Memorial Day Weekend

Grandma asked if Josie could come and stay for a few days with them. Since I don't get back to Eau Claire as often she ended up spending the week there. We missed her and was excited to see her back home. Grandma I think has enjoyed the snuggles from her!

Here are a few flash back pictures….

Sam's family took Spencer to a Twins game for his birthday.

Little Nolie...

Back when they actually napped and they were pumped they got new gardening gloves.

Hadley and I at a wedding shower.

Spencer sleeping in random positions on the couch just years apart. 

I had just gotten home from a trip to Texas for work.

Ryan had taken the boys golfing. 

Daycare had sent me this photo. I think it's Easton. 

Last year's Memorial Day. Wish our weather was as nice this year.

I've officially have been a stay at home mom for a year now. It's been a fun and challenging year. I have truly enjoyed being home with the kids and look forward to another year with them.

Onto our week!

Nolan got invited to a birthday party from a girl at school. I think they secretly like when we get to look at the stuff in the girl's section. 

Easton and Nolan had their spring concert at school. Easton likes dressing up and looking handsome.

Nolan was SO excited. He showed me right where he was going to stand.

Carol came up with Grandma to watch the boys.

First up was Nolan.

He looked cute up there.

But he mostly stood and yawned the whole time. He did very little singing. The poor girl next to him did not want to be up there!

 Nolan and his teacher Mrs. Amy

Next it was Easton's turn. We had a talk about how we wanted to see more singing from him.

He did a little better. He at least seemed to know 1/2 of the words and did a few of the actions. I don't think either boy has a future on the stage.

Easton with his teacher Mrs. Cindy.

This is Easton's spot on the cupboard in his room.

Carol bought the boys pointers from the book fair. Nolan told me to turn around when we got in the car and this is what I saw

We had some holes in our landscaping so we were off to the nursery. These two were more interested in the furniture there then the plants.

Over the past year we have worked with a family therapist. She has helped Ryan and I with things we struggle with when it comes to the boys. We've asked her TONS of parenting questions and we both feel she offers great advice. This time she came to our house to work with us and the kids. We did a family team building activity. Each person was blindfolded and had to get directions from everyone else to walk and not hit the cones that were set up.

Nolan is taking after his brothers in the random sleeping positions. The last few nights he has refused to sleep in his bed.

Spencer likes to text me from his iPad. I'm not always sure what he's trying to type but I thought this was cute….

We went out for dinner with neighbors on Saturday. When we got home the boys were still awake so after the sitter left we told the boys they could go to bed with their iPads and that we would be next door (we sat outside in the backyard) if they needed us. I also told Spencer to text me 111 if he needed something. Spencer texted 111 once, because Easton bit him. Needless to say we found them eating cold/old macaroni out of the pot instead of sleeping. You'd think we were gone for hours.

They enjoyed sleeping in their sleeping bags on the living room floor.

We were invited to a Memorial Day party at our friend's house. There is this craze going around Hudson called Gaga Ball. It's sort of like dodge ball but different. They have a pit at Camp St. Croix that they boys love and recently Spencer's school got one. Our friends built a pit for in their yard. Even though it was cold and pouring rain the kids still had a blast playing.

Nolan LOVES fruit. He sat and polished off this whole bowl of fruit. I should point out the desserts were sitting next to him but he ate the fruit.

Our friends have a little pig named Olive. Spencer spent an hour sitting and holding her. He loves their pig.

Nolan likes her also.

Here are a few more videos that I took this week. Spencer has been working hard on mastering the rip stick.

We downloaded a funny app on my phone and the boys are having a blast making videos of themselves. 

Mother's Day!

Ms. Josie is getting big and getting into EVERYTHING! She found the bucket with the kid's candy in it. Spencer left his glass of fruit punch on the coffee table to needless to say I was cleaning red out of our carpet. She loves to play, chew and chew and chew some more. When do those puppy teeth start falling out? We had her to the vet last week and she checked out great. The vet said she was willing to do anything for a treat.

She likes to go in the boys rooms with me to wake them up. She was patiently waiting in Easton's chair for him to wake up.

I spy a Josie tail….

Here were my flashback pictures. I love looking back at how cute the boys were.

The boys were waiting for me to finish my 2nd 1/2 marathon. This is a memory I would like to block out because that race was painful!

Nolan qualified for Birth to 3 treatment for his torticolis.

Mother's day last year.

You never know what your going to find on your photo stream.

Spencer's class read the book Flat Stanley. They decided to make flat versions of themselves and mail them to someone. Spencer asked Grandpa John if he could mail his to him. Spencer arrived safe and sound. The real Spencer even FaceTimed with flat Spencer.

I attended Spencer's field trip to the Heritage Center. They learned about how people used to live back in the olden days. Here they are outside the General Store.

They had to line up to go into the one room school house.

We had just come from spring hockey so they still had on their long underwear, but couldn't wait to play outside. I love their outfits.

Spencer was trying to pose like the Athleta magazine cover.

Spencer got to use the excuse "my dog ate my homework." Ryan caught Josie as she was starting to chew on his homework.

The kids are always the cutest when they are asleep!

Except I'm not sure how this happens. I swear he was just in our room minutes before I went to check on him and found him asleep like this on the floor. And, of course he's wearing his Brewer hat.

So let me explain this next picture. The boys and I were at the vet. While we were waiting for Josie we were walking around looking at all the dog/cat toys and treats. They kept pointing out all the things they wanted to get Josie and finally the vet brought her out. She said she had some treats for her and told the boys they could go pick out a ball. While I paid the vet was over by the toys/treats and they each had a white bag to bring home. In the car Josie kept trying to get one of the bags so I reached for it and found these other treats in the bag. I asked the boys who took the treats. Right away they both denied that it was them. Finally Nolan admitted it was him. I asked him if the vet put them in there or if he just took them. At first he said "she gave them to me." I kept asking and said I wouldn't be mad as I didn't believe him. He finally caved and said he took them. So we turned the car around and brought them back. I made him walk inside hand them to the girl working and say sorry for taking them. As I was buckling him back in the car the girl ran back out and said the vet had given them to him for Josie. Ugh, that's what I get for thinking the worst and not believing our child!

As a tradition on late start days Spencer and I go to the store and he gets to have a donut and milk. This time some friends joined us.

That evening since it was raining we decided to see the movie Home. Thankfully the theater was empty cause the boys were fidgety.

Later that night I got this note from Spencer. It reads, I love you mom, thank you for taking me to the movies.

The reason we will never have a small car! This is the back of Ryan's car one day mid-week. It's seriously a locker room on wheels at times...

On saturday we celebrated our friend Jill (second from the left) as she graduated nursing school.

This past weekend was Mother's Day. My boys sent me beautiful flowers. 

They also made fun flower pictures.

I'm lucky that I am a mom to these 3 boys. There are so many times I question if I'm truly being the type of mom I want to be for them but I hope they realize as they get older that I tried my best to be the best mom. I love these little guys and would do anything for them. And of course, Nolan is wearing batting gloves to Mother's Day brunch...

They are also lucky to have 3 special Grandma's in their lives.

Well, I apparently never posted last weeks blog so I will just add on with this week's update!

Uh Oh! I have no Josie pictures! She's fiesty these days. She loves to chew and rip up anything she can get her paws onto. She's grown out of her small kennel so we got her the one that will fit her when she's full grown. Were not sure if she doesn't like it or if it's to big for her right now but she fights us when it's time go in it. She continues to be good though and we enjoy having her around.

Here are the flashback pictures from this week:

Playing beer pong at Uncle JB's graduation.

They all wanted to play catch with me. 

We spent they morning at Como zoo.  

Two different Mother's Day pictures  

The boys and I met Jill and Maddie at the park.  

Spencer started soccer.  

It was our first time visiting the zoo.  

Out of all 3 of our boys Nolan is the one that loves fruit the most. It doesn't matter what kind it is he likes it. His favorite thing to do is put the raspberries on his fingers and eat them off. 

This came home in Spencer's backpack and it made me laugh. It reads, Dear Ant Bully, I think you should squash the and because ants steel our food and they bite you. These are the reasons why you should kill it.

I was missing the girls/friends I had made while I was working so we got together for a happy hour. It was fun to see them and hear about all the things going on at work. Makes me sort of miss it. 

Apparently Easton doesn't need or pillow or blanket. 

But Spencer needs a ton. He likes to put a damp wash cloth over his eyes to help his allergies at night.

Easton started t-ball through the Hudson Boosters this year. He is pumped to be part of a real team.  

Spencer is also in boosters machine pitch this year. He's practicing being a catcher. 

Spencer has been impossible in the mornings. He is SO tired! He's hard to wake up and get moving most mornings. I can tell he is ready for summer break. I finally told him I wasn't going to help him and I was surprised to see that he was making his own breakfast. 

Spencer was going to be goalie for his up coming game so he put on the equipment to practice. He actually did pretty well and his team won 8-5.

I've really wanted to make a fairy garden with the boys. I think they are cute and fun. Well, I think I'm the only one who likes these things and the boys could probably care less. We are also down 2 fairies already due to broken arms and legs. The neighbor boy keeps telling Ryan, "hey, I like your fairy garden, it's really manly!"

We had all the kids over for a play date this week. They actually all play so well together. 

The big game was finally here. Spencer was going to be goalie! 

He was so excited and ready. 

99.9% of the time I just don't understand their thought process. The boys were trying to reach the cord to pull down the attic ladder. Ryan first stopped them when they had two wooden stools stacked on top of each other and Easton was trying to hold up one side so Spencer could climb up. Why would they think this is a good idea? 

I got to bring Easton to t-ball on Saturday. 

Nolan came with and stayed cool with my sunglasses and gatorade.  

It was St. Croix Sports' 1 year anniversary and customer appreciation party on Sunday. Ryan has been busy planning this for awhile. The weather held off and we had a great turn out. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have supported him/us on this adventure. We couldn't have made this all happen if it wasn't for you. 

I think Hadley makes a great model for the store. We left our boys home with a sitter. I just didn't think it would be a fun day for Ryan and I if we were busy chasing after them.

Grandma helped with all of the food! We ordered pizzas from the neighboring pizza shop and she even rented a popcorn machine!

If was fun to see our friends come out for the party.  

Kids stayed busy in the shooting lane. 

A little humor to end the post. Spencer drew a basketball court! After he got done drawing it, the 6 adult neighbors that were around watching started laughing, looks a little like a peni… ahhh, you get it.