So long, Spring!

Yesterday, I was grilling burgers outside on our grill.

This was the view of our back yard from our kitchen this afternoon.

Nickelodeon Universe!

I'd promised the kids that we'd do something "fun" to end up Spring Break, so yesterday we found ourselves spending some time at Camp Snoopy The Park at MOA NICKELODEON UNIVERSE!!! You'll have to excuse my confusion, but the amusement park in the middle of the ginormous mall here in MN has undergone a few name changes in the past couple years, so it's hard to keep track of the current name. I'm a bit disgruntled over the whole thing, to tell you the truth, I am a big Snoopy/Peanuts fan. But, I digress....

Nickelodeon Universe is pretty much the same as the other two parks have been... with the unfortunate inundation of everything Nickelodeon plastered, hanging, or embedded on any blank service. Now, I don't mind everything Nickelodeon (Dora and Blues Clues are ok), but I truly truly TRULY dislike Sponge Bob Square Pants. I mean, truly. So that was a bit much for me. The kids seem to like him (it?) though, and we went there for them, not for me... so I coped.



Caden absolutely LOVED the ride that used to be the Frog Hopper... It's something to do with ducks and boats now... He laughed the whole time and then begged to go on it again.





We also learned that our little one is not all that great at waiting for his turn in line. He practically gouged out Brent's eyes trying to get down from his shoulders so he could cut in front of everyone. Here's a picture of him actually waiting patiently for his turn...



While William was going on a few "scary" rides, we killed some time in Lego Land!







We ended the evening with a little ride on Blue's Skidoo... Does it make me a bad mom to a 2 1/2 year old that I have NO idea what the name is of the pink doggie, or that I wasn't even AWARE that there was a pink blue's clues doggie? Or was that just for the ride? I know some of my Sprite friends will be able to set me straight. At home Caden watches Cars, Teletebbies, Cars, Barney, and Cars.





All in all, we had an enjoyable day, and when the kids asked when we could go back next, Brent's face went kind of pale and he muttered something about when hell freezes over... I don't think it was ALL bad myself, but then again I was playing with my camera, not spending 45 minutes in line with a 2 year old... So I'll give him that for now :)

Why I love photoshop...

Those who know me well know that I've long been interested in photography. Problem is... I'm really not that great at it. Yes, I do have an abundance of great pictures of the kids, but I attribute that more to the quantity of pictures I take than to any skill that I might possess. Odds are, if you take 237 pictures, ONE will turn out good.

Then, there are some days when I can't get a good one to save my life. That's when photoshop comes in handy. In photoshop, you can make gray teeth white, erase stray hairs, make acne go away, erase backgrounds if you want, or even cut off the head in one picture and paste it onto another picture. This last trick is especially good when you have fidgety 7 year old that blinks a lot or a 2 year old with a 3 second attention span.

In photoshop, you can turn these...



Into this!



Yay for photoshop!

Stay tuned, I have more Easter pics coming...

Easter Eggs!

Ooooh.... well the eggs are colored, the damage was minimal, and I can cross that off my list for another year!!! Phew! I about had a heart attack around Caden with all that dye, but the only thing that got damaged was his pajama top - I can live with that. He kept grabbing the eggs and tossing them in the cups, and grabbing another egg and tossing it on the counter... we ended up with a few cracked ones that will shortly be egg salad. Can we say that he was a little.... eggcited?

Groan.... I know, that was bad.

So, here we go! I'll call this one ANTICIPATION...

Horton, Haircuts, Teeth andTaxes

Last Friday we took all 3 kids to see Horton Hears a Who. When you first see Horton, Caden was beside himself and yelled "Mommy, it's a COW!!!!".... after shushing him and ignoring the chuckles behind me I told him, "That's not a cow, silly!"... he looks at me, looks a Horton, and then exclaims "It's an ELLIE-PANT, silly Caden"...

It was a very cute movie, and I was quite impressed with Caden's behavior throughout the movie. He's been to a few movies before, the first being "Happy Feet". This one was a disaster and Brent and I took turns with him out in the hallway. We saw Alvin in the Chimpmunks a few months ago, and he did pretty good at that one too.

This is such a big deal for me because Caden is just... BUSY. I outright refuse to bring him places like swim team or gymnastics practice, because he just doesn't have the ability to NOT race up and down the bleachers or make mad dashes for the pool. Those that know me well know that I lack patience, and Caden is as accident prone as they come. Not a good combination. He's had his nose bit by a bird, a black eye, a bloody fat lip, fallen into a campire, scraped up his nose and face, and countless other minor injuries. And really, I'm not an inattentive mom - I keep a good eye on him, but stuff just happens faster than we can react with him. I love this age, they are so darn funny and witty, but I'm just hoping we make it through this summer without him falling out of the boat or being attacked by a flock of angry geese. If that happens, I'll consider it a raving success.

Anyways... I think Caden's tooth is dying. One of his front teeth. Last fall he was running around on the ceramic tile in our kitchen, he slipped, and smacked his mouth on the staircase banister. Ouch. At the time, it was a fat bloody lip and a red bruised area on his gums... No loose teeth, so we didn't go to the dentist. Apparently, he did some damage though, because over the past month Brent and I started noticing that one of his front teeth were becoming discolored.. it's turning grey, and I'm sure it's dying. I made an appointment for him at the dentist, but I'm not optimistic. I'm hoping that he didn't do damage to anything that will affect his permanent tooth. I'm SO bummed about this! I love that age from 2-5 or so where they have these gorgeous perfect smiles. Anyways, here's his new smile - from what I understand it's only going to get worse, and may turn BLACK. ew.

Oh, well. At least I'm good in photoshop, I can doctor up all his pictures for the next few years...

So.... onto haircuts.

I'd been noticing for the past week or two that poor Caden had to tilt his head back in order to look at us, because of his shaggy locks. Plus, he was bumping into stuff, and we all know that he doesn't need any help in the clumsy department. The last haircut he got was at Fantastic Sam's and was an utter disaster. He had to sit on my lap, and refused to wear the plastic cape so we both got covered in hair. He would lean away and tilt away from the stylist, and whip his head around just as she was making a snip. He came out with jacked up crooked bangs, and a little nip on his ear.

So after putting it off for way too long (I ALMOST took the buzzing clippers to him myself) I decided this time to take him to Snipits. Madison has gone to a couple parties there, and I'd liked what I'd seen. Wow, what a difference!!! Snipits is definitely designed with the wee ones in mind. They have small chairs with seatbelts that elevate far enough so they don't have to sit on a booster. There's a nice parent sized chair next to each station so that I don't have to feel like I'm hovering while still keeping a watchful eye. They had a TV at each station with a cute little movie going to help keep their attention. And the stylists are definitely used to working with miniature sized customers. The cost wasn't bad, just about $3 more than I'd usually pay, so I'd say it's definitely worth it!

Caden BEFORE Snipits



Caden AFTER Snipits



I was browsing around on the IRS website this morning, cause I'd heard that the schedule was out there telling us when we could expect our Economic Stimulus Payment. I'm eagerly awaiting this, as Brent got the tax return, and I get the stimulus payment. Mine is already spent, I need to finish paying of a credit card that got built up a little last fall/winter, and it'll probably pay for the kids spring/summer swim team costs too. Anyways, I was glad to find out that we'll be in the first round of payments going out, so should have the money in our account around May 2nd. You can find out when you'll get yours here.

I'm skeptical that this measure is going to do what "they" are hoping it will. While I appreciate the concept, I don't think that it's going to do much to slow down the recession that we're undoubtedly going into.

Warm Happy Thoughts....

It's yucky outside today. Wet sloshy snow, greyish white sky, yucky muck everywhere. My Kota Kitty would have been 13 today... so, I guess you can suffice it to say that I've got a case of the blah's today.

On the upside, I am wearing a new snazzy green Carhartt t-shirt today, they just started making it in Kelly Green, what better color for St. Patty's day?

We had corned beef and cabbage last night, and Sam the very naughty lab got in big trouble for eating the leftovers (about 1/2 or a large corned beef brisket) while I was upstairs for a moment. You know that she's been up to no good when you find that she's kenneled herself into a self inflicted time out. I was not happy.

Anyways, I'm rambling all over here, but the purpose of this post is to celebrate the fact that while it's gross outside right now....



Isn't that a beautiful thought! These images summon up thoughts of warm summer nights, kids laughing and playing, fuzzy navels, and grilled steaks. The boat will be coming out of storage in a few weeks, and our yearly Memorial Day Weekend boating trip is planned.

Here's a few more happy thoughts.... ignore Brent in the first one, it appears that he is contemplating flipping off our kind neighbor Rob. (This is how these two wave to eachother).





While looking for boat pictures, I came across these pictures from our trip to Lake Superior a couple years ago. The kids look so little!











Duluth Harbor at night...



Keep thinking those warm happy thoughts, Summer will be here soon!

One Dozen....

One Dozen. Not a big number, really. Not incredibly special in and of itself. A Dozen Eggs. A Dozen Bagels. My personal favorite... a Dozen Roses (red, of course). We all know that things are Cheaper by the Dozen, sometimes even a Dime a Dozen. We've got The Dirty Dozen and a Baker's Dozen, which really isn't a dozen at all, but 13.

My first born baby boy is One Dozen Years Old.

William, I am so proud of you and all that you have accomplished and the person you are and are still becoming. I puffy heart you with sprinkles on top ;).

On William's birthday, we started out the day by making...









Later in the afternoon, we braved the freezing rain and went to Dave & Busters (for those of you that are not familiar with D&B's it's kind of like Chuck E. Cheese's on steroids with good food, a bar, and you can actually redeem those prize tickets for GOOD stuff rather than pure junk). In our family it is reserved for birthdays and special occasions because we drop a small fortune every time we go. Fun was had by all, and Madison donated her tickets to William as a birthday gift, that's my girl!

William also had a party with some friends. They did rather well, spent the evening playing rock band and eating, they were a hoot to watch!











Happy Birthday, William!!!!