Rain, rain go away...

With rain all over the weather reports, we still managed to have a great weekend in the cities with Dan and his tennis team. Knowing better than to expect the boys to be hush hush at the tennis match, we dodged the whole thing. The boys and I went to the Children's Museum in St. Paul Saturday morning then grabbed lunch on the way back to the hotel. After naps we wasted time at Walmart playing with all the toy trucks and finally settled on 1 new tractor each. We made supper and then Dan joined us for a quick swim in the pool/hot tub/pool/hot tub(they couldn't stay in one place longer than a second-glad I waited until Dan was there!). This morning the boys and I played around the hotel, had breakfast then headed home(in the nasty rain) just in time to swing by the alumni volleyball gathering at Skyline Lanes. It was fun to see old teammates and hear hilareous stories shared by all. Overall, the boys traveled really well, slept and behaved awesome and we look forward to doing it all over again next weekend!!

Other pictures in this post: Liam devouring a bowl of cotton candy ice cream-and loving it!Godfather Tim took Connor for lunch and ice cream on Thursday-Thanks Godfather!

A glimpse of summer in our backyard with the neighbor kids over.

Finally posting some of our recent videos(last video was months ago!)

EARTH DAY 2009(and belly picture)

Our dear friends Kari and Lilly were able to come and stay the night during their long visit to MN last night. We had a great breakfast this morning and played on the back deck. The boys decorated their own buckets last night to put plants into today. Connor really liked scooping the dirt and pressing it down around his plant. We did Liam's then watered them and put them in the window until it's warm outside.

Since being at my parents, Connor has been asking for a birdfeeder. I bought one at Menards and let the boys color all over it with permanent markers. We filled it with seeds and hung it outside in full view from the windows. The boys will be glued to the windows, watching the birds eat, just like at Grandma and Daddy T's.

We had school today as well. Upon arriving Connor says, "Happy Easter...I mean, Happy Earth Day!!" Too cute. Today we also read the book we bought the boys, Why Should I Recycle, and continue to talk about things we can recycle, what they can be made into and what we do with food waste. He really seems interested in what we are trying to instill in them.

We dropped off our food waste at WLSSD, along with bags of leaves, and will fill a few more planters tonight to top off our celebration!

What did you do for the Earth today??

I attached a bunch of pictures from our visit from Kari and Lilly. Lilly and Liam are 11 days apart in age. They were adorable to watch interact.

These are for you Aaron!!

I finally took a belly picture(last one was at 18 weeks-whoops!). Here it is...29+ weeks!

Oldies but Goodies

2 year old birthday party last summer!! --- Connor and the Bulldog on Halloween

Family day at the museum -- "Where's my balnkie Mommy?"

Christmas 2008 -- Train ride up the shore with our friends.

Liam always sits with Connor while he uses the toilet-hopefully that

rolls over to easy potty training! -- Duct tape and Connor

Found a few good pictures today while backing up my photo files. Enjoy!

Easter 2009

Well most of you already know the saga that was our week-colds that manifested into diarrhea and vomiting, ear infections and a bad diaper rash. After a week of constant laundry, disinfecting everything and little sleep we are ready for a break!! Saturday morning Dan took the boys out for doughnuts to let me sleep in a bit. Later that morning we headed to the Lakewalk to meet a friend for coffee and a walk and then to an egg hunt at Dan's cousin's. Sunday we celebrated Easter with an egg/basket hunt at home, mass, a family walk and then brunch at the Doyle's-Yummy!!

It made us feel like kids again hunting eggs and finding baskets with the boys. Having the boys makes each holiday so special and unique!

Oh ya, we had an Easter party for the" 2 year old" crew on Wednesday. It was so fun to watch the kids run around and find eggs, paint wooden egg decorations and play outside together.

*Liam fell off the counter and got a black eye on Friday night-just to add to the saga!

Surrender

That was the word up for discussion at the prenatal yoga class I attended Monday night. I took the class while I was pregnant with Liam and couldn't wait to start again with this little one. In many ways the class was life altering for me the first time around; encouraging a deeper, more personal connection with my unborn child that I otherwise don't think I would have had, giving me the strength, confidence and desire to deliver my baby into this world naturally and the overwhelming sense of connectedness being surrounded by pregnant women striving to make the same healthy decisions for their families.

We discussed the presence of surrendering in each of our pregnancies, births and busy lives today. As I listened to each woman's response it became apparent to me that this is something I have learned to do. Surrendering my body, sleep and eating habits during each pregnancy, surrendering to the pains of labor and trusting my body knows what its doing and the daily surrendering of my time and energy to care for Dan and the boys. It is a balancing act when you become a mother; balancing the time you need to still remain true to yourself and the time your children need for guidance, love and teaching. It has been truly satisfying to see how far I've come in learning this lesson but I anticipate much more change and adjusting when the new baby joins our family.

At the end of the day, it's all worth it when your children kiss you good night.