Springtime Favorites

Because really, who could resist?!? This product is what really deserves the "Bet you can't eat just one" slogan!
One thing is for sure: these will NOT make it until Easter (or maybe even through the week) around here!

Ryan brought these home from his Wednesdays with Grandma and Papa date this week. Super sweet and such a fun reminder that spring is nearly here!

And this is one of the three blooming trees in the backyard. I should note, for the record...one of the three blooming trees that is now also sitting in fresh mulch. You know that saying "the grass is always greener?" Well, here, it is SO TRUE. I mean, REALLY. Our brownish lawn has been looking like the Sahara desert compared to the neighbors, who have apparently been fertilizing all winter long or something...or maybe slipping the lawn companies some big tips. And I, being the calm and collected gal I am (HA), who usually could care less about this, really went NUTS on my hubby the other day. (I am not sure why. Perhaps I started taking it personally when about the fifth lawn company left their info on my front door.) And he reacted. Seriously. He was out in the yard at 11pm spreading all kinds of stuff and reworking landscaping rocks and mulch in the dark. Like to the point I went out and told him to please ignore his crazy wife. Why do I have a feeling he is going to use those words against me someday? =)

My Favorite Guy

Here is a thumbs up to my favorite guy.

The one who suggested we didn't need to have the tacos I planned to make tonight, but rather we should go out to eat.

The one who then sent me off to the spa.

The one who brought the kids home from the restaurant and put them to bed.

The one who cleaned my house while I played tennis!!!

Someone pinch me!!!

Toe Painting and Reading

Ryan: Mommy, I want my toes to be pink like yours.
Me: Well, Ry, usually boys don't paint their toes. Just girls.
Ryan: Well, I am a girl!
Me: No, you are a boy. Just like Daddy. And boys don't usually paint their toes. But if you want to try it out and see, I can show you what it is like and maybe we can paint one of your toes.
Ry: But I am a girl!
Me: No, Ry. God made you a perfect boy!
Ryan: Mommy, when Julia gets bigger she is going to get a penis, too!

Julia loves to do nearly everything that Ryan does. Our little copy-cat saw big bro sitting around reading books today and she plopped down next to him. She proceeded to pick up about every book in his stack, open it to the last page, and say proudly, "The end!"

Love for Lucas

Aunt Krista stopped by for a bit this morning with Baby Lucas. (Tyler had preschool). Julia adores Lucas, and treats him like he is her live baby doll. She was SUPER excited to help Aunt Krista change his diaper!

"Hey, when I look at Lucas upside down like this, he kinda looks like Tyler!" Ryan tells us.

Lucas loves the attention from his cousins!

Waiting for a smooch from his favorite girl.

Can you tell they are related in this sweet pic? I think they could SO pass for siblings! Lucky Lucas was smothered this morning with hugs and kisses!

Timber Falls and THAT Mom

I learned a few things on our weekend getaway. We decided to bring the kids to an indoor water park called Timber Falls. I had planned on just hanging out with the camera and staying dry. My idea of fun isn't really flying down water slides while trying to make sure my 2 children keep their heads above water themselves! And frankly, stuffing my untanned self into a swimsuit and walking barefoot on the wet ground kinda gives me the heebie-geebies! However, Jeff looked at me, narrowed his eyes and said "Don't be THAT mom." So, for the record, I wasn't. I went down a slide. And then again. And again. And when I met back up with the fam, Jeff gave me this look of total admiration. Who knew what "THAT mom" was?!? But I know I don't want to be HER!
Ryan never did warm up to the water slides, but he LOVED the Lazy River and playing in the big water playhouse. Every few minutes this HUGE bucket that sat on top of the playhouse would tip over pouring TONS of water all over everything and by the time it was ready for us to leave, he was begging to stay "2 more minutes!"

Julia went down a few slides with Jeff. Sometimes she looked excited, and others she had a concerned look on her face that changed to excitement as she realized there was literally light at the end of the tunnel. (Their slides were all enclosed, and dark!). When I offered to go with her, she said "NO!!", so guessing she preferred just splish splashing in the water under her own control!

Where we woke up this morning

We needed a little tiny getaway. (We left last night after Grady's FUN 4th birthday party...) So this is where we woke up this morning!

Ryan wasted NO time getting his swimming trunks on. Ry tells me "the little pool is covered up, but the big pool [the lake] is open".

And when the boys are in the kitchen, pancakes with rainbow sprinkles is what is served for breakfast! =)

"I 'ont ike ankes! I 'ant these!!!"
[I don't like pancakes! I want these!!]
Just look at that bossy little face!

Kid Chatter

Ryan: Mommy, I want a Rice Christmas Treat!
[He is referring to a Rice Krispie Treat].

Ryan (pointing to a DVD at Target): Mommy, it is Donkey-ote!
Me: Huh?
Ryan: Look, Donkey-ote! Let's borrow it! [The dvd he is refering to is Pinocchio. For the life of me, I can't figure out where he got Donkey-ote from. At first, I thought maybe he was talking about Man of La Mancha, because that is one of the characters (actually, Don Quixote) from that Broadway...and I really had no idea where he might have seen that, other than knowing it is one of my mom's favorites and perhaps he had seen it there. There is not a photo of a donkey, or anything that I can figure out might be reason for his "new" title for this movie! We purchased the dvd, and for the past week, he has continued to call it by this title. Go figure?!]

Ryan (in a very scary, booming yet authoritative voice, while holding a Transformer): I am the Lord your God!
[Ok, does anyone else find this funny? I don't know if I am exhausted from a week of being a single parent..Jeff has been traveling all week long, or if it really is as silly as it seemed to me.]

Ryan (while riding in the car, and pointing toward the woods): Look, Mommy! Santa lost some of his deers!

IQ Testing

My great friend, Emily is a school counselor and has access to all types of goodies in her exciting job. Her most recent - IQ testing. She did mine last week for me.
This week, she planned to do Ryan's. There are 10 sections to the test. Yesterday morning, she did 6 of the 10 sections, and reported that Ry did a fantastic job, and was very attentive throughout the entire process. (Honestly, I was happily SHOCKED). Today, she came back to finish up the last 4 sections. He was a totally different child today. Non-focused and so goofy to the point that she stopped the testing and is coming again tomorrow to try again.

Julia wanted in on the action. While you must be 2.6 years to take the toddler test, Em went ahead and did some of the examples with Julia. She did FANTASTIC with the vocabulary and block sections.

Em uses the blocks to build a tower and Julia is instructed to build a matching tower. Em isn't allowed to tell me how they score, so I am not sure if this counts or not, as her tower is leaning a bit.

Thanks, Em! I'm crossing my fingers for a very calm, attentive, well-behaved little boy tomorrow for you!

My maybe new/old career.

So...KSDK has been within 3 miles of my house now for beat stories (and one national news!) 3 times in the last 9 days. All of which, I could have gotten some way better interviews than they were able to get. (Not trying to brag...just comes with knowing the locals!) So, seriously, if for some reason there is yet another major news story coming from this area in the next week or so, I am not even kidding, I am calling the news director about being a stringer. Hopefully, I won't have to resubmit a resume tape, because when Jeff wants a good laugh, he pulls out my old one.

This pediatrician's office building is close to my parents house. They were going to watch the kids tonight while I played tennis and we decided to head over a bit early and check out some of this action. I can't believe I didn't get it on video, but a fireman came up and chatted for a bit with the kids and they were both in awe.
The info I got on the scene was that the fire started in the landscaping and with the high winds we had today spread quickly to the roof. Fortunately, everyone was evacuated safely and the biggest concern right now is recovering computer servers which contained important medical information.

On another note; This morning when I was dressing Julia, I put on her leggings, and she said "No! I don't like those!" Being the stellar mother I am, I ignored her and then distracted her while I pulled the dress over her head, and then she looked down and said "No! I don't like this dress!" I am so not ready for her to start having an opinion about clothing. For the record, the day this girl refuses to wear a hair bow and/or the color pink, I am going to need a big fat piece of brownie or some other comfort food!!

Happy St. Pat's Day!!

Trader Joe's

Look at where we went today!!!

Ok, so actually, the morning started off with a trip to the dentist for Ryan and Julia. Fortunately, my friend Emily was off work today, and so she so kindly offered (I only had to beg and plead a tiny bit. ha!) to come along for backup..and some hang time. She is a GEM of a friend to choose to spend her days off with us!!!
Also fortunately, Dr. Mark knows us, so when both kids had the Cheez-It crumbs they ate on the car ride over still in their teeth he understood. Or really acted like he did. =)
After both kids checked out okay, we headed to Trader Joe's and picked up some of our favorite treats. (I did buy SOME healthy things...these are just some of our not-s0-great-for-you-but-choose-this-if-you-need-a-treat snacks!). If you have a Trader Joe's in your area..we highly recommend these!!

The princess enjoying one of our new treats!

It was such a beautiful afternoon here, that Glammie and Aunt Krista and the boys dropped by to hang outside for a bit.

Julia enjoyed this ride from Aunt Krista!

Eight

Eight. That is the number of large loads of laundry I just washed, dryed, folded, ironed and hung. Four laundry baskets of stuff that still needs to be put in drawers. (Krista, by the way, we amazingly only had ONE mismatched sock out of this batch. I am, however, still missing a shirt from last week's laundry. I don't know how I am able to keep track of the socks, yet we lose a SHIRT. Go figure?!)

Monday is usually laundry day. I was trying to get a jump-start on the week, as the kids have dental appointments in the morning. This number doesn't even include the sheets or bathrobes. It seems crazy to me the amount of time this chore takes. And I feel like this was a "low" week for us even as we didn't have preschool this week and had several "play at home" casual days which = less laundry!

As is, I feel like I can fit lots of clothes in a load. I probably stuff in more than is intended. I am afraid of what this number will grow to as the kids get older, and their clothes get bigger!!!

Is this normal? How many loads does YOUR family do a week?

Kid Chatter

Ryan: (blows in Julia's hair and laughs when it moves)
Julia: (blows back at Ryan and laughs)
Ryan: No, Julia, you can't blow in my hair.
Julia: Yes!
Ryan: No, Julia. It is too tiny to move.

Julia: I'm sorry, Ry Ry.
Ryan: You're welcome!

Ry(with hiccups): Those silly hiccups, they are always causing trouble!

Ry(as we drive by a house that has obviously had a fire!): Mommy, that house is broken!

Ry: Mommy, I didn't poop at school today. I only like to go at home. [WHAT?!?!]

Ry: I was married to a girl. I can't remember her name.
Me: Really? You were married?
Ry: Yeah, and I am a prince!

Ry: Julia (pronounced Jew-ee-aa), I had a dream about spider webs!
Julia: Yaaa.
Ry: Yes, it was very scary!
Julia: Yaaa.

All About Mommy Interview, Part A

All About Mommy Interview, Part B

Spring Teaser

"I picked this flower for you, Mommy!" my boy tells me.
I think now it is the most beautiful weed I have ever seen.

LOVIN' this tease of spring we are having today and outside burning off some energy...

My bossy little cutie...

Today was one of those just AWESOME days. I needed it. The kids needed it. We have been a bit "down" with all the recent events in our area. It was nice to get outside and the kids played together the way I have DREAMED they would. No one hit anyone. No one pushed, it was awesome. Here, they are digging for a "big treasure".

...and, I think they found the treasure!
For the record, my sweet princess touched this worm. Ryan knows better. =)Glammie, Aunt Krista, Tyler and Baby Lucas stopped by for a picnic and some playtime, too!Julia LOVES helping take care of Lucas. She was super excited to get to give him his bottle.

In the afternoon, during Julia's naptime, two girls from my youth group stopped by for a chat. (Hannah and Kaity). I'll try and remember to snap a pic next time so they can be blog-famous. =)