BFF's

Kayman loves his chocolate milk and loves to sit against a wall to drink it.  Jess wanted to join him today.  I usually have her drink out of "big girl" cup, but she really wanted to sit with Kayman.  These two are so cute together.  They love to mimic each other.  Jess is a great big sister!

Are we boring you?

Either the family is VERY boring at dinner time, or Jess was exhausted after a long day of jumping on the trampoline in 90 degree weather.  Yep, I said 90 degree weather.  We actually hit 91 yesterday, it was delightful!  I spent most of the day in planting flowers, tending the garden, and just enjoying the sun while the girls jumped on the trampoline and Kayman watched and played with Dallas and his ball.  Apparently Jess was pretty tired by the time evening came around.  She took a good 10 minute nap like this!  And she didn't even fall out of her chair!

For family night we had a fire in the back yard.  We roasted marshmallows and read a story out of the Friend.  It was a lot of fun to spend so much time outside!  We LOVE out yard and our fire pit!  S'mores anyone?!

Rain or Shine

We got the trampoline that I used to jump on as a kid from my parents a few weeks ago, and the girls can't stay off of it!  They love for me or Andy to bounce them high, and they really love to have a "water trampoline" as they call it.  We put the sprinkler under it while they jump.  We can't do it for too long though because I don't want to drown the grass under it, but today they were in luck!  It started raining shortly after I told them we had to turn the sprinkler off!  They were so excited to still get the water trampoline they wanted.

It was a little cold, so Jess came in for her snow hat, and Syd put her robe over her swim suit.  Rain or shine, these girls are jumping!  It came to an end for Jess when the rain started coming down really hard.  She just stood there crying and told me that ice was falling on her.  I am sure it wasn't hailing, but whatever it was hurt her bare skin.

I love how carefree these girls are.  They have so much fun together!  They are best friends and find so many fun things to do with each other.  I love watching them together.

Workin' in the dirt

I have spent the last few weeks in the yard doing lots of weeding and moving dirt.  The dirt out here where I live is pretty bad and needs lots of added nutrients each year.  I borrowed my parents truck and got 2 loads (4 yards) of compost from the land fill.  It is very inexpensive and it's great stuff.  Here is a picture of what the beds looked like before the compost was spread around...

And here are some shots afterward.  I love the dimension it creates.  The flowers really pop and it's much easier to keep the weeds under control.  Now I have a few bags of nutrimulch and steer manure to chop in and I will be done buying dirt for another year.  I never thought I would spend so much time and money on dirt!  It sure makes a difference and the yard has never looked better!

The lawn definitely needs some attention now, but here is the flower bed out front.  I LOVE spring!!!!

Shoot it up!

Andy and I bought a hand gun a few weeks ago at the gun show, and Andy bought an old Russian M44 that was used during WW2.  We went out shooting with one of Andy's buddies the other day to test them out.   

Here I am with the M44.  I did pretty good with this gun.  I hit my target about 60 yards away.  This thing sure has some kick to it!

This is the 9 we got at the gun show.  It is super small but definitely packs a good punch.  It was so fun to shoot!  Andy's parents took the kids for us so we could go out and do this.  It was a great morning and the kids had a great time with their Nana and Papa.

Finding the humor

I have had a terrible cold for the last week and have hardly had enough energy to get much done.  I did manager to get lots of yard work done, but the house was severely neglected. Nearly every room needed major attention.  So, today was my day dedicated to cleaning the house.  The girls were on board and helped wipe down the tables, mirrors, mop the floors and they both cleaned their rooms. 

With a toddler in the house, mopping isn't just grabbing the mop and the bucket of soapy water and going for it.  You first have to sweep up the 3 dustpans full of crumbs, playground mulch that made it way inside, cereal he threw on the floor during breakfast, and our fair share of dog hair.  After sweeping, I sweep again to be sure I got it all.  Moving the chairs (which REALLY need a good wipe down after all the sticky fingers have been all over them) out of the way...now we are ready to mop.  It's just a matter of waiting until nap time so I can do it without any casualties. 

Finally the time came when I was able to mop the floor.  I got it done in no time, and even mopped all the bathrooms and laundry room while I was at it.  Go me!  Then Kayman woke up.  In the mean time, Jessica decided she wanted a snack and got the container of fruit cocktail out of the fridge.  She is in a bad habit of not putting things back where they belong when she is finished with them, and Kayman usually finds them before they get put away.  Well, this is a classic case of that scenario.  This is what I found when I came downstairs...

Kayman had no problem with it, he got an easy snack!  The good thing is that I had just mopped the floor so I know it was clean.  The bad thing is that I JUST MOPPED THE FLOOR!!!!!  So, needless to say, I got to do it all over again.  

I am pretty strict about the kids cleaning up their own messes, so I asked Jess to pick up the fruit since she left it out.  She was fine with that, and I went upstairs to get Kayman cleaned up.  When I came back downstairs, Jess had grabbed the broom and swept all the fruit onto the dustpan.  She did her best to clean up the mess, I was so proud of her for figuring out the best way to clean it up on her own.  The only problem for me was that she swept it all the way to the wall before she was able to get it onto the dustpan.  The entire floor was sticky by the time she was done because she walked through it numerous times.  It was pretty cute to see how hard she was working and how proud she was that she got it cleaned up.  What a sweetheart!  Hopefully she will remember to put things away from now on!

P.S.  I realize that most of the pictures of Kayman are of him not dressed.  Really, I do dress him.  I swear he is always dressed, except for when he is in pictures!  I took his clothes off just prior to his nap due to the fact that he got into the swimming pool outside when it was not even 60 degrees!  He's nuts!

Baby Dancers

The girls had dance pictures yesterday.  They got such cute costumes and the girls love posing for the camera.  I am anxious to see how the professional pictures turn out.  Here are a few that we took at  home.  Aren't they just adorable?!