Playground Trip and Flowers!

We are finally getting on a better schedule and since I'm not obligated to work from home anymore, I'm trying to make a point to do more with the kids on my days off.  So, we went out to Palmer the other day to visit my grandmother and my uncle who the kids especially hadn't seen in forever.  I made a point to do a Google search and find a new playground to visit.  All I came up with was this one, but, it was awesome and hidden, so, we never would have found it on our own!!

I swung the tire swing and then left him to take care of Olivia, not remembering his total lack of common sense...which I totally blame his dad for! ;O)  Anyway, Owen didn't think to put his foot down to stop himself and the swing spun until he was super sick.  In fact, he came home and slept for 2 hours after our trip and then laid on the couch the rest of the night...oops!!!  Who doesn't know how to stop a tire swing!!  Our kids are WAY too sheltered!!!!

They had all kinds of fun things to "drive".  What other playground can you go to and ride a snowmachine!!

 This one is trouble no matter where we are!

 I love that her hair is everywhere!  It's just long enough to get messy, but, still not long enough to put in a pony tail.

Owen's playing soccer two nights a week and has swim lessons two nights a week...I'm not sure who's more exhausted, him or us after dragging him around!!!  We go straight from work, grab the kids, and feed them pb&js in the car on the way to practice three nights a week...the fourth night I'm home with them fortunately!!!  Thankfully, soccer will be over in just two more weeks.  It's kind of a long story, but, I had originally planned to drop him out of swimming when I signed him up for soccer.  He was devastated, so, I agreed to let him do one more session...not super bright, we won't do this again for sure!!

Of course, Liv goes where Owen goes, so she too is up by 7 and not home again until 7ish at night.  But, man is she a good sport about it!!  This particular night was a game night and her dad asked her for a high-five.  This video was her response...apparently, unknowingly to us, Owen had taught her the "down low, too slow" trick!!  We were shocked when she threw that out there and we couldn't stop laughing.

Game nights the kids and I are typically home all day and this particular day, Owen was dying for a monster cookie.  I don't even know what goes into those to be honest, but, we put mini chocolate chips and M&Ms in ours.  Olivia LOVES to cook, she can run the Kitchenaid like nobody's business too!

Liv's favorite pass time these days is swinging...of course, the one thing she can't do on her own!!  This particular day was reasonably warm, but, I put a coat on her to guard her from the mosquitoes!!  We haven't had a particularly wet season, but, the bugs seem as bad if not worse than ever!!

So, ironically, just like her brother did, Olivia became officially potty trained over Memorial Day weekend and we haven't had an accident since.  What is with that being the weekend to make the decision to do your business in the potty!!  It's back fired on us a little bit with her partly because she's so much younger than he was (he was a solid 2.5 years and she was just over 2 years) and partly because she wakes up at night to go too!!  Owen was 4ish before he ever did that, so, he was more than capable of going on his own where Olivia can't even get her jamies off by herself let alone her diaper down.  So, it's kind of like the newborn thing all over again, we get up at least once or twice now.  Everyone says to not give her liquids within two hours of bedtime, but, how do you do that when you don't get home until 7!!  Anyway, we are pretty impressed regardless of our sleepless nights!!  The picture below is what happens when she has to wait for you to come help her go...she puts the potty seat on her head!!!  I try to keep it wiped down, but, there's not enough disinfectant to make this o.k.!!!  Definitely another one to keep for black mail later!! ;O)

The shock of losing Daisy has been such an ugly reminder of the fact that there's no guarantee for tomorrow, especially when it comes to our fur babies.  So, I've made an effort to get more shots of Max lately...not that we don't have a ton, he's a really fun dog to photograph with those weird blue eyes and big pointy ears, so, I already have a ton of him already! ;O)

Max has done well considering without his constant companion, but, even the babysitter noticed that he wasn't the same dog as he was before.  It's like losing Daisy took the happy out of him, which, I totally can understand.  Anyway, where he used to be long gone if you looked the other way, now he's always right under foot and looking for approval from us.  In fact, I was out trying to take pictures of flowers and he was stalking me in the bushes...he's so funny.  I wish we could fix it for him.  We have mulled over getting another dog, but, he isn't super compatible with other dogs and I'm not sure we can handle a new fur baby right now.  I'd rather just have Daisy back, we all really needed her here with us...

The kids have been especially uncooperative in the photo department lately, so, I turned to taking pictures of flowers to practice my focus skills (which I'm lacking...and is hard to practice with a wiggly kid!).

This little violet reminded me of Owen and the little mark under his nose, I don't know why! ;O)