Almost Summer Time...

Summer is so close I can taste it!
Literally, thanks to summer slim down diet. More on that in a minute.
The sweetness of summer is what I'm really tasting.
Its only one week away and the kids and I can not wait!

I feel like a recent trip to the farmers market on the square
 of a neighboring town is a great little window into our summer plans..

Okay, maybe we don't plan to hold baby goats all summer long.


We do plan to use goats milk soap though, does that count?

And while I do NOT plan on getting into "juicing" we are running full throttle into
a super healthy food plan for the whole family. Not a diet, but just a huge change
in the way we eat. Good by to most all processed foods!

We'll still have sweet treats every now and then though.
And maybe I could even learn to make them gluten free like
the delicious cookies that the kids had at the market.

 

We plan to be outdoors a lot. Early morning bike rides. Evening picknicks. Midday swims.
Sounds like heaven.
 

Their was live entertainment at the market. The kids, but especially Dylan, loved
listening to the music. I see more weekend trips to the market in our summer plans, for sure!

And lots and lots and lots of snuggle time too!

 

I can't wait!

Mothers Day 2012

On Mother's day last year, we spent the day at the zoo.  It was such a great day, that we knew we wanted to do the same this year. This year was extra fun because we met up with my big brother and his family.

Since, I wasn't sure if London would remember anything from last year (its been a whole year since we've been to the zoo), I started talking everything up about a week before going. She seemed to remember a few things, and especially the birds. She talked and talked and talked about those birds for DAYS. So the first place we headed was the bird cage. Dylan is old enough to remember a lot about lat years trip, and even others, and he was very excited for the bird cage too. Of course he's 7 going on 17 and is acting a little too-cool-for-school these days, so he showed much less the littlest Hilburn.



The birds seemed to love him. Every time I looked over, he had a bird on his stick.



My mom has always loved birds. She and my dad use to bird watch, binoculars and bird books.. the whole nine yards! This next picture is my favorite picture of her and London both from the whole day! 

 

 

 

 

Listen, I hate birds. The first time I went into this cage, I almost had a panic attack. But the birds in here are all little cage birds and for some reason, I didn't mind them at all this year. 

I won't try to put an explanation of the exhibit next each of the pictures bellow, instead I'll just sprinkle a few comments here and there because:
1. They don't need it.
2. It would make for a painfully long post.
3. I'm lazy.


We had so much fun wondering around the zoo. Dylan read some of the little plaques with facts outlout to me, which made my heart feel like it would burst. London ran from animal to animal with much excitement. And even the big kids and grown up kids had a great time.
We were all exhausted by 2:00 and called it a day, even though we only saw half the zoo and had planned to be there at least until 4:00. Even still, the day was perfection.

 

Dylan asked me to take a funny picture of him and the turtle.
Its one of my favorites of the day.
 

 

 

London is so crazy about her Aunt Donna. At one point, she wouldn't have anything to do with me, and only wanted Donna. It might would have hurt my feelings if it weren't so cute!
 

 

 

 

 

 

Grammy and all her grandbabies.
 

This is how we all felt by the end of the day!

 

The Month of April

I know I blogged a few times last month, but funny enough it was all about what had a happened the month before. Its hard to find to time to sit down to keep up with this little thing, but it means so much to me to be able to have it as a type of journal.  I love looking back at old entries to remember what days were like a year or two ago. So, I'm going to do my best to update this blog a  on weekly basis.
There you have it, my (almost) Mid Year resolution. I'll start by doing an overview of our month in April.

Early in the month Dylan had his first Pinewood Derby.
This should be an event in which you invest lots of time and that you take great pride in.
I think it should be an amazing memory in a little boys childhood.
So not the case here.
We received the kit for our car before Christmas.
We found out the date of the derby a few weeks before the event.
We started working out our car...
the night before.
It gets worse.
 Because of the very late nature of our situation, this mommy went and bought a car kit.
That's right. We didn't pick up one single carving tool to shape out our little car.
I did call our scout leader to make sure it was legal first.
Shameful. I know.
But at the time, we were drowning in baseball and other over-commitments, and it just seemed like the best, or at least easiest thing to do.

Dylan didn't seem to know the difference and he was quite proud of his little car.
Of which we were putting stickers on an hour before the race.
 Lord have mercy.
If you know me, you know this is truly not in my personality.
 I'm a huge planner and it usually gives me crazy anxiety to wait until last minute.
 

Here's our little guy with his first Derby car.


We got to the race, weighed in, and found our friends to hang out with until the big event started.

And then it happened.
Dylan's car was placed on the race tracks.
I settled into just the right position to snap a picture of the car crossing the finish line (first, of course!).
Dylan waited in open mouth excitement.
And GO!
Except our didn't.
Well, it did roll just a little ways down the track, but that is it.
Ca-poot. 

 

I walked over to where Daniel was chatting with the other dads and found out that our kit was not one that would work with these new tracks. I guess there was supposed to be some sort of clearance room under the car, and ours did not have it. Also, it turns out... the rules of the Boy Scouts of America stated that one can not use a kit unless its from their store (ours did not), so we were disqualified all together.

Each car goes down the track three times in a row. Once in each lane.
By now, Dylan's car was about to be shot (less than a quarter of the way) down the tracks for a second time.
I ran over to him, put my arms around him, and whispered to him that his car wasn't going to make it down the tracks. I explained what went wrong and watched his eyes fill with tears.

As the car was being placed on the track for a third time, Dylan turned to me and begged me to leave right then. Most of me wanted to. I knew he was embarrassed, and truthfully, I was a little bit embarrassed too.
I told him we couldn't leave, that we were going to see it through and cheer for all of his friends.
He had a very small moment of throwing a fit and then pulled it together and made the best of his sittuation. He was even laughing about it with his friends at the end of the night.

I wish we had taken the Derby more seriously, and I wish he could have gotten a trophy that he so badly wanted, but I could not have been prouder of him by the way that he behaved and his attitude.
On the way home we talked about what lessons would could learn from this, both he and us as parents.

Lessons learned, and it was still a fun night with friends.

Also this month, I celebrated one of my favorite friends getting married.
We had a little bachelorette dinner at a fabulous restaurant with fabulous girls!
Regina, I'm so incredibly happy for you. You deserve all of the bliss and happiness surrounding you and so much more! Love you, Gi Gi!

 

You might remember that we missed our Easter service at church, leaving the kids' precious Easter clothes hanging unworn in their closets. We ended up missing the next week too. I think it was due to someone not feeling well (I can't think of any other reason why we would have missed). Anyways, two weeks later... we finally got to wear our Easter best!
 

My mom made London's dress. She sews for her a lot, and everything she makes is precious, but this might be my very favorite thing she has ever made. Dylan is very into looking like a big boy, so I dressed him much differently than years past. He looks so grown up. I miss the days of jon jons and patent leather shoes on my chunky baby boy, but my big guy is so darn cute too!
 

 

 

The picture bellow makes me laugh. It is London and Dylan but could so easily be Daniel and I.
Dressed up girl and boy in flip flops in jeans.
 

It has been hot here. Even though it was only April, we had temperatures in the 90s last month. Funny enough, May (though we are only 10 days in) has been cooler than April. We even had one day with highs in the 70s. Crazy Weather. But with such warm temps overall, we can already taste Summer! Its right around the corner... 19 school days away, and we can.not.wait!

Last week, we had a little impromptu water hose party with our friends and neighbors next door.
While I do often dream of a bigger house, we never wish for new neighbors. They are simply the best.
 

 

There are two little boys in our community that have Duchenne's, a disease that attacks their muscles. One of the boys' family are good friends of ours. Our little town is amazing and has rallied around the boys like nothing I've even seen. I'll have to do a whole post on it soon, because it deserves it.  For now, I just want to leave a this picture from last week when lots of our friends wore their "Stop the Clock on Duchenne's" tshirt to the ball fields just to show Corbin and his family how loved and supported they are. I feel so, so blessed to be able to raise my kids in a community that is so special.
 

And then there is baseball.
That sentence could pretty well sum up the month of April for us.
3 nights a week of baseball.
It was fun and challenging.
Definitely a learning season.
If you go back and read the about the first game of the season,
you'll be reading about the best game of the season.
We lost every game after that.
lol.
But the kids had fun (for the most part, losing is sometimes tough).
And I think we will try again next year.

 

 

 

 

 

I mean, how cute is Dylan in his little uniform!?
He was pretty good at batting this year and I would say he learned a good deal.
I can't wait to watch him learn even more next year...

We are all grateful for a year long break though!


In other news regarding to April...

Dylan is riding his bike with out training wheals
and London is RIDING a bike!
I can't believe I don't have a picture of London riding, I'll get on that soon.
But here is Dylan holding the proof that he no longer rides on training wheels!

Londony Lou has been a busy, busy little girl with lots of play dates and has been working hard to get ready for her first ballet recital!

And there you have it.
April, you were very good to us! See ya next year...