Come ON, Spring.......

We have all been feeling a little spring fever.....

• I have smelled spring on the way, and look forward to planting flowers....
• Mike is looking forward to Golf........ (and I am looking forward to him getting paid to coach golf - let's go DEBT REDUCTION!)
• Jaina just wants to......BLOW bubbles.

She got the idea at the grocery store. She saw the bubble mix, and wanted to get some right then and there. Of course, she was with her father, so he said no. But when she got home, I found ours, and after supper, we went outside for a bit, to blow some bubbles.....

Mom got camera happy. What can I say? I love bubbles in Black and White. Enjoy, and may spring reach you (and us) soon.

Seriously, the next one did look like a GREAT picture in

the camera, and as soon as I pressed the shutter, she moved her eyes.

Boys' Basketball....

...is OVER!

I apologize, usually, I don't get so excited about sports. But I have to admit, there is a little relief every year when the basketball season ends. There are several reasons for this:

• It means that spring truly is on the way



• I get my Friday nights back!



• My life stops revolving around the triple-double

Okay, so it is not that bad. In fact, I rarely have to pay attention to the game at all. Which is very beneficial, since I know next to nothing about what is going on.

The George-Little Rock boys had a good year. They finished second at state, which means I got to spend a LOT of time at the Wells Fargo arena, and watching a LOT of basketball. And i got to see my parents.

I only took pictures at the first game, because, although I love my camera and all the cool things it can do, sometimes it is just too cumbersome, especially for pictures of boys I don't really know, competing in a sport I don't completely understand. But there are a few. Take a look. And then relish in the fact that you don't have to see any more for a year. :)

And here is one with Jaina and Grandma.... (Grandma is much more tolerant of basketball than I am)....

And the score at the end of our first game.....

We proceeded to beat Boyden-Hull (a team that we had beaten twice already, making the third time much more diffcult), and losing to Northern University High, out of Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Good job Mustangs..... see you NEXT year.

I only look sweet and innocent....

Yep, that is the best caption for this picture. It just looks like she is about to do something that I would not approve of......

She is actually just irritated, because all she wants to do is throw rocks into the river with Grandma. And she wants to stand. But at the insistence of her mother, (and Grandma), she is sitting. Hard to get a really good throw when you are on your hiney....

We went to Pella this weekend. It is the week of the Boys' State Basketball Tournament, and George-Little Rock (Mike's employer and Alma mater) (Wait, can you say Alma mater for a high school?) is in the tournament. It started on Monday, so we made a long weekend of it, and spent the weekend in Pella before the big game. On Sunday, we went to the river in the hopes of seeing some eagles. Instead, Jaina decided it would be infinitely more fun to throw rocks. So to the shore we went.

We also went to a concert for a tribute for a guy I went to high school with. His father and him started a band, and he was tragically killed in a car accident last fall. This concert was a tribute to him and his three year old son, who was also killed in the accident. The band's name is Big Blue Sky, and they are REALLY good. No joke. Kind of folksy, artsy, jazzy, rocky, all in one. It blended together quite nicely.

And, GLR won. So we will again be traveling to Pella this weekend, to spend more time watching Basketball. Hmmmm, did I know this when I signed up 7 years ago? Yeah, I guess I did. :)

GO GLR!

Jaina's turn.....

Doesn't every famous star believe somewhere in their heart that they are just as good of director as they are an actor? Of course.

Jaina is no different. after her 15 minutes of fame, she took her camera (the rock awesome Crayola Digital), and took Mom's picture.

Watch out Ansel Adams. There is a new kid in town....

All you need is LOVE.....

(Bum bum da da bum.. insert Beatles song here....)

Last Sunday, before our big SuperBowl festivities, I decided it was a good time to take Jaina's valentine's pictures for our valentine's card. This card is just to be sent to friends and family, but it is always fun to show everyone her latest antics in the form of digital photography.

My initial thought was to carve out some super cool LOVe sculpture from snow, (seeing as we have enough up here...), and have her pose around it in her penguin snow pants.......

Oh, yeah, that seemed like a really easy great idea at 1 AM, laying in bed one night..... Waking up at 8:00 AM the next morning, with sub zero temps? Not so much.....On to plan B.

We cut out the letters L-O-V-E (which, for all of you who struggle, is LOVE), and sprinkled them with red glitter. By Sunday afternoon, we were ready to go.....

Have I mentioned that my diva, oops, my daughter, is one step away from the runway. She demanded the right music be playing on the computer, and that her poses be perfect......

You tell me. Did we achieve perfection?

Girl... you'll be a woman soon.....

No, this is not a reprise of Katie Holmes now infamous quote "[Suri] is such a strong woman..."

Not even close.

However, in recent pictures I have been taking of Jaina, I have been noticing, that she looks, well, like a little girl. She is not my round face, baby-ish toddler I have been looking at for well over a year. Her face rounded out, her hair got REALLY long, and she got taller. She looks much less like my cuddly baby, and more like she is ready to start algebra. GULP. This is going way to fast.

It seems like overnight, her hands aren't so pudgy, she doesn't have to run twice as faxt to keep up with her classmates, and she, she speaks like she is running for office.

"You see, mom, what we need to do first is I eat my treat, and then we will try to go on the potty. Does that sound like a deal?"

"Wait a minute Mom, I just have to get myself situated."

"You see, Mom, in the bathroom, boys have an option. They can go standing up, or they can go sitting down. Girls, only have the option to sit down."

And today..... in church...... We were going to hear a lovely rendition of Amazing Grace......

Pastor announces "Now Denise will sing Amazing Grace...."

And Jaina! "Hey, we watch that on TV?"

Confused mom: "Huh?"

Jaina: "You know, Mom! Amazing Race!"

Ahh right, reality TV strikes again.....

Now, I have to remind myself to not blink for a second....

Bath Time = Poopapalooza

Okay, my frustration comes out..........





My daughter will be 3 1/2 in one month.........





And for the life of us, we cannot get her fully potty trained........





Number 1 (pee-pee for all you non-toddler readers out there) is NO problem. We had an issue at first, mainly because she is stubborn. But once we got her to go No. 1 once, we had no further issues. (Maybe it had something to do with the cupcakes, helium tank*, presents - who knows?)





Number 2, however, has been more elusive. Pooping, Bowel Movements, Poo-poo, or woo-woo, whatever you call it, is a stubborn foe. And I am not sure how much more fight I have in me.....





She refuses to put the poo in the pot. And then she waits, until bathtime.





I think if I could sit her in the tub for 24 hours a day, we would have NO problems pooping. Usually within 5 minutes of entering her nice warm bath....."Mommy! I have to go potty!" And sure enough, I put her on her toilet seat, and the poo just zooms out......





WTF?!?





So, here's looking at you kid. This pooper is on me....



*NO, I did not let my daughter suck helium. She got to blow up a balloon. :) And then mom sucked on the helium.***

***SOOOO Just kidding! Seriously, I lose enough brain cells every day, I don't need to willingly kill more!