Crown Center

This past week was Ava's 3rd Birthday! We decided to get together for lunch and to let the kids run through the fountains at Crown Center. The kids enjoyed lunch and ice cream at the Crayola Cafe. The staff was wonderful and provided little party hats for our impromptu party! It was a wonderful day spent with wonderful people whom I am lucky to have as friends. :)

Sweet Ava on her 3rd Birthday!

Katelyn running through the fountains

For the first 20 minutes, Jillian chose to stay in the stroller and throw a fit. Good times.

Sweet Aubrey running through the fountains

Yep, Jill's still throwing a fit and being cantankerous. She was something else, indeed.

Oh yeah, this was a long lasting fit. She rarely throws a fit. BUT, when she does, she throws a good one. Sort of like making up for lost time. GT's my friends, GT's!

OH! Looky there! Senorita Cranky Pants decided it was time to play. I guess the fit didn't work. :)

Jillian finally enjoying herself

Little known fact about Kansas City - It is known as the city of fountains and has over 200 fountains. The city is dotted with them. It's quite lovely!

Perro Diablo!

This week I let the dogs out back to run in the yard while I cleaned. Bailey went nuts barking and acting crazy. This isn't unusual. At all. Five minutes later, he was still wigging out so I went to investigate. He had cornered a rather large box turtle along the fence line. Here is my dog, snarling like a dog straight from the portals of hell at this poor turtle hiding in his shell. Fantastic. I suppose he can now add "Turtle Chaser" to his resume. Albeit, it wasn't much of a chase. More like a 'hide in your shell' until this perro diablo quits barking. The girls and I released the turtle in the front yard for him to find his way back to the neighborhood creek.

Bailey was so exhausted afterwards. He walked inside and literally collapsed on the carpet to take a nap. Turtle chasing is serious business. Real serious!

Potty Training 101

God help me. Please HELP ME! Potty training a toddler can be challenging. Potty training TWO toddlers is challenging and MESSY. Earlier this week Kate declared that she wanted to wear BIG girl panties. Sweet! I am excited, but that just blew a hole in this weeks activities. Now we have to stay home for a few days and potty train. That means mommy will be cleaning pee off the floor and bribing my sweet children with Dora and Princess stickers to sit on the potty. Here is how the week has gone.

Day one of potty training. I have decided to use the naked baby technique. Great. My kids are running around my house, naked and peeing everywhere. Jesus help me. I had planned on cleaning and mopping today. That isn't going to happen. I need a margarita for lunch. Make that two margaritas. By 11 am we are completely out of cotton training panties and I am currently rummaging through the house for spare towels. I have already texted Jason to bring me some tequila STAT when he gets off work. After lunch, the day gets better. The girls are both celebrating success! Mommy is making a complete fool of herself by making up a tee tee & poo poo song and dancing. It's the small things that make life sweet. By the end of the day I have handed out 11 stickers for peeing on the potty! That is triumphant considering we were having NO potty action beforehand.

Day two of potty training. I let the girls run around naked all morning. We had only one accident. Mommy dances! We have a playdate in a public place. Oh balls. I am NOT ready for my kids to wear panties in public. They are not ready to wear panties in public. I slip a diaper on them with strict instructions that they are only for accidents. This is the slippery slope of potty training. This is where many fail and never return. We get home from our playdate and strip the clothes again. Nothing is cuter than toddler butt. Seriously. I can't help but peak and laugh at my kids running around the house naked. It's hilarious! And this new found freedom has them on a silly streak!

We are on day three of potty training today. So far, so good. No major accidents. I have been chasing Jillian around the house trying to coax her with Dora stickers to poop in the potty. For some reason - pooping in the potty is a HUGE deal for toddlers. She keeps asking for a 'big girl pany' which means one thing - poop. Oh hells no. You are not pooping in a cotton panty. I have caught her hiding a couple of times and given her stern warnings. Please God, I don't want to pick up poop from the carpet. Please!

Summer is HERE!

Ahhhh summer. The sweet smell of summer. Achhhho! Ahhh summer, the allergies. The runny noses, swollen eyes, and sneezing. It sure does beat winter's vomit comet flu! Hands DOWN! When I think of summer I can feel the sun on my skin and smell the coconutty goodness of suntan lotion. I hear the birds singing and kids playing all up and down the street. Dogs are barking and bugs are buzzing. My garden is growing and all is well with the world.

I LOVE SUMMER!

This year Jason and I planted a garden. We planted tomatoes, peppers, and squash. The squash is blooming beautiful yellow flowers. We have one crazy tomato plant which is 3x the size of the others. Plus we have a couple of poblano and anaheim peppers coming out! Now if I can just keep those stinking bunnies from eating everything!

Here is one of the silly bunnies that live in our neighborhood.

More Arboretum Fun

Last weekend the girls and I went out for an afternoon at the Arboretum. After several days of continuous rain, we desperately needed to get out of the house!

OK, this picture cracks me up! There was a man behind me photographing a hawk's nest. I think he started moving around for a better angle which COMPLETELY upset Jillian. Hilarious!

Sharing snacks!

How sweet is this? Some sweet ladies were having tea at the Arboretum. They had quite the set up, complete with china, silver, and linens! Besties enjoying the outdoors!