A couple of special days

I had a wonderful mother's day.  One of the perks of living out of state is having some really laid back holidays.  The down side is missing out on the family get-togethers.  But selfishly, I was grateful to be able to just be pampered and enjoy my little family on Mother's day.

I got to sleep in until 7:45, which is utterly unheard of for me.  Marty took the older two and I guess Sweet Baby Gabe got the memo that it was mother's day and sleeping in was his gift to me.

Then, breakfast arrived at the table in our bedroom.  Marty outdid himself - fruit and dip, yogurt, breakfast croissants, juice, a rose, and the famous napkin roses he's been making for me since we first started dating.

By the way, I love this table in our bedroom.  It's a beautiful piece of old-but-restored furniture given to us by Marty's parents.  There's a lamp next to it, pictures of our wedding (my favorite is the drawing Brynn did of "mommy as a bride with her pink flowers"), and everything we need for our study.  Marty wakes me up sometime between 5:00 and 5:45 (if he leaves before 5 I say "forget it - we'll do it later") to study scriptures for just a few minutes before he heads to work.  I definitely notice a difference in the mornings we don't get up to do it.

My other wish was to be able to go around without my hot gym shoes on all day (yes, it is really heating up hear in AZ), which is another thing that is utterly unheard of for me.  If I don't have my gym shoes, I'm basically couch-bound.  So, he made dinner, did dishes, waited on me, etc., and I read to the kids, mauled a baby, read out of my "Mothers of Faith" book Marty gave me, and talked on the phone with my mom for as long as I wanted!  So...a long time. :)  Sure wish I could have been there with her, though.

The other special day we had was Bryce's birthday on the 26th of April.  I'm just way behind in posting these.

As per tradition, we woke up Bryce singing "Happy Birthday" and opened presents before Marty went off to work.  This one Brynn made and wrapped for him.  Remember the muddy buddies that changed Brynn from calm to spaz?  Well, when we made them we froze a big bag for Bryce to open on his birthday.  So yes, we got to see the other side of Brynn again.

He had a funny birthday.  He said he wanted train stuff and pirate stuff.  So Grandma and Grandpa Oldham spoiled him with pirate stuff later that morning (he opened their present while we skyped with him) and we bought him another train for his train tracks and a couple things to play pretend conductor.

The night before, we set up a train downstairs and gave him some tickets and asked to ride the train.  Seeing his face light up when we handed him the tickets was one of those, "Hm, maybe I'm not such a bad parent after all" moments. :)

"Tongue-fighting" with those...party blower...things.  What are those even called?

Some little friends sang Happy Birthday to him at Park Day and that was fun.  For lunch, it was Burger King with a very appropriate kid's meal toy: A pirate monster truck which I think he played with every bit as much as that dumb new Thomas train. :)  Ain't that the way it always goes?  Which reminds me...the pirate thing.

Downstairs was the train, upstairs and outside were the pirate ship and pirate island.  While he was napping, Brynn and I buried a treasure box with another little present in it.

Brynn made him a cute little treasure map.  She just eats birthdays and holidays up.  She loves creating things (cards, presents, events, games) for everyone's birthday.  So we followed the map to the yellow X and dug up the treasure.

Then Chuck-E-Cheese's that night.  I don't know why I keep taking my kids there.  I'm an anxious, grossed-out mess the whole time we are there.  But then I guess it's also just so enjoyable to watch their excitement.

This is what Bryce wanted to spend most of his tokens on.  One button to push and he usually caught a fish.

He said he wanted a Thomas cake.  This is the best I could do. :)

I have a three year old boy!!