Dear Preston

Dear preston,

Today you did something that was so outstanding and it made me so proud and even brought me to tears.

 Being a mom is hard preston. You feel like there is so much to teach your child that you can become discouraged by the little things that go wrong. 

Today Porter and I visited you at school for lunch. A little girl who sits at the table behind you has Down syndrome. You waved to her, smiled and said hello. When you turned around you told me that her name was Brooklyn and she was your friend.  Soon Brooklyn had made her way over to you and gave you a big hug, I think she even snuck in a kiss on your cheek. The boys next to you were giving dirty looks and laughing at you. You ignored them and started to talk to Brooklyn being a friend to her. I was so impressed that even though she looks different you see her as a happy friend. Another thing that made me so proud was your ability to ignore the attitude that others had and did not care what they thought of you or her.  You acted as the savior would have acted and that was amazing to witness. 

Preston, I hope you always remember to be kind to everyone even if it is the uncool thing to do. You are a great example to Porter and myself and I hope that we can see people the way you see everyone. As a friend.

Daddy and I are so proud of you. We love you.

Love 

Mom

Silly boys

I always am taking pictures of preston and Porter to remember the silliness that goes on in our house. But then those pictures get buried in my phone or camera and nothing becomes of them.

And then a memory full message pops up on my phone or my camera and all these pictures resurface.

I did it! I turned 30 and survived.

I don't know why the thought of turning 30 was so horrifying to me. Maybe it's the inevitable slowing of the metabolism and the dread of forever counting calories or the increase of wrinkles that I have to come to terms with. For me, turning 30 sort of made me feel like the beginning of the end! So much happened in my 20s. I graduated from college, I worked, I had children.😳 what exciting thing can my 30s bring? Unfortunately, the day did come. And believe it or not it was a great day. leave it to Matt to take my birthday dread and turn it into the best day ever! He knows me so well and planned a spectacular birthday date and for the first time in a long time I was able to have a sister to celebrate with.

Matt started the day off with some pumpkin pie French toast. It was delicious, the only thing that could have made it better was a nice dollop of whipped cream- darn those calories 😉 really it was my fault for not having cream.  Matt also made dinner for me and it was hands down the best steak I have ever had. He picked up steak from a fine food market and it was AMAZING! Simple but so delicious. (I always complain to Matt and tell him I refuse to buy steak because I can't find a decent place. He found one! I devoured my dinner before the thought crossed my mind to take a picture. My sisters girls and my brother in law came over for birthday cake and we all enjoyed salted caramel cheesecake with crime fraiche topping. Yeah, that whole calorie counting has not sunk in yet.

My brother in law was the fabulous photographer for the night.  I guess he wanted credit for being there.

To continue the birthday celebrations Matt planned an awesome date night. We went to pizzeria Cibo with my sister and her husband. Ahhhhh, I love a good pizza and the best part about having 4 in your party is you now doubled the amount of things you get to try.  I loved this place! Then we headed over to Julia Bakers Chocolate shop.  A fancy little boutique filled with decorated chocolates floor to ceiling glamour only a chocolate shop could pull off.

In the end I survived.  I turned 30, life went on.  But I might start slathering on that wrinkle cream serum and thinking twice about eating the rest of that cheesecake.

disneyland

Disneyland!  I was very excited to take these two boys to Disneyland.  For the past couple of weeks Porter would say this everyday, "I so es-sited to go to Disneyland!" and his little face would be smiling ear to ear.  We spent a lot of time on the computer looking at pictures and reading up on little Disney facts.  Rebekah, Alan, and Kathleen came out for the adventure and it was so nice to have an extra pair of hands to watch these kids and it made it possible for Matt to ride some rides ourselves.  I think the boys would have rather just had them come and not Matt and I.  Preston was inseparable from his Em'ma and Porter was very fond of his new Uncle Ah-won (Alan).  We spent 3 days at Disneyland / California adventure and I think all of us were exhausted by the end.  Preston and Porter's favorite ride at Disneyland was the Autopia and Buzz Lightyear. Preston even went on Space mountain and at the end of it when I asked if he liked it he said "no, because I didn't know where you were".  Preston's favorite ride in California Adventure was the Radiator Springs Racer (my favorite too!) and Porters was the Tractor Spin.  I think out of everything though, Porter's favorite was to see the characters.  He was drawn to them like a magnet.  He couldn't stop smiling once he saw one and he was on a mission to go up to them, give them a good stare down and then a big hug.  It was the cutest thing ever.

This shows just how excited this boy was for Disneyland.

Goofy was trying to get them to act like pirates but they were not understanding.

Radiator Springs racers.  Little Preston is in the middle.

The Ferris wheel.