swimming

after seeing Beckie perhaps the next best part of the weekend.

Beckie

We met Beckie in the cities on Friday, she was there for a job interview. We had planned to go to a Twins game on Saturday. Beckie decided to stay until Saturday so she could join us, so I decided to bring the little ones up on Friday night just to give us a little more time to hang out with Beckie. Cassandra came with me on Friday night, Kevin had to work a night shift so he and Josh came up Saturday. I had been telling the girls that we would be seeing Beckie once we reached the hotel. When we walked into the lobby both girls raced to Beckie, and gave her big hugs. Rosie pretty much stayed attached to Beckie the whole night.

do you suppose....

this might qualify as taking too many pictures?
It is rather alarming that my last picture order came in a box...A BOX!!!
Ok so it is three months worth of pictures, does that make it better?
So those of you who would reply you wouldn't have that many pictures in a year, I say "Shame on you."
I honestly can not recall a time when my photos arrived in a box...I guess today is a new first for me.

going to bed ....

Monday night edition....
this would be the little wonder at 11:30pm last night.
She discovered the hat laying on the floor, immediately she said
"I go give it to Daddy" yes I admit that briefly I did consider letting her wake him up and then decided that 1 over energized child and 1 grumpy husband would simple be too much for me to handle. I had not intended to make this a nightly posting, but as I type this the little one is still going strong, we are closing in on 10pm here. I have some rather interesting photos documenting this evenings quest to avoid the dreaded bed time. Sigh...could you catch some Zzzzzzz's for me too?

one dress

Two girls...
I love when I can find a picture that shows them wearing the same outfit, I love seeing how different and yet alike they are.
Yahaira wore the outfit in January 2006, she was 20 months old. Rosie wore it in April 2008 she is 33 months old.

What to do instead of sleep...

Sunday night version.
She was suppose to be in bed, she obviously wasn't.
She said she needed to talk to Beckie, her dad obliged (what is that?)
So here she is chatting with Beckie at 9pm. I believe she could have talked for hours if allowed to do so.
anything to avoid sleep.
She has now moved closer to her bedroom this would be the top of the stairs. Where she paused and laid down and then announced
"I sleep here"
there are no more pics to show the rest of the off to sleep adventure, I was simply too busy wrestling the two year old who had grown 10 arms and now weighed at least 150 lbs (why can they make themselves a dead weight when you are attempting to move them?)
Eventually she made it too her bed, a small distance from the above picture...where she lasted 20 minutes. You know where this going, of course she didn't spend the night there, she once again ended up in bed with me. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out..which had me wondering just what was the point I had been trying to make.

Perhaps...

If I just buy spring outdoor items, then perhaps it will eventually feel like spring out there.
Found this bird feeder on Saturday... took advantage of Josh being home, for free assembly...and there it sits in my dismal, dull, lifeless yard, waiting for birds to discover it. Yes the pic is taken thru the screen, sigh, it was simply too cold to venture out and take the pic outdoors. The next morning the water had a nice layer of ice on it, not exactly the look I was going for.

This is what happens...

when you listen to someone who says that the little drip you discovered in the basement was nothing to worry about. Fast forward 3 or so months and that someone makes a statement two nights ago that the toilet in the daycare bathroom is quite wobbly. "So should I call someone to look at it?" I wondered. "Well....... " he pauses "maybe it needs to be tightened." "So you're going to do that?" I ask. No response... So then I just wondered out loud if perhaps he was just waiting for the whole darn thing to just fall thru the floor before it became a reason to take care of it. Yeah that didn't go over too well, but yesterday morning the carpenters arrived after a bit of looking they called in the plumber. (at least they didn't have to call in the army for recovery) It was explained that they would have to replace a seal, a valve, and some other expensive sounding parts, but the good news was, they didn't have to replace the entire floor, just the area around the toilet. Oh goody! I thought. Yes there was sarcasm included in that comment. So above are the work in progress pics, carpenters and plumbers are messy workers, but bonus, they clean up after themselves. And below is my bathroom once again restored to working order.

8 on the 8th a few days late....

So I finally get around to posting these...sigh it was a busy 8th of April here. A poor excuse I know but it is the one I have.
The every month photo of who was in our house on the evening of the 8th. Obviously Kevin isn't to thrilled with his pic being taken. The pic of Rosie is her every morning. She is not a morning person and needs time to wake up. Her routine of late is to curl up in the recliner with a glass of milk and watch Lilo and Stitch...it seems to be just enough time for her to wake up and be ready to start her day.
The lower pic is another monthly one...it is a rather gloomy site this month, everything looks dull and lifeless, soon the color has to come, soon. This is the pic of the playground all cleaned up from winters grime and ready to be used, notice there are no little bodies running in there, unfortunately the weather on the 8th did not cooperate with outdoor play.
Yahaira's princess shoes, she wears them everywhere, to bed if I would allow it.The top pic on the right is our life these days with two kids now diagnosed with asthma, Rosie just began treatment, the rather large and bulky machine you see there in the center,would be the nebulizer machine, so far she is doing ok. The other two inhalers are Yahaira's current treatment plan...it seems each doctor wants to try something new. I've been reading on the Internet and quite honestly I'm trying to not let what I read frighten me...not so easy to do. The 8th fell on a Tuesday this month, Yahaira's preschool day, here she is returning home from school. Tuesday night Linda and I attended a Taste of Home cooking school in Mankato...here is the gift bag we received when we entered the door, and a few of the goodies inside. Love their magazines so I was thrilled to see several copies inside...we laughed at the can of Stokes green chile sauce. Because of our early arrival we were able to get seats in the third row...awesome for viewing, not so awesome as the food began to cook...the smell was incredible, which only reminded me that I hadn't eaten yet.
So there is our 8 on the 8th for April...until next month.

Conversations with a two year old...

"I hungreeeeee" said by my two year old
"What would you like?" I ask
"M&M's" she responds with much enthusiasm
"and your next choice would be?" I ask knowing where this was going but a sucker that just once she will surprise me
"cookies!" she says with a grin and a firm nod yes of her head
"and your third choice?" I wonder.
"ice cream?" she replies with no hesitation and a batting of her big brown eyes.
Sigh...
So I do the mom thing and explain how it's important to eat healthy foods. That sugar and junk food are not good choices at 9pm in the evening. (save the comments on the fact that they're not really good choices at any time, she is two, and with two's you simply deal with the moment, she is so not about the big picture right now) So I suggest an apple, yogurt or some grapes.
and then I utter those famous mom words
"so what would you like?"
"M&M's" she says "I'll share"
God forgive me I almost gave in to her. By then I really needed some chocolate just to continue the conversation.

flying a kite...

this tiny kite was in her Easter basket, Saturday's warm temps finally made it possible to test it out.
It is a butterfly, after the visit to the butterfly house I wasn't so sure how that would be received. She was ok with it...I guess she deemed it non threatening..loved watching her run and try to watch behind herself at the same time to see it fly...lots of giggles as she attempted to do this.

Saturday...

a wonderfully productive day spent almost entirely outdoors.
We started the day with a trip to the doctors, sigh that is so winter and I hope that soon we will be done with the ick season.
Next up Pamida and the refilling of prescriptions, while that was being done Yahaira and I went shopping for summer toys we chose hula hoops which made everyone happy when those were unloaded from the car. The shed was cleaned, bikes were tuned up, the playground was raked and cleaned, what a great feeling to have that ready to go. We rode bike 1/2 way around the bike trail, and yes everyone survived :) started the fire pit, and grilled dinner burgers and hot dogs, so simply and yet so delicious. What is it about fresh air and food tasting so much better? That night we went to the movie. Horton Hears a Who...Jim Carrey is an amazing elephant, who knew? The pics above are the first in many summer grilling moments, I just hope in the next picture we won't be needing to wear jackets and sweatshirts...it has to warm up soon..right?

well hello summer!

yes I understand the first day of summer is months away...and yet on Saturday when we started the fire pit and cooked dinner on the grill I couldn't help but feel like summer wasn't too far off. The smell of wood burning, combined with marshmallows toasting and chocolate melting, temps near 60...sigh, summer can't be that far off, right? It snowed today so yes it was a brief view of what is to come...but every little bit helps these days.

brown day

She has been learning colors at preschool for the past several weeks. Each day is a different color and she is suppose to wear the color of the day...so the kid has more clothes than Kevin and I together and yet some color days proved quite challenging (she had no yellow, not a bit...who knew?) She was super excited about brown day since she wore this outfit passed down to her by Gracie. No the shoes would not qualify as brown, but they are her princess shoes, and one does not mess with princess shoes. The top pic is her pout..she wanted to take the photo and when I explained that it wouldn't work, that is the look I received. Why do I even attempt to argue with a three year old? So a big thank you to Gracie for passing down the perfect outfit for brown day, it made her day.

Chuck E Cheese

They were hungry.
We happened to pass a ChuckECheese and thought why not?
2 hours later...
they had eaten very little
were wired beyond belief
had maxed out their fun quota
and were now simply little monsters.
Sigh, my head still throbs as I type this just from remembering.
apparently little people are immune to crowded, loud, out of control chaos.
It will be a long long while before we stop there again.

a flashback....

tonight I was reading a few posts on a message board and stumbled on one titled a flashback to the 70's. Naturally curious I clicked on the link and was instantly transported back in time....I used to love the scent of Love's Baby Soft, still do for that matter....and this shampoo was my favorite...alas not once did anyone come up to me and say "Gee your hair smells terrific" I was always hopeful.
Here is the link in case you want to take a stroll thru the past www.stuckinthe70s.com/products.htm

Butterfly House