A Memorable Memorial Day

I know it's taken a long time to post again but as usual, each day just brings its own adventures and time just gets away from me. Dave has been hard at work in our kitchen this week. We were going to put off this project until the Fall but that was before I decided that I couldn't live without a dishwasher anymore. So, to get a dishwasher, we needed to cut out a cabinet and for it to be the right size, we had to change our sink and if we were changing our sink, we were getting new countertops and with new countertops, we would have to paint the cabinets and if we were going to paint the cabinets, we might as well paint the brick behind them and while we are at the floor certainly needs replacing. If you have ever read "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff, it's just like that...one thing leads to another. So, the cabinets are stripped, the cabinet is ripped out and the dishwasher is actually in our house and we are ready for installation. We just need to talk to our plumber and get the work done. YEAH!!! Then it is onto painting and taking down that "oh, so loved" country border. Here are some fun pics from Memorial Day Weekend. We went to the annual softball tournament on Saturday (I think this was my 18th year!). We put the kids in the car right from bed at 6 am and put their sleepy little heads to bed at 9 pm when we got home. It was a long day but soooo fun and the kids were great. They just had so much fun playing in the dirt and watching everyone play ball. I actually had an itch to play this year since I wasn't pregnant and didn't have a newborn but who would watch the kids while daddy got to play?!?! It was a really great day with only one injury...daddy. He broke the the bone in the tip of his finger while catching a ball. Of course after my fainting incident in the grocery store a few weeks ago, I couldn't look at the bruised mess. He played for the rest of the day but got his finger checked on Sunday and since Josiah woke up with a goopy eye, he took him to the doctor as well. That's when we found out the finger was actually broken and that Josiah had an ear infection. Another day, another adventure, right? His finger is doing ok now. He just has to go to an orthopedic surgeon this week to make sure it is healing right. After we found out about the finger and ear infection, we decided not to go on the boat with the family just because it had already been a busy weekend. So we stayed home and since we aren't usually home on Memorial Day, we never knew there was a parade in our town. We took the kids and they thought it was pretty cool. I love being a part of all their "firsts" and seeing the joy on their faces.

My heart just melts when I look at this picture. Josiah is such a daddy's boy and LOVED watching him play ball and sitting on the bench with him. He just couldn't understand why he couldn't go on the field with daddy!

Uncle Tim playing trucks with Josiah. There is more dirt at this place than we know what to do with...a good day for boys...big boys too I guess!!!

Who wouldn't love the softball tournament? Chocolate Chip cookies at 8:30 am! Thanks to Auntie Lauren.

Isaac and Caleb playing trucks. They were all into wearing their hats backwards that day...so cute.

Don't you just want to SQUEEZE those chipmunk cheeks???? I can't stand how cute this picture is. Hannah was a trooper during the tournament. She napped in the car and in the stroller and just went with the flow for the day.

13 hours, 3 VERY dirty faces and 1 broken finger later...our husbands won 2nd place.

Here are the kids waiting for the parade and enjoying some ice cream.

Mommy and Hannah waiting for the parade to start.

The boys enjoyed watching all the different trucks that were in the parade.

Daddy and Hannah watching from the "bleachers". It was pretty hot so he was trying to keep her out of the sun...what a good daddy.

Mish Mosh

Yes, that is the title of my blogs when there really isn't a theme. Those of you who know me well know I LOVE THEMES! So, if I had to pick a theme, I suppose it would be "Mish Mosh". Nothing too eventful in the Libby house. No trips to the emergency room, no major disasters...just a "normal" week. The weather has been beautiful so the kids have been outside everyday and we even busted out the pool since it hit 90 degrees! I LOVE SUMMER! The boys are having a blast being outside all the time and Hannah loves the pool. No matter how chilly it might be, she goes right in. Last night, I got to go out with some of my high school friends. We get together throughout the year for each other's birthday dinner and it was such a fun time for me! I paid for it by not getting home until 12:30 am but it was just so nice to laugh together. I really enjoy my time with them. My sister graduated from Lesley University last weekend and it is so great to have her home again. Even though she was only in Cambridge it was hard to see her a lot because she was busy with student teaching. So here is just a peek at our Mish Mosh of a week. Tomorrow we are heading to the annual Memorial Softball Tournament and need to leave the house by 6 am (see, it's not ALWAYS bad that your kids wake up early!) so off to bed for me! Have a great week everyone!

Here she is...the graduate. Two days after graduating, she actually got herself into a classroom. She is substituting at Mt. Hope in 2nd grade while that teacher goes on maternity leave until the end of the school year.

So, we couldn't be at the graduation (I don't know why with 3 little cherubs!) but her school put it online. Here is the picture I caught of her. It was so neat to be able to watch the graduation and it was so clear and you didn't miss a thing. Marc Brown (the author of Arthur) spoke at her graduation. I was so proud to watch her walk across that stage...Magna Cum Laude (I think that's how you spell it, I certainly didn't graduate with this after MY name!)

There comes a time in every child's life when they need to learn what a "helicopter" is. I used to love putting these on my nose when I was a kid and the boys got a kick out of it.

Pool time for everyone!

I just think this picture is adorable. Those BIG eyes get me every time. They haven't turned brown yet so we might have some hazel eyes in the family. But if they do turn brown, I'll be singing "My Brown-Eyed Girl" all the time! I definitely teach it to Josiah.

Ok, we got a fish. I know, like I need another thing to take care of. My mom won it at our teacher's luncheon and gave it to me. This is Caleb "listening" to our fish, Cookie, eat. Dave taught him this little trick.

At my mom's house, Josiah went into the bathroom, got this stool and helped himself to the chips. Where there is a will, there is a way for him!

This is priceless. Hannah discovered that there was another person in that mirror of hers...she kept bending over to see herself. This went on for like 10 minutes. It was so cute!

Matching PJ's. Almost...I just love having "pink" laundry!

Happy Mother's Day

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie." ~Tenneva Jordan

I found this quote this week and just loved it. After our crazy week last week, I had a very enjoyable Mother's Day weekend. Saturday I got to go to a Mother's Day Tea at the church...all by myself! I love taking my little girl to different things but it was nice to just have time with some ladies at the church and not have to worry if anyone needs fed or changed or who is running where. I know I need to sneak in more of those moments for myself but for right now they don't come along very often so I really enjoy them when they do. The speaker at the tea was amazing. She if from Proverbs 31 ministry and she just reminded us of the job we have as moms and how important it is to speak and pray blessings over our children and all who enter our home. And that who we are at home is the most important. She was a wonderful speaker who captured your attention, made you laugh and left you with important nuggets of truth to hold on to. Sunday I got breakfast in bed (at 6:45 am of course...I really think Mother's Day should be on a Saturday so we mothers can SLEEP...but I digress) and it was delicious. Then after church we went to my mom's house for a cook-out. Lauren, Donna and the boys took care of everything so it was a nice relaxing fun day. Hope all the mothers reading this also had a relaxing and blessed day.

We actually got a decent family picture for a change.

Mom and "the orginals" as Rick and Lauren like to refer to us.

The first thing Caleb did when we got to Nonna's Sunday...just what I need, the little boy with stitches to start climbing trees!!! (The stitches come out tomorrow.)

Grocery Shopping and Strings

You wouldn't know this little boy had such an eventful day...

There are many things as a mother that we all dread to do. Maybe it's changing diapers, maybe it's losing sleep at night, maybe it's homework. For me, it's grocery shopping with 3 children. Now I really don't mind the actually task of grocery shopping and normally I go every Tuesday with just Josiah and Hannah. This week it just didn't happen that way with my work schedule. So I geared up for the fact that I would have to go on Wednesday...with all 3 little cherubs! Not that any of them are difficult when we are out but together, they are unpredictable!!! Well, today was a reminder of why I don't take all three. With about 10 items left on my list, Caleb and Josiah were getting a bit restless and goofing around with one another. As a result, Caleb hit the floor and hurt his chin. I headed over to the courtesy booth for some paper towels because there was some blood. When I put Caleb up on the counter, I took a closer look and realized it was a pretty good gash. I wasn't exactly sure what to do but I did know that I was getting REALLY faint. I don't do well with blood. They called over the store manager who was so helpful. I couldn't even look at Caleb's chin without turning whiter than I already was. So here I am with my head between my legs while the staff is getting me water and chasing Josiah while Hannah is crying in her car seat out of pure exhaustion. The staff at the store were amazing. They got Josiah and Caleb cookies and lollipops, played with Hannah to make her happy, took care of me and took Caleb up in the office (who was so much braver than his mommy!) to bandage him up while I called Dave. They were truly angels to me today. Poor Dave didn't know what had happened (later I learned that he thought he fell out of the cart and cracked his head open!) because his whoozy wife wasn't making sense but he knew to come right home! We waited at the store until I felt like I could drive, rung up what groceries I did manage to get in the cart and Dave met us at the grocery store. He took Caleb to the emergency room. Caleb needed 6 stitches and Dave said he and the doctor couldn't believe how brave Caleb was. As much as it was so hard for me not to go, Dave assured me later that it was a good thing I didn't. He said there was no way I could have watched. I probably would have for sure fainted!!! While they were there I just prayed for a good doctor (because you know you can get some real doozies in the ER) and that Caleb would be brave. Well, God answered both requests. Dave said the doctor was so great (he said he reminded him of Patch Adams!) and Caleb was unbelievably strong. He must have his daddy's pain tolerance because we all know he doesn't have his mommy's! Here is a picture of his first "real injury". When he came home, as he was sucking on his lollipop that he finally got to eat from the grocery store, he gave me a hug and said "I got strings!".

"Thank you Lord for protecting our little boy and that it was only a couple of "strings" to make him feel better." Amen.