THIS IS WHAT *SPRING* MEANS TO ME:

=Two HAPPY little boys=


=FRESH air=
I love being able to leave the windows open both at home and in the car.  CRISP, fresh air does a body good!


=A permanent RING AROUND the TUB=
I will spare you any photos.... you get the idea!

=Spring CLEAN-up=



=Blowing bubbles (LOTS of bubbles)=
and finding out I need a much bigger lung capacity. 
"Mommy needs a break, she is getting a little dizzy!"

=COLOR=

After a long winter of white/grey it is so refreshing to see our world SPRING to life with such radiant colors.  The lush GREEN grass, RED and YELLOW tulips, and PINK blossoms on our tree; they are such a welcome sight. I swear that I have seasonal amnesia because the beauty of it seems to take me by surprise every year.

=one BUSY Husband=

As spring amps up so do Dave's hours at work.  He always seems excited for a new golf season to start, but we sure do miss him around here. 

=BLOOMS everywhere=

Some are wanted and appreciated, some... well, aren't so much.  (Avert your eyes Honey.) 

=trying NEW things=


=skinned knees=
This happened and THEN he put the knee pads on in the photo above.


=spending a lot of time at the Park District=
For the first time ever we signed Chase up for sports classes.  So far this spring he has had:  Basketball, Floor Hockey, Golf and T-Ball.

=Dave loosing his spot in the garage=


=Reminiscing my YOUTH=








=LOVIN' every second of it!=

***Click here to see all the other SPRINGY pictures for this week's YOU CAPTURE photo challenge.***

HELLO MONDAY

Hello!  It's Monday.  Did everyone have a good weekend?
Ours was pretty ho-hum.  It was gloomy and rainy drizzly the whole time.  Dylan didn't even make it out of his jammies yesterday!  It was relaxing though, and nice to just chill.  I cleaned my car and did a massive toy sort.  Which, by the way, needs to be done WAY more often!  I am a little disgusted with the number of crappy McDonald's toys that I tossed.   They have to multiply, or something, right?  Because we couldn't possibly have gotten THAT many Happy Meals.

Chase and I went to a good friend's Birthday party on Saturday while Daddy and Dylan stayed behind to nap.  We seem to be on that rotation lately, Chase and I heading off to parties (we have had a TON lately!) while Daddy and Dylan nap.  Hey, how do we switch this up?  I need to get on the napping circuit!!!   :D  Oh well, it gives me the chance to take lots of photos, including the one above.  And that one cracks me up everytime I see it.  I hope it does the same for you!  HAPPY MONDAY.

CRAFTY "DINE" SIGN

Okay, I will share one more craft project with you that I finished recently.   But just don't go expecting cute, crafty stuff around here too often.  You could be barking up the wrong blog for that!  :D  Just kidding, but seriously, I rarely do this kind of stuff!    

So, after finishing up the Silhouette project , I thought I would keep the momentum going and make this cute little sign for our kitchen.



I happened upon these cute Chipboard letters at Hobby Lobby and I think they were only a couple bucks each!  I couldn't pass them up and thought my kitchen needed a little something, something. 


I wandered over to Fabrics and bought 1/4 of a yard of four different fabrics that I thought might work in my kitchen.  I think the fabric was only about $2.00.  I cut the fabric into 1.5 inch strips and wrapped them around each letter. 


I have to say, I am pretty darn pleased with how it turned out.  It just makes me SMILE when I see it.  There is something about a homemade project that makes me beam from the inside out :D   Happy weekend!

YOU CAPTURE: SWEET

"SA-WEET.  Like pee-pee in the potty"

A couple things on this post:

1.  That strange little saying up there, well that is a "Dylanism."  It cracks me up every time he says it.  And when I happened upon the You Capture photo challenge this week (the theme was SWEET) that saying just popped into my head. 

You are probably wondering how he came up with it.  I think he made some sort of connection between our attempt at bribing him with candy to go pee-pee in the potty and the fact that candy is Sa-Weet. Who knows what goes on the mind of a 2-year-old.  I do know that he and his brother are both totally amused by the mention of any and all bodily fluids. 

2.  That is me behind the Lollipop.  It was the best I could do.   I tried and tried to bribe Chase with THAT very lollipop if he would just let me take his photo for this photo challenge and he refused.  Can you believe it?   He refused THAT giant sucker.  My kid is now above bribery for photos, what is a Mom to do?  I am running out of options here.  Anyone have any  tried and true tactics to get your kids to pose for photos?  

3.  My mom sends these fancy Lollipops to my kids ALL the time.  It started when Chase was only about two.  She ordered him a toy from a cute little local toy shop and they offered free shipping.  Unbeknownst to her, they slipped in a fancy lollipop as a little treat for the recipient.   She ordered another toy and again it arrived with a cool lollipop for Chase.  Ever since then, he now expects that a package from Gramma Pamma should contain big fancy lollipop.   Of course, now she can't find them ANYWHERE and has her friends on the look out all over the country.    This one came from a friend of hers who traveled to New York.  I kept it because I love that it is from Dylan's Candy Bar - how appropriate.  

4.  Click on this link HERE to see other entries for the You Capture challenge.  What a fun idea - this is right up my alley.  I am going to TRY to get one in each week.  Don't hold me to it, because you know I am a slacker, but I will TRY!

OUTSIDE

My kids could LIVE outdoors.

They whine and beg and PLEAD until I take them out and pretty much do the same when it is time to go in. 

They LOVE the fresh air and the DIRT.  Boy, do they ever love dirt!   There is something about the wide open space and the freedom.... just look at them.  Something strange happens when they are outside though....  notice anything?  They are playing together!  When we are outside they actually play and work as a team and have FUN together! 

Amazing!

Watching them together like this makes me a little less anxious about abandoning the baskets of laundry to be folded and the dinner not yet prepared so that we can enjoy the gift of PERFECT weather we have been having.    All that housework can wait -right?  (Trust me, it isn't going anywhere!)  

I hope everyone is enjoying their spring!  We CERTAINLY are.  Really, could it get better than this? 

(Well, yes, maybe if that Dinner Fairy would whip up something tasty while we were all outside playing!)

ONE NIGHT IS NOT ENOUGH!

I should start this post by saying THANK YOU to Auntie for volunteering to watch the boys so Dave and I could escape to the BIG city for a romantic overnighter.  Auntie and also Me'Me' who ended up watching the BIG guy so that Auntie just had to watch the LITTLE guy.  Anyway, we are so grateful for our family who are always willing to help out in a pinch!   What would we do without them?

Yahoooo - so off we went on Friday afternoon.

I love heading into Chicago, LOVE IT!  (Except for the TRAFFIC, which stunk!)   Driving into Chicago from the burbs is like entering into a whole different country.  A country of lights and sights, excitement and adrenaline. (We REALLY should do this more often.  Although, then I probably wouldn't get nearly as hyped up about going and it just wouldn't be the same.) 

We arrived at our hotel (LATE), checked in, got our key and headed up to our room on the 37th floor, with my ears popping the WHOLE way up.  

The view from our room, bummer it isn't of the shoreline, but it 'el do.  

Now, if I had my way, I would have snapped a few hundred photos of our evening out BUT since we were there on business (Dave's business, since clearly I don't have any business that doesn't involve my children) and I have this sneaking suspicion that he gets a tad embarrassed of my excessive photo taking, I reluctantly left my camera in the room for the evening.  **sniff, sniff** 

It was okay, I got over it really fast.   I did, I promise! 
We started the evening with a wine tasting at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, which is basically a giant green house with lots of lush plants and flowers, and ended the evening consuming a few too many beverages at the hotel.  But we had a BLAST.   How could you not?  We got to chat and laugh and behave like ADULTS for a change!  I didn't have to once beg anyone to eat just one more bite of food, break up a fight over a toy,  put anyone in a time-out or scold anyone for not keeping their hands to themselves.  (Well, I might have had to do that one with Dave a couple times - wink wink!)

And everyone survived in our absence.  Upon returning home, we picked up right where we left off with Chase taking one of Dylan's fruit chews, and although we replaced the one that brother nabbed, Dylan dissolved into a shrieking puddle on the floor.  Dave caught my eye and winked, whispering "One night is NOT enough!"

DINING ROOM MAKEOVER

For those of you who hang out in blogland as much as I do, these Silhouettes are like SO OLD news.   I  am little slow to get on the band wagon, but here I am now.  

Aren't they cool, though?!?!   We all remember doing Silhouette's as children in school, and when I saw them again a few months ago on NieNie's blog - I knew I wanted to do try it with the boys.

We painted our dining room a couple weeks ago.  It was really UGLY before and since we took DOWN the For Sale sign in our yard (Did I not mention that?  We took our house off the market - YAHOOO!) I am now motivated to do a little redecorating.  After all, that was really the ONLY reason I was excited about moving.   So, with my new mint green walls I wanted to add some cream and black accents and VOILA -my Silhouette's finally found a home.   In case you're wondering, I picked up those cute plates at Target the other day.  (SCORE!)

Traditionally in a "Make Over" post you would see the BEFORES and then the AFTERS.  So, I have to apologize that I neglected to take any befores and.... yeah... it is too late now.  So, all you get is the afters.  Just trust me that it was really dorky though with brown and burgundy paint with a fruit wallpaper border halfway up the wall.    I am loving the green so much more.  We still have lots of work to do in there including new curtains, light fixtures and furniture (wishful thinking) but we at least we are making some headway! 

STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE

Have you ever flipped through a magazine or channel surfed on TV or, in my case, hopped around blogland and stumbled upon a photo of something that makes you stop there right in your tracks?  It happened to me about a month ago.  I was "blog surfing", one of my favorite new past times, and I stumbled upon this blog (click here) and I saw her darling profile picture and.... screeeeeeeech.......... I simply froze and smiled, that picture took me right back to my childhood.   I was flooded with nostalgia of so many happy childhood memories wearing those EXACT same shoes. 

I am not sure how it happened,  but the next thing I knew, I was was on Google searching for Salt Water Sandals.  (Holy COW, how did I even remember the name of those shoes, I haven't seen them anywhere for the past 25 years!?!?)   I got the link to their website and to my delight and surprise, they make them in women's sizes too.  They really are mainly intended for toddlers/children.  I had them ordered up and on their way within minutes of seeing that photo.  (Talk about an impulse buy!) 

Anyway, I love my new sandals, I smile every time I look at them... which is often because I have been living in them. (They are super, duper comfy!)  And I have gotten so many compliments, maybe because they are bright RED and cannot be missed, who knows.  I promised a few friends the link to check them out (CLICK HERE!) 

Isn't it funny how a silly pair of sandals can bring back so many fond memories.  Have you ever run across something unexpectedly that transported you back to your childhood?   Please share!

WEEKEND SNAPS

I thought I would introduce you to "Biggie" and here is "Biggie with his babies (below.)  Aren't you loving that I wanted to share this good stuff with you?  You're welcome!

And while Chase is busy digging and bug hunting, Dylan is driving his Jeep around.  He is obsessive (OBSESSIVE) about that Jeep.  He hasn't figured out exactly how to steer yet (our landscaping is suffering the consequences!) so I either have to trot along next to him kicking the wheels the direction that I want him to go OR (my preference is to) set the steering wheel in a hard left and let him do donutes until the battery poops out.   It makes me a little dizzy to watch, but he seems thrilled to go 'round and 'round and 'round.

A couple others of Dylan-man.  He loves to watch Utube videos of cats and dogs.   Everytime I crack open my laptop he comes running over shrieking "KITTY VIDEOS!" 

He even helped me clean a bit!  

So, there you have it - a few photos from our weekend.  I wish I could come up with something a little more significant to say with this post - but I am too lazy to even try.  Oh, and someone is yanking on my leg to go outside and play.    So this will have to do..........

A BUBBLE BATH GONE AWRY

I am going to first apologize about all the bath pictures lately!  It is "da BIG tub's" fault.  They just look so darn cute in there that I always end up dashing down to get my camera.  Friday night was no exception. 

We will consider the first couple pictures the BEFORES.  Halfway through the bath, Dylan requested that we turn on "da jets!"  Strange because the last couple times, he was very frightened of them.  Before too long, the small amount of bubble bath that we added to produce a small amount of bubbles turned into WAY too much bubble bath which produced an excessive amount of bubbles.  We almost lost a kid or two for a minute there! 

The kids LOVED it, of course, until they were up to their chins in bubbles.  Dylan started rubbing his face and was completely engulfed for a second there.  "Honey, turn off the jets!  Dylan can't breath, there are too many bubbles.  HE IS HYPERVENTALATING!" 
Dave looked down and swipped his face with a towel.  "No, he isn't!" he said, laughing at me.
"Okay, maybe it is just me...." I said sheepishly.  "I think we have enough bubbles though.  We are seroiusly going to need a shovel to dig them out soon." 

The moral of the story - a LITTLE goes a LONG way.