May Cell Phone Dump

May seemed to have flown by, especially these last 2 weeks with birthday celebrations, graduations, illnesses, and an unexpected dryer fire.  I kind of enjoy looking back at the month and reminiscing over brief moments in time.

I love pictures of my boys hugging -- especially when it was their idea :)

 I feel like we spend so much time in the car

"Mommy, I want to make a silly face."

 These boys LOVE fountains!  I suspect I will have to fish Benji out of one of these at least once during his childhood.

 What? You don't eat your toast with a fork?

 Showing off our cool new shades (Luke picked them out himself)

 Enjoying his very first cherry limeade -- super special occasion, promise :)

 "Da-tur, Da-tur, Cheese!"  This boy LOVES tractors.

Watching the workers paint Gigi's new patio cover



 Poor Ben had a full body rash and on this particular evening his bottom was bothering him.  I decided to pull his diaper down a bit to let it air.  Turns out that plumber's crack doesn't seem to bother him one bit.

 My kids love to "ride" this elephant outside of the pediatrician's office.  I try not to think about how many other sick kids did the exact same thing before we got there.

 Luke's nose met pavement at school yesterday.  He is pretty cute with his red nose.

 Is he really old enough to be doing this already?  I blame big brother.

 Sweet shot of my sick boy.  I am so happy he is finally perking up!

Camping Day #2

Surprisingly, the boys slept well in the tent (this was one of my biggest concerns).  Ben started out on a little palette between our air mattress and Luke's twin size air mattress.  He eventually moved onto Luke's bed and fell asleep.  After an unknown amount of time he woke up because he fell in between the tent and the bed, which I imagine was quite scary.  After that he was in our bed with us and didn't make a peep til morning.  Luke tossed a bit, but pretty much slept well the entire night, despite his mattress losing almost all of its air (guess we need a new mattress). 

After breakfast and a long play at the park, we decided to go on a hike.  The boys were pretty much exhausted by this point so Andy I mostly carried them the entire way.  After our hike we ate some lunch and headed home.  The boys were both asleep within minutes of putting them into the car.  I don't think we are quite ready for 2 nights yet :)

Enjoying a little pre-breakfast snack :)

 Enjoying a snack before we went hiking

 All little boys need hiking sticks.  You can tell that this is pretty much the point where Luke checked out and was DONE with just about everything :)

I love this picture of Ben in his hat :)

 Showing us his muscles on a tree trunk

 And what brother does, Benji does

 They quickly went from this......

 ...to this!

Thanks Kelly and Steven for inviting us.  It wasn't nearly as bad as I was thinking and I might just go back someday :)

Camping Day #1

Some friends of ours invited us to go camping with them recently.  Andy has been wanting to go camping for quite some time now so I reluctantly agreed.  Thankfully our friends are camping pros and took care of most everything.  I was instructed to bring a tent, sleeping stuff, chairs and drinks for our family.  I was really looking for an excuse to not go, but they made it virtually impossible!!

While I would not say that I have been transformed, I will say that I had a favorable experience!  It was pretty warm, but we had a shady campsite and watching my boys enjoy the outdoors was worth its weight in gold.  It was also a good introduction into camping with only staying one night!

Luke really enjoyed playing with Caleb and Benjamin did all he could do to keep up with the big boys.  One of my favorite memories is Luke learning to pee on the tree.  He was so cute standing there with this undies close to his knees (we will work on less exposure next time).  Benji wanted to be just like his big brother and kept pulling at this diaper so that he could pee on the tree too - maybe when you are older, Ben :)

When we got there we met up with the Reals at the "Go Fish" event they had for kids.  The boys went from station to station learning about fishing. 

 Showing off their catches

 Back at the campsite

 This is a picture of Ben in a tree.  He did not like it one bit.

Checking out Mr. Steven's hammock 

So stinking cute!

We spent a lot of time at the park behind our campsite.  The boys really enjoyed playing, but it was a little too tall for this mommy's taste.

 S'more time!

 Ben really liked these head lamps Kelly brought

Great Minds Think Alike

Andy took this picture of Ben at Grandma's the other day.

Then I remembered this picture of Luke right around the time Ben was born.

Too cute!

Mother's Day

I was telling someone recently that being mom is the most rewarding thing that I have ever done.  It is also the most difficult thing I have ever done.  I find it hard to even remember what it was like before I was a mom of 2 boys.....what did I do with all of my time??  I feel fairly certain that I was not as productive as I could have been ;)

This year for Mother's Day Andy let me "sleep in" while he made me breakfast.  He didn't know exactly what I would be wanting so he made a few different things.  This small gesture meant a lot.  The boys were extra sweet and gave me extra hugs and kisses, too. 

The rest of the day was spent celebrating our moms.  We went to Nana's house first, followed by Grandma's house, and ultimately ended up at Gigi's house where Uncle Bub made us all a steak dinner. 

I wouldn't trade being a mom for anything in the world.  I thank God daily for picking me for the the job.

Four generations of Pitzer women!

 
Mother's Day Past: 2010, 2012