Birthday pictures and general cuteness

Seth came home from school with this shield he made for Levi, he's such a thoughtful brother, and I really like his owl:

 Too many cooks in the kitchen! ... but it's fun.  Cookies take A LOT longer to make, but it is worth it:

 My birthday! 

 I love this picture. The boys crawling all over me.  Levi with his foot propped up on Seth. Seth wearing a random skull and cross bones hat? Boys wearing randomness.  Raya opening my presents. Me with a look of exasperation. This is us, and I love it. 

 I wanted strawberry short cake for my birthday... I think I'm longing for summer... four more months (bleck.)

 I have the most beautiful daughter.

 and he's not bad either! 

 I'll take them :) they're so cute!

lucky lady: me

I know it is insensible to think life will always be so perfect, I just want to savor this time in my life because, well frankly it is: my husband which I feel like our relationship continually gets stronger and happier ... and even when I think I can't love him anymore, I do.  My  beautiful, funny, bright, overwhelmingly cute children that drive me to be a better person and give me a purpose in life.  I love my life, and all the people in it.  It's my birthday today and I couldn't ask for a better gift than the life I have.  Happy birthday to me!

Wrapping it up

Miscellaneous sleigh ride picture... I just find it comical, I mean c'mon we're in a giant red sled like it's a normal thing to pose in:

And as I had mentioned before... like five posts ago, we had three birthday parties over a week and a half.  Seth's, then Jane's, then my young women's leader from back in the day! It was also a combined New Year's Eve party. It was nice seeing some old friends and some of my amazing yw leaders:

And... I can't believe I didn't get a picture of Jane's birthday.  Jeff and I made her a chocolate cake and met with the rest of the family to go out to eat for dinner.  We're excited to go whale watching with her this summer! (Our gift to her... She's wanted to go whale watching since as long as I've known her ... like nine years... and I'm sure she's wanted to go long before that... so we decided to get the ball rolling!)

Also... Levi. Levi, Levi, Levi. It's a shame he is so shy in public, because he really is the funniest kid and people don't even realize it. Short story:

For Christmas Eve we attended the Catholic Mass, "Midnight Mass" at 10:00 p.m.  -- Most of you know my kids go to bed routinely at 7:00 p.m.  Suffice it to say they were exhausted (and Seth was a bit overwhelmed and was crying by the end).  Seth couldn't fall asleep, but Levi did... He found the only cushioned area available... the padded kneeler in front of the pews. There he lay: sprawled out, preventing people from kneeling during the prayer portion of the service.

This semester...

Our schedule for this semester is a lot more low key.... I just want to hibernate with my kids reading books and playing games... so posterity here it is!  Our life for the next few months:

Monday: Montessori drop off 12:30 Pick Up 3:30

Tuesday: Mont. DO, PU

Wednesday: Library Storytime 9:30 and 10:30; Mont. DO, PU

Thursday: Mont. DO, PU

Friday: Science Center Pre-K lesson 10:30; Mont. DO, PU

Saturday: Swimming Lessons 10:30, 11:00

I have a five year old.

It has become a tradition in our family to make fun pancakes on the kids' birthday.  This year Seth requested a tiger .. and I just want to add, look how smashing Seth looks! Can you tell he dressed himself? :)

 Also its tradition to make fun birthday cakes, here are the boys ready to bake in their new chef outfits!

... and this is what Raya was up to while the cooks were busy .... this gift was intended for her babies ....

 Voila!

 Later that day we went to the bowling alley... this picture is outside of the bowling alley. Don't you just dig the purple?

 Raya really liked bowling...

 Seth had so much fun, and by the end he was bowling without assistance. (This was the first time we've taken  the kids bowling)

 The kids looked so cute in bowling shoes.

 Cake time!

 An unusually super silly Seth, he's so cute :)

 A book!

 A telescope!

 Bow in hand from uncle Todd and aunt Rachel. Cute homemade gifts from aunt Amanda and aunt Jessica.  Baby bear has been demoted by tiger.  That's a pretty big deal.

Thanks everyone!

Christmas

I love Christmas! The kids got a good haul too.  Thanks everyone who celebrated with us, and thanks to everyone for the cards and gifts.  I love looking at everyones' cards and reading newsletters.

Oh Christmas Tree....

Before Christmas the fam. and I went and cut down a Christmas tree (Jeff and I don't do fake trees) ... it was a little Charlie-brown tree that cost $10, but hey it was still a real tree.  We went to the Christmas tree farm that I went to when I was little.  It was fun seeing the kids make memories where I had when I was little.  Here's Raya in the hay fort.  One of the owners commented that she was the youngest child he's seen enter it. She's pretty fearless:

 The hunt begins:

 Raya didn't like the dogs or airplanes...

 Decorating!

9:10 p.m.

It should be more  7:10 p.m. 

The boys are still up.

I'm borderline insane.

Why?

The boys decided to poop together.

Just let your imaginations go wild for a minute.  Go on... go ahead.  
Two boys, one toilet. poop.

Sometimes I'm not cut out to be a mom, but sometimes, it's just so hilarious I wouldn't want to be anything else.

Two opposing feelings, one mom. insane.

It's been a common thing in our house for the boys to pee together.  They think it's fun, (is that weird? I don't know, that's another post).

It's also been a common thing in our house lately for the boys to stall going to bed, they've been pulling the "I have to go the the bathroom even though I went 30 minutes ago" tactic.
  I'm over it, I just say, "fine, go -- pee!"

This is what I thought was going on in the bathroom.

I don't know where to begin or end .. so I'll just leave with a mental picture:

I get up thinking something else has to be going on since they have been in the bathroom for way too long and I hear an increase of incessant giggles.  I open the door to find two bottomless boys standing hovering over the toilet, huge smiles ... with toothpaste tubes in their hands (have yet to find out what that was about) staring at Seth's poop.

"What are you doing??"

"We're pooping."

"WHAT???!"

 Seth flushes and Levi hops on the toilet for another turn to poop. 

Seth quickly starts wiping with copious amounts of toilet paper and shoves it in between the cracks of Levi's legs, while Levi is pooping. And then I notice poop smear on the bathroom floor from where they have sat.

And I'm done. and I'm laughing. ahhh....

A little cheese please

Overly processed cheese and a cheesy girl:

 I'm drawn towards junk food on car trips ... and while perusing the grocery isles I saw the large pack of  handi snack crackers and cheese -- flashback of childhood munchies-- I had to have them. Voila.  Instant happiness:

 Who would have guessed the side affects?

 "Want one?"

"Haha get your own!"

 5 minutes later .... crash.

I think I ate like 4 of those things in a row. ... and Raya, well, you can tell she's my baby!