Yeah for cheap decorating!!

A couple of weeks ago I went to an Uppercase Living party. If you haven't been to one, they have cute quotes and vinyl lettering that you can stick on your wall. It's all very neat but also can be expensive. I ended up ordering something for my living room but really wanted a few more. My mom (the professional scrapbooker) reminded me that she has a cricut machine that does this very thing! Who knew? So Friday night my mom, sister in law and nephew came down for a little crafting slumber party. It was so much fun! Heidi is such a good little decorator and totally took the quotes I wanted, put them into a little handheld computer machine picking the fonts and graphics and then we printed it out on the cricut. In reality, I didn't do a thing and just watched in amazement. The quote I ordered through Uppercase cost me $41 with shipping and these cost $5 each!!! Love, love when you can recreate something pricey for nothing. Thanks Mom and Heidi for all your help and the fun!! Love you!

In the hallway outside the boys' rooms.

In our bedroom-this is SO true! :)

In the basement in the toy room

Lowes build clinic

Last Saturday, Chris and Braden went to Lowe's for another building project. Braden loves it but Chris says he comes close to losing fingers with Braden's hammer swinging. Ha! This time they made a ball toss game. Way to go boys!

Randoms

Braden and I are getting pretty good at making yummy desserts and making big messes in the kitchen! He loves to cook with me. His favorite part is the eggs...it doesn't matter what we're making, he wants to get the eggs out of the fridge and crack them in. Of course I do most of the cracking, but he likes to help. :)

Edible snowballs-Yummo! Tonight we made Oatmeal raisin cookies but there was literally flour head to toe on both boys so I didn't even grab my camera, but I should of!!!. Ha!

Last week we had Izzie come over and play. The boys love playing with their cousin and she is such a sweetie!

She helped Ethan get his construction gear on.

Ahhhhh, hugs for Izzie!

Columbus' Children's Museum

On Monday we met the Johnsen's at the Kids Commons Children's Museum in Columbus. It was a super cute place, fairly close to home and cheap. The boys loved it! After the museum we popped next door to the most adorable restaurant/icecream parlor. It had been open since 1900 and had old fashioned soda machines, the parlor part, and an old, old gigantic organ that played fun music. I love those kinds of places with a history that are just fun. It reminded me of Schimpffs here. Then we headed up to Edinburgh for a little outlet shopping. Chris never wants to shop and it was actually his idea so I took full advantage! It was the perfect little family day. Days like this I am so thankful to have a teacher for a husband so we get days off together to do family outings. :) Thanks Martin Luther King Jr.!

Ethan loved going back and forth over the bridge

Braden & Jace loved the kids' camper

Braden's favorite part of the day, hands down was this gigantic toilet you could actually go down and out of it. It even made a flushing sound-ewwwwww! Ironically enough, Ethan had just been playing in our toilet right before we left so I'm sure he learned some good things from this. ha! Braden must have went down this thing 50 times!

Down down down he goes....

The bubble station was super fun!

Matt helped the kiddos make a gigantic bubble around their bodies....not sure what Braden is doing here...maybe a little male dancing???

There were several tables with little activities. Chris tried to explain how gears worked to Braden but he was off to the toilet again in no time. :)

Not bad form for a baby! :) The third floor was full of movement type exercise activities for kids. We all got in on the basketball goals and had to compete to get the best score. Chris and I love being competitive with stuff like this.

The big boys take their turn

Lexi and Ethan are so cute together....they are good buddies since Carrie babysits Ethan while I teach. Thanks Matt & Carrie for the great idea...we had fun!

Girl PJ's ? :)

The other night we went to Chris' Dad's house to visit with he and Mimi. As soon as we got there, the boys book it to the kitchen knowing there are yummy grandparent snacks everywhere and they just snack and snack! They act like they've never eaten before! Anyways, as Ethan was hurring into the kitchen he fell right into the dog bowl of water and got soaked. Being the good mom that I am, of course I had no extra clothes in the diaper bag (second child-what's a diaper bag? ha!). So...Mimi came up with some of Izzie's old pjs and I couldn't resist how cute he looked in pink!!

Love you baby boy!

Last week's snow

Since we have more snow coming tomorrow I thought I'd better update the blog from last week's snow! There is nothing cuter than these kiddos all decked out in their snow gear and their faces when they first get out. I'm not so sure I love the getting ready part though...it seriously took me 30 minutes to get them into their gear, Ethan crying and kicking off mittens and boots the whole time, all for him to be outside for 10 minutes. Ha! He's still a bit young I guess to stay out much longer than that anyways. Braden on the other hand loves it but is always eager to get back in for hot chocolate. :)

Just sweetness!

I tell ya, Ethan is just pure sweetness these days! I just can't get enough of this age. He is hilarious! I love just watching him waddle around the house with his big 'ole belly sticking out and just see what he gets into. Right now he literally just picks things up in each room of the house and then takes them somewhere else. I find kitchen stuff in the bedrooms, bedroom toys in the bathroom...stuff is just everywhere. Oh and of course the shoes end up missing and all over the place, he loves him some shoes! :) This has got to be my favorite age for babies but I think I keep saying that each month. Part of it might be that he is our last and I think I want him to stay my baby forever! I guess he always will be. :) I also love that he reminds me of all the little things Braden used to do. As he tries to put on our shoes, change the channel everytime he can snatch the remote, or talk on the phone, I find myself just smiling remembering when Braden did all the same things. Can't we just bottle them up and keep them little forever?!?! Tear :(

Helping daddy put another lock on the bathroom cabinet (he tore the other one off). Braden used to love helping Chris "build" too!

This was this morning at church...how cute are these "toddlers" (babies) sitting in these chairs? I can't take it!!!! I snuck by and asked if I could snap a quick picture. I'm sure she thought, "really, I have their attention right now" but I was that mom and did it anyways. He totally turned around and said "cheese!!!" just as cute as ever! Love those chunky legs hanging down.

Bathtime tonight...such a sweet baby boy!

Lowe's building clinic for kids

Lowe's puts on a free kids building clinic every two weeks and we've talked about Braden going with Chris forever! Well finally, they were able to go together this week. Chris said Braden absolutely loved it and wants to go again. He got to keep his apron and safety goggles and brought home a badge that I have to sew on the apron (yikes, hope I remember 6th grade sewing class-ha!). He made a game box and was so proud when he got it home! Hopefully he and Chris will get to go have their guy time and build again soon.

Playdate birthday party

On Friday we had Braden's birthday playdate at preschool. We wanted to do a little something with friends and thought school might be a little more fun than just our basement. We had mostly my bunco girls and their kiddos come and we had a great time! Thanks so much to all our friends that could make it...and for all the sick ones, we missed you and hope you are feeling better!!

Carson, Alivia and Addi working some puzzles
Ethan loves to be at preschool. He just walks around and plays like he's big stuff!

Braden had fun playing too but wanted to move things along because he wanted presents and was having a hard time waiting! :)

We got in a little dancing...nice moves kiddos!

Of course teacher me had to have a craft. We had Mr. Potato heads to put together to go with the toy story theme.

Ta-da!

Then onto cupcakes...I made alien cupcakes for the toy story theme but the antennae was a sour apple licorice. Braden had tried the licorice the day before and was then convinced he didn't like the entire cupcake. Sheesh! So as the other children enjoyed their cupcakes and Braden skipped out on his. Good thing I made those. ha!

Cheese!

Finally, onto presents!

Hugs for Carson for his great present. :)

*Thanks to our friends that made it a special day for Braden!

Braden's Birthday

I can't believe my little big guy is 4!! 4 seems so big because 5 reminds me of starting school and oh my I don't think we are ready for that!! :) Since we had Braden's family party on Sunday and we were having his playdate party on Friday, we had to do a little something on his actual birthday of course! :)

Chris made Braden his favorite to start off his day...pancakes!

Then Chris surprised Braden at school during his prep just to tell him happy birthday!

I peeked in Braden's room right after they sang to him...apparently they had already eaten their cookies too.

After school we went to none other than, Chic-fil-A, Braden's favorite (and really mine too!).

Yeah for chocolate milk!!

Ethan was happy too!

Then we made a little stop at Sam's Club before heading home for more yummy birthday cookies. Happy birthday Braden Alan!! We sure do love you!!!