Daddy Day

The boys were so excited to celebrate Father's Day with Chris this year. Chris had told them ahead of time that he wanted to watch a movie with them - one of their all time favorite activities! Plus the boys picked out chocolate gold coins to give him and were excited for Chris to share them. The day started out with the boys bringing Chris coffee and gifts in bed. Then they came downstairs for breakfast - a recreation of Cafe Zola's snowball waffle (a waffle covered with vanilla ice cream, coconut, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream). We watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone after that and then got more ice cream from Mr. Freeze after lunch. The day ended with a delicious cookout. I think Chris enjoyed his day. Happy belated Father's Day to all the great dads out there!

**Please excuse my husband's bedhead - I caught him in all these pictures before he had a chance to shower.**

Strawberries Galore

On Saturday the boys and I went strawberry picking at Whittaker's Berry Farm. The berries were incredibly plentiful, thank goodness, because I think the boys put more in their mouths than in our box. The type that we picked, Honeoye, doesn't have a very long shelf-life, so after we got home, I spent the rest of the day making strawberry bread, strawberry-rhubarb buckle, strawberry shortcake, strawberry jam, and prepping the leftover berries to freeze. If I hadn't been so worried about the berries completely deteriorating before my eyes, I may have taken pictures of the goodies I made. As it was, the were literally getting squishier by the hour so instead I'll just share pictures of the berry-picking fun.

Riding Bikes

Just getting some outdoor playtime in during the brief reprieve from rain today.

Eli's Anoplasty

Yes, that is what his 5th surgery was called. Today Eli had minor outpatient surgery to correct a protruding mucosa from his, well, I think you can figure out where. The procedure itself lasted maybe 40 minutes and we hung out in recovery for a little over an hour. Eli, as per usual, was such a champ. He started off the day excited to go to the hospital, complete with all his accessories. The nurses loved him with his cool-dude shades and backwards hat.

He was excited to wear the special hospital jammies and was happy to replace his "watch" with one of their's.

He had fun picking out his mask and thought bubble gum smelled the most delicious.

After he came out of surgery, he was asking for Mama, but quickly changed his tune and only wanted Daddy.

They gave him some tylenol with codeine and he mellowed right out and was pretty chill for the ride home.

Once we got home, he ate a regular lunch and watched part of a movie before his nap. He's doing great and the doctor said that he has great muscle tone in his nether-region. Now we just hope that we'll be able to get him to practice using the proper muscles so he can potty train like other kids. We're definitely feeling positive about that situation because right before he was taken back to surgery, he asked to use the potty and actually went #2. Woo hoo!

An Early Start to Summer

First can I just point out that the temperature got up to 90 today and it was only in the 50's on Friday. Yes, 3 days, 40 degree swing. I can't complain too much though, because I'm ready for summer! I know this isn't really the beginning of summer, but it's hot enough, school's out for us, and let's face it, we had an incredibly cold and wet winter/spring. So, we started "summer" with a fun parade, spent most of the day outside, did some gardening, ate ice cream at Mr. Freeze, busted out the baby pool, got some good use out of the grill, and enjoyed eating on our patio. Looking forward to doing a lot more of the same over the next few months!

It's Official...

...this mama is not going to have to give "the talk" to any of her kids. Baby Ring #3 is a boy! He's due October 14 and we're all super excited to meet the newest member of our family.

Dang Hormones

All I have to say is I'm glad I'm not planning on being pregnant during anymore last days of school for my kids. Last week was Colin's last day of school and normally that sort of thing would not get to me. I'm not really a crier and on top of that I don't like to cry so even if I feel the urge, I always fight it. Some of my friends asked if I was feeling emotional and I was like "No way! I just need to figure out what we're going to do this summer." Then arrives the actual day. I arrived at the school feeling excited because Colin said he was actually going to sing during this program. We got there early so we could watch the video of pictures the teachers had taken during the year. Both sets of grandparents were there. It felt like a party. Then the video started and what got me was not the pictures but the sweet music their teacher set it to. I felt the tug at my heart and I started hearing sniffles coming from all around me. I decided to take a moment to shush Eli thinking that might distract me, but I kept tuning back to the video and then I felt it - the welling. Oh no! I wore mascara, there would be no tears shed! Thankfully, I was able to talk myself down convincing myself that I didn't want my make-up to run because that's just not a cute look on me. Now, you might be saying to yourself, what does this have to do with hormones? A lot of moms might cry when their first-born child finishes their first year of school. Not me. It's just not my bag. And let me tell you how I know it was not a normal reaction. That afternoon, my next door neighbor's daughter was dressed in her cap and gown and taking high school graduation photos with her family in front of their house. I took one look at their family and the tears started falling. Not even a warning this time. I had to pretend to the kids it was my allergies. I don't even know my neighbors that well. Dang hormones.

Back to Colin's program - it was absolutely adorable! Colin didn't sing like he said he would but he danced his tushy off and had a big smile on his face the whole time. The kids all got a photo album filled with pictures of them with their classmates and teachers from the year. So sweet! It was a really fun morning and afterward the class had a pizza party and then we headed to Mr. Freeze to celebrate. Congrats to my Colin for finishing his first year of school with a bang!