Sloppy February Wrap Up

Wowsers! I am so behind!  Im going to try and slowly catch up....my pictures got all messed up and I was unable to access them on my computer until a visit to the Geek Squad:)

Backing up to the end of February, just a quick wrap up of the rest of the month....

We met up with our buddies, the Ladd's at Slaughter Creek soccer fields to run around on a beautiful day.  Soccer was going to be starting soon and thought it would be fun for them to kick around the b all for a bit.  We could have stayed there all day, just sitting on a blanket watching the kids run around together.  After having been there for a while, we heard the familiar sound of the Ice Cream Truck!!!!  None of our kids had had this experience yet, so of course we said yes and they all, excitedly ran to the truck to pick their ice creams.

They all enjoyed their ice creams and made a huge, dripping mess....but thats all part of the fun, right?

In late February, my grandmother, Aunt Carol and my mom decided to all start cooking early one Sunday morning to make the best meal in the entire world. When we were younger, my grandmother would have us all over for dinner almost every Friday. We would all go to her second story apartment on Shoal Creek and sit around her oval table in her little dinning room. She would cook ALL DAY. She did this for years and years, and her mother did it before her. There is not a single thing that my grandmother cooks that I do not love.  Cous cous, vegetable and meat soup, red sauce, meatballs, stuffed cabbage, potatoes = Friday night dinner.  It takes ALL DAY LONG to cook, even between the three of them.  

But like every Sunday, we were all together at my parents house for dinner to enjoy this amazing meal together.

I savored every bite, and ate until it hurt. I was seriously giddy with excitement eating this meal. It is my absolute favorite meal!!!!  I miss having it so often.  It had probably been years since we had had that meal.  Its just too hard for my grandmother to spend that much time in the kitchen.  

I think I may have actually dreamt about it that night and woke up so happy to have eaten it the night before.  Not only is it so delicious, but it was so nostalgic and felt like it brought me back to my roots. It just made me so happy.  For dessert she would make macroud, brikas, deblas, boulou...my mouth is watering just typing the words.  It was just such a fun night to all be together and to share this amazing meal. I have such fun memories of my grandmother and that apartment on Shoal Creek. She no longer lives there, but we still get to make so many memories with her every Sunday at my parents house.

We checked out a new place close to our house called Stubb's Graceland BBQ with the Janaceks.  It was a beautiful night and the boys always love the Janacek boys. It is such a cool little spot, somewhere I hope we will frequent this summer!

February flew by me! And I can not believe that March is almost over too!  Sorry for the sloppy post, more to come....

Valentines Weekend

What a weekend!!!!

All three boys had their Valentines parties at school on Friday and I had volunteered to help organize Eli's class party.  Friday afternoon I headed up to Kiker to set up and stay for the party. Eli is doing amazing this year!  It is really fun to see him develop and learn so much in such a short time. His reading ability is amazing and he loves doing and practicing math. He got an amazing Spring conference report.  I am really very proud of him.

I remember being in elementary school and feeling really cool and special when my mom was up at the school and I got to see her. I am pretty sure Eli feels the same way just by the look on his face. I need to take this in while it lasts. I know soon enough he wont want to be seen with me in public.

The party was a hit and it was fun to see Eli with his two best buddies in his class- Ty and Andrew.

 I went straight from Eli's party to pick up Owen and Cash from school where they had their class parties. It was such a beautiful day that we stayed and played on the playground for a bit before heading home.

 After we picked up Eli from school, we met their friends Ty and Savannah for some frozen yogurt to celebrate the weekend and perfect spelling tests.  These two just love each other!

 We finished off the afternoon with a little pick up game of soccer in the front yard with my 4 boys. These are the moments I never want to forget.

 Saturday morning Kiker was having a Read and Run event at the school.  They had a Buy 1 Get 1 Free book fair set up inside and a loop around the school that was .6 of a mile to run laps. For every lap they ran, they got a ticket to enter into a raffle to win different things.
Eli was really excited about the run.

Owen jumped into the run too even though he isnt in Kinder yet. Eli ended up running over 2 miles without stopping.

After the run, we went to one of my very best childhood friends sons birthday parties at her house. Jayme and I reconnected after many years of not being in touch. Its been a blessing for both of us to be back together and be there for each other.  We spent the remainder of the day at her house.

Blaine was at work Saturday night, so when we got home, I pad a pallet for them in my room and we all slumbered together. 

 On the eve of Valentines I set up a little gift for the boys to wake up to. They have been begging for Snackeez for at least a year. They are a silly waste of space, and money, in my opinion but they really wanted them! So I finally broke down and got them each one with a few other little gifts.

 When I woke up, this is the mess that I woke up to.

I had scheduled a private skateboarding lesson for the boys at House Park for the morning of Valentines day as a surprise. They were so excited!!!

Since it was a Sunday, my Dad was home and came by to watch them and hang out.

This is as far as he got to trying the skateboard before realizing he was making a very bad decision.

We stopped at the graffiti park before heading to my parents house to hang out and have dinner.

It really was one of those weekends that was perfect. 

Training Wheel Free Home

We officially became a training wheel free household as of yesterday.  Cash and Eli both shed their wheels yesterday afternoon.

Eli just had not had any interest in his bike for the longest time.  I think he may have been discouraged that Owen had been riding his bike for over a year and he was having a harder time getting it down so he kinda gave up for a while.

But yesterday afternoon I asked Cash if he wanted to give it a shot. We practiced for about 2 minutes of me holding on from behind and he instantly got it. I turned around for a minute and then I hear "Look Mom!! I did it!!" and he was off riding clear across the cul-de-sac.  Eli saw that and got a new fire under him to get it too.  He always had it, he just didnt have the confidence or drive to keep trying after failing, until he saw his 3 year old brother doing it!  It took a few more than 2 minutes, but he got it very quickly too, and then they were all three off on their own!

On my way home from my workout I get a text from Eli from Blaine's phone at 6:30am - "Its Eli. I brushed my teeth and I got dressed. Can we ride bikes in the cold esac?"

Of course we can!