And the Winner is.....(drumroll please)....Belly Boy!

We had a birthday party celebrating Jacob's 2nd (March 13) and Nolan's 1st (April 12) birthday with the family on Saturday. We had a really fun time and thank you to everyone for coming and for the wonderful gifts (that we now have to find more room for!!!) As you can see from the pictures Nolan's cake mess was a perfect 1st birthday success and Jacob is thinking "Oofta, it's hard work turning two, having a party, and eating birthday cake". (Along with "chs, wink, squint"). What a day!

Connor and I were laughing at Nolan's big belly in the bathtub the other night and now call him Belly Boy. We decided to take pictures to see who actually has the biggest belly......

BIG (Connor -actually not so big- could get alot bigger!!)

BIGGER (Jacob -has trimmed down a bit)

BIGGEST (Nolan - holy cow, what is in that thing!!!) ;)

Childrens Museum and Boogers

We went to the Children's Museum today. We love this place and those of you who have been there before know how awesome it is!

We always make a long day of it, no naps and all (well, until the ride home, then everyone is out like a light). Thursday worked the best for my mom and I was thinking I was smart and it would be a great day to go to stay away from huge crowds. Note to self and to everyone reading this: Thursday is the day they allow buses to come and drop off kids - as in FIELD TRIPS and matching colored shirts and matching name tags. It ended up being fine, but there were quite a few rug rats running around. Some of the kids get so pushy and rowdy. I'm embarrassed to say I got a little pushy back and protective of the boys when it came to other kids budding in line, taking things away, and running and pushing (not that Jacob didn't try to just barge his way up and over a few kids on the rope climb - but I would pull him off while he was screaming telling him to wait his turn at least!) It was still a fantastic day filled with lots of bubbles, water, grocery shopping, bus driving, Sesame Street, ant tunnels, animals, wall climbing, surfing, and even a few "chs, squint, wink" from Jacob (though notice that it now has turned into both eyes being closed!)

Connor and my mom went to go do something and I guess he had a booger on the end of his nose and my mom picked it off to put it in a kleenex. Connor asks her, "Grandma, how come it's ok for you guys to pick my nose, but I can't?" Fair enough I guess.......

Even though we were tired, Connor had enough energy to play a couple of games of Mouse Trap again. Is it possible to get sick of a game already in a week? I'll let you know. He told us that he loves the game Mouse Trap SO much and it loves him too. They love each other. Oh boy....

"Egg"cellent weekend - corny I know, but I was struggling for a title

Hope everyone had a great Easter. We did! Friday night we started our Easter weekend off with supper with my family at my parent's house. We colored eggs, had an egg hunt, and watched basketball.

Saturday morning we headed to Eau Claire to see Matt's family, but first we met Papa John (Matt's dad) and Yaya at Govin's Meats and Berries (a lambing farm) in Menomonie, WI. What a fun place! We were thinking there would maybe be a few other families there, but when we got there we could hardly find a place to park and people were walking from down the road.

There were llamas, pigmy goats, dogs, cows and piglets. The baby lambs were adorable and the baby chicks were a huge hit with the boys. No matter what we would try to go see we would end up back at the chicks. Connor would just pick them up, turn them over, and giggle at their feet kicking.

The first time Jacob grabbed one I swear he almost popped the poor things' head off. He got better though and was so interested in the sound they made (picture of him listening).

We almost got to see a lamb being born. The farmer brought in a "just born lamb" from out back and was pushing the mama into the barn and said "this is what you are all here to see right - she's going to have another one". We waited for a little while, but the boys started to get antsy. I was preparing myself and waiting for questions from Connor about the whole process, but there weren't any - Whew! (When we were out for supper for Jacob's birthday we were talking to Aunt Kristin and Uncle Mattey about their baby - they are expecting and due in August -Yeah! Connor asked me how the baby comes out - to stall and give myself time to think about what to say I asked him what he thought. He got that "hmmmm" look on his face and then said "the ears? - they're holes, or the nose has holes". I could tell he was thinking about it though and how it doesn't really seem possible for them to come out of the ears or nose and was trying to think of other body parts that could work. I was about to say let's talk about this when we get home when the subject changed somehow and boy was I glad. The question hasn't come up again). We spent the day at Papa John and Yaya's and ate a delicious dinner there and then went to Nana's (Matt's mom, Barb) to play before bedtime. Sunday morning we had an egg hunt, went to church, and then to another delicious lunch.

It was very good to see everyone! When we got home the Easter bunny had come to our house so we had yet another egg hunt and a few presents.

Connor got the game Mouse Trap that he has wanted forever and I think we've played it 6 times already (which is not an easy task with a 2 year old and 1 year old trying to constantly grab at all of the pieces!) Connor says he loves the game because you get to "caughture" (mixture between capture and caught I guess) the people's mice!

Here are some pictures from the weekend worth a few laughs.

Again, notice Jacob's lovely "chs, wink, squint" in many of the pictures in this entry.

Connor wanted to put this picture of him in his new Spongebob pj's in here(or "Bumbob" according to Jacob). Carter, his older cousin, grew out of them and sent them to him. He loves them and wanted to say thank you to the Woods for all of the clothes.

Connor also wanted to share his clay creations with everyone. Though I know you can tell what each one of these lovely creative master pieces is I thought I would share just in case you have trouble! (tree with a monkey eating a banana, fooball, mouse, hamburger). How many did you get right?!

I am not sure what Jacob is doing in this picture -Matt took it, ask him to explain!

The joys of trying to get a good picture of little kids...here was our process
(and I didn't even put in about 4 of the pictures). I am always taking pictures and I'm sure everyone that is always around is annoyed at me saying "one more, one more try, oh that's not a very good one, one more, Connor keep smiling, Jakeyman, whoohoo......

Something just for fun and a few laughs or smile at least -

The Ginskey boys b-bopping:
http://www.jibjab.com/sendables/view/pQQRQjnuXZBNsVd5rPjHtaO0

We went to Connor's conference for preschool last night and the teacher was telling us how Connor is warming up and she is seeing the Connor that she saw way back in the fall when I went on a field trip with them. (I chaperoned a trip to the pumpkin patch and Connor was a little silly with me being there and his teacher said she had never seen that side of Connor and that he was always quiet, proper, and always doing what he was supposed to be doing - I told her to give him a little while!) So last night at conferences she tells us that his silliness comes out once in awhile now and the other day he was working at a table on one of their projects and the classroom aide said to Connor, "Connor, I think I've told you a couple of times now" (I'm assuming she asked him to settle down or something like it), to which Connor replies in an innocent and honest tone, "No, you've told me four times". She had to turn around to hide her laughing and tell him that's enough. Nothing like correcting the teacher that is reprimanding you. His teacher thought it was hilarious. Overall his conference went excellent. To think this is only preschool too, there are so many of these to come. I can't wait!

Hugs anyone?

So I got a phone call today at about 12:40 from Mary our daycare provider telling me that Nolan has diarrhea. She said she had to change the crib a couple of times, give him a couple of baths, change (and wash) his clothes, and clean out his shoes because it was so bad. Luckily it worked out with my schedule that I could leave because the last two classes I have I somewhat team teach, so the planning wasn't hard at all. I get to Mary's and as soon as I open the door she says "I'm sorry, but I had to change his clothes again and this was all I had to put him in!" I look down and I saw what you see in these pictures!







Too cute for words - he almost looked elf like or something. No, this outfit is not supposed to be capris and a short sleeved belly shirt. It is a 3-6 month outfit, and Nolan is now in 12-18 month stuff. I couldn't stop laughing everytime I looked at him. His smiles and facial expressions just made the outfit even more hilarious. I couldn't pass up the picture opportunity. For how icky his diapers were he was in great spirits, clingy and needy, but still happy.

Splashing Weekend

Nolan had his first real haircut Friday night. I've been trimming things here and there with the scissors, but I finally gave in and took him in to have it done. I want to start doing it myself for all of the boys, but just have to buy some trimmers.

Matt had his state basketball tournament in Buffalo this weekend. The team didn't do so well on Saturday, but won their game on Sunday. Not every team gets to end their season with a win, so that was nice. Basketball is now over. Matt had a good group of boys again this year.

We stayed at the Grand Rios hotel and had a blast. Nolan stayed with grandma and grandpa because I have a hard enough time keeping Connor and Jacob occupied at the basketball games. It ended up being a good thing he stayed with them because he was sick for them all weekend with the flu. We had a blast at the hotel (we've heard about the place, but never been there before) the boys loved the water park and Matt and I even were able to go down some of the big slides.

It has an indoor waterpark with a huge jungle gym with slides for the kids, big water slides, and a lazy river type of thing.

It also had a regular pool and hot tub and a huge playground like the McDonald's playroom.

A few memorable moments: Jacob was crazy at the water park and wanted to go down the blue slide that you see in the picture by himself. We finally gave in because he was having such a fit about it. Matt went to the bottom of it and I let him go at the top. He went flying down it flipping over and ending up being head first at the bottom and went majorly under water. Matt grabbed him and Jacob shook his head off, wiped his eyes, and gave a deep hearty laugh. He is a maniac. We had to hold him to keep him from going down it by himself and we had to bribe Connor to do it by himself with the hot tub. It's funny how different they can be. We were giving the boys a bath after swimming and Matt was asking me where I put the soap. I told him on the toilet top and Connor says to him "Right there you dufas". I had to leave the room because I was laughing. Matt got upset with him (and rightly so) because he shouldn't be saying that. However, Connor didn't have a clue that it wasn't a very nice thing because Matt and I say it sometimes to eachother when we're joking as in "you dork!". Connor also told me in reply to something I was saying to him -"Mom, it's not the end of the world" (He was right too....). Jacob's new thing is when he is having his picture taken he says "chs" and winks with this funny squint (see the pictures of him in this blog especially the one with him in the playground under the yellow pyramid). I have no idea where he got that from. What a great weekend! We were all exhausted when we got home last night though.

Look Who's 2!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Jacob! We love you!

Last sleep as a 1 year old.

Tonight we're going to the Pizza Ranch for supper to celebrate Jacob and grandpa's (March 2 - but we won't share how old he is!) birthday.

We're having a birthday party for Jacob and Nolan together in a couple of weeks. I don't have enough energy or time for two different parties in one month! Here Connor and Nolan are giving the birthday boy a kiss!

(and for those of you who are wondering what that is that Jacob is holding, it's a cinnamon roll that he had for breakfast!)

We love you Jakeyman!!!!