Raking and Shoveling

The boys got rakes and shovels for Easter (thank goodness, now we can actually get our rakes and shovels back and get some work done;), and they have been putting them to good use with all of this nice weather.

The wheelbarrow is another favorite tool of the boys'. Do they make those in kid size?!?!?

Workin' hard, but still time for a little cuteness!!

All work and no play would make Brock a dull boy:). You can probably be sure that he's saying "Hold you, Mommy!!", as this is a continual request of his.

Taking a little time out to smell the flowers. We are blessed to be discovering many perennials coming up in our large amount of landscaping:).

More sniffing. Hang on, Brock, or you'll end up nose first in the dirt!!

Such cute boys, and good workers, too!!

First Ice Cones:)

Well, the boys have definitely had their share of ice cream, but we realized late last week that they had never had their own ice cream cones. They had always just shared ours, and never seemed to mind:). To celebrate Daddy's birthday, we went out for pizza and ice cream, and they enjoyed their very own cones to end the evening.

They even had eyes on their ice cream, which was their favorite part:).

I'm not sure which is more fun for this antsy little boy - his own cone, or his own chair.

Brock, telling us a story about his ice cream - a common occurrence these days. He seems to talk non-stop, but it is so cute.

Yummm!! I'm off of my chair again - ahhhh - freedom!!

They even liked the cone.

Brock, too!!

I love this pic of my smiley boy.

Daddy and his boys. Happy belated birthday, Daddy!!

Kyle's favorite thing

Riding on Papa's tractor is Kyle's most favorite thing right now, so Monday was a good day for him:). We spent the day in P'ville, and Kyle rode until his heart was content. After about 5 rounds, Papa took him off and put the tractor away. Kyle chased him across the yard, begging to ride again, so Papa took the tractor back out. I think they did about 10 more rounds before Kyle was finally satisfied. Good thing Papa will do just about anything for his boys:).
Kyle and Papa on the tractor. Kyle is already talking about going back to Papa's to ride the tractor again - he actually started talking about it on the way home last night:).

One of Kyle's favorite parts of the tractor ride is getting to "drive". He is very serious when he's behind the wheel. We hope this continues:). One thing does concern us, though. Papa said that the whole time they drove on the road (where it wasn't so bumpy), Kyle continually said, "Go faster, Papa!!". I guess he's destined for speed:).

Brock did finally work up the courage to take a ride on the tractor with Papa, but he's not quite as big of a fan. He did 2 rounds, but Papa said the whole time he was on the road, he was saying, "Go slower, Papa!!!". He's definitely our more cautious one:).

Easter Egg Hunt........

Cancelled!! Due to rain, the much anticipated egg hunt was a bust!! The boys were a bit confused (Mommy had been teaching them about hunting for eggs, so when there were no eggs and no hunting, they thought she had lost it:), and a little disappointed - until they each were given a bag full of candy. Since they couldn't put it into the eggs for the kiddos, they just handed out a bag to each child who showed up. What a treat!! We let them hold their baskets on the way home, and gave them each one piece to eat. Needless to say, the temptation was too much, and you might just be able to see the foil covered egg in Kyle's mouth in one of the pictures below. Luckily I decided to take the picture, and turned around just in time to get my shot, and then retrieve the still foil covered egg from his mouth before he ate it:).

"So many good things to eat, so little time. I guess I'll just examine each one!!"

"Hummmmm. I wonder if they'll notice that this chocolate egg in my mouth is still covered in blue foil??"

"Oh, Happy Day!!"

"Yummm, which one should I eat first when we get home??"

B&K with their baskets - now this is happiness:).

"Can I carry this around my neck, for easier eating access??"

"Look at how heavy they are, Mom and Dad!!"

I love the expression on Brock's face.

And what a cutie - eating those little chocolates one at a time:).

Maybe we'll get to hunt for eggs next year, but for now, a full basket is fun enough:).

Two year pics

Okay - so I thought that the 18 mo pics were a challenge - keeping them in one place - but the 2 year pics turned out to be just as tough. We went mid morning -they weren't tired or hungry, and they were in great moods at home before we left. But once we arrived at the studio, they turned into zombies:). They would barely smile (until the photographers started to play ball with them), we rarely could get them to smile at the same time or look in the same direction, and they were clearly not entertained with the whole ordeal. Here's a sample, and, needless to say, we didn't buy all of these:):

"Really, Mom, why are we laying here on the floor??"

"What you got over there??"

"What?? Hold hands?? Why??"

Brock - not so amused.

"Want to play catch, anyone??"

Not too bad, except for those darn, ball-catching arms:). Thank goodness for photo shop:).

We definitely didn't buy this pic, but I think it's so cute. He looks like a chubby little guy, which he is not:).

Maybe a smile - forced.

Dazed and confused again about why these people think I should be smiling at their antics:).

"Sit on this block. Hummmmm. I just don't get this."

"Don't worry, brother. I don't either."

We did get some cute pics, just not what Mommy had imagined:). But no matter how silly their faces were, you just can't hide the cuteness of these 2 little guys!!

What's for dinner??

A pre-dinner conversation between Mommy and Kyle last week:

Mommy: "It's almost time for dinner, boys!! Would you like to eat ......... roast and potatoes and carrots?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
(It was leftover night, so I gave them a choice, which usually doesn't happen:)
Mommy: "Would you like ........ ham loaves and cheesy noodles?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
Mommy: "Would you like ........ hamburger casserole?"
Kyle: "Nope!"
Mommy: "Then, what would you like to eat?"
Kyle: (after an extended thoughtful pause) "Ummmmmmm, I want cake!!!!" (looking very please that he had come up with something all on his own).
Mommy: "Nice try, but you have to eat some real food first. Maybe you can have cake for dessert."

Gotta love a boy who loves cake, and he does!!

More memory makers:)

Since I still can't give you any pics, I have a few more stories to entertain you:

More dinner time conversations - When Daddy comes home from work, I usually, at some point ask him how his day was. Typically, this happens over dinner. The boys have picked up on this, and have taken over the task of asking Daddy how his day was, and everyone else in the family, too. Here's a snippet of our dinner conversation - remember this is happening during dinner and they would be calmly eating bites in between their conversing. Mommy and Daddy, on the other hand, almost couldn't eat because they were laughing so hard after this repeated conversation went on for about 10 minutes:

B - "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Daddy?"
D - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Mommy?"
M - "It was good!"
B - "Good!" "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!"

Then, they would so nicely take turns (a rare occurrence:), and Kyle would take over:

K - "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Daddy?"
D - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Mommy?"
M - "It was good!"
K - "Good!" "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!"

Eventually, it was just a conversation between the two of them, and this was when we really fell apart:):

B - "How was your day, Kyle?"
K - "It was good!"
B - "Good!"

K - "How was your day, Brock?"
B - "It was good!"
K - "Good!"

And so it went on. They are so cute:).

Then this morning brought another funny. Unfortunately for Mommy, it happened at 6:30am, when she would have really liked another hour (or at least a 1/2 hour) of sleep:(.

I've heard that kids start dreaming around the age of two, and I think that we have reached this milestone. We have lately heard talking over the monitor at night, and checked to find everyone sound asleep. We are not sure which of the boys is our sleep talker, or if it's both, but whom ever it is comes by it honestly, as their Mommy likes to chat away in the middle of the night, too!! This morning, I heard someone saying something, but I couldn't understand what they were saying, and they were almost crying as they were so upset. I went in to investigate and found Brock, still laying down with his eyes closed crying out "I want marshmallows. I need marshmallows!" - with tears and everything. We had gone shopping on Saturday, and bought the boys a bag of Easter marshmallows- pastel colored bunny-shaped marshmallows, or "Hip-hops" as the boys call them. Brock absolutely LOVED them, and apparently in his dream, he was being told that he couldn't have any:(. He eventually opened his eyes, but his request for marshmallows persisted. With such a dramatic presentation, of course, his Daddy had to comply with his request for a marshmallow - at 6:30 am:). What a start to the day!! I wonder how bunny marshmallows taste in coffee?? I'll let you know if this becomes a trend:).