Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I have been considering a tattoo in honor of my boys for a while now. I knew I wanted 3 suns (because, as a friend pointed out, the boys are my 3 "sonshines") and I wanted to incorporate their initials into the rays somehow.

I had an excellent tattoo artist named Python (no, I'm not joking) help me with the design and he did such a great job. I'm so happy with how it turned out.

What a great Mother's Day present! :)

Bluebonnets 2009

We headed out to get a few pictures in the bluebonnets this weekend, before they're gone for the season. The boys weren't thrilled about the photo op so much as the big ditch in the middle of the walking trail which Jacks claimed was where a meteor hit Earth. :) But being the cooperative (read: bribed) young men that they are, they indulged their Mama for a minute or two.


Jacks and Cody loved that this stop sign in the middle of the walking trail was just their height.


Cody loves blowing dandelions. He likes to make "magic wishes." :)


Cody really wanted to climb on this stone column at the edge of the bridge, but I talked him into only going half-way. (YOU try lifting 55 pounds of solid boy up on to that thing!)

One day I will be again be able to get a picture of all 3 of the boys smiling and looking at the camera at the same time...but this was not that day. Still, we had fun and I did get smiles, even if they weren't simulataneous, and Mama was happy. So we followed up the pics with Slurpees.

Bribery works. ;)

Family Pics Spring 2009 Part II

Here are the rest of the pictures from our family photo shoot last weekend. The boys are getting so comfortable with Chera (our favorite photographer) that she was really able to catch them being THEM, and I love that their personalities really shine through in each of these pictures. :)

Look closely in this next one...all 3 boys are in there somewhere. Can you find them?

Sneak Peek

We met our favorite photographer at Addison Circle Park yesterday for a fun afternoon. It was great to try a new location, and the fountains especially were a big hit with the boys. I just love all of the colors in these. :)

I'll have the rest to share in about a week, I think.

Easter

It was raining and cold outside, so we had a very low-key Easter at home. The Easter Bunny brought some great goodies for the boys, so the first part of the morning was filled with YoYo balls and Spongebob Matchbox cars.

Then we hunted for eggs in the house, which was a wild and raucous experience of which I have no photographs because I was trying to run around keeping the egg tallies (mostly) even. But the boys had almost as must fun checking out their candy score afterwards as they did actually finding the eggs.


When I asked the boys to model the bunny ears from their baskets, they adamantly refused but were willing to pose with the baskets on their heads instead.

Better luck getting us to do embarrassing, girly things NEXT year, Mama! :)

Codyisms

The fun with Cody's recent verbal explosion continues! He is almost never quiet (only when Spongebob is on TV), and some of the things he says are just too awesome not to share. Here are a few priceless nuggets from the last few days.

1) According to the Codeman, bees are scary because they take men, women and children and make them into honey.

2) We were holding hands between the front and back seats of the car, and suddenly he said, "Mama, I want to give you a manshake."

"You mean a handshake?" I asked.

"NO, a MAN-shake!" he replied, shaking my hand with a good, firm grip.

3) And, as I mentioned previously, Cody just adores Spongebob Squarepants. There is a new special episode coming up this Friday, with Johnny Depp voicing one of the characters. But if you ask Cody, Friday's Spongebob has someone special on it: Johnny Guest-star (any suggestion that the person's name is actually Johnny Depp is vigorously rejected).

I love this kid! xoxo

No More Training Wheels!

When the sun came out this afternoon, we decided to finally take the training wheels off Jackson's bike (we tilted them up a bit last summer but he has been afraid to remove them entirely and preferred to keep them and ride at an angle LOL) and let him loose in our cul-de-sac.

Anthony started off with one hand on a handlebar and the other on the seat. Jacks pedaled away, and after about 5 seconds Anthony tentatively let go, keeping his hands close by. Jacks just chugged happily along half-way down the street until Anthony helped him stop. Anthony asked Jacks if he knew that Daddy had let go, and he nodded.

Anthony talked to him for a few minutes about getting your momentum going and how the bike will do the work for you if you keep it moving. Once Jacks can wrap his head around something, he usually feels more comfortable about it.

Then Anthony and I traded places and I put a hand on the seat and helped Jacks get started. After he was moving, he TOLD me to let go! And he took off down the street all on his own.

Check out that look of concentration! I purse my lips just like that when I'm focusing on something. :)

Anthony and I had both expected to have to go up and down the street for long hours on multiple days, practicing with Jacks until he had the balance down. Boy, were we wrong! Jacks hit the ground pedaling and never looked back!