What a MONTH!!!!

So, in the month of March I took the kids too and from Milwaukee, had Jason's brother come visit, took the kids to and from Florida and am now waiting for my cousins to arrive at my house! You may be wondering if I have lost my mind. Initially, I would say no. Then I think, "who in their right mind would do all of this in one month???"

We went down to Florida to visit family and help Uncle Matt get settled into his new place. I drove down on my own with both kids, but this time I was smart enough to take two days to drive it. Since I wasn't going to get to Florida until the day they were leaving my wonderful Uncle Paul (insert sarcasm here) and Aunt Lois (we like her) stayed an extra day so they could see me and the kids. You will find no photo's of Uncle Paul on here, since I didn't want to risk breaking the camera (I love you Uncle Paul!), but here is Molly with her Great Aunt Lois.

Overall, it was a fun visit. Jackson got to run around and watch Mickey. I got to go to an outlet mall. What more could anyone possibly want???

Our trip home, however, could have gone a little more smoothly. We set out around 7:30am on Saturday morning, with full intentions to drive all the way home in one day (since I had Jason with me this time). After about an hour, we discovered we wouldn't be able to get out of Florida just yet. There was rain and flash flooding all over. The road we wanted to take was completely blocked. So, we turned around and went back to my parents house to wait out some of the rain. We let Molly take a nap and then finally set off, again, around 11:00am. This time, we took a different route. For much of the drive we debated driving all the way home or stopping for the night. We made it to Kentucky and stopped at the first rest area to change diapers. While we were there Jason and I dicovered that much of our up coming drive was covered with tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings (as if we hadn't had enough bad weather). So we stopped in Bowling Green, KY with only 4 1/2 hours left to get home.

Below you can see a brief video of Jackson and Molly enjoying our hotel room. I think this video was taken about 2 hours past their bedtimes. Sorry the video is so dark. It's the best I could do. All you really need to know is that Molly is enjoying herself, no matter what Jackson does. I promise we would have stopped it if she were crying.

It's a zoo in here!!!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of taking the kids to Milwaukee to visit family. Jackson has a cousin, Oliver, who is only 2 months older than him so it's always fun to get the boys together. They wrestled, jumped, spun, shouted, and ran with each other. It was great! Molly enjoyed watching from the safety of the exersaucer.

The first night we actually stayed at a friends house and I learned what a challenge it really would be to sleep in the same bed with Jackson. Now, if I weren't trying to sleep, all of this would be incredibly cute and wonderful, but not when it's 1:00am and you need sleep. The first night Jackson trying to sleep on top of me at least five times. Then he woke me up at 5:00am saying, "Hi Mommy! Jackson wake now!" So cute now. So not cute then. Thankfully, when we went over to my brothers house, I was able to put a body pillow in between Jackson and me and the nights got much better (not that any of them were perfect).

During this visit, we spent Saturday morning at the Milwaukee Zoo! I really don't remember when the last time was that I went to this zoo. It seemed a lot more fun this time, then I remember. Jackson had a bit of a meltdown at the beginning, but, as we saw more and more animals, he got a lot better. It was fun to listen to Jackson talk to and about all the animals. Apparently, all elephants are "baby" elephants. Of all the animals to insist on........ the elephant??? Even after seeing it up close, it's still a "baby" elephant. Also, apparently camels know how to play ring-around-the-rosey and I had no idea that peacocks could actually fly!

Another highlight of the weekend was Molly standing herself up without holding on to anything. She did that many times and also took several steps. I certainly wouldn't call her a walker yet, but she's working on it. It won't be long now.

Overall, the visit was a success. We look forward to Jackson and Oliver growing up to be great friends.

Crazy Wonderful Weather!!!

So, yesterday I thought it was pretty nice outside. Partly sunny and 56 degrees out. Today was suppose to be warm but gloomy and rainy. What did we get? 75 and sunny!!! Hallelujah!!!

Of course, it didn't take long for me to get Jackson outside! Here are some pics of him wearing shorts outside for the first time in 2009!!!

As you can see, he already skinned his knee. Thankfully I am fully stocked with Scooby Doo and Cars band-aids.

Molly also had a chance to get outside. She, however, is still getting accustom to the great outdoors. The wind has a tendency to blow her over. I did, however, get to have both kids in our wagon for the first time. Molly seemed to think it was alright and Jackson thought it was fantastic (until he started stomping on Molly's feet). I couldn't get them both smiling at the camera, but at least I managed to get both of them to look at me. I'll take what I can get!

So, as you can see, today was wonderful. Tomorrow? A high of 44???? This is just madness! I have a teething two year old that needs to get outside!

On a side note, we met some new neighbors that have a 13 month old little girl. It was crazy for me to look at that little girl while I sat holding Molly. "Two and a half months and that will be her???" Isn't God amazing? To create these tiny beings that grow and learn so quickly and in that time, bring so much joy, change and excitement to our lives! It just blows me away!

We love Mickey Mouse!

So, this evening was our exciting night to see Playhouse Disney Live! Boy, was it a hit! The moment the stage lights came up, Jackson was mesmerized! It was fantastic! The premise for the show was that Mickey was having a BYOM party. Everyone (the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and Winnie the Pooh) had to bring their own music. The first half of the show was the Little Einsteins, Handy Manny, and Pooh deciding on what music they were bringing to the party. So, the second half is what Jackson really came for. Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy all came! Jackson was thrilled! Then Goofy had to leave the stage to get an instrument and Jackson was heart broken. He actually started to cry. We assured him Goofy would be back (thankfully we were right). Then Handy Manny showed up for the party and Jackson started to cry again. He thought this meant that Mickey was leaving. As each party guest arrived, I had to reassure Jackson that Mickey was not leaving. Of course, you can imagine what it was like when the show was all over. But Jackson recovered quickly. Mc Donald's drive-thru makes everything better. Overall, we all had a great time. Jackson danced and clapped and jumped all over. Basically, he made himself at home.

Molly also enjoyed herself. She enjoyed trying to grab the hat off of the lady sitting in front of her (and she succeeded). :) She also enjoyed dancing and holding Jason's hands to making them clap.

Do these socks match?

This evening, the whole family went up stairs to play for a little bit before bedtime. Since Jackson and Molly were both happy and playing well together, I decided to take advantage of the time and tackle matching socks. This has to be my absolute least favorite part of doing laundry. I had a full clothes basket of socks and decided I could put it off no more. So I sat just outside of the bedrooms and began to organize and match dozens of white socks. Soon after I began, Molly wandered over and decided she wanted to help me. Of course, as every mother knows, a 10 month old does not help with laundry. She creates laundry. Anyway, she began pulling out socks one by one and tossing them on the floor. Jackson noticed this and decided to join in. However, Jackson, being himself, had to do her one better. This meant pulling out as many socks as possible and throwing them up in the air. Initially this had me frustrated. What's worse, Jason just sat there and laughed. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the frustration to fade and the fun to set in. I sent Jason to get the camera and I began throwing socks. It was actually quite cathartic. Unfortunately, the fun had to end and it was bedtime. Now, I have two sleeping children and my socks are still waiting to be matched. :)