Good Food and Good Fun on Good Friday

This year, the Bramble Good Friday tradition continued. We eat seafood of some sort at my parents' house, and we enjoy the fact that it's a day without meat. We are all seafood fans, and this year we ate basil pesto tilapia. It was delicious.

We dyed eggs tonight because we will spend the day at Papa Tim's with the McDaniels. We're looking forward to seeing Mel, Marisa, Angelo, Monique and Papa Tim. Last year we had the world's best Easter egg hunt, and hopefully we will have another one tomorrow. (Come on weather and cooperate!)

I bought Max and Myles a new Easter outfit today, so I am also anxious for the actual day to show everyone how adorable the McDaniel boys are in their new duds!
Check out Daddy's approach to dying eggs. He says the color will be darker if you spin them fast. :)

Molly and Max taking time to pose.
Myles and Libby looking sweet.
And of course, we have GJ in charge. Thank goodness she boiled all of the eggs. She is the deviled egg queen, so she will use the eggs tomorrow when she makes them.

TEB Aka The Easter Bunny

TEB is how my mom has always shortened The Easter Bunny. Kelly, Angie, and I would all tell you how my mom loves to shorten anything when she is writing notes. (I'm typing this in here to get a giggle from them!)

Anyway, we went to see TEB, and we were 10 minutes early for his arrival. We waited, and soon enough, TEB was walking down the hallway toward us. Myles walked right over and gave him a "high 5". It was priceless.

I reminded the boys that they had seen TEB the day before at school. He was at Building Blocks to visit the kids during their Easter party. I was hoping they would walk right over and sit on his lap, and they did. Too bad I did not get any pictures of Max and Myles looking right at me. Well, at least TEB was looking!

"Some Bunnies" Special

I just love these bunnies---the real ones AND the paper ones. How cute are they?? I found these darling bunnies in the boys' cubbies at school and just about died. Seriously. I love stuff like this, and I save it all too. Don't ask me where I am going to put all of it, but it's too precious to not keep.

Under the picture it says, "This little bunny will last for years. He is so cute, with foot-long ears." The ears are literally footprints. I cannot stand how much I love them! (The bunnies AND the boys!)

Fun at the Mall

The boys had lots of fun at the mall this weekend. They love to ride on the merry-go-round, and we loved having Aunt Monique, Eddie, and Papa Tim with us. It was really great, because Monique and Eddie rode with the boys. (Many of you know of my terrible motion sickness...) I loved watching the boys from the "outside" this time, and it was nice to be able to take a few pictures. Aunt Monique also took some of these pictures.
Eddie riding next to Myles.
Max on the horse next to Monique.


There is a little play area next to the merry-go-round, and Max and Myles loved climbing around.


Oh the thought of these two driving! This scares me! But, they do look pretty darn cute!

Who Knew...

miniature M&Ms could be so messy? I guess with little boys anything can be messy!


Look how clean Max's face is. Funny to see the contrast.

One thing's for sure...I love these 2 little faces!!

Darling Boys!

(In case you haven't figure this out--These are the "before" pictures.)

Okay, so many of you know about how I love Max and Myles' curls...who wouldn't? I have trouble thinking of cutting them. Both of the boys were quite afraid the first time they got their hair cut, so when they told me they wanted to go after school today, I jumped on it.

We went back to Sports Clips. We hate the thought that we were not at our friends' barbershop, but hopefully the boys will be comfortable to go there soon. We know Jay would do a great job cutting their hair. They just remembered where we had gone, so that's where we went. (And I love that Myles said it was by Jose Pepper's...you think he's been there a time or two? ) :)

When we were driving to get haircuts, here was the conversation between the boys:
Myles: "Max, you go first, I go second."
Max: "Okay. I go first. Wait, Myles. How about if we both go second?"

Max eventually offered to go first. He got right into the chair and sat nice and still. I think my bribe worked, because he held is dum dum sucker in his hand the entire time he was getting his hair cut. He could not wait to get down and open it up!
Look at this precious face!
I told Max the "big boys" get their hair cut with the clippers.

When it was Myles' turn, he walked right over to the guy who lifted him in to the chair. (We have come a long way. The last time Myles was screaming while I held him down so the guy could cut his hair.)
They were just getting started in this picture.
Look at this precious face too! Can you stand it??
GJ and Papa are always asking the boys when they were going back for a haircut. So we stopped by to show them as a surprise. Unfortunately, Papa was gone and in Las Vegas. Molly and Libby were there though! Libby was downstairs for her piano lesson, but we managed to get one pic with Molly.
Here we are after baths and reading before bed. You cannot quite see how adorable their hair is, but trust me. It is. And thanks, Sean, for getting me at my finest!! (He never takes pictures, but decides to take on with me in my jammies!) This is my favorite time of the day, so at least I'll have a picture of me to remember.

A Weekend at Home

What a wild weekend with a snow storm in March--almost April! I honestly believe snow days and days when I stay home with sick boys are God's way of giving me a "quiet day".

I went to the store to buy ingredients for Sean's awesome chili recipe (It includes beer...need I say more?) so Sean could make it with all of the snow we were predicted to get here in KC. I was surprised when I looked outside Saturday morning and saw nothing. Once it began to rain and sleet, I was actually relieved we were getting some form of precipitation. Sean made his fabulous chili, and the boys and I managed to keep busy inside doing "nothing". I absolutely loved it. Max, Myles, and I stayed in our jammies all day.

Here is Myles with his "helicopter". You gotta give him some creativity credit, because it does look like propellers! Both boys were happy when I took out the Tinker Toys. They had been taken away after one-too-many hits with the sticks. (Note to parents: Think twice before buying these toys if there are two little boys involved! Sorry, Papa Tim!)

Here are the boys in their sleeping bags. We watched Cars with the lights off like in the theater. Although it lasted only about 20 minutes, I enjoyed it! Notice my laundry basket---I was also doing laundry. Where in the world does it come from??? I swear ours multiplies!

Here is Max getting ready to go outside in the snow. It's amazing what the boys will find to do when playing in the snow. Neither one was bothered by the soaking wet pants or shoes. They were just happy to be in the snow!

So I am headed to bed feeling rested, organized and very happy. We all have clean beds, clean laundry, the toy room is picked up, and our house is well...as clean as it gets! It was a productive weekend INSIDE!