Kids in a Box

Sorry for the lack of posting, I have impressively destroyed both mine and my husbands computers in just one week. Luckily I married a computer guy who is slowly bringing them back to life. Anyway... we are down to one week before the move. It's hard to decide what to wait until the last minute to pack and what we can pack right now (it feels like everything has to wait until the last minute which will make for a really stressful last minute). I think this weekend will be the final push where we will pack almost everything. 

Today the kids decided that they wanted to make sure they were taken to the new house so they packed themselves in a box. Ah... kids in a box, is there anything more fun?

Bigger

I think my kids got bigger while I was gone. Maybe it is being taken care of by someone else that makes them mature a little bit, but I think they also physically got bigger. It's crazy when that happens, you would think at this point I would be used to them growing but when I notice the change it still surprises me. 

Mexico!

Don and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary in Mexico this last weekend! My wonderful brother gave us the trip for Christmas- and not only that, he came down from Chicago to take the kids while we were on vacation. It is the first time that Don and I have left the children for more then one day and the first time we have been more then maybe 25 miles away. It was such a wonderful trip- the weather was great- Lot's of sun. It was an all inclusive resort so we ate wonderfully and never had to worry about anything. It was such a re-energizing trip which after such a hard first half of the year. I am so thankful to my brother- while I can't imagine a time in which I would not like the trip- the timing of this trip was absolutely perfect and I feel like a brand new person. 

Don had never been to Mexico- while we didn't explore outside of the resort we did get to hang out a lot on the white sand beaches in Cancun. We read, ate, slept and then did it all again the next day.  We never got on the internet and except for watching Harry Potter- avoided almost all electronics (minus my Kindle which was perfect for this trip). I was so relaxed I hardly took any pictures ,yeah okay so there are about 25 posted here- but for me this was tame! 

Birthday Party

 Getting ready for the party

Super Hero Theme

Besties

 Cape (Each kid got their own)

Ryan and his friend Ben had a joint birthday party- they were born only two days apart and we had a lot of mutual friends- and it's a lot easier/ more fun to plan a party with a friend)

Wolverine

Ryan's Birthday

Ryan turned 4 today! We tried to make the day as special for him as we could while letting him choose what he wanted to do (his birthday party with friends is over the weekend). We started out by opening presents from Uncle David (Bat cave) and Dad (Star Wars Lego ship). Then we headed out to breakfast at IHOP. After breakfast (mind you it was like 9:00am at this point) we went to Grandma's house where Ryan got his "motorcycle" and a really cool cardboard playhouse. Ryan told me that he had expected me to decorate the house for his birthday- when I told my mom she sprang into action and headed to the store after the kids and I headed home for nap. When Ryan woke up the house was all decked out with banners, balloons and ribbon. He then got to open the rest of his presents- we played with those and watched his new DVD until dinner at Red Robin. Ryan was so embarrassed when the waiters came to sing 'Happy Birthday' to him but it was all worth it when they gave him a dessert. We came home and he got some one on one time with dad so they could put together the Lego ship. He had a great day and I think it might be a shock to him tomorrow when the whole day isn't revolving around him!