A week of festivities

The beginning of May is always fun, but crazy for us! With our anniversary, the twins' birthday, and Mother's Day all falling within the same week, something is usually neglected in the celebrating and more often than not it's our anniversary. Marc & I decided that we're pretty lame when it comes to celebrating our anniversary. We usually have good intentions, but then we don't follow through with them. We've had 1 memorable date on our actual anniversary and that was our first year in Cincinnati, Marc took me out to a fancy French Restaurant overlooking the city and then we went to a Cincinnati Pops concert. But back then we both had jobs, no kids, and time to take advantage of.We fold newsletters for my brother & sister-in-law to bring in a little extra cash. That consumed our nights from Friday until Wednesday night. I figure we had to have folded, stuffed, and stickered somewhere around 7500 newsletters. Its easy, but time consuming and hard on the back to sit there that long. We're trying to save up some money for a triathlon fund that allows us to compete in a couple of races this summer and purchase some other training gear. Its the only way I can get Marc to do it with me now, I have to give him gentle reminders that its for our "triathlon fund".

We did go out by ourselves twice within a week, so I guess that counts for something! Last Saturday we hired a babysitter and went out to eat at my favorite Chinese Restaurant here in Boise then attended the adult session of stake conference. Thursday we were able to go to the temple and do sealings, which is such a fun thing to do around your anniversary! Its about as close to a vow renewal as you can get in the LDS church in my opinion.

Thursday was a CRAZY day for us. Swimming in the morning, the boys got home and went out with my Mom to have a birthday lunch. When they got home, we loaded up again and went over to my friend Andrea's house where she helped me decorate a train cake for the boys. That took a little longer than I expected, we came home fixed dinner, cleaned up a bit then bolted out the door to get to the temple.Friday, was a preparation day of shopping and trying to get everything ready for the birthday party and Sunday dinner at my house. Marc was able to come home in the afternoon and we took the kids out to the greenbelt. The boys rode their bikes, and Marc & I jogged beside them with Lexi in the jogging stroller. It was such a beautiful night, afterward we stopped by the store real quick bought a few things for a picnic and had dinner at the park. We had so much fun! The kids loved being outside.

Saturday, I was invited to a Mother's Day Brunch that my sister-in-law Codi puts on every year. She fixed these delicious carrot cake pancakes for us, and eggs with peppers and vegetables. It was very yummy! I ran some last minute errands picking up balloons and paper plates and such for the boys. They were so excited for their birthday! We threw a little party for them at the neighborhood park. Their cousins, grandparents, and aunts came to celebrate with us. We ate cake, opened a few presents and let the kids play. After what felt like the 10th meltdown by one of the boys, we wrapped things up and went home to put them in bed for a nap. I couldn't handle the emotions any longer!Sunday was Mother's Day, and happened to be the monthly Sunday Dinner rotation at my house. We cooked a stuffed pork loin with cranberry glaze and dipped chocolate strawberries, DELICIOUS! We've learned that we prefer white chocolate over milk or semi-sweet chocolate for strawberries. They're so good! We cleaned like crazy....we were tempted to go drop Lexi off at somebody's house so we could feel like we were actually accomplishing something. I'd put something away and she'd take 3 things out. We snuck in a webcam visit with Marc's parents and endured 10 screaming children running through our little house. My mom wanted a picture of all the moms that were there. I'm relieved that it's over! Fun times, but a lot of work! This week is busy and crazy too and I just took on 500 more newsletters, but I like keeping busy! Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day!