5.31.2010

Me and My Boys

Mother's Day 2010

I'm so blessed to be Matthew and Jordan's mommy! They are the cutest, most fun, sweetest, silliest little boys. They're so kind, obedient (for the most part ;-)) and they love to make their mommy happy. Because of them, I have fresh wildflowers (or dandelions) to wear in my hair every day, and a smile on my face as I lie down to bed at night. I love you, Matt-matt and Jordi! You make me a happy momma. :-)

(Isn't this picture SO cute?! Ha!)

We were also lucky enough to visit my mom on Mother's Day. I feel blessed to have such an amazing woman as a mother. My mom has taught me what true motherly love is all about. There aren't words to describe how grateful I am for the constant care, love and selfless service she has to our family for the past 29 years. And let me tell you, there aren't two luckier little boys in the world because my mom is the greatest grandma. She lives for those boys and gives them so much love. I couldn't ask for more.

Mother's Day Garden Party

To celebrate Mother's Day, I wanted to do something special for some of the ladies here in Dayton who have touched my life in the past four years. So, I hosted a Mother's Day Garden Party. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of all of us girls that were there, but oh well. I did capture some of the details...

The Invitations - so simple, but so cute. Made with scrapbook
paper, silk flowers and a packet of flower seeds.

The table settings/decorations - The color scheme was light pink,
dark pink and yellow. The bouquets turned out so cute, and adding
lemons to the vases was the perfect touch to bring in some of the
yellow. I incorporated the garden theme into the place settings by
adding silk flowers to the napkin rings and using silk flowers as
holders for the place cards. I also had some big tissue paper
pom-pom flowers (I found the idea on Martha Stewart)
hanging from the ceiling and they seriously looked so pretty
(unfortunately I don't have a pic of those).


The food - Jeremy was sweet enough to do the cooking (since it
was Mother's Day after all :-)). My sister helped me out with the
desserts. Everything turned out amazing! My favorite were the
adorable flower marshmallow pops - so cute! The cake was also
awesome. We used yellow Peeps to create an adorable sunflower cake.



It was such a fun time just relaxing and enjoying some girl talk. All of these girls are such an example to me and I look up to each of them in different ways. Happy Mother's Day!

5.30.2010

In Bloom

I'm back. :-) I have no excuses for not visiting for more than a month - I just haven't really felt like blogging lately. Anyway, it's been a beautiful, exciting spring so far and I have much to catch up on...

By early summer my yard is a mess and I hate it (it's just too much to take care of), but it's an amazing place in the spring. :) All of my trees (except for one) bloom in the spring, and then I have an exquisite garden of daffodils. Some pics of my yard in full bloom:



I'm actually not sure what kind of tree this is, but it's probably my favorite in bloom. This tree has tons and tons of little pink buds and then they bloom into tiny white flowers. It's an explosion of pink and white gorgeousness. :-)

Ah, my lilac tree. Smells so sweet...

To think we almost cut this tree down during our first summer here... When we first moved in, it was more of a huge bush in the middle of the yard rather than a tree. I'm so glad we decided to trim it up rather than chop it down, because we realized the following spring that it was beautiful Red Bud tree - not a big ugly bush. Isn't it amazing?!



I'm sad that the blooms only last a few weeks! Now green leaves have replaced the flowers and we've already had a couple weeks of 80-degree weather. Summer, here we come!

4.22.2010

Shenanigans

A recent quote from Jeremy that made me laugh was, "Why are kids so retarded sometimes?" Well, allow me to share a couple scenarios that would bring him to say such a thing...

"Doggies poop outside in the grass. Little boys should poop inside on a potty." - Said I to Matthew
A couple weeks ago, my dad and I walked the boys to a park that's just around the corner from my house. My dad and I brought our dinner with us and we ate while the boys played. Being a bit distracted by my meal, I didn't notice that Matthew went exploring on his own (he tends to wander). From where I was sitting, there was the playground to my right, a baseball diamond straight ahead and, to my left, there was a Port-a-Potty shelter that usually houses a Port-a-Potty during tee-ball season but that only has dirt/grass right now. I looked around for little Matt until I noticed a tiny pair of feet sticking out at the bottom of the Port-a-Potty shelter. I walked over to find Matthew with his pants at his ankles. I asked, "Matt-matt, whatcha doing?" Matthew said, "Um...just pooping." And there it was. On the ground. At the park. A little Matthew poop. At least he found a little privacy to do his business...

About a week before that happened, my friend (and babysitter) took the boys to the park. Just after they got there, Matthew announces, "I need to poop!" So Melissa starts gathering the boys and tells them that they have to go home now so Matthew can poop. Matthew kneels down, starts frantically digging at the ground and says, "No wait! I dig a hole so I can poop in it!" Ha! Exercising his instinctive survival skills at just 3 years old. The next Survivorman, perhaps?

Finally, the other day, Matthew came in from the backyard and was adjusting his pants. He told me that he went outside to poop in the yard because Jordi was already using the potty... Oh my land, what is with this kid?!

So, my mantra lately has been, "Doggies poop outside in the grass. Little boys should poop inside on a potty."

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"You can color on paper - not on furniture, not on walls and certainly not your brother." - Said I to Jordan

A couple weeks ago, my mom was watching the boys while Jeremy, my dad and I went to a movie. When we got home, my says, "Ohmigosh, they were wild. They didn't go to bed until 10:30...." The story...

They went to bed at 8pm - their usual bedtime. At 9pm, my mom hears Jordan crying, so she runs upstairs to check on them. Matthew took Jordi's pacifier. She makes him give it back to him, tucks them back in, goes downstairs.
At 9:30pm, my mom hears Matthew crying, so she runs upstairs to check on them. Jordan had thrown Matt's pacifier across the room. So, she finds it, gives it back to him, tucks them back in, goes downstairs.
At 10pm, my mom hears Matthew crying again. So, once again she runs upstairs to check on them and finds Jordi half-naked. He had pooped in the potty. She walks to the bathroom to clean out the potty and when she comes back, she notices that Jordan is not only naked having pooped in the potty, but he also has a pen in his hand - which brings us to the reason why Matthew is crying. Well, Matt had lain (laid? I don't know) in his bed and allowed his brother to color ALL over him. I'm not talking a little here and a little there. Jordan had drawn "snakes" all over Matthew's feet, legs, back, tummy, hands, arms, neck, ears - even his eyelids. Ha! Poor little guy. So, Matthew was crying because he was asking Grandma, "Take it off? Pweese take it off?!"

Oh, and I hear from some of the Primary teachers that there's been more break-dancing in Primary.

3.21.2010

YAY!

My daffodils will soon be here!

Every year it seems that one day there is snow on the ground and then the next day I wake up and the whole world is in full bloom already. I always forget to take time to notice the little signs of the coming of spring - tiny buds on the trees, the first honey bee, green sprouts breaking through the dirt. So this year I've made it a point to give my full attention to my surroundings as we come out of the deep slumber of winter and rise to the sweetness that is spring. So far in the past weeks, I've noticed 2 lady bugs, a few flies and 1 bee. As I type, I'm looking at the brown buds on my favorite tree that will soon give way to beautiful purple flowers and eventually lush green leaves. I can hardly wait for the full bloom of spring, but for now I'm really enjoying all the small indications that spring is just around the corner. Yippee!

Yesterday was the perfect day to be the first official day of spring - warm and sunny. We bought a couple kites and headed to the park...



From a boy's point of view...

I will admit - when I found out I was having 2 boys, I cried for a full day. But that's because I didn't know how special and fun it is to raise little boys. Plop my boys in the middle of the woods with some rocks, trees, dirt and maybe a little pond and they will keep themselves happy and busy for hours. The way they awe and wonder at the world never ceases to amaze me.

Looking for bugs in a tree stump.

I love catching Matt and Jordi in the middle of a deep conversation like this. So sweet. :-)


They were so proud of themselves for crossing this log - grinning from ear to ear at the end.



A treasure to a little boy does not consist of money, gems or jewelry. He will find far greater pleasure in the wonder of a rock, pebble, stick or beetle.
-- Author Unknown

3.19.2010

Happy 29th to me!

I celebrated my 29th birthday on March 5th (and for the entire week following :-D). As usual, Jeremy spoiled me this year. Among other sweet things he did for me, he spent a couple hours making me a giant German Chocolate cake from scratch. Seriously, it's THE BEST cake that will ever have the pleasure of meeting your taste buds. No. Joke. Unfortunately I don't have a picture. Just trust me that it was fabulous.

This is not THE cake (yes I had 2 birthday cakes - I just couldn't decide!)

I took the day off work on Friday the 5th. My mom, dad and I took the boys to the Cinci Museum Center. In the evening, my mom and I did a little shopping, and then Luke and Lindsey met all of us at Red Robin for dinner. Luke and Lindsey stayed over Friday night and then on Saturday, we went to 2nd St. Market, fed the ducks at Lincoln Park and went bowling. We finished off the evening with a fantabulous fondue dinner.

Some pics of the blessed event...


How precious is this little girl?! My sister's new puppy, Ginger. The boys LOVE her.