A Wonderful Easter Weekend!

What an incredible weekend we had! So much fun and we were very busy! I've uploaded a lot of pictures, but of course I took a ton more - it's so hard deciding what pictures to include on the blog! They are all so great! Mom - I tried your suggestion and just couldn't get it to work.

A big thank you to everyone that was involved in everything this weekend - it wouldn't have been the awesome weekend it was without everyone being there and being involved!

So let's start from the beginning - Friday night Easter Egg Decorating! Gramma, Grampa, and Fany (their foreign exchange student) came over. This was a first for Fany and Lexi. Lexi was to young last year and I doubt Asa remembers it either.

The end result! Aren't they beautiful? Everyone did such a good job!

Saturday afternoon we were supposed to have a picnic at the park in our neighborhood, unfortunately it was raining. This was to celebrate all the March and April Birthday's. Happy Birthday to Diane, John, Patti and Fany. After that we got the kids ready and loaded up the Big One w/ Grammama and headed to Rawhide! About a year back, some friends of my parents got Lexi and Asa some really cute western wear and we were so excited that they finally had an opportunity to wear their western clothes and show off how cute they are. Thanks Ron & Sandy! I think you will agree that they looked adorable!

Asa had a blast putting everyone in jail. He thought it was really funny. Of course, he wouldn't go in at all! (I'm taking this as a good sign!)

"Not so fast Grampa! You're gonna be in here for a while!"

Lexi and Asa loved dancing at the Steakhouse. This was probably the highlight of the night.

Sunday morning, the kids got up early and guess who paid them a visit? The Easter Bunny!!!

Shot of Asa coming down the stairs and seeing what the Easter Bunny left for him. He was really excited. Doesn't he look handsome?

Pretty little Lexi - not far behind Asa, looking just precious in her Easter Dress.

After playing with our new toys and eating Easter Candy for breakfast, it was time to go to the park and hunt for Easter Eggs!

Lexi caught on really fast. Faster than I thought she would. Asa was excited as first, but like most 3 year olds (almost) he lost interest quickly. This was largely due to the fact that there was a playground at the park and a very tempting slide.

Asa (accidentally?) dumped his Easter basket out. Here he is surveying the damage.

Asa gave up on holding his Easter basket. Decided it would be more fun to just get right to it and go to each Egg, open it up and gobble up the candy as fast as he could. That is when he discovered that there was candy inside. Here is the first shot of Asa opening up an egg and discovering the yummy treats. I love the expression on his face!

Lexi checking out all her goodies...

After the Easter Egg Hunt it was finally time to just run around and play. It was a gorgeous day!

Gramma & Grampa brought over the Spider Man Kite they bought for Asa. Daddy, Gramma and Asa took it out for a test fly. Unfortunately not much wind to keep it up, but Asa loved every minute of it - especially when he got to hold the string!

Swinging - one of their favorite things. Especially when Auntie is pushing them!

Going down the slide is always more fun when Grampa is there to catch me!

The Exciting World of Potty Training

Asa is doing AMAZING at potty-training! He rarely has any "accidents" anymore. And he is great about asking to go to the potty now. This is all very exciting and we are so incredibly proud of him. Of course, with potty-training comes new experiences for all of us...

Sunday morning I took Asa and Lexi with me to take Grammama grocery shopping at her local Walmart. As we got through shopping and checking out and were walking out of the store, Asa announced that he needed to use the potty. "Really... right now... right here?" is what I was thinking in my head. I had yet to prepare myself for the whole 'public restroom' thing. So I get Asa out of the cart and pause (if only for a second) as I actually had to think of what restroom to go in... duh! Decided the ladies restroom was more appropriate. Give me a break... I'm new to this! Found a stall, lined the toilet seat with protective paper (of course!) and removed shorts and underwear. Asa is too small still to stand up to the big potty. The paper on the seat kinda threw him for a loop, but that didn't even compare to the new and nifty feature of the self-flushing toilet. If you are laughing and wishing you had been there to see this... you would be correct! But wait there's more... He pottied, I got him re-dressed and after about 3 more minutes finally was able to pry him away from the toilet sensor that makes the toilet flush. Out of the stall we go to wash our hands. Again - something new and nifty called the water sensor feature in the sink, not to mention the sink that is as long as the play pool in our back yard. Hands washed are ready to dry... Yep, you guessed it... the automatic hand dryer!!! Can I tell you that for Asa this was probably more fun for him than the playground at McDonald's.

I was telling one of my co-workers the above story and was at that point warned that this is just the beginning. Now that he has had a taste of public bathrooms... he will need to go "potty" every time we are in a store now. It's a whole new, exciting adventure.

Lexi is not to far behind. At 1 1/2 she is telling us when she has "poo poo butt" and knows what pee-pee and the potty are. She especially likes to go in the bathroom when Asa is in there and observe him. Occasionally she will even sit on the little potty, fully clothed, just likes to sit on in it and knows that it's the potty. She's close though... we would love to have her trained before she turns 2 in Sept. That's our goal anway.

Thunder in the Desert - Luke Air Force Base Air Show

A few weekends ago the 4 of us went to Thunder in the Desert @ Luke Air Force Base. This is the first time I have gone and the first time the kids have gone. We were a little worried because of the noise and how it would affect the kids, but they did great! As a matter of fact, Lexi did best of all! She loved the entire show and loved looking at all the planes and seeing them fly.

First thing I saw when we walked in was the Budweiser Wagon...

... and of course, what is the Budweiser Wagon w/o the Clydesdale's, right? We never did the see horses out of the trailer, but it was cool to see them none the less.

I hope no one has any expectations of me that I can actually name each and every one of these planes! John did tell me what each one was -unfortunately I didn't bring my steno pad with me to jot down what was what...

What would the blog be w/o pictures of the kids enjoying themselves?

I love the expression on his face... there was so much to see and do - he was just taking it all in.

Then we got to the Helicopter just like the one Daddy rode in when he was in Afghanistan. I think it is safe to say that Asa won't be flying helicopters any time soon! He was out of that helicopter as soon as he was put in it! I think it scared him a little being that it was so big. I think John enjoyed seeing his little man in it though.

Tired of riding in the stroller and tired of walking, he decided it was time to ride on Mommy's shoulders. Believe me - this didn't last very long - he is HEAVY!!!

FYI... if you double click on a picture it will open in a new, bigger screen for you.

Yes - he's flying upside down!

Daddy Moment...

Of all the planes we saw and the amazing flying by all of the pilots - I have to say that this was probably my favorite plane. It was absolutely breathtaking to be as near as we were to it and to be able to see it fly. It is huge!

Unfortunately because of how windy it was, there was a lot of events that were cancelled. And when I say windy - I'm not exaggerating! Because of the wind and all of the dust and dirt flying through the air we decided that it was no longer safe to have the kids out there. So we left a little early. We left just before the last event which was The Thunderbirds. Fortunately, we were able to see most of their routine from the safety of the Big One. All it all though - the event was great. John and I both got sunburned, but the kids were fine because I made sure they each had plenty of sun screen on. I hope we make this a yearly tradition now. It was a lot of fun and the planes, pilots and stunts were amazing! Thanks Luke Air Force Base for putting on such a great show! Thanks to all of current and former service men and women! God Bless!

Are they related or what?

I couldn't resist snapping this picture! They were exhausted after about a 3 hour trip through the local nursery picking out trees and plants for our backyard. We got a lot of good ideas, haven't bought any thing yet... baby steps.

The Pony Tail

The only thing harder than getting a 1 1/2 year old to stay still while putting in a pony tail, is getting her to sit still long enough to get a picture of said pony tail! Here's some cute pictures. Enjoy! I'm still trying to get more pictures of her various hair styles, just haven't perfected the picture taking process as of yet.

General Updates...

Lexi: Sweet little Lexi turned 1 1/2 last Friday! She's getting so big and is still just as sweet as she ever was, if not sweeter. She is the sunshine of our lives. Lexi wakes up in the morning with a big smile and is always ready and eager to start her day (even if it is at 4am!). Lexi's hair is really starting to grow now and I am able to put little pony tails in. She looks so cute! I took some pictures, but they aren't that great so I am waiting to take some more soon. That's if she will keep the pony tails in! Before, she never really had anything in her hair to play with so the pony tail thing is new to her and very interesting!

Asa: Asa is doing FANTASTIC at potty training! For the last week or so, he has been able to go all day with just underwear on. No pull-ups!!! Yeah! This is very exciting for all of us. He has a few accidents here and there, but overall he is doing really great! Most of the time we have to take him in to the bathroom to go potty, but occasionally he will tell us that he needs to go.

Both Asa and Lexi got some new summer clothes this past weekend and we are really excited to have them start wearing them.

Last weekend was really fun for all of us. Especially dinner on Sunday night. John lit up the BBQ and cooked up a fantastic steak (Asa calls it "fire steak") for all of us. We opened up the house, turned on the radio and let the kids play in the backyard while the steak was cooking. We decided since the weather was so great that we would move the table Gampa made us outside and enjoy dinner in the backyard! It was so nice! Of course, I think the kids were to interested and distracted with all the toys in the backyard because we could only get them to sit at the table for a few minutes before they were up and moving again. But John and I got to eat and enjoy the weather and just watching the kids play.

St. Patricks Day, John's Birthday and Easter are just around the corner, and then comes Asa's 3rd Birthday on May 22nd! Where did the last 3 years go?

Our Day at the Park...

The weekend before last we took Asa and Lexi to the park after getting Asa's hair cut. They had so much fun! It was a beautiful day and we are looking forward to many, many more visits to the park...

Asa before he got his hair cut...

Here's the after picture... Much better!

Here we are at the park... Asa and Lexi rode the "motorcycle bike" to the playground together...

She's not quite sure about the slide thing, it took her a while to figure out if she was going to go down it or not...

Then once she sat down it took her quite a while to actually let go and go down...

Giddy-up...

Woo Hoo!

Time for the swings...

Not much happened this weekend. I took Asa, Lexi, Grammama, and Auntie shopping on Saturday. The kids had a great time and I think Grammama and Auntie did too. On Sunday we went through all of Asa's clothes and boxed up the stuff that is to small now. He hasn't grown all that much since last summer so thankfully most of his shorts and shirts still fit so we won't need to buy a bunch of summer clothes for him. Lexi on the other hand is growing and growing... we are definitely going to need to go shopping for her! I am really looking forward to that! Sunday we just kinda hung out at the house and then went for a short ride to Sonic and got ice cream. Enjoy the pictures and have a great week!