Three Times the Fun: Happy Mother's Day 2013!

BAG - a nice book and icing an ankle are all we need for a good day!

This is my 5th Mother's Day and it has been special and it isn't even over yet! At preschool this week, the boys got to work on a painting for me attached to a fill in the blank paper about me and then gave me a lovely carnation. Their answers are hilarious and adorable and are scanned in below. Curt also gave me the gift of mowing the yard and letting me get my long run in this morning, even though he has a huge paper due in 3 days. He got me a new running shirt (all of mine stink, even after being washed!) and he and the boys gave me a lovely card with an even lovelier message. I am spoiled!

Aidan - so sweet . . .

Brady is right, i DO know everything. And when it's time for bed!

I"m noticing two themes with Gavin - trains and me asking him to clean up . . .

As i write this, I can't help but think of the family in Doha who lost their triplets in a mall fire just under a year ago. I have been able to stay in touch with Jane and know they have moved back to New Zealand and she is pregnant with twins right now. I could not be happier for them, nor feel more fortunate that we are not in their situation. Their kids were only two years old when they passed and I can't imagine every year thinking of all of the things we would have missed out on with the boys, had something that terrible happened to us. It certainly does make me hold my kids a bit tighter and a a bit closer.

The boys are trying out their banter with me and each other. Some days it is cute, other days it is NOT. "Button your bumper!" (from Chuggington) has morphed into "Shut your bumper!' to "Shut your butt!" Uh, no. They are also all REALLY getting into reading. I pretty much spell words every meal. And of course we read books, all the time. The library is actually getting "old" for them, if you can believe that!? At least according to Aidan today when, offered the choice of library story time and then hang at the library, or farmer's market and then hang at the library he says "but we ALWAYS go to the library. I want to do something different!"

As Curt and I are getting ready to swap roles, I am finding myself mourning these last two years a bit. I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend this quality (and quantity) time with the boys, and I am also really happy Curt is going to get to do the same thing this year. I am certain our lives will feel more balanced than they did this year, but I also don't want this year to go by too quickly. I like having preschoolers! :)

A few pics that should have gone up last month:

A&B enjoy the Chicago Children's Museum at Navy Pier in April. This was an AWESOME exhibit!

B&G check out the climbing exhibit. It was two stories high and led them to an awesome rope bridge (see below) and shaky bridges they could run across. G would climb the two stories, then just do a loop on the rope bridge and shaky bridges on the second level for as long as we would let him.