Photo Overload

We have spent pretty much every waking moment outside this week. The boys are easily entertained outside and the weather has been amazing, so it is a win-win. Not much to report, just lots of pictures to share.

Mac is 100% obsessed with shoes. He says "shhhhhhhhhs," anytime he sees them and refuses to go anywhere without shoes on his feet. He is also more than happy to find shoes for everyone else in the family as well.

The rare moments we have spent inside lately, the boys have been kept busy with Easter decorations (namely the singing bunny and plastic eggs) and the oversized cardboard tube that James re-discovered recently. They use it as a slide or a ramp or tunnel for cars. It has provided a ridiculous amount of entertainment for them this week.

Here is Mac dancing to the singing bunny. He throws his hands up in the air and trys to jump when the rabbit does.

 

Both boys have also been fairly obsessed with sunglasses lately. If Mac sees James wearing them, he promptly rips them off his face and trys to put them on his own. Good thing we have 2 pairs of toddler-sized aviators.

James is rarely seen without his stuffed sheep (Sheepy) or this walking stick this week. He cracks me up.

 

Happy Weekend!!

Addicted to Instagram

How did I survive for so long without an iPhone? Seriously.

St. Patrick's Day

Our awesome weather continued through yesterday and it made for a great St. Patrick's Day. Tim informed me earlier in the week that he wanted to watch basketball at a bar on Saturday with friends, so I recruited all the wives and kids and we planned a park playdate/party while the Daddies got to day drink and watch basketball.

Mac ready to enjoy the beatiful weather

Tim took James to his school for a little bit of their Garden Day and met us at the park before heading to the bars.

 James and all his buddies dressed in their green-Colin, Riley, John, James and Mallory.

And the babies-Emerson, Carter, Macky and Cameron.

The big kids were delighted to discover that a michievious leprechaun must have been in the park and spilled his gold. They had so much fun running around and collecting all the gold coins that they could find.

Gold!

I brought the contents of our recycle bin, tape, string and some glue and we turned them loose to make leprechaun traps. With absolutely no adult direction or suggestions (and let's be honest, between babies to watch and maragaritas to drink, minimal supervision) the 5 older kids worked together for over an hour creating a leprechaun trap and rigging it up in a tree. They even scattered green food and gold around to attract the leprechaun. It took me back to my days in OM-what a bunch of creative little problem solvers we have!

James was so into this project-I loved watching him be so creative!

 

Trying to catch leprechauns is hard work! Re-fueling with a green picnic (pasta with spinach and cheese sauce, green apples and green veggie booty).

 

After lunch all the kids played together at the park until it was time to head home for naps, all of the kids were filthy and exhausted.

 All of the Haley, Andrews, Gahn, and Nichols kids and Mamas!

We grilled out an awesome dinner with the Haleys post nap-time at our house and spent even more time outside. What a great day! Today the cold weather is starting to roll in so I'm glad we got to enjoy being outside so much yesterday!

Spring has Sprung!

It all of a sudden feels like Spring! We have been having the best weather ever the last part of last week and this week and we have been taking advantage of every minute of it and spending the majority of our time playing outside. Mac may not enjoy being bundled up and playing outside in the snow, but he loves every single second of being outside when the weather is nice. I am not exaggerating when I say if it were up to him, he would spend every waking minute outside. I literally have to drag him inside kicking and screaming to eat his meals and change his diaper. As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he grabs a pair of shoes and goes and stands by the back door and starts pounding on it wanting to go out.

We have no shortage of outside toys and they have all gotten a lot of use already this spring. The golf set, t-ball, basketball hoop, tractor, balls, lawn mower, bikes, wagon, the water table, you name it, it has been happily played with by our boys this week!

Right around this age is when James became obsessed with all things baseball. Mac is this way with basketball. He loves, loves, loves everything to do with basketball. He even got excited when we were at a restaurant the other day and basketball was playing on the tv in the bar! He can happily climb up and down this step stool and put the ball through the hoop about 100 times in a row without getting tired of it.

 He is also a big fan of his helmet and sitting on the trike.

We relocated the learning tower to the front window so Mac can (safely) look out the window anytime he is confined to the indoors.

 I am sure we are bound to get at least one more snow storm before we can really count on this nice weather to stick around, but for now we are enjoying it!