A Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

 I had the best Mother's Day weekend ever! It all began Friday evening when I got to take my girls out to dinner, since Jon and Zachary were attending our ward's Fathers and Sons camp-out. Lucy of course picked Olive Garden, so I braved dinner out alone with a wild 6 month old and was beyond relieved that our ever temperamental babykins obliged and stayed in her high chair almost the whole time! Phew. Then Lucy and I got to watch "Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings" before we called it a night. Such a fun date night!

 Saturday morning I had to teach Body Pump early early, but as soon as my class ended we hurried to home to meet Jon and Zach so we could head to the beach! The weather report was dour; predicting overcast skies and rain, but we decided to chance it anyway and soak up as much sun as we could. I'm so glad we did! 

 The sun was mostly shining, temps were in the 80's, and waves were calling our name! I. LOVE. THE. BEACH. It's probably the thing I love most about living here (but it is a rather short list after all, ha, ha). My kids seems to agree. They get SO excited when we plan a beach day! 

 Baby Leah's first day at the beach! Considering all the time we spent here last summer while I was preggo, I figured she'd recognize the sounds of the ocean and feel at home. She pretty much seemed to like it-- it was a little windy for her taste, and the water was too cold, but she ended up taking about a 2 hour nap while I sunbathed so we weren't complaining. 

She did enjoy feeling the sand. She also like to eat it, which is no surprise to anyone since EVERYTHING ends up in her mouth! Mmmmm.

 Cute sisters playing at Myrtle Beach! We spent a good 3 hours enjoying the sun and surf, and then headed over to Zaxby's for a quick dinner. I wonder why being in the sun and water makes you SO hungry?? My kids are always ravenous. After a quick stop at our favorite outlet malls to pick up some sweet new kicks for me, Lucy and Zach at the Addidas store, we headed back home. Such a fun day!

This morning my sweet kiddos and husband surprised me with breakfast in bed (which couldn't have been possible had my husband not also gotten up at 6:30 a.m. with the baby so I could sleep in), some sweet presents, and basically a day off from diapers, crying babies, cooking, cleaning, and being "mom." The bar has been set awfully high for Father's Day.:) HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to our own wonderful moms as well as the many, many other women who have touched our lives!

April's Appendices

And here it is May already. I figured I'd better add on the last bit of April before I called it quits though, thus we have the random pics left over from the month that didn't add up to a blog all their own until now. Let's begin with Lucy's end of the year music concert!

 The program included K-2nd grade, and each class was a vegetable from a garden-- minus the class who were McDonald's french fries (??).  Lucy was a "green bean," hence the green shirt. Three days before the concert Lucy crashed and burned as she was running downhill coming out of the gym, and basically scraped her nose off. No joke! She is trying to hide it with her hair in the above picture because she was VERY embarrassed of her scar face. Now I'm kicking myself I didn't make her take a good close-up, because it was BAD.

 When I asked her why she wasn't wearing her hat like everyone else, she answered, "Well, it fell off, and I didn't think I should put it back on because it would be distracting." Fair enough. I guess the kid's next to her must have fallen off too. Her program was a riot! They sang songs like "Lettuce Entertain You," "Please Don't Put Us In A Can-Can," and "It's Automatic" (complete with some sweeeet disco moves). Her poor little nose!

 I have some video I will try and post, because unfortunately for Jon, baby Leah didn't exactly cooperate so he didn't get to see it either since he was on baby duty out in the hall. I had like three or four other families come up and tell me all they could do was watch Lucy because she was so animated. I think we have a star on our hands!

To get Zach out of my hair last Sunday while I was trying to get dinner ready, I told him to go outside and draw a chalk family. He obliged and was then very eager to show his little drawings off (Jon thinks they all look like jelly beans)! This is him kneeling next to his self portrait. It's very Picasso. 

 Mommy and baby Leah.

 And here is Daddy. Zachary explained that he only added "one little hair on top" for Daddy since he doesn't really have any left. 

 We've been anxiously awaiting our first beach weekend of the season, but have been hit with rain and rain again every time we plan it. So instead we spent last weekend working on the yard. Our yard is HUGE-- which is a blessing and a curse. We are not "yard people" (you know the kind), so any progress made at taming the jungle that is our yard comes at great sacrifice. Zach "helped" me spray paint my pots red and plant flowers.

 We have more crab grass than real grass, so we decided to lay new mulch in the front beds because I got sick of weeding. We bought 3 huge bags, thinking it would be enough to cover the entire front and then some, when instead it covered about a 1/4 of it. Being the cheap skate I am (we're just renting!) I didn't want to buy any more, but now we're in a pickle. Can you tell the difference?:) Aaarrgghh!

 We ordered pizza Friday night, and while we were eating we kept asking Zach (our picky eater) if he'd finished his pizza yet. He swore to us multiple times that he had-- and this is his definition of eating it "all gone." He ate the cheese and toppings and the rest was for the birds. 

We've all been fighting colds the last couple of weeks, but Leah especially got a nasty cold that she seemed to be getting over (I took her in Monday to the Dr. and he said she was fine), but then continued to get progressively worse towards the end of this week. Either she caught two separate colds within a week or so, or she never finished getting over the first one. She was wheezing so badly yesterday we actually ended up taking her to the ER (FYI: Urgent Care offices don't see infants) to make sure it wasn't RSV. Why does it ALWAYS happen on the weekends?!? Let the official tally note our 2nd trip to the ER has occurred. They tested her and luckily she was negative for RSV, but they still prescribed her breathing treatments to do at home. We are totally ready to be over cold and flu season! Bring on May's flowers...

Upon Her Throne

 Leah got a brand new Bumbo for Easter. I've never bought one before, but I'm a huge fan now. She loves to be forward-facing, and sitting up, so this is a perfect way for her to accomplish both. She's almost sitting up unassisted anyway, but this has been a great help!

 We joke that Leah just likes to sit upon her throne. 

 I move her up to the counter or table wherever I'm working and she sits and watches, and likes to talk to me while I work. She loves to sit up by us now during dinner.

 Isn't she purty? Her cute little thunder thighs are almost too big to fit in the leg holes. I have to smash them down and pull them through.

 She would definitely fit in with royalty. She already has us wrapped around her little finger and knows just how to boss us around.:) 

LUCY CARDON, 6 1/2

FAVORITE

TV Show: The Avengers, Sophia the 1st

Movie: Cinderella, Tangled

Song: Taylor Swift

Food: Cheese Pizza, Spaghetti

Treat: Popsicles

Color: Pink

Toy: Barbies

Activity: Jump on the Trampoline

Animals: Koala Bears

Store: Wal-Mart, Costco

To Do With Mom: Go to the Park

To Do With Dad: Daddy Daughter Dates

Best Friends: Sofie, Brooke Lynn

ZACHARY CARDON, 4

FAVORITE
TV Show: Cartoons
Movie: Anything with Super Heroes
Song: Rock Star Songs
Color: Blue
Food: Cheese, McDonald's hamburger
Treat: Chocolate, Cupcakes
Toy: Batman and Joker
Activity: Ride Bikes, Play Outside
Animal: Giraffe
Store: Wal-Mart, Costco
To Do With Mom: Go to the Museum
To Do With Dad: Play Race Cars
Best Friends: Hudson, Kent

Birthday Boys!

Whelp, it's that exciting time of year again where we celebrate TWO birthdays in TWO days. A regular old birthday extravaganza! Happy Birthday Zach and Jonathan!!

 Zachy's birthday was on Saturday the 6th, but since it was going to be taken up with Conference we decided to do his "party"on Friday since Jon got the day off.  Lucy played hooky too so we drove up to Cary to play at Monkey Joe's (a big bounce house play place). Zach had originally picked to go to the beach, but with rain in the forecast we decided we'd better stay indoors.

 He didn't seem to mind Plan B too much-- and he and Lucy had a blast running around and trying out all the inflatables and bounce houses! Lucy and Zach are a regular old Hansel and Gretel-- they get along so well, and Lucy always looks out for Zach so it was nice that Jon and I could sit and relax with the baby while they ran wild! Next time, Leah, next time. 

 On our way home from Cary we stopped for some GiGi's Cupcakes as a birthday treat (and it gave me the perfect excuse to break the mostly unsuccessful post-baby diet)! YUM! I think they're my favorite here in NC. Look at that mountain of frosting!

 Mmmmm, a delicious dinner of what else? CUPCAKES!! And frosting...and sprinkles...

 Saturday morning on his official birthday Zach woke up at the crack of dawn to open presents!! He is such a good little boy and waited so patiently for his birthday to come we decided to shower him with Star Wars toys! I love that little mug!

 Opening his Chewbacca Angry Bird, Millenium Falcon, Pod Racer, Thai Fighter, action figures, and "Wreck It Ralph" DVD. After presents he enjoyed his all-time favorite breakfast of pancakes and bacon!

In between Conference sessions we took everyone to lunch at Chick fil A because, well, that's where he picked. And even though he never actually eats the food, it's really just because he likes the play-place.

After lunch we came home and had cake and ice cream. Zach (unfortunately for me) wanted a Transformers cake AGAIN (last year's attempt was interesting to say the least). This time I decided to make a "battle scene" and chucked some of his toys on there, crumbled up some Oreos to look like "debris," and luckily he LOVED it!

 Blowing out FOUR candles. Man, I still can think back like it was yesterday to what a cute, EASY baby he was. Who gave this little rascal permission to grow up so fast??

TOP FOUR THINGS WE LOVE ABOUT OUR ZACH:

1. He is funny! He has a very silly sense of humor and loves to make us laugh. I am constantly being summoned to watch whatever funny thing he just did. Plus he says the funniest stuff! He loves to tickle the baby and gets so excited when she smiles back at him.

2. He is very sweet! He's a little rough around the edges-- it takes him awhile to warm up to people (unlike Lucy), particularly with strangers, but once you gain his loyalty he is very, very, thoughtful and loving. Although he'd never admit it, he really likes to be kissed and hugged, and one of his favorite things is to cuddle in bed when he wakes up in the morning.

3. He is a boy through and through! The other day Lucy and Zach were playing "Star Wars," and he said, "Come on Lucy! Let's go fight the bad guys!" And Lucy replied, "Nah. Let's pretend we're going to the ice cream shop." And that's the difference between having a son, and having a daughter. He loves anything to do with super heroes, cars, trains, planes, buses, you name it. It's so fun to have our little boy-- especially for Jonathan. Zach will be a very good, very protective brother to his sisters.

4. He is FUN! He's always game for wrestling with daddy, trying to get my feet (I know, still has the foot fetish!), plays hide-and-seek, LOVES to be outside especially to ride his Spiderman bike, eagerly assists me in the kitchen as my little sous chef, begs to play upstairs with his toys as soon as he wakes up, likes to sing "cool" songs in the car with the radio, adores Baby Leah, has the biggest, most incurable sweet tooth EVER, loves to read stories and watch movies, likes helping Daddy fix stuff, and basically is just a really cool, fun little boy. 

We love him SO much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!
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 And then it was Jonathan's birthday. Do I dare mention how old he is?!? I suppose if you follow our blog you'd know from last year (since he turned the big 3-0)--  and since I know you can add,  he's only 31!! Still a young pup, as my Dad would say. I think that means I've officially known him for almost 10 years. A DECADE, people. And I couldn't love him any more. Sigh. We had a leisurely breakfast of waffles and bacon since Conference doesn't start for us until noon. He opened his presents (including a Chewbacca that makes wookie noises), and he got lots of nice birthday phone calls. 

He is a very easy man to please; all he requested on his birthday was salmon for dinner and his favorite no-bake cheesecake for dessert. Life is good. We took a nice Sunday stroll in the evening and enjoyed the amazing spring weather that has finally come our way, and then wrapped up the night with a few exciting episodes of "Merlin." I love this guy SO. MUCH. He is truly my best friend, the best husband, best helper, best dad EVER. I know it's cliche, but I really don't know what I'd do without him. I'm so thankful he's part of my life. HAPPY BIRTHDAY JON!!

Spring Break/ Easter Vacation

As you know, Lucy's spring break started with a fabulous new haircut. Our week continued with some fun activities and projects. With Easter coming up we decided to dye some eggs for the Easter bunny to hide, and so we could get our hard-boiled egg fix.

 Although this is at 2 p.m. in the afternoon, yes, Zachary is still rockin' his pj's. He is content to stay in his pajamas all day, and apparently, this was a day where I just didn't have the energy to argue.

 Lucy makes sure to dye all of her eggs pink, red, or purple. Surprise anyone?

 Friday we joined some friends at a brand new children's museum that opened in Rockingham, which is just about 20 min. south of us. Yea! Because this is a retirement community (lots of golf courses but nothing else), there aren't many child-friendly spots, so this is a total gem!

 Lucy taking some time to enjoy the water play area. Fun!

 Easter Sunday the kiddos woke up around 7 a.m., eager to check out their baskets of goodies! Can you see how thrilled Zach is about his Angry Birds candy egg?

 After rifling through their loot, they searched for the hidden eggs, and we started getting ready for church.

 It's our tradition that the kids get new church clothes, and doesn't Lucy look lovely in pink?

HAPPY EASTER from the CARDONS!!