New Room

Tonight was the big night. Moving the boys into 1 room, in an attempt to get the nursery ready. We have been talking about this for quite some time and finally we did it. The beds were supposed to come yesterday (another plan gone wrong), we figured the transition over the weekend would be a little easier on us. The mattresses and bedding made it so we decided to go with it and add the beds on Monday when they get here. I've actually been dreading this night for a while. Lane is still so young to be in a big boy bed but we have to do it. If you read the last post, we attempted to push through the day without a nap so bedtime would be a cinch...bad planning. They were ready to have a good time in their new beds. I still tried, for a while, then gave up. They were really cute together giving several goodnight kisses and hugs to each other but just wouldn't calm down. So Lane went back to the crib, Zackary fell asleep, then I moved Lane back in and laid with him for about 10 minutes and he was out. I guess next time it will have to be one at a time until we get this down. We will see how the night progresses, I just hope it lasts or I might be up all night.

Here they are about an hour later...wish me luck.

Friends

Today was a full day of friends and brewing for the boys. Aaron and Scott were back to brewing after a little time off. We enjoyed the day with friends and yummy food. The boys spent all day outside playing and just being boys. It is so wonderful to have such great friends that have kids the same age that absolutely adore each other. It is so great to see them play and be creative together. We pushed through the afternoon, with all the chaos it wasn't worth even attempting a nap...but look what happens just before dinner. They are all passed out on the couch watching a movie. This blew the whole plan of getting them to bed early and attempting something big tonight (more on that later).

 Plans ALWAYS backfire!

Star Student

Last week Zackary was Star Student at school and got to take home the special bag with Freedom Bear, a couple of books, and a CD in it. The book was one of his favorites, Brown Bear, in which we read several times, even though we have read the book 20,000 times. We need to get these pictures printed so we can put them in the Freedom Bear journal. Yes, I am a procrastinator and waited until the last minute, so the pictures will have to go in later. He thought it was pretty cool to get the bag and carried it around, we took it in the car with us every time.  He is really only into Monkey so the bear sort of got the shaft.  But can you blame him, Monkey rocks!

Date Night

We changed it up a little tonight. It's actually something Aaron and I decided to do with the boys from now on. We feel we need to spend some extra special one on one time with each child. So we have decided on Wednesday nights we would each take one little out by ourselves. Then the 3rd Wednesday of the month we would have a date by ourselves and the last Wednesday we will have a special family night. So I guess you could say we have dubbed Wednesday as a family night. We will try our best to make this work, however with a new baby coming it might be difficult, I figure I will take the baby and one boy on my date and Aaron can have the one on one time. Tonight I took Zackary to dinner and a movie. We saw 3D Gnomeo and Juliet. We enjoyed our date, the movie was okay, probably not one I would want to see again, but the 3D was neat. Aaron took Lane out to Liberty Market and Water Tower Park, then finished the night with ice cream sundaes and a long ride in the truck. The boys think that Ol Blue is awesome and love to take rides in it. It was really nice to have some one on one time with our special little boys.

Talent

If you are a reader of the blog you know how insanely talented by amazing husband is. Not only is he amazing to his family, he is an excellent cook, and an even better Landscape Architect. One of his many amazing projects made the cover (along with a 7 page article) in Landscape Architect. Granted, not many (probably none) of you subscribe to this great magazine so you won't get a chance to read it, but I think it is a pretty great acknowledgement. If you haven't checked out this great place to visit I suggest to take an afternoon and head out to Downtown Gilbert grab a bite to eat and visit Western Powerline Trail and Water Tower Park. Then you can see what amazing work he produces. 

 I love this man!

Boyce Thompson

I purchased another excellent Groupon, a annual membership to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Aaron got the day off work today so we decided to head out to activate our membership, do some hiking, and soak up the wonderful weather. 

 The boys enjoyed all the hiking and the fact that they got to play with sticks and dirt all day.

Here is my pack mule at the end of the day. We decided to leave the stroller in the car and let them do all the walking. I worked out for majority of the time but about 4 hours into it those little legs got tired. I was proud of my little hikers they did a great job with out any complaints.

Bows

I've been trying to make some bows for our baby girls hair/head. I have gotten several of the little rosettes made but haven't been able to attach them to anything. Today I had a little free time and got a couple completed. I just need my precious little model.

I love this one. The pinks look really different in the picture but the actually match just fine in real light.

This brown one just need a little feather or some sort of addition. I need to make a run to the craft store to get it finished. I have some red ones and white ones that just need a little more to be completed. 

 Girl stuff in so fun!

Saturday Nite Fun

We had great dinner and great company tonight. This was just some of the fun we had today.

Zackary got the Freedom Bear at school this week. We will be taking several pictures of him and the bear this week for the journal.

Otis's evenings

This is how Otis spends his evenings. Watching for something really important, we just aren't sure what he is so interested in.

Fantastic Pedi

I finally got a pedicure this morning. I was at the point where I just had a tiny bit of polish on each toenail and couldn't bare to wear it in public with flip flops. I sat down to try a little touch up before we left and low and behold...I squished by poor baby's head. It was really uncomfortable to bend over so I decided I had better call in some help. And the only help available was a cute little 4 year old that was more than willing to help his mama. I think he did a pretty good job myself. I figured going like this was better than with just bits of polish...at least I had a great story about it. 

 I went on with my day and not one person mentioned my fantastic pedi.

I just had to throw in this picture. They are just so dang cute especially with there little backpacks on. We always go prepared to Joe's Farm Grill with bags full of toys to play with outside.

Girls Night

We are finally going to get back into the swing of things with our monthly girls night. At least that's the plan. For those of you who didn't make it, you missed a delicious dinner and dessert. Sorry Missy, we took the picture right before you left. Z'Tejas has some amazing food, well and margs but I didn't get one tonight. I sure enjoyed every ones company and great stories. Can't wait for next month.

Creepy doll

the the doll made another appearance on V day. The doll has been hiding for quite awhile. Aaron has this fear of dolls and we were hiding it for eachother just for fun. The last outing for the doll was a UPS package mailed to his work. Maybe the best surprise ever...so it returned as a special Valentine present to him because I snuck it out of his truck. What a great way to show some love, right?

Happy V-Day

I'm not sure why I didn't take hardly any pictures today. We did a ton of fun things. I of course took them to Bashas to get them a Valentines donut, not expecting Bashas to be sold out at 9:30am. Then we headed home and make heart shaped sugar cookies, then made valentines (with lots of glue). We had naps/quiet time, I actually fell asleep during a short episode of Clifford. They we made frosting and decorated our cookies, we made a huge mess but had a great time doing it. We delivered cookies to some special friends and saved a few for ourselves. It was a good day. Aaron and I put the kids to bed and had take out Rigatoni's (my fav), all that was missing was a bottle of wine. And to top it off, they got me a gift certificate for a massage. I'm really looking forward to that one! Happy Valentines Day!

Waffle Faces

This was Zackary and Lane's breakfast this morning. I thought they turned out so cute and they got a kick out of them. Kids are so fun.

Rolled Chicken

This was my delicious dinner Aaron made tonight. We got the kids to bed and had a nice quiet dinner. The chicken was rolled with feta, spinach, cilantro, pecans, cream cheese, etc. Served with a balsamic reduction and veggies. 

Seriously, he is amazing.

Photo Class

Today I spent the day taking a photography class that I had purchased on Groupon. Can I just say I love Groupon. It was a great day learning how to better use my camera. I have played with it a little but today got to actually grasp some real knowledge about it. Now, I just need the practice and having a chance to apply what I learned. Here are a few shots I took with manual settings. It's a wonder what a little instruction will do for photos. Now I just need to practice on my kids.

Day Date

Today I was lucky enough to leave work early.  I sent Aaron a little message to see if he wanted to play hookie and go to a movie.  We had a sitter so we headed out to an early movie together.  It was nice little spontaneous treat with my husband.  And the movie was great.  My favorite, a romantic comedy, and it was really funny.  It had me laughing out loud, which doesn't happen in movies all that often.  I really enjoyed it.  But what's not to love about Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler.

Otis

I just has to give Otis a little blog time. He might be the cutest little doggie. The other thing I love is the kids are absolutely in love with him. Lane won't call him Otis, he calls him dog. No matter what we say he is always Dog to him.