beautiful

I don't know if I can express how much I love having nicer weather!  I suppose the cold, dark, long, Michigan winters help me appreciate it even more.  It's just so much fun to be outside, and it's a ton easier to get out of the house, too.

Thursday night I took just Logan to the store with me.  I think this was only the second time I've gone away with just one child!  Wow.  It was so easy.

Friday I decided to try having the boys sit in boosters at the table.  At first I wasn't sure if they were ready, but I think we're making progress.  The biggest part of this change is getting them to eat off plates, and they're doing fairly well.  It feels so strange (but good) at dinnertime to have all four of us sitting around the table.  My boys are growing up!  Below is a pic I took at the first meal, but now we've got the boosters on different chairs and they sit at each end of the table.

Friday afternoon I took the boys with me to a little celebration for my mom's retirement (this was for her volunteers, big celebration to come later this month).  They did fairly well considering it was almost naptime and we were in the library so they couldn't just run free.  On the way home I didn't want them to fall asleep in the car (because then they wouldn't nap at home and all three of us NEED them to have their full naptime at home...), so I rolled down the windows for them.  First, yet another reason to be thankful for the great weather.  And second, I love it that they make minivans with windows that roll down in the back!  That was one of my little finds after we bought the van that I was pretty geeked about.  Anyways, the boys LOVED having the windows down.  I wish I could have gotten a recording of them yelling in delight.  So, yes, they stayed awake in the car and then slept at home.  :)

Friday night we walked around downtown Holland a bit.  Tulip Time was just beginning and it was a beautiful night to be out.  Many people have their dogs with them, and the boys enjoyed seeing all the doggies.  :)  We took an ice cream break, and Mike and I had to share a little too much out of our dishes - we'll have to stop going out once we have to buy extra for the boys.  :)

Saturday was another beautiful day.  Each of the boys got to ride the lawnmower with Mike for quite awhile.  And they had fun playing with the dogs.  The dogs do so great with them, I love it.  They (especially Logan) are always going after Sadie's ball, and she doesn't mind it a bit.  She might get a little impatient when she's waiting for Logan to throw the ball for her, but she never gets even close to being aggressive.  Caleb has found yet another way to escape confinement (I don't think I mentioned that a couple weeks ago he got completely out of his exersaucer, just about gave me a heart attack).  The boys were playing inside the little fence while Mike replaced a door and I was working inside.  Caleb was able to pull the fence down and get out - thankfully he ran towards Mike rather than away...

Sunday was a nice and relaxing Mother's Day.  We had a yummy steak dinner at home (Steenwyk beef anyone???), and of course enjoyed some time outside with the boys.  They had fun running down the small hill in the side yard (under the tree, by the field...).  Caleb would stand at the top, do his little excited yell, then run/fall down the hill.  So cute.  I actually sat outside and read a book while all three of my boys took a nap.  I might even soon finish the book I started in January...  Then I'll need to decide what to read next.  I've got tons of books I want to read, but knowing it takes months to get through one, I need to choose wisely.

Last night I was putting diapers in the dryer, and Caleb decided to help.

Oh, I just remembered something cute.  For Mother's Day Mike got me a very pretty bird figurine.  I had it out on the table, and Logan was very intrigued by it when he got to the table for breakfast.  Kept pointing at it and so I was saying that it's a bird and making somewhat of a "chirp chirp" noise (not very good).  Now Logan points at it and does his own noise, which sounds alot like "choo choo".  It's pretty cute.  Wish I could have cameras rolling 24/7.