Spring Break 2010

Spring Break has already come and gone...sniff, sniff! Although we didn' t go anywhere or do anything too crazy, we had a great break (at least I know I did)!

The first day, my mom and I put together a baby nursery for a great client of mine while the kids spent the day with their VeVe. I know they had a blast with their VeVe! You'll have to check out the nursery that I created at http://www.deesignsbyerin.com/. Hopefully, I'll have pictures of it tonight or tomorrow.

I completely enjoyed Day 2 because I got to be "lazy" around the house with Benjamin and ME. This was also the the first day I thought I would try potty training with ME by putting her in big girl panties. She was a little confused as to why she didn't have a diaper on, but she soon liked the idea. I was a little nervous to put her down for a nap without a diaper, but she did fine until it was time for her to get up. She tried to get out of her room because she needed to tee-tee, but I didn't make it to her door in time so she tee-teed in the floor. With her OCD, I thought that would freak her out that she was messy, but she really did ok with it and just told me, "I tee-tee in floor". We quickly got that cleaned up and went about our day in big girl panties and played with Ben. We never actually made progress in the potty the entire week, in case you're wondering.

ME played a lot of dressup during Spring Break. This was from Day 2 of Spring Break with her big girl panties, dress shoes and socks from the previous day, and her raincoat. Gotta love a girl with style!

Day 3 was spent at the zoo. I am sooo glad that we went earlier in the day, too! By the time we left the zoo, the line was almost across the street! This was Benjamin's first trip to the zoo and he did great! I'm pretty impressed that I was able to push a double stroller while giving Ben his bottle and keeping an eye on ME who didn't want to ride in the stroller.

Davis and ME scaring the lions.

I told ME that we were going to see the lions at the zoo. She said she wanted to go scare them, and that's what she did.

Davis scaring me. :)

"Monkey see...monkey do."

Davis wanted to wear his backpack, so ME thought she had to do the same.

The big kids (ME, Carter, Megan, and Will) watching the giraffes.

My little kid watching the big kids watch the giraffes. I can't wait for him to be able to join in the action with everyone else!

Ashley and I got to the zoo later than the rest of our playgroup, so we hung around and checked out the monkeys after everyone left. We told Davis and ME to climb on top of this gorilla and to hold on. I love their frozen faces!

I was amazed at how this momma chimp kept climbing around while the baby chimp was holding on! Makes me think I need to do a better juggling act with the baby bjorn, Ben, and chores around the house. :)

The zoo is way too much fun!

The rest of the week consisted of just being "lazy" (aka waking up at 7 a.m. to play with kids as opposed to waking up at 5 a.m. to go teach kids). I had so much fun getting to play with both of my precious babies and watch their personalities develop. Ben is really starting to talk, so ME and I had tons of fun spitting bubbles and laughing with him. What a treat to be able to see them love on each other! I know I need to treasure this week because I know in just a few years they won't even want to be near each other.

I know I keep just posting pictures of Benjamin sleeping, but I love his sweet face in this. Shortly before this picture, he was having a blast with kicking and talking, then seconds later...he was out. I guess some guys just aren't cut out for Spring Break.

Meanwhile, ME decided to help me clean the floors before we had family come in town for the weekend. This isn't child labor is it?

Spring is here!

Drew is a little "under the weather" right now and since yesterday was the first day of Spring, my mom and I took the kiddos to Wye Mtn. to see the daffodils before they got destroyed from the rain last night. Let's just say that Benjamin did way better this trip than ME ever has out of the 3 trips that we've taken there in the past. I think I'll be more successful at getting a decent picture of ME maybe when she has kids of her own! She didn't throw a fit like any of the other times, but she just did not want to sit still for a pose. Ugh!

I forgot to mention in Benjamin's 5-month post that he loves to put anything in his mouth these days...daffodils were no exception!

This was about as cooperative that Miss Munchkin was the entire time. I think this pic turned out pretty sweet, though (even if Mr. B's bald head is poking in the background). :)

"Seriously, girls? You expect me to sit in a bunch of flowers and smile?"

My mom and I agreed that a camcoder would have been more beneficial this trip. ME was more interested in running around in a circle around one patch of stems rather than posing. At least she was happy, right?
Here's my attempt of trying to get a picture of the two of them together. We were trying to get them to look at the camera, but ME thought we wanted her to try to get Ben's attention with us.

"Seriously, I'm not going to smile about these flowers!"

"But they sure taste good!"
Another action shot of ME. We told her to turn around...she took it literal. She actually turned around in circles rather than turning to look at the camera. Ha!
I'm not sure why this picture won't turn around, but I loved it when Benjamin was lying down. This is one of the better ones until...

...someone wanted to lay down with him. The problem was that ME wanted to take off her shoes before she laid down, but she quickly realized her feet would get dirty. So she tried her hardest to stay on Ben's blanket.

ME tried so hard to problem solve by sitting by Ben...

...by sitting on him...

...finally just laying on him! My mom and I were in tears after this! Where does ME get this obsession with not getting dirty?

ME insisted on having a blue balloon. How can you deny a child a balloon even if you don't really want it? She carried it all the back to the car like a baby.

After Wye Mtn., ME went on a date with my parents to two weddings last night. I know this doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the blog, but I had to show my cute little babydoll. I feel like I'm looking at myself 30 years ago. Yikes!

I hope that everyone's first day of Spring went off to a great start and that you're able to enjoy the beautiful days to come...whenever that will be. Snow and rain is in the forecast for Arkansas this week. Crazy!

You say it's your birthday, it's my birthday, too, yeah!

OK, now that I got that Beatle's song out of my head and onto my blog, I bet you can't guess what I'm blogging about. Ha! The past few weekends have included birthday parties for more of ME's boy friends (yes, she's still limited in having many girl friends). The funny thing is that ME was saying we were going to her pink party for each of her friends. I finally figured out what she was talking about after I explained to her whose parties we were going to by showing her pictures on the blog from last year's parties. Then she changed her response and said she was going to Mason's purple party and "Tarson's" green party. I'm not sure why she chose purple for Mason, but she was referring to the birthday banners. I love that my daughter is so obsessed with color! She has to tell me and Drew every morning what color everyone in our house has on, including Dixie.


Mason's 2nd Birthday
Mason got a swingset for his bday, so he had a monkey-themed party. Monkey decor was everywhere from the columns on the back porch, to the cupcakes, and bananas as balloon weights. I even had a monkey outfit for Benjamin.

Since we were going to a bday party, ME insisted on wearing her "tuptake big socks" (aka cupcake tights) and her party dress. I love that she really thought about what she wanted to wear!Anna Carol wanted to wait for Jarrod to get the videocamera before we got cupcakes, but Mason had a different idea!

Isn't it obvious that these cupcakes were delicious?

Hmmm...I wonder who's daughter this is! ME had the option of choosing a vanilla or chocolate cupcake. I promise I didn't have anything to do with her decision! Poor Benjamin! It was a little too cool for him since he wasn't running around with everyone else. Thanks, Molly, for keeping him warm!

Carson's 3rd Birthday

Carson had his party at his church that has a wonderful slide and tunnel playset. His theme was the movie Cars. What an easy theme for decor! The cake, invites and thank you notes, cups and plates all had something from the Cars movie. Benjamin was even dressed for the occassion...his outfit had racecars on it!

ME loved her party favor! She didn't want to put it down to go play in the tunnels.

I think I was the only parent that actually crawled through the tunnels. So I tried to get pcitures of most of the kids. Man, I was so sore the next few days after that!
Megan

ME preferred the tunnels over the slide.

Mason

A very happy birthday boy, Carson

Ben's version of partying! He loved Carson's Aunt Kelly! .

Will and Carson

The kids loved helping Carson open his presents!

As always, Molly's mom made a delicious and precious Cars cake. Davis definitely enjoyed it!

Going for the icing only. This is definitely my child!

Who's child is this? If anyone knows me at all, they know that I practically won't even touch fruit. ME recognized these red, ripe strawberries from the book The Big, Hungry Bear, and ate every bite of it!

5 things

Our little pumpkin is 5 months old today! He's getting to be such a big boy, too! Notice that all of his monthly pictures are taken in his pj's. Since I've added the blocks, I have to wait until ME is in bed before I can take his picture. Here are five things that are happening in Benjamin's world:

1. He loves his thumb when he's tired, and he loves to let everyone on our street know when he's tired! In case you're in the neighborhood around 7 p.m., roll down your window and you might hear Benjamin.
2. He is such a talker! I'm convinced that he thinks he has to be in competition with his cousin, McKenzie, or he has to meet his "daily word quota" like his daddy. ;)
3. He's eating rice cereal twice a day. He just hasn't quite mastered the concept of swallowing it before the next bite.
4. He thinks he can sit up. I'm afraid he's going to break his neck when I put him in his carseat because he tries so hard to lift his head and see his world.
5. He's really starting to watch everything and try to grab things within his reach. I especially love it when my face is within his reach! But he really likes to hold his snuggly blankets and rattles.

He's still a momma's boy, which I really can't complain about. But I now have competition with ME. If I could ever figure out how to show videos, I would love to share how much ME loves her "Benjapin". She is always petting him, sharing toys with him, and making him hold toys. She's currently in the process of teaching him "Row, row, row your boat." Broadway, here we come!

Geaux Saints!

Did you know that the Saints won the Super Bowl? I heard that, too! The sad part is that the four of us went to a Super Bowl party and I didn't watch one bit of it. It's amazing how kids can change your plans! Here are some pictures of my Super Bowl watching time...

"This game is boring!"

"Oh, they won! Who dat?"
ME and one of her many boy friends not interested in the game.

ME hiding from all of those boys. Like her outfit? She insisted on wearing her rainboots. Gotta love a girl with an independent personality!

Baby, it's cold outside! (Part 3)

I know this was sooo last month, but I am finally able to blog with few interruptions right now. And man, it feels so good to be able to blog!

Anyway, we were snowed in for a few days the first week of February. For a kid and mom, that's great because we get to play together. But for a teacher, it stinks because it just means you have to make up those days at the end of the school year...boo! But I had fun being at home with my favorite two little people and my four-legged friend.

"Look, Mommy...more snow!"

"Dear God, thank you for letting me stay at home today and play with my mommy! Amen!"

"What? Did someone say we get to sleep in? I'll take care of that!"

Dixie didn't quite know what to think about the piles of snow this time. She mainly stayed near the deck.

We finally got to try our hand at building a snowman! The previous week, it started to rain and the snow turned to slush when we were able to try building one. This time, the top layer of snow was frozen, so you had to dig for the good snow.

ME didn't care what kind of snow she had. She loved building her snowman! The finished product...I know you're impressed!

ME saw the leaf pile and thought she needed to "sweep, sweep" the snow because she thought the snow was dirty. Helen, your hearth broom is such a hit!This is what a 2-year-old looks like when she's told she has to come inside for a little bit to thaw out. Notice the empty milk jug thrown on the floor after her little tantrum. :) Luckily, this was short lived, thanks to Dora and Diego!