Belly Laughs and Hugs

No one can make my kids laugh like each other. They can crack each other up so that they are laughing from the depths of their little bellies. It's the most glorious sound and it really melts my heart. The kids had a giggle-fest Friday night with Austin tickling Madeleine until she practically peed her pants. Then they declared each other their "best friend in the whole world" and hugged. 

I will remind them of this moment when they are in middle school and yelling at each other and slamming doors. 

Powder Puffs

We had a little incident on Thursday morning. It was a typical morning and given it was only 8:15 am there couldn't possibly be much atypical about it.  I had a very simple request for Madeleine. Usually she's the best little helper so I didn't hesitate to ask her to help Austin find some pants. They really were not up there more than 3-5 minutes. Rob went up to say goodbye and just came down to tell me I'd need to go up. This is what I saw. 

Austin was completely naked, covered in baby powder and they were spreading diaper cream everywhere.  Most of the pictures I snapped aren't really appropriate for a public blog (!!!) but this about sums it up:

When I say the powder was everywhere, I do mean everywhere. It had spread all over every piece of furniture, every book, every toy, the hall, the bathroom, Madeleine's room, her furniture, bed, toys, books, everywhere. It took me over an hour to vacuum and dust it up then it was bath time.  And in case you have not yet had the experience of mixing powder and paste....it's bad. Thick glue. All over them. And it was only 8 am! 

They can no longer be trusted. Ever.

Sparklers!

(This is the first of many Memorial Day Weekend posts)...We have some fabulous neighbors at the lake who came over for a spur of the moment dinner last weekend. Dane (or as Madeleine insists, "Mr. Dane") brought over a few sparklers for the kids. Most of these pictures are terrible because I have yet to really learn how to use my camera, but I wanted to post them anyway because I'm in awe of the kids. They have been so afraid of so many things that to hold sparklers in their hands is downright unbelievable to me.

Yup, Madeleine is in her pajamas. My kids are just weird when it comes to clothes. 

Once again, Austin is without pants. But at least he has shoes on! Because shoes are way more important than pants. Everyone knows that. 

Amsterdam (again)

More pictures from Rob's vacation, err, I mean business trip to Amsterdam. They are all posted in the links to the right. 

Last Day of School...Kind Of

It's not easy to explain to the kids, "today is your last day of school! But you go back Monday." School ended last week but "Summer Camp" starts on Monday! Austin's class celebrated the last day with a picnic in the playground. He had big hugs for Miss Kari. (All of the pics are posted in the photo link)

Miss Clare was lucky enough to get a big kiss! Clare has been Austin's teacher for two years now...since he was 10 months old (wait, can that be right?).  He is finally moving on to the next class where he is looking forward to the messier crafts. 

It's hard to tell from this picture but Madeleine loves (make that adores) her teacher, Miss Tracy. Every day is "Miss Tracy this" and "Miss Tracy that".  We didn't make a big thing about good-byes because Tracy will be Madeleine's camp teacher too.  After camp, Madeleine goes on to her last year of school before kindergarten. I'm not sure if I can handle even thinking about that yet. 

Not Sightseeing in Amsterdam

In case you forgot, Rob is in Amsterdam on "official business" and NOT there for sightseeing but he did send two more photos today. But he's NOT sightseeing. 

I have no idea what these photos are about. No clue. 

Running in the 'Burgh

On May 3rd, Rob and I ran the Pittsburgh Marathon along with my cousin Kerry and her husband.  We drove up with the kids to spend the whole weekend and Mom & Dad came along as well.  We had to leave the house at 5 A.M. and Dad was nice enough to get up with us to drive us to Kerry's house. He also went into the city to take a few photos of the race. He took great pictures of the crowd but I don't have those yet (and I may never). I do have a few of us running which is great because it's fun to see yourself running but it's awful because you see how you look running.  All of the photos I have are posted in the links to the right. Here are just a few. 

Pittsburgh before the race:

Dressed in my American Cancer Society tee.

Rob was the first one to bump into Dad. And by the first one I mean he was the fastest. He runs fast. So fast that he says it physically hurts him to run slow. That's fast. 

He's so fast, I think he thought he won the race. 

I run quite slow. So slow that it actually looks like I'm walking in most of the photos. Dad caught up with me around mile 10 and ran with me for about 1/4 mile. This is no small feat given his 15 pound camera. Okay, I exaggerate, but not by much. After a minute I think the runners around me thought I was famous because I was the only one with a photographer running next to me taking about 300 photos.

After the race we went out for pizza, hoagies (mmmm hogie) and beer. My cousin, Dan, joined us. He kind of ran the race. It's a very long and complicated story but basically he ran his own half-marathon and joined us after. Kerry might kill me if she ever sees this posted.

Dan, Rob, Bill, Kerry, Me

Austin getting toasty in his foil blanket. He's a future runner, I can tell. 

I finished the half-marathon in 2:10 and Rob did the full-marathon in 3:44. Rock stars!

Goede Ochtend!

Rob has arrived in Amsterdam. View from his hotel. Hopefully he will send more pictures but he has reminded me an endless number of times...he is there to work and not sight-see.  He's such a drag.

Big Yellow Envelopes are Fun

Big yellow envelopes are a favorite in this house. As soon as I brought in the mail Madeleine and Austin's eye's got very big. Madeleine said "Yay, Grammie King sent us a surprise!".  

They ripped it open in no time to find cute outfits and CANDY!  Big, big, big bags of candy. And they were very, very, very happy. There goes dinner!

Aren't We Cute?

We all went out to dinner last night for Brigid's birthday. She picked the perfect little spot outside with a great view of the golf course. The weather was just right for sitting outside and enjoying the night. And as luck would have it, we all looked half decent so it was a great chance to get some family photos! 

Madeleine is becoming quite the ham for the camera. She has developed her own "pretty please" face. It's her own version of Zoolander's "Blue Steel". 

And here's Austin with a slightly more dramatic pose. 

Laziness Overwhelms Me

I have so many pictures to post and so many stories to tell. However, I also have two kiddies who would rather I play with them than be on the 'puter. Crazy, I know. Not to mention Rob is in heavy travel mode, Austin is in heavy vomit mode and I am in a full state of panic. So here is a picture from this weekend to keep you occupied until I can post more.

Happy Mother's Day!

My loving children made me a few things for Mother's Day this year. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess they had a little help from their teachers. Austin made me this card. And really, it is the cutest picture of him.  It shows the most adorable side of him. 

Madeleine made me a fancy and quite glittery frame made from Popsicle sticks. And she's even smiling in the picture. Smiling like a bunny, but still smiling! 

Madeleine's class had a party for the moms and played a game called "Mystery Mom".  Ahead of time, each kid answered questions about their mom and Miss Tracy read the questions/answers aloud and we all had to guess which child/mom she was talking about. It was really fun. Some of the kids answers were hysterical and I think even a bit embarrassing for some moms!  Mine wasn't too bad...I can't wait to show this to Madeleine again when she's 20.

We spent Mother's Day at the lake and the kids each gave me a gift that they picked out on their own (or so says Rob). Madeleine got me a beautiful potted flower to keep on the table (it's fake so it won't die, she knows mommy well!) and Austin got me swim goggles and a swim cap. Is he trying to tell me something?? And Rob gave me the most generous gift of all...he made coffee for me. It's hard to put into words how much I love that.

The Bubble Gum Kid

Grandma Fisher gave the kids gum. Austin was beyond happy and chewed away at it for a long, long time. He also enjoyed showing it to me. Probably because he knew I would never give it to him, but Grandma did and 'na na na na boo boo'. 

Wish You Were Here...Really - UPDATED/PIC FIXED!

(I originally tried to do this from my phone but the picture never uploaded. Trying again.)
We got an e-mail from the dogs at camp. They miss us and can't wait to come home. But they must be having a great time because 1) they are playing on e-mail and 2) they sent us a picture. High tech dog camp!