Sunday, March 30, 2008

The Beach!

We got a very last minute (2days before) invite to go to the beach with my sister and her family. And me being me, it only took a couple of seconds to get all of the plans in order. My dad was able to go too ( Thanks SO much, Connie!) and we left Monday morning. The boys hadn't been to the beach in 2 years and they LOVED it! The weather was beautiful, the beach was beautiful, the condo was beautiful, it was a perfect vacation! We pretty much stayed on the beach (or at the hot tub, Chase's favorite place to be) the entire time. We just played in the sand and the ocean, laid in the sun, read, swam, ate, relaxed, and had a great time! Thanks JuJu for letting us vacation with you! Here are some pics!


















As soon as Julie invited us, I started picturing myself lying on the beach, reading my Tori Spelling (aka Donna Martin) autobiography, my pretty pink shallow perfect 90210 beach book ( I was actually pretty embarrassed while buying it at Barnes & Noble but I justified buying it because it was on sale since it was just out, i had a gift card, and got the member discount or whatever so I only actually spent $4.95 on it.) But on the way down to Gulf Shores, I got really into another book and everytime I went to lay out, I could not bring myself to grab the pretty pink book, I had to finish my other one! So, after my sister took a picture of me reading on the beach, I made her take another picture of me, the way I had envisioned, lying there with my pretty pink beach book.






Chase had a little turtle sand toy, and he wanted to make a mommy turtle to go with the two little Chase and Mason turtles, so this was the best I could do... then he wanted to make them all holding hands! Can this sweet age last forever?!!








Chase with his new friend, Emma.











Needless to say, they wore themselves out every single day!


I took the boys' Easter outfits to the beach since they didn't get to wear them on Easter due to the freezing cold weather that day, and made them give me one morning of smiling cooperation for pretty picture's sake. Those will be posted in The Beach!, Part 2: Pretty boys in pretty outfits on the pretty beach, Mommy's dream day!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy Things

My friend, Amber, posted a blog about her "Happy Things" and encouraged her readers to do the same. I loved reading hers and she has since posted more "Happy Things" posts. I thought it was a great idea so here are some of my happy things. If you have time, and have never been to her page, I highly recommend it, her blog listed on my page as Amber.

Of course, my boys and all of the things they do, are huge happy things for me. I love when they are getting ready for bed and picking out books for me to read. These are the best times, no matter how much fighting and fussing they have been doing up until this point, once we get in the bed to read, they are in the best mood and are so sweet and cuddly.





Pictures that my boys paint or color for me, definitley a happy thing.


Laundry hanging out to dry... I don't do this often, (really never until Erick puts it back up for me) but something about it just makes me happy! It is a lot easier to just throw them into my high efficiency dryer, and boom, they're done, but taking the laundry basket out there and hanging them up, and seeing them hang there and dry, and the smell of them when you bring them back in, I just love it. Ahh, the simple life, I would love it and I would hate it.


Our mega block table is a happy thing, Mason loves to tell people, "This is my mega block table, Granny got it for me at a yard sale."


Walking for miles out in the country with my boys is a big happy thing for me! I absolutley love it and feel so much peace when I am out there surrounded by nothing but miles of fields and sky.

(julie drove by last summer, going to town and i had her take a picture with my camera phone because I have no pictures of me walking with my boys and it is something that we do all spring/summer/fall every year.)

My boys trying to act like their daddy is a happy thing for me..... sometimes :)


Footed pajamas, a happy thing because this will too soon be gone :(


Really blue skies



This is a happy thing for me because it is such a happy thing for Erick. His grandfather, who he loves so much, built this for him. Erick learned most of his wood working from his grandfather and has since helped his grandfather to make one of these clocks for his sister, Heather. Erick loves this clock, hearing it chime is a big happy thing for him. When the babies were little, on occasion, I would sneak and turn it to where it wouldn't chime in the middle of the night, and always always, Erick would know. He notices it when it doesn't chime, and he would switch it right back.


I NEVER thought I would EVER own a minivan, much less be adding it a list of my "happy things". But this 7 year old van that has been wrecked a couple of times (totaled once), is indeed one of my happy things. I actually thought today when I was driving back from the library and my kids were in the back watching a popular mechanics video for kids on lightning (they picked it out?), how lucky I am to get to have this van. It starts everytime I want it to start, it takes us everywhere we want to go, has lots of seats so that I can take Chase's friends places when they want to come with us, and even provides a climate controlled enviroment for us so we don't get too cold or hot. A LOT of people don't have any of those luxuries.



Yesterday, Worms were a big happy thing for Chase and Mason. They dug and dug and dug for all the worms they could find. My mom and I were planting a few flowers and when I saw one, I had Chase come over to look at it and before long, he and Mason had a collection going. They rode on the fourwheelers with us, and even came inside to their "new home" as Chase called it. They got evicted though after one escaped and was crawling across Mommy's kitchen table.


So, these are a few of my happy things. I have realized though, that I have ALOT of happy things, I keep thinking of more and more that I could add to this. But, I have dial-up internet so I have to stop. I hope you enjoy some of your "happy things" today :)