Happy Easter!!

I (I mean, the Easter Bunny) had very little planning time for Easter this year as I was out of town the week prior...but somehow it all worked out and it was absolutely awesome!  

Saturday night we dyed the eggs.  This year we opted to dye them outside because, well, little Johnny B can get quite excited with crafting projects and we didn't want any spills inside the house :)

We prepped our dye with stinky vinegar and then prepared to begin!

 The boys were super excited...they each picked the first color they wanted to dunk their eggs in...

 Will picked red (of course) and John picked pink...

 Once we were done dying our dozen of (real) eggs, we moved on to some fake eggs that Nana Rosie brought over and the boys used mini paint rollers to make their best designs...

John's of course turned out black-ish because he mixed ALL the colors (but that's ok he said it was a Batman Egg)...

 And Will made some fancy stripes on his...

 We completed our egg prep without any spills or messes...yay!

Sunday morning we all rolled out of bed and me and my three cuties headed off to church while Nana Julie (I mean the Easter Bunny) stayed back and hid all THIRTY SIX eggs.

 When we came home we snapped a few family photos and then headed to see if Peter Cottontail made a visit!

The first thing the boys saw were their enormous bouncy balls (one of which has already perished after being tossed into that darn sago palm .... I hate that thing!)...

 Then we quickly headed inside to find out what the boys got in their ninja baskets...

candy, bubbles, books, and dodgeballs!  

Once they emptied their baskets and John ate about 3,456 pieces of chocolate candy, we were off to begin the hunt!

And they are off!  Running this way and that way...giggling and laughing!

 When they were all done and their baskets were full...

 We paused to count them to make sure we had them all...

John had the most...only because he has the BEST big brother in the world, who is super generous, and gave nearly half of the eggs he found to John at his request...seriously, Will was SO sweet Easter Sunday!

When we were done counting we were still missing one egg...and I think even the Easter Bunny forgot where it was hidden, but finally we found it tucked up in a tree...

 With the egg hunt over it was time for a quick lunch and nap to prepare for our next event!

 And I was so excited Nana Julie could be there for it all!  I swear I relived some of my Easter Sundays that day with her there...made me super happy!

 Post nap and snacks, we were off to have our annual confetti egg hunt...

This is what THIRTY SIX confetti eggs looks like!

(BTW, they were gone in about 5 minutes!)

 The plan was to have the three boys abuse each other, leaving myself and Nana Julie out of it, but in the end we all got a few smashed on us...but any who, here is how it began...

 And then the smashing started!

 Here is a pic of John (lefty!) racing up to crush on on me! 

 At one point Will ended up on the ground...

 When it was all over, John was a total mess...with his crazy long curly hair...

 And Will wasn't too bad...his hair seemed to repel confetti just like it does water (no, seriously, he is like a labrador retriever, his hair is basically water proof!)

 After recovering from our confetti fight, we had a few minutes of fun with bubbles and then that was the end of Easter 2014!  

It was so much fun!  Can't wait until next year!

Noteworthy Napkins

It has been a while...so here are the last FOUR weeks worth of Will's napkins...

And if I am calculating correctly, we only have four weeks left :)

FOUR weeks ago, Billy was given the assignment "Frozen"...he did a marvelous job.

Will was inspired by watching the movie on the plane ride to Colorado...although he later stated he thought it was a "girly" movie, I guess it still left an impression :)

 The next week I was in charge of lizards....how come I always get the hard things!?!  

So here we have Will's choices...a Komodo Dragon, a flying lizard, a blue lizard, a chameleon, and a Basilisk Lizard.  And I am telling you, the chameleon was his fave - and it suffered the same fate that Billy's Olympic hockey team napkin suffered...someone spilled water on it during lunch.  Will was devastated...I was devastated...but so it goes!

 The week before Easter I was out of town so Billy had the awesome job of creating four Easter napkins (Will's school takes off on Good Friday!)...I love these!

 Last week I delegated my duties to Billy once I heard Will's wish for LEGO Chima...I am good, but not that good...and check out how awesome Billy did!  His artistic skills never cease to amaze me!

Tooth Fairy!

Will FINALLY lost a tooth, or teeth to be exact!

Here's the story!

Will's two bottom middle teeth have been loose for WEEKS.

Last week I was out of town (booooo!) and I just KNEW he was going to lose them!

Thursday, Will was enjoying a Chick Fil A sandwich when all of a sudden he bit down and his tooth came out!  

Then he casually just pulled the next tooth out!

Hearing this occurrence on the phone a thousand miles away was not fun...so I informed him he would have to wait for my return to put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy as I have a special relationship with the tooth fairy and needed to be there!

So Friday night, we set them out and Will woke up the next morning $10 richer!

Now I know this seems like a lot of $$...after all, I think I got about 25 cents for each of mine, but according to the news - the going rate for a tooth is nearly $5 each!

Noteworthy Napkins

Two weeks ago was my week to stop being lazy, stop with the excuses, and to stop begging Billy to bail me out in the napkin department.  Will's theme request: Robin Hood (old school Disney).

My creations: The Rooster, Little John, Sheriff of Nottingham, Prince John, and of course, Robin Hood.  Will and all his lunch buddies loved them!  Yay!

Will''s favorites were Little John and the Rooster...

 Doesn't this guy just make you want to break out in song? 

Robin Hood and Little John running through the forest jumping fences dodging trees and trying to get away........... :)

That was fun...I just love old school Disney!

Science Minded 6 Year Old

So the tradition we started on Will's 5th birthday of the "what do you want to be when you grow up" chalkboard sign was officially recorded on his 6th birthday with the same big dream of being a paleontologist (I just love that by the way)!

A few things to note compared to last year:

1. He is now 6

2. He still wants to be a dinosaur digger

3. He's a LOT bigger than last year

3. His penmanship is better than mine from last year (embarrassing!)

Here's to big dreams, the fun in dreaming them, and the awesomeness of realizing them!

Happy 6th Birthday Will!!!!!!

Last Tuesday, March 18th, was Will's 6th Birthday!  I cannot believe he is already 6! 

Will's Birthday theme this year? Ninjago!  For those of you who don't know about Ninjago, it is basically Lego Ninjas...and loosely based on Star Wars (so right up Will's alley!)

I was super excited to meet him and all his buddies in Kindergarten at his school lunch!

Following lunch, the class headed outside for Will's birthday celebration at their picnic area - it was a beautiful day and his friends really got into the song! Ha ha!

Afterwards, we all enjoyed cupcakes (apparently in this photo Will has already taken a bite)...

 And I swear, all these kids are so polite, every single one came up to me and thanked me :)

 When we arrived home that afternoon, we took a quick photo with Will's birthday sign (Ninjago drawing by Billy!)...um....how big does he look here!

After some baseball practice and dinner, we headed inside for another round of "Happy Birthday" with Nana Julie and Papa Dave singing along with us on Facetime (see IPad in background :) )....Unfortunately Billy was out of town but we know he was with us in birthday party spirit!

Fast forward to this Saturday...

 After Will's blowout 5th Birthday Party Bash, we decided that was the end all to be all and from then on we would have nice quiet family parties :) So that means only three more big parties for you John lol!  But whatever, we STILL partied!  

In the morning we set up the presents...

 And set out the cake (again - Lego Ninjago theme)...

 And this cake was absolutely amazing!

 Will loved it, it was the perfect cake, full of chocolatey goodness and buttercream :)

 I did my best to not go too crazy on the balloons - which is usually where I have the most issues exercising control when it comes to our kid's parties...as soon as I brought them home, set them up, and Will saw them for the first time he said "Hey mom, those are all the colors of the Ninjas!"  Score one for Mom!

Before Max and Rosie came over, we snapped a few photos of the birthday boy...guys - he is getting SO big!  I can't even imagine how huge he will be at 7!

 And seriously, John is growing like a weed too - I swear he has grown a few inches since his party in January!

 And then it was time for Will's Birthday Party dinner - which included his favorites: queso and chips, and hamburgers...so easy...so fabulous!  Billy did a great job cooking as usual :)

 And then it was cake time...so exciting!  

 You will notice we had a candle, a #6 candle to be exact, and of course we didn't light it - because after the Thanksgiving fiasco, Will refused to have a lit candle and refused to entertain the idea of blowing it out...but he did want one, so there it is, propped up against his cake :)

Here is the fam singing him "Happy Birthday"!  A few things to notice - 1)John can't seem to control his tongue, 2)If you can get past John's tongue, you will see Will raise his arm at the end of the song...what you don't see is following the song and the video camera turning off, Will officially Ninjago style karate chopped his own cake lol!  Good thing the Ninja was fondant - he barely made a dent!

 Everyone enjoyed the cake...

 And Billy pretty much carved the cake like a pumpkin to get the exact piece Will wanted...

 And Will dug right in!

After all the gifts were unwrapped - my two role players tried on their new outfits!  

Ninja GO!

It was a perfect birthday week for our new 6 year old!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!