Celebrating Daddy (August 1)

Mark's birthday fell just after returning from our week-long vacation to Lake Blackwell up near Alexandria at the end of July, and just before we were expecting a week-long visit from Mark's brother and his family from California, so we didn't go too big with the celebrating this year.

The week was super busy with swimming lessons starting for the boys, but Mark's Mom came over with a cake right after work to celebrate early. (As an aside, we couldn't find a '7' candle at the store, as apparently someone must have ordered a ton of '0's and no other numbers, so we made due, as 4+2+1=7 haha)

Then, the boys and I made him a cake, and we had a few gifts to open after swimming lessons were over and we had eaten our supper.

I think it's something we're going to have to come to accept that we're never going to get to blow our own birthday candles out again haha

Or open our own birthday presents ;)

This year, we got Mark a few new shirts and a bluetooth wireless speaker.

Happy 37th birthday, honey! We love you so very much! Sorry the day was so chaotic and crazy, but I suppose life is gonna be like that for a while, what with 3 little boys under 5 in the house.

Celebrating Grandma Pam (May 7)

After our chaotic visit with Steff and Kent, I decided it'd be best to load the boys up in the car and see if I could get them to nap on the way down to Worthington. I struck out even by the time we got to Brewster Park (which is now a favorite of ours), so I let the boys run around and play there for a bit before loading them back up in the mini van and making our way the rest of the way down to Worthington. Of course, they conked out within minutes at that point, so I ended up making a stop at the lake for a bit to feed Ryan and snuggle him a bit while they kept on sleeping. It worked great!

The boys had spent a few hours that morning working on some precious birthday cards for Grandma Pam, and they made her a necklace and a bracelet as well - too sweet :)

After our little stop at the park to finish up naps, we made our way over to Kent and Pam's for a little birthday celebration for Grandma Pam, complete with snuggles, Pizza Ranch chicken and some cupcakes!

We had to have multiple attempts at blowing out the candles, because apparently at birthdays, everyone is supposed to have a shot at blowing out the candles haha :)

We made a quick stop at Brewster Park on the way home to let the boys run off some energy. They seem uninterested in the toys these days, but were super entranced by the amphitheater and how it echoes.

With this being one of my first experiences with all three boys alone for a day, it went about as well as I anticipated: Complete with fearing for our lives at some point, a couple minor meltdowns, and thinking to myself a number of times how glad I am that I'm not a single Mom! I'm so thankful to have gotten a bit of a break driving back and forth to Worthington and to Pam and Jess for helping out as well :)