Lately...

I don't know if this winter seems EXTRA long because it IS or because this is the first winter that I've been home more than I worked. Although I was on leave last year during the winter, but I guess having a newborn just made me barely alive so I was unaware:)  

We have been trying to soak up any chance that we have to get outside these days-cold and all! At least the snow is gone so we can run and play.  They boys love their rain boots so play in the mud has been fun...Max is still getting used to it:)

Indoor fort diving making a comeback

this kid is FULL of personality! It's so fun to see it coming out more and more each day.

we already knew this guy was full of personality, but his continues to grow along with him!

Tucker wanted in on the March Madness picks. It was so cute-he ran over and got his crayon and then sat with Max saying, "I do it too daddy?"

Improving his fine motor skills:) Much to the dismay of his "i'd rather him not have yogurt all over himself" father.

 this is how we make trips to target work...we've had to up the number of errands because we are DONE being in the house! And by "we" it's probably 30% them, and 70% me!

rain boots, dirt, and $1 garden toys! The options are endless:)

what a difference a year makes! This guy is LOVING this toy this year:) Perfect!!

I re-enrolled the boys in  My Gym class. It's a little crazy to watch them both, but thankfully Brayden loves to burry himself in the ball pit-easily confined!

As much as we wish we had more living space upstairs, I am SO grateful for the wonderful space we have downstairs.  The basement is like an outing all in itself-different toys, we don't have to clean up right away, it's great! These boys built some great structures!

I left the kids to play in Tucker's room alone while watching them on the video. I couldn't see what they were doing but they were laughing and have a blast! Totally getting along. I was thrilled. Then the banging started. I went up to check it out...they'd dismantled the humidifier and made their own water table. Water was all over Brayden, the table, floor, wall, etc.

My parents offered to take the kids for a sleepover so Max and I went to a new Irish Pub and bowling. Who knew that we'd meet Parker Bohn III-legendary Professional Bowler!!! Someone told me he's a "living legend!"

We have some great friends who have kids with 6 weeks of both of our boys. We always have such fun with them:) 

Tucker and Bo got their own "big-boy" table complete with juice boxes!

These three crazies:) Graeme, Fred, and Brayden-everybody loves their pouches!

Brayden is quite the monkey-he's learned to climb much earlier than Tucker..I'm sure watching T do things like this hasn't helped!

And lastly, Brayden has become Tucker's human canvas...like I said, we are DONE with winter. Bring it on spring!!!

St. Patrick's Day Weekend!

I think St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday!! Many think it is a huge excuse for Americans to drink heavily, and in Ireland it's not even a big deal, which is all completely true! But I love the tradition and the celebration of some of our Irish Heritage:) My mom is an O'Hara, and my name is Gaelic means Ireland. Needless to say, we enjoy this green holiday:)

Holiday Craft with the kids:)

I ran for the first time in a few months-annual St. Patrick's Day race at the beach:) It's always SO COLD!

Max and my mom were away on Sunday afternoon so my dad and I took the boys to Colony Grill to watch our friend Sienna and her Irish Dance crew dance at the restaurant! Kids had fun:)

Monday was filled with way too much green food coloring!

Green eggs for breakfast and green mac and cheese for lunch-I was surprised the kids didn't think they were gross!

(ps Brayden climbs on EVERYTHING now!)

Boys were all dressed in their Irish best:)

My grandparents invited us over for corned beef and cabbage to celebrate:) They always wear a bunch of green and my grandma has a cute "IBM-Irish By Marriage" pin that she always wears-since she's 100% Italian!

The boys really liked their food!

Erin Go Brah! (it means Ireland forever!)

Ahhh Spring! It's almost here!!

It's been a long winter this year (or at least it feels like it!) Too many days with snow on the ground has resulted in a LOT of fort making. In basically everywhere in the house. Tucker built himself a fort and then napped in it the other day...what a weirdo! I had to go make sure he was breathing!

On Saturday it was 56! This called for a fun family day OUTSIDE!! To the Zoo we went.

ugh!! I don't know why my computer keeps editing this like this! He's still cute:)

This one never sits still so it was a little tough to get a picture, but he had fun once it started moving.

They let the peacocks roam free at the zoo and Tucker had fun "chasing" them-one wasn't happy or maybe was too happy and spread his feathers!

The orange paw print path proved an easy way to keep Tucker from running away

 Then we celebrated my mom's birthday:) She's so kind and loving and generous and we had so much fun celebrating. Plus it's so fun to see the kids interact with my grandparents. Tucker sees their car and gets excited, and Brayden loves to hang out with my Grandma. So cute:)

And now to celebrate St. Patrick's Day!!!!

Thank you God...

Tucker had an unusually long list of prayers tonight:

"Pray for the boy and the dresser who got the boo boo" (Tucker heard me telling max a story about a boy who climbed a dresser and unfortunately the dresser fell on him and his parents didn't know. Tucker didn't know that the boy passed away, just that he got a boo boo, but regardless, he wanted to pray for him. This story was from a week ago!)

"Pray for the boo boo on Joy hand" (I'm thinking he means your cast)

"Thank you for Sawah, Matt, and Wiyyam, and Blake and Chad and Lawha and Yeremy (me: what about Paige, tucker?), and Paige."

This was a pleasant change from him thanking God for the "wall, my cups, your eyelashes", etc.-pretty much whatever he sees. Or characters from his favorite shows.

Sorry to anyone that didn't make the cut tonight:) There's always tomorrow! Mommy, Daddy and Brayden barely made it on the list tonight!

Oh the Love!!

Oh I have such love for my kids. There are days (many) and hours (even more) that I am wondering where my cute adorable children have gone? But without fail, they always come back:)  I just love life with these CRAZY little boys who never sit still, enjoy lots of desserts, love to dance, make up their own songs, screech as their main form of communication, love cars, trucks, trains and anything that moves, get BEYOND excited to see people, tell me not to go, tell me not to come home, give big wet kisses, poop a lot, don't poop at all, give LOADS of love to us, love each other, and are the biggest blessings we have ever received:)  

This year for Valentine's day we were just so excited to spend the day loving on our kids.  Having two boys, especially ones as young as ours, I didn't feel the need to get them a gift for V-Day (heck Max and I barely get each other cards!), but they each got a little something from my secret toy stash when I felt bad for not getting them anything.  And we had a relish dinner of heart-shaped ravioli's. My mom was tasked with bringing dessert which awesomely turned into LOTS of relish treats from Luigi's!!! Tucker even got a special cupcake with heart shapes on top! Like I said these boys love their sweets...wonder where they get that from?!

Fun dinner with friends...three cute little boys with matching PJ's!

 how could we pass up the fancy cupcakes Sarah brought?!

Oh! Go Greenly? More sweets? Don't mind if we do!

 Tucker is a very strong willed child-he's not unlike many budding 3 year olds who want to exercise their independence and don't understand why they can't do everything that they want.  Kids need boundaries. They'll thank us later. Some battles are not worth fighting. Like the one where Tucker decided that he wanted to sleep on his floor.  I was pretty sure it wouldn't last (Max thought it was the worst idea ever), but I thought it would be better for him to learn why it was not so smart on his own, instead of me just telling him.  Suffice it to say that he lasted for about 5 minutes...and then called me to help get his stuff back up into his bed:)  Mom-1 Tucker-0

When it was just tucker I definitely took him to do a lot more. We didn't have as much "stuff" going on and I only needed to watch him. With both boys it makes it harder to go do some things because one can't be at the other's class, event, etc.  This is especially tough now because Brayden is fully on the move. I used to be able just to drag him places in his carseat and leave him in a corner...not so much. Anways, I finally figured out a class at My Gym that the boys can go to together that we can actually get to. I definitely prefer them in their own classes (it's a little tough to watch both of them in different places, but the staff there is wonderful and totally helps with that!) but this works for now.  All I will say is Brayden LOVES My Gym. He's still getting the whole Circle Time sit still thing down (he doesn't like to sit) but he's loving it. The pictures show it:)

Tucker drew a picture of our family...tucker, "bay-den", mommy and daddy. You can see all of our heads...at least I think so.

We took a trip up north to celebrate Max's mom's bday...the only way the boys last over an hour in the car without torturing us is with a movie...and now they watch two different ones (gotta find the cord that lets them watch the same one!) Tucker got to use Max's Beats headphones...lucky kid!

They wanted their pictures taken at dinner one night...

Brayden finally got a legit hair cut...but these were the curls before they got clipped!

Last fRiday was a rough day for the B-man.  Morning: Tucker fell off a chair onto his head and Brayden split his upper lip and it WOULD. NOT. STOP. BLEEDING!  Afternoon: Tucker was dancing around and got off balance and danced his head right into Brayden's. The black eye was immediate.  Moral of the story: Tucker's inherited clumsiness is wreaking havoc on his brother.

And the last piece of blog-worthy news: Tucker got a new umbrella. Suffice it to say, he was excited.

Oh Spring...we need you.  We LOVE you. We need more space to prevent further injuries. We need rain, not snow so we can use our new umbrella. Actually the rain can hold off. Not a fan of the rain.