5 years already?!

It is with complete amazement that I type this post. How can it be 5 years already?! The saying that the days are long but the years are short most definitely apply here. As challenging as the past 5 years have been, I can't help but have bittersweet feelings involved with Ethan turning 5. Five is no longer considered the toddler age. In the most recent months, we have graduated from the toddler clothes section, Sponge Bob is now considered an idol, words such as "dude" and "chill" are now part of our daily vocabulary, and we are starting to shy away from hugging and kissing mom in public. *sniff*

I can close my eyes and picture this photo below like it was yesterday. The sights and sounds are so vivid to me. I remember looking into his blue eyes for the very first time and thinking he was the most beautiful and perfect thing I had ever seen.

I most definitely feel like Ethan has taught us more about ourselves than we have taught him over the past 5 years. He has taught us patience, creativity, forgiveness, and most importantly, unconditional love. Like most women I know, I have picture perfect scenarios floating around in my head about...oh, let's say EVERYTHING! I am not one to go with the flow and I do not adapt to change very easily. If something is not how I thought it would be, I tend to freak and fall apart. Let me just say that having 3 boys will test this very way of being to the core. Additionally, what I have learned is that each being comes into this world with a unique personality and talents. Those little behaviors that tend to drive a mommy nuts can give insight to the talented individuals they will become.

I am so thankful for the things that Ethan has given us. He has shown us that it's absolutely ok (and sometimes downright enjoyable) to:
-play the Wii in your underwear until lunchtime
-belt out Lady Gaga in the middle of Target
-brag to the other kids about how big your muscles are getting because you eat broccoli and cheese everyday
-cut your own hair because hey, everyone needs change right?
-blow bubbles in your milk
-do something that makes yourself proud, turn to the mirror and exclaim, "That's what I'm talkin' about!"
-love your parents unconditionally.....even when they can get super cranky

So, here's to our sweet birthday boy Ethan! We love you so much buddy!

Hmmm.....what do I want in my candy box??

Cupcake tower

Keeping hydrated in 113 degrees!

Trying to sneak a few presents!

Candy Bar!!

Birthday Boy!

Pizza Time!

Fun on the 4th!

Yep- I know it's almost August, but better late than never right? We had a fabulous 4th celebrating with friends at Green Valley Ranch pool. It's nice to be able to load the car with sand pails and sunscreen and travel all of 20 minutes to an awesome pool with a little "beach" for the kids to play at. We spent most of the morning at the pool, headed home for naps, and returned in the evening for more water fun and fireworks. Definitely a 4th to be remembered!

Ethan and Ali

Getting excited for the fireworks!

Beautiful!

That was great Mom!

Celebrating the 4th

Grillin' Out

I guess this is what is bound to happen when you let 3 toddlers roam off for 10 minutes. My good friend Kari and I met for a playdate at the park and the twins got a chance to lure Elie with their double trouble power. Just as we were commenting on how nicely they were playing together, we noticed they were covered in charcoal. They were some proud toddlers that day!

burger anyone?

ta-da!!

cheese!

Ride Em' Cowboy!

Last month Ethan and I took a trip out to JR Pony Farms in North Las Vegas. It was a cute little farm that had everything from ponies and goats to turtles and rabbits. It's safe to say that Ethan was in heaven! So much so that when it was time to leave, he was nowhere to be found. He decided it would be fun to climb inside the goat house and sit with them for awhile.

Yee-Haw!

Yep - you guessed it...this was the house I found him in. He got a good scrub down when we got home!

The attack turkey!

Happy 3rd Birthday Twins!

I really can't believe I'm blogging about Carson and Mason's 3rd birthday. Where did the time go? It really is bittersweet when you say goodbye to the baby stage. And yes, I still considered them to babies up until May 24th. This was a year full of milestones for the twins. We said goodbye to their cribs, sippy cups, pack n play's, and most importantly- goodbye to diapers! Hallelujah! After a year of having three in diapers and 5 years straight of changing diapers, we bought the last package in April. They pottytrained within weeks of each other and we haven't looked back since!

So why do I have to swallow back the tears when I think back to their babyhood? I guess it's a reminder that nothing lasts forever. As long as even the toughest days can seem, everything is temporary. I will look back on this time with a smile and hug my boys tight. We have so many wonderful moments to look forward to. Happy Birthday to my sweet Mason and Carson!

Mason sporting his party hat

Carson digging in!

Happy Birthday to us!

Disneyland 2010

We recently took a trip to Disneyland to celebrate the twins (and Eric's) birthday. This was probably our best trip to Disney yet. We wised up this time and packed our lunches instead of buying overpriced yucky theme park meals. We also took advantage of the free breakfast and dinner at the hotel. Gotta love Homewood Suites! I thoroughly enjoyed proving the hubby wrong by eating dinner at the hotel EVERY NIGHT. You can't go wrong with free beer and wine! I could have done without the mystery meat, but hey, when the kids are swimming and you're kicking your feet up with a glass of wine, who cares right? We made some great memories and can't wait until next year!


Mason and Eric

After three trips, we FINALLY got a picture with Minnie!

I still haven't had the heart to show Ethan the Minnie and Donald Duck photos. He was really into finding the characters and taking pictures with them. Poor thing couldn't stay awake at the end of our day and you do NOT want to wake Ethan up if he decides to nap. Oh well...there's always next year!

Family picture before entering the park.

Eric's favorite part of Disneyland is hunting down the characters so the boys can take a picture with them. Totally kidding. That would be me. You can't go to Disneyland without taking a picture with Mickey though. It's would be like going to an island and never setting foot on the beach. Unnatural!

Falling asleep while eating cotton candy is a new level of exhaustion that we haven't seen until now.

Replacing Ethan's lost mouse ears. Well, actually we think some older guy swiped them on the shuttle bus but we won't go into details.

When we asked the twins what their favorite ride was, their response was "The blue bus!" as in the shuttle bus that took us from the parking lot to Disneyland.

We celebrated Eric's 31st birthday the first day we were at Disneyland. He was a trooper to spend an entire day at a theme park on his special day.

Me and my sweet blonde hair blue eyed boys.

I love this picture of Eric and the boys. The boys are looking more and more alike as they get older. Several people stopped us to ask if they were triplets. I had to laugh and wonder what they thought of Ethan being considerably bigger than the twins.