FALL FUN

On Saturday, we went to the Renaissance Festival with the Poulsens.  Except for a little bit of traffic going in and coming out, we had a really good time.  Here are a couple pictures of the boys riding the "ponies".  Hunter actually rode a donkey and Harrison rode a llama. 

On Sunday, we decorated pumpkins.  Grandma Sharon sent "Mr. Potato Head" pieces that go in pumpkins.  You push the pieces into the pumpkin to make a "Mr. Potato Head" face on the pumpkins.  The boys wanted to carve one too so Dave carved one.  

 

4 YEAR CHECK-UP

The boys had their 4 year check-up and it was brutal.  My pediatrician had warned me at last year's appointment that the 4 year was a rough one but it was worse than I thought it would be.   They had to do hearing screening, vision screening, urine sample, blood draw and 4 shots.  We had "practiced" getting shots and talked about how it would hurt a little but it was way worse than they thought it would be and they both were very unhappy. The receptionist could even hear the screaming and they were in the room furthest from the waiting room.  Thank goodness our friend Tami came with us to help.  

 

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Harrison.  The doctor wanted the boys to put these gowns on and the boys were just not really excited about it.  On top of that, they had to get 4 shots.  They were not pleased.  

 Fortunately, ice cream makes things better. 

TRIP TO THE ZOO

When the zoo built its African animal addition, they added a giraffe-feeding platform.  You can pay to get lettuce leaves to feed to the giraffes.  We've never done it because there was always a long line and I felt like it was kind of a waste of money.  Well, the last time we were there, there was no line so we decided to do it.  It was the coolest thing!  On the way to the platform, the giraffes are right next to the walkway.  There was even one that was drooling and we had to avoid getting dripped on.  When we got to the platform, they only let one group feed at a time so it was just us.  We got four lettuce leaves so the boys each got to do two.  They loved it.  

There was also a special Lego exhibit.  There were about a dozen animals on display all built completely from Legos.  Very cool!
 

This picture wasn't planned but I cracked up when I looked at it and saw that Harrison looks like a chimp in it.  It would have been awesome if the chimp was walking instead of sitting and they would have looked alike. 
 

 

4th BIRTHDAY

The boys turned 4 on July 2nd!  This is really the first year that they really understood what a birthday meant - presents and a big party!  Unfortunately, we decided not to do a big party since Ms. Hildy will do a big party in August when the boys go back to school.  So instead, we tried to do several smaller "parties" but they still didn't really get it.  

On their actual birthday, we went with Holi and "the girls" (Kira, Lena and Naia) to paint pottery.  The boys got to pick what they painted - Hunter picked a dinosaur (I knew it would be either that or a race car) and Harrison picked a big bug.  They were so serious but didn't really understand that the colors weren't the "right" colors.  I think Harrison's will be mostly brown and Hunter's will have quite a few white spots but that's okay, they enjoyed it. 

On the 4th, we went to Holi and Britt's again.  We swam and did fireworks and had birthday cake.  I really was not happy with how the cakes came out but the boys liked them.  Hunter actually got very territorial about his cake.  He DID NOT want to share it and started crying when I cut it.  He finally settled down when Dave and Britt took him to start the fireworks while everyone else finished their cake.  It was a fun day!

JUMPALINE

Grandma Sharon and Papaw got the boys a trampoline for their birthday.  The boys were thrilled.  Hunter was so excited that he went by himself to take a nap when Daddy said it would be put together when he woke up.  This NEVER happens.      

FIRST MOVIE

I took the boys to their first movie in a theater today.  There is a new theater here that is doing free kids movies on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this summer.  They were showing The Lorax and I thought a free movie would be a great time to take the boys for the first time.  I figured if we had to leave early, we weren't out any money and if they were too loud, there'd be bunches of other kids there that would be too.  Anyway, they LOVED it and did great!   Harrison didn't want to leave when it was over and asked if we could go again tomorrow.  We'll definitely go again before the summer is over.

                                                    Here we go!

                                         Ready for the movie!

                                          Our friend Dana came with us too.

                                          Hunter and Mommy

                                         Harrison and Mommy

                                          Yummy popcorn!!!

POOL TIME!

Summer has officially begun.  School won't be out for another two weeks but the pool is open which is our sign that summer is here! We've already been at the pool several times and the boys picked up right where they left off last summer.  They LOVE LOVE LOVE the water and I'm sure will be swimming before summer is over.  They've already come a long way after just a few times in the water. 

We also pulled out the sprinkler one day.  Hunter loved it but Harrison didn't want anything to do with it.  He said that he only liked the water at the pool, not the sprinkler. 

MOTHER'S DAY

I had such a great Mother's Day.  On Saturday, Dave took the boys for a couple hours and left me home alone.  I should have cleaned the house but instead I caught up on some DVR and just hung out on the couch.  It was lovely.  On Sunday, we went to breakfast and I went to Tami's for the afternoon to scrapbook.  The boys gave me a bunch of scrapbook stuff and a plant in a special "pot" that they had made with Tami.  It was such a nice weekend.

                                   Notice how Hunter's stickers are all upside down.

                                   The boys picked out the stickers.  Hunter picked the
                                   blue ones and Harrison picked the "pretty pink flowers".

                                     Finally they let me take a picture of them together!

                                      And then I got this...

                                         And this!

MONSTER TRUCKS!

The boys moved from cribs to twin beds last summer and I couldn't decide how I wanted to "decorate" their room so I just got some blue sheets until I decided what I wanted to do.  I finally got tired of the blue sheets this spring and decided that it was time to get something nicer.  I found a really cute plaid at Target that I thought would be a good neutral and not too themed.  The boys could pick out their own sheets and that would be easier to change as their tastes change.  Unfortunately, I have two very opinionated almost-four-year-olds that did not agree with my decision so back to the drawing board.  They really wanted car beds but anything I found was either too expensive or not acceptable to the boys.  I finally found the monster truck bedding that the boys loved and I got a great deal on it.  I really didn't want a big theme but it's not over-the-top monster trucks and if they get tired of it in a couple years, I didn't spend a fortune on it.  The day it came, I put their beds together while Dave gave them a bath.  When we opened the door to their room, they were soooooo excited.  Hunter kept saying "thank you mommy!  Thank you Daddy!"  They absolutely loved it. 

EASTER

Our Easter festivities started on Good Friday with our 3rd annual egg dying party at Tami's house with Tami, Ginny and Peyton.  Hunter would come to the table and dye a couple, then go play with his racecars.  Harrison would only make orange eggs.  He finally let Peyton use the orange once but then went right back to making his orange eggs. 

                                          Hunter

                                          Harrison

On Saturday, we went to our church for their annual Easter Egg hunt.  Harrison again got only orange eggs.

                                    Hunting for eggs is hard work

After church on Sunday, we came home to see what the Easter Bunny had brought.  He brought robot t-shirts, a chocolate bunny and some puzzles.  After lunch, we had our final egg hunt of the season in the backyard.  Hunter had all racecar eggs and Harrison had chick eggs and a few orange ones thrown in. 

                                                          Ready for church. 

                                          This is the closest we can get to a good picture of them together.

                                                         Look at all my racecar eggs!

                                                              I got a lot too!