Easter Fun!

I can't believe it's already been a week since Easter.  We had a really fun weekend with the kids.  Saturday we died Easter eggs and Sam ended up getting really mad because she couldn't stick her whole hand + the egg in the coloring liquid...REALLY mad. 

None the less they had fun plopping them in different colors and putting stickers all over them.

                                              

                                              Still mad...hey, you can't please everybody 

                             I know there's 2 almost identical pics here, but this one is good of Sam...

                                                       ...And this one is good of Tanner.

I don't have photos of the next activity because it was a little chaotic.  With a screaming toddler and 2 messy kids it was time for bath.  Since Sam recently had a scary experience in the tub during normal "rinse the shampoo out of your hair" time and inhaled a bunch of water, she's now TERRIFIED of the bath and screams bloody murder every time.  I got creative this night...

"Who wants to go have beach party in the tub??"

Well of course they both thought the idea of everyone getting in their bathing suits and getting in the bath, including mom, sounded super fun!  So off we went, we laid out our towels, filled the tub with bubbles and turned on the music in the bathroom and had a beach party.  I must admit, it helped.  Sam did really and there were a couple of things that really helped her not to "freak out".
                              1) the foaming shampoo that I let the kids use themselves
                              2) a squirt bottle I found that I gently squirted Sam's hair with water so she could barely tell.

By the end of it, nobody wanted to get out of the tub, and Sam was actually the last one out!  Because I overestimate my children's cleanliness it's now a week later and I realize we haven't had another bath, whoops!  I'm going to try for beach party again with just the kids this time and see how it goes.  Although Tanner takes mostly showers now, but loves to take baths and play with his toys.

EASTER MORNING:

Usually the Easter bunny hides eggs along with the kids' Easter baskets around the house, but since he couldn't find all of the extra plastic eggs he skipped that part.  So the kids found their baskets along with their goodies and it was all downhill from there...

                      Toby's got her eyes on the cookies. She is always waiting for her opportunity.

Next we went to brunch at our favorite breakfast place with Matt and Cally and the kids and Grandpa Mike.  Everybody behaved (thanks to a couple IPads and some crayons).

EASTER AFTERNOON:

Let's see, of course I was able to get out to the golf course for a little practice while the kids took a nap before our big family dinner.  They had a blast in the huge bouncy house aunt P and uncle R rented.  Of course we had a couple casualties, but overall everyone survived without too many injuries.

LET THE EGG HUNT BEGIN!!

                                                                      Who ME??

                            It took an injury in the bounce house before we had our first break!

Till next year...



The Calm Before the Storm (or not in this case)

We've been preparing all day for the severe storms and tornadoes we were supposed to get tonight. We are and have been in a high risk since yesterday which is rare and really scary.  The kids helped us clear out under the stairs in the basement this morning and in doing so, we got to organize a little and found a bunch of stuff in boxes we haven't even unpacked yet.  We've gathered our bottled waters and are getting ready to bring our snacks and make our little tent for the night downstairs.

The mess under the stairs we had to clear out





                        The good news is we emptied some more boxes since the move, organized a few and     threw things in the garage sale pile! 

     We also found a few fun items that have been lost in the chaos for awhile, like Sam's first Halloween costume, little ladybug!  And looks it still fits!

The kids supposedly cleaning up (playing)...

Oh, yay all of our hats we've been missing!

Mike's PGA Championship hat

So it looks like I didn't get to take any pics of us all having a blast in our revamped storm shelter.  Next time.  Well, it is now 11:38pm and way past my bedtime.  I finally hear some thunder and rain outside, but thankfully no sirens yet.  Tanner was sad we didn't get to hang out in our remodeled tornado shelter.  I told him it was a good thing we didn't have to, but it won't be the last time either. 

           Happy

                Spring!!!



Easter weekend/Project Saturday

Well, since it was rainy this morning and the high for the day is only 60...we decided it was a project kind of a day.  We have lots to do, and with me being at the golf course almost every night and weekend day, we haven't had time to get stuff done.  We have a window of opportunity that needs taken advantage of, so of course that means I also have time to blog!  So far today we have...

1. Installed a cubboard trashcan
2. Ran to Menards to get MDF board for Tanner's world map we are putting up and framing with the trim (Tanner was mad we didn't let him buy the tractor wall decal)
3. Went to Home Depot for pegboard to put up in our pantry so we can hang stuff

Still today we hope to:

• Put up Tanner's huge world map somehow
• Paint the trim
• Put up pegboard in our pantry
• Take down our vanity mirror over our dresser so we can replace it with a t.v. (sigh)
• Maybe get supplies so I can get to work on Tanner's headboard

However, The Master's golf tournament is on so...we'll see what we actually get done..Oh, yea, and dye Easter eggs with the kiddos.

Spring has sprung

The trees are in bloom, the grass has been green for weeks and as much as we have loved having this summer weather for the last month, it ends tomorrow.  Not ends, just cools down to more spring-like temps.  Tanner is going on his 4th baseball practice, and so far there are no complaints.  He and his buddy(and neighbor) are on the purple team together and can't wait to start playing games.

This weekend was another busy, golf-filled one for me.  I had a lesson for the first time in 3+ years and went to work with the one and only James Sieckmann.  I've worked with him since I was a teenager and I wouldn't trust my swing or game with anybody else.  He works with a lot of guys and gals on the PGA, Nationwide and LPGA tour, and it's no wonder he does.  He know a lot and I always learn so much whenever I go to him.  If you really want to take your game to the next level, whatever that may be and get better, he's the one to talk to.  He promised me I would be playing scratch golf in no time (well ok, he didn't promise, I just assumed).

Mike, dad and I played in a scramble yesterday and let me just say, a 6 hour round is really not that fun when nobody is hitting the ball well.  On a positive note, we didn't go over par (yippie...), I won longest drive on a hole and we actually won our flight! So maybe it was a good thing we played terribly. 

Saturday was car washing day, aka "just another photo opp of the kids" day for me.  Here are some funny photos of the 2 of them trying to help...

Today we went to the zoo to celebrate our last 90 degree day(probably) for a while.  The kids walked the whole time and are sleeping like babies.  It may take an hour to get out of the house, 20 min to get the stroller out, everyone loaded up, and sunscreen on, but it was all worth it because the carosel was open, we had ice cream and only 1 melt down/kid and it wasn't until we were on our way back to the car.  Today was pretty much a piece of cake...well so far at least.



                                                    He's got the whole world in his hands...

                                                         

                                                        Sam's First Push Pop at the zoo

Here's a look back almost 4 years ago when Tanner had his first push pop at the zoo on his 2nd birthday.  He was Sam's age that she is now.  Brings back memories...

Tanner, July 18, 2008

Do we see the similarities between the two of them??

We've got Poop!

Let's see...lots of odd things happening at the Jones household these past couple of days.  I played lots of golf this weekend, trying to get my scores down.  By lots of golf I mean, lots of really crappy crappy golf (excuse my language).  I have such high expectations for myself and as awesome as this weather has been, luckily I've been able to get out more than a few times so it's hard for me to be patient with myself.  Plus, I know it's early in the season, but when I leave my kids and a very understanding husband for 3 days in a row to go to the golf course I expect results.  It's work for me and that's how I look at it, and I always get mother's guilt when I go out to play golf (the leasure sport...NOT!) for the day or for a few hours.  Yesterday while I was just hitting my 11th shot out of a sand bunker for the day (that's a lot of beach), I got a text from Mike saying, "Guess who went poop on the potty??"  Well, and that does it, played crappy golf only to miss my first milestone ever with either of my kids. 

And on that note...Guess who went POOP on the potty??  Our little miss Sami.  So the tally is as follows:  Potty- 4, Poop- 1...and I don't even have to bribe her with candy! 

Today Sam fell twice and got up limping.  She nursed her leg and limped until bed, but finally started to put some weight on it and walked, though not without a slight limp.  Poor baby :(  I really am praying that she wakes up with no limp tomorrow or we will be making a trip to the Dr...

UPDATE on the leg...Since I haven't posted this yet and it's the next day, I will say, Sam was catering her ankle/foot again first thing this morning, but is walking and running (with a slight limp) now so I'm assuming we just have a strain...thank goodness it's not broken!

1,000,001 Ways to Blow a Nose

Sam is obsessed with kleenex.  She's also obsessed with blowing her nose (in something or not).  I might run out of kleenex quicker that normal, but I'm not complaining that she could blow her nose at 8 months.  It comes in handy when she has a cold.  She'll see the kleenex box and say, "Heee? Heee?"  For those of you that don't speak gibberish that's Sami talk for "Kleenex please?"  I know, it's impressive that I've memorized nearly a dictionary's worth of her gibber-gabber, but I had practice with Tanner when he was little.  Though Sam doesn't say as much as her brother did, I can understand her a little more than T.  That boy would talk, talk talk all day and you wouldn't hear one real word come out of his mouth, but he was always so sure at what he was saying.  I get the same response with strangers as I did with Tanner. "Does she talk?" Yes, but only I can understand her.  That is because she has a lot of clearly spoken words such as "momma", "daddy", "Nannie"(Tanner), "eat", "night-night", etc.  But she says her manners with her mouth closed and in syllables.  I can here her when she says, "Gmm, gmm," or "thank you", but unless you know her you might think she doesn't say much.  I got distracted again, rambling about something else...here are some pics of Sam entertaining us with a piece of kleenex.

                                                                    That's a good one!

Did I get it?

Maybe, I'll just stick my hand in it...

Let's try again...

That's a really good one...

Getting a little dramatic...

Same kleenex in case you were wondering...

Now just being silly...

Ok, maybe that's enough

Cheese!