7 teeth!!

Our big boy is starting to brush his SEVEN teeth! Poor buddy is having a rough go...it seems he gets a couple at a time and he's so miserable. Makes Mamma so sad...

My friend Colleen was kind enough to let us borrow her baby's amber teething necklace. The idea is that amber, as it warms on the baby's skin is a natural analgesic. Not sure I buy it but he looks like an adorable little surfer dude so I'm sticking with it!

It's so cute when babies get their teeth...it changes the landscape of their entire faces! I love this baby's smile! He has his Daddy's infectious grin...good thing he'll be living in my basement till he's forty. I'd be beating off the girls! I mean, look at him....

Spring Break 2014...

Garret had off with the kiddies so he went insane took them to do lots of fun stuff and since he's not as much a  psycho about photos as I, there aren't many pictures but he did finally get a phone that can actually take decent pictures (we're a little stuck in 1989 with the cellular technology...for financial reasons :) so here are a few!

He won the Best Daddy Everrr award for taking Maddie to Target early in the morning for the newly released Frozen and then immediately home to watch it...let's just say it was the highlight of her week...

 They also went to the local bounce house place. And I realized how smart he is in this moment...take them out early, wear them out=long naps (AKA: break for Daddy). Genius.

 Oh, and he took Bella to help entertain Maddie. Double genius!

 He did get one whole day to himself to fish with Scott and caught this huge fish...some kind, I forget. I know as much about fishing as I do football. I just hope Garret wins :). What I do know is he had a great time hanging with one of his oldest friends and was super proud of himself as evidenced by his huge smile!

We got to go to the park for a couple hours...

...and even on a date! 

We FINALLY got to experience the Golisano Children's Museum! I've wanted to go forever but we just never could all go together for some reason. The weather was kinda questionable Thursday morning so we ventured down to Naples. It was awesome. You could literally spend hours in this place! It was perfect for our kids' ages! So much to do...they had an absolute blast!

And, what would Spring Break be without a trip to the beach?? Garret and I laughed about how different our Spring Breaks have become...now we try to find quiet places (those darn kids are just too loud....) and our idea of a great beach day is a kick-ars sandcastle. Yup, we're officially old.

The very last day I got to have a "big girl" day with my buds for Morgan and Leslie's combo Bday bash. We hung out by Morgan's pool and had brunch, cocktails and conversation....uninterrupted. Kinda perfect.

We're not Irish, but feel free to kiss us anyway!

 I have come to the conclusion we are the world's most awful parents! In the picture before this (and after for that matter), the poor little guy was crying his eyes out. So. mean. But, it's St. Patty's Day and it's just funny! Let's pray no one is scarred for life....

 We had a low key evening of silly props, Shepard's Pie (with green mashed potatoes), outdoor play, a little art and general goofiness....

 Oh, and to end the evening?? Pots of gold, of course!

Happy 10th Birthday, Caleb.....

I can't believe it's been 10 years. Ten years since that sweet baby boy came into our lives and taught us more in his four earthly years than we ever hoped to have to learn. How to be strong. How to grieve. How to be united as a family. How to raise awareness. 

We did our annual balloon release for Caleb's birthday. It was a day early since Mo and Rob are hosting an event on his actual birthday in honor of Caleb, hoping to raise money for the foundation. 

The kids played...

10 balloons for what should have been ten years....

I still, all these years later, can't figure out how Mo and Rob have managed to so bravely move forward. While I know every day is a struggle, they have done such amazing things in his name. I'm so proud of them....

I'm so thankful that we have one another as this day passes each year...I just wish we weren't missing one :(

Toot, tooooooot!!

Disney's Elsa ....

And mine....

Well, I am gonna toot my own horn! I made Maddie an Elsa costume. By hand. No machine, no pattern. Toot, friggin toot. Granted, we had to rip the sleeves off in a hurry before the big Disney on Ice show because they were too tight but I'm taking my credit anyway! 

 We had a great time! My friend Jen won some tickets and so sweetly invited us! She thought having the girls dress in princess costumes would be fun...um, yeah!! Maddie just had to be Elsa (even though I kept reminding her Elsa wasn't part of the show...she didn't care). 

 Maddie and Jen's daughter Madelyn have totally decided they're best friends. It's super cute.

 The show was great! My camera doesn't do well with pics from a distance but here are a few decent ones!

Wheeeee!!!!

  We've been spending lots of time in the yard. Partly because the weather has been great but mostly because the little one is destroying the house....Heaven forbid he have idle time! 

 I'm not one of those worry-wart moms...sometimes I feel like I need to be with this rambunctious little man but I like to let him explore and kind of do things on his own. He's fairly agile and his balance is great considering he's a fairly new walker!

One of these things has been letting him follow Sissy up the ladder and down the slide. At first I just placed him on the slide and held him as he slid down, squealing the whole way. Eventually, he kind of pushed me away and wanted to go down alone. And after another day or two, he followed Maddie up the stairs....so I let him go. Alone. And he did it! 

 I've got this Mommy!!

 He flips himself onto his tummy and goes!

I can't believe how big he's getting and all the things he's able to do on his own. I think the old rumor about second and subsequent kiddos doing things faster has been true! It's kind of sad cause "baby phase" has gone by much faster with him. I love the little boy he's becoming though! So sweet and yet such a stereotypical, wild  boy!