Zoo, Lake, Spring.

Hello, Spring? Is that you? Take off your coat... stay awhile!

It's starting to get really great here. We are playing outside, we are taking walks, we are getting out and doing things. Matt is not golfing in the house anymore... which by the way I'm beginning to grind my teeth over!

Both kids got out this past weekend. Eleanor was all over... throwing sticks in the lake, living life in her car, pointing at airplanes and birdies. Grady got out too and hung out in the pack and play while I planted bulbs and soaked in some sun. The weekend started off on a high - we went to breakfast at the zoo - which is a fav of ours. The line was a bit long, but the kids were so good. G slept and E did eat pretty well. I brought my coffee. And we wandered the zoo. Matt put on his pedometer and figured he and E did somewhere around 1.3 miles - which made for a nice nap.

We've been walking down to the lake ... sometimes taking the car. There isn't the best sharing system with the car - Eleanor doesn't understand when it's Grady's turn. Lucky for us, Grady is too little to care when it's Eleanor's turn.

Grady has started pulling himself up on us when we are laying on the floor playing. Belly crawl is coming. I can't believe how my baby is growing. I'm still getting used to E's chatter and going - it'll be a whole new world when it's two of them totally mobile. They are getting used to playing with each other... she does try to give him hugs which are just more gentle body slams than anything and his playing with her is really just crawling into the middle of her mess and hanging out.

We had a breakthru with sleeping. SHE is sleeping in her bed and not laying on the floor in front of the door! It's taken a little over a month BUT we have progress!!! Now I'm just working to convince Grady to not wake up at night.. or if he does to only do it once!

MJR watches EER run across the yard with her golf clubs with GRR lays in the grass playing with a plastic shovel: it's going to be a good summer, I just have a feeling.

Play, Dig, Clap

I hope my children will realize how wonderful their father is. We've had a few days where he's had to be daycare and he's so much better at it than I am. He packs them and all their crap up and off he goes. He takes them to the aquatic center and for drives. Sure, it may be to run them out of energy but in the end it's a winwin situation.

Over the weekend we saw an improvement in the weather... FINALLY. It's been so cold and the snow and ice just hasn't left our site. However we might be coming into spring now. I don't know who was more happy to get into the sun - my oldest or my biggest kid. They worked in the yard, they picked up sticks, they dug into the the garden, they looked at ducks... it was wonderful.

The little boy and I stayed in the house... and we clapped because that's what we are into now. Clapping. He's got a good belly crawl going on now. I'm thinking we'll be crawling by the end of the month.

Matt headed to Fargo for the beginning part of the week for the Travel Conference for work. Grady hasn't been sleeping through the night and Eleanor is FINALLY making some progress when it comes to her big girl bed. She has been crawling out of her bed and falling asleep by the door. There is good and bad here. The good - there isn't hysterical tears and shrieks into the night. The bad - she lays right against the door, making it hard to get in and pick her up and put her into bed when she is falling/has fallen asleep. So due to the night fun, my mom offered to come and help out in the middle of the night. Was nice to have back up and the kids loved having GAMMA there.

Best meal: Chicken wings - Eleanor thought these were great

EER dumps puzzle 1 onto the floor.
MJR: Eleanor - Dad hadn't seen that puzzle yet.
EER dumps puzzle 2 onto the floor.
Puzzle 1 and Puzzle 2 are now intermingled.
MJR: Ah, Eleanor - Dad hasn't done these puzzles before and didn't know what they looked like.
ALR smirks: Do you think you'll really have too much trouble? They are for 2/3 year olds.
MJR: Eleanor, Mom isn't helping, is she?

Nocturnal hysterics, Gymnast, Belly Crawl

So spring is never coming. I'm sick of snow, cold, wind, snowboots,

indoors, ugh. We've had some freak snow dumps this past week and supposedly armageddon of snowshowers is coming this weekend. Ugh. Maybe that's why we've had a helluva week with the "big girl" bed. My neck and back are crying over this transition and the bedtime routine has lengthened by an hour over the hysterical crying that happens between story time and actual falls asleep time. Matt and I have had many theoretical discussions on our nocturnal parenting practices. To be honest, we could easily pick a favorite child whoever sleeps thru the night without waking up and needing us, that child will be my favorite. I don't want to talk about naptime.

We tried something new this weekend. We went to the ten and under gym time at the gymnastics center. It was one solid hour of on the move playtime for Eleanor. Grady did a lot of watching the chaos and even flirted with some of the girls there. 

 We finally took a breath and got his 7 month pics done. Eleanor helped out. It was for sure amateur photo hour at the Remynse house. I remember Eleanor's pics being hard but his aren't any easier.
Even though he's a bit lighter than she was at the same time... he's almost caught her in length - just 1/4" shorter! 

 We finished out the weekend at the farm celebrating Alaina's birthday. We had E make her a little picture to celebrate. She doesn't quite understand birthdays yet. Maybe after her 2nd one, she'll get a better understanding of them. She did understand cake.

The other big happening around the house is G is on the move... nothing is scared he's a belly crawler. E was putting puzzles together, he was in it. I had some stuff spread out on the floor, he was in it. Matt was doing laundry... he was in it. Our world is changing again.

ALR going through pics on instagram in bed at night
ALR: Do you see this pic - what does this haftah do with Easter?
MJR looks.
MJR: Isn't that a donkey in the pic?
ALR: Yeah, what's your point?
MJR: Well didn't Jesus or God have something to do with donkeys.
ALR: Yes...and what would that be.
MJR thinks for a bit.
MJR: Didn't the three king wise guys come on donkeys?
ALR: NO! They came on camels!
MJR: Ahhh, yes, Camels... donkeys... same thing. Camels are just the donkeys of the middle east.
ALR: Do you hear yourself?

Bunny, Eggs, Ham, Brackets,

I think it's spring... I say that with great uncertainty because the snow won't quit coming. The talk of storms, the constant shoveling, the snowpants, the mittens, the jackets, the hats.. all of it. I'm sick of it. We were starting to go for walks and starting to see the ground and I was starting to get used to the mud - now we are back to frozen walks and ice and snow. It makes Easter a little harder to stomach.

We went and did some Easter-y things to prepare for the holiday.

We went and visited the Easter bunny. It didn't go well.

We went and visited the chickens at Runnings - that went really well and she thought they were pretty cute and she learned that they Peep Peep Peep. She hated having to say good bye to the HICKENS!! I wish I would have gotten a picture.

The day of Easter, the Easter Bunny brought books for the kids and we headed out to the farm to celebrate. We had dinner and took naps and E had her first egg hunt... I won't lie, I was really hoping she'd enjoy it outside but we made do. Grandma had filled eggs with things special for her and she got the hang of it pretty fast! 

Some words that she learned very quickly this past weekend: bunny, eggs, ham

 It's hard to believe that next year, we'll have two egg hunters! Grady was perfectly happy hanging out and watching it all unfold around him (when he wasn't napping).

Due to daycare being closed on Easter Monday, the kids had a Dad day and he brought his A Game. After breakfast, where it was officially determined that eggs are out of Eleanor's current selection, he took both kids to the Heritage Center. Went to lunch with me. Then after nap went to a playyard for fun. Add that to cleaning house... I'm impressed because I can't even shower on days when it's just me and them!

Other things going on include my recent winnings of the March Madness Brackets at work. I think I'm going to by a pair of shoes with my winnings, either that or a pile of coffee. I was even close with my final score prediction... 79-62.

Playing in the living room.
MJR and EER building with blocks.
MJR knocks stack over.
EER: NO DADDY! 
EER begins to shake her finger rigorously at him: No, NO, No, NO, No!
ALR: Should Dad go to a break?