Happy Anniversary!

Wayne and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on the 15th.  Yesterday, we took the boys to Tahoe for the day.  It was a little cold, a little windy, and a lot of fun!

Spring Sing

On Friday night, Jack’s preschool put on their annual  performance/fundraiser/silent auction, called the Spring Sing.  Jack’s class (The Honey Bears) sang ‘Baby Beluga’ by Raffi.  The kids all did such a great job – Jack made us so proud.  This year, he stood right in the front row.  No hiding behind the podium.  He even sang all of the words to the song and hummed along with this kazoo.

In the car on the way home, he told me ever so sweetly.  “Mom…….Chloe looked so pretty didn’t she?”  Oh boy, oh boy…..

Auntie Jen and cousin Cooper drove up to watch the performance.  Cooper (or as Ben likes to call him Hoooooooker) seemed to really like watching all the other kids and even made a love connection with an older woman during the show.  This little girl was a smitten kitten with Mr. Cooper.

The boys had tons of fun together this weekend.  More pictures to come.

Funderland

Last weekend, we went to my friend Ashleigh’s son, Griffin’s 3rd birthday party at Funderland in Sacramento.  My mom (Nana) was able to come with us and join in on the fun.  Griffin had a great 3rd birthday and all of his guests had a blast.  After the party was over, we headed home.  I wanted to drive south and go straight to Disneyland……

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Busy Weekend!

This past weekend was filled with good times with family and friends.  Just doesn’t get any better.

On Saturday, we had Mindy, Jeremy, Hannah and Cole visit in the morning and in the evening, we got to visit with Doug, Tina, Austin & Aliyah.  The kids had so much fun together (and the adults did too).  Mindy showed me how to update the blog much faster and added a nice layout.  Hope you enjoy it. 

Hannah and Jack lounging together.  They played together for hours without a single argument.  They love each other so much.

 

Cole the little cuddle bug.  He loves his momma.

Here is a rare moment where Jack and Austin are sitting still.  These boys were wound up and very excited to see each other.

 

While the big boys were busy being crazy, Ben & Aliyah had fun pushing each other in the cozy coupe.

On Sunday, Jack  had 2 birthday parties to attend.  He made a race car out of a cardboard box and then raced all around at JT’s 4th birthday party in the morning.  Then it was off to pizza and a movie for Griffin’s 5th birthday.  Griffin’s parents were brave enough to take 8 kids to see the movie How to Train Your Dragon.  Jack absolutely loved it and has not stopped reenacting the movie for us.  Here he is pretending to be Night Fury.

 

Love the way this boy wears his hats.

Our baby is TWO!!

How on earth did this happen? And why so fast? We can't believe how quickly two years has gone by. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was hugely pregnant and incredibly uncomfortable, wishing labor would start already.

Now here we are two years later with the most adorable, fun-loving, sweetheart of a boy. He brings us so much joy every single day.

To celebrate Ben's birthday, we took the boys to Coconut Bowl. We tried our hand at bowling (probably not the best idea for a 2 yr old). He lost interest after his 2nd turn. His big brother, Jack was completely into it. Running full force down the runway (not sure what the correct term is) and dropping the bowling ball, shaking the entire bowling alley. I was worried that we'd be kicked out. He loved every minute of it.

Ben was ready for some lunch, so we had some pizza and chicken strips. Then we were off to the High Ballocity indoor climbing area with lots of slides for Ben and machines that shoot squishy balls for Jack. We all had a good time at Ben's Birthday Fun Day!

For some reason, I can't load any more pictures. Too bad because the bowling pictures are too funny!

St. Baldrick's

This year on St. Patrick's Day, Wayne volunteered to have his head shaved for the annual St. Baldrick's Foundation fundraiser. The Sparks Fire Department raised over $2,400 for childhood cancer research. It is a great event in which people shave their heads as a display of solidarity with kids who have cancer - because many of them lost their hair because they didn't have a choice. Wayne also wanted to support his Dad, Don, who is currently fighting a brave battle with lymphoma. We love you Dad/Grandpa Butch! Stay strong and keep fighting!!

Here is Wayne pre-shave. Waiting in the 'on-deck' area with several of his firefighter friends. There were 23 firemen who shaved their heads this year. Great job, guys!

Jack & Chloe ready to watch their daddy's get their heads shaved.

Take one last look at that wild & crazy mop!

Jack is so proud of his Daddy.

The Mullen's: Chloe, Lisa, Addison & Keith.

Us

Wayne looks pretty good with a shaved head.

The finished product = one handsome man.

Winter's Not Over Yet!

We had beautiful, springtime weather early in the week. It was so great to get outside and enjoy the 60 degree weather - and I'm SO glad we did! The forecast called for 1-2 inches of snow on the valley floor for today. We woke up to about a foot and a half of snow. WOW!

My mom came by bus to visit us this weekend because she doesn't like to drive in the snow. Good thing she took the bus! I feel bad for her though, she left the bus station at 3:30 this afternoon, and she still isn't home 4 hours later.

We all had a blast playing in the snow this morning. We rode sleds, built a snowman in the middle of the driveway and had snowball fights.

Here is Jack just before he pelted me with a snowball. It was a sneak attack. He completely tricked me into thinking he was throwing it somewhere else by looking in another direction. Then BAM! He got me.

Nana helping Jack & Ben build a snowman.

It's getting there....

Ben helping with the rock eyes.

Jack & Nana so proud of their snowman. I love this picture!

Thanks for a great weekend, Mom! We had so much fun with you.

Good Times!

Here are some recent pictures of the kiddos. Here is Jack playing in the pool with his buddy, Brecken at Peyton's birthday party.

Can you tell we've been watching the Olympics? Here are Jack and Wayne with their medals (rocks, what else?). They were racing each other all around the park. The winners were awarded medals at the finish line.

Mr. Benjamin loves to slide. He could care less about racing and winning rock medals. He was all about the downhill slide. Up to the top and racing down the slide. He sits at the top and tries to count. Ooooonnee, tttttwwwwooo......go. He also tries to say 'on your mark, set, go'. It usually comes out like this: 'Maaaark, se.....go'. Then 'weeeeee' all the way down and some clapping at the bottom. So much fun.

Ben staring down some other kid who was at the park.

A perfect little bench.

Learning to swing all by himself.

All that racing makes a boy thirsty.

Hello sunshine!

Here is Benjamin helping with the dishes last night. He got a little carried away with the bubbles.

The boys and I enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day at the park today. It seems like forever since we've seen the sun shining.

Super Jack to the rescue.

Ben loved swinging and Jack loved pushing him.

Such a sweet big brother helping little brother go down the slide. It wasn't long before Ben was racing up the stairs to go down the slide on his own. Ben is one little boy who LOVES the slide.

Snow fun

We got some snow this past week and the boys had a blast sledding down the road.

Jack took a turn pulling Ben.
Jack got going a little bit faster than we thought he would be able to.

Wayne's chasing down the hill after them.

Cleaning up the carnage. Surprisingly, Ben stayed on the sled the entire time. And LOVED it!

Dragging their hands in the snow.

Poor Wayne dragged all 3 of us on the sled up and down the hill for about an hour. I was worried that Ben would fall off the back, so I hopped on the back. (Jack refused to sit in the back of the sled because he said it made him feel like a 'woo-ser' aka loser). We had SO MUCH FUN!! I think Wayne is going to be sore for at least a week.

The boys helping shovel the backyard.

Ben was super cute in his sunglasses. The only reason they stayed on was because he couldn't do a darn thing with his hands while he was wearing gloves.