Let The Marathon Begin

Hey everyone. I know I have been MIA for nearly two months. April and May were both very busy. And because of all of the storms that caused damage in my area, the internet has not been fully cooperating for the past two weeks. My goal is to make a post everyday through next week to catch up on all of the excitement. So to kick off the party, here is the scoop on what happened in April:

April 19th and 20th- Preschool Bike-A-Thon
The preschool holds an annual bike-a-thon and the girls were able to participate in it this year. They brought home envelopes to collect pledges for the ride. They (meaning mommy) collected $35 each in pledges which was enough for them to each win a stuffed animal. They were so excited. Of course it rained both days so the bike-a-thon was held inside, but they still had fun.

Natalie rode her brand new bike. She had only rode it once (down the basement stairs after I told her not to) so it was a little difficult for her to manipulate at first. But she quickly got hte hang of it.

I know you aren't going to believe this, but Lauren was out of control. She doesn't use the pedals but she was flying. She did 9 laps around the gym while the other kids did about 2 or 3. There was a cop there and he asked her if she needed a ticket. She growled at him and then ran into the back of another kid!

The Day Before Easter- Lauren Assaulted The Easter Bunny
Last year the girls had their picture taken with the Easter bunny at the mall without incident. So, I thought we would do it again this year. Natalie climbed right up in his lap. Lauren called him the devil and ran the other direction screaming. When I caught her and tried again, she proceeded to take a swing at him. Needless to say, we didn't get a picture with the Easter bunny but here is one of them in their Easter dresses.

April 25th- Lauren Nearly Got Us Banned From McDonalds
We like to go to the McDonalds in Scottsburg since it is the only one around that still has an indoor PlayLand. It is one place that I can just sit and relax while the girls play. Not anymore. On the 25th we were there for about an hour and the girls were playing nicely with the other kids. They had all climbed to the very top and were having fun UNTIL.... Natalie came running down the steps yelling "LAUREN PEED!" I could hear Lauren crying and told Natalie to help her down the steps since I didn't want to go crawling up there. Instead of walking down, Lauren slid down the biggest slide leaving a trail behind her and then ran across the rubber floor in her "pee pee" soaked socks. There is nothing worse than the walk of shame up to the counter with a "pee pee" soaked two year old and whining four year old to tell the McDonalds people what your kid just did and that they need to clean it up. I'm sure that by now our pictures have circulated to every McDonalds in the country with a PlayLand. HAHA


April 27th to May 2nd- ROAD TRIP!
On Wednesday April 27th we left on our first road trip to Minnesota to visit family. It is 16 hours each way so given that I still have some hair left, I count it as a success. HAHA It was a really good and somewhat relaxing trip, EXCEPT IT SNOWED MAY 1ST! It was in the 70s on Thursday and Friday and then snowed Saturday night. We left around 4pm on Sunday and drove straight through the night and got home at 9am on Monday. I think all the coffee I drank to get us home is just now wearing off. HA

Natalie And Lauren Will Not Be Successful Exterminators

When we came home this evening we discovered our first real bug infestation of the spring. I would like to be able to tell you exactly what they were (but I have no clue). They were long with giant clear wings and a bunch of legs. They were hanging out around the inside garage door and the dining room window. Anyway, my approach is to vaccuum them up and then clean and use bug spray like a fool. The girls had another idea...

They got every pair of shoes out that they own and laid them on top of the bugs.

I tried to explain to them that the shoes needed to be on their feet so they could stomp on the bugs. They didn't get it. HAHA

Here is a random picture of Lauren.

Here is Natalie after she decided to rub her face on the sidewalk chalk.

We Survived The Dentist

Today the girls had a 6 month check up at the dentist. After we dropped Natalie off at preschool, I realized that Lauren was running a low grade fever and was unbearably grouchy (and that's saying something because grouchy is the norm for her. HAHA) Anyway, I tried to reschedule but wasn't able to. So we went....

Lauren wouldn't let me look at her in the car.

Natalie was actually excited about getting her teeth cleaned.

Thumbs up.

Lauren was not looking forward to this, but she wouldn't let me sit in the chair with her like the first time at the dentist. She said "Go away mom. Sit over there."

She passed out halfway through the cleaning! If that's what a trip to the dentist does to her, I'll take her everyday.

Lauren was pretty happy when she woke up.

I am elated (although I know you all are very upset) that there were no fits thrown, dental hygenists bitten or any patients scared away. Maybe next time. BAHAHAHAHA

Meet Purple Blankie

If you have kids, then you know. You know how it is when they get attached to something. It almost becomes literally part of them. They throw such a fit when it's not around that you make sure it's in the bag EVERYTIME you go somewhere (no matter how short the trip) and you have to either jump through hoops or be very very sneaky just to be able to clean it.

Lauren has this attachment disorder. It's to "Purple Blankie".

I know what you're thinking. No it's not purple, nor has it ever been purple. Most people have sentimental stories about where their child's favorite blanket came from. I have no clue. It showed up about a year ago (she could have stolen it from another kid somewhere, I really wouldn't be surprised). She loves this blanket. It has been left at restaurants, ran over by a car, dipped in the toilet, almost eaten by a goat (yes, a goat), been buried in the sandbox, been thrown at a duck (in a lake), held out the car window all the way down the highway as I was yelling "DON'T YOU DROP THAT! I WON'T TURN AROUND!". She refuses to sleep if she doesn't have "purple blankie" so I have to be extra sneaky and usually stay up late if I want to attempt to lessen the permanent dirty feet/ corn chips smell out of it. As a mother I have just had to accept the fact that something this loved can be washed and bleached and febreezed every day, but it will always smell and look raggedy.

Lauren Made A Little Boy Cry Today

Today after Lauren and I dropped Natalie off at preschool, late again (which seemed to be the theme of the week), we stopped in the hallway to jump on the elevator. We pushed the button and waited. A little boy and his mother walked up behind us. Just as they did, Lauren started this conversation:

Lauren- "Mom, we're getting in the oven."

Me- "The oven?"

Lauren- "The oven." (as she pointed to the elevator)

Me- "Oh ok. That kinda looks like an oven I guess."

Little Boy (obviously freaked out)- "MOM! I don't want to get in an oven!"

Lauren to Little Boy- "We're getting in the oven! Stop crying!"

The little boy started bawling and his mother took him up the stairs.

I had never seen that little boy or his mother before. I'm sure we made a great impression.

The 2-Hour Field Trip That Kicked My Butt

After making a trip to the ER over the weekend for a double ear infection and therefore missing school yesterday, Natalie had been looking forward to today. It was field trip day with her preschool class. YAY! We went to the Kids Commons in downtown Columbus. If you haven't taken your kids, you should. Or if you don't have kids, you can borrow mine so you can go and not look creepy. HAHA. Anyway, it's awesome. It's a three floor museum with tons of things for the kids to play on and learn with. Definitely organized chaos.

I went with Lauren's class last Wednesday and believe it or not, it was less hectic with 9 two-year-olds than with 13 four-year-olds. And we even had more parents tag along this time. Everything was fine until about 45 minutes into our trip. That's when we realized that all of the private schools in town are on spring break this week and about 100 more kids just came out of nowhere. We were each "assigned" kids in the class to keep an eye on (I lost mine... A LOT). They kept taking off in all different directions, but it was usually mine that I couldn't find (so that's a little better, Right? HA)

Natalie's fish from craft time.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

Some of them were as long as a dollar bill.

The "camp ground"

Planting flowers.

I had to stop this little boy from throwing the flowers.

The first floor (well part of it). There is also a Japanese house they can go into, a computer room and several craft areas.

The big play house on the second floor.

The big potty slide in the big play house. Their favorite part of the museum by far.

Lauren wasn't so sure about getting in a giant toilet at first. She made me go down with her.

The rock wall. My kids are too little for this (thank goodness).

This was my favorite part of the museum. The bubble room.

A view of the third floor. It has activities for older kids like stationary bikes and basketball goals.

A very exhausted smile from both of us. You better believe I took a nap after this!

We had a great time and I will be sure to take them back (once I am certian that there are no more spring breaks in town and I will check ahead to make sure there are no field trips scheduled for that day!)

I Said By The Weekend. That Includes Monday!!

Hey everyone! So.... what do you think?! I think the blog is absolutely awesome. It was designed by Ashbee Designs and Bridge Work Blog Designs. Their links are at the bottom if you want to check them out (I totally recommend it). I am still figuring out what everything does though. HAHA I just wanted to do the initial post to say "IT'S FINALLY DONE!"