Happy Birthday Chris!

Happy 29th Birthday Daddy!

We love you ---------------------------THIS MUCH--------------------------

and more!!!!!

Connor loves shoulder rides from Daddy!


Connor & Dylan love cuddling with Daddy.

We love our daddy.

Connor & Daddy having fun at tumbling.

More Connor & Daddy time at tumbling.

Daddy hanging out with his boys.

Connor & Daddy working hard.

Proud Daddy with Dylan!

Daddy-We hope you have a wonderful birthday! You are very special to all of us. We love playing with you. You the BEST!!! And we are excited for birthday cake & ice cream :)

We love you very much!

And, I love the fact that Chris is 3 years older than me, for a whole month! It makes me feel young :)

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Father's Day Weekend!

What have I done to my boys?!? Daddy & Connor love scratch tickets almost as much as I do!

Looks like a big winner!!!

The boys hanging out on the floor!

Connor is showing Dylan how to play with his toys!

Dylan hanging out at the party-he loves to look around at everything going on.

Connor & Mason hanging out before they went down the slide. They are both sweaty from playing so hard!

Happy Father's Day! Chris decided to 'try' and turn it into a weekend (like I did with Mother's Day), but I don't think he was as successful as I was. It was still a great weekend. On Saturday we went to some friends for a party-the boys are 2 1/2, Adam & Ryan were born about a month before Connor. They celebrate their half birthday, which was fun. They have SO MANY fun toys, including a great swing set & a bounce house. On Sunday, Chris didn't want me to make him breakfast-he insisted on getting Starbucks and bagels from Panera, I agreed! So, we went and had some bagels there, picked up Starbucks on the way home and it was great. We went and ran some errands, came home, Chris mowed the lawn (poor guy-it was so hot). And for the reccord, I did offer to mow-again, he wouldn't let me! But the yard looks great now! I started making BBQ ribs for dinner & Chris made the BBQ sauce. They were AMAZING. We weren't sure we could duplicate the last batch we made, but I think we were successful! YUM! Happy Father's to Chris-you are an amazing Daddy to Connor & Dylan...we all love you very much!!!!

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4 years...

4 years ago...

Our wedding day!

We had a great wedding!

Miss all the girls!

Now...

4 years later, we are blessed with two wonderful & amazing boys, a beautiful home, and happiness. We have made many memories in the last 4 years and can't wait to see what the future holds for us.

Our sweet little boys.

4 wonderful years! I can't believe it has been 4 years. Part of me thinks, "Wow-it has already been 4 years" & part of me thinks, "Wow-it has only been 4 years." I think that may be because we have been together for over 8 years!

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First Fight...

We have started to get more toys out for Dylan to play with lately, so Connor thinks they are all his. Well, this little horse was one they both wanted. And it was the first toy Dylan really was holding on to and playing with and somewhat reacting to since it it super soft and has a rattle inside. Well, Connor decided to 'try' and take it from brother. Dylan wasn't letting go. I told Connor that was what Dylan wanted to play with, but that wasn't what Connor wanted to hear. So, there we have their first fight...first of many no doubt. It was cute. Fortunately for Dylan, he won the first fight (with a little help from Mom).

Dylan was loving his little horse & the fact brother did not take it, he decided to take a nap right there with it. (This is how he fell asleep, I did not stage this picture)

Connor wasn't thrilled that Dylan got the horse, but he quickly got over it.

This is what it looks like (on a good day) while I am in the kitchen cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner-Connor really enjoys his Leap Frog reader and loves to read the stories to Dylan.

Connor & Dylan both working on tummy time in the playroom :)

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Great day of shopping...

We started off the day with Starbucks, so I knew it had to be a good day despite my waking up way too early again. But I did enjoy my peace & quiet while all 3 boys were sound asleep.

We set out for Cotton Babies this morning to make it to the store for their diaper sale! There was a ton of people, but needless to say, I was the only one looking for my special diapers (The AIO bumGenius Organic Cotton with Snaps. They were buy 2, get 1 free, which meant I got 4 free! What a great deal! Bargains like this are once in a blue moon-I was so excited! So, now I have 22 diapers total for Dylan! I am thrilled as this means I don't have to wash diapers everyday! I can handle every other day. Yah! This is the best diaper-SO incredibly easy to use and super cute! I love all the great colors they come in! And best of all, they will fit Dylan until he he potty trained-as they do fit on Connor (two & a half)! They are easily adjustable and the inside is so soft-I love the organic cotton! And they will work and hold up for the next kiddos too!

Dylan sporting one of his cute green diapers.

Then we decided to stop by the mall to go to Build-a-Bear, Connor picked out a turtle (with a little help-after all that is the reason we went). And Connor made a puppy dog for Dylan. How sweet! Connor held onto both of these the entire time around the mall. He had a hard time putting them down to play on the toys at the mall, but managed. He fell asleep as we were shopping. Actually, he fell asleep as we were in Godiva Chocolates...seriously, whose kid is this? Whose kid falls asleep in a chocolate store!?! I got my bag full of chocolates using a gift card we had from awhile ago, plus signed up for their chocolate club (why I didn't know you could get free chocolate is beyond me), then got a free chocolate covered strawberry for spending a certain amount :) What a great day! And this was after having a Mocha Ice Storm and chocolate chip cookies from Nordstrom's Esspresso Bar. Yum! Yum!

We ventured to Eddie Bauer in the mall, I tried on a few things, but we decided they made me look and/or feel old, but Chris found a great Polo shirt-using a gift certificate from Christmas! I am so glad he finally got to use it-it does take a lot to get Chris shopping, especially for himself. But next on the list for him is sunglasses!

Then we headed to Barnes & Noble, where Connor woke up on the way-he was so excited to go to B & N. They have a Thomas train table with lots of trains in the Children's section. But more importantly, they have a ton of Dinosaur, Shark, and Fish books, which he was SO excited over. But he was great about putting them back. We only bought a Daddy book for Father's Day. I told Connor we could go back soon so he can pick out some books-he loves to pick out books by himself. It is adorable.

Then, when we were in the car ready to head home, I remembered we had a couple of coupons for free bread from Breadsmith Bakery. So, we went there and walking in the doors was heaven! It smelled so good. And I walked out with a large bag full of bread..all for free. What a great stop on our way home. We decided to try some of the rolls I got and they were so yummy, we almost ate all of them. I can't wait to try to loaves of bread tomorrow.

Then, I apparently didn't have enough shopping and some more coupons for Kohl's were calling my name-so I got a few more things all for super cheap-what a great shopping day. Dylan is such a little trooper, he loves to be out and about & Connor was really good today too. And since Chris was such a good sport, he was rewarded with some delicious beer-he was very excited. And now I have him working hard painting the bathroom, while I update all of you on our day...I have it rough somedays, don't I???

The boys with their Build-a-Bear animals.


Connor loves Dylan, how sweet!


Connor had too much fun, now he is fast asleep with the turtle & the dog in the stroller while we shop, Dylan is sleeping the carrier on me, and Daddy isn't complaining-what great shoppers!!!

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I've Been Tagged: 8 Things About Me

I've been tagged: 8 things about me
I've been tagged by my sister-in-law Amy to tell 8 things I did, I'm looking forward to, etc. So here it goes...

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:

1. Produce delivery on Wednesday.
2. Connor talking more (although I may regret this later).
3. Future adventures.
4. Vegetables from our garden.
5. Watching Connor & Dylan grow up.
6. Fitting back into all my pre-pregnancy clothes (mainly pants).
7. The weekend!
8. Dylan's baptism.

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. Competed a 5k walk/run!
2. Went to the zoo.
3. Made a yummy dinner of salmon, potatoes, carrots, and salad.
4. Went to our favorite pizza place.
5. Got up too early.
6. Went to bed too late.
7. Attempted to clean the house, but was distracted/lazy/tired.
8. Had a wonderful family day.

8 Things I Wish I Could Do:

1. Organize & clean my house. And keep it that way!
2. Grow a big & wonderful garden of vegetables and flowers.
3. Have a beer, margarita, and/or wine! ( A full drink, not just a couple sips)
4. Have more time for sewing, scrapbooking, cooking, baking, etc.
5. See our family more often.
6. Go on a vacation without the kiddos..someday :)
7. Go on a family vacation.
8. Have more patience!

8 Shows I Watch:

1. Desperate Housewives
2. Brothers & Sisters
3. Gray's Anatomy
4. Bachelor/Bachelorette
5. Greek
6. Oprah
7. The Doctors
8. Jon & Kate Plus 8

Okay, now I tag Heidi. Have fun!

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We finished the 5K...

Make Tracks for the Zoo-24th Annual 5k Walk/Run

The fire trucks holding up the big flag-it looked so awesome.

All the people at the starting line...get ready, get set, GO!

Dylan & Connor hanging in the jogger before the race!

Connor enjoyed playing on the stairs in Forest Park before the race began.

Connor got to sit in the fire truck after the race -he was loving it!

My goal was to finish the race in 45 minutes!!! Yikes, I thought that would be no problem, until we got the splits, then we decided to run for most of the last mile to make my goal. We made it! We crossed the finish line in 42 minutes! Yah! Connor put his arms up as we crossed the finish line-it was cute. There were lots of people cheering & everyone was saying how cute the boys were. We were tired, but it was a lot of fun. Then we went and walked around the zoo and looked at some animals.

We went to the awards ceremony afterwards & Connor won an attendance prize: a gift certificate to some Frozen Custard place in Illinois. We were hoping for the Cardinals tickets!

We also treated ourselves to Il Vicino (a very yummy brick oven pizza place). It was delicious.

What a great Sunday!

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Raspberry Picking

Instead of picking strawberries today, we decided to pick raspberries! They were much easier to pick as there were tons of them!

Connor seemed to like them A LOT. We gave him his own container to pick, which he did a great job picking and placing them in his container, then we would look over and they were gone! He would say, "more". So, he would pick more, never placing more than a couple in his container...he just kept eating them. He problably ate half as many as we picked, all the while his container remianed empty. Oh well, it was a good breakfast for him.

Dylan seemed like he was having a blast! He was forward facing in the carrier and was attempting to grab at the raspberries with his legs kicking constantly-so cute! He must have liked the contrast in colors.

We had fun & of course stopped by Starbucks on our way home...what a great start to the weekend!

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Dylan's Two Month Pictures

Just thought we would share Dylan's two month pictures. They turned out pretty darn cute!!!

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Garden Excitement!

Well, we have our first item we grew...a radish! We were very excited & hope more (lots more) soon follow. Chris & I shared the one radish. It was really spicy, but very yummy. We are hoping everything else does well. Hopefully with all this rain we have had lately, it will give it a boost!

And, yes, I realize how pathetic we are over one radish...

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Happy June!

After two weekends of yard work, the house is finally starting to look nice! The inside is a differnent story, LOL! But the outside is looking nice and colorful-I love all the flowers. Chris & I (but mostly Chris) has worked very hard on it-my list of projects just keeps growing! So, here are some pictures of the front of the house (it is a work in progress, as is the backyard).

Before

This was taken awhile ago in the winter, as our tree was really bare, but it shows the ugly trees we removed...finally!

After
Much more colorful! And I finally got my hanging baskets-I have wanted these for as long as I can remember!!! We still have 1 or 2 more baskets to put on the sheppard's hooks, but I love them.

We added another layer of blocks around the tree and planted some pretty purple flowers. We had planted flowers from seeds in there, but they didn't do well.

We planted roses & some impatients in a big pot in replace of the ugly trees on both sides of the front door. It looks SO much better.

We dug up all the bulbs (that I planted a couple years ago-some were still coming up, but we needed something else). We put down mulch-don't mind the mess, we didn't sweep up the mess prior to me taking the pictures.

Our pretty rose!

Another pretty rose on the side of the house we planted almost 2 months ago-we are hoping they grow up the trellis and shade our AC a bit.

Connor's tractors (they used to be Chris' tractors) are helping mix the soil.

Also works as a portable sandbox! That is another thing on my wish list...a sandbox!

Dylan hanging out in the bounce activity chair. Still a little big, but he enjoys it!

Dylan relaxing in the stroller while we do yard work-he loves to look at the trees!

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