Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend, despite all of the sickness.  Gabe really wasn't feeling very good on Sunday, but he was still a trooper.  He got up with the kids, fed them and made me breakfast in bed.  Yeah! And besides my wonderful Mother's Day gift from my boys, I also got a special gift just from Caleb.  He came in the room and said, "Mommy, I got something special for you! It's for your face and it has princesses on it!"  I am now the proud owner of 6 Disney Princess lip glosses shaped like hearts.  But wait, that's not all!  They're also rings, so you can wear one all day. :) Yes, I wore one on Monday during most of the day.  He was so proud!  The things we do for love.
We headed to Danville shortly after that to spend Mother's Day with Gabe's mom and to go to church with everyone.  This will forever be known as the Pink-eye Mother's Day as I am sporting my ever-so-lovely glasses for all my pictures.  I am more than thrilled.

Caleb has been into making drawings of our family lately.  This was his first one.  He drew it by himself and brought it upstairs to show me.  I was so impressed and felt so proud that he did such a good job.  And then I looked at Owen's picture.  I said, "Buddy, what does Owen have on his face?" "Oh," he replied, "that's snot."  Classy.

Matching jammies!

Busy, busy, busy

The Myers family has seriously been going non-stop recently.  The only reason I even have time to post this is because Gabe made a last minute decision and took Caleb camping tonight.  So now that I have Owen in bed, I can concentrate on the blissful, wonderfully free 3 hours I have ahead.  Don't you feel lucky that I'm choosing to spend some of that time blogging!  So here's the rundown of our comings and goings:

Gabe made Caleb a new wooden ramp for his cars, complete with a parking lot at the top.  It was his first project since completing his workbench.  Caleb loves it, of course!

We had some cousin time this week.  If only Owen could have been in the pic too.  But we felt pretty impressed that three of them would actually stay in one spot, let me take more than one picture of them, AND smile.  

We had a whirlwind weekend last weekend.  We left B/N right after school on Friday to spend some time with the Schwabs down in Litchfield.  I had my first-ever pedicure.  It was fun to have some girl time!  Then off to Highland we went, only to get a good night's sleep and then head to St. Louis in the morning for the 5th annual Strollathon.  Sophie was totally in on the fun with her purple hair for Team Sophie.  Fredbird made an appearance before the game later that day.

My dad and Owen getting ready to stroll.  Doesn't Owen look cute in his little purple Team Sophie shirt?  Heehee.

My aunt Debi let Owen wear her sunglasses. He thought that was pretty great.

Let the stroll begin! A one-mile stroll through Tilles Park.

 Did I mention it was hot that day?  Oh man, you just never know what you're going to get at the beginning of May.  The first year we took Caleb it was freezing.  I suppose we're glad it didn't rain, but the air conditioning at the restaurant later felt fantastic!

A pretty great family pic from the day. This is post-stroll...that's a lot of happy faces for all the sweat and hunger we had going on.  After the stroll we went out for lunch to celebrate Mother's Day.  It's becoming a rather nice tradition - maybe not always on Mother's Day - but we were together and that's what counts.

After the stroll and lunch, we jumped in the car and head back to B/N.  We all showered, ate and then headed out for Gabe's Brass Band of Central Illinois concert.  They played great!

The next Monday, Ruthie invited us to go to the zoo with her and Victoria.  It was Owen's first trip.  My favorite part was watching them watch the meerkats.  Owen just giggled and giggles trying to catch the one that was pacing back and forth on the ledge.

Looks like we really wore him out - yeah for good naps!

And this one is kind of random, but my friend Julie was kind enough to bring her two little ones out to the Strollathon to support Team Sophie.  Lillie is still pretty little and she was sleeping in her stroller, so I just had to snap a photo of her sweet little feet.  I love baby feet!

Smiles and Sillys

Wow, how fast a month can pass without a single post.  To my loyal readers (all 3 of you), here are some pictures of our recent happenings.

Caleb likes to be Daddy's twin - they were off on some adventure this night (don't remember where). Two peas in a pod.

Guess who's idea this was....

 My little turkey

Caleb learned how to use chop sticks at preschool.  I tried...I can't do it.  He's mastered it - he can even pick up grapes!

This picture says so much about my daily life!

 I came out of the office after doing some work and saw what Caleb had been working on so quietly in the other room (clearly Owen was sleeping or this would have never been possible).  He told me the big cars were cornering his little cars.  Boys!

 I heart this picture!

My sister gave us their old swing.  Gabe has been gracious enough to change things up a bit on the playground to make this work.  But this boy just loves to swing!  And it gives me a place to put him so he can't eat grass and whirlybirds (which he does....often).

He can wiggle away from a diaper/clothing change like a champ.  Doesn't he look proud?

I heart this picture, too!

Self-portrait! Not too bad - I can't believe he sat long enough for me to do this.

March madness and a bike ride

I won! It's only taken 6 years, but I finally won the Myers Family March Madness Tournament! I like to say that I was holding out for a trophy.  Which I'm glad that I did, because it's pretty awesome.  And yes, it is proudly displayed in our family room for all to see.  I also got the record high score.  I'm still working on negotiations on what that means and if I can get "extra credit".

In other news, Caleb got a new bike!  We were planning on getting him a bike in December, either for his birthday or for Christmas, but when we went to look, he was very disinterested in riding on them.  So we decided to wait and purposefully set aside money to buy him something this spring.  He loves it!  He tells anyone who will listen that he got a new bike and that it's the fastest bike in the world.  Which, he does like to go really fast on it, but he took his first spill yesterday.  He cried, but he's not dissuaded...he's been asking all day to go back out again.
With Caleb getting a new bike, it also meant that it was time to break out the WeeRide for Owen. It was a hit!

A little update

Oh my! It's nearly been a month, for which I am truly sorry.  But let's just say that the plague has landed on our house a few times over and we're still not recovered.  All of us have had various issues for the past month (mine probably the worst and lasting the longest) which is why downloading pics and setting up a post hasn't been a priority.  I've had pink eye twice now, Owen's had pink eye, we found out that Caleb is allergic to amoxicillyn, I had a nasty cold, Gabe's got allergies and Owen has a small pimple like thing on his face that the doctor thinks might be a tiny staph infection.
  But here it is in all of its glory - an update from our house...better put on your HASMAT suits if you dare enter!

An Owen Update:
I am sure that my blood pressure has gone up since Owen became mobile.  He can officially crawl, go up the stairs, pull up and cruise.  And boy is he curious!  He can pull the plug protectors out of the wall, he knows how to get out of his bouncy seat (which I only put him in for the 5 minutes it takes me to shower) while it's still latched, and knows just about everything he's not supposed to touch and then giggles with delight if he makes it to that object before we say "no!"  Oh, but that smile! He can melt your heart!

 Pulling up for the first time on the folding black chair downstairs.

 Mommy put the bouncy seat in a different place in the bathroom thinking it would intrigue him to get a new perspective.  Oh, it intrigued him....enough to pull that bottom drawer open and unroll some toilet paper.

 My naked little stinker waving hello!

A Caleb Update:

Not too much new in the world of Caleb.  He still really love preschool.  He talks more than any one child should possibly talk, but I am thankful to hear his sweet voice, his funny questions and his 4 year old outlook on the world.  For instance, after telling his Big Kid Buddy, Kelsey, that he would not be at preschool on Wednesday, she said, "oh that's fine.  I won't be here either."  We get in the car and Caleb says, "mom, why won't Kelsey be at preschool?"  I tell him I don't know.  He proceeds to hypothesize why..."maybe she has a meeting with all the other Kelseys." "Hmm, I bet your right," I say, "what do you think they do at a meeting with all Kelseys?" "They probably do adult sign language."  What?!



 Obviously this picture needs an explanation!  We were Skyping with Grandma and Pawpaw Myers when Gabe and Caleb thought it would be funny to wear these wigs.  That weekend Gabe had a gig playing at a wedding where it was a Renaissance theme.  They asked the musicians to wear a costume which included wigs.  Caleb was a little confused about why they had ponytails.

Caleb and his best buddy, Ricardo at the park.  It's fun to see your son find a best friend. 

Myers Update:
Overall, things have been well, besides the sickness!  I had my Hearts at Home National conference last weekend.  It was a success with over 6,200 women converging on ISU's campus for a weekend filled with laughter, encouragement and a few celebrities! I didn't personally meet the Duggar's, but I did get to see them backstage after my on-stage part was over.  And I spent a little time with #9 - Joy Anna throughout the day.  Two more conferences this year, so I'll probably get my chance to say hello.

1st wagon ride of the spring.  It was a bit chilly, but felt good to get the boys outside.

 Owen's first playground swing experience.  Oh, he loves it! He just giggles and giggles!

 I'm sorry, isn't he so cute! He looks like a little tough guy.

And this one is just plain mean on my part as mom.  Caleb has CARS2 underwear and sometimes when he wears his windpants, they slip down and you can see the top part of his underwear.  On this particular day, he was wearing his underwear that says "LONDON" at the top (for one of the locations of the races in the movie).  Everytime I saw his underwear peeking out of his pants (which this picture doesn't do justice) I would sing in my head "I see London, I see France, I see Caleb's underpants!" :)

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

In honor of the upcoming birthday of Dr. Seuss, Amy and Andy invited us to the Magic House in St. Louis to celebrate with the kids.  If you've never been to the Magic House, it's pretty much the best children's museum out there.  Mom and Dad had a quiet morning and afternoon watching Owen, which I'm sure they loved.

 Doesn't Sophie look happy? It was a great day!

 I like how Caleb forced Ryan to be "Sally" in this picture on the Thingamajigger. 

What a true friend.

 Trouble!

Making pizza at the diner. Yum!

This was our first stop...no one was ready to take their coats off yet...it was freezing outside!

 The Cat in the Hat!  Caleb told me later that he knew "it was just someone pretending to be the Cat." Ah, how wise.

 I'm pleased to introduce you to the next President of the United States....President Caleb Myers!

 Did I mention....trouble!

 Fixin' up cars - a little piece of heaven for Caleb.

A rite of passage while visiting the Magic House.  It's hard to tell in this picture because my hair never really took off, but the static electricity in the ball I'm touching made our hair stand straight up. I  have pictures of me and Amy as kids doing this.  Caleb was a little afraid of actually touching the ball by himself (which I don't blame him for...it made a pretty loud scary noise).

We then had a yummy Steak n Shake lunch nearby and then headed home for the afternoon.  Gabe took the kids over to Amy and Andy's for dinner that night with Mom and Dad.  I had a great night out with my high school friends, whom I haven't seen in a long time.  I forgot to take any pictures though (duh!).  Oh well, guess we'll just have to plan another night out.  And then on Sunday we had church and then back over to Amy's house for an early birthday celebration for my mom.  All in all, a pretty great weekend!