While the Cat is away...

As a testament to the awesomeness of our sitters, the boys have more pictures from their week here in Atlanta than we have from our travels in Spain.  

Here we have the top 10 reasons why the maniacs don't mind when Mom is out of town.  

1.  While the big boys are at school Miss Heather takes me to the park instead of running errands.  

2.  At the park Miss Heather pushes me non-stop.

3.  Miss Heather has much cooler clothes to borrow.

4...Okay, maybe Allie didn't think it was a good trade.

4.  I get to concentrate so hard on mixing all the playdoh colors at once. 

5.  Mr. Ryan is the perfect jungle gym.

6.  We even get to wrestle in costume. 

7.  We get to stay in comfy clothes all day.

8.  We get cuddles from Miss Hewer.

9.  Miss Heather documents all our discoveries.

10.  Miss Heather makes great discoveries and then lets us destroy them.

Ryan and Heather.  We love you and are so grateful for the wonderful job you did taking care of the maniacs.  

Get Away

In February Reed and I took our vacation to Spain.  Since life has been crazy (when is it not?) and we were leaving the kiddos with sitters and not family we decided to keep it low key and short this year and just enjoy Barcelona with a day trip to Tarragona, a beautiful beach city with some fascinating Roman ruins and even more fascinating people :)  A big thank you to the Walshes (especially the kids) for showing us the sites.   

The Aquaduct

Reed recovering from his adventure out onto the Aquaduct.  

The (Tarragona) Colosseum.

 Back to Barcelona and the food. 

Ignore the "evil eyes" and enjoy the fabulousness that is our favorite restaurant in the world.
The evil eyes are strangely appropriate since it's located in a grotto in the Gothic quarter.

Restaurant Hoffman.  Our Michelin experience.  Yes, it was that great.

What we lack in beverages we make up for with desserts.  We ordered three to share and they all tasted and looked amazing.

Another year come and gone all too quickly.  

Take 2

The injury

Add stitched up and ready to go

1 time I've taken a kiddo to the ER while Reed's out of town. 

(He was in North Georgia on an Offsite.  Before he left, we joked that at least if I had to go to the ER he would be close)

2 children abandoned at the park while I rushed G to the hospital. 

 (There were 3 other close friends there to tend them)

3+ Times I was assured that stitches are WAAAAAAAY worse than broken bones

4 Hours spent at the hospital 

(Peterson family rule= if it's on the face, we get the plastic surgeon, even if you have to wait)

5 miles.  Distance I was from my car when Grayson called the next day from school to come home.  

(For the record, I was in his classroom in 40 minutes)

6 Stitches

Grayson was very brave and cheerful through the whole ordeal.  He's at that wonderfully egocentric age (Mom, look, they even have the light switches colored red for me) where attention and unlimited access to Cartoon Network/iphone are remarkably effective medicine.

Hanging out

Other than trips to the doctors/dentists/PT we've been enjoying the best time of the year here in Georgia and just hanging out.

Super Man

Raising the Rim

Except for that time when I went on an adventure run that included the beach, gummies and getting lost in a Gothic Cathedral. 

Extra! Extra!

 We had our annual ward talent show this past weekend.  I dusted off my choreography skills and put together a routine to "Newsies".  Then I got to practice and realized I was choreographing eleven 5-10yr old BOYS.  But, with the help of alot of duct tape marks and repeating choruses they pulled it out and were pretty great.  

And yes, we had a viewing party at our house the night before so now the boys of the Smyrna ward primary are ready to take on the world and "Seize the day".

Inspired by his brothers, Christian let his voice be heard!

(How's that for a segue)

The new uniform

Matts has decided that this is what he should be wearing; all day, everyday.  

We agree.

Last weekend, while at a neighbor's birthday party, Matts went long for a pass. 

 Long all the way into a cement retaining wall.  With his chin.  And his teeth.  

The good news is that jaws are remarkably hard to crack.  

The bad news is that teeth, while very hard, are not remarkably hard.  After a visit to the dentist with a sheared incisor and a split molar Matts is now scheduled for a root canal, crown and sealant.  

The really good news, that inspite of his broken teeth and bruised right metatarsals (a whole other story), Mattson got sprung from PT on Monday!

The awesomest news?  Since his split molar won't fall out for another 3 years and will need to withstand the wear and tear of childhood the crown he's getting is SILVER.  

What we've been up to

Between enjoying the beautiful weather by spending as much time as possible outside and juggling Matts' 2x weekly phyiscal therapy (he still can't straighten his arm.  At first it was funny.  Now, not so much).  We've been a pretty "quiet" house.  "Quiet" meaning no major events, doing nothing.  We've been...

Acting like gentlemen and delivering our traditional valentine flowers to the special ladies in our life.  

Acting like hooligans and creating homemade whoopee cushions.  

Acting like idiots and "testing" batteries.

Yep, still good.

Acting like big boys and making creations we're so proud of.