Lost Mexico pictures

Okay, these weren't really lost but these are some of the pictures that I didn't take that I finally got ahold of! 

The guys all went out deep sea fishing-here's Ben's catch.

Here's my Dad's catch-kinda ugly!

They didn't catch this shark but still kinda cool to see!

Here's the whole group minus a few out at Senor Frogs.  We had so much fun and walked the beach back under the moon!  Kinda funny to see my Uncle getting his nipples twisted as he takes a shot but well worth the memories! 

My Dad carrying a purse like it's no big thing around the bar.  We all found this hilarious!

Especially Ryan (my cousin)

In honor of Ben and Katie's reception this Friday I will now share the professional images that the photographer took!  Beware-you will want to get married on the beach next time around ; )

Riley enjoying his first dance with the bride!

Early Mothers' Day weekend!

This last Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day and I had asked if Derrick would want to take Riley boy up north so that I could scrap my heart out from 9-8:30 and not feel guilty for not being at home and he readily agreed!  Riley let us sleep in until 8 on Saturday and I was very thankful since I had a long day ahead of me.  He cried when I left and I could hear him saying "mommy, mommy, mommy" as I got in the car but I had ALOT of scrapping to catch up with and I knew he would be in good hands.  Dawn my old boss and also my Creative Memories Consultant knows how to throw a good party!  She provided breakfast, snacks, lunch and pizza for dinner and free gifts all for $40 and I even won a new album so I got more than my monies worth and I had a BLAST!  I am so proud of myself for finishing one album and nearly finishing the next (Although I am only to month 4 of Riley's life!)  The day flew by and I am now very motivated to finish Riley's books before he is 2.  My big night alone included a movie "The Ugly Truth"-funny, predictable and romantic but a little crude, a bath and some reading.  I have to say that I don't tell Derrick enough how very meaningful it is to me that he takes our son whenever I need to get something done and that I am so proud of him for getting himself and Riley out of the door in the mornings.  I think this has created a very special bond between them and when I get up with Riley on Saturday's he is always looking for Daddy.  
Looking at the baby pictures of Riley made me fall in love with him all over again and I can't believe how fast nearly 2 years has gone.  He really looked like Derrick to start with but now he is pretty much a Mini-Me.  Here's some pictures of me as a child.  Derrick and I were stunned at how similar we are!  

Yes, I looked like a boy with my mullet hair cut.  I have no idea what my Mom was thinking?

Spitting image?!

Thank you Daddy and Riley for giving Mommy such a relaxing and fun filled weekend!  I missed you but got so much work done!  

Pretty blooms

How quickly it went from this to 

Our life outdoors

To say we have been spending every night outside is an understatement.  We have literally spent every waking minute playing in our yard, going to parks and bike riding!  We spent Sunday afternoon buying bikes and a bike seat for Riley Man.  He loves his new seat so much and we have logged about 5 hours in since Sunday.  Monday night Riley and I biked the long way to a park quite aways away from us and had the whole place to ourselves for awhile.  He is just so much fun to play with and we laughed while we swang together until it was time to eat dinner.  After dinner we hit golf balls to eachother for an hour!  That boy is very particular about where you stand and he hits the ball like a pro!  Tuesday we ventured out to watch Daddy play s-ball and Riley walked in with his glove on his hand, his bat in his other hand and his backpack on that was carrying his PB and J dinner.  He had so much fun watching the guys play and also playing in the sand with Logan and Avery.  He was such a ham and cheering away (usually for the wrong team as ours is getting a little older, slower and worse with each passing year).  We are loving this weather and we spent our day off together deep cleaning the house with G'ma Hutch and re-arranging a bit.  The house looks sparkly clean and I once again feel so refreshed after it!  G'ma Hutch really means business when she comes over and we washed the walls down, the inside of the cupboards and vacuumed the couches among many other tasks.  Here's a picture peek into the fun we have been having together.

He loves to "drive the truck" it's become a fast favorite.

Little Logan watching his Daddy.

Little Avery is almost a walker and turning 1 next week!  

Our little baseball wanna be!

Say what? sssssssss...

I can't resist a good pizza fest so Sunday afternoon we headed out to my Aunt and Uncle's house for a Papa Murphy's dinner feast.  Little Owen and Riley got some play time in and Owen entertained us all with his impressions of everything from a snake (which was my personal fave) to a pig.  He is quite the animated little guy and it was fun to see the differences between the boys.  Thanks Sandy for having us over and for the salad, bread, pizza and ice cream cake!  Mmmmm!

Twins fandemonium!

We had our first experience at the new Target Field Friday night!  It was so pretty and it made us feel like we were out of state visiting a different stadium!  Everything in there was so fresh and clean and the bathrooms were my personal favorites-no lines and superbly white with no standing water at your feet or dim lights overhead!  Dear Metrodome-I don't think I will ever grace your toilet bowl insides again!  We spent a few hours ooohing and ahhhhing as we walked around and then we grabbed some grub and made it to our bleacher style seats 3 rows back from left field minutes before the game started.  We sat so close to the left fielders (Young and Podsednik) that our fellow bleacher buddies couldn't resist yelling insults out to Podsednik that were funny but borderline inappropriate.  Some of the insults included "Podsednik-your mom is a farmer!" (uh okay) and "Podsednik it looks like you pooped your pants" (it really didn't, not even close)

oh yeah and "Podsednik what's better losing in Chicago or losing with Kansas?" This went on all night long and finally in the 8th inning during a pitching change he looked at our section shook his head no and then laughed.  What a good sport and he seriously made about the sweetest catch I think I will ever see in person that night, right in front of us.  We actually made Sports Center-we are kind of a blur but in super slow mode you can totally see D's red Twins shirt!  It was a sweet catch and we still won so I can say "way to go Scotty!"  For a sold out crowd getting to our vehicles and exiting the parking ramp was painless and quick-we can't wait to go back and I think I will give my blessings to D purchasing season tickets!  Go Twins!

Jeff and Apryl

I look like I have the neck of a giraffe

Mauer mid swing, it was a hit!

Dirty 30

Go ahead just ask Apryl how dirty 30 can truly be!  I hear her garage is paying for the fun we had last Saturday night celebrating her husband Jeffs' 30th!  D still appreciates everyone who drove through the snow storm to make it to his 30th and we just plain like B-day parties (and our friends) so we skipped out on a Theisen/Miller/Kriebich reunion to spend the evening doing very adult things like playing Tippy Cup, taking shots like teenagers and extensively trash talking our opponents across the table.  It was a fun night with great friends and the Kyle cab picked us up and took us home to sleep off all the booze.  Riley man stayed with G'ma and G'pa Hutch and slept all night!  Way to redeem yourself little man!  We couldn't sleep past 7:30 which was pure torture but it was well worth it!  Happy b-day Jeff!

Prior to the dirty 30 I finally got to hand over gifts I had been storing for my Mom's B-day and for Katie's very belated B-day/belated shower gift.  I love, love, love to give gifts and I anxiously await the moment when I can finally hand them over.  My mom got a beautiful arrangement of flowers, a new spring purse and wallet and a few cards-one very nicely decorated by Riley.  (I had to make him color...the boy can't sit still for more than 10 seconds!)  and Riley Man for the night.  Katie got a handmade sign from Ashley my favorite painter (visit the busy brush link!) commemorating the Mexican vacation and her fresh marriage!  They loved their gifts!  : )

Notice the cute little bouquet on the left...it looks just like hers!  Fabulous job again Ashley!

My heart spilled

I first read this phrase in another blog I read regularly and I thought "that's it, that is exactly how I feel when my heart aches beyond words and I can't seem to get it to beat steady again."  My Wednesday was a perfect clash of anything and everything that makes my particularly sensitive, easily broken heart spill and it was all I could do to stop crying and get it beating again.  

It started Tuesday night when Derrick and I finished up The Pursuit of Happyness.  I now understand why I never saw that movie.  To see a man struggle to make it time and time again was painful to watch and when his son lost his Captain America toy because they were rushing to catch the bus to the homeless shelter my eyes unleashed a fury of tears and Derrick who I noticed had been watching to see when I started crying actually looked like he could start crying to (although he didn't)(I think he was shocked that it took me that long to actually start crying also).  So we went to bed feeling drained and completely guilty for not donating more and not appreciating what we have and for complaining about things that we shouldn't.  It was not a good night of sleep which made my Wednesday morning a little rougher than usual.  During my lunch break I finished The Last Song which was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad choice to finish at work.  Let's just say (I don't want to ruin the book for anyone) that her Dad reminded me so much of my own.

I had already been wrestling with the fact that Riley doesn't get to see Grandpa Bob anymore and that he sees pictures of him and Bob and gets really excited as he points to his G-pa with a smile on his face.  These moments so soon after Easter knocked the wind right out of me.  I thought of how proud Bob would be at Riley's enunciation of "Bobby" and how he would think it's the greatest thing to hold Rileys' little hand as they walked.  I thought of the pride in his face as he saw Riley casting a fishing pole in the driveway and reeling it back in like an old pro.  I thought about how I would love for us all to have one more bear hug from Bob and how his grandchildren will miss him.  I thought about my Dad having cancer and how close Riley has come to having no Grandpa's at all and I just started panicking, at work, in the dead center of my busiest time of day.  My heart was pounding and I was having a full blown anxiety attack.  I remembered acutely the first time that I realized my Dad wasn't invincible and that he would one day die.  I cried in our kitchen and I was maybe 8 or 9.  I cried until my Mom got home from work at the Vineyard and I cried some more.  I was a hot mess and I can still feel the shock and sadness that I felt that day.  Sometimes it feels like forever ago that my Dad was sick and sometimes I am waiting for it all to catch up to him again.  I started thinking about Aleah and how she was here one day and gone the next because the cancer wasn't done with her 5 years later.  

I missed my son so bad that it is reminiscent of going back to work after maternity leave.  I am shocked at the aching and brokenness that hit me.  I felt guilty over not saying good morning to him.  I felt guilty about not holding him after his nap time.  I felt guilty about not feeding him lunch and I felt guilty about being so tired at 3:00 that I need to rest my eyes for 20 minutes.  I felt guilty for my Riley Man having an upset tummy and I could hear him saying "mommy" and I ached to snuggle with him and make him better.   

This was not a good day.  It was a perfect emotional storm for me and I took the advice given to me came home, snuggled with my Little Man, did some shopping and ended with a bath and 3 episodes in a row of Grey's...for once I was out of tears and couldn't muster up one!  

What I have learned is that 

1. a  person needs more than 4 hours of sleep at night.  

2. if your not going to eat anything you will go crazy.

3. if your head is pounding so bad you want to cry you should really take some Advil.
4.  tons of green frosting between 2 graham crackers is a great pick me up.
5.  thank goodness for sound proof walls in my office and the fact that no one walked into my office for a good 60 minutes.

6. you will have days like this, there is nothing shameful about it and beating yourself up accomplishes nothing.  Try again tomorrow after sleeping for 8 hours, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner and taking your Allergy meds and some extra Advil. 

My favorite images from the last week

We literally spent all week outside!  Splashing in the driveway, playing in the leaves, picking up sticks, having fun with our playgroup, going to the park and spending time up north!

3 day weekends Rock!

How much cleaning can one Mommy get done in about 4 hours...

Friday before taking off for Garrison to spend the weekend with the Theisens I had about 3-4 hours of time to get my weekend chores done and I was impressed that by 1:00 I had washed, folded and ironed 3 loads of clothes, cleaned the bathroom, dusted the whole house, vacuumed the whole house, washed the windows, did the dishes and packed for the quick 24 hour trip.  We headed up to Kevin and Sheri's and Riley got to spend some time monkeying around with his cousins before dinner for Kathy's B-day at the Casino.  It was not real relaxing with Rye Man but he ate good and slept all night (except one quick wake up) so no complaints.  I watched Hannah Montana with my niece and nephew and got my butt handed to me in many quick games of 31 with the 8 and 5 year old!  Good thing we were playing for fun!  The next morning Riley played some more before taking a 2.5 hour nap-he woke up happy but wasn't really himself all day.  We ate a big ham dinner home cooked by Grandma T and the 3 Theisen men went through Bob's shed to sort of inventory and take what they wanted before Kathy has a garage sale.  Kathy did clean out Bob's closet and she said it was hard on her.  She is trying to stay busy but we worry about her a lot and it was sad being in the trailer eating a family dinner without Bob.  I can't imagine the Easter Bob experienced this weekend!  We headed home and when we got into Elk River I looked at Riley and he looked miserable.  He was clammy and just didn't look like himself so we stopped at WalMart (the one in ER is actually very nice : ) to do some last minute bunny basket errands and Riley was very hot in our arms, lethargic and just plain not feeling good.  We aren't sure as to the why he was sick but he was running a fever by the time we got home and we spent the night babying him.  He slept like a champ Saturday night and awoke fine for Sunday so I don't know if maybe it was being outside most of the day or if he has allergies or if his tummy is still bothering him?

Bubble catching and sidewalk chalk=sure signs of summer!

Easter Sunday

This Easter was our second with Little Man and they continue to get better and better.  He was pleasantly surprised at the sight of his basket this morning filled with goodies.  

His smile and hair were too cute!

We all met up at church for an Easter Brunch and then headed in for the service which was energetically delivered and even had Riley singing (or at least exclaiming his favorite words Bobbe, Mommy and Daddy).  It was a great morning followed up by a long nap for all 3 of us.  I stupidally drank a Mt Dew at like 6 on Saturday and then couldn't sleep and was up until 1:30 catching up on Grey's so the nap was more of a necessity than usual : )  We lounged around afterwards playing with Riley's new lawn mower/bubble maker and enjoying the sun before heading over to the Hutchie's for Riley's first egg hunt and some family time.  

Grandma filled the eggs with nutritious goodies, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries-a few had cheez-it's and crackers in them but Riley preferred the fruit filled ones.  He did pretty good finding the eggs and ran around delighted to be eating the fruit. 

The sun felt amazing and the fam played some Bocce ball, ate dinner and then played some baseball in the front yard which was quite entertaining to watch.  Daddy ended up picking Riley man up and hitting/running the bases with him because he was begging to join in.  He manned the outfield shouting as the balls were hit and squealing with joy as the excitement picked up.  

A little after-game wind down between the guys.

It was the perfect way to spend the day and Riley really enjoyed finding the eggs, playing with his new hockey stick, getting in on the baseball action and of course entertaining everyone with his charm.  

Happy Easter and here's my favorite song from the service that always sends chills up my spine.

Worthy is the Lamb by Hillsong

Thank you for the cross, Lord

Thank you for the price You paid

Bearing all my sin and shame

In love You came

And gave amazing grace

Thank you for this love, Lord

Thank you for the nail pierced hands

Washed me in Your cleansing flow

Now all I know

Your forgiveness and embrace

Worthy is the Lamb

Seated on the throne

Crown You now with many crowns

You reign victorious

High and lifted up

Jesus Son of God

The Darling of Heaven crucified

Worthy is the Lamb

Worthy is the Lamb