"Crafty" Boys

Finally figured out how to get the boys into doing "crafty" projects: give them a hammer...
 

 

Despite their serious faces, the boys had a great time building their Monster Mutt monster trucks at the Lowes Build & Grow clinic:
 

Hayes first day of "School"

Hayes and I  started a Parent's Morning Out program at our church, so for him it's a few hours every week with someone other than me, and it's a bit like school...especially when you throw in the backpack.  He was so excited, he wanted to hold his backpack in the car: 
 

All ready to go inside:
 

He loved it and had a great morning.  When we came home afterwards, he was so excited to show Daddy his project:
 

Hayes' first "school" craft:
 

GWL Mini Bowling

Our last day at the Lodge involved more fun with Ceci, BobBob and friends at the waterpark, followed by our first round of mini bowling.  Kyle helped Hayes out at first, but he pretty much got the hang of it.  How cute are those tiny balls?
 

Grant had some good moves:
 

Oops. Just a bit of a foul...
 

 More nice moves:

After bowling, we stopped by the arcade, then had lunch, then hit the road for home.

GWL Day 2

Our second day at the Lodge involved lots of water fun, and we were joined by Ceci and BobBob in the afternoon.  There's Grant splashing down at the bottom of one of his favorite slides:
 

 

Hayes enjoyed packing himself in the suitcase:
 

We wrapped the day with a pizza party in our room:
 

 

This was Hayes' hiding spot:
 

Happy Birthday, Wild Things!

We spent the weekend at Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate the boys' birthdays along with the birthdays of two of their favorite buddies who have March birthdays.  We were joined by friends and family to make it an extra special and fun weekend.  We co-hosted a Wild Thing pajama party on Friday night at the hotel.
 

We had golden Max crowns, balloons and light sticks to entertain the kids.
 

The balloons were a huge hit and brought out the natural wild thing in all of the kids:
 

With the bribe promise of cupcakes, the kids sat and listened to Where the Wild Things Are (though you may notice in the photo below, Hayes is making a break for it--he's beelining for the cupcakes).
 

We had amazing wild cupcakes:
 

The birthday boys all lined up in their Wild Thing pajamas while we sang to them:
 

Cupcakes & crowns:
 

One of the funnier Hayes pictures:
 

Luke & Evan's aunt made this awesome cut out for the kids to pose in:
 

 

It wouldn't be a hotel party without hanging out on a luggage rack:
 

Family photo!
 

Q-Tip Art

The boys are getting more mature and/or I'm getting braver, because I let them both paint at the same time.  The paints were washable, and I was a crazy OCD person  with the wipes, but still, it's not something I would have even considered 6 months ago. (I think...I might have had them both paint before, and if I did, it's probably on this blog, but I've blocked out the memory.)  Our project was the Pinterest-inspired Q-tip painting.  Both boys loved it, and I loved not having paint brushes to clean, so we'll definitely be doing it again.
 

Even though he wasn't into the dots, Hayes seemed to enjoy having something besides a blank sheet to paint:
 

Grant took it very seriously, and was heartbroken when Hayes smeared some of his dots.  Love this painting pose:

And these are Grant's new favorite pajamas.  He's been playing Wii Lego Star Wars with Kyle whenever we'll let him ("21 days a week" is his request) and loves it.

 

At the car wash

The car was much overdue for a wash after our icy winter, so we took it in for a professional cleaning.  This was a first for Hayes, and he was extremely concerned about the car when he saw it go through:
 

 

A police officer's car went through before ours, and while he was waiting for it to be dried, he gave the boys a ton of badge stickers.  On the way home, Hayes stuck one on Zeeby and declared it was to "keep warm."  Nothing beats sticker blankets.
 

Go Canes!

We met up with our BC+C buddies to watch the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team practice at the PNC Arena.
 

We started at the top while we waited for the rest of our group to join us:
 

But the boys were so excited that we headed down, all the way down, to the glass for an awesome view.  Some how both of my boys scored pucks (or "hocks" as Grant insists on calling his) which they clutched like gold.
 

Catching these two boys sitting still is about as rare as seeing a shooting star:
 

Group shot?
 

Loving the view: