Our Sweet Boys: May 2011

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day! I have learned that my husband is just not going to do anything if I don't tell him exactly what to do...and you know...I am fine with that. I ran out of perfume a few weeks ago and so I went to Ulta and picked out a new scent. I then took a picture of it and emailed it to Doug so he couldn't mess this up. Low and behold on Mother's Day morning the boys presented me with my perfume and the free purse that came with it:) I also received some very special school gifts. Connor made me a necklace, Grant made a picture with words about me and framed it, and Preston hand printed a potholder. I'll cherish these sweet gifts forever. I LOVE me some boys!

The boys showing off my treats.

Doug was busy snapping pictures while I opened presents and these goof balls ate it up!

Connor giving me my necklace. Love the look on his precious face.

Connor showing off my necklace. It is a bottle cap necklace with zebra print detail and an "M" that he drew.

Fishing Is A Reward

We are having some problems with a certain 9 year old attitude at our house lately. We told him that he was expected to help out around the house and if he could keep his attitude under control then he would be rewarded and if we continued having a problem then there would be stronger punishments. Well don't you know we had a better week than normal! Connor has been wanting to go fishing at the pond behind our new lot so after having lunch with Grandma Black for Mother's Day off we went. We asked Sweet Garin and Aunt Laurie if they wanted to tag along and we ended up having an awesome time. We didn't realize that Garin had never been fishing. He turned out to be quite the little fisherman and caught 4 fish! He was cracking us up. I think I had a bit more fun because he was there to entertain us:)

Garin caught his first fish and sat there forever just taking that little guy in.

Uncle Doug trying to get Garin to touch the fish. He was hesitant, but he did it.

My 2 fisherman having fun. Preston is not impressed by this sport.

Garin waiting for another bite.

Connor finally caught one!

Happy Mother's Day Grandma Black

We celebrated the Saturday before Mother's Day at On The Border with Grandma Black. That is one restaurant that all the Black clan can agree on:) The only sad part was Uncle Russell had to work on-call so he missed out. We gave Grandma a wax melting pot with 2 scented waxes.

The 2 big kids were matching...how cute they are!

We had to get a pic of Sweet Garin and Sweet Doug who coincidentally were matching too.

Sweet Kisses!

Hanging Out With Dad

Doug got home this last week while the boys were sleeping Thursday night. After school on Friday they were more than excited to see him and spend some quality boy time together. I had to run some errands and so when I got back to our neighborhood where do you think I found them...Mr. Herb's house. Doug took the boys to the creek behind Mr. Herb's and attempted to catch craw fish. Well, there was no such luck...but, they had a good time anyway.

Field Day and End Of Year Parties 2011

I don't know who was in charge of planning field day and combining it with the end of year parties, but they lost their minds! Seriously, that is just to much activity in one day. The kids all had a blast running around and playing the fun games Coach planned for them, but they were absolutely exhausted by party time. I was elected to be the fill-in room mom for Preston's class because the room mom moved away at Christmas time. I had a blast planning the party and at the end of the day Preston said that the best part of his day was...THE PARTY! He made my day:) I planned for the kids to have ice cream sundaes and then they put their hand prints on pillowcases to take home. The cases said, "Now I lay me down to sleep...I'll count these hands instead of sheep." This was a huge undertaking and the teachers thought I had lost my mind, but they all agreed that it turned out super cute! Thanks to Honey for coming to take pics of all the class parties since I was stuck in Preston's room.

Grant, Jackson (aka best friend), and Riley

Preston getting beat up by Avery in dodge ball:)

Preston and his girly team being scooted down the hall.

Connor and that crazy, sweaty, wirey hair!

Grant getting ready to race in the inflatable.

Grant winning the race.

Connor and Ryan

Connor getting his field day shirt signed by his classmates.

Grant and Mrs. Ramirez

Jackson and Grantsters

Grant and his friends.

Grant chillaxin'

My party room decorated. There are flip flops hanging from the ceiling tiles:)

The board I decorated.

The food table ready for sundae making in the cute castle buckets I found:)

Preston waiting to start the craft I prepared.

Me painting Preston's hand

Preston putting hand print onto a pillowcase.

Preston writing his name under his hand print.

Ice cream time:)

New Owners

We are the proud new owners of 1.3 acres in Shiloh Forest. We closed on our new lot at 10am and by 3pm we were out mowing our new property. We have been dying to get our hands on it, but had to wait to sign the dotted line. The grass was so tall that we borrowed Mr. Herb's tractor and Doug took his time slowly mowing while looking out for big stickery bushes. The boys ran around and threw rocks in the pond behind the lot. Preston and I took time walking around and looking at new homes being built. We are looking forward to spending a lot of time out here!

Grant helping his dad mow.

Connor couldn't be happier:)

Troy Duncan In The Making

Grant's class was all given a date in which he had to be the weatherman for the day. During the morning calendar overview he on April 29th had to give a full weather report that included: his name, date, the weather (sunny), and things he could do that day, and something he could encourage others to do in order to save the earth. Papa suggested that he borrow his bow tie that lights up and be Troy Duncan. Of course, Grant didn't have a clue who that was, but he sure was cute imitating him. Grant helped me type, cut, glue, and glitter every square inch of the poster board. His teacher said he did a great job:)

He Is Risen

Easter is here and I make sure every year that the boys understand that it is not about the bunny, but about Jesus Christ dying on the cross and being risen from the dead. Connor is a Christian, but the twins I don't feel are old enough to totally comprehend what Jesus Christ did for us. They quote to me what I expect them to know that Jesus died for our sins, but that is enough for the time being. Connor told me on Easter eve that we needed to talk...which at this point in his life always makes me sad. He point blank told me that he knew all about the bunny, the tooth fairy, and everything else that we have made up! How terribly sad that is. I told him that he better continue playing along for the sake of the twins. The boys had a great Easter morning following the egg trail to their baskets and playing or eating their special treats.

Their first glance at their baskets