Today I want to share a couple cute pictures from my phone. I love my phone and how convenient it is to whip it out and take a picture. Of course, I still am madly in love with my camera and it does take way better pictures, but those quick candids can be such a mood lifter.

Here's Rory, filthy at Grammy's house after getting into a bunch of dirt, and then deciding she needed to wear Mama's sunglasses!

And Max is obsessed with having me take pictures so he can look at them afterwards. I love this one and didn't end up deleting it like most of the other pictures he makes me take. (Imagine random toys, blurred hands, things like that...)

And here is a picture we sent to cousin Eva. We are so excited to finally meet her this weekend! Brooke and I have been sending picture messages back and forth between the cousins. (Yes, I realize Eva is only 5 months old but trust me she LOVES her picture messages!)

See what I mean about the fun candids? It's nice to have a camera that's always on me. Even if it means Rory always says "cheese" whenever I pull my phone out.

Yesterday was bad. I think that was a bit apparent in my post from last night. It starts on Monday, with me outside weeding when the neighbor's dog showed up next to me. The dog remained in our yard for the next four hours. I assumed she just forgot it was outside, or ended up being gone longer than she had planned, and didn't think much of it.

Tuesday morning the kids and I were headed down the stairs to leave and the dog starts barking outside our door. It is pouring rain out and the dog is soaked. It's a Shih Tzu and could not possibly weigh more then 12 lbs. I loaded the dog into my car and drove it to the neighbor's to find her not home. On top of that, the front yard had a dog house and pen setup outside that the dog must have escaped from.

There is no way that dog house could protect that little dog from the sleet and cold. So I made a bunch of phone calls while sitting in her driveway and ended up driving us all back home and waiting on one man, who is animal control in our township, to get out of a township meeting and pick the dog up. Three hours later he comes to get the dog and I figured that was the end of that.

Fast forward to 9pm that same night and I'm getting home from shopping to find the dog sitting at my front door again. I loaded it up, drove to the neighbor's house and discover that she is not home. The weird part is that the note the animal control guy showed me he was going to leave her the first time was still sitting in her door. That had me even more concerned that something wasn't right.

So I called the animal control guy and no one answered. I called the Sheriff's line and got a deputy and she made a note but couldn't take the animal. She did tell me that the township had some meeting that night and the place was packed so I'd probably get a call once that was done. Two hours later the neighbor pulls up my driveway and informs me that she called the number on the note and the animal control guy said I had the dog at my house. (I'm still fuming that he didn't call me back.) We made small talk as I had hoped she had some reason for all this debacle but instead found out that she picked her dog up when she got home from work and then put it back outside "with blankets" and left for work again.

It's was 38 degrees outside at this point and raining, I had the dog in my possession for 2 hours that evening on top of the other 3 hours that morning, and it was eleven o'clock at night; needless to say I was seeing red. I can't remember the whole conversation clearly because I was working so hard to be polite and to the point but I basically told her that I will continue to call animal control on her if I see that she is leaving her dog outside for extended periods of time like this. I told her the dog has come to my home three times now, that I've gone to her house looking for her, and that I don't appreciate being put in this predicament. We didn't argue, it was short and brief, but it also wasn't pleasant.

I didn't sleep well last night, terrified I'd find the dog outside my door again this morning. Thankfully it wasn't there. And after some more thought I left a note on her door telling her that it seems she is gone for extended periods of time and if she'd like the kids and I could let the dog out and play with it when we are home. Not many people will understand this conclusion but I had to do it to put my mind at ease. It won't be a big deal to let the dog out and play with it when we're around but mostly, I'm not a confrontational person, especially with a neighbor who's name I don't even know, and while I stand by my decision to let her know that she was harming her dog, I feel better knowing I ended it trying to help instead of isolating her.

Now that my internet appears to be up and running -  finally - lets share those Easter pictures!

I didn't get any pictures of the kids tearing into their Easter baskets as I was recording them instead but you can see by the mess that they really enjoyed them. And the best part? No candy! They got plenty between all the other baskets family members gave them.

After enjoying the morning and relaxing at home we loaded up and went to Grammy and Dido's to spend Easter with Dusty's family, which is always a fun time!

Max is showing off one of the worms he found.

Grammy and Anna, looking cute in their ruffles.

Bridget, Rosie and Gayle enjoying the sun.

Cristie and Michelle showing off the worms in mud dessert - yummy!

Lyla giving Rory a push on the big swing.

I took more pictures of course but it's late and I don't have the energy to go through them all. Oh, and I also got a picture of Rory this morning carrying all her stuffed animals. Monkey fell before she got this far, but you still get the picture of just how much work it is getting her up in the morning. My little cuddle bug!

Hopefully tonight doesn't pan out to be too late. I'm currently waiting on animal control to come and pick up my neighbor's dog, for the second time today. I'm sure I'll share that story later but I just don't have the energy tonight. Sweet Dreams!

Last night Max walked in his sleep. This is the second time I have been aware of it happening. I was in bed reading a little after 10 last night and I heard him walking around upstairs. I was debating if I wanted to go up there or just let him work it out when he tripped and started screaming. So I got him settled back into bed and then sat with him until he was back asleep. I know sleep walking is pretty normal in a lot of children but that doesn't make any more fun as it just makes me more nervous when I sleep. It took a long time to settle down last night. So far we have 2 sleep walkers in the family and I'm not sleeping with one of them to make sure they don't start wondering around. Rory better take after me!

As for Rory, she's gone and changed on me again! Almost every time I go to get her in the morning she insists on taking her doll and stuffed animals out with her, all of them, at the same time. So we bundle up the puppy, roar (tiger), monkey and baby in between us and then I scoop all of them up with her and take them out of the crib. Trust me, it's not safe, my arms are way too full, but the cuddles she gives when she has all her animals makes it worth it; we'll just go with it for now. (And also refrain from adding any more animals or dolls to her crib.)

I know, I should be sharing Easter stories and pictures but these were fresh in my mind. Tomorrow I'll write about Easter.

My baby is getting bigger and bigger by the day so I figured I better take at least one picture of her gigantic hand and it's baby dimples. Max's dimples are no more, and I have no idea when that happened. So with Rory I've been watching them and they are slowly fading away which is exciting and sad all at the same time. Just look at how cute those baby dimples are!

And just to prove how old they are, I was cleaning the house and the kids got extremely quiet. So I quick run to find them and see they are sitting on the floor eating apples. Yup, Max snuck them a couple apples so they could snack without asking mom first, but it was so cute to see them sitting quietly I had to take a few pictures. I mean, how often does this happen?!

I'll tell you how often it happens, never. This morning we painted our toenails. There are so many smudges and overlaps since their little feet just could. not. stand. still. It was cute, and the result is perfect toddler purple toenails!

Can you tell today has already started out better then yesterday?!

Today is a bad day. It started with us at the doctor's office as Rory is still having complications from her toddler poops. I also got my allergy shot which requires we sit in the office for 30 minutes. Two hours after arriving we were finally leaving, cranky and hungry.

Then the kids fell asleep on the drive home from the doctor's office. Now, by fell asleep, I literally mean they slept for the last 5 minutes of the drive and were up as soon as we were home and ready for lunch. After lunch I let them run wild, which is rare, in hopes to burn out some energy before their naps. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to have worked. They've both been in their rooms for thirty minutes now, and they are both playing quietly.

I don't have anymore to write, I'm crabby and impatiently waiting for my beautiful happy children to reappear after nice, long, luxurious naps. (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE)

I said this last year and I'll say it again, Easter has become the new Christmas. Seriously!

GG's package arrived today in the mail and the kids were thrilled to open up the package and dump the contents out.

*Please don't judge me because of Rory's hair. She ripped her ponytail out moments before the doorbell rang with the package and there was no way to get her to let me put one back in before opening that gift. It had to be done IMMEDIATELY!

One good thing about GG's packages? She always remembers me too! :-) Love you GG!

Well, gopher hunting season has started. Say hello to the first victim.

Ha, ha, ha! I bet you weren't expecting that for an opener!

The kids were able to start celebrating Easter this weekend. Auntie and Taylor brought over Easter presents for the kids, which they dug into within seconds of Auntie walking into the door.

We also were able to visit with Andrea and Jeremy and had the kids dye Easter eggs. Max was very excited!

Ava was very precise about raising and lowering her eggs.

Rory required some help.

Liam supervised, and he was very good at his job!

Didn't they do a nice job?

And now, if the weather could just stop flipping back and forth between winter and spring I'd appreciate it. The kids would really like to spend more time outside and I would really like to work on my tan.

The kids and I bought a kite. I was so excited to get them home to fly the kite on such a windy day. Yeah, that didn't go well.

Try explaining to a 2 year old that he needs to run to get the kite up and he'll show you a 2 year old that runs five feet and turns to watch the kite spiral to the ground. It wasn't quite the success I was hoping for. So we shortened the string and I just threw the kite around for him to watch. Whenever the wind would pick the kite up and send it into a bunch of circles before it crashed back into the ground, Max considered it a success.

So yesterday we flew a kite. Maybe not how I envisioned flying it but Max sure thought it was quite a fun time!

Over the last week I've decided to keep a list of all the crazy things Max is doing. Not a complete list, or I'd drive myself insane, but at least some of the more memorable things or things that he's done a lot. A week in the life of raising Max. Enjoy!

1. Friday morning Max woke me up and told me he had to go to the bathroom. So he went into my bathroom and I stumbled out of bed and slowly followed after him. As I groggily try to adjust my eyes I see him standing next to my toilet but his pee is pointed straight back at the toilet instead of down into the water. When I told him to aim down, he over shot and peed on the floor and his shorts. Then in shock he started to look towards me peeing all over the wall. When I told him to point at the water he jerked back too fast and peed all over the tub and shower curtain on the other side. It was seriously a comedy of errors that morning which left me on my hands and knees that afternoon scrubbing everything up!
   
   
2. Saturday Max spent a lot of time with the men on the farm. He also picked up some inappropriate language. (Rory wasn't innocent either, she started saying "shu up".) Max? Well he saved me the biggest surprise. When we were loading up to leave the farm Dusty and I were bickering, about what I don't remember, and Max turned to me and said, "F#* you Mama"! All while pointing his finger at me and smiling as he was so proud of his new saying. I took a break and left the van before dealing with it while Dusty tried to explain how that was wrong.
1. Better yet? Dusty had to point out that Max at least used it in the right context. Oh yeah, that is just great! (He has not said it since so I think the talk he got from Daddy and then from me must of worked.)
   
   
3. Along with that fun saying, Max has decided that "crap" is his new favorite word. In our house, crap isn't a swear word. If you don't agree, that's fine, but I'd prefer that to some of the other words that are tossed around. But Max started just saying it to see if he could get a reaction. Drop his fork on the ground? "Crap!" Truck wasn't where he could find it? "Crap!" Just plain bored? "Crap!" It has settled down some since he isn't getting the reaction he wants.
   
   
4. On Sunday I brought my makeup upstairs to put on while eating breakfast since we needed to be out the door pretty fast to get to the mall in time. While I started getting Rory dressed, and Dusty made breakfast, Max helped himself to my makeup. Dusty caught him applying mascara to his eye lashes and eyebrows. 'Cause a boy needs dark eyebrows too you know! He also pulled this little trick again on Monday as my makeup was still sitting out from the previous day. (I'm learning, I'm learning!)
   
   
5. You know how your kids are mirror images of yourself? Well I must say "hunny" a lot because Max has started talking to Rory that way. If Rory is crying he's quick to run over and ask her, "Are you OK hunny?" Or if he wants something Rory has he'll call her "hunny" instead of Rory as if to butter her up first. He only does it to her so it's uber adorable!
   
   
6. On Monday Max was lying on his back with his bare feet in the air yelling at me to smell them. (They love when I pretend to smell them and proclaim them to be stinky.) So we played it a couple times and then I was talking to him. Max took that opportunity to take his foot, bring it to his face, and use his big toe to wipe the boogers away from his nose. Yes, you read that right. Big toes are apparently some pretty amazing kleenex replacements. It was disgusting, and I laughed, and he did it a lot of other times. Sue me, it was impossible not to laugh!
   
   
7. Wednesday evening Dusty gave Max a fishing pole that he had made special for Max. Dusty refused to let me buy a cheap fishing pole for him, insisting he had to make it. So while Dusty worked on his car he thought Max would leave him alone if he gave him his new fishing pole to practice his casting. Max with a real fishing pole and no supervision? Yeah, he broke the tip within 20 minutes of having it. And yes, I did say "I told you so" to Dusty. You would have too!
   
   
8. This one is not new to this week but is repeated so often I wanted to share. "Jesus" is a word I use way too much when reacting in shock. Max and I have decided it is not a good word and agreed we wouldn't use it. Max loves to tell me "We don't say Jesus. Jesus in the house." Now, this is cute, but the interesting part is that I never once told him Jesus was in the house so I'm guessing there was some holy intervention there!
   
   
9. Today we bought some kites to try to fly after the kids' naps. We were driving home and Max started talking about his kite flying. Next thing I know he's made up a little saying. "Kite in the poocey." I have no idea what a "poocey" is supposed to be and Max was insistent on saying it over and over again. I'm so thankful that was a car conversation, could you imagine my embarrassment had that been in the store?!
   
   
10. We've been spending a lot of time outdoors with the weather warming up. I was having a lot of fun showing Max and Rory all the bugs as we'd come across them, trying to get them interested in if they fly, crawl, slither, walk or other types of things. I had to stop that. Max's favorite thing to do with a bug? Squash it to see what colors pop out. It's just a bit too grotesque for me, and I still can't look at where that beetle was squished on our patio. Yuck!

So there's my 10 things I had to share. It's been interesting watching Max. I was raised with sisters so this whole "all boy" thing is just mind boggling. Obviously a lot of it is funny but it sometimes takes a day or two before I can stop being angry and can enjoy the laugh. I'm sure 10 years down the road I'm really going to enjoy this little list from one week of raising my almost 3 year old boy and if not? Well I'm sure it got a few of you to laugh!

If you want to see some of the pictures I took for Pam's 50th Birthday party, stop over at Cristie's blog and tell her hello while you're there!

Today I've got some pictures from the kids' tumbling class we're taking at the gym. They have one more week left so I finally brought my camera in hopes to get some pictures. I just couldn't do it. Between trying to keep an eye on both kids it was impossible to look through a lens. So I gave up after only 5 minutes and very few shots. Thankfully I got a few of them.

They setup the gym differently every time we go. This time there was a balance beam that had one side lifted up to a mat so they had to balance while walking up it. Max became a pro at that!

Then there was the small mat course they made to get the kids working on their balance while going up and down. Rory had a lot of fun playing on that one.

And of course, the tube was out. They always have the tube out and Max and Rory have grown a bit bored with it but they were excited to go through it so Mommy could take a picture!

I've been debating what I want to sign the kids up for when the summer sessions start. They seem to really enjoy tumbling but swim lessons could be a lot of fun too. And I don't want to over schedule us either. Decisions, decisions!

As if Saturday wasn't busy enough, we made sure to make Sunday just as fun!

YoYo Gayle (Yoyo is pronounced "chu-chee" which is Ukranian for aunt) treated the kids, myself, Katie, Lyla and Rosie to a fun day at the Mall of America! We started out with lunch at The Rainforest Cafe where the kids had a lot of fun watching the snake and alligator move around!

We then went to The Aquarium to see all the sea life they have under the mall. It was pretty amazing how much is under there and it was really nice that they added so many more splash pools for the kids to get to touch the sea life.

Shortly after that the kids started showing their lack of sleep and we headed to Grammy and Dido's to squeeze in naps before Uncle Cecil's 21st birthday party. Don't worry, he let his nieces help him blow out the candle, what a nice uncle.

It was a very fun weekend!

Saturday was a busy day.

We drove tractors.

We played on hay bales.

We helped the boys prepare a tractor to be transported.

We supervised as the tractor was loaded onto the trailer. (Mommy may have helped too, hence missing the pictures off it being pushed.)

And we got dirty, really really dirty.

After all that we brushed off and headed to Pam's 50th Birthday celebration where we ate smores and candy and stayed out way past our bedtimes by the bonfire. It was a perfect spring day!

It's been beautiful outside these last couple of days and with this warm weather the snow has melted and the mud has disappeared almost completely. 

Do you hear me? My life is finally not being consumed by thoughts of mud! This is awesome.

So I bought the kids some paints... 

The intent was to have them paint outside where they could be messy and I wouldn't care. But then Max walked across the street unaccompanied by any adults and got grounded. And we were stuck indoors until Daddy got home. And the paints were sitting there calling to us, begging the kids to play with them.

I did cringe quite a bit while watching them mix the colors together. I mean, everyone knows you can't mix the colors up! So I focused my camera on the paints and convinced myself it was art, and it actually was pretty in the lens.

The paints are now safely tucked away for another day, outside, where they can be as messy as their hearts desire.

Today we're going to focus on Rory. Max has been driving me crazy with his desire to help himself to whatever he wants without asking first, CROSSING THE STREET UNANNOUNCED, putting various products in his hair (yes, it has happened again) and other various naughty 3 year old boy things that quite frankly may give me my first gray hairs.

So Rory, my sweet little baby that still listens to me and needs my help to get things; yes, I'm liking this. First, since I left you with a cliffhanger yesterday, I took her in to the doctor and she did develop an infection. Basically all the pooping has eaten up the healthy bacteria which lead to her getting a yeast infection. (Sorry future, older Rory, you are less then 2 so don't be too embarrassed.) Since it's more then likely this will be an issue for at least a couple weeks if not longer, and it was a pretty bad infection, Rory's going to be quite medicated/protected. Just look at all the stuff on her bed now to help combat this!

The worst is the nighttime routine. We have an oral prescription to give her before bed. Then we change her diaper and put on an over the counter fungal cream followed by the prescription butt cream; pour in a good amount of corn starch and close up the diaper. Then we spot check for any eczema patches and apply Cortisone before smothering her body in Aquaphor. Every diaper change we do the diaper routine and apply Aquaphor to her eczema patches. Seriously, did I not mention that I came home to reality after that wonderful weekend away?! The good news is she's looking a lot better, hopefully it continues to help heal her poor skin.

But I didn't want to focus on Rory to complain. I mean look at this girl! Her hair is getting longer although you'd never know because as it's been warming up? Her hair has been curling up. Seriously, it is out of control every morning. Say hello to our bed head!

She's also been amazing us with her new desire to be a big kid! The other day Dusty walked in the back yard to catch Rory on the second to the top ladder rung on the play set. By the time he got to her she was already up and getting ready to go down the slide. We never even thought she was big enough to climb it on her own and next thing you know she's got herself down the slide all by herself! Which, by the way, is her second favorite activity next to swinging. Look at how happy she is!

She's also growing leaps and bounds with her vocabulary. She's amazed both pediatricians we've seen this week with her phrases such as "Where Maxwell go-go?" and "Thank you Mommy!" My new favorite game to play with her is to ask what her brother's name is. Sometimes she'll say "Mac", sometimes she'll say "brother", but my all time favorite is when she says "Buddee". Seriously? How freaking adorable is that?!

I returned home from an amazing weekend and came crashing back into reality. First off it appears that Rory has developed the toddler poops. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this malady visit my older post on when Max had them. It's really unpleasant and we've had a lot of screaming and crying with the pain that comes from diaper changes and lots of laundry to wash as it's also quite messy.

Our pediatrician called in a prescription butt paste for her that we started using yesterday. When we got this for Max it worked wonders by the first diaper change! Rory's behind looks almost as bad as it did before the medicine. So either she's got another infection or she's allergic to the butt paste. We'll be heading in to see a pediatrician today to have it checked out and hopefully solve this mystery.

While on the phone with our doctor's office to get the prescription yesterday Max disappeared. By the time I found him it was way, way too late. Say hello to my little boy and his new hair style.

Yup, pretty sure he put Rory's Aquaphor all over his head. You know, the super thick substance we use to prevent eczema on her? Well, it's now a hair gel for Max until it finally washes out.

I mean three washes, one with Dawn dish soap, and it hasn't budged. I give up. It's a new look because I'm not going to go batty over this. Thankfully it seems to have worn out quite a bit between last night to today. So maybe, hopefully, it will just disappear on its own.

Dusty and I got away this weekend and it was amazing! First, it was so nice to get to hang out with Andrea and Jesica. (Don't mind my four chins.)

We had a great time entertaining each other with stories about our children, our husbands, and our crazy lives. The three of us have never hung out all together as a group and after this weekend I have no idea why. They were so much fun and we all really hit it off well together! Of course, they had to worry about their men as they barreled through the air on their snowmobiles, trying not to crash and be the first one to the top.

My man? Well he was a bit safer and a lot more dirtier as he was in charge of making sure the sleds were running right and he was always quick to fix any problems that occurred. That was fine with me, its quite impressive to watch him work.

It was also really nice to get to spend some time with just Dusty and have fun with our friends. He was so great about taking one nice picture with me. He really loves when I whip out the camera...

Oh, and we found the kid's trophies! So I am now a proud owner of a kid's Midwest Snowmobile Racing Association trophy.

Obviously I didn't really steal it, I just took a nice picture and put it back safely. You all are so gullible sometimes...

:-)