Yesterday was an exciting day!

First, the kids and I went to our gym to watch them tear down part of the building. They've been working on this remodel project for a couple weeks now and when they sent out an email letting us know when we could show up to watch it I naturally had to take the kids. It started later then they estimated, so we spent the time taking pictures of ourselves in the van.

Max's handiwork:

Rory's handiwork:

Then the action started!

And after 45 minutes, they were this far and I was done sitting in the car with two distracted kids, so we packed up and headed home. They did enjoy themselves though, it just got to be too long for them. Pretty cool!

Later that evening, Dusty and I met up with Katie for a cooking class, Mexican One Pot Meals.

We split up into groups and everyone made one meal and then at the end we all dug in. We made Vera Cruz Seafood Soup with Shrimp, Crab, and Sea Bass. Dusty was assigned the duty of cracking the crab claws!

Our dessert was Colonia Cuauhtémoc Mexican Chocolate Rice Pudding. Doesn't it look delicious?!

Oh wait, we couldn't wait long enough to take a photo...trust me, it was good.

It was a really fun evening, and the food was amazing. If we ever go back I'll be sure to eat a small snack first since we didn't actually sit down to eat until 8:15 and I was starving after smelling all the good food in there!

Story hour!

I cannot tell you how much I love Pinterest, especially for their recipes, my dinner inspirations have all come from their lately, whether an actual recipe or just getting ideas. One thing I'm really in love with is the Toddler Muffins from AllRecipes.com. Seriously, go make them for yourself, they are so good and healthy too! (Just make sure to add some dried fruit or chocolate chips to help sweeten them up a bit!)

As you saw from the photo a couple days ago, Rory has an absolute love of dirt. While this isn't exactly something that bothers me, I wouldn't say that I'm thrilled with constantly having to clean the dirt off of her. The one issue I do have is that Rory is now putting rocks in her mouth and then chewing and sucking on them. She'll usually claim to have a piece of candy or some other sweat item so we'll know to tell her to spit it out but that cannot be good for her teeth. (Not to mention the choke hazard!)

Max has developed a new apathy to preschool. Outside of his usual complaints of not wanting to go, he now doesn't want to participate in anything. He refused to bring a show and tell item to preschool today and will never go sit with his classmates when I drop him off but will instead go stand over on the side. His teacher keeps telling me he is doing well so apparently most of this is done only for my benefit. I wish there was an answer on how to get him past this but since the school year is wrapping up I'm just hopeful that next year will be different for him.

Speaking of next year, our district has Jr. Kindergarten, where the kids ride the bus to the elementary school four days a week for a half day. Tomorrow Max will go to his screening at the district to make sure he appears ready. I'm not really nervous, they send you home with a questionnaire that you fill out and he does almost everything they asked of him. There were only two areas that we didn't have affirmative answers, drawing people and coloring within the lines. Neither of these things worry me, one because I haven't tried to work with him on this, and two because he did everything else they asked. I'm actually pretty excited!

And one more Pinterest  recipe, just because it's made my life a heck of a lot easier and saves us quite a bit of money. I've been cooking whole chickens in the crock pot! I've been able to pick up a whole chicken for around $5.00. The chicken is super tender and all leftovers are used another night for something else delicious. So that's at least two dinners out of the chicken plus it's a real time saver!

OK, I hoped you enjoyed story hour, it's time for me to get back to motherhood.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Especially when we eat the cone first and then the ice cream drops out!

(We totally warned her...)

Don't worry, Daddy quickly remedied the issue by putting the spilt ice cream in his empty Blizzard cup. Max man, he surprised us by eating his whole ice cream cone and only have a little dripping occur!

Now you want Dairy Queen, don't you?

Yesterday Dusty and I braved the cold and took the kids fishing in the boat. It was a pretty uneventful but memorable time!

To start, we pulled out onto the lake and had just got the kid's lines in the water when a DNR boat approached us. In all my years of owning a fishing license I have never been stopped by the DNR. So while it was a pretty routine stop, of course we had enough life jackets and our licenses, it was still pretty exciting to finally have that experience.

After about an hour and a half Dusty decided we had been cold enough and wanted to head back home. We hadn't even had one bite let alone seen any fish. Max was not happy and insisted we try one more spot. As soon as we moved over Dusty saw a big fish jump. Moments later he had a bite!

The problem? Dusty only had a 2 lb. line and it was running out quick! So I had to figure out how to start and drive the boat so we could chase that fish around and land it. (Yes, I've never driven our boat, it's just not my thing.) Dusty's calling out commands (Forward, slow down, backward, STOP!, forward, forward, point the boat towards the wind...) it's a good thing we know how to communicate in a crisis or that could have been ugly!

When the boat finally got close we were able to see that Dusty had snagged a Carp in it's tail. What are the odds?

After a few attempts we finally got the fish in the boat for a photo. The kids had fun touching the fish, I kept my mittens on because those fish are really slimy, and after our photo op we threw him back into the lake for someone else to snag.

As to the kids and my faces, well lets just say I won't be taking any pictures later today to prevent incriminating evidence. That wind and sun sure did more damage then I was prepared for!

Saturday the kids were lucky enough to visit with some horses!

Daddy needed to get some supplies to make a new fishing pole for Max and their business just happens to be at their home where they have 5 horses. The kids had lots of fun playing with them. Although Rory did run half way across the yard when one of the horses we were petting made a little noise at her. I was such a good mom, I keeled over laughing hysterically.

Later that afternoon we got home and decided we were going to try planting a few veggies early this year since this warm weather doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Plus, we had some free seeds that were given to us as a Christmas present, so why not try them out? Check out my husbands cute behind as he carefully plants his even rows.

Max was busy finding worms in hopes that we'll be able to go fishing today. (It needs to warm up, and fast, if we're going out on the boat today.)

Rory was Rory, and tasting all the dirt. No, I have no idea why she continues to do this although I'm starting to think she really enjoys spitting and this allows her to do that.

After all our yard work, our neighbor Chris stopped over and he, Dusty, and Rory and I all drove around the yards on lawn tractors while Max sped between all of us on his four-wheeler. Seriously? I wish I were making that story up. I was not into the whole idea but Rory was absolutely adamant that I drive her so I joined in on the country fun. When did I let my life turn out this way? When, I ask you!

Max has taken an interest in riding his big boy bike this spring. (Of course, it helps that he can actually reach the pedals now.) One problem we've run into is that he has outgrown his bike helmet. Don't worry though, his four wheeler helmet works just fine for now!

Oh, and yes, he is totally kicking it in his rain boots. You know, because it rained that morning and it could still be wet.

And don't you worry about Rory, while she does love riding her tricycle, Mom's back can't handle pushing her along for that far of a walk, so she's gotten real comfy with our wagon!

I do love this early spring!

The kids and I made a trek out to the falls today with Maya. I had no intention of taking any photos but then Max stopped us and said, "Hey Mom, take a picture of our shadows!" Naturally I had to. That's my boy!

Dusty's been on my case to let the kids get a sandbox. I really don't want one. Outside of the mess that it would entail, (he wants to put it around the WHOLE play set) we also have a lot of cats that walk through our backyard. So then I have to worry about all the cat poop that would appear in it. While on our walk this happens, and I start to think of ways we could compromise.

To change the subject a bit, I have another funny story from this afternoon. Rory went potty for the first time by herself. This means that she did not need someone to just tell her it was time and take her to the potty. I should be excited, but I'm not.

Yup, that's her very first potty; sitting uphill, on a muddy ground. You guys, it took two wipes to clean up the damage and her underwear and pants both got wet from everything flowing downhill. It is a very funny story but not a very successful first potty.

I hope you all have a nice weekend. We're planning lots of outside time!