Marbles Madness and a weekend of fun

Lots of fun was had by all in this one-hour-short weekend. Let's recap:

Saturday - Eli & I went to Marbles Museum with Ryan & Carol while Daddy & Cole pal'd around. Eli & Ryan loved checking out all the exhibits. We barely got out of downtown before the St.Patty's Day parade started - shows how much I know, I didn't even know it was going on! Marbles is best described through pictures.

They had a cool area where you could build your own "car" and race them pinewood derby style down the ramp.

This was the Monster Truck that I made for Eli.

There was a sports area with a variety of sports. Here Eli & Ryan give hockey a go.

I managed to get a hockey helmet on Eli briefly. If it's not a bike helmet, he doesn't usually want anything on his head.

Future cyclist

Mommy & Eli riding in the Tour de France.

The boys tried the stationary bikes that, when you pedaled them, made the tops move.

Building a fort with the big blocks.

Eli can reach quite high.

Tool area - they had goggles, hard hats and working tools to use on wood pieces.

My little pirate in the lookout.

Eli enjoyed the pirate ship since one of his new favorite shows is 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates'.

Mommy & Eli in the ship.

Eli & Ryan firemen in the ambulance on their way to an emergency.

Cute little fire fighter

We worked some in the "garden" - planting and harvesting foods.

A basket full of veggies.

We played soccer for a bit with another little girl. I love Eli's sweet face here.

Jump, jump, jump on the trampoline. The sports / exercise area was great for burning off energy!

Jumping high.

Trying to be Surfer Boy

and getting wiped out.

The Eli $100 bill

This money area was great. The kids collected green balls (money) and took them to different stations to load them into the huge piggy bank.

When the piggy bank got full, it would dump the balls on the kids.

Eli had fun going to the teller up the stairs and sending his balls to the piggy bank. He must have gone up there 30 or 40 times.

Then we found this great "gun" that used air to shoot the balls into a net. I love his wind blown hair and funny face.

Jumping on the coins.

C-h-e-e-s-e!

Cole took a nap before we got home so we managed to get Eli to take one and then it was outside for some play time. A trip to the grocery store and we called it a day.

Cole had fun pushing Eli on top of the little car.

Sunday morning we played lazy for a bit, hanging around the house, reading the paper and doing some baking. We ran errands in the morning and tried to get the boys to nap after lunch. They were having none of it. I went for a walk with a neighbor and then we took them to Umstead to hike. We thought that if we wore them out, they would take a nap. Well they did but not until 5pm! Tim & I needed the break and quiet so much that we let them sleep a little too long (and we needed to get some things done). We got them up at 6:30 so of course, they gave us a hard time going to bed. It must have been 10pm before we got them to sleep. UGH! This is the first time that we've had issues with any time change. So even though the day was technically only 23 hours long, it felt more like 29! We survived and here's hoping for a restful night.

Ready to go hike.

Eli leading the way and Cole riding along with Daddy.

My boys.

Daddy and his boys - so handsome!

Cole loves to be where Eli is so he had to climb on this rock when Eli wanted to take a rest.

Space Rangers at Breakfast

Pop Tart Friday was invaded by Space Rangers!!

Picture day

Today is picture day at school. Look at our cuties!

Two weekends, one post - finally catching

Here I go again.....catching up. Let's do it through pictures.

Last weekend, Grandma C came to spend the weekend with us and visit the boys. It was a great visit with lots of fun playing. Everyone was happy until Eli woke up Saturday late afternoon with a high fever. That started four days of being sick for him - he missed two days of school. He would be ok in the mornings but by mid-afternoon, his fever was back up. The scariest part was that when he woke up Sat afternoon, he was saying things that didn't make sense and complaining that his head was hurting. It was pretty scary but I think it was just the high fever. Even with the fever, we had a great time with Grandma.

Grandma brought Valentine's day treats for the boys.

This cracked me up. Cole kept stealing Eli's M&Ms when he wasn't looking

and shoving them in his mouth.

We spent some time outside playing. The boys love hanging out on the ramp to Daddy's shed.

Just a cute picture of Cole. =)

Mid morning Saturday, we headed to the flea market. Grandma found a cowbell for Grandpa. The boys loved making it ring.

Super Cool Eli.

Mommy's Monsters were Grandma's Monsters this night.

Cole absolutely hates these Elmo slippers. He loves them until we put them on his feet then it's no fun anymore.

Grandma & Cole reading Sunday morning.

Pitiful sick Eli.

Fixing a 100 piece puzzle with Grandma. Eli has become quite the puzzle master lately.

Concentrating on the dinosaurs.

This squirrel cracked me up. He came into our screen porch, was looking for something to eat and kept staring at me through the window.

Sweet yogurt face.

Hey Cutie!!

Since Eli wasn't feeling well, his "sick" present was another set of Trio blocks. He loves to build things with them and we love watching his imagination grow.

On Monday, I took Eli to work with me in the morning. He fixed puzzles, watched videos and played Trio blocks.

Eli loves coming to the jobsite. He asks me at least once a week if he can go. He told me today that he didn't want to go to school but wanted to go to work. If only he knew!!

Cute little faux-hawk Cole showing off his Buzz Lightyear lollipop.

Hey Hollywood!

This weekend, we had a good weekend at home. Eli was better and back to school mid-week so we had a healthy weekend. Saturday we did a family bike ride in the morning. That was fun because when we finished riding around the lake, we saw the Police Department Equine division bringing their horses to the lake trail for some exercise and to patrol. The boys enjoyed watching the horses come out of the trailer and get dressed to ride. After naps, the boys played outside and we just hung out at home. Sunday morning early, I went to a yoga class while Tim and the boys, again, played outside. It was great that Tim had them out because it rained quite a bit on Sunday. After lunch, we went to celebrate a neighbor's 5th birthday with cake and ice cream. Both Eli & Cole ate a huge piece of cake. They played for a while and then we had family nap time - it was wonderful! The boys napped at the same time and so did Tim & I. I don't think we have ever done that but both Tim & I had headaches so we decided to sleep them off. It worked pretty well! After dinner we made some cookies and then called it a weekend.

Cole loves trying to ride.

Ready for our Saturday morning bike ride.

In-ride snacks, Cole is ready to go. Eli is getting quite heavy so I think a trail-a-bike is in our immediate future.

The big thing this weekend was these two plastic boxes. The boys loved pushing them around, playing with them and sitting in them. Here they're on their knees watching tv.

And then sitting in their boxes.

And after nap, sitting on their boxes.

My fun of the weekend was making a rag baby quilt. Here Tim took an "artsy" shot of me sewing.

And here's the finished product - this side if the clean side.

And here is the "rag" side. I love it! It's so soft and I absolutely love the colors. The baby girl I made it for was born Sunday morning. Yay! Can't wait to give it to her.

Funny picture of Cole post-hair cut on Sunday. He looks like a little body builder!