Mr. Potato Head

Loves, Loves, Loves Mr. Potato Head.

Clothes hamper fun

Wonder why these things don't last very long.....

Furlough Week

Shhhh.... if you are very quiet, you can see some thing VERY rare. Neil doing laundry.

Neil is on furlough this week and he did laundry out of sheer boredom/curiosity of the new machines. Either way, I will take the help!

Chicago 2010

Mmmm... birthday cake.

Niko loved the petting zoo at Brookfield.

Butterfly exhibit.

Niko HATED the stingray part...

And of course, his favorite part. The carousel.

We had a GREAT time in Chicago. Thank you to Do-Da (Grandma) and Grandpa for watching Niko so we could have nerd time all weekend. It was great hanging out with Uncle Donnie all weekend and blowing tons of money on comic. Ahhhhh....

Hanging with Godfather Mark

Mark and Shelly came over and watched a horrible movie with us over the weekend. Don't waste 2 1/2 hours on 2012.... its TERRIBLE!!!

Early Birthday Present

I gave Niko one of his birthday presents on Friday afternoon. Not by choice, but because he saw it sticking out of the back of the truck.

I bought him this art desk off Craigslist on my lunch hour Friday. It was only $20 and practically brand new! It's made by Little Tikes, but they don't make it anymore - if you want it, you have to buy it used. It's pretty fun, it has a lamp, light table, spinning pencil holder and a drawer.

I like the fact that it's almost indestructible and the chair doesn't flip easily. Niko is a climber so we have to watch it...

The last photo is Niko's play room - very colorful and fun! :)

Russian Matryoshka dolls

Uncle Donnie brought these Matryoshka dolls back from Russia for me... but Niko has taken an interest in them recently. He wines for them until I break down and let him play with them. He is surprisingly gentle with them and loves opening them to find another one inside!

Coloring

I love to color! :) I bought a bunch of crayons at Toys R Us last weekend (they were on sale for 25 cents!) and Niko has been coloring ever since.

That is when he doesn't try to eat them.....

Grumpy

I'm a bit grumpy today....

Puzzle time

We got this puzzle at the Omaha Zoo - it's easily one of Niko's favorite toys now. He loves playing with it! I will have to get him some more puzzles for his birthday! :)

New Toys

For ME!!! Take a look at these beauties! We bought a new washer and dryer last week after the great flood of 2010 in our hallway. The 16 year-old washer we inherited with the new house died last week.

I would say the washer spilled at least 30-40 gallons of water on the floor before we noticed it. Thank goodness it was over the UNFINISHED part of the basement! The water did soak a few of the birthday presents I have hidden in the basement for Niko. The toys are alright, but the packaging is a bit warped now... oh well. It could have been worse.

It took me over 2 hours to pull all the water out of the carpet with a rented carpet cleaner. Groan.

Backyard fun

We went over to Shelly's parent's house for dinner on Wednesday night. Shelly's Mom Dahlia make WONDERFUL food and she invited Niko and I over for Laksa. Niko liked playing with their watering cow and chasing Noodles around. :)

Date Day

Neil and I went on a rare date day last night. We went to see Lady Gaga at the Sprint Center - the tickets were actually my Mother's Day present. Lots of fun! It was like being back at the Art Institute, but the performers could actually sing.

Happy Birthday to me....

My birthday is actually today, but we celebrated it yesterday. Neil started my morning off right with a pancake breakfast that he cooked himself!

Thanks to all of my awesome friends who came over last night for some pizza, snacks and cake!

Ice cream cake of course!

Niko is a fan of the ice cream cake.... mmmmmm......