mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

My football boys!

Have I ever mentioned I love being a boy-mom?  I am SO certain I will be that mom who is the loudest at football, baseball, soccer games - whatever.  I don't consider myself athletic at all which is ironic that I love the fact that my boys will soon have our family calendars jam packed with sporting activities! 

My mom brought these this weekend and the boys have barely taken them off since they received them! ♥

My heart sings when I see my lil' Longhorns!  I can't WAIT for the day!

Hook 'em Horns, baby!  Will looks so ready, doesn't he?

Memorial Day Weekend recap.

This past weekend was SO AWESOME!  My mom, stepdad, and brother came into town to be on official "Natha & Will duty" while I was working the weekend at Jiggle Jam.  It was another fantastic festival and a good time was certainly had by all.  It has quickly become the hottest family festival in the country, with many other cities looking to do the same thing in their towns.  It's truly an honor and blessing to serve on the board of the festival and I am already eager to help plan the next one!

Of course the weekend was full of rockin' out music for kids and adults, face painting, funnel cakes, my favorite festival food, and wonderfully fun activities for the kids.  It was so cool to see some of my (and the kids) favorite national acts in 'da house, like these guys, them, and of course him! 

David and my brother were troopers and helped us as volunteers at the festival, where it was steamy and in the 80s pretty much all weekend!  I totally enjoyed the outdoors and have a fab sunglasses tan on my face to prove it!  Here are some of the weekend's highlights: ♥

 

Sights of Summer: Picnics + Farm Fun.

The kids and I officially kicked off our summer break today by heading to the Farmstead for a picnic, outdoor play, and a hayride.  The weather was perfect in my book!  Just beautiful!  The kids were SO well-behaved during the entire outing and even came straight home and took two hour naps - willingly!

Tonight David grilled hot dogs and some marinated chicken breasts on the grill for dinner and it was DELISH! I love summer!  ♥

 

Last Day of Pre-K

Today was such a bittersweet day for me as I am sure it has been for many of you who have Kindergarten and older kids.  It was Nathan's last day of Pre-K!  Thankfully, though, it's not his last day being at the school we have come to love over the past few years.  He will be returning there for full-day Kindergarten and will be with many of his Pre-K classmates.

Still, today I looked at him just a little differently; and he seemed a little different.  The school picnic was so much fun and I can tell that he has made some really great friendships there.  I feel blessed by all the good people we've been fortunate to be surrounded by for the past almost six years of his life!

I found myself getting all teary-eyed over all of the journals and several pieces of work Nathan's completed this past year.  I know they will be pieces of his childhood that I will forever treasure.

We are all so ready for what the summer brings for us and are excited to kick it off officially tomorrow and on into this weekend with Jiggle Jam, the rockinest festival on planet Earth!  My mom, stepdad, and brother will be coming in on Friday from Texas and I'm eager to just kick it with them.

Here's some of what today was like:

 Nathan with classmates Keejay & Matthew fetching marbles out of a water pail.

 Enjoying a hot dog picnic lunch with Keejay & Nick. 

 
Nathan with his Pre-K teacher.

 My little Kindergartener.  He's SO ready.  I'm SO not.  ♥

I'm officially a "Boy Mom"!

Yep.  That's right.  Baby #3 is a BOY!!!  But, then again, I already knew that.  We had our ultrasound today and we were all ecstatic to find out that our home will once again be blessed with even more testosterone!

This is what I get for constantly praying to God for patience.  I am sure this is His way of giving me opportunities to be patient.  In any case, I am excited!  I finally get to dig in and buy some fun goods I've been looking at for a while.

My little baby boy is looking healthy and growing so fast!  His approximate weight is 13.5 ounces and he is quite flexible - at one point during the sonogram, he was seen tapping his foot on top of his little head!  Nathan and Will got quite a kick out of that.  The sonographer was very nice and even printed each of them their very own personalized photo that read "Hi Nathan" and "Hi William", complete with a great view of baby's head.

I do have to say that Nathan's first reaction when we realized the baby is a boy, was "Awwww!  I wanted a sister!"  When  I asked him why, he replied, "I wanted a baby sister so we could have someone to be Princess Leia when we play Star Wars."  I then told him that I could be Princess Leia, but apparently that's just wishful thinking.  He indicated that I am too tall and that we'd need a smaller girl to play the part.  Classic.

For the most part we got a fabulous look at baby.  He was, however, reluctant to give up a good profile shot of himself so we'll be doing that when I go back in a month or so to check my placenta.  Apparently it's a little low-lying so I pray it will move up so that I'll be able to deliver vaginally as I have in the past. 

We did get some really good looks at him, though, including a look at his spine, fingers, toes, and lips, as well as his brain and and most of his vital organs that have already formed.  His heart rate was 154 beats per minute.

 Feet!

 His package.

 Face view.

Starting this whole process of documenting another beautiful life has made me realize I need to get on the ball now with coming up with creative yet time-saving ideas for preserving these memories!  I'm curious, how do you preserve your kids' ultrasound photos?  I would like to figure out a good way to save them and keep them so they don't erode over time!  ♥

Lego fun.

A bit of Lego fun happening at our crib lately.  Suffice it to say that the boys get just a tad inspired when they get their new Brickmaster magazines and goodies in the mail!  (Thanks, Grammy!)  I SO enjoy being a mama of boys!

 
Nathan proudly showcasing his space shuttle scene complete with his work crew.

  
What's this Lego scene, you ask?  Why it's a bowling scene (surprise, surprise!) by Will.  See those long red legos on each side? Yep, those are gutters.  And that blue square up front? That's the bowling ball.  I'm sure you've figured out where the pins are.  ♥

Mother's Day recap.

What a fantastic day it turned out to be!  Despite the cold, dreary Kansas City weather today, I had all the sunshine I needed.  My boys (including my husband) were so sweet and thoughtful today. 

It started out this morning when Nathan made his way into my room at about 7:15 a.m. and woke me up to the sweetest words.  "Happy Mother's Day, mom!" he whispered ever-so-softly at my bedside as I rolled over and pulled him into the bed and under the covers with me.  Surprisingly, Will was still asleep!  Nathan and I enjoyed some great snuggle time and soon he remembered that it was finally time to show me his present he'd made for me at school.  He ran downstairs while I fluffed my pillows in anticipation at what he'd bring.  I knew whatever it was that it would be sweet, thoughtful and probably funny.  I was right.

The class put together a fabulous "Pre-K Cookbook" of sorts whereby each child submitted an original recipe.  Some of the most outlandish recipes called for gallons of sugar, handfulls of ravioli, and the like.  Nathan's recipe was actually for blueberry-topped pancakes which is suprising considering that a) We've never had pancakes topped with bluberries and b) that he doesn't like blueberries!  Nonetheless, it was fun going through the book to see what other wild recipes the class has come up with.  There was also a meticulously colored sheet that was a card for me.  It was touching and I got teary-eyed, as usual!  Nathan told me he loved me "so, so much" and reminded me that I am "so special".  I reminded him that what makes mommies so special are the special kids in their lives - and this meant him, of course!  He smiled and just continued to snuggle with me and let me kiss him as we waited for Will to wake up.

Afterwards, we all headed downstairs and made pancakes together and laughed, joked, and talked.  We were able to Skype with Grammy and talk to Grandpa on the phone as well and enjoyed just taking it easy.  Later,  I headed to the grocery store for my latest mission for Mommy Madness KC and had them both in tow.  They were pretty good overall and I enjoyed taking them grocery shopping with me, which is something I don't have to do very often.  They were excited to finally spend their Target gift cards from Grammy & Popo which have been burning a hole in their pockets since Valentine's Day!

After coming home and David unloading the car-full of groceries, we headed out for dinner to Texas Roadhouse.  Of course, we ate too many rolls (as is always the case) and ended up bring most of our dinner home!  We got home with about an hour to spare before bedtime so we all played a fun new Nerf Wii game.  Then it was time for bed.  The kids headed upstairs without hesitation as we got them ready for bedtime and said our goodnights.  I kissed each of them off to dreamland and told them how very special they have made my life. 

It's ordinary days like these that make me feel that as a mom, I lead a truly extraordinary life!  ♥

Exciting news tomorrow!

Stay tuned, I'll be posting some very cool "mommy blogger" news about a project I've been asked to participate in.  We at the T household are very excited about it!  Let's just say it will be a ride we are happy to be a part of!  ♥

Pet Pals Day at the Farm.

 Since soccer was cancelled today due to rain (again!) I decided to take the kids to Pet Pals Day at Deanna Rose Farm - one our favorite places!  I still think it's hands-down - the best place to take your kids for an outing here in Kansas City!

The day was a little too chilly for my blood, but it was partly sunny so it turned out to be a nice day to walk around and check out the exhibits on hand for this special event.  Of course, the kids still had fun with the usual suspects - feeding the goats, playing on the red playscape, and enjoying the trike ride-ons.

 
I kept having to retake this picture because Will would NOT look at the camera!  I think he was distracted by the free chocolate milk!  The kids enjoyed getting a bottle all to themselves, courtesy of Anderson Erickson Dairy!

 
We all enjoyed yummy grape popsicles, courtesy of Blue Bell - my personal favorite!  These were so good I could hardly believe they were free!

Will had fun with the baby goats, especially.  He kept asking to please touch their ears!  He has such a thing for ears - human or otherwise!

 
Nathan was picked for taking part in a dog safety presentation.  He was so cute interacting with the pets there!  ♥