Season Opener!

We thought the water was freezing. Somehow these two couldn't wait.

It was a very wet day, and Czar too got in on the water play....

 (Mommy and Sister selfie! She was naked and tired by this time.....)

(who needs Spring plants in the backyard?? We do! We do! Kids? They don't care. The pool is there and that's all that matters to them.)

Since these pics were taken, we've had warm weather and cool weather, and a few swim days.....

Fun with Mommy.

Just a random shopping and play day with Mommy. Life is good!
At a local outdoor mall area, we have a small playground and area for the little ones to explore. It's fun.

We grabbed a quick lunch while we were out...

Eliette clearly enjoyed her wacky pack sunglasses.
:)

Back at home, we had a glorious but fleeting moment of Eliette playing independently.
Ahhhhhhh
It was a beautiful thing!

I'm sure it was naptime after that....

Let's Get OUTTA HERE!

After rampant tummy bug issues at the Casa de Lainey-Paney (did I mention that one of my children hurled all over my off white carpet after drinking a glass of cherry juice? No? A story for another time perhaps....), we decided it was time to load up the kids and get the heck outta dodge!

One Mommy
One Daddy
One Girl
One Boy
& His Dog.

Done.

Where'd we go? Oh, just across town for ice cream and then we took the scenic route home. A Sunday drive....

Twas a good time.
:)

Average Sight at the Casa de Lainey Paney.

Snuggles.
TV time.
Crackers.
Comfort from the presence of others....and a "bink."

St. Patrick's Day, 2015

How'd we spend it? Getting Slurpees, of course. Those are Irish, right? {wink, wink}

(Why, yes, that is a rather large bow on her head. It's for St. Patrick's Day, and it reads, "pinch proof." Mommy couldn't help herself, and Sister was perfectly fine wearing it. She likes to have bows on her head!}

Oh, these two....

"BaBeeeeeeee!"

This is Eliette's favorite commercial.
When it comes on, she will shout, "Babeeeeeeee!"

 ....and then "feeeeeeet!"

....and then "water! Bath!"
About 50% of the time she will follow it up by running to the bath and wanting a bath for herself. The other 50% of the time she wants you to rewind it so that you can watch it again.

Mini Popsicles.

Check this out:

In grown up and big kid standards, these hardly count.
For a toddler, these are ______________.
a) awesome
b) cute
c) perfect
d) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

The answer is d) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

I was RUN-NING!

She loves her helmet. I think I've gone over this before. She thinks it's just one of the best accessories. She wears it around the house, when she's on the bike, when she's running down the street.... She just loves it. Safety girl.

"My helmet? It's fab.u.lous!"

Natatorium.

More Spring Break fun?
You betcha!

Well---this is the only pic I have of our trip to the natatorium for open-swim. Was it fun? Sure. For the kids, for a while.

Maybe it's all in the timing---maybe it's just the terrible twos approaching. I don't know.... I just know that Eliette had fun for a while, and then she made a GRAND exit. It was loud, and involved a bunch of flailing. All eyes were on her for a while, and it well deserved. She was putting on QUITE a show. Best thing in the world: that handle on her life jacket.

The whole leaving situation just really casts a shadow over my memories of the whole event. Looking back---yes, it was fun for the kids for a bit, but from this mom's perspective: so not worth it in the end! I was an exhausted mess leaving there after wrestling a toddler out of her wet suit.

Will we try it again? Probably. I'm a glutton for punishment.

Yes.

You know....as a mom, it's so easy to say "no" to this and that. The rules---all the rules! You know what feels good? To say "yes!"

You want to crawl behind all of the stacked toilet paper at the store and pretend you're in a fort for a hot minute? Yes. Why? Because: you're not hurting anyone or anything. You're going to put things back like you found them. Because it might just be a little fun for a minute in an otherwise boring trip to the store. So, go ahead. Climb in that toilet paper, boy! Now smile, 'cuz you know your mama's going to snap a picture.

A fort of toilet paper is somehow a 9 year old boy's idea of fun.
Knock yourself out.

Did you clean it, or did you CLEAN it?

So....the living room can look clean and picked up....

...and yet, you can then find all of these things under one couch.

Ahhhhh, the mom life.

Fun in the City.

During Spring Break, Taryn and I met up in the city, and took our kiddos (and a friend) to explore the Perot Museum and Klyde Warren Park.

The Perot Museum: exhausting. Strollers there? Almost impossible.
We saw one floor and that was it. The elevators were super slow and didn't always stop when you needed them to. There were grown women there who have ZERO sense of elevator etiquette. It was a BEATING.
So we left.

The kids actually had a great time playing outside. It was less congested and the kids had more room and opportunity to explore the displays without the big kid competition.

After that, we walked through a drive through ATM, and headed over to Klyde Warren Park. The funny thing about that---we were not the only ones walking through that ATM. Pedestrians dominated that thing.
:)

Lunch and dessert from a food truck? Sure.... But you can bet that you're going to wait in long lines. And, just when the line gets long enough, some security guard will come along, tell the line to shift this way or that, and you'll lose your place in line and it's like 12 new people will show up and be in front of you and your screaming toddler. Good times. Thank goodness Gage is old enough to stand in line by himself and get his food (I could still see him, of course) because we were waiting in long lines. Every truck had a long line. I can't imagine having to wait in line for one and then another.... These next few pics---that's E eating some of Gage's snow cone. {Thanks for sharing, Brother!}

After we ate, the kiddos played on the playground. We weren't prepared for the wet play area....but we will be next time!

In the end, E was exhausted and well beyond her usual nap time. It was time to go.

Gage was SUCH a help that day. Big Brother in the city....

Wasn't the best of days with the long lines and everything in the world testing my patience. I can own the fact that I didn't have the best of patience that day. The next outing down there will hopefully be better. I'll certainly work on my own attitude before we head out back to the Perot. I *hear* it's wonderful. So far, I haven't been able to see that for the crowds....