It was in the 90’s this past weekend. Yes, the 90’s in central PA. It went from in the 40’s earlier in the week to steaming hot by the weekend. But, we took advantage. The boys love playing outside, so that is what we did and have been doing everyday since.

We took a walk around the block, played with the water table, ran around the yard, and swung on the swing set, which Benny LOVES. He loves to let the breeze blow through his hair and he either says “WEEEEE” or “Go Go Go”. It’s adorable. Owen just likes to be pushed as high as he can and he makes it a point to tell me when he is in his clubhouse that it’s “Serious”. Just like the Wonder Pets. =)

We also got the pool out. Our whale pool is still going strong 2 years later. Owen was in heaven in his pool and I wasn’t expecting for Benny to like the pool since Owen HATED it at his age, but he didn’t mind at all. Cold water and all. He got in and out and in and out. Not even a tear or scream was heard. He is definitely my “chill” child.

I can tell from this weekend that it’s going to be a FUN summer. One to remember that’s for sure. These boys are just so entertaining. Let the summer fun begin!

The boys and Maxie digging the water table.

Benny thought it was better to stand in the table. Yup, Mr. Climber got in all by himself.

No cares in the world when we are swinging from our swing set.

Benny loves the pool.

Owen & Maxie are jumping in! Look how pasty white my child is. Ummmm…. wonder if he gets that from his powder white mother!

Now that Owen’s not an only child, we like to do special things just for him. So, on Sunday Owen had a special day when his Mimi took him and I to see Disney On Ice.

We started off the day with lunch at McDonald’s at his request, then off to the GIANT Center. Of course Mimi had to spoil him and get her Owie two way overly priced toys, but as my mom tells me – “that’s what grandparents do”.

The show was amazing and what was even more amazing were our seats. Mimi got us seats right on the ice. We could see everything. It was awesome!

I was a little nervous at first because the last two Elmo shows we took O to were a disaster, but he enjoy every minute of Disney on Ice. Well, he was a little scared of the pyrotechnics, but he was mesmerized by all the acts. The costumes were detailed and the production was perfectly put together. He also got a kick out of the Zamboni at intermission. Now we’ll definitely have to take him to a Bears hockey game.

Since we were right down on the ice, at the end of the show O got to walk up and slap all the character’s 5 as they skated off the ice. Again, I thought he would be gun shy of the costumes up close, but he stuck his hand out for every single character. He even waved bye and blew Mickey & Minnie a kiss as they skated back stage.

After the show we did a little shopping at the outlets then had dinner at Owen’s favorite restaurant, Red Robin. His exciting day tuckered him out though because not two minutes after we got in the car to go home he was down for the count.

Thanks, Mom for a fantastic day! Myself and especially Owen really appreciated it!

PS – and I must say I’m impressed with my mom’s point and shoot camera which took these pictures. I left the big camera at home so I could just enjoy the day and her little camera did a great job of capturing the moment.

Saturday was Roman’s 1st birthday party and it was so much fun! My sister did a Mickey Mouse theme and it was perfect… so cute! The boys played and played and once again, the bounce house at Alex & Roman’s Nonno and Mia’s was a huge hit.

It’s hard to believe Roman’s one. He’s such a little peanut but he has such a big personality. His real first birthday is tomorrow so his Aunt Stacey, Uncle Mike and cousins Owen and Benny want to wish him a very happy first birthday!

There is a Thomas in our household that the boys adore… it’s not me, it’s not Mike, it’s not Maxie or Chandler… it’s Thomas the Train.

The boys just LOVE Thomas. We have a ton of trains and track and both Benny and Owen really enjoy playing with them. In fact, they love them so much that both my Mom and Mike’s parents have Thomas train sets at their houses for the boys.

Well, when the boys got to my in-laws last week, they had a surprise waiting for them. The Thomas Great Discovery Track Master set was all set up on the dining room table. They said when the boys saw it you would have thought it was Christmas morning from the reaction it received. The boys played with it all week. Owen was the conductor and made the trains go round the track while Benny would watch and make these crazy faces and move his arms up and around in circles every time the train would come down the waterfall.

On Easter morning, we had to move the set off the table to the foyer floor and Benny was in heaven because he could finally reach it. He could have cared less about his basket. He just wanted to play trains. Owen was almost the same way. He was excited for his basket, but pretty much only for the new trains.

We spent Easter in NJ this year. Mike and I headed out on Friday after I got out of work. Since the boys had already been at Grammy & PeePaw’s all week, it was a LONG drive to get there because we were so anxious to see our little guys.

We were so happy to see them and we could tell they were happy to see us. Benny didn’t want me to put him down, and Owen jumped into Mike’s arms and gave him a big hug. Owen was also very anxious to give us his “surprise”… a Wii Fit (which he is loving by the way… I just haven’t had the time to use it yet).

Saturday we colored Easter eggs and Sunday the boys got their baskets from the Easter Bunny, we went to church and we had an egg hunt after lunch. We had to have the egg hunt inside though because it was so cold and windy outside. Isn’t it suppose to be mildly warm in April? At least the wind gave Owen an opportunity to fly the Thomas the Train kite that was in his Easter basket.

Owen was too cute in church. He was trying to sing along with the songs, said “Peace be with you” to those around us, and when the priest raised the chalice, he said, “Look Mama, a trophy.” Mike and I about died laughing.

It was a nice Easter, but it went way too fast. I wish I would have had more than 2 days off. It’s the first time in 8 years I worked a Good Friday and I really missed that extra day. It made the holiday rushed, but at least it was a wonderful two days with family.

Owen coloring eggs.


Their baskets… we had so much stuff we had to get 2 more baskets!

Owen looking all handsome in his Easter outfit.

Benny – the stud muffin – strutting his stuff down the hallway looking fashionable with his hip binky and blankie accessories.


He looked SO CUTE… even with his sleeves rolled up for lunch.


The boys after the egg hunt. It’s still VERY hard to get a picture of the two of them together.


Our little family.

1. We’re in the middle of a TON of home improvement projects right now, so blogging has been scarce. Sorry!
2. April is busy for all our friends and family who were helping with the basement project. Because of that we decided to tackle some of the other projects on our list, mainly the living room.
3. We quickly learned that it is near impossible for both of us to work on home improvement projects with kids in the house. Since we had already started, our wonderful angels on earth, Mike’s parents, heard our prayers and came all the way from NJ on Sunday, picked up the boys, and headed straight back to keep them for the week so Mike and I could get everything done. What a god send!
4. The boys were very excited to go to Grammy & PeePaws… can’t you tell from the looks on their faces.

   

5. While we miss the boys terribly, we are getting a ton done. The drywall repair in the bathroom, the front door is painted, the trim in the living room has been sanded, primed and painted and we working on painting the living room walls.
6. Never did I ever think it would be so hard to pick out a tan paint color. Talk about stressful. After 3 samples and one full paint job of the entire room, I decided I didn’t like the color at all! So, back to paint swatch paradise and we finally have a winner. Shaker Beige from the Pottery Barn line at Benjamin Moore.
7. My husband is a saint for putting up with me while I pick the perfect paint. He hates painting, but I appreciate all his hard work.
8. We have 3 days left before we head to NJ for Easter. We still have alot to do, but I think we can get it done. Keep in mind it helps that Mike is home all day and doesn’t work so he can pound alot of this out. I even took some time off work to help.
9. It’s amazing how much you can get done without kids around. We might have to make this an annual thing so we can Spring Clean like this every April.
10. And just because this makes me laugh and I miss the little dude (Owen too)… here is Benny Sunday morning eating his breakfast. Grammy & PeePaw Thomas got the boys this picnic table for an early Easter gift. It’s too cold outside, so we set it up inside for now. The boys LOVE it, but this is how Benny, aka: Mr. Climber, likes to sit at the table. This kid cracks me up. Notice how he spilled his Cheerios all over and was all about the frog bowl. Silly Benny. Luckily we have Maxie to clean up messes like this.

    

PS – I had to add an 11…

Owen loves the iTouch and has kind of figured out how to maneuver around it. Well, the other day when playing a game, he somehow got on the iTunes App store and downloaded $15.85 worth of apps… a Zombie game, a conversion application (inches to centimeters, etc.). We now have learned he can’t play w/o us in the room or he’ll be racking up quite the iTunes bill.