T-Baller

 A few months ago Conner started playing T-Ball for the first time. He absolutely loved it! He wasn't too bad either for being his first time ever playing. He was a bit aggressive, always thinking HE needed to get the ball to throw it, but he kept trying and was a pretty decent 5 year old ball player. 

Brayden decided that baseball isn't the sport for him, so he didn't play this year. He keeps saying that he wants to play football, I'm not too sure about that one yet. He's a bit small to be getting tackled. Maybe in a few years after he grows a bit more!

Tummy Time

Landon loves to show everyone his tummy. Doesn't matter where we are, church, home, the store, if he feels the need, he will show everyone his tummy. He thinks its hilarious!!

  (Don't let that sweet little grin fool you... he's just looking for trouble! And he often finds it!!)

This little boy is just so sweet. He is the best cure to a bad day anytime. He just makes me smile and laugh and be thankful I'm a mom of 3 awesome little boys!!!

Pinewood Derby

Brayden made his first Pinewood Derby car!

He designed it all by himself and painted it too. He had so much fun making it!!!

He LOVES scouts!!!

Summertime Kid

Landon had his first popsicle the other day....

 (As I was taking this picture, he was saying "Mmmmmmm!")

I think he's a fan!

Easter Fun!

Our Easter weekend started out with our Ward Easter Breakfast. We had a yummy breakfast and the kids ran around and played with their friends. Landon mostly just climbed on and pushed his stroller around.

  

Then we heard the helicopter flying overhead and it landed in the baseball field. Then took off again and....

If you look really REALLY close (like you may need to click on the picture to make it bigger) you can see Easter Eggs being dropped from the helicopter onto the field for all the kids to hunt and gather!

The boys thought it was awesome! I couldn't find them anywhere... once I would find them, they were gone again running and finding more eggs.  So I didn't get any pictures of them actually getting their eggs, but here is their stash....

Brayden hates to get his picture taken outside... its always "too bright!"

Then later that night we decided it was time to color the eggs for the Easter Bunny to hide for us.

Which of course lead to the great Easter Egg Hunt the next morning. Since Patrick can't really go down the stairs, the Easter Bunny was nice enough to leave the boys baskets and lots of eggs to hunt upstairs so Daddy could see it too! There were some surprised downstairs for them too!

Then we ate home made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and played a bit before getting ready for church. I always try to get pictures of the boys all cute in their Easter outfits, but my boys just don't always want their pictures taken, so it was a challenge! But they are still pretty handsome!

Landon likes to stick his tongue out now... can you tell?!?!

Happy Easter from our crazy family to yours!!!!!!

The BC Clubhouse

I doubt you have ever heard of the BC Club... it's pretty exclusive. Not just anybody can get in. Actually you pretty much can only get in if your name is Brayden or Conner (hence the BC Club). 

Over spring break, the boys put up this "clubhouse" on their beds. 

They had a blast watching movies on the portable DVD player in their clubhouse, having snacks in there, and playing endless games with animals, Power Rangers, and Beyblades. When it came time for bed, they begged to sleep in it. So I said sure... why not! It is spring break and I could use some "cool Mom" points so I let them sleep in their clubhouse. They thought it was the coolest thing ever! 

They were sad on Sunday night when I told them they needed to take it down and sleep in their own beds so they could get some good rest for before going back to school. 

They are looking forward to the weekend so they can set it all up again!

I just love how simple things and a little imagination can provide hours of entertainment for little boys!!!

18 Months!

Seriously!?!?  Landon has turned 18 months old!!! Where has the last year and a half gone?!?!

I am a tad behind on this post too, but I've been meaning to get to it. It's the thought that counts... right?!?

He is such a fun little boy to have around our house. His personality is so cute and this age is one of my favorites! They look all cute and innocent, but they are not always so innocent, this kid gets into trouble where ever he can!

~He still only says a few words but his gibberish talk is just too funny. He has the hand and head motions to go along with it! He tries to repeat many things that we say, but hasn't quite mastered them yet. FINALLY, just this week, I started to go downstairs and he came running from behind me with his arms out, chasing me saying "mama! mama!" It made my day that he finally can say mama!

~He loves his daddy's hats... no matter if Daddy is wearing them or he is, they are a bit of an obsession. ~He also loves to put on anybody's shoes he can find. He thinks it's hilarious!

~He only takes one nap a day, but sleep a good 11 hours at night.... yay!!!

~He loves to play outside and gets into all kinds of trouble while inside. Anything that he can pull out, off, or into another room he does!

~He will run to Brayden with his arms out ready for a hug from his big brother... it's super cute!

~He loves to climb up on the couch or our big chair and jump on it.... I do not like this activity nearly as much as he does!  :) He has also just discovered how to climb up onto the table. He's becoming a monkey!

~When he's hungry, he will pound on the pantry door until someone opens it and then HE has to pick out what he wants to eat. Some of his favorite snacks are... Triscuts, granola bars, Poptarts, yogurt, and Nilla Wafers. He hardly will eat any meat... which is weird.... none of my kids have been like that before. If I try to give him a small piece of chicken or some meat, he will give you a disgusted look and spit it out. However, he does like pretty much all fruits and veggies I give him. He LOVES to eat with a spoon or fork.

~He loves to give high five.

~He gets super excited at any mention of getting in the bath. He will try to pull his clothes off as soon as he thinks he gets to get in.

~He loves to "help" empty the dishwasher.

~He loves to go bye-bye in the car. Really it doesn't matter when we are going, he just loves to ride in the car. As soon as we mention leaving, he runs to get his shoes and then goes to bang on the garage door until we open it to leave.
~He really likes dogs. I don't know where this fascination has come from since we don't have a dog, and he really isn't around dogs ever. But if he sees a picture of one or thinks he hears one he gets all intrigued and yells "oggy! oggy!"
~He has this thing where he likes to pull up his shirt and show everyone his little tummy. Don't know what that is all about... but it's kinda funny!

~His first day in Nursery went ok. Better then I thought actually. He went right in and sat down (he loves the little chairs) and was in heaven when he saw they were giving out cookies and Goldfish. He did really good for the first hour... though snack time and coloring. But once that was done, I think he realized I wasn't there, and was NOT having it. When I got in there he was screaming bloody murder on the poor leaders lap. He's such a momma's boy, I think this nursery thing will take some getting used to!
~He apparently thinks its more fun to empty some toys out of the toy box play IN it then to just play with the toys. Adds to the fun I guess! This is the reason my house never stays clean!  :)

Silly Baby!

The other day I was looking through my photos and realized that I have a lot of pictures of Landon eating. I'm pretty sure that is because its really the only time he sits still long enough for me to snap a quick picture of him. Here are some of my favs over that past few weeks.....

I had some Crunch Bars left over after one of my Activity Days activities, and the boys each got to have one. Landon in particularly loved his chocolate! That's my boy!!!

This is his new favorite spot to eat his breakfast or sometimes a snack. Apparently food tastes better if you eat in on the rug in front of the the kitchen sink...

 And putting your foot into your cereal makes it taste even better!

He has decided that feeding himself with a fork or spoon is just about the best thing ever. He will NOT allow me to help him, so it gets pretty messy!

I'm so grateful for this little boy!

He makes me smile every day! And some days I REALLY need that!

A Decade Together!!

I know I'm a bit behind on this... but on March 10th Patrick and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary! It has been such a great 10 years with him. He is the love of my life! 

 

Since he is still not able to get around too well, we didn't do much for our 10 year. We did splurge and treat each other to some Cheesecake Factory Cheesecake and Patrick ordered me some BEAUTIFUL roses. Then we just hung out together and watched a few movies and we talked about some of our favorite moments over the past 10 years. That conversations was all brought up by the "gift" I gave him which was a Top Ten List of Our First 10 Years! It included funny stories, amazing trips we've taken, of course the birth of our children, and other great memories. We have been through a lot in the past 10 year...  some amazingly good and some incredibly hard. But through it all we love each other more and more every day!

Thanks for loving me for the last 10 years Patrick. 

You have made me happier then I have ever imagined!!!

Movin' On Up!

A few weeks ago, while sitting in the waiting room as Patrick was doing his 3x's a week physical therapy I got a text from a friend of mine who watches my older boys on Wednesdays (so I don't have to drag them with me to therapy appointments.) She told me that Conner decided he wanted to ride a 2 wheel bike like the big kids and he just hopped on and started riding! I was so shocked! The kid had never even tried, or wanted to try, to ride his bike with out the training wheels.  And he just jumped on and started riding like a pro! When I got to her house to pick them up, he was still riding all around her cul de sac so excited and proud to show us how well he could ride. He was doing an awesome job!

So as soon as we got home, we took off the training wheels from his bike, and he started riding up and down our street like he's been doing it for years! He was having SO MUCH fun!!

The funny part of the story is Brayden's reaction. Brayden learned pretty quickly to ride a 2 wheeler a few years ago, but has not even touched his bike for probably a year and a half or so. He's been all about his scooter. His bike needed a few repairs (new inner tube for the tire and a new seat) but we never took the time to fix it because he just never wanted us to and never wanted to ride it. But as soon as he saw his little brother riding, he was all about his bike! So that weekend I went and bought a new inner tube and we fixed his flat tire. The seat is still not fixed (apparently a replacement for the kind of bike he has is not common... annoying!) but it is still usable. Luckily its been awesome weather and they have gone outside to ride their bikes almost every day after they finish homework. They are loving it! And I'm loving all the energy they use up by playing outside and riding their bikes!

After all .... isn't that what little boys are suppose to do?? They need to take advantage of it before it gets too scorching hot in the summer time!

To our Grandpa....

It's a birthday miracle that I got Landon to sit still long enough to take a picture. He must really love his Grandpa Shumate!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!!

Blue & Gold

Last week Brayden has his first Blue and Gold Banquet. He was so excited about it. He was excited because he was getting his Bobcat, and he got to make a cake, and the skit... oh the skit was a highly anticipated event of the night!

The theme for the night and the cakes was "Resourcefulness". WHAT?!?! That is what I said too. This is all new to me, so I was like, I gotta make a cake for this thing??

So this is what we came up with. Brayden was pretty happy with the end result...so that is all that matters. But lets just say, I have done better cakes in my day. The frosting was pretty runny and so it looked like it was oozing off the cake, but boys don't care about that kind of stuff, so I didn't stress about it too much. 

 I pretty much raided my pantry to find things that we could use to make a camping scene. We only had to but a few things.... how RESOURCEFUL of us!!   :)

 I thought the Fruit Roll-Up as the fire was a nice touch!

Look at that handsome little Cub Scout!!!!

So proud of his cake!

 It turned out pretty good!!

Just have to say that one of my favorite cakes was from my friend Lindsey and it was made to look like Duct Tape, after all, what IS more resourceful then duct tape?!?!  haha!! Very clever!!

Brayden also got his Bobcat that night. He was so excited, especially since he was actually suppose to get it at Pack Meeting last month, but ended up with the stomach flu that day, and wasn't able to go. 

 He really didn't know what to do once he was upside down. I had no idea this was a "tradition" to hold the kid upside down to pin the award on their mom... he was laughing too hard to do much of anything...

 ...He needed a bit to help!  

It was a good night, and Brayden loved everything about it. 

Congrats Brayden on all your work so far in Scouts. He has loved every second of it!