A Wonderful Mother's Day!

Last week my mom came to visit and I just had to include her in this post because, well, she's MY mom and without her I wouldn't be here today! Love you Mom and so glad you came to visit!

Doug and the kids gave me cards, flowers, a gift card to Wallyworld, a handmade sugar scrub for my hands and feet, and an awesome cake picked out by Braden! I have to admit, I liked it too! Braden was so excited to give it to me that he couldn't hold the secret in! He finally said to Doug, "Can we give mom her cake yet??!!" By that point, Doug gave up trying to wait so we got to enjoy that starting yesterday! It was yummy! I love my sweet family! Oh, and Doug made me an awesome dinner tonight too so kudos to you babe! You outdid yourself. Too bad every day can't be Mother's Day! I was spoiled!

Blake and his new bed!

Well, it was a slightly emotional day for me a few weeks ago when we took apart the crib. We knew it was time to move Blake to a big bed since he was climbing out of his crib, and also because it was time to separate Briley and Braden, but I had no idea that I would feel so melancholy about the whole thing! I actually had tears in my eyes as I untied the bumper pad for the last time. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT sad that we are done having babies, just that my babies are so big now! I was remembering the countless nights of seeing each one of my three kids sleeping in that bed, watching them as they breathed and seeing how peaceful they were. I remember marveling at how much more of the bed they would take up as they got bigger or laughing and calling Doug in to see what cute position they had fallen asleep in or what animal they had fallen asleep on. It was and is an end of an era. It was a very physically and emotionally challenging era for me (my family and friends can attest for that as you have been there countless times for me to spill it all out on the phone to you!) but it was also a precious time. I am so very blessed to have three wonderful, healthy, happy children. They have given us such joy over the last 6 and a half years. I guess now we will have a different type of memories to look forward to, but no more babies to put in the crib. . .sigh . . . I wouldn't trade those sleepless nights for anything! Well, okay, maybe that's an overstatement, but you moms know what I mean:)

On a lighter note, the first week was interesting in the bunk beds. Of course Blake did not stay in the bed, and used the bedrail to climb on to get closer up to Braden and the top bunk so we had to take the rail off. He hasn't fallen out of the bed and is doing much better staying in. Twice I have found him on the top bunk during the day and have made sure he knows not to do that again but we will see. Sometimes the temptation is too much I guess. Braden has loved the top bunk and even makes his bed in the morning! Actually, he has now opted to sleep on TOP of the covers and put a small blanket over him. He says it is too hard to make. I can't blame him! I guess that's fine for now!

It is fun to have a "boy" room now. We moved Briley and Braden in together when we had Blake. We had always planned on the boys sharing a room but wanted to wait until Blake was old enough to handle it. So once he started climbing out of his crib, we decided it was time. The first week I was kicking myself thinking, "why did I do this?" as I put Blake BACK into his bed countless times and tried to get him to go back to sleep after waking at 6am, but now it is going much better. We bought the boys a train table for their room (great deal on Craig's list) as a sort of "welcome to your new boy room" present and they are loving it. Blake watches everything Braden does and copies it. He even wants to be "Spi-man" - Spiderman in "blake". So cute! Who knew boys could be so fun?!

Our Baby Blakey

Blake turned two a few weeks ago and so I thought I would post about him. He is such a joy. He certainly came into his "2's" early and with a vengeance but he is such a joy. He loves to laugh and play with his brother and sister. He is talking up a storm and is very active. He can now climb out of his crib with little trouble but fortunately doesn't do this very often. It is hard to imagine life without him. What fun he is! Here are a few pictures of our blue-eyed sweetheart!

Easter Fun!

Happy Easter! We got to go to Doug's grandmother's house for the weekend.
"Granny" is 84 years old and has more energy than I do! She was so wonderful to us - it was a treat for sure! I think my kids ate their weight in powdered donuts! We decorated Easter eggs in the garage. It was fun and only a few cracked!

The finished product. . .

Easter morning baskets

Our attempt to get a good Easter picture of them before church.

A friend's "attempt" - much better. He's a professional!

Hope you had a wonderful Easter!