Purging for Spring & Summer!

The past couple weeks I have been tripping on clean laundry....literally. Because of our crazy weather patterns here in the midwest I have not been able to pack up our winter clothes and bring out the spring/summer clothes. Just as soon as I did this task I knew it would snow or ice some more. Well, today I threw in the flag and just did it. I spent all morning cleaning out Zachary's closet. Please do not judge when you see this picture. Zachary's closet was literally a MESS! His closet was full with clothes that are two sizes too small and from two seasons ago. Please keep in mind you Zachary gets a lot of his clothing from his cousin, Elliott so we were a little overstocked.
Here's the before::::

After:

Thank goodness, Baby Boy Jerrytt is going to be arriving to our family soon. He will get full use out of all these clothes my sister and I have been storing. Seriously, we have more plastic bins of boy clothing between the two of us. As long as the seasons coincide Baby J will be fully outfitted...at least until he is size 3T. HA!

New pet(s)

When we were on our mini-trip last week, Zachary & Grams purchased something really exciting. So exciting that Zachary held the container and talked about it the entire trip. He could not wait to home to open the package and see his "pets". He got "SeaMonkeys". I remember having them as a kiddo too. I don't know why they are so exciting. It might be because we do not have any pets. All of Z's classmates at preschool have pets OR siblings. Zachary always tells me this. What makes Zachary even more concerned about his pet-less, sibling-less house is his best friend/cousin, Elliott has two cats AND is getting a new baby soon. Zachary is jealous. Thankfully these Sea Monkeys have halted any further conversation about a pet or sibling....for a couple days. HA!

Putting the "sea monkey's" in the purified water.
Waiting for the Sea Monkey's to hatch...it takes 5 days. Z could be sitting there for a while.
Sitting at the table for at least 25 minutes looking at "purified water".

Convention

Last week we packed up and went to a professional continuing education meeting. Because the meeting was held in such a neat, fun city we wanted to bring Zachary and my mom along so they could play while we were in class. We all had a great time. I am waiting to get copies of my moms pictures but for now I will post some of mine. Zachary loved staying with Grams in the hotel room. Can we say SPOILED? Zachary had his grams 24/7 for 2.5 days and he loved it! We did a lot of our favorite things....Cheesecake Factory, T-Rex, Science Center, Fritz's Train place, and shopping. We had a great couple of days!

Zachary and the police tank

Kevin with his roomate from college, Greg

Grams & Z at the Science Center

On the Plaza there was a lot of Easter bunnies and animals all over. We made it a game to see who could find the next animal. It really made shopping enjoyable. Of course Z had to have his picture by everyone that we saw.

Z in the hotel or as he says HoTOWEL. He was so good the entire time. Here he is playing with flashcards Grammy brought.

Zachary and Grams at T-Rex in the Ice Cave....Z has a different expression all the time. He is a goof ball. In fact some days I think that I am raising Jim Carrey. He has the funniest personality.

Thanks Grams for always being there for us. We love you and we had a great time with you!

Hot Springs Year 3

This past weekend we took our "third" annual Hot Springs trip with our dear friends Mel & Wasson. Unfortunately, last year we did not make the trip because of Mel's recovery but we were not going to miss out this year. Kevin and I feel so blessed that Rachel & Matt kept Zachary all weekend long so that we could go away. THANK YOU! Also my cousin, Leslie kept Zachary on Friday while Rachel worked. Zachary had a blast with everyone and is still talking about how much fun he had while we were away. He did not miss us at all.

Just arriving to our motel and getting ready to head to the horse track.
Close-UP

One of our favorite things about the races is all the food. Kevin had to get his annual Oysters-in-the-half-shell. Yuck!

Dinner at the German joint

Last time we were in Hot Springs we found the funniest live band we have ever seen. Polka Your Eye Out is there name and there are no words to describe them. They play every Saturday night at a German Restaurant. The food is okay but the entertainment is HILARIOUS. Click here to see pics from our last trip to see PYEO.

Mel and Was

Group shot with Polka Your Eye Out

Playhouse Disney LIVE!

Grammy took Zachary, Elliott, and me to see Playhouse Disney LIVE! last week. Unfortunately, my sis had class so she could not join us. We had a wonderful time even though we were kinda rushed getting to the show. Zachary and Elliott really enjoyed themselves. Not sure if the Little Einsteins, Mickey Mouse, or Handy Manny was the favorite...they loved them all.


The boys before the show
Zachary really was excited even though we have to force him to pose for pics :)

I love this pic of Grams & Elliott

Grams & her boys

The Little Einsteins & Rocket

Handy Manny & his tools

The entire gang at the music party

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This morning I surprised Zachary with an ALL-GREEN breakfast. Being that GREEN is Zachary's favorite color it was the perfect excuse to celebrate. Kevin and I woke Zachary up in our green glasses. I thought Z was going to jump out of his skin from excitement. The smile on his face was worth getting up 30 minutes earlier than normal. We had green pancakes, green sugar-free Lemonade, and bacon (not-green).


Kevin & I getting ready to wake up Zachary


Green Sugar-free Lemonade

Making Green Pancakes!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Company for the weekend...FUN!

I'm back! I did not mean to take such a long blogger break but my computer adapter needed to be replaced. I never thought it would take as long as it did to get a new one. Now I am way behind on my blogging. So I am going to go back about two weeks to our events.


A couple weeks ago good friends of ours came to visit. The arrived on Friday morning which allowed for a lot of time to hang out and re-connect. When Kevin was in high school John was his BEST friend. It is ironic now that they have now grown up and have sons. Hayden is one year and one week older than Zachary. This is so cool to see these boys at similar stages. They had the best time playing with each other. Zachary and their son, Hayden played in the backyard with their John Deere tractors for at least two hours. They acted like they had been friends for ever! That evening my sister, brother-in-law, and Elliott so graciously watched both boys so that we could take our friends to our favorite spot. The restaurant has the BEST steaks ever. We had a great evening catching up!


Misty & John

Group Picture

Hil and Kevin
On Saturday we made a little road trip to a local outlet mall. It was a beautiful day!

Hayden & Zachary
Misty and Hil

Hil, Kev, and Z
I'm so bummed my memory card accidentally erased the rest of my photos from this weekend. I had so many of the boys playing. I am going to see if Misty still has hers. Saddness!

We are so thankful for good friends! What a wonderful weekend!

Sneaking away for a little girl time

My mom, sister, Elliott, Zachary, and I snuck away for a 24 hour girls weekend (+ two boys). Since I have been little we have enjoyed girl weekends to a hotel and to shop. Since the boys have arrived we have introduced them to this concept. The poor little guys....we drag them with us everywhere and they really don't seem to mind. In fact I think they love it. The goal of this trip was for Rachel to register for Jerrytt. We swam in the hotel, ate yummy food, shopped till we dropped, and had a blast.

1/2 way there a pit stop at McDonalds. The boys and Grams had to sit on the "high stools" They sure do love their Grams!

This is funny. The boys were super wound up when we arrived in the hotel room. I had told both of them they had to quit running and had to lower their voices several times. I threated both of them that if they did not stop they would get a time out. Well, Zachary did not stop so he got a time out. I then said, "If you get out of time out you will not get to go swimming". Guess who got out of time out? Zachary
I was sticking to my word. He was not going to go swimming. My mom then proceeded to be Grams convienced Zachary to stop crying, sit in time out, and then "she" would let him go swimming. Is this the same mom that raised me?

So Grams & Elliott sat in time out with Zachary. Then went swimming. Don't you love grandparents?

Zachary & Elliott trying out the new stroller Rachel registered for.

Soon-to-be Big Brother Elliott registering for Baby Jerrytt

Rachel was really sweet to let Zachary help register too. After all Zachary thinks he is going to be a Big Brother too when Jerrytt arrives.

Enjoying Grilled Cheese's at Mimi's Cafe

Zachary and Elliott shopping in a kids clothing store. Thank God for cartoons.

We had a great weekend!