Grandparents and Glitterbugs ...

Well, the boys have been waiting such a long time for this visit with Grandma and Papa and it was well worth it! Unfortunately, the weekend started off with a little disappointment as the boys were really excited to go to a friends birthday party, but they had each had a virus earlier this week and we decided it was best that we didn't spread it around to everyone else, just in case they were still contagious. The bright side was, this enabled us to get on the road back to Mac that much quicker. This helped ease their sorrows a little.

The first night the boys and Papa were on a mission to collect fireflies.

They caught quite a few. But the boys decided that since the fireflies weren't hot, that wasn't a good name for them ....

so, they renamed them Glitterbugs. I love it = )

The next day we headed out to the little fishing lake that's just outside of town. I'm not sure who had a better time, the boys or Papa. I'm also not quite sure how no one ended up falling into the water, because as we all know, it is hard for these boys to keep still. One thing was for sure though, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves!

Here's where Riley spent most of his time ... behind the wheel. We kept it a slow pace and he drove us everywhere. He did a really great job and loved being such a big boy. The only time that dad took over was to load the boat on the trailer!

I can't recall what Gage was looking at here, but I just love this picture = )

Papa caught a couple of fish while on our excursion. Gage really dug checking them out up close and personal. He had no problem touching them all over. He loved that they were "slimery."

After all that hard work we headed back home so the boys could refuel. They devoured Papa's bbq'd pork ribs! They were so delicious the boys couldn't even put them down to smile for this picture = )

Corey also had a really great weekend. This was his annual "men only" golf weekend with several of his best buddies from over the years. It's a fun weekend for the guys to get away and just be silly like they were back in the day. Thankfully they all survived and will hopefully be recovered by the time this get together comes around next year = )

A Whole Lotta ...

On Wednesday we started out the day with a visit to our buddy Cooper who has recently undergone open heart surgery. It is amazing how well this awesome little guy is doing. It's truly nothing short of a miracle. The boys really enjoyed seeing him for a few minutes and were bummed I wouldn't let them stay longer, but I didn't want them to wear him out too much, or God forbid, hurt him. Even though we talked a whole lot about being gentle before we visited, sometimes Riley and Gage's definition of gentle varies greatly from my own. So, better safe than sorry.

Later that evening, we celebrated the 2 year anniversary of the boys pre-school. It was a whole lotta fun! There was a potluck bbq and tons of games for the kiddos to participate in and win prizes. You would think after being there all day the boys would've been ready to leave when the party was over, but they wanted to stay and have more fun! It was really fun to interact with the staff in a more social setting and meet some of the other parents. We are looking forward to more of these get togethers for sure.

This game was the hit of the night -- trying to make bean bags through the wholes in the construction paper. Both boys won a prize and played several times. Fun!

Gage also enjoyed making a cheerio necklace with his teacher, Miss Arely.

Riley putting one of his prizes to use -- a little periscope.
It is really pretty cool and actually works!

On Friday the boys did a whole lotta celebrating! They had a water day at pre-school and got to play in the sprinklers during the afternoon. After school we headed to their good buddy Kohen's birthday party. It was Toy Story themed so everyone was super excited!

Gage proclaiming to be "king of the planet!"

Riley and the birthday boy climbing in the tunnel - with pizza in hand = )

After the park the party moved to the movie theatre to see Toy Story 3D. This is where things took a turn for the worse and started to get a whole lotta scary. Apparently the combination of all that time outside took its toll on our little redhead. He came down with a pretty bad case of heat exhaustion. It began with him just being really grumpy and whiny at the theatre, then progressed to him vomiting -- in the movie theatre. Yep, that was not awesome. So, I hustled the little fella home while Corey and Riley stayed for the show. The rest of the evening was terrible and I contemplated taking Gage to the ER several times. He vomited 6 or 7 times between 7:00pm and 4:00am. I just kept doing everything I could to keep his core temperature down - baths, sponge baths, no covers, cool gatorade and water. At one point around 2:00 am I finally called the ER to see if they could tell me if I needed to bring him in or not. They explained that they couldn't advise me what to do over the phone, but gave me some very valuable information. There is a group called "the Visiting Nurses" and they have a 24hr hotline - 1-800-932-6220. You can call them anytime, for free, you tell them all of the symptoms and they ask a ton of questions. From there they can advise you on home remedies or if you need to get to the hospital or call an ambulance. If either of the latter two apply, they will forward all of the info you gave them to the ER. What a great service! Anyhow, they helped ease my fears and told me to keep doing what I had been and explained what things to look for that would warrant a trip to the ER - such as muscle cramping, delirium, not being able to walk or drink on his own, etc. So, after that long scary night, Gage and I mostly napped and drank gatorade for the entire day on Saturday, while Corey kept Riley busy out of the house doing "guy stuff" -- which Riley loved, especially since it included a trip to his beloved "airplane port!"

Thankfully, Sunday morning started out great. Gage woke up finally back to his funny little self and it was all he and his brother could do to let their daddy sleep in. They wanted him up right away so he could open his special presents that they picked out just for their special daddy! Gage was super excited for Corey to open the Batman T-shirt that he picked out (I know, Gage picked something Batman, huge surprise = ) Riley picked out a cool surfboard shirt that Corey really liked. And finally, the coup de grace, is pictured below ... keep in mind they picked this out "just for daddy" -- uh, huh.

Daddy with his boys and his super special, transforming, remote control,

robot to racecar.

Yep, there was a whole lotta good times had today with this awesome little present!

Whew! So much happened the past couple of days and it was a whole lotta fun!

What do you do with ....

leftover swim diapers from last year that no one will wear this year since they are big boys who go in the potty? Well, of course, you ...

put them on your head for cool skull caps ...

then you get daddy in the act for some gangsta/ninja action ...

then you launch full attack mode (since you're already in character) ...

then, you of course switch them around to chef hats and do some kung fu cooking!

After all of that your head will be super sweaty and you'll have some rad, spiked hair ...


or, if you're Gage, you'll want your hair dry so you'll put your underpants on your head ...
(made sense to him, anyhow!)

The End.

PING PONG!!!!

Oh my goodness, talk about fun! Some friends of ours had a 70's themed ping pong tournament at their home this weekend and it was a blast! The kiddos also had their fair share of fun with slip-n-slides, kiddie pools, and the big hit of the day -- a trampoline with a sprinkler underneath. Even though the trampoline gave Corey and I a couple of heart attack moments, the boy just jumped and giggled for hours = )

Here's Ali and me cheesing it up ... she and her friend Bobi had the BEST matching outfits!!

Corey celebrating after a punishing shot = )

An action shot ...

... and another of Corey playing some draw doubles.

Neither Corey nor myself have played ping pong in ages. Let me tell you, that game can be addictive. I can see this being an addition to our household soon!!!

Puddle-Jumpers ...

Hmmmm, so how do you break in brand new swimming trunks when it's pouring outside and too cool to swim? You run around in the rain like a crazy man and jump and splash in every puddle in sight!

Gager lovin' life in his super cute surfboard shorts

Riley is a splashin', splashin', splashin' machine!
Whew! It really started to pour which just made for that much more fun!

Another big puddle ... score!

Not sure what happened here, but thought the effect was cool = )

Boy, all that puddle jumping sure can wear a boy out!

Gage couldn't decide which towel to use, so he used both! So typical = )

No "Rain, Rain, Go Away" songs around here. We love it!!!!

Thank you - prayer request ...

Thank you for your prayers, they're working! Cooper is doing great and hopefully will be awake soon. Keep the prayers coming! God is good!

Prayer Request ...

A dear friend of ours, sweet little angel boy Cooper, is having major open heart surgery today. Please send prayers for strength for both him and his family. Here is a link to their site if you want to let them know that you're praying for them ... http://thekeeferfamily.blogspot.com/

Celebrate good times ... Come On! ... Let's celebrate ...

Oh how I love my boys! We had such a great time celebrating my birthday! There were some shenanigans and frustrations along the way (of course, this is just how things happen with us ... but that's cool, we get through it then appreciate to the smoothe times even more!!! = ) Anyhow, after some communication errors, we all finally met up at CiCi's for my birthday dinner. This was Riley and Gage's choice because, and I quote, "Mom it's awesome there! You get to eat pizza AND play video games!" Really, what more could a mom ask for on the mark of her 36th year young? So, we had a great time doing just that!

Me and Riles hangin'

(and yes, I'm wearing my sunglasses inside ... I was still a little frazzled from my day at this point and didn't even realize I still had them on until I saw the picture!)

Happy, happy Gage. This boy loves him some CiCi's pizza. Can you tell?


Here's a little video of why Riley was so stoked to take me to CiCi's. He absolutely LOVES this boat driving video game. This is actually one of the calmer videos. He gets seriously excited while playing this ... and loud!
I'm sure everyone in the restaurant really appreciated his enthusiasm = )


When we got home, the boys could hardly wait to help daddy present me with this awesome card! I LOVE IT!!! Especially the stick-figure drawing of Corey and the boys at the bottom = )

After some fantastic birthday song singing and ice cream, I had to open my present before Riley and Gage exploded. To them, it is just too much to see a wrapped present just sitting there ... those things need to be opened immediately don't you know?! So, after torturing them a little by procrastinating as much as I could (terrible, I know ... I'm calling it a lesson in patience) I finally opened my gift. It is exactly what I wanted! Thank you Corey for being such a good husband and picking up on all of the hints I've been hanging out there = )

Yay! My new sewing machine! I was so excited I couldn't wait to try it out!!!! The boys enjoyed checking it out as well and were looking all over for things for mommy to sew! Riley particularly liked helping press the foot pedal ... "Mom! This sew machine is fun to drive!!!"

So, all in all, it was a pretty fabulous day. The only thing that would've made it better is if I would've had the winning lottery ticket. But (and caution ... serious cheesiness ahead) with having such an amazing family, it's like I've already won the lottery. Thank you guys, I LOVE YOU!!!!!