The Boys Dream Weekend!!!

So many neat pics and even a video of the teacup fools if you click! This past weekend Craig and I checked the boys out of school on Friday at 10 and headed to Dallas for a weekend catered to little boys...two days at Six Flags and VIP Tours of both the Texas Rangers Baseball Stadium AND the Dallas Cowboys Football Stadium! To say my guys had a fun weekend is a severe understatement!

We got up to Dallas and just our luck, it was pouring! The good news is that by the time we checked into our hotel the rain had stopped so we headed over to the park and hit the jackpot...it was dead! The storm scared everyone off so what was a crowded park in the afternoon became a ghost town for us to enjoy! Six Flags Over Texas is at least twice the size of the one we frequent in San Antonio, with so many more rides so we were grateful to have this extra time to ensure we rode everything we wanted to! Unfortunately the rain made a U-turn around 8:30 so we headed back to the hotel just in time to meet up with Gaga, Papa, Aunt Christy and Uncle DJ... who were flying out of Dallas to Las Vegas on Saturday at 11pm and decided to meet us and join us for Six Flags on Saturday.

Holy cow did I get the best surprise ever...the elevator doors opened and my precious Molly was with them!!! My Mom had been in Vegas all of last week as well and Kerry was gracious enough to let her bring Molly back with her to spend the day with us since my Mom was literally only back in Texas for 48 hours before returning to Vegas! Molly and I spent the whole night snuggling, playing and bugging Uncle Craig who was trying to sleep (for reasons unknown since she doesn't see him that often...Molly is obsessed with Craig, has been since she was a teeny, tiny peanut and apparently still is!)

Saturday was Day 2 at the park, this time with everyone! We had such a fun time taking Molly on her first rides, riding coasters with the boys and enjoying a perfectly overcast day!!! Luke was able to ride two different coasters much to his delight, as well as the two different log rides (complete with giant hills) and spent his day repeatedly riding them over and over and over again! Brian and Matt were tall enough to ride the two biggest coasters in the park...the Texas Giant and the Titan and happily jumped on! The Titan is actually the tallest coaster in Texas, topping out at over 25 stories tall, lasts for almost two and a half minutes and goes over 82 mph!!! I am so blown away by the level of fear my boys DO NOT seem to possess. Brian and Matt are climbing on rides that some adults are afraid of and Luke is literally sobbing that he is too small for them!!! They are always the littlest ones in the lines and come off with smiles on their faces! My goons not only have no fear of speed and height, they also don't mind getting dizzy to the point of almost vomiting! DJ and Craig took them not once but twice on the giant teacups, spinning to levels that impressed even the ride operator and had people in the park stopping to watch! (Let's put it this way...Craig's shoulders were sore the next day from the amount of use he was putting into them to spin like a lunatic!!!) The operator literally made them sit in the cup for a good minute after they stopped spinning for fear they would all hurt themselves! (Who in their right minds think this is fun?!?!?)

Sunday brought even more fun with tours of two really cool stadiums...The Rangers and The Cowboys! We managed to snag VIP tours of both and spent our day going into dugouts, media rooms, press rooms, bullpens, the most expensive club seating rooms, locker rooms, the famous "tunnels", owners suites, inside the indoor private batting cages, storage facilities and even saw the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders practicing! The best part was the boys getting to go down on the Cowboy field and play football with each other! They tried kicking field goals, running the full distance of the field and just playing with Daddy! This was truly a trip for the boys and I think we finally managed to exhaust them! If only we could do this every weekend...we might actually get some peace and quiet around here!!!

Field Day!

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On Friday morning the boys got to participate in the school's annual field day! This year's theme was pirates (Luke was in heaven!!!) and my boys were downright giddy for this morning of fun. Field day is put on by the PE coaches, all "other" teachers and a whole lot of volunteers! The kids rotate as a class through 12 stations, some soaking them and others just plain silly. They earned pirate coins at each station for a job well done which they got to redeem at the end for treasure! It is the one day the kids in school look forward to as they are allowed to let loose and just be kids!!! Luke really got into...donning his Jake gear and even posing with a "real" pirate!!! (Note...my boys did not want one of the school shirts as they thought they were ugly, therefore they wore their own ideas of get wet pirate clothes!)

Mother's Day Weekend!

Click for LOTS of FUN!!!

What a SUPER FUN weekend we had!!! We pulled the boys out of school early on Thursday in order to head to my parents for our weekend at Jellystone...that's right...the home of Yogi Bear for Family Camp!!! But first there was a pitstop at my parents house for three reasons...to pick them up as they were heading to Jellystone with us, to leave Ally & Wilbur with Uncle DJ and to not only meet but actually PLAY BASKETBALL with "our friend Aaron Gray", the 7 foot tall NBA player for the New Orleans Hornets that lives right next door to my parents:) My boys are in love with idea of being friends with an NBA player as they eat, sleep and breathe anything sports and have literally been telling everyone they know they are friends with a real NBA player! Aaron couldn't have been nicer to the boys playing basketball on the driveway for an hour and a half with them and even telling them to knock on his door whenever they are around for "playdates".

Friday morning we woke up and headed to Jellystone, a beyond fun family campground in NW Houston (there are chains all over the US) where you have the option of tent camping, RV camping or cabin camping. We chose cabin and all moved into a one bedroom, one bath cabin with a giant loft and a screened-in porch right on the lake.It was heaven for my boys and livable for me and my Mom:) We spent the weekend completely exhausting ourselves as there was soooo much to do!!! We played mini-golf, really enjoyed the fabulous waterpark, went on a hayride with Yogi, went to an ice cream social, met at the flagpole for the morning pledge with Cindy, danced with Yogi, Boo-Boo and Cindy, fished and caught not only fish but a turtle too, played on the giant inflatable dragon, sang karaoke with Daddy (Old McDonald had a Farm!!!), went off-roading in the golf cart Papa rented, made Mother's Day cards in the arts & crafts cabin, served cookies and juice to Mommy and even had campfires complete with S'mores:) Mommy & Gaga bunked in the bedroom away from all of the smelly boys and they all (even Daddy & Papa) happily climbed up into the loft for a giant slumber party both nights!!! We take our boys on a lot of weekend trips...this was truly one of the best ones we have ever had and can't wait to go back again!!!

What a weekend!!!

Click for LOTS of weekend pics!

So this can go down as a weekend to remember:) Let's see...

1. Friday morning I had to do the awful job of dying Easter eggs with the kids! I hated this task as a kid and it is even more horrible as a Mom. Cleaning the blue dye off of my walls and floor made it even more fun!
2. Friday night, DJ got engaged!!!! Christy is our new sister-to-be and we are thrilled to have her joining our family!!! DJ created a beautiful ring for her and we are all looking forward to the BIG day!
3. Craig finally got home from being gone for yet another week and was sick...chest, ears, throat, sinuses...the full works!
4. Were were heading out the door to spend the day at Six Flags with the kids when two HUGE things happened...I lost our season passes and while searching for them, Brian walked in my room to check on me and saw all of my filled and ready to go Easter baskets! Needless to say I was horrified!!! With some quick thinking on our toes, Craig and I actually managed to come up with a believable lie that what he saw was a surprise gifts for each of them from Mommmy and Daddy. Thankfully my children are book geniuses but common sense retarded cause he bought it!!!
5. We got to wake up my Mom to have her relocate our passes confirmation in her email so we could actually get into the park.
6. I got to delay leaving even longer by heading to WalMart to make second Easter baskets for all three of my kids in order to keep Brian believing in the lies we just fed him!!!
7. We finally made it to Six Flags where both of our boys shocked the bejeezus out of us!!!! They reached the next magic height of 48 inches over the last few months meaning their ride choices open up a little more!!! Brian voluntarily hopped on the the Rattler, the biggest wooden coaster in the park with speeds of over 65+ mph!!! He loved it and we were really proud of him:) Matt was a little too intimidated which was fine and made a promise to try it by Christmas:) Next thing we know...he asks if he can go on the Boomerang...a two loop, two corkscrew coaster that does the whole thing forwards and then again backwards! I literally was speechless...Matt loves rides but has always needed a little prompting first:) The kid who turned down the wooden one earlier in the day because it was scary wanted to go on this insane ride instead:) (Where his logic is I am not really sure!) Matt ended up loving the coaster and Craig and I are so proud of both of our daredevils! (Poor Luke...the kid wanted on the rides soooo bad and was furious about it all day!
8. Luke was BIG enough for the family tubing ride and squealed with delight as he and daddy went straight unnder the waterfall!!!
9. After three water rides in an hour, ending with the boys standing on the bridge to allow the boats coming down the hill to soak them, Brian apparently swallowed so much "ever so sanitary" river water that he literally pooped his pants in line for the next ride. And to top that off...he had zero shame and proudly told his brothers and those around us that he pooped his pants:) Go figure...I only had a change of underwear for Luke (who really thinks my 7 year old would be the needer??) so much to Brian's delight...he spent the rest of the day "freeballing" it!!! (which my kids get quite the kick out of!!!)
10. We made it home by 11 and I spent the next three hours hiding eggs, recreating Easter baskets and making new tags, letters, etc. After a "great" night sleep with Luke being attracted to me like a magnet all night, I had the pleasure of climbing out of bed at 7 to start my day:) and managed to drop my ceramic, heavy as no other, pepper jar on my toe, breaking it and slashing my toe while preparing my turkey!
11. The dang bunny made a giant mess of grass and mulch all over my house...it was even on my couch ;)
12. My kids had an absolute blast opening not one, but two baskets and hunting for 102 eggs!!! It made it all worthwhile:)
13. We spent the afternoon enjoying the waterslide, lots of yummy food, dessert and the company of good friends!

We STILL Believe!!!

You know the drill...click for a few more:)

I am so grateful that all three of my guys are still firm believers of Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny:) It's one of those getting older things that I am so NOT ready for...it will actually mean they really are growing up! I know the day is getting closer and closer as Brian is now 7, but I just love that I can hold onto that piece of innocence a little longer:)

Craig headed to Tucson (again) this morning for another week of work :( It was one of those days where we had no agenda, no one to answer to and nowhere we had to be so the boys and I decided to have an eventful day...first we went and saw the Bunny (where all three of them requested a one-on-one photo...I LOVE it!!!), followed up with a trip to a mall downtown where they just opened a Lego store and ended with dinner at our favorite "true" Austin hangout...Freddie's Place! The best part was...all three of them behaved all day!!! These are the best kind of days and unfortunately happen far too infrequently in our psychotically crazy, busy life!

I think we're seeing a pattern:)

Since Craig and I started dating WAY back in 1995, I have had a cast on an ankle 5 different times! (There was another one prior to this...but I was in middle school!!) We were lying in bed the other night recapping how we've made full circle...we started with me in a cast and 16 years later...I'm sitting here in a cast:) Let's recap...I fractured my right ankle cheerleading after our 1'st date and went on our 2'nd date and the next two and a half months of dates with a hot pink and then bright purple cast:) In college I managed to break my left ankle and shin so bad that I had to have reconstructive surgery, leave college for six weeks and wear a cast for almost four months! While pregnant with Luke (April, 07) I fell on my parents step and fractured my right ankle. While playing outside with the boys (April, 09) I managed to trip on a one inch curb and fracture my right ankle. The latest happened walking into Brian's football game last weekend (April, 11)...I managed to not notice the six inch hole in the uneven ground and fell into it, fracturing my right ankle! All I have to say is based on my recent history of right ankle fractures in odd year April's...I will be avoiding walking in April 2013!!!!!

Here's a photo collection of my ankle fractures:)

Brian's Birthday & Party:)

Click for LOTS of Birthday and party pics!!!

My biggest "little man" is 7....I absolutely hate the fact that my boys are growing up!!! Brian had such a fun Birthday and party! We woke up and opened presents before school...with Brian's favorite gift being a "Roku" box! (You know your Dad is a geek when you ask for a techie gadget for your 7th Birthday!!!) Brian requested Sonic chili cheese fries and a cherry limeade for his lunch so Luke and I picked it up and met him in the cafeteria for lunchtime. We then returned back to his class for his Birthday celebration...complete with doughnuts and Gaga!!! She came up a few days before the party to help me out (since I managed to break my ankle again!!!) and surprised Brian! He was so shocked when she walked into his class carrying his doughnuts!!! The Birthday evening consisted of Matt's baseball game and Brian's football practice so we split up and all met at our favorite Mexican restaurant to finish off our celebrations where Brian ate himself sick with the unlimited ice cream machine:)

Brian's party was a repeat of Matt's this past Friday night! Lucky for me I had helpers since I am gimping it in my ever so fashionable boot:) Papa, Uncle DJ & Aunt Christy arrived late Thursday night and Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris & Emma arrived Friday. He had 22 kids show up for hot dogs, s'mores, cupcake kabobs and the GIANT movie...Yogi Bear:) I have to say...first graders are much crazier than Kindergartners. The kids all seemed to have a blast though and Brian claims he had the best party ever!!!

A BIG thanks to Gaga, Papa, Aunt Kel, Uncle Chris, Aunt Christy, Uncle DJ, Candice and Marty for all of your help and photo skills:) I really appreciated it!!!

Spring Break & Birthday Blowout!

Don't forget to Click! For Spring Break the boys headed out after Matt's party with Gaga & Papa for two days in Galveston, followed by two days in Dallas (to pick up Aunt Key & Molly!!!) and then met up with everyone at Gaga & Papa's house later in the week to celebrate Matt and my Birthday's on Friday, followed by a family party for all March/April Birthday's (there's 7 of us...Craig, Christy, Katie, Matt, Kelly, Brian & Kerry!!!) on Saturday:) The boys had a ball on their trip (minus Luke's battle with rotovirus along the way) and were full of stories when we saw them on Thursday night!!!

Friday morning Matt woke up beyond thrilled to finally be six like Brian (yes it is that time of year where we have two kids the same age for a few weeks!) and was spoiled by all of his family! Matt and I headed out for our annual Birthday lunch (just me and him!), leaving everyone at home:) Matt's Candyland cake was a HUGE hit so the 2.5 hour drive with it in my lap was worth every minute!!! I love celebrating my Birthday with my little man and wonder how long he will think it's cool to share a Birthday with Mom?!?!?!?

Saturday was spent with swimming, fishing, family tournaments of "Just Dance 2" (even Papa & Emma got into the dance mode!!!) and lots of presents for the seven Birthday people:) Molly had her first swim and the picture of her face says it all:) It was so nice to get to spend three full days snuggling with my two precious nieces and let my family entertain my 3 clowns:) We are all back home after an fun but exhausting weekend of little sleep and Luke has so kindly decided to share his hideous disease with poor Matt!!! Thankfully we are on the homestretch to Summer vacation!!!!

Getting tooooo BIG!!!

Miss Molly is getting too big, too fast! Luckily Aunt Key is great at capturing every detail of her life since they live so far away!!! (We are keeping our fingers and toes crossed that they maybe they can move home soon!!!) Here are a few of my latest favorites:)

Click for a couple pics!!!

Matt's Party

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This year we agreed to let the boys "go BIG" for their Birthdays! Matt invited about 27 kids to his party (luckily only 19 showed up!!!) for his super fun, campout themed birthday party. We rented a GIANT inflatable movie screen, roasted hot dogs and s'mores, made popcorn in our movie popper and had cupcake kabobs in lieu of cake! The GIANT ball you literally get inside of and roll around from Aunt Gretchen and Uncle Mark was a HUGE hit at the party, as well as with my boys! (BIG thanks to you both for that!!!) The kids all ran around and played until it got dark and then we settled in on blankets to watch the movie:) Matt loved his party and all the kids really seemed to have fun! Look for round two of the exact same party in a few weeks for Brian's BIG day!!! Another BIG thanks to Gaga & Papa, Aunt Kel & Uncle Chris & Uncle Johnny & Aunt Christy for coming to help keep things under control:)

Matt's Surprise!!!

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We are so fortunate to be blessed with such amazing friends...the Licht Family! They will be out of town this week for Spring Break, causing them to miss Matt's party tonight :( Last night at the Daddy's softball game (a whole bunch of our friends Daddy's all play together on Friday nights) , they surprised Matt with a mini-surprise party. Matt was so excited to have cupcakes at the ball field, as well as a few awesome gifts...Mario Yahtzee, a giant bag of Reese's and 16 mini-Dr. Pepper's (do they know my Matt well or what?!?!?!) "Thank you Ms. Candice, Mr. Marty, Madi & Drew...you are my best friends! Love, Moose"

It's FINALLY Luke's turn!!!!

Enjoy all the pics by clicking this one:)

After attending Texas day at the preschool every year since he was born...today was finally Luke's turn to be a cowboy!!! He was SOOOOO excited to dress up in his outfit, complete with boots and hat:) We rode a pony named Cinnamon, sang cowboy songs...complete with dancing!!!, made a Texas craft and ended our day with a hot dog picnic:) I am so fortunate to be at home allowing me to spend days with my little man just having fun!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

I think there is no question these are Craig's kids!!! Could they all look more alike???? The man of my world turned 33 today (and as of September I will have been with him for HALF OF MY LIFE!!!)! I can take pleasure in knowing that for the next 11 days he is two years older than me:) We celebrated low key...Matt had a baseball game (and Craig is one of the coaches) and dinner at Chili's. It's pretty lame to get old..right?!?!?! Happy Birthday to the best husband a girl could ever ask for and the best Daddy kids could ever have!!!

Bring it March!!!

So February can just be done...why you might ask?

-Craig managed to walk out the front door to take the kids to school, not realizing our porch was covered in ice and managed to crack open his head...resulting in six staples!

-Luke went to hang out with my parents for a few days and managed to accidentally break my Mom's nose...resulting in a very painful two weeks waiting for surgery and an even more painful recovery from that surgery!

-Craig went out of town for a week, leaving me home with the three boys (need I say more?!?!)

-We are currently trying to figure out how to juggle our weekday schedule between the following...basketball practice (Brian & Matt), soccer practice (Luke), baseball practice (Matt), football practice (Brian), CCD (Brian & Matt), Chess club (Brian & Matt) and the endless errands that seem to keep coming up! (Thank goodness basketball ends next week!!!)

-Matt has been soooo excited about his big birthday party (I let him invite the whole class). It is from 5-8 on March 12. Matt got an invitation for a party for a girl in his class (she also invited the whole class), her party is March 12 from 1-5...REALLY?!?!?! (and Matt's invitations are out, so no changing things!!!)

-We went to the Walmart Vision Center 7, yes 7 times this month!

I think I need a vacation from my life:)

Snow Two Years in a Row!!!

Up until last year, it had been over 10 years since Austin had inches of snow actually stick to the ground. Last year we had a fun time with a whopping six inches and this morning we had yet another surprise... we woke up to 2-3 inches covering our yard:) The boys are beginning to like the yearly tradition of one day of snow!!! School was cancelled and all the boys (Craig included) were outside by 7am playing in the snow!!! Turns out Tex LOVES the snow as well...he was running around the yard and rolling in it while Wilbur and Ally watched from inside:) By 8:30, we were cold, wet and tired so inside for hot chocolate we came. Aunt Key called us with a good idea a little later...make snow ice cream! I hadn't done it since student teaching in Flagstaff and the boys were thrilled with the idea! We headed out to collect a gallon of clean snow, mixed it up with some milk, vanilla and sugar...threw in some crushed up oreo cookies and there you have it...cookies and cream snowcream! What a FUN way to start our weekend!!!

Emma's Party

Click for some party pics:)

Our sweet Emma turns 1 today...holy cow...where did the time go?!?!?! Her party was this past weekend in Houston and we had plans to pull the boys out of school early on Friday to head down and spend time with Aunt Key & Molly who flew in from Vegas:) Well like usual...plans changed! Poor Matt came home sick from school on Thursday and on Friday morning...swabbed positive for the flu:( We were soooo bummed and not wanting to contaminate any poor babies so we decided to leave Matt and Daddy home while I took Brian and Luke to the party for the weekend. (I got the all clear from both sisters that the babies had been exposed to far nastier things than my kids in the past few days first!!)

Emma's party was so fun...I got my girlie fix with the pink and purple princess theme and spent time snuggling with both of my sweet nieces! Matt was bummed to miss the fun but sure enjoyed the "party in a box" I bought home for him...complete with the food, cake, decorations, party bag and more:) Thankfully Matt was the only one to get the flu and we have since moved on to runny noses and coughs...oh the joys of Winter!

Wilbur the Tetherball Playing Dog!!!

We are still dumbfounded as to why anyone would've gotten rid of this dog as he is pretty close to perfect! He is far better behaved than Tex (though in Tex's defense he is only 10 months old and Wilbur is around 3!!!) He is fully trained, fetches and retrieves as ball right back to your feet, walks well on a leash, rides great in the car, lets the kids jump and climb all over him, can swim, has learned how to "hug" on command, and pretty much does not much throughout the day except for eat and sleep:) Today the boys discovered a hidden talent...he plays tetherball! Yes, I said tetherball! Brian and Matt were out back playing when Wilbur joined right in, using his snout to volley the ball back and forth with the boys much to the delight of the boys! Notice in the video how much weight he's put on...he's not quite so scary skinny anymore:)

Luke's Surgery

Click for a few more pics of the poor guy :(

Poor Lukey...he has no idea what it feels like to be healthy so we decided to fix the problem. The Tuesday after Christmas, we left the boys with my parents and took Luke to the Children's Hospital in Austin for the insertion of a second round of ear tubes, as well as the removal of his tonsils and adenoids. He has had 12 rounds of antibiotics since May and I don't think I've ever seen him without a runny nose or picking his ears.

The Children's Hospital turned out to be a wonderful experience. Luke arrived and got to pick out a bike from the "garage". While I was busy answering questions with the nurses, Luke was busy driving all around the Pre-Op center with Daddy:) Our ENT (who has become more of a family friend seeing as how we've had six surgeries with him the the past three years) came to get Luke and they went off together, driving to the stop sign, turning right at the green light and eventually heading to the O.R. together. Poor guy...he happily drove off without a clue of what was to come!

Luke went through surgery with flying colors and was admitted to the floor for the night. Texas policy is they stay overnight if they are under five, and don't leave until they are "willing" to take pain meds. on their own. He was extremely upset and miserable when we got upstairs, especially seeing the IV in his hand, but became much happier once he was settled with Mickey on the DVD player and his own "people" pillow:) Later that day we took a walk to the playroom which was the highlight of the whole stay! Luckily for us, Luke was taking his medicine without too much of a battle so the next morning we were discharged by 9am!!!

It's been a little over a week and Luke is doing awesome! We kept him pretty drugged for the first five days which helped him to recover and he is almost back to himself (minus the runny nose and chronic ear pain...HOORAY!!!!). Each day he is taking less and less medicine and getting more and more active:) He was an amazing patient, especially for being 3 and not really understanding why he felt so horrible, and we are just looking forward to a new year with a finally healthy little man!!!

Molly's Baptism

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We were so fortunate that Kerry and Jeremy arranged to have Molly baptized at my parent's church while they were here so that all of us could attend:) I have the honor of being her Godmother (I think my sister's both feel sorry for me living in testosterone land and let me the surrogate Momma for each of my girls!!!) Sunday morning, bright and early, we headed to the church. Let me tell you...getting 15 of us out the door on time was no easy task but we were successful and even a little early!!! The Baptism was perfect and Molly was awesome...she barely cried (but did fill her pants quite nicely right as we were heading to the water with no time for a quick change!) She was the only baby getting baptized and the priest really did a wonderful job in making the entire mass all about Molly:) In lieu of a party...we all headed home to change and Kerry and Jeremy treated us all to see Yogi Bear! We took up an entire row, the kids ALL behaved and everyone enjoyed treats and a good movie together:)

Christmas...part 2!

Click the top picture for a peek of the fun we had:)

After the opening of Santa, we let the kids play for awhile then headed to my parents for an evening event with EVERYONE present:) Kerry and Jeremy came with Molly (she had her first of many to come plane rides!!!), Kelly and Chris were there with Emma (and stayed the night giving everyone a HUGE laugh the next morning with Emma's morning hairdo!!!) and DJ and Christy arrived right as we did:) We were all beyond spoiled and had such a good time opening present after present after present after present! We are very lucky to have received everything we could've dreamed of and then some:) Craig and the boys got to meet Molly and she is such a trooper (she even let Craig run around playing Laser Tag while holding her!!!) Another highlight was seeing Emma as...she's walking:) She was absolutely precious toddling around like Herman Munster and quite enjoyed herself trying to constantly bug Luke and steal his toys. A family game of Hot Potato concluded our evening of fun and all three boys were thrilled beyond words that everyone was there playing with them and giving them so much attention!!! Now the question is...where am I gonna out all these new toys?!?!?!