Another year older...holding out on the wiser ;)

So, if you can believe it-- the boys each had birthdays this year! Crazy, huh? I did document them but I forgot to post them on the blog so forgive me for the delay and for the lack of details-- I'm getting old, sometimes my memory fails. 

Tristan turned 4? Is he 4 already? 

He says he is, so we'll go with it.

This was by far the most stress free party I've EVER planned! I was REALLY busy during his birthday time-- I was finishing school and extern and ok-- kinda wrapped up in some tall, dark, handsome man (let's be honest, here) PLUS-- I had just gotten hired by my extern site, so in all honesty, I didn't have a lot of time to plan his party. Don't worry though, I didn't FORGET-- he reminded me every single day to plan his party. So eventually, I gave in and planned a party for him.

Safe to say, we parents had about as much fun as the kids. 

We're really just big kids posing as parents.

Another year of keeping the kid alive! Job well done, partner in crime.

If we aren't the proudest parents you ever saw, then... I dono. 

I've said it once and I'll say it again-- the PARTY PLANNING NEVER ENDS.

The minute you finish one kids birthday, the other goes into full blown "ME ME ME" mode and demands that you promptly start planning his party next. No mind to the fact that his birthday is 5 months away. Get on it, Mother! 

And so, I picked a theme. That's it. That's all I did for 5 months.

Truth be told, we all knew this theme was coming from the minute this kid could crawl. We got Buzz and Woody for Tristan before Ryan could even see his own hand in front of his face, but the minute his vision cleared and his motor skills kicked in, he promptly rolled/crawled/wormed his way across the play room, grabbed Woody and sucked on his face. Never wanted anything to do with any real baby toys or anything else for that matter. He wanted his "B" and he wanted Woody. Slowly, but surely the obsession increased and now he sleeps with the whole gang every night. 

End side track. 

If you think we were ecstatic about our success in keeping Tristan alive for 4 years, we were THRILLED to have kept Ryan alive for 3. If this isn't success, then I don't know what is.

We picked a beautiful, sunny day to have a party at our favorite water park and the entire day was a smashing success.

JUST KIDDING.

It rained almost the entire time and everything got soaked and it was kind of miserable for a moment there. You know who didn't care? The birthday boy. 

He was so elated at all his Toy Story decorations that he hardly noticed that we were all shivering and soaked. After the cake was cut and devoured, we had a much better time because we all got in the pool and the pool was warm. In my 4 1/2 years as a mother, I've learned that if you pump the kids up with sugar, anything is a good time (for them). 

There's no such thing as an "unsuccessful" birthday party. 

Staycation Bliss!

My first week off of school/work and extern in 11 months, and holy moly. Do you think if I ask nicely, I can have another?

Not gonna lie, a little bittersweet. Got a little homesick for my SAHM days, but I know if you just gave me one more day... I'd be itching to get back out there and be a working woman. I just wasn't made to bake cookies. Like really...have you ever had any of my baking? It's terrible.

I need blood and guts and high blood pressure.  Never thought I'd be a little anxious to put on my scrubs. Just kidding, let's be real. Scrubs take the stress out of getting dressed. I LOVE SCRUBS!

Last time I checked, I had a 15 month old and a fresh 3 year old. Somehow over the last 11 months, they got older and I'm not quite sure how that happened but I like it. We traded our sippy cups in for real cups and water bottles and even though we have no fashion sense whatsoever we apparently get ourselves dressed too. We're still peeing our pants and obsessing over Toy Story and hot wheels, and for the love of all that is holy, Ryan is still opening his peanut butter and jelly sandwiches... but like I always whisper repeatedly throughout the day to myself... "PICK YOUR BATTLES". Someday the other kids will make fun of them and they will be known as the kid who smells like pee or the messy kid that eats yogurt with his hands and then it will hit them... "Ahh, Mom had a point."

So now that I have a 2 1/2 year old and an almost 4 year old, I've also realized that with that... comes memory. It's a terrible thing. RIP to the days when lying was considered a distraction "parenting" technique. Telling them that we can go to the park tomorrow if you're a good boy doesn't work anymore. Reason # 1, they will mostly likely not be a good boy and then we will be trapped inside the house all day and reason #2, they will remember only the first part of that sentence and ask repeatedly until we've arrived at said destination.

Needless to say, we spent a lot of time at the park this week. Thanks Seattle weather for loving us this week! One thing I never thought I'd say... but I kinda like Tacoma. It's growing on me. So many parks and places to explore, I discover something new every day. For example, I discovered if you leave your car unlocked...people will open it. 

Enjoy my photo dump because I'm too lazy to go through and comment about every single picture and explain what we did. I think they're pretty self explanatory? 

In case you need captions, you can mentally cut & paste this under each picture, 
"THESE KIDS ARE AWESOME AND WE HAD A BLAST."

^^ 4 year old photography. Boys got skillsssss.