Creating Moments That Matter
I do have my limits and will only catch them with a spoon. HA! Sweetie Emily was over and they were also excited to catch some rollie pollies.
We had quite the collection for a while there. Thankfully, they were just as happy to let them go.
I was happy to see that they were having so much fun with them. Although, I don’t think Toby was. {{wink}}
Although they’ve gotten into this habit of posing next to all of the promotional movie signs.
It think it’s hysterical!
This time they put TyTy in front of him so he was able to copy everything that TyTy was doing. (The last time he was looking behind him the entire time. HA!)
I’ve got to give the boy some props as he did a great job.
All of the boys enjoyed the little concert and were very proud of Drake for paying attention and doing such a great job.
Such cute boys!
The boys love to dye Easter eggs.
It’s a family tradition that they get such a kick out of.
Dylan was really getting into it and wanted me to take this picture of him pretending to drink the dye. {{giggle}}
Next, we stuffed plastic eggs and then did our annual tradition of Egging a House.
Every year I let the boys each choose one family they want to egg.
Drake seriously got into it this year and it was such a fun time.
Although it was so hot, I’m sure the chocolate was grodie once they opened them up. {{oops!}}
Davis is going to be 12 this November and I am a bit wigged out at the idea that he will be in Young Men’s at church. He only has a couple of friends who completely “get him” and with whom he can be totally himself.
So my dear friend and I have been hosting 11 year old late night parties at our homes once a month. The idea is to bond these guys with old fashion night games.
The goal is to get them comfortable with each other, bond them, so that when peer pressure situations come up; they’ll be there for each other. Davis is going to need a group of Young Men who are willing to go to bat for him.
These nine boys are phenomenal. They were cracking me up with their conversation at dinner. They were playing the “what if” game and they were saying things like, “What if Mrs. McCain voted for President Obama”. {{no joke!}} I think they knew more about the health care bill than I did a the time. It was hysterical.
Sardines was their favorite game of the night and we ended up playing it for 1 1/2 hours. The best was when Davis hid in my closet. They were all in there for 20 minutes before I gave them a hint and they finally found him.
He had gotten inside my laundry hamper and put all the clothes on top of him. He was so deep they couldn’t find him even after several attempts!
I completely underestimated the amount of damage nine 11 year old boys would do to my house playing Sardines in the dark. But it was was worth it. They had a great time and are looking forward to the next late night.
My dear friend Lisa made our lives a little sweeter with her amazingly soft and melt-in-your-mouth cookie recipe. It took me 4 times to master it – not batches mind you – but 4 different attempts. Granted, I’m no master in the kitchen.
Huge thanks to Lisa for her fabulous secret recipe and making me look good in the eyes of my boys.
St. Patrick’s Day is one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because there are no expectations and no gifts involved. It’s simply a fun day to wear a weird color and celebrate. It falls on our Spring Break so it’s even more fun that I get to include the older boys and their friends in all the festivities.
We played several games which you can print out for free over on Executive Homemaker. This is my Green Day Memory Game that I made into a poster board with ribbon to hang the cards.
Today little Emily asked me why the Memory Cards were all attached. I giggled and told her because I used to have a lot of time and enjoyed making things like that. However, the real reason is that I’m a complete control freak and when D1 & D2 were toddlers they made games very difficult to play. Attached to a posterboard, all the cards stayed where I wanted them to. {{LOL!}}
All the kids drew silly faces on green balloons. I was amazed at how much they got into this, especially the older ones. Turns out they thought there was a prize involved for the craziest face. {{Note to self next year}}
We played St. Patrick’s Day Bingo with rainbow Skittles.
I also read a short story about the Legend of St. Patrick and then ask them questions which are on the back of a puzzle of a Leprechaun.
While the younger kiddos were playing games with me, I had the older girls hide 6 pots of gold for the older boys to find. Once found – the boys hid them. Afterward, we took them outside to play Red Rover. They came in hungry and thirsty, ready to eat green food and drink.
I just love having these little people in my home. One of them commented that I have a party for every holiday. I told her, “I’ll take any excuse to have you in my home sweetie!” That pretty much sums up why I love to do what I do – I love creating memories. Good and happy memories are very important to me and if I can do that for my kids and maybe someone else’s kids to; count me in baby.
It was a wonderful day and I can’t tell you how blessed I feel to have spent it with friends.