Jumperoo!

We added a new activity to Mason's list - A Johnny Jump Up! I've been keeping an eye out for one and found one at the second hand store. He really seems to like it... for a few minutes at least! He is sooooooo much fun these days. He smiles at absolutely anyone who will talk to him or even look at him. He is cooing and gooing lots and loves to play patty-cake.

Cole is a rambunctious as ever. He loves to play with his friends and can hardly contain himself when they come over to our house. He is potty training now and is doing so well! Although he'd rather go naked, we're working on keeping the big boy underwear on and dry:-) It's been WONDERFUL to have not changed one of his poopy diapers in over 3 weeks!!! In the picture he is imitating Adam by putting a pen "in his ear".

Adam made me so happy this week too! I've been wanting a "mudroom" bench by our back door for quite a while and he suddenly decided to build me one! He did an incredible job and I'm so excited to have an organized place for our shoes, jackets, etc. Thanks honey!!!

Spring is finally peeking around the corner and we're in for some 70ish temperatures in the next couple of days. We have a play date at the park planned and I'm hoping to get out in the yard and start getting things spruced up! I can't wait to see some flowers coming up and as usual, I'm kicking myself for not planting any daffodils or tulips last fall!

Pictures

Here's some pictures of just hanging out at home over the last couple weeks.

Maternity leave no more:-(

Well, yesterday was my first day back to work after 3 months of maternity leave. I slept very lightly thinking I might not wake up in time but in fact, I had a very good alarm clock. Mason decided he was hungry a little earlier than normal and woke me up around 5am. Oh well, it got me out of bed on time!

The day went well and wasn't a terribly hectic day at work which was good because I had a nursing student and found myself having to remember what screens to click into for charting on the computer and just having to figure out how to organzie my time again at work! Adam was able to get both boys to my mom's house before work and she said they had a great day! Actually, I think she told Adam that "there's a little more going on with two of them!" or something to that affect:-) Yes, there definitely is! I'm so thankful for my mom and mother-in-law who have watched my boys routinely for me while I work! They are more of a blessing than I could ever express!!!

I was beat by the end of a 12 hour day of work and it was so nice to get home to my family and a garlic chicken pizza in the oven too:-) MMMMMmmm, I love Papa Murphy's! I have such a great husband and kids and it's so nice to have Cole run up to me yelling, "Mommy!" when I get home!

Though staying at home full time would be fabulous, I'm blessed to have a job I love, especially just a job right now with benefits! My co-workers and boss are great too so it makes it easy to work there. (finding time to pump every 3-4 hours is a little tricky!) I only work two 12 hour shifts per week, one weekday and every other weekend so it makes childcare easy and still allows me to be home the majority of the time to raise our kids and take care of our home. My feet were a little achy but I slept good and was happy that I remembered how to be a nurse:-)

Here's a picture and video clip of Cole helping Adam feed Mason a bottle, he's such a good little helper!

The bumbo...

Mason got a bumbo seat from his Grandma Bucher for Christmas this year and is finally able to use it! He is so chubby that we have to kind of squish him into it but he is very content when he is in it. I think he likes to be upright and able to watch everyone. Cole tried it out too and I think he had more room in it than Mason did. It's a great little seat though and it's always fun to have a new "activity" for Mason to try out!

Steal of a deal...

I went over to the Idaho Youth Ranch today to look around while I was out with the boys and saw this kids work bench out back. I went to see if it was in decent shape and it was actually in great shape! Everything was in working order, even the batteries, when you press down on the saw, it makes noise! (of course what would a toy be these days without noise!) And the best party, it was only $3.50! I had to call my mom right after and tell her what a good deal it was! I'm sure Adam will ask me where in the world we are going to put another large toy item in our house and right now, I'm not sure! I just know it was a steal of a deal and Cole played with it all afternoon:-)

Mom's photo studio...

So, I told Adam tonight that a gift he could give me sometime would be photography lessons. I just love to take pictures but don't know any tricks of the trade. I would love to learn how to take really good pictures! Of course, I still try and out of about 50 pictures, usually come up with two or three that are really cute! It's fun to get big smiles and actually catch them on film:-) Here's a few of my cute ones from the latest "mom's photo studio".

There's nothing like a fort!

Adam went skiing for the afternoon on Saturday and I stayed home with the boys. It was kind of a gloomy day so we needed to think of something fun to do inside. Our solution? A fort! I hadn't built one for a long time and it was pretty fun! We used his tent for the main entrance and then took all his cars, his flashlight, and some books and read inside. It was tons of fun and Adam found it was a good place to take a nap when he got home:-)