Hanging out with Daddy

The boys are loving this warm weather.  They are outside any chance they can get.  As soon as Jay gets home from work, they are begging him to go outside and play baseball.  Unfortunately, Brett has to stay inside and watch from inside since I am normally making dinner.  He loves to sit or stand by the window and watch them play.  He 'follows' them around the yard and just giggles.  It is so cute.

You can just see the excitement on Brett's face, even though you can't see his smile.

Being able to see family a little bit more.....

Drew talking to his Barbie in Arizona.

We finally convinced our family to get video cams.  The boys love being able to see their grandparents on Skype.  I am so glad we were able to get them on it.  The best thing of all is, it is FREE!

What a weekend, what an honor! cont.

Not only was it a wonderful weekend for my mother, it was also so wonderful because I was able to see family.  I was able to meet my niece Taelyn before she turned 1.  I was also able to see my Aunt Sue and Uncle Wally (who live in Connecticut) and also Aunt Sandi and Uncle Gary.  It was great to see everyone and the weather was perfect for the weekend.

Brett enjoying the wonderful sunshine in the morning.

Brett and Taelyn playing in the pac-n-play outside.  We tried to let them be on the ground, but they wanted to eat the rocks and dirt.

As you can see, the yards are not grass, they are stones.

I love this photo!  Kean absolutely loved his new cousin.

My precious "little" niece Taelyn.  I couldn't get enough of her. Unfortunately she is not a cuddlier, so I wasn't able to hold her all that much. 

My mom and my nephew Kean dancing at the award ceremony.

Me, my mom and my sister. The only way you can tell that we are related is by our smile.

I have so many more pictures that I would love to post from the weekend, but I will save you from picture overload until our 2 week trip this summer with the whole family to Arizona.

What a weekend, what an honor!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Arizona with just Brett. I am so thankful for two great friends that were willing to watch Drew and Reed for me. Of course this was the worst weekend for Jay, because he was on call all weekend and starting a new rotation on Monday. I wouldn't have been able to make it if it wasn't for great friends.  I owe you both big time!!!!

The reason for going down to Arizona was to honor my mom.  She is an incredible woman! She has taught both my sister and I what it means to be part of your community.  She has started programs to help the less fortunate everywhere she has been.  From working in soup kitchens, being the Director of St. Vincent de Paul,  organizing tons of programs at the United Way and fighting hunger and poverty any chance that she can get!  

Over the weekend was one of her fund raisers for Hunger, it is a program called Empty Bowls.

"The basic idea for Empty Bowls is simple. Participants create ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal of soup and bread.  Guests choose a bowl to use that day and to keep as a reminder that there are always Empty Bowls in the world.  In exchange for a meal and the bowl, the guest gives a suggested minimum donation of ten dollars.  The meal sponsors and /or guests choose a hunger-fighting organization to receive the money collected. Any organization fighting hunger qualifies. Many groups choose to donate to organizations within their own community and others choose to give their donations to national or international hunger relief."

This was the second year that my mom has done empty bowls in Green Valley and she has already doubled what she did the first year. She raised over $7800.  People stood in line for 45 mins to make sure that they could make a difference as well.  I was so pleased that I could make it down there and help out with it. While she was in Stevens Point she had started the program as well and I was always there to help here.  It is a great program and I can't wait to be able to start my own Empty Bowls once we have moved to our new community.

Besides my mother doing Empty Bowls she was awarded Citizen of the Year by the Sahuarita Elks Lodge,  She had no idea that she had been chosen for this award.  We had kept it a secret from her until about 2 hrs before the program.  But even then we did not tell her what we were doing, just that we were were all going to dinner and she was nominated for something.  We wanted to make sure that she was somewhat prepared to talk in front of a group, because we all know what could happen if not. Mom, you definitely deserved the award. I know you may think you don't, but we would all not be able to do what we do if you weren't there to get the programs started.

I am so proud of you and I hope will be a great role model to my children like you have been to us.

It was a very quick weekend, but definitely worth it!