Park time

I have a feeling these park posts are going to become more frequent! I guess at some point I will stop bringing my camera, but I really enjoy watching everyone take in the great outdoors.

Time to feed the birds. Ryan ate his stale bread instead of sharing it with his fine feathered friends!

Sophie looks like such a big girl here.

Just chillin'

The rock-climbing stopped when the moms realized that climbing in flip-flops probably wasn't the best idea. It looks like fun, though!

Speaking of fun!

I totally wish I could be this carefree.

The joy of children is contagious.

No idea who this girl is, but Jackson sure looks like he is having fun!

William made up his own game. It was quite simple. He ran from the splash pad down the sidewalk about ten yards away. Then he came back to the splash pad. Repeat process. He hardly got a drop of water on him, but I don't care because he had a great time.

Marching back

This little guy was content to sit in his stroller for a really long time, watching the other kids play. I should have known this was not a good sign.

When Ryan fell asleep on the floor after I changed his diaper, I knew I had a sick boy on my hands. He had a fever. Poor guy!

Easter 2012

We had a lot of Easter egg hunt practice this year. First up was our neighborhood hunt. Things weren't terribly well organized, so we had to wait around a long time. The boys were entertained for awhile by tasty sno-cones. Such a timeless treat! 

He decided on orange. See the uncertainty on his face?

No wait, brown (grape) is the way to go.

Good thing Ryan was happy to take William's discarded sno-cone.

"Hmmm...that orange one looks pretty good after all."

"Did someone say orange? That grape one looks amazing."

These guys crack me up! Everything is a competition these days.

I only got one action shot of the actual hunt. There were hundreds of eggs, but those neighborhood kids are fast and plentiful!

Our next Easter egg hunt was at my friend Stacey's house. William and her oldest, Audrey, were at school. I was watching our other friend's kiddos that day, so Stacey invited all of us over for a playdate and a hunt. It was the perfect way to spend the morning! Stacey even made lunch for me and all of the kids. I felt so spoiled! All I had to do was get us all home and down for naps.

Ryan is getting the hang of this now.

Ben and Caroline meant business. Sophie kept finding eggs and putting them in Caroline's basket. She has learned early that girls have to stick together. It was very sweet.

Ryan, Sophie and Caroline after the big hunt. Ben wasn't in the mood for a posed picture, but he got his fair share of eggs too.

Ben was very happy to check out his loot.

We are a little light on doll strollers, so he took advantage of the opportunity to test out some of Audrey and Sophie's strollers. Oh, and he did have shorts on earlier. He had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction, and he doesn't mind walking around in just a diaper.

Ben made the walk home very easy on me. He decided to pull Ryan in the wagon instead of riding. I can't argue with that.

Stacey and Sophie walked us home. What a beautiful day!

The Easter fun wasn't over yet! We are lucky to have such wonderful friends who love to have people over.

Next up in our Tour d'Easter Egg Hunts...a crawfish boil and Easter egg hunt at Stephanie and Steve's house! It was such a fun day!

William was not too keen on the live crawfish.

It doesn't get much better than this.

Let the madness begin!

These Brown boys mean business.

A baseball hat Easter egg. Fun!

I don't think Ryan even knows there is anything inside the eggs. He is just as happy as can be shaking his eggs.

Now that is a happy camper. Stephanie advised us to remove clothing that might get stained. Now that I think about it, we probably could have safely left the purple shirt on. William doesn't like to get as messy as someone else I know.

This little stinker found someone's not-quite-finished cupcake and made a huge mess of himself. That's what happens when Mikey and I both think the other one is watching him!

I suspect that this is what had Mikey distracted while the cupcake thief went to work. Oh well!

We dyed eggs but didn't ever hunt our own eggs. We figured the kids had it down by now, and we ran out of time that morning.

Heading to the play room to check out their baskets.

Happy boys!

We went to church at Foundry and then met Mikey's big family for brunch. Two words...OK, three: Salmon, bananas foster. YESSSS.

The first swim of the year thanks to the trusty pool heater.

These balls from William's Easter basket were hugely popular.

These guys are pretty swell!
 

Home

In the post below, I shared about my super fun weekend at Abbey's house. I should add that James was there too, and he struck a perfect balance between hanging out with us and letting us have girly fun on our own. Well played, sir!

This post will be all about some weekend fun at home with my guys. You will see that we did a lot outside because it was March, and the weather was just perfect. We still play outside, but we are already avoiding the heat of the day. We were actually talking tonight about getting a fun kiddie sprinkler to keep us all cool when we need to get out but just don't feel like sweating.

I'm sure Mikey has no idea how he ever washed the dog without all this help.

Buster is a good sport, as always.

Even Buster likes the water table! It's one giant water bowl.

I realize it's a little strange, but I love this picture. Mikey got out the pooper scooper, and William wanted to help (little does he know this will be his job soon enough!). I like how William is following Mikey as he is on the hunt, and Ryan is following William just because. Such a little brother.

It's like an Easter egg hunt with a very different result.

Saturday means trash day around here! It's even better than Wednesday because the recycling guys come too! Double the fun. The other day, Ryan and Mikey had left to get donuts for Mother's Day, and William was still in bed. He was slowly waking up, and I was going to finish getting ready before getting him out of bed. Then I heard the beloved trash truck. I ran upstairs like the house was on fire and was all out of breath when I told William to hurry up, or we would miss it! This kid has me trained.

I captured the "squisher" in action! That's a big deal around here.

They waved back to us. I'm sure they get a lot of attention from little kids.

Time to break out the bike trailer for the first time with both boys.

They don't look super comfortable here, but we took the picture on an incline, and the ride was over. Mikey said they both seemed to enjoy it.

No rest for the weary. On to a little manual labor!

William does NOT like to get his regular clothes wet, but we happened to have a swimsuit in our wagon because a friend had just given us a new batch of hand-me-downs. He was a happy camper after that!

Ryan on the other hand does not at all mind being wet.

He loves it! William is happy to oblige and spray his little brother. Imagine that.

Another random addition to our day! We let Ryan try on an outfit that used to be Mikey's.

What a cute little man!