Sam’s gift to me was that he agreed (grudgingly) to wear jeans over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner! That dude hates jeans, but all it took was for mommy to bring out the pouty lip and say “but Sammy it’s Mother’s Day!” to get him to oblige. Then he said “and with it I wear mommy’s tiger shirt!”

Back to the morning…everyone got up and made me a pancake breakfast while I read in bed. We hung out, and later I spent some time shopping/erranding (alone:) The boys brought back a late lunch from World Street Kitchen, and since Ryan refused to like anything on the menu there, the boys had McD’s. I was also gifted a new grill pan from Pat:) Oh and lest I forget, on the Friday before mom’s day Ryan came home with a decorated paper cup filled with dirt and a very wilty marigold sprout, AND a compilation of recipes written by everyone in his class. Super adorable mom’s day gift idea, and the recipes are hilarious. Ryan wrote his about mac ‘n cheese.

In the late afternoon of Mother’s Day we went over to my in-laws’ house for dinner. Ryan also dressed up for the occasion in jeans and a button down fancy shirt.

He wanted to use my camera before I did…

…then I got a couple with my boys.

Such sweetnesses, those two. The boys that call me mom. {Incessantly.}

But we went anyway!!! When I told him we were going he said “are we gonna play??”

He refused to wear a Twins shirt, but I couldn’t complain because he had instead chosen a shirt with a COLLAR how fancy and did agree to the Twins cap. Sam enjoyed the tall buildings of downtown, wondered why we were NOT MOVING during the traffic jam, and then was in love with the parking ramp’s elevator. We had some traffic issues downtown so we got to our seats sometime during the first inning. He was a bit overwhelmed with the colorfulness of the environs surrounding Target field, and then was SO impressed by the green handled toilet flushers in the bathrooms (our first stop upon entering the stadium.)

Once in our seats he was immediately hungry. I had actually packed him some food because I did not want to deal with his messy self eating a hotdog. He munched on his cheese stick and veggies, and kept wanting to get in and out of his seat to retrieve his water bottle from the cup holder. Watching the seat bottom boing back up into place was fun in itself. He was amazed by the loud music, and said “I hear a piano!” and did a lot of “what’s that? what’s that?” when the announcer shouted something or they did ‘charge!’ We got to see one Twins home run and one hit by Joe Mauer. Then TC Bear was on the field shooting off t-shirts and whoa boy, that was exciting. After that Sam wouldn’t stop asking where TC Bear went, what he was doing, why he wasn’t out on the field, etc.

Oh and also, starting approximately five minutes after we got there, Sam repeatedly asked “are they done playing yet?”

Sam was sitting next to two ladies who he kept charming the socks off. He was initiating conversations with them and doing goofy things- they found him adorable. Somewhere in the third inning I decided it was probably time for helmet sundaes.

Which were a huge mess but obvs a necessity for your first game. The day didn’t end up quite as warm as predicted and we were in the shade, so by the time Sam was nearly done with his sundae he was shivering and his lips were purple! (One of the kind ladies offered him her sweater:)

By mid 4th inning he was ready to go so we headed out. Took the handicap accessible ramp all the way down to the ground floor, which Sam loved and raced me down every level. It was a fun time- I was honored to take my little beeper to his first game! What a great memory to have of you Sammy boy!

The fire station was an awesome place to have a party. We set up in the large kitchen/dining/living room area, and after everyone arrived the whole crowd enjoyed a tour of the station. The birthday boy (and his daddy!) got to try on the fire fighting garb, and then everyone got rides in two different fire trucks, which was by far the highlight of the party. We had pizza delivered and noshed on a fire station themed cake. The kiddos had fun being goofy, playing with the fire station toys and air hockey table, and sorting through their goodie bags.

Ryan had a great time celebrating with all the important people in his life. It was a really fun party– lots of wonderful memories to take away from this day.

The adorableness… this is Ry’s friend who says she’s going to marry him.

Cousin Brady, who I was lucky enough to sit next to on a firetruck ride. His excitement was infectious.

“that was so heavy I almost fell over!”

Grandma Karen and Max, getting ready for their ride.

Sam and Pat were lucky enough to sit up front for a ride.

And then Sam immediately hopped back in for a ride with Grandpa Bob.

That’s Grandma Mary.

listening to fire safety

These here were kids doing math problems while eating pizza. Many of us were incredulous.

this was a near-meltdown when he learned we’d be opening the presents at home and not at the party

Ry’s ladies really represented at this birthday:)

the meltdown was unwarranted, as Ry and Max had a ton of fun going through all the presents alone back at home.

-So, it was summer here over the weekend. I raked some crusty leaves. Kids rode bikes and played outside a ton. We filled the sandbox with sand. Sam got a SUNBURN. Summer lasted three days and now we are back to 40s and snowflakes in the air. I’ve put away and taken back out again our winter stuff about five different times. This is it though- I refuse to don winter coats ever again until next November.

-Ryan and Sam are doing a tball class this “spring”. It’s a 3-5 year old class, and I was able to squeeze Ryan in since it started the week before he turned six. He never wants to join anything, so having Sam there with him is a real self-confidence booster for Ry. The first class was cancelled due to a blizzard, last week’s was the first, and tonight’s class we just about froze our limbs off. Oh yeah, did I mention this is a parent participation class? And tonight I was there alone with both kids? Not sure if anyone knows this equation, but Anne + Athletics= HAHAHAHAHA. Sam spent most of his time throwing his glove in the air and running to the wrong base and trying to field the ball when he was on first. Ryan is a decent thrower/catcher, but spent a lot of his time whining about how cold it was. During the long walk across the field Sam flung himself upon the dirt refusing to move, at which time I had no choice but to bribe him with the stale half piece of gum I found in my pocket.

-One year ago at this precise moment I was vacationing in Spain with Jen. I’m the nostalgic live-in-the-past type, so I’ve been mooning over photos from our trip and texting daily year-ago trip updates to Jen.

-Thankfully I have not one but two upcoming trips to California to look forward to. My friend Jen (this is a different BFF Jen- not the Spain one) and I are going to San Diego over Memorial Day weekend. We don’t meet up nearly as often as I would like, so having an entire long weekend together is going to be awesome! Then in July Pat and I and his siblings and parents are traveling to Santa Barbara wine country for his cousin’s wedding. Ah sun. Ah wine. Ah a few days to breathe and relax. Aaaaah.

-Pat started a new job this week! I encouraged him to take a job as a tour guide with Nice Ride, but alas, he remains in the world of IT.

-My sweet little Ryan. On Tuesday he brought home a “surprise” from school that I was not supposed to see. I was NOT to go anywhere near his backpack. He and Sam sneaked the mystery item into his room to safely store it in the bottom drawer of his dresser, and I was NOT to look in the bottom drawer of the dresser. Yesterday afternoon as I was folding laundry Ryan told me he was going to do something with the surprise now, so of he went with Sam, and then the doorbell rang! I went to answer it and there on the handle was an adorable kindergartener-made May Day basket with a colorful tissue paper flower inside. The May Day delivery boys were hiding halfway around the house, and after a long wait finally jumped out and said happy May Day! It was so cute and sweet. And was re-enacted again when Pat got home. I was touched that Ryan’s teacher would have them do this and then tell them how to create the surprise at home for family.

-Oh and really quick, reading. (One year ago tomorrow I was on a flight from mainland Spain to the island of Mallorca and did not even know that our flight landed because I was immersed in Fifty Shades of You Know What.) Tonight I am finishing up ‘Run’ by Ann Patchett. I was meant to host April’s book club, but our meeting was cancelled due to- you guessed it- a blizzard. So now I’m hosting May’s book club, and I decided to do a little author study and combine the two months with books by the same author. So, for April we read ‘State of Wonder’ by Ann Patchett, and now ‘Run.’ I loved LOVED loved State of Wonder, am withholding a review of Run until I’ve finished it, and HATED ‘Bel Canto’ by the same author (which I read many years ago, also for book club).

Time for bed now. Here’s another picture of Spain.

I had every intention of baking Sam’s cake that morning (with green frosting and sprinkles per his request), but at the last minute I decided I didn’t feel much like baking so Sam and Pat had a little morning outing to pick out a cake at the grocery store. He chose this one, “because it has green.” I added the cars. He had chosen Hot Wheels plates at the party store, so I thought a little cake topper was appropriate.

We were happy to have Gma Karen and Gpa Bob staying with us for the weekend. In addition, the other guests included Gma Mary, Gpa Jer, the cousins Max, Brady, and Brynn (and accompanying aunties/uncles), and Sam’s neighbor friend Adelaide.

Both of my boys are simply enamored with their cousin Baby Max.

Sam enjoyed opening his gifts, but seemed to have the most fun ripping everything open and then not paying much attention to what was inside. Big brother Ryan directed the present opening and offered his help for each and every gift.

Sam got some fun stuff. We went low-key with presents this year and got him a starry night pillow pet and spiderman sunglasses. He also got some take-apart vehicles with power screwdrivers, swim trunks, Twister, books, and a monster truck track thing. (And a generous playhouse from Pat’s uncle; playhouse remains in box in garage awaiting normal spring weather so it can be assembled).

Aunt Annie was very skeptical about my idea to get Sam tennis balls. But as you can see…

he loved them.

We ordered pizza for dinner, and the kids crammed into the kitchen for a fine dining experience.

They all had a ton of fun playing together. And then it was the moment we’d all been waiting for…CAKE.

1. Cheesy pose to appease mom before lights are dimmed.

2. Ooooooh, this is so cool and fun! Everyone’s watching me!

3. Getting ready to blow.

4. In action- 2 outta 3.

Have you noticed that kids get super fired up about cake, but then they never finish it?? [I had a proud moment later that day when Ryan told me that cakes we make at home are much yummier than cakes from the store, because the "frosting is just too sugary and fakey" on the store cakes.][Sorry Ry, you're getting a cake from Target.]

That’s about all I have for photos from Sam’s Big 3 Birthday. The combo of the late afternoon, a dreary dark day, poor lighting, and a camera with a max ISO of 1600 created these unimpressive images. If this winter EVER ENDS and the sun EVER SHINES again, I will have to get some 3yo pictures of Sam.

Can hardly even believe my youngest is a three year old! He’s the exact age now that Ryan was when he was born…crazy!

Lucky for me Grandma was enthusiastic about taking charge of this year’s egg dyeing.

Lucky for Ryan, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy crossed paths in the hallway that night, and our toothless boy awoke to an Easter egg under his pillow with a dollar bill stuffed inside. Both Ry and Sam were excited to wake up and search for their eggs and baskets.

I managed to get them to dress up a bit since it was a ‘fancy occasion’ (and we were going to church).

(they didn’t manage to get haircuts in time for Easter though)

the Easter bunny brought super hero capes…

I turned the self-timer on us a couple times too, to capture the very rare mommy shot!

We had a lovely meal, and later in the afternoon went to the aquarium. A perfect day to go apparently, there was almost no one there.

Don’t let these images fool you. Inside this adorable, sweet-faced boy is an inner three year old just waiting to emerge:) I’ve already started seeing the signs. The past few days have been… challenging. (These yoga pics were from back in February, on a very charming day.)

So, an update on this almost 3 year old…

-he’s cute

-he likes to pretend to do yoga. And loves to do somersaults. And dance. And play ball catch and batting in the basement. And wrestling basketball with daddy and Ryan.

-still loves going to music class and playing music and ‘music class’ at home. Loves his guitar and pitch pipe, and drums.

-has an epic sweet tooth. Epic. Wants candy any time of the day, and will flop into this belligerent whiny fit if you say no. Starts asking for snack at 8am some days. Will get a treat at the coffee shop and then 15 minutes later when getting in the car says “I need a SNACK!”

He’s doing great in the big bed. Won’t get out of it unless one of us comes for him (please continue, please). He’s our high maintenance bedtime child. First he listens to stories in Ryan’s bed. Then he chooses a few stories to read in his bed. Then he needs to go pee and have a drink. Then he needs his nose blown. Then the pillows situated, the blankets just so, the kisses, the hall light on, the blown kisses. Then the various calls for mommy for further drinks, nose wipes, carrot requests, etc.

-still naps for the most part, about a 1.5 hour nap in the afternoon.

-has had a ton of colds this winter, and every cold he gets results in typically a couple days of low fever, and then the worst, snottiest, drippiest nose ever.

-refuses to wear anything on his lower half except speed pants (silky sport pants). Likes to ‘go runnin’ and show off how fast he is in his pants or new tennis shoes. Gets angry if certain items of clothing are not available and in the laundry. Current favorites are the speed pants, bike shirt…and well, that’s about it. Favorite socks are always the ones that match nothing- the bright orange or bright red numbers that came from who knows where.

-Is 50% completely potty trained. WILL NOT sit on the toilet to attempt a poop. WILL NOT. He had been in the habit of asking for a pull-up for #2 and then going behind the bathroom door, but now he tells me nothing and just goes. In his pants. WHEREVER. I am so over this. He tells me “on my birfday, I poop in the potty.”

-Still uses the word ‘actually’ a lot when talking, and has begun using this adorable hand gesture that’s very adult like where he shrugs his shoulders, crinkles up his face, and hold his arms/hands out in front of him like wha WHA is going on here. It’s very adorable, unfortunately I have no picture of it.

[lovely unfocused self timer shot!]

-loves playing with Ryan, but likes to put the smack down on big brother out of the blue for no reason. Well, there’s often a reason. Either that, or the reasons have built up over three years’ time of having gotten the smack down FROM big brother. Sam will hold his own in no time.

-seems very attached to mommy lately. Daddy can have no part of bedtime. (unless daddy’s watching sports then Sam is on him like glue avoiding bed.)

-as far as playing, is currently enjoying playing with his fake food/toy kitchen setting up imaginary foods and scenarios for serving them and feeding people. Likes pretending he’s pounding/building. Sets up his band or music class in the living room. Is getting into more imaginative play.

-Oh yeah, is also curious about babies and will walk around with a stuffed animal in his shirt saying a baby’s in his belly.

Sam’s a spunky, sweet little guy. He’s in that fun phase where (most) everything is exciting and fun and special. (I know there’s more to add…I’ll have to come back and edit when I remember.)

STAYCATION

This was a very spontaneously planned trip, with many thanks going to Pat’s parents for watching our kids. This was our first ever staycation in Minneapolis, and we really made the most our one night! On our way out of town (hehe, out of south Mpls) we stopped at Pizzeria Lola for lunch. Then we did some shopping downtown, checked into our hotel, and did a bit more shopping before heading to an awesome dinner at Saffron. We had a cocktail at Prohibition at the top of the Foshay, and then in the morning as a last hurrah had a tasty brunch at Wiseacre. I would definitely do a staycation again!

ST. PETER

Lucky for us, our small nephew/cousin Max had a baptism over President’s Day weekend. We decided to mark the occasion by traveling south for our first ever family-of-four-staying-in-one-hotel-room trip.

(scenery on drive down)

We checked into the Americinn St. Peter promptly at 2:02pm, and after finding our room to be ‘cool’, the boys wasted no time in getting on their suits for an afternoon of swimming. The pool (complete with basketball hoop) and hot tub provided hours of enjoyment. Sam proved absolutely fearless when it comes to water, flinging himself into the pool with nary a care about whether or not someone was nearby to catch him, or how deep the water was where he was jumping. Ryan will never forget how he “drowned” after his flotation device flew off one time when he jumped in. Katie, Troy, Brady and Brynn joined us for swimming and Godfather’s Pizza dinner, and alas, after all the fun that the swimming provided, I didn’t take one picture.

Ryan and Sam were SO EXCITED to sleep together in the same bed. Sam was out like a light after about 5 mins, but Ry took awhile longer as he was annoyed by Sam’s deep breathing and itchy chlorine skin. Pat was asleep by 7:45 as well.

We all slept in the next morning until 5:30am. Cartoons were on at 6:00am.

And we were hitting up the continental breakfast by 7:00am. Leaving us with plenty of time for one last swim before getting ready for the baptism ceremony.

I want to remember this about the baptism… the children were invited to the front of the church for a special kids’ sermon, followed by an offering of jelly beans to all the children. Ryan came back to his seat with an entire FIST full of jelly beans.) After church we went to lunch at Baby Max’s house. We had a really fun time, and this itty bitty baby step into the world of family vacations was a definite success! (Maybe next time we’ll go as far as Mankato.)

Here’s what the ride home looked like.

(We paid for the peaceful car ride with an epic 45 minute meltdown by both children upon arriving home.)

BACKPACKING

In Hoigaards

BEACH PARTY

school fundraiser night at Wendy’s

COMO CONSERVATORY

(closest I’ll get to sun/heat/palms this winter)

We’re already bracing ourselves for our spring break trip to Duluth!

We’ve been talking about his BBB for a long time, and after patiently waiting for deliveries and set-up snafus, we now finally have a BED.

We put up a rail at bedtime, but he was very concerned about falling out of the top of the bed. The crib** is still in there, and he wanted that thing gone. “just put it in the living room, mommy.” Also: “if I fall outta bed, I just get back in.”

Ryan proclaimed Sam’s bed to be BEAUTIFUL, and wanted to hang out in there to play.

Here’s hoping for a quiet night with lots of sleep!

**We have a drop-side crib. Which are now apparently illegal to manufacture, sell, re-sell, or donate. Anyone know what we’re supposed to DO with it? Throwing it away seems such a waste, as it’s a perfectly good crib. We never even used the drop-side, just bought the crib because we liked how it looked.

Sam and I had nothing planned for the day, so we decided to join Pat at work for lunch. Sam enjoyed his burger and fries in the corporate cafeteria, not to mention the elevator ride and the M&M dispenser.

Ryan got home from school thrilled to show off all of his Valentine loot from his party. His teacher sent each kid home with a heart balloon- he was so proud of how he managed to carry it all the way home on the bus. He got a load of candy of course, and read through each and every valentine, noting precisely who gave him each one. Probably the most exciting valentine treat for him was the “you’re so KOOL” packet of kool-aid and twisty straw. We had to whip up that pitcher of grape kool-aid immediately.

post-nap bed head. Love it!

they were trying to figure out one of those fortune teller things

this is the precursor face to the whining that’s about to happen when I tell him no to more candy

When Sam got up from his nap Ry let him choose a candy from his stash and then they both looked through all the valentines again. Sam is a sugar FIEND, getting really angry and ornery if you ever tell him no to his constant asking for candy. He was not pleased that I told him he couldn’t have any more candy after he chomped down his sucker.

We went sledding after that, which ended in Ryan screaming at the bottom of the hill refusing to walk home, and Sam unable to take more than three steps without his boots falling off. Lucky for us, Grandma showed up at the top of the hill just in time to collect all of us plus our sleds into her backseat and drive us home.

We had a romantic family dinner (complete with red placemats and a candle!) of brats and chips, and strawberries and whipped cream (with sprinkles!) for dessert.

There we have it- v-day 2013- for the record book.