All night last night the freezing rain pelted our bedroom window. Dusty and I did not get much sleep from all the noise. So it didn't take much convincing on my end to talk him out of driving to work so early in the morning, and so far away. So imagine my giggles when we looked out the window to see the plow truck stuck at our street corner. Mamas always right!

Even better? When you get out the vacuum and your husband takes it from you and starts vacuuming under the oven and refrigerator. He's all mine ladies!

The kids and I got busy on some finger paints. It was one of those mornings were energy levels were high (Daddy was home after all) and we needed to find some way to channel that energy. It was messy, but oh so fun!

Now, if only I could find an activity that actually lasted longer then the clean up did. That would be awesome!

We've been sticking around home, working on Rory's potty training, which leads to pictures with my little girl in her underwear which I am not comfortable posting. So it's been a bit word heavy over here. When I went back to check out our potty training of Max it was pretty much the same, although more photos of him on the potty chair. So I guess I better get a couple more pictures of Rory on the potty chair, at least for her photo book if anything right?

I did crop this photo to share, because I finally caught the kids play hugging! They love to pretend that they are leaving and they hug each other goodbye and it is oh-so-adorable. They hug before leaving for school, leaving for Grandma and Bopas, before going to work; basically whenever they pretend they are doing something they find a reason to hug! The photo is adorable, but since Rory is chilling in her Little Mermaid undies, (The current dry ones, we'll see how long those last) I had to crop it, but it's still cute, even if you can't see Rory on her toes leaning into Max.

And another fun photo that doesn't really show much, is Rory and Max making a game of book hopping. Just don't show this to the librarian. And also? Please note Max's adorable Valentine's shirt that he wears all the time now. Momma is in love.

As you can see, nothing too exciting is going on over here. Rory is slowly getting the idea of going potty. Every now and then she'll actually tell me she has to go but usually I have to get her to the bathroom or we have an accident. We're getting there though!

It's definitely a Monday back after a long weekend at the lake. Rory had already been in the bad habit of saying, "shut up" whenever she wanted to get a rise out of someone and with so many more people to react it really flourished. Max refuses to listen to anyone telling him what to do and likes to stick his tongue out and blow raspberries at you when you make him.

Oh, and lets not forget that Rory was only partially working on the potty training this weekend as I just wasn't motivated to keep at it with everything else going on. So today has been a battle to get her to go on the bathroom, and battles are what I'm most afraid of since that is when she seems the most determined not to do what we want, which is to actually use the potty.

So today we're staying in, keeping everything as simple as possible and I'm doing my best not to start too many fights with the kids while also trying to bring them back to the well behaved children I know I have.

Oh, and I'm also planning on having an alcoholic beverage once Dusty gets home. I need it.

We were very lucky this weekend as we were able to leave early Friday and spend the past 3 days at the lake with Grandma and Bopa. We went sledding.

We made Smores.

There were snowball fights.

We sat around the bonfire watching tip-ups that never actually tipped up.

We also went for snowmobile rides!

Of course there were other fun activities, like Cribbage, a birthday dinner for me of crab legs and steak, movies and Wii bowling; it's always a fun time at the lake. Even better is that Grammy joined us for some of the weekend! She traveled with us but spent Saturday with her friends watching the Birkebeiner, which is a big cross country ski race nearby. Since I seem to have only taken pictures on Saturday I don't have any of her with the kids. But trust me, they were extra spoiled with two Grandma's around.

Rory has hit the ground running on this (eleventh?) go around on potty training. She has yet to take herself to the bathroom and go on her own, and has had a number of accidents, but she's interested and running this show herself so I'm not complaining.

Well not completely complaining. Since she insists on wearing big girl undies I've resorted to leaving the washer partially filled to soak all the accidents before I get a load in, and I've got the carpet cleaner just out in the hallway for easy access, and let's not forget the time Max locked her out of the bathroom when she wanted to go only to have her have an accident right outside the door!

The good news is that this seems to be working. And maybe when she's finally got it down she won't decide she wants to go back to diapers again. (Pretty please don't let that happen?)

So I'll be over here, sticking close to home where she can run around in her Minnie Mouses, Tinkerbells, Ariels, and every other Disney character she can get her hands on. Wish us some more luck!

Rory decided she wanted to wear her big girl undies today! She actually pulled a little attitude this morning and insisted on wearing her Minnie Mouse undies. We came to a compromise and once we got home from our morning appointments she was able to put them on.

Maybe she's finally ready to start using the potty again like a big girl? She'll go occasionally but usually insists on wearing a diaper and being a baby. It's not a battle I can win so we'll let her lead this and see where it takes us!

Wish us luck!

The kids and I made another trek to the waterfall today! I wasn't sure how icy the paths would be, and I was stuck letting Maya run free a few times so I could push the stroller up or glide it down the icy/snowy hills without having her pulling too.

Of course, the waterfall was beautiful though. With all the melting snow and the ice caps over the top, it was very pretty.

I even got a group shot! (Well minus Maya, but that just wasn't going to happen.)

Yes, my phone's camera is terrible. I really have no idea what happened to make all the pictures so out of focus. I'd rather have fuzzy photos then no photos though, hopefully you agree.

Friday night the kids and I went to watch Lucas perform in The Wizard of Oz. He did a great job and played many different rolls. Here he is as one of the witch's prisoners.

The play ended at 9:30, so the kids were a bit on the tired side when we took this quick picture with GG.

As if that wasn't enough fun for one weekend, Auntie TaTa came over Saturday evening to watch movies and eat popcorn with the kids. While she was over I was able to go out with some girl friends for dinner and drinks and I brought my camera. Hello group shot!

It's been a nice weekend. The kids are a bit overtired this morning, Rory is over emotional and Max is starting fights every chance he gets, so today we'll recoup, tomorrow brings another week.

Yesterday started out interesting. Both kids crawled into bed with me, shortly after they got into my bed Max coughed and his mucus flew into my hair. When I rolled over I rolled onto Rory's boogers that were now on my pillow. What a way to start my birthday!

It did get better of course. Auntie showed up with small cakes she baked that the kids then decorated, this was of course all a surprise so I was banished to the basement. But not before Auntie handed me a glass of champagne to enjoy while I waited. And the kids were so proud of their hard work.

The cakes were delicious and my candles made for a nice photo opportunity! (Good job Dusty!)

A few other things that have made me happy lately. Rory's Pippi Longstocking pigtails.

A swim in the big bathtub with shaving cream paint.

We did this because the kids didn't need a bath but we were all pretty miserable on Monday with our colds and a swim in the tub would help wash all the yuckiness of the day off. (Stupid cold, took everyone down.)

Hopefully you enjoyed the pictures, it's been a pretty good week so far, even with the colds!

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

And, Happy 29th Birthday to me!

Oh, did I mention I chopped a few inches off my hair and decided to try sweeping bangs? Well, I did.

Wee!*

*I may have setup a mini photo shoot all by myself, just for my self; it's the last year of my 20's, I might as well have a little fun!

Last night was a success! I went a little crazy on food, between Thursday and Friday I just kept adding to the menu and we ended up with this:

In case you're curious that would be a Buffalo Chicken Ring, Texas Caviar, Apple Dumplings, Mozzarella Sticks, Dill Hummus, Cookie Dough Dip, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, Cream Cheese wontons and Beer Cheese Bread.

(Yes, you can find almost all of these on my Pin Board. Yummy!)

It was fun to have everyone together! There was Becca, the first college roommate I actually chose to live with, and Katie, my sister-in-law but also good friend.

Reb, who's been my friend since 6th grade.

Kelsey who showed up in 9th grade and beat all of my swimming records in Jr. High, yet we still hit it off and Lisa who I also met in college while studying Spanish our freshman year.

And Erica, my last college roommate who helped me remain calm while trying to plan a wedding, work part time, and finish up my last year of college. 

I've never had all these women together in one place and it was such a special night for me to have them all together. It was a night of food, way too much food, drinks, laughing, stories, and just perfection. Exactly what I wanted and hoped for. I'm so glad I get to call all of these ladies my closest friends, I get so much from each and every one of them.

And we had some fun too! Kelsey had Buffalo Sabre hats for the kids and they were excited to put them on. Although they did argue that they weren't Sabres but puppies, sorry Kels!

Lisa, Becca, and Erica stayed the night and Lisa and Erica took the bunk beds. They decided to add sleeping Ta-Ta to the mix and sleeping Ta-Ta was rude enough to leave her bra hanging right in the middle of the photo!

I'm still pretty high on the happiness I got from having everyone over, so I better wrap this up for fear I'll go on gushing. I do love those girls, every single one of them, and I'm so glad I had that night, I'm not going to forget it!

Tonight I'm having a Pinterest inspired food party and all my best girl friends are coming over! Needless to say I'm giddy. Probably more giddy then the kids are to go to Bopa and Grandma's lake house. (Although that is debatable as Max has been asking if it was time to go yet since he woke up at 6:30 this morning.)

So please excuse me, I've got food to prep, bathrooms to clean, and beds to make up with clean sheets. I'll post photos later this weekend along with our favorites from the many different recipes I'll be doing tonight.

Yippee!

We've been spending quite a bit of time outside thanks to this unusual winter. Today? I let the kids eat ice chunks.

Even better? Maya taught them about this delicacy as she was breaking up the ice and then chewing on them. Yes, a dog taught them this.

It's a good thing I got that Mother of the Year thing out of the way while the kids were still little!

Now that we're all caught up, the last few days home have been interesting. Max and Rory are slowly adjusting back to having Mom and Dad around and they're also showing us how they felt about us being gone.

The first change we noticed is that Rory is talking a lot. Like, as much as I talk, a lot. She's enunciating her words more, using more sayings, and pretty much just always wants to talk whether its to somebody or just to herself. She's also been a lot more emotional, but to be fair she became sick the night we got home. She had a cold that gave her fevers in the evening so she must not have been feeling well which I'd associate with her extreme emotions more then our return.

Max on the other hand, has been very vocal on how much he missed us. Numerous times he's told us "I missed you so much!" It's enough to make this Momma's heart melt over and over again. He's also become attached to Daddy. Saturday was our first day home with the kids but Dusty had plans so he wasn't home for much of the day. Max was very upset when Daddy left and continued to tell me about it for the rest of the day. On Sunday we had to reassure him a few times that Daddy was staying home; he couldn't even go to the bathroom without getting questioned by Max! Monday morning was tough as Max was very upset that Daddy had gone to work but today has been better so I think he's coming around.

Now if only I could adjust back to being home! Not only have I been in long sleeves and sweatshirts most of the time just to stay warm, my fingers keep cracking from all the dry air. I feel like a little old lady that can't adjust to weather changes.

Thursday had our group in much smaller numbers as many had caught a flight back home that day. Stacey and Steve made dinner reservations for all of us to eat at Latitudes Restaurant which is on a smaller, separate island called Sunset Key. We all met up to catch the taxi, which of course was a boat, and had a beautiful dinner on the patio watching the sun set once again and eating some of the best food we'd ever had.

The sunset was beautiful with the very secluded surroundings!

Before catching the taxi we hung out on the pier watching all the fish and laughing at our stories. I was even able to convince everyone to do a quick group shot!

After dinner a lot of us returned to our hotels/houses as we had flights to catch the next day. Dusty and I lounged around with Reb and Joe at the hotel before heading in early. We had plans to get up the next morning and watch the sunrise.

This has become a sort-of tradition for us. I say sort-of because we don't do it on every vacation, sometimes it just doesn't make sense, but we certainly try to do it if it does and this vacation, it definitely made sense. We found ourselves a hammock and we lounged around taking photos, talking, napping and just being with each other while the sun brought us our last day on the island.

It was a beautiful way to say goodbye to our vacation. I'm so glad we were able to be with Stacey for her wedding day and that we got to enjoy ourselves too. I wish them many years of happiness, and I wish the same for Dusty and I!

Thursday Reb, Joe, Dusty and I decided to rent scooters and tour the island. We'd pretty much been walking everywhere (the island is only about 2 miles wide by 4 miles long and we were spending most of our time on just the southern tip) but our feet were getting tired and we still had a lot more we wanted to see that scooters would give us faster access to.

You guys? Remember my obsession with statues? If you don't that's fine, I'll just tell you, I'm obsessed with posing next to statues and either mimicking them or incorporating myself into them. We found a lot of statues. It started with this Captain Morgan statue, I mean, who doesn't want to act like the Cap'n?

Dusty struck a pose with former President Truman, who spent a lot of time at "The Little White House" at the Keys and visited regularly during the presidency. Many other presidents have used the small home but Truman is the most well known as he visited and used it for official business the most.

Then we toured closer to where the cruise ships come in and we found the jackpot. The Key West Art & History Museum I believe it was called had so many statues I had to just pick a few to play with. And play I did. I started with this. I believe it was call, The Daydream, and daydreaming I did!

My view from down there:

Then there was this gigantic statue outside the front entrance that just screamed, mimic me!

And I just love this one of Reb with the photographer; she may not understand my obsession but she goes right along with it.

After our visit with the sculptures we continued on our way only to end up just a vehicle behind the bride and groom! That was a fun little surprise and made for a cute picture.

Of course I then had to turn the camera on ourselves, while Dusty was driving, because I laugh in the face of danger you know. (Don't ask Dusty about it, he'll just complain because I wouldn't let him go over 25 mph and would freak out even then.)

Also? That last picture is one of my favorites because if you look carefully into Dusty's glasses you can actually see me holding out the camera and the traffic around us as we're driving. I'm dangerous I tell you!

We had the scooters for three hours and made a complete loop around the island and zigzagged our way to different attractions making for a very fun afternoon, I'd highly recommend it!