Chilly Weather

Aiden had another first last week - pink eye! Not fun for anyone... We discovered that while he loves taking medicines, he is not a fan of eye drops. After begging, threatening and coercing him to let you put them in, he screams, "NOOOOOOO!!!!! I DON'T WANT MY EYE DROPS!!!!!!" as you try to get the drop in the general vicinity of his eye (which he has squeezed shut!). Here is a couple photos; I know, I couldn't resist the photo documentation of this big first ;)



Last week continued our typical Minnesota spring weather with some beautiful days, followed some rain, some ice, a blizzard - all in the same day! After a night and early morning of rain, it started snowing the biggest flakes I've seen! I had to take some pictures of them because they were enormous and coming down like crazy!




Diego was so intrigued by the big flakes!


A favorite past activity is jumping on Wellyn the second he walks in! The boys love going upstairs and wresting, jumping on the bed and generally just going nuts! Another favorite is getting a ride on dad ;) Any bets how much longer his back will be able to hold up two growing boys??


This spring it became very apparent that Aiden has outgrown his little 4-wheeler. He would often just get off it and push it up our driveway since it was faster than riding it! He knew we were going to get him a bigger one, but wasn't sure when or what it would be for sure. Here he is coming out to see his new Gator (on another super frigid MN day!).


Brendan has a John Deere powerwheel also, which makes it cool for Aiden to have one like his big brothers'. Of course, Brendan now thinks Aidens' is cooler than his... ahhh, will they ever be happy :) Aiden is a bad driver, so watch out! He spends way too much time looking behind him or looking down to see if he's in the 'fast' gear... I'm hoping he will improve - soon. Now we just need some of that warmer weather again so they can get out and enjoy the great outdoors.

In other news, Wellyn and I had fun during March Madness, catching the big MSU game on our date out last Saturday. We birthday shopped for Brendan before it started and then had a great dinner at Bennigan's while watching the game. Even better for Wellyn since it was 2 for 1 drinks ;). It's always kind of a let down after the playoffs - it's almost like going through withdrawal!

Brendan is continuing to build and build with legos... he has a great imagination and likes to look online at the lego site to see what is new. And how much it costs so he knows what he needs to earn! He is growing into quite the saver - doesn't have to run out and spend his allowance immediately; not bad for almost 6! School seems to be going really well also. He's been invited to several birthday parties for classmates and is reading up a storm... even does math in his room sometimes!

Aiden started soccer class tonight with Wellyn and came home in such a great mood. Brendan and I are planning to go next week to watch and get some photos! He was showing us all the things he learned tonight - it was cute.

This is another big week and weekend coming up with many visits from family and friends over Brendans birthday and Easter weekend. Have a wonderful and safe weekend!

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 ;)