HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAUY

We had Cauy's Batman birthday today. It was fun. The kids ran around like monkeys . . .which is quite usual for them. :) Emma didn't have a batman outfit so she wore her super girl outfit. We got batman masks at walmart for the kids. I had matt print out the Batman logo, i colored it and taped it to my black shirt. I must say we looked cute!

Casen eating with his mask on

emma smiling for the camera. How well trained are my kids :)

a self portrait.

getting ready to pin the sticker on batman

blowing out the candle

my two super heros

Texarkana Discovery Place

We had fun at Grannys last weekend. We went to the Texarkana Discovery Place. It was cute. The kids had fun. Here are several pictures to show the fun we had.

who's that girl?

Emma's school spring pictures . . pre-short hair . . . she looks SOOO old!

a quick update

I have taken the time to sit down and write a quick update on our lives lately because one of my three devoted fans has mentioned they don't feel loved because of the lack of blogging. :) You know who you are!

Garrett:
- has a huge vocab for a 2 year old and talks constantly . . why did we teach him to talk?
- has been "that" free since monday afternoon! A huge success for us. He still asks for it several times a day but when told he's a big boy and big kids don't have passys he will usually drop it. If that doesn't work and he asks again all you have to do is say "where is your that?" His response "at hospital" then you ask "why is it as the hospital?' His response "help sick babies" . . yes you heard right . . we gave the "thats" to Tanya while she was at work to give to the sick babies to help them get well. He asks for it alot but hasn't cried for it yet. :)

a funny story about it: yesterday we were at daycare at the crack of dawn (7am). at that time of the morning all the early risers are together in one room. Around 7:45 Mrs.Deb takes the babies into their room and the big kids go to their room and we divide up the other kids by ages. Garrett had gotten into a argument with his sissy and was wanting his ruff ruff and his that. (that=passy) (ruff ruff = puppy) I gave his the puppy and we went through the whole above sphell about the passy. Well, then he looks at the baby room door and says "baby in there?" I answer "yes. that's the baby room" He says "babyies have thats?" I answer "yes babies have thats. but you are a big kid. big kids don't need thats" He looks at the door again and says "i go in there n get that with babies" . . i mean is he a genius or what people!?

- he loves to run fast like the race cars
- he loves his friends and family dearly
- he has the sweetest smile and funniest facial expressions

Emma
- just finished her 1st year of real school (Pre-K3) . . she loved it and thrived there
- she loves to color / draw / write . . on anything and everything
- she likes to be in charge . . . . of everything . . . quite independent young lady
- she's still growing like a weed
- she in curious about everything, how things work, why things happen
- she loves to help out
- with her new haircut she looks so old and grown up
- loves to hold cat all day
- can't wait to start going to the pool

Matt
- going to several high school graduations right now (a youth helpers job is never done)
- playing on a church volley ball team
- subbing for a church softball team
- working on some kind of programming stuff at work (i know real tech savvy aren't I?)
- teaching our children to tackle and tickle mommy
- working on the yard and house on weekends

Marti
- super busy at work trying to get ready for summer academy to start monday (have had 9 and 13 hours days lately)
- running after the kids all day and all night
- trying to catch up on household chores . . not really succeeding


That's the jist of what's going on here . . super busy with everyday life . . if you really really miss us faithful readers, please stop by (don't mind the huge mess) and demand to see us or meet us at the pool on my off days. :)

open door shut door

Tonight we went to IHOP for dinner. While we were waiting to be seated Garrett was wiggling on Matt's lap. He said "I shut door daddy" meaning he wanted to shut the open door next to him. Matt said "No. don't shut the door" Garrett turned his head and look at him and replied "No people coming daddy" . . how smart is my 2 year old? He knew our argument would be in letting people in and out of the door he wanted to shut. :) What a sweetie!

Grammie's 50th Birthday Weekend

Thursday we flew up to Natick and surprised Grammie for her birthday bash. Sunday was Grammie's 50th birthday, Great Grammie's 70th birthday, and Mother's Day all in one. . . (And Mandy H's birthday too). Matt found good deals on tickets and a rental car so we decided to surprise her and come up. Jesse was the only one who knew of our plans. It was great! We went straight to Grammie's work and told them to tell her she had visitors. She walked out and was speechless and surprised! It was super. 

Our plans went:

Thursday - surprise Grammie, play with Grammie and Jesse at the park

Friday - go to Boston Children's museum with Jesse! ride a train to get there! bugaboo creek for dinner with talking trees, moose, and bison

Saturday - play at mall play place, eat lunch with daddy's friends, family party

Sunday - church, cheese dip lunch, play on the commons

Monday - go to aquarium with Grammie, ride more trains to get there

Tuesday - pack up and leave

and of course lots and lots of Dunkin Donuts!

The Boston Children's Museum 

Family shots and The aquarium

WYWO - Up LR and backyard

Well my parents have done it again! They truly are the best ever! While we were gone to Boston, they totally cleared out our backyard and decorated our upstairs living room. The living room looks like a grown up room not a sparse assortment of odds and ends now. The back yard is the best thing in the world! It is now swing set ready! We will be getting our swing set this weekend! I can't thank them (and any helper elves here in town) enough!!!! Below is what our living room and back yard look like now. . . . anyone who knows what they looked like before should sit down and brace yourselves before looking at the pictures . . . they will shock you!

Here's the list of what we've found thus far that they did:

cut back ALL flower beds in front
flowers in flower box in front
raked/mowed/bagged/cleared all grass/leaves/branches in ALL back yard
straightened downstairs
vacumed downstairs
hung 2 pictures downstairs
cut board by stove
straightened emmas room and left note
Upstairs LR:
- added 3 chairs
- added end tables
- added wall art
- added picture above piano
-added lamps
- added decorative touches (candles, scarves, table cloths)
installed garretts small blinds
straightened up guest room

and have I mentioned this is my diabetic father and my been on chemo for 11 months then off for a couple of months mom? :) . . We are truly blessed. 

Emma's new haircut

Emma and I got hair cuts Tuesday at the Salon Academy near our house. I wanted to get it down at the academy to help support my friend at work who was in salon school but ended not finishing because she was too sick with her pregnancy to work at all. Now I use her to cut Garrett's hair for free. :) The academy only charged me $9 to wash and cut and dry my hair! Emma's was $6 for the same. The down side is it took 1 1/2 hours (with all 3 kids with me) and neither person had ever cut a real person's hair before. :) BUt it turned out great! Here's Emma's new do

pink ribbon for a cure

Emma was riding with Grammie today. She was asking grammie which car was hers.m Grammie was showing her "see the red sox sticker?" emma looks over and says "yeah, and the pink ribbon one. That's for my Granny. A pink ribbon means she's sick and needs help getting well" . . . what a tender moment. We love our Granny and our Grammie!