Sometimes you have to put the camera down...

Being home all the time is really driving me crazy, so I have been trying to get away more now that all of Ethan's sports are done for a bit.  With the twins it is hard to get away, and I feel like a huge burden where ever I go, they are soooooooo much work.  I know I am always welcome at my parents and they don't mind the craziness that comes with our visits, so we pack up and head west 110 miles.  The packing sucks, the drive sucks more, but it is so worth it to have a little help and company, oh and be less than 10 miles from a gorgeous lake!  I have been going to that lake my entire life and love it, I love sharing the beauties of it with my boys and hope that they grow and appreciate it as I have.  I always say I can't wait until I have to get four camp sites, one for us and one for each of our boys and their families, oh I hope that is how it all works out for us!!!  Well a typical day for us while we are there is go in and out all day and swim, run through the sprinkler, and play in the yard, then in the evening load up and head out to the lake and play in the sand and splash in the lake.  I have a huge addiction to taking photographs, and I always scared I am going to sit my camera down and miss the cutest shot, but sometimes I just have to put the camera down and have fun and play.  Each time I go I come home with 300 to 500 photographs to sort through, I can't help myself they are such cuties *laugh*.   I couldn't pick just one or two pictures to share on my blog so I made a slide show of a few of my favorites.  I can't wait for our next trip there in a week and a half.  YEAH our big camping trip of the year, a week all together!!!  This will be our first trip of the year and I am a bit nervous on how this is going to work out with the twins sleeping without their cribs.  I know they will have fun, they love it there, they even got to the point that as soon as they see the beach and water they squirm and want down to take of and run and play.  They have it all figured out now!!!  I have so much planned and I can't even imagine the amount of photos I will come home with after this trip!

Finally Some Us...

I have thought about changing the name of this blog so many times, because really at times it just doesn't seem to fit, All About Us... and the things we love to do together.  Then I think it is about "us", we are just aren't always able to all the things "we love to do together" like we use to.  Jeff and I had a wonderful opportunity to go do something that we love to do together on our aanniversary, we took a night to camp and fish just us, with no kids.  It was the most fun I have had for what seems like forever, it was so nice just to relax and fish and spend some time together like we use to.  We even got to watch a thunderstorm roll in and I got my shots of lightening I have been wanting to get, it was an amazing time and it was great to enjoy taking some pictures and having Jeff there with me too.  I definitely think this is something we need to do more of, I am thinking at least once a month we need to get out just us and do something to get our minds off the craziness of having three kids, and Jeff's schedule that leaves him tired, and me on my own way to much and one step from insanity!!!  I know how lucky we are to be blesses with such a great and healthy family, but there are times you just need a break and get back to the basics of "just us".  We have a week long camping trip planned coming up in August and I am looking forward to spending a night fishing and enjoying some one on one time, I will be counting the days.

Fun Fun...

Finally we got daddy's car out and went for a cruise!  The boys are now 15-months-old, and this was their very first time in the Nova, and they loved it.  The last two years have been busy, for obvious reasons, so we have not even had the car out, but it was time.  Daddy stayed up late the night before getting it all ready and even though it was HOT HOT HOT out we rolled down the windows and let the wind cool them babies, they weren't missing out on the fun.  The wind was blowing their fuzzy hair and they were all smiles, and man did they jam out to Fuel (Metallica) when daddy turned the stereo on.  (Got that cute moment on video if I could ever figure out how to share the video off my new camera on my blog Grrrrrr totally drives me up the wall just load damn it!!!)  Here they are at the end of their trip playing in the drivers seat, and looking pretty comfortable there, better watch out daddy with three boys you might wanna hide those keys.  Ashton had figured out where the keys were and how to honk the horn within minutes, and Dylan watched and learned.  MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO!!  To bad it was so darn hot I really wanted to get some better pictures of my boys and daddy with the car, well that will be left for another day I guess.  But I did get thinking hmmm three boys and only two hot rods to be passed down...for now.  Grandpa's goes to Ethan, and then the Nova for one of the twins...somebody better get building.  Having three boys is awesome, but I can see all sorts of craziness and stress coming in the future, and daddy better have a big garage I can sense lots of repairs will be needed.  Having three boys ROCKS!!!  I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us. 

Precious Moments...

There are moments that may seem so trivial to some, but to a mother are monumental and totally unforgettable.  Just a few hours ago I had one of those precious moments with the twins, I was preparing to dress them for the day just as I do each day, lay out the outfits and say "which one you want" and watch them come and grab an outfit.  Really it is just funny because here they are 14 months old and I am asking which one they want *laugh*, well basically I started doing this because I couldn't decide who should wear what, silly I know, but it stuck and they seem to like it and they usually pick the same outfits each time so they apparently do have a preference, and amazingly enough they rarely pick the same so we have little arguments, but it is a first come first served type of thing :)  So here I am sitting on the floor with a blue outfit with airplanes and a orange outfit with race cars in front of me and I say "which one you want" and here comes my Mr. Dylan all smiles (he has the most precious smile and voice) and he looks right at me and says "mama" then gives me a hug, then sits on my lap and grabbed for the blue top with the airplanes on it and just sits there so sweetly.   Just as Dylan has chosen his outfit here comes my Ashton Cole with is cute little facial expressions and his hot shot walk (he has this walk he does when he is trying to be cute, as if he has to "try") and he plops down on my lap and leans his head onto my shoulder and reached for the orange top with the race cars.  So here I sit two lil' boys sitting on my lap snuggling me up and giving me love.  And what is so funny about the choice of outfits was that Ashton is my crazy run all over boy so race cars are rather fitting for him, and Dylan is my thinker.   Wow if that wasn't enough to just make my day, and even now after 14 months there are times where it is still like REALLY there are TWO of them!!!  It is a crazy feeling that I can't begin to explain, just a special feeling to have twins.  And we can't forget about Ethan, he has his moments too.  There are so many times that he walks up to me, out of the blue, and gives me a hug and says, "you are the best mom in the whole world".  AWW for a boy that is nearly 11 to do that, I must have done something right he is such a sweet boy sometimes.  Then there are the moments I hear him playing with his brothers, tickling and hugging them saying "why you got to be so cute brothers".  How sweet is that???!!!  Then there is the time that just cracked me up, he said to me, mom you know how some people think their babies are cute...but ....they aren't really, well my brothers ARE really cute right?!?!  It was so damn funny the way he said it like he didn't want to be rude and say babies aren't cute but like he really was genuinely wandering.  Got to love the questions kids come up with.  He is such a great big brother!!!  I LOVE ALL MY BOYS!!! And even though there are times I feel like I could very well go crazy, I know I am so blessed to have them all, and such a great hubby to go with it!