Brusier

We took Annabelle to the walk in clinic today because she has been saying all week that her ear hurts. We spend an hour waiting to see the doctor and turns out she is as healthy as ever - good news for us but she was disappointed that she didn't get any medicine from the doctor. As soon as the doctor walked in he looked at Cole and said, "I like you, you look like a bruiser." When we were checked in they Annabelle weighed in at 32 pounds and I threw Cole on the scale for fun...he came in at 30 pounds - he is catching up! The weather finally warmed up and we able to spend some time outside. It went from 30 degrees yesterday to almost 70 today! Spring might finally be here. The kids spend an hour outside after supper tonight so hopefully they sleep well tonight. I hope this weather is here to stay for a while. It is nice to get some fresh air and have the windows open in the house...might even be able to sleep with them cracked open tonight.

Day at Home

We spent a much needed day at home today. At about 4pm (which is when the pic of him was taken) we realized Cole was still in his P.J's and figured at that point why even get him dressed, so he stayed in them all day. The morning even started late for us. Cole didn't get up until close to 8 and Annabelle slept until 9. When Cole took his morning nap Annabelle and I dug out the paints and she had fun painting for close to half an hour. The rest of the day we spent playing inside, reading books, making brownies and just spending some quality time together.

Snow Day

The kids and I spent a little time outside this morning. Sorry Cole once again you have pink on but I think you will turn out ok - next year I promise I will buy you some boy snow pants and boots. The kids had a great time. They enjoyed playing with their Easter toys, although I think they are meant for the sandbox but I don't see that as an option in the near future. They also really enjoyed riding up and down the driveway in the sled...we stayed away from the big hill per Annabelle's request.

Digging Out

Yesterdays storm caused We got about 16 inches of snow - a record snowfall for April! My work is opening 2 hours late and daycare is closed today. As of right now we have a sitter lined up at 12 so I can go to work for a few hours. We will see what today brings. It is still snowing, not very heavy, and blowing. This is a spring time to remember! Hope to try and get the kids outside this morning to play in the fresh snow.

April Showers

I am not so sure that these April shower are going to bring any flowers! We are in the middle of getting maybe the worse snowstorm of the season. It is hard to believe that it is the middle of April! Needless to say we didn't go to far this weekend.

Want to be like Daddy!

Annabelle announced at snack time that she had to go to the bathroom so off we went. I got her situated and then went back to clean up Cole. Brian walked past the bathroom and saw her standing up. When he asked what she was doing she said, "I want to be like you."

Happy Birthday Kirsten!!

Kirsten has been staying with us since January because she is doing some work at the hospital and Anne Carlsen School. She has been the easiest person to have around and the kids love her! One the weekend when she goes back home Cole will stand at the top of the stairs and yell "Kirsty!" They are really going to miss her when she is gone. Last week she turned 21 - woo hoo. I will say she was very responsible and came home at 10pm - Brian and I were impressed. Thursday we were finally able to take her out for her birthday and it was a nice time. We don't take the kids out much just because it gets late and when they are hungry and tired things tend not to go so well - but that night they did great; they sat well while we waited for our food and ate most of the food when it came. Afterwards the waitress asked if we wanted dessert and told us that Annabelle gets a free one with her kids meal so we ordered her a sundae - who can turn down a free dessert. She ate all the whip cream from the top and then was done. It is a good think we brought the clean up crew aka Cole with because he was able to take care of the leftovers. While Cole was finishing her ice cream Annabelle was sitting on my lap and starting to get restless. We were thinking, here we go we are going to loose them. Pretty soon Annabelle starts farting and a few minutes later I could smell something. I take a look at Annabelle and sure enough she had a full pull-up and it was at the point that we just needed to go home and not try to deal with it there. We started trying to get jackets on and find the waitress to pay our bill. I was shoving napkins in Annabelle's pants trying to keep everything contained and she was not enjoying it at all. Every time I would put a napkin on the back of her pull up she would pull it out and it was just a mess. I left Applebee’s with a pocket full of dirty napkins because I didn't think that would be a nice thing for the bus boys to find. Annabelle walked out with Kirsten and I warned her that she probably shouldn't pick her up. By the time we got home Annabelle had poop everywhere - her hands, up her back, all over her car seat. It was time for a bath. We got into the bathroom to start cleaning up the mess and she had it all the way up to her shoulders! I told Kristen we have never had a diaper that bad in 2 1/2 years! We got everyone cleaned up, clothes in the washer and the rest of the night was peaceful and uneventful.

Mini Vacation

The kids and I took a mini vacation to MN this week and we are having a good time. I was joking with some people that what I should do is leave the kids at my parents house and stay in a hotel for a few days so I can sleep and shop - but here I am and loving it. We have had some very busy days. We left Jamestown on Wednesday and arrived late afternoon. We didn't do much Wed night beside hang out and get acquainted with the new surroundings. Thursdays was an exciting day for Annabelle, we spend most of the day at the Children's museum which has a Dora exhibit. Annabelle loved it! We spend most of the day there and the kids had a great time and very exhausted by the time that we left. Friday morning we stayed at home for the morning and then after nap time we went bowling. I think the best part of that experience was the little ramp that they have for kids to set the ball on and push down so it actually makes it down the lane. Annabelle found it also worked pretty well as a slide - she had a good time and that is all that matters. The plan for Saturday was to go swimming in the morning and then to see some baby sheep in the afternoon...that was the plan. The reality of the day is this: the kids were up at 7 - normal - after breakfast we got ready to go swimming. We got into town and found out the free swim wasn't until 12:30. Leaving the YMCA actually went really well. I was expecting Annabelle to put up more arguments that what she did. We told her we had to wait until after lunch to go and she was okay with that. By this time Cole was already rubbing his eyes and wanted to take a nap. Since we were in town we stopped to visit with Great Grandma for a while and the kids enjoyed the visit because like any good Grandma she had candy for them and it didn't matter that it was 10am. When we got back home Cole went right down for a nap. I figured that Annabelle would go down about 11 for her nap and then be up by 1 and we could go back into town...boy was I wrong. I tried to put Annabelle down about 11:30 and finally by 1 she was sleeping. She was so over tired that she would almost be sleeping and then she would start being silly to wake herself up. Cole woke up while I was trying to get her to sleep and I got him up and Grandma fed him lunch. About a half hour after Annabelle fell asleep Cole started rubbing his eyes again - figures. I started to rock him thinking maybe he could take just a little cat nap but then Annabelle decided she was done napping and was back up. She had lunch and we left to go swimming. Poor Cole could barley keep his eyes open. Annabelle had a great time swimming and going down the water slide. Cole had an okay time. It took him a bit to warm up to the big pool and combined with him being tired he did really well. We spend 2 hours at the pool and by the last 15 min Cole must have gotten his second wind and started having a great time! I was almost positive that we would have 2 sleeping kids - wrong. Once we got home the kids took a bath and then had supper. Poor Cole couldn't even make it through supper - he was so tried and cranky. We went down to rock at 6:30 and he has been snoring ever since. I am really hoping he makes it until at least 6am Sunday. Annabelle was sleeping by 9 and again I am hoping not to hear a peep from her until the morning. I know the kids have a great time when we go out of town but I think we are all ready to get back into our routine and catch up on some sleep.