Our internet was out of commission last week...one of the joys of living in the country!  Looking back on my pictures, and seeing they were all taken indoors due to nasty and cold weather,  I feel like I'm so behind!  However, considering we dug ourselves out of a 6+" snowstorm just 5 days ago I guess I'm not doing too badly.  It's funny how quickly Minnesotan's can forget about winter after just 2 days of 60+ degree weather!

Cabin fever was at an all time high this spring.  It was all we could do to keep these boys busy and entertained when every other day it seemed like we were dealing with winter storm warnings.  We dealt with whatever Mother Nature handed us by bundling up and braving the outdoors.  Kade Man cannot function properly without at least 2 hours outside, no matter what the weather is doing.  Mason, on the other hand, is perfectly content to sit and watch a movie (which is hard to do with no internet, thus no Netflix!).  I cannot wait to wash and put away all of the winter gear!! 

Playing with friends also helped pass the time spent inside...

They made an "E" for Eagles. 

(which, I just now realized, they are all wearing Eagles attire)

Harper crawled in and asked, "Why does your bed stink?".  Mason promptly answered, "Because I farted!" and then without missing a beat, lifted the covers over both of their heads.  

Oh Mase, you are going to make a great husband some day.

Mason with his daycare buddies, Gunnar and Jackson.

Mason is absolutely awestruck and infatuated with our daycare mom's son, Gavin.  Whenever Gavin is around Mason's face lights up.  It's adorable.  Gavin is a wrestler, thus Mason is a wrestler.  Gavin made all of Mason's dreams come true one day when he let Mase wear his headgear and wrestled him.

I love this picture of Kade, he has no idea I took it.

Just hanging out, brushing his teeth, looking for deer and unknowingly doing a little Senior Picture Posing.  

No big deal.

Grandma H got a new pony for the grandkids to ride!  

Kade's more than a little excited to ride Zee.

And finally, Jenna and I took the kids to Bounce World last Wednesday before the final snowstorm hit (it better have been the final snowfall).  They managed to burn off some energy before getting stuck at home yet again!

Easter Part II

In years past we've put the eggs in very obvious places so they'd be easy to find, this year it was a challenge, there were no eggs in plain sight.  Kade woke up crazy early, snuck out to the living room to have a look and then went to get Mason up.  Mason reluctantly got up but when Erik heard this he immediately put the kabosh on that and brought Mason back to bed with us.  Mase ended up falling back to sleep for another hour or so, which was still too early for him as seen in the first picture below.  

Surprisingly Kade waited patiently!!  Watching The Rifleman (yes, that old western show that appears to have been filmed in 1892.  Kade has the DVR set to record every episode, the boys LOVE it!) helped pass the time for him.

When we finally joined him at 6:45 they were in for a surprise!  This year we hid their baskets and made a scavenger hunt with clues hidden in the eggs.  It wasn't as big of a hit as I thought it would be.  Mason was still tired and Kade was too impatient to figure out what the clues meant.  

All's well that ends well though, they got their candy and baskets filled with battery toothbrushes, toothpaste, flossers and cap guns.  Kade got a new basketball and Mason got new crocs for the summer.  Not too shabby for a couple boys who don't get a visit from the Easter Bunny!  (The boys know that we hide the eggs.  We've neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the bunny but they know that it doesn't come to our house.)

Sleepy Mason and a Kade that can't wait to get the hunt on.

First clue hidden on the back of Butterfinger bunnies.

Turns out the boys don't really like butterfingers so they ended up being Mom and Dad's....darn.

And the hunt is on!

The final clue took them out to my car.

Love that reaction from Kade.

Baskets!

And hey, guess what!!  Our stairs are done!!

Well, there's still some finishing work to do and some painting but we are no longer looking at hideous carpet or particle board stairs treads!  Woo hoo!!  

Time to find Erik another project....just kidding, dear.  Kind of.

This last picture is courtesy of Mason.  He likes to take pictures of our stairs, 

I bet I've deleted at least 30 of the same version of this picture off of my phone.

Easter Part 1

Like usual, the Saturday before Easter, Erik "played" in the alumni basketball tournament (played is in quotes because his back was sore so he didn't play in the 2nd game).  They got 2nd place though!

Erik and I have much more fun watching the boys watch the games anyway so it was a win-win for everyone!

High 5, Uncle Mike!

Easter Sunday we had our family celebration (next post), church and then off to Erik's parents for more celebrating.  Grandma set up a big hunt, complete with rules (that the kids somewhat followed) and games afterwards.  The weather was a far cry from last year when everyone was in shorts and t-shirts but hey, at least there wasn't snow yet!!

Mason and Isaac listening intently to the rules before embarking on the egg hunt.

Opening the goodies!

Cousins Eve and Lillian, cute little bunnies!

Kade absolutely LOVES hanging out with Eve.  They've got a special bond!

Erin (one of Erik's sisters) and her daughter Lillian.

Mason got a little muddy outside so Easter turned into a "Pants Optional" party.  

He wore the look well.

All the babies had me missing my Baby Kade.  So I decided to carry him around like I used to when he was a baby...on my chest, face out!  He wasn't as big of a fan as he used to be of this position.

While I had him in my grasp, I decided to go all out and get a snuggle in!  Thank goodness Jenna was there to capture it!!