Daddy’s Little Helper

Well our once moss-stricken lawn has finally grown in with a beautiful new layer of green grass (thanks to my parents’ hard work)! Tom has been dutifully mowing it each week. He doesn’t have to do it alone, however, he has a helper. As soon as Jack sees that Tom is getting out the lawn mower, he heads for the back yard to retrieve his own mower. He doesn’t really like the noise, but Jack wants to be a part of mowing the lawn. He follows behind Tom “mowing” with his toy lawn mower. It is too cute!

 

Jack always keeps one eye on Daddy and the lawn mower. He isn’t quite sure about the noise it makes.

 

Emmett wistfully watches. He wants to be big too!

Mother’s Day

Appreciated. Loved. Blessed. I know that Mother’s Day is a time to be thankful for our mothers (and I AM!), but as a mother, it was a day that reminded me of how thankful I am to BE a mother.

My day began with breakfast in bed handmade for me by Tom and Jack. Jack was so proud of the yogurt, granola, fresh fruit, and coffee as he helped Daddy bring it in on a tray. He sat with me as I ate, prompting me to try each of the items on the tray. 

After breakfast, Jack and I got to be detectives together. Tom had created a set of clues for me to find, leading me to my present. Jack thought it was super cool to hunt for the little slips of paper. With each one that we found, he’d hand me the paper, wait for me to read it aloud, and then grab my hand to race to the next clue. At the end of the trail, a hummingbird feeder awaited me. It is already hanging outside our living room window. Jack can hardly wait for the first hummingbird to sample its sweet sugar.

I wrestled a little with my boys before heading out on a run. The Rock-n-Roll half-marathon is a little over a month away and I am working to get my distance up. Yesterday I did 7 miles, which is the furthest I’ve gone to date. Surprisingly, I’m enjoying it—I find that when I run I am able to clear my head and get back in tune with my body.

After showers and such, we got in the car to head to MV. We joined my brother and Joanna, my aunt, uncle, and cousin, and my grandmother at my parent’s house for a late afternoon lunch. My incredible mom prepared a delicious spread. Jack and Emmett soaked up every ounce of the good weather. We played outside the entire afternoon. It was awesome.

 

Throughout the day I felt loved. I felt appreciated. I felt blessed. I felt like I am exactly where I am supposed to be, doing exactly what I am being called to do right now—love my boys.

 

 

Maritime Festival

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, so we made the most of it by venturing to the Maritime Festival down on the waterfront.  There were boats galore--everything from Coast Guard vessels and tugboats to the fire boat, which sprayed huge amounts of water into the air. It was hands down, a little boy’s dream!

As if the boats weren’t enough, they also were having a Chowder Cook-Off as part of the festival. For 5 bucks, you got a passport which entitled you to chowder at 9 different restaurants on the waterfront. Yummy!

 

The festival had lots of arts and crafts for kids to do. Jack chose to make a pirate’s hook. 

For those of you with children, there is great fun to be had at the Maritime Event Center, which is located inside of the Bell Harbor Conference Center. It is full of hands-on nautical stuff, like replica boats you can pretend to drive, a waterway with toy boats, commercial fishing stuff, and tons of other cool stuff!  The best part is, it’s FREE!  Check it out at:  http://www.maritimeeventcenter.com/

What a fantastic Saturday!

Little Huskies

Jack and Emmett cheered hard on Friday night at the Husky Spring Game. Jack was so excited for the game all day Friday, he kept asking me when it was time to go.

  Jack was absolutely mesmerized by all of the action in the stadium. He was in awe when the Dawgs came out of the smoke in the tunnel. He loved watching the band, especially when (in his words) they shook their bums. He liked watching the cheerleaders jump and dance. Perhaps his favorite part, however, was tearing up paper into little pieces, throwing it up in the air, and yelling Hooray! Funny enough, this is exactly what my brother and I did for hours on end at Husky games when we were little.

Emmett was a little more unsure of the event. This was his first football game (besides in utero) and he thought that it had a lot of really loud noises. But after a quick nap in my arms, he was ready to take in all of the action around him. He sat contently on Nana B’s lap just looking at the people yelling and cheering.

We made it until nearly the 4th quarter, but decided to leave because it began pouring down rain. Jack was devastated, as only a two-year old can be, and has mentioned several times since the game that he’d like to go back to the stadium. I guess that means we’ll get to brave football season with two little guys. Go Huskies!

Nana B cheers with her boys.

  

Jack watches for the football team.    Emmett shows off his two teeth!