These boys love to jump!

A couple things to note in this video, which was taken in April:

1. Jojo basically belly flops, so he squishes his nose every time. I edited out the jumps where he fussed from bumping his nose on a pillow or stuffed lion. 

2. TJ could jump straight, but he insists on jumping OVER Jojo every single time. 

3. No idea why they're wearing costumes. I think TJ had found his cowboy vest and then Jojo decided he needed a costume too. 

4. These pillows were originally set up as a runway. Not for planes, but for modeling. Again, not sure what prompted that!

The Cooks come to visit

The Cook family came to visit in mid April--Brennan's first trip to Michigan! The weather wasn't great, but we had fun anyway. The three bigger kids played, Brennan chilled, and the adults hung out. 

The four kids crammed in the circle chair

Jojo, recognizing the joy of a pacifier, offers Brennan his. (And by his, I mean Brennan's--there's no way Jojo is sharing his pacifier with anyone else!)

Baby Crockett!

Bedtime stories

Thomas got all three older kids outfitted in life jackets, ready for ski season!

Clearly the boys love their life jackets, which is so helpful once boat season starts. Brennan likes his buds!

By Sunday, we were getting stir crazy from the cold and wet weather, so we tried out Kalamazoo's bounce house. It was awesome!

Abbey

Kelly

Thomas, who pretty much catapulted himself down the slides

The Cook family bounces!

Ed, racing Dustin through a course, goes down head first.

Jojo had a ball trying to hang with the big kids.

Me and Jojo ready to slide!

Thomas had a ball with this baseball game. He was totally focused on the floating ball (at least until I started filming--watch his eyes in the movie--he's watching the camera the whole time--no idea how he actually hit the ball!)

Random April Pictures

Before it really got warm (so all of April), the boys' favorite afternoon hang-out was in our sunny front yard, digging in the dirt. (We (and by we, I mean Ed) cut back some shrubs last year in front our house and are still waiting to see if they'll be bouncing back or not, so in the meantime, there's a lovely little dirty patch, perfect for two diggin' boys.)

 They dig holes, build mountains. And repeat. And repeat.

Big fans of their new rubber boots. Regardless of the weather or temperature, they wear them. And while Jojo has a 50-50 chance of getting them on the correct feet, 90% of the time they're on wrong.

Actual documentation of the boys being sweet together. The reigning favorite book in our house, Trucks Roll, brings these two together. TJ has it memorized, so he reads it to Jojo, who chimes in with "Trucks Roll" in a low growl at all the appropriate spots.

 Jojo does a run-through of his best facial expressions. Still trying to get a video of them. He will often pop them off on demand, which is a big hit with everyone we meet.

Angry eyes (a weak effort):

Happy (also a bit weak):

Pouty lip:

Scared:

Surprised:

 Not to be outdone, TJ brought his best faces to the table:

 He has some amazing eyebrow action.

Chair tipping

Maybe a precursor to cow tipping?! 

A very popular activity at our house; no captions necessary, beyond the knowledge that each boy ALWAYS wants the chair the other boy has. 

Easter Weekend

The Tuckers drove up from St. Louis to join us for Easter this year. Katie had spring break, so it was perfect timing. The next time we'll see them is likely after their little boy is born in September!

Even though the boys had dyed eggs the weekend before, we did it again so that Tucker and Katie could experience the fun. We're helping to get them ready for parenthood! :) We did this egg dyeing shirtless for obvious reasons. 

Jojo shows off colorful hands.

Getting some dyeing help

Posing with the finished eggs

Thomas has gotten quite good at carefully taking the eggs out of the dye.

The best picture of the boys on Easter morning. Yes, Jojo has a black eye. His second in two weeks, same eye. One was caused by TJ; the second was self-inflicted.

The boys with the Tuckers

Our family photo

Our friend Justin was in town on a layover (he's a pilot), so he joined us too. The boys were glad that Ethan and Jacob had shared their daddy for the day.

Jojo found his basket. For some reason, we didn't take many photos during the egg hunt. I think this is the only one!

TJ tried on Justin's boots!

Moms and Boys Weekend

Each year during Dads and Bros weekend (which started in 2010 as a sort of bachelor party for Pat and continues each year as a basketball-watching, beer-drinking, male-bonding weekend at Pearl Lake), we have Moms and Boys weekend. This year, it fell the weekend before Easter, so our activities were themed accordingly. 

The best (?!) bunny ear picture

The outtakes:

Egg dyeing

James napped through the actual dyeing (probably a good thing) but was in charge of quality control for the finished eggs.

Love how he can just be rolled up and fall asleep anywhere, though in a house with a perpetually-motioned TJ and Jojo on the loose, it's not always that simple.

Jojo was NOT happy to share me with James. Anytime I had James, he squirmed his way onto my lap or into my arms, staking his territory. I remember TJ doing this when I held a friend's baby.

Marbleworks, a toy from our childhood, is always a hit with the boys. Aunt Jenn Jenn was the Marbleworks pro.

Me dyeing eggs with the boys

James and Jojo playing the piano

Probably Grammy's favorite part of the weekend--snuggled up in bed reading stories with the grandsons.

TJ and Jojo love to have tea parties with Grammy.

The Easter Bunny made an early stop at Grammy and Buppa's house.

Chocolate! Peeps!

James checks out his first Easter basket.

Bathtime mohawk!

And two photos of the guys' fun up at the lake. Last year they swam in the lake; this year they built a snowman and used the trick (water) skis behind a 4-wheeler on the frozen lake! 

There's always a photo of the empty beer can display, this year artfully arranged on Mom's shelves.