lucky seven

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY BEN!!!



as i look back over the past year
i see that ...
although you have gotten bigger,
you have gotten smarter
and
you have gotten faster -
MUCH faster of course ;)

you are still the same crazy and loveable ben.

you still love baseball.
you still love football.
you still love being outside.
and
you still love playing wii.
actually anything that requires an active little boy
is PERFECT for you.

you love to be goofy
and
you love to make people laugh.

you are loving
and
you are a great brother.

you are patient with alex
and
you look up to drew.

you are charming
and
you are a great friend.

you keep me smiling
and
you keep me on my toes.

it's been so fun to watch you grow over the past 7 years
and
to see the person you are becoming.

happy birthday
and
i love you

today
and
always

blessings

after 18 hours with 6 boys at my house ...

i watched them out my window ...

enjoyed a venti latte from starbucks ...

and thanked God that He only gave me 3

you're hot than you're cold ...

never quite know what kind of mood you'll be in ...

... but always know that you'll let us know.

happy easter!

just a small photo recap of our easter afternoon ...



and our easter group shot.
this is the longest we could get them all still.



AND ...
as you can see
that was about how long i put into coming up with easter outfits this year too.

happy easter!!

he's no fool

this morning we woke up to giggling outside our door.

the boys were wrapping scotch tape around our bedroom door handles

so that we wouldn't be able to get our doors open

a short time later we heard them come back.

drew was pretty much yelling at ben

and trying to convince him not to take the tape off of the doors.

"COME ON ben it's funny.

it's a good april fools joke!!

just leave it!!!!!!"

ben's response showed just how well he knows us -

'drew, they're just going to stay in there all day.'

a little welcome home surprise

coming off a 10 day adventure on maui left us all feeling quite 'blah' about coming home.
it was BEAUTIFUL there
we were having fun
and ...
really ...
how exciting can minnesota be ...

WELL ...
today we found out.

when we arrived home from the airport we were greeted by this ...
(i borrowed this picture from the startrib)



and this ...

the entrance into our neighborhood was completely blocked off.
there was a massive hunt underway for a police chase suspect.
it started down in south minneapolis and made it's way up here -
ending with the guy ditching his car
and entering the woods right across the street from our house.
the police chased him and then sent a K9 in.
apparently it came back out with multiple stab wounds.

for the rest of the day
we watched SWAT members come and go,
we saw massive police barricades on the main road we use,
and
we watched a helicopter flying overhead.

sadly ...
the TEN separate police departments
AND
the U S marshalls
that they had on the chase failed to find him -
yet
(i'm hoping)

on a positive note -
they seem certain that he left the area
but are continuing heavy police coverage.

on the flip side -
that doesn't make me feel much safer.

just another crazy day around here.

oh ... and mom ...
this is all just a story that we made up.
i swear.

perfection

the PERFECT way to kick off a morning ...



and

the ONLY way to follow it up in the afternoon ...

i'm missing it already.

quick question

hey drew ....

did you spend any time at the pool this week???

our last full day on maui

we woke up and went for an early morning walk along the beachwalk -

we stopped at the hyatt
to see their fun birds along the way.



we played at the pool ...

we entered the bocce ball tournament.
team rockstar
that would be me and ben
creamed the wolves
that would be drew and stacey
in the first round
but then went on to seriously lose in the 2nd round.
for the record ... i didn't throw the competition because i was really ready for lunch
but it did cross my mind ;)

we ate lunch
and then went down to the beach to play.

we jumped some waves ...



and then went back to the pool
just ONE MORE TIME.

we ended with a dinner on the beach
at hula grill.
live hawaiian music
and
a sunset.

i'm gonna miss this.

a day full of promises

** disclaimer **
the following pictures do NOT
i repeat DO NOT
even come close to portraying the amazingness that we saw today

as is very common -
the rain sat up in the mountains and didn't touch us.
as is also common -
we saw a rainbow.
HOWEVER ...
today we saw rainbows out over the ocean ...
a double one.
a double one that i missed getting a picture of actually ...
grrrr.
we saw rainbows coming out of the mountains ...
AND
we saw something we've never seen before.

we saw where the rainbow actually hits the ground.

never before have i seen a rainbow in front of something
as it was with the mountains.

it was BEAUTIFUL!

to look at the mountains and see a rainbow arching over the top of them
and touching ground on both sides.

it was simply amazing!

the ONLY thing that could've possibly made it better
was a pot of gold for us to find at the end ;)