"I Wanna Be Naked Forever, Mom"

This is what Ainsley told me last night while she ate dinner. It all started with Ainsley needing to re wet her wipe so she could clean her tea cups. Usually she is very good about closing the bathroom door when she is done in there because Zechariah LOVES the bathroom. Tonight must have been a special night because she forgot. I can hear laughing and talking so I'm assuming they're in her room which may or may not be a good thing since Ainsley can sometimes "play" rough...like sitting on Zechariah mid-crawl as if he's a horse! So, I go to her room and she's having a good 'ol time in there talking to her various stuffed animals. I smile because it's so cute when she plays because she has this amazing imagination. Meanwhile, still no Z so I head into his room where he's nowhere to be seen. Well, if you've ever been to our house, you know that the bathroom is the next stop in the hall but the door is closed so I assume he's not in there. I realize my assumption was completely wrong when I hear this excited screeching coming from the bathroom. Yep, Ainsley left the door open for him and he was smart enough to shut it behind him when he went in. This is what I found when I opened the door.... Z and his cascading pile of never-ending fun. All he could do was laugh and keep pulling the roll. When Ainsley came in and started laughing too, that's when the pulling got more intense. I spent a good 10 minutes rolling it back up (hey, toilet paper isn't cheap!) but couldn't salvage all of it....
so I left it in a nice little pile on the window sill for Ainsley to use up. Mind you, this was a brand new roll of toilet paper too. I think that's what makes it so funny...call me crazy!
Right after I finished rolling and piling I hear immense laughter coming from the kitchen. As mentioned before, the laughter is great but someone always seems to end up in tears after a few minutes. I run to the kitchen to find Zechariah pushing the dog dish around the floor, upside down, slipping and sliding all over. Ainsley is just laughing hysterically and both of them are soaked from head-to-toe. I'm not sure if they were rolling in it or trying to swim in the dish or what but they were wet. I had also just filled the dog dish a few minutes before and forgot to put in on the counter. To prevent both kids from slipping and getting a serious injury, the only thing I could do was "kennel" them in the playroom. Usually this is reserved for the dogs who retire ("kennel") in the kitchen whenever we leave the house. It does come in handy for play dates (ask Amber) or when you're in a pinch and need the kids to be in a safe place for a minute while you pee. The answer to your question is no, I really can't go to the bathroom without someone getting into something even if all the doors in the house are shut and the dog dish is up. The two of them are very resourceful and they will find a way to get into something. After mopping the floor for the second time in 3 days (the doggies were sick one night...thank goodness they were kennelled!) I stripped Z down to his diaper at which point Ainsley took off her clothes too. That is when I realized that it was 6:40 and I hadn't even thought of dinner. I put Z in his highchair and Ainsley on a towel in her chair (didn't want her to stick to it) and we ate. I didn't feel like dressing either of them to "eat" dinner when we'd just be taking a bath soon anyway. This is when Ainsley looked up from her plate of veggies and nuggets, giving me this priceless title. I just had to laugh as I ate my snow covered trees that somewhat resemble broccoli dipped in ranch dressing!

Trip to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens

Ainsley and her little friend

I didn't catch the name of this little critter but he's pretty cool

Ainsley exploring in the kids' castle

On Sunday we took a trip to the aquarium after church. We packed a lunch, loaded up on sunscreen and had a really nice time. I thought the picture of Ainsley in front of the sting ray tank was pretty cool because the giant one came along right when I took the picture. It looks like she has wings! Zechariah had a great time watching the fish swim around. He really liked the butterfly pavillion because the butterflies are fast and they get really close.

It was so cute...when we entered the main tank in the aquarium, this little boy came up to Ainsley and started holding her hand. They were inseperable the entire time we were in there. It just amazes me how easily and quickly kids can make friends. No preconceived notions, no passing judgements, no worrying about whether you're wearing the right clothes or anything...they just have a good time. I wish we didn't lose that natural ability to make friends as we get older.

A Monarch up-close

Big Sis and Little Bro

Z-man and His Hammer

Zechariah loves his hammer. He carries it around all the time.
He won't even put it down to share an apple with Daddy.
Big bite!
Look Ma, no hands. Zechariah is starting to stand alone and take some steps too!
I'm not sure which he likes better, the apple or his hammer?

Weekend Warriors

Here are some pictures of the yard work we did this past Saturday. Mike did most of it. At the bottom of this entry you can see that he finished the rocks. He had to take out one more tree that was a lot easier than the last one. Now we just need a few decorative boulders.

The dogs enjoyed hanging out in the courtyard. Jack found the dirt pile really cool to lay in and nice to dig in as well. Bailey preferred the shade of the corner and the planter.

The yard is coming along slowly but surely. Eventually we will have it completed and then we can move to the backyard. Now that's a job. That's when I wish we could get on one of those shows like While You Were Out or something.

As you can see, Zechariah came up with his own entertainment. He is such a boy...getting into everything. He keeps us on our toes for sure!

It is funny how fascinating toilet paper can be. But I wasn't laughing too much when I had to roll it all back up.

The Great Hailstorm

Ok, so maybe it wasn't that great but it was pretty cool for New Mexico. We don't seem to get any weather besides rain so it was neat to see.

It started raining yesterday afternoon and then we had a pretty impressive thunder and lightning storm. All of a sudden, hail began pelting the skylight so we looked outside and it was starting to pile against the wall and cover the grass. Ainsley had a blast collecting all of her "ice" and then playing in the rain, once the hail stopped. Zechariah thought the hail was pretty cool too. We were letting him "feel" it but then he decided it tasted better than it felt so we didn't let him have anymore!

In the middle of the hailstorm we discovered that the skylight was leaking. I'm actually suprised it has lasted this long. You can see a little bit of water in the bowl below. Mike spent some time this morning patching the roof. We're supposed to get some more "weather" this afternoon so we'll see how the patchwork holds up.

By the way, the blue spots on Ainsley's face and hands are stickers. She was decorating herself when it started to hail.

Different Is Special

I'm glad all people are not just the same, but Jesus knew that, and that's why He came. He taught us to love all people we see, for we are all part of God's family. God made us the way He wanted us to be. He made different to be special, especially me!Ainsley's Art

The little corner square contains the little poem from above. I thought the boots were fantastic!
Ready for Circle Time
Watching her shadow
I'm ready for school!
My new backpack is AMAZING...
this is what she told me when we bought it at Toys 'R Us. She liked a couple of other backpacks but she really wanted this one. I was trying to steer her away from it because it was more than the others but when she picked it up and said it was "amazing" it was just too cute. I told Mike that I'm in trouble when I take her shopping when she's older!

She had a great first day and was really excited to tell me all the things she did. I think she's going to have a great year. She seemed a little worried about what Z and I would be doing while she was gone but I promised her we wouldn't do anything fun without her.

Zechariah's 1st Birthday!

Yesterday was Z's first birthday so we had a little party. It got kind of rowdy but it was a lot of fun. I was looking at a picture of him from the day he was born and I can't believe he's one! The picture was supposed to go out on the table along with a current one so that everyone could see how much he's grown. The pictures never made it to the table...one of many things that didn't go as planned for the party. But a good time was had by all and he seemed to have a good time which is the most important thing. He wasn't too interested in opening presents as much as he was with watching all the older kids. He had a great time playing with all of them in the playroom. He tried his hardest to keep up with them and didn't like being taken out of the playroom when things got a little crazy.

Here are some pictures of the cakes. Mike did Z's cake as well as the cupcakes for the kids and my friend Deena did the Nemo cake for the rest of us. As you can see, Z took a swipe at Nemo and loved it! He almost grabbed the whole box and sent it flying to the floor.




He didn't really dig into his cake like I thought he would. Ainsley tore into hers and we ended up having to take it away from her because she was eating so much. Z-man liked scooping it up and smearing it all over the front of him more than eating it. And he was really into his milk too. Gotta have milk when you're eating cake!

When he was finished, he went straight to the bathtub with his onesie and diaper still on. He had a little cake in one ear and a little in his nose too.

Hope everyone is having a great week so far. Sorry the pictures aren't in order...I added some in and it changed the way I had this layed out. I'm still learning all the ins and outs of blogging.=0)

The Sprinklers

All day Saturday Mike tried to fix our on-going sprinkler problem in the front yard. And after much digging, rewiring, the help of his dad and a trip to Lowe's, the sprinklers still don't work. I am always a little hesitant when Mike starts a project around the house....not because I am not confident in his abilities but because this house is a mess! I know there are issues you take on when you become a homeowner but I never imagined all the things we've discovered while working on our house. We're not exactly sure what the previous owners were thinking when they did some
of the things they did. Every renovation/repair we have taken on in this house has always ended up taking twice as long (and sometimes more money) than it should because there is always some problem along the way. The wiring in this house is insane and we don't even know what they did with the sprinklers.

Half the grass in the front lawn is dead because the sprinklers broke on that side. Mike replaced a couple but that didn't help, they wouldn't pop-up. So, yesterday he and his dad replaced
one of the valves but then discovered that there was not enough power or pressure getting to the four sprinklers on that station to make them pop. Mike ended up rewiring them and replaced one but still no water. I was so excited because I thought the sprinkler problem had been solved. Apparently there is a leak in the line somewhere but Mike thinks he knows where it is.

The next time Mike has a break from school (he starts next week) he is going to finish the sprinklers and we can re-sod the front
lawn. We have already gotten rid of the hot tub that was in the courtyard (again, what were they thinking?!), gotten rid of a tree and all the evergreens by the street, sifted the rocks and installed a new post and mailbox. We're getting there little by little, it has just been a frustrating time along the way. Prayerfully, in the coming months I will be blogging with a picture of some sprinklers in action! Well, I'm out for now...it's little Z's birthday today and we've got to prepare for his party. I'll be blogging that later=0)