It's Thursday ....

Which means family time is here which, of course, translates into next to no time for blogging.

I can't very well leave my blog sitting for a couple days with the depressing post I just did (below). I had to get it out of my system though...it's been bugging me for days and then tonight's story on my Comcast News Page just tipped me over the edge. Blick. So now let's focus on something uplifting, ok? :)

Guess who can climb up the play structure AND slide down the slide all by herself? It's pretty darn sweet and amazing and she is soooooooo proud of herself. She just started doing this tonight until then, it's been "Mommy! Catch me!" which meant I had to stand at the bottom of the slide and catch her before her feet could hit the ground. Of course that was an improvement over standing near the top of the slide so I could hold her hand as she slid down.

I can't believe how fast she is changing. Every day she amazes me with a new skill she masters. And then there is Kelton, of course. Who developes new skills every 45 seconds...or so it seems. :)

Check out the videos:



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Now Where Were We?

Oh right - I was going to tell you all about the weekend.

Friday morning I took the kids to this brand new play place called Cafe Sip-n-Play. While it advertises itself as a place for the kids to play while the parent enjoy a cup of coffee and relax, it isn't quite like that. Sure, there are tables set up for grown-ups to sit and talk (and they have Wi-Fi) but it's a smaller-than-I-anticipated place and it was jam-packed with moms and kids. Even so, it was really a lot of fun. I'm not the type of mom who would just drop my kids in the play area and go read a book while I tried to keep one ear open for their screams so for me, the lack of seating wasn't really a big thing. I hung out in the areas the kids were in so I could watch and play with them. It was really, really fun!




I let Kaylen skip her nap so we could stay, have lunch and play a while longer so that night she went down without a fight and was asleep at 6:30. She did really well until it was time for *me* to go to bed when it was all bets off and she was up and down the rest of the night. I'm actually (sadly) getting used to it.

Saturday found Kaylen and I running errands while Dakota cleaned the carpets (thanks, honey! The look soooo much better!). Kelton stayed home with Dakota. We, again, ended up letting Kaylen skip her nap because by the time she and I returned home, the carpets were finished and she had a little down time; it was too late to think about putting her down. We had a birthday party to go to!

We went to our great-niece's second birthday (she and Kaylen are 12 days apart) and had a good time visiting with Dakota's family. From there we went over to Dakota's sister's house to check out their recently remodeled house. From there we decided to hit Azteca for dinner and then pick up a movie from Blockbuster. Phew! By the time we got home it was bath and bedtime for the kids. After the kids were asleep, Dakota and I settled in to watch "Man of the Year" which, if you haven't seen it yet, is a pretty good movie. Worth the time though I personally feel like they rushed the ending a bit too much. Still - worth the time from my point of view.

Sunday Dakota took the kids in the morning and I was able to catch a couple more hours of dozing. Not really sleeping since I could hear the kids laughing and playing but it was still really nice to drift in and out and dreams. After I got up, we lazed around and read the paper while the kids played. We were successful in getting Kaylen down for a 30 minute nap, too! :) After her nap we had given Kelton the option of going to a local mall to hang out (his all time favorite thing to do) but he and Kaylen decided they wanted to stay home and play on their swingset. A grand idea! The weather was very spring like and we all had a good time outside. Dakota and the kids went on a bug hunt (Eeeew! No thanks!) and then they created a "field journal" to keep track of the Bleeding Heart's growth. Very clever little guy we have. :)



After playing in the yard, we cleaned up and drive to the party supply store to pick up things for Kelton's birthday. It was fun to walk around and look at everything. We couldn't find decorations for his cake though (which we heard would be very difficult and it seems bakeries do not yet have a Backyardigan cake in their cake books) so we headed over to Kohl's. Dakota had remembered they had a big Backyardigan's toy section and she was right! We hit pay dirt with the pirate ship and two characters. It couldn't be more perfect because Kelton was really torn between The Backyardigan's theme and a pirate's theme. :)

When we returned home, Dakota started dinner and I went to work on the invitations. I'm really happy with how it turned out and I can't wait to see it when it comes back from the printers.

While I was trying to finish up the invitations, Dakota was watching over the kids. Or...........was she? I heard giggling and laughter which I *thought* was supervised fun but alas, no such luck. Want to know what happens when you leave temporary tattoo loving children alone with a bag of dinosaur tattoos? They apparently think it is big, big fun to cover their bodies with them...and yes, that does include their faces. *sigh*


In case you are wondering, vegetable oil does a fine job of removing them from faces. The rest of them we will just let come off over the next week or so. Silly little kids. :)

After that it was bath and bedtime for the tired kiddos. We stayed up to watch a few shows and then we hit the hay, too. Kaylen's sleep is still all over the place so I had a rocky night (again, still...whichever) but all in all, we had a great weekend! I am so loving the fact that this semester we have two family days in a row (Saturday and Sunday). The three previous semesters, Dakota spent Saturdays studying so we only had family time on Sunday. This is soooo much better! :)

Today dawned looking very much like spring! Since we needed a few quick items from the grocery store, I decided that we would walk. Well....I walked. Kaylen rode in the stroller and Kelton rode his bike. We had a blast! It isn't too far, about a 20 minute walk each way and Kelton was so darn proud of himself. Walks have just become a whole lot easier, I think! At least until Kaylen decides she wants to ride her bike too. But for now, I think I see more walks in our future.

When we arrived home there was a message from a friend of mine. I called her back and she wanted to know if Kelton wanted to come over for a playdate with her almost 5 year old. The boys have actually known each other since they were about 2 weeks old - I met Declan's mom when we were both pregnant living north of Seattle. A twist of fate landed us both down here by the time Declan was 19 months old (we moved here when Kelton was 10 weeks)- living about 15 minute apart. Kelton wanted to go play so they stopped by and picked him up. I had just gotten Kaylen down for her nap so with Kelton gone, I was able to enjoy about 30 minutes by myself. When Kaylen woke up, I snuggled her back to sleep and stayed with her until she got a decent (almost) 2 hour nap (since she was in our bed, I turned on The View and was able to watch it completely uninterrupted! WOW!). Hopefully that will turn the tides on the night waking. Time will tell.

After Kaylen woke up she and I headed over to Declan's house. We ended up staying and having a playdate of our own. We were even invited to dinner! After that, it was home, bath, wind down time and bed. Here is a picture I took last week of Kelton and Declan. Look at that size difference! WOWSA! The other pictures are of Kelton holding Graysen, their pet rat. I was pretty proud of him for being so brave and I think the pictures are adorable. :)





PHEW! That was long, wasn't it? Well, the good news is, I think you are up to date now. :)

17 Hours Later...
The Third Installment (please read below in reverse order to bring yourself up to date)


I think this picture says it all:


At 8:20 tonight, approximately 17 hours after "Project Play Structure" began, Dakota all but completed it! The only thing left to do is to add the anchors. To do that, though, we will need to make a Home Depot run for some deck screws. For some reason, there weren't enough in the seemingly hundreds of bags of bolts, nuts, screws, etc.

We let the kids stay up to see the finished project (Dakota was determined to complete it tonight.) and they were THRILLED! If you notice in the photos, I have them decked out in the snow pants and boots in a fruitless effort to keep the mud off their bathed bodies and clean pajamas. I did say fruitless, right? Yeah. I thought so. BUT...they had an great time trying out their new structure and put up quite the fuss when it was time to come in from the rain. It was two hours past their "head to bed time" by the time they were done playing.

It's been quite the wild weekend here. Great job, Dakota! We're all very proud of your hard work...and I'm sure the feeling will eventually come back to your fingers. :)

And More....
(The Second Installment)

If you haven't read the post below this one yet, you might want to do that first. This one brings you current on the project - at least until dark. Dakota is still out there working even though it is pitch black and raining. She assures me she is fine - she has a latern, after all. :)





And a little movie to share though I'm not sure it gives the full picture of the wind blowing and the rain pouring down on us. Oh yeah - big fun!

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The Play Structure Adventure

This weekend we've been busy trying to build the new play structure which is not without severe challenges when you have two little ones underfoot. Dakota is doing the lions share of the work in the (all too frequent) pouring rain. It's 40 degrees here which tends to really feel cold when you are wet and standing in a mud puddle.

Now I know I said we wouldn't be working on it if it were raining this weekend but if you recall, I also said that you should try explaining that to an almost 5 year old and a 2 year old. They have been going bonkers with excitement and all too often we've been hearing "Is it done yet???" You can imagine how well the answer is going over: "No honey. Probably not until next weekend (when Dakota will once again have time to work on it)."

I have been *very* busy rinsing muddy pants by the dozen, washing off boots covered in mud, washing down the kitchen floor, helping when needed outside, doing all the regular weekend chores, practicing my conflict resolution skills with the kids (OY!) and various other things. I was outside almost the entire time yesterday but wow did my back put up a fight! It just doesn't do well in the cold - and sometimes both Dakota and I forget that until it's too late. *sigh*

So...it's all going much, much slower than anticipated. The booklet said it would take 6-12 hours to build - but I'm pretty sure they didn't add having kids "helping" into that estimate.

It looks much different in past 30 minutes as Dakota has gotten the colorful cover-thingy on it as well as installed the "safety rails" on the side. I have to wonder how much more quickly it would have come together if it hasn't been raining and cold all weekend. Oh...and if someone had been here to entertain the kids. :)

Coming Soon!



So we did it. We bought a wooden play structure for the backyard. It's not one of those super fancy ones by Rainbow but it fits our budget (well - with a little stretching and adding in the kids birthday money from people) and will be perfect for our needs.

The kids and I went down to the store and purchased it yesterday and we will pick it up on Saturday. Dakota and I will build it as soon as we can - and as soon as weather permits. It isn't supposed to be all that great of a weekend rain-wise but hopefully it will be ok enough that we can work on it. If not, it will have to wait for a weekend when the weather cooperates. Try explaining *that* concept to an almost 5 year old and a 2 year old.

The kids are so excited - Kaylen keeps yelling "Swiiiiing...........SET!" I love how it sounds like two distinct words. :) Kelton is already planning out his guest list for playdates once it is up.

While it's true we have a lot of smaller yard toys, there is precious little for above three year old set. We have one swing - a toddler airplane style- and the kids fight like crazy over it. Kelton is too big for it and his feet drag on the ground; not to mention it is crazy trying to pick him up high enough to get him into it. I just knew I couldn't go through another spring and summer with only one swing and two swing-crazed kids.

So...we did it. Since it was on sale, and since we have our IRS refund, we jumped with both feet and bought one. And you know what? I'm almost as excited as the kids. :)