the big castle

so, Anna is finally over crying when her "castles" fall down. it is so fun to see her concentrate so hard and then have so much joy in her accomplishment. here is Anna's great, big, castle!

fathers and sons...and daughter

so, Jason took Anna on the Fathers' and Sons' camp out with our church. as he loaded up her backpack with licorice, marshmallows, pringles, chocolate, tootsie rolls, etc. i added some trail mix and a few bananas and cautioned, "don't let her eat too much junk food." i mean sure, have fun, but watch out! so, when my happy little camper returned home the next day i asked, "did you have fun with Daddy?" "yeah," she said, "i slept in a tent, and i threw up EVERYWHERE!!!!"

Jason said i was probably right about all that junk food. to top it all off, when he finally found some wipes (i didn't pack any since Anna is now potty trained), they were frozen! yes, frozen! it was 20 degrees. they spent the rest of the night huddled by the campfire. long night!

so, i laughed a lot, gave Anna a much needed bath, and then heard all about their big trip. Anna loved the camp fire, sleeping in a tent, and catching a fish!

see, you don't have to have a son to have good times in the outdoors!

thanks to Strongs and Andrus' for the pics!!!!

sister, sister

so, every now and then Madeline does something or looks a certain way that just wisks me in a time machine back 2 years. here she is eating with her dad, something she does nightly.

and here's Anna , doing the same thing (when she was a little younger). they both eat their dinner in their seat, and then beg to be let down, toddle over to Jason, reach up until he picks them up and then open up wide for the next bite. is this genetic?

(Anna's first pizza, 3/15/06.)

pretty, pretty, princess and king (sort of)

so, we have a neighborhood babysitting co-op that is awesome. it is so nice to have a babysitter that is FREE! (Johnson's when are you back on board?) and it's great when the kids are at our house, because the entertain each other. and us as was the case this weekend. after spending the day by the "pool" and having a pizza picnic on the lawn (which was awesome, Jason picked up pizzas for the neighborhood and we all ate outside, spur of the moment), we headed in to play some games. Anna decided she wanted to dress up, and Madeline quickly followed suit. Gary did not want to be left out, so he asked wear a dress too! well, i'm not about to let one kid do something and another not. based solely on gender. so, here he is in all his glory. don't worry, he wasn't having and confusion issues. he kept telling Anna, "your a princess and i'm the king!" i made sure his mom got a good look at him when she came to pick him up. i guess i need to invest in some "boy" pretend clothes!

California here we come! again

this weekend the girls and i were lucky enough to travel to CA to visit with my family. it was Corbynn's NAL Medallion Tea, so it was quite an event. mommy got to get all dressed up, and even stand when prior Medallion recipients were announced. we took family portraits and danced the night away. or rather until 9, when i left to pick up my children. all in all it was a fun weekend!

my family

Corb & Dad the boys the girls all the girls

heart to heart

so, Anna and i had a little heart to heart. she came to me with these two socks and asked, "Mommy, do these match, heart and heart?"

now, my first reaction was to think, "of course not." and redirect my two year old to some matching socks. or better yet, sandals as it is 100 degress outside. but, i couldn't help but love her little question and her longing to be right so of course i said, "Yep, they sure do!" as i helped her put them on with her turquoise dress and navy rain boots. and really the rain boots covered the socks so no problem. oh, except the little problem of the weather, whatever! i love toddlers who dress themselves!!!

mini-vacation

so, now that Jason is starting his own business our vacation plans have to be on the back burner until things are running smoothly. but there are perks to this State Farm thing. this week, Jason had a conference in Tucson. he was in meetings most the time, but the girls and i took full advantage of the Marriott resort.

day 1: we got in at about 11, ate lunch at the pool-side grill and then changed into our bathing suits for an afternoon in the sun. there were 3 pools and this kid area. Anna loved playing "jump" over the fountains.

and "swimming".
Madeline was a little wary of the water. also, it got windy, so she preferred to sit with me.

one of the attendants brought her this pail and a shovel. this got her a little more interested.
Jason thought he'd be done in time to join us for an hour or so of pool time, but the conference was a little more involved than he expected, and he couldn't even eat dinner with us. this worked to my advantage because we had already decided not to try and feed our family of 4 at hotel prices and planned to go into town for dinner. well without him, there was no way i was going out at night to explore Tucson. so, the girls and i again treated our selves to resort food! it was delicious!

the night life wasn't bad either, luxurious baths:
bright lights (courtesy of state farm's promotional department)

and tons of sleep. Jason and i haven't been this well rested in 3 years. because of the close quarters we were forced to go to sleep at 8pm. why don't we do this more often?

the girls loved all the fluffy pillows.
day 2:
more pool time, but Daddy did get out of meetings a little early. so we tried out the lazy river. Maddie wasn't into it at all. seriously, i've never heard such screaming as when we tried to hold her in one of these tubes. she did however enjoy pushing them around the deck.

Anna's not new to the lazy river and she loved going on a ride with her dad!

Jason couldn't join us for dinner again so i was forced to eat at the hotel again, poor me. and did i mention how much sleep we got on this trip! it was amazing!!!

day 3:

Jason only had meeting until noon, so we spent a couple more hours at the pool before heading home. Madeline got a little braver and followed Anna onto the kiddie step. she even jumped to me a few times.

Anna was too funny with her floaties and tube. she floated around kicking wildly, but still taking time to enjoy the view.
the resort was really kid friendly with all these toys, it was a good distraction for Maddie. and the staff was so friendly and helpful, they quickly learned the girls' names and were always asking them if they needed anything. one guy even offered to watch Maddie by the pool while i took Anna to the potty. i declined, but it was a sweet offer.
Anna looking out from our room's balcony.
we all got a little too much sun despite my best efforts to apply and re-apply sunscreen. i also learned that i have to be much more concerned about my back then in years past. when you are constantly bending down to help kids, it's the most exposed area. you learn something new every kid!
finally, i had Jason snap a quick picture of me, to assure my posterity that i did exist. i have to remember to pass the camera to him a little more, even when i don't feel like it!

viva the free vacation!!!!!