Happy Mother's Day

A very happy Mother's Day from one Mom to all of the others.
Hope your day is restful and full of love!

My crazy crew.

And the "furry" baby too.

xoxo

Happy Easter!!

A blessed Easter to all!

The bunny came to our house. Hope he visited yours as well!

Yes, our boys are in fact shoveling candy into their mouths without bothering to either unwrap or separate them. We are very proud.

Happy 4th Birthday to our Will!!

Happy Birthday to "baby" Will!!

Hard to imagine our boy is 4 already. The years have passed in a blink of the eye. He has grown into a wonderful little boy. We all absolutely adore him! Cute as a button, but that's a given! He is tiny but fast, inquisitive, sweet and caring, and definitely all boy. He goes to preschool every morning and does very well there we are proud to report. Can ride a scooter, loves his new bike, writes his name, knows all the letters and their sounds, gets dressed independently every day (may not be my choice of outfits, but not worth the battle), is absolutely fearless on the playground, and has lots of friends at school. Happy Birthday little buddy! We love you!
xoxo

One dinosaur cake as requested. It is supposed to look like the dinosaur from Toy Story 3, but a life sized replica was not possible for this Mom. Luckily Will seemed quite thrilled with this representation.

The big boy on his new bike. I give it a month before he is racing around with training wheels off after his siblings. Let's see if I'm right.....

Will's Preschool Birthday Celebration

Will's preschool holds the neatest ceremony for the children's birthdays. The kids all sit in a circle on the floor while the birthday child holds the "world". Mrs. Walker talked about how the world was prior to his birth, how Will was as a newborn, and how he grew from a helpless infant to the big boy of today as the seasons change. I wish I could repeat the story verbatim, but I was too busy watching Will's face and trying to record the moment on film. Next year I'll video tape for sure.

Happy Birthday to our four year old!

Old Tucson

Nonie and Grande took us to Old Tucson for the day. Very fun place! It's been a movie/TV set for almost every Western show or movie made in modern times. (Too numerous to mention!) I was surprised to find Little House on the Prairie was filmed there too! I guess with carefully disguised cacti Arizona will pass for Wisconsin?! The buildings in the "town" area would be very familiar to anyone who has seen the show. It was very fun to turn a corner and exclaim "Oh my gosh, that building is from The Three Amigos!".

In between filming, it is like a mini-amusement park with costumed actors wandering the streets playing out famous gun battles of the Old West. As seen below....

Will was cranky. He perked up a bit when we bought him his own Sheriff's badge and pistol. Not that you can tell from this photo.

I wanted to take my pictures of the buildings and play "guess the show this has been in" but my camera batteries died unexpectedly.

Arizona at last!

Sunshine, warmth, and Nonie and Grande! Hurrah!

Santa Fe, New Mexico

This year for our annual trip down to Tucson, we decided to try something different. We drove to Santa Fe and stayed there for a night. The kids did so much better than we expected in the hotel, which was a huge relief! Santa Fe is beautiful and so fun! We would love to go back for a longer stay. We happened to be there on a Sunday and many stores and most of the restaurants closed after lunch. It made finding dinner quite a challenge, but Trader Joe's to the rescue! Love that place! Here are some random scenery shots from the city.

Wood carving of Saint Joseph, who built the miraculous circular stairway in the Loretto Chapel.

The top of the steeple on the Loretto Chapel.

Beautiful statue outside of The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi.

(Sorry, a bit out of order! Relief from the door of the Basilica above. Statue atop the Loretto Chapel below.)

The front of the Basilica above. And a statue of a conquistador below. That's a parking ramp behind the statue by the way. Much more picturesque than the usual.

Gorgeous carvings from a fountain outside the basilica (above and below).

Loved, loved, loved all the turquoise woodwork in Santa Fe. One of my favorite colors!

Sorry, no pictures of the kids! They were there too I assure you. But they were running non-stop after having been cooped up in the car for the 6 hour drive down here. Imagine a little blur of child running through the photos if you must!

Gorgeous city I would highly recommend. The kids had fun, but it would be a great place for an adult weekend too- cute stores and restaurants. Maybe don't go on a Sunday though :)

Christmas 2010

A very Merry Christmas to you and yours from all of us.


May you have a little magic on Christmas Eve,




And may all of your wishes come true!

xoxo

Us

The Christmas countdown continues...

Wow, this crew is nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake! Off to bed with you all. And may you have visions of sugarplums dancing through your heads.

Off to Church....

Poor Will fell asleep. Deeply asleep. The excitement over the train wore him out and Children's Mass was not happening for him. But the older two cleaned up nicely.

Ice Skating Part Deux: Christmas Eve

The children were giddy with excitement today and racing about the house wreaking havoc. We decided to do something fun (and active) with them to occupy the time until we had to leave for church. Ice skating sounded like the perfect solution, so back to the rink we went for round two.

And who should show up at the rink on this Christmas Eve? Santa!

Eleanor could not believe her luck. Ice skating with Santa all to herself! It really must be Christmas!

Cool guy Will was still uninterested in the ice. I think he is destined to be a surfer. Hawaii bound.

And the ice skating had no chance once he saw what was pulling in across the street. A miniature train!! Dad was cajoled into taking him for a ride. (Paul was a good sport. The train really is tiny, built for toddlers. Will insisted that Daddy go too.)

This made his day.

And this made hers.

Merry Christmas to All!