My Baby

Just the other day Michael said to me:
I love Jacob. Jacob is my baby and I am his big boy.

The beauty of the sweet, loving innocence of children.

Gymnastics! Gymnastics! We're Going to Gymnastics!

Both of our boys take a gymnastics class together at Aerials Gymnastics. They have a wonderful teacher, Miss Lynn, who is so full of energy and creativity - all of the children love her class! They do so many different activities from singing songs, using their imagination while exercising their little bodies, the bars, the balance beam and different obstacle courses that teach them different physical skills.

Let's Learn About Giraffes!

This afternoon while Jacob was napping Michael and I did an activity to learn about giraffes. First we colored a picture of a giraffe and talked about the giraffe's mane, long purple tongue, horns, hooves, tail, and how a giraffe is the TALLEST land animal while comparing it to the size of people.

Then we drew pictures of a predator of the giraffe - the lion, a giraffe bending its long legs and neck to drink water, the giraffe's habitat - the African Savannah and a giraffe stretching to reach leaves at the top of a tree.

At first Michael was very frustrated and discouraged with his first picture angrily stating "I can't, I can't draw a lion". I think he expected his unintentional scribbles to look exactly like a lion. As our activity drew on his drawing became more and more intentional, picking specific colors, drawing very quickly and hard to illustrate the giraffe trying to quickly run away from the lion and becoming proud of his pictures.

Here is his picture of a giraffe stretching his long neck to reach the leaves at the top of a tree:

At first glance I am sure all you see is scribbles, but on further inspection:



Still don't see it? Maybe you have to look through a mother's eyes... *sigh*

Enough Cars to Last a Lifetime!

Yesterday we went to the Denver Auto Show with Grandma and Grandpa. It was a very long day - about 6 hours of looking at cars with two young children is enough to last me a lifetime but in reality we'll probably be at the next big auto show.

The first big thrill of the day for the boys was seeing the Biggest Bear EVER (as they put it) peaking into the windows of the convention center and then they saw Grandma and Grandpa waiving at them through the window. The first big thrill of the day for the big boys was the new Corvette, they had a shiny blue one and for their sake I better clarify - it was the 2009 Corvette ZR1. Now I know, next year we better bring extra napkins for the drool! :)

During the day Michael had a lot of fun getting in and out of cars testing out the backseat, deciding which ones he liked best. Numerous times he asked me if we were going to buy the car but the car he did not want to get out of was the new BMW 1 Series and when I felt the leather while sitting in the front seat I understood why!









Jacob was more interested in the toy cars being given away by Hummer and he spent most of the time crawling on the floor pushing it around. When he was tired out it was fitting that he fell asleep while clutching his new car.

As the day progressed we were all pretty tired and Michael began to look like he was going to fall asleep standing. We then went to Hard Rock Cafe for some dinner before we came home.

The Easter Bunny Came!

On Easter Sunday the boys woke up to find an egg filled candy for both of them in their bed. Excitedly they ate the candy and couldn't wait to see what the Easter Bunny had in store for them next! As they left the bedroom they found more eggs filled with candy, tattoos and stickers in the loft - at the bottom of the stairs - in the living room and ALAS, the Easter Baskets!

The Easter Bunny brought them all sorts of fun things - bubbles and balls, crayons and markers, books, play silks (rainbow and stars!), a duck and a lamb, a chicken a goose and a rooster, a fried egg and a hamburger for their kitchen, shake and go cars, and candy, candy, candy of course! After exploring their new things and a breakfast of chocolate and jelly beans it was off to the showers and into their Easter outfits.

The rest of the day was full of even more excitement! Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Dan and Sophia came over; then Dominique and Braden. We had an Easter Dinner of ham, sweet potatoes, homemade mac & cheese casserole, broccoli and cauliflower and tabouleh salad then an ambrosia cake made by Grandma and a strawberry boston cream cake. Then the boys got another surprise - the Easter Bunny made a surprise visit to Grandma and Grandpa's house too! They recieved their very first baseball (t-ball) set, dinosaurs and two soft cuddle pillows (hippo & monkey!).

Everyone had a fun day full of family and friends, good food, good beer (James could probably write a whole book on the different beers they had!), excitement and just plain ol' happiness. :-)

Our Easter Weekend - Egg Hunt

We had a fun-filled Easter Weekend! On Saturday morning we went to our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. There were many children in the 1-3 age range but there were plenty of eggs and fun to be had for everyone. Both boys enjoyed hunting for eggs as did our little friend Braden. It was a cold morning but the rec center was a nice place to get warm before and after the hunt.

After the Egg Hunt we headed inside to see the Easter Bunny. It was a VERY long wait but Michael had his heart set on it, I have a feeling he thought we were going to see an actual bunny. By the time it was our turn we went into the Easter Bunny room and Jacob instantly began to scrunch his nose and knit his brow with a look of confusion on his face while trying to wriggle out of my arms. I have a feeling if he was successful he would have run, as fast as his little legs would carry him, out of the room! After the long wait neither of them wanted to sit with the Easter Bunny so I held both boys on my lap near the Easter Bunny while we had our picture taken.

The rest of our Saturday included last minute shopping for Easter Dinner, dyeing Easter Eggs and getting excited for the Easter Bunny!

We are ready - well, almost...

We are just about ready for Easter. ALL of the boys are upstairs asleep, Jacob and Michael are probably dreaming about finding Easter Eggs tomorrow at our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. I decided to take a break from some last minute cleaning, I have a few more groceries to pick up for Sunday's dinner and a little more cleaning to do when I am finished on the computer and probably a little tomorrow too.

I am very excited about the Easter Egg Hunt tomorrow and the Easter Bunny coming on Sunday. It is still a little bit of a mystery for Michael and it is such great fun to see his excited anticipation in finding out what kind of "treats" the Easter Bunny will leave on Sunday, not to mention finding eggs tomorrow. Jacob doesn't really know what to expect but I'm sure he will follow his brother's lead with the exception of seeing the Easter Bunny tomorrow at the Easter Egg Hunt. When he saw the Easter Bunny waving at him at the mall a few days ago he had a look of fright and utter confusion!

PSA - if you ever purchase a Shake N Go car (similar to the one here) and it is a surprise, make sure you take it out of your vehicle before the child you purchased it for rides in the car. Today I purchased the goodies for the boys' Easter Baskets including a Shake N Go car for each of them. When bringing the groceries into the house I left the goodies in the truck. They were still in the truck when Michael and I went to get dinner, every few minutes you could hear the engines revving and the tire sounds. At first Michael was convinced there were race cars on the radio then he changed his mind and decided it was dinosaurs on the radio!