Snug as a bug in a bed ;)

Just over a year ago we purchased bunkbeds so Big D would have a "Big Boy Bed" and J would still use his crib.  Well, this weekend things changed.

The crib is gone.

So crazy thinking that all our boys are sleeping in "Big Boy Beds".  We worked pretty hard Saturday morning reorganizing, dismantling, deep-cleaning and the re-making to get out final results.  That night the boys were all tucked snug as a bug in their beds.

Big D liked the new set up.

So did J!  Does he look small in that bed?  Not really.  Hmmm, it amazes me how fast they grow!

The really amazing thing was how well each of the boys slept that night, and then last night too.  I couldn't help but smile last night when G asked if he could bring his bed into their room too.

We love our boys.  :)

Father and Sons CAMPOUT

So maybe there were other people that were surprised to hear last Sunday that the following Friday night would be our congregation's annual Father and Sons Campout. 

I was surprised.

The Big Guy Lowe was sitting on the stand when the announcement was made and our eyes caught.  My eyes were big as he was nodding his head in a way that said "Yes, I'm going with the boys!"  I then made a motion to each of our three boys with a questioning look on my face, just to have The Big Guy Lowe respond with a big smile and a slight nod. 

HOLY COW!!  The Big Guy Lowe was going to take all of our boys on the Father and Sons Campout!  I couldn't help buy chuckle a bit to myself.  I had no doubt that it would be a great time, but with greatness often comes endurance.  :)

Last night as I was sitting home alone, reading a book, I received a text from my Favorite Man in the whole world!  As he shared about the mammoth nose-bleed our oldest had, the mud everywhere, and the exhaustion our boys were already experiencing while it was nowhere near time for everyone to get to bed, I experienced a pang of loneliness.  I knew the boys were having a great time with their Dad, I just missed being able to share that time with them. 

I'm sure I went to be before they did.  I'm positive I slept a bit more comfortably than they did as I heard stories of the younger boys moving all around the tent throughout the night.  And I couldn't have been happier to hear the garage door open and know I was just seconds away from big hugs and kisses...and some stories that I was sure would make me laugh.  They had a great time!  Congrats Babe!  You did it!!

Setting up camp!  Did I mention that we had perfect weather for a campout that weekend??  Not usual for our neck of the woods.

J had to test out the inside of the tent.  He LOVED it!

Everything set up with some time to relax before more fun and games.

Nice looking camp!

I'm so grateful for a husband who loves me and loves his boys too.

You are wonderful Babe.  I'm so grateful I get to share this eternal experience with you. 

Love you completely.

Saturday is a special day...

There is a primary song that I learned as a child at church.  It goes something like this...

"Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday" and then it continues teaching about all the things we do on Saturday so we can keep the Sabbath day holy.

Every week I get the boys clothes ready for Sunday.  People often comment on how cute they all look because I dress them in khaki pants and blue dress shirts.  Really, I do this because it makes it so easy to know what they will be wearing on Sunday.  :) 

This was the first time I thought of taking a picture. 

Maybe next time I'll think of taking a picture of them wearing their clothes.  ;)

Love my boys!

When Aunt Christina comes to town

Do the boys love their Aunt Christina?? 

 

 

 

Yep, they pretty much can't wait until she comes back again!  For that matter, The Big Guy Lowe and I are looking forward to that time too!  Love you Christina!!

G's first day of Second Grade

How is G old enough to be in Second grade already?

He's so excited to start school, while I feel like I am dragging my feet.

I like having all my boys around during the summer.  Hmmmm, maybe it's just because this summer seems to have passed so quickly.  Oh well, the morning has come and G is ready!

Of course it was raining, but that didn't dampen our spirits!

G was happy to see some of his friends from last year!

I'm excited to see how things go with G's new teacher.  She's been teaching for 19 years and knows how to run her classroom.  She is known for keeping her class in order and helping her students achieve great things.

No individual desks, just tables.  Boy do I love G's smile!!

Here's the last shot before I left my wonderful G in the care of his new teacher.  I can't deny that there is still a little tug at my heart...  I love you G!

After school!!!  Time to meet G at the bus stop!!!  D was so excited to have his older brother back that he just about ran the entire distance!

Jennifer is still our wonderful bus driver and there is G after his first day of Second grade!!

Yep, it was a good day at school!

And it's also good to have brothers together again!

Congrats on a great first day of Second Grade G!!  We love you!!

3rd of July

Last year we were out of the country on the 4th of July.  Okay, we were up in Canada, but we were out of the country.  Did you know Canadians don't celebrate the 4th of July?  Nope.  ;)  (love all my Canadian relatives out there!!)  So, last year we didn't have any fireworks.  The year before was a big deal.  Lot's of celebratory fireworks set off by none other than The Big Guy Lowe.  Unfortunately, I was inside during most of them as big D was terrified of the sounds they made and we also had a new baby.  This year The Big Guy Lowe and I decided it was going to be different!

We decided to set off a few fireworks two different times on the 3rd of July...just to see how J was going to respond.  After the first fuse was lit and then the explosion took place, our youngest ran into the garage.  My first thought was "Oh no!  Not another year like this!!"  Then to my surprise, he came back out of the garage carrying his little camp chair, set it up on the driveway, and sat down in it.  Both the Big Guy Lowe and I were thrilled!  Yea for fireworks!! 

We were feeling pretty confident that our fireworks the next night would go well, but just to be sure, we decided to set off a few more that evening.  All the chairs were set out and because it was COLD, we had jackets and blankets to warm us.

Then it was time for The Big Guy Lowe to start our 4th of July Eve show.

Unfortunately, the excitement that our youngest shared earlier in the day had disappeared leaving a terrified little boy!  NO!!!  Now we were faced with figuring out our plans for the following night.

What to do?  What to do...

Trying to stage a shot...and the results

As a mom of three boys, I love getting photos of them playing together or doing fun things at the same time.  It's amazing the amount of satisfaction and love I feel when I see them loving each other.  It truly is one of the blessings of being a parent to more than one child.

This past weekend we found ourselves in a home improvement store.  While the Big Guy Lowe was seriously looking over stains for our fence, the boys and I wandered around.  When we found the riding lawnmowers all the boys ran to get on them.  Thinking that this would be a fun photo op, I asked them all to look over at me. 

This is what happened.

The two younger boys had no desire to perform.  Imagine that--they just wanted to play!!  Our oldest son was doing his best to help them look over, but it just wasn't going to happen.

You can imagine I was laughing pretty hard though when the last picture was taken.

I *love* being the mother of boys!!

New playground equipment

We love living near our schools. 

Recently, our playground grew some new equipment.  Or at least, that how it seemed to the younger boys.

Somehow, the right number of climbing towers appeared for our boys, and they figured them out in the order they grew in our family too!  Such clever guys!

Have I mentioned how much I love our boys?  :)

Shopping with the boys

The other day something wonderful happened.

The Big Guy Lowe said he was taking the boys out shopping.  Their plan was to get ready for Mother's Day.  I couldn't help but smile. 

I love The Big Guy Lowe.  I love my boys.

This is a picture The Big Guy Lowe took when they were out on their adventure.

What a happy group of cuties!

I sure love the man/boys in my life. 

Brothers, a bike and Sue!

Today the boys learned something new...thanks to our good friend and neighbor Sue!

Before I continue with the day, I just have to comment on how grateful we are to have such wonderful neighbors.  I appreciate the friendship I have with Sue and love that she comfortably enjoys being a part of our little family's life.  She and Gary are people that we would choose to be our neighbors if given the chance.  We just love them!!

Okay, back to the day!

For whatever reason, our son D, has decided he still doesn't want to ride his two wheeler!  No matter how much coaxing or imploring, the answer recently has been "NO".  He still wants to ride a bike though, so he gets out the tricycle he was given for a past birthday.  He's pretty big for the tricycle, but he does have it mastered!!  :)  Today we headed out for a ride/walk.  Our youngest and I can walk just fine when D is on a tricycle!

As we were heading out today, Sue came out to chat for a bit.  She always is involved with the boys when they are around and today was no exception.  In fact, she introduced a new way of traveling for our youngest son--standing on the back of his brother's tricycle!

The boys were both pretty excited about this new adventure and Sue stayed right with them to make sure they were safe--giving me the chance to take a few pictures!

Do you think the boys had fun??

Yep, I think so too!  Thanks Sue!

Pokemon brings brothers together

I think Nintendo really missed an opportunity to market itself as what keeps families together.  Well, maybe not, but this was cute to see.  I always love seeing our boys happy together...and today pokemon was the reason!

Looks like our youngest didn't have enough with the others, but needed some time to look over G's book by himself too!

Beautiful day with my boys!

As a mom, days come and go.  Many of them are full of the craziness of life; trying to keep things clean, kids fed, responsibilities fulfilled and hopefully the family happy.  Today was one of those days that just makes you happy to be alive!

The weather was sunny and reasonably warm for February.  When the time came for school to be out, the two younger boys and decided to walk down to the bus stop to pick up their older brother.  What a wonderful day!

Because we got there a bit early we were able to play a bit.  The two boys raced down to the end of the sidewalk and then climbed on the fence.  I was so happy to see our youngest climb up!!  YEA!!

Then they were both there and looked adorable!!

We saw the bus and started heading back to wait for Big G!  Oh how I love the Sunshine!!

I love seeing my boys together...especially when they are getting along!!  This was one of those days that just make my heart happy!

This year we aren't able to stop by Sue's home as often as we would like.  Nap time usually gets in the way at this later hour.  Today we thought we would try!  Unfortunately, Sue and Gary weren't home!  The boys made sure they checked thoroughly though!

Off to our home now for after school snacks.  Wonderful day!

Bunkbeds!

We've finally joined the ranks!  Who would have known this would be such a big deal in our lives, but it sure is! 

Yep, you guessed it...the Bunkbeds arrived today!  YAHOO!! 

What this translates to is a lot of cleaning, rearranging furniture, assembling furniture and letting the kids help without getting in the way!  Most importantly though, Big D, our middle son is getting a Big Boy Bed!  YEA!!

The Big Guy Lowe did a great job building!

But he did have some help...

Once the beds were completely built, we made them with matching bedding to what G already had!  Pretty exciting!!

Once the beds were made, the boys came in to do the only thing left to do...make a fort!!

They were pretty happy with their results!

Grammie Lowe came over to inspect the new beds and to provide a lap for our youngest to sit in and get some love.

Then it was time for bed...and the boys were looking forward to it!  Exciting times!!!

These boys do seem to be growing up pretty fast though...love these boys!

The street we live on...

So much happens out in front of our home.  We love where we live.  We are blessed to have a beautiful home, wonderful neighbors, and boys that get to play together!  Life is good (not perfect)!

Today we started out in the garage...  (did you notice that our youngest was wearing a ski helmet?  Yep, we're all about safety!)

Then we moved down to the street.

Do you see a pattern in these pictures?

I was just laughing and laughing as I watched our youngest son follow his next older brother everywhere he went!  I think our middle son thought it was pretty great having his younger brother so excited about what he was doing!  Maybe next time he'll head out on his two-wheeler and see how fast his brother can keep up then!!  Just love these boys!