Chocolate Birthday Party

This last Monday we went to a Chocolate Birthday Party for Miss Tegan. She loves chocolate and that's one of the many reasons we love her. Jaclyn (the mom) had some really fun games planned and of course yummy food. Here are the kids in their Hershey Hats.

Silly Faces from 3 year olds. Brody enjoyed making a mess and eating the food. I swear he is an endless pit. I thought he was a dog for a moment. Hiding the evidence. The boys with the birthday girl. Really, Braden LOVES Tegan. Jaclyn and I constantly catch these two holding hands, hugging or just wrestling with each other. Tegan's official birthday is tomorrow (April Fool's Day), no joke! Happy Birthday Tegan! Tell your mom we would love it if you actually did buy Rachel's house and move in next door.

Twins

Baby Chicks

On Friday our playgroup went to Ace Hardware to watch the baby chicks. They had 2 huge bins with black and yellow chicks. The kids loved it.

They also had a little fish pond which Brody loved.

The kids even got to pet the chicks. Brody was fascinated.

This is Isaiah. He is the neighbor, but also adopted son to us. Brody loves him just like an older brother. He will be becoming a big brother himself in May. We can't wait.

Thanks Heather for planning a wonderful afternoon.

Our Mud Room

I know I mentioned Blake's most recent project. Well, here it is. This is a before picture of our garage. This is actually from 2 years ago, since then we have accumulated SO much stuff.

Blake hard at work.

We needed more space to store food (since I have hardly any cupboard space) and a place for Braden to take off his shoes without being in the way.

This is the final product. It's a landing across the back. We call it our mudroom because it allows space to store shoes, coats and anything else.

And now I have a full shelf worth of food. This frees up TONS of space in my kitchen and allows me to actually see all my canned foods.

I am so glad I married a handy man. This whole project took him a day. I screwed down all the boards and stained it, but other than that, this was Blake's project. I will have to give you a new picture of our garage once all the yard stuff is out of it.

Sharing a Room

Yep, we decided it was time for these 2 to share a room. (And yes, Braden did want to wear his race costume to the park.)

While Blake's parents were here we decided to move Brody's crib into Braden's room. Brody didn't sleep very well while his sister was here and we thought it was because it was in Braden's room, but no, it was just the pack 'n play. They did great last week, so we decided to make it an official move.

Braden's side of the room.
Brody's side.

We made Brody's old room the official guest room and toy room.

The boys have been playing upstairs way more than they ever had. Braden likes the toy room because he can play in the closet (which is huge).

I like it because I can just shut the door and don't care so much about the mess. Brody does cry sometimes in the night, but Braden is unaffected. I can't wait until Brody is big enough to sleep in a regular bed. You better believe we will be investing in bunk beds.

Cycle of Life: Butterflies

My mom got Braden some caterpillars for his birthday. He was very excited to see how they would turn into butterflies. It also helped with his patience as it takes over a month from beginning to end. The caterpillars were so small when we first got them.

You just kept them in this little jar. There was plenty of food for them to eat and they got huge. Honestly, Blake and I couldn't believe they got so big.

Eventually they all made their way to the top of the jar and built cacoons.
I then transferred them into their butterfly cage.

We anxiously waited about 2 weeks before our first butterfly arrived. I was hoping we would see at least 1 of the 5 come out of its cacoon, but we always came down in the morning to a new butterfly. As we learned, butterflies don't have teeth, so they have to drink everything. We gave them sugar water and oranges.

It took over a week for all 5 of them to arrive. We let them live with us for a week and then we decided to let them go. Actually, 2 of them died and I told Braden it was time for them to be free.

The little stinkers were hard to get out of the cage. They didn't fly so well.

Eventually we got the remaining 3 out of the cage and after enjoying the sun for a minute, they took off.

This was a fun little project. I think I will do this once or twice a year with the kids. It was interesting to see what butterflies do when they leave their cacoons. They shake alot, actually, they are pumping air into their wings. They also leak this red stuff (it looks like blood, but smells like maple syrup) when they first emerge. Braden was fascinated. Thanks mom for the fun experience.

Goodbye Barnett's

Well, I didn't get any official pictures with Grandma and Grandpa. We did have a great time. Braden demanded all of Grandma's attention and she more than gave it to him. I am sure he wore her out. She got the boys this adorable little dinosaur gift basket (I didn't get pictures because the kids ripped it open so fast). In the basket was some flubber. Braden and grandma played with it for hours.

We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to go to the temple and out to eat on Saturday. We knew the boys were in safe hands. Mom and Dad Barnett were tired when we got home, but not too tired not to play a few games of Sequence. It was an even match, but Blake and I pulled out the win (7 game tournament- like the NBA). They cleaned our slates on Sunday though. There will definitely need to be a rematch.

It was nice having family around and extra hands to help. Thanks for coming Mom and Dad. You are welcome back anytime.

My St. Patrick's Boy

That's right. My wonderful husband celebrated his birthday on St. Patrick's day. The big 33! He's one year older and claims not wiser, but I still more than appreciate him.

I tried to make him a pot of gold cake, but I couldn't cut it right, so he just got a 4 layer cake with chocolate mousse filling and chocolate gold coins on top. Braden liked it.

I know most wives would write 33 things they love about their husband but I will just write a few.

1. He's so handy. We have wanted a mud room for awhile and he woke up 2 Saturday's ago and built one (a post to come).
2. He is a hands on father, which I am learning a lot of husband aren't. I know he is there to support me and the kids 100%. He gets home from work and is all involved.
3. With that being said, he loves his sports. March Madness is killing me, only a little though. It helps that the Jazz suck right now because he doesn't care much about them.
4. He's very supportive of me. I know I am not the easiest person to live with. I tend to have a busier schedule that requires his help. He only complains a little. I thank him for this.
5. We make a great team and I contribute this to him. He knows just how to handle me (most of the time) and I really do respect him and value all of his input (unless it comes to me getting a trainer).

To make a 33 year long story short, I married the perfect man and glad I will be around for many more of his birthdays.

Hanging with the Barnett's

We have had so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa Barnett. Friday morning I headed off to the gym and then met up with the crew at the mall. Of course, Braden talked them into the arcade.

As I said in my previous post, Brody has been attached to Grandpa. We even offered a room for Grandpa if he stayed, but no, he has to go home, boo! Anyway Grandpa is, that's where Brody wants to be.

After the mall and naps, we headed to the Home and Garden show. Braden and Brody's favorite, the bounce house. They both love it.

After the show we headed to South Fork to eat some dinner for Blake's birthday. I have to admit, I didn't like it a year ago and I still didn't like it now. I will never go there again. But, it was fun to be with family and visit, although it's never fun eating with kids. We are so happy we get to hang out with the Barnett's.

Treasure Chest

Grandma and Grandpa Barnett came for a visit (more posts to come) and brought with them the most beautiful Treasure Chest (toy box). Grandpa Barnett made it and Brody is so lucky because it is too beautiful. Remember this? Braden has used and abused his toy box, but he loves it and I know Brody will too. Here are some pictures of the assembly.

Can I just say that Brody has been attached to Grandpa ever since he got here. He won't stop talking to him and always insists that he is in view.

Thank you Grandpa for spending the time to make such a wonderful lifelong gift.