Eggs-traveganza!!!

Okay, how BRILLIANT is this?!!? Using el-cheap-o whisks to dip eggs in the coloring -- why didn't I think of this? No need to balance on that little wire spoon (which, for anyone under 6, is almost impossible), and it has a handle perfect for little hands. Like I said, I didn't think of it myself, of course... but I'll definitely be doing it this way from now on!

It's the little things... I know; I'm easily amused...

Anyway, here we are, making some eggs purty!




And, the final product!

Spring Break with Grandpa

The boys are on spring break this week, and my dad has been nice enough to spend the days with them at our house. When I got home from work today... I came home to s-i-l-e-n-c-e. The boys played so much, they were completely worn out!!!

"Look at me, Grandpa!"
Apparently, they spent two hours playing on the swing set. They just didn't want to come in! When they finally did go back to the house, Dad gave them a snack... and next thing he knew, Evan was sawing logs at the kitchen counter.



Thanks for the pictures, Dad... and thanks for all the help!

Surprise!!!

Marcus working on the big surprise
With all the beautiful weather we've been having lately (except for the past three days or so, of course), we really finally decided it's time to get the boys a swing set for our backyard. There's really not much for them to do at this present time except run around the yard and find every single "land mine" left behind by the dog (how DO they do that?!!?).

I as shocked by the cost of sets when I started looking. It's amazing how expensive those things are... I was not prepared for that. The cool wooden ones were almost immediately out of the running, so I started prowling for a deal on a metal set. I knew that the boys wouldn't care what the set was made of!!
This is the brand-new swing set I found on Craig's List for $75, and Marcus and I picked it up on Saturday. Of course, the weather has terrible, so we put it together in the garage yesterday when the boys were taking their nap.

Today, it wasn't raining, but it was cold, and not really conducive to playing outside. Zachary knew that we had some kind of surprise for him, and I didn't want to wait any longer... so we bundled up the boys and let them back out into the yard. I really wish I had my camcorder with me rather than my camera... Zachary and Evan's reactions were priceless!

"Oh, cool! Swings! A swide!!
He ran all the way to the swing set with little brother following behind
They stayed out for a little while until we made them come in. I think we are going to have some good times in the back yard this summer!

Oh, and please disregard the lawn when perusing these pictures... the back looks awful until summer!! Have a great week!

Mommy's Folly

Evan & Zachary by the water clock at The Children's Museum
I've been meaning to post for a while, but with the boys being under the weather and not sleeping well... I am experiencing a bit of fatigue-induced writer's block. Zachary and Evan are back to normal today, so I'm anticipating a great night's sleep tonight... And at the risk of making this blog entry completely incoherent towards the end, I made sure I'd get a good night's sleep by taking a couple of Tylenol PM a while ago! So, let's get to it before I start babbling and drooling on myself, shall we? Museum time!!!

Doesn't seem that long ago that Dad would take my brother, sister and I to the museum as kids!
Last week, before the boys were down and out, we went to the Children's Museum with Danny, Julie, and Dad. I cannot TELL you what a great time we had. For the first time, both boys were old enough to enjoy it, and it's just a whole new level of fun for me when that happens. As always, during a great visit to the museum; I end up missing my time working there! At one point, when we were in the paleo dig section of Dinosphere, I had an almost uncontrollable urge to grab a volunteer vest from the wall, don some goggles, and get "down" with my bad museum educator self!!!

"Look Ma! I found a dinosaur bone!!"
The "Bob the Builder" exhibit was a big hit with the boys...
LOTS to do. Here, Zachary is making sure the "water" flows into the treatment plant.
Can he fix it? Yes, he CAN!
Checking out the pretty colors with Uncle Danny & Aunt Julie
Of course, another thing that made this day so much fun was being able to spend time with my brother, sister and Dad. It's been too long, and the time my brother spent with the boys will be so precious after Danny leaves on Wednesday!!

Here are a couple more pictures. For more pictures of The Children's Museum, you can visit one of my photo sites HERE.



Unfortunately, this is where my folly comes into play. I was afraid they were coming down with something the day before we left for the museum... and had even cancelled the trip at one point. But, like so many times before, after an extremely rough night, the boys were both perfectly fine in the morning. In fact, by 7am, they were literally bouncing off the walls and no fevers... so I decided to go.

Neither one was acting sick the entire time, until about 4 o'clock, when it appeared that Zachary had figuratively hit a brick wall. It didn't matter what anyone did for him, or what cool stuff Grandpa or his aunt and uncle had in store for him... he was DONE. So we left. By the time we got him home, he was most definitely sick. I couldn't help but think about how many people we may have infected at the museum. Folly, folly, folly.

By the next day, Little Brother succumbed, and instead of visiting family in South Bend, the Knotts' were once again quarantined in Nutball Manor, and spent the day sleeping, crying and watching just about anything I could find with Elmo in it.


As I mentioned earlier, the boys are healthy once again, and I am happy to report that I was able to open the windows in the house two days in a row! Time for Spring to... spring!!! Have a great week!!

"Stomp Stargent Ninny"

Zachary LOVES to play board games!!
My brother, Danny, is a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force. My oldest son calls that a "Stomp Stargent" -- My youngest son calls him Uncle "Ninny". Combined, it's pretty darn funny!

This afternoon, my brother came over to spend some time with us. I think it's going to be pretty rough on the boys when Danny leaves next week... While he was here, we all made brownies from scratch (thanks for the recipe, Abbi!!!), played games, watched movies, and just generally relaxed. It was nice to have him around just to hang out for a while, since we have a busy week coming up, including traveling to South Bend and the Children's Museum in Indy.

Making brownies
Evan's "helping" too!
Stay tuned for more pictures of this week!

Nice hat!