6th Birthday, Hot Potato, Awesome Godparents and Mo :)

You know it's bad when I resort to shooting shot glasses of apple cider vinegar. Yeah, I just can't seem to wipe this darn/damn sinus infection. My sights were brightened though today when my Grace said: "Mamma, you will get better by Christmas. I just know it." Thank you my dear Grace, the peace that brings me about the next 9 months is short of no peace, but really your words are sweet.

Anywho-- enough about me and my sinus cavities--- It so must be noted that last week we celebrated a big birthday.  Our Isaac turned 6 years old! 

As the mom, I always want my kids birthdays to be just perfect. I want them to feel super loved, special, and super duper happy on their birth of a day. Matt and I always start the celebration the night before with decorating our breakfast nook with everything that screams: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! For Isaac this year it was Pokemon that spoke to his little heart. And then bright and early on the 22nd Isaac and the rest of our crew started the day of birthday bliss with pancakes and wrapped gifts of Pokemon cards (duh!), red and black Heelys, legos, and little trinkets wrapped by hers-truly-Grace. 

Now to the par-tay... we opted for a simple birthday party with just family and (pheww) it was a big hit! Cousin Chase came up from south Tampa and then my family came for brunch, cake and a slew of games. We pulled out all the classics: hot potato (with a real HOT potatoe), water balloon toss, pin the tail on the donkey, and balloon volleyball. A couple of tears from the kiddos were shed (per usual) due to their competitive little hearts, which I blame completely on Matt's side of the family.... Haha, Just kidding, of course! You know that us Maz's would rather die a slow death than loose at balloon volleyball. But in the end we managade to finagle it to where each kid won at least one game -- Matt and I have become the masters of trying to minimize tears in every situation.

Jaja playing pin the tail on the donkey :). 

Birthday boy pinning it, while sporting his new Heely's. 

The h2o balloon toss *ahem* that my parents dominated in. 

HOT potato. Happiness abounds in this picture... and then the music stopped and someone got out...

Isaac's Pokemon cake that was lovingly made and crafted by Aunt Katrin with the kids at her house the day before while I was home painting my nails (or mopping the floors, same diff), because she spoils me!

After all that Matt took the boys out for a game of bowling and laser tag, via Aunt Emily's and Uncle Michael's awesome Groupon bday gift.

Oh and I must mention that the day pre-birthday, Isaac's Godparents took him out to lunch for some gluten free pizza, which was the creme de la creme for our little 6 year old. And after his cheesy goodness with 2 of his favorite people, Uncle Nate and Aunt Katrin (and cousin Ziggy), he got to pick out his own bday gift -- Pokemon cards, of course!

And the best Godparents of the month award goes to... these 2!

Uncle Nate is awesome for many, many reasons, but one thing that I love most about my brother is that he is always willing to put together toys/furniture/anything that Matt and I don't want to or don't have the patience to figure out, hence Isaac's 360-- the finale gift given by my parents. 

And of course a picture of our little party gal must be included in this birthday post.

Isaac, we love you to the moon and back and pray that you have the best year ever! 

1st Day

I am sitting here coffee in hand, snuggled with my Gracie girl and my computer, after having just dropped off the boys at their first day of school. With the boys gone, Grace had her choice of Netflix productivity and of course she chose Ninja Lego something (the boys have trained her well :).  

It was like the perfect morning *sigh*...(besides Matt's alarm going off at 5am and then 5:10am, making it so I couldn't go back to sleep, but hey when is life ever completely perfect). 

I finally got out of bed at 615am. I went and nursed da Hopie girl and then we woke the boys from their slumber at 630. The boys literally bounded from their bed in excitement to go to school. From there the morning continued without a single hiccup or in our case a single melt down, which should be documented as a Loboda miracle.  My Matt stayed with the girls, while I had the privilege of dropping the boys off for their first day.  We were greeted by the joyfully shining nuns saying: "What a beautiful day for the first day of school!"  And it was...

This is how she chilled on her way to pick her brothers up. 

7 Quickidy Takes

Joining the troops with Jen@ Conversion Diaries for another shot at 7 quick takes.

Before I begin, my typing fingers are insisting that I mention without hopefully sounding too, uh I don't know, weird that I was SO excited that Jen- the superstar blogger, speaker and tv star, made a comment right here at Team Boda. When I saw it in my yahoooo inbox, I nearly squealed that she would take the time to read my blog!!

And really for all you who make comments, there really is nothing better and they make me smile from ear to ear!

1. So, without further ado, I must start this here Quick Takes with one that I THINK ALL SHOULD READ, because I feel as if I have hit some sort of epiphany, which most of you probably hit eons ago, but still I must share.

Matt and I always thought that we would NEVER be one of those parents who would turn on movies every. single. time. we got in our car. Ridiculous, we thought! Our kids will read books, look out the window, talk to us and each other. Well, for the last 3 years we have done the exact opposite of what we thought we would do.

I was out with a group of moms a week ago for dinner and what did we talk about when we were kidless and carefree-- OUR KIDS, of course. So, one mom was sharing that although she has a dvd player in her car she never uses it unless they have been in the car for over an hour. When I heard this the lights went on and the bells started ringing and Mariah Carey's song All I Want for Christmas is Youuuuuuu Baby started playing in this lil' old brain of mine. Why Mariah's All I Want for Christmas? Because it is my favorite song in the whole wide world, of course!

And then I wanted to throw my hands up and scream right there in the restaurant: "Oh my gosh, I am so sick of my kids yelling at me from the back seat to put a movie on, whining for me to change the movie that is currently playing, and fighting over the movie that they want to put in next!" Thankfully, due to my pride, I did contain myself and only screamed this in my head.

So, what did I do the very next morning as soon as the kids woke up? We had a team meeting and I told them no more dvd player unless we were in the car for over an hour. One child immediately started crying and stomping his foot, the other two looked at me dumbfounded.

Verdict after NO tv in the car for a week= Peace!!
And, I am loving it. We listen to music and half the whining that use to take place is gone.

So, I just had to share this gold mine that I have discovered, which again I am sure most of you learned long before going into 7 years of parenting.

2. The other day the boys and I were cleaning out their room and closet, getting rid of toys they no longer used, etc. After we were done they discovered a new secret hide out in upper rungs of their cleaned out closet. They spent the next 3 hours up there reading books, playing and even wanted to be served dinner in their new space. It was the best 3 hours of Matt and my life! (By "best 3 hours"-- I may be exaggerating a little, but not much.)

They let Grace bring her princess (primpress, if using Grace language) and join them.

3. This year I have been cooking and experimenting more than ever, which by most standards simply means cooking dinner every night. I attempted an "easy" strawberry pie, assuming I would post pics and a how to on this blog. But the pie was literally inedible by the kids and I (Matt was out of town, so it was thrown out before he could even try it). How does one mess up a pie with the main ingredients being sugar and strawberries? I really don't know. But I did.

This week Sahmy posted her super simple recipe for pie. And after reading her post, I knew I must take another stab at it, even if it was my final attempt of pie-ing in the kitchen.

Let me just say, it was the best thing EVER and only took me 10 minutes to prepare. As they say, the proof is in the pudding and Matt said: "I can't believe you made this. I will be a happy man if you make this for me on my birthday every year." So, if you like pie, you must GO and try it!

Matt was saying: "This is da bomb."

Am I embarrassed that Matt and I polished off over half of the pie by ourselves? Yes, VERY embarrassed. 

4. Our sweet little Hope has gone from baby to one of the kids in like days and I am really kinda torn up about it. She has become Little Miss Explorer in what seems to be a matter of minutes. She follows the kids on her knees to their rooms and really, really wants to play with them. She is climbing up on anything that is climable and wants to suck on all things not toys.

Look Mom one hand!

Grace and Hope playing together at the Mall playground, real sanitary I bet!

Even though she is super cute discovering all things new, I desperately want to go back to a few months ago to where she was just my little kangaroo and press the pause button.



5. I must show y'all this picture again, even though I posted it on Facebook. My kids have started CrossFitting at my gym.

I signed the boys up for a trial class, expecting Grace to sit with Hope and I, as she (Grace) is too young for the class. Well, what was I thinking! Because of course she wanted to be a part of the action, even though she was dressed in flops and wearing a scarf, pink skirt and big flower headband. The kids LOVED the class and it was so cool to see them learn how to workout.

6. I haven't mentioned this yet on da blog, but we are moving. I can't even believe I am typing those words out. Soon and very soon Naples will be a place that we just visit and Tampa will be our home. It is bitter sweet.

7. Lastly, I shall leave you with the cutest pic of my parents who are still in love after 37 years of marriage. Matt and I have been given such a great example. Love you mom and dad.

Have a great weekend everyone. 

Off to workout, all my love!

How we do school

This year with the birth of our sweet baby Hope the dynamics and intricacies of our team life have changed, of course all for the way-better, but equally for the way-crazier. One thing that has stayed the same and consistent for my two big boys is their school time routine. For the last 2 years Matt and I have chosen to put the boys in a Montessori school. Before I go on to explain how much I love the Montessori approach, it must be said that in my heart of hearts I am a homeschooling mom wannabe. But when being completely honest with myself, I am just not wired for being full time teacher as well as mom at this point in my mommy-hood. Babies= no sleep + toddlers= headaches and tantrums + homeschooling= no can do.  With that being said, the next best option (or better option however you want to look at it) for my boys has been the Montessori approach for their preschool and kindergarten age levels. In my humble opinion it has given them a huge love of learning and sense of community within their classroom and school as a whole.

One of the reasons we chose their specific Montessori school is because the principal has allowed us to send the boys 3 days a week, which I absolutely love (well in the spirit of honesty, I should say most days I love, because some of those non school days you can find me hiding in my closet with a bag of M&M's pulling my hair out wondering why the heck they aren't at school everyday).

But really, it has given us the best of both worlds. Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of "home school" and play at the parks, museum and zoo with all 4 kids in tow. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the boys are off to school out of my hair learning away, while the girls and I take time to play girly princess tea parties, grocery store shopping, and bible story time.

Grace teaching Hope how to be a princess warrior. 

One of the reasons that I especially love having my kindergartner Isaiah home more days of the week than not, is because it has given him and Isaac this unbreakable bond. On the days that they don't have school from the moment they wake til they go to bed they are playing. Yes, sometimes there are tears involved in their play, but I feel so blessed that God has given them each other as built in playmates. They often times walk, run, and play in sinc, which is so fun to witness. I mean how can you play football by yourself and isn't it always more fun to have a bike riding partner. Gracie girl just seems to tag along always a couple of feet behind with her purse and baby doll in tow. And Hope always gets plenty of undivided lovin' for all her siblings throughout the day.

The Montessori approach to schooling has affected our entire way of life and play at home. We turned our dinning room into to a school room, where the boys can pick out their activities and learning tools for the day. At times I will leave new random lessons (this weekend puzzles) and I will let them discover them for themselves so that their work is self initiated.

Puzzles have taken over our school room for this week. 

Grace was in on the action too. 

Next year will change, as each new year will, but hopefully my kiddos will always know how much I truly love spending time with them. Of course I also hope they will forget the times they catch me hiding in the closet with a half eaten bag of M&M's rocking back and forth.

Isaac and I start most of our mornings off  with a friendly game of checkers. 

Isaac doing his work of choice.

Isaiah with his "work" of choice. 

Park fun 

Isaac working on his letters at school. 

Another Montessori lesson.  

Isaiah showing me a lesson about biomes. And yes, I could not remember ever learning what a biome was before he told me. I felt extremely smart.  

Some sort of marble, building lesson. 

Birthday Madness

Here at team Boda we don't just celebrate a birthday for one day, no no no we celebrate it all weekend with multiple parties and extravaganza's. On Sunday we had Isaac's big birthday party with all our friends. It was held at a beautiful park that has a Marina and place for kids to fish right by a great covered pavilion and a playground. My superman of a husband spent most of his time between all the kiddos baiting and rebaiting, untangling and reuntangling fishing lines. Up to his eye balls with kids he barely had a second to think, but of course all done with a smile on his face. He really is a super star, just saying. And I managed the food part and set up (of course, I forgot the dressing for the salad, the veggies that Matt so diligently cut up that morning for the salad, and probably something else that I am forgetting right now), but regardless the party was still a hit.

Isaac was not really in the picture taking mood,  but of course I kept snapping. 

Isaac, now being all grown up at age 5, should be over melt down central and cry your eyes out in front of guests stage, especially when it's his party! But lo and behold, right when I pulled up with the food and the girls he came running to me in sobs because he banged up his knee pretty darn good, causing all reason, control, and big boy capabilities to dissipate from his very being. So, as guests kept coming and I managed a somewhat fussing Hope, a Gracie girl, and getting all the food out of the car and over to the pavilion for setup, Isaac hung on my leg, behind my back, on my side-- pretty much wherever he could attach himself onto my person crying. My mind kept going back and forth from thinking "poor little buddy" in soft comforting mommy tones to "can't you pull it together, we have a party and lots of people that I am trying to talk to" in frantic I mean business tones. Thank God Aunt Katrin and Uncle Nate were there to help and eventually managed to get a bandaid on his wounded knee, they held Hope and helped me to get everything set up. Oh and Nate ran to Walmart for salad dressing!!! Pheeww what would I have done without them, seriously family is the best!

So after an hour or 2 or 4, Isaac finally released himself from my person and the party went on.

We had a surprise visit from my aunt, uncle and cousin visiting from Indiana which of course made the day even that much better.

Aunt Katrin was super Aunt and Godmother to Isaac making not just one amazing cake but 2, power ranger and the other monster jam, both of which Isaac requested.

She ALWAYS does an amazing job of taking care of her gfree little Godson.

It was so fun to have Mia and Ziggy all the way from Tampa come too. They helped Katrin with the cake and loved on Isaac the whole time. Ziggy so wanted to help Isaac out when he was in all his crying knee pain, quite the compassionate cousin.

Gracie girl picked out her cinderella outfit especially for the party. 

So in the end with all the bumps and kinks, it was a party success and Isaac felt really loved and special. Goal. Bam. Done.

As usual Matt and I went home, got the kids down as quickly as possible and relaxed with our adult beverage in hand, mine being one (maybe two beers). Then we both fell asleep dreaming of shrimp bait, monster jam trucks, and cute little kids running around the playground screaming, "Nan anah boo boo you can't catch me." Doesn't get much better than that folks.

We like to let the kids live on the wild side. 

A little spiderman pinata action. 

All smiles at the end= success.