Monsters...

Today was the big day! We finally got to go and see Monsters Vs. Aliens...in 3D. We all went with Christi and Andy and we all liked the movie a lot. It was very funny, and pretty cool in 3D. Cole thought it was pretty fun to wear the glasses and had to take his home. Even Alexis wore her glasses (after she woke up from a little nap in dad's lap).

We also had a little b-day party for Dad and Christi (unfortunately Craig didn't make it to the March b-day celebration). We had crab legs, salmon and tilapia...and of course CAKE from Linda's. Cole picked it out...Transformers. Mark and Brooke also came over for the feast. YUM!

2 more pages scrapped. I think I'm getting close to being caught up for March...only 69 photos not scrap booked. LOL.

Lincoln Logs

Busy day today. We met Sarah and Kennedy at the Children's Museum. The kids had a blast running around playing with everything. Then we all headed up to McDonald's for lunch and some more running around at play land. Alexis fell asleep on the way and slept for about 45 mins while we all ate. When she woke up, she ate the nuggets and apples we have saved her....then ran around like a little hooligan. A quick trip to Wal-mart, then home. Dad got home and we ran to the mall quick, came home for baths and then bedtime. Cole was sleeping within 3 mins, Alexis not long after that. Guess I have to run them around more often. :)

Only one layout tonight. Cole and his Lincoln Logs. He received a small set for his b-day, but things really took off when Aunt Christi brought him a whole bunch from her school. Now he's got enough to build all kids of fun stuff.
I'm off to bed...to tired since the kids got up at 6:15 this morning. They need to learn how to sleep in!
-j

So Cole is totally obsessed with my camera. (I know what he's getting for Christmas this year!). Here is some 29 photos he took throughout the house. I find it very fascinating what he chooses to take photos of.

Also, here's a layout with the photos from Cole's hammering adventure. Fun for Cole...not so good for my drywall. :)

Cole and Alexis are so excited about the new speakers in the ceiling in the living room and dining room (toy room) because now they can listen to music and DANCE! We all get in the action and dance around the living room...even Alexis' baby! Today they thought it would be cool if I recorded them because then they could watch themselves on the computer. SO here you go.

Otherwise we have just been hanging out at home since the weather has been rather icky. Today we did have to run out and even stopped by to see Great Grandma and wish her a happy birthday...a few days late. The kids had a good time, making a mess with all the "new" toys at her house. We then came home and had dinner with dad. Cole's favorite "poon roast". YUM!!

Yesterday Cole and Alexis made a "water park" in the living room. The recliner foot rest was the slide, and a pile of blankets and pillows were the pool. Cole told me "Mom, you've got to try it...just try. It's really awesome." You can tell he's recently see Bolt the movie. :)
Alexis is so cute, when we start the movie there is the whole BluRay pitch at the beginning with clips from a lot of different movies. One is Wall-E. She sits there and says "Oh, wall-eeee" It is adorable.

So once again it is late, and I'm off to bed. Eric being home means he HOGS the computer. Reason number 245 why I need my own laptop!
-j

So I know...I've been slacking on keeping up with what the kids and I have been doing. Seems like we are so busy. Amazing how busy you are once you don't work! We had a good week last week. The highlight being St. Pat's day. Alexis and I made Shamrock cookies, then both kids "helped" me frost and put sprinkles on them. We even set some aside for Uncle Craig since he asked last time we made cookies to make some for him. :)
On Monday Cole and I made our Leprechaun trap. We got the idea out of my Family Fun magazine. Cole cut out all the pieces and we put it together. There was slits in the top, covered with fake gold to trick the Leprechaun up there...then he would fall through. We made a nice little ladder for him to get up to the top. Tuesday night, wouldn't you know that Leprechaun came and boy did he make a mess! He put the dolls and animals on their heads, left DVD's and toys all over the floor. He even got out the Duplos to make a staircase from the floor up to the table. He ate the cookie we left him...and made a big mess. He also did fall into our trap, but cut a door to get out. Cole told me he did it with his sharp fingernail. So we were not able to get his "Gold of Pot" (as Cole says). Better luck next year. We did some shopping on Wednesday and got some GREAT deals on stuff for next season. Including a beautiful Christmas dress for Alexis that was $68 marked down to 10! Though, who knows if she'll grow before next year. hehe.
Alexis also got a new trike. It's smaller than all of our other bikes/trikes so she can reach the pedals. Being so little sometimes makes it hard to do all the stuff your big brother can do. But she keeps trying.
Eric got home after the kids were in bed on Friday, and they were SO excited to see him on Saturday morning...at 6:30 a.m. of course! This weekend we started installing our in-ceiling speakers and the system to run that. We completed the living room and dining room so far. Now we have to wait for more speakers to show up. Eric has the controls in both rooms working, and all the other techie stuff downstairs working so we can listen to music whenever we want. The kids thought it was crazy/funny to see us drilling holes in the ceiling.
Today we headed out to Linda's for breakfast. Alexis I think had her whole donut gone before Eric hardly had a chance to sit down. Guess she was hungry.
Later in the afternoon Cole said he wanted to have Sugar for dinner. Then he says "Nooo...sugar makes you fat, like dad". OUCH! Poor Eric. Cole did tell him that he is also a little bit fat, then puffs out his belly since he wants to be like dad. It's pretty funny.
Two quick layouts. The top one is from a nice template...makes it go a bit faster.
The bottom one is of Cole and his discovery of the Leprechaun's mess!

Saturday Night...

2 more pages (well actually 4 since they are spreads) from our Disney trip.

Today we all had a nice day together. Breakfast at Linda's this morning. Then ran a few quick errands. Home to hang out and have some lunch. Alexis had a nice nap (so did Eric). Then outside to play and go for a walk. And finally off to McDonald's so Eric could fill his Shamrock Shake obsession before they are gone.

So Alexis has said this "awwww...mommieeeee" that is just so adorable. Doesn't matter if you are happy or mad, you can't help but smile at her when she says it. Well it's kind of become a game between us (and Cole) where I say "give me an awe mommie" and her and Cole take turns saying it. Tonight - and it's not the first time - we were driving to McDonald's and I asked for an awe mommie. She looks at me and says "awwwww...daaadieee" What a stinker! Then she says "awwwww...Jillll" What's up with that?? Cole thought that was funny and started doing that and awe Eric. They were both giggling in the back seat inbetween their awes.

Well I must get to bed. I spoke to soon telling everyone that they both had slept all night long...they haven't done it since. UGH! maybe tonight. :)

Quick quick

It's been a busy week and I haven't had a chance to get anything out here...or to scrapbook!
Cole did tell me the other day while we were waiting for Eric to come home for dinner - "I'm tired of Dad going to work." Which I thought was very cute.
Here's one quick page I put together from a great template. I really need to get going on my 300+ photos from Disney. :) Enjoy my little super hero.

Saturday

Eric arrived home yesterday just after 3 and we all got out for a nice walk and some playing in the back yard. It was so nice to be outside! We then went out to dinner at the Olive Garden (Cole's choice). The food was great, service was awesome and the kids were good! You can't ask for much more than that. :)
Today we got up early (well the kids did, therefore we had to by default) and met Aunt Christi & Oh Andy at Linda's for breakfast. YUM! Then it was off to the movie theater for "Hotel for Dogs." Cole liked the movie, Eric didn't. I thought it was cute...and Alexis was naughty and then fell asleep. They have been rowdy ALL DAY!! Loud, not listening and just wild. Not sure what it is...if it's a full moon tonight or what.
I have had time to do some scrapbooking while I wait for the kids to fall asleep and go down to check on them every 5 mins. This is working good. They are usually asleep in 10 mins or so. Now if we can just get them to sleep through the night. They are both in their own rooms all night, so we'll have to be happy with that and work on the rest. Well I'm tired (something to do with the fact I never get more than 3 hrs of sleep without getting woke up I'm guessing) so I'm off to bed.
-j

Puzzle piece

We didn't do much yesterday. It was a pajama day...and we all enjoyed it. Alexis did managed to spill the entire box of crayons all over the floor in the hallway, which was so nice since the dogs like to eat crayons. I asked Cole to go over and help her pick them up...and he so nicely did. but then she started to throw the crayons because I guess that is more fun than picking them up. I then hear Cole tell her "If you throw the crayons you'll have to pick them up by yourself" and he starts to stomp away. She's none too happy about this and lets out a little cry. So he comes back and says, "fine, if you are going to be good I'll help you". Now I know what I sound like. LOL. Wednesday night at dinner Cole told me that when he was big like mom and dad he was going to build a new house. It would have a bedroom for mom and dad, one for him and one for Baby Doll. He told me that I would be allowed to help build the house. "You can put the carpet in. You and Dad...and one guy. Three of you. You can all put the carpet in. And then we can all live there, because this house will be old. You and dad will have a room and me and Babe will be down in the basement." Love the fact that I'm installing carpet - the one thing I have not and will not do - with Eric and "a guy". But my favorite part is...he's sleeping in his own room! A small victory that he is starting to think that way!

Here's a layout about his new pair of bibs, that have a pocket for his monkey (and some other friends). He wanted so bad to wear bibs on Tuesday but he's out grown them all. I did find some on clearance in his size at Target and snatched them right up. He was thrilled and wore them around the next day (wed). He got him self dressed and as you can see opted out on the shirt. I don't know how these two aren't freezing to death 1/2 undressed all the time. I'm wearing layers and they are wearing underwear...how do they do that??

Today (Thursday) started off pretty good. The kids were up at 6:30...which is a little early for me but they did both stay in their rooms all night. Cole still got up 4 times but never tries to crawl in bed with me. So I'm happy about that. While I ran to do some laundry the two of them were in the living room where Cole had a 100 pc puzzle all finished. Alexis takes one of the pieces and feeds it into the PS3. So I learned that:
Puzzle pieces DO: Fit into the PS3 & Turn on the PS3They do NOT eject from the PS3
I got quite upset as you can imagine. I did manage to get the piece out with a tweezers finally. Don't know what I would have done otherwise! So here's a pix of the puzzle piece in the PS3. Thank goodness for those little velvet flaps, that's all that was holding that piece from falling into the player.

Tonight was much better. The weather was 50 and we went over to Janna's so Cole and Cole could play. We then took all the kids on a nice 2 1/2 mile walk. The boys had to walk it, the girls got to ride. :) 5 blocks from being back Cole keeps telling me he's so tired. I'm thinking "GOOD!" maybe he'll sleep well tonight! After our walk and some more playing we took the kids over to Fazoli's for dinner. By the time we finished it was 8 and Cole fell asleep in the Tahoe on the way home. They were both sleeping in 10 mins. :) Got to love that.
Tomorrow is also suppose to be nice, so hopefully we'll get some more time outside so they can run off all this energy they seem to have built up over the winter. Eric is also home in the afternoon and the kids are looking forward to seeing Dad.
TTFN
-j

March 1 & 2

Yesterday (Sunday) we said goodbye to Eric again as he's off to Sunny Mexico. The kids missed him by dinnertime. :) But otherwise we had a pretty good day. Cole was running around with his gold metal (from Chuck E Cheese's) telling me he was in a race. I asked what race, was it the race around the world. He told me it was and that "Austin and Tyrone were there, but not Pablo, he was there, then he left, then he was there, then he left." For all you without little kids, the Race around the world is a Backyardigans episode. But Cole was the winner and he showed me the gold metal to prove it.
After Alexis's nap, they found the left over movie popcorn on the counter and decided to have a snack. It then turned into a snack, with spoons and each having to read a magazine (Newsweek). Like either of them can read...and quite frankly Newsweek isn't all that exciting. But they were all into it as you can see from the picture.

Today was a rougher day. They miss dad after he was home for a week and they get crabby. PLUS they still are getting up 3-4 times during the night. So we are all super tired. But they are each "sleeping" in their own rooms at least. Now just to work on the sleeping part. We tried something new tonight...instead of them checking on me sitting on the stairs I told them they had to stay in their rooms and I would check on them every 3 minutes. There was a lot of crying and hysterics...mostly because they are so tired. But 30 mins later they were both asleep. Now we'll see how it goes tonight in the middle of the night.
So Crab 1 and Crab 2 were up at 6 am and ready to play. I was not. They let me doze in and out this morning until 7 on the couch. Then it was cereal for breakfast...and by 7:30 I was spent. Lots of crying, spilled cereal and drinks...it was enough to drive me a bit crazy. Luckily they did chill out a bit. Got out Cat in the Hat movie (they love the book) and let them watch that for the 1st time. Cole thought it was great!

We went to the mall for Cheesy Dogs for lunch, bummed around a bit and came home due to a big poopie diaper. Alexis napped and Cole made some bead bracelets. After nap they were very rowdy again and I have no idea why Alexis needed ice for her head but she came out of the kitchen with a towel on her head holding something telling me "ice". I asked her what ice she had and she showed me a bacon package. Whatever works I guess. Still have NO idea what she did to her head, but knowing her and her desire fore 'ice' it was probably nothing. I've been trying to get a picture of her fat lip, and the nice black scab that is right in the middle of her upper lip, but it didn't photograph well.
At dinner tonight Cole was literally falling asleep at the counter. I was worried he would fall off. So we got down and in the tub. That helped him wake up a bit and after bath he finished his fish sticks and smile's and had 2 granola bars. Must be growing.
Then of course it was lots of crying about there being too many toys out and he couldn't pick them all up. We did but when he was in his bed he told me tonight that "mom, tomorrow I'm not going to get out any toys. If Baby Doll does, she will have to pick them up." I doubt very much he'll be able to play all day without any toys. :) We'll see.
That's all for today.
-j