31

Eric's 31st birthday celebrations included:

-Working a 13+ hour day

-Enjoying a lovely dinner of soggy baby back ribs and burned potatoes

-Posing for photos with his extremely tired looking wife (of almost 8 years!)

-Eating a dry, very disappointing red velvet cheesecake

-And having little fingers get bbq sauce all over the back of his new birthday golf shirt

Birthdays just aren't quite the same when you're all grown up.

We all adore Eric, though.  These photos are proof of that. 

Happy 31, to my favorite person...ever.

April at our house

Jake (who I keep calling Max!) is such a good sport.  I found him on the floor this week wearing an eye patch.  It was a good look for him.

He loves, loves, loves his big brothers.  He already likes to wrestle and be part of the action.  At 7 and a half months, Jake is finally starting to move, a little.  He's not even close to crawling.  He's been pretty content to just lay around until recently.  I haven't pushed him at all either.  My life will dramatically change the day he figures out how to crawl.  I'm just fine with him taking things nice and slow.  

I've been teaching both Sam and Max's preschool groups again this month.  Whew...it's tiring.  It's fun, it's crazy, it's messy, it's noisy, but it's been a great thing.    I fall into bed every night totally exhausted.  The boys love it.  

We hosted an Adults Only Easter Egg Hunt this year.  It was totally nerdy, but totally fun.  I'm already excited for next year!  And yes, that's my darling husband with Easter socks on his hands and his feet.  Don't ask.

Sam just finished his first season of basketball today.  He's been completely obsessed with the idea of winning a trophy.  He had many tears during today's game because with each missed shot he was certain his team was going to lose, and not win the awesome trophy he's been dreaming about.  He had no clue that no one even kept score all season.  He quickly wiped his tears when trophies were handed out to everyone, winners and losers.  Phew.

But Mr. Max, oh man.  He completely lost it when Sam got a trophy and he didn't.  He screamed all the way home.  I even heard Sam telling him that he'd hide his trophy at home so Max wouldn't have to look at it?!  It's gotta be hard being the little brother. 

My favorite

The older I get, the more I fall in love with spring.  I swear it gets better every year.  The blossoms, the colors, the smells; they can't be beat.

We love having a yard of our own.  Eric especially loves it.  I never knew how much hardwork, sweat, and fertilizer he'd put into our lawn.  He claims that yardwork is a mindless task that gives him a break from the stresses of his real job.  I'll take it.  He has the greenest of thumbs.

Sam and I planted these tulip bulbs last fall.  They were absolutely gorgeous, and Sam loved checking on his plants everyday.  Tulip season has already come and gone in Indy.  It's much too short.

With spring comes playtime outside.  It got up to nearly 70 degrees this week, so my boys thought it was hot enough to run around with bare feet and muscle shirts on.

They caught a whole family of rollie pollies and have them in a mason jar under their bunkbeds upstairs.  In a few days will someone please remind me that the rollie pollies are up there?!  I'm certain that we'll all forget and some unpleasant smell will soon take over our home.



Spring has allowed us time to play with friends outside.  We've been riding our bikes, playing at parks, having picnics at the IMA, and soaking up the sunshine.  We love it!



Almost forgot!

I completely forgot about these Easter morning pictures.  Cute little tired faces and snuggly babies are some of the best things ever.

Bowties

I'm finally coming to terms with the fact that I am not a crafter.  I don't really have a crafty bone in my body.  Would you believe that I didn't even own a glue gun until about a year ago?  My very crafty younger sister was here visiting and nearly died when she realized I didn't have a glue gun.  We made a late night run to Joann's and I made the big purchase. 

Don't get me wrong, I think crafts look fun.  Believe me when I say that I've 'pinned' my fair share of crafty activities; with the hopes of maybe, possibly attempting one of them.  But crafts scare me.  Maybe this is one of the reasons I have THREE sons and no daughters.  My poor little girls wouldn't have handmade bows or dresses. 

I decided last minute that my THREE little boys needed something special to wear for Easter Sunday.  And what better way to look all spruced up than to wear a bowtie?  We searched every store imagineable for bowties, but came up empty handed.  Sam kept suggesting that I just make THREE bowties, but I the thought of that just made me nervous.  It was now Friday afternoon and we had nothing, so I dug deep and pulled a little craftiness out of nowhere. 

I let the boys each pick a fabric out of my scrap bag (how I even have a scrap bag is beyond me!) and I went to work.  They were thrilled with the outcome, and I must say so was I.  If you don't look too closely these little bowties aren't half bad.

And aren't my THREE boys absolutely handsome?

Our Easter was great.  Eric spoke in church and gave a wonderful talk about our Savior and His Resurrection.  Then we had a fun dinner surrounded by friends.  Easter 2012 was a success, and I may even craft again.

Chicago 2012

Eric had a week off!  We decided to make the most of it and visit the Windy City.
Here's a quick Dockter Crew rundown of Chicago.

First stop, Lego Land. 

I must admit that a visit to LegoLand hasn't ever been at the top of my "Must Do Before I Die" list, but when you have three little boys I think it becomes a must.  They loved it!

Max is slightly obsessed with R2D2 and about died when he came face to face with a life-sized Lego version of his favorite droid.  And Sam loved every bit of our visit, especially the lame rides.

Two or three hours is all you need at this noisy, crowded, little boy infested place.  Pack some ibuprofen if you plan to stay any longer.

We ended up with a great hotel.  Our room boasted a great view of Navy Pier and Lake Michigan.  We could see the water taxis going up and down the river and see the busy city below us.  Our little rascals could have cared less about that stuff though.  They were more concerned with finding the Disney Channel, getting ice out of the ice machine, jumping on the beds, and pushing buttons in the elevator.  They were in heaven.

We walked a lot.  No, we walked a ton.  We were reminded that big cities aren't exactly set up for strollers and little kids.  The boys were good sports about all of the walking though.  Max would occasionally hitch a ride in the basket below the stroller to rest his little legs.  I can't believe he fit in there! 

We also rewarded 'good walking behavior' with sips of root beer at the end of each block.  What is 'good walking behavior' you ask?  It means to whining, no complaining, no tugging on the stroller, no tripping Mom or Dad, no climbing up poles, and of course smiling.

We visited Shedd Aquarium.  It was fun, but after hearing Sam say he liked the Indy Zoo better, we couldn't help but agree.  Our favorite part of Shedd was the walk back along the lakeshore with Chicago hotdogs in hand.  It was gorgeous.

We biked along the lakeshore and this was a huge hit.  Sam refused to ride behind me after a close call with a fall off the trail.  So Eric and I switched it up.  We all got sunkissed cheeks and loved just being outside.  Spring in Chicago is beautiful.

If you travel to Chicago with a baby, I recommend Jake Richards.  He's nearly perfect in every way.  He sat patiently in his stroller, hung out in the Bjorn, napped anywhere and everywhere, smiled at passers by, and was just content.  Oh, we all love him!

We loved the Bean.  A definite must with kids.

Eric went back early one morning to snap some photos of it before the crowds arrived.  I thought he was just being a camera hog and then I saw these pictures.  Didn't he get some awesome shots?!

Navy Pier was a highlight, too.  The weather was perfect and they had the ferris wheel up and running. 

We scored a great deal on ride tickets, so after the ferris wheel these two buddies rode this lighthouse ride 7 times in a row. And they giggled each and every time!

Some other favorites included:
The blossoms and the tulips!

Deep dish pizza!

Magnificent Mile walking!

Watching a new pilot, "Chicago Fire", being filmed right outside our hotel.

More Lego shopping!

And for me...wandering through this place in complete and total awe...

The boys couldn't believe I even wanted to walk in here and look around.  I left them in the Lego store and peeked in this little piece of girl heaven.  I saw little girls waiting for their doll's hairstyling appointments to finish up.  I saw little girls sitting down to tea with their doll look alikes.  It was unreal.  I'm going to start putting away money now for our future daughter to enjoy this place.

We had a great trip!

Now back to real life...here we go!