embrace the camera - april 28

last weekend, we did a whole lot of embracing the camera at an easter egg hunt. a family picture is pretty rare for this six-pack, so i was one happy mama when we managed to get everyone together for a snap.

 

the mister and i love embracing our sweet little wyatt.

and here are isaiah and michael embracing with the easter bunny.

i hope everyone had a wonderful easter! 

isaiah and liam are on spring break this week so we are enjoying staying up late and sleeping in.

but we have to get back on schedule soon or else monday is going to be a drag!

i love you to the moon and back

happy anniversary to my man. four years of marriage and we've done a whole lot of growing, loving, disagreeing, arguing, compromising, learning, understanding, baby-making, parenting...and we've only just begun. {well, except for the baby-making. we're done with that part, for sure.}

i hope you know how thankful i am for you and for your all-encompassing presence in my life.

let me start by saying thank you for always making sure that i'm as big as a house. 

i get it, ok. that's how you make sure i stick around so you always have clean underwear but, c'mon... we're four kids in, i'm probably not going anywhere. probably.

thanks for always being silly with me, making me laugh and working so hard at making me look like an idiot in public. i was always pretty good at the latter on my own, but you've proven to be much better at it than i.

thank you for guiding me as i increased my tolerance for alcoholic beverages. i'm proud to say i've only prayed to the porcelain god twice thanks to your diligent guidance and support as i develop this very important life skill.

in all seriousness, thank you for teaching me how to live and how to love life in all it's ordinary-ness.

thank you for being my husband, my friend, my lover and my confidant...and for being so damn good at all of it.

thank you for always trusting in me and my decisions. and thank you for your unending faith in me. 

thank you for the beautiful gifts of life that you've given me. you and our boys make me happier than i ever imagined i could be.

thank you for always being stronger than i am, so that i may always draw strength from you in the moments when i feel weak.

thank you for making me the happiest girl in the world.

and thank you for being you. 

i love you to the moon and back.

i want my baby back

i want my baby back! and i'm not talking about ribs. although, i'm sure i could slather a bottle of bbq sauce all over wyatt and eat him right up. i'd even lick my fingers afterward, too.

my little peanut is just about 4 months old now. and he's holding his head up, googoo- and gaga-ing, chugging down at least 8 ounces at each feeding....it needs to stop! i can't take it anymore!

yesterday, we met some friends at the park and i plopped him in a swing for the first time. he loved it! who wouldn't love the feeling of air in the hair? well, i guess he doesn't have that much hair...so it's possible he might not enjoy it. but, he did! and doesn't he look like a cute little sack of potatoes in there?






































today, i dusted off the handy dandy exersaucer and brought it in from the garage. we've had this spiffy thing since mikey was a baby. then liam used it and now, wyatt. i swear, if we dollar cost average everything we buy for these boys, it's all pretty much free. that's how i justify all of my purchases and the mister loves it.

my goodness, wyatt. you really shouldn't enjoy sitting in that exersaucer that much. it's really not that enjoyable. and, despite what you might think from me swooning over you all the time, you don't cute in it...at all.

hippity hop

easter weekend was a busy one for the adams six-pack. saturday morning, we had a huge easter party and egg hunt with our playgroup friends and the rest of saturday was spent in san carlos. easter morning was spent in hercules and easter dinner was finally enjoyed here at home. 

whew. don't even talk to me about how much we spent on gas this weekend. it was about two weeks of mikey's preschool tuition. {i hate putting our gas expenses into that kind of perspective. it makes me sad.}

ready for the egg hunt!

liam had a wonderful time hunting for eggs and digging through his loot.

we got a picture with the easter bunny! 

i never get my hopes up about getting a family picture when these photo opps are available. it's just impossible to herd four boys from all corners of the park and get them to gather for a picture. i guess it wasn't so impossible this time. i'm one happy mama.

and little mister wyatt celebrated his very first easter this year. i could seriously eat this boy up.

next stop was san carlos for a birthday bbq for grandpa don, whose birthday is april 21, and grandma april, whose birthday is april 7. i like to join in on their celebration, too, since my birthday is april 12. they throw the best parties with great food and ambiance with wine flowing freely. who wouldn't want a party like that?

the boys always enjoy the attention for gma and gpa's friends who are always so happy to see them. gma april put together some fun baskets for them and they had a little egg hunt in the backyard.

liam had so much fun hunting for eggs all day.

but he enjoyed eating his loot even more.

more egg-cellent loot for mister mikey. this is why i make sure to put a toothbrush and floss in their baskets every year!

the boys' baskets were lined up on the porch and waiting for them on easter morning.

i can't get all crazy with filling easter baskets now that we have four kids, so we stick to a rule where each boy gets $10 worth of toys, plus a toothbrush, floss and eggs filled with candies and other trinkets. i was able to make the $10 for each boy go a long way this year with lots of bakugans (for isaiah) and generator rex toys and kung zhu pets (for mikey) on clearance at target.

after they rummaged through their baskets, we headed over to my dad's house for a quick visit over breakfast with him, my stepmom, and my sisters. everyone split up with different plans for the day, but we made sure to get together early.

then, we headed home for dinner at our home with grandma eden, auntie tracey and uncle josh. they came bearing indian food take-out. the best easter feast, in my opinion. i wouldn't mind if that became a tradition. :) grandma also brought fun-filled easter baskets for the boys.

sorry there were no pictures from sunday. after taking 500+ pictures at the egg hunt on saturday, mommy paparazzi was just pooped out and wanted nothing to do with my camera! now to sort through and edit them all...fun times.

we certainly had a wonderful time with all of our family. but it was too, too busy. next year, i hope to spend less time in the car on easter weekend and more time at home in our pajamas playing board games and snacking on butter popcorn all day. that's more my kind of a good time. 

growing up

my two big boys are growing up. 

yeah, i know...duh. 

but, you see, it's so easy to get caught up in the day to day hustle and bustle that goes on around here, and i tend to rely on my big boys to be my helpers. and they are fantastic helpers, might i add. so fantastic that it makes me forget that they, too, are still babies and still have lots of growing up to do! they certainly made mommy stop in her fast-moving tracks last weekend and showed me how much they're growing up. 

isaiah had his first sleepover party for the birthday of one of his bff's. he's had sleepovers with cousins and other family before, but never with his friends. so this was a big deal for all of us.

out the door and ready to go.

isaiah and his buddy, kimani.

isaiah even wrote in the birthday card for his friend all by himself. he didn't get any help from me with it. and it wasn't just "happy birthday. from, isaiah". he actually wrote a cute little note!

big boy #2 also had a birthday party milestone that same night. he was invited to a party at a local party place with jump houses and such called Go Bananas. and the invitation said 'drop-offs ok'. what in the what? isaiah didn't have his first drop-offs ok party til just a few months ago! 

we did drop him off for a bit, but only for about an hour so mommy and daddy easter bunny could make a target run and buy stuff for the boys' baskets. we were back before the kids sat down to eat.

paparazzi daddy was hilarious. i didn't even realize he took a picture of us going into the place. he was all trying to act like it wasn't a big deal on the way there. not a big deal? then why are you taking a picture of it? mmm hmmmm.....that's what i thought.

and mikey even labeled the envelope for his friend's birthday present. i'm sure it made it much easier since the birthday boy's name is also michael, but it's a wonderful thing nonetheless!

sigh...time is certainly fleeting. 

i need to spend more moments with my big boys. we always spend time as a family, but the big boys need big boy time with their mom and dad without the crying and needy babies always stealing our attention. they need us, too. but in a different way than the little ones do.

what's my middle name?

i'm pretty sure i've said it before...random is my middle name. and this post going to be just that...totally random. so if you are stickler for order, then you probably don't want to read it or you might break out in hives or something. just sayin'.

you wanna know what i love? i love canning jars. this is rather interesting because not once have i even canned anything. hmm...well maybe once when my mom wanted to try making her own jam...but that must not have worked out as she planned because i don't remember ever doing it again. strange.

anyway, i bought a case of canning jars back in november because i used them as cups for thanksgiving dinner. you know, thanksgiving just makes me want to drink out of a jar. don't tell me that the holiday of feast doesn't invoke that feeling in you, blog friend. some of our guests appreciated it (they probably get the urge to drink out of jars around thanksgiving, too) while others, like my brother, not so much.

brother: where are the cups?
me: over on that tray.
brother: wait. where are the cups again?
me: over on that tray with the ice bucket.
brother: there are no cups there.
me: yes. there are.
brother: i only see jars.
me: the jars are the cups.
brother gives me a confused look then fills a jar with pepsi and says, "oh. haha. this is cool."

sigh...oh dear brother, how i love you so.

anyway, as i was saying, i love canning jars. i don't even know if it helps to keep cilantro in water, but it sure looks pretty! i love having the bit of green life sitting on my counter.

i buy my coffee beans from costco. which meansi get a freakin 25 lb (ok i'm exaggerating) bag of a mommy's equivalent to crack. i hate pulling the big bag out every single time i make coffee, which is at least twice a day, so i started storing a little bit, maybe 3 days worth, in one of the larger canning jars. 

much better. now i don't have to exercise my biceps, since we all know they don't need exercise anyway since they are in great shape, each time i brew coffee.

the mister is cheap. it's ok. i can say that publicly. because he knows he is...self-proclaimed, actually. we recently fired our gardener because we had suspicions were were overpaying (which ended up being true). we really don't have a lot of grass. the front yard has probably a 10ftx15ft patch and another 3ftx15ft patch on the other side of the driveway. and our entire backyard is covered in pavers. it's really sad actually. not so much sad that we have so little grass...but sad that we were so lazy to mow the ish ourselves that we would pay someone else to do it. seriously...not that much work, MISTER.

anyway, when we fired the gardener, we realized we needed to buy a lawnmower. dannng. those things are expensive. well, the mister had a brilliant idea to get a reel mower. yeah...like oldddd skooool. i cracked jokes throughout the entire process - while choosing and ordering, while waiting for it arrive in the mail, while the mister was assembling it, and i was even giggling as he mowed the lawn with it for the first time. i know, i'm such an awesome wife.

the proud mister

well, i will now admit that i have eaten my words and giggles. that thing worked...and like a charm! he actually did the mowing at like 9pm and, i kid you not, our neighbors came out to see the strange contraption he was using the mow the lawn. bahahaha. and i joked that the lawn would be a hot mess in the morning when we could actually see what he did.

nope. the grass looks great. you can see where our grass ends and the neighbors begins. and our grass was the same height as the neighbors. maybe they fired their gardener, too? i should tell them to get a reel mower. or they can borrow ours...for a nominal fee.


like i said. we don't have that much grass so a reel mower was a great option. it's also really light and easy to push. i'm considering making this one of isaiah's new chores. i just need to make sure he doesn't stick his fingers and/or toes in the the blades when he's pushing it. yikes. best part? no carbon footprint!

while on the subject of carbon footprints...i was annoyed when i received a package earlier this week. i ordered a package of cloth diaper liners. tiny thing, really. and it came in this humongous box filled with tons of paper! wth?! seriously! i almost felt like calling amazon to complain. 

still there? wow. if you made it to the end, you really should leave a comment. even if you just say that i'm crazy. i can take it. you totally deserve a reward for your patience.

thank you for listening to my ramblings.