My favorite part of Easter

The Easter bunny brought these cool bubble airplanes he found at Target. (Did you know he shopped at Target?  That's what I hear anyway.)  We took them to the park and launched them before we continued on to the baseball field where Jonah wanted to hit the bucket of balls the bunny left for him as well.



The airplanes are spring loaded.  There is a small bottle of bubbles attached to the bottom.  You pump it a few times and pull the trigger.



The airplane launches and so do the bubbles!  Pretty good entertainment.



And there's these new squeeze bubbles he left as well.  Shoot, they might be old for all I know.  I just never tried them.  Boy are they messy, but I get it.



She liked them, but it resulted in some serious sticky hands and wet clothes.



I love this park.  This is the trail I like to run on the weekends, and every time I run through here, I imagine a beautiful portrait of my kids at this very spot.  This one will do just fine.  It's pretty typical of them.  Well actually, I'll probably be back for more.  It's so beautiful.



I tried to get more and about this point right here, Jesse fell down on that right knee.  There was blood and tears.  We then carried her out and on to the baseball field, where she insisted it was all due to her new flip flops and she needed her tennis shoes on from now on.  So we changed them.



And she ran the bases while Jonah was in the batting cage with my love.



And then she picked flowers in the outfield.

We must have been there for three or more hours.  I loved it all, well, except for her fall.  Oh, and she was so excited about the bubbles that she had a little accident as well.  That wasn't a highlight.

Hey, I'm just keeping it real.  Even with that, it was my favorite part.

Harry and Jesse

My boy wrote me the sweetest letter on a napkin this week.  He said I was the best Mama ever and that I was beautiful and also that I was very "bisy."  I loved his sweet comments, but later I wondered if a child noticing that you are busy is a good thing.  I don't know?  Surely he recognizes that most of the reason I am busy is to somehow benefit him.  Shoot, he's too young for that realization.  Why do I worry about these things?  I'll just turn my concentration to the most important part of the letter...you know...the beautiful part.

One of the wonderful things about being a Mom is how beautiful they think we are.  It's brings me so much joy.  Kids do not see wrinkles and dark circles under our eyes from lack of sleep.  They see loving arms and well, beauty.

Halloween surely kept us up a lot and very busy.  It was a roller coaster week and in an ideal world, I could sit down and write a daily blog about it all, but that's just not going to happen.  I'm too "bisy."  But goodness, I surely wish that I could.

I've been about to explode to share some of it.

No doubt what Jonah wanted to be this year.  No doubt.  My Harry Potter fan wanted no other than to portray his favorite wizard.

And let me just say something here.  My blond haired, blue eyed child transformed pretty shockingly.  The dark hair, the scar, the glasses, the shirt and tie, oh my.  Buddy won the costume contest for being the "most transformed."  I still look at the pictures in disbelief.  Is that my boy?



Jesse had a pretty obvious choice as well.  When we watch Toy Story or pass by a Jessie doll in Target, she quickly shouts, "Look!  That's me!"  Sharing her name with the Toy Story celebrity has been quite amusing to her.   It made sense that she should be the cowgirl this year.



I decided to make her costume.  Yes, I decided to make her costume.  I thought it would be easy.  "It's just a cowgirl," I thought to myself.  But nothing is easy for a full-time working Mom with a busy life.  Oh, and one other thing...I can't sew!  Oh crap, that was a bad oversight.  Sorry I said crap.



I managed though.  Iron-on adhesive and a fabric pen folks.  Iron-on adhesive and a fabric pen.  Why am I repeating myself so much?



Who is that child with my daughter?



She was a Rootin' Tootin' Cowgirl.  Her daddy found her belt for me at the last minute.  Good job there daddy!  Have I told you how awesome you are lately?



No way he was going to scare off Voldemort with that face.



You see those cheeks?  I just can't get enough of them.



There should be a cowgirl tune playing here while Jesse walks off into the sunset.



And here's their sidekick, Luke.  The ferocious German Shepherd with the floppy ear.



I can't fool you with ferocious can I?  On a side note, Luke buddy has been so sick.  I'll have to tell you about it one day.  He's doing great now.  We are so happy to get a good night's sleep again.



Harry, "Oh no!"
Jesse, "What is it Harry?"
Harry, "I just realized something.  How am I going to fight Voldemort without Hermione??  All I have is you, a cowgirl with yellow flowers.  I'm doomed."
Jesse, "Do not underestimate me Harry!"



"Yes, I look sweet and pretty, but I'm a tough girl.  Voldemort has nothing on me."



"Oh, good grief.  I better practice my spells."



"Trust me wizard boy."



It's all worth it.  The wrinkles, the dark circles, the "bisy" and the tired.  It's all so worth it.

I love these two so dadgum much I can't stand it.

Carve Your Jack

Carving the pumpkin is such a wonderful tradition.  We did ours on the night following the full day at the Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard.  I was so exhausted.  Really, I was so tired and out of my mind that I said yes to my angels without even thinking about it.  I could have been delirious from exhaustion.  It could have been all the the fried apple pies.  Or...perhaps I just go, go, go and do not know how to stop?  One of the three.

Doesn't matter.  We carved out Jack and this is how it went.

We started out trying to decide on a design.  Jonah wanted something scary.  Jesse wanted something cute.  We Googled it.



We really needed a compromise.  Google wasn't helping.



So, I said, "Let's do something traditional."  And Jesse said, "Ha?"  I need to teach her, "What you talking about Willis?"



They actually agreed on traditional, after I explained what it was to Jesse.



He was a happy traditional...a classic.



"But, at least give me a scary face!"

Jonah decided that my decorative pumpkins needed faces as well.  At first glance, this looks like Egyptian Hieroglyphics.  But, look closely and you see many different faces all around the flat, squatty pumpkin.  Good job brother.  I had no idea you had this in you.  Well, that's not true, yes I did.

Jesse felt the need to decorate her white one.  "Spiders!" she said.  Ok.  Turns out perfect on a white pumpkin.

And here he is with candlelight.  He's simple.  He's happy.  He's probably not going to make it to Halloween.  But, we enjoyed making him.  I bought four more from Publix, cause really, I don't think he is going to make it to Halloween.  But I couldn't find the heart to tell them no.  We were in such the spirit to do it that night.

I know it seems like a lot of work, pulling out pumpkin guts and all, but take the time to carve your Jack.  It's worth it.  Just a simple one will do.  Go ahead and feel like a kid again.

It's better than worrying about all the stacks of papers on your kitchen table or countertop isn't it?  Yeah, I know this is random, but my laptop is sitting on them at this very moment and it is driving me crazy.  Yeah, I know you got them too.  I can't be the only one!  Just use a piece to catch the pumpkin guts.  It sure did make me feel better.  Although, don't use your power bill.  I would hate for you to be without internet.  That would be tragic...and scary.

Toes in the Water

We had no plans for the Memorial Day weekend.  Nothing at all.  I was good with that.  I just wanted to relax.  Finally, just relax.  Baseball is over (Jonah's team didn't make it to the championship game, but good season buddy!)  There was nothing on the calendar. Saturday, Sunday and Monday were a lovely grouping of blank boxes on my wall calendar.  That just never happens.

And then came Saturday morning.  I found myself in the basement cleaning and organizing and realizing that staying home does not equal relaxing.  Who gets to do that at home by the way?  Picture me sitting in the floor, yes, organizing wrapping paper and ribbon for goodness sakes.  Jesse is pulling out everything I put in.  What the hell am I doing this for?  And then...my love (that's what I call him here to my family that is just now joining us...you can give him hell) comes down and says, "Hey, you want to go to Benji's?  Everybody is there.  The kids can play in the pool..."

Well now folks, I think you know the next line...

Adios and vaya con dios, yeah I'm leaving GA.

 And I'm joining this crew.  Yep, we left GA with our two little ones and headed to AU.  We have this great family there.  We have this great, bigger than life, fun family there.



And we played and laughed and listened to stories.



And when Benji is involved...well, you're going to laugh and you're going to have fun.



And I turned to my love at some point during the day and said, "This is what you do on a holiday weekend ha?"



It was a special treat for the kids.  Such a special treat.



And a treat for me to watch this side of my husband's family laughing and living and enjoying life to the fullest.



She's also family.  She cheers for AU.  Her name is Camie.



I love watching them get together and tell stories.  There's so many stories.  There's old ones and new ones.



There's always something funny that happened.



Yep, and there are code words and nick names for people.  After being around, you just start picking up on them.



It really doesn't get old.



This is Uncle Stan and Aunt Judi.  And this is an example of the hand motion that has been passed down from generation to generation.  It's a great part of the story telling.



See, even Aunt Judi can't get enough.



This is Hunter.  He should be on the cover of some magazine.

And here he is with Aunt Joeli.  I get really confused with cousin or second cousin, so I'm making the command decision right now.  Yep, this is Aunt Joeli.  She has four little ones of her own that I'm determined to see soon.

This delighted me more than they probably knew.  This is a trampoline next to a swimming pool.  This delighted me because it reminded me of something my Mama would have done.  She would have totally pulled this one on us.  And she would have been one of the ones jumping in.  I'm jumping in next time for sure.

Jonah admired Hunter the entire weekend.  He's so cool.



Hey buddy.  Great form.



"Gosh, I want to be just like Hunter one day."



And here they are.  How many R_____'s does it take to move a trampoline?  I couldn't stop laughing at this moment.  I wanted to join them, but I wanted to capture it.  I mean....come on.



How often do you see something like this?



Oh shit, we lost a leg.



Don't worry, Jesse is holding up one end with one arm.  No problem.



Awesome recovery family.



Uncle Benji has an awesome back yard.  My boy sees a bat and that's it.



I'm loving this picture.  I want to frame it.  I love Uncle Stan's expression.



Jesse loved Camie.  I checked the bags to make sure she didn't bring her home.



This is Mitchell.  He should be on the cover of some magazine.



This is Jesse.  She needs an attitude adjustment.  She turned three and she's a girl and all of the sudden...I don't know.  Goodness, that's a topic for another day.  But I love you girl.  You rock the sad face.



This is Kelly.  She's awesome and so dang fun.



And there is Jesse girl with no fear what so ever.



"You want a fuzzy navel?"  "Heck no!  Make me a Margarita!"



I've moved on into Sunday here.  This weekend really rocks.  Really.



Jesse took a break and painted her toe nails.





Look!  I was there too!  I am so excited that she is content at this moment.  So excited.

Anyway, that's a lot of pictures.  I have like 350 more too.  I just couldn't help myself.  These are such wonderful people and they are my family and we were having so much fun.

I'll shut up and end with a few of my favorite pictures.







That's Grayson in the pink.  She belongs on the cover of some magazine.



If there were sand, our asses would have been in it...all day.  Good times.  Good times.

We were free.  We had fun.  This is what it's all about people.  Experiences.  Make the most of it.  Every day.

Till next time.