Mark's 38th Birthday (August 1)

To be completely honest, I was expecting to be either in the hospital or newly discharged from it for Mark's birthday this year. However, this was not the case, so I was grateful for the early wake up call from my bladder so I could get things together and finish decorating Mark's cake and to get his presents wrapped before heading off to work on the big day.

Ryan and Cashel were randomly up pretty early too, so I put on some cartoons for them, then set the cake and gifts on the kitchen table before going to get ready. After I got my makeup on and hair done, I went looking for Ryan so I could get him dressed, and I couldn't find him. Come to find out he found Daddy's cake...

Luckily, he only really pulled the candles out, so it was an easy fix, but we opted to keep the cake and presents up on the kitchen counter at that point haha

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, really. I worked all day, came home for lunch with Mark, and then was back to work for the rest of the day.

Mark's Dad, Pam and Jess all came up from Worthington to meet us at Godfather's for Mark's Birthday supper, so we opened gifts, ate some pizza and had some birthday cake together :)

The big kids were a tinge "excited" at Godfather's (if you call running around in circles "excited" - they're a handful right about now with the baby coming and tensions high), so we opted to head over to the park after supper to let them run off some energy.

We had really hoped to be able to go to Viking's Training Camp for the upcoming weekend to celebrate a little more, as that's what we typically do, but with the baby holding on for dear life, it wasn't going to work out, sadly :( We still had a great time together! It's hard to believe Mark is already 38 years old!

Happy, Happy Birthday, honey! Here's to hoping this year is even better than the last!

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.

Lately in Windom (August Edition)

I picked up these sandals on the way back from our Indiana trip, and immediately regretted them, since I thought they wouldn't be very functional. Wrong! They are my favorites this summer.

This little guy is legit swimming now with a life jacket on. So proud of him!

Daddy is getting so old that he needs lots of help to blow out his candles.

It was so nice to catch up with these strangers for a bit when they stopped over :)

I can't handle the deliciousness that is monkey bread.

These guys :)

One of the best parts of vacation = PJs until you feel like changing out of them...which may be never.

One of my favorite new summer recipes: Pineapple BBQ Chicken Tacos. YUM!

I LOVE how much these kiddos love their grandparents. We are excited to see Grandma Ruth again in a couple of weeks!

I see this picture and all I can think is when did Cashel get such LONG legs?? He's so tall!!

My boys exploring the Omaha Zoo. What? You hadn't heard we went yet?

This is about as good as it gets for everyone looking at the camera these days.

This kid attacks the pool like a pro! It's hard to believe that a year ago he was scared of it!

Love these guys!!!

These two sure know how to make a mess!

Good times at the county fair!

What a little goofball!

We fear we may be entering the super picky toddler stage of eating with this one. For lunch this particular day, all he wanted was milk and french fries.

Hotels are mostly exciting for the elevator rides on the luggage cart, no?

Seriously delicious fajita lettuce wraps from Boulder TapHouse in Mankato. Fun fact: Mark was super embarrassed that I took this picture and told me to put away my camera.

From 36 to 2, we celebrated a couple of pretty special guys this month :)

Love this picture of our little family. We may not look the most stellar, but I love how happy the boys look :)

And just like that, it's September!!!

Mark's 36th Birthday (August 1)

My sweet hubby celebrated his birthday on August 1st (and, well, a few days surrounding that). He's now 36 years old, and if I may say so, he makes 36 look good :)

The festivities actually started the day before with a yummy birthday lunch at Bergen, where his brother Daniel and wife Iryna joined us while the boys were at daycare and our niece Sofie decided to stay back at the house.

After lunch, we picked up Cashel from daycare (after Kendrick went down for his nap) and hit the water for the afternoon.

After the lake, we swung by and picked up Kendrick, then went back to the house for supper, followed by cake and ice cream with Mark's Mom.

The next morning (Mark's actual birthday), we started out the morning with monkey bread for breakfast, which was followed by opening gifts.

Mark got new water shoes from me and a drone from the boys this year for his birthday.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly uneventful until lunch, then the boys went down for naps and we lounged around until they woke up.

We had plans to go to Mankato for the evening to eat, then check out Vikings' training camp, but we ended up also taking back some flooring to Menards beforehand too.

We ended up leaving just shortly before the fireworks started, because, as anyone with a 3 year old knows, when the 3 year old says, "Alright, Mommy, I'm ready to go to sleep now", you don't dawdle.

Happy Birthday, Marky Mark! We love you so much, and we're glad you were able to have such a fun day :) We sure enjoyed celebrating with you!