The Mooney Clan

...new flooring! I have good news. We ripped out our green carpet (it was in the living room and dining room (yuck) and down the hall and the front stairs) and installed flooring that I can wash! YAY. Life is much easier and cleaner now. Thank goodness because a couple days after we had it, one of the little boys knocked over Caden's cup of milk. I was very grateful to be able to just wipe it up. So, thanks to my mom and dad and our friend Tim for helping with the floor. Much appreciated!! The kids are great but at 18 months they are certainly a handful. It's a little more than usual too because, with Justin working all day and then coming home to work on the floors, I haven't been away from them much at all in the past month. My patience is certainly waning. But I'm trying! They are extremely adorable and very funny though! Just not when they are crying because their brother stole their toy or sat on them, or they can't find the 3rd blanket so they figh...

It has been a very full week - as most are, in one way or another. We started out, last week, by getting our evergreen in our backyard cut down. Now I don't have to worry about pine needles in the kids sandbox and in the grass. We will plant more grass so the kids have more play area back there. It'll be a big project but worth it in the end. And less maintenance! "yay" says this yardwork hater. Then my parents came last weekend and we dared to take the kids out to a sit down restaurant for the first time. I'm glad my parents were willing because we could never have tried this on our own. I thought they did really well. We went to Montana's because they are used to kids and because it's always noisy in there. We went earlier than the rush so we would get seated and get our order in before everyone else's got in there. So - we played with them and kept them busy and then when the food came, they sat and ate quite well. We still wouldn't ...

My best 'mother's day moment' from my kids was when Caden came home from preschool on friday with a little craft that he had made for me. He came right in the house and said "Happy Mother's Day Mom, I Love You! This is for you". Even if he was coached by his teacher, it was nice that he said it and that he wanted to say it. It reminded me of the 10 plus years that I worked in a daycare or had my home daycare and we made those crafts and the little cards with the poems and the handprints on it. Now I finally got one made for me!! Love it!

Well the birthday is done and we are moving on. Last night was Caden's first outdoor soccer game and it was COLD. I kept the little boys home so we didn't get to go (although being warm made up for missing it). Caden enjoyed it and enjoyed the hot chocolate when he got home. Things are going well. I took the gate down from around the tv and the kids are listening a little better about leaving it alone. We leave the gate to the basement off now and the kids go up and down at their leisure. It's nice - gives me an occasional quiet moment. We won't take the gate off the front stairs for awhile. Dylan gets the door open and heads out and even locking it isn't reassuring enough for me. So - gate stays. Our street is just too busy to risk it. Not that I'd risk it anyway! The kids are still doing pretty good about not having soothers during the day. Dylan will open the drawer where I keep them every once in a while and he'll whine but not very often. ...

Caden at almost 2 months old Almost 4 years later Caden turns 4 today. I just sat down to write this and as I think about what to say about our oldest son my eyes fill with tears because he means so much to me. I remember being pregnant with him and thinking about what he might be like and who he'll take after. When he was little, just like my other boys, I wondered what he'd be like. I will never forget the way I felt the day he was born. Here was my miracle. In my arms after all the years of waiting and praying. God gave us this beautiful boy and I just love him so so much. I just know I won't do him justice but if you don't already know him, you'll have to spend some time with him and see it for yourself. Caden is a treasure. He has so much energy and life. He is excited about everything. He loves his social life. I can't believe how often he asks to have his friends over or to go to people's houses. And for his birthday he was asking to ...

Caden had so much fun today. He loved that his friends shared this day and that he got a Pikachu cake, made especially for him by his dad. We went to a place here in town called "It's a Blast" and the kids all ran around like crazy and had lots of fun. After that we headed back to our place for treats and drinks and of course, cake and presents. This is what the place looks like. Lots of tubes and slides and a ball pit and on and on. My super happy and sweaty boy. Caden and Breanna Cousin Lana Cousin Keiran and cousin Beth Caden's newest friend Ceara Sass... and Calen Sass Caden, Michael and Elijah The Pikachu cake. Caden has been asking for this cake since Christmas when he played a video game that had him as a character (he's from Pokemon and Caden had never seen anything from that before). We tried other ideas to see if he was serious and he absolutely was. So Justin went with it and this what he got. Caden was very happy to get his special cake. Jasmine...

Our little Liam. He's going to hate that I called him that but I can't help it. All of his features and his movements are so 'fine'. He's adorable when he runs with his small quick steps and big smile. He has big beautiful brown eyes just like his brother Caden. He still has never needed a haircut beyond trimming a bit at the back. The fine hair comes from me - poor kid! I think he might be hitting a growth spurt because he is eating more than any of his brothers. He has been eating his portion and some of his brothers' too! And sleep - he sleeps really well, not waking up in the night much and will sleep 10 hours consistently. It's too bad that from 8 pm that only gets us to 6am. When he gets up though - he's in the mood to cuddle so it's a pretty sweet morning routine. I can't get over what a sweetie Liam can be. He's a snuggler too. He's the most likely to curl up on your lap and cuddle there for a while. I love it. He ha...

If Dylan can be described as having a zest for life, I think I would see Evan as being happy just to be alive. Loving Life. He can have a temper, especially when he really wants something that his brother has or when something bugs him, but overall, he is happy about everything and pretty easy going. I have even found him playing alone and giggling to himself. He still likes his alone time or quiet time. I still find him in one of the bedrooms just standing peacefully at the window looking outside. I wonder what he is thinking about? And now that I let the boys go up and down the back stairs, I've even found him just sitting downstairs on the chair, all by himself. As soon as he saw me he gave me a great big smile. He will always give a smile back when someone gives him one. And it's such a fantastic smile too. It uses his whole face and his eyes are all bright and happy. Happy is just the word that I keep coming back to. He's happy to go outside. He's hap...

I just wanted to write a little note about each of our boys. I'm going to start with Dylan. At 18 months old Dylan still has such a wonderfully large and energetic personality. I'm sure he always will. And it is tempered with sweetness. He just loves us all so much. He gives us hugs. He'll give a hug or bring a soother to one of his brothers if they are sad. He loves to help. He puts his dishes in the sink, or other people's dishes. Any dishes he can find really! He still gets into a lot but if we tell him not to do something, he is the first one to listen. When we praise him for that, he just glows. If he gets into some sort of trouble he bursts into tears as if his little heart is broken. He loves to run and to laugh. He's very coordinated and strong. He wants so badly to be one of the big boys. He follows them around and tries to do what they are doing. One example comes from a day when we were all outside. Caden and 2 of his buddies were havin...