11 years

This past Saturday Justin and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary! I feel so honored to be his wife. No relationship is without the occasional spat, but for us, it never lasts long. Justin loves me like every girl dreams of. We truly are soul-mates, living a pretty awesome life together :) My precious sister-in-law, Shannon, offered to keep all three boys for a sleepover to give Justin and I some "alone" time. Lily was a perfect little angel. We decided to stay in and cook, rather than go out to a restaurant. Justin came home with a steak, 2 crab cakes, leeks and champagne! He butterflied the steak, and served it with the crab cake on top and steamed leeks. It was out of this world! We enjoy cooking together, but don't get the chance these days. It was so much fun! A few weeks ago, I got the idea to surprise Justin with a video game that we used to play in the dorms when we first met in college. He was so surprised, and we had fun playing it together, just like old times :) We are currently living some of the most precious years we will ever live, but getting to give each other our undivided attention is something we will enjoy in the future. It's good to be in love...

Gabe presented me with this portrait. Sometimes, Motherhood takes everything you have in you to control yourself. I was so close to a chuckle at first glance! But then I thought 'I probably do look like that sometimes!'. LOL!!! I love when they draw me things. Isaiah always draws me witha heart on my shirt. And I love how Gabe wrote "MOM-E" for Mommy :)

Early morning snuggles :) When Isaiah first wakes up, he is super affectionate towards me, Luke and Lily. She eats it up, as you can see...
The other day a storm was blowing in and Justin and the kids watched the sky from the front porch. It was really an incredible sight. There was almost a clear line, white on one side and almost black on the other. It got windy and there were some rumbles of thunder. I snuck up behind them to take a picture and one of the boys said "I saw lightening!". It was just the flash :) I love this picture... (I played around with the color a bit)

cute story...

Today we were out by the pool having a great "family swim" :) I love when all six of us are in the pool together, it feels so special. Luke used to HATE the water, but he is slowly beginning to love it (probably because last summer I was pregnant and had terrible morning sickness and the summer heat made me soooooo sick. I didn't 'break him in' on the pool at all. Lily can't get enough! She's a fish!) Anyway, it's been a great family day :) After we got out of the pool, we sat on the deck for a bit, there was a great breeze, a midst the 100+ degree temps. The boys found an old can from the night before and wanted to get the tab (opener) off the top. I told them how when I was in elementary school we used to count through the alphabet as we bent it back and forth and whatever letter it popped off at was the first letter of the person we were going to marry (SUCH a girl thing!) So Isaiah responds "so you seriously got "D"?!?!?!" (for 'Daddy') I couldn't help but burst out laughing! He then realized it would have been "J" (for Justin) and corrected himself, but it was sooooo cute :) Not sure if you'll feel the same way I did, but I was sure it was blog-worthy :)

It's been sooo hot out! I have been stashing away empty egg cartons and papertowel/toilet paper rolls to use for art projects for school. The boys were very excited to dig in a start getting creative! Isaiah made a snake and Gabe made a shark. I was so impressed with each of their ideas on how to make it look like their animal. They worked together great. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming school year, watching them grow, learn and create together :)

LilyKate ~ 7 months old

Gabe speaking "Languish"

milkshake for the 1st grade graduate!!!

Then we headed to Aunt MaeMae's house for some fun in the sprinkler :) Gonna be a GREAT summer!

like father, like son

I rolled over one morning to this :)

Definitely an "I love my life" kind of moment!

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mohawks!

funny story :)

This morning Isaiah, Luke and I were sitting up at the bus-stop and Isaiah kept asking Luke to say words, like "Luke, say 'Mommy', say 'Jordan'" and Luke would repeat everything Isaiah said. We went through all of the family members several times, so then Isaiah started asking him to say wrestlers names. One of the boys favorites is Randy Orton. Isaiah said "Luke, say 'Randy'" and Luke said "Orton"! You thing he's heard it enough!!! When the boys play wrestlers, they announce each guy before the match: "Weighing ___ pounds, Raaaaandy Oooorton!!!" Isaiah and I started cracking up that he knew the last name! We couldn't stop laughing so Luke yelled "hush!" It was a funny moment :)

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because I have a brother, I'll always have a friend...

Some fishing pics from last month :)

Bye-bye passy!

I have been dreading taking the pacifier away from Luke because he is so hooked on it. He wanted it 24/7 and I couldn't imagine him letting it go. One day last week I had had it and decided that "today's the day". I was tired of fighting him over it. I can't understand what he's trying to say with it in his mouth and it caused him to whine more and talk less. So, rather than him be mad at ME, I decided to give HIM the scissors. I explained to him that we where going to cut the passy and say bye-bye and throw it away since he's a big boy now. He was just excited to be given the scissors; I think he was game for anything at that point! He cut as best he could, and threw it away...

No tears!
Wait...
still broken...
still no tears!
He's done so great!!! It's actually been a week today!

Anne and Meagan came over to help me put up the pool last week. What a huge help! The cousins had lots of fun :)

Lily and Josiah, just 3 1/2 months apart

I've long suspected that this was going on, but couldn't be certain... until now! My adorable 2-year-old little terror has been throwing away my Crate & Barrel silverware!!! I think I am down to 5 dinner forks and maybe 6 salad forks. I walked past the trash can the other day and !*@!*#?&!!!!!!! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! LUUUUKE ARRRTHUURRRR!!! I'm sure he just though he was cleaning up...