can you say what i say?

we were picking up our babysitter, abby, yesterday.
she hasn't seen the boys in a while so i knew she'd get a kick out of hearing alex talk. i know he can say "abby" because of the ever so cute abby cadaby on sesame street.
so i said "alex can you say abby?"
alex: "no"
me: "can you say drewby?"
alex: "no"
me: (figuring he won't ... but now it's a game so why not keep it going) "can you say elmo?"
alex: (while laughing) "no"

ben breaks in - being very serious: "alex... can you say humuhumunukunukuapua'a?"

silly ben. of course he can say it. he just won't.

help wanted?

are your bathroom floors dirty?

do you need a little help getting them cleaned??

if so ... then we have just the help you're looking for!

all he needs is one stacking cup
and a tub full of water!!

you may need lots of these ...

but your floor will be clean in no time!!!

i have seen the results!
your bathroom can have the fresh aroma of bubble bath too!

he doesn't disappoint!

call today!

we can arrange for his 2 crazy brothers helpers to come along as well.

you know it's getting warmer when ...

the trampoline is officially back in use!!

up up and away!!!!!!!!

last week the boys got a birthday package in the mail.

a SUPER package.
a package that contained a SUPER special something just for them!

i give to you ...

SUPER DREW and SUPER BEN!

AND ... the ever so cute SUPER AIDEN modeling SUPER ALEX's attire.

(thanks aiden!)

a BIG thank you to olivia, garrett, ryan and josie!!

you guys rock!! we LOVE them!!

drew's birthday fun

(i finally got these pictures off the camera - it's taken me a few days ;) te he he. but, i figured i should share our fun!)

last wednesday we had a VERY busy day!!
i figured that since drew was on spring break on his birthday i might as well ask what he thought a fun day would be and then let him live that day :)

we started it out by going and playing at chuck e cheese for lunch.



for dinner we went to acapulco (the restaurant, not the city)

at this point - the day became too much for ben :)



but drew knew there was still a lot of time left to party -
so he and stacey headed to a t-wolves game!!
of course they absolutely suck this year - but ... it's about the experience, right?! :)



when they game was just about over they came home so we could finish the day off with some cupcakes! (my favorite part of birthdays!)

it was a fabulous day!!

i hope you thought your day was perfect drewby!!! i STILL can't believe you're 7!

reality ... routines ... and returned library books!!!!

our jump back into reality went well.
everyone got off to school/work on time. (or as close to on time as is usual).
drew was super pumped to go to school today, so that helped! he got to take a birthday treat and he got to do a "presentation" on hawaii. he brought a lava rock and a pencil back for each of the kids in his class and he was SO excited to give them out!
ben had preschool and alex got to go play with carson and adison while i volunteered at drew's school. basically, a fun morning for everyone!
then tonight we went to bodypump at the Y - for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks. YIKES. it's been a while since i've taken that big of a break so i fully expect to be feeling it tomorrow! :)
NOW ...
here is where i wish i could say we ended the night with a nice home cooked meal - but ... oh well. camille's was good :)
all in all - it was a good day!

all of our library books are found and at the library.
our pictures are finally all on shutterfly!
i'm ALMOST caught up on laundry.
and ... we had a fun day.

i can't ask for much more :)
(well ok ... there's ONE thing ... 70 degree weather would be nice)

where does it all go?

we were pulling out of a parking garage and paying and stacey asked if i had any cash. i told him i didn't.

drew says: i know why you guys don't have any cash. cuz of hawaii.

ben says: no it's because they spend it all at starbucks.

oh ben, you may be right. but don't forget that if i give up starbucks .. then you have to as well.

back to reality ....

although we got back from hawaii a week ago - we have still not returned to normal life.

i thought that going to hawaii - and the time change going there was going to be harder - but coming back has absolutely killed us.

*we have yet to make a meal at home - we have either had take out or eaten out since last saturday.

*we have only been to the Y one time in the past 2 and a half weeks!!!

*bedtime has been nonexistant - for stacey and i it's been somewhere between 12 and 2 every night! on thursday, stacey FINALLY came to bed at 5 am! YIKES!

*the boys have actually been "sleeping in" (keep in mind sleeping in for them is usually something like 8:30) drew slept until 11:15 one morning!!!

*stacey's leaving for work around 10 or 10:30 was normal this week.

we've enjoyed taking it easy. but, unfortunately this week, things HAVE to change. we don't have a choice.

drew has school.
ben has school.
stacey needs to work some normal hours.
and i need to get alex back into a routine so that he starts sleeping again.

our day starts at 8 am tomorrow - and i figure if i start preparing now that maybe we can make that happen.

happy birthday drew!!

WOW! it actually happened! you DID turn 7!! i can't believe it!

drew, you are the sweetest boy ever!

i love you so much and hope that this 7th year is your best year yet!!

you are so special to me - and to daddy. i can't imagine my life without you in it!

happy birthday buddy! i hope your day was as fabulous as you are :)

could it be?

exactly seven years ago i was sitting at the computer, just like i am tonight, but my life was VERY different.

it's hard to believe that seven years ago i was sitting and playing a computer game, passing the time because i couldn't sleep, and was completely oblivious to how my life was about to change.

i was clueless to the fact that in less than 24 hours i would be holding a 7 pound little miracle in my arms - that was my very own!!
i was completely oblivious to how i could instantly fall in love with someone so quickly.
i knew my life was going to change - but i had no idea how incredible it was actually going to be!

tomorrow drew turns seven and i can't even believe it! the past seven years have been the most amazing journey! being a mom has been the most challenging - yet the most rewarding thing i have done in my entire life. i cannot imagine my life any different than it is right now.

as i sit here and think about it, however, it's slightly bittersweet. i LOVE that drew is almost seven. i can have a conversation with him and he understands in a way that only a seven year old can. he can be counted on to REALLY be "the good example" and i can't imagine anyone as a better big brother to ben and alex. plus, it's so fun to have someone in school that enjoys learning. each day he comes home excited about something new - and i LOVE that! BUT ... it makes me sad to think that he's turning seven because that means time is going too fast. that means MY BABY is one year older!!

i love you drew. but can it really be that you are turning seven tomorrow?? FOR REAL??? :)

if you give a pirate a tooth ...

i need to give a little background info before i tell one of our most recent stories.

first of all, the tooth fairy leaves gold dollars for teeth at our house.
second bit of information, 2 lost teeth ago, drew woke up and the tooth fairy had not left him anything in exchange for his tooth. (i heard she was REALLY busy that night! DOH!) stacey and i figured there HAD to be an explanation - so we thought (and acted) quickly. we told drew not to worry - but that he better go check the pirate ship in his room! those pirates can get really sneaky - and we all know pirates LOVE gold! i bet THEY stole the gold dollar from under his pillow! (wink wink) drew went and looked - sure enough - there was the gold dollar sitting on their ship!

which brings me to the day before we left for hawaii ...
drew lost a tooth the night before we left. we were all talking about it as he was getting ready for bed. knowing that the tooth fairy wasn't expecting drew to lose his tooth and had emptied her stash of gold dollars - we told drew that we were really curious what the pirates would do if he gave THEM his tooth - instead of the tooth fairy! he thought that sounded like an EXCELLENT plan! SO ... that night he left the envelope that was holding his tooth on the pirate ship in his room.

he woke up the next morning to find this ...



the pirates left him a 2 dollar bill!!
those crazy pirates!! they out did the tooth fairy!

SO ... that morning ... we're on the plane to hawaii. the lady sitting next to drew spent quite a bit of time talking with him. she noticed that he was missing some teeth and asked him about them. he told her that he had just lost one the day before. she said "OH COOL! what did you get from the tooth fairy?"

drew's response? "i didn't give it to the tooth fairy. i gave it to the pirates."

that was one of those moments where she looked at me wondering what in the world drew was talking about - i looked at her and just smiled - explaining why our kids now plan to leave all of their teeth to the pirates that pay well was much more of a story than i wanted to tell at that moment.

i have since realized, however, that i need to come up with a short explanation because the same conversation has happened 3 times since and the confused looks always bounce back at me:)

back to shoes

i didn't hear the waves crashing last night when i slept.
i didn't feel the warm air blowing on me as i walked out the door this afternoon.
AND ... i actually had to put on socks and shoes to run to starbucks today.

our vacation is definitely over.

on the flip side --

alex slept 8 hours STRAIGHT last night.
alex slept somewhere other than in our bed last night.
the boys all slept past 9 a.m. this morning!
AND we had a room all to ourselves.

SO ... although i would love to still be in maui - on this hammock feeling the warm ocean breeze - it will be good to get another good night's sleep tonight.

AND ... the boys have spring break this week - so, technically, we're still "on vacation" anyway :) just in a much colder place.

sunscreen application 101

never trust someone else to apply sunscreen for you.

my brother alex is modeling why this rule is an important one to follow :)



(and for the record ... no i was not the one applying his sunscreen.)

AND ...

it needs to be said that with the amount of milk our family goes through - we would officially be broke if we lived in hawaii.
milk is $6 dollars a gallon!!

humuhumunukunukuapua'a

ok .. that really has nothing to do with this post - it's a type of fish and a song on high school musical (i obviously know more about the 2nd form). it is however my favorite hawaiian word next to mele kalekemaka ;) so i just thought i'd throw it out there... along with a few of my favorite pictures of us so far :)

a whale of a time

today we went on a 2 hour whale watching excursion and the whales put on quite a show for us! they came within 50 yards of the boat!!

at the very end we got to see a mom teaching her calf how to do a breach (where they jump and land on their back). it was SO cool! i obviously took a ton of pictures - but i'll just share a few of the mom and her baby -first we saw the baby try a few times. BUT how surprised were we when we got to see the mom do it!! it was as if she was saying ... nice try buddy but THIS is how you do it! :) and this was literally within 100 yards of us! crazy!

when 30 miles becomes a 3 hour tour

there's gotta be a reason ... (or 4) ...

1. it's a road basically carved out of a mountain - with 600 curves and 54 bridges - the majority of which are one lane wide. (yes, that line across the middle of the mountainside is the road)

2. along the way you come across numerous waterfalls - and have to stop at each.

3. there is a really cool black sand - volcanic rock - beach ... with caves that NEEDED to be explored!

4. it's not every day that you get to explore a bamboo forest!

yesterday we took the infamous "road to hana". it is literally a 32 mile trip - but we left at 7 am and returned at 3 pm. it was long - but there were frequent stops - so the boys did wonderful.

would i turn around and do it again tomorrow? probably not. it's stressful driving on such little roads that are so high up. (and i was only a passenger!)

BUT ... was it worth it to do it yesterday? absolutely! we got some to see some GORGEOUS things - (and take great pictures too!)

too close for comfort

most nights drew and ben don't have a problem if we ask them to sleep together.

well, for some reason, last night ben wasn't liking drew's breath - or something like that - and drew didn't like that ben was hogging the covers.

we reminded them that they didn't really have a choice - so they fell asleep.

of course it wasn't more than 5 minutes later that i took this picture :)

funny how when you're tired everything seems to fall apart - but you get the smallest amount of sleep and you remember what really matters :)

our life this week

ONE more post for tonite - just thought i'd give you a little taste of what we wake up to every morning out our window --

1 yr old common sense

2 fists full of sand ...now what should i do with this ???


oh ... i know!!

rub it in my hair !! that makes PERFECT sense!

the difference 3 kids can make :)

our rental car

my sisters rental car

flying the friendly skies

we're here!!!

the trip went MUCH better than i ever could have anticipated.

the first flight, we checked alex's seat at the gate. he sat for a while and read, played on the floor for a while, and for about 3/4 of the time he was kept busy by an old obsession :)

i thought maybe he would nap - but he waited until we were actually touching down to fall asleep :)for the second flight we decided to use the car seat, simply because we figured he would want to sleep and he would sleep more soundly if he was in it. he stayed content riding and playing with my head phones for a good portion. we watched 2 elmo dvds and then he fell asleep for the last hour and a half. this flight and it's crew were absolutely amazing! the flight had 90 some empty seats. this allowed us to spread out a little. people were laying down on the rows of 3 seats that were open. noone was in their assigned seat. it was crazy! on this flight i discovered that it truly is worth it to call ahead and order the kids meal and the vegetarian meal. they were much better than the "real" meal. the crew was so friendly. they spent so much time interacting with the kids and talking to the passengers. one of the men kept offering us free cookies, more water, more juice. every time he'd walk by he'd say "can i get you stuff to take with you ... water, juice boxes, cookies?!" i'd send ben to the bathroom and he'd come back with about 10 packs of cookies! by the time we got off the flight i had an enormous bag of goodies that this particular flight attendant would not let me turn down :)
and to think most airlines/crews don't even give out peanuts anymore. WOW did this delta crew prove us wrong!

our kids were GREAT and the flight was fabulous. i could not have asked for it to go smoother!!



we're hoping the return fliight goes as smooth ;) but ... we'll see.
until then - we're having fun and it is nowhere close to the -2 degrees we left in minnesota! WOO HOO!!

seriously now ....

as if i didn't have enough to do with packing up 4 people for an 8 day adventure ...

i can't find 2 of our library books ...

and we all know how i am about having EVERY piece of the puzzle.

SERIOUSLY!

(and ... yes i took the time to count them in the middle of the craziness ... i like to leave everything semi in order)

here's what i get for encouraging sharing

ben: i'm mad at drew today.
me: why's that, buddy.
ben: he shared his breath with me and now i'm sick.

don't wanna miss a thing

it's funny how someone so little can be so smart!
although he is just starting to REALLY communicate and is only months shy of 2 ... alex is VERY in tune with what is going on around him.
when i suggest that it's bedtime, things can go one of 2 ways:
1. i can leave drew and ben playing while i put alex to bed. alex gets sad and usually cries when i leave him in his crib.
2. i can have drew and ben pretend they are going to bed. they go lay in their beds and i take alex in to say good night to each of them. he walks away waving and saying "nite dew" "nite ba" and goes to his bedroom. he lays down nicely and goes to sleep.

basically ... he knows there is fun to be had if everyone else is still up and will do all he can to make sure he doesn't miss out!

he's a smart little guy. i will dare say he is smarter than his 2 older brothers. they are getting ready for bed right now and are clueless to the fact that in about 30 minutes we will be enjoying one of our favorite to go meals, watching a show that tivo has so faithfully recorded, and probably finishing it up with a few girl scout cookies!

now that's fun ... and unfortunately tonight they will already be asleep.

bummer. maybe next time boys ;)

in a perfect world ....

the other night drew called me into his room and was crying because his cold had him so miserable. through his sobs this is when he told me ...

"i wish this world was perfect because then i wouldn't have this bad cold. AND ... if this world was perfect .... THEN BEN WOULDN'T BE SLEEPING!"

he was obviously a little frustrated that he was the only one that couldn't sleep. poor guy.