Sweet Sundays

This is what's melting my heart at the moment.

In less than a week the kids and I will be heading west for a few weeks minus Josh. We are so gonna miss him!

Noah is Eight!

Another Plant birthday has come and gone. Two down, one to go. We went simple for Noah's birthday this year as well. We plan to have a celebration in Utah with all the cousins in a few weeks. We first headed to the store so that Noah could pick out a donut breakfast, ice cream to go with his birthday cake, and two "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" books. Noah has read the whole series three times since school let out. We have two of the books held hostage from the library as we speak! 

We let Noah be in charge of the day's meals and activities. It's cute to see how the siblings are actually willing to cater to this for eachother. Noah chose to spend a huge chunk of the day at the park by his school. The kids played in the sand, climbed and ran through sprinkers for three hours! Then his buddy took him to lunch at McDonalds where Noah can proudly scarf down a whole big mac in no time.

 For dinner, Noah requesed pizza from Dominoes (we had quite the day of high sodium, sugar, fat, etc.--fun stuff! )Then we opened presents and played with them for an hour before cake and ice cream. Noah got soccer gear and a game.

So glad he's been reading so much this summer all on his own. 

My little clown. His humor genuinely makes me laugh. I'm sure he would have been one of my good buddies as a kid. Happy birthday Noah! So proud of the amazing things you do. Maybe I should list some:

1. You tell me I'm a great chef and try to convince your siblings to eat their dinner.
2. You are super competitive and have a passion for any game you play.
3. You are known as a good guy to be friends with. The teacher encouraged kids in your class who were shy to be your friend because you were so accepting of people.
4. You are FUNNY! When you get in silly mode, you say some hilarious stuff. I need to video tape it more.
5. You are a hard worker. I never saw a kid try so hard in swim lessons as you did.
6. You are so creative. You come up with incredible stories and ideas for inventions.
7. You are so smart! I can't believe how much info you absorb when I think you're not even paying attention!
8. You are a great (and pesky) big brother. You read to Charlie at night and keep your siblings entertained.
9.  You are a great leader. You seemed to have the capacity to get your whole class to pay attention to the NFL stats last fall and then you started a huge Lego men obsession in your class.
10. You are a good person. Never malicious and always having good intentions. 

Also, I have a new internet guilty pleasure:

Do you pin? Click here to see my account.

take a hike!

We decided to go hiking to day in the most beautiful weather. Thanks to Josh and his wonderful ideas. --Okay, I admit I was secretly feeling way too lazy to hike. It wound up being so much fun, though. The kids loved collecting and examining all sorts of morsels of nature. 

 Josh and I took turns carrying chalie for parts here and there. Charlie was on Josh's shoulders for some of the toughest terrain. Josh would have made a great pioneer! I on the other hand felt like carrying my camera was about as much as I could handle! Glad I brought it, though.

We went to Fells Reservation. Who knew Medford, Mass could be so pretty!

This was so good for the kids. Presley was more active than we have seen her in a while. Her face was beet red by the end of the hike. Her fair skin always reveals how hot or embarassed she is! Her and Noah were the best of pals. We need to do this kind of thing more often. 

That little face! What a crack up. These guys sure ware me out, but oh how I adore them!! Their daddy isn't so bad either. Thanks, Josh for a fun adventure.

a simple birthday = one happy 3 year old

I knew what would make Charlie have a happy day on his thrird birthday. Really, it wasn't a lot of bells and whistles. (sorry if you are hoping for a decked out amazing cake and decor to the nines with a smash hit load of friends)

It started with getting the bathing suit on...

That alone makes Charlie totally stoked.

Then we headed over to a sprinkler park.

Telling Charlie happy birthday all day long, then baking his cake and building up the anticipation.

Then we sang him his favorite song, "happy (birthday) to you."

He opened presents, thinking only one of the 3 was his and letting Noah and Presley help and take the other two. Then he wanted to make trades! We had to explain that they were ALL his. Looking back, I think just one present would have been enough. Such a sweet kid. 

 As for the rest of the days, we have been spending lots of time in swim suits. I don't know why we even start the day in clothes. Today was a beach day with Lindsey who is moving soon. Her and Charlie have a special bond.

 good color combo Pres. I love orange and turquoise, don't you?

And of course Noah did something to his arm, forcing us to head to the ER and get him in a splint. Thankfully there is just a lot of swelling and no break. He didn't cry one bit. Such a  toughie. He has a splint just to keep from moving it too too much, but can take it off to shower and go in the sprinklers. Yay!!

Josh and I celebrated our 9 year anniversary on Sunday. I can't believe it has been that long!! That means a lot of our stuff (including clothes--eek) is that old. I still have serving spoons, kitchen canisters, tables, dressers, mixers, pots and pans, shoes, shirts, skirts, etc. datin back to 2002 and beyond. So so grateful to have lucked out to be with a guy I can get through the ups and downs of life in the city with three kids. 

Here are some shots of our 4th of July. We bbq'd with friends and played for hours at the park. Then cam home to the air conditioning and watched movies with buddies. Noah found a $10 bill, that was the highligt for him for sure.