Noah and Cutler's new bed!

We decided the it was time to buy a bed so that the boy's could share a room in hope that one day we will have another little one. That has been delayed a little so in the mean time Noah will still have his bedroom all to hiself. This is a really cool trundle bed that we got at Costco. But as you all know it wasn't going to be put together by Me. So Tiffany decided she better tackle the PROJECT! Boy was I happy to come home and here is this new bed. Tiffany sold the old one in the Spectrum and the next day had the bed all put together. Thanks honey you're the best at keeping my life at a low stress level. I love that you put things together so that I don't have to.
**Colby didn't say that I don't have a mattress for Cutler yet. But to be honest, I'm sad about putting him in a big bed. Maybe this summer! Oh, and I need to get a couple more cute pillows too.

G.M. of the Year?

Last week I get this call from Colby. He tells me that he just found out that he is up for G.M. (general manager) of the year! What a man!! He flew out on Sunday to Champaigne, IL. to interview. Interview? Yes, interview. There are over 650 operating stores right now, and plenty in the process of opening up. Out of those 600 and whatever stores, they see who has the highest sales increase from the year before. Colby said there were only 7 managers and their owners who were there to interview. 7! He was one of them. So, he got there Sunday night and this is pretty much how his time was spent there:

• Had a chauffer the whole time, from airport to hotel to dinner to interview to lunch to hotel to dinner to hotel - you get the picture!
• interviewed with Jimmy John and James North (pres. of J.J.'s)
• luncheon with all contenders
• Dinner banquet with everyone, including Jimmy John

He got home Tuesday night just in time to watch Noah play t-ball. He said he had a good time, it was fast, but he felt like it went good.

He doesn't know who will actually win G.M. of the Year, they have to wait until the J.J. convention which is next month in Orlando. So what would he win you ask? Well, wait no more...

Last year the winner took home one of these sweet babies

This year he's throwing in a couple more goodies.

Operator of the year gets to bring this home

And 3 more lucky winners get one of these. Franchisee, the Highest Comp. Growth store, and out of the other winners they raffle to see who gets the third one.

Colby's hoping for the Jeep, and secretly so am I!! So who knows, maybe we'll (I'll) get a mini vacation out of this. I'll keep you posted!!

Colby turns 29!!

Today is Colby's 29th birthday!!! Kind of a sad day because he's not here today (I'll post about it later) but we celebrated over the last couple of days and hopefully today will be a good day for him anyway.

Here are some of the things Colby loves:

• Food - He works in a restaurant, loves it!! And he always comments at almost every meal how much he loves this or that. It's kind of a joke at my parent's house!!


• the Weather - Colby should have been a weather man. From the minute he gets home from work until the 10:00 news every night he watches almost every weather cast. Kind of drives me crazy, but he loves it.


• Hunting/Fishing - explains itself!


• Gardening - Last year he had a little garden that grew into a big one in our backyard. This year we're pretty sure it's not going to happen. Cutler pulls everything up!!


• Along with gardening, he loves making our yard look beautiful. I think so anyway.


• And last but not least, I have to say his family. Colby works very hard to provide for us and make it so we don't have to go without. I love him so much and the boys look up to him a ton. Everyday when he gets home, Cutler runs to him and throws his arms around his legs until Colby picks him up. I love it!

Colb, thanks for all you do for our family! I wish you were here to celebrate again today, but we love you and miss you already. Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Doug!!

Today is Colby's dad's birthday. We won't say how old he is, but we will say...

"Hope you have a good one"!!

A little outing

Yesterday we took the boys out 4-wheeling. It was such a nice day and we just needed to get out of town for a little while. At first Noah rode alone on his 4-wheeler and the rest of us were on Colby's. It wasn't the most comfortable ride for Colby (he was on the back) but it was Noah that wanted someone to ride with him. So I offered. It was fun and he does a really good job driving. Scary I'm saying that about a 5 year old.

After a little while we had to stop and let Cutler get down and just play. His favorite thing to do is to throw rocks or in this case wood into the water.


And then getting his dad to throw big rocks into the water. He absolutely loves the splash!


Here's Noah in the tree. He said he found a nest with eggs in it up there. What a story teller.


We got back on our wheelers and drove a little farther down to a pond where once again Cutler was in heaven...


On our way back I was with Noah again. Most of the time I actually drove, and I must say that those little things can be hard to control if you get going fast enough. I mean, they don't really go that fast, but for a little kid it could be pretty scary.


I tried to get a picture of Colby & Cutler but the littlest boy wouldn't cooperate. He only wanted to be with me and was not happy. He's so funny, once you get going you can just hear him saying "Wheeeeeeeee, wheeeeee, wheeeeeeeeeeee!" Or making the sound of the 4-wheeler. We had such a good time and we are all looking forward to many more of these little trips this summer.

Happy Birthday Stefanie

We just want to wish Stefanie a very HapPy BirThDay!! There are so many things I love about Stef, here are a few...

• She's Beautiful!!


• Such a patient and loving mom - one of the best!!


• Can tell you anything about any actor/actress, musician, or anyone famous


• Can make anything, I mean anything!! blankets, decorations, yummy food, on and on and on...

We miss you and love you and can't wait to see you soon! So...'One year older and wiser too, Happy Birthday to you'!!

Take me out to the Ball Game...



It's official folks, Noah is playing t-ball, and it's so cute.



Doesn't he look like a pro out there in his cute uniform?



He's on the Redsox and tonight was their first game. Each team has 12 players and their poor little team only had 6 show up, it was sad. I felt so bad for them. Luckily it's only t-ball and well, there just aren't many rules. They had him playing 3rd base which he was very good at. Every time the ball came even remotely close to where he was he went for it, dove for it most of the time. I was so proud of him for doing such a good job. I feel like he's all grown up and it kind of makes me sad.

Tonight I was making some cookies and he was sitting at the table and I asked him what his favorite part about his game was today. Here was the conversation:

N- Running
m- You like running don't you?
N- huh, ya (laugh) But I don't like when that boy told me to give him the ball. He just said Give me the ball. But he didn't say please.
m- Did you give the ball to him?
N- No, he didn't say please. You don't get what you want if you don't say please.

Simple as that!

Horton Hears a Who

Can I just say this was such a cute movie! We decided today to take the boys to see it and they both loved it. Even Cutler sat through the whole thing. There were a couple of weird parts, and a few times Cutler jumped, but so cute. If you're thinking about taking your kids but not quite sure, take them. They'll love it!!

and the Meanest Mom award goes to...

ME!! Yes, that's right, I am the Meanest Mom!! So here's the story...(get comfy this is long) On school days (m-w-f) Noah has to have a nap. I know, that right there deserves the award. For the past couple of weeks he hasn't been taking his naps, therefore earning a nap on Tues. & Thurs. and he actually falls asleep on those days. Well, this last week was just like that. So yesterday while the boys were supposed to be napping, Noah wasn't - I'm a mom I just know he wasn't. So when Cutler woke up I decided to just go in and tell Noah to get up because Cutler goes in there anyway and bugs him. While we were in there playing and tickling him an empty package of gum wrappers fell onto his pillow (from the headboard). I looked at him and he knew the questioning was going to start. Here's the convo:

N- Well, I don't know where they're from.
me- I have an idea. Have you been sneaking and eating gum in here?
N- No, I haven't.
m- Noah, tell me the truth. You don't get in as much trouble when you tell the truth.

I then moved his bernard dog only to find something I really did not want to find. Probably 15-20 empty candy wrappers, an empty baggie which I'm sure held all of the candy, and chewed gum. Yes, chewed gum.

m- Noah what is all of this?
N- Wull....wull...uhh
m- have you been eating candy in here while you were supposed to be having a nap?!

Now the anger really comes out and let's just say I was not happy. I finally got out of him that he had been eating it during his nap time. He got in the most trouble for lying to me, and then just because he was sneaking it and eating it. In all my raging fury I took his beloved 'Hope' away and no candy for a week. That night when it came time for bed Noah grabbed carebear and Colby asked him why he was sleeping with him and not Hope, then showed him where Hope was. I listened and walked in then to tell him Hope was taken away. Noah started crying, but I stayed strong and stood my ground. I did tell him if he was good today he could have her back for tonight. It must have worked because he was so good all day long.

Yes, there's more.

Today we had to take Noah to get his pictures taken for t-ball. After they were done there was a little carnival thing over by the fields, so we walked over to let the kids play for a minute. Well, of course everyone was a winner, and everyone won...dun dun dun candy!! But Noah was so good and every time he would either tell them no, or he would take it and put it right in my bag. What a good little boy. Then on our way home here's another convo:

N- Mom, last night when we went to papa Kent's I told gramma that I couldn't have any candy.
m- You did? Did you tell her why?
N- No (laugh)
m- Did she ask you why?
N- Yes
m- what did you tell her?
N- Just what you told me
m- Did she say you have a mean mom?
N- Yes (laugh again)

So there you have it! I am the Meanest Mom!

**Note: I really really wanted to take a picture of all the wrappers but just couldn't because I didn't want him to think this was funny. But I really thought about it before making him throw them all away.

Our Easter Weekend

Here are some pictures of the weekend. Some are sideways but I couldn't change them. And I feel so bad because we couldn't get any cute pictures of the boys in their Sunday Easter outfits. So Kiddie Kandids here I come!

This weekend has been lots of fun! Our neighbors put together an egg hunt in their cul-de-sac every year and we love it! It's so much better than going to the park. There's not as many people and the kids get so much more, like they need it. Saturday morning we started off the day with that egg hunt. That night we went to Kent & Sherie's and bbq'd. Her mom, brother and his family were here, so we hung out with them for the night. The men all played cards and the women, well we just talked. Sherie's cute niece Sarah got engaged and they were here so we got to see her and Chad and her beautiful ring - congrats again!!
Sunday morning was oh so rough. After the boys saw all the fun things the Easter Bunny left for them and found all the eggs, Cutler especially did not want to leave his candy. What a mistake to give it to him first thing in the morning - but what do ya do? We finally got them ready for church and Cutler was throwing the biggest tantrum ever because all he wanted was candy. We took a few unsuccessful pictures and started our day. After church we went back to Kent & Sherie's because if you know us, we never turn down a free meal. And after that another egg hunt. Kent had hidden 2 bonus eggs, one with $10 and one with $20. They were for the big kids and adults to find. Well, while we had the boys egg hunting we were looking for the bonus eggs. Colby found the one with $20 and Kent took it from him and re-hid it. Then someone else found it - not fair!! But Noah saved the day and found the $10 egg, yeah Noah!!
After the egg hunt we had to get home so the boys could have a nap before we met Colby's family at the park for dinner. We went to the new Hidden Valley park and it is so nice! The boys had a blast and so did we. The day ended with all the boys in the sandbox. We had a great Easter! Thanks to everyone for feeding and entertaining us all weekend!