Harley

Harley really looks at people when they hold him.  It is so cute!  I just love this picture.  Him and Grandpa both have genuine smiles.  : )

Milo

I've been catching Milo sitting down and "reading" a lot lately.  So sweet!

Josh made him a little 'nest' in a laundry basket and snuggled him in.  He hung out in there for quite a while.  : )

Daddy was laying on the couch and Milo took his blanky and monkey and climbed up, found his perfect little spot, and got comfy with him.  Milo is famous for this and we love it!

I adore this picture...it doesn't get any cuter than this!  His happy little face is so precious.  What a doll face!  and yet again - monkey and blanky close by!  ; )

Sleepy cute baby.  I do love him!

Playstation

Most people know I'm a little against video games.  They annoy me.  BUT...Josh has let Chase play a racing game on his playstation a couple times here lately.  Look at his face!  He's like "I can't believe I'm really getting to do this".  : )

He truly was happy and excited so I couldn't be mad at all.  Just as long as when it's nice out he knows he isn't going to be doing this - he's going to be playing and getting dirty!

Caught him!

Laughing at himself from picking his nose..haha!

I guess I better get over it because I married a "gamer" and so I'm sure my kids will do it some too.  Yuck.

Spring Fever

The ground was muddy and the snow was still melting - but in the middle of March we FINALLY got our Christmas lights down!  How ridiculous is that?!  It was such a cold winter that there really weren't much opportunity to get on the roof.  Chase was loving getting to be outside.  We were having a spring day with snow still on ground for sure.  We played on the swing...

..and busted out the bubbles!  Isn't he adorable?  : )

We even got to take a walk.  Love my new stroller by the way.  I first bought a Schwinn and I hated it.  I decided to take it back and then tried this Graco.  It's AWESOME.  It pushes like a dream.  This way too when we have our next babe the car seat will snap onto it because I know I'll go with a Graco seat.  Hopefully this will be the last stroller we have to buy.  I know I've bought a lot of strollers but only 2 of them that we have sitting around were actually new when I bought them...and I actually really USE my stroller.  I use it pretty much every single day...multiple times a day during the spring/summer.  It is well worth the money and making sure it is useful and nice.

Daddy got the boys some airheads while we were out walking since they were being awesome boys.  Josh likes to reward them with candy all the time.  Haha.

Chase found these shorts in a drawer over at Grandma's.  They are his size and don't fit any of the other kids right now so he was allowed to bring them home.  He is obsessed with them now.  He wants to wear them constantly.  I'll get him dressed for the day and then he'll get quiet for a few minutes back in his room and he comes back out with these on..and usually no shirt.  Haha!  Josh wears comfy shorts around the house a lot and I think he wants to be like him.  I think he's ready for summer time for sure!  

First time using the new grill.  Looks awkwardly shiny.  Haha.  It was soo good though.  I love grilling season!  Less dishes, less mess and it tastes good too.  Oh, AND Josh will actually cook food on the grill...and I let him.  I prep it - he cooks it.  Yep, sounds good to me!

So ready for this time of year - bring it on!

Best Sunday Ever

Ok so the Sunday after the March birthdays party Josh happened to still be home.  When he ends up being home without having to take a day off for it that is a miracle and just puts us in a good mood.  It was such a great day.  It was daylight savings time so we starting our day SUPER early and got up to go to church. The boys were actually really good for us.  Probably because they were still sleepy.  Haha.  After church we came home and snuggled and were lazy.  We took an entire family nap mid day.  I seriously LOVE it when that happens.  We woke up feeling pretty refreshed and it was still pretty early in the day.  We hadn't planned to do anything but we kind of felt energetic after our nap so we decided to pile in the car and run to town.  I like it when we can be spontaneous and just go do things like that.  It was supposed to be nice the next day so we decided we'd go buy us a new grill (our got blown over and busted in a winter storm) and Josh would take one more day off so we could use it the next day.  We found one and then went and ate supper at Carlo's O' Kelly's while we were out.  The boys were GREAT!  They were little angels that entire day.  We enjoy taking them places with us when they're good...and most of time they are right now.  They are in an easy stage for us and we are loving it.  On the drive home Josh and I both talked about how we just felt good...like that was a really good day.  I call it being high on life.  That is such a great feeling..and I've been feeling it a lot lately.  : )

P.S.  We didn't know when we were there that it would be the last time we ate at Carlo's O Kelly's.  Turns out they closed the doors a few days after we were there.  Had I known that I would have ordered my most favorite thing from there just one last time.  Darn it!  Oh well.  We are bummed though.  That was one of the few places we really felt comfortable taking the kids in with us at...and still get to eat a nice meal.

March Birthdays

We celebrated the March birthdays (Dads and Colista's) on the day of Dads birthday.  The family all gathered around for a nice meal together.  We had ceaser salad, million dollar spaghetti, garlic bread, peach cobbler and ice cream.  My kind of meal!

Milo had on his "I LOVE MY PAPA" shirt for the occasion.

We got Mom and Dad a ice cream machine for Christmas and it was used for the first time for this party.  It was sooo yummy!

Milo pointing out the hole in Vanessa's jeans.  Haha.

We all know it sometimes doesn't work out to get together for all the birthdays in the family anymore.  But we still do it when we can...and I love that.  Happy birthday Dad and Colista!

18 Months

I wanted a few pictures of Milo at 18 months old so I asked Colista if she would snap a few for me.  She came over to Nauvoo one afternoon that it wasn't completely freezing outside and we just went out in Mom and Dad's back yard and took some.  It was muddy and messy out there!  She got just a few of him before he plopped down in the mud and the whole left side of his body was covered.

Such an ornery face!  : )

Dimples!

I am seriously impressed with how many she got in such a short amount of time!

This is such a sweet little face.  He makes my heart melt!

Everyone says he looks just like Josh in this picture.  I'm okay with that.  ; )

We were outside maybe 20 minutes and she got quite a few really cute ones of him.  Short and sweet and perfect!  Love it!

Colista decided to stay and hang out until her kiddos got out of school.  Milo was her little buddy.  He kept snuggling up next to her.  Such a little sweetie!

We took a walk too.  Can't wait to walk more and more.  Hopefully it'll be less sloppy and messy before we know it.

Snack time!  Milo thought eating his cereal like a dog was productive.  He was breathing heavy and literally slurping the milk and everything.

He is such a little comedian!  Colista caught this picture of him too - that's my Milo!  

: )

Still Sad...

Well..it is days later and I still am so upset about not catching Milo's singing on video.  I just know I won't remember it forever...and I won't get to ever see it again.  I have tried to recapture it a million times since then and he won't do it anymore.  He's just over it now.  :'(  It's making me sad.  I swear it seems every single time I have something special with Milo that it somehow gets ruined.  Or something as simple as actually buying him an outfit of his very own that isn't a hand me down - I can't ever find anything I'm excited about or if I do they won't have his size. Simple things that all add up and frustrate and sadden me.  BUT...I have to let go and move on now...time to focus on the big picture again...

: (

I just "recorded" the worlds cutest video of Milo singing "let it go"...just to realize it WASN'T RECORDING!  I'm seriously upset over this.  It was perfect and my life felt complete for a moment because something I think is so precious was captured forever.  Nope.  I seriously can't express how much this affects my entire mood/outlook...everything.  I'm going to go cry myself a river now...

Haircuts

We let our boys' hair get pretty shaggy over the winter months.  Chase's hair was the longest it had ever been since he was an infant.  It was so long I wasn't sure I could handle giving them cuts and have it turn out decent - so I brought in Kayla to do it for me.  Milo was a wiggle worm but she managed to get it done and it looks super cute.  Chase did AWESOME and sat real still like a big boy.  Got our spring cuts - we're ready now!  : )

Singing Frozen

Ok so we had the movie Frozen playing while we were doing whatever around the house.  I was in the kitchen and I heard Milo say "let it go".  (that is the name of one of the songs on the movie)  So I look at him and he is watching the movie while that song is being sang and he was singing right along with it.  He was in his own little world saying "go, go".  I was seriously giddy over how sweet it was.  Precious moments for sure!!  I got him to sing it with me a few times too later on and he'll even just start singing on his own too.  I think we have a little music lover on our hands.  I love it!

Going Bonkers

Taylor has a friend with a baby that is about Milo's age.  Her friend was taking her daughter to Bonkers in Quincy so Taylor asked if she could take Chase with her and they would go together.  We decided even though Milo was more the little girls age that Chase would probably get more out of it.  He was super excited about his "date" with Aunt Taylor.  I let him wear this short sleeve shirt that she got him for Christmas.  He had asked to wear it a ton of times but I hadn't let him because it had been cold.  I figured he would be running around getting all hot so I let him wear it and he thought he was hot stuff!  : ) I was a nervous wreck and I think Josh was too because as she was picking him up Josh called her and told her not to lose him because he's pretty important.  Haha.  We trust her just fine we just aren't used to him going places without us yet.  It's new to us.

Taylor took a few pictures while they were gone and I'm so glad she did.  He got chicken and french fries AND a milkshake.  Wow!  Spoiled boy!  His smile in this picture is genuine.  I love that!

It looks like he had so much fun.  What a fun day for him!

He came back with 4 new dinosaurs and a set of vampire teeth.  All totally fitting for Chase.  Taylor said she did one of the claw games to get one of the dinosaurs for him and when it came out he said "NO, not that one!"  Haha.  Successful day date with Aunt Taylor.  He was exhausted!  

Bunco

One Wednesday night a month there is a group of ladies that are getting together at The Wine Barrel to play a dice game called Bunco.  I got asked to be a sub on their first month last month and loved it.  I wish I had heard about it sooner so I could be one of the "regulars".  Well, I got lucky and was asked to be a sub again this month.  So ..who knows - maybe I'll get to do it regularly without being a regular.  It is just for 2 hours and is the perfect amount of time for me to go get some space for myself and still be home in time to not be dragging the next day.  I felt cute this night (which doesn't happen often for me anymore) so I had Josh take my picture.  Good times!  Oh, and the first time I won $10 and the second time I won $35.  Icing on the cake!  : )

Lent

Josh was home on Ash Wednesday and they had a morning mass here in Nauvoo - so we started off the season right and went to church and got our ashes.  We decided to do things kind of as a family for lent this year.  More just what Josh and I are going to do I guess than anything...but our goals this year aren't only focused on things we can "give up" or do to benefit ourselves - but we have goals that are faith driven and generous towards others too.  We feel really good about it all and it is going great so far.  Today I think I might decorate for Easter...it's about that time.  : )