Kids say the darndest things

I have to write down a couple things Xavier has said recently because I don't want to forget them.

The week we spent with my nieces and nephew we decided to play outside one day. Gabe had pulled out his portable soccer nets and started to kick the ball around with Xavier and Tim. Out of the blue Xavier kicked the ball into the net and without skipping a beat shouted "I SHOT IT LIKE A BUCCANEER!" So of course we were all laughing hysterically because we have no idea where he came up with this and he just said it so confidently.

Secondly, this Tuesday morning I went into Xavier's room to get him out of his crib. I proceeded to change his diaper and felt his hand gently glide up and down my leg. He casually says "Mommy's legs are spiky." EEEKK! I know I hadn't shaved in a couple days but it must have been bad for X to notice. Then he felt his leg and said "Xavier's legs are spiky." What a silly kid.

Lastly, one morning Xavier and I were eating cereal. He was eating his beloved Kix and I was eating Raisin Bran or something along those lines. He kept saying "I want cereal." I kept reassuring him that he had cereal. Then he kept eyeing my cereal like crazy. I asked him if he wanted some cornflakes. He said "I want some snowflakes." So every time I have any type of cereal with cornflakes in it he asks to have some snowflakes.

Oh and I almost forgot, instead of calling me mommy, Xavier has started to call me "Nonny". Why I have no idea. I think he might call me that because I call him by so many nicknames he decided to give me a nickname too.

Xavier and I made shape shamrocks and decorated them with all sorts of green things.



For lunch we ate shamrock melts and had green veggies on the side.



For dinner we ate an old fashioned Irish Stew filled with lots of potatoes, cabbage, corned beef, and carrots. I've never cooked corned beef before, but Tim was a fan. Yum! Yum!



To top off our green day Tim rode the bus to and from school and I didn't drive our car. We even took a walk to the park. It was almost 70 degrees today!! :)
Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Top O' The Morn

Xavier had croup this past week and I wanted to do something fun for St. Patrick's day since we've been at home a lot. I thought we'd make this St. Patrick's Day a super green day.



When Xavier woke up I read him the book called It's St. Patrick's Day. I asked him if he thought we'd see a Leprechaun. He said "yeah!". So we headed downstairs and found some little footprints in our living room.
Xavier followed the footprints to the corner of the room and discovered...




his very own pot of gold. It even had a four leaf clover! He was pretty excited about all of his gold.



Not only did he get a pot of gold, but that sneaky little Leprechaun left some breakfast for him too. His milk was green. He even had green yogurt, green grapes, and green cheerios. Xavier thought this was pretty silly.



After breakfast we sang some songs to go along with St. Patrick's day and made a rainbow with cheerios.



We even sorted shapes using lucky charms. Plus we practiced some counting with the charms too. Xavier had a blast celebrating this fun holiday and so did I. Holidays are so much fun when you have children to share them with.

Spring Break Photos

Myla liked her food in her hair more than she liked it in her mouth. :)



This is the only picture me and Ally are in together. Duh me, I totally forgot to get some more pics of me and her together.



Ally, Eric, and Myla. What a pretty family.



Xavier always has Tim hold him up like he is in this picture at home. Xavier always tries to touch the ceiling and says "Reach for it! Reach for it!" This was even better because water was involved.



We visited a cool indoor arborettum next to the Children's Museum. Xavier loved the water rainbows. The best part about this picture is the girl in the background- is she scared? annoyed? disgusted? or wondering what kind of parents we are letting our child do such a thing? You decide.

Spring Break

To save a little bit of money on our road trip we packed snacks and sandwich fixins in our cooler. We decided to have a mini tailgate in the parking structure by Shedd's Aquarium. We definitely got several crusties from people looking for parking. I know it was just sandwich envy.



Xavier loved the boat at the aquarium. At our house all we have is a laundry basket for a boat.



Xavier is excited to see a frog. Look at that intense point and the big bright eyes.



Myla- isn't she a cutie? And a trooper. She spent 5 hours in the ER to get a diagnosis of her illness. It turned out to be RSV. YUCK!



Go Pistons!

My twin sister Ally, her husband Eric, and their daughter Myla came to visit us over Spring Break. It was so much fun to see them. Usually every time we see each other it's when our entire family is together. We never get just our twin time together. This time we did. We had so much fun hanging out.

We went to a Pistons game. This was Xavier's first live basketball game. He was the happiest kid at that game. We bought him a little Pistons basketball and he wouldn't let go of it for about 2 days afterwards. At the end of the game the score was about a 2 pt difference. The crowd started getting loud and screaming and cheering. Of course, Xavier joined the crowd. He would try to yell "OOOOOOHHHHH!" as loud as he could. It was so cute to see him get into the game. I realized this is the perfect place for him. He gets to watch sports AND be as loud as he wants.

We also spent a day in Chicago. We visited the Chicago Children's Museum which happened to be a free admission day- WAHOO! We also went to Shedd's Aquarium. I was definitely looking forward to the dolphin and whale show. Unfortunately they were on vacation due to the construction they are doing at the aquarium. We did get to see the cool shark exhibit and lots of turtles, frogs, and fish.

One of Ally's favorite things to do is eat. You'd never know it because she's a skinny little thing, but we had fun trying some of my favorite recipes while they were out here. Eric also had to visit Buffalo Wild Wings. Apparently they have commercials for it all the time, but don't have any BWW in Utah. So we ate there on their Tuesday wing night.

Ally and I got to do a little shopping and we stayed up late pretty much every night. Boy I realized just how much I miss my sis. I forget how much we just get each other. We grew up in the same house, we shared everything until we were 18, and it's nice to be able to just talk to a person who knows you better than anyone. I love you ALLY! You are such a fun, silly, inspiring, amazing, smart, talented, creative, beautiful and honest person. I feel lucky to be able to be twins with such a cool gal.

Thanks for coming out to visit. I am already looking forward to seeing you, Eric, and Myla in May on our way to Cali.

A mother of four

Fingerpaiting- who doesn't love it?



Xavier and the girls loved to dance on the table and sing to the Cheetah girls music.



Dinner time! If you will notice my shirt has about a zillion stickers on it. WHile the kids were at school and Xavier was napping Lilly and I had some fun girl time. She put tons of princess stickers all over my sweater. What was even more fun, she put cute stickers on all of my nails.



Bedtime was a fun time to all jump on the bed and read some good stories.


I now know what it's like to be a mother of four- fun and E-X-H-A-U-S-T-I-N-G! Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to take care of my 2 neices and nephew while their parents went on vacation. Tim and I watched them for almost a week. I had to give up my four door Accord for a nice little mini van. If you know me I'm one of those people who swears they'll never drive a mini van. After this experience I might change my mind if we have four kids of our own one day. ;) I thought I'd never say those words. Uugh!

Anyway the days were filled with playing chaeuffer and taking the kids to school, picking them up from school, taking Grace to cheerleading, helping the kids with their homework, making sure the kids were fed, bathed, and got enough rest, and so on and so on. The toughest part was trying to help with homework, cook dinner, and making sure Xavier didn't get into everything in sight all at the same time.

Toward the middle of the week Xavier started to climb up the side of the girls bunk beds to the top bunk. He even managed to jump off it a couple times. Scared me half to death. Luckily, he didn't get hurt. But after he learned to do this he just wanted to keep climbing up the ladder and jump off of it. Finally he realized he needed to ask mommy to come catch him if he was going to jump off. What a daredevil. You know the shirt that says "I do all my own stunts?" That is my child to a T.

I can't tell you how many times my future flashed before my eyes-- more than one child, school years, homework, taxiing kids all around town, etc. I thought after college I wouldn't have homework again, but I'm only on a little vacation. Homework will haunt me once again for many years to come.

Xavier absolutely loved having hids cousins aroun 24/7 for an entire week. He loved having Gabe around to play with. He also loved playing with the girls.
It was definitely fun having a couple girls around- playing dress up, doing their hair, seeing pink, purple, and princesses. I'm so used to balls, sports, trains, and cars that I forgot how much fun it is to have some girls around.

I am also well versed on Hannah Montanna, The Jonas Brothers, High School Musical, The Cheetah Girls, and My Little Ponies.

The kids were great the entire week. I grew to love my neices and nephew even more. It is neat to see what their lives are like day in and day out. I hope they have as many fun memories as I do from that week together.

Here are some cute pics of the kids during our week at Joe and Amy's.