<3

** This was supposed to be posted on 4/27 but I clicked save instead of publish!**

I *heart* my family. Daddy and the kids are upstairs, making books together. Writing and illustrating their own books. Wow. I love it, and at the same time, kinda get sad that he's better at doing those kind of activities with them than I am. Isn't that my job? Oh well, it's getting done. And that makes me happy!

Bliss

I wish blogger came with a scratch and sniff feature. I want to share the sweet smell of the air out side my house with everyone in the world. The way the flowers all blend in the humid air, is blissful. It's a thick rich sweet smell. It's like candy for your smeller.

Aubree said kitty cat! Just like that. Outta no-where. She's said tiddelee for so long, I may have heard a kittelee in there a few times. But now she can say kitty! Her speech has grown by leaps and bounds in the last month or so. It's amazing to witness. A recent favorite of mine has been her new awareness of flip flops, and the way she struggles a bit to slowly get out 'shloop shlop'.

Our Stillwater native neighbors took us on a sweet turtle hunt last week. We went to Lake McKusik with all the kids. It's only about a 5 min drive from our house. It's gorgeous and green with trees and misc. growth. There are tall long legged birds wading through the shallow shores. And bright colored birds chasing little birds catching bugs. And turtles! Big ones and little ones, fast ones and slow ones, slimy ones and snapping ones. We had so much fun. Leah and Owens Dad brought a butterfly net attached to a broom handle and caught us 6 of the suckers! The kids were in heaven. We brought them all home and borrowed a little plastic pool, dumped in the pond scum, some rocks for sunning, twigs and reeds for shelter and wha-lah! Turtle sanctuary. When Auntie Dev and Uncle Kai got in town, we took them to release the turtles back in the lake. What an awesome adventure.

Some Pics

Here is Aubree in her Great Gramma's Great Grandma's rocking chair!


Aubree with her fav Birthday Gifts from the PB's.


Grandad and Ty havin' some guy time.

I was so busy this trip with Chelsea's wedding (which was great if I haven't mentioned) that I didn't have the energy to take the kids to the beach. It's just wrong to visit San Diego and not hit the beach. I was feeling pretty lousy about it. Uncle Jon came to the rescue and took them to the beach! Ty was going to fall apart if that hadn't happened. They had such a good time. What lucky kids these are to have such a great family!

Hello out there.

In case you were wondering, we didn't fall off the face of the planet - just the Internet. The kids and I left for San Diego on the 17th. We flew out of the little terminal and it was awesome. I don't ever want to fly a major airline again! Justin got a pass to walk us to the plane, and everyone was helpful through security. It makes me think I might be willing to fly with the kids by myself again someday. We are heading home today. The 10 day trip has been fun, but proven to be a bit too long for the kids. That's not really a surprise. Ty has been ready to go home and play with Daddy for a few days now. Aubree misses her pets a lot. I miss Daddy too. We've been here so long I'm starting to forget him!

We finally got to see my Gramma and Grampa on Sunday. The kids were fighting to sit in their Great Gramma's Great Granny's rocking chair. It was great! There have been times in the past when they would not sit in the chair for anything. So we all ran to get the camera's. I'll post pics after we get home and settled. So, in about 3 weeks.

Daddy's been remodeling the kitchen while we're away. I'm excited and nervous to see it. We're doing the cheapest remodel we could manage. Just a little something to spruce it up so it's more fun to be in. It's so small, I think it will be much more enjoyable to cram yourself in there if it at least looks good.

I hope I have the energy to write about Chelsea and Jason's Wedding sometime this week. I cried so much! I'm such a crier. I was so happy for them and so honored to be included. It rocked.

Alright, Ta Ta For Now.

I hate TV

It's so addicting, and usually worthless. Not always, but lately, I don't watch anything of any value. Weaning the kids off of the winter show watching schedule is proving to be difficult. Especially when I'm having a rough day and can't figure out what to do. Blech. Hate it. But don't take it away from me..

more randomness

Aubree has no voice today. She is adorably screechy and gruff when she talks. Why? She was that whiny yesterday!

Ty can count by 10's to 100, with a cute rhyme/song he learned at school.

Ty loves to throw in Spanish words whenever he remembers and then makes up his own Spanish at other times. It's so cute.

Meikee (Blankie) has morphed into mlenkelet, yeah, try and say it, I dare ya!

Spring is in full effect, the bunnies and squirrels are out, the birds chirp and the geese honk. Flowers are popping up and when I look out the window I see the most wonderful spring green. A color I never quite understood before. New growth. It's good lookin' I tell ya.

Have you ever

heard a not quite 2 year old girl say 'wicked awesome'? I have! And it's damn cute. That is Ty and Aubree's favorite thing to say right now. They LOVE it.