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.