My dip in paradise....or something like that

So my sister Heidi and her hubby took the weekend off to go play because I was home alone with no hubby, and figured I might just want to hang out with my nieces and nephew while the parent folk had some bonding time. So we did just that. Heidi and Rick went off to play, while I stayed in to play! Here are the highlights.

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We took a trip to Toys R Us to buy a birthday present, and I was planning on buying a fun sprinkler for the kids to play in. We ended up forgetting to buy it, but I did find a super deal on this batman shirt! Yeah for super deals!!!! The kids had a blast at the store. What kid doesn't have a blast in Toys r Us? Heck, I have a blast in toys r us.

We got home and had just enough time to eat a Popsicle and then put p.j's on to watch a movie! The Bruno kids LOVE to watch movies. I enjoyed some reading time during this, as the babies had so kindly gone to bed early.

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The next morning was full of lots of kids, and lots of cartoons. It was funny to have the house buzzing with 6 kids and 7:00am! I'm definitely not used to that. Abbie and Connor headed off to a birthday party, while I attempted to take 4 kids under the age of 4 to my rehearsal. Let's just say, it was interesting. I would have been more useful not showing up. Oh well!

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Then the fun part came. It started with watermelon....lot's of watermelon. And of course a kiddie pool. More watermelon. We finished off an entire one in one day! It was good watermelon.

Then came pool time. These girlies LOVED it. Jaxon and Holly were asleep for this part.
Next came more Popsicles. When it's a 100 degrees outside, you HAVE to eat lots of Popsicles and watermelon.
"WHOOOO-HOOOO!"

And during all this I was hard at work........

on my TAN! :) ( I know, super cheesy!)

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But really, the kids were great, the babies napped super good, I even got a 15 minute nap in at one point. I told Heidi that I didn't think it could have gone any better, and that's the truth!

Thank YOU, Heidi for the fun. Let's do it again sometime soon.

Goin' to the Lodge~

Last weekend we headed up to Grand Mound Washington to play our little hearts out at the Great Wolf Lodge. There was crazy amounts of fun to be had, as you will see.

Here's our hotel room, or our "new house" as Jaxon referred to it. Jake was recovering from finals week, and was a trooper to keep up with his kiddos.

Here's Sagie getting into things in the room. It was nice that I didn't have to clean up after her for once.
Here's the good stuff. Jaxon spent a lot of time on these little wave runners. You can shoot water at the people on the other one's and Jaxon liked to aim for the face. No mercy!

This was in the arcade. There was a batman blow-up toy that we wanted to get Jaxon but it was 300 tickets, and we had 13! So as we went to cash in our tickets for candy, a girl next to us had 2000 points, and overheard us talking about the batman and got it for us. Jaxon was thrilled. I should post a picture of it. It's almost as big as Jax.

He we are as we were leaving the waterpark. You'll notice Sagie didn't even make it out the door!

I love, love, love this picture. I want to photoshop it to bring out the colors of the ribbon more. I've tried and failed a couple of time. Any advice?
And this is how the day ended....
Well, more like this.
THANKS FOR THE FUN AUNT HEIDI!

I'm a sucker for firsts

I love my Dad

I really do.

Just last week I called my dad. He's been in Utah, so I haven't seen him in awhile. His answering machine picked up and it made me so sad. I didn't like that he wasn't immediately there for me to talk to and get advice from. After I hung up my thoughts turned to my mom, and how she's been gone for so long, and it made me SO happy that I can just call up my dad whenever I want. The weight of the word "father" fell upon me that I was brought to tears of gratitude for a father who I still have on this earth who loves me and is there for me when I need him. And he's such a great dad. He spoils me, he's funny, he's strong, he's the most gracious person I know, and he loves to have fun, whether it's playing games or fishing in Yellowstone. He lives life to it's fullest. And because I love to add tons of pictures to anything I post, I will do just that.

This is my mom and dad in Hawaii. I love this picture.

Here's my dad fishing in Yellowstone. He and Jake went for a week. Father and son-in-law camping out for that long, and they even had fun. Amazing!

Here's a great example of my dad living life to the fullest. I think this is one of my favorite pictures of my pop.
This is one of the only, if not the only picture with all sibling and dad in it. Add in 13 grand kids and you've got his posterity!
Here's my dad playing a fishing game at Jaxon's 3rd birthday. What an awesome grandpa!
Santa Dad

We sure like this guy Dad, I love you. What more can I say? I'm glad you're still around to answer my calls. Let's keep it that way for a long time okay?

Love, your daughter
Stephanie

What do you do in your free time?

This is what I do!

My K'nex Grand Piano....yes, too much time on my hands

Strawberry-Lemonaid CupcakesThey taste BETTER than they look, if that's possible

Book Club! My favorite night of the month!

I guess I spend some of that free time with these two as well!And try my best to avoid playing with these...

Afternoon with the Dinosaurs

I wanted to get out of the house today, so the kiddos and I decided to go to the Zoo and check out the new dinosaur exhibit they have. It did NOT disappoint. So I would like to share the fun day that we had, because I know it's one that I will want to remember forever.

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The day started like most others do when visiting the Zoo. Impatient mom trying to get the kids out of the car and into strollers, while keeping them from getting run over. Once we make it in, Jaxon races to the ticket taker and proudly gives him our 3 tickets. He loves that part. We then hit the bears, the bobcat, the fish, the turtles, the ducks, the polar bear, and then finally, the entrance to the Dinosaurs is upon us. First comes a quick trip to the bathroom after Jaxon's public display of "holding himself". The path was awesome. Lot's of sounds coming from everywhere, and very secluded. Did I mention that I showed up to the Zoo just as 100's of people were piling out. So we had the place practically to ourselves. As we rounded the first corner we came across this group of dino's. It was at this point that Jaxon was wondering what he was getting himself into.

Here's that second fellow we came across. What do you suppose Sage is thinking?

You'll notice that I have two pictures with almost every dinosaur. Jaxon had an extremely hard time turning his back on them. Can you blame him?

"Um...Sage? Are we safe?"

"But what if he eats me mom" "Oh, just turn around and smile!"

He was excited about this one. If you've ever seen Land Before Time, you know who Cera is. Jaxon thought it was pretty cool

Now the T-Rex was unbelievable. I think Jaxon best shows the awe of it all in this video. Trust me, you'll want to watch it.


After that experience, Jaxon had to put as much distance between the two of them as possible . This is how far we had to be before he could stop and smile for a picture. Sage is still trying to find it. Finally we had reached the end. I'm pretty sure Jaxon was still looking for the T-Rex.
Next we had to find the bats. We haven't been to see the bats since Jaxon became obsessed with Batman. So it was our top priority. He sure loved it, as you can see by this picture. Or, maybe it was a really bad idea.....as you can see by this picture. I'm just not really sure what's up with it, but his eyes just don't seem right. Maybe his transformation to batman is now complete.
My other favorite part of the Zoo is feeding the birds. We do it every time we go. Jaxon is a pro
The best part of the trip was that it started raining just as we were leaving. It was perfect! My kids were worn down but happy, I was even more wore down, but happy, and daddy would be home soon. Having kids is fun because you have an excuse to just hang out at the Zoo all day and look at dinosaurs. Thanks for the fun Jax and Sage.
AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Just the right words

I am reading East of Eden right now, and the other night a paragraph jumped out at me and made me smile. If I were a great author, these are the words I would use to describe my little Jaxon.

"He was born in fury and he lived in lightning. He came headlong into life. He was a giant in joy and enthusiasms. He didn't discover the world and it's people, he created them. When he read his father's books, he was the first. He lived in a world shining and fresh and as uninspected as Eden on the sixth day. His mind plunged like a colt in a happy pasture, and when later the world put up fences he plunged against the wire, and when the final stockade surrounded him, he plunged right through it out. And as he was capable of giant joy, so did he harbor huge sorrow, so that when his dog died the world ended."

Jaxon is so passionate about life. Heidi is always commenting on how he lives in a different world than we do. And I love that about him. He knows just what it is to be a kid. I love you Jaxon!