MOPS Easter Egg Hunt

Each year in MOPS they put together an egg hunt at a local park. The moms bring food and filled eggs. This year some dads joined us and they got recruited to "hide" the eggs. It was a nice morning. We played at the park for quite some time, had some food, and then hunted some eggs. Daniel remembered from last year what you got in the eggs so he was super excited for the hunt and took off on his own when they said it started. Patrick wasn't so sure but figured it out pretty quickly. He was cute, walking around with his basket and picking up eggs. 

It was a great time.

Spring Snow

It snowed 6" inches overnight (which is pretty typical for April) and while most of it has melted, Daniel and I took advantage this afternoon and made a snowman. Well, I made a snowman while Daniel watched. Apparently rolling snow is hard. Who knew?

Thanks to our friends in Minnesota we have some awesome accessories to dress him up. 

Happy Spring everyone!

Josh's 8th Birthday

Can you believe my baby is 8? That is so old. We had his doctor's appointment and the doctor told him he is half way to getting his driver's license. I about fainted. That sounds so old. How did that happen?

He got to choose all the food options today. For breakfast he wanted a pancake egg sandwich.

Dad was even able to stay home late to join us for breakfast. 

Then he got to open presents. 

For dinner we met Tom, Shelley, and Alex at Golden Corral (yep. Not really sure what appeals to kids here). 

He wanted a cake with fun-fetti frosting in the shape of a basketball.

He's sort of a Cyclone fan. Can you tell?

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Bunk Beds

We bought the boys bunk beds when Daniel moved out of his crib. They have been set up as two twin beds even since we got them because we thought Daniel was too young to sleep on the top and Josh has a tendency to sleep walk. Well, after sleeping in a bunk bed for two weeks at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we decided it was safe enough for Daniel to be on top and the boys asked us to put the beds together. 

So Joe and I took a Saturday and re-arranged their room. 

These are the beds before....

...and after!

I think they really like it. We have had no problems with it so far. We'll see how well it works with Patrick moving out of the crib soon. 

Josh's Basketball Season

Josh decided he wanted to try basketball this year (in addition to all his other sports). So, we signed him up. This league was a Saturday only league. He showed up to his games 30 minutes early for practice and then played a 30 minute game. The first few games it was evident that we don't watch basketball at home much. He does a great job of listening to his coach, and was learning a lot during practices. During the games, he didn't really know what to do.

Here are a few action shots.

Getting advice from his coach.

Watching the game on the bench waiting to be put in.

The team ended the season with one loss in the championship game. I think Josh learned a lot throughout the year. He definitely showed improvement. We'll see what he wants to do next year.

Go Spurs!

Trip to Iowa to visit Baby Cora

Since the boys have Martin Luther King, jr day off, I thought that would be a perfect time to visit Iowa to meet my new niece that was born January 7th. Unfortunately, it was also the same weekend Josh started basketball. So, Patrick, Daniel, and I loaded up the car and drove out to Iowa leaving dad and Josh behind to play basketball.

We got in Friday night and was greeted by Grandpa. We got to hang out a little and then it was bedtime. 

Side note: Funny bedtime story. Daniel likes Grandpa to put him to bed when he visits so I said good night to him downstairs and didn't see him again. I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and noticed the light on in the room in which Daniel was sleeping. I went in to check on him and couldn't find him in there. He was not on the top bunk, or the bottom bunk. I checked in the closet and under the bed. He was no where. I went all over the house and couldn't find him. Finally, I woke up Grandpa to ask where he put Daniel to bed. He told me in the top bunk. So I went back and looked a little harder under the bed at the three storage boxes that are stored under there and inside one of them, with a blanket over him, was Daniel. He had pulled the box out, took off the lid, climbed inside with the blanket and pushed himself under the bed. Crazy boy!

The next day the boys enjoyed a Grandpa, Daniel, Patrick day while Mom drove to Iowa City to visit the newest member of the family. The boys said they had a blast. As did I. I love new babies!

We ended the weekend watching the Broncos win the AFC championship with a giant bowl of popcorn then headed home Monday. It was a great weekend.

Proud auntie!

Isn't she so cute?

Daniel found one of my trophies in the basement and wanted to bring it home.

They really are great little travelers. 

Daniel "ice" skates

Daniel requested to try ice skating over the Holiday break. I found an indoor ice skating rink in Des Moines so we thought we would try it out. Josh did not want to come. Turns out, it was less of an ice skating rink and more of a skate on plastic boards on the floor rink. It was also very small. In the long run, it was probably better than a real skating rink.

This is how he spent most of his time so it wasn't as cold. 

He did try pushing a high chair, but that didn't help much either.

It was bad timing on our part. About ten minutes after we got there they started some organized games. So instead of skating around at his own pace, Daniel had to participate in a race if he wanted to skate. He was a good sport about the whole thing.

He said he had fun. Maybe we will try again.