Feels like Summer

Yesterday was was an incredibly fun afternoon/evening! After naps we met mommy's friend Laura and her kiddos at Miller Park, where she let me in on the secret of the "Green Bridge" where you can watch the trains go by right underneath you. Clayton and Reese were totally stoked! I promised a trip back to see more trains after supper and we sure enjoyed it since this time the train was full - what a rush! (Ok, Mommy really likes it too  ) We played in the park for a while, then Clayton and Reese became the only two spectators of some co-ed softball practice, cheering and clapping loudly whenever they hit the ball. We finished the evening with a trip to Runza with the summer's first chocolate ice cream cones. YAY for summer!!

Just relaxing at home before supper

The Trains again!

Playing in the park!

Then finally some ice cream!

Mommy and Reese, well Clayton too

Well these are older than I thought, from last Thursday, Jan 23. I guess I realized January is almost over and I've hardly taken any pictures or videos!

Mommy and Reese

 Clayton's pictures, I can never seem to pick just one. Each expression is always unique. Where does all that cheese come from anyway!? hahaha

Clayton's Birthday Celebrations

Well, Clayton is certainly three! Here he is practicing, first thing (6:40am) Thursday morning.

On Thursday morning around 10:00 am we had a little party for Clayton. Our neighbor (and friend), Heidi has a daycare and we often go to her house to play with them when they are outside (and have an adult conversation occasionally). She normally  has 4 toddlers there, but on Thursday she had just three of them and was able to easily walk them over for our little party. We had lots of fun and I think Clayton thought it was really neat that his friends came to play with him at HIS house.

All 5 kids playing together on the swingset

Clayton helping Mommy adjust the piñata

Hi Reese!

Clayton taking a swing at the piñata

Reese having a turn

Looking for the candy in the broken piñata

Clayton blowing out his candles in a banana bread muffin

You might also notice in these pictures, on the shed by the sandbox that there is some artwork taking shape there. Aunt Amy has been working on a construction site mural on the side of the shed as a present to the boys. She has the trucks done now and it looks awesome! There will be more to come on that later!

Sadly, there were parent/teacher conferences until late Wednesday and Thursday night so daddy was not around to help us celebrate that evening. After naps Clayton asked if  he could go to the park, so to the park we went. We played until it was time to come home for supper and had a great time, just mommy and the boys. We even got a a surprise visit that evening from Papa and Grandma Branz on their way out of town to give Clayton a little birthday present, three little toy monster trucks that both boys love. There is already a favorite one that gets fought over too!

After that, Clayton still wanted to go outside and play even though it was dark, we played anyway.

digging in the sand in the dark

I also thought it would be fun to lay down and look up at the stars since we were out after dark. The boys really liked it and we even spotted a few planes as well as the moon and stars!

Clayton and Mommy - Happy 3rd Birthday, Baby boy!!

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

Still backtracking today, but slightly more recent, only 1 week ago! The Seward MOPS group scheduled a "playdate" at JK's Pumpkin Patch which is north of Lincoln last Friday (October 4). It took pretty much exactly 1 hour to get there (and that included waiting for 10 min. to cross through the one lane section of Hwy 34 just east of York (argh!) I invited Grandma Dianne to meet us there so that there would be an adult to chase each of the boys since I wasn't sure what it would be like. It turned out to be a really fun time, this place is geared toward toddlers, pre-schoolers and even younger elementary school kids. The boys had a blast!

We arrived at about 11am, played until about noon. Tried to have lunch outside at a picnic table, ha ha. Then played until we went home at about 2pm. The boys slept all the way home, they were tired!

Their first favorite thing to do was play in the big sand box and they got to pick from probably a couple dozen toy tractors, bulldozers, excavators, and dump trucks to dig and drive in the sand. There were also slides off of hay bales, a swing set with a slide and horse shaped tire swings. There were ducks and chickens and a rooster just wandering free, and we may have lost track of Reese once or twice when he took off chasing after them!

Next we discovered a tub full corn with a slide into it. Both boys really enjoyed that one.

They had a few ridding and pedal powered toys around:

There was also a combine that had been transformed into a slide! How sweet! Clayton loved it too, but I guess we only got a picture of Reese doing it.

Reese climbing up the back ladder to go down the Combine slide

Reese coming down!

You could also climb some steps to sit up in the cab of the combine

Of course we got to take a hay rack ride out to the pumpkin patch itself so we could pick out our pumpkins!

One of the best parts I thought was two bounce houses. There was one for kids 5 and under and another for kids 12 and under, so we didn't have to worry about bigger kids in the bounce house with them. Luckily there just wasn't very many kids there and they were able to have all to themselves for a few minutes before it was time to go.

 What a fun day!

Last Weekend - Part 2, Apple Orchard!

Saturday morning we kind of got a slow start, but had plans to visit the Apple Orchard there in Nebraska City before heading back home.

The boys watching shows on the iPad while in their PJs Sat. in the hotel room.

The Apple Orchard was quite a bit more fun for the boys than I thought it could be. We got to take a high rack ride out to the orchard where they wanted us to pick the apples. A tractor pulling a trailer was enough to make Clayton's day, but then we actually got to ride in the trailer so that was pretty awesome. The man driving even let them each have a turn in the drivers seat when we got to the apples.

The boys enjoyed actually picking the apples too!

And even trying a bite!

But not so fun to pose and take a picture around our full box of apples I guess!

And then my favorite one from the whole day. Mommy and her boys getting ready to ride the wagon back!