A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

What a difference a week can make! The weather drastically changed over the past week from 60 degrees and sunny to a frigid 30 degrees and breezy. The pond had completely melted behind the house only to be covered once again with a layer of ice. The change kept the boys inside a little more, but they found plenty to do!

They built this huge lego tower with Wellyn one morning last weekend while I was indulging my headache and sleeping in. It took them about an hour and it served as our centerpiece for the week. Honestly, those kids, especially Brendan, could play with legos all day! He must ask at least once a week if we're going to take him to Legoland!


Is it any suprise Brendan wants a Lego party for his birthday this year??? The plans are underway for the big event - boys only this year; we're not allowed to invite anyone! He is growing up way to fast... Here is my design for the invite:


A special treat for us this week was a visit from Wellyn's parents. Unfortunately, they were trying to recover from the flu while they were here, but we were happy to have them even ill ;) The boys showed them all the things they could do in the basement - Wellyn put up the monkey bars we couldn't use on our playset for them to play with. Brendan loves them! He is constantly going back and forth on them - to the point he has huge blisters on the palms of his hands. Aiden still needs some help, but he is highly motivated to do what his brother does so I'm sure it won't be much longer before he's climbing all over too.



The addition of the monkey bars has made Aiden especially happy since Brendan would rather do that, freeing up the swing for Aiden. He loves going on the swing - we just need to practice pumping his legs ;) We've now added the ladder next to the wall to get up to the monkey bars so now they won't need to use the slide to get the bars any more.






On Friday afternoon they were able to suprise Brendan and pick him up early from school. He was very excited as he's never been picked up early, and never by his Grandma and Grandpa! He told the ladies in the office they were going to take him shopping for his birthday present - a Lego set (go figure!). The winning set was a Power Miners one he's been drooling over for weeks - even better, Grandpa helped with the assembly! I can't believe we didn't get a photo of the construction...

Here are the boys winding down before bed and getting some backrubs and trying to guess what is being written or drawn on their backs.




This photo totally cracks me up - it looks like Herb is about to attack him!



The boys first thing in the morning going down to see if Grandma and Grandpa were awake - and to cuddle in the blankets!

Warmer Weather

The past week was so much warmer than it has been - it was a real taste of spring! We did our best to get out and enjoy it. The boys have their bikes down and the power wheels are charged so they have been riding all over and loving it. Their favorite part has been just being able to go outside without the boots, snowpants, etc - I must admit, I like not doing that part too!



We were even able to break out the kites for the first time this year!




Brendan had a bad cold during the week causing him to miss both days of school, but by the weekend he was feeling much better. Unfortunately, I had a four day headache so I wasn't out and about too much. Wellyn and the boys wend hiking along the Mississippi River Sunday morning. It was a little cooler than it has been, but the boys thought it was pretty neat.



We don't have any really big trees in our yard therefore not many sticks to play with. The boys picked out a couple big sticks and were very entertained playing with them along the river and in the dirt.

Out and About

Last Thursday evening we headed to Brendan's Arts and Academics night at school. He and all the other kindergartners sang some songs to start the night off. The songs were cute and they were all so proud! It was very crowded...so crowded that when we went to the classroom to pick him up (along with all the other kindergarten parents), we met another huge group in the hall going the other way to get ready to perform. Needless to say, I had Aidens' hand and I literally let go for a second to grab Brendan and then Aiden was gone! Talk about some panic... it was beyond horrible. We split up to try to find him and thankfully Wellyn found him tearing up and being held by someone in the hall. Brendan and I had raced down the hall to see if he had just been 'swept' away with the people headed toward the gym and to alert school personnel to help us look. It was a huge relief to see his little face again!

After that drama, we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening and check out Brendans' project. He chose photography and we had turned him loose with the old digital camera. These first two are the ones he submitted for the display:



Now, these didn't make the cut for school, but they were blog-worthy...notice how focused he was to get this shot of Diego licking himself:


One of his brother, a little out of focus, but still funny:


And my favorites, the ones he took of himself....



On Sunday we took the kids to the Children's Museum downtown St. Paul. It was the first time we've been there in years and the boys had a grand time. The traveling Clifford exhibit is there so it was our first stop of the day. Brendan loved Clifford before he became too big and cool for it and Aiden still likes it... although I'm sure poor Cliffords days are numbered...




Here we are at the Earth World display.


And there was a huge tunnel system set up like being in an anthill - and this huge ant was there to 'greet' you when you entered...seriously, it was enough to give a grown-up nightmares! There should at least have been a warning that you were about to encounter a monster ant around the corner. Obviously, after running through the tunnels some, Aiden got over his fear of the giant ant!


Brendan touching one of the resident turtles.


In one of the main hallways there was a face painting station set up. The kids could paint their own faces - a very cool activity. Here's Aiden being very serious (and very tired) while decorating his face:



Wait, just a little more to do...


And now a little help from dad:


That's our boys! Brendan opted for Batman and Packer logos on his arms, courtesy of me ;)

Two Cool Dudes

I'm going to edit this post to add a new video from the other night. For those of you on facebook, you might have already seen it. Our cat Diego just loves licking hair, generally he's after mine every chance he gets. Here he is giving Brendan quite a bath!


I've been waiting and waiting to update until we received our latest photos of the boys. It took much longer than I thought it would, but I was able to get them today! We took Brendan in just for fun; and he had a lot of fun! We did something similar a while ago with Aiden and wanted to have a matching collage made of Brendan with some of things he enjoys. Here are a 'few' of the pictures: Here are Aiden's 3 year photos. The lady just loved taking his picture and he was in a super mellow mood. Plus, it was just a date with daddy - with ice cream afterwards...what wasn't to smile about??