"You've got a friend in me"

We're CRAZY about "Toy Story" at our house! It's a phenomenon that's been evolving for quite a while. Last week, Louie went to our friend's house to play and Isak loaned him one of his Woody dolls.
I figured that we needed a Buzz Lightyear too. Ebay is an amazing thing, I found a Buzz and a Woody.
Emily got the new Woody and she LOVES him.

This is the Buzz that Isak loaned to to Louie. He's been the object of both of our kids affection.

Our new buzz arrived yesterday, we went to swimming lessons and then came home to have Louie puke like a firehose all over him. Poor kid.

So, Buzz has been in our house for less than 24 hours and he's already been through the wash.

We're all feeling better now! Louie woke up this morning and yelled "Mom, I'm awake! I feel better." and he does feel better!

Charlie turned 16 on May 1. We were invited over to Tapio's on Sunday afternoon to celebrate with him! We wish him the best!

Cinco de Mayo

Emily, Louie and I went to Cinco de Mayo over in West St. Paul with Auntie Tesa, Maria, Bella and Lorenzo. We also met Missy and GenGen. Uncle Paul was playing in the softball tournament over there too. It was lots of fun and there were tons of people there.
This falls into the catagory of "World's Dumbest Purchase a Mom Made!" Louie spotted kids along Concord blowing these trumpets. I wasn't paying attention to them to know that they are quite possibly the most annoying thing EVER! Tesa bought one for Maria and Bella too!
As all the kids were blowing their trumpets, I had a flashback to "Sixteen Candles" when the Geeks are driving around in the car playing the kazoos, there's kazoos playing in harmony. That's what the trumpets in stereo reminded me of.

Emily loved the trumpet too.
So did Maria and Bella.

Bella reminds me of the saxophone player in the Muppets with her hair under the sunglasses like this. She wore them like this all day.
Then, Lorenzo wanted in on the trumpet action.
Because all the girls were distracted by the tent in the kids area that offered fingernail painting.

Maria picked bright blue.
Emily wasn't sure about the whole operation, but in the end she decided to go for bright pink. Notice that the people doing the nails are boys.


And then Louie realized that Emily was getting hers done and he HAD to have his painted as well. Yep, we'll be filing this one away with the shot of him in the pink Dora boots from last summer.
And after the fingernail painting, we got a Jolly Rancher Watermelon flavored snowcone, which promptly turned Louie's lips and mouth bright red. Looked like lipstick.

He really liked the snowcone.

On the way back to the car, we had to spend the rest of our tickets so we got some mini-doughnuts. They were so good!
We got home, took naps and then ordered a pizza for dinner. Lots of healthy food eaten at our house today!

Tomorrow, we're celebrating Charlie's 16th Birthday over at Auntie M's house. I am inspired by the delicious dinner we had over at Lynchs house last night. Mary made homemade refried beans (YUMMY!!!) and made bean and cheese enchiladas. So delicious! Anyhow, I'm going to also make some homemade refried beans and so fresh guacamole and chips to bring over there. Lunds has RIPE avacadoes on sale, 10 for $10! What a deal if you like to make guacamole and we LOVE it!

The weekend run down

Emily and I went to our third gymnastics class. She is really enjoying the class and warming up to trying new things. This week, Emily went on the balance beam and it was set to the highest level. We did that five times. Emily wouldn't do it without holding my finger.

One of the other stations that we tried were the hoppy ball things. They were sort of weird and most of the kids had a hard time getting them to work at first. But, Emily figured it out after a couple of tries.

After class, we went to the compost pit over on Pierce Butler Route. Then, to Menards to pick up a couple packs of seeds and some potting soil. When we got home, it was time to start working. Dan FINALLY took down out Christmas lights. I decided to rake the dead stuff out of the front yard. I raked up a pile of dead grass the size of my car! It was unreal. When that was done, I put the sprinkler on for a long time and everything started to look green.

Then, I went to find something in our garage and that was ugly. We now have a HUGE pile of crap to go out in the next trash pick up.

Last night, I was one sore momma! I've got blisters on my fingers and my arms are stiff!

Today, we went to Assumption for church and it was First Communion Sunday. So cute.

After doughnuts, we went to lunch at McGovern's with Grandma. Then, home for naps and some yummy Enchilada Hot Dish for dinner.

The Frozen Dairy Delivery Truck

On Thursday, it was 85 degrees and BEAUTIFUL! Dan went and umpired some baseball games, so it was just me and the kids for dinner. I made the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Scallopine and it was delish! Emily and Louie ate every bite of it and then more after their baths.

While I was in the kitchen making dinner, they were winding down on porch and watched a little bit of the Muppet's Treasure Island. This is their new favorite! Louie is totally into pirates now.

He does still love Thomas, Lightening McQueen and Buzz Lightyear. Anyhow, while they were watching the movie, the ice cream truck came by. It drove by really slow, I'm pretty sure the guy remembers which houses have kids and $$.

So, Louie heard the truck on the next block over and came in the kitchen to let me know it was coming. I had just stocked the freezer with mini ice cream sandwiches, in preparation of this event. I assured him that I'd already gotten him ice cream, but he had to eat his dinner.

He is such a wheeler dealer, always bargaining for the next best thing.

Anyhow, he got to get his ice cream sandwich and all was well with the world.

Swimming Lessons, round 2

We had our second week of gymnastics on Saturday. Emily did great. Each week, Jessica the teacher, will have a different set of activities for each of the kids to try. So much fun! Emily did a good job of following directions, unlike several of the other kids (and parents) in the class.
On the potty training front, WOW, we have made the final turn and are heading to the finish line with Emily! She has one or two accidents a week. Emily has finally figured out what her body is telling her when she has to go and she in turn tells us! It's awesome!
Last night, we had our second session of swimming lessons. They both can't get enough of the pool. Louie has NO fear of the water. He jumps into the water and goes under the water! No fear. He even did it behind my back, without my helping him get out of the water. THANKFULLY the dad next to me caught him! He's a crazy boy!
Tonight, I made The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Scallopine for dinner and it was terrific! Emily and Louie LOVED it and ate every bite of it in their bowls. We had penne pasta with it, we're out of linguine.
anyhow, it was delish! I added a little bit of garlic with the mushrooms! YUMMY!

Happy First Birthday, Lorenzo!

Today, Lorenzo turned one! We went over to celebrate with everyone. It was another beautiful day!
The birthday boy on the swing.

Emily played on the swing.
Grandpa Don was busy pushing Emily, Louie and Lorenzo on the swing.

Getting ready for cake with Maria.

Then it was time for Lorenzo to enjoy his own birthday cake.

The damage wasn't too bad.
Then, it was time to open presents. He got a few new outfits and some boy toys. Louie really loved this Mater ride on!

Friday night

Friday night was lovely! The temp was 72, no bugs, no wind. Lovely!
Dan was gone to a baseball game, so the kids and I played outside for a while and then, when it was time to wind down to get ready for bed I turned on a movie out on the porch. Life doesn't get much better than this!
The Muppets Treature Island on the screen porch with blankies. Life is good.

Swimming Lessons

We started our 8 weeks of swimming lessons tonight. Both Emily and Louie were VERY excited to go and carried their pool bags out to the van. We got to Bridgeview a little early so we could change and get out stuff ready. There were only about half the kids there tonight, so it was really nice and small.
When we first got in the pool, Louie wanted no part of being in the pool and cried "I want to go home to Youie's house!" Poor kid was in tears in the pool. Dan and I switched kids, he took Emily and I took Louie. After that, I eased him into the pool and by the time we were leaving, he was jumping into the pool and climbing out himself, to jump back in again. Both of them were floating on their backs and fronts, kicking their legs. Surprisingly, they both adjusted so well and we didn't think that they would adjust so quickly.


Here they are standing at the stairs, waiting for our lessons to begin. So much fun!

Swimming lessons

We start swimming lessons down at Bridgeview School tonight! The kids are very excited to finally get to go swimming. We'll see how it goes.
Mommy, on the other hand, is NOT excited to put on a swimsuit and get in the pool with them.