Flat Stanley Comes to Visit!

Last week the mailman, I heart the mailman, brought us an envelope all the way from Michigan (were we used to live!) and in it was Flat Stanley! For those of you who are not Stanley fans, he is a book character who is flattened by a bulletin board at school and then his parents mail him to California for a visit! Well, my nephew, Austin, is reading this book in school and made a Stanley. They mailed him to us for a 2 week adventure...and so it begins...(a little out of order, but fun none the less!)

Here are Brendan and Colin posing with Stanley outside of their school the first day he was visiting!

And at Colin's baseball game...he was a great cheerleader!

And riding the ferris wheel at our church's Easter carnival with Brendan, Kennedy and Colin

Standing outside in the courtyard of our church on Easter Sunday
Posing with Stanley in front of one of the "Flowering Crosses" at church on Sunday

Here he is sneaking into Brendan & Colin's Easter baskets before they woke up on Easter morning!We are having lots of fun taking Stanley on different adventures! The boys still want to take him to a couple of stadiums around us and to our city hall and of course one of Brendan's baseball games! We can't wait to send Stanley back to Austin with his journal full of adventures and pictures!

Easter Fun...

Before the boys went to bed on Saturday night, they were specifically told that they could NOT come out of their room until at least 7 am on Sunday morning and they listened!!! I was up at 6:30 getting everything ready when I heard them rustling around and calling out from behind the door..."Mommy, can we go potty?" and I was like, oh my gosh, yes!! After, we all went into my in my room and read the Easter story from the Bible. It was such a great feeling knowing that they are getting it...they know what Jesus did for us. They were asking questions and getting excited about it. We were there for almost half an hour as a family; it was awesome! After, they raced out to the family room to find their baskets!After baskets, it was time to find the eggs...

There it is!
After hunting eggs and a quick breakfast of warm, gooey, yummy, cinnamon rolls, we got ready and headed off to church!
Before dropping the kids off to their respective rooms, we stopped in the courtyard to "flower the cross". Each year our church puts bare wooden crosses in the courtyard to be covered with flowers. This represents the new life that Jesus offers us at Easter and every day. When He rose from the dead, He overcame eternal death once and for all for everyone who believes in Him. Once the crosses are covered in the beautiful flowers, they are carried into the sanctuary and placed up on the alter. They are so beautiful.
After church, there was a super fun carnival in the courtyard! They rode the 50 ft. ferris wheel, plus lots more!

Here is a picture of the boys sliding down the giant slide!

After playing at the carnival for a few hours, we headed home to get ready for dinner. Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jen, Cousin Kennedy and friends of my parents, came over to enjoy an Easter dinner of ham and all the fixin's!
We had such a great day and hope you and yours did too!

Happy Easter!

May you and your family have a Blessed Easter...

for Jesus Lives!!!

Flip Flops are FABULOUS!!

Last week, MiMi over at He & Me + 3 had her 1 year blogoversary! Everyone was sosososo excited about it, including me! She did a week long celebration with 5 days of giveaways from her fav things list! The catch...there was no catch; all you had to do was comment and follow. AND of course I do both...who wouldn't?! So anywho, on Saturday Random.org did the rest and the winners were chosen, posted and notified!

Yesterday in the mail, this is what I found...

That's right...FLIP FLOPS! I heart flip flops!
I was fortunate enough to have won Monday's giveaway which was a pair of Old Navy Flip Flops! AND the best part about it was, I got to pick the color! How fun was that...I had such a hard time deciding! AND the second best part...is that when I opened my package, I found not 1, BUT 2 pair of flops!!!

HOW EXCITING!!!!

So thanks MiMi (and congratulations again on your 1 year!), you are AWESOME and I totally LOVE my flip flops! And since I live in AZ, you know I wear'em, like, EVERYDAY!!!

Have a great weekend...I know I will, I have new flip flops!!!

WW~Hey Catcher, Catch This...

Blue Monday!

Since Stellan is still in the hospital, I am not feeling right about posting a 'Not Me!' Monday, but I am keeping track of all of the things that I have not been doing, so that when he is healed and at home, I can get all of that free therapy that I am missing out on!

Instead, I am linking up with Smiling Sally. I have seen this cute meme over at Debra's blog, Clothed With Scarlet, and thought I would give it a try! I actually had a really great one, but I used it for last week's Wordless Wednesday (thanks Tarah for the thought!). I am sure I can find another great on though!

Here are my 3 boys dressed in blue! This was right after Brendan's 1st baseball game when he received the game ball! This was also the game where he was hit by a pitch, made 2 amazing outs and had a 3 run homer! Blue Monday is easy for us for 2 reasons, we love the color blue and Brendan's is playing for the Cubs right now, which happen to have a blue uniform!

Here is Brendan and some of the other guys on his team. This was after one of his games for their team meeting...so serious for 9 and 10 year olds!

For more fun with Blue Monday, stop by Smiling Sally!

Happy Monday!

All In...All The Time!!

So while I was busy blogging, my boys (all 3 of them) were playing quietly together in the family room. As I came out of the den to get something to drink, this is what I found...

...Ryan teaching the boys to play Texas Hold'em!! Lovely!
So what is your husband teaching your kids when you're not around?!?!

I'm Gonna Miss This...

This post originally started out about the victorious week both boys had on the diamond, but it turned into an Your Gonna Miss This post! I am gonna miss being their everything...their cook, their chauffeur, their maid (not really, but...) but I will always be their cheerleader!!!
We are in the full swing of baseball season. It is consuming my life, but I am loving every minute of it! Between the 2 boys and the 2 different teams that they play on, we have baseball almost every night of the week.

This past week, Brendan had practice on Monday and games on Wednesday and Friday; and Colin had games on Wednesday and Saturday. Notice that they both had games on Wednesday night, therefore Ryan and I were split between the games as they were not at the same fields!

They did awesome at all of their games and 3 out of the 4 games were victorious! One of Brendan's games even ending in a mercy ruling! I love being outside in the sun watching my boys play a game they love!

This coming week, they both have practice on Monday, and games on Wednesday and Friday.

I know that one day soon, well maybe not too soon, they will be taking themselves to practices and games, but I will always be in the stands cheering them on!

For for You're Gonna Miss This moments, visit Pam.

Where's Mom?! 7/52 Photos of Me!

Are you a mom? Are you missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, and now there is a great meme that brings us moms out from behind the lens and puts us in front of the camera! I know it can be scary, but it really is, truly lots of fun! Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans set up this wonderful year long meme that does just that~brings us out from behind the lens and puts us in the spotlight! And the best part is, you can jump in whenever you start! For me, this will be my 7th week!

This is an oldie, but a goodie! Here I am with Brendan on his first day of Kindergarten, 3 and a half years ago. I was browsing through my old picture files and saw this and thought, oh, my goodness, he was so little and now he is 9 and so big!! At the time I was teaching pre-kindergarten at KinderCare and I was also one of the van drivers, so I was able to drive Brendan to and from school every day! He was so excited to be a kindergartener!!

So join this fun meme...give the camera to someone else, say cheese and join the fun!

WW~What's Thatchya Say...My Tongue's Blue...WIERD!!

I know I said I wan't posting, but WW is just so darn easy!

I am NOT MIA....

...well sorta, but I am still here!! This past weekend and the start to this week has been, what's the word...AAAHHHGGG!!!! Between baseball, school and more baseball I have hardly had to time to breath and when I have had time to breath, I have been checking out MiMi's blog for all her cool giveaways because it is her 1 year Blogoverary, YaY MiMi or I have been praying for little Stellan. But please know that I am reading yours, just not posting on mine!!

So I am not sure when I will be back, BUT I promise you that I will be back and it will be soon! Take care friends!

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

Well, basketball season has ended and we hardly had time to breath before baseball season started. This season will be a lot of juggling between the 2 boys as they are on different teams. This means that there are games and practices almost every night of the week, and sometimes the same day, same time, but different places. I am trying to look on the bright side...I would rather be outside in the nice weather than cooped up in the house and I would rather have the boys outside playing than watching TV all afternoon!

This week was the first round of games. Brendan plays for the Cubs which is a kid pitch 9-10 year old team and Colin plays for the Lookouts on a coach pitch 7-8 year old team. They are loving it and having so much fun!

Last Saturday, the city where they play, held Cal Ripken day at the stadium. It is a very exciting day where the players get to walk out onto the field before a major league spring training baseball game begins. Colin got to walk out with his team on 3/21 while everyone was cheering! Brendan's team will be going to his Cal Ripken day tomorrow 3/28. This year there were so many kids signed up in the league that they had to break this special day up between 2 days.

Here is Colin walking on the field with his team. I took this picture from our lawn seats, so I was pretty far away! He is #11 in the red shirt!

Monday was Colin's first game and he did great. He is the biggest kid on the team and is a power hitter. He played first base, had lots of hits and made many outs! Way to go Colin!!

Wednesday was Brendan's first game and he, also, did great! The first time he was up to bat, he actually got hit in the back by the pitcher, so he was able to take his base. His second time up to bat, he hit a 3 run homer! Yea that's right...MY BOY HIT A HOME RUN!! He was so excited! He also made 2 great outs, 1 was a line drive into left field that he caught and the 2nd was a grounder right to him where he tagged the runner out at second!

Yay Brendan!

Here is Brendan playing 2nd base.

This is Brendan getting hit by a pitch! What great form...all learned from daddy!

Brendan hitting his 3 run homer!

At the end of the game, Brendan was named player of the game and received the game ball that was signed and dated by all of his coaches. He was so proud!!

And this is just the beginning...Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks...we have games and practices almost every night from now until May 22!

Root... Root... Root... For The Home Team, Cuz If They Don't Win It's A Shame...

For It's 1...2...3... Strikes You're Out,

At The Ol' Ball Game!!

Where's Mom?! 6/52 Photos Of Me!

Are you a mom? Are you missing from the pictures? Most moms I know are, and now there is a meme that brings us moms out from behind the lens and puts us in front of the camera! I know it can be scary, but it truly is lots of fun! Carin over at Forever in Blue Jeans set up this wonderful year long meme that does just that~Brings us out from behind the lens and puts us in the spotlight! And the best part is, is that you can start whenever you jump in. For me, this will be my 6th week!

This was taken on Sunday at Brendan's family birthday dinner. We had lots of fun with family, yummy food, presents and cake! The boys and I are posing with my mom and dad, my sister, Jennifer and my niece, Kennedy. We had a super day!

So join this fun meme...Give someone else the camera, say cheese and join the fun!!

WW~Y.A.H.T.Z.E.E.!!!

Happy Birthday to My Sweet Hubby!!

Today my sweet hubby, Ryan, turns 35! So this post is dedicated to him! We have been married almost 11 years and there are some days I wonder why he puts up with me!!

He is a great dad! He loves being a dad, the kind of dad the gets on the floor and wrestles with a 9 yr old & 7 yr old!!

Posing with Colin at a ball game!

Posing with me at a ball game!

Posing with Brendan on their way to a hockey game!

Happy Birthday Ryan...WE LOVE YOU!!

Not Me! Monday

Monday again and I am still wondering where the time goes! Anywho, this is a fun meme where I get to tell you everything that I did not do this past week. It is very therapeutic and free! What's better than that?! So here we go...

***It was not me who is still limping after crushing me knee and the tray table, for that matter, into the ground. I know better, if it hurts, go to the doctor! I have not been babying it and protecting it from all the kids that bump into it everyday. Geesh, I would know when to see a doctor. Holy hurt Batman!

***It was not me who was so emotional yesterday, that I stood in my kitchen and cried while getting everything ready for Brendan's birthday party. I have much more control over my hormones. I mean for goodness sake, I am not a blubbering idiot!

***It was not me whose heart was HUGE when Brendan called me into his room to lay with him until he fell asleep last night. I did not cherish the fact that he put his arm around me while I was laying next to him and he told me how much he loved me. I did not cry! (OK, maybe I cried a little!)

***It was not me who made Brendan's chocolate birthday cake and forgot to put the oil in. I did not have it already pre-poured in the measuring cup and then just forget put it in! I surely can read a recipe right off of the cake mix box and put all of the ingredients into the bowl. I did not pull the cake out of the oven to put the oil into the batter and then proceed to remix it and put it back into the oven. We all know that I am Julia Childs when it comes to baking!!

***It was not me who lost my voice AGAIN during parent teacher conferences last week. It is not me who has not had a normal voice in, I don't even know how many weeks. And NO I don't sound like a man, thank you very much.

Well, I think that about covers it, or what I can remember anyways! So come on, tell me...what didn't you do this week? For more fun with Not Me! Monday, visit MckMama.

And until next Monday, it wasn't me...I swear!!

Time To Party...

For those of you that remember, Brendan's 9th Birthday was St. Patty's Day, this past Tuesday. On his actual birthday we took him to the restaurant of his choice, Red Robin, for his b-day dinner. After dinner, Ryan and Brendan went to the Coyotes hockey game at Jobing.com arena (this was part of his present from us!).

They had a super fun time and the best part was that the Coyotes were victorious over the San Jose Sharks 4-3!

Today we celebrated with Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Jen & cousin Kennedy. We had a BBQ with hot dogs and burgers & all the fixin's! After lunch he opened presents and then we all had cake & ice cream.

Look at all this loot!

Michigan pillow from MiMi and her clan! We bleed Maize & Blue!


Thanks to everyone for all this great stuff!

Brendan received lots of great things including lots of Pokemon toys, DS game, Wii game, books, gift cards, money and the dreaded clothes!!


After presents, we sang and enjoyed yummy birthday cake. Brendan requested chocolate cake with white frosting. I am not the best baker in the world, but it's the thought that counts, right?! Ryan was the decorator!!


Here's to another year, 9 year old!