Leaving Day

 My dad came over early on Tuesday and took all of us to breakfast before my mom's flight. With my mom living so far it won't be a regular occasion for the boys to spend time with both of them together. Because of the special occasion I forced everyone into a quick photo shoot. Nobody was thrilled except for Asher!! He was smiley and cute as always.. :)

My dad and mom

Bowling

 Another favorite passtime of my mom is bowling. Before we went to dinner on Monday night we went to play a game. It turned into a quick game becasue they had a league coming in shortly after we arrived. But we still played and had fun. Jaxson got several spares and one strike!!

Watching... watching...

Watching to see if they will all fall over....

And they did!! yay!!

Planted

 While out buying some plants I picked up Jaxson a little strawberry plant. I thought it would be a good project for him to be in charge of. I want him to learn how to take care of something and be responsible for watering it. And when taken care of well he will get some rewards out of it... strawberries!!! Step one... plant it. We did it after dinner just as it was getting too dark for good pictures. but these will work... :D

It already has a tiny strawberry on it. Each time we get home he leans down and checks his plant. I can't wait until he can really see it turn into a strawberry. He will be so excited!

 One thing my mom is good at and enjoys is gardening. So I let go to town on my front area. :) Asher enjoyed helping her but Jaxson wasn't too fond of the idea of getting his hands all dirty.

Asher was planting the bulbs.

First Bandaid

 2012 isn't wasting any time for all things summer related... including injuries. Monday it was warm and sunny so we went out front to plant some flowers. Only the second time in shorts all year and already a skinned knee. We washed it and cleaned it with peroxide. Neosporin and bandaid. But really it was the popsicle that made it feel better.

I have a feeling we will be going through alot of bandaids this year.  We had another injury tonight on his hand and Asher skinned his knuckles on the concrete. But Asher just eats the bandaids if they are visible so at least we will save a few there. But I need to stock up on bandaids.. Cars specifically. Between Jaxson's sobs he wanted to make sure it was a Car's bandaid.

Homemade Popsicles

Isn't it nice when you can have a fun activity to do together that turns into something good for them to eat that they think is a treat. Perfect in my book!! The other night we got out Asher's baby food making bullet that was stored since he is past the pureed part of his diet. First we made smoothies with apple, banana, and strawberries and they turned out pretty darn good. Then I remembered the little rubber container thing that comes with it to freeze the baby food and thought it would be perfect for Popsicles. So we did up a second batch, poured it in the flexible holder, in went popsicle sticks, and done. It took about 10 minutes. And you should have seen Jaxson's eyes light up the next day when he asked if he could have another popsicle immediately after eating one and I said sure. He didn't waste any time for me to change my mind. He bolted to the freezer and went to town on his popsicle frozen apple, banana, strawberries, and a little water. :D

St. Patrick's Day

We had a pretty low key St. Patrick's Day. Dave slaved over the stove making corned beef and cabbage and the boys looked out to the playset with longingly eyes. So I decided to tackle the yard. Over the winter I don't do much dog doody duty so the first go through is time consuming to say the least. And unfortunately for me Dave being color blind makes me the designated scooper. See... green and brown look pretty much the same so he has a real excuse to not do it. But I would rather spend hours scouring the yard and have everyone happily playing together than not enjoying it at all.

 Jaxson is such a great helper with Asher. He is very watchful to make sure he doesn't fall or get hurt. (Unless he is the one doing the tackling or inflicting the hurt which does happen) Asher was intrigued by the "big boy" slide (there is a small slide right next to it that Jaxson has named 'Asher's) so Jaxson decided he would be there to catch him. He kept prompting Asher to go down. He would say, "it's ok! I am right here for you. I will catch you!" It was so cute. I love them together like this.

Here Jaxson is "helping" Asher climb up to the slide. haha

First Zoo Visit 2012

 We didn't have to wait far into 2012 to make a zoo visit with this beautiful weather. And we went again today too! Since we have a membership to the zoo/science center we can go for an hour or so and not feel guilty! Anywho... my mom was in town last week and the weather was beyond gorgeous. 80's.. .are you kidding me?!?! So we did as many outside things we could. First stop zoo... Asher's favorite part was the aquarium and fish. Mostly because all the other exhibits he really wasn't sure what he was supposed to be looking at.

Many of the animals were still inside for winter since this weather wasn't expected. But we still soaked up plenty of sunshine and Dave even stopped by and surprised us!! Jaxson was happy to see him and had him tag along on the playground and down a few of the slides. When we went today they had several more animals out but still no giraffe's which are some of Jaxson's favorites. I am sure they will be out soon!

Feeding the fish.

It was Incredible!

 For Asher's real birthday we headed to Incredible Pizza for dinner and games. It was just the four of us and we had alot of fun. Asher got to spin the birthday wheel for his big day and won a free gokart race! He so kindly allowed his brother to go for him this time since he was just a bit too small. Jaxson happily agreed.

I finally got all these pictures off my pocket camera. This video is so darn cute of Jaxson. Watch him as they come around the last corner. He is in the white car that is at the back of the pack. (Disclaimer per Dave: The cars never really went fast enough to pass each other because the dual cars are for kiddos and parents.)

And I just love Asher in the picture. Sometimes the "best" pictures aren't perfect. He is just oozing joy in this picture!! 

Bubble Wars

 Activities outside is what we have been up to. It has been 80 degrees!!! wowzers.....

So it was bubble wars and Jaxson thought it was HILARIOUS!!

Jaxson was trying so so hard to get the bubbles to go. He finally got this one little bubble to go and was so proud of himself. It was so cute. I pushed my camera button at just the right moment.. lucky!!

Crazy Grandma

When Jaxson was younger he became confused about having two Grandmas. So at some point I called my mom "crazy grandma" and it stuck.

This week crazy grandma made her way to Iowa to visit with the boys. She has never met Asher and last saw Jaxson a year and half ago. Only meeting him twice before this visit. Jaxson talked alot about her visit before she arrived. That he was going to show her his trains and cars. She didn't arrive until 11pm and he was already asleep when she got in. In the morning he peeked into my room at about 7am (he doesn't wake up until around 9am usually) and said, "where's grandma?" She must have heard the commotion and made her way upstairs. He quickly ran into the kitchen and then was instantly shy.

He snapped out of quickly, which surprised me actually. Our first day we went to the park and Jaxson ran and ran and played and played. Asher wasn't far behind him this trip toddling all over the place. Asher isn't a big fan of swings. He holds on so tight that his fingers are half white. But he will go down slide after slide.

Jaxson has loved having her here. And he thinks it is neat that she is sleeping here. He wakes up and quickly wants to know where she is. We have enjoyed the weather and have spent most of her trip outside. While it snowed in Washington at her house we were in shorts and tank tops soaking in the sun. She feels like she took a spring break vacation somewhere much more tropical than Iowa!!

White knuckles from the swings.. we moved on to the slides so he could have some fun.