy of our Red Robin hostess :)

Ballet!

Ava had a ballet recital this weekend and I have to say the years of ballet are finally paying off. I loved it! I loved the music and the choreography--we watched the video the other night and she seemed so grown up!

We loved it Ava!

Jack

Jack and I were taking a walk the other night and he was holding my hand and jogging so we could be "side by side" and he says, "mom, I hope I'm never too old to hold your hand!"

Two thumbs up

For Sally Hansen's "Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear" nail polish. This stuff is amazing. It went five full days without a single chip--and it was a crazy busy five days. And it's like 3 bucks. You can thank me later.

For "The Voice." One of the greatest shows ever. I'm not really a reality-tv girl and I absolutely hate American Idol (gasp) so believe me when I say this show is so good. It's like watching a concert in your living room. These people can sing and anyone who can get up on stage in front of a live audience (and a million people at home) and then sing to four music superstars who have their backs to you really deserves to be watched. Side note: the last two weeks have been awesome but I've seen enough tv to know that doesn't always last so watch those old episodes first!

For the Royal Wedding. Loved it. Watched bits all day Friday and then dreamed about it that night...multiple times...like Will and Kate are my close buddies. Loved the pomp and circumstance in the Abbey, loved when she said, "are you happy?" in the carriage after, loved the patriotic people waving their flags. Good times.

Happy Tuesday!

So it's May. And I'm still running my heater full blast, the wind blew so hard last night our power went out, and I can see my breath when I take the kids to school in the morning. It is officially the coldest spring on record (according to our friendly weatherman) and not one single day in the last month has hit average temperatures. It's enough to make even this born and bred Pacific Northwester glum. However! when you have this ridiculously cute face to look at, things brighten up a wee bit, eh?

Easter Monday.

The kids get a four day Easter holiday so they were thrilled to find themselves home on Monday. Ava and Jack were so busy playing, I didn't see them all morning and Jemma was so excited to have them home that when it was time for her breakfast she hauled her highchair all the way down the hall to Ava's room so she wouldn't miss a minute of the fun (I seriously spent a good five minutes trying to figure out where the heck it was...I mean we lose the random shoe and hair clip here but a highchair??). Ava packed a picnic but since the weather was so nasty she thought a car picnic would be a better idea so we loaded up and drove around (ah to be so easy to please!) and we eventually landed at the library.

Later that afternoon, Kirsten (and Ava) headed to a birthday party for Samantha in their matching party dresses: