Strawberry Pickin'

Just so happened to be my birthday last week and we had some grandiose plans. 

Did you know that it always rains on my birthday?

Our Windsor Castle run was cold and dreary and the amazing "nice neighborhood" garage saleclosed down.

We decided to brave the spotty showers and head to the strawberry patch anyway.

I mean, who couldn't use some fresh strawberry ice cream on their birthday?

It ended up being the perfect time to go.  Yes, it was a little chilly for little legs, but no one was there and we pretty much had the patch to ourselves.  

Ben and the kids picked...and I ate ice cream :)

 

Eliot spent all of his time finding strawberries to eat and Colin spent his time getting dirty and tasting dirt.

Messy Boys

 I think every post for awhile may be labeled "messy boys".  

We were just looking back at pictures from when Eliot was Colin's age and I told Ben "look how clean our house was!".  Colin sure has changed this house a lot...I'll spare you the picture of our house right now for proof.  Trust me, it's in need of a major cleaning.

Anyway, just like his big bro, Colin prefers to bath in his food, rather than neatly eat it with a spoon.  I'm not sure how much actually gets into his tummy, but he sure is happy while he's in that chair.

 Last night we made some amazing white beans and Colin couldn't get enough of them.

 

He almost looks chubby in this picture :)

The boys go through at least 2 outfits a day and it's impossible to keep an outfit clean for longer than 10 minutes.  One day this week, I got them dressed for a picnic at the Naval Base.  It was our first event at Ben's command, so I wanted the boys to look nice.  I decided that I need to start documenting the rare moments that they are clean.

So here they are...clean.

Sure enough, 2 minutes later, Colin spit up all over his shirt.

11 Months

I think he may have finally grown into his eyes.

He's grown a lot this month and finally fitting into size 12-18 month clothes.  Sure, little stinker can still wear some select 6 month things, but the fact that he can fit into some 18 month stuff, speaks volumes to me.  His hair has grown so much that he has a mullet.  I'm ready to cut it, but Ben's not quite ready.

As his first birthday approaches, Ben and I are ready for some real changes Colin.

First, it's time to start walking.  He is the fastest crawler I've ever seen and therefore, can get into twice as many things.  I can't keep up.  So, little mister needs to slow down and learn to walk.  Plus, as it's getting warmer, it would be nice to be able to take all the kids out to play and not have to confine him to a stroller.

Second, it's time to start consistently sleep through the night.  Yes, he still gets up occasionally...but don't be fooled.  It's never for teething or sickness or something justifiable.  He just wants to see a face and get a drink.

Third, and maybe most importantly, it's time to stop crying in the car!  This week, in the first time in the history of being a mom, I had to pull the car over to deal with a child.  In 11 months, I have never been able to figure out why he cries, nor find something that makes him stop.  I pulled over for the safety of us all, because I was about to lose it.  I even googled how to make a kid stop crying in the car.  It wasn't helpful, but that's how desperate I was.

Colin is a very sweet baby.  Everywhere we go, someone will comment about how beautiful he is or how happy he is.  It's a blessing to me to see how he blesses others.

But truth be told, Colin is still a challenge for me.  Nothing is easy...sleeping, eating or getting dressed.  He fights everything and will destroy everything in his path.  

Don't believe this precious face could be so difficult?  

The kid eats paper.  He's eaten two of my workout plans, a page out of Alison's bible, several of Eliot's flashcards and countless pieces out of our printer.

If one of the kids leaves the toilet seat up, he'll go splash in it.  If the pantry door is opened, you might as well say goodbye to anything he can get his hands on.

On the bright side, he helps me burn some extra calories throughout the day :)

While we were gone...

Daddy got to take care of the boys.

Thankfully, the week we went was right in between Ben's last day at Hope and his first day on base, so he had the week free to just be with the boys.

 

He took them on special outings each day.  This day was ice cream at our "new" McDonalds and Colin got to have his first bite of ice cream.

 

Being away from the boys was harder than I thought it would be.  I was ready for a break and for some sleep, but after a day I was ready to hear their voice and see their smiles.

I'm so thankful Ben was able to have some time with his boys and he did an amazing job with them.  I came home to a very polite 3 year old and a sleeping-through-the-night baby.  Maybe mommy needs to leave a little more often...

And I forgot these pictures from our trip:

Aunt Beth took Alison to her favorite place on earth...the park. 

Portland, part 2

 While in Portland, we took a trip to the zoo.  I'll confess, that Beth and I had our moments of "are you sure this is a good idea" (i.e. when Alison started complaining about being tired as we walked up to the entrance), but I'm so glad we did.  The kids did great and had a blast.  Their number one mission was to see the baby elephant, so we ventured to the back of the zoo before stopping for lunch.

After lunch, I took Rose and Beth pushed the double stroller...I think I had the better end of the deal.

Friday morning she went to Katherine's preschool for Mother's Day tea, and I stayed with the kids.

We cleaned up the house, played some games and watched a movie.

Rose found a passion for her hand, which I thought was super cute, but Beth was not excited about.

We must have played a little too hard that day, because shortly after we played "slumber party" in the living room, Maggie crashed right there in the middle of the floor.  It cracked me up and she was just so cute asleep amongst the chaos.

While Maggie snoozed, Alison and Katherine had a tea party on the deck.  It was unseasonably warm and sunny while we were there, so the unairconditioned house got pretty hot while we were baking that afternoon.  They said it was much cooler outside, and we didn't mind the "quiet".

When everyone was awake, we headed to California Pizza Co. to celebrate some birthdays.

The trip was perhaps a little too short.  A 3 hour time change was more challenging than I thought, so most evenings I would crash early with Alison and then we would be up at 4:00, while everyone else slept until a normal 7.  By the time we adjusted to the time change, it was time to go.

But it was worth everything to me.  I got to meet my beautiful niece and spend time with some amazing kiddos.  I made angel food cake and creme brulee for the first time and read an entire book!  My prayer was that it would be a bonding time with Alison and I believe that prayer was answered.  I came home wishing I had helped Beth out more, but also came home feeling refreshed and energized.

Trip to Portland, part 1

Alison and I flew across the country to visit Beth and her family.  We had to leave a 4:30am to catch our 6:30 flight.  Alison didn't mind, she was so excited and even broke out her homework right away.  We had smooth travels and arrived in Portland by 11:00am.  We went to IKEA for lunch...it was my first time to ever be in IKEA and I fell in love.  It is a perfect place to take lots of little kids to eat.

We let the kids play in their kid room, while we shopped around with Ms. Rose.

After shopping, we drove through the scenic mountains and went to Multnomah Falls.

Beth stayed in the car with a sleeping Maggie and Jonathan, while I took Alison and Kathrine up to the top of the falls.   They held hands as they climbed up and talked like they have never been apart.  It was so refreshing to be by the falls.  I made the girls stop and just soak it in.  Okay, they were confused why we were stopping and what it meant to "soak it in", but it was just the refreshment I needed.

After a stop in downtown for some Vodoo Donuts, we headed home to snuggle with the newest addition to the family.

All the girl cousins:

Rose (6wks), Katherine (4yrs), Alison (5yrs), Maggie (3yrs)

I would often say "My little Rosy, Rosy" and Katherine would be offended that I didn't call her Rose.  I assured her it will pass.  After all, there was a time I called her baby Kate.  But, Rosy is a very sweet baby.  Friends teased me before this trip that being around a newborn again would make me not want any more babies.  The Shear babies are complete, but Rose by no means made me want to stop.  I enjoyed every minute with her...even her cries in the car where nothing compared to Colin's wails (by the way, he still cries in the car).

The next day, after Katherine got home from preschool, we got a babysitter and took the "big girls" to a fancy dessert.  Okay, Rose came with us too, but she doesn't count.

We ordered 3 different desserts, thinking we would all munch off of them and then take some home for later.  However, we far underestimated little girls and chocolate.

They devoured the desserts and there was nothing left to take home.

We headed home to be play with Maggie and Jonathan.  Here's a glimpse of the crew (they made up a dance to an Angelina Ballerina song):

Such a mess

 Literally.

I don't think he could be any messier.

Every meal, Colin will throw all of the food off his tray and scream to get down.  He then will crawl around the floor, eating all the food that he just threw down.  There's just too much of a mess and too much going on to keep up with him.

I took this picture last night, as Colin was grazing the floor and the rest of us were finishing dinner.  I know I'll look at this picture in ten years and think how silly I was.  But this is our life right now.  Ben and I were laughing at ourselves for how we let it slide (I promise, we do clean our floors) and I confessed that I don't mind because it's a way he'll consume food-something of vital importance right now.  In fact, the other day I sprinkled cheerios on the living room floor, just because I knew he would eat them.  Ben started laughing and confessed that he had done the same thing.  Oh the things we'll do for a baby to grow.  Some day we'll make him sit in a chair, I promise.