Life Lately!

These weeks and months sure seem to get away from me!  Life has been busy!  Good, but busy!  My dear boss/co-worker/friend Maya is leaving us for warmer weather.  Friday was her last day at work and she moves to California at the end of the month.  We have all become so close with her family and we are so sad to see them go.  We have been soaking up our last days with them here!  We had our final farewell with our little section last week.  We will miss her so much!  She is truly one of the kindest, most brilliant, hardworking, generous, and thoughtful people I know.

We are so excited about summer over here.  Ben LOVES being outside.  He puts up a big stink every time it's time to head inside.  "Ride my bike one more time!"  "Kick the ball one more time!"  "Shoot the basketball one more time!"  You get the idea.  We went to the beer garden to play trivia with some friends last week, so Ben got to play with the big kids.  He totally kept up with them and they were impressed with his throwing and kicking skills.  We stayed out until close to 9:00 (waaaaay past the boys' bedtime) and they were so good!

I love these boys!

We went to our old church festival last weekend and Ben had a blast!  Ben didn't win a fish this year (OH DARN) but he had fun nonetheless!

He was so funny with his pitcher of ping pong balls.  Some of them were dented so he would just throw those on the ground.  They weren't good enough for him.  ;)

But, of course, he only wanted to play basketball.

Look at that form!  Of course it was something ridiculous like 3 shots for $5.00

The guy kept telling him to stand on the ledge so he could shoot it better, but Ben thought that was too easy and he wanted to be on the ground.  He won some dumb piece of garbage prize that has already found a new home in the garbage.  Shhhh….

Ben also went fishing.

That was too easy for him.  He caught 2 fish at once!  (So he won more garbage!)

Josh didn't get to play, but that didn't stop him from having fun!

It wasn't until we already spent like a million dollars that we realized there was another area of games that were run by the kids from the church and the money probably actually went to the church.  Now we know for next year.  There were tons of sports-related games so you-know-who was one happy camper.   First up: kicking a soccer ball.  He kicked it at 13 miles per hour…or something like that. :)

I wish I had video of him throwing the football because it was SO cute!  Note the sign--3 shots for $1.  Such a good deal, especially compared to the other games.  He threw the first ball right through the tire.  The crowd (the line) went crazy!  And then he almost got the 2nd one through and the 3rd try landed right on the tire.  It was so fun.  And he won….

A 2 liter of soda!  We made him exchange the Mountain Dew for Sierra Mist. :)  This wasn't the first 2 liter he won.  Good thing we had the stroller!

Although we try to pack our weekends with fun, we still have a good time during the week too.  Ben signed up for round 2 of gymnastics, and Maddie joined him this time!  They could not be cuter.  

And Josh is a trooper for going along for the ride.  Soon enough, big guy!

This past weekend was Hannah and Emily's birthday party.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the boys with the birthday girls!  Today is their actual birthday.  Happy birthday, girls!!

I did get a group picture at Emily's soccer game last weekend though.  Ben was in heaven!

Andy ran a half marathon on Saturday and ROCKED IT!  Seriously!  I was supposed to run it but the training just didn't happen.  Next time!  After the run, we went to Fido Fest.  It was so hot!  I thought it was going to be cold so I made Ben wear pants.  He was not excited about this and it probably explains his facial expression.  He loves to wear shorts!

He wasn't actually pouting the whole time.  Just when the camera came around. 

In between work, we try to spend as much time as possible with our boys.  There's no place like home!!  I've decided there is nothing sweeter than watching the boys play together.  It makes my heart soooo happy!

And then something like this happens…

And it's still sweet.  Minus the choke hold.  

Ben is growing up so fast lately I can hardly stand it.  He talks like a 5 year old and it is so funny.  I just want to write down everything he says because it is just the cutest.  Luckily for me, he is still only 2 and he will be under my few for a few more years.  ;)  Even if he acts like a teenager.  "Auntie I want to get buckled in your car…And drive in the street just for 1 minute."  Sorry, bud!

Love, love, love these 3.

This guy… permanent smile on his face.

This made it hard to tell that he had an ear infection.  A double ear infection at that!  :(  I was soooo sad.  

Fingers crossed he is on the mend!  He isn't 100% but at least he is eating and sleeping a little bit better. He has his 6 month (!!!) check up on Thursday so hopefully the doctor will say that his ears are looking better!  I'll (hopefully) be back soon for Josh's half birthday update!

Back At It!

I'm going to try and get back in to the blogging routine!  With Josh being the awesome sleeper that he is (I really hope I didn't just jinx things), I definitely have time to do fun things in the evenings like blog and read!  After 5 years in this house, I FINALLY got a library card the other day.  That's kind of embarrassing, but I checked out some books and I'm determined to read more.  And I'm also determined to start training for that half marathon I signed up for…  There are just not enough hours in the day!

Anyway.  Life has been good over here.  We have slowly but surely been getting out our Easter decorations and I can't believe Easter is already next Sunday.  Andy had school 3 of the weekends in March (BOO!) but I'm excited because he only has 3 weekends left this semester!  I'm not sure who is more excited, Andy or me!  While I strongly prefer when Andy is home, I do have fun with my baby boys!  Last weekend we attempted the mall.  I only crashed in to like 5 people trying to maneuver the double stroller.  Ben is getting to the age where he is really bored by clothes shopping, so we spent the majority of the time watching the Easter bunny from a distance.  He was very intrigued by the bunny, but he didn't want to get too close.

Believe it or not, it wasn't very crowded on a Sunday afternoon, so the bunny came over to say hi to Ben.  Ben was not interested, but he did accept a gift from the bunny.

But then he hid from us all.

We're going to brunch with the Easter bunny next weekend, so we'll see how that goes!  Speaking of bunnies, have you ever seen such a cute one?!  Love this boy and all of his smiles. 

Ben started gymnastics a few weeks ago, and it is really high up there on the list of cutest things ever.  He is quite the brave guy, and it is probably better that Andy has been going with him, because I am terrified of a spinal cord injury with every move he makes.

Look at this kid.  The other kids were feebly holding their parents' hands as they ran down the mat, and this guy jumped right in on his first try.  (Not the best video, but you get the point.)

Yesterday, we went to lunch with Maddie and Sarah.  Note that Maddie's grilled cheese and chips are completely gone (plus she ate a cookie) and Ben took literally 1 bite.  Sigh….

After mass this morning, we went over to Andy's parents' house for brunch.  Ben got to play with balls so he was a happy camper.  Josh got to smile so he was a happy camper, too.

This one is blurry, but that doesn't take away from his awesome smile.

We ended our weekend by dyeing some Easter eggs.  There was only one spill but a lot of splashes, and Ben's fingers will probably be blue until Easter.  

Josh took an amazing 2+ hour nap this afternoon, but he didn't want to miss all the fun!

I'm so excited for next weekend!  Lots of Easter egg hunts, kind of like last year, but I think Ben will have even more fun this year.  I'm ready for some warmer weather around here!  Ben has caught so many bugs this winter and Josh currently has a junky sounding cough that I'm pretty sure he got from his big brother.  I just want everyone to be healthy and stay healthy! Alright, time to READ and go to bed so I can get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning to RUN!