A whole lotta nothin'!

Tootie had a banana muffin for a treat, you guys get lotsa posts this week for a treat!

I am on "vacation" all week since our daycare provider is out of town on a vacation of her own.

I have been so excited to have a week off with nothing I have to do except spend quality time with the loves of my life...Grant and Audrey. We have plans to go to Como Zoo tomorrow and then Tootie is spending the night with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Oscar on Wed so that Grant and I can make our annual trip to the fair to watch the demolition derby.

I am a big fan of demolition derbies. So much that I even drove in one about ten years ago. You'd know that, and 24 other random things about me if you had read this post.

So far this week we have done a whole bunch of nothin'...well except for lots of playing and lots of picture taking! And lucky me, during nap/quiet time I have had time to work on some fun posts.

Yesterday we emptied out the toy box/tubs and I let the kids leave the toys strewn about the entire day. They loved it because they got to play with toys that have been buried in the bottom of the toy box for months and didn't once have to hear me say, "Will you please pick up your toys when you are done playing with them."

Okay, so maybe I don't usually ask quite that nicely!

The pictures in this post aren't actually from yesterday... they were taken on Sat when we cleaned in the morning and then pretty much just played the afternoon away. I could really get used to this whole staying home thing!

Spending all of this down time with the kids really makes me realize what sweet and funny kids I do have.

Oh yeah, not to mention they are pretty darn cute too!

But then again, I am a little biased.

Have I ever mentioned that I love that my kids both have my blue eyes.

In case you haven't noticed, you know!

I had always said I wanted a little girl with blonde curly hair and brown eyes (like Dukes) but now that I have one with blue eyes, I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Oh...check this one out in sepia! Doesn't it just pull at your heartstrings?

And look at how smart this little girl is. She insists (and I use that term loosely!) on using markers like her big brother and she has figured out how to get the covers back on tightly by pushing down on the table. What a little genius!

Sometimes I wonder how little miss sweetheart can go from this...

...to this is 2.2 seconds!

It's mostly due to the "mine" factor.

You know...everything is mine!

Her brother took the rocking horse from her and...you guessed it!

It was hers!

And talk about ticked off!

Let me tell you...you do not want to make this little girl angry.

Just ask Grant!

Splish Splash

When summer finally arrived (temperature wise, that is!) a few weeks ago, it came time to have a pool weekend! Since I am lazy and hate putting the pool up, waiting for the water to warm up and then emptying and putting it away, we usually designate a weekend or two during the summer when we set up the pool for whole weekend and pretend we are at the beach!

Tootie was too young to remember it last year, but this year she had a blast! Can you guess what these glasses are from?

Nope, not Ms. Potato Head!

They are from these goofy swimming dolls. Yes, they actually swim when they are in the water! Legs kicking, arms paddling...the whole bit! We've had them in the tub but actually letting them go and swim around the pool was pretty entertaining!

Even Trixie got in on the fun!

I think the cat had more fun walking on the edge of the pool and then perching on the edge to watch the dolls swim and to get a drink.

We set up the little picnic table and had snacks. And guess who was pretty fired up about the snacks?!?

Not my little Tootie. Nope. No Way. Couldn't be her!

Is it acceptable to feed you kids this for lunch???

Okay, so the Diet Dew was mine and the salsa and chips were intended to be mine.

That is until this little vulture go her grubby little fingers into them!

Grant always likes to invite someone over to play in the pool with him so my Aunt Kala and her son Evan came over to join in the fun.

This picture CRACKS me up! Is he constipated or trying to smile for the picture? I'd like to say the latter, but one can never be too sure!

Between dips in the pool, the kids did laps around the driveway while eating freezie pops.

There's nothing better than feeling the wind in your hair while enjoying a sweet icy treat!

The boys wanted to throw Tootie in the back but there was NO WAY she would have stayed seated so she got to ride shotgun with the seat belt on!

That's okay cause Even thought that sitting in the back was pretty cool!

Next, out came the remote controlled boat. Grant was really getting into zooming that little boat all around the pool.

Look who else was enjoying the show.

Castle Parks RULE!

If I were a kid, I would want my mom to bring me here...

Wouldn't you want to play here???

This is the castle park at the elementary school in Holdingford...you know, this is the town with the infamous lunch ladies that won millions playing the Powerball lottery!

Well, their elementary school has a killer playground that the kids love to play on so we called up our friends, the Krumrei's and asked them if they wanted to take a field trip with us.

I brought snacks for those who just can't seem to get enough snackin' in a day...

And bubbles for everyone!

There were bubble blowers that were battery powered and lung powered blowers. And then there was the stupid doggie bubble blower that had it's batteries removed because it kept running and running, but didn't produce any bubbles. {Lets just say that Mr. Doggie found a new home in the bottom of our garbage can!}

We had so many bubbles that we invited the kids sitting at the table next to us join in on the fun.

Audrey thought the bubble blowing was the bomb!

The "big" kids were more interested in conquering the playground. Especially the high bar!

This is Julie...

She was designated as the "high bar lifter" (only because I was busy snapping pictures, of course!)

I think she got a little freaked out at how daring Peyton (her 5 year old son) was on the high bar.

That little sucker flipped right around like there was no tomorrow! I think Julie about had a heart attack {you can see her hands there waiting to catch him!}

Then, there is this little stinker!

He had to try his hand at hangin' from the high bar too! He wasn't quite as skilled as Peyton, but he sure hung in there!

Did your mother ever tell you that crack was bad for you? All crack except this crack, of course! If this little girl's ever-appearing butt crack doesn't make you "crack" a smile, I don't know what will!

Doesn't all of this playing make you wish you were a kid again?

As a kid, I used to love to climb. My mom used to say she thought I was part monkey and part bat because I would to hang by my feet from the stairs in our kitchen, when I was a kid (you'd have to see it to truly appreciate it...I literally laced my feet between two open steps and hung upside-down...and then I would attempt to drink water, eat, etc. Oh and whenever anyone new would come over, I just had to show off my extremely unusual talent!

Okay, so I digress.

Here are a few more monkeys I know!

Oop! There's that pesky crack again! Poor girl is NEVER going to get to wear a pair of low rise pants!

These two little buddies sure loved the tire swing.

And Tootie simply loves any kind of swing.

As a matter of fact, the majority of my time was spent pushing and pushing and pushing her in this...

But how, on Earth, could you say "no" to this face????

Or this one, for that matter???

You're right! You can't and neither can I!