My Outside Man

Jackson loves to:

1.  Be outside
2.  Have a shovel or spoon
3.  Put it in the dirt

So here he is pretty much in heaven.

We Survived

I tried taking both kids to the pool by myself this past weekend and we survived.  Can you believe it?  It wasn't relaxing by any means, but they seem to have fun. I'm hoping to enroll Elli in swim lessons this summer.  She seems interested and I think it would help build our confidence.  Jackson on the other hand, is just interested in running around and stealing everyone's shoes.  Great!

Look how big she is!  

Just The Beginning...

Summer is just beginning and we are gearing up for a hot one!  Jacob, being the wonderful husband that he is, noticed how much time I was spending on the deck with the the bambinos and expanded it for us. Now we have more room to run and play.  We returned the favor by helping him wash the car today.  I'm sure he really appreciated our help (note the sarcasm there!)

Let's get this summer started!!!

I had a tiny bit of flour left in a bag so the kids enjoyed "cooking" outside with it.

Apparently Jackson sat in it!

Time to wash the car everyone!

It Had to Happen

Our first ER trip was yesterday. I can't tell you how scared I was (and secretly how scared I still am...)  Accidents happen but I learned to stop rushing around so much.  I was in a hurry and was holding Jackson and I fell.  I fell onto our concrete steps and Jackson hit his head.  Jacob's eyes told me it was bad because Jacob never panics.  He whisked Jackson immediately into the car and we rushed to ER.  Poor Elli didn't know what was going on. Honestly Jackson stopped crying pretty quickly and I couldn't find any real bumps or spots on his head.  He had a bruise and a scratch on his ear.  The ER checked him out and said since he looked so happy that we could just do express care.  We took him over there and they gave him a good look over.  No CT scan.  They told us what to watch out for and we are keeping a close eye on him.  God was certainly looking out for us because this could have been a lot worse.  I will keep you posted if there are any changes but he seemed happy today (besides his normal fussy clinging self).  We have a well check next Tuesday so I am hoping to get our normal doctor to check him out more.

I can't describe to you the scene but suffice it to say, I have never been that scared in all my parenting.  I just knew we had a serious problem on our hands.  Jacob says it was a really bad looking fall - I'm all scraped up but Jackson went down first.  Just typing it makes me tear up.  Seriously we need a break in this house.  Poor Jackson has had a tough few months.

When I Grow Up...

Elli's career choices change often. They have ranged from princess to Cinderella, to pediatrician and veterinarian   This weekend however, she decided she wanted to be a farm girl.  I think riding ponies at a friend's party might have convinced her this was the career for her.

Trip the Farm

Book club hit the road again this week and we went to a local working farm.  Last week we all met at our house and talked about the farm and got the kids ready.  It really was a fun time and the kids saw tons of animals in a hands-on way.

But now I'm going to be honest.  When we got home, it FELL APART.  Elli and I got into it big time because she wouldn't go to the potty and I knew she needed to - she was being stubborn so I lost my temper.  It was ugly.  I eventually decided maybe she really didn't need to go potty, maybe she was just that tired.  I crawled in bed with her and apologized.

Why am I posting that?  Well, mainly because honestly is the best policy right?  We have good times here, we go to the farm, we explore and we play. But I never want to give the impression that we have it together over here because we.do.not.  Good times and bad times.  I messed up and I wanted Elli to know it.  I hated that I lost my temper.  It really wasn't fair to her.  So the farm was great, but more importantly, know that things aren't always great.  That's ok right?  I'm learning.  I have to learn from my mistakes and I don't want people to think that I just do these fun things and we just smoothly sail through each day.

So here are our farm pictures with that slight disclaimer.

The boy was MADE for a farm.  He LOVED it!

And More Fun Modes of Transportation

Our brave neighbor convinced us to let ride our bikes to school.  All in all, it went pretty well actually and the girls loved it.  Don't they look grown?