Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter.  The weather was perfect in St. Louis that weekend, so we got to spend a lot of time outside.  Friday night we got to dye Easter eggs with our neighbors.  Amazingly, there were no major spills or incidents - not that it would've mattered since we strategically did it outside!  (By the way, I promise we didn't leave Charlie at home; he wasn't interested in dying eggs and spent most of the evening across the street shooting hoops.

It was sunny! The boy table: Tyson, Logan, Jack and Jack

Addi and Hayden

Chris and Levi

Mr. Charlie

The silly Jacks

Big shot Drake

Reghan and Addi

We hosted my mom's family on Saturday and had a nice evening.  The boys got to play some soccer with my cousin Bryan, which made their night of course.  We closed off the night with a fire in the fire pit.  Love it!

When we put Charlie to bed he was a little freaked out about the Easter Bunny coming to our house.  I finally told him I'd hang a sign on his door that told the Easter Bunny not to go in his room, after which he rolled over and went immediately to sleep.  I'm telling you, this child is still traumatized by the Fredbird experience.

Sunday morning we had a small egg hunt at our house - the boys loved it!  If you can only watch one video, I recommend #2 - I love watching them get so excited about something as simple as socks!

After we were finished at our house, we headed up to the Minchers' house for our annual neighbor Easter egg hunt.  This is the third year we've done it.  The first year it was just us, the Ashers and the Minchers.  Last year we added the Scallys.  And this year, we know a LOT more of our neighbors.  I think there were a total of 18 kids there!  It was so fun for the kids.  The parents brought 20 eggs per child and all the dads "hid" the eggs behind the Minchers' house.  It's so funny watching the little guys like Charlie and his peers taking their time inspecting each egg they found vs the bigger kids who made a mad dash scooping up as many eggs as they could find.  Everyone had a fun morning - hopefully our tradition will continue for years to come!!

This video isn't too exciting, but at least shows how many kids were there!

In the evening we celebrated with the Claytons.  Grandma Clayton gave each of the kids a new beach towel and goggles.  To say they were a hit would be an understatement.

What a great weekend!!

Friend Birthday Parties

The boys (especially Jack) have been invited to a lot of birthday parties these last few months.  We have tried to go whenever we can fit them in the schedule, and they always have a great time.

One was at Play Your Art Out in Chesterfield Mall.  It was definitely a girl's party - not the typical wild and crazy bouncing and running, but quiet play and painting.  Jack had fun, especially when they said the kids were going to ride the mall train!

Yes, our child towers over most of his classmates....

Side note: I noticed when we got to the mall that Jack had two different shoes on - haha!!

This one was at Kokomo Joe's and had a little bit of everything!  Bouncing, pizza & cake, mini golf and arcade games.  Jack had a lot of fun with his school buddies.  The birthday boy is in his class, but Jack is also good buddies (probably better buddies) with his older brother, so he was excited.  This was also his first mini golf experience.  We look forward to playing again this summer!

We went to our friend Austin's (a.k.a. Ozzy) birthday party at Miss Kelly's Gym, which was formerly a Little Gym, for those who are familiar with that chain.  Always a fun party and LOTS of energy burning!!

Then Charlie was invited to a party at the same place a couple weeks later with his classmates.  Fun!

We've been having lots of fun checking out all these places with our friends.  I learned a little trick from a friend at work for when kids get to this birthday party stage: buy several girl and boy gifts when they're on sale or when you think of it and keep them in a box in your basement.  Then when you realize you have a party to go to in a couple days, no worries!  Just go down and pick out an appropriate gift!  I've been using this strategy with the classmates since I don't know much about their interests.  For our nieces and close friends it's more fun to pick out something specific for the birthday kid.

Zoo Class

In early April Jack and I did another class at the zoo.  It was nice to have a little Jack/Mommy time, which doesn't happen often.  We got there a little early so we could ride the train first (of course!).

 The class was all about the various habitats in the exhibits.  Each kid got to pick an animal and build a zoo exhibit for that animal.  First they drew a blueprint of what they were planning, then built it using all the different supplies around the room.  There was also some investigation aspect mixed in with clues a la Phineas and Ferb.  Jack had a lot of fun.  He chose a spider, so we gathered trees and greenery and a fence to keep them contained.  

Then a box of train cars appeared and our exhibit took a turn...

We also got to meet some live animals like a giant turtle and an owl.

After the class we treated ourselves to some ice cream - yum!

This is our second zoo class and won't be our last.  I tried to sign both Jack and Charlie up for a class during the summer, but unfortunately all the classes that fit in our schedule (i.e. weekends) were already sold out.  Note to self: register early!

Lowe's Building Workshops

We have discovered a new fun (and free!) activity: the kids' workshops at Lowe's.  They have one once per month and they provide an apron, certificate and the pieces you need to make a wooden craft.  The boys love it!  They also give you a little iron-on patch each time with a picture of the craft you made that day.  So far, we've made a birdhouse, a claw grab game, a recycling truck and a flower delivery truck.

I also learned a trick: you can just go pick up the kit and take it home to build later.  Good deal for the bargain price of $0.  I've now put each month's date on my calendar so hopefully we have more building dates in the future.