Funny Things

Mason and I were sitting on the couch reading books and looking through Parents magazine. I was asking him to point out things like trees and babies. When we came to this ad in the mag Mason points and says"Dada" I said "no, that's a soccer player". He just kept pointing and saying Dada.
Funny part 2
Jacob is playing legos and brings me the latest thing he built. "Look mom it's the Yahtzee thing from the Indiana Jones movie"
Kids!

HA!

I was just surfing the net and found this cute saying on a t-shirt site. Ladies we all know it true.

Had to do it

Before
After


Today was the last straw for Pete. We were shopping and a lady said how cute "she" was with "her" flip hairdo. So we took Mason for a hair cut. I'm not used to it. It's shorter than I had envisioned. I liked his long locks,but it's just hair it will grow back.

CELEBRATE!

The True Grill Man

Ladies, what we have here is the will to survive and eat red meat. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays this grill man from the swift completion of his appointed grilling.
Now that's dedication.

Busch Gardens

So Much Fun! That's what I have to say about Busch Gardens. We took turns going on some of the bigger rides with Emily and Jacob. I took them to the 4-D rides,which were great. Mason rode on the carousel for the first time, and absolutely loved it. It was a long day and we were pooped when we got home but we had a blast. We're going back soon!

Brothers

Follow me!
I'll help you up.

Helpin'

Weekend Project!

We spent this past weekend putting in a new floor in the dinning room and the living room. The country blue carpet is finally gone. The new floors look so much better. Pete did a lot of the work but I did as much as I could. We finished the job in a day and a half.

Neighborhood watch

On Friday,there were two attempted child abductions in and around our neighborhood. One of them was only two streets over from ours. Luckily, both of the children got away unharmed.And were able to give a pretty good description to the police of the car and the man. I'm scared to let my kids play outside now. They are not allowed to leave the front yard. And I'll stand on the porch and watch them walk next door. I prayed last night for the families that this happened to. I know I'm freaked out but can you imagine those families fear.

I tried to call everyone I could think of around here to let them know.And to call the police if they see anything suspicious. And to my surprise they had not heard it happened. Where is the neighbor watch? Aren't they supposed to let us know of such things? I guess my neighborhood does not have one. My neighbor told me,he is one of the local boyscout leaders. He heard it from one of the parents in his troop.

I thought my neighborhood was safe but I guess your never as safe as you think.

Schools Out!

Schools out for summer break. YEA! I have no idea what we will do. Probably the usual, the library. I have all good intentions of getting to the zoo,children's museum, and a pool if I can find one.I miss Oki and my house on the hill. The pool,the beach and a park were all just across the street. I've had to cancel Gymboree for the summer :( Emily and Jacob don't want to hang out with babies. I plan to go back when school starts back in Sept:) If there are any suggestion for Summer fun I'm listening.

Emily will be going into the 5th grade and Jacob will be going into the 3rd grade next year. Can you believe I'm the mother of a 5th grader. Time passes so quickly. She'll be in middle school in only a year. Then, high school. Somehow is doesn't seem possible.

Air and Space Center

Again I'm the one taking all the pictures. I was there, I swear. It was a good way to spend the HOT day, inside in the the AC.

Granny and Papaw

My parents came for a visit this past week. The kids really enjoyed having them here. We had a good time, we went to the Air and Space museum, the botanical gardens and Virginia Beach, for a short time. It was way too hot. Thank you for the new bicycles. They will be riding them all summer.

SO HAPPY

I have a lot of pictures to share. But this one deserves its own post. I've never seen Mason so crazy with excitement as he was here. We were at the botanical gardens in Norfolk. The children's section has a huge water fountain play area. I tried to keep him out of the water because I didn't have a change of clothes with me, but I failed. I just gave up and let him have at it. He loved it. The big kids had school that day. I plan to take them back and I'll remember to bring changes of clothes. Better yet I'll just bring them in their swim suits.

Playdough Fun

Great Grandpa Munoz

My Great Grandfather passed away last night. I just called him Grandpa Munoz because its shorter. I remember him very fondly. He always called me Tommye Joy. Which in his Spanish accent sounded different. The last time I had a chance to visit with him, he remembered me. Even though he had trouble remembering everyday things. Which made me feel special. Every time we went to Nanny and Papaw's house, I always went to visit him and Great Grandma. Although he was not blood related to me, he was very much my Great Grandfather.

waffles

I'm on the hunt for a waffle maker. So many to choose from, round, square, Belgian or not. So does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe you have a waffle maker that you love.
We normally buy frozen waffles but I'm ready to start makeing my own. Just need the right equipment.

Friends

Emily and her friend Jeralyn.

I love this picture.

Mason's first bike

Look at the smile behind that binki!
He loves this new bike. It's a 3 in 1 bike, a rocker,a push bike and a tricycle. Jacob had one just like it when he was Mason's age.

Tornadoes

We are all fine! The tornadoes didn't hit us.They hit in Suffolk which is VERY close to us. About 15 miles. We were ready if they were going to hit us though. We had a plan, when I said "go" the kids were going to grab a pillow from the couch,I was grabbing Mason and heading to the downstairs bathroom. They were frightened but prepared.

I want a better life

Today, on the way to Walmart, Jacob says to me "my friends have a better life than me". I say "What are to talking about?" Jacob" My friends have everything they want." Then he goes on to name gaming systems and such. I told him "Jacob, just because your friends have the latest and greatest doesn't mean they have a better life. Things don't make a great life, spending time with family and love make a great life. And you have a great life. Things are not important." His reply "yeah,I guess".


So now I feel like I need to show him how great of a life he really does have. I don't know how I'm going to do this but I'm going to try. Any suggestions?

BPA

Bisphenol-A,what the heck is it? Its a chemical that is in plastic, mostly polycarbonate. I don't know all the plastic it is in but I do know it's in my sons bottles."Avent"brand and it's in many other popular brand name bottles.It seems glass may be the only safe alternative. I'm so angry and scared about this,Mason has been using these bottles for almost a year. And I know a lot of other kids have too. What harm has it done. None that I can tell but it's the long term that I'm worried about. Possibly early onset of puberty or worse, prostate cancer later in life? And to make it all worse Mason loves to have his morning milk in these bottles. I've tried to transition him to a sippy in the morning but he throws it in the floor and cries for the bottle. We are still working on it. We stopped heating the bottles in the microwave hoping that this is at least a little safer.
Check out this site for some good info.
http://zrecs.blogspot.com/2007/07/z-report-bisphenol-in-polycarbonate.html
Canada has already banned BPA. I think we sould follow suit. One less plastic can only be a good thing.

Sharing a Smoothie

Our MVP

He looks so grown up here.

Jacob had his first game of the season Friday,they lost that game but won Saturdays game. We took him to get ice cream that night because he had to miss McDonalds with his team. He's a good player,he hit a double in the game Saturday. Pete is the pitcher for their team, so maybe Jacob has a slight advantage. Pete says he feels guilty when he strikes out his own son. Who knows, Jacob could really be an MVP in the big league some day.

Rededication

Emily was rededicated in Girl Scouts last week. It was a nice ceremony.I'm bias,I'm the co-leader so I planned it with Cindy our leader. Emily is the oldest girl in our troop and the only one who has been in Girl Scouts before so, she was rededicated while the other girls were invested. It was short ceremony considering there are only 6 girls in our troop and one girl was sick and could not attend. I'm having fun being a leader and Emily enjoys it too.
We took a tour of Pete's ship Sat. afternoon for our Navy Pride badge. It was really neat. The girls seemed interested and even asked questions. One of the girls dad came along, I think he had the most fun.

Kid Brother

Jacob rolling his eyes"not again"!


Kid brother,Kid brother,whatever I do,he does. Mason wants to be just like Jacob,video games and all.

96 Years!

Hulahooping

Making SWAPS
and blowing bubbles The Girl Scouts turned 96 years old this year. One of the troops in our service unit put together birthday party. It was a 50's theme,all the girls had ponytails and rolled up jeans. Some even went all out with poodle skirts. There were contests for hulahooping,bubble blowing and costumes. We had a blast.

Egg Hunt

See the egg in the tree?
We had an egg hunt in our back yard. The big kids found all the eggs in about two minutes. Mason stopped hunting after the first one he found. Pete had duty on Easter so it was just the kids and I. We had fun though, eating all the candy!

Coloring Eggs

No Cocok's

Not even close! I finally went for a pedicure. I haven't went since Oki for fear of disappointment. I was right. I scheduled an appointment at a very nice salon and day spa. I thought a day spa would be my best bet. When I got there I was impressed with the place, it was nice. The receptionist offer me a drink while I waited. To make my point, I never even had my feet massaged.I did have my calves scrubbed with body a scrub, which was rough. And the polish job was sloppy,and no toe art. I felt like it was quantity over quality. My nail tech kept saying to another girl can you drain and clean these other ones, we have pedicures all day. To all of my friends still in Oki go have a Cocoks pedicure for me. You'll not get that kind of service in the states.

Family Photo

Here we are the Nelson family. From left to right: Jacob,Me,Mason,Emily and Pete crouching in the corner. He was keeping Mason from running off before I could get the picture taken. We are at the Children's Museum in Portsmouth,in front of a action,movement screen. Mason liked the train room. Emily's favorite was the grocery store. Jacob had the most fun in the bubble room. More pictures to come. It was a great family day.

Spring forward

In nine days it will be spring. Things in bloom,birds chirping, kids coming out to play. And best of all SUNSHINE! No more gloomy winter days. (hopefully) Jacob and Emily have spring break the week of the 24th. I don't know what we are going to do? Parks? Zoo? Busch Gardens would be nice.
Is anyone else having a hard time adjusting to daylight savings? I feel like I'm dragging for at least an hour in the morning. Even morning coffee doesn't help, because I can't get off the couch to make it.

Good Search

I 've added a link to Good Search. It is a search engine ,powered by Yahoo. As you use it, Good Search will donate 1 cent to charity. I've chosen Girl Scouts of the Colonial Coast to receive donations if you search from my blog. That's the Girl Scout Council Emily belongs to. It's a great way to give to charity with out spending anything.