Happy Birthday to Sweet Gram (87 Years!!)

Gram turned 87 years old today!! We celebrated early at my parents' house last weekend because she was flying to California the day before her birthday to spend a few weeks visiting her sister and some friends. She showed up to our dinner in a pretty fabulous outfit :) I love her.

Eli is OBSESSED with anything related to Angry Birds and was excited to show his Great Gram the Chinese dragon and birds that he drew and cut out. He has a whole set of birds, pigs, the dragon, etc. and game boards that he's made too. It's pretty cute. He's also put lego sets together that he says are Angry Birds pieces, and when he's building with blocks, there is usually some Angry Birds connection. He doesn't even get to play the game very much, but this week Angry Birds Space came out and he was extremely excited. 

Okay back to the fabulous Gram :)

Charlie ran up and gave Gram a big hug :)

 She brought these little water toys for the boys and they love them. This turtle and duck are regulars in their baths, which have been quite frequent since we've been playing outside so much this week.

 I'm in the awkward stage where I feel chubby but don't look super pregnant. Just like I've gained five pounds. (because I have! thank you third baby)

 But I'm still posting these pics with my Gram despite my dislike for how I look because I think she looks wonderful. I hope I look this great at 87!

 My poor mom was being pulled in fifty directions inside while getting dinner finished up, but we got her to come outside and take a picture too. 

 Here's my mom again, back in their newly remodeled kitchen! It's beautiful and so open and airy. Not to mention 500x more counter space than they had before.

In the dining room/office area, about to eat.

  After dinner, we celebrated more with cake and ice cream. 

Happy birthday dear Gram! We love you to bits and bits and will miss you while you're out of town! Hope today was a fabulous, sunny California day.

The Good, the Bad, and the Sweet

The Good:

Last weekend I had the chance to fly out to meet up with my friend Sarah and have a full-day mentorship with a photographer that we both really admire. It was a wonderful weekend and the time zipped by as we focused all weekend on photography. On Sunday, Sarah helped me hone my Photoshop skills and I showed her how to use Lightroom (which I love). It was a really fast trip and I flew back on Sunday night... but my flight was delayed two hours (I sat on the plane that whole time; it was delayed because a part on the plane was broken... I was so glad not to have my kids with me on this trip with all of the delays - I had been delayed on the way there too). For once weather in Chicago was actually decent and I was STILL delayed! 

The Bad:

A friend stayed at our house w/ our sleeping kids so Ben could come pick me up from the airport... when we got home, our house felt very hot inside. The thermostat was set to 67, but it was 75 degrees and the heat was blasting out of the radiators. We thought it was odd and turned the thermostat off, but we woke up at 3 a.m. to Charlie crying (because it was sooooo hot) and the temp upstairs was 84 degrees!! It was SO HOT. I don't think I can emphasize that enough :) We opened windows and tried to cool the house down and Ben ended up shutting the gas off completely. Neither one of us slept very well the rest of that night because it was so uncomfortably hot. 

On Monday morning, I called the Salvation Army to see what time they were picking up the items we had arranged to donate. Keep in mind that we originally had an appointment for the truck to come on Thursday, but the guy never showed. On Friday, I called and they said they don't do same-day pickups, so they would put me down for Monday. It had taken me a LONG time to haul all of our junk that we had been storing in the garage up to the front steps of our house (slipping and sliding down the alley, climbing over big piles of snow, back and forth multiple times). So we just left the junk out on our front porch. By Monday I was really embarrassed that this was the fifth day of our junk on the porch and was really ready to have it picked up.

But there was no record of us having a pickup for Monday.

I was TICKED. Of course they don't do same-day pickup (not sure why??), so the guy promised me that a truck would arrive on Tuesday, but it was yet another thing that wasn't going right. I was steaming up in our hot house and bugged that the truck wasn't coming when they said it would.

In the meantime, I also flew back to sick kids. Eli and Charlie had yucky colds and took turns crying and throwing fits allllll day long. Charlie is definitely two because he has refined his tantrums - they can last up to about 20 minutes, with him rolling around, kicking, screaming, etc. on the floor. He had about five tantrums that day. Eli was Mr. Emotional and was crying over any little thing. In the afternoon he kept saying his ear hurt, so I set up a doctor's appointment for the late afternoon to get both kids checked out.

When it was time to go, both kids were crying and moaning about not wanting to leave the house. I was  out of patience by that hour. Earlier, we had a heating guy come look at the boiler, and he charged us $140 for the visit and ultimately said he couldn't find what was wrong and it seemed to be working fine (but it was hard for him to see the problem since the gas had been off). So the heat was turned back on and we were hoping for the best. But it was like one thing after the other was NOT going well.

I finally got both kids out to the car and made it to the doctor's office. Charlie didn't have an ear infection and just seemed to have a viral thing going on. While the doctor checked Eli, Charlie threw another fit and was rolling around on the floor under the chairs, sliding them around and crying for no apparent reason. The doctor just smiled (he was one of the older guys in the practice and didn't seem to be phased by much) and continued to examine Eli, who did end up having an ear infection. 

Eli was very happy and sweet to the doctor, but then when we got out to the waiting room to get our coats and leave, he turned into a little monster again and was screaming at me, saying he wanted to zip his coat and I couldn't help him. Which is fine if he could do it, but it's hard for him. I offered to get it started and he went ballistic. Screaming in the waiting area. He refused to leave and after about 10 minutes of trying to convince him to come, I grabbed Charlie and started walking out. Which made Eli cry harder and he ran out following me, then tripped on the sidewalk outside and fell down. More tears from Eli and funny looks from everyone inside the waiting room that could see us out of the big glass windows. 

Once we got to the car, Eli was still in his crazy emotional mood and wasn't letting me buckle his seatbelt. He kicked and screamed and I was taking lots of deep breaths... :) So I opened up google chat on my phone and vented to Ben, who was still at work. I stood there for 20 minutes while Eli cried and tried to get the seatbelt buckled without much luck. I finally got him to let me do the buckle with him, and we drove home. 

You would think the fits were done, but no! We pulled into the garage and Eli started crying again because he didn't want to get out of the car. I almost ran down the alley screaming, but pulled myself together, called a friend and followed Charlie around outside while Eli sat in the car and cried and cried. He was so miserable that day.

Enough of that though :) I was more than ecstatic when Ben walked in the door that night. I think I can safely say that was the worst Valentine's Day I have ever had. Ben brought home my favorite chocolates on Friday and my gift to him was to pick up his iPhone last week (finally, Verizon!!). So we were low key that night and had takeout and vegged on the couch. I was pretty spent.

The Sweet:

The next morning, the heat was going full-blast again and having similar problems as Sunday night/Monday. I was roasting and called the heating company and thankfully they came back and realized the relay between the thermostat and the boiler was stuck, so they replaced that and didn't charge for labor since I had paid for no improvement the day before. That was a bright spot.

My Gram stopped by and hung out at our place for a little while that day, so here are some sweet pictures of her and Eli building a block village together (Charlie was napping). Love you Gram! Eli had lots of fun with you.

Mother's Day

Yesterday I was reminded of how lucky I am to be mom to these sweet little boys. It was the best Mother's Day yet.

The day started out early. I had been up with Charlie at 1:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m., and Ben got up with Charlie when he decided to be up for the day at 5 a.m. (not surprising since Charlie went to bed on Saturday night at 4 p.m. the day before!! We couldn't believe it.) Charlie has regressed with his night sleeping, so I have been getting up a few times now every night for the last few days. I don't think this big baby needs to eat in the night, but he thinks he does. I'm gearing up to sleep train him once he's 4 months old. We'll see how that goes.

But back to Mother's Day - somehow Ben was able to make these delicious applesauce and oats homemade muffins (yes, from scratch - I'm a tough customer) all while taking care of Charlie and Eli, who woke up at 7:30. I was sleeping peacefully until 9 a.m., when I was greeted with breakfast in bed - Ben and the kids brought up a wonderful plate with yummy fruit and the muffins. I loved it! I'm still in awe that he was able to accomplish this with both kids in their demanding morning mode - I know it's not easy. Eli and Ben both made homemade cards that were really cute, and Ben's gift was a certificate for a massage, which I redeemed tonight at a nearby massage place. I feel SO relaxed - every mom (especially one with an infant who has to carry the beast of an infant car seat) should have one of these.

Anyway, we had afternoon church, and then came home and hosted my family for dinner that night. Here's Davey holding Charlie (who was in his first set of pjs - he blew out of them before actually making it into bed. I'm still squeezing him into the too-small diapers that we have a million of and paying the consequences for it):

I love these little boys
(by the way - in the corner you can sort of see my rummage sale finds - two funky vintage chairs that match the gold walls and brown couch perfectly):

Here's Gram having a conversation with Charlie:

Charlie liked her stories and her songs. My mom sewed and gave this beautiful apron to Gram for Mother's Day - isn't it pretty? Gram has been doing the glycemic diet with my parents too - I think she looks really good.

Here's my mom with Charlie - I think she's lost 24 pounds now! I am so impressed. I really need to jump on the bandwagon and lose the last bit, darn it.

the boys love their Grandma

the three moms:

My parents needed a new picture for their facebook pages, so I took a bunch of pictures for them. My dad looks great too! I think he's pretty close to his goal with the weight loss.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Today we had Stake Conference - here we are outside the church:

Eli looked so handsome, all dressed up

Here he is, showing a little attitude:
After most of us took a nap this afternoon, we drove up to my parents' house for Easter dinner. Here's my dad, sporting a beautiful apron, holding Charlie :)
My parents had a wooden Noah's Ark set that Eli loved playing with. It was really cute to watch him name all of the animals - I think his favorites were the penguins and the giraffes.
My parents hid some Easter eggs in the backyard, so we hunted around for them (but it was freezing!! Where the heck is our Spring weather?)

Back inside, Eli and Charlie had fun playing with Gram:

I love Charlie's smiles!

And his funny expressions:

Cute feet with long toes:

Here's Eli with the ark: Eli is talking so much now. Some of the things he decides to say are pretty funny. Last week we were making BLTs for dinner and Eli saw me cooking the bacon and yelled, "I want bacon!" - before then I hadn't realized how much he liked bacon. Then when we were in Cleveland, Eli saw Rachael cutting a piece of leftover birthday cake and declared, "I love cake!" and wanted some.

Eli also says "I want to reach it" or "I want to open it" quite a bit. Today he had an opinion about which socks he wanted to wear (of course they were athletic socks with soccer balls on them, but oh well! I figured no one would see them when we were at church). It's so interesting seeing your little boy grow and have his own opinions about how things should go...