catching up

That must be the mantra of all people with children - catch up. There are only so many hours in the day so at the end, we have to catch up. I obviously haven't had enough hours lately to update the blog as I have been catching up with other stuff. Some of the stuff on my catching up list:
1)Do our taxes (unfortunately this one has a due date to it)
2)Send some of the new kid pics to Sam's to print them out.
3)Work on some new photo-editing tricks that my friend Molly told me about
4)Start reading our next book club book
5)digital scrapbooking - unfortunately this one always takes the back-burner. SO - I am hoping to find a good way to document stuff now so I can do them later.

Anyway - the reason I have a longer than normal catch-up list is because we have been pretty busy here. Last weekend I had book club and Tim and I attended a St. Patrick's Party. That was a lot of fun! It was a prior co-worker of his and she had the best house with the best Irish bar in the basement. (she seriously had a bar in the basement - it was SO neat!) That was a lot of fun and the kiddo's did great for our babysitter! Even Evan did great - which means we can maybe go out on a date night real soon :-)

This week was work as usual and then we took off on Thursday and went on vacation! We went to Grand Rios waterpark in the suburbs up here - stayed over 2 nights in a hotel and relaxed (or belaxed as Emma says). It was great. Not so much a Tim and I vacation (that will hopefully be this summer) but it was wonderful for the kids. Well, for Emma. She had an absolute blast! She has stayed in a hotel before and been to an indoor water-park - but she does not remember either. She was running around the room examining everything. She jumped on the beds a bit, played with the TV a bit, thought the bathroom was pretty cool and was happy we had a potty. She thought it was pretty neat to be staying in someone else's place. But the waterpark for her was heaven. I was surprised at first because she was a little timid about the whole thing. She didn't really want to splash. She wanted to walk around the perimeter of the whole park and take it all in. She started to warm up a bit the first night - we were in the park for about 2 hours then and towards the end she was playing on the small slides and having a blast. Evan on the other hand was NOT enjoying it one bit. He didn't want to splash, didn't want to play and would have a fit if one drop of water would touch him. Yeah - not a good sign as his whole summer will be around water at the cabin. Tim getting Evan ready for the waterpark.

That night, we ordered in pizza and went to bed. We had a pack-n-play for the boy and he fell asleep very quickly. Emma on the other hand wasn't feeling too tired and Tim and I ended up shutting off the TV around 9:30 so she would finally go to bed. Here is a picture of Evan playing on the hotel bed in his play zen we made :-)

We packed a bunch of food in the cooler and had a breakfast "in" the next morning of yogurt, donutes, muffins, milk, fruit, etc. The whole vacation Emma had a big smile on her face, just taking the whole experience in. It was so much fun to watch her experience all of that - her wide eyes were looking around and loving every minute of it. She did much better Friday at the water park also. She got to the point where she was going on the "big" kid slides all by herself. She even saw one kid go down head first on her belly so she had to do that also. Up, down, Up, down, over and over and over. (Emma and her goofy, happy smile) Tim and I took turns between her and Evan as we would get a bit tired (and dare I say bored) doing them over and over again. I thought it would be interesting during naptime to see how Emma would do, but honestly she was out in about 5 minutes of us laying her in her bed - Evan too. It was nice as even Tim and I got a chance to nap for about an hour. That afternoon, more of the same, then Buca's for supper.

We checked out on Saturday at 11am, after Emma actually getting sick of the waterslides, then headed to the Mall of America where Emma went on some of the rides there. After that, we were ready to come home. It was a quick stop at McDonalds for lunch and more Chocolate Milk for Emma - which she loves, but I only give to her on special occasions - then home. It was good to be home. Tim and I felt like pack-mules as we brought so much stuff with us for 2 nights. So, it was good to have some time to unpack, do laundry and relax.

Today was family time. My parents, sister Kim and her son Andrew came up to visit. Oh yeah - and I picked up my new bike! My old mountain bike isn't really a speed demon in triathlons, so I bit the bullet and bought a road-bike. I love it! I took it for a quick spin today and am very happy with my purchase. Yesterday we also got a membership to the YMCA in Woodbury, so I am good to go. Well, I should say I have all the tools, now I just need the time to swim a bit and I will be ready. It felt good to get on a bike again and I am sure it will feel awesome to get in the pool and start swimming!

(I will mention now that I am watching the Amazing Race, so I will NOT be proof-reading my post. Sorry, but I have other stuff to get done tonight too :-)

Emma has been a bit of a struggly lately. She is so strong-willed, which is good sometimes, but then we ask her to do some simple things like pick up toys, wash her hands, and she totally melts down. I don't know what to do! She has to realize that she needs to listen to Tim and I, but she just thinks it is a game sometimes. So frustrating! But, here are some cute things she has been doing lately to make up for it:
(After Tim made steak and green beans for supper one night) "Daddy, these are awesome! You did a good job!"
We we outside grilling last night, so she brought her babydoll out and put it in the swing and she was doing underdogs for her baby "just like Mama does for me. Daddy can push me REALLY high so I feel like I am going to hit the deck, but Mama can do underdogs."

Evan is good too. Still sitting up well, actually he enjoys this position the best now. He is still eating okay and hopefully Kristen helped us solve his drinking issues so he is not uncomfortable when he drinks. It may not be the Acid Reflux like we thought, but all the milk that I drink that may be making the little guy uncomfortable. Apparently sometimes little ones have difficulty with the lactose in milk too - so I am going to experiment with that a bit. I didn't drink any milk today and he drank really well, so hopefully that is it. STILL NO TEETH! Seriously -when will they show up?

That's about it. Tim and I are good. We are both getting some more responsibility at work. I will be working with more plants - so that will keep me busy and Tim has a new job. Really tough one too - he will be building an organization for vendor managment. So, as he puts it - More golfing and game watching. Yeah - poor Tim :-) Hopefully he realizes that he needs to take his wife along to so things - hahah!