It all started with a message from Aunt R. “Hey, do you all want to do a date swap?”  The answer to this question is a given, “YES.”  For our part we take care of the cutest niece on the planet for a few hours.  Let her play with our kids, let her eat with our kids, put her to sleep with our kids.  Our lives run almost exactly as they always do just with one more warm body around.  Then the following morning Aunt R. takes a turn. while we go to breakfast sans children (even the baby!)  It’s not really a fair swap and I told her so once but then decided that maybe I’d do better to keep my mouth shut.  And the kiddos love date swap days because Aunt R. is far cooler than Mom ever thought about being and she let’s them have food upstairs.

So …. we’re at breakfast discussing the state of the union and solving all the worlds problems and generally having a great time carrying on an uninterrupted discussion when we get sidetracked by this:

First of all I’m unsure of the quality of gun classes given by a breakfast joint but wait there’s more ….

“All the coffee you can drink”?!  Because what we really need are a lot people hopped up on caffeine and carrying concealed weapons.

Uhm, ok … moving on….

Spring is coming (and if it’s not don’t tell me.  I like my deluded world.)  So after breakfast we went wandering through the landscaping section of Home Depot; making big plans and wishing it weren’t so cold.

A text from Aunt R. says “baby’s asleep. take your time.”  It’s a wonderment.  Little miss, “I never go to sleep unless someone (guess who that is) nurses me first.”  totally conks out for Aunt R.

Worry behind us we drive to the library to find some night time reading for Sister.  She’s reading every night now and likes to have books that are short enough to finish in an evening but long enough to make a good story.  Not as easy to find as you might imagine.  Even so, Will and I came home with several possibilities.  I love the library.  Also, on our way we saw these:

How random and fun was that?

Fast forward to today …..

Lovely weather, Dora outside stretching her legs,

lots of gardening discussion and landscaping discussion and the big project of determining our actual property line.

Tired babies,

hunting for crawdads

and this most awesome huevos ranchero recipe cooked by my wonderful hubby … He even cleaned up … mostly.

Unfortunately, this weekend had one inherent flaw.

The End.

One of these is my new favorite picture of Dora … I just can’t decide which.

Thoughts?

In addition to remotes the bin also seems to acquire random Lego creations and drawings and there as been some discussion as to whether or not the Wii-motes are re-motes.  Still, research shows that remote searches have declined by 84.6% since the hanging of the sign.  And that’s better than this mom had hoped for.

His father wants the hair long.  He doesn’t understand that no amount of water, spit or gel will tame this.

If you perchance pass us on the street, please know this is not my fault and that in other parenting areas I’m doing pretty good.

Lego Attack by Brother

Rock Monster Attack by Sister

Why is stop motion animation so violent?  Peace, Lego people, peace.

So Christmas came and went and with it came the standard “grandma” money.  Some people think that giving cash or gift cards is kind of a cop out.  Crazy people who feel a little care and forethought should go into each purchase.    Ahem. *cough, cough*  Okay, I admit I’m one of them.  (My name is Toni and I’m a gift snob. ~altogether now~ Hi Toni.) But I’m only a snob in regards to gifts I GIVE.  When it comes to receiving ~ bring on the cash.  What’s better than being able to pick out exactly what you want without worrying about messing up your budget.  Also, sometimes there is just no way anyone would ever guess what you really wanted or if they did they might think it was too old/young for you and not get it anyway.  Case in point:  Monopoly City.  The box says ages 8 and up.  The 5 year old says, “Phooey on that!” (By the by, isn’t “phooey” a little bit of a screwy word?  That many vowels should not be able to co-exist together so peacefully.)  Anyway, Brother spent his gift money on a game we were all convinced he had no business buying but there was no talking him out of it.  Consequently, we’ve spent the last three nights gathered around the table building skyscrapers and apartments, setting up power plants and railroads and charging exorbitant rent to anyone daring enough to land on our property.  Sure we changed a few rules for simplicity’s sake and we only make a little progress each evening but it’s been unexpectedly fun.

Sister, on the other hand, has no use for complicated games.  She bought a horse.  A stuffed horse which she has slept with every night since it came home.  She’s eight and in my mind eight is old enough to be past stuffed animals.  Certainly I (with all my “care and forethought”) didn’t buy her any but given the choice that what she picked.

Dora, in case you’re wondering, bought shoes and the most adorable pair of leggings you have ever seen in your entire life.  She couldn’t help it. “Baby, it’s cold outside” and all that.

*this post backdated for chronological reasons

I don’t care who you are: that’s cute.

*this post backdated for chronological reasons

For three days while the weather was nice Brother took himself outside and played with his imagination and a rope.  It was a snake.  It had been used by bad guys to tie him up.  It helped him rescue a friend who’d fallen over a cliff.  I’d tell you what else it was and did except that’s all I know.  Each time I ventured into hearing range, Brother would, in a most polite way, pause his game and say, “Mom, could you go away, please?”  And so I have no more information BUT I have pictures surreptitiously taken.

I don’t know what was so fascinating about this method of gun retrieval but whatever it was it was worth repeating at least a dozen more times.  And oh what I would have given to hear the running commentary I could tell his lips were making.  To peak into the mind of a little boy would be a great adventure.

Dora can sit!  Today at approximately 2:34pm, Dora sat unassisted for a continuous 10 seconds!  And these are not just the crazy declarations of a proud mommy either, I have witnesses!

Um, k … that’s all.  You can return to your regularly scheduled life now.

We used to have a YMCA membership and we used it … regularly until we didn’t and we didn’t for so long that I finally wised up and decided that perhaps we could re-appropriate those funds to something else which we would use.  And we did.  And everybody lived happily every after except Sister who asked about every other week when we were going to go to the Y again and me because I had to listen to her.

I can’t blame her for the question though because I know why she asks.  Since we’ve moved we have occasion to drive by the local Y and as we drive by we can see a big yellow water slide wend its way out of the building and back in.  A big yellow water slide is like the call of the Sirens to an eight year old.  And the call of the Sirens, it is strong.  Also, the call of my fat jeans taunting me.  So, today we went.  We signed the papers gave monthly access to our bank account and we were in…again.

The yellow slide wasn’t open today yet we still managed to have a good time.  Kids + Water = Good Time.  Who knew?

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