And you know what happens when Quinn finds a big box.....

You know how much Quinn loves big boxes.

So imagine the smile we got when he saw how big the box was that our new stove came in.  It took up the whole living room!  And boy did Quinn have fun with it. 

And these pictures speak for themselves.  (But I will apologize for the quality. We have a window in our front door, and there is a sun glare coming through the window in some of these...)

We will do anything to make this boy smile....even if it means buying a new stove just so Quinn has a box to play in!  And yes, I'm the mean ole mommy who has already taken the box apart....but seriously, it was too big to keep in the house any longer.  Trust me though, Quinn got plenty of fun out of it!

My 200th post = A New Stove

A week or so ago, I realized that some of the eyes on my stove were not working properly. I would turn on the eye and it would heat up and all, only to begin to shut off in the middle of me cooking. This just seemed like a fire hazard waiting to happen.  I mean, it just wouldn't be right for the fire department to come to our house....the station that would be first on the scene is the station we volunteer at!

So Buddy decided that I should have a new stove / oven as my late Mother's Day/early Birthday present.  I checked all the local department stores that sell appliances and found the one I liked; then compared stores to see where I could get the best price for what I wanted.  We ended up at Home Depot on Friday afternoon with the perfect stove in mind, only to be told "We don't keep these in stock...it will be 3-5 business days." Ugh. But the saleslady was nice enough to check in the back "just in case" and low and behold found ONE stove on the top of a big shelf in the back room....and it had a sales flyer attached to the box advertising it for $50 less than the sign on the sales floor said!  Woo Hoo!!

By Friday night, I was cooking supper on my new stove. 

It is so nice, with the smooth top! I no longer have to worry about pulling the eyes out and cleaning/changing those little catch pans anymore!  The only catch is I have to use a special cleanser on the stove top. 

The oven is much bigger than the one I had before and I love that the door has a window into the oven. I didn't have that before.

And the best part is that we didn't have to wait for any delivery people so show up or install it. Buddy was able to do all that himself.  Thanks sweetie for a gift I will use for many many years to come!

Quinn's Artwork

Although Quinn turned 3 back in January, he did not get to move up to the 3-year-old class at daycare until April.  One reason was that the class was full and he had to wait until some kids turned 4 and moved out. The main reason was that he wasn't potty-trained yet.  That is all behind us now though.  Well, let me just say he is a champ at #1, but can't seem to get the rest in the toilet. Here's hoping we can get a handle on that part before he starts preschool.

I just realized...you were expecting a post about Quinn's art work, not his potty abilities. Sorry I got a little side tracked. Anyway, in his 3 year old class, he has been doing more arts and crafts than he did in the 2s.  I took a picture of his latest projects to share.

The first one is a cute little bird that he made.  Quinn put the feathers on himself!

The next one is the card he made me for Mother's Day.  Mrs.Tina, his new teacher, told me he did the stem, leaves, and the flower decorating himself. He showed her where he wanted everything to go.

I am so looking forward to when he starts school this fall and all the little projects he will bring home!

Sliding Into Some Fun Times

We decided last weekend to get Quinn a swing set for the back yard. He had a swing hanging from our big walnut tree, but it's one you use for babies and little toddlers, the kind you strap them in to.  Quinn is much too big for that. Our yard isn't that big, so the wooden ones are just too much for our yard. I found a good deal on one with a big slide and a few swings, so we got that. 

One of the many things I love about my husband is how good he is with tools and completing projects. He is manly enough to come up with ideas in his head and build them (for example, the sandbox), but he is smart enough to know when he should consult the instructions (the crib, the swing).

Here are a couple of pictures of the swing set in its stages of completion.



Quinn's absolute favorite thing is to slide down the sliding board, so needless to say, it was the first thing he tried out when we brought him outside to play.

Quinn has learned a new way to swing at school...on his tummy. And he wasted no time in showing us this cool move.

After a few minutes of tummy swinging, he looked up at me and said "Mommy would you push me....pwease?!?"

I think the only way we could have had any more fun was if the swings would hold the weight of an adult...because I love to swing.

I love this boy and can't wait for the hours of fun we will have this summer playing on the new swings and slide!

Easter 2011

A belated Happy Easter from my precious little Quinn.



Not sure why he loves to run under the tree when it is time to take a picture. Next year, he won't be able to stand under this tree.   :-(

What a little man....so handsome!

Mommy and Quinn....who is not looking at the camera.....

First Time Dyeing Eggs

 This year I decided that Quinn was old enough  I was brave enough for us to dye eggs for Easter. One thing I learned....do not wait until the night before Easter to buy your egg dyeing kit. If you do, you will be stuck with only the 99 cent version of dye kits, which is just regular colors...nothing fancy, nothing sparkly, nothing! We did have fun though, and next year I will buy my fun kit early!

As you can see, Quinn was super excited to be dyeing eggs.

He had a lot of fun placing the eggs in the different colors. We let him pick which color he wanted to do and then he placed the egg himself. Yes, it made a mess, and yes, he knocked over a color or two, and yes, we had a blast!



For a three year old, dyeing eggs is fun.....waiting....not so much....

The final product. We did have fun, and Quinn had fun playing with his color eggs for a few days!

Easter Egg Hunt

On April 16th, our Sunday School class at church had the annual Easter Egg hunt. Our class is made up of all married couples. Most couples have kids already, some are expecting children over the next few months, and some couples are enjoying life as "just the two of us" right now.  Our class is so good to plan events for the whole family, and this is one of the best ones we do.  Unfortunately, this year, it was scheduled to pour rain all weekend (which it did...this was the weekend of the NC tornadoes!), so we had to have the egg hunt inside the gym of our church.

Here are a couple of pictures of the egg hunt. 
Quinn managed to find a huge pile of eggs inside this stack of chairs.

On the search for more eggs....

After all the eggs were found, Quinn sat down and examined his loot and counting his eggs. I was impressed that he got all the way to 15 before he started skipping numbers!

He came home with a whole bucket full of eggs! Way to go Quinn!!  This was much better than last year when he forgot to hunt eggs and made a bee-line for the swing set and sliding board!

And to think, we almost left early due to a certain little boy throwing a tantrum.......but that's another story!