-C has a new word: Phoebe. It's the name of our neighbor's cat. My boys love that cat, and C is constantly chasing after her calling, "bee-bee...bee-bee". It's adorable.

-A has been diaper free since Sunday! This includes a trip downtown, several walks and trips to the park. Besides a few slip ups on Tuesday, he's done a great job of staying dry. I am so excited, and he is so proud. Yesterday, we went out to a restaurant for dinner. I debated putting a diaper on him because it was going to be such a long time and no way to cart a potty chair into the restaurant. But he refused, saying he's a big boy now. After dinner, before dessert, I took him to the bathroom to use the big toilet for the first time, and he did GREAT! The best was when he ran back to the table with arms up in the air like a runner at the finish line. He then announced for the entire restaurant to hear, "I PEED IN THE POTTY!!!" He was so proud.

We started off the day with no plans, but it ended up being quite the fun day.

A woke up asking to go to the Reds Museum with Grandma and Nonno. We called them and they were free, or maybe they freed up their schedule to be with their grandson. Either way, we dropped P off at work and then met Grandma and Nonno along with Aunt K and Uncle N and headed downtown. We had a lot of fun playing at the museum, which is very interactive. A got to dress up in a catcher's uniform, try to catch fly balls against a big green outfield wall, pitch while having his speed clocked and announce a game from inside a media booth. It was a lot of fun. On the way out, Uncle N threw out the idea of staying for the game. Nonno decided to stay, too, and they were sweet enough to keep A with th

em. Though it meant missing a nap, A had a blast watching the Reds play with his Uncle and Nonno. What a fun surprise!

After the boys went to bed, P and I got a LOT accomplished, including baking some homemade bagels! They are delicious! We went to bed exhausted from a very busy, but extremely fun day.

-C's new favorite game to play is to lay down on the floor, and yell, "oh, oh, oh" over and over like he is hurt. Then one of us has to go "rescue" him. He laughs, and then lays right back down to do it again. A is such a good big brother and loves to help rescue C.

-I was making some signs today to set out for our Yard Sale. A asked me what I was doing, and why we were having a yard sale. We talked about how there are a lot of kids in the world that don't have mommies or daddies and how they really want a family. Then we talked about how we are going to have some of those kids come be a part of our family. I asked him if he wanted to have some more brothers or sisters. He thought about it for awhile, and then got a huge smile and said, "And then I can play with their hair?" It was hysterical. I just hope he doesn't say that during our homestudy visits.

The Kentucky Farm

We sure have been taking advantage of this gorgeous weather. On Sunday, we took the boys down to Gramma and Grandpa's farm in Kentucky. That place is a little boy's dream come true. Open fields to run though, a tractor to play on, animals to see. It was a blast, and we successfully wore both boys out. Grandpa took us on a tractor ride to see some horses that live just down the road. Gramma brought out a HUGE bubble maker, and the kids thought it was amazing. And, we did a nature scavenger hunt (thanks aunt M!). A had a paper with pictures of nature items (leaf, stick, ants... etc), and he got to put a sticker on each one as we found it. We even found some items that weren't on the list, like a bird's nest with eggs in it.

Beautiful Weekend

Because of P's job, he often only gets Sundays off each week. But this weekend, he didn't have to work on Saturday! We took the boys downtown to the library for story time and then had a picnic at a park in the city. It was gorgeous, but cool (notice the heavy coats are back on). It was such a fun time to spend together as a family.

parky's farm

I took the boys to Parky's Farm last Wednesday. It's part of the Hamilton County Parks, and cost us $5 for a year-long parking pass. It was SO worth it. C, my animal lover, was in his own Heaven. It was hard for me to take pics and keep him from smothering the animals with love, so I don't know that any shot quite captures his pure joy. Even A, who is very timid around animals, joined in after seeing how much fun his brother was having. It was 70 degrees and sunny... a perfect day for a farm. We had a picnic lunch and played on a farm-themed playground before leaving for nap time. It was such a perfect morning.

photo shoot

We met P's mom at a office furniture business downtown that offered free photos of the kiddos on a few of their products. Here are a few of the shots. They turned out pretty cute. A was a pain and didn't want his picture taken, so there aren't as many of him. We did get him into a few shots by the end.

Spring Pictures

In case you can't tell, he's reading Sports Illustrated. He's so much like his daddy!

I don't even remember what food he put in his hair to get it to stick out like that, but he sure looks proud!

Easter!

Why I'm Super Tired and it's only 8:00

1- A trip to the doctor (well-child visit). Keeping 2 kids entertained in the doctor's office for an hour is not an easy task.

2-Spending several hours outside in 80 degree weather after having winter coats on less than a week ago. The sun was beautiful, but draining.

3-My kids wouldn't know a good choice today if it hit them in the head. Standing up in the bath tub, running into walls, climbing on unstable objects... Lots of bumps and bruises today.

4-My escape artist 1-year-old pulled his stool to the front door, used a snow scraper to open the lock and then let himself outside in his socks. Smart kid, but he is a HANDFUL!

5-Lugging a heavy bag of sand into the back yard and adding it to the sand table, only to have C take it out and throw it on the ground one handful at a time.

6-Bath time with two extremely wiggly kids. I think I got as wet as they did.

7-And we had turkey for dinner. Delicious, but it has the same effect in April that it does on Thanksgiving.

Now, I'm off to quickly clean the smooshed raisons from the kitchen floor and fold some laundry while I crash on the couch. Thank goodness for a good night sleep last night. I don't know how I would have made it through this day without it.

A few random facts about the boys:

1-A loves to sing! He sings all day long, and even likes making up his own words to songs. He thinks it's hysterical when he uses the wrong words. Right now, he's singing "Where is Thumpkin?" but replacing the word "Thumpkin" with his friends' names. It's so cute to listen to. He's the only one downstairs, yet he doesn't seem to notice or care.

2-A is also into rhyming words. He likes to list as many "words" that rhyme. Like cat, hat, lat, zat. It's cute, and helps keep him occupied in the car.

3-C loves airplanes. It doesn't matter what he is in the middle of doing, he will stop at the sound of a plane going by. He's lucky we live near a municpal airport and in the regular flight line of planes landing at NKY.

4- C has turned into a little man over night. I know it probably has a lot to do with finally getting good nights of sleep, but he is so stinking cute right now. He is into EVERYTHING, but just trying to figure out how things work. He loves to dance and has this great hunched-over dancing position.

5-C also loves to drop things down the stairs. Our poor neighbors probably wonder what's going on when they hear thud, thud, thud all day long. He also loves to hide things. Thus, my keys have been missing for almost a week. I know they'll turn up somewhere random like in a pan in the cupboard or in the bottom of a toy box or something like that. Here's to hoping they turn up soon.