Caleb & Jonathan's Birthday!

On Sunday we celebrated Jonathan and Caleb's birthdays with a family party at our house. (Yes, the day after our crazy Saturday!) We kept everything pretty low-key and just enjoyed hanging out with family. 

Hannah Joy refused to smile, but she would stick our her tongue! 

Aunt Katy brought a birthday cake for the guys!

Happy

Cute birthday guys!

And who can forget Aaron Robert? Silly goose!

One Busy Day!

Saturday was a crazy busy day for our family!

The boys headed to Caleb's soccer practice first thing in the morning while I drove down to Galveston for the Gritty Goddess, a 5k obstacle course. Then we all headed to a family dinner at Grandpa and Dao's house!

Caleb is in his second season of soccer. He's had a rough start with several rain-outs and rough practices, but he's getting more comfortable as the season goes on. Jonathan isn't assistant coach this season which seems to be helping. It also helps that this league has smaller teams and just the practice/game on Saturday, no evening practice. 

I signed up a few months ago to do the Gritty Goddess. It was a blast! Some friends and I enjoyed walking the course and doing all the obstacles. We weren't pushing ourselves to run or be the best, just try something new. I will absolutely sign up for this event again in the future! After soccer practice, the boys came out to cheer me on!

Playing on a playground at the Gritty Goddess.

Sonia and I

Kids playing while they waited for us at an obstacle

On the last obstacle

Crossing the finish line!

After finishing the Gritty Goddess, I showered off and raced home to get ready for a family dinner at Grandpa and Dao's house. I had 20 minutes to change and put on makeup! I don't think I've ever gotten ready for anything that quickly in my entire life. We were gathering to celebrate baby Wesley being born, Aaron's summer birthday, Jonathan's 29th birthday and Caleb's 4th birthday! 

Jonathan meeting Wesley for the first time

Wesley napped through most of dinner and had two cute guard dogs!

Precious Boy!

Moment I thought: How do people have three kids? Haha

Cute family

Caleb's cake

Aaron's cake

Jonathan's cake

Hanging out with Wesley

Cuddle time

Family Photo!

Baby Wesley

Our newest little nephew! Wesley Sheppard Steely born 9-16-2013

I'm in love!

Children's Museum

Kristen emailed me not too long ago with a Children's Museum groupon link. We decided the deal sounded good and planned to meet Kristen, Eli and Hannah Joy there on one of Jonathan's off Fridays. This past Friday was a perfect day to hang out and let the kids play together. 

First day of School 2013

Today was the first day of PeeWee School 2013!!! It was exciting to walk the boys into school this morning and see how big they've gotten! They are both in "real" classes (no longer in the baby class). Caleb was excited and Aaron kept bouncing between excited and nervous. It was cute to watch. Aaron cried when he first went in but Caleb walked in without hesitation. I almost didn't get my hug! Both boys were in picture-taking mode this morning!

Showing off his new backpack

So excited!!!

Both boys together!

Aaron showing off his backpack

Holding hands on the way to school (don't worry, Jonathan took this picture while I was driving...we were being safe!)
; )

Caleb's 1st time to check out a library book from Ms. Liana

 The boys seem to have had a great day. They both were pretty worn out by the time they got in the car. Jonathan took the day off since he didn't get home from Illinois until after midnight last night, so he and I relaxed, took a long nap to catch up on sleep and had lunch before picking up the boys. (I know...we're super exciting!) It was nice having him home this afternoon too while we all relaxed.

Zoned out

My three guys! The boys really soaked in Daddy time this afternoon! 

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

I have always like that book! If you're not familiar, it's a cute children's story. It follows the day of a mouse who is given a cookie. Of course, he can't have a cookie without a glass of milk. And then he needs a straw for the milk and then a napkin and continues on with many more "and thens". I tend to be a lot like that mouse. I start out with one idea and then it explodes and takes on a life of its own. Take, for example, my birthday! 

I asked Jonathan if I could have a better storage solution for my craft room closet for my birthday. I hated the unused potential of the space and wanted all my crafting gear in the same place. He and I took a drive to Ikea and bought an awesome bookcase and some baskets. 

Here begins the problem...if my closet is so amazing, shouldn't the rest of the room be even better? Seems wrong for the closet to be the highlight. The craft room was blue from when it originally was the nursery and I wasn't wild about my furniture placement. And Jonathan was going to be gone for about a a week, perfect time for a big project, right?!? 

So a simple closet organization job turned into moving everything, painting, putting furniture back and then organizing before Jonathan came back last night! This job served as a great project for nap time and evenings while Jonathan was gone and I'm super happy with the results! 

Here's the closet that started it all. A big closet, with basic clothing storage...not the best for a craft/sewing room. 

And here's the after: tons of spaces for fabric and crafting gear and room for more! (and all my gift wrapping items, kid's memory boxes, project books and other lovelies!) 

Here's the after of the room. I can't find any pictures of the room before. I'm certain we must have at least one, even just as a background picture..maybe I'll eventually find it! Notice the new paint job! Yay! 

Thanks to my financiers and energizers for your assistance during this project! All crazy Melissa projects were funded through generous birthday gifts and coffee was purchased with some beautiful Starbucks giftcards! None of this could haven been accomplished without both!