Tony's New Toy

Tony finally broke down and bought (found a decent deal) on a ZTR mower!  Mowing is now FUN!  And it takes way less time!  Meighan thinks the new mower is pretty cool, too!

 

 

 

There he goes!

Then Dawson got to have a ride (Meighan had her ride earlier).

 

 

Then they BOTH had to ride.

 

 

Then we SOLD THE OLD MOWER!!!!

 

Then I got ready to have my turn.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day ... the day moms look foward to relaxing and "doing nothing" all day.  Huh?  I never get to "do nothing".

Today we got up and went to church.  Meighan's class sang at the beginning of the service.  For lunch we went to Valentino's buffet.  Moms were 1/2 price so with Dawson being free and Meighan being only 5 (they charge a certain amount per year of age), it was a fairly inexpensive meal.  It's after 9 pm as I am typing this and I'm STILL FULL!  I overdid it but I don't get that buffet very often.

Next we went to Tony's brother's house.  He had Tony's family over for a brunch at 11:00.  We had already decided to go to Val's so we just stopped over there for a bit.

We got home about 2:30 or so and Meighan and I got our gardening clothes on and I got out all the stuff for planting the flowers we got the other day in pots.  We did pretty good.  As we got done, Tony was getting ready to spray the yard for weeds.  We do have one of the nicest looking yards on our street because we get rid of the weeds (especially dandelions and henbit).

Then I was done and tired.  See, I never get to "do nothing".  I did get some pictures taken of our planting time and then with both kids later.

 

This is Meighan's own pot this year to plant and take care of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birth Mother's Day

Today I am thinking about my kids' birth mothers and thanking them for giving my kids life.  Although when my kids do something amazing or "normal" or learn something new and I enjoy watching these things, sometimes I think about the fact that their birth mothers are missing seeing them do these normal or amazing things.

I also wonder when they will start asking about their birth parents....and what I will say.  Hopefully I will say the "right" things.

Happy Birth Mother's Day!

Picnics and Tea Parties

Yesterday (April 30) was so nice and warm and Meighan wanted to have a picnic outside for lunch.  While I made sandwiches and put food on plates, the kids spread out the blanket on the grass.  I then took the plates out and we had quite a nice little picnic!

 

 

Today, the weather is 30 degrees colder with a stiff wind and rainy with SNOW in the forecast!  No picnic today!

Meighan remembered she had a "tea party" when she was younger.  We flipped through a BUNCH of pictures on the computer and finally found the one she remembered.  She wanted what she called a "tea pot" in the picture.  Once I saw the picture, I found out that what she THOUGHT was a tea pot was actually a watering can!  I found that for her this morning but told her that if she wants to play with a tea set, she could play with mine if she was really careful!  It was mine when I was a little girl.  It's BREAKABLE!

So when she got home from school, I got it down and she set out a tea party for her animals.

 

 

Note the watering can in the background.

 

 

 

Jumping!

Jumping has become somewhat of a problem lately, especially jumping on the couches in the living room.  The deed was done and punishment has been handed out -- repeatedly.  So I went online trying to figure out what to do about repeated offences such as this.  I found someone's suggestion of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" idea of "get a trampoline".  I looked on Craigslist and found a few small trampolines.  I mentioned the idea to Tony.  He went on Craigslist and found one specifically for little kids.

Today after church the Children's Ministry had Family Fun Day.  For the little kids like ours they had a couple of inflatables this time, as well as trikes, balls, etc. for them to play with.  This was Dawson's first time in any kind of inflatable so I tried to get a couple pictures of him having fun.  He sure had a lot of fun!

After church we went out to see and possibly purchase the little trampoline that Tony found on Craigslist.  He did go ahead and purchase it (it was bought new by this family last November so it's still under a year old!) and we brought it home.  Tony and Meighan and I put it together and Meighan got to try it out first.  After Dawson's nap he got to be in it by himself for a little while.  Then they were both in it together.  I think I'm going to have to set a time limit each time they go in for jumping.  Judging by the smiles, I think it was a good purchase!  Hopefully this will allow them to burn off some energy and keep them from jumping on the couches!

He kept sliding out on the entry/exit ramp.

 

We had to keep pushing him back up and in.

 

I think he liked it!

 

He also rode around on a princess car :-}

 

Meighan and Daddy putting the trampoline together.

 

She had to have her goggles on while she was building.

 

 

 

 

 

First jumper!

 

 

He does pretty good when he's the only one in there!  When Meighan was in there, too, he'd fall more but he was laughing the whole time!

 

Meighan's 4th Gotcha Day!

I can't believe it's already been 4 years since we met Meighan!  It seems like she's been in our lives longer than that!  She is almost done with her Pre-K year of school and will start Kindergarten in August!  Wow!

Today we went to church and then came home and ate a quick lunch.  She wanted to go to the Omaha Children's Museum for her Gotcha Day activity.  Tony didn't want to watch Dawson there so they stayed home while we went.  I swear, I think Meighan could go down slides all day if she had the opportunity!  There were several slides there and she'd just go down and run back up and slide down again -- over and over and over....!  Currently (and for the next week--the last week of it) there is an exhibit there called "Itty Bitty City".  It's basically a mini version of Omaha.  Among the areas/sponsors there is a police car to sit in, WOWT weather green screen and you can see yourself on TV, Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom area, Security National Bank, eco-friendly home (playhouse), play restaurant, mini Borsheim's jewelry, MUD area, airport, Werner Enterprises mini semi truck, fire station, an ambulance, a city bus, an animal hospital, and other areas I'm probably missing.  She also spent lots of time in the gravity area where the balls fall every once in a while.  We also attended a science demonstration on gravity and air pressure.

Here's pictures of her enjoying her time there.

Of course, she had to ride the reindeer on the carousel first!

 

Big smile after sliding!

 

She got to take care of some animals in the animal hospital.

 

Talking to headquarters or dispatch in the police car.

 

Playing in the playhouse.

 

A mini tornado

 

Putting balls in the Super Gravitron!

 

And all the balls fall out every so often!

 

More sliding!

 

And more!

 

And MORE!

 

They even had old pedal cars.  She couldn't get the pedals to work well and the steering was nearly impossible and the other kids kept bumping into her back so she switched to a tricycle.

 

Teeter totter airplane.  Kinda cool!

 

 

 

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY, MEIGHAN!

We Have A Tolerant Cat