puffy paint

so in the winter i try super hard to come up with some fun inside things to do with the boys. thanks to pinterest i have lots of ideas up my sleeve... now i just need the energy to do them all;)

while e was taking his afternoon nap l and i made some puffy paint and he loved it!! we only had enough salt to make two colors so he chose blue & green. i'll be making more soon though! so easy and it kept him happy & creative for a long time!

recipe for puffy paint (incase your curious)

1 cup flour

1 cup salt

1 cup water

food coloring

mix & put in a squeeze bottle

legos

didn't think we were ready to be a lego household... my boys are still little, right? well i guess they are old enough to enjoy playing with little itty bitty legos (and not eat them) with a little help from mama & daddy:)

love e's pudgy little baby hands holding the teeny tiny legos!

snowy day

we finally have snow!! that isn't slushy... that didn't melt by 10am... that was deep enough to "play" in...

e didn't last too long;) this first picture is taken literally one minute after we loaded up in our snow gear and made it out the door! oh i love that little man!!

l on the other hand, had a blast. after i stripped down little e & put him in the nice warm house with the tv on (yep i did that). landon & i stayed outside for a while longer. he went down our little hill in the sled & even dragged it back up all by himself! then he wanted to throw snow @ mama. not really the best snowball snow but it made for some good pictures. it didn't take long until he was done with the camera in his face. so i put it down and we had a little snow throwing party:) all the while i was peeking in on e who was content as could be, giving me big waves through the window;)

sickness

whoa... we all just got over a yucky little stomach bug:( the only one who didn't get it was e. fingers crossed he is safe!

so l got sick on thursday... just a little puke & he was fine. my dad watched the boys on wednesday so luke & i could go to the celtics military appreciation night. he ended up getting it on friday:( sorry dad!! then it was my turn on saturday... let me just fill you in on how that went down. no, no it's a good little story;)

saturday i wake up to little boy chitter chatter coming from down the hall. l is in e's room with the light turned on chatting away. i tell l he can go down to watch tv and turn off e's light to get him back to sleep since he & i were up from 12 - 1:30am:) then i peek at the clock 4:10am... ummmm get back in bed it is way too early for you to watch tv! this is of course the moment that i get sick for the first time:(

it's 4am both my boys are up, e & i spent too much time up the night before and NOW is when i have to get the stomach bug... REALLY?! did i forget to mention, luke's at work;) so i waited until 6am called luke, from the floor of the bathroom, begging him to please come home! l finally fell back to sleep in my bed around 6:30 and e was screaming in his crib until about 7 when he fell asleep. i tried to snuggle him back to sleep but every time he was on my belly i would get sick again:( no. good.

luke was home by 8:30, thank goodness! i quarantined myself to our bedroom & slept the day away. around 4pm i got a text from luke, that's how we talked all day, that he wasn't feeling too hot either:( luckily he never got sick sick but he had to go back to work on sunday & slept it off there.

all in all... not a great weekend!!

bedtime story

we read to the boys every night before bed. it's their time to unwind from the day and get all settled for bed. they usually pick a few books each and we get all snuggled on the futon in l's room. on this night l wanted to read the book! so he picked the "little book of football" and read to daddy & e. it was too darn cute:)

the boys closets

i just picked up a few items for the boys' wardrobes & it made me appreciate how fortunate we are.

we have two awesome families of multiple boys who have given us TONS of great, gently used boys clothes. that is where a good amount of the boys every day clothes have come from. the boys also have some pretty incredible aunties, an awesome uncle & wonderful grandparents & great grams who keep them clothed and entertained with super fun toys! even shoes are covered! these boys are so loved it's crazy... in an absolutely wonderful way:)

i don't know how we would do it all with out the wonderful support system we have:)

so to all of our amazing friends & family out there a BIG thank you thank you!!! you all rock!!!

xoxo

brownie batter & phones...

here comes a random filled post... just felt i needed a disclaimer. but it is filled with pictures, something i have been lacking on many of my posts lately!

last thursday we received the replacement screen we had ordered for my badly shattered phone. it was $15 compare that to the $100 for a new phone. i was pyched!! i'm not getting a new phone until i can get my i-phone... 9 months & counting. it's almost like being pregnant... yup i compared getting an i-phone to having a baby!

While luke was fixing my phone, more to come on that in a minute. the boys helped me make some brownies for desert that night (we had a nice little dinner with friends:)). to keep them occupied and, more importantly quiet, while luke was busy working away i let them lick the bowl. oh my goodness did they LOVE it!!

elijah put up a little fight when i finally had to take the bowl way. the boy was covered in brownie batter - it was on his shoulder! how?!?!

the fixing of the phone... luke had to take the whole phone apart & replace the glass from the inside. there was a lot of youtube watching (thank goodness for youtube) and a lot of trial & error. he had to put it back together & put the battery in every time he wanted to check if it was working properly... that was a good 5 or 6 times:) there was one tiny little pieces that had to be just so - so that the touch screen would work & that took a good amount of tinkering before it was up and running. so i owe him big time!!!

before & after pictures...

LOVE

I met this wonderful lady a few years back... I think you guys might know her as Melyssa. She may also be know to some as STINKA or to our boys as Mom, Mommy, Mama Mooster, Mama just to name a few. This lady IS the love of my life and I new from the moment I met her. I heard of this "word" of the year thing from her. Well I have a bunch of words that describe my wife.

She is a Loving, Caring, Gentle, Compassionate, Mother, Wife and Best Friend who is Sweet, Silly, and Happy. She is a hard worker raising our 2 boys and me sometimes. She is a housewife and stay-at-home mom who loves her husband and boys and a clean house to boot. She is a creator of many games for the kids and an entertainer of friends and family. Family is what she is all about, raising a wonderful family and working hard on making things the best for all of us. She has the best laugh in the world, seriously. When she starts laughing sometimes it is hard to stop her or sometimes it is easy to keep it going. I love making her laugh. She is a superb cook, chef-boy-r-mooster can whirl up many culinary specialties, that are.... Declicious and Healthy(most of the time). She is a cleaner of many surfaces... basically she likes a clean house, daily. She is sweet to the boys but stern when she needs to be. She is playful with them and a loving mother. She is ALWAYS thinking about them, and I love her for that. She works very hard and deserves every second away(with her girls on girls weekends). Jenny you should have more, and I will promise to let her go on them.

I love you Melyssa for being the best wife, mother and best friend a guy could ask for, I couldn't imagine my life without you. I love you, I love you, I love you. Don't change a thing, you are perfect(but if you laugh more, i won't mind)


XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

laughing

i do believe that laughter is by far the best medicine. i am lucky enough to have some wonderful friends who make me laugh really, really, really hard!! i'm actually spending some time with them this weekend... as you're reading this i might be pee-your-pants laughing... it's a real thing.

when luke & i were first married, we laughed a LOT... now with two boys in the mix, i'm a little more stressed, a little more high strung (this one's hard to believe i know:)), a little less likely to take the time to laugh. i'm trying.

ask anybody... luke is still a funny guy (he especially thinks so) just more often his humor is lost between diaper changes, or bedtime routines or the million other things that we're trying to do during our day to day.

so i'm going to take some time and laugh a little more this year. i think it will be good for the boys and i know it will be good for me!!

my new loves

I know, I know I should not love material things! BUT I kinda sorta do love my new boots!! They are so warm & so comfy!! AND I feel like I could kick some serious butt in them:) Thanks mom & dad for my awesome Christmas gift!

I also was gifted a rockin' pair of TOMS that I have been wanting forEVER!! My in-laws are pretty awesome too:)
I am a lucky lucky girl!! but don't you worry about the littles... they did alright this holiday season too:) and the hubbs!

shout out to the hubs

today marks the start of a week long vacation for the hubs...

let me start by saying he had a week off for Christmas. then he had 4 days off for New Year's. now he has taken this weekend off so i can go spend time with some of my all time favorite girls! AND yes he is pretty much the best husband ever!

we may joke that we are going to be so sick of each other. but to be completely honest...i'm not! i love having him home! the boys LOVE having him home! he is no nonsense. he is strict(er than i am;)). he is loving. he is calm. he is just plain awesome! he balances me and i hope that i, in some way, balance him (i think i do).

i think we rock as parents together... i get a little overwhelmed when it's two boys against this very girly, very fragile mama:) i looked down at my shins this morning & counted TEN bruises (no exaggeration). yes i bruise easily but man oh man... these boys do not do gentle. they are rough & tough. i am lucky that they do still love a mama or daddy snuggle:)

so even though we are going on 18, not so consecutive, days of togetherness... i am loving having him home and i do not know what we will do when he goes back to his normal schedule next week.

we love you daddy!! xoxo

One little word

For the past few years ali edwards (a well known memory keeper) has started a tradition of picking a word every new year... something that speaks to her, or something she wants to strive to do. the concept has caught on and a LOT of people are following suit. I've avoided it - I'm not a big resolution person (not that this is a resolution but more of a state of mind) not big on "following the crowd" and most importantly it is hard for me to decide on ONE word for an entire year!! That's a major commitment:) but this year something is different - my word came to me as i was hopping around on pinterest... peace.

This year i am going to drown out all the noise of others. I will be kind. I will respect their opinions. I will listen to what it is they have to say. BUT I will not let their words affect me.



This year I am going to learn to be calm & at peace with who I am... take it or leave it folks I am going to be ME!


The biggest thing I am going to try to do this year is live in the present. Not dwell on the past. Not look ahead to the future. I want to enjoy every moment I have with my wonderful family and friends. Especially those two little crazy boys who are growing up WAY too fast!!

So if at any point I'm with you & I am not working on this one little word... smack me:)

looking ahead

We have had an amazing 2011! As crazy as it has been... a quick move north, l started preschool (yikes), and the usuall day to day craze.

I am so grateful for the time that we've been able to spend with our family and close friends... still love that we are back on the east coast!! i hope these boys of ours realized how lucky they are & truely blessed to have such an AWESOME, AMAZING, WONDERUL family!

Besides friend & family time we have also done a lot as a little family of four. As the boys grow we are able to do more & more with them. As much as I LOVE the baby days (minus the lack of sleep at night) it's been fun to get out and DO things!! This summer was especially fun - our trip to see Thomas the train & explore North Conway... so. fun.

My wish for 2012 is for much much more fun family time. I'm excited to see how the boys grow & change in the year to come. Also extremely excited to see what the new year brings to all of us Marlands... we've been up in the air on quite a few monumental decisions. Hoping some of the waiting will be over early in 2012. We will definitely keep you all posted on everything.

So happy happy New Year to you! May all your wishes for 2012 come true!!

We wish you a very Merry!!

Hopefully you are all enjoying some figgy pudding - or something of the sort!

you're probably going to be sick of Christmas by the time I'm done... don't worry I have at least one more holiday post:)

1. this is the first year we mailed our letters to Santa and HE WROTE BACK!!! Landon was beyond thrilled:) I have to admit it was pretty cool:)

2. We celebrated Christmas with the Marland side a little early since Auntie Jaime was going to be in Costa Rica for Christmas this year! The boys made out very well:) And mama & daddy did pretty well too:)

3. What kind of Christmas would we have without a gingerbread house?? The boys did ALL the candy placement this year & I think they did a GREAT job!!! Luke had a tough time letting go of control on that project but as soon as the boys started putting the candy on the house he was impressed with the skills;)

The most wonderful time of the year...

So it's no secret that I'm a BIG fan of the holidays!! Love to spread me some Christmas Cheer!!
Our tree came straight from our backyard this year:) Luke went out & chopped it down Griswold style! I can justify this since we planted 2 arbor foundation trees in the backyard when we moved in, that works right?
Elijah was having NO part of Santa this year @ the annual flying Santa at good ol' station Merrimack. Landon on the other hand could not get enough of the big man in the red suit!! he stood as close as he could waiting {not so patiently} for his name to be called:)
One of the cooks @ Luke's station went above and beyond this year making giant cookies for the kids to decorate! There were at least 100 cookies, plenty of icing in every color, sprinkles AND classic Christmas cartoons! It was AWESOME!! We were there early & the boys had free range of all cookies & decorating goodies.

a little glimpse

here's a little glimpse at our life right now...

these are mostly from the beginning of december - i had great plans to get them up in a timely manor. i failed!!

1. landon wanted a picture of his butt... oh the joys of boys:)

2. chocolate milk straws from grandma!! what a treat!

3. elijah painting & landon painting:)

4. matching pj's (big brother/little brother:) make me smile!)

5. landon's cute little feet hanging FAR above the floor while sitting on the bench - sometimes he seems SO big & then i get little moments like this one when i realize he is still my little boy xoxo

6. morning snuggles & tv w/ daddy:) landon's favorite thing to say in the mornings... landon"can we watch tv" me "not right now bud" landon" when daddy comes home/down he'll turn the tv on" me "yup he probably will... but not mama":) and that's how our day begins most days:):)

7. elijah being silly @ dinner - we have a similar pic of landon around the same age w/ the same napkin on his head:)

8. elijah's last day w/ his cutie paul frank jammies- the hole in the toe was the last straw:( i LOVED those jams!!

Happy Halloween

and the day after Halloween at that...

This year we had high hopes of making our own costumes BUT that was not in the cards!! Batman would have been super easy but Robin threw a little kink in the plan! If we had a sewing machine we may have been able to finagle something but we (and by we i mean luke:)) broke ours last year making our costumes. So we ordered these bad boys & called it good!

Landon was adamant on being Batman & who was I to tell my sweet little 3 year old he couldn't be his favorite super hero. So Batman & Robin it was ... and a scary gorilla to mix it up a bit:)

september

1. topsfield fair... daddy & elijah 2. tom cutting his famous ice-cream pie on labor day! 3. yummy - apple picking 4. grandma, elijah, gg (my mom's mom) 5. first day of preschool!!! 6. daddy & landon apple picking @ applecrest 7. water balloons on labor day 8. landon w/ his apple 9. king elijah 10. happy birthday to luke 11. landon @ the fair 12. landon & elijah first day of school <3 13. monkey man e 14. the water park on labor day 15. happy e apple picking 16. ben gearing up for the water balloon fight! 17. elijah sitting at the table (such a big boy!!) 18. landon @ the boston museum of science

there... all caught up - boooya!! so now i will try to do weekly posts instead of monthly;) i've really GOT to get my camera out more often & start snapping away- the camera on my phone is just way to easy...

august

1. Elijah helping with the bread while big brother fishes 2. tie dye!! 3. rides @ york wild kingdom
4. all of our beautiful shirts 5. daddy unrolling his tie dye master piece 6. landon on tim's shoulders @ the bed race - yankee homecoming 7. landon cheering on the pawsox! 8.elijah @ york wild kingdom 9. landon fishing 10. landon on the beach 11. a very happy e 12. landon's pony ride @ ywk 13. mama & e @ the bed race 14. landon's big pitch @ the pawsox game 15. mama & landon tie dying 16. checking out the beach after the hurricane 17. mama & e in the crazy wind 18. pawsox game 19. elijah on the beach 20. daddy & landon fishing

we had an amazingly AWESOME summer full of super fun stuff!! so that's where we've been instead of inside blogging it up:) now it's time to play catchup... almost there:)

july

i know... i know... i know! JULY!! ooppss... It's time to upload some pics off of the camera;)

BUT now that I have figured out how to do collages in picasa (super easy just fyi) i will post monthly pics more regularly!! hip hip hurray!!! and maybe we'll get to weekly posts. but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves. baby steps...

So for now you all get to enjoy some of our July pictures:):)