Picture Catch Up

I've been falling behind on my weekly posts!  I swear these boys are getting busier and I'm not sure how that is possible!  I was looking back on the pictures in my phone and realized I missed a few.

Mason had a birthday party for his friend, Ashtyn, a couple weeks ago.

They had a piñata and he thought that was the coolest thing in the world!

He got to swing a bat as hard as he could at something and then candy comes out.  I mean, that's basically every kid's dream come true!!

Daycare pictures.

Apparently he told Amanda he didn't want to be in this picture and then just as she was taking it he hopped in and did that.  Little turkey!!

Kade's class did a Flat Stanley project. 

Flat Kade went by mail to Atlanta, GA to visit his cousin Vivienne's class.

That's my brother in that picture to the left of Flat Kade.

Vivi holding Kade

Erik's basically living his dream in these pictures.

2 boys, both into baseball, in a mini spring training camp.

This is basically what I come home from work to every night.

Kade is so into pitching these days that Erik actually had to tell him he couldn't throw anymore for fear of Kade doing some damage to his arm!  That kid cannot get enough of sports!!

Family Fun Night

One cold and miserable Saturday a couple weeks ago we decided a family fun day was in order so we finally used the boys' gift cards to Bowlocity.  Lots of other people had the same thought because the bowling alley was packed!  Which meant we got "upgraded" to the adult/private lanes.  We had our own couches, our own bar area, giant tv screens (that were, unfortunately, showing boxing or some other gross looking sport as seen in the background) and there were only a few other lanes being used.

Mason didn't love it, he was too distracted by all the games out in the lobby area.  However, he did manage to bowl his turn every time and he made it to the end!  Kade on the other hand, kicked butt (as seen in the picture of the scores below).  It was a ton of fun and we'll definitely be back....next year when the weather turns cold and miserable again.

They liked their fancy shoes!

Look at that form!

Future Pro Bowler.

I got beat by an 8 year old!!

The gift cards had enough money left over for Erik and Kade to play a round of laser tag and for the boys to play so many games that they didn't even care when Erik and I borrowed their cards so we could play too!

Spring Is In the Air

A couple weeks ago Kade had his spring concert at school.  Erik and I didn't get there early enough so we were were in the back row.  I thought Kade saw us and was too cool to acknowledge his parents but when Erik stood up to take these pictures he noticed us and gave us a little smile and wave.  Whew, he's still willing to claim us....at least for now!  

Top row, 2nd from right in black shirt

We're still dealing with snow melt and lots of water everywhere.

Mason doesn't mind though!  He's fishing for a swamp monster in this picture.

The elusive beast managed to escape the hook again.

Of course, spring means driveway basketball!!

Mason is even getting in the action a little bit this year!

Kade went with Charlie and his dad to the Globetrotters last week.

They ran into some buddies from school when they were all buying their basketballs.

Love the 2 giant bookends in this picture!!

Naughty Boys

It's hard to tell in the picture but the boys decided it'd be fun to take a butter knife to the edge of my silverware drawer and leave a bunch of fairly deep gash marks.

When I discovered it I made them both come into the kitchen.  I said whoever owned up to it would have a weeklong punishment (for Mason, loss of the Netflix remote for 1 week.  For Kade, loss of PS2 remotes for a week).  Otherwise they'd both lose their remotes for 1 month.  

Kade quickly owned up to it but I could tell Mason had a hand in it too.  Turns out Kade showed Mason how it was done and Mason went nuts adding gashes.

I was mad but I also remembered doing something similar when I was a kid (I'm pretty sure those giant stain marks on the walls leading down to the basement are still there).  So, they both lost the remotes for a week and they both helped fix the gashes.

Before

Never too young to learn the value of sand paper and elbow grease!

I didn't have stain on hand that exactly matched but close enough.

After

They're lucky I still think they're cute!

Proud boys showing off their picks for the NCAA tournament.

Both of their brackets busted in the first round but they didn't seem too upset about it

You know who is too cool for school?

This kid.  Seriously.

We had Mason's kindergarten registration last week and part of it was taking a bus ride around town.

We let him pick where we were going to sit and of course he chose the very back of the bus!

Mason's new favorite way to tell us how much he likes something is with his thumbs.

2 thumbs up is obviously good but if it's REALLY good, he'll stick his toes up in the air too!

His class showing off their leprechaun faces.  

He's the giant in the back.

Part of Kade's Christmas present from Lady A and her mom was tickets to the Blake Shelton concert at the Xcel Center.  At Christmas time, when he opened that gift, I don't think he fully grasped what he was getting.  

Last Friday was the night of the concert.  They picked him a few minutes early from school, went out to eat, went to the concert, stayed up late eating junk food at the hotel and then swam in the hotel pool the next day!  

He's been asking when the next concert is ever since he got home.  Believe me, he fully understands the awesomeness of that gift now!!

We've reached our limit!  We've hit our max!  Minnesotan's can only take so much!  And just when we thought we couldn't take winter any longer...she relented.  It's finally warming up!  When I say warming up, I mean we hit 34 degrees today!  I'm not kidding when I say that is warm...it's downright balmy outside.  I didn't even wear a coat today when running errands.
And now that we're done complaining about winter, it's time to start complaining about the gravel roads.  And the mud everywhere.  And dirty, wet boys in dirty, wet clothes.  And, also, the very real threat of water in the basement.  The pictures below do not do justice in showing the size of the estuary that is currently residing in our backyard.  Fingers crossed, people!!!

This picture perfectly sums up our opinion 

of winter still hanging around in March.

Kade's official last day to ride!

Our snowmobile took a dump, luckily Grandpa Ranger came to the rescue and lent his to Kade!

I almost wanted to put life jackets on them!!

Needless to say, they got naked in the garage and put everything straight into the washer before being allowed into the house.

Welcome Spring! and nightly loads of laundry.

Snow, Snow Go Away

Winter has outstayed it's welcome and doesn't appear to be leaving anytime soon.

In the meantime, we'll make the most of it.