I Wonder...

How effective it is

to spend the whole minute of a timeout

taking pictures because he's just so cute.

{Maybe he didn't notice.}

Little Mermaid

Last week Alexa finished her second round of Preschool Swimming Lessons.  Before that we had always been in the Mom and Tot ones where one of us is in the water with her.  Not this time, now that she was 3 she got to go solo and boy was she excited.  I'm pretty sure she loves us but I think sometimes it's just hard to tell because she is such an independent little girl. :)

Anyway within two days of the first session she was transformed.  All she wanted to do was get under the water.  There was a couple times her teacher had to kindly ask her to stay on the side of the pool when she was waiting for her turn to do something.  Yeah, she wasn't having that.  So I think they must have compromised because she got to be in the water but had to be touching the side.  (I'm so glad to see we aren't the only ones who gets conned by her!) :)

At the end of this past 3 week session her teacher said she was ready to move to the next level!  She was able to do back and front floats, swim using her arms and swim under water.  I couldn't believe she was doing all that in just a few weeks!  I told her she was my little fishy and she said, "No Mommy, I am a Mermaid!"

So now onto the next level, Preschool 2.  Hopefully she doesn't learn so quick this time because you have to be 5 to be in swim school (which would be the next level) and that's still a year and a half away.  Seriously, this girl is a little fish...every day she asks if we can go swimming.  I love that.

Here she is with her Best Friend who took the class with her.  They had so much fun together and surprisingly didn't get into much trouble!  They are both talkers, you would think they were teenagers when they get together.

Here she is with one of her teachers.  He was so good with the little kids and Alexa loved him.







That's my little Mermaid!

My New Love

We did it.
We finally took the big leap and bought a minivan.
I wish I could say that I am just too young and hip to be driving it around.
But I love it!
And the kids, they love it too.
And Matt, don't let him fool you with all his talk, he loves it just as much as everyone else.
Power doors, my dream come true.
2 DVD players, my kids dream come true.
I am actually almost excited for winter so I can use my remote starter and heated seats.  Almost.
I seriously feel like a dork with how excited I am about getting a minivan.
And for the record...I am too young and hip for it.
Right!? :)

I saw this video awhile back when is came out and thought it was hilarious!
I have since seen it everywhere so you probably have too.  But if you somehow missed it you have to see it.  Funny stuff! 
(You'll have to pause the music player at the bottom of the page so you can hear the video.)



Have a FABULOUS weekend!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

I was looking through old pictures the other day and ran across these.
I still crack up every time I see them.

Father's Day Redo

Hi!  Long time, no blog.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and Father's Day.
Ours was horrible. :(  The kids and I were so sick.  It seemed like food poisoning but then our friends who we were with Thursday and Friday got the same thing so maybe it was something else.  Either way, it wasn't fun.  Poor Matt spent his special day (and the whole night before) giving baths, doing laundry, cleaning carpets and taking care of all of us.  He definitely wins some kind award.  We'll just have to have a Father's Day redo next weekend! :)

Other than that there's not much new with us.
Matt's graduation was a blast!  It ended up raining off and on all day but we still had so much fun.  It still doesn't feel like he's officially done, but he is!  Woohoo!  We are all enjoying him being around lots more and I know he doesn't miss the homework every night. :)

The weather has been all over the place lately.  Hot, rainy, chilly, hot again. We are loving it!  (The hot, sunny parts) :)
We have been staying busy, we are usually out doing something every day.  Lots of trips to the river, Children's Museum, Zoo, parks....I wish we had Summer for 9 months and winter for 3, not the other way around! :)

Here's some pictures of the kids from the Children's Museum last week.

Have a wonderful week!! :)
Can't wait to catch up with with everyone!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

I have been slacking big time on blogging.
We have been crazy busy trying to get ready for Matt's graduation party this weekend.
And getting a night out to celebrate our anniversary.
And swimming lessons.
And enjoying the great weather.
And that's about it.
I will be back soon...promise! :)
Hope everyone is having a great week!!

Why I Love My Husband

Today Matt and I are celebrating our anniversary.
Here's a list with just some of the reasons I love this man so much.

1. He makes me laugh.  Every day.

2. He is an amazing Daddy!  He doesn't think twice about getting down on the floor to wrestle, play with babies, read books or just cuddle and it melts my heart every time.

3. He works hard and he does it all for our family.  He spent the last 3 and a half years working and going to school to better our future.  And he never complained about it, not once.

4. He encourages me to get out of the house and do things with friends, he knows I need it more than I know it.

5. He loves my family and they love him.  In fact, I think he talks to and hangs out with some of them more than I do.  I love that.

6. He is calm and patient.

7. He is ridiculously smart.  My sister makes fun of him because he once read her math book for fun...while on vacation.  I love his thirst for knowledge.

8. He's really cute!  Tall, dark and handsome.

9. He vacuums the stairs because he knows I hate doing it.

10. He supports me.  All the time.

11. He tells me I'm beautiful.

12. He loves hanging out together on a Friday night playing cards and watching movies.

13. He will get up with the kids on Saturday mornings and let me sleep in.

14. He sometimes (most of the time) thinks I am too overprotecting, worry too much and obsess over crazy things but he loves me anyway.

15. He is logical.  When I say we should take our tax money and get tickets to Hawaii he says we should take that money and use it as a down payment on a (much needed) new vehicle.  He's usually right. 

16. He gets along with everyone.

17. He can't wait until Braden is older so he can do boy things like hunting and fishing with him.

18. He has the best smile.

19. After working all day he comes home and helps clean up after dinner, give the kids a bath or mows the lawn.

20. He is incredibly handy.  When something breaks around the house he can fix it.  He can also do car stuff and doesn't get mad at me when I ask him if he knows what he is doing.

21. He never goes to bed without giving me a kiss and telling me he loves me.

22. He handles medical situations so much better than I do.  (See #6)

23. He can grill anything.

24. And he doesn't even get mad when I "ruin" a perfect steak he just grilled by using ketchup.

25. Alexa has him wrapped around her finger. 

26. He calls me to just say HI and see how I am doing, even though he is busy at work.  I love that he is thinking about us during the day.

27. He always tells me he likes my cooking.

28. The way he hugs me and kisses my forehead.  Love it.

I love you Honey!!
Happy Anniversary!

Preschool Graduate

Alexa had her last day of Preschool last week.
I can't believe her first school year is already over, it flew by.
(Insert Mommy tears here)
Here is a picture of her on her first day of school and her last day of school.

It's crazy to see how much she has changed in 9 months.  Those jeans she is wearing in the first picture, the ones that look way too big for her...yeah they are long gone, she grew out of them months ago.

Also, can you see the little head tilt in the second picture, I think she got a little sassier this year too.
Here's some more proof...

That girl cracks me up, such a sweetie!

So today we had her end of the year picnic at the park.  We woke up to rain and Alexa was crushed, she though we couldn't go if it was raining.  Everything cleared up and it actually turned out to be a great day. 
Matt couldn't make it because of work but Gramma came instead and got to meet all her friends.

They sang some of the songs they learned throughout the year.  See that girl middle, the one I that happens to be my daughter, she was by far the loudest most excited one singing.  I had a couple of people come to me after and comment on how dramatic she is.  Alexa, dramatic?  Never! :)

They also played on the playground.
Here she is with her friend who also lives right next to us!
It was fun having them in the same class.

(Braden had fun playing too!)

Here is Alexa with her teacher, Mrs. Nerby (on the right) and the assistant, Miss Mandie.
She loved them both and I know she will miss them lots.

This is Alexa and Riley.  They met on orientation night last Fall and quickly became best friends.  They talk about each other constantly and already have lots of plans for Summer Vacation.  Alexa told me she was going to miss her but then I reminded her that she is going to be in her swimming lessons starting next week, then all was well again.

Seriously, they are so cute!   

I love watching Alexa grow up and and make new friends, it's so fun seeing kids that age interact.  Cuteness.

And here she is with her Preschool Certificate.  

What a fun year she had!
And she still likes school and says she wants to go back, so that's good. :)

Memorial Weekend 2010

This past weekend was pretty much perfect.
We thought about taking a mini vacation to a waterpark for a couple days but the weather was hot and sunny so we decided to stay home and enjoy it.  Matt had Monday off and took Friday off as well so we had 4 days of fun in the sun.  I really can't remember a Memorial weekend that has been as nice as this one.
Thank you weather for cooperating! :)

We spent tons of time outside swinging, blowing bubbles, riding bikes, walking and lots and lots of time in the pool.  Alexa has become quite the little fishy these days, she loves the water.  She has even been swimming under the water with her goggles on when we're at the beach or the pool.  Some mornings she wakes up and instead of getting dressed she will put on her swimsuit instead.

On Sunday we spent the day at this little beach by our house.  It is perfect for kids and I don't think many people know about it because whenever we go there are hardly any people there, sometimes we are the only ones.  Last year Braden was kind of young and we never usually stayed too long but this year we packed up lunch and toys and hung out for half the day, the kids loved it.  The water was surprisingly not too cold, although Braden and I spent much of the day on the shore playing in the sand. :)

On Monday we headed to a Fawn-Doe-Rosa which is a cute little Wildlife Education Park near my parents house.  They have all kinds of animals there that you can pet and feed.  Braden walked around most of the time chasing the animals yelling, "Ann-mal, ome ear!!" (Animal come here) 


Matt, my mom and the kids feeding the deer.

My sister Alaina and Alexa.



They also had pony rides.
Both kids loved it which was fun to see since the last couple times someone (ahem, Alexa) has wanted to ride the horsey somewhere we ended up wasting our money. :)  This time was no problem.  Alexa was smiling and giggling the whole time and Braden had to walk around to each of the horses after they were done to give them all hugs, so cute!



After we were done there we went back to my parents house and Alexa went boating and fishing with Grampa and Daddy.  She had so much fun and was pretty pumped to use her Dora fishing pole.  She was catching fish too, she loved it!  I was surprised to hear my little girly girl was actually petting the fish before she threw them back.



I was also amazed at the other little things she was petting...leeches!!
I'm not even kidding, she wanted to hold them and play with them and was even naming each of them.  This is the same girl who freaks out about a little ant.  I'm thinking she didn't totally get what they were.  Gross!  However I am happy that she is much braver than her Mommy. :)

I hope everyone else had a great holiday weekend!
Anyone do anything exciting??