summer cuts.

i took the pups to the groomer yesterday. i never get them groomed because it's expensive and they are giant mutts who don't really need it, but i thought to kick off the summer, they could use a little sprucing. etta got trimmed and ollie got furminated and they both got nails clipped, teeth brushed and baths. they look so great! i love these dogs, even if they are so weird when being photographed.

saving daylight.

i hate daylight savings. with a fiery passion. i think it is absolutely a bizarre torture created specifically for parents of young children. i especially don't understand why it happens in early march now. it makes no sense. i could rant for a good long while about this, but let's just say...the past couple of days have been rough. the kids want to party until 9pm (which is really 8pm!) and when i drag them out of bed at 7 (which is too late, really, and also...it's 6!), it makes for lots of grumpiness. for them and me. it's dark, man. it's not ok.

anyway. i haven't really been in a blogging habit this year. there's been stuff going on, but not really any events per se. i dunno. we got new phones (finally), so i've been trying to get back in the habit of taking more pics, but i'm just not feeling it. meh.

we're taking care of my friend's french bulldog this week and she is mega cute. the kids love her and she's doing great with them, in spite of not really ever having been around kids. she and pippa battle, and she does attempt to sneakily steal hollis's stuffed animals in the evenings, so that's mostly hilarious.

this morning hollis got super mad about breaking his banana in half while he was peeling it. toddlers, man. emme and i were laughing at him (because it was funny) and he said "i not being funny right now! i crying right now!" which of course made us laugh even harder.

veggies and other randomness.

this week, hollis ate a baby carrot! and also a slice of raw bell pepper (yellow). this is exciting news in my life.

also, emme has started saying "bucks wild". i.e. "i'm going bucks wild"; "that song makes hollis bucks wild". it's my favorite.

also, how many times can we listen to uptown funk before i start hating that song? it's so catchy, but omg my kids cannot get enough of it. i also wonder if the language is a little questionable (probably intentional, but whatever), but have i mentioned they really reeaaallllyyy love it.

i'm ready for it to be warm again. and yes, i know how ridiculous that is compared to all the people basically everywhere else in the country. i get depressed and reclusive when it's cold.

aquarium.

justin got an aquarium (small one - 6 gallons) for emme's room a couple weeks ago. it's saltwater. because we need more creatures to take care of, and also because he loves to listen to my sage advice. haha.

but actually, the aquarium is really interesting. all it has in it right now is live sand, two shrimp, two hermit crabs, and a snail.

this morning emme let me know she named all of the animals except the snail. they are: ariel, sebastian, hermick, and ice cream-bice cream.

eventually we might get a clown fish. justin wants to name it robert clowney junior.

three dog circus.

jb is traveling for work and play this week, so i'm rocking the solo mom outfit for a few days. wheee. i must say, some aspects of solo parenting are super (way fewer dishes - not sure why, but it's awesome). but some parts can be rough - bedtime routine being the most obvious choice here.

anyway...i honestly don't mind it too much. yesterday we brought the kids to a special breakfast out before jb's flight since he'd had to work late on tuesday night and won't see them again until sunday. it was fun to be outside of the normal routine, for sure.

yesterday, after picking them up from school, i got out our halloween stuff. we don't have a ton, but i had saved a pile of toys from last year and they were super excited to be reunited with silly glasses, dancing frankensteins, witch fingers, etc. 

the other fun addition to this week is that we're dog-sitting for our friends who are on their honeymoon. for nine days. it's not so bad since i love dogs a lot, but three big dogs is a lot of dog all up in our house. last night, they were wrestling and playing and it was super cute so i tried to snap some pictures. which of course are blurry, but i think that almost captures the chaos even better. 

side note: the kids are hilarious with calvin (our dog-sitting buddy). he's a licker, which is not my favorite quality in a dog, but he's so sweet it's hard to be annoyed. of course, kids are delicious and the perfect height for much licking, so hollis has learned how to say "kicked off calvin!" with authority. unfortunately for him, his authority holds no water with calvin. ek calls him cal and tries to boss him around when he attempts to chew on their bathtub toys. i live in a (literal) zoo. 

three injuries and a birthday weekend.

i turned 33 this weekend. whee! so far it doesn't feel any different, though i have lots i want to do in my 34th year.

we had a fun weekend. after picking up the kidlets on friday, i took them and the pups for a walk to the park. justin stayed home as he was feeling sub-par (mostly thanks to a late night out on thursday), but it was shockingly nice out, so the rest of us went. there was no one at the park, so the kids got to romp in the shade and the pups got to roll around while i snapped a few photos for instatram.

after the park, the kids and i made chicken salad out of some chicken i had done in the crockpot earlier. it turned out super tasty and they ate outside on the porch. friday night wendy came by to drop off a present and have a quick visit, so that was a fun unexpected surprise.

saturday morning we woke up and went to 24 for breakfast, which i'd been wanting to try for years. it was good (overpriced, but yummy), but the kidlets were wild! mainly hollis. we don't usually have too much trouble with them in restaurants, but he was a maniac for some reason. it ended up fine - a little stressful, but fun nonetheless. afterwards, we came home and played on the porch/in the backyard for a bit. this is where injury #1 occurred: emme kicked hollis in the face/body because he was "in the way" where she wanted to swing. um, no. he got a little shiner and was super upset about it (as were the rest of us). fortunately, it's healing quickly and it hasn't slowed him down at all.

the kiddos went down for nap and i headed off. my friends jenny, shaina and sara met me for a pedicure and then jb had booked a massage for me, so i had some delightful pampering.

i got home and we did another little park endeavor with kids and dogs. hollis had had a bout of diarrhea while i was gone, but seemed ok so we went. well, he had another mini-episode at the park and he was NOT ok with it. he was crying and writhing and wouldn't sit on his bottom, so we sped home with him hanging his head/bottom out of the wagon and wailing. it was pitiful but kind of comical. i'm sure it didn't feel great, but i am convinced boys have a lower pain threshold than girls.

after getting them changed, bathed, fed, and down, jb and i enjoyed some wine and cheese on the back porch while he made me dinner. ny strips, asparagus, baked potatoes on the grill, and mushrooms sauteed in butter and red wine. yes please. all in all a great day.

sunday is where the second two injuries came into the picture. first, i was cleaning out/reorganizing my craft desk (loooong overdue project) and i dropped one of the super heavy drawers on my foot. bleeding, bruising, swelling all ensued, but i will keep my foot and i don't think anything is broken - ha. sunday evening we met up with the perques at waterloo for some dinner and kid play time. emme loved the playground and sandbox, but at whatever point she was near the building playing and holding the door open for people. well, she smashed her right pinkie in the door near the hinges (OUCH) and i could tell it really really hurt her. it looked ok but swollen, but was still pretty rough looking monday morning and she was still complaining about it. we brought her in yesterday afternoon and then took her for an x-ray upon the NP's guidance. it was especially hard to tell, they said, since it was a crush injury. anyway - x-rays came back and everything was fine, thankfully. they wanted to confirm that she didn't damage her growth plate and we figured better safe than sorry for sure. only justin escaped the weekend unscathed!

princess.

this morning i had to take all the animals to the vet for check-ups and because pippa the cat is having a bladder issue.  we don't have a pet carrier for her anymore, so i brought her in a picnic basket, which the kids thought was hilarious.

anyway...after dropping them off, ek was asking lots of questions about vets and why the pets were there and what the vet would do to them, etc.  i told her that it was a neat job and maybe she could be a vet when she grows up if she wants to.

ek: i don't want to be a vet when i grow up.
me: oh no?  well what do you want to be?
ek: a princess.
me: (trying not to be too judgey because she is 3, after all) oh...well what do you do if you're a princess?
ek: twirl.

touche, kid.  touche.

moments later she told me she really wants to be a dog when she grows up so she can run around at the park with no parents.

outside.

we've been spending as much time as possible outside lately - walks, happy hour/dinner outside on fridays, park time, etc.  first, both kids are just in a much better place when we're outside and they have fresh air and space to move their bodies around.  second, i am trying to get walks/runs in where possible so i can sort of pretend to get into some semblance of shape.  third, walks in our 'hood help assuage my guilt over being a bad dog mom.  fourth, it's really really really beautiful this time of year - stuff blooming everywhere, perfect weather, etc.  

the kids' school did a caterpillar/butterfly metamorphosis lesson in each classroom.  they ordered caterpillars and watched them eat leaves and make their chrysalises and then emerge as butterflies to be released on the playground.  it was really cool to hear ek talk about it, and even the youngest kidlets (hollis's class) were fired up about watching the butterflies.  h's teacher sent a couple of pics of him on "release day".  we also found a butterfly weed in a neighbor's yard on our usual walking path that had about 16 big ol' caterpillars crawling on it.  ek was excited to count them all and i hope to take them for a walk again today so we can check on their transition into chrysalis.  

my cat is tracy gold.

it's lundi gras today and we got back from louisiana yesterday evening after an awesome trip for mardi gras shenanigans.  for years, we have been able to leave our cat pippa for up to 4-5 days with a demand feeder.  she gets mad at us, but that usually involves just ignoring us for a day or two when we get back, then all is back to normal.  the last couple of times we've left, she goes crazy and binge eats and then barfs all over whatever room she wants.  this time it was the laundry room, which is the best possible room she could have ransacked, honestly.  silver lining.

anyway, i cleaned four piles of barf yesterday when we got home, but i guess she wasn't satisfied with that because she left me 16 piles to deal with this morning.  16.  are you kidding me?  anyone know a pet-sitter?  sometimes i am not wild about our animals.

a barrage of pictures.

we have not been great at photographing lately.  i'd say for like a year.  which is unfortunate, since this is the first year hollis has existed out in the elements.  we've done ok with the monthly photo shoots, but the day-to-days have not really happened with frequency.  another thing to add to the list of resolutions for 2014.  

i have tried to take some photos with my iphone over the last month or so.  jb and i went to san francisco on a little getaway sans kidlets for a weekend, and i will aggregate those with the ones on the big camera and post about that weekend eventually.  below are about a zillion other pictures from thanksgiving in wichita, to random dinners out, to closing day on the new house, to whatever else has been around.  

pre-bedtime party on daddy's lap.

new hat.

cold swinging in kansas.

baby in a box.

cold day pre-thanksgiving.

$65 to mail this guy.

ek's car sorting exercise.

another baby, another box.

i'm not the only one justin sasses.

emme decorated her sneakies.

thanksgiving dinner.

hungry dudes.

on the way to see santa.

a boy and (one of) his dog.

outside of pinthouse pizza.

our elf, nemo, made his first appearance at our new house.

it runs in the family.

apparently, when you buy a new house you get to drink your favorite dark beer.  that is, if your realtor is awesome.  

dogs' first night in the new house.  

emme pre-first slide on her new playscape - it was about 26 degrees.  

not the tree we ended up with.

babies, haystack.

doors tied shut.

more haystack.

decorating the tree.

beans & rice.

baby plumbing.

cow's milk.

no ornament is safe.

merry christmas!