just stay put

One thing that I discovered as a parent is that kids really do thrive on routine.  The more you can get them on to a fairly set schedule, the better your days will be for everyone.  It is not always possible though and things like travel can disrupt a routine fairly quickly.  My kids have always been really good at adapting to new routines, new situations, etc. when we are traveling or start with new activities.  The last few weeks have been really busy between Great Grandma and Grandpa coming back from their winter in Arizona (so excited to have them in town BTW), Cayden finishing preschool and spring finally arriving in Bismarck and allowing for lots of time to play outside.

I didn't really realize just how busy we have been or how much running we had been doing, especially on the weekends, until Cayden woke up on Saturday.  He came out to the living room, half asleep and rubbing his eyes and asked me "Mommy, are we just going to stay home today?"  That made up my mind about running errands or doing anything that would require us to put real clothes on or even brush our teeth.  So, I hugged him and said "Yes dude, we are just going to stay home today."  He perked up, smiled and ran laughing into his room where he spent most of the day playing in his boxers.  Harper must have also been just as happy to stay home because she refused to wear any more clothes than her brother.  It was a good day!

What accessory goes with a pull-up and flip phone? Mommy's running shoes, of course!

Makes my heart melt :-)

Watching the rain coming down the drain pipe.  "Mommy it looks like a waterfall!"

Watching rain must be as captivating as watching it snow!

too funny not to share

With Mother's Day right around the corner (because it's seriously May already), I just had to share this with all of you mom's out there (or the two who might actually be reading this)!!!

I got one of my regular, daily emails from Parenting Magazine with a subject line that said "19 Hilarious Mother's Day Cards."  If I am being perfectly honest, it's 3pm on Friday afternoon and I am looking for any possible way to procrastinate starting a new project at work when there are only 2 hours left of the work week, so I decided this would be a good way to work towards that ambitious goal.  These cards are really funny, very true and made me extremely thankful that greeting cards don't actually tell the truth.  I particularly like the ones from the "tween."  Something to look forward to.  

ENJOY!

19 Hilarious Mother's Day Cards 

what happened to april?

We are not three days into the month of May and I am still baffled as to where the month of April went.  I only have a handful of pictures from April and they are all from the circus and New Orleans.  I guess that's what we did.

For the second year in a row, Harper, Cayden and I went to the circus with friends.  To say that we all LOVE the circus would be a huge understatement.  All three of us wait all year long for this weekend and can barely sleep the night before.  Although we were disappointed that there was no elephant to see, we had a blast (which is obvious from Harper's face...remember she slept through the whole thing last year)!

 

 

Next, it was time for Mommy and Daddy to head to New Orleans.  Brace yourself for this shocking piece of information...ready?...this was the first solo trip that we had taken since our trip to Jamaica 5 years ago and I was pregnant with Cayden at the time.  Now, that you have wiped that shocked and/or horrified look off your face I can tell you that New Orleans is an amazing city.  It is the BEST place for people watching and you can spend hours just walking around.  We had some of the most amazing food and you have to love a city where every other store/business down almost every street has a whole wall of frozen drink machines and every drink you buy from any bar or restaurant comes in a giant to-go cup!  Bonus - we also missed the massive April blizzard that hit Bismarck :-)

 

BEST OYSTERS EVER!!!

 



 

The rest of April saw 70+ degree weather while we still had snow on the ground, much better days/nights/weekends with Miss Davis and a new found obsession with watching morning cartoons in Mommy's bed. 

 

Her love of accessories has now been extended to include her babies and stuffed animals.  Why wouldn't her elephant need both a hat and a headband?