Fun outings with the boys!

I have managed to take the boys to the Science Center & the Zoo last week and this week. It makes for some long days, but we all enjoy it. We have found that both of these places might just be our new favorite 'play areas'. And best of all, they are both free! Since Connor loves animals so much, both of these places can entertain him for hours! And Dylan loves to look around at all the people and different things. At the zoo, we just discovered the ZOOmagination play room. It is wonderful and they have so much for kids to play with and learn all about animals.

The Zoo...

Connor & Dylan enjoyed watching and listening to the penguins outside while we waiting in line.

Penguins in the penguin house at the zoo. Connor was asking to see them.

Connor & Dylan entertained by the penguins inside the cold penguin house.



The bears were out playing today.

Dylan hanging out in the stroller at the zoo.

Dylan enjoying some floor time at the zoo while Big Brother played with the animals.

Connor was building a habitat including trees, water, and lots of animals.

Connor was playing with all the animals while Dylan was hanging out on the floor watching in the ZOOmagination play room.

Connor loved the sensory water table with all the fun sea animals. He played in that for 45 minutes-he had no desire to see anything else.

Connor riding a Puffin on the carousel. This was also Dylan's first ride on a carousel-he had fun.

And now the Science Center...

Connor enjoyed reading the dinosaur books at the Science Center.

Storytime at the Science Center was about dinosaurs...WOW! Good timing-Connor loved the book and sat the entire itme.

At the end of the book, all the kids got to help crack the BIG dinosaur egg.

Connor was so excited to find a baby dinosaur in the giant gold egg.

Connor was helping build the space shuttle.

To the moon....

Dylan hanging out in the stroller...he does this a lot!

Now he is making himself comfortable...all relaxed.

"EWWWWW" Dino poop! Connor thought it was funny & gross to hold the real dino poop.

Learning about the dinosaurs. This is fascinating to Connor-I think we have a little 'Ross', should we be worried?!? Dylan was pretty thrilled too.

Connor was playing Twinkle Twinkle on the harp.

The T-Rex is this BIG!!!

Connor enjoying playing with the dinosaurs. Do we have a little 'Ross' in the making?

Connor & Dylan standing in front of the big T-Rex & Triceretops.

The boys under the arch!

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Weekend!

We had a busy & productive weekend at home. We started off the weekend on Friday night heading to the pool-Connor had fun swimming in the big pool and playing in the kids' pool. We re-arranged the furnitue in the living room, starting re-covering the chairs in the dining room, and steam cleaned the carpets upstairs. I guess we are just getting around to our spring cleaning. And yes, I said "we", Chris has helped with all of it. Then, Sunday evening we ending the weekend with some fireworks. The weather was great, they had some fun games for the kiddos, a petting zoo, beer, food, treats, and some wonderful fireworks. We met some friends there and had a great time. It was a fabulous weekend.

Loved the fireworks.

So pretty.

Dylan was hanging out waiting for the fireworks to begin.

Connor was chasing bugs & jumping on them-it was pretty funny.

Connor looking at the the bunny, but not wanting to pet it.

Connor was loving the goldfish crackers while Dylan was enjoying the nice weather outside.

This was the boys sitting on our bed playing, reading, watching Shrek, and watching us clean the carpets :)

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Dylan is 3 months old!

Dylan is 3 months old today! How quickly these 3 months have gone by. But at the same time, I can't even remember what it was like without him. He remains to be such a good & happy baby! He smiles all the time now and will even laugh on occassion. The other night he woke up to eat around 2 am and was laughing and playing, I was enjoying this, so I had to wake up Chris-I don't think he was as thrilled as I was.

It is obvious he is a good little eater, he is really getting big! He is growing out of SO many of his clothes, it makes me sad. And just yesterday he started rolling over. He thinks this is his new trick. He truly is a happy baby. One day this week he was fussy & crying-I was beginning to think something was wrong with him, as he had never cried that much (he very rarely cries), but he finally took a nap, then he woke up happy as can be. Then slept ALL night that night-AMAZING! However, I do consider 5am all night, since that is what time I get up :) And that has been the last 2 nights!!! Plus, he is sleeping in his crib!

Our happy boy!

Sleeping in the bouncer-too much fun!

Just hanging out in his bouncer.

Dylan enjoys watching brother play from his Bumbo seat.

Smiles.

Dylan loves his bouncy seat-he kicks and really gets it bouncing!

My attempt to upload a video-hopefully it works. You can hear Connor laughing, as he was helping hold the camera. That was the only way he wasn't in Dylan's face :)

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Chris' Birthday

Instead of making Daddy a card, we decided to make him a Happy Birthday sign. This was fun for Connor. We traced Connor & Dylan's hands and feet. Connor thought that was a lot of fun. Connor couldn't wait to show Chris the sign when he got home from work. He was very proud. Then we got to have a nice birthday meal of Ribeye steaks, grilled asparagas, bread with pesto, and salad. And of course dessert!

Connor couldn't wait for cake. He kept asking for cake since this morning when we decorated it. But he did manage to wait it out.

Connor helped decorate the cake (as I baked it last night in an effort to not make the house any warmer). He was thrilled to help and even more exciting to eat the frosting!


I remembered why I hate baking cakes:

1. It takes too long.
2. You can't even taste it before you serve it-it is way too noticable if you do.
3. You have to wait to eat it along with everyone else.
4. There is no such thing as a small cake & I won't want it to go to waste, so I will end up eating it.
5. Decorating it takes way too much patience.


But, what seemed like 5 sticks of butter later, we had a yummy chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that we all enjoyed. Oh yes, and I couldn't find a buttercream frosting recipe that I liked, so I decided to make up my own-needless to say it turned out very tasty. I was impressed.

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Happy Birthday Chris!

Happy 29th Birthday Daddy!

We love you ---------------------------THIS MUCH--------------------------

and more!!!!!

Connor loves shoulder rides from Daddy!


Connor & Dylan love cuddling with Daddy.

We love our daddy.

Connor & Daddy having fun at tumbling.

More Connor & Daddy time at tumbling.

Daddy hanging out with his boys.

Connor & Daddy working hard.

Proud Daddy with Dylan!

Daddy-We hope you have a wonderful birthday! You are very special to all of us. We love playing with you. You the BEST!!! And we are excited for birthday cake & ice cream :)

We love you very much!

And, I love the fact that Chris is 3 years older than me, for a whole month! It makes me feel young :)

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Father's Day Weekend!

What have I done to my boys?!? Daddy & Connor love scratch tickets almost as much as I do!

Looks like a big winner!!!

The boys hanging out on the floor!

Connor is showing Dylan how to play with his toys!

Dylan hanging out at the party-he loves to look around at everything going on.

Connor & Mason hanging out before they went down the slide. They are both sweaty from playing so hard!

Happy Father's Day! Chris decided to 'try' and turn it into a weekend (like I did with Mother's Day), but I don't think he was as successful as I was. It was still a great weekend. On Saturday we went to some friends for a party-the boys are 2 1/2, Adam & Ryan were born about a month before Connor. They celebrate their half birthday, which was fun. They have SO MANY fun toys, including a great swing set & a bounce house. On Sunday, Chris didn't want me to make him breakfast-he insisted on getting Starbucks and bagels from Panera, I agreed! So, we went and had some bagels there, picked up Starbucks on the way home and it was great. We went and ran some errands, came home, Chris mowed the lawn (poor guy-it was so hot). And for the reccord, I did offer to mow-again, he wouldn't let me! But the yard looks great now! I started making BBQ ribs for dinner & Chris made the BBQ sauce. They were AMAZING. We weren't sure we could duplicate the last batch we made, but I think we were successful! YUM! Happy Father's to Chris-you are an amazing Daddy to Connor & Dylan...we all love you very much!!!!

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