Gotta love the free stuff

I don't know if anyone is familiar with the Disney rewards program, but the Shurtz family is very stoked about our free find. When you purchase a movie made by Disney studios there is a number on an inside flyer that you can enter on disney.com to get free stuff with the points you earn. During nap one afternoon, I gathered all the Disney movies I could find that have this little code in it. When I was done, we had over 1000 points. With those points, Jackson and I picked out this awesome tent and also a really large fleece throw blanket... free!!!! Not even any shipping and handling. I was very skeptical after ordering. Cutting many a cereal box or Eggo UPC codes for some little things that the company was offering, I didn't think that this tent would hold very many stuffed animals, and the blanket would barely cover your feet. How surprised was I when I started to put together our new awesome Cars tent! And it was big!!! The kids love to lock me out and play camp out and other "clubhouse" activities. Sis even joins in on the fun.

Point being...gather your Disney points. You may be surprised on what you can get. And it's FREE!!!

Rebirth of guitar hero

Ya know how you play a game over and over that you get sick of it? That is how it was with us and Guitar Hero. We played the game so much that after sore hands and frustration with not being able to pass the next level, we gave up on playing the "Guitar" for awhile.

Over the holiday weekend, we had friends over for some grillin' and chillin'. Of course, Jackson wanted to show off some of his mad skills on Mario Kart Wii, but before, we broke out some Guitar Hero. I have come to the conclusion , that i should just play the easy level, so I can dance while I play instead of getting frustrated with the extra "far" buttons. Much more fun!! We continued our guitar playing the following evening and these pics were the result. The boys living it up and dancin' like crazy to "Barracuda" and "Slow Ride. Now that the excitement is back in the Shurtz house, we can't wait for the Aerosmith version to be released!!!

The T-ball player

We now spend 2 nights a week at the Goddard baseball fields watching Jackson play his 1st year on a t-ball team. Anyone who knows me, knows that watching any type of sports is by far the last thing in the world that I would like to do. I must say though, watching my baby make friends and play on a team is becoming a new favorite. Ask me if they have won any games thus far...couldn't really tell ya, but I can tell you how sweet he looks in his little uniform and how it makes my heart swell when he catches the ball or swings and it goes a long way. Last week at his game he caught the ball when it came to him and I thought he was going to jump out of his skin with excitement. We called papa immediately to tell him the big news. I am also placing my order for a button with his picture on it which I know I will wear everywhere for awhile. I am not saying I enjoy watching sports now. Believe me, sometimes come mid-winter I think I would rather cut off my arm than watch another football game or hear commentary on how the Chiefs are doing, but watching my baby have fun at anything makes it fun for me too.

Jackson's last days

My baby now officially attends the big school and mama cannot stand it. I got all weepy just walking into his preschool room on his last day. At least I have the summer to prolong time before the real boo-hooing starts in August!

He had a 2 day party at preschool beginning with backwards day and ice cream sandwiches and who knows what all else! He came home with a big bag full of goodies that we could play with this summer. The following day was for goodbyes and recreation. I think they played outside the entire time and it involved water balloons!! Mommy then got to come and have a picnic with Jackson and his friends. It was tons of fun to sit on the floor and eat peanut butter and jelly amongst many a 5 year olds! He had wonderful teachers, Mrs.Slack and Mrs. Fleming as pictured above with Jackson.

We ask everyday when we will go to school and when most importantly we go to Kindergarten. I am planning to make a big red circle around the first day for him so he can begin his countdown, even if mommy wants to black it out and pretend that it isn't coming!!!!

Amy's Graduation

It seems as if it has been forever since I have blogged so there will be several catch up's over the next few days. Our computer monitor is on the blitz so we have a loner from Danno's work...very temporarily. We may be offline for a while once I have to return it. I cannot believe how crazy I have been going without the computer. What did we ever do without them???

On the weekend of May 17th, my sweet baby niece, Amy, graduated from Santa Fe High School in Edmond, Oklahoma. It is so hard to believe that she is all grown up, planning for college and what she may want to do with her life. I know this sounds so cliche, but it seems like yesterday when we were playing dress up and beauty salon together. I know there is a picture somewhere of me with clip-on earrings all over my face, in my nose, and all kinds of bobbles in my hair. I think that one needs to be confiscated. Those times I miss greatly, but the shopping is our trade off. Oklahoma has awesome shopping and Amy Kay is always game to go hit the mall with us. I guess I'll take that trade.

Therefore we made the 2 hr trip to see the wondrous event and spend time celebrating with family. We had some mouthwatering bar-b-que and yummy chocolate cake to round out the momentous day. Jackson ate up this time because we allowed him to bring Mario Kart on Wii to play with cousin Alex and Uncle Mark. He amazes me how awesome he is with that game. It is fun to see how excited he gets once he beats someone or unlocks a new achievement. Fun times for everyone!!

Here comes the Spiderman

I could not help but post of a few of these pics of our friendly neighborhood Spiderman! He is most certainly our new obsession with everything having to with "Pider".

Little funny tidbit... Maddox and I were going down for nap and he started screaming "pa-ker, pa-ker!! Mommy pa-ker!!" Responding in the usual, "uh-huh and I see" he would not stop the yelling. (also a new favorite) So hence, I went to go see Pa-ker. Gooby was pointing to a large spider on our front window. Come on now, Parker, as in Peter Parker; The Spiderman. My sweet boy new what he was saying, "Pa-ker".

The pictures are of Maddox in Jackson's spiderman summer underwater swimming goggles. Didn't know they could double as a costume, huh?? I am going to have to search for a costume to complete the outfit. Shame on me for not thinking ahead and buying one the day after Halloween last year to add to our dress-up collection. I may have to pay full price...maybe.

Tiny little princess

Today was Ava's 9 month check-up at the doctor's office. She is still sitting comfortably in the 5th percentile weight at 15.5 pounds and in the 25th percentile height at 26 inches. She is crawling everywhere, leaving her sweet little knees red at the end of each day from following her brothers room to room. Last night Dan and I nearly passed out when she began to pull herself to her feet to be held by mama on the couch. She is moving way too fast for me. Can't she slow down and be my baby longer?? The boys never moved this quickly in their development so I am astounded at her growth in her tiny little frame and safety-pinned pants. The picture to the left fits her to an absolute tee, smiling and crinkling her nose each time someone looks her way and then erupting in sweet little giggles. She also seems to be a mommy's girl right now, never wanting me to leave her sight without wailing until I enter the room again. I cannot help but love that, just a little..

Day of unlimited kisses

A pretty low key Mother's day for us at the Shurtz home. Danno had to sing this weekend so we spent allot of time waiting for daddy. Saturday evening, we were telling Jackson what Sunday was...Mother's day, or as mommy declared it, Unlimited Kisses day. He kept saying, "Oh no. Not for me!!" You would not believe the fight that my sweet 5 year old gave me for kisses. I do miss the days when he wasn't squirming for a kiss from mommy. My baby Maddox and sweet princess were allowing me to kiss them all over face chins and bellies and then continued to ask for more. At on time I think Jackson said, "OK Mom, you can only give me 100 kisses right now!" After many a giggles and tickles and many chases and tackles, bubby gave in to my only wish for mother's day...unlimited, uncomplaining , undeniably sweet kisses from my kiddos.

Craziness

What a crazy week we had!! It began last Monday evening, watching my sweet baby Jackson preform for the final time as a preschooler. (boo hoo-video to come) We then concentrated most of our time getting ready for our big neighborhood garage sale. Pricing and organizing, finding enough tables and making sure that everything was in order was allot of work and not allot of time to spend time with my sweet kiddos. Daddy also had to work extra long last week, which left my biggest helper to be MIA. (Not to mention that we all missed him terribly.) Therefore, crankiness by everyone ensued. Who knows what we would have done without Nana and Papa there to help...go crazy or maybe crazier!!! Maddox did seem to be fascinated by the garage sale, always wanting to be out helping mommy with something. Jackson was a little more leery. He awoke Thursday morning seeing all the buyers in the garage and said to Nana with big serious eyes, "Is mommy going to sell our house??". The boys did make up a little fun game. I had taken a sackful of Mcdonalds and other happy meal toys and placed them in a free box for the sale. After getting cleaned out the first day, I came down to the toy room for another full sack, excited that I was getting rid of things . Ha!!! Jackson decided that he was going to buy all of his toys back after placing hands on hips and asking me where I was going with those. He took money from the cash box and kept bringing me his free toys to buy back. Maddox got in on the fun, also asking for coins , but then throwing them all over the garage. (We seem to be going through some kind of throwing phase) Needless to say, Mcdonalds toys are back in the toy room and Dad and I were picking up coins all morning yesterday.

Jackson also had a community helper day at preschool last week. The kids were told to dress up as a helper of their choice, (Dr., police officer, fire fighter, mommy, teacher, nurse, etc.) Of course Jackson picked the job that we did not have the costume for. Within all the garage sale stuff, mommy had to try and throw together a police officer outfit. I thought we did a pretty good job. He was truly the cutest officer I had ever seen.

This week I am hoping for a low key week. Maybe zoo time or a lunch at the park where I don't have to organize, negotiate or count back change. I wanna kiss my babies and have some fun!