The exciting life of a stay-at-home mom!!

This is what I do all day when my kids are at school. I just meet people for lunch, lay around and watch t.v., and get manicures.....TOTALLY KIDDING and if you believed me, then you've never had kids!! Now that all of us have at least one child that goes to school, we like to get together and celebrate! We usually meet for brunch and then it extends into the minutes right before we have to return to our real lives and pick our kids up from school. This group of girls has been so special to me and I cherish the times that we have together!
Two of those moms and I got together last week to "deceive" our families...we had a puree' day where we puree'd vegetables all day long in my friend Susan's beautiful kitchen. Now, we will all sneak them into the dishes that we serve to our families. So far, I've made hot chocolate with sweet potatoes, meatloaf with squash in it, and spaghetti with broccoli. I can already see them transforming into pictures of health!!
Check out the concentration on those peas...it's very serious.

Weekend in Wichita

The boys and I drove to Wichita for the long weekend. My cousin and his family have moved to Wichita from Minneapolis, so we are only 5 hours away from each other! We went up to visit them for the weekend and help them get settled into their new house.
They have an outside fire pit, so we made s'mores one night. It was soooo cold, but delicious!
Another highlight was "Taco in a Bag." Basically, you get those little bags of chips and put all your taco fixings in the bag and shake it. Well, all the kids loved it and they keep asking when we can have it at home.
Here are the boys checking out their cousin Alyssa's room. It is VERY pink! I think they were in awe of it and carefully examined all her toys while they jammed to Hannah Montana.
We had such a fun weekend and can't wait to do it again!

Big Man on a Little Bike.........

What is wrong with this picture?? A lot! Last week, when the grandparents were here, we all walked up to Jackson's school to pick him up. Drew rode his bike, so we had to bring Jackson's bike so he could ride it home. This seemed like the only logical way to get it to school?!?
I'm just thankful that the tires didn't blow....
When we got home, my parents had a surprise for Jackson. It was a pool, air hockey, ping pong, and a lot of other things....table! With help from the grandpa's, Jackson took to pool like a pro and has spent a lot of time practicing his shots.
This is a great gift for the boys and just their size....I know it will get a lot of use.

Fun, Fun, Birthday Fun!!

Jackson turned 6 years old last week and we had a Mad Science birthday party for him this weekend. "Professor Proton" came out and dazzled the kids with his science experiments. The kids made slime and ended with a "bang" with a jet engine.
We decided to invite all the boys from his class as well as some boys from his baseball team and a few other friends. We had relay races which are a MUST with that many boys. We had to get all their energy out before they sat for an hour to watch Professor Proton.
Check out Jackson's face when he saw the jet rocket...I love it!
My mom made the giant rocket cake which turned out so cute and tasted great! My dad and Jason's dad came as well. It was a fun weekend for all and I can't believe that Jackson is 6!! Where did the time go?

Christmas and New Years....Part 2

We spent New Years Eve at the Rainforest Cafe' with all my cousins and their kids. The kids had a little buffet and then at 8:00, tons of balloons dropped for them and they got sparkling grape juice in fancy glasses and we all toasted to the New Year. It is a great idea and we had loads of fun!!!

At my parents house, the lake had frozen over, so the boys spent hours throwing rocks, sticks, wood, whatever they could find to try to crack the ice. We did lots of sledding and exploring around the lake.
One night, my dad set up a fire pit by the lake and we roasted marshmallows and had smore's. Amanda and Ben stayed inside because it was "too cold" and asked us to make them one and deliver it to the house. Such wimps, but we did it anyways....

A White Christmas!

Our first stop was in Leavenworth, which is where Jason's parents live. They had just had a couple of feet of snow the day before we got there, so it was perfect!! Jason's brother Josh, was home from Japan and his wife Alicia. Jason't grandparents were there from Idaho, so it was a full house and lots of fun!! We spent lots of time playing cards, playing with new toys, and sledding. The Maupins have a great hill that is perfect for the boys right in their front yard, so it was their playground.




For some reason, I can't figure our how to post more pictures and it will only let me post 5 at a time.......well, stay tuned for Christmas, part 2......

A One-Man Band

Don't call me a "Scrooge", but I am taking all my Christmas decorations down. We will be leaving for Kansas and will be there thru the New Year, so when we come home, this will make our lives easier. This morning, as I was working, Drew was in the kitchen playing the song "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" over and over and over.......Anyways, he comes in to the dining room in this get-up and marches around the house singing the song at the top of his lungs. I just had to capture this because it was cracking me up!!

Eat much??

What kind of eating machine have we created? Lately, Jackson's appetite has been enormous!! He must be going thru a growth spurt or something. Last night, he asked me to make him a triple-decker turkey and cheese sandwich for his lunch today. When he got home, he said he loved it so much but he was still hungry. So, he made himself a quint-decker (I don't know how to say "5") sandwich! I thought they weren't supposed to eat like this until they are teenagers......I think I'm in trouble!

Sooooo Jackson......well, kind of....

All right....this is cracking me up writing this. Last night, Jason and I went to see Stevie Wonder so we had a sitter for the boys. The boys were fed, bathed, and in their pj's waiting for Miss Michelle to come. All of the sudden, Jackson disappears and then re-appears with a suit coat, white oxford, and a tie on which he calls his "Mayor suit" Anyways, I asked him what he was doing and he said that he wanted to be handsome for Miss Michelle (can we say crush??) I said okaaaaayyyyyy, but that he had to take it off when he went to bed. So.........the doorbell rings and Drew and I go to the door to welcome Michelle. I kind of whisper to her what Jackson has done and we walk into the kitchen and he is no where to be found. I start calling for him and then I see a little movement in the Christmas tree. It seems that he kind of chickened out with his handsome suit on and had no where to run except in the Christmas tree. We locked eyes and I could tell he wanted me to bail him out, but bless Miss Michelle....she walked right over, pulled him out of the tree, and gave him a hug and told him how handsome he looked. He turned bright red and smiled. Oh my....it just makes me laugh :)

Happy Birthday Drew!

I cannot believe that Drew is 4! His actual birthday is the 5th, but we celebrated this weekend with a Scooby-Doo birthday! A "birthday monster" stole Drew's presents and the "gang" had to follow the clues to find them. The picture below is the kids listening to the clues...they really got into it!
Here they are untangling the web that the birthday monster left behind....

Just turn your head sideways to look at this one :) Here is the "gang" coming down the stairs about to meet the birthday monster and solve the mystery.
Check out who the birthday monster is!! Drew's brother, Jackson and his dad (I didn't get a pic. of him in his mask!) Jackson and Jason jumped out and yelled "Happy Birthday!" when we got to the last clue. I was a little nervous that the kids would be scared, so I stressed beforehand how nice the birthday monster was. We only had one little girl that was scared...the rest of the kids were fine. We had a great party and a great day. Drew is a constant source of joy to us and we are so honored to be his parents. We are in for a lifetime of laughs!!

A White Thanksgiving?

The boys wish came true!! SNOW!! It snowed 2 times when we were in KC and they were ecstatic! Of course, snowball fights, whitewashing (where you take snow and "wash" an unexpecting persons back), and snowmen. Check out Drew's snowman! Can you see it? Look closely because he was very proud of it.

The last picture is Jason's back. He bet that if he didn't win a game we were all playing, that he would "run around the house" with his shirt off. Well, when he lost, he thought he had to run around the house...inside!! Everyone else clearly understood that we all meant run around the house OUTSIDE!! I mean, what fun is it for us to have a shirtless man run around inside of the house?? Please!! So, here he is...the good sport that he is, running around the OUTSIDE of the house in 30 degree weather!

Thanksgiving Break......

We had a great visit to Kansas City for Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving day, in the spirit of my dad's recent marathon, the kids ran their own marathon. Drew had to run 40 yards and Jackson ran 60 yards, but it was a "marathon" to them and they were very proud!
It's so fun to get together with all my cousins now that we're adults. We had fun hanging out and there were 7 kids running around crazy!!

Here is more fun with the family.....I have some great pics. of the kids in the snow (it snowed 2 days we were there), so I will post those later this week.

Pet Parade!

The Kindergarten classes at Jackson's school sent home a letter saying they were having their "Annual Pet Parade." That meant that you were supposed to use materials from your home and make a pet. Luckily, Jason and I were going to be out of town and Grandma and Grandpa Maupin were watching the boys, so we put this under their things "to do" while we were gone.
So....they decided to let Jackson do his project!! They are "old school" and believe that kids should do their own homework--imagine that!! This is proof that Jackson did it himself and he won the award for "Most Creative Pet!" I have to say that his teacher commented to me that she especially liked his pet because it was kid made! Way to go Jackson!!!
Oh....if you're wondering about Drew....he was just "so sad" that he couldn't be a part of the pet parade because he said he has always "dreamed" of being in it. In a couple of years, his dreams will come true :)