::out to eat::

5:30 PM.

Grandma & Papa Kitty stopped by and took us out to dinner...

...and Chloe wanted to look her best...

(the sun's always shinin' when you're cool

Chloe-6 1/2)

cornbread.rolls.salad.famous rootbeer.Papa's jokes.Portie sleeping in my arms.Coop banging his cup on the table, throwing his chicken on the floor,reaching for anything and everything on the table.Chloe squeezing Grandma's lemon all over the place.chats about Disney Land.chats about Yellowstone.how was your day.have you talked to so and so lately.

They're brave people to want to take US out to eat...we're not the most fun to eat out with-we can be kind of embarrassing. It was fun, and we're glad they stopped by.

::Port's official birthday::

Yesterday was Port's official birthday.

About 2 hours old...

...and 4 years old

He officially turned 4 yesterday. It made me think back to 4 years ago. He was my easiest baby. The delivery was easiest, recovery was easiest, and he was the most mellow. He never took a binky, and has always been SUPER attached to his "mummah" aka his blue blankie. I used to describe him as a "go with the flow" baby because as long as he was fed and changed, he was up for just about anything. He was such a beautiful baby with tons of beautiful dark hair, and the most beautiful dark skin. He's still a beautiful baby, but not quite as easy as he was when he started out-but that makes life fun :)

To celebrate his day, we took him out to eat. He picked McDonalds. I tried pretty hard to get him to want to go to Wingers or Chilis or somewhere like that, but he was set on McDonalds. It has a play area, how can the others compete?? The kids all ate their chicken nuggies and played for a while...

Then when we got home, we gave him a present from us. We got him a Buzz scooter and a Buzz hamper for his room. He LOVED them! The scooter was exciting for all of us. He crashed a couple of times, and when he fell he made sure he did a few somersaults to add a little drama. Coopie was a little sad-he thought it was his scooter. He mostly just chased Portie and cried, but he did get a turn on the "scoot-eh"--thanks, Port!!

Then this morning, Portie was SUPER excited because he was snack friend! He took some Buzz "cuh-cakes" and chocolate milk (his all-time favorite drink). He took his Buzz squirt guns and one of his Buzz towels for show and tell.

He said he had a great day at school (which is rare-he usually tells me some goofball reason why school was not fun). He was hoping to ride his scooter outside today, but it's 37 degrees and raining. My rearview told me ice was possible when I was picking the kids up today...ugh!

I just love this boy! I love his smile, his laugh, his squeaky, excited voice, how he runs, the way he talks, how he loves tractors and Buzz, how much he loves his brother and sister, the way he always makes us laugh, and how sweet and tenderhearted he is.

I think he had a pretty good birthday. He's gotten lots of extra attention and had lots of fun for a few days (which has been a little tough for Chloe). I feel like he's grown up so much in the last few weeks. He's been getting along with Chloe really well, he doesn't get mad and throw fits as much, he's more understanding, and more helpful. I love it, but at the same time, it makes me sad-I'm not sure I like the whole "gwoin' up" thing.

::mothers day::

"Of all the rights of women,

the greatest is to be a mother."

-Lin Yutang

Our mothers day was so nice. We had our usual brunch on Saturday with my mom and Billy & Suzie. We ate at Mimi's, and it was goooood! My mom and I gave eachother the same book. That seems to happen almost every year. It's the Remarkable Soul of a Woman book. (I haven't started it yet, but I'm excited to). And Sunday afternoon, we had lunch with Matt's mom and dad and sister, and (almost) all his brothers and sisters were there later to visit and give her our gift. It was a fire pit. It was cute the way they gave it to her-they gave her a box of s'more stuff first, and then brought out the fire pit. Cute and fun :)

So, Sunday morning, Matt & the kids surprised me with such sweet cards, and a beautiful jewelry box. It's one of those ones that stands up on the floor. I told Matt it reminded me of my Gramma Ruby. It has the little doors that swing open on the sides for the long necklaces. I remember Leah (my cousin) and I used to go in her room and sit in front of her jewelry box and touch all her jewelry. I don't really remember getting it out and playing with it, but we opened all the drawers and looked at her jewelry all the time. Every time I see mine in my room, it makes me smile-because of the Gramma Ruby memory, and because of the sweet man behind the gift. And because when we first saw it, the kids opened the drawers, and then ran to get their cars and hairbows to put in it :)

Matt had the camera ready to

get my surprised face...

(I really debated whether or not to put these on the blog because of the jammies, bed-head, and lack of make-up, but then I thought the memories might be more important than my appearance :) )

Chloe and Port made me some cards at school. They were the sweetest things I've ever read. They made me cry. I think about them growing up all the time, and their cards mentioned that too. It made me sad and so happy at the same time.

Portie's especially got to me since he's having a birthday. I was laying in his bed with him Thursday-ish night of last week, and we were talking about how he was having a birthday. I told him I didn't want him to be 4. Our conversation went something like this...

Port: I have to be "foe-ih."

Me: Why???

Port: Because I'm gwoin' up!!

Me: ohhh. (a sad "ohhh)

Port: But you can still hold me when I'm 4.

Me: I can?!!?

Port: Yep! But you can't hold me when I'm as big as Da.

Sad, but true. It made me think of that book Love You Forever. That'd be me-if you've read the book, you know what I mean.

I love all my babies so much. I'm thankful every day for them, and for being so blessed as to be their mother. I hope I'm doing a good job. I hope they grow up with happy childhood memories. I know I'm not perfect, but I'm doing my best, and I hope they know that. I hope they know that no matter what, their mom loves them and their dad more that anyone and anything in the whole world.

I'm thankful to Matt for making me a Mamma. He makes me feel special and important. I'm glad I get to be with my babies as much as I do, and that's thanks to him too. He and the kids made mothers day so special. I'm thankful to my own mom. She's a great example of strength. She had a tough job, and accomplished a lot for us and herself. I'm thankful for Matt's mom. She's such a great example and so accepting of everybody, and she's lots of fun :)

My mothers day was perfect. I felt lucky.

:)

::Port's 4th birthday party::

Today we had Portie's 4th birthday party!

He wanted a Buzz party (what a surprise!). There were Buzz decorations, balloons, streamers, cake, icecream, lots of fun presents, lots of family, fun cousins, a fun game, and one very excited boy!

He got lots of awesome presents!

Buzz camping chair.Buzz stationary set.Buzz learn-to-read books.Buzz coloring books.Buzz paint book.Buzz shirt, flip-flops, & sunglasses.Buzz cup.Buzz squirt guns.Some more squirt guns.Buzz sleeping bag (with a flashlight).Buzz towels.Buzz sprinkler.

He loves them ALL! He was so excited to open presents. He loves all his new stuff. He can't decide what he wants to take for show and tell on Tuesday :)

Port-Port's cake was SO cool! It had Buzz, the little green aliens, and, of course, the evil Emporer Zurg! It tasted pretty good too :)

...the game was really fun. The kids got so excited and kept wanting to go again and again. They liked to place the sticker and then look right away to see where it ended up-then they'd all laugh. They liked to be spun around too.

We're so glad everyone came. Portie had a great day, and felt so special. Thanks for all the fun presents-he loves all of them!!

::a little paintin'::

Today, we painted rocks...

...it sounds a little weird, I know, but they're for our garden (part of the "project" in the backyard) so we can mark where things are planted.

And we thought they turned out pretty cute...

What is it about painting?
It's one the the kids all-time favorite things to do. They ask me just about every day if they can paint, and they could do it all day long. I painted the pictures on these, but they helped with the spray painting, squirting the paint into the bowls, mixing the paint, washing the rocks, dipping their brushes into every color to see what colors they could make, and they painted some rocks of their own. They both (Coopie was taking a (very) little nap) had SO much fun.

And, after we were all done...

...Chloe was still painting.

::campouts::

This is our definition of a campout...

air mattress.blankets.pillows.

dolls.shark toys.

jammies.mah-mah.

blankie.a good movie.

Boy are they going to be surprised when they

learn about the whole tent/outdoors thing.
:)

::chloe's field trip::

Yesterday we went on a field trip with Chloe's class

(and it was NOT whack).

We went here...

I brought the little boys with me. They loved it (even though it doesn't look like Coopie did in that picture). There were LOTS of dinosaurs everywhere. We thought it was going to be really bad weather, but by the time we got done with the museum inside (which was pretty neat-they had an exhibit with robot dinosaurs, and they were a little scary), it stopped raining.

We had a boy from Chloe's class in our group. His name is Jonathan. He's the one who throws her pencil on the floor and pulls her bows out of her hair sometimes at school. He had fun with us, I think. He was really excited to show us around since he'd been there "about a hundred times."

We walked all around the outside part, played in the parks, dug in the "dinosaur dig" part, looked at the ducks, "raar"ed at all the dinosaurs, had lunch (inside because it was only in the '40s outside), learned about dinosaurs in the education center, colored dinosaur faces, kept going back to see the robot dinos (even though we thought they were scary), and stopped by the gift shop before we went home (Chloe got a flower bracelet and the two boys got some gooey light-up frogs).

That was our first time to the Dinosaur Park, and we loved it! We want to go back again on a warmer day, and when Dadduh can come with us.

:)

sour: adj. causing or characterized by one of the four basic taste sensations that is produced chiefly by acids.

We were at the grocery store on Friday morning (while Chloe was at school), and we headed towards the fruits to get some oranges and bananas...

Portie: "Ma (he calls me "Ma") I want a lemon"

Me: "What?!? Lemons are too sour! You won't like it."

Portie: "Uh huh, I LOVE lemons!! I LOVE 'em!!!! Please, Ma!?!! I really want a lemon!"

So I got him one...

...and it turns out; it was sour!

Silly boy.

(Port, Chloe, & Coop-lunch time)

::mud job::

Because of the project we're doing in our backyard, we have a big hole in our yard. And because it's been raining for about 3 days, now we have a big mud hole.

It's a mud job when he feels like he needs to get out there and dig around in the water and wet sand, and now especially with the huge mud hole in the yard.

What exactly is a mud job? What's he trying to do? Did he get it done? I have no idea, it's just a boy thing I guess...

he had about 3 inches of mud on the bottom of his flip-flops

Coopie had mud halfway up his jeans

by the time he was ready to get out.

...and Chloe stayed out of the mud and just jumped.

Needless to say, the two little boys got in the bath early yesterday.

::bedbugs::

Chloe and Port love to sleep "togezeh" Almost every night one of them will ask if they can sleep together. We have "campouts" in the living room just about every weekend.

It's

a general rule in our

house that they can't on school nights

(they stay up too late, and they're SOO hard to get up in the morning).

So last night, I was making my rounds, and saw this...

...and I've caught them like this before on a school night. Sneaky little things.

They're just cute little sweet little buddies, and I love them so so much :)

In other news...

Coopie calls his blankie a "mah-mah" just like Port, he makes "huggie" noises when he wants to hug someone/thing, and every kind of car he sees outside is a "tac-tah."

And, we were on Spring break Friday-Tuesday, and it was fab! We didn't have to get up for anything, we stayed up late, we went to the park a few times (we even branched out and went to a different one than the usual one, and we decided we don't like that one as much as "our" park), we had campouts (indoor ones), watched movies, played with friends, and really enjoyed the time off. But we're back in school again, and really anxious for Summer. Portie asked me this morning if he had to go to school forever, and I told him almost.