smile at the rain

I have an art print I bought in Seattle when the three of us went out there last year. It's a great print of people in colorful rain jackets and umbrellas, and it just says 'Smile at the Rain'. Perfect image for this weekend.

Despite the end to our sunny days and a weekend of rain, we had lots of smiles these last few days. Sometimes it's nice to be forced indoors and come up with rainy day activities. It slows us down a little from the constant activity in our lives, and it gives us time to reflect on the fresh, new air that remains after the showers end.

Here's a look at our smiles this weekend:

Saturday, we had quite the morning. We went to several golf stores looking for new clubs for Scott, since he had just sold his that morning. Seems to be an annual thing (Back to my last post). But, we were troopers and it was sort of a fun 'treasure hunt' if you will. In the process we bought Jaxon some new play doh tools. Boy did he have fun.

I think we spent nearly two hours playing play doh. Two hours doing anything is a miracle in itself. We had lots of fun making 'pasta' and 'snakes' and 'horsies'.

We even made some 'Jaxons'! They're actually smiley face imprints, but you try telling him that!

Then after dinner, Jaxon decided he would really start hamming it up. What better way to work off your dinner than to turn you truck book into a ball, throw it around the kitchen, chase it, and say 'Oh man!' everytime just to make your parents laugh. He really is a potato head.

Sunday, despite the rain, we made it out to the March for Babies event and did a four mile walk at Boom Island. Jaxon and I got matching t-shirts, something he was really excited about ;-) We had fun together and later took a three hour nap. And that was glorious.

All in all, a great weekend. Don't forget to take time to smile at the rain. It is a beautiful thing.

stupid is as stupid does.

Yesterday, as we were going about our business, getting ready to leave the house for something, Jaxon started saying 'stupid'.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Oh boy. I thought I had at least another year before he started picking up things from the kids at daycare (it's always someone else's kid that teaches them those things right?).

When I asked him to stop and threatened a time out if he didn't (I know, another parenting faux paux- but I would have carried through on it!), he began saying 'stup' just to show me that he wasn't actually saying the full word so I couldn't technically give him a time out.

Lord, do we have our work cut out for us. This kid is too smart. I asked him where he learned that word, and he said 'daddy' and something about it just came out of his mouth, like he couldn't control where it came from or something.

Now, of course, we would never use poor language around Jaxon, so this had to be a fib he was telling. I'll still blame the daycare kids. Sorry guys. But I will start watching what I say around him a little more closely, now that I know he's paying attention.

Anyway... we did more than lecture Jaxon on the word stupid this weekend. We also watched him clean daddy's golf balls and clubs for him. Stupid golf. If it isn't fantasy football season, it is ice fishing season, and when the ice melts it is golf season. It never ends. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The Easter Bunny

The past few weeks, people have been talking about this elusive 'Easter Bunny'. Mom has been reading me books about him and the kids at daycare talk about him like he is Santa or something. I haven't been too sure, because there doesn't seem to be any concrete evidence that he exists. Until yesterday.

I was minding my own business, napping in my room, when I woke up suddenly. Daddy and mommy came in and said that somebody, or rather Somebunny, had been at the house and had left a trail outside my room leading to a basket full of stuff. Well, that piqued my interest just a little bit. So I took a gander and found little bunny tracks on our floor! They were pink and small and outlined with a Sharpie marker. Ah-ha! I thought. I've got you now Mister Easter Bunny.

And so, I followed the tracks...

And I found your little treasure you left me.

And yes, I ate the candy you left inside the little eggs. I decided from then on, anytime someone tells me about a mythological character related to a holiday, it must be good and I must believe!


Earlier that day...

Mom and I discovered the art of dying Easter eggs. If the little metal thing that holds your eggs doesn't work...

Just dip it in...
And then put stickers on the eggs, cuz that makes them way more attractive.

Later that day...

I went outside to discover that the Easter bunny is even cooler than I thought. He hid eggs all over the yard and I just so happened to have this great little blue basket to put them in. Each one had candy in it too. How did I get so lucky?

And yes, of course my daddy had to go on his own Easter hunt, but all he found was a snake! No thank you!

Hope you all had as good of an Easter as we did and may the Easter bunny visit you often!

movies in the car + junk food + swimming = iowa

Well, Northern Iowa accomplished more than just a record upset this weekend. They made a lifer out of Jaxon. We think he will forever love Iowa. We took a family trip down to Okoboji for a last getaway before the baby comes. We got to see some old friends while we were there which was an extra bonus.

While we were there we...

Went tubing down the lazy river. We were really lazy... we went down this river ALOT. But it was much warmer than the other water, for whatever reason, and fun bumping into people. We played tag with mommy too.

We also practiced swimming (which by the way, also is fun to practice at home on the floor), and sometimes I drank a little too much water and got some in my ears. Daddy taught me to just shake my head all around and that water comes right out.

Did a little pirating...

And daddy taught me how to jump off the edge into the water where he would catch me. This was my favorite part of all, until he started yelling at me because I like to jump in the water even when he's not there. No fear!

We also got to play at the arcade. I won some candy at the claw game and watched daddy lose $10 to a game that he just had to beat, but couldn't. Sorry daddy. It's okay.

We had SO MUCH FUN. I highly recommend IOWA if you're looking for a great getaway ;-)

melting...

What a great day yesterday was. It was sunny and a beautiful 42 degrees in Minneapolis. I had a super productive day at work and presented a big project with kudos. Then Scott and I were able to see our little peanut on the big screen again... found out SHE is healthy and on track developmentally, still with a due date of July 8th. I thought that was the real highlight of my day, knowing I was going to be able to start shopping for cute little dresses and bows...

...but then I got home and saw Jaxon and he was so excited to see me. We sat on the couch, doing our nightly routine of watching Wall-E and he leaned his head over on to my shoulder and said 'Mommy, I love you.'. The snow was melting outside, while I was melting inside. Ahhh, does it get any better than this?

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!

Indecision

I have sometimes been accused of being indecisive. If it's a trip to the spa or out to dinner, no questions asked, the answer is yes. But, today I completely struggled with my decision-making capability, and consequently I think we all suffered.

It was Jaxon and me all weekend as Scott made his way up to the woods to ice fish with the boys. It was Target free Sunday at the Children's Museum and I debated back and forth on whether or not to go, knowing it was going to be crazy busy, and knowing that my two year old angel is no longer an angel. Also knowing that my growing belly is causing me to be quite tired and I am no longer the spring chicken I used to be.

But of course, we went. Honestly on the way there, I thought about turning back at least three times. But alas, I promised dinosaurs and dinosaurs Jaxon would get.

But first, we did some drumming in the China exhibit...

cooked an apple over an open flame in the kitchen exhibit...

played a little guitar hero on the open mic stage...

sat on the city bus FOREVER. I had to drag Jaxon away from the motionless metro transit bus so that some other kids could have a chance. My guess, at this point he was just as tired as I was and it felt good to sit down.

Last, but not least, we did see the dinosaur exhibit. However, the dinosaurs are all just a bit too tall and scary to actually take a picture next to, so we settled for climbing on this squishy bridge a half a dozen times.

Looks like we had a lot of fun right? We did. It was a good choice, and we were only there for two hours, so I can't complain too much. It was the half-hour nap in the car ride home that Jaxon thought was his nap for the day that made it a poor decision.

But, hindsight is always 20-20, right?