Spring Break Rocks

I have always loved the sound of "Spring Break". Memories of forays to Panama City and fantastic road trips come to mind. Then, it was all about relaxing. Now, it is all about finding people who will help me entertain my children; aka babysit for free. LOL.

.ouch, the truth hurts. Seriously, like most activities with my toddlers, I do love a plan, so we planned on seeing some grandparents, and due to the fact that one in particular was babysitting in Nashville, we just crashed the party and went there a few days. Hats off to Uncle Tom Tom and Auntie Rob Rob. Having an infant around is like round the clock work! Mine is just turning 1 soon, and I have all too soon forgotten the joys of a baby baby. Just look at these three cousins though- they all played very well together, we sure missed Carly though. Everyone is growing up so fast! Dee Dee and the kids and I planned a fun day due to the nice weather. We went to Palmer Park in the beautiful Belle Meade area of Nashville and chatted with all the nannies. Yes we did. That's how we learned that they had live bunnies at Phillips Toy Mart- truly the coolest toy store I had been in ever. I even had to go back by myself and load up on cool toys for young and old. The nights were filled with American Idol of course, and a great visit from surrogate Auntie Carol. Big shout out to CC! Our last day's visit in Nashville was spent picking beautiful daffodils. Ben loved this. Just check out these Kodak moments! Now a trip to middle Tn would not be complete without a visit to our favorite watering hole- Tullahoma, TN. Specifically, Chez Burfitt. Now talk about some wonderful free babysitting. All the young ones there know how to entertain a three and one year old. A Big shout out to Sid, Sam and Corey G! Many thanks for playing with my kids, and bearing thru the noisy night of so called sleep. Many thanks too, to Aunt Donna and Uncle Wade. We are looking forward to the summer.

Let's Stay Home Today

Friday is the only day of the week we don't have anything scheduled -so, we decided to forego the library and just have pajama day. After getting spoiled by spring weather, we had a cold snap, or blackberry winter, and we did not have the advantage of the great outdoors as an activity option, so we had to get creative. Ben decided to set up his store, and proceeded to empty my pantry. Ok, I just have to let go and get messy right? Then, even though chilly and rainy, we donned our rain boots and played some hoops. I did not last long, but I think Ben could have lasted lots longer! Well the day sounds idyllic, and if I was still working, I am sure I would be jonesing for a day like this, but by 1:30, after both children refused to take a nap, (it was not pretty- so if you are reading this blog and think i am the mother of the year, think again. It was Friday, mind you and I had dealt with a traveling husband and out of town company. Now we were all "cozy" inside for a day, and no nap??!!Was it happy hour yet?) Ok, I digress.

I decided to institute "rest time" where Ben would sit quietly in his room, Maddie could hang out in her crip- she likes books too. They would quietly read, and rest of course. Now, stop laughing. Ben just used his creativity to decorate his bathroom! Luckily, these were special bathtub crayons- who invented these?? Anyway, the rest of the day goes like this, I piled both kids in the car and headed for Starbucks. 1/2 of my crew fell asleep, so a sleeping 3 year old is a beautiful thing come 3:00pm. So, I did not disrupt a good thing, and let him get some much needed rest from all that creative .....play. We went on to have a good, although exhausting beginning to our weekend, many thanks to Dad for coming in from the road- and rescuing me! We went to Chilis for dinner, and enjoyed ice cream for dessert. Nights are getting better- as we have gotten Ben to sleep all night- just in time for Maddie to start waking again. Hey, I signed up for this , right!



This next photo took place sometime last Friday, this is a shout out to my friend Amy - thanks for this idea. It is designed to be done with ice trays, but I couldn't find mine, so we used styrofoam bowls(sorry Al) three had colored water and three were clear water; Ben used an medicine dropper to mix the colors. This kept him busy for some time, and he enjoyed it.















We are spending more time outside now thanks to Spring! Yea! This photo shows the sibling love going on here at our house. Maddie is learning to fend for herself! I think they will have great fun playing together eventually. It is fun to watch them grow together. I think Ben is going to be a great big brother, although, at three yrs. I don't know if he has fully grasped the job description. We are working on it though.

Squish Squash and Cozy Coupes

Is my life great or what? I am amazed at how tiring this job of motherhood is, but occasionally I stop and say- dude, this is really something. Maddie is growing so fast, and Ben is, well let's just say, a trip. I took these shots when we had a fun day of art and play. Ok, ok, it lasted about 28 minutes, but hey- it was structured and it wasn't too stressful! And, it makes me look good- ha. Seriously, this was a great-albeit not original project that Ben loved. I call it squish squash, and I found the recipe in my Preschoolers Busy Book - a great resource. This is the recipe:
1/2 C corn starch
2 C water
boil water and stir in cornstarch. Add food coloring of choice and when cooled put in a zip lock bag- then they can squish it all they want. Also, they can trace letters or use plastic cookie cutters. Note to self- don't use cheap zip locks- use the real thing!
Fun stuff. We did get lots of mileage out of the bag shown here.

Isn't Maddie a good driver? The paint job is compliments of Ben circa Summer '06. Nice.

Blog-o-licious

Wahoo! I love Spring. I hope this is the real thing and not a teaser, because I actually sweated today, and did not wear a coat and now I can't wait for Summer! My children wore sandals, and played outside which lead to lovely bedtime rituals. They crashed. Which, for Ben, is virtually unheard of.

Some milestones took place recently. First of all Todd turned 40!! More on that later. Secondly, Maddie had her first haircut! Many thanks to Miss Tracie. Maddie is really stealing my heart lately, I just wish you all could give her a sqeeze too. After the haircuts, we were getting in the car, and Ben decided to pull a trick on Maddie- I swear this was not a Mom set-up! Truly a blog-worthy moment, don't you think. Following this, we went on to enjoy todays incredible spring-like weather, and played outside

Here are some shots of our time outside: