Gerard's Birthday and the Big MOVE

The boys had a grand time helping Gerard celebrate his birthday earlier this month.  They were so excited to throw him a party.  I piled the three boys into the shopping cart and and they picked out everything we needed to have the perfect celebration.  Cookie cake, candles, birthday cards (Spiderman, of course), balloons, plates (Toy Story 3), napkins, dinner....  And, the best part was the handmade cards from Owen and Liam.

They wanted to suprise Daddy Q; but, I didn't really know what time he would be home from work.  So...had to have him call me when he got to the 'hood so that we didn't hide for hours.  He acted suprised, which the kids LOVED!

 Happy Birthday, Hubs!  You are a wonderful father and husband.  I hope your birthday celebration was everything you dreamed it would be and more!

 We continued celebrating with a Day Out with Thomas.  What else could a father of three small, train-loving boys want to do for his birthday ;-)

 The wee one has taken to climbing onto the train table for easier playing.

 We moved this past Monday.  All our stuff was loaded onto these 2 trucks in about 3 hours.  It is taking far longer to unpack and organize.  Oy.

 the boys having their first after-school snack in the new house!

 our family on moving day in front of the new house (as requested by Dona).  Liam was very, very, very upset to have to leave his train table for a picture; but, we only had a few moments between picking up Gavin from Mimi's and before leaving for Owen's baseball practice AND while someone else was at the house to take the picture (thank you Carpenter Jeff).  Had to take what we could get!  The house already looks different, as the painters started on the exterior the day we moved in.  The front entry is done now!  Will plant a few flowers in my pots (which are now on the front porch) and take another photo!

 Almost 4 years ago, Gerard parted ways with his Air Hockey table and gave it to the neighbors who had teenage girls.  Their girls are a College Freshman and High School Senior now, so they thought we might want it back.  This had made three little boys VERY happy. 

 It cracks me up that Gavin gets in on the action like he does.  Sometimes he even plays like you are supposed to.  Funny.

We are super busy getting unpacked and finding fun things to do in the new house.  Will blog more soon!

Easter Weekend

We had a very busy Easter weekend. We spent the time at home, dyeing eggs, hunting eggs, smashing cascarones, eating ham and hash brown casserole, and packing for a big move.

First things first. The boys wanted to dye Easter eggs. So, still in the t-shirts they slept in, first thing on Friday morning, we dyed eggs.

Gavin wanted to see what all the excitement was about.

Gavin got caught up in a moment. He was doing something clever with that little car, and me and the bigger boys started clapping for him. He dropped what he was doing to have a little clap, too.

Then, he started posing for the camera. Oh my. This made us all laugh so hard. Little GQ, Jr.

Did I mention we were packing this weekend. These two helped us quite a bit. Between keeping themselves busy, finding their own snacks and drinks, playing in the sprinklers, and coming in to check on us, they actually packed a few boxes.

When did Liam start to look so grown up?

Sweet brothers eating suckers.

Sunday morning, the boys woke and found their baskets full of fun things.

Then they hunted eggs.

Lots of eggs.

More eggs.

Gavin couldn't figure out why they kept hunting. He found one that had a Twix in it, brought it to me to open, stuck the candy in his mouth, and finished his hunt. Little guy had one egg.

Liam came in and immediately started eating his loot.

Owen thought that looked like a good idea.

Then, Gavin caught on and came to join them (he ended up with a basket-full of eggs thanks to his biggest brother, Owen, who donated some to his basket).

Gavin proceeds to have a sit.

Picks and egg and then hands it to Owen to open for him. Ha, ha!

Sweet Liam after the cascarone smashing!

The boys smashing their confetti eggs!

Wowzers....we sure messed up the backyard of the house we don't even own any more. I better get busy cleaning this up.

Bluebonnets

Grammie requested a bluebonnet photo -- the three boys in the Aggie Yell Leader overalls she made for them. Gerard and I gave it the ole college try. .

It didn't work out. Gavin is just not intersteed in being set down in front of a camera. Now, if the little guy is happily wondering aobut, doing his own thang, and you catch him in action -- you get a smile. A big smile. But, if you dress him up, set him down with his brothers in a patch of tall flowers, and ask him to smile...you get this....
It didn't work out. Gavin is just not interested in being set down in front of a camera. Now, if the little guy is happily wondering about, doing his own thing, and you catch him in action -- you get a smile. If you set him with his brothers in a patch of bluebonnets, you

...baby boy was angry. He was so mad, that I figured if I did happen to get a shot of him looking up with a pleasant-enough expression, it would take a lot of photoshop work to get the red out of his face to make it look like he cooperated.

Owen tried to reason with him. He wanted to get the picture taken so they could get back to playing and Gavin wasn't doing his fair share.

We decided to let Gavers off the hook and did some individual shots of Owen and Liam. Pretty cute, huh?

Too bad Gavin wouldn't even sit or stand alone so I could get a single of him.

Love this candid of Liam. We had the pinwheel to try to get the boys to all look at the camera. Gerard was holding it behind me so they boys would watch it and look in my direction. yeah, that was a fail of a plan. But, it was worth brining along for this sweet shot.

After watching Owen and Liam getting thier pictures taken, Gavin settled down. Crazy me thought we might as well try one more time.

Gavin does have a picture-perfect mad face. I mean, that's the stuff magazine ads are made of. And, Liam has "indifference" pretty much nailed. Then there is Owen who is the model of cooperation and smiling through the pain. Definately making memories here ;-)

Oh well. Maybe next year!