We have a FIVE year old!

Yesterday was Sawyer's 5th birthday, and I can't believe that he is already five! It truly is incredible how quickly the time passes! We spent the morning relaxing at home, and Sawyer opened up his presents from us. I got him the book It's Hard to be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel. Apparently they have this book at his school, and he's been telling me for months that he wanted to get it when he turns five. Your wish is my command, little guy (it helps that Amazon has it for 60% off right now too!)!


Sutton chose a really pretty slice of amethyst geode for Sawyer (amethyst is February's birthstone), and it's now happily resting on our winter nature table. Sutton says that he can't wait for his birthday now so he can get his own birthstone too...too bad April's birthstone is diamonds! I think he may end up with a more budget-friendly rainbow-making crystal prism instead :)


As soon as he picked up his present from Daddy he recognized the familiar sound of Legos!

He got a Lego Space Police set from Mitch and two smaller sets from Sutton and Simon. He couldn't have been happier! (A quick note for the frugal and budget minded...about a week before Christmas Amazon always does an incredible toy markdown, usually too late to arrive for Christmas gift giving, but perfect to save for upcoming birthdays. I got three sets of Legos for under $20 total - they normally would have cost $50!)

Simon couldn't get enough of the shiny purple mylar that Sutton had used to wrap his gift. The crinkly crunchy sound was soooo amusing and entertaining to him!

After lunch we went to Gigi & Granddad's house for birthday cake and even more presents! What a lucky kid! Aunt Debby made Sawyer a special cake with Hot Wheels cars on top, and the boys and Stella were thrilled when she let them take the cars off the cake and lick all the frosting off of them!

Grandma Ardy was there too, snuggling her two newest great-grandbabies, Zane and Simon.

The boys always love hanging out with Great-Grandpa, aka "Mean Gene."

Can you tell how completely excited and thrilled he was to open more presents? ;) These walkie talkies were a HUGE hit (thanks Gigi and Granddad!).

Aunt Debby gave him $5 for his 5th birthday (she also got him a really cool monster truck, but I somehow missed taking a picture of it, oops!). Aunt Krista's boyfriend, Frankie, also gave him $5, so he's been scouring the Lego website this morning and planning which new feat of engineering he'd like to attempt next. :)

Time to blow out the candles! Make a wish! (I bet it has something to do with more Legos LOL!)

After we came back home, Sutton carefully tied all of Sawyer's balloons to Simon's playmat for him...

This little guy LOVES balloons :)

Sawyer had a fantastic birthday! Thank you SO much to everyone for decorating everything so nicely, baking yummy cakes and gifting my big boy with such wonderful fun things. It is all very much appreciated! XOXO

Meeting Zane

The boys have finally gotten over their lingering coughs, so on Sunday we took them to meet their new baby cousin, Zane Michael. Sawyer especially loves babies, so he was very excited to meet the newest member of our family. Simon didn't even notice Zane for awhile, but once he realized there was another baby there he flashed a few smiles and gave a few oooohs and cooos to him.


Simon looks like a giant now next to Zane! It's hard to believe they grow SO much in just a few months! On Sunday Simon was exactly 5 months old, and Zane was exactly 3 weeks old. Everyone says that Zane looks just like a mini-Joe (except Zane has more hair LOL!), but I see some of Kari in him too.


Look at all those boys! We just found out yesterday that my cousin, Kelley, is expecting a GIRL in July, so Stella will finally have another girl to play with! Score-to-date: Boys 5, Girls 2 (we all count my cousins Kelley and Lesley's babies in our family scorecard, because they're really like sisters to us too ♥).

Baby Love

I can't believe this little guy is almost five months old already! Where in the world did all that time slip away to? His sweet smiles melt my heart, his snuggles brighten even the crankiest moods, and his giggles are highly contagious. He babbles and tries to mimick sounds - my most favorite is "mumm, mumm" which sounds like he's trying to imitate his brothers saying "Mom...Mom...Mom!" a million times a day. I can't even imagine our world without this little sweetheart in it.


Hello there Mr. Frog!


He cut the tippy top of his first tooth today (lower right side), so he's a slobbery hand-chewing kind of guy these days.

♥ LOVE ♥

Winter Walk

Though half of our country is having severe snow and subfreezing weather, it was warm and sunny here today, and it felt like Punxatawny Phil might be right about an early Springtime here in California. It may be hotter than heck here during the Summer, but on days like today, I most certainly can't complain about our weather. :)

The boys and I decided to take advantage of all the gorgeous sun, and we headed out on a nature walk along the trails.


Isn't his hat adorable? I have been trying to teach myself to crochet by watching YouTube videos, but sadly, this one isn't mama-made. It came from my friend Jayme who received it recently as a too-small gift for her daughter. I love how it perfectly matches his stroller!

The boys immediately ran to the spot where they know they can find cattails growing. This time around the cattails were dry, and they were particularly happy to swordfight with them and watch the "wishes" fly around in the air.

Sawyer also found a golf ball as we cut across the park, and he immediately declared that we were on a treasure hunt. He picked up about 80% of all trash and miscellanous objects that he found on the ground from this point forward lol. Thank goodness for good soap and a squirt of hand sanitizer, eh?

The blackberry bushes were squawking and alive with the sound of hundreds of tiny birds, so the big boys quietly snuck closer to investigate. The bush fell completely silent as the boys got right upon it.

Then a strange grumbling noise that sounded like a growl (but was more likely the sound of a tractor or piece of equipment on the far side of the bushes starting up) scared the bejeezus out of them, and they came running back as fast as they could! Sutton said it "scared the creeps" out of him, and Sawyer couldn't stop laughing about how fast they'd run away.

We saw the first ducks of the year that had returned to the pond.

(see the little birdhouse on a post hiding in the grasses there?)

Baby fell sound asleep, snuggled up in the sunshine.

We found a few pinecones, one shaped oddly like a mushroom which Sutton thinks is "super cool."

Adding our new treasures to the Winter nature table area.

We walked SO far that all three of these little guys came home, announced that they were ready to rest, snuggled up on the couch together and sat there calmly and quietly like this for over half an hour! ♥