We had so much fun celebrating one of our favorite 4 year olds! Jack is one of Colton's best buddies! The afternoon was filled with swimming, Braden doing all sorts of tricks down the slide and off the rock wall, Colton swimming with Daddy, Andrew hangin' with his friends and playing Legos, and me taking pics and chatting and eating (three of my favorite things)!
It was a wonderful Mother's Day! I was greeted with hugs, smiles, and home made cards and a book about mothers! Then there was a balloon and corsage to wear to church! Also, I had bought myself a new glider and pillows, table, and wreath for the front porch. So, Tom put the glider together for me for Mother's Day! We went to church and lunch with our friends, the Swiggards, to Mexican (of course)! Then it was home for some of the "honey do" projects and then we went to Sprinkles for dinner! It is a new yogurt place. So fun to put your choice of yogurt in the cup and go to the sprinkle bar to add whatever you like. Then we played two rounds of Uno while we were there! What a fun day to be together! Good behavior from the boys and hugs made the day so great! :)
Colton had a great time at swimming lessons this spring! He especially looked forward to seeing his friend, Grace, and sharing hugs and giggles! He also enjoyed shouting out his teacher's name, "Mr. Steven, look what I can do! Mr. Steven..." So funny! One time I was sitting right behind him on a chair talking to my friend and she made a motion and I look over and there was Colton completely upright but totally under water. I threw everything down and stepped in the pool with my shoes and jeans on. At the same time the lifeguard jumped in with his huge red floaty thing and Grace was trying to pull Colton's arm too! Wow! He wasn't even phased and didn't even choke. I looked at all the horrified moms sitting there and said, "This is why we are at swimming lessons." From then on he was telling Grace that they had to sit "right here" on the step. Formal lessons are over now and so Colton and I get to hit the pool and work on some of his skills. Last time he shouted to the lifeguard who jumped in to save him, "Mr. Michael, I'm doing swimming lessons with my Mommy!" Colton always has a way to bring a smile to lots of faces! We've got a long way to go in the swimming department, but I'm enjoying my time in the pool with him... he sure is fun to be with! :)
What a beautiful day to go to the zoo! Braden's class had a fun day at the zoo. It was hard to keep up with him and his buddies, but we made it. :) They were so busy running from one animal to the next. We got to spend an hour learning about all sorts of animals from one of the zookeepers. Braden did a great job answering lots of questions. We ate our picnic lunch by the goldfish pond, played at the Children's zoo, and rode the carousel. Having ice cream topped off a great field trip to the zoo! :)
My 1st friend, Beth, and her son, Jake, visited us during their trip to TX! How awesome to spend time together and reconnect. The boys got along great too! If only the visit would have been longer. We took them to one of our favorite Mexican restaurants, Pappisitos, a fun day filled with a yummy picnic and play at the beach (where we got totally sunburned!), to Rocket Park to see some rockets at Johnson Space Center and more Mexican! We had a great time staying up late and sharing memories of "back in the day"! After I told the boys that Mrs. Beth and Jake live near Gramby and Pa Pa and Nana and Opa they were thrilled and made the sadness that they were gone a little easier! :) We're so excited to see them this summer in MO!
What a pleasant surprise when my friend, Lisa, invited us to the Houston Aeros Minor League Hockey game on Easter afternoon! It was our 1st hockey game as a family and we had a blast! We all go into screaming and cheering and hangin' out with our friends! The funniest part was when we were watching the cheerleaders (who had little clothing on) and Colton said, "Why do they have their tummy on?" Meaning why is their tummy showing and not under cover like normal! :)
Easter morning the kids slept in a little! Yea! Then they found that the Easter Bunny had come and left TONS of eggs all over the downstairs for them to find and their baskets filled with all sorts of goodies! It was a really rainy morning, but the boys had so much fun finding eggs and sorting through all the contents of their eggs and baskets! We had breakfast all together, got ready, and had an awesome worship time at church! Riding the golf cart to church from the parking lot and back is always a big hit!
Braden got his cast off! Yes, this is outdated, but the event was special for him and he was so brave and so excited! I pray he doesn't break anything else... but in my heart-of-hearts I think there are many more casts in his future.
Again... it comes back to traditions! As always we enjoy dying Easter eggs every year. Each of us design several eggs. Usually I write all our names on one, Tom draws the Space Shuttle, etc... But the past couple years the dye wears off the wax crayons. Bummer! But none-the-less they were still beautiful eggs. We did a few Clone Wars egg wraps too. The night before Easter the boys enjoy carrying on the tradition that Tom had when he was a little boy of putting out "nests" made out of Easter grass around the house so that the Easter Bunny will know where to hide some of the eggs.
Our church did not host their Eggstravaganza this year. Instead, they encouraged everyone to have a smaller version in their own neighborhoods. Many of us teamed up with the Swiggards for a fun morning of Eggstravaganza excitement! There were TONS of eggs to be found, lots of cute faces to paint, sweet Easter crafts, so many yummy treats, bounce houses to tip over, a Veggie Tale to watch, Resurrection eggs to tell the story of Jesus death and resurrection, and games to play that got rained out... All that fun was followed up with a fantastic hot dog bar lunch with plenty of dips and other sweets. A few brave souls even stayed for some chilly swimming!
