Mothers Day

I got my favorite present again this year for Mothers Day......flowers. I got to pick some out for the front of the house during Spring when everything looked beautiful. thanks boys!!!!

Great find!

So, one of the things that has kept us sane in a big city is the incredible metropark that runs throughout all of Cleveland and the suburbs. It is about a mile from our house and we are there every couple of days letting the boys be boys. Trent took Raef out on Saturday and found this beautiful spot that even has some pine trees so it reminds of the west a bit. Hey, every little thing helps. It is a bit of a hike down to the water but well worth it.

No more whining!

Yes! Not only did we finally get some sunshine, but we got 80 degree weather. Love it!!! The boys stayed outside all day for the whole week, keeping my house clean. Man, I love that part about summer. And we got to eat out on the deck. That is my favorite part about this house and the moment we can use it, we do.

Rainy day

Another rainy day with two boys who just want to run around in some sunshine! We created a dinosaur island in Raef's room and kept occupied for the day. Running out of ideas fast.

Big brother

Give two boys boots, animals, a little bit of warm weather, and some mud and they will disappear for the day. Ryan stared at Raef as he moved his elephant herd through the muddy canal and then decided to join in the fun.

Lucky Day!

I actually heard about the big dental school dance this year and was surprised that Trent was interested in going. Not just interested, but had already bought the tickets? What? Trent going to a dance? Oh! Then I found out the dinner and dance would be held at the Indians baseball stadium in the Terrace Club. Now I get it! I didn't care though. Any excuse to dress up and see Trent dance was well worth it. Mom flew in and watched the boys and off we went. We had more fun than we have had in many years. We danced and ate a delicious dinner and danced some more. Camron and his date sat with us for dinner and then we just got lost in the night. It was magical. We decided we need to do something like this every year!

New camera

Trent ordered a new camera that the Air Force reimbursed for so he could take some pics of patients at school. But we also ordered another lense so I could use it for the boys. We have had so much fun trying to learn how to take beautiful pictures. Here are two of Trents first pics. He did pretty good!

Easter

So, after much waiting and watching, the Easter bunny did make it to Cleveland. We took the boys to a hunt in a nursery and learned to what length parents would go to get their precious little ones an egg full of tootsie rolls. Wow! Trent actually got corralled and then almost trampled and he never left the 1 year and under area! Rough day! By the end of the hunt(approx. 1 minute after it began--I wish I was joking), Raef had collected 6 eggs and Goobers 4. Which by looking at the many children walking around looking for one, seemed pretty great considering mom and dad didn't touch any eggs. Raef said to me, "mom, I didn't win." So, after calming a steaming dad down and heading back home, Trent determined to have his own Easter day hunt in the backyard and off to Target he went. The boys invited a couple of friends over and found the Eggs in the yard a few times. They didn't even care what was in them. They just loved the hunt.

The boys each got a helicopter and fighter jet in their baskets and way too much candy to even be allowed in a hygienist and soon to be dentists' house! Trent made them a small runway and let them watch a few parts of "Top Gun" to get them jazzed up. So, for days they flew their jets by the paper towel tower and did a fly by all the while singing the theme song. Very cute! I laughed because when they initially got an jet each, they naturally picked an Air Force and a Navy one. Which made me chuckle considering the battle Camron and Trent have over who is the tip of the sword( Camron joined the Navy and Trent the Air Force). Pssss.....don't tell them they are dentists, not fighter pilots!

Our two little studs

Kalahari

After a long day swimming at the Kalahari(an gigantic indoor water park) the boys snuggled up, insisting that they sleep together, and watched Bolt. Well, actually I think everyone was asleep before too long. It was party day. Licorice and juice in hands after being spoiled all day long. Camron ended up coming with us after missing a flight to Puerto Rico. I'm sure he had fun with the boys but I'm not sure the indoor experience of white, flabby people could beat the hot sun and beautiful beach and bodies in Puerto Rico. What a great Spring Break!

Cam followed Ryan around most of the day. They have become best buds and I'm not sure which one is more in love. Last year I ruined any hopes of a good day at the water park when I placed little Ryan in the water and let him wade around with me. All was well until a giant bucket tipped over and dumped a huge amount of water right next to us with a very loud noise. I screamed and ran out, leaving Ryan behind. I know, I'm a terrible mom. So he did not want anywhere near the water this year. I held my breath this year, waiting to see how he reacted. he did great. He took some time to warm up to the slides and getting under the water but as soon as he got into the giant hottub, he became completely fearless along with Raef. They swam all over by themselves(and their life vests) and loved every minute of it. It was a great weekend and a nice break from the normal day.

Spiderman

So, we finally stayed up and watched Spiderman with Raef wondering if it would dash all of his thoughts that he was really Spiderman. But it actually did the opposite. And to make matters worse, the spider bite that Spiderman gets in the movie is in the exact same spot Raef's freckle is on his hand. Wierd huh? Maybe he really is Spiderman. Then as we're watching the part in the movie when he wakes up and realized that he has gigantic muscles, I look over and Raef is sitting up taller and taller and flexing every muscle in his body. We couldn't help but laugh. Everytime Spiderman went flying through the sky, he would yell, "look, mom its me, Spiderman." We had a costume from a previous Halloween and dug it out and watched as Raef transformed into Spiderman. He was shooting webs at us and crouching down just the movie. We were laughing hystically for an hour as he performed.

Yes, we hit 0 degrees today! Okay, seriously enough is enough! We are dreaming of a tropical vacation that maybe we will get to in oh maybe 5 years! Still though it is a good dream. I am wondering how my boys are so completely opposite and if possibly Ryan was supposed to be twins! There is a lot of energy bundled up in that adorable little boy. He follows me around the house saying, "mama, where are you?". It melts my heart. But recently he has picked up Raef's fabulous question of "huh?" or "what?". That definitely gets me agitated when Raef says it a thousand times a day and now I have two of them saying it. Last week after dinner I sent Raef upstairs to get his pjs on and he didn't return. Of course I noticed right away(well, okay maybe 10 minutes later) and went upstairs to see what kind of trouble he had made. He was in the bathroom hiding behind the door. I realized a second later why he was hiding. His face had been colored with a black permanent marker leaving only a few sparce spots of skin. He looked like he had a black mask on. He said sorry as soon as he saw my reaction which was probably a puzzled look as I was trying to decide what I would use to explain my son's black face at church the next day. Luckily it came off pretty easy, although I think Raef learned his lesson quickly as i had to scrub to get it off. Trent saw it and told Raef no books for bed because of what he had done. Raef was devastated. That is his favorite time of the day. Trent went downstairs too mad to deal with him and I got him ready for bed and calmed him down. We talked about what had happened and I explained why daddy was so mad. Raef very sadly said, "mom, I just wanted to be a superhero like daddy." My heart sank. Trent has a brown spot on the back of his arm that Raef thinks is a spiderbite which makes daddy Spiderman. he really does believe daddy is a superhero. Then he found a freckle on his hand and proudly showed everyone he knew and didn't know explaining how he was a real superhero. That was the day he made himself a mask. what superhero doesn't have a mask? Needless to say, Trent slept with his little superhero that night.