Arty and Esther's Gender Party

We are so excited that our kids are finally going to have a cousin on their Woodbury side and even more excited to have yummy cupcakes tell us what it would be.

Taylor's parents were really cute and went all out for the party.  Really it was just our normal Sunday dinner but they ran with the pink and blue theme.  Balloons, pop rocks, lollipops.

Pink and blue pez, blue water, pink juice... even dinner had pink shrimp, blue cheese.  It was really fun.

And then, just to outdo every other gender announcement party, they each dressed up in what they thought it would be.  Amazingly they didn't have to go any farther than their own closets to find these outfits.  Pink jacket thanks to Taylor's grandfather.

And the winner... mom!  It's a boy!  We can't wait.

Morning at the Zoo

Our backyard is covered in snow.  What to do with an empty Saturday morning and 3 little boys with ants in their pant?

The zoo!

Just enough statues to climb and animals to see.

And snacks.  A perfect escape... even if we had to be all bundled up.

Blue and Gold Magic

Taylor is a fabulous scout master.  I'm pretty sure the requirements for a great scout master are to just organize the den mothers, put on a few fun pack meetings, and entertain the boys enough that they want to come to scouts.  Taylor has those things down pat.  He also has great, fun ideas for pack meetings.  Last year for the Blue and Gold he brought in a drumset and had all the boys tell jokes followed by them having a turn to do the drums.

This year he decided the theme was magic.  Each boy had to learn a magic trick and then present it to everyone in kind of an exhibition event before the main meeting.

Ethan learned a card trick and was very excited to show it off.

It was cute to go around and see all the boys doing magic.

And then of course there was dinner with friends.

And magic tricks by Taylor.

And this he was the most proud of- he got a "magic" bag he could hide all the awards in and magically pull them out.  So funny.  The boys loved it though!
And now Ethan's officially a wolf scout!  Good job Ethan!

What's so funny?!?

I'm very glad Isla's hair is starting to grow in but sometimes there are side effects I hadn't thought of.

She can't yet sign "all done" or "I've had enough" or even "I don't like that" but it's pretty obvious when she doesn't want baby food put in her mouth any more.  She simply intercepts the spoon on it's way to her mouth and in one motion wipes the food off the spoon and up into her hair.  

Fantastic!

At least it's good family entertainment.  These two find it HILARIOUS!!!

I mean FALL OFF YOUR CHAIR funny.

I mean who needs hair gel when you've got baby food you don't want to eat?

Why's your sweatshirt on backwards?

Random afternoon.  Ethan has had his snack.  Is done with homework.  Walking around.  And I randomly notice his sweatshirt is on backwards.  

Me:  Hey why's your shirt on backwards?

Ethan:  Because I'm a ninja nerd!

Seriously.

Valentines Day 2013

Sorry that Valentines post has been sitting there for months now.  I'm just getting around to post dating and updating the blog.  We're busy living life here!  And it's great!

When I was in Elementary school I loved all the extra parties and events that made school fun.  I'm grateful both Ethan and Isaac are getting a great education that will prepare them for productive lives, but I'm also really glad there's some fun activities thrown in so their school lives aren't the same day after day.  We all like a good party.  In Elementary school I remember very vividly being envious of the other kids who brought in "cool" valentine boxes.  My mother, bless her heart, is fabulous, but not very crafty.  I swore I'd be different.  So when Ethan came home and said his teacher said they could bring in their own box (this was a first- in all previous grades they made them in class) I jumped on the chance to make a cool box.  Literally!  We spent the next 2 hours building these guys.  And a quick search of pinterest yielded the perfect project.  

Calling all minions!  

Ethan wanted one holding a banana and singing the ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-bana song.  If you've never heard it, it's worth youtubing minion banana song.  Isaac's has a "bapple".  And really they were pretty simple- shoe box, yellow paper, cut and glue some colored paper and add a little foil to the eyes.  The cards go in their mouths.

And this year I helped at Ethan's class Valentine day party.  There's Ethan dressed very festivally in red.

And Isla came along to join the party although she mostly was happy to chill in her carseat and nosh on toys.

There were several activities put on by parent groups.  He got to make a tootsie pop butterfly.

And then this was my little game area.  Don't you love the back of Ethan's classroom?  It's actually the old are room and so has painted murals on all the walls.  It's actually built to be an ampitheater so all the desks are on the steps.

We played a few minute-to-win-it games.  First up:  see how many m&m's you can suck up with a straw and deposit in the other cup in 1 minute.

Then see how many conversation hearts you can pick up and move with chopsticks.

And finally can you make a fuzz ball stick on your nose with vaseline?

And the always popular get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without your hands.

He played pictionary.

And some other game I'm not sure about.

And then there were treats and valentines to pass out.  See, it's a pretty cool box.  I'm a good mother :)

I aspire to be more creative in the future with meals but I did manage to remember red juice for dinner and heart shaped marshmallows for dessert.  I got each of the kids dollar store monkeys for their valentine.  Who knew they'd be such a hit?  Miles wore his around for weeks.

So cute with a monkey on his back.

And Taylor, who knows me well, got me flowers that would live a long time and brighten my days.

Happy Valentines Day!

 WE

 YOU!

(Sorry Isla, I had to resort to swaddling to get you to lay in a semi straight line so we could form letters.  Even with the swaddling I had to snap the shot within 3 seconds or you were already off rolling away- even in your swaddle.  Ethan kept yelling- she's a worm!!!)

 These guys have too much fun together!

 

 But they sure are cute!