This week

 Sweet baby boy stood up in his crib for the first time Sunday night.  I went in his room to put him to bed, which means rocking and cuddling and a final bottle and found him like this.  He was very proud of himself as you can tell by his smile :).

This boy loves his solids, but he is a messy eater.  Some of the puffs actually make it in his mouth.  Most end up everywhere but his mouth right now.  I made him homemade green beans for the first time this week, and he loved them!  He loves anything with a some butter and salt and pepper. :)

 My brother celebrated his 25th birthday on St. Patrick's day.  I made him this cake, but I used a buttercream icing because I didn't want the lemon to be overwhelming.  It was good, but came out a little dry.  Not sure why?  Maybe bc of the egg whites?  I liked the cake a lot; it's a good birthday cake cake, so I plan to figure it out.  How is my baby brother 25?!

I also did painting this past weekend.  We moved in early December and are just now feeling settled enough to start projects.  There is so much to do!  Slowly but surely.  I love this color.  It's a blueish green.  The color is from Sherwin Williams and is called "contented."  Best color name for my house :).

 Sean and I are so blessed to have a group of friends at our church who really desire fellowship and raising our kids in the Catholic faith.  We get together a lot. This past weekend we got together for burgers and prayer.  The kids always outnumber the adults, and I love that!  It is such a much needed support in my life to have these other mothers alongside me.

I took this picture to show how drastically my life has changed in the past two years.  Two years ago, I was having lots of tea parties and playing with barbies and coloring.  I still do that stuff with the girls sometimes, but since they are in school now, I do a lot of this now.  Ben is obsessed with football.  When he's not wearing this helmet, he wants me to wear it.  We throw balls, we play with cars and trucks.  We sing football songs and read dinosaur books.  We run everywhere we go.  I am adjusting slowly from the pink, peaceful play to the blue, rough and tumble play.  Boys are wired SO differently, and I am trying to embrace that and let go of what was.  NOT EASY for me!

 Sometimes at the park, we take up all of the baby swings, and I get my exercise pushing these 3 little monkeys.

This little boy is well-loved, and he knows it :).

Spring Break starts for my kids in one hour.  At 11 a.m. Hattie gets out of school and everyone will be home for the next two weeks.  I am looking forward to the break from school routine, but I hope I can find things to occupy all 4 of them for the next two weeks.  It'll be a little taste of summer.  Here we go!