Farm Field Day

Andrew's school got to go to Harward Farm's Farm Field day this year so I went along to help his teacher. It was a fun, educational day for the kids. They got to see a sheep get sheared



They learned the importance of wheat and grains



They learned about fruits and vegetables and the importance of getting enough in their diet



They learned about cotton and planted their own seeds



They learned about bees and how they make honey



They learned about dairy cows and how we get milk



They learned about baby animals



And finally, they learned about chickens and eggs



The kids all had a lot of fun learning about farming. It was a great day!

Spring Break

This year's spring break wasn't too exciting. Thanks in part to the weather and also my poor kids boring mom not feeling up to doing too much. We did enjoy some time at the park



at McDonald's



and at the mall



We also went and saw How to Train Your Dragon which was a really cute movie. Even though it wasn't too eventful the kids seemed to have a really good time.

New Toys

Aunt Kelly gave Vanessa the toys that Phin has outgrown. The first night we had them home all three of the kids really enjoyed these new additions to our toy collection.

Enjoying French Fries

Yes, I have started Vanessa out young with french fries. What can I say? She's my third. And yes, she is her mother's daughter!



As you can see, she does enjoy her french fries.

Easter 2010

Since Jim and I didn't get home until late the Saturday before Easter Sunday, all of our Easter traditions unfortunately got dropped this year. Thankfully, my sweet and amazing friend Stacie (no, I'm not just kissing up to her because she watched my kids while we went on vacation, although I am EXTREMELY grateful!!) picked up the slack for this terrible mom. The kids colored eggs with her kids



and then had an egg hunt at their house on Saturday.



And, yes, I did steal these pics from her blog too. Since we woke up to five inches of snow at our house, the poor Easter bunny got stuck in the snow and didn't have time to hide the eggs, but he did leave leave the kids a picture of Christ and a special toy all the way from New York. Luckily the Easter bunny made it to Grandma and Grandpa Davis' house and left plenty of eggs there. We enjoyed a yummy dinner with my family and Grandma and Grandpa Stay.

One tradition that didn't get totally ignored this year was our annual Easter dress shopping trip with Jim's sisters and mom.

This is always such a fun time of shopping and lunching. Jim was in Indianapolis for work this year so I took full advantage of the day and drug my sisters-in-law to dinner and 'Dear John' after our day of shopping. Such a fun, fun time. It was made even more entertaining when Vanessa gagged on a french fry in the movie and threw up all over her and me. After the movie it was off to Target for pajamas for us to drive home in because according to Melanie (Jim's older sister) we were really stinky. For those of you who don't know Mel, she is just like Vince Vaughn in 'Four Christmases' when it comes to throw up. We laughed and laughed because of her response. I'm so grateful I have such wonderful sisters in my life who are always there for me. This year we decided to do pictures of all of us together since we all picked purple and green for our dresses this year. Trust me, the colors were extremely coincidental.









Our little model Ally had to have her picture taken by aunt Melanie's pussy willow tree...



Ally and Vanessa enjoyed playing with our empty Easter eggs on Easter morning while Andrew enjoyed putting together his new Iron Man 2 Bionicle.



Another good thing is that grandma Davis also picked up the slack and had an egg hunt at her house after dinner. The kids had fun finding eggs and playing in the back yard.





It was a fun Easter even though a lot of what we usually do did not get done because of our trip.

In New York

Jim had to go to New York for work and surprised me with a ticket to join him for a few days of fun and relaxation. Okay, so there wasn't much relaxation but three days without kids is relaxing in its own right. His little sister and her husband decided to join us since it was their anniversary and they had never been there before. Since they'd never been there, we decided to do a lot of the typical tourist things. Thankfully the weather was perfect the entire time we were there so all our stops were great.

Dorothy, Cameron and I got there late Wednesday night, 12:30 a.m. New York time. With all the craziness of getting my stuff and the kids' stuff ready, I didn't have time to eat anything before getting on the plane. We were STARVING when we got there. Our kind of scary, but very helpful taxi driver told us about a pizza place called Empire Pizza.

After going to the hotel to drop off stuff and pick up Jim (Dorothy and Cam were extremely surprised at the size of the rooms - very, VERY small)


(us inside Dorothy and Cam's room. She was trying to show how small the room was, but couldn't get the right angle since it was so small)

we went for a slice of pizza. Very, VERY yummy!!!!


(Dorothy with the workers who were 'playing' on the computer during down times)
We ended up going there every day. Even if it was very late and we'd already eaten a large dinner, just too delicious to not eat all the time!!

Day 1

Empire State Building




(Jim after going through 'airport' type security. We were cracking up because he just kept walking and walking like this - he wouldn't stop long enough to finish putting his belt on.)



Lunch at a delicious Parisian restaurant, courtesy of our hotel since they double booked our rooms. Dorothy and Cameron were put in a smaller room, which is really surprising since it's amazing a hotel room in New York could get smaller then what we were in. Okay, it wasn't a smaller room, just a smaller bed. Good thing they are small people ;).



After lunch we headed to one of my favorite places in New York, H&M for shopping. We also went to Tiffany's.



In all the times I have been to New York, I had never been to Tiffany's. It was so fun just to be in the atmosphere, no we didn't buy anything.

We then went back to the hotel to rest and get cleaned up before going to see West Side Story



and Times Square


The next day was spent at Statue of Liberty





and Ellis Island,



Katz's Deli,






(here are mine and Cameron's 'we are tired and stuffed' faces)

Then it was off to Ground Zero. It was amazing to me to see how much it had changed since Jim and I were there last, four years ago. We did the audio guided tour which included commentary by people who were inside the World Trade Center the day of the attack and also commentary by people who lost family members in the attack. It was a great way to experience Ground Zero but was also heartbreaking. It was a great day!



We then went back to our hotel to rest before going to see the newly reinstated play Promises, Promises with my favorite Kristin Chenowith and Sean Hayes (from Will and Grace). This play was AMAZING!!!! Cute, funny play with extremely great talent!! We didn't get any pictures at this play because we had reservations at Carmine's, a very yummy Italian restaurant that we had to hurry to make. Dinner was well worth the running from the theater without pictures, delicious!!!



Our last day there we actually slept in, which was very nice!! We then went to walk around and enjoy Times Square. We took Dorothy and Cameron to the Toys R Us to show it to them and so we could grab some things to bring home to the kids. We then made one more Empire Pizza run before heading to the airport where I got one more surprise from Jim. He upgraded my ticket to first class so I could sit by him on the flight home. So nice to be spoiled! I think first class is the only way to fly! I'm sure this was a once in a lifetime experience for me. It was really fun and I was really glad I got to sit by Jim.

It was a quick trip with a lot crammed in, but tons of fun. We are already planning a trip back over Memorial Day weekend with our fabulous friends Chris and Stacie who were so kind and watched the kids for us to go on this trip. I can't wait!!! New York is one of my favorite places to visit and I LOVE going there!!

Sneak Peak

Have you ever seen a cuter baby in the entire world??? Okay, so maybe I am biased, but still, she is super cute, isn't she?? We did her six month (okay, technically seven month) pictures with Emily of Winkfotos again (she did her newborn pics) a few weeks ago. I love Em!!! Not only is she extremely talented but she is the sweetest girl and has the cutest personality. Check out her website www.winkfotosblog.com. There are more pics of Vanessa on there too. I will post all the pics when I get the disk from Em. I just wanted to post a preview since they are so adorable!