Christmas morning

I'm so behind. My dog is sick, the oven is broken, and we're still adjusting to Jason being back on 3rd shift. So here goes:

Santa was here

Kids were excited

The kids requested a trip to the store to spend their own money on gifts for Jason. It was very cute. They each decided to buy him some bait for fishing.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

July 4th

To celebrate Independence Day this year we went back to Tennessee for a long weekend. Jason's brother had four days off but the Army would only let him travel so far, so we decided to go to them instead. We took turns having girls day and guys day. My sister-in-law and I spent a really fun day together....clothes shopping, lunch, winery tour/tasting, more shopping and coffee.

The guys spent a day fishing. I have no idea why or how they had matching shirts.

The kids went fishing, too.

We all went out for a very hot and muggy evening of beautiful fireworks over the Cumberland River.

See the little faces in those windows? That's the jail. I guess if there's such a thing as having a prime cell, these people have it.

We dressed up the kids

There were lots of afternoons in the water with popsicles.

And in Tennessee it's legal to buy and set off your own fireworks, so we had our own fireworks show two nights in a row. Jason and Jeremy tried to pretend they bought the fireworks for the kids, but in the end we all knew that when they said kids they were referring to themselves. The pink smoke was for the little girls, though.

Of course on the way home we had to stop in Newport, Kentucky to eat dinner at Pompilio's. Yum, Italian!

The journey home

Since Jason had taken off the week after Easter, we decided to break up our trip home from Tennessee into two days and do a few things on the side. Our first stop was at Louisville Slugger. (Assuming I don't have to tell you it's in Louisville, KY).

There was a museum, a tour, a movie and some adult/kids batting cages. It was definitely hard for our kids to enjoy since they were probably a little young for it, but they did get excited at the end of the tour when we were all given individual mini baseball bats. I was excited because the factory smelled like the woodshop my grandpa used to have in his basement when I was little. They were making bats while we were there so it was neat to see the process, although I was a little bummed that we weren't allowed to take pictures in the factory. We got these cute shots though.

After leaving Louisville we continued north, stopping in Newport to eat at Pompilio's, one of our favorite places. The kids shared a spaghetti, I tried the lasagna and Jason got his favorite dish a cheese tortellini with chicken and sun-dried tomatoes in an artichoke cream sauce. It's so good but I never get it myself because it's just too much cheese and dairy for me, so Jason always gives me a bite. We took a risk eating on the patio since it was about to storm, but we made it out of there just in the knick of time.

Back across the river we stopped for the night at a Hampton in Fairfield. We love Hampton Inn because they are so consistent wherever you go. On this particular visit the kids' sofa bed was broken and they couldn't sleep on it, so we were upgraded to a jacuzzi suite. The next day we took a trip to the Bass Pro Shop. Jason has been wanting to go and it's the closest one to where we live, so that's why we chose to spend the night in Fairfield. The kids didn't really make it a very enjoyable experience, but they were impressed with the giant fish tank and this Kodiak Bear.

I was impressed with what appeared to be a two-story Kohl's next door, but I didn't go to check it out because it could have been a little dangerous. My desire had been to stop at Jungle Jim's, so we went there after leaving Bass Pro Shop. Jungle Jim's is a large international grocery store. The kids really didn't want to be there so we didn't get to spend a lot of time, but they had some things I haven't been able to find in Columbus so it was a succesful venture. Before heading home we stopped for lunch at this yummy restaurant. The kids were very well behaved and Jordis even politely called the waitress over to ask for a refill. We were quite impressed. And now that we're back home, we just wait to see who gets the first injury from the baseball bats.

Spring Break

Last week Xander's school district was off for Spring Break. Where I grew up Spring Break always backed up to Easter in some way, so this random week off at the end of March is a little odd to me. What a pain if you had to travel for the Easter holiday and then needed to hurry back for the kids to go back to school.

Anyway, we kept busy and tried to do a lot of fun things.....

Dressing up (Xander picked out this sombrero when my mom gave him $1 at the Dollar Tree).

We went to see the fish at the fish store. They like it when they find Nemo.

Our MOPS group went to Galaxy Games to play in the giant mazes and ball pits. I liked it here because they were big enough that parents could get in, too. That way you're not standing at the bottom convincing your kids to come out when it's time to leave. You can just go drag them out yourself.

The kids and I ate this entire large pizza while we were there.

We made monkey bread. I haven't had it in years and normally don't believe in letting them eat such junk for a meal, but the biscuits were on sale and I thought it would be a fun project to do together.

(Note to self: remember that the kids don't like rolling balls of dough and will leave you at the table to do it all by yourself.)

My favorite tree, without snow this time.

On Palm Sunday Xander was supposed to carry a palm leaf through the sanctuary with all of the kids. We made a deal that if he participated he could spend the afternoon running errands with me instead of going to quiet time. He agreed until we got there and then I couldn't get him to cooperate, even though his little friend Wesley was doing it. His teacher finally told me to leave and she'd figure something out. I was a little concerned, but he held her hand and walked around with her. There were so many kids it was hard to get a photo, but I got this one so we could show Daddy that he did it.

I took Xander to the Goodwill to look for Easter shoes. Last year I bought him brand new shoes for Easter and then he refused to wear them again for church or any other event, so I decided I'm not spending full price for shoes he won't wear. I found him a pair that looked brand new for $2.29, so after I discovered that they fit him perfectly I snatched them up as he was screaming at me that they don't have velcro, are too tight, etc. Then he said, "I'm not wearing them after Easter" to which I replied "That's exactly why I'm buying them." After he calmed down and I let him look around at toys we came across these...

They fit perfectly and he did pretty good navigating around, so I bought them since he had been pretty good for me on our outing and they were only $4. We were also able to find him some knee pads and he already has a helmet, so hopefully we can find him some elbow pads soon.

What a week it was!

Of berries, bikes, bad weather and brides....in no particular order.

I'm starting with weather first because I'm sick of it. I don't know why it's so hard this year for the weather people to tell us if or when we are having severe storms. They're either popping up out of nowhere, or they tell us they're coming and they don't. My personal favorite is that of last Friday and early this morning, where they say things are weakening or just not coming near us at all, and yet I'm awoken by some thunder and lightning only to discover there's a tornado warning nearby. Poor southern Ohio will have been under a tornado watch for about 20 hours straight by the end of the day if the current watch stays in effect. Luckily the weather was able to cooperate for Memorial Day weekend. It was quite lovely and we had a nice cookout at my mom and step-dad's that Sunday.

At any rate, this rain of late is doing wonders for my plants. The strawberries are a little experiment I was trying with Xander, but then I discovered my neighbor Dena gardens and she offered to start some seeds for me. I'm doing all containers this year until I see if I'm successful, as I don't want to rip up my yard to find I'm not good at growing things. I'm horrible with houseplants so I wasn't expecting much from these. The strawberries are looking great though, and it was fun to watch Xander learn how to plant them, then put them in the sun, and he even helped me water them. I discovered, however, that 12 strawberry plants isn't going to put a dent in my kids' consumption of the fruit. Xander is very proud of the strawberries so I took a picture of them yesterday. The other little plants you see are the ones from Dena that I need to re-pot. They're tomatoes, cucumber and green pepper. One of each, just to see how they do.



Xander also just got his first big boy bike. Jason had told him he could use some birthday money to buy it so they went last week and picked it out. Just so happens that it matches the helmet he got last summer at the Safety Fair. Xander loves his bike and is quite good at it, just got on and took off. He's already riding it around the block and we've been leaving the cars in the driveway so he can ride in the garage on days that it rains.



Nomey has a helmet, too, and insists on wearing it even if she's not riding her tricycle. They even wore helmets to help me wash the car on Sunday.



Other than that we've not been doing much. The kids and I have gone on a few playdates with our MOPS (Mother's of Pre-schoolers) group and I went out for Mexican and dancing with some friends last Saturday night. Something about having two kids and turning 30 has reduced my ability to decide what makes for good "going out" clothes, so I let Jason choose my attire on Saturday. He was quite pleased with the end result and even took my picture. He attempted to go fishing with Xander and his dad last Sunday but that didn't go so well.





Our next big adventure is a garage sale at my mom's next weekend. She already sold some of our baby stuff to a girl at her work, but I have tons of clothes and other things here that I hope to get rid of as well. So please pray for me that it doesn't rain next Saturday, so I will not have spent hours pricing all these things for naught.

Also, Jason's cousin is getting married this weekend, so congratulations Nellie!!! All of you family members making the trip to Punta Cana we hope you have a fabulous time.