St Patty's Day!!

Getting Ready

Kevin was gone all week so my mom flew in to hang with me, play with Colin, help me with my Annual St. Patrick's Day Feast, and to help me with some home projects I have been planning.

The results of the decorating are "hidden" among the party pics!

(new family picture collage/accent wall!) 

 My awesome in laws were also in town for spring break and were a ton of help!

 Pre-party play!

 Loving baby Blake!

 All week Colin has been doing this lip thing and I had to capture it!

 New and old accessories!

We moved around some pictures and Kevin bought me a new temple painting that I love!  

 

The Party

 Kevin's cousins Andrea, Greg and "Pot of Gold" baby Scott!

How cute are their shirts?  Andrea is quite crafty and sewed the shirts and they made little Scott a gold coin vest! They won the prize for best outfit, hands down! 

They weren't the only ones decked out if St. Patty's Day gear!  With a red headed Irish baby you have to go all out!  My mom worked so hard on this costume and Colin looked SOOOO adorable!

He served as the official greeter for the party!

As always, we had some amazing treats brought by the attendees!

Despite all his efforts, Kevin didn't quite make it back in time for the party and requested lots of pictures! 

Even though we had a babysitter upstairs for Colin and Dylan, Colin liked being part of the party (and hitting poor Scott with Andrea's iPhone...oops!)

 Such a tired boy!

A Leprechaun Surprise!

Colin made a surprise appearance and helped complete our St. Patrick's Day surprise for Atticus! I think Colin had just as much fun as Atticus! 

Filling up his pot of gold!

Finding his rainbow cake!!

We love you Atticus!

Peekaboo With Nana

Colin started walking a few weeks ago.  Such a big accomplishment for our little guy!  Kevin was gone again last week so Nana came to play with us!  Here's Colin walking and playing peekaboo, his favorite game!

Once Upon a Time...

...there was a little boy who loved to make cookies.  He would beg and plead for his mommy to make them for him until one day he learned how to make them for himself.  He would spend all Sunday afternoon in the kitchen perfecting his recipes and making delicious cookies of all varieties.  He even won awards at the county fair for his cookies.  Family members soon started begging him to make them cookies.

Well, time passed and the little boy grew up and soon had his own little boy.  One day while the little boy was still too young to know what a cookie was, the now grown up boy decided that it was time to teach this little boy how to make cookies.

 So into the kitchen they went to create the most amazing sugar cookies the world has ever known.

And while the little boy enjoyed eating the cookies...

what he really enjoyed was time spent with his daddy!

I'm So Glad When Daddy STAYS Home!

We had the best day yesterday!

Kevin took a much needed day off after billing 300.5 hours in the month of February.  

Just do the math on that one, I dare you!

We slept in, took naps, had Chinese for lunch (our favorite weekend lunch!), went to the zoo, and then went on a date sans Colin.

I love seeing these two together!

When I took Colin to the zoo, I pretty much left him in his stroller.  

Not Kevin!  No - he wanted to make sure Colin had a good view of everything.

That is, until Daddy's arms started hurting!  Then back in the stroller he went!

In the children's zoo area they have this cute "underground" area where the kids can crawl through tunnels and then pop up in the exhibit!  

Colin has been through several times, but this time Daddy was trailing him.  

I love my boys!!

Total Impulse Purchase

Midweek dates with Kevin and Colin usually consist of take out and a trip to Costco.  We love drooling over TVs and other cool new gadgets and things and Colin loves to people watch.  So many sounds, smells (yes, I would like to try a bacon wrapped scallop!), and colors!  

Costco is a wonderful sensory overload for Colin :)

Well, on our most recent trip they were selling these stuffed animal seats.  Kevin pulled one out of the box to show Colin and he got SOOOOO excited!  I mean, like, he was kind of panting and hyperventilating excited!  

Now, one thing you should know about Colin is that he doesn't often get excited or ruffled.  In fact, on all of our Costco trips we take Colin into the big freezer/fridge, and he doesn't even blink in the cold.  He doesn't even notice, or rather acknowledge, the difference.  We go toy shopping too (more for us than him) and he just stares at the people and not the super awesome toy I am holding out to him.

Not this time!  He reached out for the big froggy seat and hugged it to him, smiled super big, and started the giggle.  It was beyond adorable.

So we did what any other responsible and awesome parent would do - we bought the bright green frog, strapped it into the seat next to Colin's carseat, and brought it home.

I stand by my decision!  

Those smiles and giggles were totally worth it!

Mother of Three?

Last week Baby Blake made his entrance into the world on his own terms.  I'm sorry, Mom, you have a c-section scheduled?  Well, I don't really care, I am ready NOW! 

While his earlier than expected arrival resulted in a 1:00am dash to Arlington to pick up Kate and Dylan, after meeting this adorable little guy I couldn't hold it against him!  He was just so sweet!  

Kate is absolutely in love with her little brother and held him most of our visit to the hospital.

Dylan was a little less thrilled with new baby brother, but I think he is getting used to the idea :)

Playing in the windowsill 

Well, I had the kiddos for three full days and instantly went from the mother of one to three.  The kids were so good that we were able to have lots of fun!  

We colored, blew bubbles, played, jumped rope, danced, watched movies, went to the park, played with chalk, braved the zoo, ate snacks constantly, and collapsed every night in sheer exhaustion!

Kate was a HUGE help with the boys!  14 and 22 months and all over the place all the time and usually in different directions!

Colin likes to run away...

Thankfully Dylan was there to keep him in line!

Such cute kids :)

Gettin' Crafty!

Spending Valentine's Day without my honey would have been a lot more depressing if I weren't surrounded by those that love me and my mini Valentine!

Nana making sugar cookies with Colin

While Kevin toiled and toiled in Moscow, I ate Vday candy, sugar cookies, a delicious dinner, and got to make a Vday craft with my bestie/cousin, Val!

Val wanted some sort of Vday craft and so my mom and I came up with these adorable blocks...it was truly a collaborative project!  If you put three great minds together, you can come up with some pretty cure stuff!

The mess:

Matching in purple! 

Ridiculously proud!

The finished product!