Also, my new favorite Easter photo of the kids. Do you know that this is the most fun way to carry an Easter basket? They're in front of my parents' new house because it was 30 degrees and snowing on Easter morning so the Easter bunny kindly moved our Easter egg hunt to an indoor location.
We discovered that unlike every other kid since ever, Patrick LOVES the Easter bunny and hugs him a bunch when he meets him at our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.
Good news, we probably got enough candy. Um, can you tell which child decided to be color selective about the eggs she found?
We also went and joined Bradley for lunch at his school because he had assured us that this was the thing you were supposed to do on someone's birthday. It was chaos, the younger two both barely ate anything because they were so excited, and it was a lot of fun. Bradley and Patrick got a lot of compliments for their matching Mario shirts and you can't see here but Eleanor had a coordinating Princess Peach shirt.
Bradley's birthday theme this year was: Mario/Lego/Dinosaur and it was truly awesome. If you look closely at the cake you can see that all three parts of the theme are accounted for.
We love birthdays. And can you tell that this is the year of the Mario obsession?
There was a lot more birthday to come for our big six year old, we celebrated at home with cake and a few presents on his actual birthday, his party was the next day!
Bradley's birthday party was loud and crazy and oh so fun.
We started out by trying to play duck, duck, goose. Didn't really work, but at least it kept the kids from running around wildly for a few minutes.
Our official party count was 26 kids, because we invited Bradley's whole class and any younger siblings that wanted to attend. It turns out there's a lot of younger siblings. I thought having this the night before Easter would cut down numbers a bit, it turned out that was not the case! But every kid wants to have a big, beautiful birthday party at some point and Bradley enjoyed his thoroughly.
Cake and birthday song time!
I thought it would be a disaster to have a pinata at this party but Bradley specifically requested it and it turned out to be a highlight.
Nathan manned the pinata activity, he did an impressive job making sure everyone got candy and no one got hurt.
Bradley's friend Noah adopted Patrick for the evening. They were rather adorable together.
The gymnastics portion of the evening was exciting because only one of the two instructors showed up and it was going to be a tough job even if there had been two instructors instead of just one. She quickly gave up trying to run any actual activities and just let the kids run wild around the gymnastics studio. No complaints!
We are so grateful my parents arrived in time to come and help out at the party - it was a lifesaver!
It also meant I had more than 600 photos of the party to pick from thanks to Grandma paparazzi. So great!
Kindergarten boys running around wildly. It was the best kind of mayhem.
The next morning was Easter (I posted one Easter photo earlier in the blog just because it was so cute, and the neighborhood Easter egg hunt was the day before Easter as well) and the kids were delighted by their candy breakfast courtesy of the Easter bunny.
And the Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's new house was warm and oh so fun!
Here's Grandma Kathy, surrounded by grandchildren in their Easter finest with new birthday toys along with the occasional clingy cat that walks by. The Scott house is not generally a quiet house.
That afternoon Eleanor, my mom and I drove through a snowstorm to get to Disney Princess on Ice in downtown Kansas City. It was actually quite impressive, there was a bit of cirque de soleil type arial arts that we did not expect and the show as a whole was big on princesses and really what else could you ask for?
A snow cone. You could ask for a snow cone. Eleanor uses this cup every day now.
In our seats.
Loving the show.
The next day we went to Great Wolf Lodge! We picked Bradley up after a morning field trip and we were off!
We had amazing arrival time and the kids instantly got balloon creations.
We made it to the pool soon after arriving ... barely. Having a top bunk to watch shows in is pretty cool and hard to leave, even for a water park.
The older two kids are doing lots better at the obstacle course (Thanks to Grandpa's assistance.)
Grandma was Patrick's special buddy on the water slides this trip.
Bradley thinks he's tall enough for the big slides now!
And it's funny that Patrick is the one we got a good photo of at the kiddie slides because we lost count of how many times Eleanor went down them. Literally hundreds of times over the course of our stay.
The kids are now fully aware that the hot tub is the place to go when we're getting tired of running around at the pool area.
And then off to do MagiQuest for a bit! Nathan and Bradley actually finished a quest this time around while the rest of us did our normal thing and just walked around and enjoyed the experience of waving a wand at things and having them do stuff.
This cute face. Don't worry, I smooch those cheeks bunches.
We had cozy reading time back in our room.
And then hit the arcades before the night time event at the clock tower in the lobby. Eleanor and Patrick play a mean game of air hockey.
The now traditional family picture on the morning of our second day here.
Great Wolf Lodge was a blast (as always) but coming home was almost a welcome respite after all of the activities that had been packed into the last few days. And Bradley had birthday Legos to build!
Although Patrick got a little attached to grandparents and only wanted them every day at naptime, which wasn't going to work because there was no chance he would go to sleep with a grandparent nearby. I would take him up while he yelled "Gamma! Gampa! Not YOU!!!" Then I would ditch him in his bed and he would yell "Not YOU! Not YOU!" whenever I would try to re-enter his room to read to him. I thought the kids were supposed to get more clingy around their parents when grandparents were visiting ...
These kids love to be read to.
And it was fun to take Grandma and Grandpa to martial arts to see Bradley show off all his moves! His best move may have been throwing himself across grandparent laps when I requested a group photo.
Patrick playing a new favorite game (it was a present for Bradley) with Grandpa. Looking at all these photos of togetherness I'm beginning to see why he preferred grandparents over Mommy.
It's super easy to eat breakfast here. You get so much help!
Bradley reading to Grandpa! He's doing really well at kindergarten, we're very proud of our little guy. I have mixed feelings about Kindergarten homework but Bradley seems to enjoy it so I guess it's not a big deal.
And, of course, science time, courtesy of Grandma Kathy! They were supposed to see how high they could stack straws using play doh.
Some children got a little goofy and ignored the actual goal in favor of being naughty.
More science, this time outside with stomp rockets.
Air cannon. I was assured this was for science as well.
My mom likes to get pictures of the kids with calculators and my oh my are they eager and willing to go along with this plan that involves so many fun buttons!
Patrick helping Grandma take pictures.
We took Bradley out of school on Friday for a special Burger King lunch so he could say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa before they left on their afternoon flight.
And the group photo I got in our backyard the night before! I both bribed the children with leftover birthday frosting for this photo and also hit myself on the head with a tissue while pretending it was zapping me in order to get smiles. Worth it!
We were sad to see them go but they'll be living here soon enough (yay!) and some of us were really quite tired from all the excitement during their visit.
I decided to go through some of Bradley's boatloads of art he brings home from school everyday soon after this and came across some gems. I vary between feeling like I should ask more questions about school and life and what my child is thinking to feeling like I really shouldn't ask any questions at all.
Exhibit 1: "It is night time right now and silent critter is coming." I asked and the top head is a girl head and it is invisible.
Exhibit 2: I thought this was rather heartwarming that he had drawn a picture of the two of us until I was informed that it was a different mommy and she was a robber.
Exhibit 3: I was mailing something related to their move to my parents so I thought I would include artwork. I looked through Bradley's folder and found this ... so precious. Then I found another piece of art and it had a little door to open up and within that there was a picture of a goat pooping. Nathan laughed a bunch. I think what really sells it is the action drawing around the poop. That's high level art right there.
He's lucky he's cute and we're all nuts about him. Especially Patrick. The brother bond is strong these days. Matching is often mandatory and Patrick asks when Bradley is going to be home at least a few times per day when it's a school day.
Bradley: Eleanor hit me!
Eleanor: He said Patrick is the cutest!
Bradley: He likes to cuddle me!
Eleanor: Whoever said that should be banned!
I walked over and came across this. Poor Eleanor.
April weather has been spotty to say the least, 60 one day and then snowing the next. But we've gotten some great outside time in.
You can't really tell here but it's snowing. I put them in their snowsuits for some unknowable reason, perhaps because I wanted to get mud all over everything?
And that afternoon Bradley had a playdate with a friend from school. It's really good for all involved that Bradley has never turned down a Patrick cuddle, no matter what the occasion.
Post play date. Watching the snow fall.
How they fell asleep that night. Patrick is not supposed to share Bradley's bed but apparently he snuck over for some bonus cuddles.
Eleanor isn't exactly left behind with all this boy love, she just prefers a small amount of personal space and when that is granted there are cuddles galore.
Also bubbles galore. We finally got bubble bath again after a long hiatus and the kids were beyond delighted with the crazy bubble baths they got for a while.
I adore Eleanor quotes.
Eleanor (to Bradley): Well, you don't know much about science!
We have some fun new games to play, one of which is Guess Who. However, it's difficult to play with Eleanor sometimes. I explained the term "blonde" to her but I guess not well enough because she kept confusing it with black.
And then we were about to play one time and we were discussing how I usually end up getting people with white hair, and how that was so funny. Eleanor said, "I don't like the one spitting out milk." I said, "What?? Ohhhhhh."
Here is the person she is referring to. I see it now.
Cold evenings have been brutal for our poor cats, Keep them in your prayers.
Here are begging faces at Costco. All these poor children want are samples and I guess I've driven the point home that sweet, cute children who don't whine get lots of things. They're pretty darn cute.
Just a few minutes later, making our graceful exit full of tears and angst. On our next trip I discovered that you can request blank receipt paper for children to get to hold and it has stopped all the fights! Miracle of miracles!
Patrick is so determined to show off how big he is.
He was a rock star at his first dentist appointment.
Bradley and I had a fabulous time at his school's mother/son event, a night out at a Royal's game.
We had cool matching t-shirts and everything.
Bradley was mostly interested in eating and chasing around friends while we were there so I suggested to my friend who organized the event that we just go to an all you can eat buffet next to a playground next year and call it good.
But really, it was a lot of fun and we lucked out because we went on a really warm night.
Merry-go-round with his buddy, Noah!
Kindergarten boys are ridiculous and just want to tackle and hug each other and talk about poop a lot it seems, but I'm so crazy about this age.
Sweet smooches before we had to go.
Bradley's best smile of the night - photo bombing my friend's family picture. It figures.
Eleanor had kindergarten round-up last Friday and it was weird. She confidently and happily marched into her class, she's so ready to be at big kid school. And yes, we did get compliments on her outfit. I mean, it was Eleanor Friday casual, no big deal!
Getting her fancy dance outfit immediately afterwards at ballet class. She has a dance recital coming up next month, anticipation is high!
Poor Eleanor. She's the main one who seems to be taking unplanned naps.
And see, she does cuddle Bradley sometimes. She just does it on her terms.
Patrick's birthday was this past weekend. It took place at Scheel's, the local sporting goods store. We got a few friends to join us, brought cupcakes, and it was easy and awesome. After how nuts Bradley's party was, an easy party was very welcome.
So happy to be three! His friend Peter in the background is exactly one day younger than Patrick and they are adorable little buddies together.
This is Patrick. This so perfectly captures this adorable little imp of a child.
His friend Mabel was there too and they took a very exciting car kart ride together.
And even though it was technically bedtime, we got in a game of bowling because the birthday boy desperately wanted to play a round before going home.
Patrick and Mabel and Thomas Jefferson.
Checking out Patrick's new birthday books the next morning. This little crew can be so dear.
And the next day was Julie Monahan's surprise birthday party and Patrick and I joined her family and some friends for some morning donuts and ping pong!
Patrick is used to about six hours per day of Mabel time now, after his amazing Mabel weekend. He yelled that he wanted her at nap on Sunday afternoon and said "not YOU!" and tried to shove me away. Super cool. I thought I was in the clear now that the grandparents were gone. Apparently not.
We're not sure if Eleanor was a little sick or just exhausted after all the activities that kept getting thrown her way so we kept her home from Julie's big birthday party that evening.
I got to go solo with my cool boy crew!
With Andrew Monahan.
Bradley loves posing for pictures, which would be great if he didn't take so much joy in photo bombing other people's attempts at group photos.
After the main party we helped host a small after party for Julie - her husband was going all out because it was her 40th.
The kids stayed up till 10:30 watching movies and playing with friends, so we took it easy the next morning. Apparently this is what calm looks like to my children.
This is better.
I am nuts for sibling cuddles but no one is as happy about them as Bradley is.
The younger two know that they get an instant happy Bradley if they cuddle up on him.
I've been booting the kids outside after Bradley gets home from school on any day that it has been sunny and they have taken swing games to new heights.
The boys walking together to pick up Eleanor from a play date at a nearby friend's house.
We came home and Eleanor ditched her jacket. I looked outside and saw this. She was cold.
Bradley took it upon himself to keep her warm. He's SO happy.
Patrick sweetly retrieved her jacket from where she left it on the deck and Bradley is yelling at him to stay away, she's fine exactly as she is!
Bradley definitely equals sweetness these days. He's loud, he has lots of feelings that he feels very deeply, but he's just a little love.
And he's naughty. Nathan put him up high on this tree in order to take a picture to terrify Mommy and Bradley could not wait for me to get to see and gasp over the danger of it all.
I really need to watch it when it gets too quiet in the house now. I keep coming across sleeping children.
Even Bradley! Apparently dragging a screaming Patrick out of his school's book fair (in front of the new principal and a good percentage of the PTO) didn't just exhaust me, it tired everyone out.
Book fair. Before Patrick got mad that I had purchased only one copy of the book that he wanted ...
Reading the books. I came downstairs from getting dressed the other day and everyone was on the couch, looking at books together.
And I know there haven't been very many videos this blog post, it's because this last one is five minutes long but it very accurately captures a typical meal in our house these days. And sibling dynamics. And it's just beautiful music! Enjoy!
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