Mother's Day 2013

I don't know who created Mother's Day, but it's a nice to take a day (or moment or hour) to be nice to our Moms.  There are so many people who are Moms to me that I am thankful for.  My grandmothers, my aunts and great aunts, my Auntie, my mother in law, my other mom friends - there are too many to name!  My first and only Mother raised me to be kind, loving, polite, and most of all Christian.  I pray daily that I am so thankful that my family taught me that a relationship with God was a necessity and a blessing.  I work each day to bring those same qualities to my boys . . . I'm not sure about my success rate right now, but we will continue to work on that!  Lincoln's pre-school had a lovely Mother's Day lunch on Thursday, but none of the pictures are downloading properly.  Trust me when I say that it was a special event.  The kids were so excited to sing their songs, Lincoln was eager to be the Emcee of the event, and his teachers put together a great slide show for the moms.  It even opened with Lincoln singing to the class!  I almost cried right there!  On Sunday, I was showered with cards, flowers (both real and crafted), gift certificates, and hugs and kisses.  Score!   

Nana and Pops joined for a special dinner and dessert.  We all made happy plates!  Everyone loved the lemon rosemary pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes and steamed broccoli, but the highlight was the mini cookie pizzas.  Lincoln and Beau thought it was funny when I told them we would have cookie pizzas with icing for sauce, strawberries for pepperonis, and blueberries for olives.  This dessert was a definite success! 

When it was time to get all cleaned up, I really took a moment to look at the boys and take in their joy.  Of course they are trying at times, but they are truly the sweetest little guys ever!  I wouldn't trade a single minute with them . . . even when Lincoln woke me up with puke early Saturday morning.  He was so sweet to tell me I was so beautiful as I was stripping the bed and cloroxing everything in sight.  I can't ask for much more than that! 

Being a Mom is hard work!  Knowing that the future depends on how these kids are raised makes for a lot of pressure, but the world is safe with my Kuhlman boys.  They are so imaginative, creative, independent, and even fighters and forgivers.  I learn so much just being their Mom.  We had a moment in the car a few days ago that humbled me . . . after an unhappy morning of getting ready for school, I kind of lost it in the car because the whining just wouldn't stop.  After my rant was over, I apologized to the boys for losing my temper.  Lincoln said, "It's ok, Mommy.  I still love you and want you to be my Mommy.  You could just be a better Mommy, that's all."  And that's what I'll always try to be!  Unconditional love is priceless!

Lincoln's New PJs

This past winter we changed up Lincoln's pjs.  He was so excited to wear button up long sleeve/pant style pjs.  Oh my, he was rocking the cutest old man style pjs ever!  When the weather began to get warmer, it was time to get some lighter sleepwear.  Apparently no other little boys want to wear this style of pjs in the spring or summer because there were no stores or websites that sold what we were looking for.  What to do in a situation like this . . . call Auntie!  Mommy measured our little model and bought a pattern, four pieces of cute fabric, buttons and coordinating piping and mailed them to our personal seamstress. 

Auntie got right to work on the pair she thought Lincoln would like to have first and within a few days a package was waiting in the mail box.  Lincoln was SO EXCITED about his super cool Cars pjs.  We called Auntie right away to tell her how much we loved the special pjs. 

Another package arrived soon, and Linc was still thinking his new sleepwear was the coolest.  Poor Beau still has to sleep in a zip-up one piece, but he'll be really excited when he's old enough to get his own special pjs.  Auntie is thoughtful enough to include a treat for Beau in each package.   

Mommy's favorite fabrics were the gingham, and these may even get a monogram soon.  So precious! 

Lincoln even got spikey hair after his shampoo to celebrate his latest pair of cute pjs from Auntie.  The gingham is growing on him because it is so soft!  Another pair to monogram! 

I almost can't stand the cuteness each night when Linc is all clean and dressed in his pjs.  We are so lucky to have our own expert seamstress at our beck and call . . . and she ready and willing to drop everything so Linc and Beau get a package at least once per week.  Beau has learned that an "Auntie package" means that he gets fun snacks, so he's definitely not being left out.  Auntie just found some fun Razorback fabric, and the boys will receive a few special things in the mail soon! 

(Fake) World Travelers - Scotland Visit

After our imaginary Mexico adventure, we took a (kind of) imaginary trip to Scotland!  Daddy's company is one of the main sponsors of the Highland Scottish Games in Arlington each spring, and we had to check it out on Saturday.  The boys were in awe of so many men in "skirts" (or kilts as I kept reminding them).  We posed by a kilted cutout man and said really cheesed out!  

Most of my pictures from the day were chasing two running boys!  There wasn't a children's tent this year, so we had to make our own fun.  Lincoln decided to run races on the track, and Beau couldn't not follow along.  He did his best to keep up with speedy Linc.  Lincoln deemed himself "Lightning McQueen" for his speed, and he named Beau "Tow Mater" because he was being slower.  Lots of running for Mommy too!

After we had our track races, the boys spotted Daddy across the field and took off!!  Really, most of my time was spent chasing them! 

After all of that running, we hit up the sno cone stand for some cool refreshment.  Lincoln was super excited about his strawberry sno cone! 

Beau was super excited just because Lincoln was!  It wasn't long before both boys were complaining that the sno cones were too cold, so they made sno cone soup!   

We all had fun at the Games this year.  We stopped to listen to a few bands play, we were serenaded by bag pipes as we played with our sno cones, we got a lot of exercise in, and we all had yummy burgers at Kincaid's to top it off.  Super Saturday!!  

Field Trip to Mexico

Lincoln's class at school studied about Mexico this week, and he was so excited about all of the new things he was learning.  The culmination of the lessons would be on Friday, and the class was taking a pretend field trip to Mexico.  Since the boys would be home with me on Friday, we decided to take a pretend field trip to Mexico on our own.  We tried to replicate all the the kids at school would be doing, and it was a success!!!  We started out by making passports.  Lincoln got his passport stamped for Mexico, and he packed his suitcase with the things he thought would be necessary for the trip - a compass, a Lightning McQueen car, a plastic hot dog, a tambourine, and a Curious George book.  Great choices!!    

Beau was really excited to be part of this activity!  He loved his passport too and ran to put together the little wagon to take instead of a suitcase.  The items Beau chose for his wagon were equally as essential - a flashlight, a Lego block, a plastic eggplant, a whistle, and a Mickey book.  More great choices! 

After we got to Mexico, we colored pictures of the Mexican flag and maracas.  We definitely had to play with our set of maracas as well.  All of the traveling made us hungry so we had a little snack of taquitos, churros and lemonade slushies.  So yummy! 

We practiced our vocabulary as if we were in Mexico, and the boys learned that Hola means Hi, Adios means Good Bye, Por Favor means Thank You, and Siesta means Nap.  They had fun pretending to take a siesta, and this Mommy was hoping they would be ready for a real siesta soon!  A pinata seemed a must for our Mexico trip, so we cut and glued until we had a perfect pinata.  They didn't even know it had candy in it yet!!!

So ready to hit the pinata with their little golf clubs . . .  

Wow!  These guys have some serious power behind their swings!  

After they mostly beat up the post that the pinata was hanging on, Mommy decided we should take a different approach.  Mommy held the pinata up and let them whack away!  No one was injured (amazingly) in the destruction of our sweet pinata, and they were rewarded with candy when it busted.   I caught Beau hoarding Hershey Kisses, and he was shoving them in his mouth at light-speed and hiding the wrapper in between the couch cushions.  Really??  I see you!!!  What a fun Friday we all had!  It was great to go with the theme that Lincoln had been studying all week, and they both had a great time on their imaginary field trip.  Of course we had one more vocabulary phrase to learn . . . Mi Cocina means My Kitchen!  As we headed to Mi Co, Beau was so proud to know that he was going to My Kitchen.  He must have said it a hundred times, and we definitely consider Mi Co our own kitchen on Friday nights.   So our passports are stamped for Mexico, but what's next?  A kilt and bagpipe is the next clue!  We are having quite the international travel weekend!

Backyard Brothers

Knowing that a cold front was going to disrupt our lovely spring weather, we had a little backyard fun on Wednesday night.  The boys wanted water balloons, so I spent almost an hour filling a big bucket full of balloons.  Everyone was so excited and ate a nutritious and delicious dinner so they could maximize their time outside.  It was so much fun to throw water balloons at the tree, sidewalk and grass.  

They were squealing with delight as the balloons busted.   

Mommy bombed them a few times with a splash on their feet, and they couldn't believe it was ok to throw water balloons at people!  Instead of throwing them at each other, they teamed up and only threw them at Mommy!!!  Ummm . . . that wasn't the plan!! 

The giant bucket of water balloons emptied quickly, so they ran off to swing together.  I was happy to catch lots of giggles and smiles.   

Lincoln really wanted to pump the toddler swing to go high, and Beau wasn't sure what that meant.  Lincoln had to do all of the work! 

Beau figured out that he needed to hold on tight, and Lincoln did his best straight-leg pumping to get them going.   

It's a good thing we took advantage of that warm evening because the next few evenings were crazy windy and cold.  We've been inside since then, but there was a special (imaginary) field trip in the works to keep everyone busy.  

Fun Afternoon

Technology is a part of our everyday lives . . . iPhones, iPads, and Nooks are just a few of the devices Lincoln and Beau know how to operate.  It is completely amazing how quickly they learned the finger swipe!  They love to look at the pictures on our phones and play games, and Lincoln thinks it is really special if he gets to do an interactive Charlie Brown book on my Nook.  Not to be outdone, the boys busted out their laptops for a little learning!  Lincoln was doing spelling games on his Cars computer, and Beau was learning about letters and numbers (or mostly pushing buttons) on his little computer.  Of course, they had to be as close as possible!

After our study session, the boys headed outside to play in the warm sunshine.  It was an afternoon of bubbles, and everyone was having so much fun . . . until Lincoln dumped bubble solution all over Beau.  Not so fun!  Beau chased him around for so long trying to get him back, but Lincoln was too fast.  Beau finally got over it and got back to having fun.  

A little learning and a little backyard fun makes for a great afternoon!

Jumping Birthday Party for James!

It wouldn't be Saturday if we didn't have a birthday party to go to, and the boys were super excited to help James celebrate his fourth birthday at the jump place.  We've been to a few parties there, but it's been a year at least.  Lincoln was a little timid on his earlier visits, but that wasn't the case today.  He ran straight for the biggest and tallest slide and squealed with glee all the way down!  He loved the obstacle courses and climbed, bounced, jumped and slid with endless energy. 

The joy was easy to see, but it was hard to capture a picture.  He was moving so fast, and most of my pictures were blurry.  When you are having this much fun, there's no way to slow down! 

Beau had not accompanied us to any of our previous jump place parties because he was so little, but he was definitely ready to party today!  He was determined to try everything.  He was so excited to do the big boy activities.  Since he couldn't actually climb by himself, Mommy was his helper.  It was a crazy hard workout to keep up with him, lift him, squeeze through the obstacles, and push him up the ramps.    

Beau loved to slide down after all of the climbing, but only if he was sitting on Mommy's lap.  We did a lot of sliding together!!  Occasionally Linc would join us so we could all slide together, and that made for even more squeals!!! 

Some of those slides were REALLY tall, and Mommy wasn't as fearless as the boys.  While they were squealing with delight, Mommy was shrieking with terror!  At the top of the highest slide, I had a conversation with another dad.  He told me that his kid was a little scared to go up alone.  After seeing me come down with Beau, he thought he should take his kid up and go down with him.  That dad told me he was terrified at the thought of going down.  I told him to bite the bullet, and off we went with lots of parent screams.  Oh, the things we do for our kids!! 

After so much jumping and sliding, it was time for snacks and cake.  Lincoln wanted to tell his buddy happy birthday, and he and James posed for a quick pic.  The boys had so much fun at the party, and Linc told me that he wants to have a party at the jump place next year.  (He tells me that after every party that we go to - the gymnastics place, the farm, etc.)  Even though they loved every minute of the party, we are all feeling the effects of missing our afternoon nap.  All will be better after a good night of rest.  Thanks so much to James (and his Mommy and Daddy) for a fun Saturday afternoon!  Happy Birthday, James!

The Adventures of Baby Bear

Lincoln and Beau have been really interested in Curious George lately.  We read lots of books about George, and Nana even found a movie of George's silly stories.  After reading Lincoln's current favorite story one night (Curious George Goes to the Library), he told me that he wished his Baby Bear could have adventures like George.  The next day we started photographing Baby Bear as he had his own fun adventures.  Lincoln loves to choose what Baby Bear should do, and I follow with the camera.  He anxiously waits for the pictures to be printed then instructs me just what to write.  He is so proud of each page!

Sometimes Baby Bear is solo, and sometimes his friends Franklin and (our stuffed version of) George participate.  Lincoln really loves when he can be part of the action too!  He helped Baby Bear jump on the trampoline, and Beau followed close behind to help Franklin jump too. 

Lincoln loves to play the Cars Playstation game, and he was kind enough to invite Baby Bear to play too.  It was a wild ride because Lincoln is a very active gamer.  He jumps out his chair when the car jumps, and he leans from side to side as he steers the car in either direction.  Baby Bear needed some Dramamine! 

Lincoln is so proud of book and loves to be in charge of this project.  He sleeps with it under his pillow and won't let Beau near it!  I hope Baby Bear knows how lucky he is that Lincoln is taking care of him. 

Klyde Warren Park

Our Sunday afternoon brought a fun and unexpected surprise . . . we ended up in downtown at the Klyde Warren Park.  The boys were having fun in the car going on the tall overpasses and riding through the tunnel, but then we emerged at the park on top of the freeway.  They were amazed at the cool park between the tall buildings.  Lincoln asked me if we were still in Texas!  Of course my guys trampled the flowers to stand by the sign.  Luckily they were dressed in their Rangers gear!

There were lots of birds to chase, and they both ran screaming at any pigeon they spotted.  Poor birds!  The doggies they saw were super interesting too, and I'm glad they were on leashes (the dogs, not my kids) because we probably scared the poor puppies! 

We watched the fountains in awe, and Daddy even teased Beau a bit by threatening to toss him in.  So funny! 

It is a really cool park filled with lots of people, animals, games, food trucks, and cool things to see.  We stopped for a picture with Mommy! 

Dallas has this thing going on around town with a B and a G, and you are supposed to stand in the middle to be the I.  Lincoln was in letter heaven, and he was so excited to be the I.  He stretched so tall! 

He got a little help from Mommy to be so tall, and he told me sitting on my shoulders made him the dot on  my I.  Whatever!  Beau was milling around but wouldn't participate in our game.  He just climbed around a little. 

We stopped for a drink on the patio at the restaurant across the street, Lark on the Park. Daddy knows the guy that owns it, and it was really cool.  The boys got a fancy lemonade that made them pucker and shiver!  I think they wanted to like it, but all they have know about lemonade is the Crystal Light sugar free version.  Surely it is way more watered-down than the fresh stuff at Lark.  Lincoln kept wanting to like it . . .  

Beau was feeling like such a big boy sitting on the patio in a regular chair (no high chair or booster seat), and he kept slurping up his lemonade.  A guy asked us to watch his dog for a minute, and the boys went crazy about that.  The dog sat tied up to a tree while the boys tried to guess his name.  The poor white Lab had to endure many shouts from Lincoln and Beau as they guessed his name.  Beau insisted it was Duke because the Robison's lab is named Duke.  Lincoln got really creative and shouted lots of weird names.  When the owner came back, the boys finally learned that his name was Cyrus.  They thought that was hilarious!!! 

We all had so much fun exploring a new part of our city, and we can't wait to check it out again.  Being outside of our neighborhood can be really exciting!  Visiting the Klyde Warren Park (and the overpasses and tunnels to get there) was a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon. 

Avery's Birthday Party - Fun!!!

Another Saturday - Another Birthday Party!  The boys were so excited when Marte invited us to Avery's 3rd birthday party, and they couldn't wait to play in the bounce house and have cake!  Sweet Avery wore her best princess costume, and everyone had fun bouncing in the princess bounce house.

Beau took a break from bouncing, and he and Daddy decided to play peek-a-boo with Lincoln.  So many fun squeals!!  These guys were loving it! 

Lincoln and Beau tested out the reclining lounge chair, and Lincoln had some serious secrets to tell Beau.  They were probably plotting something super fun, and they were definitely super cute. 

Avery found her camera and chose Beau as her subject.  He was happy to comply to her demands of "cheese".  I know Beau has lots of practice smiling for Mommy's camera, but he was especially happy to pose for Avery.  So sweet!  (They did this forever, and I can't imagine what pictures she took!) 

When it was time for cake, we were up front.  The boys sang the birthday song and were happily awarded with cake.  They are mostly used to boyish cakes, but this princess cake was yummy.  They cleaned their plates! 

After tons of pretzels and chips (Beau spent a lot of time at the chips and dips table with Scooter!), the cotton candy machine provided their next treat.  Neither of them like it too much, but they both wanted to give it a try.   

We all had so much fun at Avery's birthday party.  Beau was so busy keeping up with Marte, and he repeatedly went looking for her.  She always was ready to get him water or hold him up to splash in the elephant fountain.  My boys are lucky that they have an extra set of "grandparents" to love them.  A few hours of bouncing and fun treats makes two happy and tired little boys.  A fun Saturday was had by all.  Thanks to the Hogg's for having us!