A-OK

I'm trying not to jinx myself here, but so far so good. Eleven more days until Tim comes home. I think he is as home sick (or just sick of living out of a suitcase) as we are of being without him here. But we're all surviving. B & K & I have kept busy with lots of play dates (thanks to April & Jon and their boys J & J stopping over twice to hang with us!!). And meeting friends out (thanks to Jenn M. and her boys L & K for meeting us yesterday at a park and then joining us for dinner. Jenn & I took all four 2 year olds to Red Robin by ourselves . . . to say we had some stares and under the breath comments would probably be an understatement!). And visits from family (thanks to Grandma & Grandpa Z and Uncle Mark for coming to visit the weekend. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARK!!). And a mini girls day for me (thanks to my friend Jodi for having her birthday last week. She & I went for pedicures and then out to a yummy lunch and shopping on Saturday). And hanging with family I haven't seen in ages!!! (my cousin, "Aunt" Leslie, came over to hang with us last Tuesday and will be visiting again tomorrow).

It all has made the time go by fast. And good news is we're pretty booked through the weekend again. I have a work happy hour on Thursday (woo-hoo!) and this weekend brings the big semi-annual twins sale. B&K are going to hang with Nana & Papa on Friday night while I shop & see some friends. Saturday I'm going to get organized around the house before B&K come home. And on Sunday we're doing the March of Dimes walk with our friends the Murrays. WHEW! I'm excited just thinking about all of it.

So major thanks to our family and friends for keeping us company in Tim's absence. And while he liked to joke that it seems like we're having so much fun without him that maybe he'll stay longer, we really ARE counting the days until Daddy comes home. (and that damn volcano better stop erupting so he actually CAN get home next week!).

Lucky

I realize I'm pretty lucky. I have a wonderful, supportive family and an amazing group of friends. I live in a beautiful house and am part of a wonderful community. And I have two freaken cute, smart, hilarious kids. But most of all I have a supportive, loving, caring, husband who realizes when I need a pick-me-up. These arrived from Tim this afternoon.
{insert collective AWWWW here}.

Thank you, Daddy!!

B&K love bubbles. They are also obsessed Nemo (Bennett especially. I mean TOTALLY obsessed!!). Tim found this bubble machine on Amazon just before he left for his trip and it arrived yesterday. I told the kids Daddy sent it from Germany. They were in heaven last night.

And so it continues . . .

I swear, I could NOT make this stuff up!!

The bunny massacre continues. Well, sort of. This morning started out fine. Got the kids dressed. Threw in all of B's nasty bedding from last night into the washing machine (I didn't want it to sit overnight in the washer, so I treated it and left it in there to run this am). B&K LOVE the new washing machine . . . they immediately started to yell "bubbles, bubbles" as it started up. So I let the dog out the back door (which is right by the laundry room) and started to make breakfast while B&K were mesmerized by the wonder & awe of the washer. I didn't supervise Tabasco outside because I {foolishly} assumed he had taken care of the last of the bunnies. All of a sudden I hear B&K smacking on the glass door going "Kitty!!" "Hi-ya Kitty!!". I'm like, where the hell do they see a kitty. They were actually saying hi to the baby BUNNY Tabasco had brought to the doormat of the back door. Awesomeness.

So I go out the front door and around back Tabasco inside (the LAST thing I needed was baby "kitty" inside my house!!). And I put him in timeout in his crate in the basement. I figured I would take care of baby bunny when Ashley arrived. No sooner do I get upstairs do I then hear B&K banging on the glass again: "where the kitty go?" "kitty?" (and yes, I repeatedly told them it was a BUNNY not a KITTY, but even after saying the word bunny they would still call the thing on the back porch kitty). Tim called just about then -- I had told him it might be nice if he called in the a.m. so I could put him on speaker phone for the kids to talk to him. So he got to hear the dog howling from the basement and B&K screaming over the "Kitty" that got away. Ugh.

The bunny was no where to be found when I left for work (and yes, I did look around). But I just got a text from Ashley saying she found it. And had put it in a box to warm it up (she is sooooo much better at this than I am!!!). I told her to put it somewhere else -- like our neighbor's yard. Maybe then it will have a chance!!

My night thus far . . .

{warning: this post not suitable for the squeamish!}

Tim left for Germany yesterday morning. He will be gone until 4/30. Expect to see many a vent and nutso story over the next three weeks. And so it begins . . .

On Saturday I had the awesome fortune to go shopping with a couple of friends. Tim stayed home with the kids -- a "bonding day" of sorts before he left for 3 weeks. After the kids went down for a nap he spent a bit of time working in the yard. And he quickly discovered that a new family of rabbits had set up a nest in one of our bushes. You may recall from this post that we have a killer in our family, so Tim thought to try to fence off the new family before our vicious dog got to them {can you see where this is leading??}.

After dropping Tim off at the airport yesterday, B&K&I hung out at the zoo, grocery shopped with every other person in our town (it seemed) and went to a nice dinner with Nana & Papa. Good times. Day one a success.

Today was any normal day. I got home from work and Papa Sam came over to inspect our backyard, as I was pretty sure dog-gyver had gotten a bunny and the thought of dead animals makes me cringe to my core. But no evidence could be found. I took the kids & dog for a long walk. Made them a healthy dinner (seriously, Tim, I did!!). We watched a little Yo Gabba Gabba and danced off our dinner lbs. I took them upstairs for bath night and had fun destroying our bathroom. That's when it all started going downhill. I had put B in his crib in just his towel while I got K dressed (this is normally our routine . . . kid A is wrapped in a towel - as much as possible -- brushing his/her teeth in his/her crib while kid B is getting dressed. Then repeat. And I take turns as to who goes first). So as I'm getting K dressed {who, by the way, is screaming at the top of her lungs b/c she did not want to get out of the tub and wanted to take her soaking wet duck to bed} I hear B grunting. I look back at him and he has a HUGE smile on his face. I hear him say "I boop". So I asked him (a tad panicked b/c he is naked under that towel) "B, did you poop?". "NO!" was repeated. Um, yeah, not so much. I get K in her crib and sure enough there are little turds ALL over B's crib. Oh and some drop out on the floor when I picked him up (I was soooo ready for the dog to eat one). Awesomeness. Get him dressed, put him in K's crib (which they LOVED) and get the mess cleaned up.

Then I head downstairs to clean up & make myself some dinner. I let the dog outside and start my chores. Kendyll was still screaming uncontrollably (she got mad when I put B back in his own crib and 10 minutes of horror movie screaming ensued. Our neighbors love us, I'm sure). So I go upstairs to see what her deal is, forgetting that Cujo was outside. Sure enough, I come downstairs and Tabasco is butt wagging with a baby bunny in his mouth in our backyard. Gag me with a knife!! Ugh. Long story short, I ended up double lining a bucket with bags, double lining kitchen tongs with bags and took care of the bunny (thank GOD tonight is trash night).

Needless to say, I'm enjoying a beer and trio of Jeni's ice cream for dinner. It is only Monday, right? 18 more days until Tim is home. Pray for me! :)

Easter Recap

Whew - it was a super busy weekend. Filled with egg hunts and visit with family and cars breaking down and new washing machines and candy. LOTS of candy.

We went to our community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. Then B&K were able to play in another hunt in Nana & Papa's backyard. We had a nice visit with Grandma & Grandpa, too, and the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS!! Woo-hoo!!

It is never too early . . .

. . . to start putting your kids to work! A couple of pics of B&K doing their favorite chore -- feeding Tabasco.