It's already May?!

Mother's Day
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Wow, where does the time go? I had a nice Mother's Day yesterday. I got TWO bouquets of flowers from Darin and the kids, went on a solo a.m. run, went golfing with Darin, and had pizza for dinner!

Megan and Jake have been pretty good about getting along and playing together lately, but like any siblings they certainly have their moments. Their threats to each other are actually quite comical. They say things like, "I'm gonna punch you in the eye tomorrow". Here's a nice moment of friendship:



Sometimes they have some whiny moments and I'll ask Jake ..."Is that crying or whining?". He usually replies, "it's whining". Although sometimes he says, "I not whining. I didn't say anything"....this is usually followed by a toy being thrown. Temper, temper.

Megan got a new bike with training wheels and she's having tons of fun riding it.



Prior to the Wisconsin Marathon last week, I was testing out some polka music to play at the event. I played the first song from the disk, and within 15 seconds of the song playing, Megan said "I LOVE it!". She asks for polka music all the time now.

Jake still says some funny stuff. Instead of saying "I don't know"....he says, "I can't know that".

I was in the car with him and he saw someone walking their dog. He said, "That's a cute dog. I wish I had that dog". He's been wishing for a few dogs around town. Sorry, Jake - not anytime soon.

It's been a while.....

Eggs or Bugs?
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

I'm pretty busy at work these days - my new event is coming up in two weeks. For those of you who don't know, we are producing the Inaugural Wisconsin Marathon - the World's Cheesiest Marathon. There are still lots of details to coordinate, so my blog entries have been taking a backseat. So here are the family updates:

Megan had a great time coloring eggs for Easter with Darin. Debbie gave her this cool "bug" egg coloring set. Poor Jake didn't get to participate because he was sick that day. He literally slept the entire day. Papa came over to drop off an Easter basket and he got to color an egg too. Woo hoo!

Our next door neighbor has a baby that's about 8 months old. Megan loves him (she actually loves all babies). Since they're renovating their house, we watched the baby for a couple of hours last Friday to give them a chance to pack (they're moving out for a couple of months). Here's the babysitter in action:


Jake has been taking a tumbling class at the Peterson Park Gymnastics Center and he LOVES it. They get to climb around on the equipment, jump on the trampoline, walk the balance beam, etc. In this particular photo, he's swinging on the "high bar" and kicking the bolster on the other side. The kicking is the best part. Whenever he sees this picture, he asks to go there:


Yesterday, the kids decided they wanted to have breakfast in bed......like Spongebob.


So, Jake is at the age where he says something really funny every day. And, the fact that he is not the least bit shy, makes it even funnier. A few of my latest Jake stories-

I usually take him to the grocery store after we drop Megan off at school and he likes to sit in the basket part of the cart. He pretends to drive the cart and when I turn into an aisle and there's another shopper there, he shouts "Look out!" It tends to take people by surprise. You'd think I was racing around the store in that cart. I then tell him that we shouldn't yell, "look out". We should say "Excuse me". So, now he screams, "Excuse me! Look out!". The old ladies at Jewel love him. Once we pass their cart in the aisle, he proceeds to engage them in conversation. He'll look right at them and say, "Who are you?" When they start to walk in the other direction, he says "where are you going?" Generally, it takes me a while to get through the store since Jake makes so many friends along the way.

The best grocery story I have took place a couple of weeks ago. I was at the check out and Jake had his back to the register, leaning over in the cart to reach something. He turned around, looked at the girl working the register and said, "Are you wooking at my butt?" She couldn't do anything but laugh. She then said, "Did you just say what I thought you said?" And he said, "You wanna see my underpants?" Yep, he showed her.

Oh - did I fail to mention that Jake is potty-trained? He's been out of diapers for about 4 weeks now - even at night. Nice!

Here's the last Jake tale and then I'll take a break. I had the kids at a restaurant for lunch one day. We were seated near the back and a relatively large woman walked past us on her way to her table. It was pretty quiet when Jake said, "She a fat wady". That was uncomfortable. There was no mistaking that one and I couldn't just turn and walk away. Ugh.

Here are some photos from the park yesterday. We're taking advantage of the sunshine!





Until next time.........

Happy Birthday Aunt Jenny!

B-day Wishes
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

The kids were very excited to celebrate Aunt Jenny's birthday. Once they found out that we weren't going to her house for cake tonight, they just got mad. Jenny - you need to move back to Chicago!

Morning Antics

Breakfast
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

This morning Jake and Megan were eating Froot Loops at the counter. Jake was just shoveling them in by the handful and Megan looked at him with disgust and said, "Jake, eat like a person". He then mumbled something to her and she replied with, "Don't talk with your mouth full. If you have to talk with food in your mouth, do this" (she then covered her mouth with her hand). Jake said, "Look --- aahhh --- my mouf not full. Only a wittle bit". She just looked away.

Etiquette lessons by Megan.

Stuck in the tree

Stuck in the tree
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

The kids were outside watching the construction (of course) while I ran in to wash my hands. I came back out and Megan was stuck in the tree. She was mad that I went back in and got my camera and this picture was a sneak attack. I told her that I had already put it away when she looked in my direction while I snapped the photo. That kid can really hold a grudge. Jake, on the other hand, just continued to talk the entire time -- and he doesn't hold a grudge at all!

Construction!

Construction!
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

Our next door neighbors have started a renovation project and Jake could not be happier. He spent the afternoon watching the concrete crew pour the new foundation for the addition and made some friends with the guys. Now, the concrete guys speak Spanish and Jake speaks toddler, but somehow it works for them. Jake is at a point where he talks continuously. Seriously. He does not stop. He spent some time talking with the guys at the fence and it was pretty funny. I wasn't close enough to hear the actual conversation but there seemed to be a bit of banter between them. When the second concrete mixer showed up, Jake's Spanish speaking friends invited him over to take a picture. That's when he suddenly got shy and this picture is about as close as I could get him to go. Such fun (especially since it's someone else's construction mess!!!).

Happy Birthday, Mimi!!

IMG_1328
Originally uploaded by tracyg00

The kids were very excited to get up this morning and make cupcakes for Mimi. They both put it some work on that baked treat. Jake happens to be pretty good at cracking eggs, so that was his job. Megan did the rest - spending most of her time on the sprinkles to make sure there was enough on each one.

Unfortunately for Michele, the kids were a bit tired this afternoon and were acting a bit crazy. They were decent for the majority of the visit, but by the end, they had each had a time out and plenty of reprimands on top of it. Soon the weather will be warm enough to burn off this energy OUTSIDE!!!