Puppet Show

On Saturday, we took the boys to the Denver Puppet Theater. It was a pretty cool place with a neat fountain in the courtyard and lots of puppets, marionettes and puppet theaters to play with inside. Our ticket was a paper puppet that the boys got to decorate beforehand and then we watched the one puppeteer perform Thumbelina (which a somewhat disturbing story - it left Luke thinking that getting married is a bad thing). Afterwards, we went to a cupcake bakery where the boys chose a chocolate cupcake with Twix cereal on top. Luke asked if it was a special day - I told him it was, but for no particular reason.







Mmmm - good. Greg got an Almond Joy cupcake and I had Black and White cupcake.


After our cupcake adventure, I was inspired to try some of my own. Below is my first specialty cupcake (as in not from a cake mix) - White Chocolate Mocha - a chocolate coffee flavored cake with white chocolate buttercream frosting. I have several future recipes lined up to try.


Not a whole lot else is going on - I've been busy at work - my big project of the year is administering all of the AP exams - so I'll be spending the next two weeks giving 900 exams to 400 students. Greg was out of town last week but will be around until at least after the AP exams. We have something planned every weekend now until we leave for our big Disneyland trip at the end of May (one of which will be the boys' space themed 4th birthday party-a couple of weeks early but before they're out of school).

I Think it is the Weather

In hopes that I don't jinx anything (I've been knocking on wood all week), the boys have been getting along so well for the last month. There has minimal fighting compared to the past and they have had a great time playing together and making up their own unique games. I don't know if it their age and getting a little older or if it is because the weather is now nice and they're able to spend alot of time playing outside. Whatever it is, it has been great. They have been making up games like "Mr. Bro, Mr. Bro" which has something to do with chasing each other around the yard with the drainage spout from the gutter (it is plastic and won't hurt them) and yelling at each other through it and saying "Mr. Bro, Mr. Bro, where are you." They have also been having a blast playing in the sandbox. I don't like the sandbox because of the huge mess and it takes a good bit of letting go for me to let them go at it. They have a great time and I let them play as long as they want and then we go in and take a bath.




Do you like Luke's face? According to Luke, Ryan pinched his eye.

Last night, the boys and I met Stephanie and her family downtown for dinner. She was visiting from Texas and was a really fun to see her and Mackenna again. Getting 3 young kids to cooperate for a picture is rather difficult

Below is a video of the boys playing in the backyard. Ryan likes roll down the hill holding Luke's hand.




Ryan's artwork. This would be Greg's car (with Greg driving on the far right) along with Luke, Ryan and me at the top (because there was no more room).

Recent cookies. The boys' school had a silent auction last Friday and I provided the cookies above along with offering to make a birthday cake and cookies- I was pleased to see that several people bid on it. Below are cookies that I made for my grandmother. She is a huge Texas Tech fan and I hope to send her more come football season. I will of course have to make some TCU cookies, as well.

Have a wonderful weekend - we are hoping to stay home and relax.

We've Been Busy and Happy Easter

It seems like we've had something going on every night since Easter. I don't even remember most of what we had to do, but I do know I haven't had time to blog. The boys had a blast this year having an Easter egg hunt, this was the first year that they really understood the point of the whole thing. We took them to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday at a local garden store and then they got to have one in our backyard on Sunday. On Sunday morning, Luke looked outside and saw that there were Easter eggs and said that it had rained eggs the night before.

On the hunt.


Greg and I went out at about 11 Saturday night to hide Easter eggs around the backyard, flashlights in tow.


Greg thinks that dying Easter eggs in an important tradition, I don't really agree - so he did it. It was such a mess that he might rethink that next year.

Last Wednesday we went to the car show. Ryan had the absolute best time "driving" every car.



Yesterday we transplanted our surprise garden to larger pots. The boys helped for about 2 minutes and then left me with the rest.


Video of our Easter Egg Hunt.


Lastly, pictures from Easter past.

Last year when I had to bribe Luke with a jelly bean to smile and Ryan cried because I combed his hair.

2008 - the age when it was impossible to get them to sit still together long enough for a picture.

I couldn't find the picture of their first Easter, but this is at about the same time.

Our Week with Nana and Grandad

The boys have had a great week hanging out with their grandparents. I think the highlight of the week for them was going to the Lego Store and Grandad's bargain purchase of 4 cool Lego Duplo sets. They have played together with these for 3 days straight. I imagine the highlight of dad's week was not painting my kitchen, but I sure do appreciate it and it looks great.

We are all feeling much better now. Luke did have an allergic reaction a couple of days ago to the antibiotic he was taking for his ear infection - not a big deal, I'm allergic to penicillin, too. A couple of doses of Benadryl later and he is doing fine. We stopped by Walgreens after dinner one night and both boys were confused as to why we were going a different way home. I told them we were going to Walgreens so Grandad and I could get some medicine. When we pulled into the parking lot, Luke said "this isn't Walgreens, this is Walreds" (notice next time you are there that the word Walgreens is red and the building has red awning). He thought he was pretty cute when we all started laughing.

The boys have been somewhat confused as to why they have not gone to school this week. When I've told them that it is Spring Break, they say "spring broke?" Summer will probably take some getting used to for them, but I think our trip to Disneyland at the beginning of the summer will help them get over not being in school.


We have had a really nice week of warm weather and the boys have spent a lot of time playing outside. Mom and Dad took them across to the street to our neighbor's large flat driveway to play on their scooters.

When Luke takes off he says, "Look at this, it is going to be really cool. You're going to love it."

Ryan seems to prefer his tricycle, but he has a good time on his scooter, as well.


As usual, Ryan got a hold of my camera and had fun taking pictures. I thought he wanted to take a picture of me and Davis, but apparently, it was just Davis with a little of my face (he also took ones of just my teeth). And he also caught Grandad sleeping.


Lastly, this is of the boys playing with their new Legos this morning. They were building a tower on top of their house. Ryan couldn't reach any higher.

So he got a stool and can now reach the top.