Where do I begin

Man have we been busy! So Drew and I met with our realtor (my God mother) Kathy Crane last Tuesday. We decided it's time to put our cute LITTLE house on the market. Kathy came over and told us some things that would be good to get done before we list it. Luckily, there were no surprises and somethings we thought we would have to do that she didn't think would be necessary. So we made our list and have been busy marking things off.

Thursday night we decided to relax and have a movie night. Drew and I watched Marley and Me once the boys were in bed. Talk about a tear jerker! I thought it was a great movie, everyone can use a good cry every once in a while. Drew said I may as well have rented Friday the 13th (guess it wasn't what he expected).
The timing worked out really well because last Friday (Good Friday) Drew and my mom were off work. So we rented a UHAUL and cleared out our basement storage so potential buyers could actually see the storage instead of wall to wall boxes. My dad, brother John and Drew's friend Graham ended up coming over as well to help out. Thank you everyone!

Then Saturday, after we dyed our eggs, my mom, Andrew, and I went flower shopping while Drew and Matthew waited for the mulch to be delivered. We picked up more pansies than you could imagine (I found out they are really the only flowers you can safely plant right now with our crazy weather) and some pretty flowers for our pots which can be moved in at night. So during naps Drew and I planted away and were happy with the results. Then it was off to a quick dinner and back to Lowes for the 4th time in two days. On this trip we picked up a few bushes and more potting soil to finish our yard project. Later that night I found out I am not in "planting" shape as I was unable to move with the pain in my lower back.

EASTER was a great day! We went to our usual 7:30 mass. Drew surprised me with Starbucks after. Then we came home and the Eater bunny had stopped by while we were at church. Matthew picked up one egg and lost interest while Andrew hunted away. Then we laid Matthew down for a nap and Andrew watched the new train movie the Easter bunny left in his basket. Then we headed to my parents for a delicious brunch and outdoor Easter egg hunt. Matthew REALLY got into this one. It was so cute. Andrew and Kiersten were all over the place getting as many eggs as possible while Matthew was in his own little world collecting his own eggs. He then convinced my dad to take him back outside and "rehide" the eggs so he could do it all over again. I guess it was a good thing we had a practice hunt at home. The boys took naps at Grandma and Poppas while the adults watched the Masters. Then we came home to unload, then guess where we went?! Yep, Lowes.

Monday my mom was off school again so she came by and helped me with some house stuff while Andrew was at school, she couldn't believe how quiet the house was:) Thanks so much for all your help mom. Then Monday evening we headed to the Mac store because my computer would not turn on. Unfortunately my hard drive had crashed ( I know shocking with a Mac!) but the good news was they replaced it for free and Drew had backed everything up a few weeks ago so not much was lost. Thank you God!

Tuesday, we had Jim, the tree guy come out and trim our big front tree. It was the best entertainment the boys have had in a while (too bad it wasn't cheap). Then Jim told me he had to get his other truck to get all the wood. I thought he would be back shortly but there were still hundreds of limps in our yard as we went to bed last night.

Yesterday Drew headed to jury duty:) I took Andrew to school and luckily when I got back Jim was here cleaning up the mess! I must say, the neighbors were quite intrigued by the mess so it was nice to have it out of the way. Matthew and I met Drew at Quiznos on his "lunch break" it was really nice. We rarely get to see Drew during the work day. Then Drew surprised us and came home around 4 and said he didn't have to go back to jury duty! My mom offered to watch the boys so Drew and I could grab a bite. We had a delicious meal at Deweys and realized we needed to have some adult conversation, thanks again mom!

A Snowy Opening Day

Who would have thought Opening Day for the Cardinals would be a snowy one? Everyone at the McLaughlin house has on their Cardinal red and is ready for the '09 season! Go Cards!

It's also a big night in basketball. If Michigan State wins...I win the pool at Drew's work! Go Spartans!

We had a busy week last week, actually I guess it was mainly a busy week for me. I had an event every day from Wednesday to Sunday. Thanks to Drew, Christina and Mrs. Saracino, the boys were in good hands and hopefully Matthew is starting to understand, mom will come home! Some of the highlights of the week included my friend Brittany's wedding shower, a cocktail party at my high school celebrating my 10 year reunion (I'm old, but not as old as Drew:)), and a baby shower for Christina. It was a busy week/weekend but lots of fun.

*I have also added a link on the side of our March snapfish pictures. 

Biminim

Andrew has an imaginary friend named Biminim. (Pronounced Bi Mi Nim, not exactly sure how he spells it.) We were on a run last week and he says to me: 

"A couple of months ago there was a big storm at Biminim's house and his mailbox fell over. It was as flat as a pancake. But Waste Management came and picked it up. You know, mailboxes don't last forever."

Talk about an imagination. We had a great week at my parent's house while they were in Florida. It was so nice to spread out. We came home Friday night and took it easy this weekend since the weather was stormy. 

Good Times Had By All

We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather last week for Andrew's Spring Break. Monday I took the boys on a wagon ride to the "ladybug" park. It was really Matthew's first time at a park since he's been walking so it was so much fun watching him explore. Andrew has also become much move brave since last year. He went across the bridge to the "big boy" twisty slide right away without batting an eye. Maybe he was showing off for his little brother.


Then on Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, I debated taking the boys to another parade but decided against it since I would be the only adult and Andrew thought St. Patrick's Day had already come and gone because we went to the parade on Saturday. Instead I decided to take them to the park again after naps. I asked Andrew if he wanted to go to the same one or a different one. He said, "Let's go to the green park mom because it's St. Patrick's Day." So clever.


Thursday, I took the boys out to see their cousins Kiersten and Kaitlyn. They had so much fun. They both loved Kiersten's bounce house and all the different toys...even though most of them were pink:) It was nice having a change of scenery and I got to have some adult conversation with Jill.


Friday, Drew's parent's came in for a visit. We all stayed at my parent's house because they are in Florida for my mom's Spring Break. So we had lots of room to spread out and play. Andrew of course took trips to the creek with Mimi and PawPaw and shy Matthew slowly warmed up to them. Of course a majority of our "adult" time was spent watching basketball. (At the moment, my bracket is doing better than Drew's:))


Sunday I went to Christina's first baby shower while everyone else hung out at the house. Then we had a delicious steak dinner with Drew's parents before the hit the road. It was a great week and weekend all around.
Andrew and Matthew feeding the ducks with MiMi while waiting on dinner.

Top O' the Mornin

Saturday, we headed down to the St. Patrick's Day parade to join in the festivities. They boys had a great time. Matthew's favorite part was the dogs. He would point to them and get so excited. Andrew said his favorite part was Fred bird (the Cardinal's mascot) in his own little car. Drew enjoyed the bag pipers and I enjoyed the Budweiser Clydesdales. Thankfully, everyone had a great time. Then after naps we went to get Andrew a new swing for the front tree because the one we have is really too small for him and he and Matthew have been fighting over the it...anything for peace. After Drew made a few trips to Lowes to get all the right parts Andrew decided he wasn't interested...not unusal. I think he was mad because the first time he tried it, he decided he was finished and just let go...SMACK, he did a belly flop on the nice hard ground. Hopefully he'll get back on the "horse" soon.

Sunday we enjoyed the warmer weather by hanging out with our neighbors the Fitzpatricks. Then headed over to Grandma and Poppa's for our Irish feast of Corned Beef and Potatoes. It was a great weekend. Andrew is on Spring Break this week and thankfully the weather is supposed to be beautiful.
Have a great St. Patty's Day! Oh, Kelli finished editing the photos of Matthew (1 year photos). They are on her website: go to www.fitzfoto.com; click on recent sessions; scroll down and click on McLaughlin to view the images. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

Spring Tease

We have had some amazing weather lately and it has made life so nice. Both boys would stay outside all day if they could so when the weather is nice, that's where you'll find us.

Thursday we had Matthews 1 year pictures taken by our neighbor Kelli who is a professional photographer. You should check out her website, http://www.fitzfoto.com. She took over 200 pictures, then narrowed it down to 80 and let me choose from there which ones I wanted her to edit. SO I'll post some of our favorites when they are edited.


Saturday morning I had to take Matthew to get his blood drawn for a lead test. It's something the pediatrician has us do after the 1 year check up since we live in an older home. Needless to say he was not happy about it. It took me and two other nurses to get the sample. It's so funny how different each child is. When I took Andrew in he sat there acting like he was watching a movie. He didn't even flinch. Anyway we already got the results back and his levels are normal.

Then we literally spent the entire weekend outside. Drew and I got so much done in the yard, about 20 bags of leaves and the boys played and played. Saturday we decided to go to 5 o'clock mass with the time change Sunday morning. Drew and I are the only people in the world that look forward to this time change because it's the one day of the year that the boys sleep until 7! Thankfully it was a pretty uneventful weekend topped off with a McLaughlin favorite, Sunday dinner at Grandma and Poppa's.

Now the winter coats, hats, and mittens are back out for the nice cold front that moved through last night. It was fun while it lasted!

Fun Filled Weekend

Our fun filled weekend started Friday evening. I had heard about a great sale at Dillards, 70% off and then an additional 40% off. I decided to check it out Friday between naps with the boys. I grabbed a few things but needed a second opinion on a few things and the boys didn't last very long. So, we headed back Friday evening with Drew. We got some amazing buys. Everyone got few hip shirts, the boys got really nice Colombia fleece jackets for $7 and momma got a new pair of shoes (Michael Kors sticker price $150, I paid $27!).

We had a great family day Saturday. The boys played together so nicely. We ran a few errands that we had been putting off. Then we went to dinner at John and Christina's. The boys had so much fun...and so did Drew and I. Once we calmed down from me tripping on the steps and wine ending up on their walls...the entire night went smoothly. I told the boys that mommy used the one spill of the night so they had to be on their best behavior. We had taken some toys over when John and Christina first moved in so it was fun for Andrew to see those toys again and Matthew got to play with the for them first time. We had yummy Bartolino's pizza and the boys just ran and ran. It was so nice.

(above: John trying to get a bargain from Andrew's store)



Then Sunday we went to church, had Drew's famous French Toast, and ended our great weekend with Sunday Dinner at Grandma and Poppas. Below you can see Andrew hiding from Poppa in his favorite game...hide and seek. I must say he's getting so much better. I mean look at that spot, he thought of it all on his own! I'm so proud:)