Happy Memorial Day

We hope everyone had a safe and restful Memorial Day weekend! We spent the weekend at home. It felt good to get some projects done around the house. Maybe once school is out (nine days left!), we can get out to the lake and spend some time with my family. Bring on summer!

Planting "pretties"

It's been awhile since my last post. I went back to work and life just got significantly busier!! Wow! I can't believe how little free time I have now!

Anyway, since the snow has melted and it's gotten a little warmer out, Jackson has been a "mud magnet!" If there's an ounce of mud within a two block radius, Jackson has found it and stepped in it. He loves the flower beds! I love my flower beds too, so we were at a crossroads. After much thought, I decided to put his love of mud to good use. I bought a bunch of plants and had Jackson help me plant some flowers. Well... it worked out a lot better in my head. Jackson wasn't all that interested in planting the flowers. He did, however, love driving his trucks around the flowers. The flowers turned into "beautiful" road blocks. You gotta love two year olds! : )

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!!