Birthday party fun...

The summer birthday party train chugs on and we have 3 more parties to document...

Sisters, Lilly and Paige were both born in May so their mommy held a super fun joint party at the pool.  The kids had a great time making sand necklaces, eating pizza, and squirting each other with water squirters...

Mot and Daddy fueled up for party #2...

Birthday number 2 was at theottle gym and it was a blast!!  Choo Choo Landon turned 2 and we had lots of fun watching the kids run amuck...Leif and I were dreaming of early bedtimes until we saw the Oreo ball that Shandi made...the rest of the day we pretended that the 8 (or so) Oreo balls were completely part of a balanced diet...

Next up was a big boy party hehe...Micah, or as Aiden would say, Mr. Micah turned another year older so why not feed all of the neighborhood kids ice cream and give us parents a reason to have a beverage on a "school" night...as usual, Tara had it all set up way in advance and everything was perfectly planned...

The following week we celebrated our best bud Jackson's birthday...Aiden and Jackson are best buds so we wanted to do a little something extra for him...Jackson was turning 5 and that is a big deal...according to Aiden, your life really begins when you are 5 so we wanted to commemorate The beginning of Jackson's "adult" life with a little surprise at school...

We often talk about raising our kids with a kind giving heart...how do you possibly teach a 4 year old that giving is just as fun as receiving...this may need its own blog but in short, I believe that kids learn this over time and in the words of my wise friend Tara, they learn by watching us parents "Model" having a giving heart...after surprising Jackson, and seeing the joy on both kids faces I knew that we had made a step in the right direction..

We needed the weekend with Jackson's actual birthday party...karate anyone????

Jackson's party was ninja turtle themed...Aiden HAD to wear a power ranger short...however, daddy and I followed the theme...

Seriously...we are all just big kids at heart!

Happy Birthday Friends...

Mommy time...

I don't think I am unlike many other moms in the fact that I do not get much time to myself.  Who am I kidding?  I don't get any time to myself.  I am the last to eat, the last to bed, the first awake, and my 15 month old tried to help me pull up my underwear this morning so I am sure you can imagine what else I don't do alone.  I don't have a cleaning person or a regular babysitter to rely on.  My husband and I don't do weekly date nights, or monthly ones at that.  He has been home since March and we have been out ONCE alone.  (that needs to change)  I go to a gym that I don't have to hand my kids over to anyone and I often workout in my living room with the help of my 2 boys.

This lack of personal time is, in some ways, my own fault.  I am a go go go person.  I don't like to sit down, I don't take naps, I don't watch TV and I usually blog in the car while waiting in the carpool line.  I am not that mom who says "my house is messy but my kids are happy"  My house must be clean for me to function and guess what????  My kids are still happy…imagine that!

My children are without a doubt my main priority but I have been feeling very overwhelmed, down in the dumps and very very very tired!  I have multiple spa day gift cards that I have been given and never redeemed so I decided that before my skin disappeared from dehydration and my body revolted against me from stress that I would take a little time out for me.  I invited one of my good friends, Ann, to come along with me!  Ann's husband is currently deployed so we share a common bond and lots and lots of tips!  We headed out in time for happy hour and spent the evening being pampered!  It was absolutely wonderful...

And after our amazing spa treatments we just chilled in the "zen" room with a glass of wine :-)