My babysitter

My friend Jen posted on her site, her favorite babysitter. So I wanted to share mine. I love it when Emily hops aboard and wants to entertain Dallas! Often times I run back into whatever room I have left them in because it was either to quiet or too loud. Monday I found this (it was too quiet).

Swimsuit lessons

Dallas, wondering if he can have a turn in the water

Emily and Robert waiting for the instructor to let them in the pool

Emily, practicing jumping from the side of the pool

Emily had her first two swimming lessons this week. She is in the Parents and Child II class, classified by the American Red Cross. She loves it, she squealed all the way through the class, and she cries when we have to get out of the water. I went with her the first night, and Robert got in the water on Thursday.

--Oh BTW Emily still calls swimming swimsuit, I am trying to fix it, but it is so darn cute, that is why we go to "swimsuit lessons"

Since the last post had no Dallas...

What we have been up to...

The Chevelle is back in our garage, we brought it out of storage on Sunday. Robert was scouting for a good picture to use of him with the Chevelle for his new site (more on that later).

Our grass has also greened up! I still hope we get one more storm with snow, just not on VEISHEA weekend. I want that weekend to be sunny and 70F so I can take the kids to see Rob march with Alumni GROOVE in the parade and can go tailgating for the Spring football game.

We looked at a van last night, it was a great deal, they wanted to trade for our car, we liked it but didn't love it. I am so glad that we are not in the position that we have to buy, so we are waiting for the right deal to come our way.

Dallas has shortened his morning nap some, maybe that means he is transitioning to a longer afternoon nap. I won't lie, it would be great to have both kids napping at least for 45 min a day!

Spring trip

We didn't make it to Mexico on Spring Break, but we did finally get our MN visit in. The most gracious Petersen clan hosted us the whole weekend. We had a blast. Emily had her first sleep over (with a boy) she camped out on an air matress in Christopher's room. They had a lot of fun and they did finally sleep.
We rode the Light Rail system into Downtown Minneapolis and visited Sara's really fun work!

Here are some pics, Then April came up to visit us when we got home, she brough presents from her FL trip, Emily plays with her ocean puzzle every day!
-having issues embeding the slideshow today, just visit our album...
http://picasaweb.google.com/ltkibbe/MNAndAprilVisit?feat=directlink

thanks Aunt Jen

We had a box by our door on Friday, Emily noticed it had her name written on it. "Is that mine?" she asked. Sure is, we brought it in, she really wanted to open it herself but couldn't quite manage the packing tape. I opened it enough for her to rip into it by herself. She was so excited. Dresses. She immediately started trying them on, with no prompting, she has never wanted to do that before. We say thanks for the two new sun dreseses, they are sure loved by this girl! Everytime she sees them in the closet she says, "Aunt Jen gave me those"
Emily, trying on the dress

Lookie!

Dallas and Grandpa J

We had a nice visit from my Dad and Barb. I owe them thanks since they brought gifts and ran a couple of errands for me !!! I liked this picture because they are both making similar faces.

A portrait

Happy St. Patricks Day

Hope everyone gets more kisses than pinches!

Where did the weekend go? It's Sunday night, and I am so tired. Thanks to Sarah for helping me remember Daylight savings, knowing my recent track record with missing things on the calendar!
-Robert was called out of retirement and was asked to play with the current Groove line. He played at half time of both Mens and Womens ISU BB games on Sat. We already had Grandparents in town to babysit on Sunday so I decided to go to the night game to watch Robert. It was so fun, he looked great performing.
I also think Dallas might have slept through the night, well his night, 11:30 -5:30 including the time change, does that count? Robert thinks that I did get up once to feed him but I can't remember doing that, maybe I slept through it!

Sunday we went up to Rock River our church's retreat center. We taught a little lesson on finances to the pre-marital group. It was really fun. We also got to sit in and help with the *giggle sex lesson. All in all a busy and fun-filled weekend.

A good day for a picnic

We ate lunch on the front step today. The patio furniture is still in storage, and the deck is in shade at lunch time, so I thought we would be "those people" and eat on our front steps. I think it was Dallas's first time actually getting sun on this side of a window! We were also entertained with a very rare appearance of a deer. The deer was running North right in the middle of Hoover, and turned East on Johnson, headed into some neighbors yards and then crossed Johnson again to go into the yards on the south side. It was really strange, the nearest wooded area is south of the high school, or up at Ada Hayden so it was quite a treat, I have only seen one other deer in our neighborhood, and strangely enough it was about the same circumstances. We do however have a friendly (sort of) fox that lives in the park next to our house.

the Past

We have a scanner, now you can look forward to these little flashbacks. Emily and Dallas, me holding Greg

DIY help

I picked up this lamp at a garage sale at the Boone County Fairgrounds last month for $3. I feel like it has alot of potential, I am just not sure where to start. I don't like the trim on the shade, nor am I too attached with the paint job. I want to put it in Emily's room. The base has a triangle of glass that you can spin if you want, I am pretty sure it is to hold pictures. I thought it would be fun to fill it with something colorful like gumballs. Any suggestions on where I should start?

Storytime

Reading Em's Toddler bible, she always wants to read 100 pages at a time, never just one or two stories!

Em working really hard to squish her playdough

Look how big Dallas looks in this picture