Weekend Fun

While Mom was in Montana for cousin AJ's 1st Communion and Confirmation, "the boys" headed to Wisconsin with Grandma and Grandpa Aho for a trip to a water park! They also got to enjoy cousins Ben and Becky's birthday party at a bowling alley (alot of "B"'s in that sentence.....). Somehow, I don't think I was missed much.

Beautiful Spring Day

It's a gorgeous day outside, and the boys' friends Zac and Tobin came over for a playdate. They had a picnic on the porch, thanks to Mrs. Sommerville, and then proceded to get very, extremely, outrageously muddy. After 4 hours of hard play and a good thorough shower, the boys are sleeping like logs!! THANK YOU RENATA!!!

Muckin' Boots

Daddy went to Walmart today and got the boys brand new Muckin' Boots. NOW they look like true Yoopers, ready for mud, cow sludge, flooded sand-boxes, and whatever else icky the ground might throw at them. They were pretty dang excited, and wanted to try them out right away....

although their heads seemed to end up in the mud more than the boots did.

One With the Outdoors

Just had to take pictures of the boys playing outside for the first time in 2008... WITHOUT COATS! Still need galoshes, but oh how nice it is to see green grass!!!

Safe Haven

I DID IT! I found one safe, dry, dog-free place for little boys to play in a semi-outdoor environment. Now, as long as they don't get tired of going 'round and 'round and 'round, we're set :)

Spring Mud Puddle Photo Shoot

How to dress children when it's in the 60's and there's snow???? Water-proof. Rainslickers, galoshes, snow-pants, Saran-Wrap if you have it. And they STILL get sopping wet. It's cute, though!

Colby climbed over the "mountain" of snow by our front porch and disappeared. When I heard the dull thunk , I remembered our 12 foot retaining wall on the other side of that mound. Panic. Then I hear "I'm alright Mom!". I pick my heart up from my boots, tell him to stay away from the retaining wall, and go back to building my snowman. Not 3 minutes later, I hear another thunk. Colby thinks falling off the 12 foot retaining wall is FUNNY. I run around, grab his hand, walk him back, scolding him NOT to do that again. And he didn't, for another 30 seconds or so. Can we say DeathWish? How am I supposed to keep these children alive when they keep hurtling themselves off of retaining walls for entertainment?

Spring

The bad news.... a recent blizzard doused us with even more snow, just when we thought spring had finally come. The good news.... it blew the snow off the sandbox! It's finally uncovered for the first time in about 5 months!

Hot Tubbin'

This is a difficult time of year for us. The boys NEED to be outside, after being cooped up all winter. But there are mud puddles EVERYWHERE, and I can't keep up with the laundry as it is. So, how to burn off steam without increasing the laundry load???? Thank goodness for the hot-tub.

Spring!!!

Do you see that? Do you????? Daffodils sprouting through the snow!!! MELTING snow! Oh, blessed spring time! I have missed you so much!

Visitors from Minnesota

Uncle Tom, Aunt Diane and cousin Steven are visiting from Minnesota this weekend. The boys are very excited to have these "friends" visit... especially since they are so willing to read them a good story.

Bad Mommy

OK. I probably SHOULDN'T let them play in the mud puddle. It'll probably make them sick, or catch a skin disease, or get sucked on by leeches, or something horrendous. But they're already wet, I know where they are, they're having fun, and they DO dry (eventually). So, I'll take a video instead of yelling and then pretend it's not happening.... we'll be fighting this muddle puddle thing for the next 3 months, I'm sure.

Morgan Update

Thanks for all the emails and calls in support for Morgan. She is doing well, and had her follow-up vet visit yesterday. No more surgery, thank GOODNESS!! They took the cast off, and the drain out. Now she's just kind of "holy", or rather "hole-y". Pock-marked, kind-of. We have to keep on with the antibiotics and the wound care, but she should be just fine. She's certainly gotten her "spunk" back... AND I no longer have to "dress" her to go outside. YIIIPPEEE!! I have a hard enough time with the children.

Play date

Another play date today! The boys played dress-up (is there a more "manly" name for that game? ), exercised a bit, and made their own "personal pan" pizzas. Fun. All went well until Renata uttered those fateful words "It's so nice that the kids can play nicely on their own upstairs" or something to that effect. That's when Colby came downstairs buck naked with poop all over his feet. NNNNOOOOOTTTTT a good sign. A quick peek upstairs proved our worst fears. Poop-encrusted carpeting. EVERYWHERE. COVERED. THE. WHOLE. THING. UGH. I'll be kind and not put a picture here. Luckily, Renata has a steam vac. Let's hope it works miracles.