The Santa Train

Can you tell how excited they were to see Santa?!

Too bad this is blurry!

Saturday after Jason got home we all headed to lunch and to ride on the Santa Train. The kids have been obsessed with The Polar Express movie this year (I could probably quote the whole movie by now)! There is a train museum about an hour from here and they do seasonal rides (fall foliage, Thomas comes to town once a year, wine train tours, etc) and during the Christmas season they do a Santa Train. It was a little expensive but we decided to treat the kids to it and make the whole train experience come alive for them.

First on the agenda was to fill up our bellies. We stopped a The Original Pancake house and had some yummy brunch. Then we headed out to the train museum. We got there about 15 mins before the train left and it was CROWDED! When we got on our assigned car the only seats left were on the sunny side of the train. O well, we survived the sun.

Jackson, "ts Santa!" and Abygail hiding from Santa

Shortly after departure Santa came through our car. Abygail was very shy and covered her face the entire time. Jackson was fine as long as Santa kept a reasonable distance. They both knew who he was, Jackson even pointed at him and said "ts (it's) Santa". They may not have liked Santa being so close but they enjoyed the candy canes his elf passed out. After Santa some more elves came through and sang songs. We enjoyed singing Jingle Bells and Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer when the Elf sat across from us. The conductors came through and punched our tickets and chatted...we got a picture with ours, who also happened to be the oldest on the train...and probably the cutest too. Another Conductor did some magic tricks for the kids. We all had fun.

Jason and the kids de-boarding

It was a good experience for the kids, but I don't think we'll do it again. Unfortunately only half of the windows on the train DIDN'T fog up and ours was not one of them so we couldn't see out our windows and the tracks were blocked or backed up before we got to our midway point so we had to turn back early. It was about a 1 hour train ride total. The museum itself was ok but most of the toy trains were not even running and there were no BIG or REAL trains to tour (at least that we saw). So, although it was a fun time we overall thought it was not worth the cost. I'm still glad we went...but next time we'll just do something Christmasy closer to home and less expensive.

While You Were Out

Abygail enjoyed Tea Parties with her cousins, aunt and grandma while in AL

I haven't blogged in a while and I guess I'm in a blogging slump. There's not much to blog about around here. It's gotten harder for me to get around and I'm tired and sore all the time so we are not doing too much.

Thanksgiving: While Jason and the kids went to Alabama I stayed here and had a week worth of FABULOUS SLEEP! I had forgotten what it was like to not have a child (or in my case children) shoved up against every part of your body while I'm hanging onto the edge of the bed for dear life hoping to not fall off. I remember I would wake up at 4 or 5 am and hadn't moved from the position I laid down in, it was AMAZING!!! I had a Dr.s apt on Wednesday of Thanksgiving week (I think the Dr just wanted to make sure I didn't leave with the family) and got to see two little feet hanging out in the lowest possible area of the uterus - baby A, you only have a few more months to turn around so you better get cracking. After my apt I went and watched Twilight all by myself - that was a real treat to be in a movie theater and to be there all by myself. I was disappointed with the movie, my thought is if I had not read the book I probably would have enjoyed the movie a little more. I spent Thanksgiving with our friends and enjoyed a yummy meal. Saturday Boss and I went shopping and that was lots of fun. I also did lots of shopping on my own and managed to keep the house clean for more than 20 mins (it's amazing how much of the everyday mess is NOT mine). I mopped around a bit, missing my family and watched way too much TV.

Abygail was sick for the majority of the time they were gone and remained sick for a few days after they got back.

Yesterday was the first day we got out all week. We went with our friends to the Children's Museum (I'm certainly not allowed to go that far from home alone anymore). All the kids loved it and the adults had fun too. We were all tired and ready to leave by the end.

Jackson learned to throw a ball and enjoyed playing with his cousins while in AL

Jackson turned 1.5 in Alabama...he hasn't had his 18 month check up yet so those stats will be coming soon. He's getting to be so grown up. He talks to much and knows so many words it astounds me. He loves his sister and he has learned "mine" from her. Now when they aren't playing together they are fighting over who's toy it is or who had it first. Jackson always seems to think that it's "MINE". :)

A Day At The Museum

...or at least that's what it was supposed to be.

This morning when I looked out the window and saw clear sunny skies with heat coming in through the windows I was thrilled ... needless to say. Then I looked at what the weather was going to be like, thinking we could play outside or go to the zoo or park. This was the forecast: highs in the low 30s, windchill in the 20s, chance of snow 30% with 1-2 inch accumulation. Well, too cold to play outside but darn that sun was inviting! I racked my brain to come up with something we could do to get us out of the house but keep us warm. I've been hearing rave reviews about a children's museum in Rochester that I've previously decided not to get a membership to because of the drive...well, today we changed our minds. So it was off to Rochester and the Museum.

Then...I remembered an appointment I had for mid afternoon, and Jason needed to go to school with a pit stop on the way to get bus tokens, and I needed a winter coat - my hoodie wasn't going to get me through the winter, much less the day. So, we headed out - got bus tokens, Jason to work, a winter coat and made it just in time for the appointment. Afterwards we ate a late lunch in the car and the kids took naps on the way to Rochester - hey, we had already discussed it with them and made a promise. We got there with about an hour to play before they closed!

Elmo's World - Abygail playing dress up with Mr Noodle and Jackson exploring any and everything.

The kids LOVED it! There are so many rooms and displays for them to play in but we only made it to two: Sesame Street (actually just a small portion of the area - Elmo's World of course!) and the trains. First stop was Elmo's World - kid's choice - we played and played and finally I pried them away because I wanted to see more of the museum. After Elmo we took a ride on the train and played with the train set where finally I had to pry them away again- Jackson crying full throttle - because the museum was closing.

The trains.

It was totally worth the drive and there will be lots of things to do so it should not get old for them.

Halloween

Last night we went over to our friends the Turner's house. We were invited to another big party too but we decided on a low key night of friends and trick-or-treating. (anyone that knows me knows I'm more of a low key home body than a party girl - at least since I turned 25 ... a year ago, ha,ha,ha!) The kids dressed up again as Goldie Locks and Baby Bear, Jason and I both wore our hoodies with ears - although Jason was the only one to go trick-or-treating. We ate pizza and then the Husbands and children headed out, while Alaska and I stayed in and 'hung-out'. There was a good time had by all and the kids came back with LOADS of candy. Good thing - turns out someone (not I) has been raiding our candy stash!

One of the funniest/saddest parts of the evening - One of the boys had a mask on that Jackson did not like and was totally un-sure of. A few times Xavier ran in the kitchen with the mask on, where we were eating, and it really scared Jackson. Before they went trick-or-treating I had Jackson touch the mask and hold it so he could see it was nothing to be scared of. I honestly don't know if that helped or not, but he did seem to live through the night :)

I want to record the following for my own memory's sake: Abygail's costume was so cute in my opinion and it was all regular stuff put together. Boss loaned us the apron (which I messed up a bit by HOT GLUE-ING the blue ribbon over red rick-rack that was already there, it's still cute but if she ever wants to take the blue off she'll have to replace all the ribbon and sew a new hem!), the blue dress was from Target and can be used for many more Sundays to come, the tights and shoes we already had and the 'goldie locks' I created from yellow fabric ribbon, blue fabric ribbon, hair clips and hot glue. I was so impressed with the out come and I certainly think she had the cutest costume of anyone I saw this year - but I might be a little biased. Additionally, mine and Jason's costumes were simply brown hoodie sweat suits with brown shirts underneath. I lightly sewed on felt ears that I created with hot glue and tada, we were bears! Although Jackson was super cute in his costume, I have no personal attachement to it because...it's store bought. Maybe I'll get some more creative juices flowing next year! This is really all thanks to Boss who put the idea in my head. She dresses her family in themed costumes that she mostly creates. This year they were Rapunzel, Prince, Tower and Witch - how cute is that!!! Too bad Rapunzel was sick and the Witch had to stand guard at the ward Haunted House all night during our ward party.

Side Notes

Here are some side notes, additional comments, on our trip to the pumpkin farm. (Thanks Erika for taking the pictures!)

Doesn't my little girl look all grown up!?

Abygail was checking this turkey out and got a little too close...then it pecked her!

Jackson REALLY enjoyed his sister's ice cream.

Jackson playing peek-a-boo (his favorite game) in the pumpkin pyramid.

Our family (wish I had taken my glasses off and maybe even done something with my hair!)

Two super cute kids playing in the pumpkin pyramid! Don't ya just want to pinch their cheeks?

Family Time: Part IV

Jackson Picks Some Apples

Family Time: Part III

Abygail Picks An Apple

We could only get her to pick one apple, she was too worried about her raspberries :)

Family Time: Part I

Saturday we took some much needed family time. We took a trip to Brown's Berry Farm (on a tip from some friends :). Any-who, we got there around 4:30 and they close at 6, so we didn't get to play in the playground area or go for a hay ride or even build our own scarecrows but we did get some fun berry and apple picking time. It was a perfect day, the weather was just great and a few trees were showing their colors. Fall is certainly in the air :)

Abygail was very intent on the job at hand. She loved picking raspberries - I don't think she ate as many as the rest of us, in fact...I never saw her eat even one, while she was picking! Jackson on the other hand was a pick and eat-er! We didn't wind up with as many as we thought we would, they seemed pretty over picked and we were running out of time. The blackberries, well, they were non-existent, guess we should go earlier next time.

Jackson really enjoyed picking apples, but Abygail just wanted to sit in the stroller and look at her basket of raspberries, and munch on them - she was very proud of her handy work.

After all the picking we had ice cream (well, I had a salad and everyone else had ice cream). I wish we had pictures of the fun mess that was made. Turns out that Abygail doesn't like eating the cone. She likes having a spoon and eating her ice cream out of the cone with the spoon - then giving the cone to Daddy to eat. Jackson - well, he likes it all!!!

On our way home we stopped at a state park that was just on the banks of Lake Ontario. It was beautiful! The kids enjoyed seeing the lake and then swinging on the swings. We tried to take a walk in the woods but the sun was going down and Abygail DID NOT like being in the woods when it was starting to get dark...guess we know a little more about her night problems now.

The kids fell asleep before we even got home and they stayed asleep too!!!

This is definitely something we will do again, it was such a good family experience.

Carpe Diem

Jackson's sweet ride for the hike

When I think of Carpe Diem I think of Dead Poets Society and Newsies. Seize The Day! Or as the Newsies song goes, "Let us seize the day".

Abygail picking flowers and running down the path

This weekend we had the opportunity to go camping with several other families. Knowing that I (we) have a limited amount of days left to go camping before a) I'm a rollie pollie b) the weather changes c) we have too many lil' uns to keep track of and d) Jason goes back to school and work, we SEIZED THE DAY!

This necklace got around!

We are so glad we did. The kids loved it so much! We had foil packs for dinner and smores for dessert, enjoyed an abundance of company, fun and talking with new and old friends and even went on a little hike before leaving. The kids did great all things considered. There were 10 families there Friday night (9 stayed the night), so it was a LARGE group and it took some extra vigilance to keep track of the kids IN THE DARK!!! Abygail slept pretty well too. Jackson did get woken up a lot which is unusual for him so he had a hard time going BACK to sleep. In the middle of the night (3am-ish) he was having such a hard time Jason took him for a ride in the car, that did the trick.

Having fun rolling down the hill (or across in Abygail's case, or scooting down in Jackson's case)

Saturday afternoon 3 of the families took a short hike. We caught a frog and the kids liked that. Abygail picked flowers and we all had fun rolling down the hill at the end. We topped it off with an impromptu picnic.

Impromptu picnic

When we got home Jason reminded me that this was his last free Saturday until next semester. So I'm so, So, SO glad we SEIZED THE DAY!

Just like his sister, Jackson loves animals!

A Full Moon

From top to bottom: Amber with Lower Falls in back ground, Lower Falls, Jason with small surprise waterfall in background

Saturday was a full moon. Not only was it literally a full moon but figuratively too. Jason and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary and went out on a DATE! (see, full moon or blue moon)

Our good friends Boss and Coach watched the kids for us while we went to Letchworth State Park for the day (we owe you guys big time - let the planning begin!). We went on short hikes and saw 3 large waterfalls and a few small ones too. We finished off the evening with dinner at the Glen Iris Inn. It was beautiful and the meal was good too. After dinner we went out to look at the waterfall it over looks (middle falls) and listened/danced to the music that was playing at a near by wedding tent.

We highly recommend going to Letchworth if you are ever in our neck of the woods.

Busy Week So Far

Yesterday the kids and I went to the zoo. We had lots of fun, as always.

Jackson is learning his animal sounds now. So far he knows: cat, monkey, dog and giraffe (at least those are the ones I can name now). He's working on several others. He is also learning the parts of his body, so far he's mastered head and nose. We continue to work on eye, ear, and mouth. Abygail is so cute, she loves showing her brother how to learn and doing the animal sounds with him.

Speaking of Abygail, I'm amazed every day at how conversational she is. She speaks in full sentences and usually uses several at a time. She's become very descriptive too. She likes to pretend and make up stories, like she is reading.

Today we went to a kiddie pool for play group. Abygail was out in the pool playing around like she was a big kid. She has no fear of being far from mommy!!! It makes me very nervous but also proud that she is so independent. Jackson stayed right by my legs the whole time, good thing because I had to fish him up a few times.

They both enjoyed playing on the playground as well. They are very independent on the playground and go to the slides and swings, which ever they feel like doing, whether mommy is on her way or not. I caught Abygail climbing up a tall rock climbing wall, too tall for her to climb on her own was my thought. Nope, not to tall for her, she climb to the top all by herself and 3/4 of it was before I saw her doing it.

Speaking of independent, she loves to put her cloths on and her shoes on all by herself. She is also starting to insist on buckling her own buckles in the car. It's nice most of the time, unless we are in a hurry.

Last night after dinner the whole family went for a bike ride to a playground. The kids got to pet two dogs and play for awhile before it starting getting dark. Total it was about a 4 mile ride round trip.

OK, updates on the picture situation...we HAVE FOUND the cord but...the camera is broken. We have to send it in for repairs, and knowing us it may take awhile before we can find the receipt! So don't expect any pictures anytime soon. When we finally get the situation cleared up I'll come back and put in pictures where I can...too bad I can't take any new pictures between now and then.

A Perfect Wednesday

Today we met some friends at a farmers market. We got some cherries, peaches, tomatoes and chow chow (yum, yum). The tomatoes and chow chow were local but the cherries and peaches were not. It's still not the season here yet, but it's coming very soon. After the market we went to Cazanovia park and ran around on the water fountain pad. I wish I had the camera. The kids were so cute. Abygail was Miss. Brave and ran everywhere with out worry of where Mommy was. She got knocked down a few times by other excited kids but she did really well. Jackson also ventured further than I thought. Each time he would come back, reach up to me with a huge grin as if to say, "Did you see what I did Mom? It was sooo cool!"

I love my kids and admire their bravery.

It was a perfect summer day:)

A Visit With Family

The kids loved hanging out with their cousin Brittany!

Last week Jason's sister Tiffany, husband Tony and daughter Brittany were in town. We enjoyed having them around so much. They came in Tuesday night and stayed until Saturday morning.

Our picnic was on a perfect day in a perfect spot with great company!
Jackson really liked his watermelon!

While they were here we enjoyed a picnic at Glen Park, with the waterfall and ducks, and a walk to Sweet Jenny's Ice Cream Parlor. It was a great day and a sweet dessert :). I should add that Jason and Brittany wanted to take a bike ride so they road to the park on the bikes while the rest of us drove. It was 3 miles(ish) and they got there maybe 10 mins after us and coming home because of traffic we all got home at the same time.

We also went to Anchor Bar and enjoyed some Chicken Wings (or as non Buffalonians call them: Buffalo Wings), then drove to the beach in the rain. We got the windows stuck open on the van we borrowed (THANKS SO MUCH Rachel & Tyler!), I asked Jason to get out in the pouring rain to push on the window to help it close...he refused so I got out, I'll leave the rest of that story to Jason to tell. Tiffany, Tony and Brittany also got to go and visit Niagara Falls, they had a good time. Mostly the 4.5 days they were he we justed chilled and visited. It was so nice to have family in town!!!

Jackson also liked playing with Daddy's (new) bike, we think he'll be a bike man...
what do you think?

I don't have many pictures so I'm at Tiffany's mercy for pics...Please send them to us and we will post them :)

A Picnic

We went to the zoo today to, but just kept on driving when we saw that everyone that lives in the city of Buffalo was at the zoo too. That's the nice thing about having a pass, when it's crowded you can just say "we'll go another day". It would have been miserable, no walking or playing on the playground for Aby because I'm too paranoid to let her do those things when there are lots of people around. Maybe another day, that's what I told Abygail and promised to go to the duck park instead. She fell asleep in the car just before we got there so we turned around and came home for naps instead.

To make up for a promise we took our dinner of P.B.&J.s to the duck park for a picnic and hike. We found a quite little spot and enjoyed our dinner and watched the ducks. Soon all the male ducks swarmed in on the female duck...you can guess what happened next. I'm glad I'm not a duck because it was pretty violent and I'm sure she's missing lots of feathers now.

Abygail had fun climbing the hills and running around. We took a little hike by the river (until we couldn't go any farther with the stroller - next time we'll go stroller-less). I showed Abygail how to skip rocks - she thought it was fun to just throw the rocks into the water.

We topped dinner off with a trip to our favorite Ice Cream Parlor, Sweet Jenny's, YUMMMMO! They even had my favorite flavor, orange chocolate.

We all had fun and enjoyed the warm weather with the temp pushing 70. I forgot the camera so no pics.

Note Worthy

Sunday morning as I made cinnamon rolls for our ward's conference breakfast we watched the birds fly in and out of the backyard. There were Robins and Sparrows but there were 2 other visitors that we took special note of. One was a Cardinal that also visits our front yard from time to time, gracing us with it's presence right in front of our living room window - offering a perfect view of it's beauty. The other was a wood pecker, we didn't get the best look at it but we hope to see it again.

When we arrived back from the first session of conference we took note of flowers pushing up out of the ground (irises, tulips, daffodils - we know not, that's the joy of new home ownership and suprises left from previous owners), we were very please and excited.

Cauliflower and Broccoli

The seeds I've planted so far are coming right along. The Zinnias sprouted quite awhile ago, the Cauliflower and Broccoli came soon after, now I'm starting to see the Tomatoes emerging. This has been an exciting process for myself and Abygail, who loves to help me water them and even helped me drop a few seeds in.

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed a lovely chat with our neighbors in the back yard. We are so excited the weather has gotten so lovely. It's nice to come out of hibernation from a long winter.


Last week we went to the zoo with lots of friends, Abygail loved playing on the playground and 'hanging' out with her friends. She also loves to see all the animals. Mostly, I think she just likes being outside and able to walk freely around (close by mommy of course).


Today we visited the duck park and enjoyed seeing that the Mallard ducks are back from their winter homes, the squirels were scurring about and the birds were singing their songs.

Just When You Think It's Safe

Yesterday was a great day weather wise. Sure it was still in the 30s but it was partly cloudy and little wind so it felt great. The kids and I went to the zoo. They were both bundled up and I was in a t-shirt with a hoodie over it - again, it felt great. (we all wore hats to help keep our heat in)

There were some people there but it wasn't very crowded. Abygail walked most of the way and by the end she was so tired she wanted to crawl, then just sit on the ground. We finally got back in the car and she fell fast asleep.

This morning we woke up to this:

Just when you think the snow is pretty much over, you've got to shovel again! O well, it's really beautiful.

Another first happened yesterday morning. Just when we were starting to think the McFallville tragedies were over...Jackson fell down the stairs. He got some bumps and a scratch but he seems none the worse for it.

Some other milestones: Abygail counts to 10 now, she loves playing hide-n-go-seek. Jackson waves good-bye, he was doing this at the zoo when we would say bye-bye to the animals and it was too cute.

A Week In Review

Silly Songs:
Abygail loves to have us sing to her. Most of the time that's how she goes to sleep. Lately (the past month or so) she has been requesting some interesting songs. This is my favorite song for this week:

Abygail: Sing Abygail.
Mommy: Ok, 'Abygail, you are my sunshine...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter, butter, who's seen the butter...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Pancakes, panny cakes, everybody likes panny cakes...'
Abygail: NO! Sing Butter Pancakes.
Mommy: Ok, 'Butter on my pancakes, what's better...'
Abygail: NO! SING ABYGAIL BUTTER PANCAKES!!!
Mommy: OK! 'Abygail likes butter and she like pancakes...'
(a sigh of relief that we've finally found the right song)

Testing the Limits:
Abygail has also started testing the limits. She likes to try and demand to run around diaper-less (nekky bum). She also wants to go to the bathroom "by self" and closes the door behind her among a vast number of other things (playing during dinner, pushing Jackson...)

Wiggle Wart:
Jackson is such a WIGGLE WART. I was cracking up the other morning when he woke up for his 5:30am feeding. I was nursing him and his legs were pushing and bouncing, his eyes are closed and he's moving! It's so hard to get him to stay still long enough to get food into this crazy boy. I just love him so much and it really cracks me up!


Daddy Date:
Wednesday we had a "Daddy Date". Since it is still pretty cold here and there is still snow remaining on the ground there are not a lot of places where the kids can get out and stretch their legs for very long. There is a mall here that has some indoor play equipment (it's pretty small but beggars can't be choosers). Wednesday we decided to go to the play place in the mall and Jason was free for lunch so we swung by and brought him with us. Of course, no family outing is complete with out a little car sickness. We got to the mall, I was looking for a parking place and I started hearing the signals that Abygail was about to do her thing. I quickly stopped, Jason and Abygail got out of the car planning to meet us inside. But...It was too late! Jason got as far as Abygail out of the car and in his arms about ready to close the door for us to drive off when IT happened...all over the ground and on his shirt! It was a good thing we were at the mall, he got a new shirt out of it.

We got to see the Easter Bunny. Abygail was very cute. She was shy and didn't want to touch him/her or have him/her touch her but she told him HI.

We enjoyed lunch together and then the kids played in the indoor playground. There were a lot of kids there but they both had fun. Jackson wanted to be right there with all the big kids too. He climbed up a slide and crawled all over the place.

We all had a lot of fun. When it was over we dropped Daddy back off at school. A perfect Daddy Date.

Potty Training:
Abygail is not completely potty trained. Really, she just knows how to use the potty when she wants to. She has become very adept at taking her diaper off as well. I know I need to be more firm about her using the potty, I just haven't figured out how to do it in a nice way that she will respond positively to.

Yesterday I lost it. She went pooh pooh in her diaper and then took it off and came to tell me that she had gone pooh pooh (nothing unusual there). She also said "uh oh mommy. I poopie on my foot". Sure enough there was pooh pooh on her foot. I told her not to move, I would be right back to clean it up. I walked out of the library and past the bathroom, where right in front of it was laying her diaper with poop in it and poop on the floor as well. I got some stuff to clean it all up and came back to see that she had moved. I told her again not to move, then proceeded to clean up the mess in front of the bathroom (dummy me, should have cleaned up her foot first). When I was done and ready to clean her up, I found she had moved again and now there was poop on the furniture in the library. GREAT! I cleaned her up while yelling. I know, it really wasn't her fault and yelling just scared her but I just lost it. Next time...hopefully there won't be a next time.

Spring Break

I Love My Daddy Because...he teaches me to pray.

Last Sunday Abygail said her first prayer all by herself from start to finish. It was at dinner and this is how it went: "Heady Fauter, tink dis day, something something something, de Jesus Kist, Amen". She has since said a handful of prayers all by herself and we are so impressed and proud.

Snow Angels

This week Jason was on Spring Break. It was so nice to have him home. We've just been kicking back and enjoying the snow that dumped on us a week ago. Abygail got to build her first snowman this week. He had a carrot nose, sunglasses, and a hat and scarf from Ecuador - his head finally melted and fell off on Friday. We still have several inches of snow on the ground but it's melted from the roof tops and sidewalks.

I'm not sure if he felt like he got a spring break though, I think I'm the one that got the spring break. I got to run errands and do some shopping all by myself. It was so nice to have some alone time.

(click to enlarge and you can see sprouts)

Thursday night I hosted an Enrichment activity at our house. We learned about seed starting (by yours truly who is learning about it for the first time this year). I had some trays and soil (soil-less soil) for everyone and since we have more than enough seeds of the plants we want to plant this year we shared them and everyone got to plant some and take home to watch them grow. I have my fingers crossed that this works out because I don't want anyone, including myself, getting discouraged. For us I started some Zinnia seeds, others started flowers, tomatoes, peppers and watermelons (we weren't sure if it was too early to start the watermelons so we just decided to give it a try - what could it hurt).

We got to pet and play with 2 adorable bunnies at the museum.

On Saturday we all went to the Museum of Science. It was O.K. but nothing to write home about other than we got out and spent some time together as a family.

Yesterday when I watered the zinnias I noticed some of them had sprouted, today when Abygail and I checked on them we noticed several more had sprouted. I'm really excited about this whole experiment and Abygail seems to enjoy it too.

Yum! My first Oreo!!!

Jackson's top two teeth have started poking through this week. He has been racing up the stairs every chance he gets, he knows how to move the road block that we've put up now too. He's taken a tumble over the side of the Kangaroo Climber which didn't seem to phase him too much.

Another big thing we did this week: TAXES! We are planing to get Jason a bicycle and redo the kitchen with the return that will be coming in.

The car is still in the shop so we've had a rental car for 2 weeks now. We hope ours is finished soon.

Not much more has been happening. Hope you all have had a great week and ... for the rest of our fellow Buffalonians who will start their Spring Break on Monday - ENJOY!!!

Palmyra

After church today we went to Palmyra. I packed a picnic lunch Saturday night and made sure everything was in the car before we left for Church this morning. I fed Jackson right before we left the church so he was full and he and Aby took nice long naps.

It was a nice drive. We are in a smaller car right now (rental car, ours is in the shop from the pre-Christmas accident) so it was a bit cramped and there is no leg room in the drivers set for Jason so I GOT TO DRIVE, which I really enjoy doing. As I said, the kids were both asleep the whole way there so Jason and I got to talk and enjoy the black and white scenery. We saw deer and turkeys on the way there. It was nice to just be 'us'.

This was Jason's first trip to Palmyra, the exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls is up at the visitor's center there so our plan was to go and see them. Since the kids were still sleeping I drove him past the temple, Smith farm and Sacred Grove as well as the 4 churches (a presbyterian, baptist, evangelical and methodist church all on different corners of the same intersection). Finally we decided it was time to wake the kids up. We both changed our clothes in the car (a little harder for the driver in a cramped seat) - well out of the line of vision for any peeping toms - and them went inside.

There was a lecture just about to start so there was an overload of people there. It was a bit much for the kids so we went back to the car, ate our picnic, and then drove to the top of the Hill Cumorah. We were all by ourselves up there and it was beautiful. One side of the hill still snowy and innocent and the other side green for all the snow had been melted in the sun. There was a huge snow drift right on the stairs that led to the statue of Moroni but it didn't deter us from climbing through it.

Climbing through the snow drift and petting the stray cat that was there were definitely the highlights of our trip.

We were not able to see much of the exhibit but it was still a good reason to go and have some family alone time.

A Sunday Drive

A week ago I made Jason promise that on Sunday we would take a drive, so on Saturday he studied and worked all day at school just so he could take us (really me) for a fall foliage drive. {Thanks Sweetie!} We decided to drive to Letchworth State Park.

It was a beautiful drive, the trees were past peak and a lot of them have already lost their leaves but it was still beautiful. When we arrived there we saw even more fabulous trees in vibrant reds, golden yellows and mossy greens, just lovely. Not only did we see beautiful trees, a fabulous canyon and great views we also saw lots of deer and Abygail even got to play on some slides. Just before we left there was a fire in one of the pavilions that we sat next to so we could warm up (it was pretty windy and chilly).We had a great time and even met some people that are from our stake but in a different ward. You just never know who you will meet!(sorry the pics are so bad - all the photos I post are from my phone so they are a bit grainy and sometimes blurry - we did take pics with a real camera too but it's not digital)