The Butterfly Project

Every year since it began, as a family we have attended The Shelton Butterfly Project which is a memorial butterfly release in memory of loved ones we have lost.

A good friend of mine founded it after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver in 2009. It is a great organization and cause.

This year we were joined by my parents to release butterflies for my sister who we lost in October. I also manned a booth for Addie's Accessories as a vendor.

 The Addie's Accessories table!

This was the first butterfly I opened up with the kids.

The same butterfly had no interest in leaving us... he/she hung around for a while!

Mom & Dad with their butterflies.
They released 3, one for each of them and then one for my nephew Dylan.

Overall it was a great day. We had amazing weather and despite getting choked up a couple times I made it through the day without many tears.

Memorial Day

Every Memorial Day is exciting in our house because Daddy gets all dressed up and marches in the Parade. Maybe next year the boys will be able to join him, but this year I couldn't have been more proud of him.

I was so mad at myself because I didn't realize I had brought my camera, but the battery wasn't inside it until the parade had started already. So I had to make the best of it with my iPhone.

Will and the other two men in the fire house who are also Veterans wore the uniforms of the branch of the military they served in. I think this is a great touch and a lot of the people watching the parade really enjoyed it. Will & Sarge wore the Marine Corp uniforms. Chris wore his Army uniform.

They looked sharp!

I love this picture. It was probably my other favorite from the parade. This is the old Antique fire engine they restored last year. It has been sitting in the basement of the fire house for decades neglected. They did an awesome job!

Like always, after the parade we headed up to the White Hills fire house for a picnic. This is really the kick off to the summer for all of us. I cherish the time that the fire departments come together as a huge family. This is me and "Panda" as the kids call her.  

I also cornered my Stephie for a picture. She was there with Dan and baby Scarlett who I just wanted to EAT!  I love chubby babies!

It was a great holiday all around, I wish I had remembered my stupid camera battery though. I don't foresee me living that one down anytime soon!

Sunday Funday!

The past couple weekends we have really been making Sunday's a family day. I think it is really important for the kids.

Because Monday is the parades for Will with the fire department, we had a last minute trip up to the Litchfield hills to a small hole-in-the-wall Army & Navy Store. After that we were wondering what the heck to do...

So we went for a drive!

How beautiful is that? There are just miles and miles of beautiful land, and the scene is amazing. It reminds me of being back in North Carolina.

When we were driving we saw a sign for a random indoor Flea Market so we thought we would check it out. I am so glad we did because when we were there, I fell in love...

This is a beautiful antique solid oak armoire... I saw it and fell in love with it instantly. It has to be one of the most beautiful pieces of vintage furniture I have ever encountered. I wish that we had room for it!

After we left there (I found a couple cool vases and the kids of course found a couple fire trucks) we headed south back in the general direction of home. On the way we figured we would swing by and see if Auntie Liz was around.

She was, and we got to spend some time with her... this was Addie being crazy in her living room. She wanted to attack Liz's cats. The cats were pretty less than amused...

The the boys had some fun with Uncle Tim...

Yes, they went for rides on Tim's new lawn mower. The simplest things amuse them sometimes!  It was great for them to be able to spend some time with them!

Now to make it through all the parade stuff tomorrow!

The Good Life

Tonight as I was stressing out over getting all three kids bathed, I did something I have never done before. Plopped all three in the tub together.

The boys take baths together all the time, but tonight I threw Addison in with them. Nothing wrong with that! It was too late and we needed to get to bed!

I was washing everyone when I looked up and saw all these smiles. Happiness. Everything that life is about once you become a parent built up into this one moment.

I grabbed my phone and took a couple pictures because these are those moments we want to remember as they get older. These are the times that we all want to remember when we are over stressed.

Addie decided to smack Camden around a little bit before she sat down for a good scrub. Looking at these three makes my day-to-day life so worth it.

I couldn't love motherhood anymore than I do these days!
They are truly a blessing!

Celebrating the Zoo's Birthday

We are year round members of our local zoo, and this weekend the zoo celebrated its 90th birthday. 90 years old! Wow!

We also went to celebrate Benjamin's birthday because his favorite place is the zoo! I took a ton of pictures when we were there, all with my cell phone though. My camera never even made it out of the diaper bag.

My friend Leigh and her daughter Lily joined us as well as La La - again a favorite of Benny!

Benny hanging out in the log at the zoo with his "birthday crown" on that he got at the gates. LOL

Camden in the log!

Camden being a cheese ball right when we got to the zoo!

Benny with his La La being Tigers

All the kids sitting on the tiger in the zoo, again, acting like tigers. LOL

This was also right after they saw the tigers!

Addie was completely uninterested by the zoo as a whole.
She slept the majority of the time we were there!

 Since we are zoo Members, we got free tickets to ride the carousel for the zoo's birthday party.

The boys enjoyed this because it is one of their favorite parts of the zoo.

 They also got our faces painted.
We all took turns standing in line for them while others took the kids around considering the line was

long, and we ended up waiting 90 minutes.
But they wanted to do it, and look at those faces!
Tigers! Sensing a theme?

These are just a couple of the cakes that were made and entered into a contest for the zoo's birthday.
How cool are these?

Happy Birthday Benjamin!

Our Benny Blue Eyes turns three today!  Where has the past three years gone?

It seems like yesterday he was this little ball of baby in the hospital. So quiet and sleepy... now he is a active three year old who never takes no for an answer!  A big change in three years!

Over on my website Danielle Elwood Dot Com I put up a full slideshow of pictures of Mr. Benjamin Jo Jo over the past three years.

The Loopsy Obsession

We have a new obsession in our house... La La Loopsy dolls. It started with passing conversations between me and my BFF Kaitlyn. Her daughter Kami is two and a half and loves them.

I figured it is just one of those things all little girls get into at one age? Why not start Addie soon? Well this past week while checking out Target for a couple odds and ends I needed for the house, I went to check out their selection of Loopsy's, and of course see how much these things cost.

That is when I spotted Trinket Sparkle. They had a couple different Loopsy's but this one stood out to me the most because of the little kitty. So this became Addie's first Loopsy doll. I took the small bracelet off her wrist and put it away for safe keeping till she is a little older and she has been having a blast with it.

Well, being the crazy Mom I am, when we went to Toys R Us last night for some birthday gift's for Benjamin, I had to scope out their section of Loopsy's and see if they had any Loopsy Little's since those are really the only age appropriate ones Addison can play with.

They had about fifty of the same doll - but it wasn't Miss Trinket Sparkles... It was a different adorable doll called Specs Reads A-Lot!

In the cart she went. I figured another $17 wasn't going to kill us when we were going all out for Ben's birthday.  Plus I didn't see this one when I was scouting Loopsy dolls at Target.

I have a feeling this is going to turn into one of those collect them all things. I posted to Kaitlyn this morning on Facebook...

I just bought another Loopsie Little. Can we start a support group for this? I can see it going in a bad direction! 

Her reply?

Haha! I cannot help you with this! My addiction is bad! I've been stalking the facebook Loopsy page for days because they have been announcing the four new littles (but they have only showed us 2 of the 4 so far)!

Oh boy! Here we go! 

Tomorrow is Benjamin's third birthday, Friday he is going into the hospital to be sedated so they can fill the one surface cavity he has, and then Saturday we will be heading to the Zoo for their birthday celebration! (Benjamin needs to be sedated because of his initial reaction to the dental chair, poor baby)

Busy week in the Elwood House!