made it to mexico

after a little scare and maybe a little luck,
the boys and i made it to mexico!

the view from our hotel

we are so relieved because we almost didn't make it
{as least as a foursome}. here's what happened:

less than 2 days before our flight,
c noticed finn's passport had expired!
we had both just assumed it was current,
completely forgetting that children's passports are only good for 7 years,
{he's had his since he was 6 months old}

the day before our flight departed {we were flying out of tijuana, mexico},
we crossed the border on foot and visited the mexican immigration office.
we were fortunate to be able to get finn a tourist card,
which allowed him to be in the country for more than 72 hours. *woo hoo*

if that hadn't worked, we were discussing plans a, b and c.
leaving the boys and going alone, flying a grandma out, etc. whew!
a BIG lesson learned for us both.

we are here and relaxed now.
so relaxed, we completely forgot what day it was
and had to ask our waiter at lunch.
{a true sign one is on holiday right}

~ tomorrow won't be so relaxing.
c and i plan on doing this zipline tour.
i've always wanted to try this.
i'm SO excited!!

20 years today

love does not consist in gazing at each other,
but in looking outward together in the same direction.
~ antoine de saint-exupery

today c and i are celebrating a very special occasion...
our 20th year wedding anniversary!

how can that be when we are still so young you ask? *grin*
well back on november 11, 1991,
two young kids met, fell madly in love
and decided to share the rest of their lives together.
the rest is history.

i could write a hundred wonderful things about why i love christopher,
and why i still get butterflies in my stomach when i'm holding his hand,
but the quote above i think sums up what love is really about,
and how we were able to make it to this milestone.

simply said, we are partners, moving ahead together in the same direction.
with this in the back of our minds, we've been able to weather some storms,
and hopefully will be able to weather the ones yet to come.

i look forward to at least another 20 years with this man by my side.
love love love him!!

me and my baby
{bubba-loo photography)

~ auntie jen is watching the boys overnight tonight while c and i
sneak off for a romantic dinner and evening all to ourselves.
i'm excited {and very grateful}

patience

patience is also a form of action.
- auguste rodin
 
as i was plugging in my phone to charge one night this past weekend,
i saw a text from a father of two little boys i coach.
the subject read: Coach of the year
and the message: thank you for being so patient with my boys

the dad attached this picture.

me and jayce

i almost cried as i read his kind words because this little guy
{and his 3 yr old brother} were real challenges for me the first few weeks. 
they are being raised soley by their father and i'll just say, it was not easy at first.

i got advice from my dear friend robin who has been coaching a variety of sports
for probably 20 years now.  it helped and i worked so hard at being patient with them,
gaining their trust and not taking practices or our games too serious.
after that, things turned around, and have been great since.
{now when my 2 little redheads miss a practice or game, i miss 'em alot}.

if the kids walk away with a love of kicking a soccer ball
and the importance of exercising their bodies at the end of this season,
i'll feel i've done my job as their coach. 

little do they know, it's their coach who's learned the most over the last few months.
i've learned how to be more patient.  it's funny how that happens.

best breakfast bunch

i couldn't stop smiling on saturday.
my heart was so happy.

it wasn't because i gained an extra hour in the morning
due to daylight savings {although that was nice}.
it was because i received some very happy news.

shannon, one of the sweet girls in my breakfast bunch,
announced she and her hubby vay, are expecting a baby!!
this is something they've been wanting,
and this couple couldn't be more deserving. 

it's monday and i'm still smiling and thinking of all the
wonderful things they have to look forward to. 

i wish i had taken a picture of this momma-to-be,
but i couldn't find my little point and shoot camera until
after she had left the house.

i did snap a few silly photos of the kids of the breakfast bunch.
the group is small - just my two and cathi's two girls.
{come april though, we'll add shannon's baby to our group}.

for now, here are the fab four:

scout (4), lia (6), finn (7) and maya (8)



artwork anyone

do you need new artwork for your desk mom?
- scout, age 4

i get asked this question every week or so by scout.
he loves to draw and color, and maybe even more that this,
he likes to share his artwork.

as his mommy, i  tend to make make a big deal about the pictures he colors  -
they fill my fridge and decorate the walls in my cube at work.
unlike his big brother who prefers to draw in pen or pencil focusing on details
like circuit boards, factories, assembly lines, etc.,
it's a treat and refreshing to see pictures with COLOR.

so i have piles of beautiful pictures from scoutie at my work like this one:

i don't even want to think about the day he stops giving me his artwork. *sniff*

hooray for pre-k

scoutie brings home work almost daily from pre-k,
and it's clear to c and i just how much he enjoys school.
he wants us to sit and give him our full attention as he explains
each drawing, project or writing assignment.
we do my best to try to give him this.

this is a kid who asks for homework when his teacher doesn't assign any.
i realize this might not be the case down the road, but for now,
it makes me happy that he has a passion for learning.  
it also reassures me our little guy is ready for kindergarten next fall.

a big milestone for him occured this past month.  
he now recognizes and reads simple words
{pointing them out wherever we go}.
he especially likes to do this in the books we read together before bed.
oh is wonderful to see a whole new world open up before his eyes!

his teacher, ms. heidi sent this home with him a few days ago. 

***********************************

if you feel like me, the weekend can't come fast enough.

it's been a very long and busy one - both at home and at work.

luckily, i've got a few fun things to look forward to. 
i'm joining the boys for movie night at explorer elementary tonight,

tomorrow we have soccer games, and on sunday morning, i'm hosting the 'breakfast bunch'.

it's been forever since i've seen some of these girls, so i'm looking forward to it!!  

{i better squeeze in some time to clean my house}. 

have a fantastic weeekend. xo

halloween 2011

trick or treat day finally arrived, and the gerber boys were full of excitement!

i made sure to write happy halloween on the napkins i put in the boys' lunchboxes
{a daily ritual i started after scout told me miley's mom always writes her notes on her napkin}.
it wasn't enough i put fun stickers on his apples and snack bags, but he needs a note too. *geez*

i left work a bit early, picked up jen {who works just 10 minutes from me now},
and headed home to warm up chili and prepare for a few kiddos and their parents.

before we had dinner, the kids busted open an adorable bat pinata that auntie jen
brought over. it was almost too cute to hit.  i wanted to tuck away and save as a decoration,
but i knew that wasn't auntie jen's intention nor would the kids go for that. here it is:

didn't i mention it was cute?!

for trick or treating, finn was a scientist and wore a lab coat and goggles
{the same thing he wore at his science-themed 7th birthday party}
scout was a skunk {finn's recycled old navy costume from 2007}

and here are a couple fun photos from earlier in the day.

for school, finn dressed as dennis the menace and carried a homemade slingshot,

and scout was a frog. he wore green hanna anderson pajamas and a cute wool 

frog hat i purchased from etsy. {his preschool only allowed pajama costumes}

~ since scout was the only skunk i saw halloween night,
i think it's safe to say he was the cutest
lil' stinker on the block!

my date with finn

among many things fun going on this past weekend,
i squeezed in a date with my sweet first born, finn.

i've been really trying to set aside time every month to
do something with each of the boys individually,
so when i stumbled on an advertisement for the show,
smokey joe's cafe being performed at city college this weekend,
i just had to take finn!

now he doesn't get to the theater much {yet},
but i knew he'd enjoy the music in this one
i'd seen the show before and have all the music.

i think i won some 'cool points' with him today
when i told him mom was in two shows at this very theater -
the wiz back in 1999 and guys and dolls in 2003.
{it's funny kids have difficulty seeing their moms being anything
other than a mom sometimes}

anyway, we both enjoyed it, and as we were leaving
finn said his favorite song of all was the classic yakety yak song.
he was definitely familiar with that one!

we finished our date with a quick stop at chuck e cheese
{a place i try to avoid at all costs} BUT
since we never go here and it was a special afternoon,
we popped in for a half an hour and played a couples of video games.

we spent the rest of the evening,
preparing for class parties and setting out costumes
{the boys have 2 costumes each: one for school and one for halloween night}.
i even made turkey chili and a cake as we will have friends joining us
tomorrow night for dinner and then trick or treating.

the boys are so excited...
could hardly settle down for bed tonight.

have a Happy Halloween!

birthday photo shoot

an aunt makes life a little sweeter.
unknown

look at these three and the smiles on their faces!

oh how i adore this photo of my sis jen and my two
{whom she lovingly refers to as 'her boys'}

i was long overdue to photograph jen, and her 30th bday
seemed like the perfect time to capture this pretty lady.

now it typically takes a little arm twisting to convince her to be photographed,
but this time around i got little protest. *yay*
{her only request - to have the lil' guys around to keep it fun and light}

now the boys don't really enjoy having their photo taken either,
so i prepped them by telling them we were going on a snipe hunt.
though finn only half believes snipes exist, he couldn't resist.

i took lots of playful photos and a few posed ones too.
the one above is my group favorite.
it's going to be printed and hung in the boys' bedroom.
{replacing an old photo of auntie jen and finn from before scoutie joined our family}.

as always, it was lots of fun for me to play photographer,
and i think my models for the afternoon would agree it was painless.

auntie j truly makes finn and scoutie's life sweeter.
they are lucky to have her...
we all are. 

~ i get to play photographer some more.
maddy has asked me to take her senior photos in a few weeks!
i am excited and a teensy bit nervous.
{i feel for wedding photographers -so much pressure}

angry eyebrows

i debated if i should post this because the 'camera incident' has long passed,
but i wanted to be sure that i remember how my behavior effected my family,
especially finn. 

sometime shortly after my outburst the evening my camera was dropped,
finn came downstairs and handed me a piece of paper with this drawing:

i didn't like the face he drew at all,
but i knew this photo was exactly what i looked like to him that night -
a mom with angry eyebrows yelling.

i'm keeping this drawing of finn's forever, because i think it's important 
to remember not just the happy times, but the not so happy ones too.
{it was a very humbling evening for me with lots of lessons learned}.

************************
~ on a completely different note, the tooth fairy made a visit to our finny last night,
as he has lost yet another tooth {an eye tooth this time}. 
she didn't come the night before because he was holding it in his hand - a test for her he said. 
last night he left it in the pouch of his little robot pillow next to his bed where she could retrieve it easily.
*thank goodness*