30

Yesterday was my 30th birthday. I always say how I can't believe how quickly my kids are growing up and how fast time flys by ... I think my parents were probably feeling that way too since their oldest child just turned 30. I don't feel old ... and it was not a hard age to turn ... I mostly just can't believe my 20s are behind me and now I'm 30.

It was a wonderful birthday ... Bryce went to pick up my present on Tuesday night and when he got home said he just wanted to give it to me but he couldn't ruin my surprise. I LOVE surprises! So the boys all wrapped my presents and Bryce swore Pax to secrecy and he did a great job keeping the secret all day. Ty on the other hand woke up grabbed the present he had wrapped and said, "Here! Open it! Its a candle!" So good thing he didn't know what the real surprise was.

The boys were both great listeners yesterday. Pax had preschool and I had thought Zoe's seat was in the car but had to run back in the house to get it. So I asked Pax to buckle himself and Tyler in. When I came back out they were both sitting in their chairs, buckled in and smiling. What a wonderful gift!!!

The rest of the day was pretty low key and quiet. Tyler and Zoe napped in the afternoon and Pax went home from school with his best friend who had been out of town for 2 weeks. When Bryce got home I finally got to open my presents and they had been tricky with the wrapping. Bryce bought me some beautiful diamond earrings that he knew I would love and they hid them in a book I got with a hidden compartment. It was a most unexpected gift and I LOVE them. Then the boys went to play with their Grandma and Grandpa and Bryce, Zoe and I headed to dinner. It was delicious and I ate way too much! What a perfect day!

Our Nice Day

Pax is on spring break from preschool and we wanted to do something fun and not stay home all day. Well it was nice out today ... nice for Wyoming and nice compared to the last few months of FREEZING ... so we headed to the park. Ty had forgotten how fun the park is and is going to be a handful this summer since he wants to do everything Pax does including the 6 or 7 foot high firepole and the monkey bars.

Pax had so much fun climbing and running around. He had forgotten how much he loves to swing and climb. We didn't actually stay long since although it was nice it was probably only in the high 40s maybe low 50s but it was also VERY windy which made if feel colder. Zoe wasn't liking the wind so much and neither was I. So we grabbed some lunch and headed home to meet Bryce for his lunch break ... a definite benefit of his job. On days he doesn't come home for lunch the kids feel like they haven't seen him in ages!

Easter

What a fun Easter morning ... we woke up to Paxton standing by our bed saying, "I peeked! I peeked! I saw the Easter bunny!" That was his goal in the night he wanted to catch the Easter bunny ... so good for him! Then he had to wake EVERYONE up ... poor Tyler was still zonked and wasn't quite sure why anyone thought it was time to get up. Pax even tried to get his Easter basket on his own but that Easter bunny is tricky and he didn't know which basket was his! He was delighted to find a movie and green power ranger.Tyler would have been totally fine with just the candy and eggs. He had fun dumping all the candy out, refilling the eggs and then starting over. He also got a pair of sunglasses that he hasn't taken off all day!Getting a picture of all three kids looking at the camera and smiling is nearly impossible. I love how Pax is looking at Zoe in this one.They are all smiling but huge smiles since they're laughing at how we can't get them to do what we want.What a lucky little girl! Her big brothers adore her and she can't get enough of them either.We had dinner at Bryce's parents and an Easter egg hunt with cousins. Tyler was the youngest and they were all really nice to not take the obvious eggs ... leaving some for him to find easily.

Pax loves when Sydney comes to visit ... she is one girl that he is always ready to play with. The cousins kept each other entertained all night playing hide and seek, wrestling Ben, Kolby and Zach and whatever else they could think of. What a wonderful Easter.

Easter Eggs

The boys had a wonderful time dying their Easter Eggs. Bryce wrote their names on a couple of them without them knowing and Pax pulled his out and said, "It has my name on it!" That was his Easter miracle. It was so funny and for the next little while Bryce kept up the surprises. They would have stayed there for hours and hours but we ran out of eggs.

The Pirate Party

Last weekend Grandma Sue and Aunt Nat decided we should have a pirate party. The boys were all SO excited. Here are my mean pirate boys! We even had Ty saying, "Arrrrr!"

Our Pirate Zoe. She didn't mind the costume at all, she actually liked the belt since she could sit and play with it. She doesn't make a very mean looking pirate.

This picture is for Trav, Crystal and don't show Carson! ... wish you guys could have been here. The funniest part was Grandma Sue! At least we got a picture but it was hilarious in person. When we walked in Tyler started crying and saying, "not MaMa! not MaMa!" and Zoe cried too when she got too close. So until she washed her face Tyler kept an eye on Grandma and if she was coming anywhere near him he'd cling to someone and give her a mean look. What a scary pirate! She felt bad and ended up washing her face after Eric, Nicole and the boys got there.

The Treasure Hunt

The Treasuer Hunt was awesome. Uncle Jamie and Aunt Julie had made a map and helped the kids find the treasure. First they had to walk to plank in Grandma and Granpa's backyard. They had to count their steps and ended up on the lawn of the shop and found the other half of the map in the tree.The map led them into the building where the lights were off and they needed their flashlights. They were all having so much fun and would huddle up around the map waiting to hear what they had to do next.

They had to go down into the dungeon and that's when Ty said he was scared ... probably since he and Pax always go down there with Grandpa looking for monsters. Good thing Grandpa owns this old, scary building because it was perfect. They had to squeeze through the pipes underneath the building. Aunt Nicole (6 months pregnant), Zoe and I went around. If you look really close you can see Tyler's eyes.

They ended up at what we call "The Rat Hole." It is a crawl space under the building where Bryce has been many times fixing cables, wires, etc. that run to his office. Pax was the first to climb in. He had actually told me a few days before that, "my dad never takes me in the rat hole anymore!" So it was his big opportunity.

Once inside they found their treasures! The funny thing was that there is a light switch just outside the hole to turn the light on inside the hole but it wouldn't work. So the dad's and Aunt Julie climbed in to help the boys with their treasures.

Grandpa and Uncle Jamie wanted to be funny and had some fireworks. They started with the pull kind and said, "hurry! the pirates are coming! get out of the hole!" Zoe started crying since they were loud and we headed back upstairs. Then Grandpa lit a few blackcats and they boys went running and crying. Zoe and Tyler were screaming and crying, Kolter was crying, Paxton was really mad and Hunter wasn't so happy either. So they made Grandpa walk the plank back at the house and shook it while he walked. Then they were able to forgive him.

Too Busy

Tyler was much too busy to be bothered with looking up and smiling for the camera. He was putting together a truck and getting ready to haul something around the house. Who can blame him for not wanting to disturb his play.

Paxton has NOT been wanting his picture taken for the past few months. Tyler is a copycat and now does this whenever I pull out the camera, starts laughing and looks to Pax to be sure he has done it correctly! So now I have two boys who only pose for pictures when they aren't being silly.

Boy Toys

So I was at the store the other day and someone commented that every time they see Zoe she is playing with boy toys. That's probably true ... she doesn't have a preference although she does love to play with her dolls the boys action figures are even better since she can chew on them easier.

She also has big brothers who when I ask them to get Zoe a toy they go to their rooms and find something of theirs ... nice of them to share. The biggest reason when we're out and about and she is playing with the boys toys is that they bring their own toys and they just end up in my bag and I keep toting them around for a while.

Zoe: 7 months

So I'm a little behind since Zoe was actually 7 months on the 10th but she is getting so big ... growing up is really what I mean, she is by no means big. Sometimes when I go to pick her up I can't believe how light she is. Maybe its because I also haul Tyler around or both of them at the same time.I love her big smile. She smiles all the time. She sits really well by herself now and can reach out in front and to the sides of her and then pull herself back up. She can roll around but doesn't really. She mostly turns circles. She looks up behind her and scoots her legs around with her head staying mostly in the same place. Paxton adores his little sister. He just loves that she thinks he's hilarious. He is the biggest helper. I'm so glad they have this first year of her life to bond before he's headed to all day kindergarten. No matter what he is doing he always drops it to see Zoe when she wakes up and if she's been sleeping for a long time he says, "I haven't even got to see Zoe today!"

I never know how I'll find her in her crib since she is all over the place now. At least she finally figured out how to roll back onto her tummy in her sleep so she doesn't need my assistance anymore. The only thing that's sure when you're getting Zoe out of her crib is that she'll have a firm grip on her blanket and be sucking the same thumb.

Volcano

Pax has been really into volcanoes since they talked about them in school. I told him we'd call grandma and get the recipe to make one but we'd only remember to call when she was at work. So I finally just looked it up on the internet and we had a fun Monday morning making our clay and the volcano.

The boys wanted their guys and animals to get hit by the lava ... or I should say Paxton did. We didn't get an after picture because Tyler didn't like the red lava and was crying. He thought it was going to ruin his toys so we just washed everything off right away to stop the tears! Every time Pax would say, "that was awesome!" Tyler would yell, "No! I no like alcano!"