One more month as a 3 year old!

In one-month, Braden will be 4! So crazy to think about. 

We ate our first item from the garden... well, Anthony did because I detest cilantro. It was fun and Braden was slightly confused because I told him things wouldn't be ready to eat until around his birthday. He seemed to like the cilantro, too.

Little things like these help me get through the baskets of laundry I face each weekend! I know my life would be easier if I did some during the week, but... so glad our washer and dryer take big loads! Laundry seems to grow exponentially with 2 kids... although that seems to be the case with everything going from one kid to two! And there are no plans to further test the hypothesis by adding a third.

We couldn't find Hunter's toothbrush the other day... it was another fun laundry surprise!

My little, snuggle bug! Having lunch after our last hike of the Spring (unless we get another unexpected cool snap).

Getting warmer.

So we hit 100 this past weekend and we decided to embrace it and get in our pool! I predicted Hunter and Daddy would get in and Braden and I wouldn't be able to handle the 77 degree water. But we all went in and enjoyed the dip! It's supposed to cool down again this week, so probably won't get in again for awhile, but who knows.

If you can guess this word you get a... banana (yep, that's it!)

I got the kids some cute little squirt bottles from the Target $1 bin.

 This is how they are primarily used! 

 We've begun our picnic and swimming outings to the gym pool since it's heated.

 Hunter is patiently waiting until after we finish dinner.

 And checking out some kids behind us that he just might give a squirt.

 Here's Braden being Buzz Lightyear on my yoga mat. I think he thought it was a bit more cushiony than it really is.

 Chillin' with a juice box at Kyndal's birthday party. 

 Buddies. 

 Someone wanted to get in on the present opening...

and he made his way there eventually.

 Braden hung out with the cool kids. 

 Braden had the camera for awhile. It was fun to see the pictures he took! There seems to be a theme around footwear! 

 No matter whose party it is, my kids are always near the cake! This was a princess themed party for Miss Kyndal. I think there was 1 other girl there. We heard some comments about the pink princess theme from some of the boys in the group! She wears her princess well though... girly, but not too girly!

 Taking a crack at the pinata. 

 And Hunter wouldn't pass that up. When he saw what came out, he was quite impressed!

 First swim in the pool for the year on April 22nd!

 Warming up.

 Beach towel season.

 Daddy sprayed some water and it stirred up this little lizard. The boys had a great time checking him out. We decided to give him a name. I suggested Leo... Braden wanted Sputnik... hummmmm.

First Suns game.

 Braden and Hunter went to their first Suns game this week! We got tickets to go see Nolan Smith when he came into town since he was one of my favorite recent Duke players. They did great and it's much easier than a Diamondbacks game because Hunter has less of a chance to escape!

 Hanging out with Daddy and snacking!

 Braden associates sporting events with the chocolate cake that they always have in the suite!

 Hunter found lots of ways to keep himself occupied.

 Too bad Braden wasn't cooperating for the family photo-op! I could pretend he was really interested in what was happening in the game, but that would be a lie.

Hunter's been enjoying feeding bear lately. This time it's some banana. 

And we're still garbage truck fans!

Can you guess his favorite movie of late?!

Taking advantage...

of the beautiful weather because we're not sure how much longer it will be around! Our winter is coming. We went to the pool the other night with the Minnick's and Nicole and I went in the sauna. We asked ourselves why we were doing that since it was the hotness we would be living in in a couple months! So we're taking advantage of outside activities that don't involve a pool for as long as we can!

This, of course, includes the Train Park.

And swinging competitions.

And help with swinging. I think this is so sweet. And that little hop he does is something that's he's picked up since his foot problem. By the way, we saw Dr. Hrasky this past week and he said Braden looks "fantastic!" We were all very happy with that report! 

 We got a raised garden to put in the backyard! We worked on getting it planted on Friday because it was supposed to rain on Saturday (I think we got about 20 drops in total). 

Braden planted

 

and watered.

Hunter got in on the action, too.

 Everyone got there hands a little dirty. We're calling it our salsa garden because we have tomatoes, peppers and cilantro. We also planted some basil, mint and a random parsley plant that we thought was cilantro. No starting from seeds with these happy gardeners! We'll see if we can keep them alive here in the desert!

 I should have known that my dirt lover would especially love the wet, fluffy dirt of the garden. We always know where he is in the backyard these days! 

 Braden wanted to go for a ride on his bike today for the first time since his foot infection! 

They are really turning into dinosaurs these days!

Happy Easter!

I love this song and think it sums up the day pretty well... "We are free, He died and lives again!

Braden and I went to our first play. Well, Hunter and Daddy went too, actually. Toby wasn't able to go at the last minute, so Daddy and Hunter came along. We thought Hunter would last through the first 5-minutes but actually sat through 75% of the show... the stillest and longest length of time in his 2-years of life! Do we have a theater bug in our family? 

I presented a check from my company and Braden came up on stage with me. He's being a bit shy in this shot! We saw Tomas and the Library Lady. Childsplay always does a wonderful job with their performances!

 

 Tempe Center for the Arts is a great place to explore!

 Me and my baby boy.

 Checking out Tempe Town Lake. It always make me a little sick seeing it because I swam in that nastiness once.

 More exploring.

 As good as I could get of the 2 of them actually looking at the camera. 

 This is pretty telling of the Easter egg hunt... Braden keeping the basket from Hunter. I had a bad feeling about it from the get-go but we gave it a shot.

 Hunter did score one piece of candy before it was all called off!

 Hunter also decided to get into Daddy's hair gel and deodorant today. 

 I thought he was being awfully quite in the playroom... 

 Daddy did give some shaving lessons during bathtime tonight.

This time Hunter was allowed to have something like this all over his hands!