L.O.V.E.

 21 Valentines day cards 

signed by GABE!

how long do you think that should take before you excuse yourself 

and go slam your head in a door 

because it would be less painful? 

 im not sure how long it "should" take 

 but it took me about 5 minutes,

i feel me and homework have a long road ahead of us,

 as it teaches me yet again
another lesson in patience!

and its adorable how hard he concentrates on every letter and how his tongue follows along proving he is laser focused, but i am not kidding when i say it took a good 90 minutes for him to fill out every last one of those lightning mcqueen  V-day cards and so help me......
i LOVE him!

we go all out for the "day O' Love" here at the Echols house.

toys and candy waiting when big and middle woke up was mind blowing. 

gabe even score his very own bottle of "cheers" which he thought was pretty amazing!!!

he reluctantly saved it for our special high class valentines day dinner!

as i said, no expense is spared. 

unless you count plates or forks or knives or cups as an expense

then i guess some expenses where spared.

but i got the very bestest most expensive plastic table cloth i could find on the dollar isle.

this style of family eating is not for everyone. 

say if you value things like manners and napkins and such,

but if you wanna blow some little kid minds throw pasta and sauce in the middle of the table 

and go to town with your hands.

to quote gabe "what is happening?" 

it didn't take him or mr. mac long to get in the spirit of things.

{it was just another meal time for mac}

  

we invited nana nancy and grandma-great over since they were dateless 

and quickly conceded that the no fork rules only applied to those 80 and younger. 

it didn't take gabe long to forgo fingers all together and move to a dog style of consumption.

but what are you gonna do? tell him to use some manners? 

you should probably just join him at that point and at least keep your hands clean. 

and while we are on the subject of holidays that are often over-hyped and under-delivered.

a very sneaky leprechaun broke in and turned our milk green. 

that was the beginning and end of it!

#saintpattysdayfail

i sure hope the easter bunny gets his her act together!!

packs punkin patch

I hate when you go to a place, much like this here packs punkin patch,

 that i swear is designed not for the purchase of .28cent/lb pumpkins 

but for perfect picture opportunities around every corner

and you FORGET your fetching camera, so you have to rely on your constant companion, the iPhone. 

{run-on sentence anyone}

what would we do without this technology?

the quality of the photos suffer but the subjects are still breathtaking! 

 thanks to grandma great whos been jonse'n to take the boys to the pumpkin patch since last year.

we got out on a monday night to enjoy this A . M . A . Z . I . N . G fall weather

and fight the other FHE'rs for the rights to a cart and the perfect pumpkin. 

luckily arron and gabe made it through the hay maze..twice! 

pumpkins were purchased 

and despite the HUGE oversight by this gal with the pregnant brain...

precious fall photos were captured, downloaded and now documented. 

 

so feel free to carry on fall, i've got things under control!

sorta.

sugar high

 my mom lives for this stuff

taking the grandkids to the zoo

or to fly a kite, on a picnic..

you name it!

she loves all the cliche things that you'd think a grandma should like.

but heres the thing. 

after a long hot / rainy day with no naps and way to much sugar

she gets to go home, to her own home.

the home without the children. 

 but thats what grandparents are for, right?

spoil em', love em', rile em' up  

and send them on their way. 

 well the little kiddos love every stinken minute of it!!

and when i take a step back from my sleep deprived life 

i know that i love it too. 

i love that my boys love their nana's and papa's 

because they have the best around

 and they get to make memories with them that they will remember forever. 

 and then when i do the exact same thing to them with their kids

i can just pull out the old

"you will do this with your grandkids too" card.

cuz what would life be like without family???

 or with out sugar highs, and the crash that follows.

or the ear piercing pterodactyl cry the entire car ride home

that signifies you may have pushed the limits of the day

a little too far!

 it would be down right mundane i tell ya!

so thanks to both sets of nana's and papa's in our lives.

ill forgive you for making some nights of my life a little harder.

because you make the little dudes entire life a WHOLE LOT BETTER!

nana and papa felman

i cant believe that it was only 3 years and 3 months ago that these two younguns became grandparents. 

and NOW they have 5.75 grandkids.

just wanted to give a shout out to two amazing examples of what family means!

thanks for being AWESOME!!!

xoxoxox

a day in the life....

 oh how would it be to wake up and not know what the day had in store but you knew it was going to be an adventure. 

Cuz i swear these kids should pop open their little baby blues in the morning and think

"man, life is good, i wonder whats on the agenda today"

 if its windy maybe nana and papa will show up randomly and fly a kite with me even though i let a tree eat the last kite they let me fly. 

 or maybe we can go to the "new pool" and have a BBQ at the park, eat grape snow cones and then splash and swim till way past our bed time. 

perhaps we should head to the "fountain park", go the candy store, play on the "big slide" and dance to  the loud songs that are perfectly choreographed to water like we are at our own private Las Vegas bellagio show. 

but if that all doesn't pan out, 

i guess we can stay home and play with our bazillion friends that live not two seconds away

on our very own park right in the back yard and swing "so so so so high" that we can kick the clouds and the sun. 

or race around the circle on our four wheelers and chase the cats and play pirates and and and and......

....and after a long hard day, we will have to have a popsicle of course.

or a chocolate shake!

before we settle in for the night with our best friend, who just happens to live here,

cuz he's my brother. ..... life is hard!