Grandma's Birthday

Happy Birthday Grandmama!  We celebrated the coveted day by heading out to our first hibachi grill.  Well, the first for Jack, Joshua and me anyway.  How did we not know about this secret little gem of a restaurant?!?  It's loud (perfect for loud kids), entertaining (perfect for squirly kids), delicious (perfect for picky kids), and quite comical actually (perfect for kids who also think they are very funny.)  And how lucky were we to have Uncle Adam and Auntie Sarah in town for the occasion.  We laughed a lot, ate WAY too much, enjoyed each other's company and celebrated Grandmama grandly.  

 Pretty lady.

 Love this picture.  You can see the glow from the giant fireball that had formed in front of us.  Joshua and Jack have the exact same expression on their face.

 Saki!

 Saki!

 Baby Saki!

 Too much baby Saki  Time to head home.  We'll definitely be hibachi'ing again!

No Soup for You!

When you're home alone with three boys under 6 and the littlest one is throwing up every five minutes, you tend be a little more... ummm... how shall I say it... open-minded to activities that might otherwise fall under the "OH NO YOU'RE NOT" category.  One such activity that was happily welcomed (and kept the boys busy for over an hour, I might add) was soup kitchen.  Boy oh boy, where do these youngens get their imagination?  I knew they were playing in the bathroom sink and honestly, didn't care because I was up to my elbows in toddler barf.  After 10 minutes of sink time and exactly 4 minutes until the next barf, I ran up to see what shananigans these little men were up to.  They were so excited to tell me all about their soup kitchen.  They had several varieties of homemade soup, brought in patrons to enjoy it, and even wore hairnets - which happened to be wet washcloths draped over their heads.  Once they gave me the full run down and allowed a speedy photo op, I was quickly dismissed from the private party.  All I could think as I walked away was - yep, you guessed it - "NO SOUP FOR YOU!"

Harold & the Purple Crayon

My sweeter than pie middle child and I had a date night tonight.  We went to Children's Theater to see Harold & the Purple Crayon.  It was magical, funny, technologically amazing, and clever as could be.  Joshi was all smiles as we were waiting for it to begin.  To pass the time we were counting the minutes on our fingers.  The lights went down and he was in awe... or so I thought.  After about 15 minutes of pure magic, he leaned into me and whispered "Mommy, whens it going to start?"  I laughed and said "it already started sweetie."  He responded with "oh."

During intermission we headed out to get a big purple cookie, a crayon shaped cookie of course.  As Joshua's munching away, we were chatting.

Mom: "Are you loving the show?"

Joshi: "I'm not too too loving it."

Mom: "Why not?"

Joshi: "I love most parts a lot of it, but some parts I didn't love love."

Mom: "Which parts didn't you love?"

Joshi: "Only the animals."

Mom: "Why, did they scare you?"

Joshi: "Yes.... (long pause).... and animals don't talk."

Mom: "Oh yes, you are right."

We headed back in and he managed to sit quietly through the second half.  Anyone who has an opportunity to see this amazing production - should.  I caught myself saying WOW a few times because all the coordination is mad good!

Thanks to my beyond generous friend at work who bestowed us with the tickets!  It was a fabulous date night for Joshi and me.

Clean-up, Clean-up...

With kids this messy, you gotta teach em young to do the housework!  Just for the record, this is from ONE meal.

And yes, that is our 3.5 year old in a pullup.  Pretty sure the apocalypse of 2017 will happen before this kid is house trained.

4-0

Yuk, the big 4-0!  Not an exciting milestone - kind of like your first root canal or slamming your finger in a door.  Despite my extreme wish to treat this day like any other, the boys were REALLY into it so I had to put on my best 25 year old face for their sake - yes, 25 - just because I'm 40 doesn't mean I look 40!  Turns out it was a great night!

The boys cordoned themselves off in the office to make their own special cards for Mommy.  They'd flip out if I came within 20 feet of their private "get ready for Mommy's b-day party" session.  Look at that face!

Beyond gorgeous flowers from my Dad.

my little loves

Thanks to all those involved in making it a great day!  So long 30's... it was fun knowing you but I'm excited to see what the 40's bring.  A whole lot less diapers, I'm sure!

Jamison's Salon Takeover

Little man had his first, much needed, haircut today!  Bah, bye nappy hair, hello handsome little devil.   

before 

the very first cut, otherwise known as scrapbook hair. 

You never know how a kid is going to react to the first cut.  Jack cried, almost the entire time.  Joshua   suddenly donned a case of torrets, where his right ear would erratically become attached to his right shoulder and he'd sputter words like shyt and groamp (can only assume a 1-year olds version of swear words.)  Jamison, true to his laid back style, was Mr. Cool.  He started happy, flirting with everyone as we walked in.  Then, he got serious!  Very serious!  And besides the "lean", he did not move a muscle the entire time he was in that chair.  The stylists said he was the only kid that has ever leaned INTO her vs. away from her.  Yep, that's my boy.  Let him be the "one" to lean into the hot stylist.  He was very unsure about the whole haircut but I think he liked the head-rub and pretty lady doing it so much you could actually hear him purrrring.  The tough guy demeanor was his 'game'.

 

 

Yep, this picture about sums up the entire 24 minutes he was in the chair.  For the record, that sucker did not make its way to his mouth until we were safe and sound in the car.

How handsome is this little man?!?  And he knows it!  Wish I would have been quick enough to snap a couple shots as we were leaving because this kid had the whole salon at attention.  He would purposefully stop by each station, turn his head, and flash the "I-may-be-little-but-I-am-beyond-hot" pose.  This kids going to break some hearts one day, watch out girls!

after

Quest for the Perfect Shot

Any amateur mother photographer knows that catching a good shot with multiple kids is more rare than a two headed unicorn.  This photo shoot was obviously no exception.  I love getting a lay on belly, chin-in-hands shot every Christmas eve.  I've done it every year since Jack was born.  Following is a sampling (yes, a sampling - 14 additional pics made their way to the cyber trash.)  It's funny, leading up to the shoot I had a vision of what would happen.  The boys would line up next to each other, I'd bribe a couple of wranglers to wrangle (see arms left below), and we'd get a sweet and adorable shot of the three little loves laying peacefully and cooperatively for Mom to catch the photo of the year contest winner.  Well, needless to say, my "getting a good matching PJ, sweet little love, Christmas eve shot," dreams were dashed on this night.  I should know by now that things NEVER go as I plan - what fun would that be?

Ok, this one's pretty darn cute but it's missing little JR.

Oh, so close!

Look. at. me.  I. am. a. robot.  I don't know how
he is even suspending himself up like that.

This is probably the best of the bunch.  We'll try again next year.

Turkey Day at the Cooks

Boyz in da hood

Geez, this post is so late it's ridiculous but I felt it important to post any way.

Woot, woot... we didn't have to cook this year!  Uncle Collin and Aunt Kathy bought a new house and were very interested in taking over the Thanksgiving hosting duties - and we were MORE than happy to give them up.  For those of you that have never hosted, it's a boatload of work, not to mention time consuming and expensive.  So high-ho, high-ho off to the Cook's we go!  

First off, what was with the crazy Minnesota weather on this T-Day.  Check out these outdoor pics, no coats!  It was really quite awesome!  Jack even made a new friend in the neighbor boy.  Do you think this kids got a competitive side to him???  Look at that face!

 Jamison and Evan enjoyed a competitive game of bean bag toss - can't you almost picture them 20 years from now looking almost the same? 

Kudo's to Uncle Collin and Aunt Kathy for the fabulous first dinner.  Everyone enjoyed it to the fullest and left with very full belly's.  Check out Jamison's "man" poses.  Just before these pics were taken he unbuttoned his pants.

Thanks for hosting.  It was fun!  A couple more honorable mention pics as I sign off.