Happy Birthday Devyn

Ethan's little buddy Devyn turned two years old this past Tuesday...

We helped to celebrate this important day with him!

Devyn and Ethan first met when Ethan was two weeks old...

Suzette and I have had many playdates since then
so Devyn has become one of Ethan's good buddies!

Here is a picture I found from a
previous blog last year of Devyn and Ethan...



Another picture with Shayna of the two boys...
I love seeing how much they have grown...
Makes me a little sad also.

We had a great time at Devyn's Birthday Party!

It was a beautiful day so the party was outside and the kids had a blast!

Ethan enjoyed playing with Devyn's toys, 
especially playing in the trailer full of stones!

Ethan is such a boy...
Of course he would head for the dusty stones to play in!

Suzette's parents Karma and Gary were in town...

it was so nice to see them again and catch up with them!

They also met Toddy for the first time! 

Karma and Gary are good friends of our family

and will forever hold a special place in my heart!

I snapped some pictures below of us having fun at Devyn's Birthday Party

Ethan catching fish!
I tried to get him to use the fishing pole but Ethan thought it would be easier to use his hands...
He was right I guess.

I had to hold the lid of the cake container down
 because Ethan kept trying to sneak some cake!
He got some of course...What a mischievous little fella (haha)!

"Happy Birthday to you Devyn"

Ethan with his buddy Noah!

TODDY WAS THERE ALSO...CHILLING UNDER THE TREE WITH EMMA

Gift time...It is so cute to see all the children gathered around to help Devyn open his gifts!

Happy 2nd Birthday Devyn!

Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day I cooked dinner for my mom and grandmother...

I would have to say that these two women

are my greatest examples of motherhood.

My mom is an amazing person...

I am so thankful to her for all the unselfish,

loving service she has given me through the years...

Growing up I took it for granted...

But now that I am a little more mature, and a little bit wiser

I can really see how truly wonderful my mother is!

My mom has sooooo much energy,

She is slow to anger, quick to forgive, kind,

fair, always up for "whatever", truly concerned and beautiful

I have never questioned her love for me...

She is real and genuine and always puts others before herself.

She has been and continues to be a huge example to me...

She loves her Heavenly Father and her family with all of her heart!

My children love her so much and

I am so grateful to have her by my side as

 I work to become the best mother that I can be!

My grandmother has always been my number one fan...She is truly my best friend!

My dad with his mom and little Toddy

In the picture above are some Mother's Day gifts that I received...

The card with the mice came from my boys (Nate may have helped)

The basket and poem was a nursery craft that Ethan gave me at church...

It was so cute and I made a big deal about it!!

The white flower came from church (all the women got one)

The rose plant came from my grandmother!

Also my dad and mom took me shopping for an outfit this past weekend!

Gota love it when my dad takes me shopping!

I am a lucky girl!

Poem that came in the present Ethan made in Nursery at church today

Close up picture of the nursery craft...Soooo cute!
Ethan has such wonderful nursery teachers...
I am so thankful to them for taking good care of my boy!

For story time we read this book!  I love this book!

This is a favorite book of Ethan's right now...
He loves the part when the baby bird leaves the nest...
Ethan says "all gone" as he points to the nest.
Ethan also seems relieved when the Mommy bird returns...
SOOOOOO freaking cute!

Couldn't resist taking a picture of my sleeping babies this evening...

I love watching my boys sleep...Little angels I tell ya!

I am so lucky to be their mom!

Today at church one of the speakers read the

Robert Munch book "I love you forever"

I cried and cried and cried...It just got me right there (if ya know what I mean)!

I now get it why my mom could never make it through this book!

"Love you for always,

Like you forever,

As long as your living,

My baby you'll be"

Hanging With Our Friends

At least once or twice a week I get the privilege to spend some quality time with my mommy friends and their children. Some of my mommy friends go to my church, live on my street, are family members or long time friends. There is just something about having another mother to talk to. The bond you develop is quick I think because we can relate to each other…We know what motherhood is all about...We know the joys and the struggles that come with this amazing experience...

What I am trying to say is that...

"we just get each other" if ya know what I mean.

I love that this bonding time allows my boys to start making friendships that may last them a lifetime. I love that I get to talk to my friends about my struggles while also being strong for them when they need it. And best of all I love that my boys will have other mothers as role models in their lives…I like the philosophy that it takes a village to raise a child. I truly believe this and want this for my children.

These friendships have quickly become such an essential part of my life and I can't imagine how I would have made it through the ups and downs of motherhood without there support and love. There's just something about whining to another mother about a night of no sleep and having her nod her head with understanding.

And above all it is such sweet relaxation being able to take my son to another mom's house knowing that there will be toys, snacks, and baby proofing readily available!

I would have never guessed how much I needed mommy friends and how much I would cherish them.

Thank you to all my mommy friends...

Your the best!

 

 

Some pictures of a recent playdate

Ola and Diana's girls with Todd in the middle
We joked that it would be funny if Todd ended up
dating one of these cuties when he is older (haha)

Todd loves the ladies!  (haha)

"Blue car"  This is what Ethan was saying at the time!

Ola and Emma

On Virginias deck...Beautiful view of the pond!

The boys are looking at the family of geese below

After visiting at Virginias for a bit we went down to the pond to feed the geese...
Then we went for a stroller walk to a park...
It rained and we got wet but it was still a really fun day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TOMORROW TO ALL MY MOMMY FRIENDS!

BEST JOB IN THE WORLD!

Library Playgroup

Over the past couple of months I have been taking the two boys every Thursday morning to a Library playgroup...A friend of mine who lives on our street told me about it as she and her children have been attending for a few years now.  It was a perfect time to start the group for us as Ethan is at such a great stage for it...I love seeing him play with the different stations and to start learning how to listen and take direction during circle time.

The first visit to the playgroup Ethan was uncertain about going into the room...He thought I would be leaving like during nursery at church and he wanted no part of that...but once he realized I was staying he loosened his grip on me and had a ball running around to the different activities and playing. I think his favorite stations right now are the blocks, the barn animals and the food station (he nibbles on the pretend food saying numnumnumnumnum...As I continue to remind him to "just pretend"..."don't put it in your mouth honey"..."go like this numnumnumnumnum" (haha).

I had been wanting to start a regular playgroup so I am thrilled that I found such a good one...The organizers are awesome and the lady who runs the circle time is really fun...We really enjoy our time there and I have seen big changes in Ethan over the last couple of months during circle time.  At first I needed to hold him in my lap and he really didn't participate without me encouraging him or doing the hand movements by holding his hands...However now Ethan is able to do a lot of the hand movments by himself and he remembers a lot of the different songs...Each week is a little different but there is enough regularity for him to learn the songs...Ethan is also getting better at sitting quietly during reading time.

Ethan's favorite circle time activities and songs are:
-when the teacher brings the parachute,
- the sleeping bunnies song (The song starts out with the children pretending to sleep on the ground...then partway through the song the bunnies wake up and the kids start hopping)...
-puppet farm animals

It is so neat to see Ethan looking at the older kids to learn from them...Often he will follow suit with hand movements or sitting quietly if the other kids do...He is learning and it is so special for me to witness this. I love been a little fly on the wall and watching him interact with the other kids and grownups...My little man is growing up and I couldn't be more proud of him.

I snapped a couple pictures last week at playgroup below:



These playgroups are genious...And so easy for moms...All the stations are set up and ready to go and the organizers do the clean up...This is a nice break for me and I appreciate it so much! 

The last couple of times Ethan has made a craft which is new for him as he up to this point has not been interested...I have decided to start taking pictures of all his crafts instead of keeping all of them...Then at the end of the year I will do one long post titled "Ethans Art Show" to showcase his creative efforts...That way I will not be saving bags and bags of artwork (like my mom did) and I will feel less guilty throwing his masterpieces out...Oh okay I will probably save a few lets be honest here..lol!



Snack Time at Playgroup

So if you are looking for us on Thursday

morning you can find us here!