Boys...

3/30/10

will be boys!

Thunderbirds and more

3/29/10

I can't remember exactly where I left off when it comes to sharing about life in general around our house...probably somewhere in the Spring Break area if I had to guess and hoping we weren't going to come down with the stomach virus Jake had a week ago.

Our weekdays last week were actually pretty uneventful (which is probably another reason why I didn't mention them)...until Friday when we left for my parent's house. When we arrived, my family was waiting...Emily not as patiently as everyone else. She had already called when we were about 15 minutes out wanting to know how much longer it would be until Jake would be there to play. Jim and I decided to take full advantage of the multitude of loving "babysitters" that awaited us and do what I call "speed shopping". We literally went six different places and ate dinner in under 2 and a half hours. We got everything on our list from a new shade to go on the inside of our front door to all the "pwizes" that will be in Jake's Easter basket this coming weekend. I love it when we get the chance to do that (Thank you, Mom, Dad, Emily, and Aunt Cathy!).

On Saturday morning, I had two portrait sessions...one of which was my friend Melissa and her family. These are just two of my favorites from our morning together...



With my memory card not quite full but our stomachs definitely full (after a lunch break at Chick-fil-A), my mom, Jake, Emily, and I left to go meet Jim and my dad to watch the Thunderbirds fly at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery.

There were airplanes (and people) gallore! We wandered for at least an hour and a mile taking it all in...




And just before he couldn't go on any longer...

we managed to find a souvenir table.

Ahhh...sudden energy.


We all spectated...


and watched some of the most amazing acrobatics...

and precision flying I've ever seen.

It was a full day to say the least - full of friends, full of family, full of photo taking, full of excitement...

makes me full of exhaustion just thinking about it all!

Caught Red Handed

3/26/10

Jim and I got caught.

But unfortunately our hands were not in the cookie jar.

They were on each other...

in the privacy of our bedroom...

so we thought.

We've learned now that our privacy is no more thanks to our three-year old.

What was fortunate is that it was not by total surprise.

We could hear the pitter patter of his size 7 feet coming down the hall, his blanket dragging behind him.

So we waited for his entrance and quietly asked him to go back to bed...

and he did...

without saying a word...

WHEW!

Stepping Stones

3/24/10

This past weekend, I borrowed the idea from one of my girlfriends to make stepping stones to decorate our rose beds in our backyard. She gave me the idea a while back when she mentioned that she and her daughter do one every year for her husband for Father's Day. I fell in love with the idea and made it one of the things on our Spring Break To-do list.

So on one of the two days that we had great weather outside, we made two of them.

In the process, we used Jake's hand-prints and footprints...

and then we added these to make them sparkle.



They turned out so, so great...

and I have a feeling that we'll add more of these to our flower beds on our next Spring Break.

Attitude

3/22/10

The shirt that Jake wore to preschool today...



pretty much sums up the attitude that he exemplified most of the way home today.

But it was nothing that Velveeta shells-n-cheese with broccoli, watermelon, a pop tart, and a huge cup of milk couldn't cure.

And I think we all know who's idea the pop tart was.

Father-Son Moments

3/21/10

Jim and Jake have had their share of "father-son" moments.

This was their first. I wasn't awake for this one. I missed this moment.

But since then there have been hundreds more that I haven't missed.

Like when we went out to a nearby golf course last summer for Jim to hit some practice balls on their driving range.






How glad I am that I could be there for these moments.

Bracing Ourselves

3/20/10

In this moment, Jim and I are bracing ourselves.

We are bracing ourselves for the aftermath of taking care of Jake at 4am this morning when he came into our bedroom with vomit on his night shirt. But of course I didn't even have to turn on my bedside table lamp before I knew what had happened. The smell of milk that has made it's way to the stomach of a toddler and back up again 7 hours later is one that will bring a lump to your throat instantly.

Jim took the high road and stripped his bed of all sheets, pillowcases, and the mattress pad. It had to be rinsed in the sink.

Meanwhile, I wiped Jake down with a warm rag as he told me he was "sowwy". I replaced his soiled pj's with new ones and listened to the gagging sounds and running water coming from the kitchen.

Since then Jake has made a full recovery. His appetite has returned, and he's back in full swing giving our dogs a workout, smudging play-doh into the carpet (niiiiice), dancing to the tunes of his toys, and asking me to draw monsters on his Magna Doodle while I try to blog.

But as for Jim and I, we are in a different boat altogether. We're watching what he eat...wondering how "this" might feel coming back up again. We're hopeful we'll dodge the bullet this time, but if history repeats itself we won't feel so hot by this time tomorrow.

I just hope we both get more sleep tonight than we did last night. I just rather deal with it in the day time versus the night, especially since I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep right now.

But I guess I don't get to choose. I just have to brace myself...and wait...

Spring...

has sprung!


And so did several of the windows and doors in our house today (sprung open, that is).

Oh how I love this time of year!

McWane Wednesday

3/19/10

I'll admit I've been sort of absent from my blog the past couple of days...

but I promise it has been for good reason (well, except for yesterday). I really have no excuses other than the fact that I was simply recovering from our outing on Wednesday...and scrapbooking. Which means I could have posted pictures from our trip to the McWane Science Center sooner - but just today I got with the program and actually downloaded what was on my camera.

So here are the details of our day and our trip there.

First things first...this was a first for us. We had never been here before, so the experience was totally new. And so it may have been our first time, but it definitely won't be our last. It was fantastic, and Jake had an awesome time. There were literally hundreds of things to see and do. We went non-stop, up and down 3 floors of exhibits.

We did things like balance balls on streams of water...


listen to the sounds of birds with the push of a button...

dig for dinosaur remains...

fill containers with water at a water table...

for a really long time (and no, I did not let him drink the water, even though it looks like he's about to)...

make shapes on an oversized Light Bright...

catch butterflies on a projector screen...

climb up and down the ramp of an airplane...

make music on a giant piano by walking on the keys...

operate a "crane" to retrieve blocks from their holes.

And that's not even everything we did during the 3 hours we spent there.

But I'm fresh out of words to describe some of the things we did and fresh out of pictures to share so you don't get bored with reading a huge list.

Oh! Except for this last one...

I could eat his smile with a spoon!

Afternoon Play...Extinct Style

3/16/10

Today we played a LOT with these guys...

They're actually pieces to one of Jake's puzzles.

But instead of turning the puzzle over and fitting them into their designated spots...

He decided it was more fun to turn the puzzle board over and stand them up.

And naturally after a few minutes of "standing up", they got super tired and had to go "take a nap". Where did they take a nap you ask? In the bag that holds his doctor's play set that he got for Christmas. Of course!

This routine went on and on and on...for a really. long. time.


Only one of these "dinofaurs" (as Jake calls them) has a name. This is Dino (like Dino from The Flinstones). I'm not sure where he picked that up, but Dino is what he has been named, and he's his favorite...because he has a really long neck (so he says).

And some of them make look rather fierce...

But they're actually "weally, weally sweet" (according to their playmate, Jake).

Good thing for us right?

I'm not sure about you, but I'm definitely relieved!

Not a Not Me! Monday

3/15/10

Well, I didn't make it around to doing the Not Me! Monday posted that I had hoped to do....

but I did get around to taking a photo of this book that we received in the mail today.


It's where Jim and I are going in just a few short weeks. I have to go for work, and Jim has decided to come with me. This will actually be my second trip to D.C. I absolutely loved it the first time, so going a second time is even more exciting to think about than the first.

In fact, I'm off to go read up on some of the things I maybe didn't see before that I don't want to miss this time.

Goodnight!

Monday Morning

It's Monday...the first real weekday of our Spring break. We slept in late...partly due to the time change. I always have the hardest time adjusting to "losing" an hour of sleep - not because I require a ton of sleep, but because I tend to stay up late anyway, so the time change just means I stay up even later.

We've had breakfast and since then have been busy trying to make our floors visible before my parents arrive. Between the toys, scrap booking tools, dirty laundry, boxes of photos, unmade beds, paper, and stacks of clothes that are ready to go to consignment, family members, and charities, we have had an overwhelming job to do these past two hours.

But now we're ready...we're ready for my parents and Jake's cousin, Emily to get here.

Jim and my dad have projects to do around our house. Our shower knob is leaking. It's the kind that has a separate shower head, and the part that is leaking is the one that turns the water on and off. They are also going to add an outside light on our garage and another light inside the attic. Jim is super handy (I think I've mentioned that before), but there are just some things he waits until he has help with to tackle. If it involves electrical or plumbing work, he has learned to get help...the hard way. The hard way involved a broken marble tub front (the part that hides the insides of the tub) and almost being electrocuted trying to install our dryer when we first moved into our house (but in his defense, this was somewhat due to an error on the electrician's part who wired our house).

I should also throw in the fact that they are stopping by Jim's BBQ on their way over...by far some of the best barbecue I've ever eaten!

As for mom, Jake, Emily, and I, we have no set plans. We may make a spontaneous trip to the mall. We usually do when they come to visit. It also seems fitting that this is what we'll do since we've been there once a day for the past two days. This is because "Mr. Bunny" (the Easter bunny) is there along with his train. Jim and I couldn't be more thrilled - more thrilled than ever that we'll probably fork out at least 20 bucks in train rides between now and Easter. Awesome!

Later today, hopefully I'll add a Not Me! Monday.

But for now, I need to take a shower and put some more clothes on my child. I don't think him wearing just his pajama top, underwear and socks (all completely mis-matched) will fly the rest of the day.

Have a great Monday, Everyone!

Llama Llama Red Pajama

3/14/10

We found him!...

at Barnes & Noble yesterday afternoon.

He is now not only the main character in Jake's absolute favorite story...

he is in our home

and under Jake's arms or, like now, tucked in his bed. And call me crazy or overboard,

but I'm almost more excited about this than he is.

So in honor of the story that I now know by heart, and for those of you who may not know who "Llama Jama Jama" (as Jake would say) is or have never read this story, I quote my favorite part of Llama Llama Red Pajama's story:

Little Llama
don't you know,
Mama Llama
loves you so?

Mama Llama's
always near,
even if she's not right here.

Llama llama
red pajama
gets two kisses
from his mama,
snuggles pillow
soft and deep...

Baby Llama
goes to sleep.

What Spring Break Means To Me

Friday, it happened. I turned on my Out-of-Office Assistant, changed my voice mail recording, and said "Goodbye" to my job and co-workers. We all said "Goodbye"...because we are on Spring Break!

And this is what Spring Break means to me...

It's one of the two major times each year that I'm most thankful to work at a University (the second being...you guessed it...Christmas Break!)

Spring cleaning

Daytime TV

Staying up as late as I want to because I know I can always take a nap the next day to catch up on my sleep

Doing all the things I don't have the energy to do when I get home each night

Running errands at 10 o'clock in the morning instead of on my lunch break

A 5-day reprieve from rush hour traffic

Schedules? Schmedules!

Mid-day walks around the neighborhood

Scrapbooking until my heart's content

Day Trips

and most of all...

Spending time with the people in my life that I wish I spent 40 hours a week with (not counting the ones when we're all sleeping under the same roof)

Snacks

3/12/10

These...


are one of Jake's favorite snacks!

It's almost...

3/11/10

that time of year again!






And we can't wait for it to get here!