Swim Award Day

Today was the last day of the 2012 -13 swim class.  The boys did a little showing off today for Gerard and me.  And, then they got medals and trophies.  Oooooh.  They were so excited!

 

Gavin posing for the camera.

 

 Owen swimming across the pool.

 Owen jumping in while his brothers wait their turn.

 More of Owen swimming.

 Liam reaching the edge of the pool.

 Little Gavers going for it.

 Owen demonstrating his float.

 Gavin being goofy while Owen floated.

 Gavin jumping whilts posing for the camera.  The two year old is a ham.

 Owen attempting a dive.

 Crazy Liam.

 Gavin showing off his treasure from his dive.

 Gavin getting his first year award.

 Such a happy little swimmer.

 Liam getting his 2nd year trophy and medal.

 Owen's 2nd year awards.

 All three boys at the conclusion of this year of swim!

Gosh we love Ms. Patty.

Gerard's Supplies Party

I planned a fun suprise party for Gerard for the day after his birthday.  Just in case the boys "leaked" my plans, we did a suprise party on his actual borthday -- just the boys.  Owen did tell Gerard about the special "supplies" party.  When Gerard asked, "you mean suprise?"  Owen replied that no, in fact, he really meant supplies.  So here it is....a few pictures from the Supplies party we through on GQ's birthday:

 

The three boys hiding behind the couch waiting to suprise their daddy.

 

Liam running in with the gift he picked to give to GQ -- he even wrapped it himself.

 

 The boys celebrating with their daddy.

 Happy Birthday, Daddy, from your rule-following oldest boy, Owen, the cool-cat middle man, Liam, and the always smiling baby boy, Gavin.

Supplies!!!!!!

Ahoy Matey it's almost Easter

Owen and Liam have been ready to decorate eggs since they saw the cute little Pirate Ship egg kit I bought at Target last week.  Today I just couldn't resist their sweet little faces any longer.  So, while Gavin napped, the rest of us hard boiled, colored, stickered, and drew on eggs.

 

This activity went even better than I hoped for -- thus the tons of pictures.  Both boys had TONS of fun and so did I.  Success.

 

The boys posing with the stands for the eggs.  They crack me up (pun intended).

 

 Liam and his first dyed egg.

 Owen and his first dyed egg.

 Some of the characters in our kit were supposed to have white faces and colored shirts.  Instead of risking not fully coating the white part with the "magic crayon", we just held the egg partly in the dye.  I have to admit I figured the boys would drop the egg (either on purpose or not) and that I would regret this decision because they were liable to shed lots of tears if they messed up an egg.  They didn't drop a single one.  I sighed a sigh of relief.

 Owen and his first completed character....this was the "red shirt" pirate.

 Liam's first completed character.  I LOVE the smile he put on his octopus.  That is a signature Liam happy face!

 Liam with his green-shirt pirate before the arms were added (we didn't realize that until we had two left-over arms at the end), which made all three of us laugh.

 My pirates with their completed Pirate Egg Scene.

 Argh.

 Totally cute, huh?

 This kit was absolutely worth the $5 I paid for it! 

Now, if only we could figure out how the monkey fits in?!?!?

Gavin & Mango

Last summer, we adopted Mango from the local animal shelter.  At the time, Mango was guestimated to be 4 months old.  The kitty hid from us for quite a while.  I couldn't blame him.  Three small boys all wanting to play and love on him would seem overwhelming considering he was a stray.  But, this kitty has turned out to be the sweetest, most loving, playful addition to our crazy house. 

 

Mango and our dog, Tobie, are great friends.  They nap together during the day.  Will play with each other when Mango gets those crazy wild hairs.  And, Mango usually wants to go outside with Tobie when Tobie goes out to potty.  If he does remain indoors, Mango will meow at the door so that we know Tobie is ready to come in.

 

But, the best friend that Mango has made has turned out to be our sweet Gavin.  I was lucky enough to capture a few photos of these two together this afternoon.  I think it is amazing that our kitty will even tolerate these crazy bear hugs from Gavin.   So sweet.

 Their favorite game (now that the Christmas tree is down) is boncy ball....  Gavin throws the ball and then he and Mango scramble for it.

 I think these two are incredibly sweet together.

Pure Joy.

Sun Glasses?  Check.

 Super Hero Cape?  Check.

 Tricycle and a hill to ride down?  Check.

One very happy little Liam?  Check.

I sure wish I could bottle up his joy to save for a rainy day!

Paper Plane Party Pictures

Owen turned five last week and Gavin turned two last month.  To celebrate, we held a small birthday party for the two brothers.  Owen wanted a paper plane party and Gavin didn't object; so, paper planes it was! 

 

We let Owen invite six friends (five + one to grow on) and included their siblings (you know, Gavin's friends, Gavin had a lot of say in this party, you see).  Honestly, though, Owen loves his little brother SOOOO much that he really wanted to share the party with him even though it meant that Owen couldn't invite all of his friends.  So, Gavin was certainly very much considered.  And, the party was mighty cute.  Owen came up with all of the games and most of the decoration ideas all by his little, then four year old, self.  I just helped make it all happen! 

 

The guests of honor in their paper airplane birthday shirts.

 

 

Propeller Pops made from a tutorial I found on Pinterest.

 In-flight snacks!  We bagged animal crackers, peanuts, pretzels, and goldfish to snack on!

 The cake table.

 The VIP section!  I did a Brie en Croute and had mixers for the VIPs (Very Important Parents).

 Owen LOVING his party!  Miss Kate and Miss Anna were helping the kiddos make paper planes at the craft table!

 Gavin's party room was buzzing with activity --all the babies and the parents gathered in this tiny room!

 We cut holes out of a B&W Paris poster to throw planes through. 

 Gavin coming to check out "Owen's party room" and feeling a little overwhelmed.

 The paper plane flying contest.

 Pin the Propeller on the Plane.

 The craft.  We painted die cut planes, glued them on blue card stock, added some cotton clouds.  Call it a craft.

 Owen's runway!  The object of the game was to land the plane at the end -- I think they did just that!

 We sang to Owen.  He loved it for the first time in the history of his birthday parties.

 Little Liam was feeling a bit left out.  Since he turned 3 1/2 on Dec 29th, we celebrated that.  He got 3 candles and a 1/2 candle.  And we sang.  He was a happy middle brother after that!

 We did not, however, sing to Gavers.  I have to admit I was very surprised.  He acts like a three year old.  He does just about anything his brothers do.  But, he got nervous.  So, we let the kids dig into their cupcakes.

 I didn't follow Emily Post's advice -- I let Owen open his gifts during his party.  He loves picking out gifts for his friends.  Hates leaving parties without his gift being opened by them.  And, he really, really, really wanted to open them. I figured we opened gifts at our parties when I was little and survived....so, why not live on the edge.  Now, I may end up needing reminders of what our friends and family gave the guys as I wasn't there with pen and paper....maybe that is the problem Emily Post has with the process :-/

 Okay.  So, this last "game" was totally, 100%, completely Owen's idea and the only idea that I totally, 100%, completely thought he could a) not pull off or b) would get to shy to even try.  But, he was determined.  Owen decided that since we decorated the favor bags to look like luggage, the kiddos should experience baggage claim.  He wanted to slide the bags down the stairs.  And, by golly, he did.  The didn't all arrive in-tact.  Some got a little shaken, some items fell, some got a bit damaged, and a few made it right where they were intended.  But, hey, that's no different from real baggage claim, right?

 

So much fun!!!!!