a Pirate Party and a ballgame

I thought I should share some photos from Collin's pirate party that we had 2 weeks ago....I'm such a bad blogger.

 The cupcakes. (the brown is supposed to be an island)

 My 3 Pirates

 Opening gifts from the grandparents before our friends arrive

 On a scavenger hunt to find the treasure map! (the scavenger hunt was actually a back up in case it rained, but we combined the 2 to make it last longer)

 Looking for treasure

 Found it!

 It took a long time to get the pinata open. Dan and I eventually had to grab it and rip it open.

 Collin didn't want a candle, but we sang to him anyhow.

The cute kids eating their cupcakes and icecream.

We had a blast!

Later that night we headed tot he Wingnuts game with family and friends.

 A couple of the players read a story to the kids before the game.

 Keegan and Collin...I believe they were trying to be rappers.

 This kid is the picture of adorable orneriness.

Beer run. Oh, and to get me some tacos.

Cheering for the Wingnuts. He would raise his hand up and yell "woo!" It was super cute.

a baby no more, my big boy is 4!

(Okay, so this is a week late... sue me)

It's hard to believe that 4 years ago I became a mommy for the first time. I hardly remember a time when I only had 1 child, let alone one teeny tiny little baby who depended on me for everything. Where has the time gone?

I remember so clearly giving birth to him, bringing him home from the hospital, nursing and rocking him, his first steps. And now...

Such a stud.

Collin,
You are such an incredible little boy. I can't even begin to tell you all the joy that you bring to my life. I love watching you play, and how you teach your little brothers new things. Though ornery and stubborn at times, you have such a good heart, and you try really hard to do what is right. I love your appetite for learning and how you constantly ask questions (and almost always remember the answer).
I love your love of music and your ability to remember the lyrics and the tune, and even kind of sing on pitch (you get that from me). Though I'm not a huge sports fanatic, I love how much you love every single sport (you get that from your daddy, though he doesn't get excited about Nascar like you do). It amazes me that you are willing to sit and just watch baseball or football on tv. I think you enjoy this mostly because it's something you can share with daddy, and that's awesome.
You love to play games and do puzzles, and your new found favorite are puzzles that are also games! You learn the rules quickly, and though you tend to have a temper when things don't go your way (sadly that probably comes from me as well) you'll still play the same games over and over and over again.
Last week you started preschool. I can't believe you are old enough to go to school. You only go 2 days a week, but that is enough for both of us. It's been a little bit of an adjustment. You've cried a couple times when I drop you off, which in turn makes me cry, but you always have fun when you are there.
You are never lacking for energy but you always take time to stop and snuggle with me. I love it. You promised me that you would still want to hang out with me, and give me hugs when you are all grown up. I hope you do because I will never outgrow snuggling with you.

Happy (belated) birthday, sweet boy! I love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

today

Today I enrolled my baby boy in preschool. How can it be that he is old enough to go off to school without me by his side?

We weren't planning on sending him to preschool. He was going to stay home with me for another year. I was going to do daycare again to make money. He was going to be socialized here in the comfort of our home under my supervision. *sigh* He's growing up too fast.
Okay, so it's only 2 mornings a week, but still. It's gonna be hard. Collin, however, is very excited. After all, he gets to eat snack at school every day.
This is going to be really good for him, and me. 2 mornings a week I'll only have 2 children which means it will be way easier to run to the grocery store. Like I said, we weren't planning on sending him next year, but an opportunity for a "free" 2 day program opened up and we decided to grab it.
Now that he's going to school I won't be doing daycare because I have to be able to take him to school and pick him up. Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to have my days open for playdates and crafting during nap time, I just have to figure out another way to make money now. So you should go buy things from my etsy store. Or check out my blog and donate, or advertise.  :)

Healthy Heros!

Yesterday, we took the 2 older boys to see Elmo's Healthy Heros at the Intrust Bank Arena. We had so. much. fun. I was a little worried that Ronan wouldn't like it because we met Elmo over spring break and he was terrified. Our seats yesterday, however, were all the way at the top so there was no fear of the red furry monster trying to hug him.

We got our tickets to the show for free for allowing a friend to do a fire safety talk. Way worth it to inform our family of potential fire hazards in our home, even without the tickets.

Daddy and his boys

Mommy and the boys

 Super Grover! He lost his superness :(

 The dancing Irish sheep were Dan's favorite

Super Grover found his superness! All he needed to do was sleep, eat healthy, and take a bath!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Collin!

On Wednesday my sweet baby boy turned 3 years old. How has 3 years gone by already? I remember everything about his birth as though it was yesterday. It's hard to believe that he my little baby, once so small and dependent on his mommy, is now so big and idependant.

He's grown so much in the last year, though not destined to be tall. He wears mostly 3T now but can still fit into most of his 2T and even has a pair of shorts that are 18 months. My kids have tiny hinies.

Collin is my puzzle wiz. He does 24 piece puzzles all by himself, and even has a couple 48 piece puzzles that he can do.

He loves picture finds such as "Where's Waldo?" and loves to sing and dance.

He knows all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case, and is beginning to know the letter sounds.

He knows all of his colors, counts consistently to 12, knows his basic shapes including octagon.

He is fully potty trained with very few accidents and even sleeps in his underwear now. He is getting good at dressing himself and even picks out his own clothes some days. (I have to just let it be when he doesn't match cause it's not worth the fight.)

Collin can be a feisty, stubborn little dude, but mostly he is my big helper who loves to give hugs, play with his brothers, and help me make cookies.

I love every minute of watching him grown and learn and am so thankful that I get to spend my days at home with him. In just 2 short years he'll be off to school.....sigh.

Happy Birthday my sweet, sweet Collin! I love you!

what moms can't do

There is a really cute book series that my boys love and one of them is titled "What Moms Can't Do". This book is all about the things we do every day that the kids just HAVE to help with. I'm sure that every mom can relate. In the last year or so I have learned that I can not make cookies without help from Collin. Or without making a mess.

On Saturday Collin helped me make Banana Chip Cookies. They were super yummy and we had a lot of fun making them.

First my super cute helper mixed the batter.

Then said helper taste tested the batter. (This is a very important step.)

Next he made sure that there was sufficient mess to keep mommy busy cleaning for a while.

We put the batter on the tray.Cooked them to perfection. And most importantly, tested the finished product.

I think they were a hit.

happy love day

Happy Valentine's Day!
Today I am blessed to have been with my wonderful husband for 5 years. We haven't been married that long, but today marks the day the we "officially" started dating 5 years ago. I knew from the very beginning that he is who I wanted to spend my life with.
This afternoon we went to lunch together, without the boys, and then finished up shopping for Ronan's birthday.

Earlier in the week I baked some delicious mini cupcakes for Dan to take to school and share with the staff. The cupcakes were straberry flavored with chocolate frosting and candy toppings. Quite delicious if I do say so myself. As Dan ran out the door in a hurry to get to a meeting, he slipped on some ice and lost more than half the cupcakes. Ooops. He felt way worse about it than I was dissapointed.

In preparation for Valentine's Day I made a centerpiece for our dinner table out of an old tissue box.

And the boys helped me make gifts for the grandparents. I let the boys finger paint some different colored paper which I then cut into hearts, and attatched to green pipe cleaners to look like flowers. Collin helped my decorate old formula cans to use as the flower pots. We placed the flowers inside and added some candy to hold them in place. I also pasted their picture to one heart to add a personal touch.

My gift from the boys for Valentine's Day was 2 new fish for our tank.

Poor Jazz was getting lonely.

The pretty black fish is one of our new friends, Oliver, or Ollie for short.

This is Bumblebee. Our other new friend. Collin got to name him.
The boys love to stare at the fish. Ronan stands there yelling "Bumbee!" and "Azz!" and "Aahh!"

For our Valentine's dinner I made linguini with tomato and mushroom sauce and heart shaped turkey meatballs.

Dan wanted to make sure that I got his picture in too. Don't you like his pretty pink shirt?The boys devoured the food.

I hope everyone had an equally enjoyable Valentine's Day!