Puddle Jumping!

This one is dedicated to my friends Kim Kelly and Christina Leonard.  I think they were the last people I purposely played in puddles with.  Don't know what possessed us to do it, maybe it was finals week, but we splashed through every puddle CBC had to offer.  Just remember lots of laughing, getting completely soaked, and receiving plenty of crazy looks from our classmates.

Blake and I had just as much fun!

 This is what rain boots were made for!

 Really?  You really WANT me to jump in these puddles?

This IS fun!

I love making memories with my little boy.  Someday when he's all grown up and receiving telephone calls for "Mr. Blake Patient," I'll smile and remember these days of puddle jumping, hunting frogs and collecting sticks.  Thank you, Lord for these precious days.

Happy Easter!

Last week was a busy one for the Patients.  Both Network Conference and Fine Arts Festival for the Ohio Assemblies of God churches were in full swing, which meant we saw very little of Steve.  Blake and I did head over to the convention center and saw lots of old friends.  Love that!  And we even managed to squeeze in a couple of lunches with Steve.  In the midst of the craziness I forgot all about posting Easter pictures!

 Loving these adorable "fishy" eggs that my mother-in-law sent.  I think Blake had just as much fun playing with the eggs themselves as eating the M&M's and fruit snacks hidden inside!

 Figuring out how to pop them open!

 The only picture I took before church.  A fact that I would come to regret when he soaked his pants in the church nursery!  Notice the Spiderman wristwatch.
 

I put my sewing skills to use and made him this fun bow tie!  I will definitely be making more.  Maybe for Uncle Nathan's wedding rehearsal?

Birthday Craftin'

 Blake likes to "make crafts for Daddy."  This usually means scribbling a picture on construction paper.  Right now Blake is great at drawing snakes.  We thought we'd bring out the big guns for birthday crafting...PAINT!!!

 

We started out well, just happy to be painting, then...

...a trip to time out for throwing the paintbrush at Mom.  (I just had to sneak this picture)

After recovering from the meltdown he played with the moon dough barn (in the background), while I made cupcakes.  He covered himself (and the floor) in moon dough, so the clothes came off.  Then he devoured a cupcake.  Afterward he ran away from me and tracked moon dough and chocolate cupcake crumbs across the living room.  Bath and bedtime could not come fast enough.

 

The next morning we were both in much better spirits and ready to finish the project.

"Take a picture of the nail, Mom."

 

His favorite part was stretching the rubber bands.

It's a maze!  Notice the marble in the bottom left hand corner.  I love that he is old enough to work on projects with me.  A giant maze would be so much fun for an older kid to make, but the smaller "Blake" version was fun too!

Happy Birthday to Steve!

Homemade chocolate cupcakes with espresso buttercream icing, and a chocolate covered coffee bean on top.  That's what I call a good birthday :)

I wish I had another one right now!

Cupcakes were made to be eaten like this, right before your mom plunks you into the bathtub!

Over the River And Through the Woods...

One of the wonderful parts of moving to Columbus is that we live closer to my grandma.

 Yesterday, we made the trip for a day's visit.  We managed to avoid the rain both coming and going too!

 Blake was turning the tables on a word game she likes to play.  As she names and taps each part of your face she'll say "forehead bumper, eye twinker, eye blinker, nose smeller, mouth eater, chin chomper and....a GOBBLE, GOBBLE, GOBBLE!"

 After the "gobbling," which involves a good bit of tickling. :)

 I really need to get this on video next time.  He loves to "preach" to Grandma and Charles.  They must make a great congregation because he does it every time we visit.

 So, I guess this was an illustrated sermon.  They had these palm branches from their service on Sunday laying around.  He was showing them how the people said "Hosanna!"

 Grandma asked him if she could testify.  While she was talking he leaned in to listen and then let out the longest, loudest, stinkiest toot he has yet to produce.  At that point we all lost it and could not stop laughing.  He kept saying, "Guys!  Calm down.  It's not that funny."

For as long as I can remember, Grandma has stood in the doorway as we drive away and motioned "I Love You."  She still does it to this day, and I just had to capture it.  I am so blessed!

Fun at the Zoo!

We joined some friends and headed to the Columbus Zoo yesterday.  It was a perfect sunny spring day so we couldn't resist the chance to have some fun OUTSIDE!

This was such a cool moment.  The tiger stayed there for a couple of minutes, sizing them up, too.

 

Look closely at the left side of his collar and you'll see what's left of the bird poop that fell on Blake.  It was on his hat and shirt, and he had wiped it on his face before I could stop him. Mega Yuck!

My friend Mandy and her littlest one.  He loves to cheese for the camera.
Fun day!

Easter Eggs!

 I was so excited to realize that Blake would be old enough to really enjoy hunting for Easter eggs this year.  We dyed our first official batch this weekend.

 

These are "no spill" egg dying containers.  They definitely prevent the threat of a gigantic spill, but we still had our share of drips.

Shake it!  Shake, shake, shake it like a polaroid picture!

 We made a few pink ones, so I wouldn't feel completely left out!

 Cheesin' it up!

 I would have loved to take a picture of the finished products, but the camera batteries died.  You can see a couple of neon specimens drying in the background though!

At this point we still have a decent amount intact, but our hiding and hunting led to quite a few cracked eggs.  Apparently 2 year old boys are not naturally gentle creatures!