Spring Time!

Ready or not, Spring, here we come!

We are so happy to have the sun shining, the snow gone, the mud drying up, and the weather finally warming!  We find ourselves outside as much as possible, exploring, walking, and playing.

Prince L is extra adventurous this year, and is really enjoying climbing and exploring anywhere he thinks he can.  Occasionally he is frustrated by not being big enough to do some of his big ideas, but for the most part he can do everything.

Prince K seems to be outgrowing the playgrounds this year, which is a little saddening even though I know he's moving on to bigger and better things.  He will take on the job of "caretaker" for Madden, following him around and keeping him safe.  He will still play specific games with Prince L, like Batman, but won't necessarily get lost in the adventures the playground offers on its own.

Prince M just has to be on the move.  He loves to climb, slide, and swing, but only if it's his idea.  He doesn't care to follow his brothers, he prefers instead to be the leader.  I wonder if he will always be so independent.

I love watching Hubby chase around the boys, they really look up to him.  I had to capture this sweet moment as we were leaving the playground - all 3 boys wanted Daddy's attention.

And lastly, here is a very pregnant (almost 27 weeks!) Mama catching some sunshine.  :-)

1st Egg Hunt of 2012

Every year the elementary school puts on an egg hunt for the kiddos.  For some reason, it is always cold on the egg hunt days, but at least we didn't have snow to contend with this year! 

In past years, we have all been able to search in the same "area," but this year Prince K had to head out into the bigger soccer field for his goodies! Hubby went with him and he came back with a filled basket.  Once we emptied out our eggs and checked out the goodies, Prince K insisted on taking one more trip around the school to check for missed eggs (although we didn't find any).

Prince M finally figured out what the egg hunt was all about and scrambled about for eggs one or two at a time.  He would say "more egg" as he placed each one carefully in his basket, and was sure to tell me the colors of each and every one.  He was thrilled when he discovered there was candy in the eggs!

Prince L took his egg hunting experience very seriously, and managed to get an overflowing basket in no time.  He then helped Prince M fill his even further for good measure.  Oh, and Prince L talked the entire time (most of my pictures of him are like the one above because he was constantly mid-sentence). 

While our boys really don't need anymore candy, especially with Easter being next weekend anyway, we still enjoy the tradition and watching their excitement!  Happy (almost) Easter, my boys!

Model Cars

Prince K has discovered the joy of building model cars.  Right now all our model kits have been snap-together only, no glue and no paint, but he's having a blast.  I love seeing the look of accomplishment on his little face!  I can only imagine how many of these models he will build before he's grown...

Sugar on Snow 2012

We have had such a warm spring this year, the buds are already out on the trees... which apparently means a very short sugaring season for the local sugar farmers.  Instead of having 5 weeks to collect sap, they only had 5 days this year.  Yikes!  Fortunately for us, they are still doing sugar on snow (for this weekend at least)!

Prince L likes the "maple water" when the ice melts, and ate up as much syrup as he could get his hands on.  He was hoping to be able to scoop up more "snow" to eat, but the ice in our trays were pretty solid!

Prince K wanted an ice cream instead, but we convinced him to get this yummy once-a-year treat instead.  I think he's glad he did.  He wound the syrup on his fork until it looked like he had a maple lollipop!  Prince K giggled and talked with his grandparents until we headed home.

Prince M didn't like the sugar on snow, but he sure loved the donuts.  He ate his, part of Hubby's, and a good piece of Prince L's too!  He spent most of the afternoon asking to "see cows" that were out in the back pasture.  Unfortunately for him, by the time we got outside to see the cows they had headed back towards the barn instead.

After we ate our treat, we headed outside to explore.  It was much cooler today that it has been recently, and rainy, so we kept our adventure short.  The kiddos always love the swings, the sugar house, and looking around for animals. 

Hopefully next year will be a better sugaring season, but this year it was still yummy!

Playground Days

This first photo cracks me up - take a look at Prince L's cheeks as he hits the bottom of the slide!  Ha!  I used to think his little cheeks looked like Droopy Dog when he was a baby, but as he grew older his face thinned out quite a bit.  I guess the cheeks are still there though, evident only when in motion!  :-)

One of our favorite things to do as a family is go to the playground.  Any playground.  Anywhere.  The kids are all at such different ages that their interests at the playground differ greatly, but they can all find something they want to do.  I love watching them climb, run, explore, and smile.  Oh man, do they smile!

Right now Prince M loves slides, especially really high, fast slides.  And running.  He'll run from structure to structure faster than his Daddy can keep up!

Prince L is in to climbing.  The higher the better.  It scares his Momma, but a boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do.  And everything he plays on the playground has some kind of pretend game attached to it, usually superhero or some kind of rescue worker.

Prince K is much more mellow at the playground these days, especially if there are other kids his age there. I think he's more conscientious of who is watching him. I am just reminded constantly of how quickly he is growing and changing! I love that he'll chase around his little brothers and look out for them, and stick by my side for more grown up company. 

Prince K and Prince L are usually not too far from each other at any given moment.  Often they are bickering about what the other should be doing, but mostly they are happily immersed in one of their games.  I love to watch them play!

And yes, even Hubby has to join in the fun.  Usually he's just chasing around Prince M, but sometimes he just wants to slide!  Ha!

Brutus Turns 3!

Hard to believe Brutus is already 3 - seems like just yesterday he was a cute puppy!  Well, he's still cute, and we'll probably always refer to him as our puppy, but he's no longer small!

Brutus' actual birthday was earlier in the month, but we didn't celebrate until last week.  The kiddos got him a new dog toy and a giant birthday bone.  I'm pretty sure he'll still be working on the bone a month from now! 

Happy Birthday, Brutus!

Stuffed Animals

I don't want to forget this one day... so I must do a post even without a picture!

Our kiddos LOVE their stuffed animals.  Seriously, I swear they think they are alive with feelings and desires of their own.  Prince K has a select few animals he'll keep on his bed, along with his blankies (still), including guard dog and his animals from Disney years ago.  Prince L is a little more non-discriminate as his animals will change almost daily, as long as his giant Elmo is always next to him.  They dress them up, tuck them in at night, take them on sleepovers, line them up to watch movies with them, and create games/stories at night with their animals.  We have to set a timer at night to allow them to do their talking but still get them to sleep on time!  Some of their adventures include the beach, space, school... you name it! 
Prince M has a massive collection of animals on his bed right now that has accumulated over time.  He has his giant bear, lady bug pillow pet, baby cow, cocoa the dog, Ernie, goofy, mickey, tigger, bear-bear, pig, and now a small collection of angry birds.  He tucks them in next to him every night, and has me sing songs before he'll go to sleep about a few of his animals (differs depending on the night).  When they inevitably make their trip to the washing machine for cleaning, Prince M will freak out and spend the entire time running back and forth between the laundry and his toys asking where his animals are.  I almost think it'd be easier to wash them at night while he's already asleep!
I love this phase, and love to watch my boys care for their animals, and as much work as it is to shuffle animals all the time I can honestly say I will miss this phase when it's gone.  I guess it's a lot like a little girl would be with her dolls, although being a Momma of only boys I don't really know!  :-) 

Catching Leprechauns

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY 2012!

Prince K and Prince L started building traps for the Leprechaun's last year.  It is clearly a tradition they both love because this year their traps were bigger and better!  Each boy constructed their own after much discussion and planning, and went to bed hopeful.  Prince L was worried his Leprechaun would starve to death until I assured him we'd stock up on food for his little captive until he was set free.  Prince K had big plans to take his Leprechaun to school for show-and-tell after the weekend!

When the boys awoke on St. Patrick's day, there were no trapped Leprechaun's to be found, but instead there were tons of green chocolate coins scattered about.  They each insisted on eating one for breakfast, and put the rest in the fridge to get nice and cold... it's so cute to see their ideas! 

I think their scheming for next year has already begun.

Pump House

Family photo!  We took this one and only photo while at the Pump House over the weekend - the boys literally kept us running!  There were water slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, a kiddie area, a hot tub, and a smaller pool with basketball in it.  You would think the boys were in heaven!  We spent most of our time in the pool and lazy river (around and around again!), but Prince K took several trips down the water slides.  It always amazes me what they are willing to try!  Prince L like swimming around in the basketball pool the most with his cousins.  Prince M mostly hung out and watched, and begged for trips to the hot tub!  Since I am pregnant, Hubby was more than happy to step up and take his toddler to the hot tub.  :-) 

It was a really long drive for us, and made for an exhausting day, but we plan to return next winter again for some more fun.  Since the weather around here is finally getting warm we'll be spending most of our time outside while it lasts though!

Mud Season

I'm sure these are the first of many mud season photos for this year - our boys sure love to play in the mud!  Right now we still have quite a bit of snow left along with lots of mud, so snow pants are still necessary.  And the puddles are icy cold, so mittens are nice to have too!

We do a lot of puddle splashing and mud squishing in the afternoons while we wait for Prince K to come home from school.  Prince L and Prince M have many little games they will play, like pretending they are fixing roads, or building race tracks in the mud, or drawing with sticks in the road... it is so fun to see where their imagination can take them.

The only problem is that Prince M has a hard time sticking around, he is so anxious to explore.  I will turn for a second to talk with Prince L about his game and Prince M will dart onto someone else's yard to grab sticks or climb their snow piles.  I sure hope our neighbors don't mind too much!  By the time we head inside for dinner, there is a whole lot of laundry to be done!

Winter Fun

With all the morning sickness this winter, I haven't taken very many photos at all, let alone outside pictures!  Now the snow is quickly melting, and we are frantic to enjoy every last bit of it before it's gone (we are very excited for spring though, don't get me wrong!).

Prince L is very independent this year on the little snow machine.  He will whip around the lawn without a care in the world - he often gets stuck and needs a push though since the motor isn't very powerful (thankfully). 

Prince K had his first opportunity to drive the big snow machine, all on his own.  He did a great job!  You could see the nervousness on his face quickly melt away to pride and joy as he slowly circled the front yard.  I think next year he'll need his own in-between snow machine to ride around the yard and build his confidence, but before long he'll be cruising the trails with his Daddy. 

Prince M loves the snow machines too, and will spend easily an hour riding around with his Daddy on the lawn before he gets bored.  Eventually he'll give in to the temptation of the trampoline, or shovels, or anything else that looks exciting at the moment.  Being 2 means you're always busy!

Superhero Party

 Last weekend we attended a Superhero Party at the local YMCA.  I say "local," but we had to drive almost an hour to get there.  Still, our afternoon was full of superhero-ness and giggles!

 Prince K dressed as Green Lantern, Prince L dressed as Robin, and Prince M dressed as "blue" Batman.  Hubby and I were our regular, incognito superhero selves.

 There was a bounce house, lots to climb and jump on, coloring, and at the end of the day swimming!  I will do a separate post on swimming because our boys are water bugs!

After the party, the sun was shining and it was warmer than it has been all year (about 60 degrees!), so we all decided a walk was in order.  We ventured down into the city for dinner.  Well, I'm sure you can guess how well that went after an afternoon full of play and swimming (and no naps!)... but after dinner, we still thought dessert was necessary so we walked yet again to the nearest Ben & Jerry's to share a cookie sundae.  I love the little things like that, all huddled around a bowl with 5 spoons digging in for a bite... hard to believe next year at this time there will be 6 mouths to share it with! 

Life Changes

We're still here!  I have decided it is time to get back to blogging, back to recording all our day-to-day memories that seem so mundane right now... because in a year from now, all these documented happenings will make a glorious memory book for our family.  :-)

Hubby is home.  Where he belongs.  Actually, he has been home for over a year now (which explains my blogging absence as we spent time as a family, getting to know each other all over again).  Our kiddos are all much older.  Prince K is in 2nd grade and loving it.  He has become an amazing reader, and the best big brother our family could ask for.  Prince L is in his 2nd year of preschool, getting ready for kindergarten this fall, learning all his letters and soaking up as much information as we'll let him.  Oh, and he's lost his 1st tooth already.  Prince M is a wild 2 year old through and through.  He is a joy each day, and keeps us on our toes for sure!  We are now expecting one more prince, whose name has yet to be decided.  And on top of the craziness that 3 (going on 4) boys brings, we are trying to find a new (aka bigger!) house for our family.  Life sure is crazy, but so, so wonderful too!