Ada's Birthday Bash

Birthday Girl feeding Oreo

Honey helping Jackson feed Snickers

The big cowboy!

Jayda's take on the ponies...ZZZZZZZZ!

Ada Mae - Birthday Girl

Sammie

Jackson on Oreo

Lisset

Nicole

Gracie with her "tats" - she wasn't a horse fan!

Jackson showing off his hippo tatoo

Momma's happy little girl

Sly smile

Honey's granddaughter, Ada, had her 4th birthday party last Sunday! It was a beautiful MN Spring day and a wonderful day for a party. Honey invited many of the daycare kids to come join the fun and ride the ponies! She had two ponies, Oreo and Snickers, come to her house and give the kids rides. What fun! I really wasn't sure how Jackson was going to react to the horses, but to my surprise... he LOVED them! He fed them carrots and jumped right up on their backs and went for a ride (actually many rides!) On the way home he said, "I want a horse at my house, Mommy!" Hmmm, I don't think so. We have all we can handle with two kiddos and one sweet little dog! : )

I can do it!!!

Jackson got this cool retro tricycle last year from Grandma Agee for his second birthday. He loves it because it's BIG and it has the best bells on it (they're sooooo loud!) Unfortunately, he was too short to ride it last summer/fall. Yesterday, Daddy dug it out of storage and let Jackson give it another try. To everyone's amazement, he could ride his trike without any help! "Look, Mommy! I can do it! I can do it!!" He was so amazed and excited that he wasn't paying any attention to where he was going and hit the curb -- BOOM!!! He fell off his trike and scratched up his knee pretty good! But after a quick hug and an "all better kiss" from me, he was back on his bike and going!

DINOSAURS!

As my maternity leave winds down, the kids and I are taking one last trip to all of our favorite places. Today, we went to the MN Children's Museum to see the new Dinosaur exhibit. Jackson loved it! The dinosaurs were all animated and looked very REAL! Inside the exhibit, the kids could take a ride on some of the dinosaurs, walk on a marshy bog, dig for dinosaur bones, and create their own fossils (with paper and crayons.) It was a cool place to visit and a nice way to spend one of my last "free" days with the kiddos! I head back to work on Monday (April 12th), wish me luck! : )

Easter Egg Hunt Mall of America Style

At an "Egg Station"

Jackson thought he should get the whole bag of candy! Oops!

No, no, little guy! Just ONE piece, please!

Waiting in line for the Bunny

Love!

Jackson is always "fixin" stuff

It was Toddler Tuesday today at the Mall of America. Every Tuesday, MOA hosts some fun events geared for little kids. Today's event: An Easter Egg Hunt and pictures with the Easter Bunny! We got to the Mall early with our Easter Baskets in hand, all set to see the BIG bunny and hunt for some eggs. Well... it wasn't quite like the Easter Egg Hunts I remember from my childhood. At MOA, you stand in a long line and wait to get a quick picture with the bunny. Then you walk around Nickelodeon Universe and look for three "egg stations." At these "egg stations", there is a lady (not dressed up or looking like a bunny) handing out one piece of candy per child. The candy part is not a big deal since Jackson doesn't like candy, but it wasn't much of a "hunt" or that much fun. Oh well, I'm still "hunting" for a more traditional Easter Egg Hunt to take Jackson on in the next few days. If all else fails, we will have our own egg hunt in our backyard -- that will probably be more fun anyway!

Happy Easter!

Spring is in the air!

Climbing the wall

Getting courage to go down the BIG slide

No! It's too BIG!
Ok, I'll try it again!


YEAH, JACKSON!!

It's feeling like Spring outside and I love it! Paul and I can't keep Jackson inside anymore. I sure it doesn't SNOW again... we'll have one sad Doodle (Jackson!) Today, we walked down to the park to play on the equipment. It was fun to see how much more brave Jackson is this year. He was an animal on the equipment! He even went down the BIG slide today! That is a BIG deal in Jackson's world!

Enjoy the weather!!

Adventures in Breckenridge

Watching a movie on Grandpa's bed

Hmmm... we couldn't find the toys!?!

Four wheeling inside - Grandpa's a softie!

Dancin' with Whit and Shay

Sweethearts

Building a fort

Too much together time!!

The Three Stooges

Poor Yukon (Grandpa's dog)! He was trying to herd the girls together!

The kids and I went up to Breckenridge this past week to see my family. Grandpa's house is always so much fun, especially with the little ones around! Jackson and Jayda went to their first basketball game. Jackson enjoyed watching the big boys play basketball, but he was an even bigger fan of "running in the halls!" Long straight hallways... yipee!!!! Jayda slept through the whole game. She wasn't even phased by the loud band or cheerleaders! I wish I slept that soundly!

Alivia and Shay came over to see us, as well. I love watching the "cousins" play together! One minute they are watching a movie in Grandpa's room, then they are driving the big wheels around the kitchen/living room, next they are dancing to a song, and then a few minutes later they are building a fort with blankets. Too cute and too busy!

Today, before we left, it was nice enough for the kids to get outside and play with their "cars!" Watching those three drive battery operated machines was a little like watching the Three Stooges! Nobody was safe standing in the driveway! : ) However, the best part of today (for me) was the quite drive home! Both kiddos were sound asleep by the time we left Breckenridge and they didn't wake up until we pulled into our garage (3.5 hours later!)

Yo Gabba Gabba

Bird's Eye view (from the third floor!)

DJ Lance

Brobee

Driving the bus

Lego Land at MOA

The kids and I went to the Yo Gabba Gabba concert at the Mall of America today! What an adventure! We got up early and made our way to the Mall so we could get a good seat. Well, I guess we didn't get up early enough -- it was PACKED! We ended up going up to the third floor just so we could see the stage. Jackson wasn't a big fan of the "bird's eye view", so we went and stood backstage. Fortunately for us, both DJ Lance (the main character) and Brobee (green character) came over to us and gave Jackson a high five. It was pretty cool!