Birthday party

Today Cody and Dylan went to Alana's birthday party. This is one of their little girl friends from school. They had a bounce house and the kids had a blast. There were 7 other of their school friends there also so it was fun. Alana's parents are super nice and so is her family. At one point her sister came up to me and said "so this is Cody and Dylan". Apparently Alana talks about them a lot. As do Cody and Dylan. Alana's uncle came by also - he is a fire fighter. So he had one of the big trucks and of course the kids loved it when he turned the lights on and blew the siren. I of course now have a little "in" with hoping to get a fire truck for our family day. The weather held out for us and only sprinkled on and off. It started to really rain as we were all leaving so we got lucky. Hopefully tomorrow won't be such a wash out. Brett had Tyler and they went and did the grocery shopping. I had to laugh as they got home because Tyler came in with a new book. Seems Brett caved! :) I always cave and Brett yells at me for doing that. Ha,ha....he did it too!

Last night we went shopping for the birthday present. I had NO IDEA what to buy a girl. The only girl I really shop for is Karly. I'm just used to buying trucks! It was fun though looking at all the girl stuff. We got her a swimming barbie with dolphins. The boys wanted to open it when we got home. It did look like fun. Tyler saw lots and lots of stuff he wanted. He's turning 3 in just about a month.

Pizza Uno Field Trip

Today the boys had a school field trip at Pizza Uno. It's a great pizza shop that really specializes in Chicago style pizza. Both classes met so there were a decent amount of kids. It seems though that even as young as pre-school they have their clicks. So Cody and Dylan sat with all of their friends while making a pizza. The staff did a great job. They took about 1/2 of the group and did a tour of the Restaurant. The kids got to see all the ovens, the pantry, the guy washing dishes, the big walk in fridge, soda station, etc....Then we got to go back and make our own pizza. They each had a chunk of dough that they had to press out. They all loved this. Then sauce was added and they were given cheese and any toppings to put on top. Cody of course had to have pepperoni. Dylan is a "just cheese" kind of guy! Then the pizza was off to the oven and when it came out the kids got to eat their masterpieces. Everyone had a great time!

Karly's Spring Concert

Tonight we all went to Karly's spring school concert. It was all the kids in the 1st grade. They sang a bunch of songs and she looked as cute as ever. Brett had the night off so he went to. He commented on the way home how nice it was to see her performing and that she did such a good job. He doesn't get to go to many of her things because he is usually home babysitting. Hard to believe she is ending the 1st grade. Where did that time go? I remember the day she was born! Now she is loosing teeth, picking out her own clothes, spending the night at friends house, having boys write her love notes and totally has a girls attitude! Yet she loves her 3 cousins like no tomorrow.

Mother's Day Photo's

Me and my boys!!!!

The boys having some Trampoline Fun!


Gimmie and her Five little ones! (Dylan didn't want to get his picture taken)

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful mom's out there. I had a great day (with a couple bumps in the road). The boys actually slept till almost 9 so that was super nice. We met everyone at Phil's for lunch. It was great and the kids were super. Went to leave and (bump) I had locked my keys in the Van. Brett had drove too because he had to work today. However, he doesn't carry a spare key of mine on his key wrong (still rolling my eyes on that). So we had to do a little bit of driving to come home and get them. Then we went to Tanya's for gifts and the kids played. I got from my gang the Two Together Willow tree figurine. I love these and this one is two babies that resemble twins. My mom got me some little shelves that I wanted. Plus I got a nice card from my sister. The kids had a blast outside playing and jumping on the trampoline. Tanya jumped with them for a little bit and every two seconds Cody was telling her he needed a break. Then I had to jump and lets just say that was a sight to see. :) I'll share pictures in a separate post. I hope everyone had a great day!

I was sent this poem from another mom and while it's not fitting to everyone - this fits me perfectly.

Happy Mother's Day: Mothers Lie
By Lori Borgman
Expectant mothers waiting for a newborn's arrival say they don't care what sex the baby is. They just want to have ten fingers and ten toes.

Mothers lie.

Every mother wants so much more.She wants a perfectly healthy baby with a round head, rosebud lips, button nose, beautiful eyes and satin skin.She wants a baby so gorgeous that people will pity the Gerber baby for being flat-out ugly.

She wants a baby that will roll over, sit up and take those first steps right on schedule (according to the baby development chart on page 57, column two).Every mother wants a baby that can see, hear, run, jump and fire neurons by the billions.She wants a kid that can smack the ball out of the park and do toe points that are the envy of the entire ballet class.Call it greed if you want, but a mother wants what a mother wants.

Some mothers get babies with something more.

Maybe you're one who got a baby with a condition you couldn't pronounce, a spine that didn't fuse, a missing chromosome or a palate that didn't close.The doctor's words took your breath away.It was just like the time at recess in the fourth grade when you didn't see the kick ball coming, and it knocked the wind right out of you.

Some of you left the hospital with a healthy bundle, then, months, even years later, took him in for a routine visit, or scheduled him for a checkup, and crashed head first into a brick wall as you bore the brunt of devastating news.It didn't seem possible.That didn't run in your family.Could this really be happening in your lifetime?

There's no such thing as a perfect body.Everybody will bear something at some time or another.Maybe the affliction will be apparent to curious eyes, or maybe it will be unseen, quietly treated with trips to the doctor, therapy or surgery.Mothers of children with disabilities live the limitations with them.

Frankly, I don't know how you do it.Sometimes you mothers scare me.How you lift that kid in and out of the wheelchair twenty times a day.How you monitor tests, track medications, and serve as the gatekeeper to a hundred specialists yammering in your ear.

I wonder how you endure the clichés and the platitudes, the well-intentioned souls explaining how God is at work when you've occasionally questioned if God is on strike.I even wonder how you endure schmaltzy columns like this one-saluting you, painting you as hero and saint, when you know you're ordinary.You snap, you bark, you bite.You didn't volunteer for this, you didn't jump up and down in the motherhood line yelling,"Choose me, God. Choose me! I've got what it takes."

You're a woman who doesn't have time to step back and put things in perspective, so let me do it for you. From where I sit, you're way ahead of the pack.You've developed the strength of the draft horse while holding onto the delicacy of a daffodil.You have a heart that melts like chocolate in a glove box in July, counter-balanced against the stubbornness of an Ozark mule.

You are the mother, advocate and protector of a child with a disability.You're a neighbor, a friend, a woman I pass at church and my sister-in-law. You're a wonder.

Lori Borgman is a syndicated columnist and author of All Stressed Up and No Place To Go, her latest humor book now available wherever books are sold. Web reference unavailable. (Thanks to Andera K. on the EOHarm discussion list.) -ed.

Shrine Circus

Circus Pictures!!!!

Today we took the boys to the Shrine Circus. We all had a blast. The boys were probably the best behaved in a super long time. They all sat in their seats and enjoyed the show. Our show started at 3 - so we got to the arena at 2. Once inside we bought our $8 a piece light swords and found our seats. They had pre-show fun going on and the boys were hoping to ride the elephants but for whatever reason they didn't do that this year. They were disappointed but instead went down the bounce slide. They love those ever since our trip to Ocean City last year. The show started with lots of trapeze and I was surprised it kept their interest. At times they did look like they would fall asleep but didn't. They saved the Tigers and Elephants until the end of the show and that was their best part. Although if you ask them what they enjoyed the most they said the cotton candy, bounce slide and swords. Guess we could of saved the money for the actual circus. I am so happy we went and they enjoyed themselves. It makes spending all of that money completely worth it. Because let's face it - it is a small fortune to go to those events.

I love the Shriners though. They do so much for kids and their families who are going through cleft lip and palate repairs, cancer and burn treatments and it's all FREE to the families. So if the Shrine circus comes to a town near you - go and support them, they deserve it!!!

Going out with my husband is like going out with my sister. They run into a ton of people they know. Brett saw one kid that he hung out with at Brockport that he hasn't spoken to in years. Guess he also works in insurance here in town. Plus a couple people from his work and as we were leaving a clown says to him "see you on the football field". Well at first he had no idea who he was under all of that makeup but finally figured it out. It was another football official. So you know what that means folks - he is so hooking us up for our family day in August with a clown. Brett has to call him but I am sure this guy will do it and maybe bring along a couple others. How exciting!!!

My Mother's Day Breakfast

Today at school, all the kids had invited their Mom's to a special Mother's Day breakfast. They have been talking about it all week and the only thing they would share is that we were having danishes and fruit. I had my Mom come with us as hey I have 2 kids to take. We did have danishes and fruit, plus bagels, egg sandwiches, watermelon, cinnamon bread and juice. It was wonderful. They had made place mats for us to sit at. The kids played and watched a Momma duck and her 10 ducklings out in the courtyard. They really kept the kids entertained. Before we left we got our "gifts". They had made some heart shaped ornaments and glued jewels on them. Very pretty! Then made a card and on the inside it said "My Mom is" and I'm only assuming the kids had to fill in the blanks. Cody's said "My Mom is Nice - I love you!"....Dylan's said "My Mom is I like you". With the cards was a special hand print and a beautiful poem that I cried over. So we had a very special morning. While being a Mom of multiples plus one more hasn't always brought out the best of me - I would not change this for anything!

*Don't mind my glasses*

*Cody giving the girls his wisdom*

*Dylan enjoying his breakfast*