Dinosaur Egg Fun!

It is my mission this summer to do some fun and educational activities with Brody, so when I saw this Dinosaur Egg at Cracker Barrel I thought it looked like a fun thing to do with him. He has been watching PBS Kids in the mornings (they have some great shows on there)! One of the shows is called Dinosaur Train- whoever thought of this show was a genius! What boy would not want to watch a show that is about Dinosaurs and trains?!?! I find it very interesting because they try to teach the kids about different dinosaurs and what happened to them while making it fun for them to watch! ANYWAYS--- We knew he would love watching a Dinosaur egg crack open and a dinosaur come out of it!

This is what it looks like in the box.

UPS Man Brody was very excited about seeing what kind of Dinosaur was going to be inside!

You have to submerge the egg in water for up to 24 - 36 hours. We put ours in a big bowl in the kitchen so we could observe it.

Kaylee was watching Brody put the egg in the water.

After 24 hours we were able to see part of the Dinosaur. We could see the shell cracking and the Dinosaur's head sticking out of the egg.


So of course we decided to peel back the egg and see what kind of Dinosaur was inside.


The egg was very easy to peel back and this part was a lot of fun for him. As we peeled back the egg, we talked about all the different kinds of animals that hatch out of eggs.

To Brody's excitement he got a T-Rex! The instructions said that as long as the Dinosaur was submerged in water it would keep growing. So we put it back in the water and watched it grow for 3 days!

After 3 days Brody decided it was big enough and we took it out to dry and of course to play with!

It was a lot of fun and very educational at the same time!

Our Trip to Austin-

This past weekend we went to visit Jason's sister in Austin, Texas with his whole family. We had a great time and enjoyed being all together as a family! While we were there we did a lot of fun things - here are some pictures of some of the things we did.

We went shopping and enjoyed the outlets that are there! Brody of course has never really enjoyed shopping and Jason and I have always had to think of creative things for him to do while we shop. On a previous trip I bought him some new cars and trains when he was really into that. Then we would pull a new one out for him to play with when he got a little bored. This time I pulled out the quarters and if Brody was good in the store he would get to go ride a kiddie ride that they have at the outlet malls. This was fun for him and it taught him a little bit about money and the value of it. He only had so many quarters in his pocket and he had to choose which rides to spend them on. He of course enjoyed it and endured going in the stores so that he could go ride a different ride. :)

We went to the Domain (a different shopping strip) to eat dinner and to do a little more shopping that night. We ate some yummy Mexican food and really only went in one store. Forever 21!! I do love this store but sadly walked away empty handed!! They had this really cool play area for the kids so that is where we ended up.


Grandma showing Lilly the waterfall

Drew, Heather and Luke!

Cute little Luke enjoying looking at the water.

Jeremy, Brandy, and Traber. Traber just lights up in front of the camera!

Ryan, Holly, Lilly, and Linnea.



It was funny when we would all be somewhere. Many people would stop and look at all of us with all the kids. One lady in the restaurant was counting all of the kids at our table! :) To have 6 kids all under the age of 3 sitting at one table is bound to draw some attention!

On Sunday we ate at my favorite restaurant in Austin! Flip Happy crepes! If you are ever there it is a must go to! They are delicious!! We then went to the Botanical gardens and enjoyed being outside! It was really pretty but a little hot!!

A family pic.
Brody and Lilly checking out some wildlife--- a caterpillar. Lilly wanted to let it crawl up her leg and Brody wanted to kill it! Ohh the difference between boys and girls! :)

Brody enjoying the fish in the pond.

I don't know why but Kaylee has been making this face lately! I just think it is so funny and so cute!
Kaylee and daddy walking on some rocks in the water.

To get him to take this picture I told him it was the last picture that I would take of him! He then walked over to where I wanted him to stand, posed and after I took the picture said "good we are done with that"! HAHAAH ohh Brody!

Grandma sitting with Linnea, Luke and Traber.

Saying goodbye to the gardens. We had a great time while we were there and enjoyed so many fun things as a family. We got some yummy snow cones, ate lots of yummy food and had a great time as a family at Heather and Drew's house! Thanks Heather and Drew for everything!!

School's out for Summer-

1st Day of School 2009

Last Day of School 2010
Brody is now officially out of school for the summer! I can't believe that his 1st year of preschool went by so quickly! He had a great time at school and would always come home talking all about what he did that day and who he played with. I loved his teachers and will diffidently be putting Kaylee in their class when she gets old enough. I asked him what his favorite part of school was and he said "I like every part". I then probed some more and he finally said that music class was his favorite time of day. This was no surprise to me because he would always come home singing the songs that he had learned that day in class. He had a great year and I am proud to say that he never once had to sit in time out at school!! Way to go Brody! Congratulations on finishing your first year of preschool!

Clean Slate Weekend-

This past weekend our church had an event called Clean Slate. They find families in our area that need a fresh start, a new beginning, a "Clean Slate." The catch phrase associated with Clean Slate is: "Transforming lives by transforming homes." The main goal in the end is to show the love of Jesus Christ to the families we are helping. It is a wonderful thing to be apart of!

Our family has a 12 year old boy who has muscular dystrophy. He is now in a wheel chair and was not able to get in the shower without a family member lifting him to put him in his shower. He was not able to get into his closet or go out into the game room because of his chair. The family thought that we were going to come and just redo some parts of their house so that he could access them. However as it ends up we redid their whole house and gave them a fresh new look! Kara Paslay designed everything in the house and she did an amazing job capturing exactly what the mom wanted! You can check Kara's website out at http://karapaslaydesigns.blogspot.com

This year I volunteered to be the house "Organizer". I had to be there Thursday evening until Sat night helping organize the closets, go through some things with the home owner and see if there was anything that we could put up in the attic or give away. I also helped give people jobs, try to keep things going so that we would meet our deadline, and make things look neat.

On Thursday my job was to go through things with the mom and see what she wanted to get rid of and keep. We also pretty much packed up her entire house so that we could start working on it!

(In the picture above Jason and I were in the kitchen of the house that was redone.)

I was so glad that Julie was there to help us! I put her on some very random jobs throughout the weekend and she was always very willing! At one point I asked her if she has ever sanded anything with a power sander, she said no but she can learn how to! Wow what a great attitude!!! We had over 100 Volunteers at this house throughout the weekend! This is 1 of 8 houses that our church is doing last weekend and this next weekend. Isn't it awesome how so many people were so willing and ready to give their time and talents to help this family in need!

My friends Julia and Taylor were there as well! Can you believe that Taylor Lautner was so willing to help out! :)

The teenage girl from this house had this cardboard cut out in her room. So... Julia and I went into teen mode and just had to take a picture with him! :)
Julia also helped me out by doing some last minute things that I needed to be done. She did not tell me at the time that she did not enjoy doing them, she just did it with a smile! :)

Here I am going through some of her kitchen items! I am so glad and grateful for all the people that helped me!! There were people organizing the pantry and they did an amazing job! It was very fun to work with a lot of people that I knew from church but maybe did not know that well. It was a great way to get to know them better!

*One things I will be putting on my Christmas list is the pull out drawers that we installed for her! Oh my goodness they were to die for! :)
Here is our project Manager talking to all of the Volunteers and basically giving us a pep talk 5 hours before the family was to arrive.

Not only did people use their talents to help with the house, Dr. Jason used his talent by stitching up Nate who cut himself pretty bad while cutting tile. It was quite the show outside! :)

I wish I would have taken some "before" pictures but unfortunately I did not. So here are some of the "after" pictures that I took. The picture above is Luke's bedroom (the boy with muscular dystrophy). He totally changed bedrooms due to the bathroom situation. So this was a brand new room to him and it looked amazing! Kara is so creative!

This is his closet/bathroom that was designed just for him. I forgot to get a picture of the shower that was totally built from scratch for him.

This is the finished product in the Kitchen! Wow I thought it looked so good and was totally something that I never would of thought of! She put chicken wire on them and backed it with material. The theme for this house was "Modern Farmhouse". I think she captured that perfectly!
This was the entryway of their house. So cool!

This little boy loved his new bedroom! We built the shelves, and put some very cool cork board in between them to display his artwork! Needless to say he was back here all night!

I had a great time being involved in this project and I can't wait to do it again next year! I have definetely learned some things that I would do differently and some things that I would do the same. I want to thank both sets of grandparents for watching the kids a lot this weekend and to Ja for all his help and support through this!

Our nephew's first Birthday Party!

We were able to go to our nephew Drew's Birthday Party last weekend. We loved being able to celebrate the fact that he is now 1 year old with him!! It is hard to believe that he is already that big and walking around!! My sister did a wonderful job of course decorating a pavilion for his party! It was the perfect place for the party and she made it look so fun and party like!

Look at those BIG blue eyes! Those just melt your heart!

My sister and Drew. We were afraid that it was going to rain during the party but it turned out to be very sunny, a little hot, and a lot humid! We were just glad it did not rain. That night after the party we did experience some heavy down pours and even had to take shelter from a tornado in Amy and Eric's laundry room. It was Brody's first experience of a tornado and he of course had tons of questions about it! Luckily when we took shelter he was fast asleep on the laundry room floor so he did not have to experience that!

Kaylee and her Daddy at the party.

One of the gifts we gave Drew was this ball. He loves balls and it was a big hit with him and Kaylee.
Amy had bubble wands and sidewalk chalk for the kids to play with. The bubble wands were a big hit!

Brody playing with his bubble wand.

Drew blowing out his candle on his cake. Amy had some great table decorations like candy!!! And of course all of the candy was blue and green. This of course was a big hit with not only the kids but the adults as well! She also had blueberries and green grapes along with some yummy blue frosted cupcakes for everyone to enjoy!

Here he is digging into his cake! Lets just say he really really really liked it.........

I just LOVE this shirt that he is wearing! She got it on Etsy of course! So cute!!

Brody, Kaylee, and my mom enjoying watching Drew chow down on his cake!

Brody and Pops taking a gander across the way. :)


Drew loves this blue dog and let me just tell you he can really get it rocking! He will sit there and rock it back and forth! So cute! Happy Birthday Drew we were so glad that we got to come and share this time with you and your parents!!

Our Little Lady-

This is a post entirely dedicated to our Kaylee Jo. It seems like a long time since I have talked about what she is doing and how much she is changing. While I love having a boy and even prayed for a son first I also wanted a little girl. Not just because the girl section at the stores is way bigger and so much more fun to shop in, but because of the relationship that I hope to have with her when she gets older. I hope that she will tell me when something that I am wearing is out of style or when I am wearing "mom" jeans. (Which apparently the kind of jeans I wear now are considered "mom" jeans--- ummm I am sorry I can not bring myself to wear the skinny jeans when I am not wearing boots! I have a friend that wears them and they look great on her- but it is going to take me awhile to feel comfortable in them with out boots on!!!) -- ANYWAYS--
It is my prayer that Kaylee and I will have a great relationship when she gets older.

Right now she is attached to my hip- or if I am not carrying her my leg. :) She is definetely going through a stage of always wanting me and not really anyone else. When I am not around such as when we drop her off somewhere she does great. No problem, but as soon as she sees me - she wants me and only me! I know this is only a stage and that one day she will not always be like this.

She always has so much fun playing with Brody! She loves him and whenever Brody is at preschool and I tell her it is time to go pick him up, she gets all excited and goes to the door! So cute!

It seems like just in this last month she has started talking more. She will repeat a few things and has started using them all the time. She can say, ball, mama, dada, bro, up, help, out, all done, bye bye, book, uh oh, snack, drink, eat, yes, dog, and knows her animal sounds.

She loves to "help" me get ready in the mornings! When I blow dry my hair and fix it she loves to sit in the sink and watch me/turn the light on and off/ play with my hair stuff on the counter. This is where I have her sit when I fix her hair. I was given this advice from a grandma who would always fix her granddaughters hair while her granddaughter was sitting in the sink looking at herself in the mirror. Let me tell you it is a great way to get them to sit still while you try to fix their hair! Kaylee will then "help" me put on my makeup by taking all my makeup out of the bag and then putting it all back in the bag. This is our normal morning routine. Hey whatever works right! :)


She has started having little tantrums! Yes she is almost 15 months old and she is already crying and having a little fit when she does not get her way! I chalk this up to watching big brother and learning this from him! :)* At first I did not recognize this and thought she was filling bad- however I soon caught on and gave a heavy sigh because now we have to start disciplining her! *sigh*

She loves to go outside and would stay out there all day if we let her! I really can't wait to take her swimming this summer because I think she is going to love it!

I love our little lady so much! She has changed our lives and every time I look at her I can't believe how big she is getting! *sigh*

How many questions does a 3 year old ask?

They ask about 100 - 150 every day! I know right! If you have had a 3 year old or have one now then you totally understand this. However if you have never had a 3 year old then you are probably thinking that can't be true, ummm I beg to differ it is totally true!! On one 15 min car ride to school these are some of the questions that can be asked by my 3 year old:

-Why are we going to school?
-Why do cows stand on 4 legs?
-Where did all the Dinosaurs come from?
-Where did all the Dinosaurs go?
-Why do the trash men ride on the back of the truck?
-But why mom?

These are just some of the questions that I get about things he is thinking about. Then there are the harder ones to answer like these-

-Why do we have to Die?
-Where do our bodies go when we go to heaven?
-Do we get our bodies back out of the ground when we come back?
-How does God live in our Hearts?
-Why are there clouds in the sky?
-Why are the clouds moving?

Ummm yeah! Try explaining those things to a 3 year old where he can understand them! It is not always easy. When a hard question comes up we try to explain it to him in a way he can understand, however that is not always easy.

One day when he is in an inquisitive mood I answered 30 questions in a row before I finally gave up and distracted him with something else! Many times if I am busy or if I have already answered lots of questions I will say "I don't know" and he will always come back with "Yes you do mom just tell me!" :) That is when I just have to laugh! He is just like a little sponge just soaking everything up!


I had to end this post with this cute little girl!