The Story of the 3...I Mean 4...Little Pigs

You might remember this short video where the pigs were mentioned:

Upon first moving into the neighborhood,

we noticed a group of 4 little statuary pigs in a neighbor's yard.

We immediately fell in love with them as they were all standing in a circle facing each other

and knew there had to be a story behind the hamilicious crew.

Precious.

It reminded Ryan and I of our 4 boys.

During all of our golf cart rides, we drive by the pigs

and each time, they are in a different

formation and location.

Precious.

Last weekend Ryan and I met the lady who owns the

4 little pigs, and she told us

how she had them in her old neighborhood,

how everyone loved searching for their

newest destination, and how one neighbor even

kidnapped them leaving a ransom note for their return!

How fun is that?

So...the boys have been wanting some pigs of our own,

and I recently came across these little guys at the dollar store:

The boys searched for them in our backyard yesterday afternoon and found them here:

Today they will find them hiding together under a plant when they return from school:

Just something to make their day a little more fun.

Love it.

Happy Thursday, friends!

Gettin' in Love

My sweet little Carter...

"Look What I Can Do!"

Every child's favorite phrase, "Look what I can do!" Have you seen the character Stuart on Mad TV? Check him out...

Now...here's Trysten "being Stuart"..."Look at my trick, Alli!"...constant entertainment...or else I'm just easily entertained...

Making Progress!

Carter had his second game this morning and is making progress...He actually kicked the ball! I was so proud of him that I screamed his name...bad mom...he was so excited, to see me so excited...he turned to smile at me and forgot to keep playing! Love him!

The boys and I being silly before the game started...Good times

Yesterday...

From start to finish, yesterday was an amazing day...from my students treating me like I was "queen for a day", my kids making me homemade cards, to my hubby...the sweetest man ever...spoiling me, it will definitely go down as the best birthday ever.

I absolutely love my group of students this year. Luck gave me such a caring, smart, creative group of kids, and yesterday they went all out and planned a little surprise birthday party for me complete with decorations and cupcakes! I felt completely overwhelmed when I opened a gift from them and found a $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble and a $50 card to Hobby Lobby! So generous...I decided to go to Hobby Lobby right after work to satisfy my obsessive desire to be creative...had to share what I bought...=)

Love anything that says "FAMILY"...I had been eyeing these blocks for awhile.

Remember the big chalkboard I want to make? I decided to try a small version first, and I love the way it turned out!

When I walked in the door yesterday, this is what was waiting for me...precious...


It was a great day....

Benihana's

My parents took the family out to dinner on Sunday to celebrate my birthday...the big 35. It's actually not until Thursday, but they are leaving for Costa Rica...rough life...and won't be back for over a week. I couldn't wait to consume massive amounts of Japanese food...hibachi style...at the new Benihana at Legacy Circle. The food was great, the company was amazing...the service was awful. Sorry, "Beni"...just speaking the truth.

All the kids...minus Addyson...sat on one side of the table together. It is really nice now that the kids are old enough for us to actually go out to eat without my anxiety going through the roof...I don't miss the days of packing a bag full of snacks and toys to keep the kids entertained until the food arrives!

Ryan helping Carter with the menu...

My sister-in-law and friend, Jennifer...I'm so lucky!

My brother and my neice...sweetest baby ever!

Austin making Addyson laugh...My dad said, "I think Austin is telling you he wants a baby sister!"....uh....no...

A Good Laugh...

If you are ever in need of a good laugh, attend a soccer game where the players on the field are between the ages of 4 and 5...absolutely hysterical. As you may remember, I volunteered to be the coach of Carter's team due to the fact his team had no coach...so...let's just say that my husband volunteered...scratch that....has been forced to take over the reins. I am helping at practice, but I'm leaving the coaching up to him.

Since we received an email on Wednesday that the league was adding 6 more kids to our roster...insane...not everyone has a uniform yet, so we were forced to improvise. The instructions were to have your child wear a red T-shirt and black shorts....that is not at all what Carter showed up in from his dad's house. We looked like the most ghetto team on the field, but the kids...and adults...had a blast! Here are a few of the highlights:


Don't you like Carter's "outfit/uniform"?! When his dad brought him, all I could do was shake my head. This picture is so symbolic of a pre-k soccer game..."That's our goal down there!"..."No, it's that one down there!"...We ended up "giving" the other team 2 goals.

My precious little boy...Every time he came over to the sidelines he would ask me, "Mom, are the yellow guys the bad guys?"


You must view this one...It perfectly captures Carter's craziness on the field...I could not stop laughing. It was the sweetest sight to see him having so much fun...oh...and he finally realizes there is actually a game going on around him!

These poor little boys had never done the whole hand-slap thing after the game...The coaches told them to stay on the line, and they took it literally and all tried...both teams at the same time...to stay right on the line...They just stood there looking at each other while the coaches tried to persuade them to move. Classic...

Valentine's Cupcakes

We attempted to replicate Ms. Stewart's Valentine's cupcakes on Thursday night...not so sure they visually resembled hers, but the little jewels sure did taste good. The boys cracked us up throughout the creative process...as usual:

Trysten was on a roll...first this:

Then this:

Notice the concentration...

I love Trysten telling Carter that he has to wait his turn...

Just plain silly...

The finished project...not identical but yummy none the less! XOX!

Bowling...

Yesterday we decided to take the kids bowling. When we arrived and discovered we were in for an 1.5 hour wait for a lane, the boys knew they had hit the jackpot...1.5 hours = all the video games you can play! The Solawatts had a blast despite the fact that MY ball lived in the gutter, and I broke both my thumb nails...

I love how you can see Carter trying so hard to hide just how excited he really is...

Can you see the concentration in his face!?

Austin took this pic...he kept pointing out this guy at Strikz saying he had big "guns", so here's Ryan's attempt to replicate...

These 2 videos crack me up...The one above demonstrates what happened every time one of the kids bowled and the one below is an example of Trysten's assumption that I was trying to "take" his picture at the end...You can tell he has had a lot of practice...

Last Night...

Last night was Preston's 2nd grade musical at school...precious. It brought back memories of my own childhood school performances. Preston was so excited, although he wanted to be a penguin instead of a hunter...I felt his pain because I have never overcome the disappointment of being cast as "Glenda the Good Witch" instead of "Dorothy" in The Wizard of Oz in 5th grade. =) At the end, all of the kids took a bow, and one little boy bent over so far that he did a flip off the front of the stage...He was okay...Would have made a great entry on America's Funniest Home Videos...didn't catch it in time.

In this video, you can see Preston telling his friend that I'm trying to take his picture for my blog. =)

Preston and his friend, Andrew, being boys


















My Friend, Amanda, Preston's VERY pregnant teacher...Love her!























Carter was mesmerized by the cafeteria...I cannot believe he'll go to school here next year...

Push-ups...

I have no idea why I find Carter doing push-ups so funny...but I do. His little body just looks hilarious! Sweet boy...

Two Cinnamon Rolls...Not Three

So I made cinnamon rolls for the boys this morning, and the rule is each child is allowed to have 2. The rule has been the same in our house for eternity, and everyone knows it and adheres to it...except Carter. It never fails, every single time I make them, he asks for 3, and every single time I say no. After I denied his request today, he became upset, reluctantly sat down to eat his 2, finished them, and proceeded to come back into the kitchen and ask for a third. I told him they were gone, and reminded him about the rule. This announcement caused him to run to the family room, THROW himself on the couch and initiate his infamous whining...this time about wanting a bowl of cereal. As he was doing so, Carter was slowly sliding off the front of the couch, and speaking in a voice which sounded like a child on his last leg of life...so dramatic...Suddenly he realized a show he liked was on the television, and all was well with the world again. Seriously, was all of that necessary? What if we did that when we didn't get our way...

Quick Glimpse Into Our Life...

I know I said the boys were excited on Christmas Eve, but without viewing the following, I don't think one can quite appreciate the exact level of animated anticipation so uniquely professed as we made a quick stop at CVS on the drive over to Pop and Grandma's. Here's a quick glimpse into our life...I love having such a big and boisterous family!