Getting ready for Easter!

On the Saturday before Easter we hosted a Family Easter Egg dying party.  

The boys and I made Bunny Bait for the snack. It was so addicting. I started calling it Easter Crack!

Getting ready for the Egg Dying Festivities!

 Will's first time dying eggs....that he can remember.  Last year he was 5 months old so it doesn't count.

Uncle Matt & Elliott

 Ever since I was pregnant with Zachary, Kevin has made an easter egg that says Baby Steve.  Kevin always joked that he wanted to name the baby Steve so Easter 2006 he pulled the egg out of the dye and it said Baby Steve.  Acting like he was announcing the baby's name.  I quickly vetoed the name Steve. Nothing against anyone named Steve but that was not what we were going to name him.  So as an annual tradition he does it every year. However this year there were so many distractions that when he wrote Steve with the clear wax crayon he accidentally spelled STESE.  It was HILARIOUS when he pulled out the egg and realized he couldn't spell Steve.

 The joke is on you Kevin!

 Two cousins who were super excited to be hanging out together!

BUNNY EARS! I am still shocked that this did not end in an argument OR a huge spill!

 Grams & Jer Jer

The boys begged for a "Practice Egg Hunt".  This is them waiting by the door so they could go outside.

 Will LOVED it!

 The two older boys were super competive which made it a lot of fun to hide the eggs hard.

 Will found one!

He would get so excited!

 Showing what they found!

Jer Jer & Will stopped for a Hug

 We tried to take some automatic pics.  One of our favorite family things to do. This is one of the funny outtakes.

The best we could get with 4 boys and A Pops that didn't know when the camera was going to take the picture. 

FUNNY FACE!  This is my favorite.  This truly shows the fun, crazy side of my family. With 4 boys under the age of 7 it is ALWAYS a circus. Most people would think it was insane but I LOVE this time in our life where it is wild, loud, unplanned, and fun.  

April Fools!

I love that Zachary is old enough to understand what April Fool's Day is all about.  My parents used to pull little pranks on us and I still remember them. So this year I did a little research on pin*trest. I decided I was going to make "Brownies".  It's kinda funny because my good friend/"kinda cousin", Kim posted on FB that she was doing this too.  Great minds think a like.

Anyways I made my "Brown E's"  while Will was taking a nap. It only look like 2 minutes. The fastest brownies I have ever made.  Then I put foil on them and waited for Zach to come home from school.

Fast forward to 4:00. All Zach wanted to do was play outside so I made him stay in and eat my brownies.  I didn't get the reaction I thought I would.  He just pulled the foil off, said BROWN E's!, and then went outside.  Bummer!  Then I quickly decided that we were going to do the same thing to Kevin after dinner.  

Oh man, it was hard for Zach & I to keep a secret. It seemed that Kevin ate so slow. I informed him we made brownies.  He said, "Man that's just what I needed. Mind you, I never make dessert so he was REALLY excited. He finished his meal, got up and got a glass of milk, and was ready for my dessert.  Zach took him the covered plate. And this was the reaction....

 To say he was bummed was an understatement.  He did think it was an awesome April Fool's Day prank.  He laughed and then got a spoonful of Nutella. :)

Picnic with my baby!

On the first day of "warmish" weather I decided that Will and I would take our lunch outside for a picnic in the driveway. Kevin wasn't able to join us because of a lunch & learn.  Will LOVED it!  He LOVES the outside!  

He was super excited about the Capri Sun Water that I gave him. He felt like a big boy! 

 Meal of 19 month champions:  Peas, Dino Nuggets, & Rolled Turkey
I love his little hand reaching into the peas.

 Just hanging out with my momma!

After lunch he decided to do a show for me. He was quite entertaining. 

Acting like a Puppy

 Pretending to take a Nappy!

 All smiles!

 Mommy & Will Self Portrait with camera

Trying to take it all in. Forget the laundry, forget making the beds, forget working on things for the office. I'm just hanging out with Will for the moment.  

Zach losing tooth "D"

Zachary is a tooth losing machine!  It's been one year since he lost his first tooth. Fast forward to March  26th....Zach told us his tooth was loose.  Kevin told Zachary it really wasn't time for his lateral incisors to be loose and to leave it alone.  For some reason I snapped this picture that night.

10 minutes after putting Z to bed he came out of his room telling me he pulled his tooth.  Mind you this is his second tooth that he pulled by himself. With no one around.  I would never have done this when I was a kid! 

After loosing tooth "D"...Zachary's 7th lost tooth

 Holding his tooth. He is so proud of himself. He tells us he has lost the most teeth of any of his classmates.

 The next morning Z is finding his money from the tooth fairy!

Bracket Building!

 I love the month of March!  It usually means it's the time for WARM weather, fun family events, and BASKETBALL!  I have always LOVED NCAA March Madness!  Kevin thinks I am a little silly because I make all of us fill out a bracket...even our 18 month old.  

 Zachary selects his teams by the way they sound.  He loved VCU, UCLA, UNLV, Duke, & Temple just because of the way they sound.  Although his favorite team was PITTSBURGH. He wanted Pittsburgh to go all the way because he loves the city Pittsburgh because my cousins live there, he loves the Steelers, and because he loves Pittsburgh hockey.

 Kevin is more a statistical bracket selector.  He only picks the top teams based on past records and stats. In fact if I say I am picking an "underdog" he tries to tell me why that is a bad choice and that there is NO WAY my team will win.  He cracks me up!

 Here's mommy with her PINK pen filling out the "winning" bracket.  I always think mine will be the "PERFECT" bracket until 5 of my teams lose on the first day. HA!

 I asked Will to show me his bracket and this is what he did. He was so proud of himself!

 I think this is actually the winning bracket.

 Will getting busy!

It's a silly family tradition but these are the things I will miss the most when our boys are all grown up. I LOVE silly competitions.  Nothing serious for me but I really do love doing things to bring our family together.  Let's go NCAA basketball!