The Brown Bulletin: March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful weekend and hope you did too!

Saturday kicked off with one of our traditions...the confetti egg fight.

John was a little skeptical and didn't take kindly to eggs being smashed on his head...but Will was ALL for it...I'm not sure who won this battle...I'm going to go with Billy (wait for the rematch video post soon!)

Then it was time to dye our eggs...

What you see here is what appears to be a organized egg dying activity.

What you don't see is about 10 minutes before this picture was taken, John reached up onto the table and pulled down and entire cup of egg dye and VINEGAR (you know, the good stinky stuff that helps the dye be vibrant). Next year we are dyeing eggs OUTSIDE.

Will started out neatly and patiently dyeing his eggs...

But that soon gave way to mixing colors and we ended up with "hulk hands" :)

Easter Sunday came with a chance of thunderstorms, so after church we hustled back home for some family photos and some fun!

My handsome boys :)

I'm pretty sure this picture will make Billy and Papa Dave cringe...but I couldn't help myself!

Then the hunt was on!

John seriously could have cared less...maybe next year he'll be more excited.

He was more excited about his red bouncy ball than collecting eggs...

I love this picture!

When the hunt was over we went inside for lunch and then it was time for confetti egg fight round two! This time, the bunny bandit was in full swing (again - video post coming soon, I'm thinking Will won this time)...

And John was much more in the mood to smash eggs...

Look at the force Will is using to smash this egg on me!

He meant business!

And finally, before nap, we got some bubbles out and had some fun chasing them around the yard a bit...

Happy Easter!

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Muffins With Mom

Being a working mom, I miss a LOT of stuff going on at Will and John's schools...

Last week Will's school had a special morning event - Muffins With Mom - so I put in a few hours of leave at work to attend and I am so glad I did!

The morning was full of delicious muffins, juice, and it all took place during the school's Chapel so we heard great music, worship, and I got to see how much fun my kiddo has with his friends - in particular, Cade. Sometimes those two worry me, the shenanigans they get into!

Then I got this!

I love how he answered the questions!

Yes, my favorite food is steak...

And my favorite color is brown...

And I am 33!

Not sure why he thinks I want to be a nurse haha!

We ended the morning with a double high five and then he walked back to his classroom with his teachers and friends. What a fun morning!

Besties....

So one of Will's besties, Kensley, was unable to come to his birthday party last weekend (boo!) but we were able to do a quick rendezvous after car pick up at school last Friday so she could give Will her presents!

How cute are these two???!!!

(Yes, Will is quite the shrimp - just now turning 5 when most of his classmates are 5 going on 6)

And here they are last week during their Easter Egg Hunt!

Earlier in the week Will got in "trouble" with Kensley after he sat next to Sarah during lunch (per her request) instead of Kensley...glad to see that he is back in her good graces :)

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Birthday Party Outtakes

Here are just a few outtakes of the hilarity that occurred at Will's Birthday Party!

I'm so glad we caught some of it on film!

My favorite part is the soundtrack playing in the background...

Enjoy :)

ps: Sunshine, thank you for letting us borrow Grant for the weekend! He was a fabulous Storm Trooper!

I love this one, it reminds me of a small riot caught on video...

More fight scenes...

And chase scenes...

Happy Birthday Will!!

Monday, March 25, 2013

May The Force Be With You!

This Saturday, we celebrated Will's 5TH BIRTHDAY!!!!

The Theme: STAR WARS

The Location: Wonderwild (a fabulous indoor playground complete with a two story netted maze, giant slides, bouncy mat and more!

The Scene: About 15 kids, wielding inflatable light sabers, chasing down adults dressed as Storm Troopers, while Star Wars music blared in the background!

The Nonsense: A family of four dressed up as Star Wars characters to appease a five year old who thinks role playing is possibly the coolest thing in the world to do.

The Cast: Will as Darth Vader, John as Yoda, Billy as a Storm Trooper, Me as Princess Leia

Will woke up that morning MORE than excited to get started!

Here are our two boys dressed in their Star Wars gear, ready to go!

I can't believe my little boy is FIVE!

Billy did his duty of updating our wall chalkboard to memorialize the occasion...(Will helped :) )

Before heading to the party, we took a few pictures...

I love John's face here...priceless.

As Yoda would likely say: "Stop taking pictures of me in this ridiculous outfit, you will"

Will, "air light-sabering"...

Once we were at Wonderwild, I took a few shots of the set up for Nana Julie and Papa Dave to see...

The Cake (definitely rivaling last years)...

The Favors: Star Wars tins stuffed with silver intergalactic grass, R2D2 sidewalk chalk, Darth Vader Crayons, and a star lollipop...

Of course, the invitation...

The balloons...

And the food!

Vader Ade and Yoda Soda (thanks Steph for the recipe!)

Sith Sticks (mini pretzel sticks dipped in green, red, and blue chocolate - thanks Will for helping!)

Wookie Cookies and Ewoks (gummy bears)...

Princess Lays and Padawan Puffs (my favorites! Cheese Puffs on skewers!)

Me with two naive Storm Troopers who have NO idea what they are in for...

Acting all tough, not realizing they are about to be taken down by a bunch of crazed children...

Special guest Emily arrived not to soon after the party started!

For those of you who don't know, Emily is a 4th grader at Will's school, his car pick-up helper, and I'm pretty sure, his first crush. (I've blogged about this before!)

Will's bestie Dylan showed up complete with his Storm Trooper Mask...

And then, the chaos commenced!

Rads and Will running up the stairs, light sabers in tow...

I'm not exactly sure what happened just prior to this picture, but it appears that both Radley and Will have been taken out by young Eva...

And if you've never seen a bunch of excited toddlers beating a Storm Trooper as hard as they possibly can all at once, you've not been to a party like ours! They were screaming and squealing and giggling like crazy!

Meanwhile, Johnny B was hanging out with Nana Rosie in the infant area...licking balls in the ball pit as if claiming his territory...

My cute little turkey :)

Finally, it was lunch time. Will was surrounded by some of his most favorite friends to ring in his 5th birthday.

Here he appears to be sizing up a Padawan Puff skewer...

I love this picture of Billy, he looks exhausted...as if he has been chased around by 4 foot tall people for an hour and beaten relentlessly with inflatable light sabers ;)