Mother's Day

Nothing compares to a Sunday at home, especially on Mother's Day. Every year I reserve Mother's Day for gardening. I have one great little helper in Ava and one, well, great little destroyer in Dane so it all balances out pretty well.

The weather this year was iffy. I was wearing two sweatshirts, jeans and tennis shoes. Dane was wearing his standard: no underwear, nylon elastic-waist shorts, a muscle tee and flip-flops. Mid afternoon Ava asked for some cuddles so we sat on a blanket in the middle of the yard and watched our favorite mama Robin fly in and out of her nest by our patio. Earlier in the morning we had picked up a couple of night crawlers and the kids saved their "pets" in a bucket. I rhetorically wondered aloud if the mother bird would like to eat one of those "pets". It wasn't two seconds before the kids were begging their father to put a night crawler (Ava's) into the nest to see. Sure enough as soon as Jason backed away from the nest the mother bird was downing that night crawler. It was a grotesque sight. The kids loved it. The kids found a bunch of worms during the day of gardening and took turns lopping them into the nest for the mama, who ate them all. I am guessing she had a pretty sweet Mother's Day, as did I.

This week the next step of our remodel project will take place as gutters are being installed. It just so happens that this Robin builds her nest in a crook of the gutters. Don't worry - I've already talked to the construction company about having to deal with the wrath of my kids if they aren't careful with this nest!!

City Kitties part 2

Ava jamming to some tunes @ Spaghetti Factory Goofy! Ava took this picture.

Dane working at the Widget Factory @ Children's Museum

More goofy but Ava snapped on her picture face at the right time.

Sleepy little tiger with a belly full of lollipop.

After a stop at Candyland.

Playing and learning.

My funny little Valentine.

City Kitties

One of Jason's great talents in life is finding super motel deals. How could we walk away from a room at the Minneapolis Hilton for $80? Especially considering it was for over Valentine's weekend. We tend to avoid the "family friendly" hotels when we travel. I have never slept a wink in one of those places. You can hear the floors upon floors of babies and toddlers crying during the night. Rather, we usually stay in more "business" type places. The pools are usually simple, no slides, bells or whistles but quiet. Quiet, with the exception of us.
AKA the perfect kind of quiet.

On Friday we took the kids to the Walker Art Gallery and spent hours roaming around the exhibits. Ava has a very distinct pattern of what she is drawn to - sparkle, glitz and glamour. And for Dane, anything mechanical, gory, or both is best. A favorite exhibit for all of us was the "benches and binoculars". The rooms in the gallery are at least 25 feet tall with work hung all the way from the top to the bottom. Benches are placed throughout the room and you simply sit and study. The kids each had a notebook and pencil and drew pictures of their favorite things. I have a nice replica of the iconic Minnesotan "Spoonbridge and Cherry" from Ava that I intend to hide away in my jewelery box. When Dane first saw the sculpture he said "I DON'T BEWLIEVE MY EYES." I still feel that way when I see it.

Saturday was reserved for the particular madness that is the Minnesota Children's Museum. That place is one of the biggest time sucks in the universe (other than Facebook) but a necessary childhood experience. Saturday morning Dane decided to throw himself to the floor in a crowded elevator, look up and say, "Our Daddy kicks us." He was quite pleased with the reaction to his little play, which encouraged him to continue doing it throughout the weekend. I started to pinpoint the exact moment when his audience's minds would wander from "what a cute funny little boy" to "hummmm should I report this?" After eating at Hell's Kitchen and taking advantage of their fake tattoo bar ("take one for each year of your life" the sign read) you could see the transition from "cute" to "report!" move at lightning speed.

Saturday night was our Valentine's date night. We dressed up and went to the Old Spaghetti Factory. The kids were super patient. Even with a reservation we didn't get to our table until 7:00. Jason came prepared with two ipods loaded with the kids favorite music. Ava danced next to her chair while she waited for her food. I swear we do not allow her to watch MTV, but with those moves you really have to wonder. I guess she was born with it. After our special meal we returned to the Hilton and the kids continued their dance show for the patrons in the lounge.

On Sunday we convinced the kids we were going to the "broccoli museum" and took off for Maple Grove. It didn't take Ava but 2 seconds to recognize the Chuckie Cheese logo on the building we pulled in front of. As fun as a "broccoli museum" sounded to all of us, Chuckie was a pretty good way to burn two hours. I didn't feel like I had much of a choice but to work in Chuckies as Ava got Dane out of the bed the other day by telling him we were going to Chuckies. We were actually going to daycare. It was not a pleasant morning at our house.

Happy Valentine's Day to you!

Gymnastics

I love how much Daner is enjoying his first year of gymnastics lessons. Maybe some day he will be able to pronounce the word, but for now he really looks forward to 'nastics! Today we walked into the gym and the teacher yelled "BIG D! HOW ARE YOU?" My little man has been given his first nickname by a girl. A 17 year old beautiful girl!

Hi Grandma Kris!

Snow Fort

After driving home yesterday from Alexandria white-knuckled and listening to Ava say prayers for our safety, I did not think venturing outside today would be on the agenda. We woke up to a beautiful warm foggy winter day. As usual we drove during the worst of the storm. The ice storm followed by snowflakes the size of dinner plates left our yard in perfect condition for building. Snow fort building. Ava and I (Dane was finishing up his napper) started by digging down into the snowbank in our front yard to create rooms. Then we dug tunnels out of the rooms into the yard. It was precious to see her little face through the tunnel as we "met in the middle".

The foggy air caused her already amazing hair to curl up and her icy blue eyes were shiny and bright - all of this accented by the colors in her brother's monkey hat. Jason left his igloo project in the backyard (more on that later) to make some bricks to build up the walls. But, as with most men, the small bricks were not enough and he graduated to using Rubbermaid totes. Future hernia surgery aside, it was a fabulous idea! I couldn't stand Dane missing out on the fun any longer so I ran up to his room yelling "SNOW FORT! SNOW FORT!" and he sprang out of bed. The first words out of his mouth were, "I need PANTS!" and we were off running down the stairs. He "lubed" the snow fort the minute he saw it and helped us continued to build. As we neared the end of construction we decided to paint the fort with food coloring mixed in warm water (it also helped to warm up our cold hands). The next obvious step was decorating the house, then furniture was necessary, and once we had furniture why not a snack? The wind picked up after 3 1/2 hours outside and I was ready to drag the kids in when our friend Greg brought over a periscope he had made for the kids. What self respecting snow fort inhabitant could live without one? How else would we spot the enemy approaching?

All in all, one of the best afternoons of my life....so far..... but tomorrow is another day.

The finished product.

Popsicles and snow forts make for the perfect combo, right?!

Awwww...

Lets meet in the middle.

I need some pants!
Man sized bricks.

A pathway out.

Hard work but not a single complaint.

Cardboard Box Houses

I must admit that it was not a model Friday. In fact I would be fine if we never repeated this particular Friday. The kids were at each other all day and my mind was elsewhere. But we did find a repreave from the tears and timeouts. Jason brought some boxes home from work and the kids quickly gathered materials to make doll houses. Project pages from the morning became the wallpaper and paint for the house and furniture from the toy box fit perfectly. Dane used some of his "duys (guys)" and Ava dug out her little family of dolls to finish out the scene. Daner's house. A typical swinging bachelor pad. A toilet next to the double beds. Hmmmm.

Ava's house. I would really like a bathtub next to my bed. Wouldn't it be nice to just slide from one to the other in the morning? Plus, a baby cradle at the foot of the bed. Perfect.

Pushed together they made an apartment building.

Smile!

Getting Dane to smile for a picture is about as difficult as convincing his father that he doesn't need to check the classified ads every day (what IS he shopping for any way?). It is not unusual for me to take 10-15 pictures of him just to get one of his beautiful smile. We were sitting in the van waiting for Daddy and Ava to finish ice skating - Dane was done after about 20 minutes - and I attempted to get a shot of his rosy cheeks and frozen boogies.

Naughty!

Winter has been hard on our house. No, not the outside, the inside. The naughtiness began as soon as the snow hit the frozen ground. It started with small things - sneaking snacks from the freezer and progressed from there. Dane cut pieces out of my Christmas sewing projects. Ava painted Dane's face with lipstick. Then they graduated into full on "destructo mode" (as Jason calls it). They took the opportunity of distracted parents visiting with family to draw on the upstairs walls with my fabric crayons. Several packages of "magic erasers" later and I no longer believe in magic. They created their own waterpark in the basement the same day. But, the day that they descended the staircase to show off Daner's new "skirt" was the best of the worst. Ava took my new *super* sharp sewing scissors and cut Dane's SpongeBob SqaurePants jammies into little strips.......while they were still on his body. I was thankful that my boy was still a boy (if you know what I mean!) but still very unimpressed by the whole thing. I wonder what they will come up with next. In fact, I think they are probably doing it right now. Gotta go!

Ice Fishin'

Ava working on her patience.


Daddy time is priceless.



Yes, this does freak me out a little bit.




Beautiful. I love the sun sparkling off of the water.





Patience.



Jason called this Dane's "geezer shot".



Too cute!





You can almost smell the gas, right?

Scary Stories In The Blanket Fort

It is -35 dgs outside. We are in Daddy's massive blanket fort. Prepare yourself to be TERRIFIED!