a beautiful day at our favorite place

the weather was perfect. the boys were happy. Noah's first beach day. hello summer... :) my most favorite moments from our day....

 watching the boys playing happy in the sand

 witnessing Noah's first look at the ocean. happy coos and wide eyed wonder

 staying cool and comfortable under our shady canopy

 those baby blues

 nap time cuddles

 this. watching their daddy lift them up to scoop up water in their buckets. their delighted faces.

 their happiness

 peace in God's creation

 their little boy wonder and joy

 feeling so blessed to be theirs.

 a sweet mom who grabbed the camera and snapped a picture of all five of us :) (even if noah's hidden and caleb's distracted :))

 and by far my most favorite moment? taking the boys out into the water to dip their toes. Lucas didn't want to get out. His lips were blue and his body was shaking cold but he just kept yelling "more, more!!" as the waves splashed high around us.

 when the waves got big and scooped us up into them and water splashed all around and the boys squeezed tighter and laughed harder. my most favorite moment of all.

 how their arms squeezed me tight and they smiled big with the waves.

grateful for them, and for moments together at our favorite place

 

....remembering and praying for our soldiers today with gratitude for their sacrifice for our freedom.

Happy Weekend.

1000

This post marks my 1000'th post. (Dave informed me of this a few weeks ago) WOW. Feels like I should write something special for this, but I just keep thinking about what our day was like...and I wanted to document. the following THAT MOMENT WHEN are all from this morning!!!

THAT MOMENT WHEN....

 you're cleaning poop off your toddler (who you really want to start to potty train, but yeah-hasn't happened yet) And you find more in the kitchen and you're scrubbing off the bathroom floor and kitchen floor from poop explosion when you feel something wet. You look down thinking it is water, definitely not!! It is brown poop all down your freshly cleaned jeans (that you never wear anymore but chose today to wear since you'll be out of the house for once) back to the yoga pants ya go. It isn't yet 8 in the morning.


THAT MOMENT WHEN...

you're headed to somewhere further than the park or preschool and you can't find your keys. Your SPARE keys. You spend 45 minutes looking (and call husband at work 20 times hoping he will get back to his desk and pick up the phone!) and your mostly clean house is now upside down. You are thankful the baby happens to be taking one of his longer (1hr naps, that's another post for another day those naps) and the big boys are sitting in the car praying (because you told them to) Because if you can't find your keys you will have to pay over one hundred bucks for a missed Occupational Therapy session...so this brings you to tears when you call them...Your prayers are answered when hubs shows up with his keys to save you and discovers that your SPARE keys aren't in the upside down house, they are under the car tire. You tell yourself you will find the regular keys so this never happens again! And now you know why your mother never could find her keys when you were growing up. (you never understood why she couldn't keep your names straight either, but now you do) THREE KIDS! You're wondering if each child adds more crazy or if it just blends crazy together after three?

THAT MOMENT WHEN...
you are only twenty minutes late to OT, you somehow manage to still pick up library books (husband's books came in, that is one score) You finally sit down (fall down is more like it) with the baby and the toddler and as you start to snuggle the babe you smell something at the exact moment you hear "two collective gasps from your friendly story time mothers ....you look down. There's big orange poop blow out all over him. (thankfully it doesn't get on you this time.) You give up and head back to OT. Toddler is happy because he has a Cars book so he doesn't care that he missed the entire story time. (You pat yourself on the back because at least this week he has shoes and they are actually on. Raining and shoes left at home were a few weeks back, so progress...)

THAT MOMENT WHEN....
you think you have no spare clothes to put on the blow out babe. (public blow outs happen weekly)

THAT MOMENT WHEN....
you get home and the toddler has pooped. again. (another car diaper change...the car now has permanent poop smell or maybe it is the garage? you can't tell

THAT MOMENT WHEN....
you congratulate yourself on surviving the morning just as the babe spits up, again (for maybe the hundredth time this week) splat, you quickly swipe it up so there's no slip and slide. Your outfit is covered in spit up but you are too tired to change it (if hubs is lucky you'll change before he gets home but usually not. Your perfume these days is a combo of poop and spit up, let's just call it poospi) Your life feels like a continual poop and spit up parade. At this point, there's nothing left to do but laugh at the 100th, poop story of the week that your preschooler is telling you :) because if you aren't cleaning it, or wearing it, you are listening to it... Heck in your desperate moments you are making up your own butt or poop or burp story just to get a laugh out of them when they are a hot mess of tears.

THAT MOMENT WHEN...
you feel blessed by the fact that as tired and frumpy as you feel after only a few hours of being on duty changing clothes, cleaning clothes, breaking up fights, picking up toys, driving to and fro, feeding, nursing, washing dishes, and listening with all your earnest to one more silly story about yes...poop...you know there's no where else you would rather be.


Please note...most of our Thursday mornings look like this...let's just call it a case of the Thursday crazies!

THAT MOMENT WHEN....
dad comes home. It's Friday tomorrow. You get your night run in with a friend. the babies are sleeping. (hurray for the fact that big boys are in bunk beds now sharing a room and the baby is in the crib in his own room as of a couple weeks ago) you finally get to relax with a good show and some hubby time....

Thursday's aren't my favorite but Fridays sure are!!!

Now for some pictures

 these boys sure do love their legos and duplos

 tummy time

 first time in the pool. he loved it! until he didn't :) and then we took him out.

 thanks to my dad who captured some sweet pictures. I was just so happy to go in the pool for a little bit and play with the boys!

 look at lucas so focused on squirting his brother!

 such a fun pool party at my sister's apartment last weekend. The boys got to have a slumber party with her, they went to color me mine and painted and out to dinner at chi chi's. My parents watched noah; and dave and I had a date night! We walked for two hours on the beach (it was perfect) and went out to dinner. It was glorious.  Two nights in a row of a night out and two nights of a hands free dinner, no messes to clean up, no dinner preparations, and no bedtime routines. Honestly, it was exactly what we needed. I love my little guys, but it is so special and especially needed to have that time alone with my hubby just husband and wife. And it always makes coming home to them all the sweeter.

 my little men line up (playing with...legos, infant toys, duplos)

now that the big boys are sharing a room we've had some funny stories. They love waking up and chatting with each other. Lucas loves following Caleb to the bathroom as soon as they are up. They've been doing great and seem closer now that they share a room, even fighting less which is nice. Noah sleeps way better in his own room and so do we! Of course we're still up in the night with one child or another making a shout out but hey we have our own room and so do they...can't wait till all three are in a room together! (my sisters and I all shared as did dave and his siblings and there are so many great memories from those days!)


and now for a little video from an afternoon spent in play....



THAT MOMENT WHEN...
you lay down at night and close your eyes and all is silent...
sure do love them.

Blessed to be their mama

Picking strawberries with my boys. Perfect way to spend Mothers Day. So blessed to be their mama.

 love his cheeser smile

 Lucas kept finding 'broken ones' and trying to sneak them to eat. I thought he'd have more control a year later but not so much!! Caleb was able to wait till we bought them!

 helping dad with the corn!

Oh how I love them. Hope all you moms had a beautiful Mother's Day.


a quick little video from our berry picking morning

may

 hello may and spring flowers and warm spring mornings spent in the backyard eating blueberries and playing with sand (sand table DIY with Tupperware storage container and a picnic table). I know you've been neglected blog, but life with these three lil guys; it doesn't leave much time for much else and if I do have time I've been filling it with running and reading and catching some of my favorite shows with my sweet hubs :)

 But- some pictures from the last month or so-.....

it's hard to get all three of them smiling and in a picture together but every and now and then I manage a sweet capture (the big brothers are pulling out cheeser grins and noah doesn't smile on cue for the camera yet :)

 these two. they've got something pretty special going on. (I don't know where caleb's shirt is in this picture-hullo)

 I still pinch myself daily. Three boys! Three boys! Oh how I love my boys. They have my heart.

 had a sweet lunch visit with our good college friends .The babies are just a couple weeks apart! Is it too soon to start telling them that they can be cal poly roommates just like their daddies were?

 Dave and Dan (and a photo bomb by caleb) and the little guys

 lucas was hiding :)

little brother and
backyard picnicking. Best buddies. (when they aren't torturing each other with pretend dog bites and sticks)

the end.

Happy Cinco De Mayo and a happy Monday :))

all three boy napped at the same time today. I call that a win all around! Especially because I enjoyed a nap myself followed by quiet time with a good book :)

happy 3 months noah samuel!

Sweet Noah Samuel.  I can't believe it has been three months already.

 

it feels like only yesterday that you were welcomed to our world. 

(photo credit; my sister jenny

 I soak up your sweetness each day. Right now you are coo-ing and smiling. I love how you catch sight of one of us and then your smile starts slowly and lights up your entire face. Amid the crazy of our day you remain calm as you soak it all in.  On our trip up north you giggled for the very first time in the car with me; I was bouncing you on my lap. You love watching Caleb in the car (he sits right next to you and takes such good care of you) Last night you were starting to fuss and I looked over and Caleb had quickly come to your aid with a pacifier "here you go bud" he said. Then he pulled on a little toy to make it move for you and watched you to make sure you were okay.

(photo credit, dave's sister Katie)

you are getting chunkier by the day. I'm not sure how much you weigh or how tall you are, but you are starting to outgrow 6month clothing

you love to be held. you calm down for a nap as soon as we swaddle you in your wombie. I love rocking you to dreamland. Our first night in Oregon you slept from 9-6:20 (11 hrs between nursing) It was crazy, that was the longest sleep stretch you have done at night so far. I think you were pretty tired from the drive. Usually you nurse around 6:30pm and are swaddled and sleeping a little after 7. You wake up to nurse around 1 sometimes, but usually 3am. Then again around 5 or sometimes you last till 6 or 6:30. You still nurse about every two hours in the day.  

 

Here are a few more pictures from our trip that Dave's sister Katie captured on camera. (thanks Katie!)

horse rides on grandpa (these boys sure do love following grandpa around everywhere!)

 packing up and heading home (caleb puts his seat belt on himself now; we always do a double check but it sure helps with the car loading!)

 noahs second time getting some of mama's milk in a bottle (date night for dave and I)

 the boys loved helping grandma out! haha

I can't believe it has been three months since we became a family of five. It sure has been an adventure. I wouldn't trade any moment for the world. Despite the craziness and the being pulled in one hundred different directions all through the day; I am able to slow down and feel filled with gratitude for these precious boys God has entrusted us to raise. They have such sweet spirits (when they aren't torturing each other or not listening or living up to their age) And even though by evening time I am spent and pinch myself that I have all boys (daily!) I just feel so blessed to be their mama. These boys of mine; they sure do have my heart.