Happy 8th Birthday, Justin!

We had a birthday boy in the house! The day started out with a ride to school with Mom since a cupcake delivery was necessary. (I've heard that large boxes of cupcakes do not do so well with young children on the school bus!) With his birthday being so close to Easter, we had decided to "party" on the weekend following his big day. Since we couldn't let the day go by without doing a little something, Justin got to pick his dinner that night. We had three-ways, apparently one of his faves! And after supper we had a few gifts for him to open.

A DVD of Bedtime Stories

A DS Game - SpongeBob Drawn to Life

Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards --- His Latest Craze!

His big present was his new bike which we had taken him to pick out over the weekend prior to his birthday. He was in desperate need of a "bigger boy" bike. He had seriously outgrown his first "big boy" bike. Now it's ready and waiting for Drew.

Justin & His New Bike

Happy Birthday, Justin!

Love, Mom

Hoppy Easter!

Easter Sunday and we're off to church! But not before a few photo opps! Take a look at my handsome boys!

Justin & Drew

The Boys & their Easter Baskets

Me & My Little Boys

Tom & the Boys

We headed to my mom's house for dinner and the boys had another Easter Egg Hunt! Drew actually did better than Justin. Maybe that was because he's lower to the floor. Who knows?! Grandma had hidden the eggs so well that we all had to pitch in to find the last few! Grandma had baskets with candy and toys and the eggs they found had more candy and even some money!

Grandma Helping Drew Open His Eggs

Justin with His Eggs

Thank you, Grandma!

Hoppy Easter!

Hunting for Easter Eggs

There are two local parks that hold Easter Egg Hunts for the kids every year. Luckily, one holds the hunt the weekend before Easter and the other one holds theirs on Easter weekend; otherwise our children would not have nearly enough candy for Easter! We had pretty nice weather both weekends this year so the boys were able to participate in both. Justin is starting to think that he is too old for this "hunt," but he is certainly anxious to partake of the spoils.

This was Drew's first year to actually "hunt" for the candy. For little guys (under age 2), they place small pre-filled baskets in an enclosed area and the children just go in an pick up a basket. We were concerned about Drew's first attempt based on our experience with Justin's first "hunt." We had been so busy trying to point out the Easter Bunny to Justin that when it was time for his group to start, he simply ran across the field to the Easter Bunny, smashing chocolate eggs all the way! He did not even get one single piece of candy! So, we learned from our parenting mistake and did not even mention the Easter Bunny to Drew once we arrived at the park. Plus, during the week leading up to the big day, we had him practice picking up plastic eggs and putting them in his basket at home! This time we were prepared and it paid off! Look at the handle of his basket --- you can tell how heavy it is!

Justin & Drew with the Spoils of the 1st Hunt

At the second hunt, the age groups are a little different. Drew was still too little to hunt. They just let each child go into a separate area and pick up five or six plastic eggs and then they gave each one a little stuffed bunny on their way out. Not so much pressure this time for Drew.

Good Drew "Hunting"

Justin had to fight tooth and nail though. This one was a much larger group. Each egg had either penny candy or a ticket for a prize. So after all the eggs had been gathered, we had to pry each one open and look for a prize ticket. Justin found two this year! He got some small squishy sports balls to play with and he won one the big prizes --- a HUGE stuffed lamb! He wanted to keep it, but once we got is home, he must have forgot about it. It's Drew's now!

Good Justin "Hunting"

Justin & his Bucketful of Eggs

The Boys & the Prizes

Spring Break Finale

After taking a break on Wednesday of Spring Break week, we headed back out on Thursday for mini-golf and go-carts! Drew was able to "play" golf with us and they let him ride on the go-carts, even though he was still too young. Justin had to ride as a passenger since he was just an inch shy of the height requirement. As a passenger in my car, he was sitting with his knees up to his chin. I wish they had let him drive. Oh well --- he'll definitely be ready next year or even sometime this summer! Drew rode with Tom and had a ball! Of course, Justin and I won the race --- the best driver always wins!

Tom & the Boys on the Golf Course

Friday was a first for our family. We headed to the museum center where we visited the Natural History museum and the Childrens' Museum. I seem to remember visiting as a child, but we have never made the trip with our boys. The kids learned about bats from a live presentation, explored a dark cave and looked at dinosaur skeletons. They both love the dinos.

The Skeleton

The Children's Museum was also a big hit with the boys. There are lots of really neat things for the kids to do there. They can do construction, play at water tables, climb in a forest with narrow tunnels and slides (where I nearly knocked my brains out and Tom nearly died laughing at me), ride on wheeled scooters, play in a ball cage and so much more! There's even a special area with all of that fun on a smaller scale for Drew's age group.

Justin & Drew in the Tractor

I think Spring Break was once again a hit this year! Looking forward to more fun in the coming years!

Zoo Trip

More Spring Break fun! Tuesday was Zoo day. Another fun day for both kids. Drew loved riding around in the wagon. We found out on Monday that the stroller was really too much and we knew that we wouldn't be there long enough to have to worry about Drew needing a nap.

Justin kept up his bravery and touched a Viper. I, however, was not so brave today! I passed on that one. Drew followed after his mother's example (very wisely, if I may say so) and steered clear of the snake. We saw lots of animals and Tom saw the male white lions for the first time. There is still plenty more to see, but we'll save that for another trip.

The Viper & Justin's finger

My Boys

The Elephants, one of Drew's faves

The Rhino, another of Drew's faves

Three Monkeys

Polar Bear on the Prowl

Aquarium Trip

Spring Break! We made plans to do lots of fun things around here during Justin's Spring Break. We started off on Sunday night playing laser tag with Justin. Drew couldn't make that trip, but we made sure he had fun, too. Monday of Spring Break we headed to the aquarium. Tom & I tried to take Justin when he was 3 months old. We were there for about 20 minutes before he lost it. We had to leave. Tom and I haven't been back since.

This trip was much better. Even Drew enjoyed it. Drew found Nemo and Justin was able to pet some sharks. Even I was brave enough to touch the top of a shark as it swam by. Drew wasn't too keen on the sharks, but I think he'd love to go back again sometime.

Drew & Daddy

In the Frog Bog

Petting a Shark

A Trip to the Castle

Our local toy store has a great castle inside and every year they send you a key for your birthday. Once you open the door with your key, you get to go inside a pick out a present. Even I got to do this as a kid. It doesn't seem quite so great now, but the kids seems to think so. Anyway, it has come up on Justin's turn for this year. We took him to pick out his gift and, of course, Drew wanted to go in too --- but just to help Justin, no doubt. Since the store is in the process of clearing out its retail area the nice girl who let Justin in said that Drew could pick something out as well. How great! Justin picked out a foam toy to play with outside and Drew picked a two-pack of trucks.

Ready! Set!

Go!

Yea!

The kids were excited, but Justin's excitement didn't last. Once we got home, Drew somehow got a hold of Justin's toy and ripped off the orange wings and separated the purple tail from the yellow body of his toy so he never even got to play with it. Eventually (maybe), he'll learn to put his things where his brother can't get them! We'll see!