Cousin time, take 2

Back in the beginning of the month, my nephew Gabe stayed with us for several days. I shared a quick post when he first got here, but I wanted to share the rest! The cousins had a great time together!

Gabe was here for 9 days before his parents came over from St. Louis. We crammed in lots of fun!

The park

Gabe got to join us on our weekly pilgrimage to McDonalds with Great Grandpa. 

 

The boys slept peacefully together and never ever fought over the same toy. {ha, yeah right! They did good sharing a bed. Sharing toys, eh, not so much}

We got pretty good at getting three kid plates together at meal times!

And loading up three kiddos to go places. 

Like, to Burger King on a certain day when I realized that taking care of three kiddos is hard work—let along preparing a meal to feed five people. Whew. Thank goodness for that BK giftcard! {and seriously, this is the face Jackson gives me when I said, “say cheese!”.}

Then, Aunt Mary and Uncle Brad came over to Kansas City to visit. And they brought this guy! He’s saying, “Hi Aunt Amy!” Isn’t he cute!?

We got all the cousins together to take a picture—which was not an easy task, but we did it!

Apparently, I need to do a better job of actually taking pictures of Brad and Mary—not just their kiddos. Though I only have one picture to show for it, Jackson and Belle loved playing tackle with Uncle Brad.

We celebrated Gabe’s third birthday

And we had a big family get together at Ryan’s—like 20 of us! 

It was a crammed-packed two weeks full of lots of fun and playing! The boys loved riding bikes together and throwing year old “popper” fireworks in the garage. And it's really nice to visit with Brad and Mary when they come visit. I’m working really hard to nag them to death convince them to move to Kansas City. Maybe someday!

Nothing but kids day

Yesterday I completed my final assignment for this crazy semester. {Yay!! I made it!} I feel like I’ve been running around like a crazy person lately! I’ve just been cramming a lot in to small amounts of time, and that has led me to be so rushed in most of the things I’m doing.

As a stay-at-home-mom, I’m home with the kids most of the time. But, lately it’s been so much about the things I need to get done {housework and schoolwork} and very little about enjoying my kiddos in these stages of their lives.

Today I vowed to be different. It’s a nothing-but-kids day today! No schoolwork, no housework.Today is about my kids and doing things they enjoy—on their schedule, at their pace.

We started the morning with a nice walk around the path at the community center. Instead of waiting impatiently as he stopped to “fill his bike up with gas” I enjoyed his creativity!

After the walk, we played at the park. Not a typical stop-for-ten-minute session at the park. We were there for an hour. Today was the first day Belle decided to slide down the slide by herself. And she did so about 35 times. I just sat in amazement in how big my baby girl is getting!

We came home to put Belle down for her nap and decided to play a game of Candyland. Keeping a three year old focused on the game is difficult, but instead of pushing him along, I watched amused as he had to make our gingerbread men “hive five” as they passed each other on the path.

And when Jackson asked to snuggle and watch TV. I snuggled for the entire show. {Word World is a super cute show!"} 

Great Grandpa called and invited us to lunch at none other than the Golden Arches. I let Jackson have his toy even before he at his meal.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got to spend some fun 1-on-1 time with Belle during Jackson’s naptime. She enjoyed flying around like an airplane.  

And she “helped'” go through grocery ads and make a list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belle is down for her second nap and when she wakes up, we’re going to make a quick run to Price Chopper before dinner. You may think that going to a grocery store isn’t something I would do on a day focused on the kids, but Price Chopper is Jackson’s favorite store. He’ll be thrilled.

It’s been a wonderful change of pace to enjoy the day at the pace of toddlers {very, very slow} instead of rushing them along everywhere we go. Eventually I will have to manage some housework and school will start in the fall. But for now, I’m off to enjoy my nothing-but-kids day!

And this picture is from last night when Derek went to check on Jackson and I really just thought I’d share. He snuck his giant helicopter into bed, but how can we be mad when he made sure to cover it up the blanket?! His other animals are covered up too, even though you can’t see them! What a sweet boy.

Deja Vu

This was always one of my favorite pictures! It was taken on August 20, 2009 {just a few days shy of being 10 months}

This one was taken today, March 7th, 2012 {Three years, four months old}

Another from 2009

And today

I am captivated by these pictures. I’ve been staring at them for several minutes. I really needed this! Being three is clearly a difficult age and it has been difficult to parent! We nearly didn’t make it to McDonalds with Grandpa today because of some serious toddler attitude. As he was playing, I remember taking these pictures a couple of years ago and I just felt the need to take some more! Looking at these pictures and comparing has been a much needed reminder of how fast kids really grow. This difficult age is just a phase. Before I know it, he’ll be too big for a happy meal, he’ll be using real dumb bells {not climbing on styrofoam ones!}, and he won’t be so eager for me to snap his picture. He sure is the same happy little fella! I’m definitely gonna soak up some little boy hugs and cuddles as soon as he wakes up from nap!!

Great Grandpa and the Golden Arches

My kids are just so blessed to be able to grow up with so many Greats! Not all of them live close, but Great Grandpa lives only a few minutes away and loves to stop by and check up on his grandkids. And Great Grandpa loves to take the kids to McDonalds {I'm not sure who loves it more-- Jackson or Grandpa!}. In fact, if you were to mention McDonalds to Jackson, he'd probably ask if Great Grandpa was going to be there. 

Grandpa really enjoys watching the kiddos play... and even playing some himself!

Going to McDonalds with Great Grandpa has been something we've done ever since Jackson first started walking. What special memories they will have {and if they are too little to remember, I will always have my pictures!} of spending time with him. I'm bummed that we don't live closer to my grandma's, but we try to make up for it when we get the chance. I am so, so thankful for the opportunity my kids have to get to know their Greats!