A nice little weekend at home...

Now that the holidays and work vacations and planning and present wrapping and baking and constant business are all things of the past, it was nice to have a weekend of nothing. To watch movies, eat pizza and let our kids provide us with the entertainment. They are funny little boys - and becoming increasingly funny every day. And though they are still a hand full when we are out and about, they do so well at home when it's just the four of us. They play nicely together and alone. While Brandon's first year of life wasn't so peaceful with constant ear infections and constant teething... causing him to not be the most content of babies... his second year of life has gone much smoother. And with two boys becoming increasingly independent and a toddler who can navigate up and down the basement steps whenever he likes allowing us to take down the baby gate and giving him full access to the play room whenever he chooses... it's getting easier and easier to enjoy relaxing days at home.

We did a lot of that this weekend. Our only adventures included a trip to Scratch for some cupcakes, our usual Sunday morning church visit -- which both of our boys enjoy greatly -- and an afternoon at the Phelps Youth Pavilion. (And a Panther win. State champs... and we are officially a Panther State again. All is well).

Last time we toured the Pavilion, Brandon was barely a year old. This time, he took a much greater interest in it all... and I think both boys would have allowed us to stay there an entire day if nap times hadn't gotten in the way. Be prepared - many pictures ahead. (I took over 150 at the pavilion!)

 

 

Daddy and Brandon share a love of artistry. Such an awesome family picture, Cody drew... ;)

 

Brandon of course LOVED the fish.

 
Brandon spotted the pretend snake and couldn't decide whether or not he liked it. It probably didn't help that Cody grabbed the snake and came after Brandon with it making hissing noises and pretending it was real. 

Jaden refused to crawl through this dark cave because he thought there would be bugs inside. Brandon ever so cautiously ventured in... and then didn't want to come out.

  

There was a new addition to the pavilion since the last time we visited - a nine-hole miniature golf course. Jaden is familiar with how golf is supposed to work due to his golf game on his Wii. Brandon of course just thought that the object of the game was to set the ball in the hole with his hands most of the time. ;)

We had a great view of the river. Brandon loves looking at large bodies of water.

They both greatly enjoyed this stage and hopped right on up to start singing and clapping and dancing together. They had the whole thing to themselves and didn't want their time in the spotlight to end...

...until one of the activities downstairs made a really loud booming sound... causing Brandon's face to look like this for about five minutes... ;)

 

 

Our weekend ended perfectly last night with a concert in the bath tub. I walked into the bathroom to the site of Jaden sitting down in the water singing a church song as loudly as he could while clapping along to the beat -- and Brandon standing in the tub, eyes closed, bouncing up and down on his legs and shaking his naked butt back and forth, swaying and clapping to the beat of Jaden's music. These two are developing a very nice little brother's band. It's so funny and cute that that they could go on tour together. Or at least become a YouTube sensation... ;)

Happy Monday!!