Mother's Day 2014

This Mother’s Day was spent doing one of my favorite spring activities: yard work!

No seriously.  I love it.

I love working out in the yard, cleaning up the flower beds, mowing the lawn, pulling weeds…anything!

But before we did that, we started off with a family brunch at Sahm’s. Then after over-stuffing ourselves, we headed to my mom’s to clean up her yard and plant some flowers.  Many hours later (because wow…her yard needed work!), we headed back to our house to start mulching.  We didn’t mulch last year, so we had quite a task ahead of us this year.

OH, but wait.

I’m leaving out the best part: the presents! I wish I would have taken a picture, because I got some really cute handmade cards from both Emma and Drew. Those are always the best! And Andy got me tickets to Cirque Du Soleil Verakai which is at the end of July. Really looking forward to that!!!

Happy 5th Birthday, Drewbie!

To My Sweet Baby Boy Drew,

I'm truly having a hard time accepting the fact that you are now FIVE years old.  How did that happen?  When did you grow up?  When did you stop being a baby?  When did you outgrow the toddler phase?  FIVE YEARS OLD just seems so old to me. 

You've always been my baby.  You've always been sweet, sweet, little baby boy.

And now you’re five years old.

But even though you're a "big boy" now, you'll still be my baby boy.  You’ll still be my little man; my special little Drew-Drew.


You’ll always hold a special little place in my heart.

Love, Momma 

 

Drew's 5th Birthday Party

I still can't believe it.

I can't believe that my baby boy is FIVE years old.

FIVE.

That's no longer a baby.  Hell, that's no longer a toddler.  

He's freaking FIVE YEARS OLD.

So I told him that when he turned five, he could have an "official" birthday party.  Because that's the first time his sissy had one.  And, naturally, he chose to have his party at the same place that his sister did: Monkey Joe's!

But instead of inviting the whole class (1st-timer mistake that I was NOT going to make again!), we just invited the kids - boys - that he actually talks and interacts with.  So Mason (Mase-Mase), Sam (Sammy), Matthew (Matthew), Nolan (Noley), and Cole all came out to jump with Monkey Joe and celebrate Drew's big day!

This year, he really got into Star Wars (thanks to the ride at Hollywood Studios that he experienced during Spring Break), so some of the top items on his wish list were:

• Light Sabar
• Luke Skywalker action figure
• Jeti men
• and, of course, anything Ninja Turtle related!

Go figure: Drew would not pose for a picture to save my life!

 

 

I finally got one of him, though!

Sissy, on the other hand, has absolutely no problem posing for a picture. In fact, what I'm not posting, are the dozens - and I mean DOZENS - of photos that she took of herself at his party.

Emma's Hero Project

For Emma's Hero Project, she chose her Uncle Matt.  Because he's "so laughful" and "always puts a smile to my face."  

Here's the video she sent to Uncle Matt, letting him know that he is the chosen one:

And here is the story she wrote about her Uncle Matt:
My hero is Matt Swickheimer.  He is my uncle.  He always puts a smile to my face.  He is so funny.  He will cheer me up when I feel down.  He lives downtown.  He is a flight attendant and travels all around the world.  He enjoys going to concerts.  His favorite type of music is electronic.

I love my uncle Matt.

Easter 2014

Easter seemed to creep up me faster than it ever has before.  While I was able to get the majority of my decorations up, I wasn't able to get the bathroom decor up.  Which is huge for me!  If you know me, you know that I decorate for every holiday......and the bathrooms are my favorite room to decorate.  

But, that didn't seem to matter to the EB, because he still hopped on over to our house, leaving some Easter goodies for Emma and Drew.

Visiting with the EB at Camp Dellwood.

After searching FOREVER - like, her whole life - Emma finally found her basket!

Making an Easter craft with the Girl Scouts.

Our eggs this year: a pirate theme!!!

Getting To Know A Horse

Last month, I took our Girl Scout troop to a horse farm, where they "Got To Know A Horse."  They learned what horses eat, how the hoof is structured, what withers are, and how to groom one.  Although they didn't get to ride one, they did just about everything else.  The highlight?  Why cleaning up the poop, of course!

Sydney cleaning the horse's hoof.

Learning how to clean a saddle.

Taking one of the horses for a walk.

Ava, Emma, Josie, Maggie, Sydney, Sophia

Emma feeding one of the horses.

Bippity Bobbidi Boutique

Emma went to the Bippity Bobbidi Boutique in Disney World, which is a magical beauty salon where her dream of becoming a princess came true!  She got to pick her hairstyle (she went with the Fairytale Princess, of course), got to pick from a collection of shimmering make-up and face gems, AND she got a Princess sash and bag.

As if that wasn't enough, she was able to participate in the Princess Parade, where they paraded all through Downtown Disney, waving to all the Cast Members and guests.

She truly was a Princess for a Day.

Disney World 2014

We had an amazing time at Disney World during Spring Break this year!  This time, we went for a full week (5 days) and grandma joined in the fun this time as well!  Instead of listing out all the fun things we did every day, I'll just link to my post that I did back in 2012...click here and here and here and here.  We went on all the same rides, experienced all the fun things we did then, AND Drew even got to experience everything this time around.  There was only one ride that he wasn't able to go on, due to his height.  But other than that, the kid loved every fast-flying, high-rising, intense drop that the rides had to offer.  His following right in his sister's footsteps, in that he has NO FEAR.