GREAT WEEKEND WITH THE MCCABE'S

We finally got the McCabe's here to visit for a weekend.  They have been trying to get here since December, however, sick kids and busy schedules got in our way.  We had a great weekend!  We had perfect weather all weekend, so we spent most of it outside watching the boys play and catching up.  The boys had a great time together and, for the most part, got along great with each other.  The boys were saddened that the McCabe's had to leave to go home, especially since we are not sure if we will be able to take a trip to go see them this summer.  However, Lee and I will be spending a weekend with Luke and Jessica in Florida in a month!  Can't wait!!!

 Dylan (3), Brody (6 months), Brady (2 1/2), and Tyler (4)

 The boys playing drums on these things in the front yard.

 All three going down the slide.

 Dylan really looked up to Tyler throughout the weekend.  He needed to know where Tyler was at all times.  Tyler took Dylan under his wing and was excellent with him.  It was so cute!  And...when Dylan chose to not call Tyler by his name, he called him "that guy." :)

 3 very cute little boys.

 No matter how many times I cleaned up and put things away in this playroom, it ended up looking like this.  There are two little boys in this picture, as well as all the toys.

 Jessica and I enjoyed catching up, drinking cocktails, and even got to enjoy a run together on Saturday morning.  I really can't wait 'til Florida!  And, I wish that we could get together more often!  Too fun!

 No caption necessary.

 Very cute picture of Brady on the swing.

 Very cute picture of Tyler on the motorcycle.

 Brady absolutely loves spending time outside blowing bubbles.

 Big man, Brody.  It was so good to have finally met him!  And this is what he looked like all weekend.  Smiles, smiles, smiles!

 Lee and Luke took the four boys to the park while Jess and I went for a run.  Great Dads!

 A little soccer play.

 Pretty sure that one of Lee's favorite things to do with kids is to wrestle them.  The kids absolutely love it!

 Tyler, Brady, and I went out to buy the movie HOP on Friday.  The boys had a picnic dinner in front of the TV, watching HOP.

 After dinner Saturday night, the boys needed to run off even more energy before going up for bath, so I had them race to the shed and back a few times.  Before going outside, they had all decided to strip down to their underwear for some reason. 

 Dylan, Luke, Brody, Brady, Lee, and Tyler.

 Giving each other high fives and "down lows, too slows," before the McCabes had to go back home.

 Brady was pretty sad to see them go.

This is a picture of Tyler Sunday morning.  Lee and Luke took Tyler, Brady, and Dylan outside to play early this morning.  The grass was extremely wet with dew.  They made a game of getting a bouncy ball wet in the grass and then throwing it at each other's heads.  Tyler was completely soaked!

WHAT AN EXCELLENT WEEKEND WITH SUCH GREAT FRIENDS!  THANK YOU, MCCABE'S FOR COMING TO VISIT!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, CALI!

We celebrated Cali's 1st birthday yesterday, March 21st.  Here's Brady, Tyler, and Cali at Cali's birthday party.  They were excited to sing Happy Birthday to her and loved eating her cupcakes with pink frosting.  And Cali loved her dog ice cream!  She's our little princess!

VACATION AT GRANDMA MARY'S

 My spring break started on Friday, March 16th and goes until the 26th!  The boys and I left our house to go to my mom's on Friday morning.  We left Lee and Cali at home to sit on the couch and watch March Madness.  The weather that we have been having has been absolutely beautiful!  It has been a perfect spring break so far and we still have many more days! 
When we got to my mom's on Friday we played outside the entire day (besides naptime.)  They rode their bikes, played basketball, baseball, and frisbee golf, for hours while we were at Grandma's for 4 days.  We also took many fun stroller/bike walks while we were there.  Besides playing outside on Friday, we went over to see Katie and Mike's new house.  The boys had fun playing with all of Taylor's toys and doing bubbles with Katie and Taylor outside.  They have a great new house and it is a perfect place to bring home baby #2! 

 Riding behind Grandma's house on Friday.

 Loving life on the bike.

Saturday morning, St. Patrick's Day, we woke up and got ready to take the kids to the Children's Museum.  They have an absolute blast at this museum--it's awesome!

 Tyler driving the ambulance and Brady calling to tell the hospital that they are on the way.

 I love to watch them shop in the grocery store.  It it so cute!  Brady had a great time!

 Brady and Grandma checking out and Tyler is ringing up all the groceries.

 Brady might be a rough little boy and quite crazy, but like I've said before, he is a huge cuddler!  He also loves to play with little baby stollers.  And because we have no dolls or play bottles in our house, this was the first time I had seen him do anything like this.  It was so cute!

 Tyler's favorite part of the day, no surprise here, was playing doctor.  Here he is showing me which bone I broke in my body.  He had me lay on the table while he would go behind the glass window.  He would push buttons and then say, "just a little bit longer.  You're doing great!"  He did such an awesome job at playing doctor!  I was so proud!

 Tyler gave me this cast to wear, since he told me that I had broken a bone.

 They also really love the pizza place.  Everything is just their height and they can play "grown-up!"  It's so much fun to just sit back and watch them!

 Drama Time!  We played dress-up for a little bit.

 Like I said before...We played a lot of basketball!

Sunday, morning, we went to church, which was an event in itself!  Tyler behaved his usual self, which is awesome, because he usually does such a great job wherever we take him.  Brady, however, was a terror!  Scene after scene, he put on in that church service.  And since I was in Iowa City, I would expect to not know anybody, however, we were sitting right next to Katie's in-laws and my mom's friend Patty and Wayne.  Ugh!  I was so embarrassed! 
Tyler and Grandma dyed Easter eggs on Sunday.  They also played outside a lot and I went shopping!!!  It was great!

 The blue one says 'Dad' on it and the pink one says 'Mom' on it.  Thank you, Tyler and Grandma!

On Monday, we took the boys to pick out a new toy.  We had a deal with Tyler, that if he stopped biting his nails and they got to the point where we would actually have to get the clippers to cut them, than he could pick out a new toy.  So, since Tyler was getting a new toy, so was Brady!  Tyler picked out a pretty cool toy that is kind of like a bow and arrow and also a $0.97 Spiderman yo-yo.  Brady picked out a bubble machine, which is also pretty neat and pretty fitting since he loves bubbles.  We did a couple more errands and then let them play at the play place in the mall for a bit before going back to Grandma's house.  After their naps, we took them to a Raptor Center out on Coralville Lake.  There were caged birds that have been rescued and most cannot fly anymore.  Owls, Falcons, Eagles, etc.  It was pretty neat and the boys really enjoyed it.

After the raptor center, we went back to my mom's to get cleaned up and then headed over to Katie and Mike's for dinner!  Fun!

 Grandma and the boys on the trail to go see the birds. 

Tyler was deathly afraid at what had fallen from the trees.  They were all over the gravel.  At first he had a hard time walking on the gravel, because he didn't want to step on any of them.  I picked one up to show him that they weren't an animal or bug and they couldn't hurt him.  He felt more comfortble walking after that.  This kid could never survive in nature!  :)

 The boys and I enjoying our nature walk.

This was my favorite owl.  It would talk to us and would also close it's eyes a lot.  It is a beautiful bird!

 The bald eagle.

 Tyler's wingspan.

 Brady's wingspan.

 Myself and Brady.

Tyler and Brady running back to the car.

This morning I got the van all packed up and we headed home--Grandma had to go back to work.  It was a great 4 days with Grandma.  Thanks mom, for playing endlessly with the boys.  Thanks for making meals, doing their bath, putting Tyler to bed, and just giving me a little breather!  Both boys love all the attention they receive from you--and Brady loves your chocolate!  :)  I'm sure both of them are missing you right now!

"WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?"

My bedtime converstation with Tyler tonight went a little like this...

Tyler:  "Mom, what are you going to be when you grow up?"
Me:  "I am already grown up, Tyler, and I'm a teacher."
Tyler:  "No.  I mean when you're 50, what are you going to be?"
Me:  "Well, Tyler, I will probably still be a teacher."
Tyler:  "I'm going to be a doctor."  (Which is what he's been saying since he was 2!)  "No, I'm going to be a dad."
Me:  "You can be a doctor and a dad, Tyler."
Tyler:  "Who am I going to take care of?"
Me:  "You mean as a doctor?"
Tyler:  "No, as a dad."
Me:  "Well....you first have to meet a woman that you love and then you have to marry her so that she is your wife, and then you and your wife can have kids and you will take care of them."

...Silence...

KIDSFEST 2012

This past Saturday we took the kids to KidsFest in Des Moines.  They had a great time seeing characters, superheros, jumping in bounce houses, playing games, getting tattoos, eating popcorn, and petting a snake!

Tyler said that his favorite part of the trip was seeing Spiderman.  I'm sure his "favorite" was pretty torn between Spiderman or the Star Wars guys.  However, I'm sure Brady's favorite was seeing Dora!

After a fun morning at KidsFest, we made it home in time for the kids to take a good nap.  Grandma Mary arrived shortly after nap.  My mom had been in Florida for the week before and had just got back to Iowa on Saturday.  Instead of going to her house and sleeping in her own bed after being gone for a week, she came to see us and slept on our couch.  She really missed those boys and we love to have her here!  She brought each of the boys back a new pair of sunglasses from Florida.  They think that they are pretty cool in their new shades! 

Here's some pictures of the boys at KidsFest.

Star Wars guys were the first "characters" that we saw. The boys were pretty amazed to begin with.  Brady didn't last up close for long.  He was a bit scared of these guys. 

Tyler, on the other hand, could have stayed and hung out with these guys the whole morning.  He was loving it! 

 Brady's very own "superhero," Dora!  As we were waiting in line, he would peek under the bar and yell, "Dora, over here! Dora, over here!"  He was so happy to see Dora!  And, no, we weren't the only ones with boys in line.  And hey, this kid is learning Spanish!  :)

 Tyler got in his hug first.  He was also pretty excited to see Dora.  He stood and looked at her for awhile after he gave her a hug and then he also gave her a high five.  He had such a huge smile on his face!

 Brady probably outwore his welcome with Dora.  And the people in line behind us were probably getting impatient.  He would give her a high five, and then hug, and then high five, and then hug, and so on, until we finally had to carry him away.  He waved and yelled 'bye' to Dora with such a happy face!  His day was made!

Brady hugging Dora.  He had such a happy day because he got to see and hug Dora!

 

 Tyler with Spiderman.

 And Brady with Spiderman.

 After looking at KidsFest information online, we knew that there was going to be this 8 foot tall robot there.  We showed the boys a video of this robot and they thought it was pretty cool.  The morning before we left, that was all Tyler would talk about.  He was just so excited to go to KidsFest to see the robots!  Well, guess what?  The robot scared him and made him cry!  He didn't like that the robot would walk towards us.  It scared him.  He actually said, "I want to go home!"

So, instead of continuing to watch the robot, we went back to the Star Wars guys!  :)

One last stop at the Star Wars guys before we left.  We had to dry the tears and make a smile on that face again!