Popcorn Popping!

Ok, so it might not be an Apricot tree, but it is a white cherry tree and it DOES look like popcorn popping! I LOVE this tree, simply for the 1 week a year it EXPLODES in white buds. It makes me happy. :) It's one of a whole 2 trees that is on my property and I do love love love it!

Easter!!

Here are the Easter pics!! :) The professional ones are ... kind of... copy righted - ha ha. But you can still see how cute they are through the 'print over'.

I think Savanna is soooo cute in this one! And I also love it because Savanna struck that pose on her own. The photographer was trying to get her to kneel on the floor, but Savanna decided she wanted to lay on her stomach. :) I love my independently minded baby, even if she does drive me crazy!

Pretty baby girl. :) Grammy got the outfit for her and Meemaw put the ribbons on the hat.

The 2 cutest little kids EVER.

Aren't these beautiful kids?!?

Joey is getting so big and handsome!

Here is Savanna eating her bunny... she started with the feet.

Then switched to the ears.

Joey went from the ears down.

Here is what the Easter bunny brought!

Such a cute girl! Practicing french braiding her hair. I wanted her hair braided with her easter dress, but then I thought even though it's SO cute, it made her look a bit bald, which is why I left her hair down for the professional pics.

Braid from the back

Braid from the top. I love doing the zig zag part!

Joey on the Easter egg hunt at the local nursing home.

Savanna showing her haul (she thought 6 eggs was enough! :) )

Joey 'hunting' for more eggs - they were lined 3 thick all the way down the hall way at the nursing home, so it wasn't much of a hunt, but he had fun nonetheless!

So cute. :)

Joey with the Easter bunny who is 'just a person' (read the previous post - ha ha!) Savanna didn't want anything to do with that bunny!!

Joey Chatter: Just a Person

On Friday we went to an Easter Egg hunt at a local nursing home. The 'Easter bunny' was there and Joey sat on his lap for a picture (Savanna would go no where NEAR the Easter bunny, but that's another story...) Anyway - yesterday as we were driving out of no where Joey says:

J: "The Easter Bunny is just a person in a bunny suit. He's not a REAL bunny."

M: "What makes you say that, Joey?"

J: I could tell when I sat on his lap. He's not a real bunny. He's just a person"

M: (surprised he made such an observation when he's only 4!!) Well, Joey, he was an Easter bunny helper. The real Easter bunny is so busy getting Easter stuff ready that he sends helpers to take pictures with kids.

J: ...OK... (sounding very skepitcal, but dropping it)

Yup... he is his very analytical father's son!! Although this morning he was quite excited to see what the 'Real' easter bunny brought him!! LOL

Sleepy girl!

On Thursday we went to the zoo - it was PACKED! I debated whether to take the stroller or the wagon - I knew Savanna would be easier contained in the stroller, but I knew Joey might have to sit and take a break sometimes, too, so I decided to take the wagon. On the way back to the car I could tell Savanna was so tired! By the time we got to the car, I turned around and Savanna was sacked out in the wagon! That couldn't have been comfortable! She's so cute! :)

Chicago!

Last weekend Kris had a 2-day business trip to Chicago. It just so worked out it was during spring break when I wasn't babysitting and Joey didn't have school, so the kids and I decided to tag along last minute!! It was so nice to be able to get away with the family, even if it was only for a couple days!

We drove out there Sunday, and Sunday evening we spent a couple hours in the pool and then had dinner. Monday Kris had to go to his meeting, so the kids and I decided to visit Shedd's Aquarium in down town Chicago. It was soooo neat!! Although driving through Chicago was SO scary for me!! I swear there were times I was close to hyperventilating! I was in Kris' Suburban - which is HUGE - trying to fit it through those Chicago streets w/ only about a BILLION other cars!! But we made it to the aquarium safely - thank goodness!! We got to see a 4-D movie of "Happy Feet", got to see all kinds of neat fish, and got to see a real show with Baluga Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions, Penguins, and Hawks. It was so cool!! The kids seemed to enjoy it too. Then Tuesday we played in the hotel pool for a while in the morning and drove home that evening! The kids were WONDERFUL on this trip - they did so great sitting in the car for so long! Anyway - here are just a few pics that I got of the trip! Mostly of the aquarium!

Here I shot this pic when I was stopped at a red light - the building over the bridge is the "Chicago Stock Exchange" or something like that. I couldn't believe how many CARS there were! And parking in Chicago is CRAZY!! It was $20/day in most places! And one parking lot had a sign that said "Monthly parking fee: $280" Who can afford that?!? sheesh. I don't like big cities...

Here is Savanna in the "polar play area" sliding down the slide like a penguin! :)

Here is Savanna next to the dolphin tank watching the dolphins! It was SO neat! The Dolphins would often swim really fast right across the windows! And just upstairs is where they did the dolphin show and they would do jumps and all that fun stuff! Also, we got to see a baby baluga whale that was just born not to long ago!

Here's one of the dophins ZOOMING by the window!

Here is one part of the aquarium - in the 'wild reef'. I am looking UP int his picture... we could literally walk THROUGH the aquarium. So cool!

Penguins!!

Here are the kids patiently waiting for the dolphin show. :)

Joey LOVED the 'Nemo's' (clown fish!)

Over all, we had a great time! I was very happy to actually be able to go with Kris on one of his business trips instead of being left home alone! I know the kids enjoyed the change of pace too!

Welcome Spring!

It's time for bare feet, painted toe nails, and warm spring breezes. Bring it on!! Oh, and did I mention I LOVE having a baby girl?? he he!

Recent happenings

Hello! I haven't posted in a while and I have lots of things to post about! In my typical fashion, I am just posting lots of pictures and I'll tell you what's been going on with them! I find i prefer to post pictures w/ cations vs. telling long stories, though I do that too! This is just the lazy girl's way to blog I guess!!

First off, I watn to record about Savanna's eye! A couple weeks ago she fell off of the couch and hit her eye on a toy. She got a little cut on her eye, but nothing real serious so I didn't think much about it. Just gave her some cuddles. Then the next day she started running a fever, but I in no way thought it had any thing to do with her eye. Then the day after that when she woke up, her eye was completely swollen shut! Poor baby. so I took her into the dr because I just thought it was weird. She was still running a fever too. The doc said the fever is more than likely from a virus, but he said there's a chance it could be an eye infection, but it was still so early, he couldn't tell. But he said he didn't want to mess around with 'wait and see' with an eye infection, so he put her on 2 different antibiotics and gave me instructions that if it got any worse at all she was to go back in. Thankfully in the end I don't think it was an eye infection - the swelling went down super fast but the fever hung around for a couple days. Her eye is back to normal now - as beautiful as ever!

I had a hard time getting her to cooperate to get a picture of her swollen eye, so these are the best I was able to get!

This was after she was up for a while - when she first woke up it was bright purple and she couldn't open it at all.

So this is what she got to live on for 10 days. :)

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In Joey's class room they have a 'star of the week' every week. That person gets to make a poster and take it in and tell all about themselves. Joey was so proud of his poster!! We used my friend Brandy's cricut machine to cut out the star, his name, and the cars. Joey helped me pic the pictures to put on it! He just LOVED using the cricut. I'm really thinking of buying one... some day..

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Savanna up to no good. Shortly after this was taken, the bag was dumped. Thankfully there were only like 10 left in the bag!
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A woman my sister Julie works with, Jamie, had a birthday party for her son, Jacob at the World of Bounce in Grove City. They had lots of kiddos going, but they had more spots to fill. Long story short, I got to take my kids AND all the kids I babysit! I guess they had 15 spots to fill and Jacob only had 8 or 9 friends coming. And only 4 of the 6 kids I took counted towards the total because 2 of them were under 2 years old. it was SO FUN!!! I can't wait to take my kids back some day! It's a drive, but totally worth it.

Here is Savanna (on left) and her buddy Maggie - a little one I babysit - climbing on a 'catterpillar'

Here is Nichole saying 'Cheese' - another one I babysit.

Here is Jack (in the white), Ethan (in the blue) and Savanna (in the stripes) building a tower out of the caterpillar things. I babysit Ethan full time and have babysat Jack part time in the past. They are such fun kids!

Here is Jonah and 1/2 of Nichole. They are siblings.

Here's the whole group of kids that were at the party!

Ethan going WEEEEEEE

Here's my group of kids having Pizza! I had already fed them lunch, but they all ate really well after jumping for so long! They had a blast. That was SO nice of Jamie to let us join in on the fun, food, and friendship!!

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Flowers!! These are the flowers Kris got me for our anniversary. I love them!! They are so happy and have survived for so long! :) I love daisies... then again I love all flowers! :) These ones are cool because they keep turing the water purple from the dye in the purple ones!