We have had a wonderful weekend! We celebrated the boys' first birthday with a happy crowd of family on Saturday. (Their actual birth day is April 30th.) Both sets of grandparents made the trip, along with all their aunties and uncle, cousin and Aubyn and Gail. Our little house was FULL of shiny, happy people. I don't have the pictures loaded on my computer yet but you can expect to see them some time this week.

We made it to church this morning...a big achievement for us as it cuts into the boys' morning nap schedule. After church, Matt hit the Yellowstone with Josh to slay some trout. I took the boys to the Oberly's to play with Lizabeth and Jack. The sun shone all day and it was glorious. We have all been sun-starved and so we spent much of the day greedily soaking it up. We ended the day with dinner and games at the Oberly's. Tonight we will dream of cook-outs, camping trips, fly-fishing, and lazy days at the pool. Summer's coming!

Mason's first swing experience. He couldn't resist "experiencing" it with his mouth.

Smitty-O and the swing. He had just licked the handle.

Both boys were pretty serious about the whole swing experience, but there were no tears or fits so we're counting it as a positive one.

Smiggy.
Some days I just sit on the floor while the kiddos are playing and take picture after picture, trying to capture their wonderful-ness. Thank goodness for digital cameras...

One day last week, the sun came out for a few hours so I thought it might be a good day for shorts...it wasn't. I took some pictures of M and S in their coordinating, but not matching, outfits. Then we changed back into pants.

MayMo pulls himself up to the piano and gets a kick out of making "music".
MayMo.

Typically, I keep any sort of paper product out of M's and S's reach. They eat it and gag on it and it's mostly unpleasant. But on this particular occasion, they were so enchanted with the noise and novelty of the magazine that I didn't want to be a kill-joy and take it away from them...you learn to pick your battles.

Wrestling

There is certainly no rest for the weary! My little ones have caught a nasty cold...runny, booger-y noses, phlegmy coughs, and fussy boys. This mother-gig is a daily lesson in self-sacrifice...a lesson I am needing to learn, for sure.

The Lord is gentle to remind me of His patience, compassion, and tenderness to me, His whiny, ungrateful, snotty-nosed daughter. And when my heart is sick, and my soul unwell, He cares for me so graciously, without complaint or impatience that I am sick yet again. So, when I feel I have nothing left to give the little ones who depend on me for almost every little thing, I am encouraged and strengthened by the Father who loves me so steadfastly, the Father who desires me to depend on Him for every little thing, the Father who gave everything so that I may be His daughter for all time. I really have nothing to complain about.

Enjoy this clip of my boys (all 3) "wrestling".

Sorry for the extreme crabbiness of my last post. There were/are a few factors to blame for my foul mood of late.
First of all, as I made pretty clear in the last post, Spring hasn't yet sprung here in Bozeman. In fact, it has snowed 5 out of the last 7 days...awesome. The boys and I are tired of being cooped up in our house. We want sun!
Secondly, the weather has kept us from our walks, so I must exercise in my living room. I don't mind doing it in the winter, but I get bored come March. I've memorized all my workout DVDs and I'm beginning to hate Denise Austin :).
Lastly, and this might be the most influential on my mood, I've started weaning myself off my anti-depressant. It has been my plan to stop taking Lexapro when the boys stop breast-feeding. After the boys turn one (April 30), I will gradually stop breast-feeding. Anyway, I've cut my Lexapro dose in half these past two weeks. So far so good...I'm not feeling the extreme rage I experienced last time I tried to stop medicating. Actually, the extreme rage I felt was quite comical. I recall, with a smile, the time my kitchen drawer wouldn't shut. Wanting the satisfaction of a loud BANG when I shut the drawer, I grew very angry when it wouldn't close or bang. So, to satisfy this desire, I went around slamming the doors of my cabinets...hard. I felt better afterwards...but silly. Anyway, not experiencing that this time.

Mason and Smith recently had their first haircuts. They were very professional about the whole affair and are looking more and more like little boys - less and less like little babies. Enjoy!

Lanie and Smitty-O pre-haircut. What a mop!

Only slightly concerned that Lane is wielding scissors so close to his head.
A true mohawk.

Mason pre-haircut.

"What the hell are you doing?"

We thought a haircut would resurrect Mason's mohawk...sadly, it did not.

Still cute as ever.

Evidence of the biter biscuit MayMo just enjoyed.

Smitty-O loves to eat!