My Parents Came

We were so excited to have a visit from my mom and dad last week!  If you know my parents very well, you'll know we did a lot of exercising,

 because we'd also be doing a lot of good eating!  We went to Chic-Fil-A and Tucano's, and Sadie insisted we go to Texas Roadhouse for her 1st birthday, so we obliged.

 We had fun celebrating this little cutie.

 You'll also know that we watched a lot of sports, especially with March Madness upon us.  Shane even got in on the bracket action- I found a thing online where he could put a check under which mascot he thought would won- needless to say he is in last because neither tiger team pulled through for him;) )

 And since the end of basketball and the start of soccer coincided the weekend they were there, they got to watch him play both.

They were good sports and played all the kids made up games- even when they almost always involved being under this blanket.

 They were good for lots of kisses, hugs, and cuddles,

 and just generally fun to hang out with!

Thanks for coming, we miss you guys!

Trip to Utah

Josh's sister Jessika got married on March 1 in St George, Utah so we went out and made a little family reunion of it.  All 6 of Josh's siblings and their spouses and kids were there so it was a big party!  Except of course, my husband was the only one who couldn't be there- he was working nights which is his hardest rotation and had a 24 hour window to be there, but his flight had to reroute because of weather and he didn't end up getting into Vegas until 2 am, and he hadn't really slept, and he would have to drive 2 more hours and turn around and go back and we were worried up him being able to get back home with weather, so we all decided he should just catch the next flight back home.  So yeah, he went through that whole ordeal and didn't have anything to show for it, it was pretty rough but that's life sometimes I guess.  The kids and I drove up to his parents' so we could fly out with them, and man I'm so glad I had their help!

 Uncle Matthew may have been the biggest help, he sat by Shane the whole time and they were so cute together- Shane loved watching him play the ipad which was a win win for both of them and Matthew helped Shane do his whole huge Avengers sticker book.  Of course all the flight attendants thought they were brothers!

We spent the first couple days in Manti, Utah at Josh's brother Jake's house and it was so fun to see the kids together and hang out with everyone, and be outside!

Then we drove down to St. George and everyone stayed in a condo together, it was a blast!  

And of course, we went to Jessika's wedding!  Marissa even got to be a flower girl, it was pretty cute.  We are happy for Derek and Jessika and their cute little Laynie!

 (all of Josh's family minus Josh :( )

 We sure wish we could see everyone more often!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's St. Patrick's Day!  I think I missed last year with all the excitement of Match Day/having a baby but I am back this year with limericks!  You're welcome ha ha.

Shane loves to tromp in the snow
But is getting "weary of winter" you know
He makes my cares melt away
With the funny things he does say
and always keeps me on my toes!

Marissa is Shane's biggest fan
She follows him wherever she can.
She loves Peter Parker,
can't be trusted with marker
and still can't resist Sadie's hands.

Sadie finally has enough hair
for me to put something in there
she can't resist a good kiss
and somehow still loves her sis
I think they will make quite a pair!

Kelly loves being mom to these three
Even though some days she lacks energy
but they're so funny and cute
and cuddly to boot
that she can't help but feel so lucky

Joshua is now an MD
which means that he works like crazy
But he's getting close to done
with year number one
which is the hardest of all of the three!

This was the first year leprechauns made a visit to our house.  They left us Lucky Charms and a note

 and green footprints leading to the fridge where they'd turned our  milk green,

and also to the back door where they'd left us pots of gold (reese's and rolo's) before escaping.

I had tried to put a little green footprint on Shane's face last night while he was sleeping to say they had checked the kids out to see if they looked nice or not, but Shane totally woke up and said, "Mom, what are you putting on my face?" ha ha.  He didn't remember in the morning, though he did gather on his own that leprechauns are make believe, but still fun to pretend.  I didn't go too all out, but the kids were intrigued all day by the footprints and what other mischief they could have caused ("mom, look, they messed up the playroom!"  Guess he didn't remember we didn't have time to clean last night;) )

We also went to a St. Patrick's Day party with our mom's group on Friday where the kids did crafts, ate treats, read a story, and played games.  We love holidays around here, and will look for any excuse to celebrate!

On Basketball and Parenthood

Shane has been playing basketball with the YMCA for a couple months now, but I have struggled with writing this post for awhile now, on how honest to be.  It has such been a good learning experience, for him and for Josh and I, but a little painful at times too.  When we thought about whether we should sign him up or not, we thought "he can't really dribble or shoot, but I'm sure none of the other kids will really be able to either."  Wrong.  This is Indiana, Hoosier country, and these people take their basketball seriously!  And these little kids are pretty good!  I'm sure I've alluded to the fact that he has some motor/sensory issues, and that he's needed a little extra resources and support.  These struggles and differences have seemed to stand out a lot more playing basketball, and I will admit that it has been hard to watch at times, but we've also seen a lot of growth and know that it is all so so good for him.  We don't care at all if he is good at basketball or not, but I think it is so important that he learn how to follow directions, try his hardest, develop new skills, be active and a part of something, and have fun.  We want to give him a chance to be able to try lots of different things (sports and otherwise) to learn and grow and figure out what he likes, and I am so glad to have the Y to have such good programs for him to do these things at an early age.  It is pretty low key for the 4 and 5 year olds, they do a half hour practice and then a half hour game and the coaches are on the court with them helping them out.  Here he is running the ball down the court,       

and here he is when he remembered he was supposed to dribble ha ha. 

 And getting open for a pass.  That was a big one that he was actually looking for the ball instead of dancing around!

 And as my mom used to tell me after my basketball games growing up, he was the "cutest one out there!"  ha ha.  He wanted to do soccer next and it starts next week, so that will be our next adventure!

(These little girls were feeling left out that I wasn't taking their picture)

Near Records

So this is the size of our snow pile after a little thaw.  We enjoyed a couple "warm" days (it's amazing how warm 50 feels now!) and then got 6 more inches after this picture.

I was looking up the records for snowfall for Fort Wayne and was bugged to find out that 1)they only count December-February when they do meteorological records for winter and 2)we just missed the record this year for snowiest winter (the record was 61.1 inches and we got 59.4).  I mean go big or go home!  So we are attempting to break some of our own records around here.

Shane- "Most number of identities assumed in 24 hours."

I think today he was Spiderman, The Hulk, a cowboy, the dragon from Doc McStuffins, Jupiter, an asteroid, Kwaazi (from the Octonauts), and a colossal squid all before lunch.  I love his imagination but I have to tell him quite often that sometimes I just want to be mom, and sometimes he needs to be just Shane, and put his lasso away and stop roping people (like at church).

Marissa is working on "Most amount of drool produced by a 3 year old.  Ever."  She won't be 3 for another month but she is training really hard in the meantime.

Sadie is vying for "Cutest mischief maker".  I tried to put her train in front of the tv to deter her from pushing all the buttons, but she was so dang cute instead of telling her to get down I took her picture.  I guess the youngest do get away with everything.  She is also our quietest mischief maker, so she will have a whole roll of toilet paper unrolled or crayon digested before I even realized she crawled away.

Josh has got to be close to "Least amount of complaints about winter by someone living in Fort Wayne this year."  We have been talking a little more about where we want to end up after residency, and he kind of likes the idea of staying so I think he is trying to butter me up.  Though he is right, I do love it here the other 8 months of the year and this is an abnormal winter, but a beach locale is looking more and more tempting.

And me?  I'm going for "most number of times you've been told you have your hands full" so if you see me at   Costco in my sweaty workout clothes pushing the cart with one hand while holding Sadie with the other because she won't sit in it, while trying to keep Marissa from sitting on the bread and Shane from touching every single sample on the table and spitting it out when he takes a bite, then do me a favor and add to my tally.  On second thought, maybe I should just try for "most white trash mom at Costco."

I'll keep you updated on our progress:)