Two Jacks

Cory's Joy School took a field trip to Two Jacks Pizza, where Jack himself taught the kids all about making pizzas. They learned how to prep the veggies and cheese, but their favorite part was watching Jack throw the dough.

 I'm having visions of Cory throwing food into the air. Jack forgot the "do not try this at home" clause.

 Uh oh... this one ripped, so Jack put it on Cory's head. Of course Cory thought that was the coolest thing ever. I'm pretty sure him and Jack are BFFs now.

 

As cool as Jack was, he couldn't compete with the pretty girl in the 4 year old class.

 

It was a fun trip for the kids, and I surprisingly didn't mind eating Pizza at 10am in the morning.

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...

We have some really great news! Mr. I'm So Spoiled Rotten Because I'm So Cute will take a bottle. He's still too cool for formula, but will consistently take a bottle of pumped milk.

Yeah.. that's how I roll.

All of a sudden I'm imagining all kinds of awesomeness. Snowboarding, shopping, pedicures, movies, long runs, and nights out on the town. Whoo hoo!

"You wouldn't really leave me mom. Look at how cute I am."

 

I love my baby, but freedom is calling my name. Anyone want to come babysit... say tonight?

It's Summer in Argentina

We had 2 days where the snow actually melted out of the yard and the sun was shining. I told Cory to get bundled up because we were going for a run. Who cares that the high was only 35. It seemed like a great idea, but in actuality... I jumped the gun. The snow was still piled up on the side walks in places and it was probably too cold to have a baby out (At least by South Carolina standards. People in Utah are currently sending their kids outside to play in t-shirts and bare feet. True story... I saw it the day these pictures were taken.)

 It snowed the day after this outing and dashed all of my spring time dreams. I'm now taking the shopping therapy approach to winter and buying summer clothes for my kiddos. Isn't this jumper cute?

Spinach cubes and my new favorite cereal

Cory and I drink A LOT of smoothies, even in the winter. I have to share this novel idea I came across on Pinterest.

 Frozen spinach cubes

 I love it!! I buy my spinach in bulk from Sams. Now I blend it all up with some water and then freeze it. It takes up less fridge space and now I'll never waste any greens again! Whoo hoo.

 While I'm boring you with pictures of food.... I have to share my new favorite kids cereal. I just discovered that Post makes a kids cereal called "C is for Cereal". It tastes good and only has 1g of sugar per 1 cup serving. Impressive right?

Mason thinks it's pretty delicious and wants Post to make him the new face of this awesome cereal. Do you see his Elmo impression? Spot on.

 

All that healthy talk wears me out. Maybe today will be the day I buy the 36oz bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs from Sams Club. I'll probably end up eating 36oz of them before Easter anyway. May as well buy them in bulk and save a few bucks. Right?

Time to get edumucated

At least once a day we try to do an activity at the kitchen table that will help prepare Cory for school. We're getting a bit burned out on the normal rotation, so I bought this workbook at Sams the other day. So far it has been a big hit. It seems perfect for his level. Cory is so stinkin' smart I don't know what to do with him some days, but I can already tell that if he isn't interested in a subject, he will not retain the information. He can memorize a book about mummies, but has no interest in letters or numbers. He loves to paint, but won't color for more than 2 seconds. The oldest child truly is a guinea pig. I just hope I will be inspired on how to best prepare him for school.

 

 

When the weather outside is frightful....

.....hanging out with your brother is delightful.

I love these two guys so much and love watching their relationship grow. I've already convinced Cory that Mason will always be his best friend, no matter what. They were "wrestling" the other day and then ended up just cuddling on the floor. It was really precious.

 Mason is already giving Cory some grief in the wrestling department. He knows how to use his weight to his advantage. I've moved Mason into size 4 diapers, because the size 3's just weren't containing all of those rolls. They look huge on his short body.

 My little bones boy is getting so big... I can't stand it. His imagination is so fun. Here he is sitting on an "egg" (a ball under a blanket). He couldn't come eat lunch because he was waiting on his egg to hatch.

 We are blessed with friends who pass along their son's clothes and these pjs were included.  I know it may just be me... but I can't stand big kids in footed pajamas. For some reason it just seems so wrong to me. Of course Cory wanted to put them on right away, and I have to admit... I may prefer these over the tattered bones pjs.

 

 We've been going to our library's Music and Movement class once a week, in an attempt to stay sane. It may be working. Maybe. Cory is a little bored during the music portions, but is totally into the movement activities. If it were up to us there would just be a Movement class available. I mean, why else would a mother drag her children out into the tundra??? We need to get rid of some energy people!

V-Day Hangover

During the day yesterday, I ate enough Sweet-tooth fairy cake bites, chocolates, and MnM's to send me on a happy sugar high, but then I had to OD on the chocolate fondue spread and sugar cookies at Mama Bird's last night. I. Feel. Like. Garbage.
So instead of posting pictures of all the crap yummy treats I ate yesterday, I'm going to show you how cool people celebrate V-day.

 You must start your Valentines celebration with heart shaped banana pancakes (or go straight for the chocolate if you're mama). Cory went to his first "school" V-day shin dig, and when I went to pick him up he was bouncing off of the walls. I've spent every hour since convincing him that if he eats one more piece of chocolate the sugar bugs will eat his teeth and he'll get diarrhea. For some reason he doesn't believe me??? Maybe it's cause I'm lecturing him while stuffing cake bites in my mouth.

 

Cousin Sara came and visited for a few days. She surprised each of us with a Valentines surprise. Cory is obsessed with the box of chocolates she gave him and even slept with it last night. 

 

 Mason loved his elephant from Sara and was so cute snuggling on it.

 Thank goodness the sun is shining today and we were able to go for a walk. Now we just need to walk 468 more miles to burn off the rest of our indulgences.

Oh the romance

We really need a date night out. As much as I LOVE when the 4 of us are together, I miss being with my honey. It didn't happen this week, but I feel a night out is in our near future.

The closest thing we got to a date this week was on V-day Eve, while bathing the kids. I rocked the messy bun and tried to seduce him with my awesome photography skills. Ain't he cute! Good times. :)

 

 

Our little sweeties:

 

Happy moments

 Number one reason why I blog is so that when I'm having a bad day, I can stop and look at all the happy moments. This week has been full of good moments.

Cory and Mason spent time playing in our Buzz Light Year rocket.

 

 I love Mason's face in this one. He pulls great faces, just like his big brother.

 Cory has been extra snuggly lately. I swear he's grown 3 inches since Christmas.

  I love these two bums. I also love that Mason's is as big as Cory's.

 

I love making unhealthy things healthy. This week I think I finally perfected my low-calorie, low-sugar, dairy-free mint ice-cream. Check out this happy customer:

 

 I bought new dish towels. This may have been my happiest moment of all. I had to take a picture of the new next to the old. It was definitely time.

 Mason has learned to protect his eyes from the flash on the camera, so the next few months worth of pictures may look a lot like this one. I'm happy in this picture because I just finished a good non-running workout. I'm missing running more than I expected, but I've accepted that my body needs some time off.

I hope your day is full of happy moments!

It's the little things that make me proud

This picture cracks me up. Let's start with Cory: He is picking his nose and wearing bones pajamas with a big hole in the crotch. Then there is the talented Mason: Is he flipping me off or throwing gang signs while pulling his brother's hair? I've got some winners here. 

 

This follow up picture is MUCH better.

 Here are some proud mommy moments for me:

 Mason is the most cuddly baby to ever live.

 Cory is the best little eater around. Not only does he beg for salad, spinach smoothies and oatmeal with Greek yogurt, the other day he brought me a can of protein powder and said, "Mom. My muscles are really thirsty for some chocolate protein." He knows how to melt me.

Cleaning Motivation

Sometimes my house gets to a level of messiness where I just want to hide in my bedroom with a box of whoppers. I've learned that on those days I can take "before" pictures of the rooms in my house that are ailing me and send them to my sister. For some reason that gives me motivation to clean up as fast as I can so that I can send her "after" pictures and hopefully redeem myself in her eyes. Here are a few from this week:

Before

After (ignore the baby and junk on the floor)

Before

After

 It's amazing how fast mommy's sanity returns when the house doesn't look like a tornado went through it.