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!

Visiting Our Heroes

Justin's Cub Scout den went to visit our local police station and firehouse. He really thinks he's a cool dude!

Justin & his Den with the Fireman

ABCs

Drew can sing his ABCs now, but, of course, I cannot get him to sing the whole song while the camera is rolling. In this version, he gets some help from his big bro' (who, by the way, is VERY camera-shy!). Maybe one day I'll capture Drew singing all the way through!

Over the Top!

My mom took us to the circus last night! It was the boys' first trip ever and they thoroughly enjoyed it! Justin can't decide which part was his favorite and Drew said, "I liked dit --- elefwants!" Tom and I haven't been since we were kids and my mom's last trip would have been when I was a kid as well. We had really good seats (thanks to my mom's friend, Geoff) so we were close enough for all the entertainment to keep Drew's attention. There were elephants (aka elefwants), tigers, dogs, horses, not to mention clowns, acrobats, motorcycles, trapeze artists, and so much more! We had a great night! It would have been a little better for me if I didn't have the flu, but c'est la vie!

Grandma, Justin, Tom & Drew

One of the Elefwants

Justin & Drew at the Pre-Show

The Finale

This Little Piggy

Since Drew started going to "school" in September, he comes home everyday with a sheet letting us know how his day was. It lets us know what kinds of things they did in class that day (made policeman hat, colored #4 and sang "Wheels on the Bus"), if and how well he ate his lunch (Ate Good), what kind of diapers he made and if he needs any supplies restocked. Justin calls this paper "Drew's Report Card." So Justin occasionally will ask to see Drew's report card when he comes home from school. He reads it over and says, "Oh, good! Drew didn't eat like a pig!" He thinks that "ate good" means he wasn't messy! What a character! It just cracks me up every time I hear him say it. Hopefully, it makes you smile, too!

How Handsome!

Today was Scout Sunday, so we attended a church service with the Cub Scouts from Justin's pack. Justin wore his uniform and we got Drew dressed up, too. We sure do have two handsome-looking boys, if I do say so myself! Drew was just grinning from ear to ear when he got his fancy clothes on. He knew he was good-lookin'!

I'm afraid that my husband, however, needs some help. As we were about to head out the door, he started to put on his black dress shoes which were by the garage door. That's where we leave our shoes when we come in the house. Those must have been the ones he wore to work on Friday. He realized that they were two different black shoes! Worse yet, one is brand new and the other one is worn out! I can't believe he couldn't feel a difference (if he can't, I'm not sure why he needed new ones)! And I guess nobody at work noticed --- thankfully! Luckily, I can still have some influence over my little boys' sense of style, but Tom . . . I think he's too far gone!

Our Lil' Hoopster!

Since the Wildcats aren't hoopin' it up too well lately, I'll just tell you what our lil' hoopster has been up to. Justin has once again been participating in the Eagle Hoops program at our local high school. It's a program for kindergarteners through 3rd graders where the high school coaches and their players teach the kids the basic skills of the game. The kids get to show off their skills at halftime of the home varsity games for about six weeks or so. Tom has worked with the kids for the past two years now and he's been the head man at the halftime performances since the high school coaches are busy in the locker room at that time. Before the varsity games the Eagle Hoopsters line up on the court to slap hands with the Eagle players as the starting line-up is announced. The kids think this is really cool! Then, of course, halftime is a real treat since the kids practice on 8-foot rims and this adjustment is not made for their three-to-five minute halftime exhibition. Lots of ooohs and aaaws from the crowd, if you know what I mean! Today we attended the Pizza Party/Award Presentation for the end of the Hoops season. Justin and his pals received their medals and we stayed for the JV game against the #1 team in the state. Justin got to be the team's waterboy for the game today. He really enjoys that --- you'll be able to tell from the picture below! Anyway, Justin does enjoy playing basketball, so take a look at some of his work!

The Starting Line-Ups

Movin' for the Ball

Justin in Action

Pal Jackson & Justin with their medals

Justin, aka The Waterboy (on the end of the bench)

Winter Wonderland

Well, we've had a bit of a snow/ice storm over the past couple of days. Justin's school has been closed all week and they've already cancelled school for tomorrow as well. My employer even closed our offices downtown for the past two days --- unheard of! We have been able to have some fun, though.

The Winter Wonderland in Our Backyard

Buck --- covered in snow!

Monday we were able to try out the new double snowtube that the boys got for Christmas. After my unsuccessful attempt at using an air pump, Justin got the job of blowing the whole thing up by himself. I guess that made him all the more anxious to try it out in our backyard. Then, of course, it took a good 1/2 hour to get everyone all bundled up to head out the door. Justin gave the tube a test run down the hill and loved it --- "It's lightning fast!" So, then I sent Drew and Justin down together. Drew was not so enamored. Attempt #3 included me. Drew insists on sitting in my lap in the back while Justin takes the front seat. We went down a couple of times like that, but we kept ending up against the fence. So, silly me, I suggested we head over to the other side of the yard and try that hill. We trudge over, get loaded up, and down the hill we go. When we get to the bottom, also against the fence I might add, we are simply sitting on a flat piece of vinyl! All that time to get ready and it lasted for about 10 minutes! UGH! So back to the old, red plastic numbers that my brothers and I used 20-25 years ago!

The Boys on the Inflated Piece of Vinyl

Tuesday, we tried out a recipe for some snow cream. Justin helped make it and he loved it. Drew just wanted to eat it with his fingers. If he couldn't do that, then he didn't want it!

We all scream for snow cream!

Today, we brought the flat piece of vinyl back in the house and put some of the patch stuff on it. Then, Justin once again got the job of blowing it up. I didn't even bother with the dumb air pump this time. Then another 1/2 hour of bundling up and back out the door we went. Tom even made it home from work in time to join in on the sledding fun. Since we had so much more snow today, we weren't scraping across any branches or twigs on the ground. We were back in business with the "lightning fast" snow tube!

Tom & Drew (See the inflated tube behind them?!)

Bust 'Em Up, Buddy!

Justin has become our in-house star bowler!!! Since Santa brought the Wii for Christmas, Justin has bowled not one, but two, near perfect games at 299! Amazing! Tom and I cannot beat him and really, who could?! Since the first of the year, Justin has been bowling at school during gym class as well. Every year they have a school-wide tournament. Well, Justin and his two teammates, Gannon and Chad, won their class tournament and moved on to participate in the school-wide tournament last Friday, the 23rd. I was invited to attend and cheer for his team. They won their first two games to move on to the championship game where they lost to the older 3rd grade team! What a show! Justin is so expressive and just gets into everything he does. I wish I had taken the video camera because he is such a hoot to watch! Take a look at some of these shots of our bowling star!

Justin after 11 strikes and then knocking down 9 pins.

See --- it really says 299!

What form!

Awaiting the other semi-final winners!

Chad, Justin & Gannon