County Farm Park

Last week I met up with Hillary and her two kids at the park. Another MOPS mom, Kate, and her daughter came too, but didn't stay for long, therefore, no pictures of them. I haven't been to this park in a while and it's changed...for the better. The only problem is the large play structure is meant for bigger kids, yet of course the little kids want to play on it...it made us a little nervous, but no one got hurt :)

Hillary's daughter, Gabby....she is SO adorable!!!

Jackson and Jack barely played together. This is about as close as they got. That's how it always goes when us moms want to hang out and the kids are running in opposite directions!

My cutie pie! This is mid-March and it's 80 degrees...shorts and short sleeves---so unbelievable!!

I thought these were cool...they provided shade too which was niceThe Parks & Recreation dept is doing really well financially so they were able to expand and update many parks recently. I do the retirement plan for the county, so clients tell me that basically the Parks area has millions to spend updating things, buying land to turn into parks, etc. It's pretty neat to have a job where you spend the county's money to design more parks. I've read that there are around 150 parks in Ann Arbor...how cool is that? Some are just nature trail areas, some have playgrounds, etc. What a great place to raise kids!!

Gammy Dori visit :)

Nick's mom and step dad go to Texas for the winter, so they always like to come visit and see the kids when they return (and they make us look SO pale!!)...

This is one happy Gammy getting to see her favorite grandsons...haha...her only grandsons.
Hunter was excited to see her too!

Jack...my adorable boy, who has turned into a terrible two officially (I'm crying as I type).

We tried to get several pictures, but guess who wasn't cooperating? The kid with his tongue out. I tell him someone will cut it off if he keeps sticking it out and then he won't be able to talk. Most kids might get scared. He walks up to me, sticks it out, and says "get the scissors". This kid is too smart for me. I can't win.

Goofing around with Jack :)

We are glad they made it back safely...Gammy is coming back in a few weeks to hang out with me for the day when Hunter is on spring break. We hope to go to the zoo if it's nice!

Gigi's birthday party

I hope you are enjoying this lovely day. Still can't rearrange pictures, but wanted to post these from Gigi's birthday party. She turned 83 on March 16th and we had 16 people total at our house to celebrate! We had fun, except for Michigan losing the basketball game :( Not that we deserved to win b/c we played so horribly, but still. Gigi loves U of M bball too, so that was not cool of them to lose on her bday.

This was at the end of the night...bedtime and wind down time. Jack, Hunter, Andy (my first cousin, he doesn't have kids yet), Alex, and Luke. Luke/Alex are my other cousin's boys. Did you follow?

It was so funny that the kids were in the family room watching Curious George on the big screen while 12 adults were in the kitchen watching basketball on the small tv in the sunroom. Something is seriously wrong with that picture.
Both of my kids wanted to help Gigi open her presents and blow out her candles.
I LOVE this picture!! Thanks for sharing Gigi :)

My grandma...she's had a rough year this year with her health, so I hope age 83 is nicer to her. We all love her and were happy she got out of the hospital and then rehab just in time for her birthday!

My mom, Gigi, and my Aunt Kathleen

The impossible task of trying to get all the great-grandkids together. Oh wait, it was just my kids who wouldn't sit for a picture. Alex & Hunter are polar opposites. He's so quiet and shy, where Hunter is a wild child.

Another try?

Hunter was flipping all over the place, jumping off the couch, Jack just wanted down, it was mass chaos with three people trying to take pictures.

Andy is like "who are these kids and get them away from me". Hunter took a liking to Andy and kept messing with him b/c Andy would laugh at him. I'm not sure Andy knows what to do with a child like Hunter. Haha. He'll probably have kids just like mine when he's has a family b/c he was the joker (and maybe still is?) haha.

Dinosaurs!!

Ever since I got my new computer I've been having issues with blogger letting me move pictures around the way I want. I used to be able to drag them down and now it won't let me do it easily.

Anyway, these are from Saturday March 10th. The Suburban Showcase in Novi had this Discover the Dinosaurs event so we took the kids. They had a lot of fun, but it was kind of pricey.

Hunter getting his picture taken with the dinosaur guy...he also got his face painted :)

They had a cute play area for the smaller kids with lots of little dinosaurs they could sit on
Hunter rode the dinosaur here...it moved and he really enjoyed it! I did not enjoy paying $4 for a two minute ride. I much prefer the one cent horse at Meijer.

I had to take Nick's picture b/c he and Jack were in the play area mentioned above and I guess Jack hit a little girl. She cried and it ruined Nick's morning. I'm sure he was embarrassed, but the kid is two, not ten. He pouted and wanted to leave after the incident (Nick, not Jack).

They had a bunch of inflatables, so Hunter played and worked up a sweat.

Digging for bones!

Me trying to get a picture with this dinosaur head...trying to keep the kids from pulling the teeth (See sign in the background). It's irresistible.

The main attraction was all these model dinosaurs. Many of them moved, made noises, etc. They had fact sheets about all of them, but of course my kids don't care about that yet!

Jack enjoyed running back and forth touching all of them

Hunter pretending to let the dino eat his hand

Attempting a group picture...

These were the super cool ones that moved, opened and shut their mouths, made noises, etc. I thought Jack would be scared, but Hunter was a little more nervous than Jack :)

Very cool!

Have a great Tuesday!!

Bring your parents to school day

Last Sunday (March 11th), we went to Hunter's school for two hours to see what he does in the classroom. I went last year and was AMAZED by the different child I saw when we went into his classroom. He is so respectful, focused, and motivated to learn! I wanted Nick to see him this year and although it was a little boring (sorry Hunter), it was neat to see. He got to choose his "work" to show us and he picked things he's only done once or twice, so it took a while. His teacher thought it was neat that he chose challenging work to show us though. It was a lesson in patience for us b/c Nick especially wanted to help him get it done faster.

Above is the 100 board...they sort the numbers by 10's and then put them on the board. He is so focused when doing it. I think he's so smart :) That certainly works to our disadvantage when it comes to his behavior though!
Working hard

A view of his classroom. I am a HUGE advocate of the Montessori program. Everything is so organized and in ways I don't even understand. Kids can't just go do whatever they want. Once they have a lesson from a teacher on a "work" then they can choose the work they want to do during independent time. It's just so cool and everything has a purpose for teaching. You don't see any "toys" in the pre-school room, but the kids think it's all fun!

This is the 45 work. I think b/c there are 4 rows of 9 boards. They teach tens, hundreds, thousands, etc. You line up the wood boards and then you get beads and these cubes to put next to each number.

Lining up his bead strings.

I love seeing this little guy grow and learn so much each and every week. He told me this weekend at a total random moment, "Mommy, you know you can't breathe in outer space by yourself. You have to wear a mask." He said he was learning about planets and outer space in school this past week :) Go figure.

Catching up...

Wow...I just realized I haven't blogged in 6 days. That's a long time for me, but I've been so busy (I sound like a broken record). I am barely keeping my head above water. I need to get all the posts ready and just post one per day. I want to keep up mostly as a way to journal things for the kids and b/c my memory stinks. As a side note, I actually had a conversation about this with friend at MOPS last week. She is like Nick and remembers everything. Nick hears a song on the radio and says, "This came out in 6th grade, my teacher was Miss ABC, and it was during basketball season when I listened to it". I can't remember any teachers, professors, etc. I know my 3rd grade teachers b/c I had two of them and they were mean. I am bad with names too. Thank goodness for being able to set reminders on my phone. Actually, my short term memory is good. Long term, not so much. I think it's selective, not that I'm not smart--haha--call it what you will. I remember the important things...like stuff about Nick, the kids, and my work responsibilities. I am a list maker too, so that helps.

Anyway, so much has been going on. We had a super busy, but fun weekend. Friday night there were 16 people at my house for Gigi's 83rd birthday. Saturday morning I had to be at church at 10am for a meeting, 11-1 volunteering for MOPS, and then we went out with two other couples to our club for St. Patty's Day. Sunday we went to church, Costco, and then my mother-in-law and husband came to see us (well, the kids I'm sure). They got back from Texas last weekend and haven't seen us since Christmas. Lots of pictures to post this week...My goal is to catch up by this weekend. I got some adorable pictures of Jack eating broccoli, Hunter making a birthday decoration for Jesus (I love my Hunter), Vegas pics I got from my friend, and more :)

My other goal for the week is to catch up on yahoo emails. I have been a bad friend to basically everyone. I feel really guilty about it too, so I am going to work hard and getting back in touch and responding to friends I haven't talked to or responded to from like months ago. Gosh, that is so rude of me!!

Happy Monday. I'm sad there is no Bachelor tonight. I wonder when the new Bachelorette with Emily starts??

Is something wrong with me?

I have been SO busy today, but had to post these. I stayed up too late watching the Bachelor and After the Final Rose and then Hunter woke up with wet sheets at 3am. I couldn't fall back asleep....finally did at 5:40am, 20 minutes before my alarm went off. I'm so tired and have a mom's group meeting tonight and probably won't get home until 10:30pm. I had to drive to Monroe and back for a three hour meeting today with my partner at work. Then I have four client appointments tomorrow, so I have to be on my game...not good. I am exhausted. I have been fighting some kind of illness (cold?, headaches?, flu?, I'm not sure) b/c I think I'm just plain worn down so much that my body can't handle it anymore. I need more rest, but I don't seem to get that luxury.

Anyway, yesterday when I got home from work I was up in my closet changing out of work clothes. The kids usually come with me and we "hide from daddy" in my closet b/c he's usually about 10-15 minutes behind me. We decided to play dress up and I put this cute "dress" on Jack. I put a green one on Hunter, but when Nick saw it and said he looked like a girl, he wanted it off immediately. I guess Jack is more comfortable with his sexuality...haha. And he just looks so cute dressed up like a girl. Between this, putting make up on Hunter, and painting Jack's fingernails, I think something is wrong with me. I wish my darn back would get to a point where I could even think about trying for a girl. No such luck yet.

He looks good in pink if you ask me. This is my tank top--lol.

Ready for dinner, yelling "UP!! UP!!" at me.
Uncle Mark stopped over for a couple of hours on Sunday to watch the MSU vs OSU game. The kids were very excited to see him. This expression on Jack's face is his most common face. Doesn't he look sad? People think he is when he looks like this, but really, this is his normal face. I wish he wouldn't frown and look sad :-(

A little happier??? Not quite sure.

Please say a prayer for me. I need some stress relief and sleep!!