Summer Time...

These two play so great together... This is Layla splashing water on Hudson so he doesn't pass out from the heat. What a good sister! ;)
Someone is on a mission... Love the frown of concentration.
Man I love havin' a pool! This is so awesome!
Check me out. I look good in this suit don't I?

Thank you for my bouncy house Cindy and Hallie!!

This is my bouncy house! I am so awesome!
Check me out! This thing even has a climbing wall!!
Do I look cool in here or what??
My coworker and friend, Cindy, recently asked her daughter, Hallie, if she thought she was "over" her bouncy house yet. Hallie told her that she was too old for it (she's 9, I believe) and that she would like to give away. So, Cindy gave it to us for Layla girl. Layla has been asking for a bouncy house for quite some time, and we told her that if she continued to get good reports from her teachers at school, maybe she would get one. Well, after several weeks of good reports, Cindy rolled up with a giant bouncy house in her Ford for us. The thing is HUGE and Layla LOVES it!!! It came at the perfect time too, as both of our neighbors who had play sets just moved and took their sets with them. So, there's really nothing for Layla to play with in the back yard anymore. Now we can blow this bad cat up whenever it's nice and she can go to town!

Thank you so very much, Cindy and Hallie!!!

Nonnie and Layla make cookies

Voila! My masterpieces! Glorious sugar cookies with frosting and heaps and heaps of sprinkles!!!

Do I have something on my face?

Seriously. It seems like I have something on my face. Could you guys help a sister out here or what?

Screw it. I'm down with being messy. I'm just gonna eat this. It's good.

One of Layla's favorite things to do with Nonnie when she comes to visit is make cookies. She gets to sit on the island in the kitchen and go to town (meaning, pull the pre-made cookie dough out of the package and plop the nice balls of dough onto the pan). Gotta love Pillsbury! Nonnie lets Layla frost the cookies herself, and, decorate them. This always ends with a gigantic mess, but who cares. It's totally worth it and soooo much fun.

Thanks for visiting Nonnie!!!

Betty Brinn Children's Museum with Nonnie!

Two weekends ago, Nonnie (my mom) visited and we went to Betty Brinn for some fun. I have taken Layla there once before, when she was much younger. She had fun the first time, but she was just over a year old then. This time, she had so much fun we all but had to drag her out of there. By the time we were in the car, Jake, my mom and I were taking bets on how fast Layla would fall asleep (she was out like a light at the 10 minute mark, which meant Jake won the pot).

By far, Layla's favorite part of the museum was the grocery store. It's a child size store (obviously) where the kids can just go crazy and shop their little hearts out. The cutest part is that the kids take on the rolls of clerk, deli counter person, etc., all themselves. You'll see in the shot below of Layla girl at the deli counter that another little one was behind the counter, "taking her order". Jake and I really got into it and were playing along with all of the kids too. We were making the parents laugh quite a bit, but were surprised that we were the only parents that were really getting into it. I guess we can chalk that up to not giving a hoot what other people think of us. We were really hamming it up... using the phone in the deli to call the clerk and ask her if she needed a bagger or backup. Hilarious.

Lookin' forward to the next trip! Anyone want to bring your little ones and come with us??!

This little push cart thing was awesome. It was for carrying the golf balls around that the kids used to put in all the fancy contraptions (funnels, tracks, etc). Bean loved it!


I am having so much fun right now!! This is Layla sitting inside the "choo choo train".

Uh, yes? Can I help you? I'm sort of busy right now... I'm driving a train.

Look how happy she is!!!! Makes me smile!!

Carrying as many golf balls as she possibly could. She was kind of hogging them, because she wanted to fill up her "golf ball kart". I thought it was adorable.

At the "check out". So hilarious. She was in her own little world, just putting all the food from her kart onto the counter for the little girl who was "checking her out".

Getting herself some fresh ground coffee, of course. :)

Yes, I'll take a fresh deli sandwich, three steaks, some sushi for my mom and some potato salad.

Man, I'm so busy I'm working up a sweat (look at her pink cheeks).

Let's do this!
Nonnie and Layla milking a cow! Mooooo!!
Nonnie and Layla gathering corn. :)

The girls.
The family.

Calling all green thumbs!

Alright, so as many of you know, Jake and I (okay, well mostly Jake) have been working diligently for the last year or so to do some major updates to the inside of our house. We're nearing completion with all of that, and so, in true "Diva" fashion, I have started to squint my eyes at the exterior of our house and officially have a case of the, "I wants" for the outside. This includes (but is not limited to) landscaping. Yes, I realize landscaping can be very expensive. But, let me remind you, our yard is about the size of a weight watchers after dinner snack. So, we're not talking retaining walls and fountains here people. I am just looking to do something that'll spruce it up a bit and make it look like a happy family lives here (well, and that will appeal to young families starting out because as we all know, this is a starter home and we are doing these updates so that we can offload the heap to some unsuspecting fool... Kidding, sort of).

I'm looking for some advice on what we can do here and there to spice things up a bit and make the front and sides of the house look less baron (and, less gypsy-like). For those of you who are familiar w/the house, you're aware that the "jungle" that lives alongside the front walk is a conundrum of shit. I have convinced Jake to dig almost everything out of that heap, leaving us w/just a few shrubs there. Then we'll add some fresh mulch. So, I'm thinking something simple like that would flow well directly in front of the house, under the front window. Maybe some fresh mulch and cheap shrubs? Thoughts? The grass on the side of our house (South side) doesn't grow well at all. By mid-summer, it looks like we live in Arizona on that side of the house. Could we dig up that strip of grass alongside the house and do the same thing on the side that we do to the front? Suggestions??? Pleeease?

Yes, I could ask for my husband's advice on this. And I know he's got advice because the "green thumb" lies with his side of the fam. NOT MINE. But the poor guy is overloaded w/ other responsibilities and to-do's right now, so I thought maybe I could lock in a solid plan that I could present to him as, "Not too difficult to put in and low maintenance" (the low maintenance part is for me).

One thing to note - I am not a fan of hastas (or however the hell you spell that). They grow out of control and take over. I swear, the ones we have flip me off and try to trip me.

Okay, the "Here's what you should do..." forum is now open. Send your suggestions (and, free landscapers) my way!

Field Trip to Pike Lake

Somehow, I ended up being the swing attendant. Scary job when there are about 40 kids battling for their turn on the swing, not watching for others who might take them right off their feet.

Layla girl, going down the slide like a big kid!

Layla and some of her classmates (Alyssa, Wyatt and Donovan)

Wyatt and Layla on the bus to the park.

This was right before we left the school for the bus. Layla was so excited to have me there with her, sitting at the book table and talking w/ all her friends!


Last week Thursday, Layla took her 2nd field trip that involved a bus ride to Pike Lake. Because it involved a bus (well, and a giant state park where kids and adults alike have been known to get lost), mommy again volunteered to chaperon. ;)

Layla had a fabulous time on the bus, of course. We took a hike through the park and kept a pretty good pace considering we had a crap load of 2 - 4 year olds in tow. We only got about 10 min into the walk before Whiney McWhinerson starting chirping, but I managed to lay down the law enough to turn things around.

It was amazing how about 1.5 hours into the trip, all kids started melting down at once. Everyone was tired, hungry, hot, cold, mad, sad, happy... all at the same time. Thankfully, Layla's school doesn't push it and knows that about 2 hours is the max for a field trip for these kids.

Next field trip - Rock Farm. Holy moly, I can't contain myself. ;)

Freddie the Frog Chair

This past weekend, we took a trip up to Grandma D and Grandpa Ice's house. The Easter Bunny was kind enough to bring a surprise to their house for Layla, so that she could pick it up while we were there on our belated Easter visit. As you may or may not be aware from previous blog posts, Layla is a huge fan of frogs. I think her interest was peaked when she began receiving various frog items from Grandpa Ice. :) So, the Crivitz Easter Bunny brought her a Freddie the Frog chair - which comes complete with a cup holder for her juice (or in this case, her mini M&M's). She loves the chair and sat in it in the sun last Sunday after we got home from our trip!

Thanks Crivitz Easter Bunny!!!

Cheese (er, I mean, "Ribbit")!