Professional pics coming soon

Em just took the kids to get some professional pictures taken. The kids were cute as a can be even though each of them were in a bad mood and had to try to finish the sitting on another day. Thats the nice part of taking pictures of the kids at home. You only catch them when they are in a good mood and if they aren't just stop taking pictures.

Weekend with no plans

Nothing better than a weekend with no plans. We need more of those. We had Korrey, Laney, Camdyn, and Adara over for some BBQ ribs and sausage a la "Salt Lick BBQ" It was a blast. The weather was pretty nice except for the gusting wind.

We fished in the pond out back and luckily the fish didn't seem to mind the crazy wind gusts. Casting was a little bit more of a challenge but it didn't deter Reed one bit. He had a great time with his friends.

Meanwhile back at the house Gracie was having a great time being held and getting to play. Earlier in the day she was was a total cutie and was providing plenty of opportunity for pictures.

Smiles

Its been all smiles at the house lately which is nice. All the colds, coughs, and runny noses are behind us for now. We are anxious for a visit from one of the grandmas next week. (Not as anxious as she is I am sure)

Notice how mommy and Gracie are color coordinating in all the pictures. I don't think they were even trying but maybe Gracie has been letting Emily know ahead if time what she plans to wear.

Actually looking at the pictures of me and Reed, we are color coordinating too. And I know that we weren't planning that. Reed only calls me to talk about cars and tractors. We hardly ever talk about fashion.

Gracie has finally learned to take a bottle which has been a big blessing. Just in time because she is almost ready to start people food too but still needs to have mommy's milk or formula until she's at least one year old.

She's turning into a big foodie. She loves food and will let you know it. If you don't keep the food coming she'll either squeal or scream. Right now cheerios and pretzels are the favorites.

Cloudy with a chance of lounging around.

This weekend is turning out to be cloudier and colder than what was forecast. Too bad... Reed has a bit of a cold so we couldn't do too much anyway.

These kind of weekends allow for lots of TV watching... (or as Reed calls it "TeeWee")

time for some reading a good book....

time for playing with toys...

and time for jam sessions before bedtime in the evening...

Reed and Gracie just hanging around.

Spring is in the air!

We've had such a long winter that we all have a little bit of spring fever. Last weekend we felt like all the people living up in wisconsin that go outside and run around in shorts when the weather first gets up above freezing.

We definitely took advantage of the sunshine to do a little spring cleaning.

I found out that those little magic erasers can clean grout almost as well as the chemical cleaners so I am all about it. Its pretty subtle but I can tell the difference and went ahead and resealed the grout. See the before and after pictures that I took after doing the kitchen and the laundry room.

While daddy and Reed were cleaning floors... mommy was working on the mountain of laundry. With a *little* help from Gracie. At least she was being cute and happy.

Still best buddies.

That's enough cleaning...its time to go outside and PLAY!

So we went fishing out in the back yard. We didn't get any bites but Reed had a really good time anyway. He showed mommy how to fish too.

After fishing we wanted to get Gracie some sun too so we all hopped on the bikes and went for a ride.

After turning back to take some pictures Gracie started crying and didn't stop until we were done about 15-20 minutes later. Poor Reed was a nice big brother and tried to hold her pacifier in her mouth the entire ride. He had a lot more patience than mommy or daddy would have had with Gracie crying right in our ears.

We let mommy and Gracie go back inside and did a couple more laps with just Reed and daddy which I am sure he enjoyed much better.

Monster Jam!

Reed and Daddy went to go see monster trucks! (Reed says we went to a "monster truck rally!") It was priceless to see him get to watch it live instead of just on the internet.

We got there a little late and it was very crowded, but once we got there he was so enthralled by everything that was going on around him all at once. We had people sitting beside us and in front of us watching his reactions to the race instead of the trucks themselves.

Reed didn't mind the ear plugs. It was really loud in the closed stadium.

Even after the 2.5hr show was over and everyone was leaving... Reed wanted me to sit back down so we could watch some more.

Reed made sure to cheer on his favorite Green truck!

He didn't mind one bit when all the trucks flipped over or broke a wheel. That way he got to see tractors come out to pull them back over.

"The monster truck broke it's wheel, so the tractor had to help him." - Reed

All in all it was worth staying up way past his bedtime and walking the mile and a half hike back to the hotel because daddy was too cheap to pay for $25 dollar parking.

3.5 Star Hotel on priceline - $45

Two Monster Jam tickets - $41

One ecstatic (see video) little boy - Priceless