Roadtripping, Part I

This summer we planned our main vacation down to Texas.  Or as I liked to call it, my sabbatical, since I was gone for over three weeks.  It just made sense to leave the Chicago heat for the more stifling, scorching Texas temps.  Here the kiddos are right before we got on the road for the two day drive down.

Everyone's happy, rested, ready for the much anticipated vacay.  As my mom will attest this was the antithesis of our drive home.  Oh, heaven help me the road trip back was the worst ever in the history of road trips.  Ever.  But back to our happy drive down.  We stopped in nowhere Missouri where Delaney proceeded to eat an entire cheeseburger by herself.

And her mama was proud.  She was pretty proud of herself too, apparently.  We made it to Austin safe and sound just to give hugs all around and drop the kids off, then Evan and I headed for a little getaway of our own in San Antonio.  We considered it a "Happy 8 years" to us a few weeks ahead of schedule.  We stayed in a cute bed & breakfast, ate amazing food (if y'all are ever in San Antonio please do yourselves a favor and eat at La Fonda on Main), slept in, went shopping, watched late night movies and just hung out.

Here we are on the Riverwalk, happy, relaxed, and what's more, rested!  Two thumbs up for a little time just the two of us.  I highly recommend it.  After a couple of days alone, Ash and Logan made the trip out and we met at Adam and Valerie's house for some delish grilling out.

It was so great to hang out, play games and eat some amazing steaks.  Thanks for hosting us all Adam and Valerie!  The next day before we headed back to the kiddos, we stopped for brunch at this amazing old house that has been renovated. 

So pretty!  And we did what we Carletons do best and ate ourselves silly.

A huge, huge thank you goes out to my mom and sister, Heather (who flew down from Utah) for watching all of our kids, which is not for the faint of heart.  Like, the time when Cade woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't find the bathroom and ended up...ahem...peeing all over my mom.  Not for the faint of heart.  By the way, Mom, I think I owe you a cookie.  Probably two.

A Summer Update

I was really looking forward to this summer.  What with me not being pregnant with ankles the size of my thighs and Evan taking a nice, long break from school, I was giddy with thoughts of summer bliss. Now for the reality check.  Since Colton went to all day kindergarten pretty much as soon as I had Delaney, this summer was the first time I'd had both boys home all the live long day.  Let it be written that we've seen our fair share of havoc and some serious, costly destruction.  Factor in Evan being the busiest he's ever been in his career and there went my scrapbook moments.  Of course, there have been good times this summer, even great ones, so here's a little recap of some of them.

 

I was expecting my birthday to be a pretty normal day.  Changing diapers, making lunches, gorging on cake and ice cream.  Evan pulled through though and planned a great date to the city.  I've been telling him for a couple of years that I want to take an architectural tour of the city.  Here we are on the boat ride getting an awesome view of the Sears Tower (I know it's the Willis now but it will forever live on as the Sears Tower in my heart).  The tour was just as good as I thought it'd be and double bonus points for Evan proving once again that he really does listen when I talk.  We capped the day off with dinner on Michigan Avenue and a cookie cake all for me. 

Well...a cookie cake all for me and these three hooligans.  A successful 31st birthday that I got to share with my favorite people.

We celebrated the 4th with some steak and ribs.  How's that for ringing in Independence Day Texas style, not to mention my patriotic cake.

Going to the pool with this girl.  Oh melt my heart, I can't handle it.  I think I might have kissed Delaney 5,349 times this night.  Her chunky thighs in her pink swimsuit with that hat is something I always want to remember.  I love her too stinking much.

T-ball with Colton.  This picture pretty much sums up the season.  He was beyond excited every time he had a game and loves that trophy something fierce.  Also, take a moment if you will and compare this grass to the stuff in Cade's bday pics.  Hello, drought!  And hello, awesome mom and siblings sitting in the 100 degree weather watching Colt play!

Finally, a picture of this sweet little lady because that bottom is just too darn much and this blog can't have too many pictures of her.

13.1

Back in February, I got talked into doing a half marathon.  This from the girl who had to train for a 5k (remember that??) so based on my past experience, I don't know what kind of crazy mental state I was in to think I could add ten miles onto that.  I was told I'd get into shape (baby weight to lose? check), feel an amazing runner's high, and by paying some serious cash to run this thing I figured I'd be all sorts of motivated.  So with visions of me crossing the finish line (heck, winning the whole thing!), smiling as I waved to the adoring crowds, I started training.  By the time I was running four miles without passing out, I altered my dreams and aspirations to merely crossing the finish line, preferably not in the ambulance.  Along the way, I talked Evan into running with me so that he could tell me all sorts of encouraging, motivational words of wisdom and truth be told get me an extra gatorade if needed.

Here we are before the race starts.  I feel happy and fully confident in the fact that if I fall, Evan can just give me a piggy back ride home. 

Here's proof that I really ran the thing!  See Ocean Michigan?  The Chicago skyline?  All picturesque right???  Sure.  If I'd had Evan holding a beach umbrella over my head like I was the Queen of Sheba or something.  It was so stinking hot by this point.  I'm thinking about 90 degrees and I was absolutely dying.  Shriveling up, stick me in an ice bath stat, dying. 

After pouring probably a gallon of gatorade over my head, I made it to the finish line.  Here's the picture to prove it (see that medal?) though the proof really lies in the fact that I look like death warmed over.  And that's putting it in a nice way.  Also, for the record there is no such thing as a runner's high, at least not for this girl.

One year older

Cade at his preschool graduation this spring

So this cute guy turned four.  And now that we've opened up that big, wide door to birthday parties (apparently once you have one, you never stop having them), Cade ordered up a space birthday for him and some of his buddies.  Let's be honest for a moment and talk about my utter and complete lack of creativity.  Seriously, I'm missing out big time on that gene.  So I told my money saving hubby that if he would be in charge of all things space game related, I would make the cake.  Yes folks, make the cake.  It has been well documented in blog posts of birthdays past, I order the cake and order it well. 

Evan came through on his end of the bargain, including alien pinatas, a rocket launch off, black hole balloon games, and a planet and star scavenger hunt to name a few.

The kids seemed pretty happy with it all.  Well in all reality, Cade doesn't look so happy here.  But it's the best we got so take my word for it he was happy.  It was only fair after all of Evan's hard work, that I come through on my end of our deal.

Bottom line, is it's harder than it looks and this was probably the easiest recipe known to man.  So I know that I'm supposed to love making the cake.  That it should fulfill me.  That I should love tapping into my inherently born mother duty to make my child his birthday cake.  But, when all is said and done I like ordering the cake.  I'm really good at it and I'm not sure I want to mess with a good thing.  But for this guy on his fourth birthday, it was well worth it.  Happy birthday to our wonderfully feisty, funny, sweet Cade!

Mama's Day(s) Off!

A couple of months ago I got wind of the fact that all my sisters and mom would be in Utah at the same time.  I immediately envisioned them eating amazing meals, going to the spa, basically frolicking through the fields all without me.  Never one to be left out, I decided to buy a plane ticket on a whim and join the fun.  No frolicking without me, thank you very much.  As I looked through the pictures from the weekend (thanks to Ashley, our resident photographer, who actually documented the weekend) I realized we were true to form and ate our way through Provo.  So brace yourself for lots of pics of the Carleton women waiting for our food to arrive. 
  

Oh wait here I am actually eating the food, not waiting for it!

But wait there's more!  After all that yummy food, Ashley talked the sistas into trekking up Y mountain.  Let's pause a moment for confession time.  I lived in Provo for 5 years, have visited a million times and have never hiked Y mountain.  How is this even possible?  This time around, I fixed that.  Before leaving for the hike, I talked to Evan (who's done it a thousand times) and made the mistake of believing him when he said it was an easy peasy hike.  Just a few switchbacks and 20 minutes later I'm there.  Someone failed to mention that the trail went straight up the mountain and on the way down I might fear for my life.  Not to mention the snake we saw.  It was a jungle out there!  We persevered, made it down the mountain with no broken bones, and burned a few calories in the process.

Here we are in Coldstone.  But wait!  We were just there to use the bathrooms.  Promise.  While waiting for Ash to come out of the potty, Heather decided to try on my wedding rings.  Somehow when she was passing them back to me, (cue the slow motion moment) they dropped onto the floor.  No biggie except that we could not find my bling anywhere!

 Seriously 20 minutes of us and every person in Coldstone looking and we found them.  Whew!

After a few days of hanging out, watching chick flicks (hello Zac Efron in The Lucky One!), shopping, going for a jog on the Provo River Trail, hanging with my girl Chanel who happened to be in town at the same time, painting some UGLY pottery, me missing Delaney wondering if she would remember her mama, and some good ole fashion laughs, it was time to head home.

Best part of the airport was getting to see this sweet guy.  I have not seen Gavin since Christmas and loved getting to hug his cute self.  Darn the fact that I live so far away and he doesn't know his Aunt Rebecca like he should! 

 

Thanks to these ladies for letting me crash their Utah plans and come party.  And thanks to my awesome hubby who didn't bat an eye when I decided to buy a plane ticket and leave him with the kiddos for a few days.

Happy Easter!

We started out the weekend with our backyard Easter egg hunt. Our neighborhood doesn't do one, for some reason, so to the backyard we go. Evan filled the eggs this year and I think it's safe to say only about half of the candy actually ended up in the eggs.

I'm thinking by next year the egg hunt won't be just a spectator sport for this sweet girl.

I had way too much fun dressing the kids up for church on Sunday. My mom started the ball rolling by sending me Delaney's dress and shoes. Fast forward to a couple days before Easter and I'm frantically picking out matching fabric and sewing (with a lot of help from a friend) the boys' ties to coordinate with Delaney.
I might have lost some of the true meaning of Easter as I'm sitting for the first 20 minutes of church trying to fix Colt's tie. Not my best moment, but there you have it, in the spirit of full disclosure. We have 9 am church and since my plans of being ready for church early failed miserably, we didn't take any pictures until we got home. After three hours of church, there was no amount of bribing that could convince my boys to tuck their shirts in for another second.
I will say it was ridiculously fun getting to dress this little girly up. Love her!

And on a non-Easter related topic, Colton was playing at a friend's house a couple days ago and decided to climb to the very top of their playground and you know...jump off. Because (as he told me later), "It didn't look that high up." After some tears (real ones) and a lot of serious limping around, I decided to call Evan. His comment to me, "He jumped off and landed on his feet? I really need to teach him how to roll." Yes, Evan, because our son's a ninja. PS...the verdict is in and he didn't break his foot.

Cali

At the end of February, we headed out to Oma and Opa's house in LA for a week of fun in the sun. And California did not disappoint, not for a second. We left the cold temps and winter jackets behind and spent the whole week where the grass was green. It was so blissfully warm we were even able to do this...
Heaven I'm telling you! First things first, we headed out to Disneyland. The boys were such a perfect age to go and really enjoy every ride. Well, in Cade's case almost every ride. He was a bit...nervous...for certain rides (like maybe a mini meltdown before boarding the boat at Pirates of the Caribbean). After a ride he wouldn't miss a beat in telling me how much he loved it, how much fun he had, and how he never wanted to ride it again. Never. I really just enjoyed watching the boys and living through them and their excitement. Disneyland really is the happiest place on Earth, I'm telling you. And it didn't hurt that Oma was there to hold Delaney while Evan and I went on the rides with the boys. As you can tell by this next pic, Colt met the height requirement for every ride. And he reminded us of this fact every five minutes.

We went with Colt's BFF, Cousin Anna, who both boys think is the best thing since sliced bread. There might have even been tears from a certain six year old when we pulled away from the house to head back to Chicago.

After Disneyland, we headed out for our next adventure. If you can see past Delaney's chubby cheeks, you'll notice that I'm standing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Well...I'm standing on a boat (not even a big boat!) in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And for those of you who know I have a certain fear of large bodies of water, especially those that contain predators of the shark variation, I felt reckless and wild and above all, I survived!

We went whale watching and actually saw them! Amazing. Colt, on the other hand, was not so impressed. I guess he thought they'd be close enough to pet (a result of his close encounters with Aunt Valerie at Sea World no doubt). On the way back into shore, we saw a huge pod of dolphins doing their jumping thing right next to the boat. Consider Colton satisfied. After a couple of fun filled days, Evan left for home to do the work/school thing and we stayed and played like it was going out of style. Some highlights included:
Milkshake moustaches. Had to get my In-n-Out craving taken care of.
Funny face sandwiches for lunch. None of your average PB&J's here!

Parks, a trip to a Noah's Ark museum, playing outside, soaking up every last bit of the sun, a green eggs & ham breakfast by Oma, playing soccer with Aunt CJ, and more playing outside.

Pretty sure that by the time we left, all of the kids had smiles on their faces like this one. Thanks to the Jones clan for a great week!

What we've been up to

Delaney crawling. Here she is thinking about it. Really seriously thinking about it.

Enjoying the snow or what little snow we've had. It's been an amazingly mild winter and I have to stop myself from shedding a tear or two of joy if I think about it too long.

Eating out. Nothing new here but apparently Delaney is overcome with excitement.
Heading into the city for a fun date night with friends. Ate some yummy Thai and hit up a Broadway show. Though if you must know, not my favorite. Pretty much the opposite. One of the actor's voices had me twitching and there was a little too much dramatic romance/washing men out of girls' hair. But hey, the tickets were cheap, the food great, and the company even better.
Last but certainly not least, my good friend/old roomie/fellow EFY counselor came to town! Haley even brought her sweet baby who is only a couple of weeks older than Delaney. Here are Camilla and Delaney sizing each other up...
And before you know it, bosom buddies!
Evan watched the four kiddos for us (not for the faint of heart) so Haley and I could head out for a night in downtown Naperville (which is very near and dear to my heart). We did what we do best...ate some yummy food and chatted like it was going out of style. We came home to all four kids fed, in their pajamas, and what's more, not one kid was crying. Yay Evan! So great to see Haley and hang out like the good ole days. Well almost like the good ole days. Pretty sure we were in bed by 10:30 every night. And I'm also pretty sure that never happened once when we were roomies.
Up next...our trip to Cali where there was sun, more sun and even a dusting off of my beloved flip flops!