Verbatim

Me "Touch someone only if you are hugging them"
Craig "or giving a handshake"
Landon "I like milkshakes!"


Landon "My Crocs (shoes) aren't working. I haven't charged them."


Me "Why are you hitting Mommy?"
Landon "I'm not hitting. I'm giving you a large shock."
As in when you touch someone with a lot of static

Busy

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. Things have been somewhat ridiculous around here.
Here are my excuses...

Oliver has decided that the only way he will take a "full" nap is if he lays on me for an hour in the afternoon. This has prevented me from getting anything done after 1 o'clock most days. By "full" I mean, he has napped long enough to go play without me holding him or being within a 6 inch radius. AKA, I can get things done.

After naps it's time to prepare dinner, or do the laundry, or do the dishes that have been sitting there for over 20 hours. I won't even comment on how long the laundry was sitting there begging to be cleaned.

Landon refused to take a nap most of last week. Even though he desperately needed one. Bedtime came very early for him and most nights he graciously went.

Craig took one of his classes on a field trip to Alabama to look at rocks in their natural setting this past weekend. This means we didn't see Craig for most of last week while he was busy preparing. Which means when I had free time, it was spent lying on the couch catching my breath, instead of slacking on the computer.

I haven't taken pictures in probably a week.

Oh, we also put an offer on a house here. We are in the process of having a purchase agreement drawn up. This process will most likely have taken us 3 weeks. Ugh. Hopefully it will be signed on Friday and we can go to the bank and proceed with our inspections next week. Keep your fingers crossed. The house has been almost fully updated, the bathrooms and a new air conditioning/heating unit being on the top of that list. The only thing that will really need done before we move in is to refinish the hardwood floors. Also, the house has a dishwasher so that scenario with those dishes that have been sitting there staring at me with their beady little eyes will no longer occur once we have signed our lives away to our bank. They will be tucked behind a closed door, clean or dirty, either way, who cares if I don't have to look at it!

The house saga will continue and I promise to take pictures this weekend while we enjoy Super Bulldog Weekend.

Children's Museum

Sorry for the length, it was a loooong day.

Craig took a day off (it was Spring Break after all) and we took a trip to the Children's Museum.
Every good road trip with us involves at least one potty break, usually on the side of the road. I won't mention who the culprit was, but for once it wasn't me.
The plan was to eat lunch at a state park next to the museum. I thought I had a well laid plan, but of course forgot that it was Spring Break! Both places were packed! We did however find a nice picnic table in the shade to eat. The state park had a huge castle playground which tempted the kids while eating.
We made our way to the museum and had a lot of fun. The place was packed with kids, parents and strollers. It was enough to make a paranoid mother like me go crazy about the potential of kidnapping! Luckily, I manned the stroller and entertained Oliver while Craig chased after and played with Landon the whole time.

One of the first exhibits was a car the kids could pump up to change the tire, fill up with gas, wash the windshield, and play on the inside (the 2 doors on the drivers side were taken off and the other side didn't open, thank you museum for thinking of the kids fingers!)

There was a barn you could climb up into and go down a slide.
A cow you could pretend to milk.

A pretend tractor to sit in.

A water table that entertained Oliver for about 30 minutes. The problem was keeping him from climbing into it.

A giant scrabble board.

Pretend to be a bird.

Climb a small rock wall.

A version of Dance Dance Revolution.

A lots of places to climb into exhibits and crawl through tunnels.

Oliver found his friend at the outside portion and had to give a hug. He's so sweet and loving.

There are so many more things to do at the museum as well, like a music room, a shrimp boat, a cave, fossil digging pit, play kitchen, reading room, a tunnel system through the gastro-intestinal system, a puppet theatre, and so much more. It was a fun and exhausting visit. Next time, we'll go during the week when school is in session.
As a side note,
Ollie has learned how to slide backwards on his stomach and stand on his head.

And apparently likes lemons

*Warning* the content below is somewhat vulgar. Read only if you want to hear about the events that later occurred involving bowel movements.


 A friend, the two little babes, and I stayed in Jackson to hit up Target and some other stores while the men and two older kids drove back home. While we were out to dinner, Oliver had the largest bowel movement probably in his life. Up the back and out onto the restaurant's high chair. (Always clean a high chair at a restaurant before placing your child in one to eat) I wrapped a paper napkin around his back and carried him through the restaurant (at nose level) to the bathroom to clean him up. I tried to be sensitive to the fact that other women using the restroom did not want to see or smell my child's huge bowel movement but the fact was that it was HUGE! Ollie ran around the bathroom naked while I cleaned up his clothes and the changing table. Unfortunately I only brought extra clothes for Landon and not for Ollie. Thankfully we were on our way to Target.

While Craig was on his way back home, Landon complained and cried for the last 30 minutes of the drive that he didn't feel good and the car seat was hurting him. Landon had been holding in his poo for the past 2 days. No wonder his tummy didn't feel good. We tried bribing him with M&M's with no luck, we were just waiting for it to come, but it didn't come on its own so he had to get a suppository. Minutes after the suppository he was relieving himself on the potty and his demeanor changed instantly. He went from crying, in pain and not eating to laughing, giggling, tooting and ate most of his hamburger. Thank you suppository for making Landon himself again. He has now poo'ed 4 times since.
I just wish we gave him the suppository before going to the museum.
Lesson learned.

St. Patty's Day

Unknowingly we celebrated St. Patrick's day with a picnic lunch.
Just another typical day really.
No one wore green or ate anything green or drank anything green. Ooops.
We ate PB&J's at the park and blew some bubbles.

A St. Patty's day hug for his best friend

Maybe yellow is the new green?

Landon's View

Once again, Landon has documented part of his day.

Craig leaving for work, with one of his birthday presents in tow. His new Thermos he's been asking for for years.

Me getting breakfast ready

 Making PB&J for our picnic lunch at the park.

The dog

Ollie trying to help

Later that night the Rodgers' came over for pizza and leftover birthday cheesecake.

Here's Amelia

And Amelia's hand

Signs of Spring

The daffodils have all bloomed and now it is Spring in the south.
Some more signs of Spring around our house are...
Naps outside

Crayfish chimneys popping up

Vibrant trees of all colors

Going on walks while dragging a tree limb that fell during a storm

As I write this post I got to thinking that Spring in the South doesn't really feel much like a Spring up North or even out West. It has been above 80 for the past 3 days. If Spring brings 80+ days, Summer is not going to be fun. We had to come inside this afternoon from playing outside because it was too HOT. Ugh! We need more shade!

Craig turns 30

Craig's birthday was last week. 

The BIG 3-0!

It was pretty low key.

Dinner at home with the boys. I made Cajun Chicken Pasta. To die for!

Homemade Cheesecake. Yum!

(I don't have the number 0 candle yet, so we just let the 3 stand alone.)

And Craig fell asleep on the couch at 8.

Landon insisted that he stay on the couch while I put Oliver to bed. I fell asleep in the chair with Oliver and 10 minutes later I come out to Landon snapping pictures of Craig snoozing on the couch.

Naps are an essential part of an aging man's daily routine.

Saturday

We went to a free horse show on Saturday.

The dirt at the outside arena was more entertaining than the horses.

We went to lunch and then helped out some friends with a septic problem.

Men hard at work!

Oliver and Amelia (Landon's best friend) fell asleep on the car ride to their house,

so Charlotte (Oliver's best friend) and Landon got the sand box all to themselves.

It was a gorgeous day to be working and playing outside.

Baseball

 Our introduction to MSU baseball was this past weekend.

It was a baseball game of course, nothing new there, but it was where we sat that was unlike any other sports game I've attended.

Welcome to Left Field!

These trucks happen to be some of the oldest trucks in left field. 

They are well seasoned. 

The truck beds have seats on them.

People bring their own grill, food, and beverages.

It is unlike anything I have ever seen before.

The boys had a lot of fun.

Landon mostly enjoyed jumping from the tailgates to the deck.

Oliver really liked being on the home run fence to get the best view.

As strange and comfy as our seats were, we enjoyed the company of some good friends.

And MSU won.

Craig had to join us late because he was asked to be interviewed by one of the local tv stations about the earthquake in Japan.

Luckily our good friend DVR'ed his interview so we could watch later.

He did a great job.

If this whole professor thing gets boring, I think he could have another career.

Fishing

Landon went fishing over the weekend.

What did he catch?

Fish, Whales, Dolphins

 Who did he take with him?

Baby Rhino, of course

He told me the sunglasses were to keep the slime from the fish out of his eyes.
He also went ice fishing, and even drilled the holes.

Verbatim

Landon jumping off his headboard onto his bed - "Did you see that Mom? I didn't even break any bones."

Me "That's good!"

Landon 10 seconds later "I think this is a good idea to jump off. Grandma Ellen taught me this when I was a baby"

Brothers

One quote came to mind when I looked at this picture.

"Brothers don't shake hands, brothers gotta hug." - Tommy Boy