Water play...

I'm sure every mother reading this will not be surprised, but if you put a child in front of a sink of water they could easily play for hours - no?

Fill the cup with running water and pour it out... oh it doesn't work that way?

And that is exactly how Levi spent his Mommy/Levi play time the other day.  Mommy just let him splash water all over, no complaining. He had a ball.  

I don't think he even realized that play time had ended once we started to dry it up. He thought that was just part of the play time!

Silly Brothers

Levi is quickly approaching the big two! Alright, alright it's still four months away, but still it feels like it zooming towards me. 

That being said, I'm extremely grateful he is still perfectly happy sleeping in his crib. It has kept nap routines easy, bedtimes quick, and mornings fairly painless. In fact Wyatt never once tried to climb out of his crib. We just moved him to the toddler bed as we potty trained...

But to be honest, I'm not very worried about Levi wanted to climb out of the crib... why do you ask?  Well because Wyatt climbs in to join Levi! 

Wyatt enjoying crib time with his little brother

Yep - if Wyatt realizes that Levi is awake from nap, and I haven't gotten Levi out the crib, he'll just climb into the crib to play. 

Its too bad pictures don't translate sound - the giggles during this were priceless

Granted its not the largest play area, but they don't mind. 

Drawing lessons

In an effort to make sure our kids have solid relationships with me and Patrick individually, we have "playtime" with each kid - Mommy/Wyatt playtime is right after Levi goes down for a nap.  Wyatt gets to pick the activity we do for 10 minutes. 

He greatly looks forward to this one-on-one time. And it's fun because it allows for more focused attention. I also know that this is a habit that could prove extremely important as my boys are in school and other activities outside of the house. 

Daddy/Wyatt playtime tends to be the last ten minutes before bedtime (Levi goes to bed, then they have their play time). And recently Wyatt's activity of choice for Daddy/Wyatt play time as been drawing. 

The creative gene did not miss this one - that is for sure. This kid has an imagination that is hard to keep up with. Luckily, he draws fairly well, and we can fill in the holes in our parental understanding. 

Daddy Wyatt play time drawing castles!

The design of the moment is focused on castles. They are quite elaborate. There are turrets and gables, bridges and gates, even guards for the gates. He comes up with little details all the time to add. Wyatt's windows are also very elaborate.

Most of the drawing is on this magnetic doddle board, which is nice because we aren't flying through paper, but I can't really save them... It's alright I am stashing away a few crayon versions in Wyatt's memory box.

Chief Papa's Birthday

A couple of weeks ago now, was my dad's birthday.  We celebrated with a cake and some presents and of course a nice family dinner!

The boys helped Nana put the finishing touches on the cake - all those sprinkles you see, yep that is the work of my Wyatt and Levi.

And of course it was a group effort to blow out the candles.  Although I don't think Levi wanted them to be blown out. He was liking all the attention - he thought we were singing for him. So cute.

And as far as the gifts go... well we will have to hold off for a few more weeks on that one...

Snow in May?

When we were outside playing on this particular day, I was pretty sure we had finally hit spring. I mean all the flowering trees were marvelous!  So we talked about it snowing in spring.  And had a blast making the tree in our backyard snow down on us petals.  

Wyatt enjoyed the petal snow

I guess the joke was on us. Because just three days later it was hailing, sleeting, and yes, there were actual snowflakes falling.  Oh the joy of nature. 

Who knew this tree would be so gorgeous, or so fun!

And because I have to add in this story. In the picture above, Levi is sitting in the dirt (will be garden) patch. Guess what he did during this venture into the yard... Oh yes, he log-rolled, full body style, back and forth the whole length of the patch at least three times, probably more.  It was looking at a dirt child he was so covered. He "snowed" dirt out of his hair for the rest of the day - it was only 3 hours until bathtime. I mean I had to stripe him bare right at the back door and then wash him down with a washcloth. Lots of fun... I guess this is the joy of being a boy-mama.  Nice weather = dirty kids.

First hike of 2013

And the hiking weather has come to our little corner of the world. And we enjoyed it!

The boys in my life

We took the boys down to the Nature Realm a couple of weeks ago for two reasons.  One we wanted to wear them out so they would sleep great. Now that it's sunny out later in the evening, they are having a little difficulty actually going to bed. And we figure they just need to be more tired! Let me tell you, this worked great!

Totally cute - brothers walking together

The other reason we went to the park was because... wait for it... I am starting a photography business, and my first shoot was coming up.  I was hunting for beautiful cherry blossoms to use as a background. Don't worry I'll share more on the photography I'm sure, I'm just not quite ready... 

My little superheros in training

And of course before we left, the boys had to show off their super hero muscles. In case you haven't seen them recently, we have officially moved into the action figure stage of boyhood. Wyatt is so in to good guys and bad guys, and IronMan, and Captain America and the lot of them all. Again a phase of childhood I am not familiar with really, but it is cute to watch these little guys run around and pose like heros! And it is allowing us to practice the concept of team work and brothers are always on the same team...

Easter 2013

This Easter was the most fun yet.  As stated often, we spent the time in Richmond with Oma and Opa.

This year, in order to keep life simple and less complicated on Easter morning, and the fear of rain on Easter, we did the basket and egg hunt Saturday afternoon.  It actually worked out extremely well. There was no rush in searching the backyard for eggs in order to be done in time for big dinner prep or whatnot.

Waiting to search for eggs

Totally thrilled that there was something hidden in that egg

The baskets were a big hit, as they were filled with activities - coloring books, paints, bubbles, chalk and very little in the way of candy.

Levi wasn't sure about the surprise - good thing Oma could help!

It didn't take long for Levi to get the hang of it!

Notice how not one egg in that basket is closed!

The egg hunt, for the first time, was all about keeping up.  I never really got in front of Wyatt, as he was a boy on a mission!  And even though he found the bulk of the eggs, he was a good big brother and handed some over to his little brother.  Levi was really more into examining each egg, instead of loading the basket full.

Levi's basket

Wyatt's basket

The joy of finding stickers inside the eggs was great.  And it provided hours of entertainment for the next couple of days!

As a result of doing these traditions on Saturday, Sunday was more open to focus on getting ready for church and simply spending time together. Since we do not have cable at home, Patrick and I hadn't seen any of the History Channel's The Bible, and of course the whole day marathon on Easter Sunday was watched at Patrick's parent's house. I enjoyed it, particularly the Old Testament stories. However as a Catholic educated kid, I didn't really need to see the New Testament stories, particularly the Passion sections - the old school movies are seared into my memory. So I spent a great deal of those times - the bloody, non-preschool approved times - making sure the boys were having fun with new toys and coloring books.

Overall, Easter was a great time to enjoy the energy of a new generation, and relax with family.