Mr. Andrew & a special visit

Sunday was rainy & cold so we spent most of the day inside. Andrew helped Bruce redo the caulk in the bathrooms. He's very good little helper. He'll talk your ear off the entire time he's helping, but he loves to help. He especially enjoys any task that he gets to use his tools for.

Here he is helping:

While the kids were taking their naps, Paul & Larissa stopped by since they were on their way back from her parents cabin. It was nice to see them, and the kids enjoyed playing with them. Jenna spent part of the afternoon demonstrating that she is in deed going to be two (we may have gotten lucky with Andrew & the terrible two's but I think that Jenna is going to make up for it!).

Here's Andrew trying to move Uncle Paul on the stool:

We took Daisy (their dog) and Sadie out in the backyard for a while to play fetch and burn some energy off. Daisy's a great fetcher, and Sadie just loved having someone to chase after. I know that Sadie slept really well Sunday night so I hope that Daisy did too.

While the dogs were playing fetch, Larissa was a good sport and helped Andrew pick up worms.

Later that night Jenna went back to being Daddy's little helper....well kind of. She looked like more of a supervisor!

Tonight after we got home, Andrew said he wanted to go out and pick some dandelions (apparently they were picking them at daycare)....he was outside for bit, and then he came inside looking upset. When we asked why he was sad/upset he told us "There aren't any dandelions to pick in our yard!" It was hard not to laugh....

Little Miss Jenna

Saturday Andrew spent most of the day playing with his friends, so we (Bruce & I) spent the day hanging out with Jenna. She had us laughing on several occasions. She 'helped' each of us out with various tasks.

Here she is helping daddy level the deck on the lawnmower:

Here she is ready to leave for Target:

Here's what she did as we left (isn't she cute?):

She insisted in walking into Target carrying her purse and wearing her hat. As we were walking in she also had to say "Hello" to everyone......She got more than a few smiles and "hello's" back, which of course she took as an opportunity to ham it up even more. I let her pick out her own sandals.....so when you see them - they were her choice. I would have chose the cute little pink or purple sandals, but she decided on the ones with giant cupcakes on them.

And this is how we entertained ourselves later in the evening....we don't know who was funnier Sadie or Jenna.

Jenna chased after the sprinkler heads and looked so disappointed when they would go down, and Sadie was just her nutty self and would try to eat the water coming out of the sprinkler. Jenna has also started riding her mini Dora 4-wheeler a lot more. She is starting to figure out the steering thing, but we still need to help her. She has taken herself out on truck bumpers more than once. For some reason she hasn't figured out that if she takes her finger off the button she will stop, instead she holds onto the button for dear life, and proceeds to hit the bumper, and if it's tall enough will end up knocking herself off.

Beth & Travis's wedding

My sister got married this past weekend! We are so happy for Beth & Travis. It is really nice to see her so genuinely happy. Weather wise, they lucked out. I don't think you could have planned for better weather in April!
Andrew and the flower girl, Caitlyn, hung out on Friday night at the groom's dinner....they hadn't met before, but my the time dessert rolled around they were happy to be sharing a chair, and playing. It was super cute. Jenna made friends with Travis's niece, Kellyn, who is about 9 months younger than her. They entertained each other while the wedding party was practicing, and shared Cheerios while waiting for food.

It was an early morning for me, with an 8 AM hair appointment, but it was fun to hang out at the salon all morning with everyone. Bruce and the kids stayed at his parents place while I was getting ready. It was really nice of them to help with the kids this weekend. They even agreed to take them to their place when it was time for them to head home and keep them for the night. It was the 1st night Bruce and I have spent w/o the kids. (I know, I know......we waited too long).

Here are a few pics from the big day:

Larissa & I:

My Dad & I:

The happy couple @ gift opening:

Water fight!

Andrew thought it'd be funny to start a water fight with Bruce while he was having his hair washed......this is how it ended up:

I have a feeling that there are going to be more than a few water fights this summer!

Easter

The Easter bunny found our house again this year....the kids enjoyed finding the eggs and their baskets. Andrew definitely 'got' Easter this year. Jenna didn't really understand the whole egg hunt thing, but she liked going thru her basket. The bunny brought Andrew a real rake, shovel, and hoe that are just his size, some spiderman pajama's, a spiderman shirt, and some spiderman tattoo's, a few other non-spiderman items, and a little bit of candy. Jenna got a princess shovel for the sandbox, a strawberry shortcake backpack, shoes, pajama's and a little bit of candy. Plus they both were given a new bubble machine since our last one fell apart after too much 'love'.

After the morning hunt at our house, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Fullerton's house. The bunny managed to find there house too, and this time they were able to hunt for eggs & gifts outside. Andrew loved playing catch with his new baseball mitt, and practicing hitting with his new bat. Jenna had fun taking the baseball mitt from Andrew when it wasn't on his hand and running, and pretending to mow the lawn with her new pink bubble mower. After some much needed naps we were off to Grandma & Grandpa Bongers house. The kids got to do another egg hunt outside at their house, which of course Andrew loved. Later in the afternoon the boys went out to the lake, while us girls stayed at the house. Somehow Andrew came home with some wet shoes.....Jenna entertained herself by sitting on swing in the front of the house and waving at all the cars.

Showing off her back pack (doesn't she look old!):

Hunting for eggs in Owatonna:

Hunting for eggs in Faribault:

Grandma helping Jenna look thru her basket:

Grandpa helping Andrew with one of his new puzzles:

A little bit of sunshine

It appears as if Spring showed up (it's about time). We spent Friday and Saturday outside as much as possible, which was great. Bruce went to work putting away the winter stuff, and pulling out the summer items.

Andrew spent most of Friday afternoon and evening playing with the neighbor boys and driving his 4-wheeler and truck around. Saturday it was more of the same. I had the urge to organize the mudroom (including the closet) on Saturday morning so Bruce helped me with that. While we were doing that Miss Jenna enjoyed testing out different hats, mittens, and shoes. She found her pink Mary Janes which are now too small for her feet, and ended up throwing a fit because she couldn't get them on her feet. Apparently it was very traumatic that they no longer fit her. Later that day while Andrew was busy playing, Jenna figured out how to stand when she landed after going down the slide. We have a VERY fast slide, which just about shoots her across the sandbox so we typically catch her at the bottom of it, but she got up the play set and was down the slide before I could get there......the 1st time she landed on her butt, but then she figured out how to land on her feet - it was pretty funny. She'd go down the slide, land on her feet (looking like a gymnast that just stuck a landing) and then start clapping for herself.
We also dyed eggs on Saturday evening. The kids had a hard time being patient and letting the dye do it's thing so we washed their hair during the 1st batch of eggs, and gave them a bath during the 2nd batch. The eggs turned out very bright!

Jenna still wants to dress up in winter gear when we go outside, and is still trying to get us to pull her around in her sled....she doesn't seem to want to give up on winter! (she dressed herself for going outside):

Preschool

We just found out today that Andrew will be going to Bethel Highlands Preschool next year. He's been on the wait list, and it turns out that someone is moving out of town, so a spot just opened up. YEA! He'll be going 3 days a week (MWF) for full days (8:30-3:30). This is where we really wanted him to go, so we are very excited that a spot opened up.

I can't believe that he'll be starting preschool next year!

SNOW!

Only in the Midwest......can you wake up with a few inches of snow (in April), and by 2 o'clock in the afternoon it was gone (except for the remnants of a snowman & the snow fort).

We all got up, ate breakfast, and then headed outside to play in the snow! It was one of the 1st times all winter that it was actually warm enough to go out and enjoy the snow.

First we built a snowman (he was taller than Bruce!):

Then Bruce & Andrew built a snow fort:

While they were building the fort, Jenna went down the slide (a lot):

We also made some changes to the mudroom to make it better fit how we use it.....or at least how we'd planned to use it


We're looking forward to being a little more organized, and not just throwing our coats on top of the bench. Plus being able to put the shoes under bench is going to be nice.....I'm getting tired of all of our shoes being in a big pile in front of it!