The Arboretum

We have been missing Anna Kate and J.R. this week, they are visiting their grandparents, so it has been up to me to entertain Trey and Grace. It was beautiful on Tuesday so we headed to the arboretum. It was one of our first outings where I actually thought it was easy to have both of the kids with me. For the most part they walked beside me and followed instructions, we only dismantled one poor Pansy...I'm sure it was in need of pruning, and we saw all of the cool things that will be opening up once it is officially spring. Definitely an activity worth repeating. Maybe next time I will consider running a brush through their hair before taking pictures of them.

self conscious already?

The other day Swede came over to eat lunch with us. Before he arrived I had asked Trey if he wanted to listen to his wiggles CD, he said "yes, but you need to turn it off when Swede gets here". I just laughed, but when Swede walked in he came over and whispered, "turn it off, just turn it off". He has told Kenny and me that he thinks Swede is "awesome"....so, I guess he was just trying to impress him. However, I'm sure Swede listens to the Wiggles all the time, am I right?

My Little Valentines

My little monkies. This is their latest trick!

I found Grace "pretending" to sleep in the laundry basket.

I am hiding out in the office trying to ignore the screams of two kids who weren't quite ready to go down for naps. We just visited Kenny at the galleria. The kids enjoyed playing in the play area and then we all ate lunch together. It is so nice that we have the opportunity to meet up during the middle of the day. I have a chance to talk to another adult, and Trey and Grace LOVE getting to see Kenny during the day, the evenings go by quickly once he is home...by the time we eat it is time to get ready for bed.

We had a great Valentine's day weekend. Kenny and I laugh because when we were dating we seemed to always fight on valentine's day....who knows why. Luckily that tradition ended once we got married. We actually got to go out two nights in a row, it really did feel like the pre-kid days for a little bit. Friday started off with Trey going to preschool. They had a sugar packed valentine's day party. When Anna Kate's mom asked him about it he filled her in on all of the sugary treats. He LOVES desserts, on a side note whenever I give him a dessert he starts to lick his lips, it is so cute. After the partying was done we came home, the kids took a nap, they woke up and Kenny and I shuffled them off to their "valentine's day party" at the Y and we went to see shopaholic at the studio movie grill. Kenny picked the movie, HA!

On Saturday Kenny's parents offered to watch the kids. So, after a day of family fun they went to spend the night at gaga and ken's and we went out to eat. We had a great meal, but cut the evening short because I was having trouble staying awake. Apparently benadryl makes me really, really, really tired. I took one before we left because I was having some allergy issues and I realized on the way to the restaurant that I was dozing off. I ordered coffee with dinner, drank 3 cups of the regular stuff and still fell asleep on the way home. However, we did turn on a movie once we got home and enjoyed sleeping in the house with no kids. Sometimes it is just easier to sleep knowing that no one is going to need anything in the middle of the night.

So that's what we did this weekend.

On another side note: while we were at the galleria I decided to stop in old navy to look around. I hardly ever take the kids clothes shopping, because it is pretty much always a bad idea. However, today the kids thought it was funny because all of the mannequins were missing heads. That entertained them for the most part while I was browsing. So instead of doing what I usually do, just guess my size and try it on at home, I ventured into the dressing room. Trey's comments were hilarious. I tried on a skirt and he told me "don't get that people will laugh at you". He was right, it looked awful on me. I tried on another shirt and he said "hey that looks like one of my shirts". Meanwhile Grace got out of the stroller and started stashing shirts in the bags underneath the stroller. Who knew, Trey's a style expert and Grace is a shoplifter......that can't be good.

conversations with Trey (and a picture of Grace yelling at the camera)

I don't know how many pictures I have of Grace yelling at the camera, I will have to make a collage one day....I'll do that after I finish Trey's one year scrapbook.
Amy found these "meat stickers" and gave them to Kenny for Christmas. They were really realistic.

I still vividly remember being pregnant with Trey and holding him for the first time and now we are having conversations, I love it! Yesterday he was getting ready for his nap, actually I was getting him ready for his nap. He still really needs to take a nap everyday and always falls asleep within minutes of me shutting the door, but still resists. If he could only know at this age how little he will get to sleep as an adult I think he would appreciate nap time much, much, much more.

Moving on, he says to me "mommy I need to have a conversation with you about something very important". Okay Trey tell me, what do we need to talk about?. Mommy I have been thinking and we need to build a house. We do? "Yes, we need to build one and this is how it will look, it will have spider man in the front, and then there will be a room for Batman, and we really need to have a door in the back that Bandit can go in and out of." End of conversation. It really is great getting to hear all of his random thoughts. I know there will be a day when he will cut me off and I won't hear his every thought, but I'm glad I will get to read this and remember that at one point I was the person he told everything to.

First Sentence....almost

Grace's vocabulary seems to double daily. Today she had her baby and told me "baby shirt on". I knew what it meant. I had taken babies clothes off to go through the wash and Grace does not like for baby to be naked. Way to go Grace!

Trey is also stepping it up. He has been using the potty all the time lately YEAH! Maybe I should have a weekend away from him more often. We had had a conversation last Thursday and I explained to him that if he didn't start using the potty he couldn't do big boy things, nothing like putting pressure on a 3 year old. However, he really likes to do big boy things....so maybe that worked. Or it could be that he is hitting the 3 and a half mark. For those of you who don't know what big boy things are it includes everything that Trey likes to do: go to the park, eat dessert, play with friends, go to Sunday school, go to preschool, play dates....Maybe I am finally learning to speak his language. HA!

Another milestone, (in my opinion) he found his own glasses for the first time. Anyone who has a kid with glasses knows that they get taken off in random places every once in awhile. Well, this time he found them in our back yard buried in dirt. I am very sure that I NEVER would have found those.

30th Birthday Celebration....

Pics of the girls (and one with Big Ken). Thanks Amy for always being so organized!

I am behind on posting pictures, mainly because I had so many from our trip to Kansas City and I haven't had the time to go through them since we got back. That always surprises me that I can't find time to do things like that. I stay at home, you would think there would be loads of time for that, but things like sick kids, dirty dishes, play dates, phone calls, daily responsibilities/activities, and things like that become consuming. I finally got a slide show of Christmas up and I will put a few pictures of our rocking new years eve party. Thanks to Amy we got to dress up and go to a FUN, FUN, FUN party and thanks to my parents we had babysitters.

Upcoming pictures (when Amy sends them to me, of course I found my camera right after she left) from my 30th birthday surprise slumber party. Kenny is the sweetest husband alive. I did not want a celebration, I just wanted a night without kids. It almost didn't happen and probably wouldn't have if he wasn't flying in my sweet friends. The kids were sick all last week. Actually Grace got a stomach bug and had it for a couple days and then Trey got it and then Ken and Gaga GRACIOUSLY let them come over so that this weekend could happen. So, I will post those when I get a chance, but thank you Kenny for putting so much time and effort into planning a special celebration that you knew I would love and thank you Amy, Mandy, Emily, and Julie for coming to see me and thank you April and Emily for coming along for the celebration. You all are the best!