Bounching off the Walls !

I made a deal with Jacob. If he could go 5 days without crying/whining we would all go to Jump Street as a reward (don't tell him, but I wanted to take them there anyway!). It took 3 weeks and he finally made it 5 days without being whiny or crying over something dumb.... SO we went! 

The boys were oh so excited! So was I, its a fun place. 

 We all tried the foam pit: 

Brian jumpin' in 

Jacob swimming in the foam 

Oh and the obstable course was pretty fun too! We raced each other... Jacob was pretty speedy and beat Little Brian, Big Brian beat Kenny and I ...umm beat Little Brian too... Little Brian and Jacob raced again and Little Brian won... we later found out that Uncle Kenny reached over the edge and held Jacob back (he was a little weepy about that but didn't cry!)

Jacob about to win his race! (Very serious face!) 

Me coming out of the 'squeeze' 

Little Brian flying out of the squeeze - I told him , 'you got this hurry!" He was so excited to win

Little Brian just exhausted after his race : ) 

Oh how my brother loves dodge ball... he got all of us in there to place except Jacob. He loved it.

And there is just the regular jumping on the giant trampolines. So much EXHAUSTING FUN!

Jacob

Little Brian 

Brian - Ha ha that is just so awesome! 

BOUNCING OFF THE WALL!

Kenny, Jacob, Little Brian, Brian 

Me and Kenny 

He all had a nice morning and enjoyed lunch at Taco Bell afterwards. 

'Cooking Cupcakes' - An April Fool's Day Prank

For April Fools day, we (Kenny, me, Little Brian and Jacob) made some 'cupcakes' and punch for the rest of the family today...

The Cupcakes were made out of meat loaf with mashed potato frosting... and the punch was actually jello! 

They boys were SO tickled with the idea of tricking their dad and grandparents. 

If you want to make your own mashed potato cupcakes its actually really easy... just prepare the meatloaf  like you normally would and plop a handful into each muffin tin spot. 1 lb made 9 cupcakes for me. Cook them for about 30 mins at 375. For the frosting use instant mashed potatoes because they have a better consistency to frost with. Also, I used food coloring to complete the effect...

Serious business of decorating the cupcakes :

The finished project:

The boys could hardly stand themselves it was so adorable how excited they were. When we walked in Little Brian said , "We made you cupcakes and punch!!" We herded everyone for to the table so they could try everything.

Once they figured out they couldn't drink the punch, Jacob said "You can't drink it because its stuck" LOL

My mom figured out it was meatloaf and mashed potatoes right away... they boys were thrilled with their prank.

He's Officially 5

This morning Jacob was a little upset when he realized he had to go to school even though it was his birthday. He got got the cool hat he is wearing in these pictures and my mom sent him with Angry Bird cupcakes so he ended up having a good day : )

Although we already celebrated his birthday on Saturday we all went to McDonalds to celebrate again. When they got there I told Jacob to spin around so I could take a look at him, he did and I said, "Yep you look like a 5 year old!" He was so pleased with himself.  The boys had a great time playing (and even Big Brian went up in the play ground which made the boys squeal with delight). I think Jacob could care less that they serve food except for the pickle on his hamburger.

After playing and eating and playing some more it was time to open presents- 

Crayons! 

Socks! 

Angry Birds! (PJs) 

Little Brian as SO excited for everything... his brother's birthday, eating at McDonalds (he actually eats his food), playing on the play ground, seeing me (tee hee), watching his brother open presents etc. Although, it HE wasn't the center of attention he was really good about it and is really looking forward to his birthday...

Little Brian 

 When we walked out of the restaurant Kenny and Brian silly stringed the boys. Although the pictures don't really show it (because Jacob looks like he is on the verge of tears) they actually really liked it and Little Brian said, "Lets do that again on my birthday!"

It took some digging, but I found these pictures from 2009... Jacob's 2nd Birthday... I remembered that Brian silly stringed him then too... He took it better today than back then! 

Happy Birthday Kiddo! 

The Borrowers

Another Groupon deal determined our Saturday entertainment... The deal was 1/2 off play tickets to see The Borrowers! It seemed like great fun... to me, but I am not always on the mark with what the boys will enjoy. I remember reading The Borrowers when I was a kid and really enjoying the book.  Its about little people (like 2 inches tall ) that live under the floor boards of a house).

Jacob and Little Brian

We arrived in Tempe about an hour early so we stopped at Tempe Town Lake to kill some time. We looked at boats and the boys oowed and awwed about what they saw and asked us tons of questions. We were about to leave when we saw a giant grassy hill... it was clear to me what we should do next, but the boys had no idea. Kenny instructed little Brian to lay down and gave him a little nudge and sent him giggling with joy down the bill. Jacob saw this and joined right it. Little Brian asked me to join in the fun... I tried the excuse I am too old and he said, Just try Aunt Amanda. I can't argue with that! So I joined them for a few 'rolls' down the hill. It was actually super fun, and as pointed out by Kenny probably what we will remember the most from that day : ) 

Jacob, Little Brian and Me 

The boys! 

The theater was filled with kids and Kenny couldn't have been happier (this is a sarcastic comment if you didn't guess), but he was such a good sport and helped take turns with the boys on his lap and took Little Brian to the restroom in the middle of the play.

 The play was cute, but just didn't hold their attention very well... there were some kid funny parts that they got a kick out of, but for the most part they were bored. Little Brian likes to let out and exasperated yawn when he is bored... I loved how they used shadows to portray how small the borrowers were, but I don't think the boys understood that. It was even worse after intermission (after they had smelled freedom- ha ha ). Jacob was being very whining and complaining he was hungry and wanted to leave. He said, "I never want to come back here" It was cute, and I told him that was fine, however he needed to sit still and watch the rest of the show... he ended up on my lap for the last 30 mins of the play.  Little Brian was VERY patient and well behaved even though he wanted to leave. When the play was over and everyone started clapping their eyes light up and they asked if they could leave.

Little Brian, Jacob and Me 

After the play we went out to dinner at The Chuck Box for burgers. Jacob didn't want to eat anything but popcorn so rather than waste the money on his meal that he would eat anyway we just let him have popcorn... Little Brian ate ALL of his food and still seemed hungry so Kenny asked him to 'help' him finish his burger and Little Brian agreed to help him. It was pretty cute. 

When it was time to say good-bye Jacob cried and cried. Little Brian used to be the one who always threw a fit when we had to drop them off, but I don't remember him sobbing in this way... We purchased a HUGE (3 foot) bag of popcorn as a peace offering/bribe to avoid the crying... it didn't work. He didn't care about the popcorn in the least and had to give me 3-4 hugs before he would let us leave and he was still sobbing like we would never see him again. Poor kid.