St Louis--Six Flags

On Saturday of our St. Louis excursion, we headed out to six flags with Mark, Tracey, and kinley, and Mark's brother Mike, sister in law Laura, and their kids Maddie and Jack. Michelle, Mark's sister, also came. We had a blast! And the kids were so good, and so adventurous! I wasn't surprised by Anniston...she's always been a thrill seeker; but even Kinley did good, and she's usually much more reserved. We were very proud of the kids (how they acted and how much they enjoyed the park).

Anniston did every ride she possibly could. There was not a roller coaster for her (she was 2 inches too short). So we'll definitely have to do that next year! Here are several pictures from the day.

Mark, Tracey, and Kinley when we first got to the park:

Anniston and Jerry in the rail car that Anniston drove: Anniston on the carousel: Anniston, Kinley, Maddie, Jack, and Laura on the carousel: A picture of the log ride that we did with Anniston:Anniston and Kinley in an airlplane ride that goes in circles, and the kids can make the plane go up and down:

Anniston, Maddie, Kinley, and Laura on the spinning cup ride (thanks Laura....I don't do well on those kinds of rides...they make me turn a not-so-lovely shade of green):
The kids rode on one of those big ships that swings back and forth. Here's pics of everybody....again, not a ride I can hardly even watch without wanting to gag:



Now here's my kind of ride....CHOO CHOO!!!!!

Now the girls are in some kind of spaceship ride that goes up really high. Anniston actually sat next to a random boy and it was funny watching them because they had quite the conversation before the ride started:

Waiting in line for the swing ride...is this not precious??
Enjoying the swings:

A ride that raises the kids up, then drops them down (I hear they did this about 10 times. . . you'll understand why I don't truly know in a minute) The ferris wheel: We all got to ride this, which was fun:
Doesn't it look like these kids are really on a big adult roller coaster?? This was a fun picture to take!!

So, I told you that I didn't get to watch Anniston ride the one ride. Well, the reason is that Mike (Mark's brother) and I decided to go do the new Superman ride....or should I say "drop". It takes you up 230 feet and then you drop in a matter of about 5 seconds. I'm a wuss on some rides. . . actually just the ones that you spin in circles--which at some parks are the majority of rides. I am a thrill seeker, and this one was awesome. We waited for about 30 minutes, and it was SOOOOO worth it. The crazy part is that once you get to the top, you have no idea when they're going to release your seat (there were 4 seats on each side of the tower). So you are anxiously waiting and trying to look at the view but you really can't enjoy it because you know you're about to drop 230 feet. So you know when you're on a roller coaster and you come up a big hill quickly and lose your stomach for a half second while you go over the hump??? Ok, imagine that for 5 whole seconds. That was the weirdest feeling...your stomach goes up and never comes back down until you reach the bottom. I HIGHLY recommend this ride to any thrill seeker out there. Enjoy the pics!

If you look really close, you can see our feet dangling 230 feet up in the air!! ha
This is us coming to a screeching halt at the end of our ride...We all got ice cream on our way out:

And thank you Aunt Tracey for being pregnant and not being able to ride all of the rides. This worked to our advantage so that we could ride rides with Anniston and Tracey kept Treyson...THANK YOU!!! We'll hold Baby B next year so that you can ride rides with Kinley!!

Here are the girls getting a lift back to the car!

St Louis--Magic House

We finally made it to St Louis to visit Mark, Tracey, and Kinley. We went last year for Mark and Tracey's wedding, but couldn't get back for Kinley's birthday party due to the extremely large baby growing inside my belly!! We left after work Thursday evening and arrived in their driveway about 11:30 P.M. The kids did so great in the car. Our portable DVD player bit the dust. I did feel sorry for Anniston. We have the kind that straps to the headrest in front of her. She is such a sweet little rule follower, and she never asks to watch TV in the car. We have said from the beginning that the TV only gets turned on when we travel (Fort Smith, the lake, St. Louis). When I told her that the TV was broken, she looked at me and said, "It's ok Mommy, don't be sad". I was very proud of her. Jerry fed Treyson about halfway to Springfield. We stopped at Springfield to change the kiddos into jammies, then loaded back up. Treyson fell asleep shortly after 8, and Anniston laid her head down around 8:30 and slept until we got to their house. She woke up for a short while, then went right back to sleep when we laid her down in Kinley's bed.

The next day everybody but Mark (somebody's got to bring home the bacon) went to the Magic House. What a cool place that is! But seriously, house? More like mansion. It is enormous. Think hands on kids museum/play place. 3 stories tall, and we didn't even get half of it done (due to the girls waking up at 5:45 that morning). We all had a blast. There was even a play place for Treyson. He and I spent a good 45 minutes and he was having a ball! It was precious. Kinley and Anniston are so cute and giggly around eachother. It was so neat watching them play together. Anniston wants to do anything Kinley is doing. Kinley goes to the Magic House often, so Anniston was definitely watching Kinley lead, which was great!

Here are the girls waiting patiently for it to open:

The girls in the water area:Who is that handsome little devil??Mommy, do you see that ball? If I could just reach a little bit further.......almost got it...

....there's that silly ball--come here!Told you I could do it Mommy!Here are the girls together getting a bubble raised around them by Jerry. This was in the "bubble room"--go figure!. . . they have to earn their keep somehow. . . One worn out bubby!If you're in St. Louis and have kids, definitely plan a trip to the magic house., . . . it's well worth it!

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!!