The thing we call Mother's Day

 Sweet and refined?  Yes, at times, but catch Alana at her rawest form and you might see this:

Well, at least she ate all her peas.

She LOVES dressing up as a Princess, dancing as a Ballerina, and going to watch the Ballerina Princesses at the Park District.  This has been her newest fave outfit...

Last night as I checked in on my sleeping kids, I found her PJs on the floor next to her bed.  That's when I noticed she had changed before falling asleep into her wedding dress...and snow boots.  Boy, was she thrilled in the morning that she was already dressed and ready to go!

Her current line that's making me laugh?  After we rinse her hair in the bath, she cries out in utter despair "Towel for mine eyeballs!"

Addison is my hugger!  ALWAYS telling me he loves me, even mid-activity, sometimes even mid-thought.  He'll be telling me something and in the middle just add in "Mommy, I love you."  He is great at saying Sorry, Thank you, Please, and all those other magic words.

What phrase does he say that I am loving right now?  He finds anything and everything that remotely resembles BYU and points it out...and yes, that means every "Y" he finds on signs or in books.  At church he opens up the program and reads BYU by circling all of those letters, in order, as he reads and finds them. 

Phrase that made me laugh?   When he asked me if I wanted a glass of water at breakfast, he asked in an unconventional way:  "Mom, are you in a water mood?"

And, though it will embarrass him when he's older, I must tell you that I love that he calls his drawers "undie pants".

And Carter?  Carter, Carter, Carter...doesn't this picture say it all?  He's such a HAM!  We see more and more of Steve's show business and entertaining ways in this kid as he grows up!  I walked by the bathroom and saw this ... and about 12 other proud poses!  Steve and I chuckled when he came downstairs and systematically announced that he was "no longer fond of Halloween".  He just said it in such a grown up way!

But nothing made us laugh harder than when we were at church and behind us was a girl he'd never met before (she was 17).  In the middle of the meeting, the row behind us started to laugh -- really laugh.  We turned around to discover that Carter had passed her a note that said, "Call me XXX-XXX-XXXX" with his phone number right there!!!

Yes, Mothering these kids is a handful, and as EVERY stranger likes to point out, Yes, I have my hands full.  But it's life. It's what I signed up for.

from Alana

Addison and Carter gave this to me at church!

Carter's Mother's Day Crayon Art!

They're all so sweet!  One just had to take a potty break...