Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day for us was pretty low key. We went to mass with Jerry's parents, then went to my grandmother's to see her for awhile. Afterwards we drove back up to our house, and spent the day just hanging out. Jerry had me leave for awhile so I could go to the nursery to pick out my spring flowers. It was so nice taking my time and enjoying picking out some beautiful flowers. When I got home, he cooked me dinner and we played with the kids until they went to bed. Like I said, very low key....but so nice.

My mom was at the lake, so no pics of her. Nanny was in her rollers, so I probably shouldn't post that (if I value my life!! you're welcome, Jules). I didn't make it into a picture (I never really do). So MeMaMa (my grandmother) wins the award for the only picture able to be posted from Mother's day!!

I hope everybody had a nice, relaxing Mother's Day.

Our week!

Jerry left on Monday for Omaha, Sioux City, and a couple of other towns (I can't keep up with it). So the kiddos and I had to rough it without him here.

Monday after we dropped him off at the airport, we went over to Harrison's house to play with him for a little bit. He is going to be a big brother very soon. He was so sweet to share all of his toys with Anniston and Treyson. Sarah looks great, and is finishing up preparing for her sweet little girl's arrival!

Monday evening was pretty uneventful. We watched Dancing with the stars (Anniston calls it the "Princess Show" because the girls look like princesses in their dresses). So we watched that, and I asked her if she wanted to have a jammie party with Mommy. She said yes. We NEVER let her sleep with us. The only other time she's slept in our bedroom was Christmas night. So I had her sleep on Jerry's side. . . she's been in real panties for 4 weeks now. She's had 3 accidents total. We're so proud of her; she did great keeping her panties dry in our bed too. She has been potty trained since last April (2008), but she wasn't anywhere near ready for night-time until a month ago or so. We just waited until her diapers/pull-ups were consistently dry for a week before we ventured into that. So in the middle of the night, I hear her mumbling and I look up to see her sitting up in bed. I told her to lay back down and go to sleep. So she layed down, then proceeded to say her "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer. I just thought that was hilarious! She wasn't even really awake. She was sitting up with her eyes closed--weird!

Tuesday after work, I took the kids out to eat for Cinco de Mayo. That was an experience! Pouring down rain, two kids, one me...we were drenched!! So we get seated, order our drinks, and I open up Treyson's baby food. I get about 2 bites in his mouth, then I hear "Mommy, I need to go potty." Are you kidding me? I did not consider the difficulties of being in a restaurant with 2 kids and 1 me!! So off we all went to the potty. I'm holding Treyson on my hip, trying to tear off toilet paper to cover the toilet seat (at least 3 layers, mind you), then attempting to lift Anniston up onto the potty all the while quietly but firmly telling her to not touch the potty, or the hand rail, or anything for that matter. Anniston then proceeds to tell me (very loudly) that she's going to push out big stinky boo-boos. Thanks for the heads-up sweetie....because she wasn't joking! So then trying to wipe her little tushy while holding Treyson on my hip....awesome! We let Anniston wipe her tee-tee, but not boo-boos. So she finishes up and I manage to get her put back together (thank goodness I let her wear a dress on Tuesday) and flush the potty (with my foot, of course). Then we had to wash hands...challenge #2 of the evening. I know you people are getting a visual...and it probably isn't any better than what the reality was.--VERY DIFFICULT!! So, needless to say, my kids did great but I won't take them out to eat by myself again. I'll call Jerry's brother or cousin to join us next time!!

Wednesday evening we came home and the sun was shining. I was so excited because Dadoo was coming home that night. Well, his flight was scheduled to get in at 11:30 P.M., but at least I wouldn't have to wake up before the sun in order to get the kids and myself where we needed to be on time the next morning. Just as we're starting to play outside, I get a call from Jerry. Guess what? His flight through Chicago was cancelled and he'll be home tomorrow!! AHHHHH!!!! We did enjoy our evening, but I sure was looking forward to having him home. He did make it in Thursday around noon, and we enjoyed our evening last night at the park.

We had Dadoo pick up Arby's and we met at the park down the street from our house. We had a great time, and so did the kids! Here are some pics from the park:

Treyson seems to be following his sister's footsteps of being adventurous!Daddo pushing her "as high as the moon":Anniston LOVES to swing:Treyson watching Anniston play on the playground while he snacked on O's (cheerios):Anniston cheesing it up:

Jerry leaves this evening for the weekend. It's Colin's bachelor party this weekend. I know he'll have a great time, but I already miss him.

Hope everybody has a nice weekend (especially all of the Mother's--happy Mother's Day!!)

8 months old

Treyson is 8 months old today! Seriously, I get sadder and sadder with each passing month knowing that my baby is slipping away from baby-ness and into toddler-hood. I actually realized I didn't post a 7 month update. So alot has changed since the 6 month update.

• He is eating 6 oz every 3 hours



• He sleeps 11-12 hours at night (except last night, he slept 13!! Definitely a welcome surprise!)



• He naps 2 times (morning and afternoon) for 1.5 hours each





• He eats cereal with fruit for breakfast, cereal with veggies for lunch, and jar of fruit and veggies for dinner (stage 2)





• He eats puffs, wagon wheels, and yogurt melts for snacks





• He moves forward in his walker!





• He is army crawling very quickly throughout the house





• He is crawling like a normal crawl (as of last night)

• He weighs 21 pounds



• He can pull up into a standing position and stand for quite a while



• He drinks water out of a sippy cup



• He squeals alot



• He giggles alot



• His sister can make him laugh the most when they're riding in the car



• He and Anniston hold hands in the car



• He sleeps with a lovey or a small taggie blanket



• He is starting to eat some adult food (crackers, bananas, carrotts-steamed)



• He still has 2 teeth



• He continues to drool like crazy



• He is a GREAT car rider, and especially great at falling asleep in the PM and not waking up when we get home and transfer him to his crib



• He is almost IMPOSSIBLE to change a diaper on. He wiggles all over the place, and we're constantly having to flip him over to get a diaper strapped onto him!



• He says "dada" all the time. Jerry was out of town 2 weeks ago, and I worked with him the entire time on "dada" and he finally said it the evening that Jerry returned!! Practice, practice, practice!!!!



• His favorite fruit is bananas; his favorite veggie is corn and sweet potato combination



• He loves to be around Anniston. He is just fascinated with her. And she loves to "mommy" him. This morning, she's been reading books to him and if he wimpers the least bit, she'll run to his room to get him a new toy. It's very sweet. Here's a picture I took this morning. I was trying to get the kids to look at me and smile, but Treyson spotted Anniston's hair in a pony tail and was going in for the grab when I snapped this shot. Anniston is so great about this though. Right after I took the picture, Treyson fell over latched onto her hair. Anniston just laid there and waited for me to peel his little fingers out of her hair. She never gets ugly with him or screams at him (which is what I would be tempted to do if I were 2 and somebody pulled my hair!!).

By the way, Anniston is in panties only because she has been playing dress-up all morning. In fact, it's now 12:30 and Treyson is the only one dressed in play clothes. I'm still in jammies, and Anniston is napping now with her panties on. That's just how we roll!

Here is the little guy in action. He sees that Anniston left her high heels with pink fur laying out (definitely a mistake). That is looking like a snack to this chubby boy!!Treyson, we love you so much. We have a feeling that we might be posting about some walking in the next month. That makes Mommy and Dadoo sad little man! You're growing up way too fast! You and your sister put an instant smile on our faces. We can't imagine our world without you in it!

Lake Ouachita

We made it to MaMa and PaPa's lake house this weekend. It will be done in 2 weeks! We're so excited for them. It is so nice, and has plenty of room for all of the kids and grandkids plus more (for Scott and Courtney in the future!!).

Taylor's hangout: the loft above the bunk bed room. Anniston won't be climbing this ladder to play up there until she's 5 or so. It will be a very cool area for Taylor though--our 13 year old niece.

PaPa and Treyson in the kitchen...

Treyson playing peek-a-boo from inside the master bathroom...The master bathroom vanity with the vanity lights in boxes on top...

The ceiling in the living room is AMAZING!!...We are so excited for Memorial Day weekend to get here!!

Jump Zone

Saturday afternoon we went to Jack's 5th birthday party at Jump Zone. Anniston and Jack are 2 1/2 years apart, but always seem to enjoy being around eachother. Anniston thinks Jack hung the moon, and I think Jack likes to play a big brother role to Anniston when they're together. Jerry and Jack's dad, Clint, worked together 2 jobs ago (Jerry likes to play musical jobs at his office). Dori, Jack's mom, is super sweet. The dad's played softball together, and we also go to church with them. They were our Sunday lunch buddies until Treyson was born. We went a few times, and then their new baby Ben (who is just precious) was born. Now it's summertime (aka-lake time), so we'll have to resume our Sunday after church lunches in the fall!

So Anniston and treyson loved Jump Zone (and Mommy loves it too!) They have a 25-ish foot slide you can go down and I go down it with Anniston. It's a blast! It's a big room with tons of inflatable bounce-arounds and slides.

Jack is the big 5 year old in the solid blue Polo shirt.

After they played for awhile, they went to the party room where they had pizza, cake, and then Jack opened his presents. He's big into super heros. . . we got him a Batman figurine thingy that spins his arm around really fast....Jack seemed happy!

Here's Treyson hanging out with MaMa while I was helping Anniston with her pizza and cake.

Race for the Cure

Race for the Cure is something that my mom and I have done every year since I was in college in Fayetteville. It is quite an amazing event, and always has a tear-jerking turnout to support this cause.

Jerry had a golf tournament at the same time as the walk, so Mom and I ventured out with the two little ones in tow. Anniston had a "racing shirt" as she called it. We decided that 3.1 miles with 55 pounds of children in a 30 pound stroller equaled a very good workout. The kids did great. Anniston did have to go potty 2/3 way through the race. That was fun letting her pop a squat behind a shed that a policeman directed us towards! ha!! As Mom and I were walking, she figured out that my grandmother (my mom's mom) has been breast cancer free for 43 years! Isn't that amazing!! We also walked in celebration of Jane, Sudean, Kay, and Janie.

Afterwards, we walked around and got all of the fun little treats that the vendors have there. If you've never walked in this race before, don't miss it next year. It will be even bigger then, and it's a wonderful cause.

At the park. . .

Jerry's been in New York, and I've gotten some great quality play time with my kiddos since the weather's been so nice. We went to the park today after dinner. Treyson and I were hanging out on the bench, and Anniston was playing on the playground (of course going up to the slide that's probably 20+feet high--it twists 3 times). All of a sudden, she starts frantically saying, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" and is running down all the levels of the equipment to then jump off and run up to me. Slightly concerned (but not overly since I had been watching her and seen nothing unusual), I said "what is it sugar?" She says "Mommy, I forgot to give you kisses." She leans in to lay a big one on my lips, then says, "Ok, I have to go to work now. I'll see you later!" So sweet, and sad too. That's what she hears me say every Tuesday, wednesday, and Thursday morning as I drop her off at school. She's such a little mommy, and takes in everything.

One more cute story on Anniston (since I talk alot about Treyson these days). Treyson was in his walker the other day with puffs on the tray. Well, Anniston and I went to the restroom, and when we came back there were puffs all over the floor. Anniston put her hands on her hips and said, "Treyson R****, that does not make me happy!" . . . wonder where she got that from?? haha

We are anxiously awaiting our Dadoo getting home tonight. We miss him so much!