Weekends should be longer

This past weekend was packed full of fun! Here's a quick recap:

We stopped by to visit Daddy at work on Friday!

The kids left thinking that work was just about the coolest thing ever.

I took the kiddos up to Trenton to visit family, friends and the Missouri Days festivities. The parade is always my favorite!

And we loved the patriotic theme this year! (and those flags are going to come in handy for halloween costumes next week!)

Jackson was super excited about his foot-long corndog.

And Belle was glad to help finish it off!

Don't let her cuteness deceive you. This was her at 4am earlier that morning. I felt the same way about being up with her for over an hour trying to keep her quiet and not wake the other guests staying at Hotel a la Gram Gram. We ended up on a 30 minute car ride until she was no longer a crying mess awake.

Both of my sisters were home for the weekend to celebrate Ashley's birthday! It's a good thing Laura crammed in between the two carseats before we ate fried chicken for lunch. 

Jackson really helped by winning a game of "cuties".

Now Monday has come and gone and we're back in full swing of normal life! We've been utilizing our free time preparing for a very special birthday coming up this weekend. Can you believe that this kid will be FOUR?!

Instagram photo dump

This is just a photo dump post of a ton {or 24} pictures from my phone that haven’t made it to my blog yet.

1. Belle feels the same way about doritos as her daddy!
2. Playing sherriff at grandma’s house—Jackson sure has that mean face down!
3. Chilling during break time at the pool.
4. Oklahoma Joe’s—the best BBQ in town!
5. I was so proud of my “initial pancakes”!! My mom used to make these for us!
6. A total bookworm. He’s reading me the story—almost word for word.
7. Storytime before bed.
8. Cuteness!! Love that smile.
9. Aunt Ashley and Iron making a cake
10. The finished cake balls—Jackson helped with the whole process
11. Never too early to start teaching the kids about laundry! {we made a trip to the laundry mat to wash our comforter}
12. Holding baby Yooli. He loves babies!
13. There’s a daddy underneath there somewhere!
14. Jackson got the Queen Frostine card while I was still just a few spaces from the start. Needless to say, he won the game.
15. Dried beans provided much entertainment for this gal!
16. Jackson gets to drink an entire “sod-EE-pop” when he hangs out with Papa Johne.
17. Squirt guns with Uncle Phil
18. Belle was giving Uncle Phil quite the stink eye!! {in her defense, I had just woken her up from nap}
19. Another rock concert with more free tickets from the radio station!
20. Messy hands for a special project!!
21. Girls night out gone bad. Car broke down. A bazillion degrees outside. Walked to Panera. Pushed car. Not a relaxing moment. :(
22. We’ve enjoyed the 50¢ cones at BK too much!!
23. Jackson performed in his first program at VBS…  and by performed, I mean he sat down and didn’t participate one bit.
24. Walking through the grocery store with Optimus Prime!

Never a dull moment with us!! :)

Mom’s have hobbies?

I’m still linking up with Jenna! I’ll be back to my regular posts soon! I know most of you read hoping for pictures of the kids, so I included some at the end!

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Tell us about your hobbies! What do you do in your free time? What are your favorite books, movies, music etc?
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Hobbies?? Free time?? What are those?? Haha. Just kidding. Somewhere beyond the yoga-pants, ponytail, and t-shirt with kid snot lies an actual person with hobbies, interests, and a life! :)  

And actually, I’ve found quite a bit of extra free time lately. Back during my crazy semester, we hired a babysitter to come on Thursday afternoons and I allocated that time to do all my school work for the week. My hubby has graciously offered to keep having her come over even when I don’t have school. Seriously, it’s amazing. Just four hours a week just makes me feel so human again! Awesome, right!?

My biggest “free time” opportunities are after the kids go to bed and my Thursday afternoons. Derek and I watch shows or movies together a night or two each week in the evenings. I love that time together. I blog sometimes and every once in awhile I’ll get him to play a game with me. I do like to be crafty and do some DIY projects from time to time! One of my favorite things to do on a Thursday afternoon is to find myself at Starbucks {for a smoothie because I do NOT like coffee} and completely veg out—after I run some kid-less errands of course! I’ll read a book, blogs, play a game on my tablet, text, or whatever.

I also find myself spending time reading/planning/working on things to do with the kids or around the house. Because the truth is… is that my favorite hobby is being a wife and mom, even if that sounds really cheesy. But I spent an hour at the library trying to figure out the Dewey decimal system in order to pick out a dinosaur book for Jackson and I like planning ahead for meals to provide healthy and yummy food! And I also find myself reading and doing research for my grad school stuff—not even for a grade {gasp!} but just because I enjoy it. Crazy, right!?

And because I haven’t even really addressed my hobbies yet, here they are {no particular order!}

• Movies—going to the theater is my favorite!
• Reading—my last book, Outlaw Platoon. GREAT BOOK! It’s a true story of a platoon in Afghanistan that takes place in 2006.
• Bargain shopping—garage sales, thrift stores, craigslist, Oh my!!
• Socializing—and my favorite activities include having people over for dinner and my once a month book club.
• Music—I enjoy live music and am trying to incorporate it more into my life!
• Blogging—it’d be silly not to include it, because, seriously. I spend a lot of time doing it! I enjoying writing and I love reading blogs!

So anyway, that was kind of a long post for a pretty short question. I also like to talk… and type! :)

Here are my latest Instagram pics!

We had a dinner time picnic last week!

Seriously, her blue eyes just make me melt!

“Hey, Mom! I’m jammin’!” {yes with my pot and pan lids}

We went to a local spray ground earlier this week! So much fun!

Aunt Ashley came to play yesterday!
 

And Jackson is becoming a pro at snapping green beans from Grandpa’s garden! I know this will make you proud, Grandma Trickel! :)

WW: Aunt Ashley

Aunt Ashley is still enjoying her Christmas break. I miss those good ol' college days with a month long break between semesters. Ashley has stayed the night a couple of times and is great at entertaining Jackson {and I am entertained hearing her try to explain the logic behind putting the puzzle together to a three year old}.

Isn't Aunt Ashley lots of fun? 

It's Pool Time

The City of Belton just built a brand new pool! It opened yesterday and so my sister Ashley and I took the kids! It was so much fun. 

Jackson splashed Ashley and she was all like, "what did you do that for?" Uhm... you're in the water!!! You're bound to get wet sometime!

Belle and I hung out for a little bit before getting in. She's anticipating the fun!

This is her new way of sitting in the stroller... slouched with feet up! She never puts them down.

Jackson loved the play thing in the middle of the kids cove and going down the slide

but he didn't really like the process of getting to the play set... he walked the entire way covering his eyes, sometimes running into things. Humorous.

And he loved the fountains too, of course.

Aunt Ashley took Jackson for several rides around the lazy river.

Jackson ended up being too short to reach the rope to climb across, but Ashley did it. 

Time for Belle to enjoy some water fun!

First, we went on the lazy river together

And then she played in these super cool little seats! They are perfect for pre-walkers!

I mean, look at the girl... she is totally just chillin'.

And this is how far we have to travel to enjoy some of this pool fun... this view is from our front window.

My housing location just got THAT much more awesome (especially since I still live on a side road, so it's still calm and quiet). Be jealous.