two monkeys in a tub

Just a few picks of one of my boys favorite activities, bathing. Lincoln has always loved the bath and Carson has come to love it as he has gotten older. The kids love to get in the bath and splash around together. They each have a favorite bath toy. Carson's favorite toy to bring to bath time are his sharks (I may have mentioned this but Sharks are a BIG hit in our house right now) Lincoln loves to play with the rubber ducky during bath time, I think he likes it mostly because he can both say duck and make a decent quaking noise.

Carson's shampoo Mohawk

Carson and his whale shark

Lincoln enjoying bath time

Lincoln and his favorite rubber ducky

Carson's wrinkley feet

Mothers day

These are the two kiddos who did it to me, who gave me my favorite title ever: Mom. I love being a mom although it can often be emotionally and physically exhausting. It is absolutely amazing to have a little baby and see it grow into its own little personality and discover the world around it. I am so grateful for all the mothers in my life who have influenced me and set good examples of motherhood (this is a long list, just know that if you are related to me you're on the list). I want to especially thank my mom for all that she had done for me. I am sure I didn't appreciate her as I should have as a child, but I do now as a mother. This Mothers Day, Nate went all out as he usually does, and gave me a completely responsibility-free day. Nate made all the meals, did all the cleaning and took care of all the child care. Nate made the most delicious steak and brochette appetizer. I was very impressed. Now I know that Nate is capable of making dinners beyond mac n'cheese and pancakes! Sorry Nate, you cover is blown. Also Carson got up to sing to me with the rest of the primary kids in church. I can't believe he is so old. To clarify, he didn't actually sing; he mostly just stood there and waved at me, but I'll take what I can get.

Me and monkey number 1 (I tried to get a picture with both boys but Lincoln would not cooperate sooooo he got his own pic)

My adorable baby monkey eating/blowing a dandelion

Time flies when you are having fun

Last week Nate and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. We went out to dinner at the melting pot, which was sooo fun and soooo yummy (I'm still trying to work off the weight I put on during that one meal). Anyways, I can hardly believe we have been together that long. The time has gone by so quickly. But here we are 8 years, 7 moves, 2 degrees, 2 homes and 2 kids latter. It has been an amazing and fun journey, I can't wait to see what adventures the next years of our marriage will bring

Us at the beginning of our marriage in Oregon

Us today with our 2 little monkeys

April

April has been a busy month for us. We have been busy enjoying the nice weather, playing soccer, hunting for Easter eggs, and visiting with family. The blog entries below are my attempt to catch up my much neglected blog. :o)

A taste of summer

April brought just enough nice weather to make us really really really want it to be summer time. We tried to make the most of these nice days by spending plenty of time outdoors. We went to some of our favorite spots and enjoyed some of our favorite summer treats while this taste of summer lasted.

Carson and Nate throwing rocks in a small pond (a activity I think Nate enjoys just as much as Carson)

On a walk down by the Boise river we saw this cool tree and let Carson climb up in it

When the weather warmed up into the 80's I was convinced summer was coming early so I bought a ton of otter pops and a kiddie pool. Unfortunately the weather didn't stay nice long enough to get out the pool but the kids did love the otter pops.

Lincoln finishing off his otter pop.

Soccer

Also, this month I officially became a Soccer mom. Carson started soccer the first weekend in April. I'll be honest, the first couple of games were touch-and-go. Some weeks he was into the game, but others not so much. But since we payed an outrageous amount of money for him to play soccer we (and when I say "we" I mostly mean Nate) started giving him "energy pellets"(the name was also Nate's idea) to keep him motivated throughout the game. What are "energy pellets" you might ask? Basically it's candy that Nate has convinced Carson will give him lots of energy to keep running throughout the game. While I have mixed feelings about this strategy it has seemed to work and Carson will stay in the game most of the time. There have been many entertaining moments throughout the soccer season, mostly at the beginning when Carson was just becoming acquainted with soccer. At Carson's first soccer game he hadn't quite grasped the concept of boundries. As a consequence, he would kick the ball out of bounds and just keep going and going and going until the coaches chased him down and to bring him back to the soccer field. Also, Carson scored his first goal during his very first game, well, if you count pushing the ball in the goal with his hand. We were still very proud. :) Since the first game, Carson's bloopers have included pulling on his team mates jersey so that he could kick the ball and tackling other players (I think he momentarily got soccer confused with football). Overall it has been a good experience for Carson and definitely an entertaining experience for us.

Our cute little soccer player

Nate giving Carson his "energy pellets"

Carson practicing before the game

Easter

Since I have to start somewhere in order to get this blog caught up, I guess I'll start with Easter. We had a nice Easter this year; much more low-key than last year when we attended 3-4 Easter egg hunts. We decorated eggs, but I don't have any pictures. They were some pretty spiffy Easter eggs. We voted on whose egg was the ugliest and whose was the prettiest. Nate won for the ugliest egg by finally achieving one of his life-long goals: the creation of a black Easter egg. Carson won for the prettiest egg which was a really nice grass green color. So essentially the Snows wasted the Pearces (my brother and his wife) in the egg decorating competition. The kids got Easter baskets on Easter morning, which sadly were a little bit lame because I waited until the Saturday before Easter to shop for them. I didn't realize how picked over stuff gets if you wait to the very end. Luckily Carson didn't seem to notice and was most excited about his chocolate bunny. A week or so after Easter my parents came into town and did another Easter egg hunt with the boys. They loved it.

Carson showing one of his eggs

Showing Grandma his candy

Lincolns Easter loot

Lincoln showing Heather his eggs