I Didn't Know...

I always knew I wanted to be a mommy,

but I didn't know...

...I would love you before you even existed.

...my heart would grow every time I hear you say "Mama."

...that you would inspire and motivate me to be better.

...that you would frustrate the pants right off of me.

...how much you would teach me about myself. And God.

...how much my patience, and sanity, would be tested.

...how wonderful motherhood would be.

...how difficult motherhood would be.

...being surrounded by boys is so much fun.

...just how little sleep I can survive on.

...it would constantly remind me how great our God is.

...how much I would grow to love and appreciate my own mom even more than I did before.

...how boring my life must have been before you came along.

...how full my life is with you in it.

...how much fun I would have.

...how much love my heart could hold.

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As I was getting the boys ready for church this morning, I tired to pick out coordinating clothes for the three of us as I knew I wanted to capture the perfect Mother's Day portraits.

Drew's insisted on the orange shirt. The one that clashed with my outfit.

I also had wanted to take our photos after church, before lunch dirtied faces and naptime ruffled clothes.

These didn't get taken until just before we headed out for dinner.

Drew has dried sucker slobber on his lips.

His orange shirt has marker on it, and so does his chin.

Reed has marker on his hands and arms.

And a Buzz band-aid on his knee.

We all have bedhead and wrinkled clothes.

The van is the background is a bit unattractive.

And the wind is blowing.

Everything is absolutely perfect.

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My Mother's Day included cards from my main man, and my little men (which included that flashy "1 in 1,000,000" sticker seen above...and yes, I wore it all day!).

A handmade handprint pillow from Drew (made at preschool).

An uninterrupted afternoon nap, followed by two hours of uninterrupted creative time.

Dinner at Culver's (of course).

And the promise of a new piece of jewelry...coming soon. :)

Picture of the Day, Weeks 17 & 18

Sunday {4.24.11}

The boys in their Easter Sunday best.

Monday {4.25.11}

A couple months ago, I asked Drew to put the alphabet magnets in order. He could do most of them, but not all of them. I asked him again today, and he did it! He only had to ask me about one letter (he held up 'F' and asked me, "Mom, is this 'F'?"). Another milestone reached!

Tuesday {4.26.11}

We attended our first parent/teacher conference for Drew this morning, where we were shown a few examples of his work. These are progressive self-portraits, drawn in October, January, and March. These will stay on file at school as he'll do the same drawings next year, so I snapped a quick pic to remember them. :)

Wednesday {4.27.11}

Drew finally figured out that he can open the pantry from the bottom, and it didn't take long for Reed to learn by example. The good news, I guess: they can now grab a snack for themselves. The bad news: they grab whatever, whenever they want! It didn't take long for a child safety lock to be placed!

Thursday {4.28.11}

The boys and I took off this afternoon for a little weekend getaway to Minnesota. This photo was taken on our drive; however, it has nothing to do with our actual trip. This is just a little commentary on how much I hate crossing bridges. Especially ones over water. Especially with the boys in the van. Especially this particular one that is incredibly narrow and claustrophobic. I've always hated bridges, but my fear has become especially palpable since the I-35 bridge collapse in Minnesota, a bridge on my home-turf. I just can't get the imagery and the tragedy out of my head. Needless to say, I do a lot of praying and breath-holding and a little speeding when crossing these.

Friday {4.29.11}

Weekend fun at Grammy & Papa's!

Saturday {4.30.11}

Grammy & Papa with their five grandchildren

(just ignore Grumpy McGrumpykins on the far left). :)

Sunday {5.1.11}

My parents and I were watching TV when the news cut in with a special report. We waited and waited to hear the President speak, confirming the death of Osama Bin Laden. Definitely a history-making moment. {I'm also including in my Project Life book a screenshot of our local newspaper headline from Monday morning, as well as a copy of the President's speech, which can be found HERE.}

Monday {5.2.11}

We made the long trek back home today, making our usual midway pit stop to eat and get the wiggles out.

Tuesday {5.3.11}

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I wanted to make something for the boys' teachers. I saw these bookmarks here, and found them adorable. They were easy and fun to make, and I love how they turned out. We gave them to Mrs. Bland and Mrs. Cindy today (as well as a version of this to hang in their classroom), and we also gave one to Alison, Reed's speech therapist.

Wednesday {5.4.11}

The rain and clouds and cool weather we've had for the past week is starting to clear up, so the boys and I took Luci on a short walk around the block. It was great exercise for all of us!

Thursday {5.5.11}

Our current stack of magazine subscriptions.

Friday {5.6.11}

The boys and I spent two days at my cousin's house with the intention of giving her a few helping hands with her garage sale. I don't know if I helped as much as I gave her three kiddos a few extra playmates! My boys had a great time...

Saturday {5.7.11}

...because this was how they looked 10 minutes after getting in the van to head for home! YAY for two days full of sunshine and fun!

Weekend Getaway

The (little) guys and I were able to make a quick 4-day getaway to Minnesota this past weekend. (Brad remained at home; that's kind of the stickler of having a weekend job. But while we miss each other terribly, I think Brad enjoys the peace and quiet while we are away!) I say "quick" but there isn't much that's quick about an eight hour van ride to the north! We left Thursday afternoon, after speech therapy, around 1:30. And while traveling with a parent-child ratio of 1:2 isn't the easiest, both boys traveled great and we made it into my parents' place in just under eight hours. Whew! Let's just say there's a hearty supply of snacks, very few liquids, and a constant flow of G-rated movies!

We had planned on this weekend because it seemed that everyone's work and personal schedules would allow for all of my family to join us at Grammy & Papa's place. We were so fortunate to have everyone there (minus Brad...boo) to enjoy each other's company. We did a lot of playing. Here's a few highlights.

Because our visit happened to fall the weekend after Easter, the Easter bunny planned in advance and left eggs with Grammy and Papa to hide. Because the weather wasn't completely cooperative during our time there, the eggs were hidden inside for the four boys to hunt. Each grandchild also had to find their own Easter basket, which was also hidden in the house somewhere. (This is very reminiscent of my childhood. Grandma and Grandpa Gushee would hide our Easter baskets to find. In the dryer, the pantry, or the curio cabinet were a few favorite places.)

(And as a bonus, I was able to escape for a few hours on Sunday to meet the newest member of the Vrieze family, very good friends of ours. Thanks for babysitting, Mom and Dad!)

We had a really great time. We always do. When we got home and I got a chance to upload my photos, I found this gem (it must have been taken when I was gone).

Love it.

Report Card Time!

Brad and I experienced one of our "firsts" of parenting last Tuesday when we met with Mrs. Bland for our first parent/teacher conference. While I always receive a good report ("Drew had a great day!") when I pick him up from school, it was nice to be able to sit with his teacher to learn more about the specifics of his day, what he does in class, and the new things he learning.

His first report card. :)

We were also shown a few samples of his work, showing his progress with some of the objectives with the three-year-old class. One was a piece of construction paper he had cut into a circle, to show us his progress with scissors. And on that circle he had written his name, which looked great. Then Mrs. Bland showed us these; progressive self-portraits Drew had drawn in October, January, and then in March.

I found these hilarious! Apparently Drew gained a little weight in January and then lost it again in March! :)

Mrs. Bland commented that Drew is the perfect example of why kids should go to preschool. He's gone from a quiet wallflower to a social butterfly. A recent trend I've noticed when I drop him off is that many of his classmates say "Hi Drew!" when they see him. I love that. He's simply blossoming at school.

YAY!

April Art

Drew's art gallery this month is full of spring and Easter crafts.

4/5/11

A flower box, full of flowers Drew cut from magazines.

4/7/11

Umm... a chicken... I think???

4/12/11

Drew first told me that was his tail on his tummy. Then he changed his mind and said it was his really fluffy tummy. :)

4/14/11

Watercolor egg.

4/21/11

His bunny ears and art project from his school party. And that's his basket from school, which is overflowing with his and Reed's candy from school, church, and home. That should last us for a while.

Easter Sunday

We had what seemed like a day-long celebration for Easter. Brad was up and out the door quite early for the sunrise service. I'd like to say that I'm such a Supermom that I'm able to master getting both boys ready on my own and out the door for a 7:30am service...but, uh, n.o. {I realize now typing that that it's pretty lame. You know, mom's who work outside the home have to have their children up and at 'em much sooner than 7:30 in the morning. And so yes. I'm a bit spoiled in this regard. And I know it.}

I digress.

Easter. Yes, ok. So we weren't over to church by 7:30, but the little boys and I were over there by 8:10 to enjoy the Easter breakfast with Brad and the other early morning risers.

We then enjoyed our regular morning service, and the boys went to Children's Church and took part in the egg hunt with the other kids.

Because Brad is gone so early in the morning, there's no way we can hunt for eggs before he leaves. Thankfully, the Easter Bunny is very accommodating of our schedule and, during Sunday school, he/she arrives to hide eggs in our backyard for the boys to find after our morning at church is done.

Before they ventured into the backyard to hunt, though, they blew off some steam in our side yard.

Then the hunt began!

The haul.

Man, that bunny likes chocolate!

Brad and I had talked briefly about how we wanted to approach the whole Easter bunny thing with our kids. Does the bunny give both eggs and baskets? Does the bunny give the eggs and then the baskets come from us? Do we forego the bunny altogether and tell the boys it's all from us? In the end, we decided that the bunny can take the credit for the hidden eggs, and we'll tell the boys their baskets full of goodies are from us.

After they finished finding and opening their eggs, we gave the boys their baskets. I like the idea of giving them each a new movie as a yearly Easter basket tradition, and everything else was a cheap, fun find for extra fill (color wonder, car, and a couple larger pieces of candy).

Our day concluded with an extra special Easter dinner, complete with ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, corn, and frog eye salad. Oh, and a few deviled eggs. We'll have a few of those to eat as a result of our egg art fun. We're not fancy enough for nice dishes, but regardless of casual serving bowls (note the Steamfresh corn bag!), it was a really good meal, with plenty of leftovers to last the remainder of the week.

Through it all, we wanted to be sure we were teaching the boys the real reason for the Easter season; that is, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For about 10 days, we read different parts of the Easter story with some kind of visual reminder for that portion of the story. For example, for the story of Palm Sunday and Jesus' entrance into Jerusalem, our symbol was the donkey. Drew was really captivated by the story, and each day he asked about it. Reed sat still for about two seconds before he wandered off to do something else. We know that neither one of them really "get it;" grasping the concept of death is difficult enough but then tack on the whole idea of rising from the grave AND that in doing so Jesus saved humankind...well, that's a concept even difficult for adults to grasp. But I'm hopeful that seeds are being planted, and that faith will begin to blossom for our boys. Our greatest prayer is that they would come to know, love, and serve Christ. It is, by far, our greatest responsibility as parents.

{Update: I caught a small glimmer of Drew's understanding of Jesus' death and resurrection, or at least recognizing that Jesus died and then became alive again. We were listening to a children's praise song that Drew hadn't heard before called "Radical God." No where in the song does it mention Jesus' name, but it does say "He came to be a man and then he came to die. But he didn't stay dead, because he couldn't stay dead. He rose from the grave..." In the middle of singing, Drew stops and says, "Mom! They're singing about Jesus!" It made my heart very, very happy.}