Weekend sweet spots...

This past weekend, we traveled to Toledo to support and celebrate my niece Addison's Confirmation.  It was a beautiful day for the middle of March, and God's presence was evident with the sunlight streaming in the church windows.

After the ceremony, we headed to the Young's for the celebration.  We spent most of our time outside with the boys as it was just gorgeous out - and they LOVE being outside.

The boys also loved Aunt Rachelle's swing set.  It didn't take long for them to figure out how to climb the rungs to get up in the tree house so they could go down the slide.  A little while later, Jackson even figured out how to go up the rock climbing wall - all by himself.  They enjoyed swinging, and just running around the fenced yard.

A few highlights:

• I spent some precious one on one time with Jackson - all my little man wanted to do was sit on the swing, have mommy push him, and sing songs.  Lots of songs.  I bet we did this for close to a half hour.  It reminded me of the many, many hours I used to spend with Peyten and Addison pushing them on the swings singing songs.
• Watching the boys meet Sampson (the Young's golden retriever) - at first, they were just so excited to see a "pup pup" running through the yard.  They wanted to chase him.  Then, Addison brought Sampson over to see the boys, and they were suddenly hesitant.  Daddy helped ease them into petting the doggie, and before long, they were both loving Sampson.

It was a beautiful day, and we were so grateful to be able to spend it with Addison.

After the party, we were driving back to Lyn's house, and I was telling Brian about how I used to spend a lot of time with Rachelle's girls on the swings...singing Little Bunny Foo-Foo over and over again.  To my surprise, the boys got all excited in the backseat, insistently saying "Bunny song!".  Evidently, they have learned Little Bunny Foo-Foo at school!  As I started singing it, the boys joined in, and even shared their little hand motions with me!  We sang the song over and over and over until we reached Aunt Lyn's house.  I never thought that a memory made 10+ years ago would be made new with my own boys.

Sunday, we continued singing Little Bunny Foo-Foo in the van on the way to church.  Church didn't quite go as we had hoped.  We are so thankful that Fr. Joe at Little Flower is so understanding.  As we were trying to sneak out during the final song, I heard someone calling to us - Wait!  I turned around, and there was Fr. Joe.  He just looked at us and said "Wow, you had those two in the back of church here almost the whole time, didn't you?"  And he laughed.  So glad that he noticed!

Sunday was another beautiful day - a little chilly compared to Saturday - but still the sun was shining.  It was perfect for Lylah's birthday party.  Brian took the boys outside to play while I helped Lyn get things ready for the party.  We had brunch on the patio, and spent more time chasing the boys around.  Thankfully it was all family and friends because Brian and I had a hard time keeping track of both the boys!

Sunday highlights:

• Seeing the expression on the boys face when they first saw Lylah's Monkey Birthday cake (that Aunt Lyn made) - we love monkeys in our house!  It was all we could do to keep Lincoln from climbing on the table and getting into the frosting!
• Asking Pawpaw to watch the boys with their cake and ice cream - Lincoln's ice cream ended up on the garage floor.  Being a good boy, he ate his cake, but then wanted some ice cream.  Pawpaw's plate was right there, so Lincoln helped himself to it.  It really was sweet watching Pawpaw and Lincoln share!  And if you could have only seen how much chocolate the boys had on their hands and faces from the cake....oh my!
• Losing Jackson - I had Jackson in the house to change his diaper.  I put him down and went to wash my hands and he was gone.  Brian was in the garage, and I asked him if he knew where Jackson had went - he told me he had to be in the house cause he hadn't seen him come through the garage.  We searched the whole house, backyard, and the garage.  No sign of him!  We found him in the front yard playing in the slide/playhouse without anyone else around.  We figure he must have went out the front door and shut it behind him!
• On the drive home, Brian needed some rest so I took over driving responsibilities.  The boys were awake in the backseat.  Suddenly I heard Lincoln repeatedly saying "Daddy sleeping" - very loudly.  It seemed the more I told him to be quiet, the louder he got.  Somehow, Daddy slept through it all!

Life seems to have so much more meaning now that we have our boys.  Hope everyone else enjoyed the sunshine, and found the "bright spots" in their weekend!