Mother's Day

We had such a sweet Mother's Day weekend in Lake Lure with our boys and Seth's family. 

The trip started out a little rocky. The dudes thought touching and picking up every breakable item in the house was the funnest game in the world.  Using outside voices - inside gave them life. Climbing on the deck railing of a second story brought delightful giggles. Whining and screaming in the middle of the night multiple times was totally appropriate. Two of my children thought waking up ready to roll at 4am was the thing to do.

Friday morning at 4:30am I looked at Seth and told him, 'I don't think I can do this. We may be going back home today.'

BUUUUT  ----  Friday turned into such a wonderful day! We took a little walk and enjoyed the playground.

Nelson and Julian loved sliding down the slide together.

Even Nonnie took a turn :).

Seth and I went out on the kayak. Just the two of us. Alone. On the water. In the middle of the day with the sun beaming down on us (I love the sun beaming down on me). It was just so peaceful. So quiet. So much fun.

Friday night I didn't cook a dang thing. I didn't clean a dang thing. My children were in bed around 6:30pm. Somehow Saturday got even better. We went for another walk and playground trip.

Nonnie and Nelson - Granddaddy and Damian.

Mclean and Dad.

Aunt Em and Nelson

My crew.

I tell you what. I mean I'm their mom so I obviously am going to think my dudes are adorable handsome little men. But put one of my boys in a ball cap (not those flappy hats that protect their faces and necks from the sun) but a ball cap and my heart just melts over and over and over.

I can't tell you the number of times I looked at Nelson in that ball cap and just turned into a puddle. Or Mclean in his cousin's ball cap and was just in awe. I also may like the big one in a ball cap too :).

It was too much for my heart.

My twins made slap fools out of Seth and I. We were sure they'd be a handful near the water, but they were such a delight. They loved being out there and behaved so well! Mclean really enjoyed being in the water and jumping into my arms. Nelson had the best time sitting on the kayak while we paddled around. It was the best afternoon!

Seth and I with our older boys kayaking.

Cousins.

Nelson adores him some Uncle Zach.

Sweet Damian and Cullen.

Aunt Em reading a bedtime story to the boys.

All five dudes.

Side Note:
Someone Please Buy Me This....

The Cook crew.

On our way back to Florence we stopped at my parent's for lunch. 

 The Sineath grandkiddos

Gam & Pops

The originals


ay The Cook's :).

Momma Vic -

Vic

Victra
'Ol Vic

Vickie Lynn

Gam

Not to often do you get called Mom these days. But that is exactly who you are.

Mom. Momma. Madre.

To two kiddos.

As I look back at our childhood now that I have three of my own, I'm impressed. Oh, how I took you for granted and for that I am so so sorry. But I see everything now.

You did it all. You worked and took us to school every morning. You cooked dinner and cleaned up from dinner. Loads upon loads of laundry was washed, hung to dry, and ironed. You have a remarkable talent in some laundry (still to this day she can do like 12 loads in one day - I love when she comes to visit and empties my baskets!). The house may have been cluttered but it was clean. 

Eason and I were NEVER without need and majority of the time we even had everything we wanted. You sat in the heat and endured endless hours of ball games and practices. You (along with Ol Daddio) funded our annual vacations and college years. Those are memories we will never be able to repay you for or forget. You sacrificed a ridiculous amount of your life to invest in ours. 

I could go on for days in all that you've done for Dad. For Eason and I. For Brittany and Seth. For Mackay and McKenna. For Mclean, Nelson, and Cullen. For your brothers. For your sisters. For your friends. 

And in all of it. We never heard you complain. That seems to be all I do these days and I don't even do HALF of the things you did!

I look at myself who calls you on the daily to chat and always has a negative statement to say about something. You listen and most of the time try to make it a positive. Gosh. How do you handle us?

You are opinionated. Blunt to no end. There are days you push my buttons (and I'm sure Eason would agree).

But you are Compassionate. Loyal. Intentional. Determined. Funny. Forgiving. Empathetic.

You dislike chocolate cake and icing. Who does that? Celery makes you cringe and mustard isn't your favorite. Starbucks gives you life and being outside by the pool is your favorite. I love it when you laugh til you cry and your face gets all contorted :) - I think I get that from you. 

Dad, Eason, and I are so grateful for you. For being a constant in our lives. For fighting for us and telling us the truth when we needed to hear it. For supporting us and loving us in everything. For being our madre and a friend.

Happy Mother's Day Vic. You are oh so loved by your family.

Some of my favorite things.

This year. Seth and I are making our house a legit home that we are LOVING. We've splurged probably a little too much, but I have zero regrets and I'm sure he'd say the same. We've gotten new cabinets that are white and absolutely gorgeous. We hired a landscaper to come and redo our front yard. It's ridiculously beautiful (if we can just keep those nasty weeds out). We are in the process of putting a fence up so the boys can easily play in the yard and are protected.

Next on my list is to paint the kitchen, upgrade my curtain status in said kitchen, get some roman shades or bamboo blinds for the kitchen door and sink window, and last but NOT least, I want some dang plants to hang inside.

This. or This.

Even This. or This One.

I have no idea the plants that I want to put in these containers. Nor if they would even survive. But I want some and I want them to hang.

So friends. For the last 3 years I've been doing this whole Beachbody deal. Love it. Absolutely love it. Being able to work out in my living room whenever I darn well want. Knowing my boys are watching me take care of my body. Seeing them 'mimic' me doing push ups or band workouts. I love it. 

With the twins I ate well and stopped nursing them completely by the time they were 5 months old. I quickly lost my weight and was working out with the best of them. During my pregnancy with Cullen I wanted ice cream like every single night. I gained more weight carrying Cullen than I did with the twins. How is that even possible?  I worked out hard (Insanity) while pregnant with Cullen, but only enough to work off those ice cream bowls :). 

Post Cullen I had a lot more to lose and since I'm nursing him I eat a LOT of food.  Seth always jokes that he's not going to be able to afford to feed three boys and me!

My goals aren't weight related, although I'd love to lose about 10 more pounds honestly! My biggest goal is to have energy. I KNOW I wouldn't have half of the energy I currently have if I didn't work out or eat well. Cullen doesn't sleep at night and the twins are literally on the go from the moment their eyes open until they finally poop out (at a much later bedtime than I'd prefer). Another goal is to have Seth do double takes when he sees me walk by and I'll leave that statement alone :). I also want to be toned, muffin-top-less, and comfortable in my clothes.

Mclean

Nelson

So after working HARD for 7 months. Eating healthy with a few treats here and there. I'm NOT back to being pre-pregnancy weight; however, I am back to wearing the size I was BEFORE the twins! So, I'll continue with my Beachbody programs. Working out from home in the morning or evening, whichever my busy schedule allows for! If you are interested in learning more about those workouts I'd love to share with you :)!

Friends. I've become podcast OBSESSED. My close friends are aware of this phase of life I'm currently in. I quote some sort of podcast in almost every situation. I talk about them constantly. They are life-giving to me and I highly recommend you getting on board the podcasting train. Here are a few of my favorites:

**Journeywomen**
**Risen Motherhood**
**Simply Life on Purpose**
**That Sounds Fun w/ Annie F. Downs**
**The Happy Hour w/ Jamie Ivey**
**The Village Church Sermons**
**Sheologians**

A few others that I've come across and have somewhat enjoyed are:

**The Homemaking Foundations Podcast**
**Mom Struggling Well**
**Surviving Sarah**
**Coffee & Crumbs**

Some things I'm finding joy in my life currently include:

1. Reading - I'm reading like 3-4 books right now. Throw a good bath in the mix and I'm in hog heaven.

-->I just finished Glimpses of Grace by Gloria Furman and am dying to read her other books! 
-->I'm reading Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis and thus far have been indifferent about it. 
-->I've been tackling Simplicity Parenting since January. I basically see what a terrible parent I am from this book and try to incorporate some principles. 

On my bookshelf are:
-->The Lifegiving Parent by Sally Clarkson
-->Shepherding a Child's Heart
-->Dance, Stand, Run by Jess Connolly
-->The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

2. Watering my plants with Mclean and Nelson :).

3. Group text messages are one of my favorite things ever. Literally.

4. Mom Night Out.

5. Thursday Date Night with my favorite guy (when he remembers the weekly date makes it even better!).

6. Spending all our mooonay to make our house a HOME! 

Hope you all have a great weekend friends :).

Sweet smiles.

The smiling baby.

The mischievous middle one.

The helpful firstborn.

My crew :).

Easter, Zoo, and Boxcars

I wish some of you could be a fly on the wall in my house throughout our day as we are living life with three kids two and under. You'd probably get a kick out of Mclean yelling 'Haaaaaaaappppppppy to you. Happpppppppppppppppyyyyyy to you.', and Nelson using any and everything as a sword. You'd enjoy the moments when Seth and I have to turn our backs to our children to prevent them seeing us bust out laughing during the middle of disciplining.

Mclean loves to discipline Nelson and Cullen with his 'No, No Bubba!' and shaking his finger at them. Nelson loves to put his entire body on Cullen and kiss his face. Nelson enjoys taking things from Mclean and antagonizing him with said item while Mclean throws huge crying fits about that said item. Mclean loves to pop Nelson on the head for no reason at all.

The boys had a great Easter. We enjoyed spending the weekend with my family. The competitive hunting skills need to be honed in as Mclean enjoyed wearing his basket on his head and Nelson dumped all his eggs out.

I have to be honest with you though.....

The Easter bunny almost didn't show up at our home.

All the candy that Mclean and Nelson got was eaten by mom and dad.

Are you judging me?

Mckenna and Cullen watching the egg hunting.

The twins hunting eggs that Mackay hid.

Dyeing Easter eggs.

In high school I was apart of a little clan and we called ourselves the DS. They are my girls. We are brutally honest, encouraging, reproducing like mad, and talk on the daily. They listen to me (along with ol Vic) on my hard days and our friendship is one of my simple JOYS in life. We get together as often as our busy schedules allow. During our Easter visit I was able to get away with the twins for a play date with two of the girls.

Mclean, Drake, Nelson, and Syd driving around.

There are six of us, seven kids, and you know more are coming!

Pop and Cullen

Visiting great Grandmother

Last weekend we took the boys to the zoo and met Seth's family there. I absolutely love the zoo and was so excited to take our crew. It was a fun time with family; however, Seth and I left there completed whooped. Taking care of so many little people and their emotions is intense.

I would consider myself a planner, but darn it I still have a lot to learn in that area. I forgot a hat for our youngest, so he used the twins and our nephews hats.

This dude is always smiling (during the day that is).

All the dudes

Can't wait to add a little girl to this mix of five dudes this year :)!

This looks pretty intense.

Aunt Em with Mclean.

Uncle Zach and Nelson.

Nelson absolutely loves animals. Dogs especially. He loves to get in their face. Grab tails. Pet and slap them. So, he had a ball with the goats and giraffe feeding.

Mclean being grossed out by the goat's tongue.

The Cook clan - minus Trevor.

Riding the tram to the Gardens!

What a cutie.

Julian and Mclean digging for dinosaurs.

Mclean and Nelson are both receiving speech therapy and I'm all for it. I've noticed a huge difference in Mclean since he's started it. I'm sure Nelson will soon follow. I think a lot of Nelson's speech is 1. I'm a clueless mother and 2. He's a man of few words like his daddy. 

The boys daycare held a 'boxcar movie day' last week. I was dreading this as the parents basically make the boxcar for 2 year olds. So, I called Seth freaking out like what the world we gone do about this. Seth was rather excited at the idea of making boxcars, so I calmed my roll. We spent four nights making and decorating their boxcars into Ford F150's so they could be like Dad. The night before the event Seth and I were dusting our shoulders off if you catch my drift. Seth was rather thrilled and wanted to go with us to drop the boxes off at daycare the next day (typically I drop off the dudes and he picks them up). 

We thought we were killing the parenting gig. 

Legit. 

Ain't nobody got us. 

Then we walked into school.

We immediately saw we did not kill the parenting gig. We saw helicopters, tanks, diggers, bull dozers, fire trucks, go-carts, and the list continues. We walked in with our small F150's and were like Sorry dudes. This is what we got. Ahhhh haha. Now we know and next year. We will legit kill this parenting gig for creating the boxcars. Stay tuned.  

The boys in their boxcars. I think the biggest problem was they were a little small for them. 

The only kids in the room that didn't sit in their cars. And to make it even better they were at the front of the room and standing in front of everyone!

Just a few sweet sweet pictures of my crew.

Picture day.

Dad did side comb overs for both of the boys. Oh my word. Side comb overs are terrible. But when said side comb over is on your own kids...TO DIE FOR. I melted in a puddle.

And then to see them holding hands in their studly attire. I melted again.

I'm a terrible mother and didn't buy the school pictures. None of my kids smiled. In a single photo. Three kids. Multiple shots. No smiles.

Life Story.

Mclean is my eater. 'Nack please'. 'More eat'. 'Rai Rai'. Food is on the kids mind all the time. Mclean is also my kid that gets crazy crazy when he's hungry. I mean he screams and cries and pitches tantrums. Give him a snack. Different kid. 

Nelson is obsessed with milk. The kid gets all giddy when he sees you pouring his milk. We have to bribe him with milk to eat his meals. If you take a few bites of that I'll give you more milk. I've never seen an addiction like this. One of our favorite persons gave him milk for his birthday gift. The kid was stoked.

Cullen...you are the cutest.

How is this one 6 months? I can't deal. He's the happiest. He mostly entertains himself with toys. The twins NEVER did that. During the day I tell Seth we need to have a fourth. Then night time comes. And I'm like okay no - three is good. No more. Cullen is a terrible sleeper. Terrible. Most nights he's up around 4 times. At 5am home boy is up and ready to go. With a HUGE SWEET smile on his face and Seth and I melt and are ticked off all in one moment.

Mclean with 'ears'.

Cullen post bath time.

Nelson loved playing in the mud and splashing water everywhere.

 These three are such sweet blessings!

The Cook's :).