The Box

This morning I pulled out a big box I stored in the attic a couple years ago. I am not even kidding when I say the kids have played in it all day long!!! I got it out around 8:30, they played all day until we went to church at 4 and then we went out for dinner, got home around 7 and it is almost 9 and they are still in it.....attempting to sleep in the box!
All smiles this morning!

Going down the slide

They moved their chairs in for a bit....

Doing some reading

We ended up taping up the other end and Mike cut a door in the side with a little hole for a door knob, they loved having a working door.

Having a snack

Rex checking things out.

When I went grocery shopping, I got home and they had filled the box with tons of pillows and were playing that way. You can see Porter is upside down in this photo.

Trying to get a shot of how sweaty Porter was from playing in all the pillows!

Right before church they moved The Box to the railings to jump off into their "pillow pit", I think this was the big hit of the day! :)

Getting ready for bed in The Box.

Sleepy time, now we will see if they actually fall asleep in The Box.

Stella is 6!

Yesterday was Stella's 6th birthday. She was SO excited!!! She had a great day and loved all the phone calls, cards, and gifts! It took her forever to fall asleep the night before her birthday b/c she was so excited! :) I really thought she would sleep in.....yeah, right! She was up before 7AM ready to go!!!
Birthday girl! Ready to tear into her gifts....sporting her "bed head"!!! With her "light up shoes", the only thing she asked for for her birthday. They are ALL the rage in her kindergarten class!! Grandma and Grandpa got her these, was so STOKED!!!!!

With the necklace Grandma and Grandpa gave her, it has her name on it and a few charms hanging from it.

She had 10 friends at her party. We hired a magician to perform at the party. He was a really nice guy, a high school student from Ames (go Cyclones!). The girls (and Porter) loved his act! Here is one of Stella's friends helping with a trick.

A shot of most of the girls at the party.

Stella and Hannah doing a trick.

Porter enjoying the show!

Singing Stella "Happy Birthday", she is a donut freak, so instead of a cake or cupcakes, she wanted glazed donuts. :)

Opening gifts from her friends. This was pretty funny to watch, the kids were very into the gift opening!

After the party was over, Stella opened her presents from mom and dad. She received a lot of great spring/summer clothes and a gift card to Auntie Ann's Pretzels (her favorite thing!). We had to go to the mall today to use part of her gift card. :)

Stella with the 6 balloons that were in her room waiting for her when she woke up on her birthday.

Kitty Kitty

We've had a pretty low key past few weeks. Although last Friday my parents got a room at a local hotel that has a huge water park inside it and the kids spent the night with them there. That was a lot of fun! The water park was great, I am bummed I forgot my camera! Other than that we are getting excited for Spring Break which starts this Friday and Stella's upcoming 6th birthday! The kids are still 110% obsessed with Rex, the poor kitty doesn't get a moments peace when they are around, but I do think he loves all the attention! Here are a few shots from the past few weeks.
Rex sound a sleep, nestled in between 2 couch cushions.

Since the first day of March, Stella has pretty much been talking about her upcoming birthday nonstop! We made a paper chain to hang in her room to count down the days! She also thinks she needs to show off the fact that she has lost her two bottom teeth in all her pictures these days! :)

Her two bottom teeth grew in SUPER fast!! I look like they are almost completely in. She lost the second one when we were in AZ, so it wasn't that long ago.

Rex loves warm places. Today after I ran the dishwasher I opened it up to let the dishes air dry. The next thing I see is Rex curled up on the dishwasher!! I think he liked it b/c it was still really warm from being run just a few minutes before!

And here is how we spend most nights, playing Trouble. Stella LOVES this game and has crazy luck with it, you have to "pop" a 6 to get your man out on the playing field and she always gets like ten 6's in a row.....which is why she loves this game! ha ha! :)

Rexy

We went to the Animal Rescue League today and adopted a 3 month old kitty cat. His name was Pavel, but we renamed him Rex. Porter wanted to call him Dinosaur, so we were thinking of other options and T-Rex came up and shorted that to Rex, also known as Rexy. The kids are super excited!! They have been wanting a "real" pet for AGES (I guess fish don't really count as real pets LOL!). So far Rex has been a good kitty, hopefully that continues! :)

He already loves to cuddle. Stella is home sick today and has spent pretty much all day on the couch, except for our trip to the animal shelter, and Rex has been a great cuddle buddy for her.

She zonked out not too long ago. She has a 103 temp and goopy eyes and runny nose.

Porter being Porter, not much else to say about this photo!!! :)

Big Date Night!!!

Tonight was Date Night in our house! Mike and Stella had tickets to a Father/Daughter Valentine's dance at the Blank Park Zoo. They met up with some friends beforehand and went out for dinner. Porter and I went out on a date, too! We met 4 other moms and sons out for dinner at Porter's favorite restaurant, Red Robin! I had a great time at dinner, it was beyond cute seeing all the little guys excited to be out with their mommies....I know in a few short years they will be beyond embarrassed to do that!!! :) Mike and Stella are still not home, can't wait to hear all about the dinner and dance!
Here are my boys! Mike and his beautiful date. :)

Me and my handsome dinner date. :)

Getting a little antsy!!!!!!!

Me and my best girl. :)

Arizona 2011

We spent last week in sunny (albeit chilly!!) Arizona. We had a great time with my awesome inlaws! :) We stayed plenty busy and enjoyed seeing lots of family and doing lots of fun things. I feel like I didn't take many pics. I didn't take any at the Watson get-together at Amy's house and the 4 of us went off roading and I didn't have my camera. That was a ton of fun and we were totally in the middle of nowhere!

Porter, Grandpa and Stella watching a movie. Cuddle time with Grandma

Chris has a great zoo near his house that we went to this year. Here is Chris, Mike and Stella in one of the aquariums.

Grandma and Porter checking out the sharks.
Grandpa, Porter, Mike and Stella TOUCHING the Stingrays!! It was very cool and the kids loved the hands on areas on the zoo.

Enjoying the sunshine!

The stingrays!

In front of the flamingos, they were so colorful!

By the rhino, Porter was thrilled! :)

Feeding the giraffes!!

Hot tubbing in the backyard.

Helping Grandma make bubble bread.

One morning we took the kids horse back riding and it was so much fun. The ranch we went to had a midget miniature pony. None of us had ever seen (or heard) one before. He was SOOOO cute. He's the dark brown one in front. Super cute! :)

Stella guiding her pony to get ready to ride him.

Stella riding Cocoa.

Porter on Cocoa. He wasn't so sure about the pony, so I walked next to him.

Riding the Frog Hopper at Amazing Jakes. Porter and Stella are on the right end.

Playing Skee Ball.

Stella, Grandma, Porter and Grandpa--great picture of all of them! :)

We had Stefani watch S & P on Friday night while we went out with Steve and Linda to see Renee sing. Renee is Stefani's mom and married to Mike's first cousin, Rick. Renee is a VERY talented singer and it was so much fun to have a kids-free evening out! :)

Thanks Steve and Linda for a great time in Arizona!!!!!!! :)