Mother's Day

The Friday before Mother's Day I joined Isaac at his school for a special day. I was treated like royalty... I was waited on, sung to, and showered with handmade presents. This time with Isaac was greatly needed seeing as how the night before was rough. It was full of bad choices, which brought consequences. It's not easy being the oldest and having to help mommy out when daddy is gone for several days. He's a stubborn little guy, full of emotions, and great expecations. If things aren't how he wants, than his engine ignites and I know to throw on my fire proof suit 'cause there's going to be major flames. I'm hoping this temper of his can be used for the good someday... If that's even possible!? In the meantime, I'll keep praying and taking deep breaths!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

On Sunday I was able to get ready in peace before I headed down stairs where I was greeted with kind words, cards, flowers, and presents. We spent the morning at church and then family came over for a yummy dinner made by Chef Shaun.

 

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Parker's belly and Blake's "smile!" Cracks me up!

The boys with Ammah

With Nana and Papa Sr.

They may not be looking at my camera but, I love that they are all smiling!

We also celebrated Papa's birthday. The boys love climbing in his new truck.

It took a while for Auntie Courtney to leave... These boys wanted her to move in with us!

Best friends, worst enemies

Two words that I am constantly telling Isaac and Parker...

 

STOP FIGHTING!!!

By driving each other nuts, they are driving me nuts! They looooove to pick on each other... They are expert pickers. Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick! Every play time ends in tears. According to Isaac, Parker is always doing it wrong. And, they must be able to read each other's mind because they wake up wanting to play with the exact same toy... Millions to chose from but, they both want the same one. It's endless...

However...

 

Every once in a blue moon...

 

When all the stars in the sky align just right...

 

When I think I can see a pig flying in the far distance...

 

These two brothers can be best friends!

 

And little do they know...

 

...it melts my heart!

 

Love!

 

 

I caught Peter Pan and Captain Hook on the trampoline holding hands. They are a team and someday I hope that they'll understand that because they have a brother, they'll always have a best friend! 

 

May the 4th be with you!

The boys don't fully understand the importance of this day... They're still young padawans!

They would rather wait until their master walks out of the room and then destroy! Parker didn't partake in the chaos but, he was kind enough to help his brothers clean it up!

 

I also pulled out pre-kid photo albums and the boys were at my side within seconds. Curious little critters they are...

 

My favorite was showing them some of our wedding pictures. Their first question, "Where are we!?" HA!

 

Other comments:

 

Hey that's Julie singing. What's she singing? The Pledge of Allegiance? -Isaac

 

Look, Uncle Manny is closing his eyes. That is so disrespectful! -Parker

(Sorry Uncle Manny)

 

Mommy, you look like an angel... Cause you're wearing white! -Isaac

 

There's way too much kissing in this book! -Parker

And every single kissing picture was quickly covered up with their hands

 

I did show them some pictures from high school and when they saw a photo of me with my homecoming date (holding hands), Parker gave me a disapproving look and wanted to know if I was married before I married their daddy!

 

These boys make me laugh!

 

 

 

Oh to be five!

Isaac loves school! Never once have we had to force him to go... And we're at the end of the year! This has really been a great beginning for him! Every time I pick him up, he's quick to tell me that he played Star Wars, Ninja Turtles, Ninjago, and anything else super hero. My guess was that these were recess activities but, Isaac told me that he plays them inside the classroom too. Isaac is a very physical little boy and has had some issues with being too rough. I could only imagine how chaotic it would be to have 15 little boys playing Ninja Turtles in the classroom. However, when I pulled out the counting cubes today, I understood that inside play wasn't as crazy as I thought...

when I pulled out these cubes today Isaac got so excited. I was shocked that he wanted to do some math. Of course I was wrong. He took them right away and began to build while telling me that he has these in class. He made four separate stacks. As you can see in the picture they are green and brown with different colored tops: purple, blue, red, and orange. It made me laugh cause I knew exactly who these stacks represented... Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, and Mikey. The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! These boys are so desperate to play that they don't even need to bring their figures. They create them in class. Their imaginations are priceless!

P.S. For all you TMNT fans... He also made a black and white one for Shredder. Can't have any heroes if you don't have a bad guy!

Thursdays

Nine years ago Shaun and I sat on these rocks for our engagement pictures

We knew at the beginning of the school year that Thursday was going to be our only free day of the week. So, that meant it was going to be our day of rest or our "get up and go" day. And mostly, Thursday ended up being our get up and go day.

Last week we headed to Corona Del Mar with the Starlings. They have triplets (Taylor, Abbey, and Gavin). Isaac and Gavin play baseball together and are lucky enough to have their dads as their coaches! ;)

Life guard tower or jungle gym!?

Lions on the prowl!

Little Stud!

Daddy so badly wants these boys to play volleyball!

Cheeeeeeeese!

~~~~~~~~~

Two days ago we got up and headed to the Safari Park in Escondido. We usually go to the San Diego Zoo but, Isaac had practice that night so we figured it was time to try the Safari Park since it was closer and we were on a time crunch.

It was so pretty and had tons of things for the little ones to do. We didn't see as many animals but, the boys climbed and ran til their little legs could move no more!

 I call this picture, "If you smile we can get smoothies on the way home!"

Hatch, roar, pet, and pose!

If the glass between us and the lions had been clean, I think my boys would have been a little more cautious! So close!

The Higgins boys

Mommy and her trio

Shaun works the next two Thursdays so I'll have to think of some mommy and sons adventures...

Spring Break

Spring break started early for us. Instead of waiting for Isaac to get out of school on Friday (two days before Easter), we decided we needed as much time as possible for our road trip to Arizona. He had a game Wednesday night and then we packed up the car and left as soon as Shaun got off Thursday morning (the 28th). We arrived Thursday evening and then spent the next day relaxing and preparing for Maddox's Saturday night birthday party. The little guy turned two so of course we had to be there to help celebrate!

 

Sunday was Easter but, it was far from normal. Instead of church we all jumped in the car for another road trip down south. The last time we were in Bisbee was for my Grandmother's 90th birthday (Isaac was 14 months)... She turned 94 in January. The last time we saw her was in Phoenix when Blake was three months old... We were way overdue for a visit. The boys loved everything the little town had to offer. Bisbee sits on the Mexico/US border, has three street lights, one fast food restaurant, and lots of dirt! The boys could have stayed longer but, on Tuesday we headed back to Phoenix. We spent a few more days there and came back home on Friday (the 5th). The boys were done driving and, frankly, so were we!

 

 It was a good trip and holy moly there are a lot of pictures to prove it!

 

After Isaac's game but before we left for AZ, Ammah, Papa, aunties, Uncle, and significant others came over for dinner and an Easter egg hunt (since we wouldn't be with them on Easter). I would have gotten more pictures but our backyard is not picture worthy. Thanks for the Easter basket and all the goodies! 

Happy birthday, Maddox!

I can't show all the decor because it's going to be reused for Blake's 2nd birthday!

Our Happy Easter picture. Usually the church or rose bushes is our back drop and we're dressed in our Sunday best. However, this year it was scrubby clothes and Mexico's mountains.

 

The day after Easter... April 1st! ;)

 

Doesn't she look great for being 94!?!

Five of her nineteen great-grandchildren

(last year she became a great-great-grandmother)

Shaun bought Isaac a BB gun and on his first shot he hit the target.

We walked around down town Bisbee and the boys got to climb on the old train that I grew up playing on!

And then there's Parker... Just keepin' it real...

The boys did a lot of running in this big field. Notice the mine dumps in the distance.

Bisbee is an old mining town so we took Isaac to see the "pit."

 

 

My Uncle Donald is a world wide hunter so the boys got to enjoy his museum!

I've gotten word from the cousins that my boys may be the first lucky ones to get to take a picture ON the crocodile. ;) They each got to take home a pair of antlers (which are being kept out of their reach so that they don't turn into weapons).

Blake wanted his picture with every single animal. He even wanted a picture by the decorative, animal printed balls that sit on the coffee table. He snuggled with the polar bear and growled at the lion!

I'm shocked I got four good pictures of Parker facing the camera. He thought he was pretty funny when he told me to take a picture of him by the lion and then pretended he was trying to run away from it!

 

On the way back to Phoenix we stopped to get gas and food. We found a big grassy area for the boys to run. The best part was that a truck passed about every two minutes and everytime they would run to the road and get them to honk. This could have been the highlight of the whole trip!

Out of Control

Out of control is the best way I know to describe Blake's hair. It is crazy curly and could be so cute. Just a little squirt of water and maybe some kind of spray and he'd be stylin' everyday. However, he screams when you touch it so it's just one big mess. From morning to night it's pointing north, south, east, and west... The poor kid looks so homely.

 

With all that being said, I absolutely love it! He rocks the sloppy fro and gets so much attention for it.

 

However, no matter how great his hair was, it was time for it to go! It needed to be cut! The chop came the same week he got his last i tooth so he went from toddler to big boy in a matter of seconds! Oh Blake, you are dreamy whether your hair is long or short. And teeth or no teeth... You're still a stud!  

 

  

The "brush your fingers through it" look!

The "I just woke up from nap" look!

The "I'm cute so say you like my hair or I'll shoot you" look!

 

The "hey ladies, can I call you sometime?" look!

The "I don't care what you think" look!

And, finally, what my little man looks like today!

 

 

And for those of you that wonder where Blake gets his hair (and good looks) from...

MEEEEE!