My main squeeze turns the big 2-9

This past Saturday was Shane's birthday, and we celebrated by taking the whole family out to Famous Dave's for dinner.

You always know that when you take small children out to dinner, there are going to be 'interruptions.' It's just to be expected, right? Well, this meal was no different. Between Shane, Grandma MJ, and myself, we were in the bathroom--count 'em--seven times with the boys. And they were not all, ahem, quick trips.

*Whew.*

But, we had fun anyway, and enjoyed some great food. Here are a few pictures!

My handsome hubby with Grandma MJ

Grandma and Colin

Cameron and Daddy

Mommy and Ethan

Here's Cameron, trying his first ever Famous Dave's corn muffin.
Needless to say, he loved them.
He only ate two and a half of them all by himself.
And he asked for more....several times....
*sigh*
How am I gonna feed this boy in five years?

Ethan spent every photo opportunity turning his head and
attempting to 'hide' behind his blankie. Stinker.
You can see him smiling here, even though he's trying to hide it!

Me and my mom

Ha! This picture cracks me up.
One of Shane's and my favorite things to do when we go to FD's is to get out a paper towel and line up all of the different BBQ sauces to 'taste-test' each one (*for the 18th time*) before the meal comes out. We decided to give the boys a shot at it, and Colin didn't quite get the idea at first. This was him giving Shane the "Huh? I'm supposed to do what with all these red piles?" look.

He warmed up quickly, though, once he started sampling. *grin*

In honor of Shane turning 29 years old, I thought I would list
29 random things that I love about my main man:

1. He is majorly, undeniably handsome. *sigh*
2. He is so very funny, and has the greatest smile I've ever seen.
3. He is the handiest guy EVER. Nuf' said.
4. He leaves me little notes written in soap on the bathroom mirror.
5. He is a hard worker,
6. and a wonderful provider for our family.
7. Even when he is dead dog tired after work, he is still willing to "Play soccer with me Daddy!" when a little one asks.
8. We pretty much never argue. I'm so thankful for that.
9. He has never, not once, complained that my mother still calls him "Shane-y Wayne-y" after all this time we've been together--even though I'm quite certain it probably embarrasses him. *giggle*
   
10. He takes genuine interest in the things that are important to me.
11. He corrals all three of the boys every church service by himself, so that I can serve by playing the piano and singing in the choir. That is no small feat.
12. I trust him completely, and he trusts me completely.
    
13. He'll take a child to the bathroom at a restaurant seven times and never say a cross word about it. *grin*
    
14. He makes an effort to 'date me' every week, and do special things like weekend getaways every once in a while.
15. He goes shopping with me and never rarely complains.
    
16. He doesn't mind that I get a little psycho (over various things) every once in a while, and is always willing and able to talk me 'back off of the ledge', so to speak.
17. He tells me I'm beautiful--and I know he really means it.
    
18. He loves my cooking. Or, at least, always pretends he does.
    
19. He laughs at my jokes. Even when they're terrible. Which is frequently.
20. He takes care of me when I'm sick. Even the gross kind of sick.
21. When he laughs--I mean really, really uncontrollable-tears-rolling-down-your face laughs, he sort of has this high pitched 'hee-hee-hee' sound. It's the best sound ever.
22. He's ticklish on his neck and armpits. (See #21.)
23. He protects me. If I even think I heard a noise in the night time, he's up and checking the house. I always feel very safe with him.
    
24. He cleans the shower for me (one of my most dreaded household jobs) and always takes out the trash (the other one).
25. He always knows what clothing will look good on me. His clothes always look better than the ones I'd pick out for myself.
    
26. He's a great gift giver.
    
27. He's romantic.
28. He's most certainly my better half.
29. He's allllllll mine.

I love you so much babe! Happy (Belated) 29th!

Real LIFE.....it happens at my house in some form every day

You know that old saying? The one that goes something like, "You can't leave them alone for one minute?"

I usually practice that. Really, I do.

But, today at breakfast, my bladder was screaming.

I made the later-determined-wrong-decision to answer it.

To the bathroom I went.

A moment of peace, and then....

....Colin came tapping on the door.

"Mom....I think you need to come quick."

Not. Good.

I followed him back down the hall as quickly as I could.

I guess I left the box a little to close to Ethan....

"Mom, I swear. I didn't know that if I turned the bag upside down and shook it and shook it and shook it and shook it like that, that the whole entire box of cereal would just DUMP out all over the place. I swear."

"Yeah, Mom.....I'm pretty sure I can tell, because of the way you're looking at me, that I was NOT supposed to do that."

Taco night

It's always been a favorite night at our house of Colin and Cameron's....
....now Ethan is finally getting into the groove!!

Learning to use his spoon!
He likes to turn it upside down before it gets to his mouth, so sticky things like refried beans work really well.....as compared to cereal with milk :-(

Sometimes the spoon....sometimes his fingers, whatever gets the job done
It looks like absolute slop in the bowl, doesn't it? *giggle*
Yummmmmmy......

Yay for Ethan! (a common phrase at our table when this child actually eats something, usually accompanied by lots of clapping)
Cameron enjoyed himself, too, of course

It was determined by our three extremely full and completely messy boys that dinner was a success!