4th Birthday!

We had family over for a little birthday party on Saturday the 11th. Hot Cup smoked a delicious beef brisket and grilled yummy margarita chicken for dinner. And our boys wore their red monster truck shirts. I made an attempt at getting a picture of them in them together, but big brother was having bike envy.


Gift time was fun.


And now for a disproportionate number of cake pictures. Red is his favorite color so the cars and flowers were supposed to be red, but I seriously added so much food coloring I don't think they could have gotten more red.



The cars were meant to be able to be crushed by the monster bus, but that wasn't as easy to do as I'd thought it would be.




A couple days later he wanted to do some decorating, so I helped him decorate this little leftover piece.


My boys enjoying the last two cars. Birthday boy showing how there is cake inside (they're cake covered in white chocolate).


About a month before his birthday, he agreed it would be fun to have a monster bus cake, but as his birthday got closer he got more concerned about the couple of gifts he really wanted and became adamant he didn't want a monster bus cake, even when we assured him he was getting the toys he wanted too. As far as we could tell he didn't want cake at all. Then one day he came down from quiet time and was pleased to find I'd carved car shapes out of cake. I asked if he would like to smash them and he said he'd need a monster bus, and from then on he was excited for his cake. So that was a relief. I'd been a bit afraid he'd throw a tantrum about the cake.

Spring Break

We (preschool) had two weeks of Spring Break.

Our baby started us off with a week-long sickness.  Five days with a temp over 102 (over 103 three of the days).   Poor little guy.  The first pics are from our cuddles the first day.  The last is towards the end of it, falling asleep standing up - no longer insisting I hold him while he falls asleep, and even seeming like he wants to be in his crib, but for some reason standing facing the door anyway.

I thought that with no preschool for 2 weeks, and our preschooler turning 4, it was time for a serious attempt at potty training.  I made this chain a few days before spring break (though this pic is from the day before) so that he could hopefully be used to the idea that potty training was happening.  The first red, near the center, is the day we started potty training, the red at the very end is his birthday party, and the red a couple before the end is his birthday.  He helped me make it by writing the words and taping.  He's doing very good and we're mostly there with potty training.


My mom works at an elementary school, so during their spring break she stayed with us a couple of days.  Our preschooler was especially thrilled and loved all the walks she took him on and insisted she help whenever it was time for potty.  They're great friends and he was not happy to see her go.  She brought each of our boys a coloring and sticker book and crayons which they loved.  It's the most our baby had ever colored.


Easter Sunday was a busy day.
In the morning the boys found their Easter baskets.  Our baby had no trouble opening the eggs and  didn't waste time with the M&Ms.


Our preschooler got a dump truck to paint and he loved it! 


Our boys love chocolate.  Mid-morning our baby discovered the bunny wrapper wasn't too difficult so I plopped him in his high chair to contain the mess.  Big brother joined him.




My parents and brother and sister-in-law came for General Conference and Easter dinner (aka my SIL's birthday dinner).


The next day we finally did the Easter Story and Resurrection Rolls I'd been planning to do.  A friend mentioned they do the rolls every year and it sounded like fun.  As I took them out of the oven I reminded our preschooler that the roll represented the tomb, and did he remember how they found the tomb after three days?  He pointed to the rolls and said "those are empty."


Walking to the park.  They aren't normally side-by-side, but big brother cooperated with my request for a picture.  Baby was usually ahead of us.


Our baby eating chocolate again.  This time Mini Cadbury Eggs from Grandma.  So messy and so yummy.



We went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore with my brother-in-law and his wife.  They're members and it was members night.  We had a lot of fun, especially our baby.  He (and I) loved when the windows were low enough that he could see while standing on the floor.  He loved seeing the fish and running around.  He's blurry in the middle picture because he was dancing.  Our preschooler asked the guy who was feeding crickets to the fish in the Australia area to do one more please, the guy was really friendly and did another one just for him.  It's fun how much our big boy is talking these days!  Oh, and he used the potty there - twice!


And the completed dump truck!

March

My new phone has a forward facing camera. The boys love that they can take their own picture.  I feel like I totally photo-bombed their first selfies.


Photos of our preschooler's drawings.
The first one (of a monkey & an apple tree & the sky) he drew in his primary class.


Baby is so fun and playful.  He still loves books. His favorite right now is Good Night, Gorilla. He asks to read it all the time and laughs out loud, especially when we turn to the page with the wife's wide eyes.

We celebrated 6 years together on March 7th! My mom stayed with the boys while we went out for a little while. And the next day Hot Cup made dinner - Farsumagru and Breadsticks with Audrey Hepburn Brownies for dessert.


See my baby's smile in the third picture? He's such a happy little guy that I get to see that adorable smile all the time and I'm in love with it!


I was super impressed that he stacked all 9 blocks. He was too, and he was a bit disappointed he couldn't immediately recreate it.


Flying an airplane.  It's so fun to see him play with airplanes.


Building a train.


On 3.14.15, pi day, I made some pies. Quiche for dinner and an Apple Pie and Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake Pie for dessert. My first time participating in the "holiday." (Hot Cup made a Key Lime Pie which was consumed the next day.)


Pull (and push) toys have been seeing some action around here lately.


Considering the preschooler refuses mac & cheese 95% of the time, and baby is catching on, it sure seems like they enjoy it!



Tried getting a pic of my silly boys who couldn't stay still with their hats on backwards.


Daddy made some playdoh bricks for baby's train.


A new favorite game.