Easter bunnies

 This Easter we stuck around home...

On Saturday we went to Scott's cousins' house for an Easter Egg Hunt. Thanks to Michelle and her amazingly creative family, we had an egg hunt, colored paper easter eggs, and had a yummy potluck lunch. Kiley and Jaxon had so much fun hunting for eggs. I think Scott enjoyed himself too.

Jaxon did pretty good hunting on his own.

Kiley supervised with daddy.

Jaxon looked on as he took stock of what was left on the ground.

And then promptly told us he needed more.

Then today, Easter Sunday, we had a visit from the Easter Bunny. We carefully selected a location to place our Easter baskets last night (right outside Jaxon's room on the bench, by the door. Jaxon's rationale was that the bunny wouldn't be able to pass it when he came in.)

Even at 7am after a very rough night of sleep, I delighted in the wonder and smile on Jaxon's face when he saw that the bunny had brought him some special treats.

The first words out of his mouth were 'Ohmygosh'. The second words were, let's see what kind of candy is in the eggs!

Kiley got into the spirit of things. Okay, she was the one who gave us the rough night of sleep, so I'm guessing she is a little out of here...

But, she sure perked up later when I had her doing a photo shoot. I broke out the hairband ribbons for this one. This is one cute bunny!



Christmas Cheer

Well, it wasn't hard to get into the Christmas spirit this weekend. We had our traditional weekend before Christmas celebration at our house this past weekend. New home. New baby. New traditions.

I will say this has felt like a very different holiday season this year. My family decided on no gifts. This was a HUGE step for us. I know lots of families that have been doing this for awhile. Or drawing names for gifts. We decided, no gifts, except for the kids. I have to say, it has been really nice not to have to stress over the perfect, most meaningful and thoughtful gift. The one that would have the recipient wondering, 'how did she know I've always wanted that?' It's been different though. I kept thinking I was forgetting something. And when I'd go to the stores, I really didn't have anyone to buy for. No stress, no worry. I think I can get used to that. It also caused me to pause and think about the true meaning of Christmas. I have found I'll give a little more at the Red Kettles. Donate at the register to St. Jude's or whatever the charity of the day is. Perhaps I'll even splurge and treat my office mates to a healthy breakfast this week. But it was also a really nice weekend with family, just enjoying one another's company. Enjoying the kids and their Christmas cheer.

Jaxon and Zoe made an amazing Gingerbread House. Note to self. $8 is nothing when it keeps two kids busy for two hours. Loved this investment.

Zoe and Jaxon tried to do a little snowtubing in the backyard. Didn't work out so great. Jaxon wiped out after about three minutes and the snow facewash sent him indoors pretty darn quick. But, indoors is where it's at. There were cookies to be made. And eaten along the way...

 Kiley got some love and attention from Grandpa and Grandma. She was having fun grabbing her feet this weekend, tried some new foods, and giggled and laughed when Grandpa gave her the 'chin'.  

 We also had a few photo shoots. Of course. I'm not sure which of my kids is going to be the more dramatic of the queens, but they're both doing a good job so far.

 After a very delicious dinner on Saturday night (which did not include eating the gingerbread house),

We had the kids open their gifts.

 Jaxon's box started talking to him before he opened it (the true powers of Buzz Lightyear), and so he got beyond excited when he realized there might really be a Buzz in the box. I've never seen him like that. It was pretty hilarious. Buzz is now his new best friend and goes 'bababeyond' with him everywhere (to infinity and beyond, for those unfamiliar).  

Another favorite was the art easel with chalkboard and letters. Zoe and Jaxon played 'classtime' and taught us all our letters. But you better pay attention, says Jaxon.

Miss Kiley, sorry you had to go to bed and miss out on all the fun. She did love her gifts that Jaxon so kindly helped her open. That fish mirror and glowworm are her new favorite friends.

And so, if I wasn't in the holiday spirit before, I am now. It's not about the gifts or shopping for the perfect present. It's about the time spent with family. The energy and creativity one gets from watching thier kids act out a show on demand or dancing like a princess. It's about making cookies, eating them, sharing them with neighbors. It's about watching the snow fall on a sunny December afternoon when it isn't even winter yet and you clearly have enough snow to last you the rest of the year. It's about making snow angels with your son on the hardwood floor. It's about snuggling on the couch, watching movies, enjoying each other. It's about all these things, and so much more.

As we go into the holiday week and weekend, we want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. Enjoy time spent with your family and friends. Make snow angels. Catch a snowflake. Share some merriment. Happy Holidays from all of us at the Vuong Household!

a good day

Do you ever have those days, that just have so many happy moments, you think. If I died today, it would be okay. Just one of those really good days, when nothing too exciting happens, except that you feel surrounded by love and all the good things in life? Today was one of those days. It began last night, around 2 am. Kiley started crying. She kept crying and crying, until 10 minutes later, she miraculously stopped. Of course, every two minutes, I said to Scott- 'are you sure she doesn't need a bottle. Hasn't she been crying for like a half an hour already?'. It's called sleep training. And it's about time. Girl needs to start sleeping through the night so mom and dad can feel rested already. I mean, she's almost five months old. Come on, stop being such a baby! We'll see how tonight goes... hopefully we won't have to ignore the crying for too much longer... Kiley, after sleeping through the night, woke up around 6ish. Had a bottle and we played for awhile, watching the snow fall outside. So peaceful and serene that time of day. I love it. Then she went back to sleep and I got to go for a quick run on the treadmill. Caught up on my parenting magazines because the satellite was out due to the crazy snowstorm (that everyone says took them by surprise even though we knew about it for two days, and it's November in Minnesota people! Come on!). I was not slightly surprised. Well, I take that back. I thought the weather people would be wrong, as is typical, but they were right. So, i was a little surprised. Jaxon woke up and looked out the window. His first words were, 'mom, we need to get our boots on and go shovel!'. So excited, he makes me feel like a kid again on days like this. So, him and Scott got the full gear on, went outside and made the first snowman of the season. Not bad, though after it was actually built, Jaxon was scared and would not go near it. It's snowing!! Got to get our boots on, and our hat, and mittens, and our coat... and go outside and play in the snow! Or... watch daddy build me a snowman while I tell him what to do. Lookin' a little scary at this point... Dude. Nice hat.

I am not going near that thing. No way dad.

Yes, you are. We built it. Now we are taking a picture next to it.

After the snowman was built, we trekked over to the MOA for a movie (Jaxon and Scott) and shopping (Kiley and me). Came home and everyone took naps. I got to work on finishing one of my projects from my recent jewelry vacation (pics coming soon), and snuck in a little snooze myself.

I know it sounds like a typical day, but I feel like I laughed a little more today... Jaxon is almost three, and seems like he is going on five or six. He's so darn smart. He has these goofy looks he does, asks questions all the time, and has the greatest curiousity and love of life in him. It's refreshing in many ways, hard in others, and downright annoying at times (mom, what's that noise? two minutes later. mom what's that noise? two minutes later, mom what's that...- you get the picture). He always wants to help with everything and has the craziest imagination ever. He is always telling stories. And, he knows almost all of his numbers and I swear he knows a little bit of addition and subtraction. Well, maybe not, but the kid is smart. He also knows when to ask daddy for something vs. mommy. Sometimes, too smart.

And Kiley. She just melts my heart every time I look at her. She is so smiley these days. I'm glad I listened to all those people who told me it would get better. She's gone from a colicky mess to a smiling, lauging, giggling princess. I'm pretty sure she is teething now, which is crazy because I don't remember dealing with that from Jaxon until he was almost a year old. She drools all the time, soaks her clothes or bibs. Don't get your finger near her mouth, you may not get it back. She's also workin' on getting stronger, doing tummy time a lot and she rolled over tonight, back to front. We were just sitting around watching Jaxon run around like a wild man, dancing and pretending he was a dinasaur, and she just went and rolled over! She's done front to back, though it was somewhat of a fluke, so I thought this was exciting and much harder to do at her age. Of course, I ran and got my video camera, not to be the guilt-laden mom, and then she wouldn't do it again. But, I did capture Scott playing helicopter with Jaxon and Kiley doing her best to get over.

Well, I better head off to bed. I mean, it is 9:35 on a Saturday night. Need to rest up for the rest of the weekend. May you have a bright and cheery Sunday!

apples and pumpkins

It's been such an amazing fall. Last weekend was perfect to go to the apple orchard.

The sun was shining and we had a great day. Even better, our friends Carol and Jeri were able to join us. We had fun meandering the orchard, checking out the pumpkins and sneaking an apple or two off the trees.

At one point when we were walking, Carol mentioned that she had a flashback to when Scott was a young boy. She said she saw Jaxon running and it reminded her of the way Scott would run, with one arm straight to his side and the other one pumping back and forth. I often see a lot of Scott in Jaxon too. Like in this picture... always has something to say. And, still talking here. But also being very protective of his baby sister, holding her so she doesn't fall into those pumpkins. Such a big heart- Jaxon gets that from his daddy too.

I pretty much think she is like the cutest baby ever.

Which means our family is also very cute. Sorry to brag, but we are. We also went on a wagon ride. This made Kiley very sleepy... just couldn't take all the action.

And yes, we even snuck a picture of Jeri holding Kiley! Sorry Jeri ;-)

A day at the zoo.

This past Sunday I had some quality alone time with Jaxon. We dropped Kiley off at grandma and grandpa's and Scott stayed home to study for his PMP (which he passed BTW! Yay Scott!). So Jaxon and I headed to the zoo. It was their last weekend of the farm being open and they had Scarecrow alley, which I thought Jaxon would dig, but really all he cared about was finding that darn monorail and getting on 'the train'. We had to do a little pretending before getting to the train though. We pretended we were with Dora on one of her adventures. We told the map to help us find it. The map told us to go through the forest, over the bridge, and past the bears.

And that's just what we did.

We stopped along the way of course when we got distracted by our ultimate goal, and when Swiper the Fox was trying to get our stuff (we didn't let him).

And we did go out to the farm on a tractor ride. I thought Jaxon would love the petting zoo area. Nope. WE had to get right back on the tractor because the tractor did not take us to the train. We had to get to the train!

You can even see it in his eyes here. Mom. Seriously. Where is the train?

We saw some camels. And these cute little Prairie dogs. And we finally made it on the train... the perfect end to the perfect day!

here comes the muffin man, the muffin man, the ...

This was another action packed weekend, complete with a visit from Grandma and Grandma and Carly from West Fargo and uncle Cory and Cousin Zoe. We had way too much fun and mommy really needs to get a camera like grandma's because her pictures of me are just so darned good. Saturday we went to the MOA. Dad and Grandpa took Zoe and me on a couple of rides while mom and grandma went shopping. Something about finding clothes for mommy's big belly. Whatever, I love mommy's belly. It's very comfy these days. Then, after that, we went home and took a nap. Then off to Zoe's soccer game, er practice. Zoe did really good and scored a couple goals.

Here's a synopsis of our weekend:

Here's mom. Boy, does she think she is something. I'm just minding my own business and she comes and swoops in and steals my ice cream! That's all you left me??

That daddy. He sure is fun to tickle!

Grandpa, showing me how to be cool.

Look out David Beckam.

Then on Sunday morning, mom helped me make berry muffins for everyone. She did a good job, and I told her so. Good job mom!