Water Fun

We had a fun and busy weekend! On Saturday, Nate and Charlene and the kids all came down from Fargo for a day of fun at the Maple Grove Community Center! We had never been there, but will for sure have to go back. I was very impressed! We had a blast playing in the outdoor water park, and then went to the indoor water park for more fun after the outdoor pool closed. We had a pizza party for supper and then everyone went to bed. Landon had Isaac as a roommate and did surprisingly well.

On Sunday, we had Rachel Ramsey's graduation party in Minnetonka and enjoyed the beautiful weather we had this weekend. I wish every summer day was like the past two days have been!

One more day of school, one workshop day, and then off for the summer! Woo hoo!

Mother's Day and Misc.

You know it's time to update your blog when the last post is all about how Addison just turned 9 months...

Well, yesterday she turned 10 months...time for an update!

We had a great Mother's Day! The kids made me an adorable dish towel at Jenny's that has their cute little handprints and names on it. LOOOOVE this! (If you can't quite read it, it says "Best Mom Ever, Hands Down!") From Darren and the kids, I got my vegetable garden. We ended up opting for the raised garden bed from Home Depot. That will be the topic of my next post I'm sure as we are working to get it in the ground and planted this week. Can't wait! We spent Mother's Day at Jess and Chad's house with the whole fam. Can't get enough pictures of Blake and Addison together. These two are going to be trouble with a capital T! My Grandma Dolores was there that day and after watching Addison for quite some time she said to me, "That one there...she has mischief in her eyes." Oh brother..

Other news...this little gal is (well has been for about two months now) climbing up the stairs in our house. The baby gate is finally back into position from taking a short hiatus in the closet.

Addison's latest...carrying around anything in her mouth. She especially loves anything soft...socks, her lamby...you name it..

Landon's newest toy...his new water table. After cleaning the office last weekend I came across a gift card he had received at his birthday party from my grandma. We walked the aisles of Walmart for quite some time and he finally decided he wanted this fun little water table. The kids had quite a blast with it last Sunday! A change of clothes is required each time they go near the thing. It will be so much fun this summer!

I also can't forget to announce that Landon filled up his first "potty chart" over the weekend.! We have been working on this since right around his birthday in February. He didn't take too much interest in it right away. It wasn't until we started offering M & M's and Jenny starting to work on it at daycare that he showed some interest again. He will go if we put him on the potty, but so far hasn't figured out to let us know when he needs to go. We're not rushing anything and we'll wait until he's ready to let us know. Until then, more diapers,

M & M's and stickers for the potty chart!

And last but not least, this little chica turned 10 months old yesterday! Better get working on the big birthday party! She is standing on her own for quite some time now...up to 30 seconds. I have a feeling it won't be long and she will be walking up a storm!

That's all for now. Stay tuned for before and after pictures of the vegetable garden hopefully over the weekend. :)

Our little lady is 9 months old! Crazy.

Her 9 month well-child visit stats:

height.....30 inches.....98th percentile

weight.....20 lbs. 14 oz.....80th percentile

head.....46.4 cm.....96th percentile

Milestones:

We can't keep this girl in one place! She's quite the monkey these days and giving me new gray hairs every day. Her latest? Climbing up the stairs, crawling on all fours, walking along the furniture, and standing alone for up to 5 seconds. She is super daring and will climb on anything! She digs in cupboards and drawers and pulls everything out. She loves to babble, squeal, yell, and sing. She has started to try to take things away from Landon which makes for little fights between the kids. Already. We have to pin her down with our legs to change her diaper or get her dressed. Bathtime has become virtually impossible as she wants to stand up all the time. I'm sure walking is right around the corner. Help us. All kidding aside, she is super fun and has developed quite the personality. I'm pretty sure 9 months is one of my favorite ages! She loves to cuddle and give kisses and hugs...love love love her cute little smile and dimples.

Fun-Filled Weekend

We had a very busy busy busy weekend...a kid's weekend...

Saturday Darren's brother Nate and family came down from Fargo and stayed with Eddie and Deanna. Auntie Jen joined us as well. The plan was to head out to Como Zoo for the day, but since Mother Nature has not been very cooperative lately, we decided on the Minnesota Children's Museum instead. What a fun time!!! Landon had a blast playing playing playing and Addison had fun as well. Grandpa Eddie treated the whole family...Thank you!

On Sunday, we went to the Baby Animal Fair at the Buffalo Civic Center. Lots of animals, info booths, food stands, games, and fun! How many kids have you ever heard of that have sat on a YAK before?

The highlight of the day for me? Did you watch the reality show "Four of a Kind" on Lifetime this spring? This young lady showing Landon the baby duck is one of the Durst Quadruplets! Don't ask me which one...I didn't have the nerve to ask.

Easter

Happy Easter! We had a great weekend...very busy, but wonderful!

Friday night we finally got our eggs colored. That was an interesting task with a two year old! Landon had a blast!

On Saturday morning we went to the Annandale Easter Egg Hunt. Landon did a great job of picking up lots of candy! We got our balloons and bags of candy and then headed off to Eden Prairie Center to get Addison's 9 month pictures taken. We also visited with the Easter Bunny and got the kids picture taken.

The Easter Bunny stopped by our house on Sunday morning and dropped off these treasures:

Our Easter Bunny brought a "Band In a Box" and the kids are having a great time making lots of noise playing all their new instruments. Landon loves the maracas and Addison was having a great time playing the triangle on Easter morning.

After church, we hosted Easter lunch at our house...BBQ style. We had a lunch of brats and burgers and everyone brought pot luck to share. It was a great day with beautiful weather and lots of fun. The kids enjoyed the egg hunt in the back yard.

This is the best we could do getting a picture of all five grandkids! It might be a few years yet before we have any success getting them all to smile at the camera! L to R: Landon, Addison, Blake, Lilly, Jackson

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter...we sure did!

Tunnel

The kids have a new toy...imagine that!

Grandpa Eddie and Grandma Deanna brought over a TUNNEL!

Landon and Addison love it!

Even Texas, Landon's stuffed T.C. Bear, (don't ask us how he came up with the name Texas!) gets to play in the tunnel.

Must be hard work to army crawl your way through the tunnel...at least Addison thinks so! She was so tired that she fell asleep halfway out of the tunnel. How cute is that?

Spring Break Top Ten

As I wrap up my Spring Break from school tonight, I have come up with my "Spring Break Top Ten" list. These are in no particular order:

1. Going to the Mall of America with Darren, Landon, and Addison last Saturday. We went to the newly-renovated "Sea Life" exhibit. Aside from the crowds of people and the abnoxious children having meltdowns (oh wait, that was our child Landon!) it was a great time. Landon loved touching the starfish the most and seeing the sharks in the underwater tunnels. Addison just liked people watching all day!

We also hit up the Nickelodeon Universe for awhile. Highlights: Landon and Darren riding "Diego's Rescue Rider" and meeting Dora! Oh man, Landon has been talking about meeting Dora all week! He walked right up to her and said "Oh Hi Dora!" So stinkin' cute.

2. Getting the entry way bathroom/powder room painted!

3. Lots of time spent with my mom! She was my savior on a few occasions this week. Getting me out of the house to run to the outlet mall...stopping over to help out with the kids...you name it, she'll do it!

4. Making apple cake with Landon. On an episode of Dora that we watched, Dora makes a birthday cake. He looked at me and said "Mommy, let's go make a cake too!" He grabbed me by the hand and brought me to the kitchen. So, we found some ingredients and there you have it...apple cake a half hour later!

5. Heading down to Eagan on Thursday with my team-teaching partner Carissa to the "Just Between Friends" consignment sale. I dropped the kids off in the morning at Jenny's and had a great (much needed) day off. We found some great deals and had a yummy lunch at the MOA. We never run out of things to talk about!

6. Getting all the windows and screens clean! That was my Tuesday project. I pulled all the screens out and scrubbed then all down in the tub. What a difference clean windows make!

7. Reconnecting with old friends! It was so fun to get to catch up with my old friends Liz and Jessica over Facebook this week.

8. Getting the downstairs living room painted. Well, two walls anyway. This room was too brown for me...brown furniture, oak woodwork, oak entertainment center, tan carpet, and tan walls. I needed some color, so I went with blue. Now I just need to get stuff hung up on the wall and my pillows made and we'll be golden!

9. BBQ supper at my mom and dad's. So fun to see Landon and Jackson play together and get to have help with the kids for the evening! Not to mention the yummy food off the grill. Oh, how I love grilling season. Yippee...I think it's finally safe to say that it's here!

10. And last but not least, Darren gets home from California tonight. His flight gets to MSP at 11:30 so I won't see him tonight, but man it's been a LONG week without him. Having the kids 24 hours a day by myself has been a lot of work and I have a lot more respect for single parents now. (He was out in San Jose reffing a national hockey tournament since Tuesday morning.) We will enjoy waking up tomorrow morning to see him!

Back to work tomorrow! Now that April is here, the rest of the school year will fly by and before we know it, it will be summer break! I cannot wait!