A Cook visit

Near the end of March, the Cooks came for a weekend visit. The weather was still cool (and rainy on Saturday), so we looked for inside activities. We spent some time Saturday at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum.

Playing guitar:

Sitting on a partially assembled golf cart. Jojo looks sad because he didn't want to be sharing the steering wheel. :)

A dessert I'll make again--an oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip skillet cookie. Yum! Dustin and I ate most of it.

The kids' table

Sunday the sun came out, even if it was still chilly. We played outside so we could soak up the rays and not feel so stir crazy.

Bubbles were a huge hit!

Brennan insisted on sitting in the bubble puddle.

Moms' and Boys' Weekend

Every year we spend the first weekend of the March Madness tournament in Wisconsin--Ed heads up to the cottage for Bros and Dads weekend, while the moms and kids stay in Milwaukee or Madison.

This year, Mom headed our way first to spend a few days helping me to reorganize and rearrange my office so that it can better serve as a partial guest room after the baby comes. Check out the results of 3 days of hard work:

 Ed had to be in Milwaukee for a meeting on Thursday/Friday, so we got an early start to our weekend this year!

We started out the actual weekend with a cousin photo shoot. It went both better and worse than expected, and thanks to the talents of the nice folks at Worzella and  the magic of Photoshop for swapping out heads, we came away with this:

Pretty darn cute!

The two little guys sharing the iPad.

And all 3 boys sharing the iPad and an iPhone. It got so strangely quiet that we went looking for them to see what mischief they were getting into!

Animal towels after bathtime!

Visiting Buppa's work--posing with the Chorizo sausage of the famous Miller Park Racing Sausages

The piano is always popular!

Cousins in matching jammies

Next year's Moms' and Kids' weekend may be a bit more challenging, as we'll have two more babies to add into the mix! Our first belly shot together.

On Sunday we went to the Domes downtown. It was the perfect choice--we were all desperate for spring-like weather, and it was still pretty chilly outside. Inside the domes, it felt like spring had already arrived. Plus there was a huge train exhibit--the boys ran laps around the dome with the trains in it and we enjoyed the warmth.

Grammy and three wiggly, squirmy boys

What a cutie!

Jenn and James

Love that blue sky through the top of the dome!

Watching for trains

Here comes the train! (one of them)

Me with the boys

Random March pics

All boys napping on a Sunday afternoon

 At a WMU Broncos basketball game--the boys had way more fun dancing to the band music and running the bleachers than watching the game!

March 12: gorgeous snow-covered tree in what is/was hopefully the last significant snowfall of the year!

Shortly afterward...the first tree climbing of the year!

Random February pics and videos

Despite our bitter cold winter, TJ was determined to wear shorts and muscle shirts. He simply dealt with the cold (and the firm requests of his parents to wear temperature-appropriate clothing) by putting long underwear underneath. He also influenced Jojo's clothing choices. :)

Valentine's Day preschool party--the kids got to "paint" frosting on their cookies.

Preschool field trip to Bimbo's, a local pizzeria. Each kid got to help make pizza, and then we all got to eat it. Pregnant mom heaven at 10:30 am!

And finally, a few sledding videos. When the snow in the yard got too deep for the boys to navigate through, they began body sledding off the wall by our deck in the back. Much more manageable and just as much fun!