Mine is bigger than yours!

That was a seriously good (and large) watermelon, too!

More from our 37 week (full term belly!) photo shoot...

My baby boy, wanting to pose with mama...

A family belly comparison...Lucy wants hers rubbed!

I LOVE my boys (and little Lucy, too!)

Sweetest Boys

Last night, Baba brought out his childhood memorabilia to share with the boys. It included a lot of sports memorabilia - from the World Series game in 1991, even! The kiddos were completely enamored by his stories and artifacts. I absolutely love these two photos - it captures the evening so well...big smiles, looks of awe...

Layla is a sweetie, too - well, at least we're manifesting that quality in her! She'll be joining us anytime in the next 4 weeks or so! Here's my monster belly after being pregnant for 36 weeks (yup - do the math - I am officially NINE months pregnant from now until I pop!)

Working on baby girl's room - she needed a little something to look at over her changing table - so I went to my usual place of inspiration (Pinterest) and found something similar to this and made it happen! I love the final product. I kind of want to put glitter on it, but I'm restraining myself....for now. :)

Just another shot to show you all how very sweet my boys are...snuggled up as close as they can be while they eat breakfast. There is room for four other seats at that counter, but this is where they choose to sit! These two have such a special relationship - absolutely makes my heart melt.

...and for good measure - here's what Mom is spending half her week dealing with. Any other baseball moms can relate, I'm sure! Time to buy stock in Oxyclean, Baba!

More latest and greatest...

Just some random shots to share from the past few weeks...

Ninja Matthew rediscovered his dress up bin.

Mama rests the belly beast while Andrew gets ready for baseball. LOVE our new  bedding/curtains. It's so cozy in our room now...figured I'd be awake in there more often in a few weeks, so we may as well make it look nice.

Silly boy is obsessed with Goldfish S'mores.

Andrew was starting pitcher at the opening of the season - his first 6 pitches were strikes. He struck the first two batters out! He also hit what would have been a triple (had he not *just* barely missed the first base plate) and was an amazing catcher when not pitching. So proud of our boy!

Some awesome video of Andrew's opening pitching...

The latest in Layla's room - I saw a butterfly mobile on Pottery Barn Kids, but it was $55 - I made this one for less than $15 and LOVE it!

34 week belly - still moving, walking, yoga, stretching - anything to keep this mama and baby heatlhy!

The latest and greatest...

The springtime in our neck of the woods is absolutely magical. Our afternoons are spent chasing chickens, tending the garden, jumping on the trampoline with friends and walking to the river to enjoy the sunshine.

Mama's getting big! 6 more weeks or so to go before little miss Layla joins the fun!

Matthew Thinks of Grampy

After a rough day of sassiness and attitude, the tears started to flow at bedtime. Matthew misses his Grampy. It's been about two years since he passed and the boys still talk about him and cry about their loss on a regular basis. Lately, Matthew has talked a lot about Grampy's favorite color - purple. Two days ago, he declared it his new favorite color. Last night, as the tears slowed down, Matthew told me he wanted to draw a picture. He woke up early this morning to finish it. I can't even put words to this, other than to let you know two details that will make this picture even more emotional: Grampy loved dragons (purple and green ones, according to Matthew - and I think he may be right on with that) and Grampy called the boys "buddy". I'll let his art do the rest of the talking:

Caption reads: "My budy it's ok" (loving Grampy's totally bald head!)

Back of the page

Andrew writes to the school board...

There is a proposal to close our beautiful elementary school. None of us are happy about this proposed change - Andrew has been especially distraught over the possibility. He asked me if he could donate his own money to help save the school, and if he could write a letter to "cast his vote". Over the past two days, he's been working on this letter:

____________________________________________________________________

Dear school board, this is Andrew Tanner from Riverside Elementary. I'm a 4th grader in Mrs. Lightbournes class. I heard you were talking about shutting down our school. I think this is because of budget cuts, however I think you should give kids a chance to vote and the answer is different, that would be great but I guarantee you that the vote will be more fair. I vote to keep it open.

     Concord elementary is a much older school and they are putting in a Wallmart, and there's bars close to there, and it's not as safe because there is no drop off lane for parents, but there is a small no very very small parking lot. When on the other hand, Riverside has a beautiful parking lot and a really nice drop off lane. There for in my opinion, Concord should close.

     If you don't agree well just consider it. I know in two years I'm going to Aldercreek Middleschool, but I want for there to be years and years more to come of new kindergartners to come and enjoy the beauty of Riverside, and if you don't let us vote, I think it's unfair but just consider it please. And I know many people are going to say this but what the heck, It's your school district and you can decide what to do with it. Although I don't want to see teachers doing this the day we close.....

 He also included this picture: 

____________________________________________________________________

I couldn't be more proud of my boy for being brave and having a voice.

New Chickies

Meet our new babies.

This is Lily. She's a Gold Laced Wyandotte. We picked her because our prettiest bird is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, and happens to be a great layer as well. She was instantly named Layla by Matthew, as mama predicted would happen - but after the suggestion that baby sister Layla would be here soon and maybe she wouldn't want to be named the same as a chicken, the boys quickly switched her name to Lily. Lily was instantly Andrew's favorite bird and the first one he goes for every time.

Here's Mary...a Cuckoo Maran. She lays chocolate brown eggs. That's the entire reason we picked her. She was also our impulse chicken this year. Don't all chicken owners have an impulse chicken or two? We said two birds. After we picked our two, Mike said, "Do you want to get three?" Yes, you heard that right - MIKE suggested it. :) Oh, and as for the name? I have no idea how she got that name. I'll have to ask the boys again how they came up with it.

And last but certainly not least, here's little Peach - named by Matthew. Peach is a Silkie. She's the most unique bird we've had so far. Silkies have feathered feet, an extra toe on each foot and black skin! She will look furry like she does now indefinitely. Silkies have very fine feathers, hence their name. Matthew adores Peach - it's his special little chick. It's the first time he's willingly touched a bird (minus being bit by a duck last year after sticking his fingers through the chicken wire!) - he runs in to check on her after school and likes to pet her head until she falls asleep.

Here's all three little ones on the day we brought them home - none of them could have been older than a week. Pretty sure Lily is the oldest, based on the amount of wing feathers she has going on. She's also a bit flightier than the other two, which could also be her breed. Rio has always been our flightiest bird, too!

Last night, we let the chickies hang out with us while we played UNO. They're a bit distracting, though...and they don't really hold their cards very well.

A fun video from last night's UNO game with the chickens:

So - who needs eggs? :)