Today started out with Max greeting me at my bedroom door, unannounced, 15 minutes before I had to be up and 30 minutes before I usually get him up. I open the garage to see there is a nice accumulation of snow on the ground that I was not expecting, which means my commute will be slower than usual. After dropping the kids off at daycare I had to make a trip back home and then back to daycare as I forgot the gigantic bag of stuff they needed. Because of this, I had to call and push back my doctor's appointment as there was no way I was going to make it on time. Oh, and then on my way to this appointment, I zoned out and started to drive to work instead thus adding more time to my commute.

Can we say "Happy Monday Ashley!" because I certainly started out the work week on a grand scale.

But then I look at these and it's not such a big deal.

We had the honor of watching our god daughter, Miss Lyla June, stay with us this weekend and boy did the kids have a blast with her! Whenever we get together with our cousins the kids are running on full energy the whole time. I figured that would only last for the first night, that by Saturday things would settle down. Boy was I wrong. Those three were at it all day Saturday too!

Sunday was much calmer. There was the anticipation of Mommy and Daddy coming to get Lyla, the novelty of having our cousin over was finally getting old, and we had a few extra men over to entertain the kids by showing them the great craft of grinding up meat.

Oh, and let's not forget the pool full of balls in the basement that also may have helped in tiring them out really quickly!

We also had Bella stay with us which was awesome because I hardly had any clean up after meals! Bella was also easily entertained, patient with all the kids, and extremely happy to have so much free roaming area in our yard. You could say she was also running on full energy as this is how I found Bella Saturday evening.

Don't you love how she passed on top of the train track and some really uncomfortable blocks?

The weekend was great, so I'm going to give my Monday a pass and hope that Tuesday will be better!

It was Andrea's golden birthday yesterday! 

We celebrated at our favorite place, Acapulco's, where the kids could be a little unruly and the grandparents could rile them up even more!

Happy Birthday Auntie, we love you!

Max has become quite the story teller. I won't say liar because it appears to just be a stage and not a real problem at this point. Plus? It is so incredibly funny sometimes!

During the party on Tuesday Lyla came running over to me and told me that Max hit her, and then showed me how Max shoved her on her shoulder. As I was telling Lyla how that was not very nice Max came barreling out of the hallway and starts yelling "I no hit Lyla!" Then he proceeds to tell this long, animated story.

He tells me that he went over to Lyla and they both started hitting each other. He starts punching the air at this point as if they got into a fist fight, which was hilarious. Another giggler was when he said "and then..." and he starts choking his neck and says "Lyla did this." At this point, I am laughing. I can't help it! Katie is talking to Lyla and I turn around to see if she sees what Max is doing. Apparently she missed it but I am just grinning, such a bad mother I am. I shouldn't be encouraging him to tell such stories, and if you know Lyla, you know that she more than likely did not engage in a fist fight and then attempted to choke Max. She is far too dignified for something like that! Thankfully, they were both pretty riled up from all the people at the party and the incident was forgotten before it even started. Seriously though? Where did this little story teller come from?

Oh, and because I know you guys enjoy these. Another funny moment in my life.

Max told me in the car yesterday that "Daddy calls me 'Babe.'"
I laughed and said, "No, Daddy calls me 'Babe,' you 'Buddy,' and Rory 'Boogers'.
Max yells back at me, "No, Daddy calls me 'Babe'!"
OK Max Man, you can be Daddy's "Babe".

Last night I hosted a Pampered Chef party. My friend Brooke just became a consultant in November and it was a great way to help her start out her business. Plus I got to have a party that wasn't based on my children, that was probably the most exciting part for me!

We turned our living room into a showroom so Brooke could show off her mad cooking skills and our island become the display table.

Naturally there was some horsing around with the kiddos too!

Thank you to everyone who came, I had a really fun time. I'll be busy tonight cleaning up and putting everything back where it belongs, but don't worry, I'll be smiling while I do it and enjoying the memories!

We caught three fish all weekend, two of which were worthy of pictures. Now you may think three fish is nothing to brag about, but did I mention we sat in the house and just watched for flags? So three fish while being extremely lazy fisherman is worth bragging about in my book!

The first fish we caught everyone came barreling out of the house to see. Oh, and Andrea made sure she had another good shot of her!

Max is always so proud of the fish!

Andrea didn't like that the fish was squirming all about! (Not a good picture, success!)

Don't you dare try to bring a fish into the house without letting Max help!

Tara, always mature.

So Rory looks all intrigued by the fish, but if I told you she had just touched the fish and then put her finger in her mouth, you would look at this picture differently now wouldn't you?

We had a nice family weekend at the lake, even if we were pretty much confined to staying inside. Of course, had it been summer I think we all would have been happier.

You want to know what's crazy? Cramming my whole family, plus our "plus ones" as Tara called them, into my parent's lake house for the weekend. Especially when it's below zero pretty much the whole weekend. I mean, that leaves us with only games and drinking. And games and drinking with my family? Leads to pictures like this:

Why Andrea thought this was a good idea, I don't know. Why Taylor agreed, is even more bothersome!

The faces say it all!

Something was really funny, but Andrea refuses to take a laughing picture.

Who doesn't enjoy a Bloody Mary in the morning?

Oh yeah, and then there was fishing too, because Dusty is my husband after all. I'll save those pictures for tomorrow though. I know you're excited!

Last night we went to Katie and Andrew's house to check out their basement that they just finished remodeling. I wish I would have at least thought to take a picture so I could show you what a good job they did on it, but instead you'll just have to trust me that it looks really great. (Now if only that couch would come in, huh Katie? hee hee.)

Good news is I still got the gold. You know, pictures of the cute kids to show off! Lyla was very good about sharing her desk with the kids, unfortunately they couldn't decide who got to actually sit in the seat without some pushing and shoving.

Lyla was teaching Rory some dance moves at the dance party.

Max wanted to join in, but as you can tell by Dusty's face, we do not allow dancing (or standing for that matter) on chairs or benches.

We had a nice evening, the kids were really fun to watch, and I'm glad we finally got to see the basement completely finished!