Puzzles vs. TV...

I love it when they all choose puzzles over tv.... (without any prompting from me!) 

Garage Sale...

We had a hugely successful garage sale in Nick's hometown this weekend!  Thanks in large part to Nick's parents who got everything ready, ran the sale, and entertained the boys!  We kept pretty busy during the sale so I only managed to grab the camera when we were making our way back to Marion.  Ben and Conner were completely worn out... Thanks to Papa for all the mini trail rides and the kite flying which greatly contributed to the little boys having such a fun weekend!

Mexico....

Today the boys took a pretend trip to Mexico at school!  They came home with plane tickets, passports, hats, and maracas.  They were pretty excited that they got to go on a plane and play at the beach in Mexico!

Working Together...

I love to see Ben and Conner working (and playing) together... it might not happen often, but when it does, it sure makes me smile...  Ben pulled Conner around for a while and then gave Conner a turn to pull him around. 

The First Mowing...

All of the guys were very excited to mow the new grass for the first time tonight!  I wasn't quite as enthused as the three of them, but I did enjoy watching my guys...

Nick was such a great sport... it took him a little bit longer to get done because he had two very excited helpers, who seemed to keep forgetting that they had to stay out of the way of Dad's mower.  The cutest thing was that everytime Nick would pause to wipe his forehead with his shirt, Ben and Conner would grab their own shirts and wipe their foreheads off too!  They sure wanted to be just like Dad tonight...  Ben followed in Nick's footsteps almost the entire time and Conner had a bit of trouble keeping up, so he carried his mower for some of the time!

Oil Change...

Daddy needed to change the oil in the mower tonight, so Conner and Ben figured they should do the same...

Volcanoes...

Conner's newest obsession is volcanoes.  They have been studying them in school, so he asked if he could watch some volcanoes on the computer this afternoon.  YouTube hooked us up and Conner and Ben both enjoyed watching some volcanoes.  For about 20 minutes, Conner alternated between saying "Oh my goodness!" and "Wow, look at that!" 

Bunny Necklaces...

The Easter Bunny had brought some bunny candy necklaces to make for Easter and Con insisted that he wanted to make his this morning...  Ben even joined in for a while.  Conner loved the finished product!

Carnival Time!

Tonight was the Novak Carnival!  The boys were very excited to go.  I think they remembered the train they rode last year and they were all about riding that guy again.  This year, there was this swing ride there and Conner and Ben asked to do that first... there were a couple of scary moments before the ride actually started where I thought I might have to go rescue Conner.... he didn't look too sure that he had made the right choice to jump into this swing...  But Ben was really pumped up about it and as soon as the swings started circling around, Conner smiled nonstop.  They both loved the ride!

Next was the train... always a hit!

We headed inside to check out the bouncers... they had a slide and a bouncy bus that the guys loved!  After we watched them do those for a while, it was time to go back outside... Conner was not happy!  Check out his awesome pout with his arms folded across his chest....

We decided to make the fire truck our last stop at the carnival.  They both thought the truck was very cool...

Then we began the walk to the van, complete with Conner screaming and yelling that he didn't want to go home yet and Ben saying, "see Mom, I'm a good listener!"  Ben got into the van all smiles....  Conner, not so much....  he is certainly "Mr. Attitude" lately.  In fact, while Conner was crying, Ben says, "Oh my, he is in a mood again, isn't he?!"  Nick and I got a good laugh...

Overall, it was another great carnival this year!

Dancing Kings...

My cousin got married in Ames this weekend and the boys were very excited to be going to a wedding!  Conner insisted on wearing his tie and black shoes... he is still very into his clothes right now!  Of course, the best part of the whole day was the dance!  The boys had a blast and kept dancing all  night until we finally picked them up off the floor to take them home!  It was a great way to spend our night!  Congratulations to Trisha and Forrest!  Thanks for a great party! 

Conner takes a break to enjoy some wedding cake...

Nick took lots of little videos of the guys dancing... here's just a few.... 

"Papa's Bike!"

We got to go see Mama and Papa on Friday night, and on Saturday morning, Papa had a surprise for Ben and Conner.  Mini Trail rides!!! The boys absolutely loved it!  Thanks Papa, the boys are still talking about the "cool ride on Papa's bike!"

 

Chocolate Bunnies...

Eating lunch in the living room is something that the boys like to do quite often.  I usually allow it (depending on the meal, of course) as long as they are actually eating.  Today, they actually finished eating earlier than usual... a small miracle in itself... and Ben went out to the kitchen and asked for his chocolate bunny that he got at Aunt Peggy's house.  My kids aren't really that interested in candy so it surprised me a little but I got it for him and brought Conner's to him as well.  I told them not to eat it all and I started washing some lunch dishes.  Approximately 3.5 minutes later, I checked to make sure they weren't getting chocolate all over the place and Ben had eaten the whole thing.  Conner had a small portion left but still had eaten most of it...  I guess we will see how naptime goes...  I don't have high hopes...

Pretend...

One of the countless things I love about my kids is that they are really letting me see how their imaginations work lately.  I have witnessed more pretend play in the last month than ever and I love it!  Today I was making lunch, and overheard them decide that under the kitchen table was where the sandbox was and sure enough, I spied around the corner of the counter and they had grabbed their sand buckets and shovels and were shoveling sand in as fast as they could, giggling the whole time... 

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny outdid himself...  the kids were really excited about their baskets and wanted to open everything right away!

We went over to Aunt Peggy's to enjoy some good food and with the weather being so nice, the kids loved being able to spend the afternoon outside.  This is their favorite tree...

Our Great Grandmas really enjoyed seeing all the kids and it was so good to have them there with us!

The highlight of the afternoon, of course, was the big Easter egg hunt...

We had a wonderful Easter and I hope that you all did as well!  Thanks to everyone who came to town and made it a very fun weekend!  And thanks to Peg and Brian for hosting us all at your house on Sunday!