Fort Bragg Fishing Derby!

This morning we took the boys to Lake Rim for the annual fishing derby.  We met up with our good friends, the Condreys, and everyone had a great time!

The weather was perfect this morning....

First catch of the day went to Henry!

...but James ended up catching 6 fish!

Meagan, Josie, Sawyer, and Jay
with a huge catfish they caught.

Meagan is almost due with baby #4...
She looks fantastic!

Yikes!

Henry and his "baby" fish!

Josie enjoying the fun!

What a difference a year makes.
Last year, I took all 3 boys to the derby by
myself since Chris was deployed.
I definitely didn't sit at all last time!

It was so much more fun this year with Peter too.
He actually listened and stayed away from the water.

Mommy tickling James :)

What a crew!

Henry's Graduation Ceremony...

Last night the 4-year-olds at Cumberland United Methodist Church Preschool graduated!

It is almost impossible for all 3
of them to be normal in one picture. 

Sweet Gabby

Most of the class before the ceremony...

I love how Henry looks like
he just graduated from Med School!

Henry and one of his favorite friends, Sam Wylie.

As you can imagine...

...these two clowns got into trouble for being so silly!

Connie, the Director

Ms. Paula and Ms. Cynthia handing
Henry his graduation certificate.

Proud graduates!

G, P, and H

It still hasn't sunk in (for me) that Henry will be at the "big boy" school with James next year.  Or riding the school bus.  Or in that big cafeteria for lunch (yikes!).  But I am so excited for him.  So many wonderful things await!

2nd Place...

Where do you go when you realize the Fort Bragg Fair shut down two days before you were planning to go???

Chuck-E-Cheese, baby.

I didn't get any pictures of us there because... well, you know.  I was chasing after Peter... scanning the room for pedophiles... watching the front door.... scanning for James... scanning for Henry.... scanning for Peter.... repeat.... wanting to SCREAM when I realized Chris let the boys start eating pizza without using hand sanitizer... helping the boys win tickets at the games.... helping the boys shove those tickets into that counter machine (which is always full).... looking for Peter.... looking for Chris.... corralling everyone to bring their tickets up to the "treat counter" so we could go home with.... DRUM ROLL..... 4 packets of Smartees, 2 packets of Nerds, and 2 Fun-Dips.  And memories to last a lifetime.    Ha ha.

We came home and had "happy cake" (as Pete sweetly refers to birthday cake) and opened lots of fun gifts.  Thank you to all the grandparents for going completely overboard with gifts and gift cards!!  He was so excited by everything.  (Or the Fun-Dip.  Hard to tell at that point.)

The DreamLight dinosaur Henry
picked out with a gift card from Gigi.
(Yes, he opened the card and an hour later we were at Target!)

James making Henry laugh.

A little too much sugar?

Boxers from Gigi!

Ninjago lego guys from his brothers

PS. Ignore my stringy hair... I have an appt today at 10!  :)

This evening we will be attending Henry's Preschool graduation ceremony (sniffle, sniffle).  I'll be back tomorrow with pics!

Henry's 5!

Today is the big day... Henry's 5th birthday!  We've been talking about it for so long now ("When will I be 4 1/2?".... "Now I'm 4 1/2 which means I'm almost 5.".... "I think I'm definitely past 4 1/2.  Right, mom?".... and the question asked MOST often, "How many more days until I turn 5??" which isn't much fun to answer daily in January.  Or February.  Or March....)

I remember my OB, Dr. Fugate, handing me Henry like it was last week.  Most of you know that the road to get Henry took a bit of a detour with a miscarriage right before him, followed by 3 terribly emotional and exhausting D&Cs.  So when we finally made it to his birth day and she handed me a perfectly healthy, beautiful baby boy, my heart melted with relief.  I can't explain it other than to say he took my breath away.  And has ever since.

I will never forget this moment or forgive myself for not kissing him
RIGHT on the lips, which is what I wanted so badly to do.  I think I was
afraid that's not what you're "supposed" to do with brand-spankin'-new babies.
I learned my lesson though and you can be damn sure I kissed Peter right on his lips!

Unfortunately right after Henry was delivered, I needed another D&C (because of internal bleeding).  I spent most of the first day away from him in surgery and in recovery.  I was so groggy but so incredibly grateful when we were finally reunited...

Henry has brought such joy and laughter and excitement into our lives and I almost can't remember a time when he wasn't here.

Happy Birthday to my sweet, sweet boy... I love you more than you'll ever know.

Walking through his "birthday door" this morning before school...

Breakfast on the birthday plate Gigi gave us...

A birthday cookie for Henry and his friends at school today...  

And tonight we're taking the boys to the Ft. Bragg Fair to celebrate.  Should be a great evening with my four favorite guys!

Weekend Roundup...

On Friday, James's school participated in a Water Field Day.  They had perfect weather for it... hot and sunny with bright blue skies.  The little boys and I stopped by in the morning to check out the fun!

Let's just say it isn't tough finding James in the crowd.  ;-)  Believe it or not, I spotted him from the parking lot-- which is easily 2-3 football fields away from where they were playing.  I figured I had to be wrong, but I wasn't!  We walked right to him.

The little boys are just in awe every time we visit James at the elementary school.

We found Nicolas too!

 On Saturday morning a few neighbors got together and had a yard sale.  We only made $200 but it felt great getting rid of so much JUNK!  Our kids, along with Brittany's kids, sold cookies and lemonade.  They each made a few dollars which they were thrilled about, of course.

Sunday was Mother's Day!  My mother-in-law, Jackie, sent this beautiful flower arrangement...

 and the boys surprised me with lots of homemade cards and flowers.  Too cute!!

We spent the morning throwing the football and running around Pope Park.  Afterwards, we had lunch at our favorite spot in town, The Mash House.  Clearly Petey enjoyed his spaghetti...

We came home and put on all of the yard sprinklers (there are about 10 that sit "inside" of the grass that we can turn on from the garage).  The boys thought it was hysterical and had a blast running through them all.

Here they are-- wet and mostly naked-- on the airplane waiting for the sprinklers.

The best part of all that fun?  Three tired little boys...

 I hope you all had a special Mother's Day too...