Spring!!

Another month has passed without an update, so here's a "quick" one.  The boys are officially loving the warm spring weather!  Zachary enjoys going outside with Nicholas now, although he would still prefer to stay indoors and play with his toys!  Inside or outside, the boys are finally starting to play together...really play together!!  Inside, Zachary will start crawling off toward some shiny object, then Nicholas will take off after him.  Then they'll just start laughing and playing together!  Outside, Nicholas loves to cart Zachary along with him in his truck.  Amazing!!  This was the reason that we wanted the boys to be so close together in age, after all!!  It's good to see that they're finally taking advantage!

 Who took Mommy's Strawberries & Cream Frappuccino?!

Nicholas is a good teacher, too.  It's so neat to watch him kneel down next to his brother and say, "Look Zachary!  This is a ball.  Can you say ball?  Baaaalllll.  Baaaallll."  It's very sweet.  Nicholas is also so great at calming down a fussy Zachary.  Nicholas just looks Zachary in the eyes and chants something like, "It's okay, Zachary.  Don't worry.  It's okay.  Gushy, gushy, mooka, mooka!"  What a big helper!  Zachary almost always calms down with Nicholas's attentions.  Zachary adores his big brother! 

The boys had a very nice Easter holiday.  They visited with family, survived Easter Mass, and enjoyed many Easter festivities.  Nicholas participated in six Easter egg hunts this year and consequently has a disgusting amount of candy hidden in our pantry.  (Don't tell him, though!)  He enjoyed all of his hunts except one!  The no-fun hunt was at an indoor play-scape/coffee house, called Jungle Java.  The owners supposedly hid 400 eggs in the play structure for about 50 kids or so.  They released the children under 2 years old first with their parents (if they chose to help their kiddo), then the under 3's, then under 5's, then everyone else.  The kids could use one of four entrances to access the play-scape and egg hunt.  Nicholas entered with the under 3's group, but was off to a sluggish start since he got stuck behind a super slow 18 month old that was sent up parent-less.  Eventually, some of the under 5's started trying to push past the cautious child, so his parents began scolding the older kids from below.  Nicholas waited behind him patiently (small miracle!)  But, it proved to be a bad decision as Nicholas returned to me at the bottom of the play-scape 5 minutes later with his head hanging down.  He looked up at me and pouted, "Mommy, I didn't get any eggs."  I was almost in tears as the poor boy looked up at me with a pouty bottom lip for some miracle answer to his lack of eggs.  That's when the rest of the older children started coming out of the play area declaring their bags were also empty.  I spotted a few younger kids with their parents and some older kids who had bags overflowing with eggs.  Boy was I angry!!!  Nicholas and I found the manager and requested that she give out some of the leftover Easter Bunny candy (if you sat with the Easter bunny, you could choose a piece of candy from a bowl next to the bunny) to all the poor kids who ended up egg-less.  She quickly obliged and expressed her awe at the fact that so many kids found no eggs.  Nicholas was happy with his loot and immediately forgot about the disappointing egg hunt as he began unwrapping his candy.

Zachary had a great 8-month-old Spring Photo Shoot!

Spring Break was fun for the boys, too!!  They had a great time when their Auntie Kaela and Auntie Em came to visit.  Nicholas was especially pleased when Auntie Kaela brought him his very own Buzz Lightyear "poofer".  (It's a little rocketship that shoot up into the air when you jump on a little "poofer" attached to the little rocketship docking station.)  Auntie Em also gave Nicholas a huge thrill when she walked in the door with a giant doughnut!   Zachary was just happy to see his visitors!  :o)

For me?!

Nicholas spent the second half of his Spring Break in SA visiting family.  He was quite excited to visit the new dinosaur exhibit at the museum, but large crowds diverted us to the Botanical Gardens instead.  He seemed to have a great time there, though!!  Actually, he can make almost any venue entertaining... and dangerous.  :o)  He really seemed to get a kick out of seeing all the cacti.  Zachary enjoyed the scene variety as well!  Both boys really enjoyed their vacation, although Zachary was quite happy to return home to all his toys.  It must be tough living in a house that rivals a toy store in toy selection!  :oP

Cactus!!!

Zachary is now 9 months old and has been moving around like crazy!!  He crawls so fast that I can no longer set him down and run to get something done before he catches me!!  He's right on my heels!!  And of course, he has no fear!   He's already trying to climb on top of things!  Yipes!  He also loves to grab your fingers and walk around the house like a big boy!!  I tried to get him to walk around wearing Nicholas's Walking Wings, but he was not amused.  We'll try again in a few days.  Oh, and I believe Zachary said his first official word, besides "Dada" and "Muhmuh".  Every other word or phrase I've heard him speak has been slightly unclear, so I've been hesitant to decide that it counts as a real word.  But, just the other day, Nicholas requested that we go into the pantry to find him a snack.  So, I opened the pantry door while carrying Zachary and talking to Nicholas about his pantry snack selection.  Then, Zachary opens his mouth and clearly says, "Pan-tree."  Pantry!!!  Really?!?!  I couldn't believe it!!!  He then started wildly gesticulating and reaching for his container of Puffs on the middle shelf.  He certainly likes his food!!

Please can I have some big boy food?!  Please?!

Nicholas is still amazing us with his cleverness and hilarious sayings.  I really need to start writing some of those sayings down immediately after they're spoken, so I can accurately recount the cute tale a month later!  His imagination is in full gear and it's so fun to pretend with him!!  And I won't worry yet that his favorite imaginary occupation is a McDonald's cashier.  :o)  I've also been trying to work on more Kinder basics for him, but he really has no patience for the stuff!!  I'll try and try and try to get him to name letters, numbers, or shapes for me, and just when I've thrown up the white flag, he'll pick up a letter off of the alphabet mat and say something like "Look!  The T is running away from the monster.  It says Tuh, Tuh, Tuh.  The N for Nicholas is running, too!"  Then the letters will go flying across the room, inches from Zachary's face.  So, I suppose I'm just a horribly boring teacher.  As long as he's absorbing it somehow, I suppose we're doing great!

And in this corner...weighing in at 37 pounds and wearing a belt...

Just this past weekend, the whole family headed down to Lowe's for a special Build & Grow workshop where Nicholas and Daddy worked together to make a bird feeder!  Nicholas did all the hammering himself.  What a big boy!  Nick was only slightly injured by his son's hammering.  :o)  I couldn't believe that Nicholas actually had the attention span to put the bird feeder together!!  Meanwhile, Zachary and I wandered around the store staring at the hanging Exit signs.  Zachary thought they were the neatest things!!  He gave each and every Exit sign a huge smile and giggle when we passed by it. 

"Look what I made for you, birds!"

And there you have it!!  Next update, coming eventually!!!  Don't forget to watch the Kentucky Derby this Saturday!!  I have no special horse to root for yet, so I'll just pray that every horse crosses the finish line safe and sound!  :o)