Just like Daddy!

Carter saw Jake gelling his hair yesterday morning and decided that he needed his hair gelled as well. He looked like such a stud!

We added a tie to make him look professional.

Then he practiced throwing the football like the star he will be.

This kid will be going places!

Watermelon Love

We bought a watermelon at the grocery store this past weekend. It became Carter's new best friend. He was in a cart with Jake and I could hear Carter from several aisles away as he shouted about his watermelon!

When we got home, he tried to unload it from the back of the van. It was too big for him but once we got it into the house, he took it into the living room and started rolling around on the floor with it. I suggested drawing a face on the watermelon but Jake thought that might solicit more tears once we actually cut up the melon.

Finally Carter agreed to let us cut it up. Here he is crying because I tried to give him a small piece to start with.

This is how Carter wanted to eat his watermelon. During nap time we chopped it up so everyone could finally enjoy it. He still talks about his watermelon and how he loves it!

Ava's Teeth

Ava had her dental restoration surgery last Friday. 7 crowns and 2 fillings later, she now has a much better mouth. She was such a trooper. We had to be at the hospital at 6 am for her 7:30 surgery. Ava talked with all the nurses, let them take her blood pressure and temp, and was all around a very pleasant little girl in the pre-op room. I wish I had taken a picture of her sitting on the hospital bed watching Dora but it just didn't seem right to me to be taking photos of a child before surgery! She was so cute though!

Here she is at home Friday night. Her mouth wasn't nearly as puffy as it was when she came out of surgery but she is still pale.


Excuse the cracker crumbs, but here are some of the new teeth. You can see the two bottom stainless steel crowns and her eye teeth on top also have white crowns.

Ava was doing much better by Saturday afternoon but every now and then, she'll still tell me her mouth hurts. I think this is more due to the fact that she loves medicine and less that she has actual pain! We are glad to have this behind us though. I think Jake and I were more traumatized at the prospect of putting Ava under than she was! All is well though and we are now focused on keeping all 3 kids teeth clean.

Cinderella

A couple weeks ago, I caught the kiddos playing with my dish towels. I love to see what two 2 year olds can come up with for entertainment and they did not disappoint.

Here is Cinderella: (please note the flour sack towels, hence he's poor and misfortuned)


Here is one of the evil stepsisters, as Carter did call her and she affirmed as her role:
(again, note that she gets the nice kitchen hand towels)


Here is the other evil stepsister: (She just wanted to be included so grabbed what she could find in the drawer. According to Carter, she is still an evil stepsister regardless the attire!)

Because they found it so fun to pretend to have work to do, I decided to put Ava to work the other day helping make chocolate chip cookies. She is a good little helper and follows directions quite well.

What clever little children I have! They obviously take after their mommy!!

Grammy Sara's Visit and my Dream

I had an interesting dream during my nap today. I won't get into the specifics as it was a really weird dream (honestly, it was bizarre! I kept trying to type a description but as it got more crazy every time I wrote it, I've decided it's best to give it up!).

Anyway, the interesting dream had a point. I realized in my dream that I miss my Mom & Dad and *gasp* even Alex more than I seem to acknowledge on a conscious level. I was even crying in the dream over how much I miss Alex! That is definitely odd and helped prove that this was at least a dream!

But when I woke up, I realized that yesterday was the two year mark of when they closed on the sale of my childhood home and permanently moved too far away to Georgia. And I really do miss them, all of them, even crazy Alex as we call him in our house. I'm so glad we got to see my mom in June and I can't wait to see my dad in 3 weeks.

So before I get everyone who bothers to read my blog all sad and weepy like I am, I will end and included some pictures of Grammy's last visit to buffer my trip down "Feeling Sorry for Myself Lane". We love you guys so much and can't wait to see Grampy in just a few weeks! (oh and sorry dad, but I do already have my "daddy do-list" made so come ready to help out with a few things!)

Days of Summer!

I've recently come to the realization that the only way for me to survive the days of summer are to do as much as I can to exhaust the kids so they take great afternoon naps, giving me my much needed me time. So in the last couple weeks, we have been to the Nicollet Commons splash pad in Burnsville, Kelley Park in Apple Valley, and to the Lifetime Fitness pool for multiple swim sessions. The best thing about all these places? They are free! There is the monthly membership fee for Lifetime but since I'm there working out anyway, talk about a major plus using the awesome outdoor pool area with the kids post-workout. I will try to get a picture of it but they have a no camera rule, so I'll have to be stealth!

The Nicollet Commons splash pad is awesome! Made to look very natural and so fun!

Kelley Park is a combo of super safe park equipment complete with rubber matting on the ground,

And an area with water stuff to run through!

These two were done after a 3 hour swim session at Lifetime the other day.

I feel like I have finally figured out how to have win-win situations this summer. Although it means sacrificing some of the things I'd like to do, if I take these troops places and wear them out, I get happy, cooperative kids and also get a several hour break each afternoon when they collapse from exhaustion. The only problem at the moment is that I end up collapsing each afternoon from exhaustion as well!

Bring it on little lady, bring it on!

Today Ellie and I had a nice little confrontation. My beloved Dyson is being the tempermental, high maintenance pain in the arse it deserves to be since I wasted so much moola on it. We borrowed Jake's parents' vacuum for the weekend but as I'm sure they'd like it back, I decided to do the once-every-3-months vacuum of the bedrooms today before returning it.

I asked Miss E so very nicely to pick up her room so I could quick run over the floors. You'd have thought I'd asked if I could have a kidney.

"Ugh, you always want me to clean up my room. I'm so sick of always having to pick up. Eeerrr, eeerrr, eerrr."

I offered my always standard alternative: I'll pick it up but I'll be using a Hefty bag to do so.

"You always say you'll pick it up but you just want to throw away all my stuff. You are so mean!"

She finally went and picked it up so I could vacuum but it really got me excited about my Hefty bag idea. I know the day I get to use it is nearing. She keeps testing me and I can't wait to snap open the bag and start shoveling all her goodies into it.

The only problem I forsee with this situation is that while my mother used this great idea with my not-so-neat brother, she did let him earn back his toys. I'm just not sure I have the discipline in me to hang onto that bag long enough for her to get the junk back. I might just run it right out to the garage and toss it in the garbage can before I can change my mind.

Regardless of what I do with the bag, I can't wait for the day when I finally get to make my point. Time to go get my Hefty bag ready. I might even keep it in her closet so it is nice and handy. Which has better effect: white or black? I'm leaning towards a nice, big, black one.....