Hunter's First Swimming Lesson

It did not go well.

Happy Birthday Trevor!

Happy Belated Birthday Trevor!  He turned 31 on Monday, April 19th.  It is the only 3 months of the year when we are actually the same age!!  We celebrated by having his parents over for dinner on Sunday. 

On Monday, Trevor's Birthday, I helped the boys make cards for Trevor while he was out running errands.  It was so cute to see how excited they got making cards.  Jacob was complaining that he wanted to get presents.  I had a little chat with him about needing to be happy for someone when it's their day and to be excited to give them presents.  He finally changed his tune and decided he needed to find a present to give Daddy.  Unfortunately he wasn't willing to share any of his things.  I let them go through my cupboards and find little things to give him.  They were so excited to open the boxes and show Trevor what they got him. The contents included a few decks of cards, some old magnetic picture frames & some miniature football helments.

After Jacob gave Trevor his card, I found it in his room.  Apparently it was just on loan.

Hunter is hiding his "surprise" for Daddy behind his back.

Later that afternoon, his mom so generously offered to take the kids so we could go out to lunch.  We went to Joe's Farm Grill (free birthday lunch).  Trevor had never been there before and really liked it.  Maybe we will actually go back and pay full price in the future!  We swung by Liberty Market & Joe's BBQ on the way home to get some other free birthday meals to go.  They came in handy for dinner & lunch the next day.  Trevor spent the rest of the day working on the house.  He took the whole week off to get projects done.  Pictures of the finished work will be posted soon.

Hope you had a Happy Birthday & that your wishes comes true! 

I love you!

Boys Will Be Boys

Ever wonder what happens when you leave a group of boys unattended in an all-dirt backyard with a water hose freely accessible?

They had the time of their lives!  Luckily I had some spare clothes in the car.

Flowers with Conditions

Jacob brought me some flowers from the yard the other day.  He and Hunter love to bring them to me and I think it's so sweet.  While I was putting his flower in water he said, "Wasn't that nice that I brought you flower?"  I told him yes it was nice.  He said, "Now you should get me something since I brought you a flower."  Future women in Jacob's life..BEWARE!

Bye Bye Binky!..almost.

Hunter has this really bad habit.  It's his binky.  He's pretty attached to that thing.  He sneaks it out of his bed all day long.  He knows he's not supposed to have it except for bed at night, which is still pretty ridiculous since he's almost 3.  The other night, when I took him to go potty after he had been asleep, he had it in his mouth as I set him on the toilet.  I had a split-second thought that maybe that wasn't such a good idea.  Then I heard PLUNK!  He had yawned or something and it fell right in the toilet.  I was pretty nervous since I didn't know where another one was.  I was silently praying when I put him back in bed that he wouldn't look for it.  Luckily he was pretty tired.  Now we are down to our last one and if it even lasts until he's 3, he can keep it until then.  I have been trying to prepare him for the separation.  We have been talking about when he turns 3 he is going to preschool and he's getting rid of his binky.  I asked him if he knew what happens when he turns 3.  He said, "My 3?"  "No, you are still 2," I told him, "When you turn 3, you are going to preschool and you are gonna say 'Bye Bye' to Binky. 

 "Binky no talk," he told me.

The Bag

The kids' rooms have been pretty out of control lately.  Especially Jacob's since that is where they are usually found.  I have had it up to here with telling him to clean his room, setting a timer for him to clean, threatening him to clean.  I decided to pull out the bag again.  We have only done this one other time, when I was really feeling irritated by all the clutter.  So I set the timer and told him I would be in when it was done to take whatever was left on the floor.  I think he was trying to call my bluff because when the buzzer rang and I went in his room, I found him not cleaning, but dancing in front of his mirror to his Alvin & The Chipmunks soundtrack.  I immediately grabbed a bag and started filling it, while Jacob was crying and screaming in protest.  I felt a little bad, but I really am fed up of the toy carpet in his room and telling him all throughout the day to clean it, only to find it in the exact same condition hours later.  I am hoping he got the message.  Now if he has his room clean before he goes to bed without me nagging at him, he gets to pick 5 toys out of the bag.  He always tries to up the ante to 10 or 100, but I stand firm at 5.  Here he is picking out his most treasured 5 things for the evening.

As much as I dislike having a bulky garbage bag full of toys laying around the house, it comes in handy as a bribe or as a punishment.  Unfortunately we had to add many items to his bag today because he let his room get out of control again.  Being a parent who gets ignored all the time can be pretty maddening!!

Bra Shopping

I was shopping at Target last week and was grabbing a few bras.  Hunter started trying to put them on.  When I pulled out the camera, he immediately ditched the bra and hid.  He must've know what his Daddy would say about that!!

Easter Sunday

 

Easter Bunny was very kind to our family this year!  The boys have been asking for Wonder Pets.  We don't even have cable, but they've watched the show & learned all about them over at their cousin's house.  They each got a set of Wonder Pets and this Wonder Pets School House that Easter Bunny picked up for a great deal during after-Christmas clearance!  The camping chairs were a last minute gift idea.  Easter Bunny was out Easter weekend and found these for about $5 each!  It was very exciting and nothing makes Easter Bunny hop up and down like a GREAT deal!  My kids have been begging for camping chairs that go in bags like ours!  Jacob was up at around 5 a.m. looking through his gifts.  I went into his room and he excitedly showed me what the Easter Bunny had left him.  He was opening all his eggs to see what was in each one.  I told him they were all the same candy so he didn't need to do that.  Since it was still dark outside, I tried to make him go back to bed. When he was getting settled, there was a loud motorcycle that drove down our street.  Jacob said, "I think that's the Easter Bunny on his motorcycle!"  I got him settled and tried to go back to sleep.  Unfortunately, it got light pretty quick before Jacob was able to make himself tired again.  I dozed on and off until about 9:30.  It seems late, but when you are continually being woken up, it never feels like enough!! 

We were invited to Trevor's sister, Natalie's, house for Easter lunch.  We had a great time stuffing ourselves until we felt like bursting.  The kids barely touched their food since they were too busy playing.  After lunch, Natalie was so nice to put together an Easter Egg Hunt for all the kids.  Thanks Natalie!

This was practice for the BIG Easter Egg Hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's house later that evening.

Hunter's showing off his loot.

The kids began stuffing their face with candy immediately after the hunt.

Once Jacob realized I was shooting pictures, he did his standard pose.

After Natalie's, we went over to my parents house.  Hunter fell asleep within 3 minutes of being in the car.  When we got to my parents, Trevor & Hunter stayed in the car so Hunter could get some much-needed rest.  I went out to collect them when the Easter Egg Hunt was starting.  Hunter woke right up and got down to business.

It rained Easter Eggs again this year at Grandma & Grandpa's!  I'm not sure how many eggs made it to the lawn this year, but last year there were approximately 1100 eggs.  All the girls went to my mom's after a GNO dinner on Friday night and worked on stuffing them all.

Not sure if Jacob is actually winking or if the sun was blinding him.

The boys were very pleased with their full buckets of candy-filled eggs!  They got busy emptying out the goods and tasting them!  They've had lots of practice with Easter Egg Hunts this year and are now very proficient opening the eggs, dumping candy in the bucket & returning the eggs to the host.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Sardines

These kids all piled on the couch to watch a movie together.  I think it's cute how they all had to be smashed together.  Kids don't worry about things like personal space!  Ah..to be a child again!!