Writing to Remember

I think we can all agree that Spring Break just wasn't long enough.  We had a busy couple of weeks leading up to Spring Break, so Justin and I made the executive decision to rest!

And it was glorious.  I slept in everyday.  We went to the lake.  Jax and I watched Scooby Doo Mystery Inc. which is the 2010 series.  Can we just say...hilarious!  I forgot how much I used to love this show and try to figure out who the bad guy was!  Towards the end of the week, we made it to the River Market to eat at Gus' Fried Chicken.  My goodness.  That is some of the best fried chicken and greens I have ever had.  (Says the girl from the Pacific Northwest!)

After that yummy (and probably unhealthy) lunch, we went out the park so the kids could run off some energy.  We knew a storm would be coming in and we were glad that it hadn't started to dump rain on us yet.

The tulips were everywhere!  I absolutely love tulips...

The kids and me.  Surprising how we actually all took a decent picture.

I tried to get a picture with Justin and the kids but it didn't happen.  And it actually wasn't the kids, it was Justin.  He was having some sort of allergy issue by the tulips and would not look at the camera.  But both kids were looking at the camera the whole time....who knew that the 34 year old would not say "cheese" while the kids smiled on?!

I think the icing on the cake for Spring Break is when Jax picked up this DVD...

Jax loves wrestling.  And Jax loves Scooby Doo.  So when he saw this DVD he HAD to have it!  And it actually was pretty good.  Poor Daphne didn't want to go to Wrestle-mania so Justin was laughing and saying that was me.  Yup, sounds about right.  And I even solved the mystery of who-dunnit.  Maybe I should become a cartoon detective?

Anyways, Jax is back at school now.  And Spring Break gave me a tiny taste of how much I am really going to enjoy Summer Vacation.

We went over to the lake on Friday.  Jax didn't have school and Justin's family was over there camping. 

The kids immediately went and threw rocks in the lake.

Julie took it pretty seriously and sat down for a while as she collected rocks in her bowl.

The tree balance bar was fun to walk from and jump.

Jax couldn't wait to go fishing.  He had several bites but didn't real any fish in.

We went to a Minute to Win it show at the amphitheater in the afternoon.  Jax had to use toilet paper to make a hummingbirds next.  This was right up his alley-just the other week he unrolled a whole toilet paper roll between his room, Julie's room, and the hallway.  After he unrolled the toilet paper on stage, the ranger asked Jax to scrunch it in a ball.  Jax misunderstood and thought he had to roll the toilet paper on the tube.  Hilarious.  He finally got it and scrunched it on a ball.  He made the nest in time and won the grand prize!

We had a great time and didn't get back until late that night.  I'm sure we will be headed back soon.  Julie's favorite part was throwing rocks in the lake and Jax like walking up the tree balance bar and jumping from it and fishing.

Yesterday, Jax asked if he could read me Green Eggs and Ham to me.  We've read it before and he did a unit on the book in class.  I figured he would read the first couple of pages and then want me to read the rest. 

But I was wrong.

He read that entire book!  62 pages!  Now, I know that he has some of memorized but he still read the majority of the book.  I was completely impressed!  And so happy that he likes to read. 

Jaxson went to a rock climbing birthday party this weekend.  He was so excited to go and couldn't wait to climb. 

Jax chose to climb the kid's wall most of the time. 

He's a cautious kid, so when he got about 2 feet off the ground, he was pretty proud of himself.  And we were proud of him too!

Poor little Julie.  She wanted to rock climb too.  However, you have to be at least five years old to climb.  So she was a huge cheerleader for Jax.  Periodically, she would go over to the wall and touch it. 

At one point, she went over to Justin and told him that she was now five so she could climb. 

After not being able to convince us, she did get into the chalk (cause everyone else was using it to climb!) and was very proud of herself that she was ready to climb-just like everyone else!

The kids had a blast.  I'm sure that we will be heading back up there again soon!

Julianne is 3 years old!

She started out this month by crawling out of her crib.  One morning, she just opened her door and came in to tell me good morning!  And that was the end of me sleeping in ever again.  Because she was now getting up with the sun.  Which was about 6:30am.  And she wouldn't take her naps either.  So I had one very sleep deprived child because of her refusal to sleep.  One day when I told her it was time for quiet time, she looked at the clock and told me, "let's just change the clock."  But sleep catches up with her when she least expects it!

We have bought her black out curtains and that seems to help a bit.

We also did a makeover on her room.  I found out that the crib she was sleeping in was recalled.  I went online to find the instructions to convert it to a toddler bed and I couldn't believe when I found out it was recalled.  I ended up calling the store that we got it from and getting a full refund.  So I ordered her a twin size platform bed which is going to look really cute.  In the meantime, she sleeping on a mattress on the floor and doesn't seem to mind one bit!

Julie is a busy girl.  One day I caught her on her princess phone while playing on the iPad!  She was in a very important conversation with one of the princesses...

She loves her shopping cart and will load that cart up with all sorts of trinkets.  Julie told Justin, "I shopping Daddy."  She was wearing a Tinkerbell shirt and so Justin commented to her that she looked like Tinkerbell.  She answered, "Yes Daddy, I do."

Julie loves to play Lalaloopsies.  Most of the time she will come up to me and ask, "Now play with me mama?"  And how can I resist?  It's funny to watch her imagination work.  Most of the time one of the lalaloopsies was having a birthday party so we would get the party together and then sing happy birthday to the little figurine.  She loved that so much.

And while she is a girly-girl at heart, she does not mind getting messy in the dirt!

Happy Birthday Julianne!  We love you so much!

Remember how this last week school was canceled before a snowflake or freezing rain drop fell?  And then it turned all to rain and it was a little bit of a disappointment?  Well. Last night we received yet another Winter Storm Watch/Warning warning us that we *might* get 1 to 2 inches of snow.  Well, after our Tuesday disappointment, I really didn't think we would see much.  And they were projecting that his "snow" was going to hit central Arkansas which when that happens, it misses us. 

Imagine our surprise when after going out to eat, we came outside and it was snowing teeny tiny flakes.  Again, no biggie.  We went over to Justin's parent's house and hung out for a while.  During that short amount of time, the snow came down.  All the kids were excited and immediately went out to play in it.  Our so called 1-2 inches was already over 3 inches and still falling like crazy.  We were all shocked.

Of course, we had to let the kids play in it before we came home. I tried to get a picture but as you can see, it's pretty dark out.  But look how pretty the snow is!

Poor Julie.  I tried to get her picture and little did I know that a snowflake totally photobombed her!

When the kids woke up this morning, they immediately headed outside.  It was so cold, but oh so pretty!

Julie tried to clean off the swing set...

And I leave you with Jax who clearly was enjoying the snow. 

Jax is 6 years old now. Look how tiny he once was!

I can't believe how old he is getting!

I asked Jax some interview questions to get his perspective of just turning 6.

My favorite food is: cookies

My favorite show to watch is: Phineas and Ferb

I love it when I can read: books made from school

The best thing about school: going to PE

The worst thing about school: going to naptime

The coolest person is: Tyler

I am really good at: being quiet

My favorite color is: blue

The best place to be is: at home

When I grow up I want to be: a police

If I could do something all day long I would: build Legos

I really do not like to eat: soup

My friends are:  Tyler, Sora, Anthony, Pearson, Luke, Abby, Kylee

Favorite toy: Legos

When I was little I used to: play

3 words that describe me: play Skylanders, swap them, and I like Lava Barf Eruptor

This year I hope to learn: writing

School was canceled today.  I woke up and saw it had been canceled and imagined that it was a winter wonderland outside.  I was very disappointed to see rain falling down in sheets instead.  I am so not used to the South canceling school "just in case."  Back in the olden days when I was in high school (in Washington State), one night it has snow 17 inches and the school district delayed our school by only 2 hours!  People were slipping and sliding cars off the roads and we still had to go to school!  So it's always weird for me to cancel school without any proof of icy/white stuff.

But by 8am, the rain had really started to turn into freezing rain mix and was icing up the trees.  

So here's my tangent:  Didn't I move to the south?  Isn't supposed to be warmer down here?  What gives?

Also, my Dark Sky app is worthless in Arkansas.  It worked great in North Carolina.  But here, it's just a mess.  There was not a point at all today when we had "heavy snow."  This is what made me think there was a winter wonderland outside when I woke up.  Dark Sky-you failed yet again.

Jaxson was sad that school was canceled and really didn't believe me.  It was only when we drove by his school while doing errands and saw there was not one single car in the parking lot.  He finally believe that he wasn't missing out on anything at school.  

Later on, the freezing rain turning into rain and instead of worry about icy roads, I was more concerned about hydroplaning!  Some roads were completely flooded!  I'm pretty sure that our burn ban is no longer in effect.  Cause my backyard looks more like a lake and if my kids want to play on their new swing set, they are going to have to swim to it!

Moving.  It's an awful project but somebody's gotta do it.  My plan is to box up everything but the children!  In all seriousness, this is quite the project and I have wondered if I would pack something too early and then need to unpack it again.  And I've found that to be true.  Here is what I have unpacked the most...envelopes.  I never use snail mail, but for some reason I've needed to mail items and needed those silly envelopes.  Go figure.

My crock pot was packed away and then it came out again as well.  Lesson learned-keep the crock pot out.

Luckily, I have labeled well and hope that I'm staying organized.

One more month and this little cutie will be three!

Seriously.  How did that happen?!

Julie is our goofy girl.  She loves Disney princesses and playing Skylanders (with help!).  She loves to wear big bows in her hair and pulling her hair into a pony tails so she can play in the mud out in back.  In other words, she keeps us on our toes.

She loves to shop and is actually really helpful.  When we went shopping at Target and Kohls, she was helping me pick out shirts and telling me the pink and purple sparkly ones are pretty.  Not my style, but it sure was her style!

And look how cute she is with her tiny shopping cart.  All the grocery stores around here have these little carts.  At first I thought it was really neat, HOWEVER, after 50 million times of my ankles being ran into with that cart, I changed my mind.  Don't let that cute little cart fool you-it hurts!  I may have been guilty of telling her that the little shopping carts were all gone the next time we shopped....

Julie loves to help me in the kitchen.  She did not get this from me.  But I'm glad she enjoys it.  We've been making cookies, breads, soups, etc.  She gets really frustrated when I won't let her crack the eggs.  She tries to tell me that she is a big girl and not a baby.  She has yet to convince me. 

Julie still loves to sing.  Every time I would try to get a video of her singing, she would stop.  One day I'll capture it!

Happy 35 Months Julie!