one of the many signs of spring

  I love this time of the year...the time when the blahs of winter are coming to an end and the signs of spring begin to appear.  The snow starts to melt and the brown, soon-to-be green, grass shows itself.  The temperatures begin to warm up...or at least there's more sunshine to make my day seem happier.  The spring flowers are beginning to come up out of the earth. and the thoughts of a warm lazy summer are within reach. I love all of these things.

What I don't like is mud...

and unfortunately my boys seem to LOVE it,  

I don't like the fact the our backyard comes a mud hole and that all boys are attracted to mud like butterflies to nectar.  I guess it's a good thing that the mud comes after winter and not before...I don't think there's really a good way to get these clean anymore.

Looking forward to a drier backyard.

Camera Fun

This morning Connor and I were out running errands.  While I was getting fitted for new running shoes, I gave Connor my phone to keep him busy and here's the results.  Can you tell he loves taking pictures...I wonder where he gets that from????  :)

 I did take this one of my handsome little man.  when he took over the camera and took pictures of everything....

 the shoes,

 the couch,

 his shoes,

 the shoes I was trying on,

 some chairs,

 the lights on the ceiling,

 and more lights,

 the support poles,

 the ceiling,

and finally the new shoes I was trying out on the treadmill.  I think he did a great job capturing our visit to the store.  

sorry about the quality of the pictures...I guess that what you can expect from a 4 yo with a cell phone. 

twice blessed!!!!

This past week has been a week on celebrations; the twins are their birthday.  They were so excited to have their birthdays this year.  I think the anticipation of the birthday was more exciting than the actually birthday.  Their birthday was on March 8 and they wanted cupcakes made for a treat for the class, so Monday night was spent making and frosting cupcakes.  I dropped them off at school when I brought Connor to preschool.  On Tuesday night, they got to pick a restaurant to eat at...Pizza Hut was the winner.  

They had to wait until Saturday night to finally have their party with Grandpas and Grandmas.  

Mom made them pose with their presents before they started ripping the presents open

They received a Bible with their name on it from G & G Geerlings...there was even a surprise of $ inside the Bible.

From Mom and Dad they got a bookmark with a digital timer on it, a sticker book and a new wii game.

And G & G Van Dam gave them a new webkinz and some more $...they already traded the webkinz.

Finally it was time for cake and ice cream...not sure why Austin looks so bummed.

Happy Birthday Boys!!!  Mom and Dad are so proud of you.  

(I want to give a shout out to Nat for helping me make the birthday party special by making the cupcake toppers, water bottle wrappers and the sign.  THANKS A TON!!!!!)

24

Friday night, Mike and I were able to get away with no kids for a total of 24 hours.  24 hours of peace and quiet.  24 hours of adult conversion with no interruptions.  24 hours of food that doesn't come to you through a drive-thru window.  24 hours of time with just each other.

We headed to Detroit for a Red Wings game and a quick trip to Ikea for a few miscellaneous things and cinnamon rolls.  We left about 4 hours before the game and decided to head to the hotel before the game and then get some dinner at Applebee's.  We got into Detroit and circled the block a few times trying to find the same parking lot that we always park at.  Things were going great until we got about 20 feet from the truck and it dawned on me that I left the tickets back at the hotel.  OH CRAP!!!!!!  After a brief moment of Mike kicking the air and and both of us saying a few choice words, we got back in the truck and got back on the expressway to get the ticket from the hotel.  About 5 minutes into the trip back, Mike wondered if I still have the email for the tickets (gotta love the evo!!!)  and yes I did.  So we turned around again back into Detroit, and happened upon a nice valet attendant at a hotel that had guest computers with internet access AND a printer.  I got the tickets printed off again and we went back to our favorite parking lot and then on to the people mover and Joe Louis Arena.

The Wings won the game in OT.  It was a very uneventful game until 24 seconds in the game then the Wings tried the game and then again when the Wings score with 42 second left in over time to win the game.  

After the game we headed to the hotel, got a great night sleep and then headed to Ikea .  All in all we had a great time.  I want to thank my parents and Tim & Nat for watching the boys to make this possible for us.  We really appreciate it!!!!  

Trip to the Zoo

Last week, Connor's preschool class took a field trip to the local zoo.  We were very blessed to have half way descent weather...it was a bit cold and windy but at least isn't snowing or raining. There wasn't a ton of animals out for us to see, but what was out was moving and the kids were excited is see the animals.

First we saw the bald eagles,

then we stopped by to see the pengiuns and fish,

next we headed back outside and saw the barn owl and then it was inside again to see the frogs.

After spotting the blue frogs, we were back outside to see the otter, he liked putting on a show for us, but didn't get in the water.  I don't blame him...I bet it was really cold.

Next we saw the bears,

mountain lions,

and spotted leopards.

Our last stop for to see the gorillas and monkeys

It was a fun day for most...Connor on the other hand, I had to push him along from exhibit to exhibit and then when we were home later that day, Connor informed me that the zoo was BORING!!!!  

WHAT!?!?!?!?  I guess I should know by now that life is always one crazy adventure with four boys.