Work for the weekend

We had quite the busy weekend. This past week, the sprinklers were completed(90%) and Luke and I decided we would get to work on the ground around the house. So we had a truck of rock and a truck of dirt delivered on Friday. Emmett of course loved to climb the hills and proceed to get really dirty. Luke and I worked really hard to lay the weed mat and cover with dirt around the back of the house on Saturday. Our friends, Jessica and Jeff, with kids Melody and Layla, came over for a lamb loin dinner. This is the first time I have eaten lamb. It was cooked really well and the balsamic reduction was awesome. I would definitely eat lamb like that again! (It also could have been the wine Jessica brought. She and I drank the bottle gone.) Melody LOVES to play babysitter with Jolene(supervised, of course). She feeds her dinner and gives her a bottle, pretty much everything. Nice to have a seven year old around who wants to help out. Layla and Emmett play pretty hard and wear each other out. At one point, both wound up in their underwear running around the house. That Layla! Having no clothes on is a a fun game and Emmett is sure to follow "suit".

We woke up Sunday and worked outside all day. Jolene even got to be outside while I re-potted houseplants. The boys whittled away on the hills of "work". At nap time, Luke and I finished around the side and front of the house with weedmat and dirt. Just in time for the wind to pick up. The wind never stopped. It finally stopped today and started to rain instead. I looked out the windows to survey the damage to our latest project......most of the dirt has blown off and the weed mat is blowing in the wind. Mostly a waste of our hard work and we'll have to re-do the majority of the work. Hope the weekend is nice. Both for working and going to see the Easter bunny!

Jolene is still working on her crawl. I don't think she'll crawl for long if at all. She would rather stand and she'll scream bloody murder if she is on her belly too long! Sooooo tired of the screaming.......

Free to good home

The ad in the paper will read:

"Free to good home. American short haired, 3 year old male, potty trained(most of the time), current on shots, good with other children, just a pain in my ass and I need a break!"


Works for puppies.

Our little "baby" turned 3!

Emmett's birthday was on Saturday. We started the morning with his room filled with balloons. He woke up and loved it. It was a great start to the day. Emmett said "It's MY birthday?! So...my friends are coming over today and bringing presents, right?" Spoken like a true birthday boy.
We had a small BBQ to celebrate his big day. We were a little worried about the weather being warm enough to even have BBQ'd food, since it snowed on Thursday and Friday. The sun came out and it wound up being about 50 degrees or so. The kids got to play outside with Emmett's new sand and water table- minus the water, it was still a bit too cold! Not too cold for Emmett's friend Layla to remove every piece of clothing and stand in the sand table. I guess she loves to be naked and why not for an audience?! (Even the landscaping guys were there finishing the sprinklers!) It turned out to be a fun day and great company. Emmett LOVED all of his gifts- so thank you everyone! His friend, Jaren, gave him a Cars set of dominoes and a spiderman costume. He cried so hard when we had to take off the costume for bedtime! It might have been the sugar rush or lack of a nap, but I think that costume was the reason for the tears...he even asked if it was clean when he woke up this morning cause he wanted to wear it today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Our little angel

Jolene has found the kitchen cabinet. OK, well, I helped her, but she seems to love it just as much as Emmett did. I especially love the angel wings on the back of her PJ's and her expressions while she gets into everything!

Spring Fling Parade

Cody had a small parade celebrating St. Patrick's Day and springtime in general. It was very small and started to get cold. The day started out with a trek to Billings. The weather was nice so away we went. (Emmett, by the way, is now 10 days potty trained with only 2 accidents! He went to Billlings and back in underwear and had no problems. Life is good when you don't have to change adult poop diapers!) We got back just in time to unload the car, potty everyone, and head in to town to watch the parade with our friends Dan and Kacie and their kids, Wyatt and Kenley. Afterwards, we indulged ourselves in $2 margs at La Comida and had a great time til the kids all went crazy.

Today they started on our sprinkler system. Pete is trenching the back and front yard. Emmett of course loves watching the trencher and cheers it on as it slowly goes by. They will hydroseed in early April!!!

Tomorrow, since the weather is not going to cooperate this weekend, we are meeting a bunch of friends at the park (60 degrees!) to celebrate Emmett and Katie Dewey's birthdays(same day). I have spent this morning and afternoon making cupcakes- in ice cream cones! They turned out pretty cute. Can't wait to enjoy the sunshine before the snow supposedly moves in Thursday-BOOOOOO! We were/are having a BBQ/Birthday party for Emmett on Saturday with a few friends, but I am not sure they will be outside playing with his new b-day present- a sand and water table. Maybe I'll fill it with snow and sand......

#2 rocks

Emmett has finally broken the #2 barrier and went in the potty yesterday! He has been trying for days now to get his transformer(bribe-which turned out to be a piece of crap!). In addition to the fake transformer (which made him cry cause I couldn't make it go into a car!), I gave him the four wheeler my mom had sent a few days ago-much better. He has been clean and dry for 5 days now and loves to wear underwear. I think we finally made it to successful potty training. I may have just counted chickens...but Luke and I are so ready for this to be done. As I am typing, Emmett just came down the stairs to tell me he went potty on his own and to show me that his underwear was dry. I love this kid!
Jolene made a stride forward today-literally. She got on her hands and knees and just stood there, then lunged forward. It's a start. She'll have it figured out in no time.

Cody Rotary show

Last night (and tonight) is the big Rotary show here in town. Luke joined the Rotary two years ago, but missed their last show(I think we were in Denver). This years show was really funny, with skits about the things going on around town. Basically, you have to be a local and you have to read the paper to really grasp the jokes they were portraying in their skits. Fortunately, I am(a local) and I do(read the newspaper), so the comedy was funny and the music was good. Luke got to dress up as a deer for part of the skit. Unfortunately, I had major camera malfunction and did not get very good pictures of this for you all. I know, I am just as disappointed as you are.....(Luke is the last deer in the last picture.)

It is absolutely gorgeous out today. Luke, Emmett and I picked up rocks out of the yard to start some prep work for the possible incoming grass($$$$) and the border that will go around the house. While Emmett continued to play in the dirt, Jolene and I sat on the porch and soaked up the rays. Nothing like Vitamin D to cure the winter blues. I know that this is temporary weather and will probably regress back into the moody, irritable mom-that-has-to-stay-indoors but I will enjoy it while it lasts.

pee on the B

Emmett's new thing is to pee on cereal(we've been using Alpha Bits to make it more interesting!). Whatever works right?! It seems standing to pee is much more fun and he doesn't seem to mind trying to go. #2 is a different story. I think he's scared to go #2 and will hardly even try. The incentive is getting to go to Walmart to pick out any toy(that statement has an imaginary asterisk next to it!I have veto power.) We'll see...he turns 3 in 2 weeks and I have threatened him with "when you turn 3, diapers seem to disappear until bedtime." That could backfire on me.

Boot camp is going well. I only go downstairs when necessary, because I have to go back up them(which is torture!). At least it makes me realize that I am not getting up at 5am for nothing!

Joey's room is the primo place to play these days. Emmett has been building a fort by her crib and they both "play" and laugh til someone gets hurt or just starts crying(time for a nap!). I think their relationship will change once Joey really starts playing in the fort and with his other toys. Right now she just sits there and grins/drools. They might not get along quite as nicely when that time comes.

Jolene is outgrowing clothes before their season even hits, so I have been playing fashion show to get pictures of her in some of them. Chrissy bought her a Life is Good t-shirt and it fits perfectly now, but I have to put long sleeves under it. Courtney gave her the cute outfit with the cherries on it. That cute outfit will probably never get to see the sunshine. I am praying for warmer weather but we are only getting the upper 40's. No t-shirts and cute rompers yet....