Midweek Randoms

Last weekend we had intentions to stay home and relax.  Well, I had plans to knock things off the to-do list (which I did) since it would seem I am officially "nesting."  We almost did it!  The only thing we did this weekend that we hadn't intended to was a trip to my parent's house to fix the kitchen drawer that Joe pulled out and broke into four pieces!  Thankfully my dad was able to get it looking good as new so we don't have to call our landlord and put in a maintenance request :)

Saturday morning Jason worked a voluntary extra (early morning) shift so I thought it would be nice to have breakfast ready when he came home.  I got out a box of muffin mix and Amelia and I got to it!  Halfway through putting ingredients into the bowl I went to grab the oil and there was no oil.  No neighbors were coming to my knocks on their doors so the kids and I quickly got into the van and went to the gas station for some (very over-priced) vegetable oil.  

We got them finished and cooled just in time!  He said he could smell them as he walked up to the apartment :)

Over the weekend, Amelia gained a ton of confidence on her bike!  Our neighbor ("Upstairs Kim") was helping her and she got Amelia to go over speed bumps by herself, make wide turns and, literally, quadruple her speed!  There's no stopping her now!

Joe is trying so hard to ride the trike but he's not quite getting it yet...

I plan on picking him up a helmet before the summer is over so we can get him going so he can keep up with the big kids!

A couple weeks back we got Joe a doll.  He has shown way more interest in dolls than Amelia ever has and with a new baby coming it seemed like a good idea.  Boy was it!  He loves his baby :)  He hugs him, kisses him, pushes him in the (full-size) stroller and even gives him drinks:

It is the sweetest thing.  Ever.

Monday afternoon my sister came over and set up a huge train track using just about all our track pieces and the kids had fun with it!
 

 I really should take the train stuff out more!  Sometimes I just don't see the point since both kids, especially Joe, are content to just drive their trains all over tables, walls and furniture :)

Amelia and Joe have been at each other all week so far but tonight, right before bath and bed, they just started being the sweetest to each other.  They were hugging and "falling over" in the kitchen over and over.  Between hugs they would come over and hug me and give me a bunch of kisses.  Then they'd go right back to hugging each other and laughing.

It was just what this tired mama needed tonight :)  Love them!

Hiking and Biking

This past Saturday we ventured out to Interstate Park for a picnic and hiking!  We got eaten alive by mosquitoes while we ate so we left and quickly ran to the store for some bug spray!  I can't believe we didn't have any up until this weekend but now we are set!

Amelia and Joe are good little hikers - they definitely have the energy for it!  Amelia calls hiking "hunting."  I think she does it because we are always on the lookout for animals, especially deer, so in a sense we are "hunting" for them.

Beautiful views!

When we got home we grilled out hot dogs for supper and practiced bike riding.  We received a bike from a co-worker of mine and Amelia loves it but she is scared of it.  This weekend we cracked down and told her it was time - she needed to learn to ride!

Her reaction when she realized I was no longer holding on!

We went on a walk and she really got pedaling down but still really struggled with steering.

Concentrating hard!

Sunday we went out again and it was slow going but she basically did all the steering herself - with lots of verbal cues from mom and dad!  Pretty soon she will be zooming around like a bullet from a gun!