Most Exciting Night

Nice Picture, huh? Yes, well that picture would be from the scene of our house last night. Don't panic! Our house is still well intact and not even close to being burned down. It all started with a nice evening of working out with The Wiggles. About ten minutes into the DVD, I heard a strange noise. There was some really loud cracking/popping sound above our dining room that fizzled and cracked just like the scary sound of loose electrical wires. Every cat in the house looked up at the ceiling and started growling. The kids and I were also staring at the ceiling waiting to see what it was. About ten seconds later there was a horrendous smoky, electrical burning smell that penetrated every room in the house. The smell got to the point of burning my nose and I didn't stop to think another moment. I grabbed the kids and my handy little pay-by-minute cell phone and ran outside. No. My cell phone isn't that important to me. I did, however, need something to call the fire department on. And seeing as how our only other phone was lost in the mess of the house...well...you get the point. Lucky for us, we live about 2 minutes from our local volunteer based fire department. Let me just start by saying: God bless firefighters! And the same goes for EMT, police officers and any and all military. I have no greater respect than I do for these fine men and women that dedicate their lives to helping/saving others. (We have quite a few of these in the family.) So after the awesome firefighters showed up, they strung hoses through the house and had their axes ready for anything that they might find. So yeah. I see the axes and start thinking, "How cow! Axes?? What's about to happen to my house??" Then the fire chief showed up, followed by a sheriff. I told them what happened and pre-apologized if it was a false alarm. But I sure wasn't going to chance it. I started thinking, "Oh naturally. Josh is unemployed and now our house is going to burn down. Of course!" As twelve firefighters in full gear plowed through our house checking every single place they could to make sure we were safe, Alex and Abby were beyond excited. If anyone of you knows Abby personally, you would know that she is very unhappy around big, scary, new people. So naturally, you'd assume that twelve big men in fire gear would terrify her beyond comprehension. Wrongo! She was positively the sweetest most chatty little thing. She talked to the sheriff and firefighters and followed one of them willingly to sit in the firetruck. My theory is that Firefighters and the sort have a particular glow that children would just naturally trust. I mean, why not? These guys only want to help. And what kid doesn't think firefighters are interesting? So as this is happening, every neighbor in a two block radius was standing outside their house watching. A photographer joined the scene and I was starting to feel pretty stupid. They reassured me that a smell like that was exactly the kind of thing they are there for. Their exact words were, "You don't mess with fire. It's our job." They said that calls like this give them practice which is always a good thing. I joked with them and told them it was original plan to keep them on their toes. Two very excited kids, two neighbor visits, and one and a half hours later, we were in the clear. They never found the source, but said it might be an old wire that went bad or something along those lines. It's a bit unnerving to think that they didn't find the source, but they assured me that we were safe and to call if it ever happens again because it could be something that gets worse. (Great.) Josh wasn't here due to class so I had quite the story to tell him when he got home. Plus, I now have something to blog about. Bonus. I got a really big kick out of the fact that a KU fan was the main guy on the scene. I told him that Josh might kick him out, regardless of coming to our rescue, for that simple fact. He let me take a picture of him for proof that KU is superior. (I'm impartial. Not a sports fan.) So all in all everyone is fine, the cats are still cowering in hiding, and our house didn't burn to the ground. It was quite possibly the most exciting night ever.

Alex and Abby in the fire truck. They were overjoyed.

He said it's proof that KU rules.

A quick little video I took of the scene.

Fitting in Getting Fit

This year, I've been trying to get healthier to the best of my ability. There are so many moms out there that look like they've never given birth. Flat abs, toned body, and not an inch of blubber on them. How they manage this is completely out of my realm of understanding. After two kids, my body has betrayed me. Between the stretch marks, extra weight, and flabby skin, my body is irreparable. Those 'perfect' bodied moms have some kind of magical skin that longs to revert back to it's previous beautiful state. My skin looks like I gave birth to Freddy Krueger's love child. And believe me when I say that not even plastic surgery can correct the mess that was left behind. I could either buy a girdle or tuck it into my belt. A girdle looks like torture so I'll suck it up. Literally. So in a feeble attempt at regaining, at the very least, a healthy body weight, I am attempting to fit in some exercise. I've been doing crunches and weights for my arms, but I what I so desperately need is cardio. As much as I'd love to say that chasing two toddlers around all day is my cardio, I don't think it really works that way. I've tried a couple of work out videos and the kids just crawl all over me due to boredom. I was going to buy an exercise bike, but unemployment put a damper on that plan. So I've discovered some secrets to getting the ol' heart rate up and involving the kids. First, my new garage sale bike trailer is working wonders! The kids love it and I feel great (minus the knee pain) afterwards. But sometimes, weather doesn't agree with biking and so I have to fill in the workout plan with something else. Now, you are probably going to laugh when I tell you this, but hey...it works. So don't knock it till you try it. By now, anyone who might read this should know Alex and Abby's obsession with The Wiggles. Well, The Wiggles promote health and fitness for children. (Excellent role models for kids, by the way.) Over their 18 years of dancing and singing, they are incredibly fit. So what I do, is pop in one of the 14 DVDs we have and dance along to all of their songs. Yes. I know almost every dance down to the last step. Yes. I look like a total idiot. And yes. I'm aware that it's probably hilarious to watch. But dancing to one of their DVDs kicks my butt from here to Australia. You are probably wondering if I get sick of The Wiggles. Well...honestly...no. Seriously. Have you seen Anthony Wiggle or Captain Feathersword?? Sometimes when I am dancing along I need to stop and get something to wipe the drool off my chin after watching them do their own stunts. Eighteen years of dancing for a job and working out does wonders to a body. You want motivation? Here's my motivation...

The guy in blue is Anthony Field and the guy in the pirate hat is Captain Feathersword. The guy below is Anthony again.

Hubba, hubba! Would you just look at those muscles! Yeah. I don't have any problem at all watching The Wiggles. The kids love it, I get to spend time with them, and I get a great workout. Is it completely ridiculous? Probably. But it doesn't hurt when your kids' idols aren't bad to look at. ;-) Oh Captain Feathersword, you can tickle me any day of the week!

Week 7

I suppose I could start this blog entry with what I feel like:

*sigh*

Yeah. That pretty much covers it. It is officially the beginning of the seventh week of unemployment for Josh. We are starting to feel it on many levels. The constant feeling of uncertainty is possibly the worst. Being in a Union isn't the worst thing in the world, but their rules on working can make a situation such as unemployment much more complicated than it needs to be. If he doesn't have a 'union' appointed job then he simply doesn't have a job. So now we just wait. And wait. And then when we are done with that, we wait some more. The last round of unemployment went for a month. Now we are merrily rolling through our second month. The boredom of it is starting to kick into high gear. But we are planning a trip to see my brother and sister-in-law (Josh's family) so that we can help them remodel their bathroom. I'm sure it's more of a guy thing as far as the fixing goes. Though maybe I'll get to lend a hand every now and then. It's part of my upbringing to fix things around the house. (And secretly, I sort of enjoy it.) I always joke around with my mom that I was bred for manual labor. I think she planned it that way. (Just kidding mom...sort of. :-) I've actually considered becoming a professional painter (not the art kind) one day. I was a painter for a few years in college and I actually miss it from time to time. So when Josh is done with school for the week we are heading out of town to lend a hand where we can. That should break up the lazy unemployment days a bit. The kids will enjoy some quality time with their cousins too. It's a win win situation for all. Until then, bring on week seven.

Expiration Date

Apparently, electronics have a built in expiration date that directly correlates to the specific household that it resides in. This past few weeks, it seems that a good chunk of our electronics have decided to die. It turns out they have a most inconvenient expiration date: Unemployment. Yup. That about says it all. Since Josh's recent heave-ho from his job, more than one device decided to catch a 'bug' or something. Our TV is now at about 60- 70% of it's color (depending on the day). The only movies you can successfully watch on it is anything that involves bright colors. I got a viewing of Spiderman in. Turns out that we are still okay watching it because the majority of what we watch is The Wiggles and they are very bright in the color spectrum. Next, our DVD player decided to get possessed by some demon. It officially has a mind of it's own. It will randomly reject DVDs or suck them in before you have a chance to actually load them. This, in turn, causes the DVD to get dragged in against its will leaving lovely little scratches along the bottom. Nice, huh? It works. Just not well. Our sound system has been on the outs for quite some time now, but recently the speakers randomly cut out and start clicking. No idea what that's about. Maybe it's Morse code and it's attempting to plead for a quick and painless death. Now our VCR (yes, we still own one and use it too) has finally decided to give up. When ever you watch something or record something from the TV, it plays back with a loud, annoying humming sound. It's nails on the chalkboard, but the kids have quite a few VHS tapes they are addicted to. The only way I can watch my two shows, Smallville and Vampire Diaries (yes...I'm pathetic), is to either record them and watch them when the kids go to bed or wait till they are released on the internet. Needless to say, I opt for the internet most of the time. On the list of things that no longer work right are my vacuum cleaner (used every other day) and Josh's computer. Ugh. Why these stupid electronics all decided to start dying when unemployment kicked in is beyond my understanding. At least everything still moderately runs. Otherwise we'd be stone agin' it.

Feeding the Obsession

One of the many reasons I love spring and summer is the start of garage sale season. Going to Garage sales is one of my little obsessions. I see a garage sale as I'm driving by and something inside of me goes all tingly. The bright colors of kids toys sparkling in a driveway is somehow addicting to me. I can't explain the obsession. I just know that one season of the year, I need to feed it. Ah, there is nothing so satisfying as finding a spectacular deal on something you want or need (or don't need but want anyways) around the house. For example, last year I found an electric weed eater for next to nothing and a wheelbarrow for even less. They both have come in super handy. This year, my goal was to find a bike trailer so that I can start getting some cardio introduced back into my exercise program. The first of the many surrounding towns and cities is having it's city wide garage sale. On my weekly trip to the store, I decided to go check out some of the early sales. (The majority of them open up tomorrow.) And I found my bike trailer. I brought it home, hooked it up, and took the kids on their first sweet ride. They were more than excited and begged me to keep going. After the last few blocks of uphill riding, my legs had turned to jelly and my knees felt like I'd been punched repetitively. I had to stop the ride and head home. But they happily rode along, sipping their chocolate soy-milk as they went. It was great to get my heart pumping and my lungs huffing (actually they were burning like fire, but you get the point). The great thing is that I get to benefit as well as the kids. I figure if I can stick to taking them on a ride 4 or 5 times a week, then I might start losing weight as opposed to plateauing. Losing weight and entertaining the kids. I think I have a winner!

Hungry

I'm not sure if I can get away with using the same old excuse as I normally do, but my kids must be going through a growth spurt. It seems that I use this excuse more frequently these days. But honestly, I have no other explanation for their constant hunger. And when I say 'constant', I mean constant. I haven't seen my kids eat this well in a long time. They actually have been snacking on carrot sticks. Carrot sticks! This may not seem out of the ordinary, but like many other children in this world, they despise vegetables in almost any form. I bought a bag of mini carrots last week for myself to snack on and a few days ago they asked me what it was. I told them and they asked to eat some. To my shock and delight, they gobbled them up without looking back. Apparently carrots are 'really crunchy' and 'really good'. (Their words.) Who knew? They have eaten every meal with no complaints and even asked for seconds (and sometimes thirds). It's almost gotten to the point where I can't make enough food. Between a hungry husband and two hungry kids, I shouldn't have a problem losing weight. My meal portions have become significantly decreased. Don't worry though. I'm far from starving. I snack a lot to compensate. I'm not sure when this 'growth spurt' will end, but I better start increasing the amount of food in my cart at the grocery store. Because, from what I hear, the growth spurt ends around the age of 18.

Passing on the Love

I love animals. You can ask anyone I know to vouch for me. Naturally, living out of the country puts a bit of a damper on that love, but I do what I can with what I have. Right now, we are limited to cats and rabbits. But despite only having the few animals we have (though five cats isn't exactly a small number) I have somehow managed to pass on my love of animals to the kids. Alex and Abby simply adore animals. In fact, one of their favorite things to do is visit my folk's house and play with their many animals. Granted, most of the big animals are mine and I am merely biding my time until I have land of my own to move them to. But nevertheless, the kids are always in their element when they go visit Grandma and Grandpa's house. However much Alex is in love with animals is nothing compared to the obsession that Abby has found for them. I see myself in her already at such a young age. She is absolutely fearless around them. And the bigger the animal, the more fearless this little two-year old is. It's fascinating to watch. She walks up to them and hollers for them as if she had been doing it for years. Naturally, I have to watch here close so she doesn't get trampled, but still. It thrills my heart to see the kids enjoy animals as I did. I hope that the love only grows bigger and that one day they will pass this love on to their children. For now, I will explain the amazing photo I took of Abby. The cow is Daisy, my 21 year old jersey cow. And yes. You read that right. 21 years and counting. (That's why she looks kind of skinny. The winter was hard on her old bones.) And don't worry about how close Abby is to Daisy. Daisy is as gentle a soul as you could possibly find in the animal world.

21 Years of Love

When I was growing up, the things that I loved most (excluding family of course), were animals. My passion was very deep for them. But above all else, my love for cows was the greatest. You can even ask my mom. I loved cows long before I had one of my own to cherish.

The Twitch

Have you ever seen a movie where the character has an involuntary eye twitch caused by something or someone that really annoys them? No? Well, then perhaps you have seen someone walking around with a slight twitch to one eye. I would wager my weekly paycheck (oh wait...I don't get a paycheck for this job) that this person is a parent. Today, it was raining. Oh that's all fine and dandy to the average childless person who wants to stay inside and read a good book while the rain patters lightly on the window. I, having two children, also hear the pattering on the window. Only it's not light. And it's not rain. It's two children banging their hands against the glass in hopes of making a quick escape. Rain = unhappy kids. After an entire day of nonstop screaming, fussing, whining, fighting, begging, and sheer boredom, I have found my twitch. After Abby's final screamfest for the night, I actually felt my eye twitch. I thought at first that I simply imagined it. Because in my head, my eye would be twitching nonstop during these dreary days. But then it twitched again. Okay. So maybe it didn't look as dramatic as characters in the movies make it out to be. But I definitely felt like it could easily reach that point if bedtime wasn't around the corner. I love my wonderful children. Really. I do. But sometimes, I just can't help but feel like they intentionally find ways to poke my nervous system to seek out the systematical errors. What else do you expect them to do on a cold, rainy day?

Happy _______!!

April was kind of a big month for times of celebration. So this is a blog for those moments. Though I've already mentioned the happy whatevers to some in previous blogs, I'd like to take a moment to send a happy greeting to those that didn't get a card this year. (Yeah...unemployment = no money for cards that people just throw in the trash anyways.) So here goes:

On April 3rd: Happy Resurrection day! Jesus rose from the grave so this was a very happy day for us all. So Happy Easter, of course!

On April 8th: Happy Birthday Stephanie! My sister-in-law's birthday was on this day. I hope it was a wonderful one for you and that it was all you hoped for!

On April 11th: Happy Birthday Linsey! Wow...getting so big! My nieces birthday is the same day as my daughter's birthday so this is a very, very happy day! I know you had a great birthday so, yay!

On April 12th: Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 35 years and counting! What an awesome thing to be able to say. Congrats on the long marriage and here's to another 35!

On April 15th: Happy Birthday Jacob! My brother's birthday...also known as tax day...and coincidentally enough...today! So I hope you had a wonderful birthday today. I won't mention your age. But it's somewhere between 29 and 31. Congrats on the third decade!

Band-aids

I have a three-year old. So naturally, I have to keep an endless number of band-aids in the house. Without my mass back up supply of them, I would not just have one very upset kid, but two. Because apparently, if one has a band-aid, then the other one wants to too. Even if there is no reason for it. For example, this past weekend, Alex had a first hand experience as to why you should never tease an outdoor farm cat with a big chicken feather. The cat, happily playing along, snagged his finger and sliced it pretty deep in one place. Since that moment, he has needed some form of wound cover to keep him from screaming at the top of his lungs in 'pain'. Now, I'm not entirely certain that he is in pain, but he sure thinks he is. I swear you'd think the kid had his whole finger chopped off. But nevertheless, a band-aid, a kiss, and a 'thanks, mom' later, we have a happy kid. What is annoying is having Abby standing there screaming the entire time, holding her own finger and begging nonstop for the exact same thing - with no reason for the bandage. Guess what I do? I give her the same band-aid as Alex. And she knows, too. If there is one thing different about the bandage I use for Alex and hers, she will rip it off and stomp her feet until I get it right. Picky little thing, isn't she? So guess who's backup supply of band-aids is gone? Yup. that would be me. Under-prepared mama. So they both got makeshift bandages made from gauze and medical tape. I tried to fool Abby with toilet paper instead of gauze. She knew. Oh well. The band-aid phase, from what I hear, doesn't last forever. So until then, I better restock my cabinets with a lot more back up. I think it's going to be a band-aid kind of summer.

Where's my Hallelujah?

So here I sit. Week four of Josh's unemployment and I can't help but wondering how much longer this could possibly go on. As of Friday, he will have been unemployed for a month. And one month is the longest he has been without work to date. So if we make it into next week with no job hopes on the horizon, then I think I might have to start worrying. Okay, so technically speaking, I'm already worrying. But part of it feels surreal. Every day that goes by without the anticipated phone call is another day where my Tums intake gets a little heavier. Good thing they taste good, eh? I can't believe I'm at the age where I can stand in the antacid isle in the store and list the pros and cons of every antacid on the shelf. At least I'm not riding on one of those automated carts while I'm doing it. (I call them beep-beep carts, by the way.) But honestly, the worst part of unemployment when you belong to a union is the constant wondering. Wondering what the employment rate looks like. Wondering if there's an end in sight. Wondering if you should even bother wondering. It gets old. The only other part that starts wearing you thin is the never ending being together with your spouse. As I've said before, spouses weren't meant to be together in the same room 24 hours a day, seven days a week for extended periods of time. No matter how much love them, eventually you start feeling the pressure of their unending presence. It's the same pressure you feel from the kids when you are a stay-at-home mom. Sometimes you just need a break. But most days are good for what it's worth. Around this time during our last bout of unemployment I wrote a blog called 'Hallelujah'. I was so thrilled that Josh got the 'call' and was back to business. But as each day passes, I just can't help but wonder: Where's my hallelujah?

Happy 2nd Birthday Abby!

Two years old already! Whew! Where the heck does time go? One of the kids' favorite things to do right now is look through photo albums. Their favorite album is one when I was very, very pregnant with Abby. They always point to my belly in the photo and tell me that "that's Abby in your belly, mom!" And every time I see it I can't believe that it was two years ago that it was just the three of us with one on the way. Of course, I can't picture us any other way than with two kids. It's like both of them have always been here and we were just biding our time until we were united. Strange. Here are the two wee ones right before the birthday party. Best photo of them to date I believe.

On to Abby's birthday. After four big, planned birthday parties, I called it quits. I wanted nothing to do with the big hullabaloo of a party. Just cake, ice cream (soy), and presents. I did the total dorky thing and put up a notice on Facebook to family so anyone who wanted to have some cake and ice cream and a good time with the kids could come. The only ones who made it were both sets of grandparents and Mandy and Sean with the kids. But it was nice. I used a bunch of my old decorations from past parties to give it the feel of a party and decorated her a cake (which, by the way, was made from scratch because I couldn't find the strawberry cake mix she wanted without milk). Here's the cake. I didn't really have a plan for it. I just started decorating.

It went really well and Abby had fun. She got a few presents and blew out her candle. Yes...I had an open flame in front of my kid. But in my defense, she was really looking forward to blowing out her candle. She's been practicing and is really good at blowing. So Happy Birthday my sweet baby girl! It's been a crazy ride so far and I can't wait for more!

I would also like to send a big Happy Birthday greeting to my niece, Linsey. Her and Abby share a birthday. I know she wanted to come out and ride the pony this year, but they couldn't make it. Don't worry, Linsey...I'll have Oreo ready and saddled when you visit next and you can take an extra long post-birthday ride. We hope you had an awesome birthday!

Now it's time for the rest of the birthday photos. Enjoy!

Opening presents with a little help.

A pony. She loves ponies.

Aunt Mandy gave her princess dress up gear. And if you'll notice the dress she's wearing, I'd like to thank awesome Aunt Heather for packing up all her girls' outgrown clothes for miss Abby. She loves her dresses. Thanks Heather!



Luke, our social kitty, was in love with the tutu. He was in hog heaven while playing with it.

Action

"Look mom! I can jump off the table!"

Dejuicification

No. Dejuicification is not a real word. Well, at least that's what my handy dandy spell-check is telling me. But if I could find a word that meant 'the removal of mass juice consumption among children in the household' then I'd use it. For now, I'm going with Dejuicification. Sounds catchy. You see, ever since Alex had his first taste of juice, he's been hooked. Naturally, that addiction transferred directly over to Abby. I don't mind them having a glass of juice once a day. But in between the breakfast milk and dinner milk, one cup of juice isn't really enough to keep them fully hydrated on most days. So what do they ask for? Juice. What do I give them? Watered down juice. I actually have no memories of drinking juice as a kid. The only 'juice' I remember drinking was Koolaid. And as we all know, Koolaid (though tasty for any kid) is a far cry from a healthy beverage. (No wonder I have so many teeth issues.) So my plan is to get these kiddos off of the juice kick. I'll still give them their lunch juice, but what I really dream of is for them to ask for water. Oh, don't get me wrong. I offer water. Constantly. But they drink it about as well as they eat their veggies. Not good. So I noticed a trend with them. They drink water if it is coming out of the bathtub tap or if it is in my cup on the table. The problem, it seems, is that they enjoy drinking water in a lidless cup. *groan* Lidless cups are truly the bane of my carpet's existence. If you saw my carpets, you'd think that 'spotted' was the original pattern. (But it's not.) But water, even when spilled, is still clear. So I realized that I will have to put my annoyance of spills on hold and give the lidless cups a chance. In order to make the transition to water smoother, I let the kids pick out a special water cup online that they could drink out of all day. They got the cups this week and it's a hit! The cups combined with ice = success. The juice consumption has already gone down significantly. Let the dejuicification process begin!

Oh, and if you are wondering what cups they picked, I bet you'll never guess...

The Wiggles, of course.

The Big Crack

I did something I vowed never to do again after a really bad experience. I...saw a chiropractor. Yes. It's true. For over two weeks, I was experiencing these massive headaches that no amount of ibuprofen could control. For at least a year, I wake up with a headache that makes it very difficult to open my eyes. Oh sure, I could blame it on having two kids. That would be easy. They wake me up too early and scream in my ears all day so that would totally work. But once the headaches got to the point of causing me to want to beat my head on a wall in hopes of knocking whatever was loose back into place, I took the advice of a couple of people to request the aid of a chiropractor. Let me explain my past experience to you. About two years ago, I went to our friendly neighborhood chiropractor. I shall call him Dr. Pain. He contorted my body in ways that left me wondering what exactly he was attempting to accomplish. I went in with lower back pain and numbness in my limbs and went away with a headache that could only have been described as 'evil torture on my brain'. Dr. Pain was the kind of chiropractor that someone like me (aka: bubble-girl, aka: anxiety-gal, or aka: touch-me-and-I'll-probably-reach-around-and-punch-you-in-the-face girl) dreads to see. You see, Dr. Pain could also be named Captain Crack-a-spine. The noises coming from my spine and neck were horrendous. After five or six sessions with Dr. Pain, a very large bill, and twice as much pain as I went in with, I vowed to never again utilize the skills of a chiropractor. Okay...so my ability to make vows such as this never keep. After reading up on some articles about chiropractic care and anxiety and then reading about how headaches can be related to the neck, I sought a new chiropractor. I shall call him, Dr. Awesome. Dr. Awesome assured me that he wasn't going to break my neck and that my headaches would surely go away with the correct methods. At first, I was adamant that there would be no cracking what-so-ever. But I trusted Dr. Awesome and put my faith in his expertise. And when I least expected it, I heard the most hellish, awful cracking sound reverberating through my brain. This is what I shall call, 'The Big Crack'. Did it hurt? No. Of course not. He wouldn't be called Dr. Awesome if it did. Did it scare the living crap out of me? Um...yeah! I think I jumped a foot into the air, screaming all the while. But now, I am headache free and I haven't felt this good in a long time. In fact, I used to feel a lot of pressure and pulling in my chest and collarbone that has mysteriously disappeared, taking my never ending sense of anxiety with it. (Maybe this is what those articles about anxiety and chiropractic care were talking about. I suppose I'll never know for sure.) Will it last? Who knows. But I stand corrected. Apparently not all chiropractors are quacks. You just have to find an awesome one.

On to the Easter Photos

As promised, I have the Easter photos ready to post. We spent Easter dinner at my folks' house. It was a great weekend for the kids. Two sets of grandparents paying total attention to their every want. It was a great weekend for me too because it was two pairs of babysitters that kept the kids busy and gave me some time to breathe. Thank God for grandparents. Get ready, because this is a doozy of a photo blog. And on to the photos...

First up: This was the one picture I took with Josh's family. It was Alex's first experience in a sit down restaurant due to his milk allergy. It went well, surprisingly.

Coloring Easter Eggs.

Abby just chillin' and eating some Easter candy.

Alex enjoying the Easter candy goodness.

Alex showing off his collection of eggs.

Abby had a blast looking for eggs. She was rather good at it.


It was a windy Easter day.


Doesn't everyone have an old car hubcap in their yard?

Excited to eat the yummy bunny cake that Grandma made. I was just as excited and am surprised that my drool didn't make it into the photo.

Easter Weekend

This weekend, we decided to go visit Josh's folks. Josh's brother, Ben, and his family got to visit as well. Our original reason for going was for a birthday party. This was not your every day birthday party either. Josh's great Aunt Pearl turned 100 years old. Holy cow! I still can't wrap my mind around that. It must be an amazing thing to live for a century. Can you imagine the things she has seen, done and experienced? And what's even more amazing is that she looked like she was maybe in her 80's. She was walking around with the best of us. Impressive stuff, I tell ya. Well, that was Saturday and it was a nice thing to experience.

I suppose I should admit my fault for the weekend. Bad blogger mama didn't take any photos. Okay, okay...I took two this morning before we left but they are worthless because it was at a restaurant and nobody wanted to have their picture taken. So I hope you don't mind a total text blog for the time being. I did, however manage to get my camera charged when we got home today so I could take some pictures of the kids Easter egg coloring and hunting. But to be perfectly honest, I had such a wonderful time this weekend that the last thing on my mind was taking pictures. That's got to count for something, right? We got to spend time with Josh's grandparents and then the majority of the time we just lounged around the house and spent some quality time together. It was extra nice to have my sister-in-law, Heather, there for the weekend as well. She normally works on weekends so I never get to see her much when we travel. Lucky for me (but not for her :-) she broke her wrist and can't work. So she was forced to spend some time with me. She's a physical therapist and needs both hands for the job. We were both really close when we lived in the same town, but since moving in separate directions I don't hear from her as often. When I get to spend time with her, I remember how much I miss having her around. (Seriously Heather...sorry you broke your wrist. Totally sucks.)

Alex and Abby were thrilled to be there after the initial warming-up process. Alex absolutely adores spending time with Ben and Heather's girls. He's pretty excited about Uncle Ben too. And as usual, being with Grandma and Grandpa is pretty darn cool to him. Abby, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about yet. She has a little bubble she keeps handy when around people she isn't entirely used to. But she warmed up by the end of the weekend. Actually, Alex was so devastated when the girls left in their van and we left in ours that I had to do some pretty heavy comforting. When I told him that the girls were going to their home and us to ours, he said, "But I want to with Uncle Ben in their van and go home with Lauren and Linsey and Kate!" Broke my heart, I tell ya. Broke my heart. So I made him a promise that I hope to keep. I promised him we would start making a better effort to go and visit them more often. (If they'll have us.) That calmed him down a bit so get the spare bedroom ready guys. I think we'll be planning a trip in the near future. It made me realize that when I was little, I loved spending time with my many cousins. So naturally, why wouldn't my kids?

All in all, it was a wonderful weekend. I'll do an actual Easter posting tomorrow when the hubby lets me use his computer to get pictures up. In the end, I just want to say thank you to all my in-laws for an extremely enjoyable weekend. I am truly blessed to have married into such a great family. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well! Stay tuned for the Easter egg extravaganza tomorrow...

Fun with Oreo

No, I don't mean Oreo the cookie. I mean Oreo the pony. The last time I blogged about Oreo was an introduction to the cute little guy. We've had some time to get to know him and he is just a sweet and adorable pony. And the kids are positively smitten. Actually, Alex is more along the lines of happy just to pet him and feed him. Now Abby, on the other hand, is smitten. She talks about Oreo all the time and as soon as we get even close to Grandma and Grandpa's house, she is asking to ride him. She rushes to meet him as soon as she escapes the bonds of her car-seat and promptly proceeds to find wherever Oreo is. She puts her little hand through the aged barbed wire fence and says, "Hi Oreo! Come here Oreo! Come on...come one," as she entices him with a wee bit of grass. It's simply adorable. I can't wait until the day when I can hop on my horse and the kids can follow me on their ponies while we go adventuring down the dirt roads. I'm getting all warm and fuzzy just thinking about it. Until then, Here are a few pictures of one of our last meet and greets will Oreo. And guess what? I'm actually in the photos!

No more cockelburs on this little fellow. Cleaned up and cute as can be!

You'll have to excuse the photographer (my mom). She never managed to get Oreo's head in the pictures because he was dead set on eating the early spring green grass. And that would be Abby in the background. She was eagerly waiting for her second turn.

Have you ever seen Abby so proud and happy? She is truly in her element. Chip off the ol' block I'd say.