the weekly | eight

my mom (marmie) and grandma (gram) came for a visit. what a special treat for all of us. we doused them in our everyday and they played right along. the boys are smitten with them both. 

it's friday morning!

there's rain beating against the windows, two of my three boys are snuggled in the living room, there's a little bit of thunder, and i have coffee by my side. it's a good moment. because i'm sure somebody is about to get mad at somebody for something. so i'll just enjoy it while i can. 

i am dreaming of spring. i have been spending these warm days outside. you know, planning my new garden areas, taking note of the sun in the yard at all times during the day, lounging on a chair reading books and drinking lemonade, chasing the boys around the yard. 

this little taste of spring this week has given us such excitement for where we live. there have been kids out everywhere. riding bikes, swinging, scootering, playing on the sidewalks. Our street is filling up with families!  i can taste lemonade sales, sprinklers, poolside lunches, grilling, harvesting summer veggies. oh man. i've got to stop. 

it's that glorious time for phone photos of our life lately! 

this sweet little pookie loves to dress himself. so sometimes he goes through all the laundry on our bedroom floor and picks out 5 layers for the day. i say it's good practice for him. 

we had a cheese fondue night last week when it snowed. it was so much fun! no one  burned themselves and most of us loved the cheese. tucker doesn't like orange cheese. who knew?! so he just ate all the dipping stuff while the rest of us gobbled up the cheese. 

sleeping boys. i can't get enough of snapping photos in their most peaceful state. 

i had a doll as a child. she went everywhere with me. i was her mother and i took such care of that baby. her name always changed but what did that really matter. tuck has monkey. much in the same way i took care of my baby, he takes care of monkey. it's precious to watch and listen to. he takes him on picnics, he has his own bed in his room, he goes on exceptional adventures and comes back to tell tuck all about them. and then we in turn get to hear about them. his imagination goes wild with monkey. i hope he sticks around for a long while.

they are pictured here picnicking together. 

anybody else raising an almost three year old boy?! i am and it's a wild ride sometimes. i'm so thankful for the ability to laugh through most of his antics. that boy is smart and always has something up his sleeve. matthew has him pegged to be on a reality show one day. i for one, hope much nobler things for him.

some mornings you just need to pack a backpack and eat your dry cereal on the floor.  this was a battle i chose not to fight.

warm weather induced karate chops. this is apparently what tuck was up to here. his toes have truly always amazed me. they are long and lanky and just plain weird. just one more thing to love about this little fellow.

and a little cloud watching to go along with the karate. after lunch one afternoon we laid in the grass and watched the clouds together. and we talked about God.  it was enlightening of course, with a 2 and 4 year old. it was one of those moments that i tucked away. it was short, but lasting.

i don't mean to highlight the tuck bomb here but he is just really an interesting little man. he has been "working" around the house with daddy and comes fully suited for the task.

he also draws such endearing pictures for the mother he adores. he really wishes we were the man woman wild team. in his heart, this is his dream.

and i don't know who taught him such amazing house keeping skills but i found this in his room one morning. unfortunately he had simply removed all of his dirty clothes and hung them to dry but i have high hopes for this multi-faceted man.

grey bear, the future school teacher. he had two living students but i'm sure they are off obeying their teacher elsewhere. or applying tatoos all over their bodies.

the benches for my table were delivered this weekend!!! what a beaut. my dad is so incredibly awesome.

and now it's sunday night and i am just ending a fantastic weekend. my mom and gram are both here and we are so enjoying them! more on that to come.

i'll leave on this note. pirates, treasure maps, and bare buns. this is a great summation of the weekend!

the weekly | seven

snow watching a movie going

we lifted all the blinds along the back of the house and watched it snow for three days straight. 

we also took the boys to see the lego movie and we all just had such a great time together. i loved looking beside me and seeing these faces enjoy themselves. matthew laughed so hard he embarrassed me and i think i even snorted once or twice. 

 so much snow. so many clothes. so much laundry. 

so much fun.

grey, in particular, could have stayed out all day if i would have let him. he was a sledding machine and even took the gigantic hill on his coated belly with his daddy. tuck took on the hills with abandon when he decided it was time. there was really no stopping him. and will, he stuck close to me but loved every bit of the thrill. 

and i'm now ready for spring. i think i was ready by the third day in. but all the sledding and seeing their faces and hearing their giggles made it totally worth all the laundry. 

the weekly | six

potty talk

now that will is fully and completely potty trained, we spend a lot of time with him in the bathroom. he and tucker have "meetings" and grey gathers them all in to read a story. these are some of those moments i want to bottle up.

in honor of the new fallen snow

the snow a couple of weeks ago wasn't much, but it was snow nonetheless. 

today i am staring out the window at a white, beautiful landscape again. looks like this time around we are going to get a big dose. the amount that's already fallen is awesome and to think this is the very beginning! 

so before i begin taking photos for this go around, i figured i better get up the pictures from the last one. we did get to sled a little at our neighbors house but are hoping this snow brings MUCH more sledding fun. 

we went on a snow hike through the woods and identified animal tracks. the boys loved this! we tried to throw snow balls but it was more of a snow poof. the boys were still elated at the poof and the way their world looked different.