30 blogs in 30 days

Can I get a "hoot hoot"? So today is my last blog for April. This expereince has taught me to really enjoy my kiddos. Something (at least one thing) happens each day that is worth writing about. So pay attention Molly! Thank you so much for reading the blog- it is so encouraging to read your comments. KEEP EM COMING!!! I won't be blogging everyday, but I will try to blog a lot more often than I did- PROMISE!! It just wouldn't seem right if I didn't end these 30 days with a funny story about my little ones. We were watching 101 dalmations (the cartoon one), and the daddy and mommy tell the puppies to go to bed.
Me: "Wow- look at those puppies listening the first time" (looking for a teachable moment even on TV)
Annabelle: "Yes"
Andrew: "That's good choice mommy. Puppies listen first time"
Annabelle: "Well, that's fine for puppies mommy, but not for kids. And besides, that's not even real"
Sigh- here's to more teachable moments!

Never go to the bathroom

Going to the bathroom has been perilous since we first became parents. Our first perilous experience came in the airplane on the way home from Ethiopia and the hits just keep on coming. My children are 4 years old and it is still dangerous to use the restroom. BTW- I was a teacher before I was a mom so I already had a bladder of steel and could complete most of my business in the bathroom in less than 30 seconds. Today here is what happened.
Andrew (yelling so he could be heard from the kitchen through the bathroom door): Mommy, I get some water okay mommy?
Me: sure honey
Andrew: Mommy, I get some lenninade okay mommy?
Me: Okay buddy, I might need to help you
Andrew: (loudly to himself now) Woah, thats big lenninaide!
...Some noise...Which I now recognize as splashing...
Andrew: Mommy, I need your help with the lenninaide mommy
Me: Okay buddy, I'm just washing my hands
Andrew: Mommy, I think I spilled the Lenninaide mommy!!

Wordless Wednesday

National Daughter's Week

Actually, I missed National Daughter's week (it was a few weeks before son's week, but I didn't even know there was a son's week until it was almost over). So here is my post about my daughter. I would like to reiterate my statement from Andrew's post for son's week- boys and girls are VERY different and I have been blessed with one of each. As boys and girls are different, so are their relationships with their mommies (and daddies too). I cannot express the way my sweet baby girl melts my heart. Her beautiful brown eyes and those pouty lips-she is my Ethiopian Princess. Her delicate long fingers are so gentle. She always wants to take care of everyone around her. She rubs my head when I have a headache, and she knows when I've had a long day and wants to rub my feet (lotion included of course). She loves to watch others when they try something new- she is such an amazing cheerleader. She is so careful when trying anything new herself. She is not very fond of dirt, and even less fond of all things from the insect world. She loves anything pink, pink and sparkly is even better! She loves cooking and wants to have her own cooking show some day (I think any show with her name in the title will do). She always needs some more nail polish on her toes, she hates chips!!! She has a lot of sas- just enough to make me sure someday (A VERY LONG TIME FROM NOW) she will be able to handle herself just fine! Every morning when she gets up, she likes to know an itinerary for the day. I just don't know where she gets that from!!! Okay, enough with the bragging... I have an amazing relationship with my mom so I knew having a daughter would be great! We love going shopping and to lunch together. But it's more than just having a baby girl to do girly things with. When we first met this tiny 8 pound baby in Ethiopia, her sweet gaze took my breath away. She looked at me as if she had been waiting her whole 4 month life, just for me to hold her. I was prepared for crying when she met us, or listlessness from not eating enough, or just plain feeling icky because she was sick. I was not prepared for her to fall asleep in my arms within 5 minutes of meeting her, with me promptly wrapped around her teeny tiny finger. I was not prepared for those beautiful eyes to say, "there you are mommy, I've been waiting for you".

Mother of the Year Monday

We do a lot of fun stuff. We do playdates at least once a week, we paint, we color, we do our nails (Andrew gets clear coat on his toes, we play in the play room, we help make dinner, we have sleepovers at grandmas house, mimi's house, we have family dinners, we visit Gigi, Aunt Frankie, Aunt Shari, we go to lunch with our friends, we had a "Tiana Screening Party" when Princess and the Frog came out, we go to the zoo, the library, the grocery store, Starbucks, the museum, the puppet show, the park. The list goes on. So it warmed my heart when my babies wanted to be parents. Here's how it went...
Annabelle: "Andrew- lets go get our kids"
Andrew: "Ok Annabelle"
The babies go get Tiana and Woody and wrap them in silkies.
Annabelle: "Okay, our babies just got up. Let's put our kids in time out!"
Andrew: "Yeah Annabelle! Woody and Tiana make bad choice! TIME OUT!"
And that's what my kids think "being parents" is all about.

"Trying" or Trying

Lately I have been seeing "happy couples" all around me. You know the insanely happy couples that feel like everyday is thier honeymoon. On facebook in the past few days, I saw one of my friends celebrating her anniversary. Her husband got her one dozen roses for each year they had been married (6 dozen to be exact). Another firend who was just overwhelmed being a mommy to 4 kids, her husband gave her a trip to the spa with her sister. Someone else I know felt the need to declare how fantastic her husband was on her status-something about being married to the most handsome, creative, brilliant man in all of creation. I was feeling really insecure about my husband... No roses (forgot our anniversay this year), I literally scream at him, "I AM LOSING IT!!!!" before he notices I am stressed, and I don't think I have ever gushed about him on facebook (sorry Bill). I made excuses in the past, maybe if we had more cash he would be able to do nice things for me. Maybe when we have kids, he will appreciate the kind of mom I am and show my appreciation for that. I am starting to realize that he just isn't that kind of guy. Truly. This is a tribute to William Sanborn-and the time he "tried".
Friday I came home with a really bad headache and a sore throat and cough. Consequently, I did not clean the house (I like to do this on Fridays so we have a clean house all weekend). Here is where the "trying" starts. He made a few comments about how much of a mess the house was. I think this was his way of telling me I usually do a good job (thanks Bill). I took some Nyquil at 8:30 so I could get a good night sleep since I was headed to Beth Moore on Sat. morning. I made a point to tell him I had to get up at 6 to get the kids ready and myself ready before I left. He let me sleep till 6:30-more "trying". But now we are 30 mins behind schedule! I got to Beth Moore on time, and had an amazing time! I got home (remember, still sick) and Bill took the kids across the street with him to hang out with some neighbors ("trying" again). But 15 mins later I looked out the window and no Bill in sight! He ran into another neighbor's house to help her with a computer problem. And left our kids in the driveway. So I went outside to watch the kids for an hour or so with a temp of 101. I brought the kids in, bathed them and put them in bed by myself. I took more Nyquil at 9- no Bill. This morning, Bill did take the kids to breakfast (actually trying this time). Then he invited the neighbors in when I was sitting in my pj's sick on the couch (remember the mess the house was in on Fri. night? Exponentially worse on Sun). He spent the whole day taking apart the kids car seats (agian, "trying" a little?) and not getting anything done that needed to be done around our house, so we can smoothly function this week. At the end of my rope, I went grocery shopping alone. Feverish, tired, hacking and steaming at my husband. I returned home to find the kitchen clean, both kids bathed, Andrew sleeping, Annabelle getting her nightly breathing treatment and 2 loads of laundry done. I love you Bill. You may not be the roses and champage, spa getaway, surprise me with diamonds kind of husband but thank you for trying.

Random Happenings at the Sanborn Home

So I am still sick, and exsausted from spending the day at the Beth Moore conference (best way to spend a "sick day" ever!). But I am only 6 away from blogging everyday! Here are a few random pics to fill up the "blog a day" quota. I know- cheap!!

Andrew in the "book nook", aka the hole next to the entertainment center, note the big black cords...

Andrew and his Daddy playing baseball- I could not for the life of me get the pic up of them together! Maybe tomorrow... This is how the afternoon went-Andrew would hit the ball off the tee, and run after it while Bill said, "great job buddy!"

Annabelle with her "rock star" look! She went to her first "girly girl" party and got this snap in hot orange "hair piece" and the pink bow wrapped around a braid. I think maybe the stylists at "girly girls" didn't know how to do black hair... You decide!

Father of the Year Friday

We are all really tired (and a little sick-Andrew has a hoarse voice and runny, stuffy nose, Annabelle will need a breathing treatment any minute and I think I'm getting a sinus infection). So I am pulling out a story from 3 weeks ago that I keep forgetting to post on Fridays. Bill has taken up cycling, quite avidly actually. He is on a ride every Sat for at least 5 hours. He loves this time as it is a good distraction from work (he has worked until midnight 4 nights this week). So on Saturdays it is me and the kids. We go to Paradise Bakery for breakfast with our Mimi and whoever else wants to join us. A few weeks ago, Bill stayed home from his ride and had Andrew while the ladies went to breakfast and shopping. We do this all the time on the weekends when there are two of us. We often joke about how easy it is with only one kid, so I didn't worry about the boys together (aparently it was the girl I should have been worried about). The boys watch "Dirty Jobs" together while we shop! Annabelle, Mimi and I , left the house at 8am. At 10:30, I was a little surprised I hadn't heard from Bill. Great! He and Andrew must really be having fun. We ate breakfast, went to Target, where Aunt Brenda bought Annabelle a pair of sparkley flip flpos, we went to Someburros for lunch (of course) and to Carter's (huge sale). At 12:30, 4 hours later, I finally got the phone call.
Bill- "How is everything?"
Molly- "Fine- what's up?"
Bill- "Um everything's great. Andrew ate a great lunch, we went to the park. We are having a ball! By the way, where's Annabelle?"

An apology to all moms

Annabelle and I just spent over an hour at Tagret looking for two birthday presents. Both little girls, one turning 4 and one turning 6. I could not believe the amount of CRAP that is out there!! So if Andrew or Annabelle or both are invited to your child's birthday party I would like to apologize to you and to your child. I will apologize first to your child because Andrew and Annabelle will probably bring clothes for your gift. I know it's not as fun as a playdough ice cream maker (thanks alyson) and not nearly as messy. But I am too practical of a mommy to buy something that will break in 5 seconds or junk up your mommy's house. Build a bridge and get over it. Now to my mommy friends- I am sorry for any piece of garbage my children choose for your kids on thier birthday. I know and fully understand that clothes would be more useful and practical. There are only two incidents in which I will not require my children to choose something practical for your birthday boy or girl. First, if we don't know each other very well I may not feel comfortable choosing clothes for your kids. For instance, I am not a big fan of the skull and cross bones on baby clothes. I am sorry if this offends your skull and crossbones boob tatoo. Second incident in which I will allow my kids to buy junk for your kids- payback. If your kids bought something for my kids that is horribly loud, annoying, obnoxious, has more than 5000 pieces (legos excluded), or requires a PhD to operate- you are getting it right back! This disclaimer excludes all members of our family, since you are related to us and have the right to buy whatever you want. But if you have kids too, remember what they say about payback!

Wordless Wednesday

"I don't deserve this"

Today we took Andrew to get some blood work done. He has been sleeping a lot and not eating very much, so I took him to the dr and they want to run a bunch of tests, just to be sure he's okay. If you have children, you can understand why I was not too thrilled about doing this!!! Annabelle has been positively fixated on the "blood work". Asking questions, telling everyone we meet... Andrew on the other hand just kind of shrugged his shoulders, "ok mommy, I be okay". So we take him and sit in the waiting room for 30 seconds, seriously, I WAS NOT READY because they called him back so quickly! He came over and gave me a big hug "bye mommy see you soon" and Annabelle a big hug, "don't worry Annabelle, I be okay". At this point I wanted to burst into tears (I know SHOCK). Bill went with him, I could hear him say, "OW, OW, OW" with increasing volume. Then they came out. One alligator tear still in his eye, sticker on shirt, cotton ball wrapped around his elbow and sucker in hand. "I so brave mommy"-he said. Then I really did cry because he was brave, and a little because I was shocked! My man child/diva?! No drama? Not one tear (remember, the big one stayed in his eye). Wow. Bill and I went on and on about how proud we were of him... Annabelle of course interjected with, "boy, I sure was waiting patiently in there!". Of course lots of kuddos for her too- Andrew was probably like "WHAT!!!!!" So the kids got to have McDonalds for lunch. I said Andrew got to pick because he deserved it. Halfway through the meal Annabelle says, "mom- take my fries", I say "why?", Annabelle "I don't deserve them". I tried to not laugh because her face was so sad, she must be serious! Not 2 seconds later Annabelle says, "Hey mom-what's deserve?"

PS- She never did eat her fries even though we concluded she did deserve them, basically just for breathing (you should have heard the discussion about what makes you deserve something big like a mani/pedi versus deserving something you "need" like food). Andrew ate her fries, and boy did he deserve them!!!

Hot Babes

I have always had difficulties with the heat! I guess it's pretty unfortunate I live in AZ then huh?! Well, growing up our house was always set at around 70 degrees. NO JOKE!!! Even in the summer. My mom and dad almost went broke with the electric bills in the summer- can you imagine?! Well, I have been married to Bill for 9 years and the biggest argument we have is about the temperature of the house. I say, "turn it down, I have thyroid issues- I can't regulate properly". Bill says, "we aren't made of money- get your own personal fan" and then I say, "you don't care about how I feel"- and the argument ensues. Well, my baby girl is hot blooded too! She only sweats from her nose- if you've never seen it, it's hilarious! Little beads of sweat on the bridge of her nose. When she is really hot they appear again as soon as you wipe them off. When we brought them home from Ethiopia we had a layover in DC. When we got back onto the plane, we were stuck on the runway with no air. July in DC-enough said. Annabelle with her scabies and exczma, heat was not good. She screamed bloody murder for the 6 hours we waited on the runway (okay, it was only like 15 mins but it seemed like 6 hours). As soon as we started moving I put her tiny 8 pound body up to the air vents and she was in heaven! That brings me to the current story... Annabelle has been getting in bed with us at night. She has to be touching every part of me with her tiny little heat radiating body. YIKES! I usually move into her room so I can sleep without sweating! So last night we were snuggling on the couch and she kept fidgeting. I told her, "this is not play time, you can either lay with me on the couch or go to bed". To which she responded, "I love to snuggle with you mom, but you are always so hot". So she may be adopted, but she is definitely mine!

Happy Birthday Annabelle!

This is really two posts in one because it's a few pics from Annabelle's b-day and a lot of pics from the Luau party we has for both kids. We had such fun playing Limbo, a fishing game, treasure hunt and of course the smoothies, fruit kabobs, hot dogs, and cupcakes were a big hit!

You will see the cupcakes in a pic- beach scenes with two teddy grahams on each one (one in a bikini, one in board shorts of course). This was the first year the kids really had a ball at their own party! So to all you mommies out their who feel like parties are in vein... keep up the hard work and it will pay off someday! Happy Birthdays sweet babies!

All the March birthdays

Annabelle opening her Princess helmet from mommy and daddy

This is the only pic of Annabelle and her scooter (oh you can't see the scooter), she got all ready, took one "scoot" and said , "gosh, my scooter needs a rest"

AND THE PARTY BEGINS.....

Bethany enjoying her cupcake... This pic is mostly up because it's BJ (Olivia's daddy cleaning up)- what great friends we have!!

Now the cute pic of B!

Andrew (nice Hawaiian shirt huh?), Logan, Trevor and Bethany

Andrew and Logan

Our new friend from school- Alaina- who stopped by with her parents on the way to Sea World!

Annabelle opening presents

Andrew- "um, that's blue, it's probably mine, excuse me, um, just a bit further..."

YES-WALL-E UNDERWEAR!! How sweet they still get excited about that!!

Liv helping Annabelle open presents

What's a luau without LIMBO??!!

Logan says- this is EASY!

Carter and Winston's daddy showin the kids how it done!

Annabelle says, um this looks fun, but get that pole out of the way, my hair may get caught!

Cupcakes made by mommy! Yes, the teddy grahams are lying on the beach wearing bathing suits!

The Hill family. My college friend Emily and her sweet husband Ryan and their 2 boys Carter and Winston. Baby Truman made his appearance a week later. Em has been pregnant at 2 of the kids 4 birthdays!

Fishing Game

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl! We are so proud to be your parents! You have learned so much this year and we are starting to see more and more of your sassy spirit! We love the way you have "negotiated" your bedtime routine and how your eyes sparkle when you smile. You are really learning how to be helpful. We are so excited to see what God has in store for you in the next year!

Air Show

Bill took the kids to an air show at Falcon Field today. They saw planes (obviously), and helicopters (Bill was the most impressed with these) and a huge display of tiny model railroads. The railroads were Annabelle's favorite because, "they are just so tiny and cute". When I asked Andrew how his day was he said, "Momma, I had a great day with my daddy". AAAWWW!!! I would post pics except I dont have any because Daddy forgot to take any!!! I guess he did something right, since he was the "best thing" at the air show.

Oh what a difference an hour makes!

I left work at 3:05 today- it was AIMS testing this week and I am spent!!! But glad it's over to say the least. I wanted to pick the kids up early but was warned by Annabelle to "never pick them up before recess-hello". Yeah I know-precious! So I left the kids at school and went straight home and cleaned the whole house in about an hour! Seriously the place was a total dump!!! I cannot believe how much I can get done in just one hour of solitude. I HIGHLY RECCOMMEND IT!!! I then picked up the kids made dinner and all that other stuff. So now it is 8:30 and I have my aching feet up after a long week instead of busting my bootie to get the house clean before I pass out! AWESOME!!! Every mommy needs this every once and a while. Seriously-make a pact with your friends or neighbor- spend an hour by your self each week and see how you feel!!!

National Sons Week

I got a message about this from a friend who has two little boys! I had no idea and if anyone knows when National Daughters Week is, please let me know... You know how I need to make everything even!! This is great timing because I was just discussing this with a friend of mine. She is expecting her frist baby in a month and a half. She has sisters and this little guy will be the first "man-child" in her family. When I asked if she was excited about having a baby boy, she was a little unenthusiastic. She is excited to be a mommy at all, boy or girl and a healthy baby and pregnancy so far has been has to her, been a huge blessing. She has no idea what is about to happen to her. Now, I have been given both sides of the spectrum (stay tuned for Daughters Week). So I know from which I speak (and so do those of you who have at least one of each). As boys and girls are different, so are thier relationships with their mommies (and daddies for that matter). I cannot put into words the way my sweet baby boy melts my heart. His big brown eyes and those long eyelashes-forget about it. When he snuggles with me on the couch, I always close my eyes and squeeze a little tighter. The way he is so adventurous (see the post about climbing on the top of the car), and careful at the same time. He loves to be dirty like nobody's business, and loves bathtime even more. The way he says "Yay!" when he finds out he is home with me the next day instead of going to school. At night, when I say prayers with and for him, he always says amen and "Mommy, scratch my back please mommy"-yes 2 mommies! Whenever I tell him I love him he says "I love you to so much mommy". When I pick him up from day care he always tells me he has missed me. He takes care of Annabelle, he loves to rub my feet- with lotion!!! Well that kind of turns into a mess but boy are my feet soft! He likes to help me cook, he wears a bbq apron. Okay, this post could be ridiculous at some point, so ends the list of why Andrew is the best son. I thought the reason I love him like I do was because when we met him in Ethiopia, the nanny handed him to me first. His sweet wide eyes took my breath away. I thought it was because I was finally holding a baby, or because we had waited so long to bring them home, or the sheer excitement of it all... But now I know I was so emotionally overwhelmed and "bawling my eyes out happy'' because he was my son.

Family Recipies

I love to cook- my mom is a great cook, and so was my dad and they say they got it from thier parents. Lately I have been thinking a lot about family legacy... I know kind of deep-well it doesnt have to be. I think about it a lot because I want my kids to be tied to their heritage as Sanborns (and Cates) not just as Ethiopians. Now that Andrew and Annabelle love to help me cook, I wanted to find some family recipies. Tonight seemed like a great chance as I had 3 generations of women at my disposal at dinner. I would get the famous recipie for Aunt Heddy's jam. She makes all kinds, but most famously, stawberry and jalepeno. I was so excited to get these coveted recipies and low and behold- they are on the box of pectin... So much for legacy!

Wordless Wednesday on Tuesday

So another thing I learned from a fellow blogger ("Mother of the Year Monday" being one as well) is "Wordless Wednesday"- usually just a picture, um that's probably pretty obvious... But I am choosing to do it today because I have a migraine and took Excederin PM before I remembered I had to post... I hope I don't fall asleep before I publish this post!

Mother of the Year Monday...

Well folks, it's time again for me to showcase why I will not be getting the "Mother of the Year" award. I hope to make this a weekly section of this blog, as there are no shortage of these "moments" at our house. As in many neighborhoods, we have the the ice cream truck on our street. Although this is actually the Kona Ice guy with his tricked out truck playing Reggae music with a disco ball seeming to lure children in at the dinner time hour. This is one argument I don't want to have with my kids. They are not getting a snow cone every night at 5:30! I would like to say it's on the principal that it's not great for them, but it's really because I never have any cash. So my kids hear the truck coming from 3 blocks away and they say... "Mommy- listen, it's the music truck!"

How long before they figure out the guy actually sells ice cream out of his "music truck"?

In the blink of an eye

So you will have to excuse the randomness of this whole month! I feel like the whole reason to blog is to keep friends and family updated on our crazy life. Since I was terrible at blogging before, I only wrote about big things. Now that I am blogging everyday, I feel at liberty to discuss less "important" things. Today is one of those days. When we had our baby shower (4 years ago... can you believe it?), we skipped the games (thank you Al and Aunt Brenda) because I HATE games!!! But as I opened each gift, the person who gave me the gift had to offer a piece of advice. All of the awesome women at the shower gave amazing advice (even the ones without children!). The theme of the advice was the same... YOUR BABIES ARE ONLY LITTLE FOR THE BLINK OF AN EYE! While I knew this to be true because so many wonderful moms had told me that, I still had a hard time with it. Waiting for my babies seemed to take a lifetime!!!! How could everything slip by so quickly? I remember vividly standing in the nursery at about 3am. Andrew and Annabelle had only been home a few months and I was feeding them every hour (Annabelle) and every two hours (Andrew). I remember thinking- "I must have taken a shower in the last few days because I didn't smell like spit up, but I don't remember when. I have no idea what time it is, or the day for that matter. The only thing going through my mind was how hungry Annabelle must be to be screaming so loudly, and WHY ON EARTH WAS ANDREW UP TOO???!!! It wasn't his turn!" I stopped in my tracks, holding and feeding Annabelle with one hand and patting Andrew in rhythm with the other, took a deep breath and savored the moment. "This will be over in the blink of an eye", I said out loud. And now, it seems like I did blink and my sweet babies are eating spinach and artichokes on their chicken and leaving a restaurant carrying their own black Styrofoam "to go" containers. So if you are a mommy, or about to become a mommy heed the advice of soooo many mommies before you! Enjoy every precious moment. Every pee stained, puke soaked, tantrum throwing, food spitting precious moment because it will be over in the blink of an eye.

Prayer for a Friend

I was going to blog about something else tonight, but then I read my friend Kristen's blog www.betterisonedayinhiscourts.blogspot.com. I have known Kristen since high school and her sweet husband Kirk since college. I had the privilege of praying for them as they waited on the adoption of their first son Zachary. Since then they have welcomed Mackenzie (also adopted) and now after 11 years of trying, they are pregnant with a little boy. They got some bad news today. The kind of news that just takes your breath away as you read it. Visit their blog for more detail. Even if you don't, please join us as we pray for this amazing family.

Happy Birthday Andrew

Okay, so Andrew's birthday was actually one month and one day ago. But those of you who know me know what a hassle it was to blog about birthdays. I have a NEED for everything to be equal, and I wanted each baby to have their own special entry. But I was so terrible at keeping up with the blog, I was afraid, Andrew (b-day first) would have just 2 days for his birthday and I would post Annabelle's and then forget to post a few days after and her b-day would be up for weeks, while Andrew's would have only been up a few days. Then it would look like Annabelle was my favorite... You can see the problems this creates. Well now that I am blogging up a storm, I can blog for each of their special days without worry of favoritism! Yeah!-so here is Andrew's 4th birthday:

Celebrating all the March birthdays on Bill's side: Andrew and Great Grandma Elsie on the 8th, Grandma on the 9th (Grandma couldn't make it to the party), and Annabelle on the 10th. Annabelle shares her b-day with our anniversary (which Bill forgot this year, but that's another post)! We are busy in March!!!

Andrew and Annabelle on Andrew's actual birthday

Opening presents from mommy and daddy- helmets, for what you may ask.... follow the story line please!! Andrew ran away from his present from Uncle Justin- he needed a little time to adjust!

"I love me some "shake shake" (parm cheese)!!" That is a ring of parmesean cheese on his face from trying to stick his whole mouth in the container.

Oh- here is the present from UB- a scooter!!!! WOW!!!

"Now let me just get the wheels going the right way, not that's not right, grrr!! This better be awesome once I figure it out!"

AND IT IS!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Boy! We love you so much and are so proud off all you have accomplished this year. It seems like you are learning more and more everyday. We love your laugh and your precious hugs. We will never get tired of hearing you say "I yuv you so much!" You are truly an amazing blessing and we cannot wait to see what the next year has in store.

Sun Bathing Babies

Today it was 85 degrees and we took advantage by getting in our swim suits and filling up the water table. BTW- they got the water table for their 1st birthday from my mom and dad and we still use it all the time!!! So if anyone out there is looking for a great b-day gift for a baby- WATER TABLE IS IT!!!

Andrew in his new swimsuit- Thanks Mimi, uh I mean Easter Bunny!

Annabelle modeling the 2010 old Navy swimsuit collection (notice the coordinating, not matching swimsuits? THAT'S HOW WE ROLL!!! Again, thanks Mimi)

A little sibling love IN the water table (now, I had to get a pic before I yelled at them for being in the water table... I think the weight limit is like 30lbs-oops)

This is how our sweet moments often end, in terror!! Andrew is a little bigger than annabelle and a lot stronger, so he usually body slams her, or picks her up or in this case squishes her and causes her to almost fall out of the water table. Although it doesn't take much since she loses her balance climbing more than 4 stairs without a grown up and a handrail.

MAN DOWN!!!

So I missed my blog yesterday. In my defense- I fell asleep in my clothes at 8:30pm and woke up at 3:30am to two ice cold hands on my feet (Annabelle had a nightmare). So I am going to cheat and post twice today. I am on my way outside to take some pics of my sweet babies playing in the water! I love AZ!! Remind me of this when it's 115 for the 10th day in a row! Post again tonight!!

Almost midnight

I just came into my room and saw the computer and realized I STILL HAVEN'T BLOGGED TODAY! Yikes! Okay... Short and sweet! I finished a Bible study tonight- Beth Moore's Breaking Free. It was awesome! Ladies- if you've never done a Beth Moore study, GET TO IT!! All of her studies involve homework time, but not too much and you will be spending a lot of time in the Word. This particular study focused on how we often let our lives be ruled by sin- and we don't even know it. She is a wonderful Bible teacher and so knowledgeable. Plus, her sweet southern accent puts a kind spin on anything she is preachin! I try not to "sell" people or things on this blog- but this study was amazing!!! To learn more about Beth Moore's life and ministry go to www.lifeway.com

6 down, 24 to go!

Easter with Team Sanborn

Here are a few of the pics from the Easter season- starting with easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpas, moving to Easter Eve morning at Mimi's, then Easter morning at our house and ending with easter egg hunt at Aunt Brenda and Uncle Kim's. Details from the Easter on yesterday's blog, but pics today!! Happy Easter!!

Annabelle and Andrew hunting for eggs at Sanborn's

The first "swim" of the season

Easter Eve morning getting Easter baskets at Mimi's

Of course they got the movie Alvin and the Chipmunks to go along with the "build-a-bears"

Oh sweet brother- the Easter Bunny has come, please wake up!

If you have ever had Easter at the Cates home you know exactly what this is... A trail of Robin Eggs leading from Annabelle's bed to her Easter basket

Andrew's Trail

Andrew's basket

Annabelle's basket

Our new family tradition of Daddy reading the Easter story

Collecting our "trails" to put in our Easter baskets

Posing for the camera at church

6 of the 7 great grandbabies... Blakeleigh was sleeping

Caiden, Cooper, Annabelle, Andrew, Brenton and the little guy in the back is CJ

Annabelle loves that her eggs are easy to find... All are hot pink!

Andrew says- what hunt?! I dominated those eggs sucka!