Easter Weekend Round Up

The week of Easter is always fun.  They boys have their Easter egg hunts at school and they really look forward to that.  Last year we met some friends at the park to do cascarones.  We had so much fun that we wanted to do it again this year.  We were all so excited, but on the way to the park, the weather took a turn and it was really gloomy and started raining.  We decided to go ahead with the plan because we had all already told our kids what we were going to do.  We hid under the pavilion, cracked a ton of eggs, and then headed home all wet and covered in confetti. Not nearly as fun as it should have been! The weather has been so wacky this year!

Saturday morning we went to our friends, the Johnson's, for their annual Easter party.  Owen is in love 

with Marley Johnson and made her a special Easter egg just for her.  That is her in the pink tank top.  Anytime I want him to do anything, all I have to say is something like "Marley says its good to clean up after yourselves" or "Marley can brush her teeth by herself" and it makes Owen want to do it too!

The kids lined up youngest to oldest so my three guys got to lead the pack out to the egg hunt!

Cash was way more interested in sneaking donut holes and playing with balloons than hunting for eggs.

DJ Johnson and Blaine came out of the academy together 15 years ago (Barbara is his wife on the left) and Gretchen's (she is on the right) husband Dan got in the department when he was 19 like Blaine and Dan and Blaine worked together for about 11 years at the same station until Dan retired.

Last year some big kid accidentally let go of the bat when he was hitting the pinata and it slammed into Owens head, so we took extra precaution this year.  They boys both hit like a champ, I think t-ball may  be something we look into!

We came home from the party to relax a little and collect some rolly pollys, or "rollys" as the boys call them before we headed off to the next party.

...and ride a little scooter

They probably got about 25 in there before we let them go because they started to go a little crazy in there and pile on top of one another in one big heap.

That afternoon we headed to our friend Ashley's house to celebrate her little boy, Brooks', first birthday at his Cinco de Mayo party.  Ashley is Rachel's age, and we have known her since elementary school and she and her husband just recently moved into our neighborhood.

Second pinata of the day!

After the party we packed up and headed to my parents house to let Blaine have some quiet time to get stuff done for work.

I know I have said it before, but Cash LOVES balls and played with this hoop for a good hour without playing with anything else...even made some hoops!  He picked out his outfit by the way.  He rarely leaves the house without a hat on, he usually sports it backwards.

Eli and Owen stayed the night at my parents that night.  After a really nice Sunday morning run through the trails in our neighborhood, I headed over there to spend the day with my parents.

Lauren stopped by just as my mom was putting those little pill looking things in warm water that dissolve and magically turn into little animal shaped sponges that subsequently end up all over your house because they refuse to let you throw them away.

Then we headed over to the Mackey's house for an Easter cook out.

The boys had school Monday because it was a bad-weather make-up day, and I wasn't complaining!

Cash and I hung at home and streamed the Boston Marathon.

We were happy to just chill at home just the two of us and come down from the excitement of the weekend!

Happenings Around Here

We have a real knack for living in places that have problems with the AC, so I have been dealing with getting bids and second and third opinions on what to do (fix vs replace).  We finally found a company who we are really happy with, who also happens to be owned by someone Blaine works with and we will be getting a shiny new AC and furnace the next week.  Thankfully, these last three weeks without an AC have been filled with beautiful days so the heat has not been such a problem.  We have spent the better half of the days outside with the doors open to get a nice breeze inside and give a few bugs the opportunity to take up residency in our house.

The boys love searching for lizards and trying to catch them.  They were very excited about their first catch!  Of course the most efficient way to hunt for lizards is in underwear ONLY. Backwards underwear is even better.

 This picture was right before Owen walked up to Cash and said "The only one with a frozen heart is you Cash."  Yeah, we like the movie Frozen over here.
And, right after Owen got put in timeout for wiping a booger on Cash's face.  Boys.  And poor Cash.

We will be doing some landscaping work to the front yard in May, and the boys are very anxious to help, so in the meantime, we went to pick out a few flowers to plant.  It was one of those days where I was about to lose my mind.  Lose. My. Mind.  I knew that if I did not get out of the house, someone was bound to do something they regretted, that someone was me.  So I put them in car with nowhere to go.  Everyone was whining, and complaining about who knows what.  I knew we needed some fresh air and some space.  So on the way out of our neighborhood to go no where, we stopped at these beautiful trails that are full of bluebonnets this time of year and a little "river" from the storm the night before.  We ended up taking some impromptu bluebonnet pictures.  They did not come out great, but they had fun and it broke with grumpy cycle that we were all in!

 Cash wanted SOOOOO badly to keep up with Eli and Owen! One day my little one.

After our bluebonnet stop, we were moving onward to no where....I was driving around aimlessly, and we ended up at The Natural Gardner to pick out flowers for two pots we have on the front porch.  It was an absolute beautiful day and I could spend hours and hundreds of dollars just walking around that place looking at all they have.  We just walked around and then ended up at the goats, chickens and donkeys.  After about an hour, we ended with some pretty little purple flowers that Eli and Owen picked out and headed home to plant them.

Even though our front yard will be getting some love come May, our backyard is still a sitting duck.  It needs some work, but the boys don't care.  They think its the best, I however think its horrid. I came outside the other day to find them making an "ocean!!!!!!!!" in our backyard.  Great.
Are all boys obsessed with playing with the hose?

Cash has been obsessed with this beanie he has in this picture above.  He has been wearing it every day, everywhere we go. Even to bed.

Cash is almost 21 months old.  And is just a complete joy.  He has started talking a little more, and his most recent words are Owey, Puppy, Happy, Hello, Bye-bye and Beep Beep.  He is t.o.u.g.h.!  I guess he has to be when he is constantly being messed with by Eli and Owen.  They were playing outside by themselves for a second at my parents house this last weekend and he walked in the house, soaking wet, covered in wet leaves stuck to the top of his head and covered in dirt.  Eli and Owen were using shovels to dump leaves, water and dirt on top of his head!
He wont touch meat, looooves fruit (all of it), and sweets,  stands at the toilet pretending to pee like his brothers, never sits still (I wish he would watch TV!), grabs onto me tight with his legs like a monkey when he doesn't want me to put him down, he is going through the "obsessed the trucks, buses and airplanes" phase, makes the silliest face with his eyes on command, when its time for bed he grabs his pillow and takes it into the boys room so he can read stories with them, obsessed with balls-kicking them, throwing them, rolling them, marbles or soccer balls, it doesn't matter.  He is growing up so fast and I find myself trying to hold on to every little last second I can with my baby.

His favorite spot in on the counter

P.S. That is a REAL puppy!!! He LOVES dogs and goes crazy over them!

We are finally at a place where things are soooo much easier.  We don't have to worry about stairs so much, or having to always keep an eye on him every second.  He plays really well with Eli and Owen, and they will include him (most of the time).  While we will still be in diapers for awhile, things are really fun around here these days!


So a few weeks back I had the honor of helping my good friend Melanie with an event she was organizing. If you have the time and want to read some wonderful writing that will totally pull at your heart strings, you should read the blog written by Rex's mom (www.posthope.org/rexstrong).  Rex is an absolutely adorable little boy battling Stage 4 Neuroblastoma.  She organized a 5K, kids run and birthday celebration in honor and support of Rex Ryan.  It was an absolute amazing, emotional event and I feel so honored to have been able to be a part of it.  The meetings leading up to the event and the set-up, packet pick-up, were all amazing to be a part of . I unfortunately did not take a whole lot of pictures of the event.  There were professional photographers there so the whole morning was captured in beautiful professional pictures.

Blaine brought the boys up there so I could get there early, set-up, run the 5K and he stuck around until he had to head to work and helped the boys get their numbers on for the kids K.

All the tons and tons of kids lined up and got ready to run the Kids K.

 Melanie did a truly amazing job, organizing everything, helping to raise money for Dell and for the Ryan Family.  We had amazing sponsors who donated money, time and their products making it a true celebration for Rex.  There was a silent auction, face painting, balloon making, popcorn, cotton candy, a train, two bouncy houses, tents, music...the list goes on.

 Even the West Lake robotics team was there to show off their award winning robot.

And then, the kids were off and running!!!!!

Amazing work Melanie!!!!