The Boone Family

The past few weeks Bob has been traveling for work.  He was first in Cleveland and then this past week in Alabama so my mom came up to help out.  It has been wonderful to have an extra set of hands and an adult to talk with.  I have tried to jam pack as much fun as we possibly could into these two weeks! Our first fun excursion was a trip to the Xtreme Bounce Zone.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays they have open bounce from 10am-8pm. We arrived and before I could get my money out of my wallet, Carter had kicked off his shoes and stripped his coat and was off to the races on the blow up stuff.  He goes crazy in there!  It is the perfect place to take your kids to wear them out!  (That is always my goal each day...wear them out!) Maw Maw was just as quick to jump in with the boys.  There was one of the inflatables with a pretty steep hill to climb up to slide down , several times I watched Maw Maw slide down backwards laughing her butt off.  We then spent quite a bit of time climbing up this

As you all know I am a sucker for holidays and all the fun they can become.  St. Patrick's Day is no exception.  I found some really cool ideas on PINTEREST of course and wanted to try them out.  This year St. Patrick's Day fell on a Sunday so we started the festivities when we got back. I wanted to make green pancakes but the boys decided that they wanted cereal instead.  I was bummed but that was one less thing I had to worry about. I created a "rainbow" scavenger hunt for the boys to find the leprechaun's pot of gold.  I wasn't sure if they would understand or get into it but it was worth a try.  I created clues that would take the kids to something of a specific color.  Carter was so into it that he would shout out the answer before I could finish reading the clue.  He would run to where he thought the next clue would be.  I have to tell you I was loving his excitement.  At each clue I left "leprechaun coins" for the boys to collect along the

Girls Night Out is one of my favorite nights that I look forward to very often!  We all try to get together as much as we can but with our schedules, traveling husbands, and sick kids it can be difficult. Last Thursday night we were heading out to Deborah's house have girls night and when we arrived I quickly realized these crazy ladies had planned a surprise baby shower for me.  They had been asking me about what I needed and what they could buy for me and I said, "Girls, this is the third one...we have everything that we need, no need  for anything," As I soon found out...they are not good listeners. Deborah had transformed her dining room area to a magnificent party place.  She made the banner and all the fun tissue flowers.  The table was sprinkled with confetti and chocolate. Zuzanna had made one of her amazing cakes. Red velvet...yummy!  Since we don't know the sex of the baby she creatively made the cake with both pink and blue frosting! All of the

Easter seems so early this year being at the end of March so we quickly rushed to the mall to snatch a picture with the Easter Bunny.  Let me remind you of last years photo... Yep, that was what I was a little worried might happen again.  Tears and a fuzzy death grip from the easter bunny.   However, I was so pleasantly surprised!  Both of the boys went running up to the bunny and gave him a hug.  I tried to snag a photo of this blessed moment until the crazed bunny put his furry paw in front of his face as if to say "No Free Photos!" I reassured him that I would be buying the outrageously priced posed photo but that really didn't change his mind. Anyways, after the embrace the boys hopped onto the the bunny's lap and gave such a great cheese!  Here is the moment we have all been waiting for... Happy Easter!

Lowe's has a program called "Build and Grow" which is where they give kids a chance to build something together with their family.  My cousin used to participate in with his daughter and I couldn't wait until the boys were old enough to do it too.  I happened to come across a link to the page and signed the boys up to make a monster truck.  After Carter's Tae Kwon Do on Saturday we headed over to Jackson Lowe's to get building. When you arrive they give you an apron and safety goggles to wear and keep.  The boys were so stoked about putting them on that Bob and I could barely get them tied up before they began to build.  The lady gave each one of the boys a small hammer and a kit with the pieces for the project inside.  Bob and I quickly found a place in an aisle and got started. I know that this might sound silly but...this was such a great moment with the boys! Busy at work My little hammering man The finished product...monster mutt mo

As many of you know I am a little obsessed with finding things to do or places to go with the kids.  They have a great newspaper here called: Ann Arbor Family that comes out each month with upcoming events for that specific month.  I snatch one of those up every month and circle, highlight, and register for as many fun things as I can.  This month I noticed an ad for a play at the Detroit Music Hall.  The title for the play was "We're going on a bear hunt". It is based on the children's book and I have used this book while teaching before so I was familiar with it.  It said that it was an interactive play for children and this was the hook-line-and sinker for me. We loaded up the kids, Aunt Katie, and Grandma Angie and headed to the Music Hall to watch the play.  We got there early because I wasn't sure what to expect but this also gave us time to check out the venue.  It was actually pretty cool.  They had a lounge area with a little stage which looked like ba

Another event that we made sure to attend last weekend was Dr. Seuss's Birthday Party at the library.  My friend Zuzana was asked to make the cake for Dr. Seuss's birthday.  She is an amazing baker and cake designer so I was so excited to go and see the cake.  You know that this prego girl was also really looking forward to eating the cake too. The party was for 4-6 year olds so I was hesitant to sign Carter up.  I waited until the last day before the event and since there were still open spots and other 3 year olds were attending also I became a "rule breaker" and signed us up.  I did tell Carter that you had to be 4 to go so he was going to have to act like a 4 year old.  We talked about what being a 4 year old looked like...sitting still while listening to a story, taking turns, using good manners, etc.  When we got there and the librarian began to read he looks at me and says, "Mommy I am sitting and listening just like you said. Am I being a 4 year old?&quo

A cool event here is Chelsea is called "Super Saturdays".  This is where for the next four Saturdays in the month of March you can choose a class for your child to participate in.  They have gymnastics, sports, animal exploration, and tae kwon do.  This silly mom forgot to sign up Carter until the last minute so the gymnastics class was full so we had to try tae kwon do.  I have to admit that I was extremely excited about Carter trying tae kwon do.  He was a little unsure about what it was so we got a book from the library and read it several times.  On the way to the class he kept asking questions about it, like...Will I have to wear a white robe and a color belt? Do I get to take my socks and shoes off? Can I break a piece of wood with my foot today? Bob and I would just smile and remind him that it would all be new and we could find out when we got there. When we arrived we waited in the cafeteria until the instructor came to get the kids and lead them to class.  The inst

Last week we had a snow storm surprise which resulted in a snow day for Chelsea schools.  This means no teaching for me!  The best part about this was that not only did we get about 6 inches of snow but it was warm enough outside that we could bundle up and enjoy it.  Landon needed some convincing to get the courage to go outside but Carter was nipping at the bud to get out there in the snow.  We all got bundled up and headed outdoors.  The first job was to shovel the sidewalk.  I had recently purchased kid sized snow shovels to let the kids help us out.  I know it sounds a lot like child labor but they are really excited about helping out and I am going to go with this until it changes. All bundled up Hard at work shoveling After the shoveling was complete we decided to make a snowman family to represent our family.  The boys were so helpful for the first snowman but then I ended up finishing the rest.  Once the family of snowmen were complete we decided to paint them.  I