Mother's Day

We had an AWESOME Mother's Day! Mitchell, Austin, Jared and David were out of town, so it truly was a day of the mother. Let me tell you, I really REALLY appreciate Mitchell's help so much more, especially in church. My mom, Amy and Danny (Amy's boyfriend), came out to Prosper to BBQ and celebrate with us. It was awesome! Jeff went all out! I've never seen him BBQ that much food. In fact, after he'd grilled it all and saw how much was left over, he realized he just BBQ'd a ton of food and we didn't have enough guys around to eat it all. Two whole slabs of fantastic salmon, massive steaks and plenty of hotdogs for the kids didn't go to waste though. We ate through it in a matter of days, much to the chagrin of our waistlines. ;) So well worth it! And so many pictures. We got simple cards, cute compact mirrors with a decorative daisy and pretty little silk roses in vases for my mom and Tammy. We had all the kids trace a handprint in both cards (no small feat), and the adults signed their names and a message. It turned out to be a really cool gift idea. The Heath kids pitched together and got a Kindle paperwhite for Tammy, too. The best gift for an avid reader!

Jeff is a grill master!

Matching shirts, just like matching genes - not carbon copies, but definitely related! ;)

A sweet little cuddle

Snapped the picture just before he hit gold

Danny is trying to teach them to wiggle their noses like rabbits. Thoroughly entertaining!

BUSTED! We told Andrew to put the bowl on his head... just as Liz was walking outside.

Derek and Isaac found a clip that they proceeded to clip onto various body parts.

Derek needed a little convincing to put it on his ear...

...and a LOT of convincing to put it on his tongue! He liked it there so much, he ran around with his tongue clipped for a good 5 minutes.

Finally got a picture of Andrew's signature dance move! He's bouncing up and down on that leg.

Thumbs up for Danny!

Aren't they cute?!

Happy Mother's Day, Nana!

Happy Mother's Day, Grandma!

Nana and her boys!

Cuddle Chunk!

Isaac loves his adopted Nana... and Nana loves how ticklish Isaac is!

See? ;)

Babies!

Preston is just chillin' with his mom.

Bryce loves to pull hair. Ouch!

Derek showing Papa the "thingy" that he found outside.

Amy, Mom and me!

An Amy Sandwich with extra kisses!

"Make a funny face!"

Grandma opening a mysterious box... the kids all flocked to watch.

Lanae is the Kindle Master. Teach us, o Great One!

If You Think You're Having a Bad Day...

...just remember: you don't have to learn how to crawl.

Derek thinks Bryce is crying about the bright flash, but he's really crying because...

...we just told him that he only has 4-and-a-half years of freedom left before he has to start school. ;) 

And crawling is hard.

Weekend at Nana's

We spent Saturday at Nana's house! Bryce is very entertaining. Derek was flitting around enjoying the extra room to roam and explore while Nana and I were thoroughly entertained with tickling Bryce and watching him cross his legs when Nana found his tickle spot, lol. The swallows in the bottom picture were rather entertaining, too. We were walking out the door to head home and here were five juvenile swallows sitting on top of Mom's garage. Mommy swallow would dart up to the roof with a tidbit and the juveniles would just opening their mouths and scream til she plugged up a mouth and darted off again. We thought they couldn't fly yet til we spooked them and watched them scatter. Oops. 

 Nana and Bryce!

Happy boy!

 Giggle and giggle!

Nature's original entitlement generation. Lol.

Sorry Sir...

...your tractor is NOT sexy. But Derek loved following the tractor down the back country road. :)

Of Water Wars and Dinosaurs

What a fun day today! It's been raining off and on all morning but we didn't let that keep us from having some fun. With summer coming, the apartment's been a bit warmer, so we used some water to cool down. Derek was thrilled to help Bryce discover water's properties. They spent over half an hour just splashing and playing around til Derek had the bright idea to have a dinosaur splash war. 

 Splish splash

 Pleased as punch

 Having a blast!

 Acting out "Slippery Fish"

 So much fun!

 Can I get a "Hallelujah!"

 Roar!

 Love his face :)

 Derek loves going outside on the patio to feel the wind and rain

 Later that evening, Bryce decided it would be fun to chew on his swing

 Such a chunky doodle!

Yoga prodigy, lol

Move Over Paula Deen!

Baby food is kind of gross and kind of expensive. So I've started making my own! Gamm got a food processor for me and (after a few minutes of assembly and reading the manual) I whipped up some pureed green beans! Bryce wasn't a fan of the taste/texture at all. He kept taking a bite and then shuddering and sticking his tongue out. Wish I'd thought to get a picture of that instead of just laughing at him. I added some peas to make it a little more palatable and that did the trick. He'll get used to the texture after a while, but I love this! 

 Look at it! LOOK! AT! IT!

 Freezing the food in cubes for later usage. Oh yeah, I'm smart....well, Pinterest is smart.

Now here's a cuter picture of me holding the baby food. Lol.

Lunch on the Square and Cousin Pictures!

We went to eat lunch with Grandma on the Square! It was a lot of fun. First we hauled our brood into The Cake Stand so Grandma could show off her "cupcakes" to the girls at the shop. I think we got more than a few stares as we struggled to get our strollers/wagon up the 6 inch step into the shop. That was nothing compared to fitting all our wheels into a small cupcake shop that Tammy wanted us to sample for her. Definitely not as good as The Cake Stand. Ick. We ended up getting gourmet sandwiches to go at a local sandwich shop. So good! Tammy told us to take the kids to a nearby park while the cafe put together our rather sizeable order. It made me a little nervous to see how close we were to streets on all four sides and we had more than enough "escapees" to test our boundaries, but the kids had a blast playing in the fountain and playing tag with Aunt Lanae. 

 The brood

 We unleashed the hoard from confinement

 Sorry Bryce, Mom spent more time on her outfit than yours. But Aunt Liz and I look fabulous!

 Running from the ankle biters, lol

 We lined them up, told them to run to Aunt Sereen (behind the camera) and said Go!

 Logan didn't care to run, but cool action shot anyway

 Hey girl!

Whatchu lookin' at, cuz? I rock these shades! Don't be jealous!

Isaac (3 years, 9 months), Derek (3 years, 5 months), Logan (2 years, 8 months), Andrew (2 years, 6 months), Preston, 1 year, 5 months), Emeri (10 months), Bryce (6 months) Savanna (5.5 months)

 This little piggy ain't makin' it to market! Muahahahahaha!

Bedtime story with Aunt Liz

Of Egg Whites and Date Nights...

Liz, Lanae and Sereen have been wanting to try a Pinterest recipe for egg white hair mousse for a while now, so we decided to just do it one morning. Liz and Lanae had already showered, so they whipped up the egg whites while Sereen and I washed our hair. I didn't get any pictures of Liz doing Lanae's hair but it was cute! I was a little skeptical as Liz started moussing up my hair, and we decided to braid it into two braids to set the curls and give my hair more volume. Mitchell got a big kick out of following me around spouting Princess Leia quotes. Har-dee-har-har-har. Liz's hair was starting to go mullet-ish so Sereen trimmed the back with hair clippers. She did a great job! We headed to Sam Moon that afternoon where I got several compliments from the Asian ladies on my double buns. Lol! I guess anime knows no age limits, huh? I scored some super cute earrings and an awesome necklace though. Well worth the trip. When we came back home, Lanae and Sereen offered to watch the kids so Liz and I could go out on a date with our husbands. AWESOME!!! Liz took my hair out of the buns (they were still a little damp) and arranged my hair to her satisfaction before Mitchell was allowed to see me all dolled up. ;) He loves it when I play dress up.

 Egg whites! Looks like frosting.

 AHHHH! I forget how long my hair is. I put it up most of the time to keep it out of Bryce's reach.

 Let the transformation commence!

 Peek-a-Sereen!

 Ugh. The girls loved this hair do and I'm just not feeling the untamed look.

 Sereen and I putting a new take on the half-up hair do.

 Commence Princess Leia/Star Wars jokes. I thought they were kind of cool.

 Here's Liz's before pic - she's so cute!

 POOF!

 Well, POOF! Now she's finished. Very polished and volumized. Nice!

 I think we were all a little nervous. Liz was spontaneous and insistent that we clip her hair. Sereen was the one brave enough to take the plunge. 

 After the buns are down (and before I put on make up). It was kind of crunchy. Looks pretty though.

Mitchell certainly approved. I love my hubby!