animated inspiration

yesterday i took the boys to see kung fu panda.

now ... i didn't expect to walk away inspired.

in fact ... all i walked in hoping for was that alex would sit and not cause too much trouble.

BUT ...

i walked out with a quote that kept me thinking all day.

"yesterday is history
tomorrow is a mystery
today is a gift
and that is why it is called the present."

now i realize that isn't THAT deep of a quote. it's quite simple - and slightly cheesy.

BUT it really made me think.

as i have said before - i don't often have regrets ... so the yesterday part isn't really a problem for me. i think everything happens for a reason and so rather than regret - i learn from it and move on.

but ... the rest of it is what really made me think.
as i sit here 12 weeks pregnant it is easy for me to wonder about the next few weeks.
before alex came we miscarried twice. once at 13 weeks and once at 16 weeks.
each time we had already seen a heartbeat and as far as we knew - we had a healthy little baby.
because of this ... hitting the 12 week mark doesn't do much as far as creating peace within me.
in fact it probably does the opposite.
right now is when i start to get nervous and wonder about what tomorrow holds.

when i heard this quote - and really thought about it - i thought about how true it really is.

today is a gift.

we are happy.
we are healthy.
and we are having fun.

tomorrow is a mystery and there is absolutely nothing that i can do that will change that.
worrying won't change it.
more planning won't change it either.

it is what it is
and what will be ... will be.

all i can do is thank God for today ....
be happy for where we are at ...

AND thank God that alex lasted through the movie :)

in our spare time...

in addition to baseball ... and moving out of our house ...

we ALSO got to enjoy the weekend with my mom, my stepdad, and my nephew, aiden.

we managed to find time to take the boys to the zoo and oh what fun they had!

the little boys most enjoyed the dolphin show and the butterfly tent*!

*yes ... this made me a little nervous. those boys are much too fast and don't quite understand the true meaning of the word gentle ;) BUT they did great and the butterflies all survived :) whew!

i even managed to grab a picture of alex and aiden ... both looking ... AND smiling :)
**they look like angels ... but don't be fooled ;)**



then ... on saturday night we headed downtown for our favorite fireworks of the year :)

our weekend was definitely packed full...

and we're all still recovering :) ha ha :)

but it was a ton of fun!

SO ... thanks for coming guys!

also ...

if you get a second ...

please pray for my friend, mckmama

she is 24 weeks pregnant and her baby is facing some life threatening heart problems :(

goodbye able street

as of today we are no longer homeowners!

(well for a few months anyway)

everything went well and we closed on our house!

of course it is bitter sweet to leave.

but ...

i am just SO glad to have everything done!

we have no baseball ...

and

we have no house to clean ...

what in the world are we going to do with our time?!

1 ... 2.... 3 .... almost out

well ...our weekend of baseball has ALMOST ended :)
it has been the perfect weekend weather-wise.
and the boys have done well ...

ben got to play pitcher
and was very passionate about keeping the pitchers mound clean
(yes ... he is BLOWING the plate off)



drew got to play catcher (his favorite position)
but .. took his turn in the outfield as well ...
(he obviously got a little bored)

they both had some really nice hits ...



and drew even got awarded a game ball for most improved player of the season :)



today we wrap up the fun.

ben has at least one more game and we will see if their "winning streak" continues :)

go yankees!!

it's begun!!

it's official!

our house has officially been started!

YIPEEE!!

settling in

we have stayed at the townhouse now for 2 nights.

so far so good.

it is small. but ... it makes us thankful for what we have ... and will have!!!!

it's a 2 BR townhouse - so the plan was to have the boys in one room and us in the other.

WELL ... as always ... alex likes to do things differently than planned.

SO ...as of right now ... alex is sharing our room with us.

i know ... how romantic :) ... good thing #4 is already on the way :)

now, this week we just have a lot of odds and ends to move and clean.

oh ... and a whole lot of baseball ;)

so if you don't hear from me ... you now know why :)

taking down the tramp

tonight we had the boys take their last jumps ...
and now ...
the trampoline is officially put away ...

tomorrow we are moving most of our stuff over to the town house.
although we don't close for another week, we figured it would be best to get our stuff out on the weekend and give ourselves the week to clean and move the odds and ends.

tonight has been tough.
now ... you'd think that taking down the trampoline really isn't THAT big of a deal.
and really ... it isn't.
i mean ... it makes me sad that something that the boys love has been taken away for the rest of summer.
(and that i have lost my #1 distraction tool).

BUT ...
it's been hard because ...
taking down the trampoline means it's for real.
it means that we are really leaving.

NOW ...
of course i am SO excited for our new house.
i am SO excited for a layout that we designed.
and for all of the fun times i know we will have.

BUT ...
it means we are leaving our first house.
the house that we built.
the house that we brought our babies home to.
and the place that we have called home for the past 7 years.

we know that it's what we want to be doing ...
but ...
it's change.
it's scary.

and tonight ...
taking down the trampoline ...
made me realize how thankful i am for the past 7 years ...
for the neighbors we've had ...
for the friends we've made ...
and for the memories that we have.

no more fluff!

for anyone that has seen alex lately ..
you know that his hair had become one giant fluffball.
BUT ...
he has always HATED haircuts ...
it was driving me absolutely crazy ...
but out of a pure niceness factor to the ladies at kids hair ...

i let it go
*SIGH*



well ... this morning i could take it no longer
he seemed happy
and ... they had an appt before 11 am.
so ... i figured it couldn't hurt to try.

at first he was a bit hesitant
THEN ...
i found one of those hands on a stick cheap clapper toys ...
now ...
to know alex is to know he LOVES clapping.
he loves to clap.
he always asks everyone else to clap.
so finding a "clapper" was SERIOUSLY the best distraction EVER!
between that and a pack of smarties ...
he did GREAT!

we avoided a buzz cut AND got rid of the fluff!

YEAH ALEX!
(everyone. clap. NOW!)

7 yr old SWM seeks 7 yr old SWF

tonight drew asked me how old he needs to be so that he can date.

he took me a bit by surprise so i told him maybe 16 :)

he said "how about 11, or 12, or 13?"

i said "why?"

he said "well .. because i am just SO excited to go on dates. well ... of course first i have to find a girl that i love and that loves me. but then we can go on dates. i just need to make myself look good. you know ... like drake. (from drake and josh) and you know, mom ... we need to start going on more long walks downtown. then i could maybe find a girl." (HA HA HA!)

oh drewby ... you are only 7 years old. you have plenty of years ahead of you to find the perfect girl to date. AND ... when the time comes ... i suggest you look places other than the streets of downtown :)

a future rockstar??

out of the blue - ben has started to really pick up guitar hero.

i couldn't help but take a bunch of video of him this weekend.

he plays the guitar with the same intensity he does pretty much everything else

:)

money concerns

at the young age of 7 drew is already contemplating career choices and the benefits of money.

he came to stacey and i tonight and asked what he needed to do for work so that he could make sure to go to hawaii every year for the rest of his life.

oh drew ... if only i had an easy answer for you :)

unfortunately the best i have is ... become a doctor specializing in either ears or thumbs because with all of the loud IPOD music and with how common text messaging has become, i have a feeling those doctors are going to be in high demand! :)

stats

so far we have 2 losses under our belts.

they both played excellent games ... and they had fun ... so we're happy :)

we found out that we close on our current house on the 28th ... so knowing that ... we decided that we didn't really need much more added to our lives to "keep us busy" :) playing less baseball the last weekend of july might be a good thing this year! te he he :)

next year i'll cheer for you guys to be the champions ... i promise!

to win or not to win

we have officially entered baseball playoff time.

tonight was our first of many games :)

NOW ...

of course we want them to win - because well that's what everyone wants ...

BUT ...

they have spent the entire season playing the game for the fun of it and not caring about who wins or loses.

AND...

whoever plays in the loser bracket plays a LOT less games the final weekend.

SO ...

although i would be so happy for them if their teams win ...

there is a part of me (shhh!) that thinks losing wouldn't be all that bad either ;)

you know it's gotten bad when ...

... being sick is such a part of your day that your two year old walks around the house randomly making noises as if he's throwing up :)

golf-ball

stacey and alex wanted to work on their golf swing tonight ...

and drew and ben were wanting to play a little catch ...

so we created golf-ball :)

stacey would hit a plastic golf ball and drew and ben would try to catch it in their gloves!

it allowed each of them to perfect "their sport" ...

it kept them all busy ...

AND it allowed me to sit and watch from my lawn chair :)

doesn't get much better than that!

you're 2!!!

alex ...

i can't believe that you are already 2!

you are growing into such a "big kid" and it is so fun to watch!

every day you shock us by saying something new and crazy!
you have a way of making us laugh so hard!
you can be SO cute one minute ...
and yet drive us absolutely crazy the next.

we love you so much little guy!
you are SO special to us!
we hope you LOVE being 2!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!

you know you're pregnant when ...

you see a heath bar sitting on the counter and think ...

mmmm .... breakfast