Bubble Poppers

You can tell who knew the camera was on. Hamtastic!

Parking

In a never-ending desperate attempt to play catchup, I present some park pictures, taken before the buds were on the trees. Above, Nolan is jailed.
Conrad is a ham.
The favorite unstable-hug pose (they inevitably start wrestling on the ground after this nice embrace)
Nolan has no fear.

Birthday continued

Because the boys' party was the day before their *real* birthday, Nate took April 6 off and we headed to Nick Universe at the MOA. Above, the boys are sure they are really playing something in the arcade. They aren't.
Nate's scared of Swiper's Sweeper.

They purchased some fake teeth with their arcade tickets.
N & Mama
C-Monkey
Dr. No
It was a tough day, but not too tough to play in one bed until they couldn't play anymore. Note the palm from church.

The 4th Birthday

Conrad and Nolan are *4*! After weeks of being "almost 4," they finally can tell everyone that they are really and truly 4 years old. And trust me, they tell everyone. The boys birthday party was the usual craziness- 30-some people sardined into our house, lots of gifts, and of course, Batman. The boys don't actually know much about Batman, except that he's cool and we do have the vintage "Scooby Doo meets Batman and Robin" episodes on DVD. But that's apparently enough to require Batman-everything in terms of party supplies. Overall, 4 was worth the wait.
*note- the tree pic above was taken just before everyone arrived at the party. Yes, that's exotic West St. Paul on April 5.
Nolan looking tough
Really tough
Conrad looking slightly less tough
Liz and Nolan were hanging in the hallway, because there is no room anywhere else.
Mmm...Bat-tastic!
Elena and Brook are enjoying lunch at the Wall-E table.
Conrad actually said to me the following day, happily, "Mama, we got so many new clothes!"
Nolan inspects a shield.
Solana and Ynez
Kyle and Mary
Jenna and Elena
Transformer!
Cupcake time
Try not to look so excited over Nolan's new Iron Man, Nate.
Finally, Darth "Mader"!
Conrad
N & C inspect the biggest hit of the day- the Batcave from Nana and Gumpa.

Shakopee

A couple weeks ago we headed to Shakopee and spent a Saturday afternoon making the rounds and hanging with Great Grandpa. It wasn't really that long ago, but the pictures make it look like ages ago, with all the snow on the ground that has since melted. No matter, you'll enjoy the pictures anyway.
The bar has candy!
Watching for snowmobiles at the bar.
Chasing Great Grandpa

Hours of entertainment

Occasionally, C & N will declare a holiday, frequently the birthday of one of their "friends." This was Baby's birthday. You can tell by the fact that 80% of their toys were in attendance, all gathered around Baby, who was looking quite content.

Can you see Baby? He's receiving a significant amount of attention.
Another morning, the boys played "Knight Hospital." It was quite the soap opera. The game consisted of duels followed by peaceful moments on makeshift stretchers.
Healing quite nicely, thank you.

Card talk

I just found these pictures from Valentine's Day week and thought I'd post them a month later. The boys got a wide variety of valentines, but their very favorite was...Strawberry Shortcake. Not sure if it was the big red hair or the short-shorts, but the cards with Miss Shortcake on them were very in demand. At one point I had to remove both Strawberry Shortcake cards and keep them on my person until the fighting stopped. I also observed Conrad, in a calmer moment, set both cards on the floor, lay on his stomach, start his mp3 player and listen to 3 songs in a row, just staring at those two valentines. Hilarious.

A Valentine's lesson

Nolan explains hearts in this informative video.



Translation:
Nolan: "A heart is in your bobby...in your body, and heart for love of family, and heart is for Valentine's."
Conrad: "No, I eating my sandwich."

Because I have so much extra time...

I make jewelry. Most of you know this because I've already made you one. :) But someone was asking to see photos, so here are a couple of the necklace that I finally made for myself...

An ode to White Doggie

Ages ago, someone went to Wendy's and got a kid's meal. I don't remember who it was or when it happened, and I don't think it was me and the boys, or we would have purchased two and made life significantly easier... but I'm getting ahead of myself. The Wendy's meal, on that fateful day, came with a toy, a tiny stuffed dog. The dog kicked around the house for a good 6-8 months, never receiving any attention, except when a patient was needed at the animal doctor. But one day, when the animal doctor set came out, Conrad spotted this miniscule canine and fell swiftly in love.
You may remember Puppy, aka Baby, the rag-with-head lovey. Well, when Conrad saw White Doggie, I mean really saw her, Baby was no longer in the picture.
At one point, White Doggie was missing. We had fashioned a leash for her out of pipecleaners, and Conrad was swinging White Doggie around the kitchen and she came undone and poof! White Doggie was gone. Nate and I turned the house upside down looking for her. Conrad wept, wailing, "White Doggie, where are youuuuuuu?" She was gone for a solid 10 days, finally reappearing (in the kitchen, on the baker's rack, where we had looked a number of times) on October 31, our very own Halloween miracle. White Doggie now gets lost several times a day, has a high-pitched voice, and is not even close to being white. Also, the paint on her eyes is long gone.
Auntie Amy was over once and gave White Doggie a good look. "You have got to take a picture of that thing! Look at it! Where are its eyes? It's filthy!" etc. Conrad snatched it out of her hand and declared defensively, "She cute."
One day we could not find White Doggie just before nap. During nap time, I found him hiding in the cab of an overturned dump truck. No injuries were reported.
Conrad, Nolan, and their favorite things

Shameless self-promotion, again

So I wrote an article that was printed in the Pioneer Press this weekend. Not really a big deal to anyone but me (many of you do much cooler things on a daily basis). But you'd better click on it at least once from each of your computers, and then email it to everyone you know so they can do the same. Okay, maybe not, but I would appreciate the page views! :D

PiPress Link