Welcome to the club

Three days after my big day Sam joined me in the 33 year-olds club. I knew there was something special about Sam from the first time I spent time with him, but when I found out that we were born only 3 days apart I had a feeling we were meant to be.



For Sam's birthday this year he didn't have too many specific requests besides the fact that he wanted cake and mint Oreos. I took the idea and ran with it and made him some somewhat labor intensive mint Oreo cupcakes. They were a little bit more work than I had planned for, but in the end they looked almost as good as they did on Pintrest.

Like father, like son.

Oh man, do these kids love him. (Although I can't help but laugh when I see what Ruby really has her eyes on in the second picture.)

Sam said he enjoyed the cupcakes, but that they were VERY sweet. That didn't stop him from polishing it off.

Sam's big gift was an inflatable kayak. I know he'd love to have a real hard shell one, but in a lot of ways (expense included) this one fits our current lifestyle perfect. Sam and the kids were ecstatic about the water craft and couldn't wait to take it down to the lake.

They were so excited for the maiden voyage.



I was a little nervous watching them all disappear around the bend of the lake, but thankfully they all returned safe, sound and with big smiles.

I remember the first time I spoke with the realtor who sold us our house. She painted a beautiful picture of the neighborhood, emphasizing how wonderful it was to hang out at the lake and let the kids play while you have pizza delivered to you on the shore. For once it was nice to find out our realtor was not exaggerating. That aspect of where we live, is pretty wonderful.

Having fun with his family is one of the things Sam does best, so a relaxing evening at the beach was the perfect was to celebrate the guy we all love.

Playing at the lake never gets old.




Have I mentioned that Ruby has a pretty awesome vertical jump for a 2-year-old...and a pretty adorable crash landing.


It was a great night, so great we didn't want it to end. It was almost dark by the time we left...which for a summer night is really saying something.


Happy Birthday Sam! We love you lots!

Thirty-Three

I remember when I turned 11. I was so excited to be a double number. When I turned 22 it was pretty great too (although being weeks before my wedding day I highly doubt my birthday or the repetitive nature of my age were more than minor blips on my radar.) However, this year when I've hit double digits again I'm not quite so thrilled. It's not that I'm really worried that I'm getting old (although I am prepared to do whatever it takes to keep fine lines and sagging skin away), it's more the fact that I'm really happy with my spot in life right now and I don't want it slip away too quickly. Birthdays are fun, but they are also gentle reminders that whether I like it or not, time is slipping away. (wow...for being a happy thought, that sounded very much like a downer.) Before I go on any further sounding like I'm writing my own obituary, I will switch my focus to all the happiness of this moment in my life right now.

Sam gave me the best birthday gift by finally downloading a year's worth of video from our camera and put tiny snippets of the past year into this video for me. It's amazing how much the kids (especially Ruby) have changed in that time frame.

These are all the reasons I need to love being 33.

After I successfully (but with some difficulty) blew out all of my candles Max said, "What did you
wish for?...oh I know you can't tell us, but I think I know. I bet you wished for us to always obey you". You got it Max--you got it.

Mama's girl

When I first found out I was having a girl, I remember that one of my first thoughts/day dreams about her was about how close she and I would be and how being "the girls" of the family would make us inseparable. I know I may have been expecting a lot from a baby, but initially I was surprised at how, while she seemed to loved me, it did not seem to be a lot more than she loved others. For a long time she was very much a daddy's girl, and while I enjoyed the sweetness of that, I sometimes wondered why, as a fellow female, I wasn't preferred. I was even more suspect when at times it seemed other woman seemed more interesting than me, even reaching out to random strangers standing behind us in a check out line. I had mostly accepted that this was just part of her outgoing personality and decided not to take it personally; however, recently things have changed. As of the past month or so she has become quite the Mama's girl. All of a sudden I am her constant number one. Not only does she want me to be with her all the time, but she wants me to be the one that does everything for her. She is also is very interested in everything I do and wants to be involved wherever possible.

This recent development came at the perfect time, since the annual Father and Son's camp out meant we would have some real mother daughter time. In past years our "girls' nights" were mostly just another (slightly quieter) evening at home, but being a year older this time I knew she was ready for a little more fun.

Despite the fact that I was very excited about the evening ahead, all Ruby really wanted to do was stow away to Father and Sons.

She almost disappeared among the pillows.


I didn't think I was going to get her out of there until I used the magic word--nail polish. I had only polished Ruby's nails for the first time the week before, but already she was in love. With the promise of purple nail polish she happily jumped out of the truck wishing the boys farewell.


Once the boys were gone I told Ruby we could play whatever she wanted. To my surprise she chose to play "ball". "Ball" was not exactly what I had envisioned for our "girls' night", but having her light up with joy as we played definitely was.


In my effort to give my kids quality one on one time, I sometimes overlook Ruby because he seems like she already gets all of my time (a lion's share at the very least). However, having real one on one time with her showed me that my previous thinking was miscalculated. The one on one time we had together was pretty wonderful and nothing like the "all" of my time she normally gets. She was a different girl when she had me all to herself. Without feeling the need to continually fight for her rights among her brothers, she was so calm and peaceful seeming to take it all in as I gave her her first at-home pedicure.


After pedicures we enjoyed our "special treat". At the grocery store she often asks if we can get "orange popcorn", (actually, it's more like "orangeeee popcorn") so I knew she would be thrilled with our refreshments. She likes sweets alright, but she's really more of a salty girl. She's routinely unable to finish a whole donut and doesn't like whipped cream (what???), but leave her near a bag of chips or popcorn and good luck getting any for yourself. She doesn't mess around with the salty snacks.


After our snack it was bed-time business as usual. Well...bedtime and a few pictures. Facebook has convinced me that it just wouldn't be a girls night without a few self portraits to document the evening.

Looks like we need a little more practice with the self timer.




Thanks Ruby, for the perfect evening with my favorite daughter.

The Water Mine

Over Memorial Day weekend we went on a family outing to Virginia to go to the Water Mine water park. A trip to the water park was a big reward Reed had been working to earn for a couple weeks through his performance at school. While it was Reed's efforts we were trying to encourage the other two kids were equally invested in the process. "Did you get a stamp?" were usually the first words from Ruby's mouth when we picked Reed up from school and many a prayer uttered by Max included "Please bless that Reed will get a stamp." When the final stamp was finally earned it really felt like a group victory.

Even with just the side of his face I can feel Max's joy in this picture. Ruby was feeling pretty happy about it too.


I wouldn't have minded if the weather had been a little warmer. Getting in was a little bit of a shock, but once you were in it felt great.



I was a little nervous about bringing my camera so close to the water, but I'm so glad I did. It was totally worth it and as far as I can tell it survived just fine.


The Water Mine was actually the perfect speed for our group. It was nice to go somewhere our entire family could all equally enjoy. We could all go on all of the rides, however I'm pretty sure Reed rode "Big Pete" about 50 times more than the rest of us. He was in heaven.



Ruby started off a little timid, but after I finally coaxed her down one slide with Max she was unstoppable.


She liked to wait until someone was coming up behind her then let out a shriek before launching herself down the slide.


Sam could barely grab her out of the water before she was trying to catapult herself out his arms shouting, "I wanna go again! I wanna to go again!"



Slides weren't the only water fun the park had to offer. Reed traversed this water obstacle like a pro.


The lazy river was also another favorite for everyone. Reed liked trying to sneak around the entire river without being seen. He was good at it too, maybe a little too good because I never did get a picture of him floating by.


Max loved all the tubes to climb through, too. He has also become very interested in miming recently (that needs an entry all of it's own) and never misses a good opportunity to try out his craft. He's actually not too bad for a budding street performer.


It really was a perfect afternoon. For kids who have been waiting all year to swim again, this was a pretty great start.