Birthday Fun!

I turned the big 2-8 on Saturday... can't believe I've only got two years left until I hit 30!  Feeling so old!  The boys made my day great :) 

We went to the circus in the morning...

Alex wouldn't get anywhere near the clown... but I didn't give Nathan much of a choice ;)  He was a little unsure!

 The boys were so excited... but also trying to figure out what in the world this "circus" thing was!  We took Alex when he was 2, but didn't go last  year, so he didn't remember it. 

We took some light up toys from home that the kids got from their oma and opa last week, they worked out perfectly!  Alex was at the perfect age for a circus show!  He LOVED the clowns and was laughing throughout the whole show, it was so cute!  He pretty much liked everything and was engaged the entire time, it was so fun watching him enjoy the show :)

Nathan was really into the animals and anything that lit up... he also LOVED the catapult that shot a person across the room!  He kept asking me if they could do it again please!  He had a few "antsy" moments, but we didn't have to leave or anything.  I did give in and let him have his passy and we bought popcorn/ice cream at intermission!  I figured we'd have a few moments where he'd lose interest some, but he's been to the movies a couple of times now and has done pretty well, so we decided to take the whole family and I'm glad we did!! 

Nathan was exhausted by the end of the show... this was before we even got out of the parking lot! 

And Alex fell asleep about 10 minutes later...

After a relaxing afternoon, Gary made my birthday dinner - korean bbq!  It is his speciality and one of our favorite meals!  It was delicious :)  (and it's always a treat when someone cooks for ME!)

After dinner we had cupcakes and presents!  I got a new game for our kinects (zumba!) amongst some other little things from Gary and the kids.  The boys were so cute with it being my "happy day" (according to Nathan... he talks about "happy days" all the time after Alex's birthday and a few other parties we've been to.  He's wondering when his big day will come!  It's pretty cute!)

I think the kids enjoyed my birthday as much (if not more) than I did!  Kids make birthdays a lot of fun :)

Lately

We've been keeping busy around here!  Here are the events of the past couple of weeks (not including Easter weekend - that will have to wait for the next post!)

The boys and I went to "Snow and Story" at the ice rink a couple of weeks back, Alex LOVED it!  It was really cute - they put all of the "snow" in one corner and then there were tons of toys for the kids to play with.  Alex was busy, busy, busy piling, dumping, digging, moving, etc.  Nathan wouldn't wear his mittens and his hands were like ice!  He was happy until he realized how frozen his fingers were!  After playing, the kids got to warm up with cocoa, cookies, and a story!  Such a cute idea :)

I can't describe how much these boys like superheros!  Here they are shooting "spidey-webs!"  Bad guys, BEWARE! 

Alex and Nathan both got sick AGAIN... as soon as Alex finished his strep meds he came down with his third fever in the past 5 weeks... ridiculous!  He spent a few days at the end of March sick again :(  Poor kids can't catch a break!

We went to an egg hunt wtih some friends from my mops group!  It was their first hunt of the season and they loved it! 

 Here is a picture of Nathan once he caught the virus :(  poor little buddy! 

 Oma and Opa came for a long weekend visit the weekend before Easter! 

 They brought the kids legos!!! Who do you think enjoyed them more, the kids or Gary and his dad?  ;)

The kids enjoyed playing outside with new bubbles from oma, we've gotten a lot of use out of these "bubble swords" already! 

We took a trip downtown to visit the Spy Museum!  We'd been wanting to go for a while, but weren't sure how it'd be with kids.  Definitely wasn't geared toward little ones, but there was still a lot for them to look at and explroe, and all of the adults enjoyed it! 

They spoiled us with kinects for our XBox!  Alex particularily LOVES it and Gary and I have enjoyed it too!  It is definitely a work out if you do it for a while, especially the dancing and zumba! 

We went to our church's big Easter hunt!  It was the second hunt for the boys - Nathan picked up about 3 eggs and was ready to bust them open and eat the treats... Alex's strategy was a bit different, he got AS MANY as he possibly could to fill his basket first :) 

The kids enjoyed the bounce house, popcorn, and visiting the fire truck at the festival!  So fun!

We've enjoyed a lot of time outside with the nice weather lately, too!  It's mostly been in the upper 60s and low 70s the past couple of weeks! 

 The cherry blossoms are just beautiful! 

Gary and Nathan catching up on sleep after Oma and Opa's visit ;)  This was too cute to pass up a picture of ;)

St Patty's DayWeekend at Treasure Lake

We went to visit my mom and sisters in PA while she was up there for a few weeks!  We had a great weekend :)  The kids loved playing down by the water and throwing in rocks!  Alex especially loved looking for HUGE rocks to throw in... he was so cute because he'd get a bunch of them in a pile then throw as fast as he could.  He just couldn't get enough of it! 

Gary and I got to enjoy a nice afternoon to ourselves while grandma watched the boys!  We went to lunch, shopped, and got coffee... always LOVE getting in a date with my man ;) 

Saturday was St. Patrick's Day!  Alex had been noticing all of the "green decorations" and displays over the last couple of weeks.  He loved the fact that the holiday is centered around the color green because it's his absolute favorite color!  He wants EVERYTHING to be green if it's ever an option... it's his choice in cups, plates, clothes, coloring, paper, etc.  Their shirts from last year both still fit pretty well (my tiny boys!) and they were both really excited to wear them :)  We had a "Treasure Hunt" with clues that led them to the "treasure"  Alex LOVED it (in fact, we spent the rest of the weekend making up more of them!)

 Here he is running to the next clue!

 The "treasure"!  (green necklaces, gold coins that alex calls "dabloons", green candy, and green balloons! 

 We all went to see The Lorax in the theatre together one afternoon!  The boys did great!  It was Nathan's second movie in the theatre, and with special treats like popcorn and suckers, he sat pretty well for the whole movie.  It was really cute and a nice treat since we very rarely go to the theatre anymore!  We also had a campfire and roasted marshmellows! 

We had a great time!  The kids just love their grandma and aunts! 

Pictures

The end of February/beginning of March was busy!  Mostly it was spent on the couch taking care of sick kids... First, Alex came down with a virus that lasted an entire week (fevers, cold, etc.), Nathan had a version of it too but without the fever, just a bad cold.  We literally didn't leave the house for a week!  

 The kids painted some canvases to use as art in our basement/play room!  They turned out really cute!

Superheros and couch cushions became a new favorite activity!  Both boys love playing superhero... they run around getting the monsters and dinosaurs :)

Just as Alex was getting over the virus, great grandpa and grandma came for a quick visit!  We had fun showing Great Grandpa the house and playing together :)

Love that my boys love books so much, had to include one of them reading together ;)

Another favorite toy continues to be hotwheels/airplanes... we made a parking lot and an airport to play with cars on!  Alex loves it!!

The boys are playing much more nicely together lately (not to say there isn't any fighting...)  Here they are playing "rocket" on the steps!  Alex definitely takes the role of the "leader" and tells Nathan what to do.  I guess that's how big brothers are ;)

Here's a fort daddy built one afternoon!  Speaking of daddy... he started his masters this month and that has made things much busier around here too!!  It's a lot of time/work!  He's getting it online, which is nice.  His plan is a double masters in Cybersecurity and his MBA in 3 years.  He's really enjoying it so far :)

My mom and Cassie came back a few days after she brought grandpa to spend some time with us while my sister was on spring break :)  We had fun shopping, going out to eat, visiting and playing at home, and spending a day downtown being "tourists" 

The day after they left, Alex got sick again, but with strep :(  His fever was up to 103.5 and he was miserable.  After a couple of doeses of the antibiotic he was much better, thankfully! 



More to come on St Patrick's day and our visit to the lake soon ;)  And sorry for the complete disorganization of this post... I realize it is completely all over the place!