Good times with Grandma!!!

This past week Scott's mom came to visit us and we all had so much fun! It seemed like it had been forever since we all got to spend some quality time together. When we go back to Texas it is for such a short period of time and all the family is together so it can be hard to really catch up. The kids LOVED having their Grandma at their house. On Tuesday Janene and I went to pick up the kids together from school right when we got in town, when Jackson saw her his face lit up and he started yelling "My Grandma's here, my Grandma's here!!" That is one of the fun things about living far away from family, you get to really appreciate it when you are all together again, and it is so fun to see the kids reaction. Scott was able to take a day off from work and we went to the Civil Rights Museum while the kids were at school. The museum is at the hotel where Martin Luther King was assasinated and it was so interesting. We were there for over 4 hours and I still don't think we learned about everything that was there! The kids did a program for Mother's Day last week and it was so sweet!! They sang songs and had a breakfast for the Mom's with gifts. Too bad it was the day of my Glucose tolerance test at the dr to see if I was diabetic so I couldn't eat anything :(

The kids all singing to the Mommy's

Breakfast in jackson's class with his best buds, Donovan and Matthew

Leah in her classroom, she was a little overwhelmed by all the people in her class

At the beginning of the museum there was a video on the assasination of Martin Luther King and it talked about the night he was killed he was going to a dinner at Rev. Kyles house and he met at Martin Luther King's hotel first and they visited and laughed for over an hour befopre going out to the balcony at the Lorraine Hotel. Rev. Kyles was standing beside him when he was shot and he was the one who called for help and covered Martin Luther King with a sheet to protect him from photographs. Anyway, he was out in the lobby at the end of our tour, so we were able to get a pic with him!! What are the chances?!? He was such a nice man and took the time to visit with us and answer some of our questions. Such a neat opportunity to meet someone who is such a big part of history.

Room 306 was the room he spent his last night and the wreath marks the spot where he was shot.

Janene and I spent ALL DAY on Thursday working on our yard. We planted some beautiful flowers, laid mulch in the yard and trimmed up all the shrubs and bushed. She bought us the cutest concrete bench to put out front. It looks so good and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out. That night, we went to Jackson's T-Ball game and he was so cute!!! He looked so big out in the field!

Leah got to play on the playground with Grandma while the team warmed up

Leah and Grandma

Jackson waiting to be up to bat

Jackson running to first base!! I videotaped him up to bat, so I didn;t get an pics of it

Leah was more interested in playing in the dirt with the boys than watching the game :)

Jackson, ready for the ball

He looks so much like his Daddy right here, he turned his hat around backwards just like Scott always does!! So cute!

Getting some fielding advice from Daddy. Cute story-when Jackson was on second base, Scott was the first base coach. Jackson yells out as he is on base "Hey Dad! When this game is over I need to go right to bed!" Scott just yelled back "Ok Bud" All of us in the crowd were cracking up laughing at him! Who is worried about their bed time in the middle of their t-ball game?!? Our Jackson is!! He is so fuuny :)

Friday morning, Janene went back to Texas and we were all sad to see her go but it was a wonderful trip!! Thanks for all the memories Grandma!! We love you!!

Easter in Texas

Easter weekend we went back to Texas to spend some quality time with our families and it was so perfect! The kids were great on the ride home and were just thrilled to be back with family. We started out the weekend at Nj's house and, of course, they always love being at Aunt Nj's house. We colored easter eggs and had a family dinner with everyone with the most delicious steak and chicken fajitas. Megan came into town on Friday, so our visit with her was short but so good to see her since we hadn't seen her since Christmas!! Saturday morning we went to my parent's house and had breakfast and just visited with everyone. That afternoon we went to Scott's parent's house to see the musical "Beauty and the Beast" which was so much fun!! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures at the play, but the kids loved it. Janene sat next to Leah during the play and she said you could tell Leah was scared at parts and just kept saying "He is trying to be nice to Belle" whenever the beast would get loud or angry. Jeff and Abby and their 4 kids came to the play as well, so it was fun for the kids to be with their cousins. They love their cousins!! We didn;t get in until around 1130 that night and then we got up for church at 7am the next morning, the kids were tired, to say the least, but they were little troopers and were very well behaved at church. We searched for easter baskets when we got home and went on a easter egg unt. After the first easter egg hunt we had to hide the eggs at least 5 more times for Leah to find again, she couldn;t get enough!! Lisa and Mark were able to come out to Scott's parents house with Luke, so it was fun to visit with them. Scott and the kids had to leave that afternoon and I stayed in Texas for the week, it was really hard being away from them,but I always know they are in good hands with their daddy. Long story, but I am working a couple of days a month in Labor and Delivery in Plano again as a way for some extra money since I don't want to work full time when the baby is here, so I had orientation this week. It is hard being away from the kids, but it felt really good to be working doing what I love again with such a good group of girls and friends. Leah exploding a pack of Easter egg dye on her hands right at the beginning of coloring the eggs.

Jackson decorating his Easter Egg bag at Grandma and Grandpa Ludlow's

Busy at work before the play

Uncle Rob taking Jackson on a lawn mower ride, he's so good with the kids!!

Leah's turn!

Grandma had cupcakes for the kids to decorate in Easter colors as well. They loved this project!

Yummy!!!

The Easter bunny knew how much Leah loves "The Little Mermaid!" She hit the jackpot

Jackson got a new SpongeBob Squarepants game for his Leapster that he just loves!

Luke wasn't as interested in the Easter Egg hunt as his cousins, but boy is he getting around now, he'll be walking in no time!! Crazy how fast he is growing!

I got home on Thursday and we decided to celebrate Mother's Day this weekend since I'll be working in Texas all next weekend when it is actually Mother's Day. We went to this fun Mom and Pop Italian restaurant here in Memphis on Friday night and it was delicious. Here is a pic of me and my favorite boy, too bad he didn't do a real smile :)

Probably one of the last pics of just the 4 of us on Easter morning

Me at 26weeks and 3 days, the baby moves a ton and has such a personality in there already!! They love music, anytime we turn it on the baby starts kicking and they love Scott's voice. We can't wait to see if it's a boy or girl!!

Mommy's Little Helpers

I just have to take a minute and brag about how sweet our kids have been lately. They have really stepped it up and have been helping mommy around the house lately. I don't know if they are just getting older or they can see I'm moving a little slower these days, but they have been absolute angels. Leah sets the dinner table every night at dinner and loves doing it! Both kids bring their dishes to the kitchen after eating and have been begging to help with the dishes at night. Weird, right?? They have been cleaning up a lot more and really helping me out. The other day I was straightening up and doing some laundry and they called me into their rooms and wanted to surprise me by making their beds on their own. It was the cutest thing to see their covers all crooked and their little stuffed animals on the bed, but their little smiles beaming to know they helped Mommy. I just love them to pieces and feel so lucky that have such kind hearts! Had to include one of these in here...25 weeks and man have I grown in the last 2 weeks. Scott had a foot in mouth moment the other night when he commented on how fast my stomach had grown as I was eating a brownie....then he got the "you think I'm getting fat?!?" look :)

My sweet boys!!

Our Princess Leah. I told her I had a dream last week that we were having a Baby Girl and she was so excited...this is better than a sono to a 3 year old :)

Picture of their bed-making skills...so darn cute!

Headed to Dallas tomorrow to spend Easter weekend with the family and we can't wait!! happy Easter everyone!

Mother Nature is One Scary Beast!!!

We had the CRAZIEST storms today, it was unreal! I had to share some of the photos of the damage it caused around our neighborhood. So scary! We feel blessed our family and home are safe. Leah was Family of the Week so she has to take her class pet, Freddy the Frog, around town with her and take pictures. So this is a pic of Freddy scared of the tree that fell on a car down the street from us.

This tree fell on the house!! Look at the roots on this thing!

This was one of many trees blocking the roads completely. I'm sure the tree companies are loving these storms right now.

Another tree on a house

This one is bonkers to see if you look at how big the tree is compared to the people standing next to it. Lucky it fell into the street instead of into the house!

This is the damage in our backyard :) The kids thought our branch was pretty impressive, too.

Dad's Night and Our Poor Sick Boy

On Tuesday night the kids had a "Dad's Night" at school and they were SO excited. It had a mad scientist kind of theme, so they got drinking cups that looked like beakers and had eyeballs in them and a drink that fizzed. Jackson got picked to go up on stage to participate in one of the experiments and Scott said it was just a really fun and busy night. When I picked up the kids from school on Tuesday, I told them we had to hurry and get home to get ready to go back for Dad's Night and Leah said, "Sorry Mom, it's just for my dad. You are going to have to stay home with Chloe." Jackson was automatically worried about my feelings and told her that wasn't nice and he reassured me that I would have the baby home with me too :) I thoroughly enjoyed my night all to myself!! I took a long bubble bath and enjoyed a good book. They should do Dad's Night once a month!!! Scott took a few pics of the night on his phone but didn't take our camera so I will have to put them on later. Daddy and Leah before leaving

So excited

Sweet Jackson and Leah cuddling on Sunday when Jackson was sick. She was trying to be a good sister and lay with him.

On Saturday morning we woke up and took the kids to the gym with us. After we worked out we went to Firehouse Subs and Jackson started acting like he didn't feel good. He just laid his head on the table and then asked if we could just go home and eat there. We got home and he went straight to bed complaining he was just really tired. After about an hour, he woke up and said he was feeling better and we decided to make a trip to Costco. On the ride there, I looked in the backseat and he was extremely pale and said he was going to be sick. We turned the car around and I stayed home with Jackson. He fell back asleep and slept for a couple of hours. By this time it was the evening and he hadn't eaten ALL DAY. When he woke up he was feeling better so he ate some cheese toast and strawberries and then went to bed. Around 1am he came to our room saying he just got sick in his bed. IT WAS EVERYWHERE. He not only got sick in his bed, he got sick all in Leah's bed, as Leah was sound asleep still :( We got everything cleaned up and Jackson and I had a not so good sleep in the guestroom and Scott slept with Leah in our room. He is much better today and it was fortunately a short tummy bug but I am praying the rest of us don't get it! Scott and Leah have already had the stomach flu this year so I don't want it in the house again. Jackson mentioned today that his best buddy, Donovan, got sent home from school this week for the flu, so I'm sure that's where he got it. Anyway, fingers crossed for a healthy and safe week!!!