Carter has earned his yellow belt in karate. We are so lucky that karate is offered at his school right after class is over on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So, that means I don't have to take him to an extra place and instead get 1 more hour before pick-up! The best part is he LOVES it! He's grown so much this year. Karate has reinforced all the great principles we teach at home- 
Caleb FINALLY got the bike-riding thing down on Mother's Day. He is my more timid child. The one who doesn't want to jump in and try new things... especially things that could allow him to get hurt or scared. And then there's Carter. He saw his big brother learn to ride a bike 2 weeks ago and hasn't stopped talking about it. Carter wants to be equally fast. So, while we were gone to Cancun, Grammy and Grandpa taught him to ride. (and yes, they asked us first if it was ok to teach him). I know that's a big parenting milestone- "teach the kid to ride a bike"- but after hearing him whine about it for a few weeks I really didn't care how he ended up learning. We are very happy to share our parenting moments with the grandparents! (except for teaching the baby to walk. I don't want to miss that!) So, here's my 2 big boys. Caleb is on a new 20 inch bike and Carter just inherited a 16 inch bike. Both boys are unstoppable... except for the occasional collision into each other. Thankfully we're at the end of a cul-de-sac where they can ride and ride and ride and ride.
Last weekend we left for Cancun- just Steve and me. No particular reason. Maybe it was a belated 10th anniversary trip. Maybe it was a break from life. Maybe it was because we had the money, time, and free childcare to do it. I know for me this whole trip came about because Steve has often wished for time to just be on the beach... no excursions, no distractions... just sun, sand, and a beach chair. When he took me to Hawaii over 3 years ago I insisted we explore every inch of the island. We were 4 days into the trip before he had a beach day. So, this trip was just for him. I researched and picked the resort keeping in mind exactly what my husband would want. He wanted an easy commute, an all-inclusive resort, no children, spa treatments, and no added excursions.
Here's the aeriel view of our resort: The El Dorado Royale Spa and Resort. We had friends that went there last fall and loved it. It's an expansive property, but the right 1/3 of the photo is of the casistas which is kind of a separate part of the resort. Our room was more towards the middle facing the ocean. It was easy to get around. There were 7 restaurants and 10 bars and countless swimming pools. I had heard that they have a capacity of over 600 guests and a staff of over 1200. So, needless to say we were well taken care of. We had staff bringing us drinks on the beach and at the pool, as well as swim-up bars. We had free room service 24/7 and spa services available. There were 6 weddings there on Saturday alone. I think most everyone we met was either on their honeymoon, part of a wedding, or celebrating an anniversary.
Steve took some photos of the property. Here's the view from the lobby looking towards the ocean. (The ocean is just beyond the palm trees)
The lobby of the resort was beautiful. When we arrived we had champagne in our hands before we even made it to the check-in desk.
All of the grounds were just beautiful. Even during the hottest part of the day there was always a nice breeze blowing.
Ah, the beach. Sand in my toes. Waves hitting the shore. Sun shining. Paradise.
Vacation time, Baby!
Here's both ends of our beach. The resort has a lot of beach front. They were at 70% capacity, so there was plenty of room to spread out and feel relaxed.
Here's the main swimming pool we stayed at. There were others, but we really enjoyed hanging out here. Everything was at our fingertips- food, drinks, poolside beds, towel service... just couldn't ask for more.
There were several bars throughout the resort. 
The restaurants were all so nice. The food was a la carte- not buffet style. Each meal you could order as many courses as you liked. Portions were much smaller, so you could easily eat a 3 course meal. The food was excellent. The service was outstanding. Just having meals with Steve, and only Steve, for 4 days was amazing!
And as much as I don't like myself in any beach photos, I thought I needed to prove that I was actually there. While Steve spent 6 hours in the sun each day, I mostly spent time in the shade. Just being able to read without distraction was lovely. 
This is our beach bag. Shereda made it for us for our honeymoon back in November of 1999. It was fun to use it for this trip too. It has our names and wedding date embroidered on the strap.
The great thing about the El Dorado Royale was the spa. You can see in the photo that you have the option of having your massages in bungalows on the beach. We opted to be inside- mostly because the weather was not cooperating too well. 
Steve and I spent a lot of time talking.... getting caught up on everything. Life is so busy back home. I think every meal was filled with great conversation. Politics, current events, pop culture, stories of our children, the goings on of our friends and family... just a great time to catch up. We giggled at all the super young looking honeymooners thinking that we must have looked the same way 10 years ago. Oh, how life changes. But, changes for the good.
We had to get up at 3:30am for our return flight. It was such a great vacation. We had a wonderful weekend away. Our children had a great time with Grammy and Grandpa back home. I was so excited to come home to a clean house, clean laundry (all folded in the basket), and an empty dishwasher. The boys had baseball games, school, and other adventures while we were away and everything went off without a hitch. Of course, Grammy is used to raising 3 children so I shouldn't be surprised! Caleb also got a new 20 inch BMX bike and Carter learned how to ride Caleb's old bike- no training wheels! Brenner cut a top tooth. Oh, he looks so different in just a matter of days. Missed them all!
And, late last night I pulled this little one out of his crib just to get some snuggle time. I think he missed his mommy!
Caleb has been taking year round swimming for the past 4 years. He's in the final class and ended it with survival swimming. I remember doing the same thing when I was a kid. Caleb and his classmates had to jump in the pool with shirt, pants, shoes, and socks on over his swimsuit. When I first told him about this lesson he completely freaked out. It made no logical sense to him so therefore he decided he wouldn't do it. Steve and I finally convinced him that it would be a fun and cool thing to do. Sure enough he had a great time.
He they are attempting to make their pants into floaties.
It takes a lot of work to get it done!
And now we are confidant that if Caleb were to fall into the open water fully clothed, he would indeed survive! Way to go, Caleb!
Here she is! I thought we should name her "The Mistress" because Steve will be spending the next 10 years with her. But we are very open to names! ;-) Introducing the Ford Fusion Hybrid.
My friend, Randi, told me about http://www.thediaperdash.com/ happening this Saturday at Grapevine Mills. Brenner meets all the qualifications: under 1 year, crawling, not walking. There are some big gift certificate prizes. Since my parents are coming up this weekend, I thought it would be a really fun famiy activity.
So this morning we had a few practice runs. You are allowed to have one person at the start and one at the finish. You can also have one prop to help them along. We chose the thing he loves the most... above all other toys in his toy box... our remote control. Enjoy the video.
I am so excited! I've been wanting to print my blog for some time now. I've been so behind on scrapbooking and it just seemed to make sense to just publish my blog in a hardbound book rather than spend all the time and money scrapbooking the same events I put on my blog. Talk about killing 2 birds with 1 stone. Ahhhh.... that's me breathing a sigh of relief. With a few clicks of the mouse I ordered a 2007, 2008, and 2009 book. I used Blog2Print and am just thrilled with the quality, value, and speed of printing.
They take all my blog titles and create a table of contents. I opted to save paper and have consecutive blogs printed rather than one post per page.
Here's a peek inside one of the books. Now I usually center all my photos on the blog. During the publishing the photos and text didn't always line up the same, but honestly I don't care. The overall look is still awesome. I even chose the FREE shipping which said it wouldn't come until May 26. I was shocked when they were on my doorstep yesterday. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have chosen this option. Now I can just focus on creating scrapbooks for my boys. Let me know if any of you have done the same or are thinking about doing it.
How lucky I am to be called "Mom" not once, not twice, but three times over. Well, technically I'm only called Mom by two of the three. But the third certainly can make enough noise to let me know he needs my attention. In my very biased opinion, I think I've got a handsome, sweet group of boys. Each of them with their unique personality and unending energy... boy, do they wear me out. But I wouldn't have it any other way.
I had to put in this cute shot because if you look closely you can see Brenner's 2 teeth on the bottom. He's been working so hard to get the top teeth to come in, but no such luck. Can you see resemblance in my brood?
On Friday night I was sitting outside with all the neighbors. Steve was gone umpiring. A delivery car pulled up to my house and brought me this beautiful vase of flowers. The neighbor dads were just moaning and groaning that Steve just made them look bad. It was so funny. What are the odds the delivery man would show up with all the neighbors there to witness such a sweet, romantic gesture from my husband. There was not a card, so I was a bit skeptical they were from Steve. I first called my dad. See, Steve is not into Hallmark holidays so I was shocked he sent me flowers. But, since I was giving him so much grief over always being gone umpiring (and even gone today, MOTHER'S DAY to umpire) that I think he stepped it up for this special day.
