Easter Eggs

As always, we had fun decorating eggs and finding them the next day.

The power of swirl!

The boys love our new paint-n-swirl machine. Even Brahm knows how to us it for the maximum swirling success!

Hand and Foot Painting

The sun has come out and we are so excited! Here the boys did some finger and foot painting. It was really fun to paint, but the boys found it especially entertaining to mix all the colors together by rubbing the paint in between their hands to hear the smacking paint sounds and feel the lovely, slimey texture.

Brahm with Emerson's huge bike helmet on. He decided he didn't like it pretty quickly.

Brahm brushing his teeth...or rather sucking delicious toothpaste off his toothbrush.

Brahm fell asleep in his high chair and nearly banged his head on the table. It was so cute!

Brahm fell asleep watching a movie, too. He is not too keen on naps these days so this is what happens! Note the brown around his lips. He did eat some dirt at the park that day, but I think this is actually chocolate frosting! I love how droopy his cheeks get when he is sleeping.

Happy 7th Birthday, McKay!

McKay had enough tickets to get these 3 army men. He is so interested in the Army and their tanks and weapons.

One of our birthday traditions is that mom makes a cake of the birthday boy's choice. This year McKay chose a Batman cake.

The other tradition is they get to pick a family activity at a special place, or a birthday party. This year both boys chose to go to Zap Zone and play laser tag and bumper cars. This is the prize Emerson chose with his tickets. There is nothing as great as glow in the dark vampire teeth now, is there!

My latest project has been sanding and putting shellac on this bed frame, dresser & desk set that someone gave us. It was painted partially pink and stained dark brown in sporatic places. So I spent 2 months working on it in the garage. It was a big undertaking for me, but I finally finished.

This is the finished product, and on the side there is a desk with drawers for McKay. Here McKay and Emerson made a tower rocket all the way to the ceiling out of McKay's new straw kit. They've been having so much fun with the new bed, climbing it, hanging from the side, and doing "heli-attacks"...?? Ask McKay what that means if you're curious.

McKay holding a giant petal filled with water,from a huge, upside-down growing flower. Sorry, again I don't know the name. But, it was so beautiful and exotic.

This is called a cymbidium. They had lots of them and they're just beautiful, as you can see.

The BIGGEST cactus I've ever seen in my life. I could barely fit the boys and most of the cactus in this picture.

Brahm finally woke up and gave us a great laugh as he posed for this picture by this Century Plant. It is some kind of cactus, I believe. It took several tries to get him to just sit there. Then after this picture was taken he picked up the rocks by him and started throwing them. And people wonder why any person would ever use a child leash!

Matthaei Botanical Gardens

McKay and Emerson standing, and Brahm sleeping, in front of a Crab Claw Tree. It has giant, orange claw-looking things.

This tree was so wild. Check out these huge "sausages". It's called a Sausage Tree, believe it or not. I will eventually look it up on the internet and find out its origins.

I'll give you $1.oo if you can tell me what this plant is and where it comes from. It was so beautiful, but I couldn't find the sign.

McKay and Emerson showing brotherly love as they stand in front of an Indian Banyan. It was very jungle-like in this room, where they also had a real mangrove tree. These roots hang down from the tree and plant themselves in the ground or water. It's fascinating!

For Rick's 31st birthday we went on a date. Here we are driving to the restaurant for dinner.

Here we are at dinner. BD's Mongolian Barbecue...thanks to our good friends, the Brittner's, who gave us a gift certificate to go there. YUMMY....it was so delicious, we bearly had room for....

.....dessert...at Coldstone! This was a regular sized order of ice cream, and it was HUGE! Luckily, I love ice cream so much, that even though I was full from dinner and it was lots of ice cream, I ate it all! And I haven't regreted it, either.

Rick had a mango shake. In case any of you don't know, I hate Mango. But, it was not a bad shake. Add ice cream to just about anything and you can make it taste good! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HON! (Please feel free to email him to tease him about his old age. He loves it!)

Books, baths, and brothers!

Here Brahm shows great joy in this story daddy is reading him. He really gets into them and frequently looks up and smiles to show his gratitude. He loves books!

McKay and Emerson do, too. Here McKay is reading "The Flash" comic book to Emerson. They have spent many hours cuddled up to this book together. And McKay refuses to read it without Emerson because he doesn't want him to miss anything. So sweet!

Brahm is such a fish! So are McKay and Emerson. As you can see here Emerson is pouring water on Brahm's head and Brahm is totally laughing. Brahm usually does this to himself if no one else will do it for him. It's hysterical!

Brahm found this popcorn from last night's "movie night" and decided to decorate the family room.

Emerson decided to take the scientific point of view, and studied the popcorn with his magnifying glass.
I, of course laughed, took a few pictures to show daddy, and proceeded to the "undecorating" phase.

Here McKay and Emerson took turns pushing Brahm on our tree swing in the
back yard. They did "underdogs" and tickled him, and grabbed his toes to make him laugh.
It was so fun to watch. Brahm giggled and giggled for a good 20 minutes!

Some Great Classics!

Rick and I have decided that, for the most part, Classic Movies are the way to go! So, here is a list of Classics that we love and recommend. All are either G, PG or NR (not rated--most old movies don't have the violence, sex, and language of modern day media, and back then they didn't use the rating system) --and a few great newer movies that are classics to us! P.S. Anything with Gregory Peck is fantastic!

FOR THE ADULTS:A Bridge Too Far --war, not for kids PG
Double Indemnity NR (murder mystery, but nothing evil)
***Lawrence of Arabia PG
North By Northwest NR
**White Christmas (music)
**Gentlemen's Agreement NR (Gregory Peck)
**Roman Holiday NR (Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea G
His Girl Friday NR
****The Scarlet and the Black (Gregory Peck--Great message!) NR
***To Kill A Mockingbird (Gregory Peck) NR
How Green Was My Valley NR
**Adam's Rib - funny! NR
Rebel Without A Cause (James Dean) NR or PG
*East of Eden (James Dean) NR
On the Waterfront (has fighting, not for kids, but good msg.) - NR
***Ben-Hur
Arsenic & Old Lace - funny! NR
*Khartoum NR
**The Elephant Man - Get some tissue! PG
Shenandoah NR
** The Miracle Worker (Abt. Helen Keller) NR or G
****The Great Escape (Not for kids, but very good, true story) - NR
*Grapes of Wrath NR

NEWER FILMS:Amadeus - PG
**The Lakehouse - PG
Warm Springs (About FDR) PG
Secondhand Lions PG
***Facing the Giants (Excellent message!) PG
The Color of Paradise (Get another tissue) PG
***Radio (One more tissue, again) PG
Miracle PG

FOR THE KIDS:
Fly Away Home PG
Willow PG
****The obvious: Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sound of Music
Oliver Twist (several versions, 1997 was good, but old versions are better for little kids)
**Black Beauty G
*The Black Stallion G
**Labrynth
*Where the Red Fern Grows G

The finished product. It is really soft, fuzzy and will go great with my mom's red winter coat. Yeah!!!!