Garden Princess

It's Spring Break!!  No school days are so fun.  Today we woke up with the windows open and the birds chirping. We (everyone but Jace) pretended to be butterflies and then painted and crafted some to hang on the fridge.  Jace drove his remote control car around the front yard.  Then we went on a nature hunt to look for the best popcorn popping blossom tree.  We saw some pretty daffodils along the way too.  When we got home we noticed we had lots of purple flower weeds growing in the grass in the back yard so we decided to make a flower crown for Brooke and make her into a Garden Princess. We had so much fun and it turned out so cute we did a little photo shoot too.

  Spring is wonderful... except for the allergies that come with it. Poor daddy and Jace and Ty. I'm so thankful I don't have them.

 The sun is out to warm us up and I'm a sunshine girl.  I can open the windows and let in the sounds of nature and the extra light and let the fresh air flood our home.  After being cooped up inside all winter the warmth of the sunshine is so comforting and just makes me happy.  Maybe it's all that vitamin D I've been missing.  The kids want to play outside and jump on the trampoline and play tag again.  Ohhh spring... I'm so glad your are here.  :)

Spring Break in Branson, MI

To start off the kids Spring break from school we did a weekend in Branson, MI.  The Grand Country Inn had a deal going that included 2 nights hotel, 2 shows for the family, mini golf, game room money, and pizzas.  The kids were in heaven.  We carpooled up with Nani & Grandpa on Friday and ate at a great BBQ joint then we checked into the hotel.  We loved the rooms!  It had a mini kid's house with bunk beds and their own flat screen tv.  Ty loved watching cartoons in his "clubhouse".  We went to the water park first thing and stayed there for hours.  We loved hearing the bell ringing because that meant the HUGE bucket at the top of the park was going to tip water all over everyone.  Ty liked the lazy river and the hot tub best.  We could hardly keep track of Brooke and Jace because they were zipping from one spot to another playing with each other.  It was great for them to get all their energy out because then they were exhausted the rest of the night.  

The next morning we went to the breakfast buffet, did mini golf as a family, hit the water park again, and the favorite was laser tag in the fun zone.  Even I wanted to do that again.  Brooke hadn't been feeling great all day but by the time we hit the comedy show in the afternoon she was sicker than sick.  Boo!!  Why do my kids always get sick on vacation?  She must have picked up something from the water park.  Ty followed suit soon after.  The next morning we ended up leaving for home early instead of going to the Animal show and checking out the rest of Branson.  That will have to wait until the next time we venture out here...

Jace was hilarious at mini golf.  At first he was angry and said it was dumb and he didn't want to do it and he was NOT part of the competition.  He was being ornery and acting like he was going to hit everyone with his putter but after daddy taught him how to do it and he realized he was pretty good he did want to compete and he won between Nani and I.  We split up half way through to make it go a little faster.  He never wants to compete unless he can win.  I think that's why he wont do sports.

On Saturday night Nani & Grandpa watched the kids while Craig and I went out on a date to celebrate his new promotion and annual pay raise.  I'll take a 17% raise on salary thank you very much!  March is always a wonderful time of year in Wal-mart land because it's bonus and annual raise time.  We were able to pay off 2 credit cards, and we are finally looking at getting a second car.  That will be so nice.  Dealing with only having 1 car for 2 years has been really hard.  

We went down to Branson Landing and walked around the outdoor mall there on the river and picked up some dessert then we went out to eat at Outback Steak & Oyster and dined on Oysters and prime rib.  It was a great date.  We need to spend more time just together.  I sure love my guy!  I'm so proud of him too.  His team at work knew he was looking at other areas in international and they needed to keep him so badly that they practically begged him to stay and he got an exceeds for the second year in a row on his annual review which is really rare.  He's one in a million.

St. Patties Day

I woke up early to make some Gluten Free green muffins for St. Patties day breakfast before the kids went to school. The green was from spinach ... after all that work they thought they looked too gross to try.  So much for being a  fun, creative mom....

  With Brooke's help I also made a fruit rainbow with some home made lemon jello jigglers pot o' gold and we had corned beef with cabbage and potatoes for dinner.  

FYI don't pinch Jace on St. Patties even if he looks like he isn't wearing green.  He likes to hide his green underwear and get everyone back and he pinches really hard.  :)

Jenni Marie

Oh this little beauty has us all wrapped around her little finger.  She has so much energy and zest for life.  She's not shy at home to let you know how she feels but she is going through a bit of the stranger danger stage and buries her head in my chest if anyone she doesn't know well tries to get too close.  She loves bananas, strawberries, blueberries, German pancakes, little pieces of cooked chicken, french fries, and veggie sticks.  She loves music, dancing,  riding on her pink pony, playing in Ty's Cozy Coupe car, rolling balls, unloading drawers and cupboards, playing peek a boo, exploring outside, baths, snuggling daddy, books, attention from Jace and Brooke and nursing with mommy.  She hates holding still to get her diaper changed or to get dressed, and wearing headbands,  I have a drawer full of the cutest headbands but they never get used because she won't keep them on.  I guess we'll have to send them to her soon to be newest cousin, Gracie. (I had to distract her with the pearl necklace to get the one in these pictures to stay on her head.  Normally she just rips them off right after I put them on.)  She is such a fast crawler that she has decided its the best way to get around and although she stands up all the time completely on her own she has yet to take any steps if she doesn't have something to hold on to.  She has 4 teeth.  She still has problems with dairy even if I eat it.  Chocolate also seems to cause stomach discomfort.  She will break out in a rash and not be able to sleep well.  She's never been a great sleeper though.  Lately if she wakes up more than 3 times during the night I bring her in our bed and she crawls over to daddy then back to me and wants to nurse all night long.  I haven't been sleeping much.  It's a good thing she's so adorable so I can't get too mad.  Sometimes she goes on a gibberish rant and uses her hands as she's talking.  It's hilarious.  I wish we knew what she was telling us.  We all love her to bits!

Jenni Baby turns 1!

 I spent the morning making this cake completely from scratch and boy oh boy was I proud of it.  The cake was completely gluten and dairy free as well as preservative and dye free.  I thought "how can I make pink frosting without food dye??  Strawberries!!"  The middle part was a strawberry ganache made from coconut cream and fresh strawberries and I made a fondant from scratch as well.  It was beautiful.  Did it taste good?  Nope!!  Poor Jenni.  Having to have her first cake be yucky just isn't fair.  She mostly ate the strawberries and a bit of the frosting and squished and threw the rest.  Ty was so excited for cake but left his to go play after tasting it.  lol!!!  I found Jace's slice a week later by the side of the house.

 Jenni did have some cute decorations though and she had some super fun presents too.  Grandma Johnson surprised us all by sending a present for everyone for Jenni's party so I wrapped them all up and we played a dice game for present unwrapping.  You had to roll doubles to get your present.  It made celebrating Jenni's birthday extra fun.  Jenni got a 4 set of pokey sensory balls and a pink pony to ride.  Brooke was going to give her one of her dolls but when I pulled out an extra outfit to add with it she decided to just keep both.  :)  Jace pulled a 3T jacket out of the closet and claimed that he had bought it for Brooke and now wanted to give it to Jenni.  Lol!!  Not true ... but I let him roll with it. lol!!

Ty got a horsey hippity hop to bounce around the house on.  Brooke got an adorable miniature tea set just the right size for her American Girl doll, kit.  She's been hosting 3 tea parties a day since.  Jace got a lazer tag set that he was super excited about.