Jimmy and Kelly’s Wedding Weekend

Ok, I apologize this is so late, but our lives have been so extremely busy I have not found the time to sit down and blog. I was also dragging my feet on this one as I have misplaced my little camera I carried that has many of our pictures on it from the first day of our trip. Dumb, I know but important to me none the less.

First off it was an incredible weekend! Our flight was early, Thursday morning, and there were many delays and bumps due to storms, but both boys traveled great to Texas!


Jax fell asleep early on and slept for a long time, which was very nice.

When we arrived Jimmy picked us up and dropped us off at the rental car place. Jax was super excited that when he asked if we could get a red car, we did!

From the rental car location we headed into downtown Dallas and ate at this Diners Drive in’s and Dives Place, Cane Rosso, it’s a super yummy pizza place and we loved it! I had pre-purchased tickets to Lego Discovery in Dallas and we headed there next. All of those pictures are on my little camera. It was not what we expected, but perfect for the rest of the afternoon and the kids had an absolute blast!! Finally it was time to head to the hotel so that we could make it to Kelly’s parents house for pizza party with all the family that had come in for the wedding. After thinking we were staying at the Holiday Inn, then being told there was an issue and that we had moved to the Comfort Inn, we unpacked the rental car, kids, etc.. just to find out we were actually at the Omni. It was quite an adventure, but we did finally make it to the correct hotel and it was quite a free upgrade from the Holiday Inn. We had no turn around time before we needed to head to Kelly’s parents for dinner as we quickly discovered driving in the Fort Worth/Dallas area is a nightmare!! I would just like to say the kids were angels especially since we had been up since 4:30 our time and had not stopped going the entire day.
Judy and Levi arrived a bit late due to even worse delays getting out than we did, but everyone finally made it!

Judy with her boys.

Here are the three brothers.
Levi, Jimmy, and Mike, not at all in birth order, but whatever.

And of course a fun picture

That night a group of the guys went out for what ended up being one awesome big hilarious adventure, Mike stumbled back to the hotel somewhere around 3am. The boys were so tired that after making our way back to the hotel, which is no small feat I unpacked and we all crashed! The next morning we had free so the boys and I let Mike sleep until it was time for him to meet up with the guys and we headed to the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It’s one of the two locations in the country that print paper money. It was awesome! The boys and I just loved it! They make you leave all cameras and cell phones in your car, so I have zero pictures, but it was a great very educational morning and the highlight of Ethan’s trip.
We then headed back to the hotel for a picnic lunch at the local water fountain park that Kelly and her Mom had planned for the women and kids of some of the wedding party. While a bit breezy it ended up being a great lunch and the kids had a blast!
They had made a buddy in the other ring bearer and the three of them stuck pretty close together most of the weekend.

Here is Kelly with some of the kids on the top of this rock mountain structure.

A cute shot of Madelyn running around.

After a tasty lunch we had a few more hours to kill before the rehearsal dinner so Judy and I took the boys for a quick trip down to the stockyards.


Jax enjoyed trying on cowboy gear at one of the local shops.

The best part had to be sitting on the Texas Longhorn though


It’s amazing how long those horns really are!

After a very fun, but short visit there we raced back to the hotel to clean ourselves up for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. We did finally meet back up with Mike, who had enjoyed an interesting but fun day with the guys from the wedding party.

Next up the Rehearsal!
Jimmy and Judy

Thank goodness for electronics, there was a lot of sitting around waiting for the kids to do. I had also run them ragged and they were tired

The wedding party.

The boys clearly paying attention.

Kelly and her Dad walking up the isle.

The Beautiful Bride and Groom

The kids hanging out with Kelly’s brother

From the church we all headed back into Fort Worth for the rehearsal dinner. It was a great evening, filled with delicious food, fun stories and lots of laughs. We stayed to the end which was about 10pm and were exhausted when we finally went to bed.
The next day was Wedding Day! Yea!! We had some time in the morning and the boys wanted to take Mike over to the water fountain park which was across the street (where we picnicked). So we enjoyed a nice family morning.
The boys favorite fountain was one you walked down into.

We made it to the bottom.


Here’s the steps going up from down on the inside.

After a fun morning it was time to get ready for the wedding.

On a side note the rest of the pictures are from my phone so the quality isn’t always the best especially as it gets dark.
The boys looked so incredibly handsome!

The wedding was beautiful and the kids all did great!
The flower girls with Madelyn in the middle

And the Ring Bearers


Kelly looked absolutely amazing!

After a beautiful service it was picture time!

Jimmy and Kelly with all the kids

Siblings

The wedding party

Our Family

Me and Mike

After pictures at the church there was a long window before the reception started. Mike went with Jimmy, Kelly and a few others for pictures in town and the boys and I headed back to the hotel. We ended up taking much needed naps and met up with Mike again in the lobby on the way to the reception.
This reception hands down was the best reception we have ever attended. Food was great, music was great, crowd was great, and it was just a lot of fun! The boys had a blast!
Madelyn blowing me kisses

First Dance

Parents of the Bride and Groom

Jimmy and Kelly listening to speeches

Levi and Vince

Ethan and Mike

Me and Jax

Mike snapped a picture of me dancing with Jax.

Ethan with Nana

Jimmy and Kelly played a fun newlywed game and the kids were all about it.

Jax had developed a strong affection for Kelly and popped right up to see her when the game was over.

Everyone danced their hearts out and towards the end of the evening Jax would take breaks and sleep/snuggle on either Grand Nana, or Nana.

Two of the most dashing boys I know!

Jax dancing with Kelly and Cousin Lindsay


And then passed out again on Nana

Ethan dancing with Kelly


The guys having some fun. It was getting really late!


We stayed until the very end, which I believe was close to mid-night and they handed out glow sticks that everyone waved when Jimmy and Kelly made their grand exit!


Jax was so passed out at this point.

He didn’t even notice the glow stick.


We made it back to the hotel and all crashed hard! I won’t lie we were regretting the early flight the next day. The kids were great  the entire trip and it was one of the best weekends we have ever had. They can’t wait to go back and neither can we!

Jax is learning to read!

Here’s a short, but very adorable video of Jax learning to read sent to me by Jax’s Preschool Teacher.

Ethan’s Birthday Wrap Up

Wow! It’s only been two weekends since Ethan’s birthday, but it seems like forever ago already! Our family is currently on a fun merry-go-round that just keeps going and going and going, but is still fun! The day after Ethan’s birthday we had a small, but super fun celebration with my best friends Pam, Michelle, and their families. The kids had a blast playing together outside for a bit. With everyone sports schedules it can be hard to find the time for the kids to play so they took the opportunity and had a super great night.

Sadly we figured out after dinner that Pam’s son John was running a fever (due to a sinus infection) and they had to leave before cake and presents.

Us with our 8 year olds!

Ok, sorry this one just cracks me up! He was clearly looking forward to the Angel Food Cake and Strawberries!

I can’t believe he is 8 years old!!!

We had a bit too much fun with the whipped cream!

Even Michelle and I got into the whipped cream fun!


The boys and I look a bit rough as we had been on a hike with Ethan’s Cub Scout Den most of the afternoon.

And that morning Ethan and I had also biked 6 miles together on our new bikes. We had a very full, but very fun day!

It was a great weekend celebrating Ethan and the incredible little boy that he is! Now if he could stop growing up that would be great!

Ethan’s 8th Birthday Kick-Off

I cannot believe that I have an 8 year old!!! How did Ethan get so big? Didn’t he just start walking? Sadly no, but while that was fun, 8 is going to be GREAT!! Ethan is the most extraordinarily wonderful child. He’s very complex and I guess we all are, but it’s seems really obviously even at 8yr. He’s still the same super sweet kid he has always been, but this past year he has blossomed. He is now more confident, in school, sports, and himself in general. He’s still my shy guy till you get to know him (totally gets that from Mike), but will let loose when he feels comfortable. He may not be the smartest, or most natural athlete, but he works harder than any other kid I know and is able to recognize that his hard work and dedication is what make him successful.  He’s not really a gamer, and is happiest outside playing with a group of friends or on a sports team. He makes us laugh every day with his humor and silliness, which can sometimes get a bit old. He still is our cuddle bug and likes to curl up with you to read a book, watch a show or just to sit. Even at 8 he is still very innocent, gets his feelings hurt very easily, and still very much cares how other people are feeling.  He loves to learn and explore the world. He still asks a billion questions, most of which I haven’t a clue, but I love how curious he is about the world around him, things present and past. He loves money, how it’s made, where’s its made and collecting it in various piggy banks, vaults, ATM’ machines, and coin collections.  He also has a fascination with Sharks and loves to watch documentaries on them. Sports he does loves sports! He loves to play basketball, Lacrosse and flag football and loves the Washington Redskins and everything about them. I know I am forgetting things, about him, but all around he is just a great kid.

To celebrate our Great 8 Year Old we threw a family flag football/Redskins Party. He absolutely loves the Redskins and loves playing flag football and as he said “this was the best birthday ever!” I really tried to take a more low key approach with his party and focused more on what he liked and wanted to do, as opposed to just throwing the same old party that we seem to throw every year.

His birthday happened to fall on a Saturday which was good and bad. Good because we could celebrate on his actual birthday with more people, but bad in the sense that it was a one day event as opposed to the sometimes days and weeks of celebrations we have had in the past with multiple parties etc… It didn’t help that Jax just had a mile stone birthday either. To kick off the day Mike and I filled his rooms with balloons and hung up streamers. At this point they come to expect it and as much as I would love to change it up, he would be devastated!

He woke up early at 5am and climbed under the streamers so he wouldn’t break them. LOL! That’s Ethan for ya! Once we finally let him go downstairs he was greeted by a Redskins Pillow Pet that he as been asking for every time we go to Target for Months! He’s also on a Dr. Seuss kick and I had purchased the book It’s Your Birthday and both me and Mike signed it for him. That would be the memento that everyone from the day would sign as his way of remembering his 8th Birthday.
He loved both!

Below is an early morning shot of him with his new Redskins Pig and his Oriole Bird.

He surprised me by asking for a coffee cake for breakfast. I had made it the night before and after a quick round of Happy Birthday, he devoured his piece, plus about half the entire coffee cake!

With his birthday falling on a Saturday during spring sports, Jax had a T-ball Practice that Daddy and Pop-Pop needed to be at, and Ethan had a Lacrosse Game.  We felt very blessed that my Grandparents had come back into town to celebrate Easter and stayed For Ethan’s Birthday, so that morning Mike, my Dad, and Grandpa went to Jax’s practice and Mom and Gigi met me and Ethan at his game.

The Guys met up with the girls at E’s Game and were able to enjoy the second half.

Ethan coming off the field , he’s in the middle

It was a great game and Ethan caught a ball during play, which was a huge deal and we were all very proud of him! He loves Lacrosse and is having a blast this season.

From game we all divided back up and my family of four headed to Wegmans for a quick lunch and a few last minute party supplies. We raced home, changed and then headed to my Mom’s for the Party. She was nice enough to host it at her house since we do not have the space for a flag football game at ours. Grandma and Mom had done an awesome time decorating and prepping so really we had a few last minute food items to prepare and just set everything out. It looked Great!

Ethan was most excited about his cake! He loved it! Pam and I had decorated it the day before and while Michelle couldn’t join us to decorate she was kind enough to make the fondant for us.

Ethan added a few finishing touches to the cake at the party!

It was nice to have things more spread out.

We had brought Ethan’s new pillow pet, and Lucky Bear to use as decoration.
My Mom and Ethan.

Right on time everyone started arriving and it was time to start the big Flag Football Game! Ethan and Uncle Jeremy were the team captains and it was like high school waiting to get picked. Funny part, Ethan didn’t pick me:( But in the end we had two great teams!

The Yellow Team

Vs. The Blue Team

Let the Game Begin!!!

We had the absolute BEST Time Playing Football!

Below is probably my favorite picture from the game!  It was just nice clean family fun and it was great seeing everyone into something and having so much fun!

Teams deep in game planning.

We did have an injured player. Jax ran into Mike’s hand and has a nice bruise on his face.

He bounced back and we enjoyed the rest of the game.

The Yellow team won with Ethan scoring the winning touchdown!!! After a quick recovery we moved on to more fun things,  presents!

He got some awesome gifts and everyone was way too generous, as always. Nana got him a super cool bike!

Grandma got him a bean bag chair which became quite a hit during the party.



After opening all the great presents it was finally time to cut into that cake!

And one just the three of us.

When I was purchasing the party supplies I came across numbers that were sparklers. Well I love sparklers as does Ethan so I picked him up a number 8! It took a minute to light and when it did a small spark it Ethan. I  love the picture below as you can see the look of horror on his face and me, well I just keep singing Happy Birthday.

He got over it pretty quick and enjoyed his special candle.


The rest of the afternoon was filled with a ton of outdoor play, and some relaxing.
Grandma with the boys working on setting up Ethan’s new ATM

Jeremy and Nicole

Me and Mike, this is the most ridiculous picture, but I love how happy we are, and how it shows:)

Daddy and Ethan sharing some special time talking about his new safe.

I was sitting right there and wanted in on the love.

Sadly before we knew it people were headed home after what was an incredibly fun party, well at least we thought so. But, not before I snagged some pictures with some super special people.
Ethan with both of his Great-Grandma’s!

Gigi on the left, Grand Nana on the right.

And a great shot of Ethan with his Great Aunt Susie, Nana, and Grand Nana.

And of course one with Me, Grandma, and Gigi

One of the best pictures taken was of Ethan with his Great Grandparents. We were so happy they stayed for his birthday!

We ended up staying at my parents till much later than we had antcipated and still had more presents and fun back at home. The first thing Ethan wanted to do was try out his new bike! So I grabbed his helmet and he took it for a quick spin!

It quickly got dark and we all headed in for him to open his gifts from us.
He was very excited about the battling bugs that Jax had picked out for him.

He had been asking for an underwater camera to take to the beach and pool this summer and was super excited when he opened it.

I think he was sick of smiling what do you think?

It was a great day filled with family, laughter, fun and the celebration of our very special 8 Year Old! We still had one more small celebration the next day with our friends, but it was a great birthday for a great kid!

Easter 2013

I have said it before and I will say it again, I LOVE Easter!! I felt it was very rushed this year and I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to really enjoy the Easter season, but while rushed it was an absolutely wonderful day. On Saturday we had dyed our Easter Eggs, which is always fun!


They were so excited!

Easter morning started bright and early as most of our days do and the kids were very excited to check out their Easter baskets.

Notice it’s still dark outside while the kids were checking things out.


Cheesy Smiles


When it was just light out, the kids put their coats on for the highly anticipated  Easter Bunny Egg Hunt/

And they were off!


Ethan shook one and heard coins!

I’m not sure which they enjoyed more, the actual hunt or the opening of the eggs.

After a super fun early morning it was time to get everyone showered and dressed, as church was a at 9am.
They clean up well don’t they?!?!

All of us ready to go.

We were so rushed, but I so wanted a few pictures before we left. We did one silly one and I guess Ethan missed it was the silly picture, and him smiling the way he is, while the rest of us have silly faces, makes it that much better!

Ok, enough craziness, we threw the food, kids, dogs and everything else we needed to be gone the rest of the day and off we went. After an absolutely wonderful Church service, which was a great reminder of what Easter is about, and its not the eggs, candy, or the bunny, we headed to Grand Nana’s for a delightful brunch.
Here’s Ethan just chillin’ waiting for brunch.

Mike, Levi and Madelyn

A cute shot of me and Mike.

And Mike with his Mom

Nana and the boys ready to eat.

After a delicious brunch, a super fun egg hunt that had to be indoors due to weather, we were able to get a great family shot of everyone there.

From Grand Nana’s we headed over to my parents house. I am a bit obsessed with pictures and certain days and events are worse than others. Easter is one of those really obsessive days and poor Mike was so done. We were trying to get a family shot before everyone changed out of their nice coordinating outfits. And as things tend to, it turned into a three ring circus.


Look we have an extra kid!

This is my favorite shot of the day, possibly the year. Me with my babies!

My parents with all three grandsons.

Mom with the boys

Gigi and Grandpa with the brood.

Ok, now the pictures start getting really fun, but well they are important to me so everyone sucked it up.
Me and Mom.

With Gigi!

And lets not forget Nicole!

Our version of a silly picture, thanks to Jax, the photographer.

Me and my Beautiful Grandmother!

Lets not forget Florence.

For most of the day we had 5 dogs at the house so my parents poor cat Louis was attempting to blend with the table decorations to avoid them.

Patrick, Tina, and Corey came back for dinner, and the poor men were forced to take a few more pictures. As you can see some people had changed, but what ever, its the people in the picture that count, not what we are wearing.

Finally , it was dinner and the majority of picture taking was over. Phew, everyone survived, though barely!

my little pack of two stuck together most of the day

Here they are later in the same spot.

We did have the annual egg hunt at my parents, which of course was a blast. Too bad, Mike doesn’t really have as much competitive spirit as the rest of us and just does it cause he has too,  and because he loves me, and we lost to Patrick and Tina, ….again But it was still a great hunt and something most of us look forward to.

It was Patrick’s birthday as well as Easter so we got to celebrate all that is Patrick and the joy and laugher he brings to our lives.
He just looks delightfully joyful here right?
No kidding, aside, Patrick we love you!
Happy Birthday!

Here he is with Mom

Mom, thanks for hosting a great Easter Dinner and Hunt!

I hope you enjoyed a wonderful Easter and are enjoying spring!
Just think it will be an entire year before you aree forced to scroll though more pictures of us in coordinating outfits!

Happy Spring! And other Fun Things!

Spring is my favorite season and Mike surprised me with a delivery of tulips (my favorite) to my office on the first day of spring! What a sweetie!

The week before spring break was also a fun Dr. Seuss week at school for Ethan.
Wacky Dress Day was probably our favorite.

He also had spring picture day that week and looked pretty handsome!

To kick off Spring Break Mom and I took the boys to the movies on Friday night.

The guys were all out together, but I think we had just as much fun as they did!

There’s never a shortage of cuddling around our house.

Ethan loves planting things, so we planted some zinnia seeds and much to my surprise they grew! They have now been passed off to Grandma for safe keeping, and life.

I worked from home all week so inbetween work we did do a lot of fun stuff, like visit Heather’s new baby, James, made a birthday list at Toys R Us and took a trip to Munchies for frozen Yogurt! And that was all just Tuesday Morning.

Wednesday, Ethan had an appt. down in Baltimore so we spent the morning there and then had lunch together before Mommy had to get back to work. Thursday we had Jax and we met up with friends for a fun morning at Chuck E Cheese.
Friday my Mom had off and was watching Lucas so we took all the boys to the Aquarium. Oh what fun we had! The boys always have such a great time together!


Lucas was about done with pictures,  but it’s still me with all the boys.

By the time we finished the Jelly Fish exhibit they needed a break so we took one. Gotta love, not looking Lucas, Jax the I can’t keep my eyes open smile, and Ethan who likes to take huge bites, chipmunk cheeks! They are all so cute!

And of course you can’t forget us!

After a busy, but exhausting morning we headed home. The boys and I had a quick break in which Jax passed out for a bit before we kicked off Easter Weekend with Easter Party at Ms. Dawns.
It was a great party, but the highlight is the awesome egg hunt with the coveted golden egg. Ms. Dawn lets everyone go out by age, so here is everyone all lined up and ready to go!

There are a few of the older siblings who went to Dawn’s before they graduated and they were able to join in the hunt as well, but with a few extra rules.

My boys really wanted to find the Golden Egg. Ethan was “technically not allowed” but he still looked.


Jax finally found the highly hunted for Golden Egg with its $10 prize inside and was so very excited!! Ethan found it last year, Jax found it this year, and sadly this was our last egg hunt at Ms. Dawn’s so I would say we went out with a bang!

What a great party, but Ms. Dawn’s always throws a good party!
Mike has been super busy at work so by the time Friday night rolled around we were all looking forward to a very fun family weekend. We kicked it off with a super yummy family dinner out.


Saturday was a great family day filled with lots of fun family time, but the best was the trip to Yolavie. Can you see trend here? Mommy has a thing for frozen yogurt.
I love Jax’s face in this one, they were playing with each other.

And me with my sweetheart.

Mike made the most delicious grilled tuna sandwiches that night and it was a perfect way for us to end a great family day! Easter was the next morning and well, be prepared for lot’s and lot’s of pictures!
Jax passed out on the couch Monday night, our last day of Spring Break, and that pretty much sums up all of our fun!

Happy Spring!

Spring Break Snow Day!

This is what we woke up to on the Monday morning of Spring Break

My poor flowers

A little unexpected to receive our biggest snow in two years the last week of March, but hey we made the best of it and had a blast!


Ethan built a little snow man

Yea now the snowman can see!

We were all dressed and ready to go sledding!

Ethan ever so nicely asked if Daddy would go sledding with us and much to our surprise Mike went into work late and spent the morning sledding with us! What great fun we had!

Daddy with Ethan


It was perfect sledding and snow ball snow and several snowball fights broke out.
The kids were using their tubes as shields.


Me with Ethan

And of course with my Jax

And with both of them!
One day they will look back at all the pictures I made them smile for and they will be grateful.

Our friends were also up on the good hill sledding and the kids had a great time playing with each other!

Not exactly how we thought we would start Spring Break, but certainly a fun way!