29 months

Here is Leif at 29 months. Asher was very keen to get in on these pictures too, so we had to do it quick. Leif seemed to think that when I asked him to look at me, he should lean forward, bug his eyes out at me, and give me a very unnatural smile- as you can see in some of the pictures. Leif continues to love planes, loves to boss people around, loves to eat meat (especially chicken), and loves to do whatever his brother is up to. We love this boy!

Discovery Museum

This afternoon, Austin's mom and I took the boys and their cousin, Ben, to the discovery museum in Fort Collins. There were a few things that were just displays, but most of the stuff is hands-on for kids. They loved it, even if some of it was a little too advanced for their understanding. I was pretty exhausted by the end, but it was well worth all the fun they had. You can't really tell what is going on in the picture above, but the tube is a wind tunnel and the boys had little parachutes made out of coffee filters and paper cups that were floating up in the wind. They were fascinated by this for quite awhile before we finally talked them into seeing other things.

 The boys were quite disappointed that they couldn't touch or ride in the fire truck.

 I don't think Ben or Leif ever really got any sound out of their instruments, but they liked that they could touch and do whatever they wanted.

 The giant building blocks seemed to be the boys' favorite, but there were too many other kids in that area using up most of the blocks, so they didn't get to do much there.

 Here is another display where the boys got to use tubes that shoot air to move little beach balls around in the air. I don't think Leif ever had a ball in the air, he just enjoyed moving the control switch around.

 There were quite a few other displays that I didn't get pictures of. But Austin's parents have a 'grandparents pass' so they can take the kids back any time they want :)

Jumping

The boys got some passes to a jumping place as their Christmas present from their cousins and they have just been sitting in my purse for the last few months. As my due date gets closer, I'm suddenly feeling like I won't have any time to myself ever again and I won't have any time to do fun activities with the boys. So I decided to finally use their passes. I also have a few other fun activities planned for the next few weeks- going to the zoo, going to the discovery museum, playing at the park as much as we can. I hope they don't have too much fun and then feel like they are being abandoned once the new baby comes. They are both so excited about it, so I think they will be fine. Getting pictures was a little tricky. I only had my phone, so it wasn't the best camera, the light was a little dim, and the boys never stopped moving- which was the whole point of going there :) We went for a little while in the morning then went home for lunch and naps. The pass was good for all day so we went back in the afternoon (which is the only way I convinced them to leave the first time). After about an hour and a half in the afternoon, I talked them into leaving without tears by promising them we could get ice cream. They both thoroughly enjoyed their cones, but Leif refused to eat the last little bit of his, saying that he didn't like chocolate and he wanted vanilla instead. Tricky little guy thought I was going to get him another cone, but I just let Asher eat the end of his instead since he wouldn't touch it. It was a bit exhausting, but a very fun day. The boys keep telling me they want to go back to the jumping place, which isn't going to happen again for quite some time.

Easter

Yes, I'm a mean mother that makes her kids dress up in Sunday clothes just so I can get cute Easter egg hunt pictures. Only, Asher wasn't going for it. He wouldn't hear of putting on dress clothes and insisted on his sweat pants and monster truck shirt (again). Leif was quite obliging and had no problem putting on dress clothes- but he never does. The boys searched for their baskets in the house and once they found them, headed out into the yard to look for eggs. Asher insisted on wearing his flip flops, though, so his feet got wet and cold in the dewy grass pretty quick and he decided he was done. Leif made off like a bandit and got way more eggs than his brother. It didn't do him much good though, since we put all the candy together and ration it out anyway. I think both boys had fun, but Leif enjoyed it the most.

Easter Eggs and Monster Trucks

 This weekend has been rather eventful. On Friday we had our cousin Ben come over for a sleepover. As one of our activities, we dyed Easter eggs. Thank goodness Grandpa came over to help, because three boys sticking their hands in cups of dye gets a little busy. Leif was mostly interested in getting the eggs in and out of the dye as fast as he could, going through as many eggs as he could. I tried to slow him down, but he just kept insisting he needed another egg. I mentioned to him that he was dying his hands when he put the eggs in, so then he got onto just wanting to dye his hands as many colors as possible. It was a mess, but it let the other boys have a chance at some of the eggs.

We had pizza for dinner since the kitchen was too chaotic to cook anything. As the boys ate, they prepared for their exciting night out at the Monster Truck Show. (Austin was SO excited to go ;)

 Austin took Asher and Ben. This is the best picture he got of both of them. Asher was so excited all week long to go, but they ended up leaving early since it was late, it was loud, and it was really bright. We were a little disappointed that he didn't make the whole show, but he definitely got a lot of enjoyment out of the time he was there. He is still wearing his monster truck shirt two days later :)

Leif was disappointed that he wasn't allowed to go to the Monster Truck Show since he is just too young and too fond of sleeping. To ease his pain, I kept promising him that he and I would go get ice cream. Somehow this evolved in his head to going to the Ice Cream Show, but when the time came to go, he was too grumpy and said he didn't want to go anywhere. So we just ended up eating ice cream at home and watching a movie while snuggling. He was as content as could be.

Picnic at the Park

The boys were dying to go to the park today. An idea put into their little brains by their dad just minutes after they woke us up. I told them they had to help me do chores and then we could go. It was a long two hours of bribing them to pick up toys or put their dishes in the sink so that we could go. I was planning on walking there with the stroller since it is less than a mile away, but after all that picking up, vacuuming, and doing dishes, I was exhausted and just decided to drive. The boys were especially excited to pack up a little lunch and have a picnic while we were at the park.
The park we went to has a little train that is supposed to run in the summers but hasn't worked since we moved to Colorado. They boys enjoyed running on the tracks and Leif kept telling me "I want to see him" meaning he was looking for the train. It was nice to get out this morning and both boys took very good naps afterward (although they would not go to bed this evening- something that is becoming much too commonplace lately).