Burnt to a crisp...

Well just a little weekend rewind... 

Saturday was filled with soooo much excitement!  We joined in celebrating the first birthday of one of the sweetest little guys I know.  Really there is just nothing more joyful than attending or hosting a "First" birthday. 

What a blessing that first year is... amazed that you survived it and shocked how fast, in a blink of an eye your little one is now a whole year old.  In just 3 months we will be hosting one of these birthday parties and I'm not so sure I'm really prepared mentally. 

Has it really been almost a year? 

Where did all those months go?



Don't get me wrong, being the mother to new baby is a special, precious, wonderful time... but lets be realistic here... it's MORE often the most challenging, exhausting, stressful, exhausting time in motherhood.  (At least thus far for me)  and correct me if I'm wrong, but when it's your second new baby life is without a doubt WAY different! Nobody really prepared me ENOUGH for this and if I had to even attempt to sum it up for a soon to be mommy of two I'd have to tell her, It's going to be way more challenging and exhausting than you realize.  Remember to breath... (although I don't think I took the time to "just breathe" for the first 6 months or so)

I try my best to cherish these tiny helpless non sleeping always pooping, always hungry little monkeys in every way possible, buttttt.... I do look forward to the days of sleeping in again and eating a hot meal.  Haha.. really it's more than that though... I mostly look forward to sharing my love for travel with my boys.

Road trips are just not realistic with very young children.  So something to look forward to for sure.  To see my kids faces when we show them Ol Faithful at Yellowstone for the first time or driving "The road to the sun" at Glacier National Park gives me those little butterflies you used to get when you were a kid trying to sleep before a trip to Disneyland. 

The hubby and I had many years of exploring before we decided to start a family... We have quite the list of places we can't wait to share with our little guys, and this by far is my favorite part of being a parent... sharing things you love with your kids.

And speaking of things I love... who couldn't love a trip to the fair. 

So after filling the kids full of lunch, chasing the crawler all over, and watching some battle royal in the jumpy house... we decided we'd head to the fair.  In the car I was bummed to find out that my dear friend who threw the "First" birthday party really doesn't like me after all...  Inside the party favor boxes my boys received upon leaving included all sorts of wonderful items perfect for a long car ride.... a harmonica, a little kazoo, a mini hand clapper, there were some other items in the box but they were the "quiet" peaceful types.  (love you Chels haha) 

So thankfully all that jumping caught up with him and after a noisy 10-15 minute symphony of party favors both boys napped for the trip to the fair. 

Arriving at our destination reminded me why I also LOVE living in the sticks.  The place was packed almost bursting at the seams.  We waited for what felt like 30 minutes just to get in the main gate, thank goodness my boys were good and rested. 

Once in we made the best of maneuvering a giant (borrowed) double jogger through the masses.  The one thing I must say about a large stroller is you defiantly have the right away.. you just go and if people don't want to get trampled they move.  Haha no I actually felt quite bad because with the sun visor down on the stroller I could no longer see the front tire and really lost count of the ankles I bonked into all afternoon. 

Ok so our "I don't need your help anymore", preschool attending,  almost 4 year old... tells us as we're just getting into the fair that he wants to ride a roller coaster.  Like really, who are you and what did you do with my little baby boy that for the longest time clung to my leg when going out.  A roller coast was just one of many rides he rode all by himself. 

Gosh lately I've really been given a dose of reality, he's so NOT a baby anymore. 

Oh and bad mom moment #3,877 I left my camera at home!  Yeah so the memories I caught are with a dinosaur of a cell phone, but at least I had it.

I just love the fair; the animals, the smells (and I'm referring to he food, not the animals) the rides and really just the sights.  It was defiantly not like past fair visits that were kid less, I missed a bunch of exhibits and we never played any games to try to win that giant banana I saw someone toting around, but all in all we had a great time. 

He loved the Carousel!

Just enjoying the ride

Horrible picture.. Waiting for the ROLLER COASTER to start!

Canoeing

Vrooooom!

And so now to Sunday.... Ahhhhh a day at home with all the boys I love.  A day of many projects started some still not completed. 

That seems to be a theme in my life now as a stay at home mom of two.  I'm not sure I complete much of anything these days and laundry and dishes don't count because they're never ending. 

Ok so Sunday was a gorgeous weather day, a day where in the Pacific Northwest you wait for all the long long cold winter and when it arrives you are so happy to be in the sun you completely forget what sunscreen is or if you even have any. 

Yep you guessed it burnt to a crisp.  Luckily my kids were smart and stayed in the shade most of the day and they are still pasty as can be.

 I'd like to call this my base coat... you know everyone needs a good season opening burn to start things off right. 

So lots of progress was made in the garden Sunday... Bean Tent built, a rock lined path made to access the back half of the garden, rows made and ready for planting in the kids garden area, and some of my precious starts we started as seeds made their homes in row two. 

All in all it was a great day, a little bit of whining and some lawn mowing that took waaaay too long but I was able to relax for 15 minutes with a graham cracker smothered in Nutella before heading to the bed where I lay for the night... (we don't sleep there really, at least not most nights) 

Someday though, that baby will love sleep I just know it.

I will post more pictures as soon as I find that always missing camera cable... why can't the camera have a retractable cable... really