Playing catch up

I realized I never blogged about Mother's Day weekend last month. We were able to travel to AZ for the weekend to be with my family. It was a quick trip, but a great trip and I was so glad to spend Mother's Day with my sweet mom. We got in late Friday night. Saturday morning we were up early-Seth to golf and me to get my hair done. Then it was off with the girls for pedi's and frozen custard. That afternoon we were able to go to my cousin's baptism with all the fam and let Jackson play afterward. Then it was off to bed early for the Stoker clan. Sunday morning Seth surprised me with a beautiful pearl necklace and matching bracelet for mother's day! I was sooo surprised, I have such a sweet husband! I had a nice, relaxing day on Sunday, while Seth and my dad made everyone dinner! Such a nice break! On Monday, I did some shopping with my girlfriends, while Jackson got to go to school with Gramma and be a kindergardener for the afternoon. He loved it! Monday night, the fam all got together for a great FHE lesson....and more frozen custard! Tuesday afternoon we headed home from an all around great trip. So glad we live close enough to make quick trips to visit the fam so often!

Haha....judging from the pics I retrieved from my camera, it looks like I only brought my camera out one of the days we were there! And I only think it's worth taking a shot when someone is holding Lacey! Haha....oops. But doesn't Jackson look so big at kindergarten?

Memorial Day Weekend '11

Photos:

1- new books from gramma

2-candy from gramma, too!

3-9 swimming on Memorial Day with Auntie Dana!

10- Lacey eating lunch

11-Girl's Date to see Something Borrowed-LOVE that movie!

12-Jackson giving his sister a new hat

We had such a fun weekend with  my sister Dana in town to visit! Here is a breakdown of how the weekend went down:

Friday night: Dana arrives. Lacey thinks her Aunt Dana is her mother, since her mother was at work all day :(

Saturday morning: Daddy plays b-ball, everyone else goes to Target, and then Costco for shopping and lunch!

Saturday afternoon: Swimming! If only it wasn't so windy. But Lacey LOVED her first time in the water.

Saturday night: Everybody to see Kung Fu Panda 2, which was WAY better than expected!

Sunday: Church, BBQ, Skype, kids to bed early-grown ups watch Arrested Development

Monday: Daddy golfs in the a.m., everyone else goes to the mall/Ulta. Lunch at Pei Wei and Dana and I go to see Something Borrowed (for the 2nd time for me!). By Monday night we were all so exhausted we just lounged around the house and played with the kids! This weekend makes me wish we could have company every weekend. We all had so much fun-thanks for coming Dana!

Lately....

Lacey had her 6 month check up this week and continues to weigh in as quite the tiny little munchkin. She is 25 1/4 inches (40th percentile) and 11 lbs 9 oz (<5th percentile). She is right on track as far as learning new skills. She can roll all over the place and turn herself around and around on her tummy. She scrunches her knees up underneath her and I am willing to bet she will be crawling before her brother did at 12 months. She can sit up all on her own. She grabs EVERYTHING in site. It is next to impossible to do ANYTHING with her in your lap-talk on the phone, use the computer, eat. I also cannot wear jewelry in any form-and sadly neither can she! She just wants to eat it!

Jackson continues to keep me on my toes everyday. I recently took him to a screening for a preschool here in NM. I was amazed to hear the answers he came up with and to realize how smart he really is! He was sooooo excited to be at "school" and when the screening was over, he said "okay, I'm ready to go to my class." We will find out in July if he was accepted or not. I have mixed emotions thinking about him in preschool next year. I know he is ready to go and that he will absolutely love the interaction with other kids, but at the same time, I can't imagine him being gone 16 hours each week. It will be very strange to not have my little buddy around the house. I guess in the meantime we will enjoy our summer! Jackson is such a good big bro and he is always watching out for his sister. He is always saying things like "who is my little cutie?" and "hi my little sweetie" in a baby voice to Lacey. She loves it.

This past year, he has had playgroups with different families in the ward, and I am so proud of how far he has come in learning to play with other children and learning to play at all. He has a great imagination and it is so fun hearing the things he comes up with. He is also REALLY good at arguing (gets it from his dad). It is a little scary some of the arguments and excuses he can come up with when he is trying to get out of doing something. He is a master negotiater and Seth and I have our work cut out for us. For example I may say "Jackson, you can go down the slide 2 more times and then it is time to go." And his reply will be "No, 5 more times", so I end up negotiating 3 more times down the slide! I guess he's too smart for his own good.

Happy Birthday Seth

5/16/11: We celebrated Seth's 28th birthday! We started off the day with breakfast and presents in bed. I let Jackson pick out his own gift for daddy this year and he even wrote daddy his own card! It was so special for Seth to have a gift from his best boy. We also gave Seth Kinect Sports for XBOX for his b-day, and he spent most of the afternoon playing his new game with Jackson! We were luckily able to grab a birthday lunch with just the two of us at Tucano's, which was wonderful. Also, Lacey decided to start rolling from back to tummy while watching her dad and bro play Kinect Sports! She's getting to be such a BIG GIRL! I think it was a great family day.

Making Donuts

The first week of May I had hospital/nursing orientation for my new job. I was in training from 8-5 for three whole days that week and I am soooo not used to being gone all day! It was quite the challenge-I was so exhausted each day when I got home. I can honestly say I do not understand how working moms do it! It amazes me. Luckily our family was able to get through it with ease due to Granny Stoker coming over to stay with the kids during the day. We are seriously so blessed to have family willing to help us out and we are glad that we live close enough that occasionally we can work that out! Thanks Granny for staying with the kids at our house-it was such a lifesaver that crazy week and I know the kids were in good hands. They loved staying with their granny!

My ward has a playgroup that usually meets Wed mornings, but since I was in orientation that day we weren't going to be able to go. I was particularly sad to miss that week because the group was going to Krispy Kreme to let the kids take a tour and make their own donuts. Granny Stoker was nice enough to step in and take Jackson to make a donut with his friends. He was so excited to make a "chocolate sprinkle donut", which I think is his favorite food by the way!

Anniversary

April 28 Seth and I celebrated our 6th anniversary! I can hardly believe it has been 6 years since our wedding day. So much has happened in those 6 years, though and I am so glad that I have experienced those things with Seth. He really is my best friend, my partner in crime, and the love of my life! I know it sounds cheesy, but I am really grateful he was by my side through it all these past 6 years. We celebrated at home this year-which was really refreshing. I took the kiddos over to my friends house and we made a yummy steak and potatoes dinner at home. And I tried a new recipe for dessert-strawberry pie-which was delightful. It is amazing how wonderful it can be to have a meal in the quiet of your own home with no screaming baby girls or little boys whining about not wanting to eat :)

Easter weekend

We spent Easter weekend in Lubbock and we had a great time! The weather was gorgeous-much better than the "windy city" we live in. We got to take Jackson to the park, and of course he loved playing in the yard with the cute little kittens. Seth was able to get some good work done on our trip, and Seth and I even got to go out on a date without Lacey! So overall I would say everyone had a great weekend. We had a miniature Easter egg hunt in the backyard, though I am still not convinced I am a fan of the Easter bunny.

Funny story: Granny Stoker and I took the kids to the park one morning and when we got home we were all so exhausted! Jackson went straight to the backyard to go check on the kittens and the girls decided we would put on a movie. After about 20 minutes, we began to wonder if Jackson was okay-we thought we heard him in the shed, but we couldn't quite tell. Granny Stoker went out to check on him and sure enough he had locked himself in the shed with the kittens. He was hysterical! Luckily, we found the key to the shed and let him out quickly. But the poor guy was pretty shaken up. So, I guess ultimately it's not really a "funny story", but one I want to remember. He is such a boy, always seeming to be getting into some kind of trouble, plus he LOVES those kittens so much!