Saturday fun

This past Saturday Debbie treated me to a day at the spa for my birthday present. We had lots of fun getting a facial and a pedicure by ourselves (no husbands or kids) Then we had a long lunch at Chili's where we shared the best dessert ever! It was even better than it looks in the picture!! YUM :)

While I was relaxing with Debbie, Travis, TJ and Andi headed to Leonard to see PaPa Jim and run some hunting errands. I think they had a pretty big time and came home with lots of stories for me....

Andi had fun teaching the baby how to play piano

Papa had fun showing off his skills playing "Mary had a little lamb"

It must have worn them both out....

Andi helping daddy feed TJ. She loves helping especially when it comes to her little brother!

From the look of the next picture you can probably tell that Andi got a little wound up Saturday night. Here she is sporting a new favorite look...wearing her "ear warmer" inside and showing me that she found her baby's bottle. I kind of think she looks like the next karate kid!

The end of a busy week

Thursday and Friday I watched the Case kids while Chanda had a real estaste class. The kids had a lot of fun playing together. TJ got lots of attention and Andi still talks about Riley and Rachael. Can you tell that they get it honest?

Diana and Kelly stopped by to see us on their way to see about some braces. They of course loved on my kids and spoiled them with "Valentine Frogs" which are really these cute pink stuffed animals and dont look like frogs...good thing because I have 2 of them that Andi carries around all day long!

For dessert we made some chocolate pudding. Of course Andi had to help me make it and enjoyed stirring with the wisk and then licking the "beater" as she kept calling it. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing that she made the connection! As you can tell chocolate pudding is a new favorite of hers!

TJ looked too cute not to take a picture of him...just hanging out with his dad

Barnyard Zoo

Today was Barnyard Zoo day at North Shelby and after a couple of setbacks we picked up grandma Mari and made it to school. In the beginning Andi was content with holding the steer's halter from the outside of the pen but 2 hours later we had visited all of the animals at least 4 times each and I had to get her down from the tractor. Andi's favorites of the day where the show steers and John Deere's ...talk about expensive taste!

TJ excited about the trip!

Andi not quite sure of all of the animals yet..

Hey, I know what that is!

Andi starting to feel more comfortable. She loved the steers and for some reason was not scared of them at all...She even tried to open the gate to get in there behind Ronnie...luckily she isnt quite strong enough.

She really liked the baby pigs and they were the first animals that she petted...however that was cut short after it started to squeal!
TJ wasnt too interested in the animals but he like snuggling with grandma.

When Andi saw the tub of corn she just went right over and climbed in, I guess it made it easer to fill her buckets. We were surprised that she didnt head out to feed the sheep after she got her little buckets filled up.

Andi knew just what to do when she got in the tractor seat.

After grandpa sat her up in the seat she wanted him to shut the door so she could "drive" He tried to move the steering wheel down to make it easier for her to turn and of course after seeing him move the levers she had to try to move them too!

As you can telll....we had lots of FUN!

Friends from out of state...

We are lucky enough to have the Yoders and the Schusters in state for a couple of weeks and to be able to get together with them for some fun. This is a pic from our Saturday night out (without kids). Addie was the only one who had a camera so she was our photographer for the night. There are other photos but we decided that this would be the only one to be posted :)

Last Friday we made the trip to Booneville to spend the day with Debbie and Cole. Andi had lots of fun playing with Cole and TJ liked the extra attention too. Every time the Schusters are back, I realize how much I miss them. We had lots of fun but I only got 2 pictures from the whole day.....

Tuesday we got to hang out with the Yoders and headed to Columbia to met Addie and Aliza at Bonkers. The girls definitely had to explore somewhat cautiously the "new" toys and all of the 3 year olds that where obviously regulars there. After some pizza the girls found their second wind and had tons of fun climbing, sliding and jumping/bouncing. We had lots of fun hanging out with the Yoders and cant wait till they are back again from Alabama...who knew that I would actually look forward to Turkey season! I completely forgot to take my camera on the trip...not like I had a free hand to take any pictures with! Hopefully I can get some pictures from Addie to add later..

The girls were a little cautious of all of the neat mazes and slides.

I got to bounce with Andi while Aliza's grandma Molly held TJ. Andi loved jumping!

By the end of the day the girls had definitely gotten brave and were trying it out without any help from us.

Valentine's Night

I almost forgot that I had these pictures from Valentine's night on my camera stilll... We had a fun night decorating our cupcakes and cake while TJ snoozed on the couch!

Andi still loving her new rubber boots and not wanting to take them off!

Travis got home a little early just in time to help decorate the cake and cupcakes. He was in charge of the icing colors.

Can you tell what part Andi likes the best?

At first she had to place each ball one at a time on her cupcake but she soon figured out how to use the whole container.

Andi's finished product...we only had to clean off the lid of the container a couple of times.

Our finished Valentine desserts..yum!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Andi & TJ (finally a good picture of them both!)

My little heart breaker!!

Andi's valentine present- new rubber boots! She loves them and has been wearing them since we got them last night. I am guessing after the weekend at ma ma's and pa pa's she will not be wearing them in the house!

Who Needs Toddler School?

Last Friday Trista was staying with her grandma and we were taking our time getting ready for the day and for toddler school. I finally got both kiddos ready and downstairs and I had a few extra minutes to get my stuff together to do some errands. We left home just in time to get to toddler school at 10. I pulled up and saw no other cars and thought that I had the wrong Friday...but I had remembered right- toddler school was today. I went to get Andi out of her carseat and was trying to figure out what all to do in my 2 hours until I had to pick Andi back up. Thats when I realized that toddler school was supposed to end at 11 not 12...I had done a perfect job of getting Andi and TJ ready and getting out of the house only I was a whole hour late!

We were already dressed and out of the house...there was no way I was heading straight back home...so luckily my mom was home from work for the day and we decided to take a farm visit to Shelby Co. We had a blast hanging out with "ma ma" and even got to see the new baby lambs when papa got home. I could tell that it had been awhile since Andi was around sheep. It took here a little while to warm up but she loved helping dad with the feeding and watering. Im not sure how much help she was but she thought that she was pretty big stuff!

ma ma, TJ, Andi & pa pa with a bottle lamb
Andi going to feed a ewe and her lambs.
Is this how you do it? Andi's favorite thing to do was to "fill" the buckets with feed by hand.

For most of the time Andi tried to stay right with pa pa...whatever he was doing, she was trying to do!

TJ's Baptism

Today we had a great day as TJ was baptised and became the newest member of our church. We were lucky to be able to spend the day with our closest family and friends who could make it to TJ's Baptism. My kiddos were definitely spoiled with baptism gifts and of course Valentine's from their aunts, uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents!

TJ all dressed up for his big day
TJ and big sister Andi before church.

Father Mike, Travis, TJ, Andi and myself

TJ and his Godparents (Aunt Tonya, Aunt Gina & Uncle Jason)

Grandpa & Grandma Belt, The Belt Family and Grandpa & Grandma Eckler

Chris had to sit at the kiddie table!

Andi loved sitting by Cole at church and playing with him at our house.

She couldnt stop talking about him all night!

(I cant believe this is the ONLY picture I got of any of the Schuster crew!)

Uncle Jason and Aunt Gina with TJ. The got up super early to drive back this morning for the baptism!

Uncle Kyle and TJ hanging out after everyone had left.

We were all worn out and enjoyed a short group nap after everyone had gone home.

Andi enjoying some pretzels, raisins and milk while lounging on the couch.

As we were trying to get our house back to "normal" Andi kept busy playing with her toys.