Summer's here early this year!

It has gotten warm early this year.  I am definitely not complaining about this!!

On a rainy day we had, Jorie and Brady were just not playing very well together.  They were just getting on each other's nerves and not wanting to play games with each other.  So I decided to get a little creative and figure out something to make them happy again (and to keep me sane!).

So we put up our tent in the basement, got out the little chairs and put a movie on for them to watch in the tent.  Problem solved!!  All the other neighborhood kids have been playing in it the last couple days too because it is pretty cool to have a tent in your basement!  I can be a fun Mom sometimes!

On Saturday, Brady woke up and told Aaron that he wanted to take the training wheels off his bike and learn how to ride his 2 wheeler.  I was very skeptical that this would be a success but Aaron had more faith in Brady than I did.  After only about 10 minutes of helping him get balanced and holding on, he let go and Brady took off by himself!!

I was so happy for him and so ashamed of myself that I didn't think my son could do it!  I should know better than to doubt the determination of a 5 year old!

Learning to get off and on

Aaron helping him balance and walking beside him

10 minutes later, off he goes riding in the cul-de-sac by himself

 We have had the slip-n-slide or sprinkler out several times already and school isn't even out yet!  I couldn't resist this cute picture of Collin.  He wasn't wearing a swim diaper to help keep his pants up but it was so darn cute!  He is my water baby and would live in the water if I let him!

By the time summer actually gets here, we will have already been doing all of the normal summer things!  That's OK though because I love summer!  Now I just need to work on my tan a little more because my legs are still pretty white!  Speaking of tans, Brady has a really good one already!

Princess Ava's 5th Birthday

Me and the boys went to Illinois Easter weekend to celebrate little Miss Ava's birthday.  Melissa was hoping to have her new house done by then, but it was not complete enough to have the party there.  So we went to Plan B and had it at one of the party rooms at the hotel that they finished renovating up the street from their neighborhood and it worked out great!  Less set up and way less clean up and since her in-laws owned it, it was free!

I of course had to come bearing gifts for both my girls!

I made them some cute ruffled, tiered summer dresses with hair bows to match and they both loved them!  I found a link online with great directions and it was my first time sewing clothes, so I think I did a pretty good job! :)

Me and my Sadie girl with her dress

Ava had to put hers on right away as she was opening some other gifts she got as well

Time to party!!!  She wanted a Disney princess party and that's what she got!

Princess kissing her frog? :)  She wore her Rapunzel dress to the party

Ava, her BFF Audrey and Brady really wanting some cake!

Entrance to party and some decorations.
Pink, purple and white balloons, flowers, tissue balls and candy

Sadie enjoying her snacks

Princess Ava with her Mom and Dad

Collin is enjoying the ice in the drink buckets

Even the boys had fun playing in the Princess castles!

The girls and their Kendra

The party was so fun, but we did have a little bit of a drama after the party.

We took the kids over to the new house to see it because it was mostly done.  The main floor was completely finished and the only furniture that was set up was the bed frame in the master, a couch and a couple end tables in the living room.  The kids had a blast running around in the house.  There's just something about an empty house that is so much fun. 

They were not being overly wound up, but Ava ended up tripping and falling onto the only piece of furniture around-the bed frame.  She knocked out one of her front teeth and knocked the other one crooked.  Poor thing!!!  She kept saying "Put it back!  Put it back!"  After several hours of bleeding, crying, calling around trying to find a dentist to see her and finally convincing her it was OK she was doing much better.  Their dentist got her in at 8am on Easter morning and said that there was no permanent damage and that the other one would just fall out in a year anyway so it would be fine.

The kids are getting into their Easter goodies from the Easter bunny and Grandma.
You can see how Ava is holding her mouth kind of funny.

Collin getting into his Easter stuff

Love this picture!

So that's how Easter started out.  Our plans of an Easter brunch kind of went out the window and we ended up not doing much on Easter.  I went to the Gray's to stay over night and then head home the next morning and my Mom and Dad went to spend Easter with my Grandma.  What an eventful weekend!!

Easter festivities and Chester the Raccoon

We got to have Chester the Raccoon come and stay with us the week before Easter.  Chester gets to go home with someone in Brady's class every week and they get to do fun things and keep a journal about his adventures.  (We had Miss Raccoon visit us back in the fall.)

Here's some fun things we did with Chester while he visited.

Had a popcorn party sleepover on the air mattress the nigh Brooklyn and Madison were babysitting the boys while we were at the ball.

Chester helping put Brady's stilts together

Brady is getting better on the stilts

Collin coloring Easter eggs

Chester helped Brady color his eggs too

 We went for a walk at the parade grounds on base.  It is a big open grassy area with a little gazebo and some canons, flags and other stuff as well as a track to walk around and some really pretty trees.  All the trees were blossoming and it was a beautiful day.
I took the chance to take a couple pictures of the boys while we were there.

Brady in a tree with Chester

Monkey in a tree

Daddy with the boys in the gazebo

My big monkey

 Brady's class also had an Easter egg hunt at school and so Collin, Chester and I came to school to watch and then take Brady home with us after it was over.

Brady with Chester and his eggs in his bucket

Brady and his friend Jack

Some of Brady's class after the hunt

Here's one of the pages of Chester's journal. 
Brady drew a picture of him and Chester and it was really good. 
He even put stripes on the tail and circles around the eyes. 

Brady really enjoyed writing in the journal and having Chester visit.  What a fun thing to do for the kids.  When I go back to teaching kindergarten again, I might have to steal the idea!

Air Force Ball

Aaron and I went to the 55th Wing Birthday Ball.  Last year Aaron went by himself because Collin was still a baby and I didn't think leaving him with a babysitter would make him very happy or the babysitter!  So this year, I got to go with him and we had a fun night dressing up, dancing and chatting with some of his co-workers, as well as seeing some of the commanders that were in town from Tucson.  The night before the ball, we had the commanders over for dinner at our house and it reminded us that Aaron really did work with some awesome people at D-M.  It's nice to run into them again.

Yikes!  My legs are white!  I need a tan!