Very Early Summer

I couple posts ago I talked about a big snow storm.  Today my sister and I walked out of a store and it felt like July!  The truck thermometer read 79 and it even felt humid out already!

We have been spending lots of time outside and both of my kids are huge fans of the great outdoors. 

We grilled out this week and Mallory had convinced Jesse to get out her swing set from under the deck.

Max loves to play ball.

Mally came home!  She went for a ride in the Jeep with Jesse. 

She couldn’t wait to play on the slide and swing in the swing.

While she was eating supper she wanted to keep looking out the window to make sure that it was still out there.

Max went on the slide.

And Mally went in the swing.  She must be buckled.  Not my rule.  Her rule. 

I think she was a little disappointed in her swing this year.  She kept wanting me to push her faster.  And this swing is a bit too small for her.  She grew a lot since last summer when she would swing in here.

Max has lots of crashes, scratches, scrapes, and blood at this stage.  He is a brave little boy and likes to climb up onto unsteady things.  He has already figured out the stairs and started climbing up the stairs!  His cheek is all banged up this day because he climbed up the rocking chair and fell into it.

Mallory is still 100% girl when it comes to some things…BUGS!  She is still very afraid of bugs.  I have to rescue her a lot already from bugs and it is only March!  Today a little bee landed on her finger and OMG!  Scream and shake and scream and shake and cry!  She flips!  She doesn’t ever react like that – except when a bug touches her!

She may or may not get it from me…

Got Nutella?

Mally had Nutella toast and a banana for breakfast one morning.  I left her at the table, went to get Max dressed, came back and saw her and yelped!  Then got my camera!

The next morning I cut her toast in 4s instead of just in half.

A New Schedule

On the last day of the year that our business was open we reached a sales goal that we set for ourselves.  This sales goal was met within hours of closing for 2011.  Jesse paged me in the house with the great news!  We were so jazzed!  Meeting this goal meant we were going to hire our first employee!  Which we were so ready for, but we needed to meet this goal first.

Mid January we hired our guy and he is what I would call a perfect match!  It has been fantastic.  Anyway, he is doing so well that I have gone down to 4 days a week… Fridays off!  : )  These kids are not going to be little forever – I need all that time I can get!  Plus, I was starting to notice some behavior issues (nothing major) with Mallory, which I chalked up to needing more Mommy Time.  I was so stressed and busy at work that I wasn’t able to leave work at work and I wasn’t being the best parent I could be.  With our new guy – I don’t worry about work (as much) when I am home and I have the energy and attention to give to the kids that they deserve. 

My first Friday was spent with a sick baby girl and a teething baby boy!  Dumped me headfirst to mommy days.  I tried to make them forget that they were sick or in pain by busting out the pudding and having them paint with pudding.  No go!  Mally looked at me like I grew wings and antlers and said, this isn’t paint this is pudding.  You eat pudding momma.  She asked for a spoon and refused to paint with it.  Max looked at it for a bit, stuck his finger in it, tasted it, then grunted and wanted a spoon too. 

So this is my second Friday off and today I was in total weekend mode already and was feeling kind of lazy.  We had a snack this afternoon and it reminded me of a post I did on Mally when she was about this age.  I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures.

Keeping it real here… my kids need baths!  I braided Mally’s hair yesterday so it is crimpy and then I ran her humidifier at nap today (she is still battling that head cold) and she woke up a sweaty sticky hot mess.

Max sits so frumpy sometimes.  Cracks me up!

I had to get supper started… well we were having a lazy supper of frozen pizza fries and pasta salad… and Max follows me EVERYWHERE and climbs up my pant legs or he sits at my feet and flaps his arms like a baby bird and cries at me.  So I tossed him a few kitchen tools that he hadn’t ever seen before.  He likes new things to explore.

While I am taking these – my pot of water is boiling over on my stove.  It must be the end of the week.  : )

And Mally is in the bathroom taking herself potty and washing her hands by herself.  Every once in a while she has to do that whole process by herself – she insists.

It took her forever!  She was in there almost 15 minutes!  Then she came out with her high heels on. 

Here is to more “momma days”!