Already missing Uncle Nick...

Today was our last day with Uncle Nick.  This morning the boys took pictures with him at the park and had tons of fun.  Then we went to Moe's for lunch...everyone's favorite.  They enjoyed their lunch and it was perfect since we had three adults to get the three free kids' meals!

Then came the dreaded time to leave.  Our car was parked right next to Oma's.  I got some cake to send home with Uncle Nick and then told the boys to give him good-bye hugs and kisses.  They didn't want him to leave.  Jack wanted to drive with them to the airport.  Ewan wanted everyone to go to the mountains!!!  I had to force Jack into the car and he complained the whole way home.  "I want to go to Seattle and stay with Uncle Nick!"

It's so nice to see them enjoy their time with Uncle Nick, but so sad to see it come to an end.  Uncle Nick just lives way too far away.  We really do need to go visit sometime!!

Sean's First Birthday Party

Yesterday Sean partied rather hard and had so much fun!!  He must have known what was going to happen because he was so excited he would not even take a morning nap.  He partied hard all the way until nearly 3PM.  He crashed as soon as he went down for his nap, but given the opportunity I'm sure he would have entertained everyone even longer!!

Sean eating his lunch.

Checking out his new pjs!

Uncle Nick had supervisor duty up in the bonus room!!!

Notice how smart Sean is...he coordinated his diaper to the giraffe themed party!

All this for me??!!

Let me at it!  Yes, he did have a plate but tossed it away immediately.

YUMMY!!!!  You just can't beat banana cake with chocolate filling and cream cheese frosting.

Big brothers taking a turn eating cake and ice cream.

Testing out the shovel it in method!

Hanging with his buddy.

Jack getting some tickle time with Uncle Nick.

Let There Be Cake!!!!!

No captions needed here....just Sean enjoying his smash cake!!!!

Birthday Boy

Sean thoroughly enjoyed his first birthday!  He started out all chipper as usual, played at the gym with his brothers, ran errands, had lunch at Moe's with Oma, played, rested, opened presents, ate dinner and most importantly had his smash cake.  What a busy day for a one year old!!

The birthday boy first thing this morning.  What a cutie pie!!

Quite the handsome hunk.

Taken by Jack at Moe's during lunch.

Sour cream face....just like his two big brothers!!

Yummy!!

Opening/pushing presents

Big brothers were far more interested in the presents!!!

We're still here...

Seems it has been a while since I last posted.  Somehow time has escaped me I guess.  We've been busy with the usual stuff...school, errands and then of course Josh's birthday and now today is my baby's birthday.

How is it that one year ago today Sean was born?  Where does the time go?  Just saw on the news that this day last year was also the record high of 96 degrees!  Somehow I don't remember that, maybe because I was having a porker of a baby in a cold hospital!! Our little man has not met his deadline yet...we keep telling him he has to walk by his first birthday.  No such luck.  He has until midnight tonight!!  He just won't let go and take that first step, though I'm POSITIVE he could if he really wanted to.

Just a few more days and the madness will be over.  His party is this Saturday and we can't wait.  It should be great!  Friday Uncle Nick comes to town and Jack and Ewan are so incredibly excited.  They can't wait to see him again!

I'll try to post again later today with pictures of the birthday boy.  Not too much special going on today though since the party if Saturday.  Just lunch with Oma and then dinner at home, opening presents and cake smashing photos (though the weather is not cooperating with me on that).  Then I'll post again after the party...until then I'll be busy cleaning, cooking, baking....madness here!!!

Where does the time go??

I recently received an e-mail offer for penny prints from Snapfish.  Great, I figured I could catch up on the boys' scrapbooks and baby books.  It was then that I realized exactly how far behind I was....I have not printed any photos since November 2009.  That's right, nearly two years ago!!!

So I've been sorting through the thousands upon thousands of photos on the computer and uploading those worthy of printing.  I'm STILL not even done!  It has been a blast looking through the old photos though.  The boys certainly have changed a lot over the years.

Getting the prints is only the beginning though.  I've still got to get them all put away.  I still have photos from the last print run that aren't in albums yet.  Last time that happened I vowed not to get behind again.  Obviously that did not work!  So once again I'll try not to let myself get so far behind.  If I ever get them all in the albums (family album, Jack's album, Ewan's album and Sean's album) AND all three baby books I'll get to do a better job of keeping up. 

It is tempting to do more of the online books the further behind I get.  I recently made one of our beach trip and the boys just love it.  Much easier to print up a book than put it all in a scrapbook with cute papers all by myself.  Tempting...but still there is something special about a scrapbook.  Someday I hope my boys will appreciate them (or give their future wives a good laugh anyway)!

Call me the Gift Czar

I can't tell you how many times our children have gotten gifts that don't last long.  Either they are cheap toys that they chew through or manage to break quickly, they are age inappropriate or they are simply something that we do not need.  They end up in the trash, Goodwill bin or taken to the soonest White Elephant gift  exchange!!

And now is the gift receiving season in our house as our three boys' birthdays are coming up.  I can't believe my baby is almost one year old already!  Anyway, now comes the dreaded time of "what did we get this time?"  Luckily we have a no gift policy at our birthday parties.  It worked well for Jack and Ewan's party last year and we're doing it again for Sean's party and Jack and Ewan's combined party.  Speaking of parties, all the boys have fabulous plans for this year....details to follow!

For those people that still give presents, after all you can't stop everyone, I've been working on my list of "approved"  presents.  Friends and family ask what the boys "need".  I use this word loosely since they truly don't need much of anything.  So I've compiled a list of things they could use.  Some may find it boring, but they can always use shoes and frankly, they love shoes!  There are of course a couple toys on the list, but as ya'll know we try to really minimize the toys in our house.

It's been difficult to come up with much for Sean.  As the third boy he has many hand-me-downs and really doesn't need much.    I did manage to come up with a few things and found something at our favorite toy store in the mountains for his birthday...even made of recycled materials in the USA!  Oma also found the perfect present for Jack and Ewan to share.  Plus of course their own present they'll get on their respective birthdays. 

After talking to many other parents, I know we aren't alone in this situation.  Luckily our families are relatively small, and of course our no present parties really cut down on all the clutter!!

Home Improvement Project One

After we took the house off the market we made a long list of home improvement projects.  Labor Day Weekend we just completed the first one, installing wood floors in the family room.  The carpet had many stains and was getting to be such a hassle to clean.   The end result is beautiful!  All that is left for this project is finding an area rug, new end tables and tile for a new hearth.  I've already found the tables, just waiting to spend the money!  Also need to fill in the nail holes, but you can't see them in the pictures!!!

We took up the carpet Friday night and got busted by Jack and Ewan.  We waited until they went to bed, yet they came down and found us "working" and had to get in on the action.  So they "helped" roll the carpet and pad up and watched us carry it out.  Then we removed staples...Jack even managed to help pull a few too.  Ewan tried.  Josh made tons of noise removing the nail strips and the hearth.  Somehow Sean managed to sleep through all of this!

Saturday the fun continued.  Jack and Ewan were Daddy's little helpers.  They would hardly leave his side.  They did manage to help somewhat, bringing Josh pieces of wood or tools when he asked.  They did, however, also get in the way.  All in all they didn't slow him down too much. 

My job was to keep Sean out of trouble.  He was confined to the rest of the downstairs.  The sofa blocked the entrance to the family room on one side, the chair blocked the other entrance.  He was upset he couldn't go in the room to check things out too!  Eventually he was allowed in and he just had a blast crawling all over, especially getting sawdust on his butt!!

By Monday night the room was completely put together and floors mopped.  Jack and Ewan keep commenting on how they love their room!!

Enjoy the pics!!

The boys got new Cars work gloves and tool belts.  Jack slept in his gloves he liked them so much!