Happy Father's Day!!

i have to wish a "happy father's day'' to my daddy! i could not ask for a better daddy and papa for my kiddos. seriously, you rock and i love you so much! and to b ''happy father's day" to you too, you do a wonderful job with our boys and we all love you more than words can say. whether you're giving baths or mowing the lawn, you make the boys have fun with any activity.

thanks for all you do guys :)

pictures...

from the past week or so :)

on sunday we went with nanaw and papa to visit grandma great who turned 91 this week! we also sporadically decided to drive a little further and visit nanaw phew phew and great great grandma. i really thought i took more pictures, but i guess i didn't. well that and my lens was SUPER dirty (blame pooks-it's covered in itty bitty fingerprints!). but the ones i managed to get are pretty cute.

with papa and the birthday girl
(grandma great is papa's grandma!)

all the boys playing at nanaw phew phew's house

peanut with great great grandma b

then yesterday i set up a little pool out on the back deck. with the heat index it was close to 100 degrees and the pool sounded blissfully wonderful. the problem lies in the fact that there is one mommy and three kids...i am not wild about the idea of taking 3 little ones to the public pool by myself. is it more fun? yes. but is it about 10,000 times more nerve wracking and stressful. trying to make sure that both older boys stay close by me in the shallow end of the pool, that there is no fighting, that they don't get pushed, splashed or dunked by someone else; that they don't slip, run or climb the waterfall --all while holding peanut--not going to happen. the pool is just too crowded for me to feel comfortable.

but i digress. ahem.

long story short, we bought a little pool for the back deck and spent an hour yesterday and an hour and a half today enjoying it. the boys LOVE it. even peanut went nuts, splashing and giggling, he just loved it. i didn't get any pics of him in the water (because i was holding him) but when he wasn't in the water he was jumping around in his exersaucer.

showing off their new fish squirters; they were all named Nemo

bubba acting crazy

peanut hamming it up in the exersaucer and his new bucket hat

admiring the pool from afar

and lastly a picture of B blowing out the candles on his birthday cake last night:
(btw his cake was suppose to look like 2 playing cards...let's just say i decorated the entire thing in less than 5 minutes while trying to keep 2 toddlers fingers out of the frosting all while listening to an infant scream. 'nuf said!)

Happy Birthday B!

from being just a little guy yourself.....
to having little guys of your own...
b you've come so far in your 27 years, and we love you!!! hope you had a happy birthday!!!

a little family time!

B is working every.single.day in a row from june 8-26 without weekends, some days working 12 hours at a time (6am-6pm). he's tired, the kids and i miss him and it sucks. plus his birthday is wed and then father's day is this weekend and he has to work then too. i know that there are a lot of dads that work even more than this, but it's not the norm for us. thank the stars for that!

when B came home early today (think...like 1pm?!) bubba said "hi daddy, i miss you". it was so sincere and (despite what b said i did NOT tell him to say it!) heartfelt that in that instance i was like ''we are getting out of the house and doing something together. now!" so after a nap, a round of diaper changes and a refill of sippy cups we were out the door. the boys have been unpatiently waiting for Petco to open up. for the last 2 months at least every time we drive by the construction site with the ''coming soon'' sign they ask to go see the puppies. so we did. except there weren't any puppies. we saw fish, turtles, lizards, ferrets, hamsters, birds and other small rodents.

afterward we walked through the new Bed, Bath and Beyond and stopped for lunch at one of my *favorite* restaurants. this was the first time ever that peanut sat in a restaurant highchair. it was also the first time he ever ate baked potato (which we mashed up, obviously). overall, it was a hit! here he is looking like a big kid:
and i wouldn't dare forget bubba and pooks who chowed down on pb&j sandwiches, cheetos, applesauce and sweet tea.
after dinner we took the kiddos to the park where they played for a bit then we walked on the trail that goes around the park. the boys like going on nature walks. or as they call it ''goin questing." really we are looking at leafs, sticks, bugs, bark, berries and the like. they had fun but mama's ankle was sore afterwards! as we were leaving i couldn't resist capturing one pic of all my boys.
please ignore the porta-potty ;) it kinda ruins the moment but oh well.

a trip to the park

this evening B stayed home with peanut so that i could run to the store with the little dudes. on the way, we made a little 15 minutes pit-stop at the park. it was so nice out...77 degrees and a light breeze. it's rained all week on and off so this was a welcomed break. it amazes me that with all the fancy schmancy city parks around here, this park is by far the boys favorite. it doesn't have rubberized mulch, no real playground equipment, no special swings or fancy splash parks. in all honesty, i think it's exactly the same as it was when i was a kid playing at that park! it still has wooden play equipment, an honest to gosh merry go round and a HUGE metal slide. here are a few pics:

pooks had high goals of sliding down the big slide by himself

yet half way up he remembered that last time, he didn't actually like the big slide...
back down he went!

the boys however tend to favor the merry-go-round. they jusst want to go fast! fast! fast!
bubba

pooks

tonight the majority of their time was spent digging in the sand. pooks is a little too short to work the gears but he doesn't let that stop him.

bubba was working hard (with his leaf -that he felt the need to bring home)

all in all, it was a great evening. peanut passed the time sitting outside with his daddy and jumping in his new jumperoo. (pics of that to come tomorrow!) gotta love lazy weekends :)