Obligatory dyeing of the eggs

I really hadn't thought much about dyeing eggs this year. It's not like we dye them and then eat them at our house, they are merely decoration. Thursday night Joshua put his request in. I obliged and hard boiled the eggs so we could dye them Friday afternoon. It took all of 15 minutes from start to finish to dye the eggs to just the right shades of color to satisfy the boys. Even Matthew tried his hand at dyeing this year and surprisingly we had only one casualty from his not-so-gentle handling of the eggs! They both enjoyed the process! I'll probably cave in next year and do it again with them even though I'm not a huge fan, they obviously are.

Matthew is 2!

Wednesday Matthew turned 2! It was so different from last year as this year the little stinker seemed to know just what was going on! He woke up to his favorite, a balloon! He was tickled by a donut donned with candles, but after blowing out his candles he didn't take a bite of his sugary breakfast and instead opted for a NutriGrain bar (silly child)! The day didn't consist of a ton of celebrating (the big bash isn't until next weekend), but we did go out for dinner to a McDonald's with a play land because when asked where he wanted to eat Matthew said, "Donalds". After dinner it was present opening and cake time! It was so fun to see him enjoy his little celebration!

Thursday Matthew went to the pediatrician's office for his well-child visit. His stats are as follows . . . .
Height: 33.5 in. (27%)
Weight: 26 lbs. 9 oz. (32%0
Head circumference: 48 cm (32%)
(Just a note he was measured at 33.5 in at his 18 month appointment, but the pediatrician said that measurements are always off when they switch from measuring them laying down to standing up. So, it seems they were generous with their 18 month measurement.) We also discovered he had a raging ear infection in one ear and the start of another ear infection in the other ear, poor kiddo.

Matthew is generally a happy little guy who likes to be silly and make us laugh (seriously he makes us laugh daily). He is an active and curious little boy who adores his big brother (most of the time) and copies him constantly. His language has exploded and is non-stop!! He will say anything you ask him too and is saying lots of 2 and 3 word utterances all the time - so nice to be able to verbally communicate. He loves running, climbing, jumping, making messes and reading books. Some days he can be caught actually playing with a toy for more than 3 minutes, but it's not the norm yet. He doesn't even watch TV for more than 5 min., but I'm not complaining about that! He seems to catch on to things very quickly and has quite the little memory for a two year old. He truly is a joy most of the time. He has followed suit and has quite the stubborn streak, but it has yet to rival his brother's. He is learning how to control his anger and has had numerous time outs (and has had for several months now) for hitting. He is a poor eater, but a good sleeper (this mama would rather have a sleeper than an eater). He still has lots of chubby, kissable baby parts that I am lovin' on since I know that we are truly now in the throws of toddler hood and all to soon on the way to becoming a preschooler. Praying that God continues to bless Matthew with many more years of growth!

Birthday breakfast!


Blowing out his candles!

More practicing of blowing out candles.

Opening up his first present with a little help from Joshua.

His first motorcycle (and his last if I have anything to say about it)!

Mr. Potato Head!

Dressing up the potato.

Unwrapping his gifts like a pro now that he's 2.

Playing with his new car carrier.

One last gift.....a Hot Wheels track for the bathtub!

Ready, set, go!!

Motorcycle man!

Vera

Last Wednesday at the 4:30am my aunt and I ventured down to Fort Wayne, IN for the annual Vera Bradley Outlet Sale. It doesn't sound like much, but think of a coliseum floor filled to the brim with table upon table of stacks and stacks of Vera product. You can get some fantastic deals on some great stuff. This year we purchased tickets for a particular time slot (7:30am-10:00am) which was much nicer than last year where no one had a time slot. We did a lot less waiting in lines this time around and the selection was much better than last year. We each came home with bags filled to the brim of things for ourselves (a little birthday celebrations for ourselves since our birthdays were coming up) as well as tons of gifts to give others over the next year. We were tired as we ventured home, but it was well worth it and we had a wonderful day together!

The boys had fun while I was gone to because they had daddy all to themselves. While I was away, Cory had taken the day off and actually started a much anticipated project in our backyard for the boys. More to come on that later as it progresses.

What we've been doing this spring break . . .

So what do you do when you are staying home for spring break?!? Well for us it's not very different than any other week since Joshua is only is school 2-3 days a week. However, we are trying to make things a bit more special this week. So far we've gone to Owen's superhero birthday party and Joshua got to have a sleepover with Owen too! I took Joshua to see Megamind at the movie theater on Sunday afternoon since he was free and I was only $3.50, of course the popcorn and pop cost a small fortune. Tuesday morning we went with our friends to the Grand Rapids Ballet to see their special spring break performance for kids of "The Aquatic Adventures of Johnny Starfish and the Mermaids" which Joshua really enjoyed! Before the performance they had activities set up in the lobby for the kids to do and it included trying on some costumes and masks from past ballets. Joshua actually tried on a few masks/hats that have been used in past ballet performances! Grandma graciously watched Matthew while we were gone and she had just happened to bring Nicholas along with her; so Joshua and Nicholas ended up playing all afternoon! Today we went down to our library for the grand opening of KDLville there. The boys had a great time trying out all the activities they had their as well as discovering all the new toys our library now has! Joshua even got to have his face painted like a tiger! Hopefully the rest of spring break will be as enjoyable as it has been so far!

Owen, the birthday boy, opening the scooter we got him.

Is that Owen or Spiderman?

Joshua trying on one of the masks Owen got for his birthday.

Owen and the awesome cake his mom made him!

Owen's surprise from all of his grandparents and his parents!

Hunter, Joshua and Corrinne waiting for the ballet to begin.

Trying on one of the hats that is part of a ballet costume.

Scary wolf or Joshua, it's hard to tell!