Easter Bunny!

On Sunday we took the kids to the mall for an Easter Egg-stravaganza.  There was a band, odd looking clowns making balloon animals/hats/swords/etc (the swords probably weren't a really great idea considering the number of children that were there), food and fun.  The Easter bunny made a quick appearance there and my boys ran up to him and gave him the biggest hug they could give.  They LOVE characters.  I think it is funny because you usually hear of kids hating people dressed up in costume but the boys love them.  They love them so much that it's hard to get them to leave the character's side.

We told them that we would go see the bunny a bit later and they left him alone.  Telling them we would see the bunny later was a big mistake.  We walked from the egg-stravaganza down to the area where they do the bunny pics.  The line was insane!  I told the boys that we could watch for a while but we would have to come back another day to actually see the bunny (we would have been in line for 2 hours).  Ryan spotted the lollipops that some of the kids were receiving from the bunny (oh no).  Suddenly, Ryan was having an all out fit because he wanted to see the bunny and get a lollipop.  We somehow managed to get everyone out of there without creating a scene.

Fast-forward to yesterday.  We are out and about running errands.  Ryan spots the mall as we are passing by and exclaims, "They are taking us to see the Easter Bunny!!! YAY!!!"  Then Owen got all excited about it too.  I didn't have the heart to tell them that we weren't going there, especially with all of that excitement in their sweet voices.  They were dressed for the playground so I frantically ran into Baby Gap looking for something acceptable for the boys to wear.  The line was short, only 1 family in front of us.  I wasn't sure what to expect once the kids all went and sat with the bunny....

Happy Birthday, Big Brother!!!

My baby turned 4 years old a few weeks ago.  Four.  Yikes.  Four years has gone by so fast, yet so much has happened in that time.  We decided not to do a big friend party this year because we were in Texas and because we had 2 celebrations in Texas (not to mention a party for my brother and one for me as well), one on his actual birthday and one at school a few days later.  Five separate parties to celebrate four years of age seemed a tiny bit excessive, so we will save a friend party for next year.  I don't even want to think about five yet though!!!

(these pictures are all out of order -- sorry, blogger has a mind of its own)

this bounce house was one of the best gifts -- he and his bro have used it daily! 

I love the confusion on all of the adults faces.  

Trying to figure out how to put the marble run together..

checking out the bounce house while her brothers sleep

Ryan let Owen help him open all of his gifts.  Such a sweet brother! 

pretty girl!

excited to see the bounce house going up!

my loves! 

the birthday boy on his birthday! 

looks like she is going for a cupcake.  :) 

trying out his new bike! 

love

you have got to be kidding me with this hat..lol

Happy Birthday!!!

North Pole Breakfast

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up to find our elf, Hank, here with a yummy North Pole Breakfast from Santa himself!  The boys feasted on powdered donuts and yummy chocolate milk.  Mommy and Daddy had a few donuts as well and peppermint mocha coffees.  We read the kids the Elf on the Shelf book and they got a huge kick out of it.  Hank brought them a special gift (movie night treats and a movie to watch).  Hopefully Hank will remember this special breakfast and keep coming back year after year!!  

Thanksgiving Performance!

I great big huge heart Ryan's school.  Moving him to that school last year was one of the best decisions I have ever made.  His teachers this year are outstanding!  He loves them all, including his music and spanish teachers.  He is learning so much every single day.  He comes home saying things in spanish and asking me how to say certain things in spanish.  It is cute.  He only has his spanish class once a week, but he is learning SO much!  

A couple of weeks ago,  his school put on a Thanksgiving performance.  He usually isn't one to sing a whole lot, but he had practiced his song and knew it word for word.  He did sing a little up on the stage.  He also turned his back around so all you could see was the back of his head about half way through their song.  When they were done, he was so proud that he clapped excitedly for himself.  He was so proud and so were we.  :) 

he loved the performance and wanted his picture taken as well!

Fall Fun/Birthday Fun

Little Brother's 2nd birthday was an absolutely beautiful fall day.  We decided it was the perfect day for checking out one of the farms in our area.  I am not sure why we had never been to this particular farm before but it was perfect for the boys.  I look forward to taking them back next year!  We had such a wonderful time celebrating Mr. O's 2nd year!  We played at the farm, had yummy pizza for dinner (his choice) and followed it up with a nice big cupcake!  The day was perfect!!

he had fun chasing around a whole bunch of chickens..

We all (except little miss) had a blast on the slides!! 

I may or may not have enjoyed the slides more than the kids!!

A few weeks after this trip, I took little brother in for his 2 year appointment to find out that he is in the 95th percentile for height and weight!  Wowzers!!!  He is bigger in both height and weight than his big brother was at the age of 3!!!  They are exactly one full shoe size apart and one clothing size apart. It won't be long before little brother is giving hand-me-downs to big brother!

A visit with Santa

I took the kiddos to see Santa today.  The boys were SO excited about getting their picture taken with him.  Big Brother kept talking the whole way to the mall about how he was going to tell Santa that he wants a guitar and drums for Christmas.  Yikes!!!  I keep telling him that if Santa brings him drums then he is going to have to bring me some ear plugs.  Santa, if you are reading this, please, please don't bring us drums!!!  Little Brother wants Buzz and Woody (even though we already have those...and all 3 movies).

When picture time arrived, both boys went and crawled right up next to Santa.  Little brother then got a little confused and took a little convincing to look at the camera.  Sis got to wear shoes for the first time!! They are a bit big still but I couldn't resist those red patent leather shoes!

Happy Halloween!

Hi!

our little lady bug

not so happy little monster

her face cracks me up!

Lightning Mcqueen, lady bug and a slightly more cooperative monster

ready to go..

Add caption

a little bribery works wonders for a little monster

Ok so --- little brother was NOT happy about putting his costume on.  He picked it out at the store.  He ran around practicing his monster sounds for a month or so...then the big night he was just not having it.  After a bit of bribery in the form of Smarties, he perked up.  The boys LOVED trick or treating this year.  They were only excited about their candy for about 20 minutes when we got home.  Since then they haven't even mentioned it.  They thought it was so fun to go to all the houses and Big Bro keeps asking if it is Halloween again.

TWO!!!

My little man is 2 years old!  I feel like a broken record since I say this all the time, but time is going by too fast!  Little Brother is such a sweet, sweet boy.  He loves to give hugs and kisses.  If he starts giving one of us hugs and kisses then he makes sure to make the rounds and give everyone in our little family hugs and kisses.  He is my caretaker.  He makes sure that everyone is always ok and makes sure I know when sister is crying.  He loves his pacifier more than any other object (we seriously need to work on this addiction).  He loves to say "nope" and shake his head side to side like crazy.  He is strong-willed, active (oh my word is he active), curious and a problem solver.  He loves to climb and explore.  He loves to do everything that his big brother does.  He talks non-stop (but you can only understand about half of what he says).  He gets so excited about the littlest things (like locating our van in the parking lot).  He is almost always happy, smiling and giggling but he can go to the complete opposite end of the spectrum in the drop of a hat.  He has lots of opinions and is not afraid to let you know when he is NOT happy about something.

Most importantly he is such a blessing in our family.  We are so proud of this little boy and so happy that he is a part of our family.  Even on the hardest days, when my patience is completely used up and I am exhausted, he is able to make me smile.  He gets me with a big silly grin (still with a few missing teeth) or an unexpected hug and kiss and melts my heart.

Sweet little man, we love you so much!!! We had so much fun celebrating your second year of life and cannot wait to see what this world has in store for you! :)

When I close my eyes and think of Owen, this is the exact image that comes to mind.