Disney on Ice

We'd been looking forward to Disney on Ice ever since we got the mailer that it was coming to the Gwinnett Arena :).  Since Junior is not a huge fan of ice skating, or large crowds, we opted to take Mrs. Janice with us :).  This worked out great for the kids since Mrs. Janice bought them a  lot more junk than their Daddy would have ;-) She really is the BEST EVER!!!!!!

The kiddos got their first treat before the show even started!!!

Tyler decided on the icee in the tinkerbell cup... the cup was much cooler than the boy cup, and the icee was rainbow colors where the boy cups only offered solid red or solid blue (every color was the same color, but that didn't really matter to Tyler).

Ready for the magic to happen :)

 Intermission snack.... Thanks Mrs. Janice :)

And I really think my child is the only person who could get ketchup on her BACK!!! LOL.  That's my girl :).

Let Spring Break Begin!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Happy Joy Joy, we got the Friday "before" spring break, plus an entire week out of school for Spring Break this year! And you know I planned as many fun things as I could think of to make the most of our time off :). On the first day of spring break, we made an early morning trip to the lake to play in the sand.  We stayed all morning, had a picnic lunch, then met a friend at the park to play even more.  And as if that weren't enough fun for one day, my friend Carla, that we met at the park, told me about this frozen yogurt place in Flowery Branch called "twisted and twirled" or something like that, where you get your fro-yo, add all the topings you want, then pay by the oz, so of course the kids and I decided that a trip there would be the perfect way to cool off after our day in the sun :).

Here's Tyler enjoying his "sand chair" we built after several attempts at a sand castle ;)

And here's my sweet pea making "sand angels" :)

 I told the kids they could only get in up to their knees because the water was pretty cold.... of course, that lasted all of 5 minutes before they got totally soaked, so you know I gave in!

The kids were really digging the swings at the park, and the twirly slide.... its much bigger than the one at the park by our house, and "our park" doesn't have swings, so of course, this was the best park trip ever... :).... you know the baby swings were much cooler than the regular swings too.... lol.

The yogurt was also an excellent adventure :). I love how Tyler got fruity yogurt with sour candy toppings (like his daddy) and Olivia got chocolate ice cream with all chocolate toppings (like yours truely).

I'd say that was an overall excellent first day of spring break :)!

Squishy Baff

We saw the commercial on TV for "squishy baff" several weeks ago, and I thouht about ordering it because the kids love to play at bath time, but I just never got around to it.  Then one day, I saw it at wal-mart.  They even had the display set up with a TV playing the commercial.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a coupon, but I bought it anyway. And of course the kids LOVED it :).

So much better than Saturday Morning Cartoons!!

As we were relaxing around the house Saturday morning before Tyler's Tee Ball practice and Julianna's 3rd birthday party, Olivia and Tyler took it upon themselves to entertain us :). LOVE IT!

Snug and Cozy

I sent Tyler to get ready for bed, and he comes back with some pajamas that are about a size 3! His arms and legs are sticking out a good 6 inches from the sleeves and legs of the pants, and his belly is showing! I asked him why he was wearing PJs that were too small. He said it was because they were snug and cozy... I didn't argue.  But when I went to put him in his bed (He likes to got to sleep in our room, then we carry him to bed before we go to bed) I just had to take a picture of how he was sleeping. I have no idea how gets like this, when I tucked him in, the pillows were stacked underneath his head so he could watch TV, and the covers were up to his chin, but He is SO STINKIN CUTE, I don't mind straightening the bed back up :).

Hey Batter Batter!!!!!!!

Loving the enthusiasm in the swing!

And you can't have tee ball practice without of course the first fundamental of team sports:

"Take a knee"

Funny side note: I taught my 6th graders to take a knee when someone was injured, I don't even remember what happened, I just needed a moment of calmness to handle a situation, and after that, those girls were taking a knee for EVERYTHING, broken nail, when they bump into each other, when they start sweating, you name it!!! It was getting so out of hand that I had to readdress the issue and explain what constitutes an injury!

Family Funday Sunday!

Junior's parents invited us over for a cookout on Sunday. We took the kids' four wheelers, Junior's sister and her kids came and brought their four wheelers, and Junior's brother and his family also came. We had a delicious dinner followed by lots and lots of stirring up dust! Junior's dad has the cutest go cart with a fibergalss body on it made to look like a race car! The kids all took turns riding and playing and had a blast!  Here's the picture play by play:

A couple of four wheelers and the go cart as they're zooming by!

Tyler driving the go cart :)

Cooling off with a popsicle (or two)

And the cold compresses after Tyler lost a battle with a tree branch, and Olivia spun out :-(

But they bounced back quickly and had a wonderful day with the family :).

Fun-Filled Friday

The evening started out with us breaking out the slip and slide I got for about 3 dollars at the end of summer last year at dollar general:

As the fun continues... Tyler wants to surf on his boogie board... but after a few tries, he decides he needs a handle.  And this is where it gets impressive.... my five year old sweet little baby decides we should "poke a hole" in the tag and put his jump rope through it to make a handle he can hold on to! LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!! and of course we did it!

While we were busy playing, Daddy was busy getting another four wheeler for Olivia (the first one he got her is having issues). Of course it needs a little work, so Daddy had to "tow" it home.... Love Olivia's reaction! (Yes, that is Mr. Brian, a grown man, steering the child-sized fourwheeler)

We had plans to have dinner with Mrs. Teresa and Mr. Mark, but she didn't get off work til 6, which gave us plenty of time for the slip and slide. When it was about time to get ready, the kids got their showers and started getting ready. When I told Tyler to go get some clothes, he asked if he could wear his suit. I didn't see any reason why not, so he did. Here are my little sweeties, all dressed up and ready to go :).

Snack Day

Each month, all the students in Olivia's class take turns bringing in snacks. On Olivia's previous snack days, she's brought in rice crispies treats, cheetos, fruit snacks, you know, the usual easy, pre-packages snacks. But this time, it was something different :). After a recent sale on vanilla wafers, when I started buying them for Olivia, I remembered a snack we made years ago, where you use vanilla wafers and chocolate cookies to make snacks that look like hamburgers :).

So these were Olivia's snacks for Snack day.  You put yellow icing on one vanilla wafer, top it with the chocolate cookie, put red icing on top of that, put the other vanilla wafer on top, then smear a little light corn syrup on the top to stick the sesame seeds to it :).  Olivia was so proud of her snacks, and her class loved them :).

Redneck Reward

Tyler was really good last week at school, so show him how proud we are of him, we made one of his dreams come true.  The boy LOVES to ride his four wheeler. And he really LOVES MUD. SO...........  We made a humongus mud puddle and let Tyler ride his four wheeler through it.  I've never heard him laugh so much. He had the time of his life!!!!!!!!

Love this action shot

And here it is.... the highlight of his young life so far....

I finally got him to pause long enough to take a picture of his muddy face :)

He said he should have worn his goggles and breather that Lindsey gave him :)

And of course, Daddy had to teach him to clean his toys before putting them back in the garage.

And then............... Aunt Lindsey threw him in the mud puddle!!! No wonder her LOVES the girl!!!!

After showering and getting ready for bed, he sat down with dad on the couch for a few minutes while Olivia was finishing her homework. You know, heaven forbid one go to bed before the other. Unfortunately, the sweet little pumpkin couldn't keep his eyes open a minute longer.  Junior said one minute Tyler was sitting beside him watching TV, and the next minute he just flopped into his lap fast asleep! And even when Junior picked him up to take him to bed, he was a total rag doll!!! He was OUT!!! It was too sweet! And I know he had every bit as much fun as I though he did :).

Tee Ball Tryouts

This year will be Tyler's first time playing Tee Ball. Try outs were last week and the boy was beside himself, he was so excited. They went around to different stations at the field and threw and caught the ball and ran a little. We got a call from the coach yesterday, and we are officially Red Birds :).  The first practice is Thursday. I think I'm as excited as Tyler is :). When I got home today, Junior and the kids were out in the yard practicing :)

More fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Although the plan was to have lunch at mom and dad's and go home and take a nap, we ended up spending the whole day.  We brought Tyler and Olivia's beebee guns for a little target practice, and ended up spending quite a while playing with them.

Here's my little trick shooter.

And little miss careful getting some help from her dad.

And a little later, we decided to go to the auction. Mom and dad came too, and of course, the kids had a blast.  This is how we found them in the back seat when we got back to the house.

The good, the bad, and the rainy...

The good and the rainy:
Friday night family dinner began with a pizza party on the back porch.  Junior knew that the rain was coming in, but I ignored that fact because it felt SO good outside.  The kids and I enjoyed our pizza as it started to sprinkle. Tyler suggested that we get the umbrella out for the table so we wouldn't get wet. Noone mentioned going inside. haha. It didn't rain for very long, and we ended up staying outside for a while.

The Bad:
Unfortunately, Mr. Tyler had been in trouble at school that week, and was rewarded with some extra homeowrk.  And Ms. Olivia seemed to think that it would be a good idea to play on the monkey bars at the day care with her boot on her broken foot, and fell off and hit her head, so Ms. Olivia got some work too.

Tyler's assignment: copy all of his sight words from the flash cards onto writing paper.  Olivia's assignment: write sentences with Tyler's sight words when he finished with each one.

Leap Day

The kids and I almost always have a lot of fun together, but yesterday, we were a little wilder than usual :)

The afternoon started with a stop by Ingles to get hotdogs after talking to my cousin Stacy about what she was eating. I very rarely make hot dogs, but when I heard her say that's what they were having, it was all I could think of!! We did have a little bit of a problem before we got there. Olivia started crying about her food hurting, and I know she was ready to get her boot off, but I wouldn't take it off of her until we got home, so I asked her if she wanted to see if Daddy was home so she could go take her boot off or if she wanted to go to the store with us.  It was a hard choice for her, but she decided to go... as long as she could ride in the buggy!

And Tyler (that smart little cookie... he reminds me of myself ;)) requested to do his homework while we were in the store so he could play and help daddy when we got home. I got the car buggy so he could sit in the car and prop on the steering wheel to do his homework while Olivia rode in the cart.

We wondered around the store aimlessly while we picked up a few things that we needed along with the hot dogs and buns.  I have a hard time functioning in the grocery store anymore without a list and my book of coupons!!! Meanwhile, Tyler finished his homework, and we discovered that Ingles gives free cookies to kids! They were pretty excited about it :) I was too, and a little jealous.

After the homework and the cookie, Tyler decided to do a little Surfing USA on the car while we headed to the check out line. Yes, I'm that mom that lets her child sit on top of the car. Not the whole time, though, just in the last leg of the event.

When we got home, Tyler was in charge of arranging the tots on the sheet pan while I warmed up the grill and laid out the condiments. And after they were in the oven, he set up camp to watch them cook! lol

That didn't last very long, because when I went out to check the hot dogs, he followed me, which was fine, but then I heard a whacking noise. I looked back to find Tyler "chopping wood." Turns out, his dad gave him a log and a hatchet to chop up small sticks while he has been splitting wood. um... yeah..... I'm not going to say much else about that....

After dinner, Daddy took Tyler to get a hair cut, and Olivia and I had our dessert in the bathtub!!! Well, she was in the tub. I was in the floor beside her.  We chatted about school and reading and our favorite foods while she soaked, and we both enjoyed one of my all time favorite foods..... Ice Cream!!!!!!!!!!

The Love Boat....

Our second anniversary is March 7th. And since we had an instant family when we got married, we ( I ) decided that we should so something every year on our anniversary for just us two. Last year, Vegas, this year, a cruise!! So why am I already blogging about our anniversary cruise when its not March the 7th yet? because it was $200 cheaper to go during the last week of February instead of the first week of March! Annnnnnnnddddddddddddddd............... It just so happened that we were in the Bahamas on my birthday!!! and the Captain's dinner also just happened to fall on my birthday, so I had a rockin' lobster dinner, followed by DOUBLE dessert!!! I couldn't have planned it better myself!!!!!

Here's the cake they brought me (although it wasn't as good as the tiramisu that I'd just eaten).

Our boat is the one on the right.  We stopped here for a while after we got off to watch that boat in the background back in and tie up. It was pretty cool to see :).

And here we are at Senor Frog's waiting for the Catamaran to come get us to take us snorkeling.

We had a wonderful time, and feel so blessed to be able to do things like this together!