Are shoes really that bad?

Emery threw an impressive 30 minute temper tantrum in the driveway this week.........because we made her wear shoes. Such cruel parents! There is at least one meltdown a day around here having something to do with wearing clothes.

Don't be fooled. She may look like she's sleeping, but she was still mid-tantrum.

I kind of like the idea of outside temper tantrums......nothing gets thrown across the room and broken, food isn't flung against the walls, and there is plenty of room for flopping around as necessary. :-)

Bonham State Park

Last weekend, Pete and I took the kids to a local state park. We have a state park pass, so touring state parks could likely become our new (free) form of entertainment. There are a lot of great parks in Texas, so that's definitely not a bad thing! We had a picnic and then did some exploring........

You can barely see it in this picture, but Gavin was making me crazy trying to squeeze through the fence on the dock.

We did some more exploring. This was a closed road (we didn't let them run down the middle of the street).

We did some hiking (on paved trails)........

Checked out the picnic areas........

Gathered sticks and anything else they could find.......

........and stash in their pockets. I've learned to start checking pockets before I throw clothes in the washer!

Before heading home, we decided to feed the ducks. Emery was a pro.......

Gavin, on the other hand, might need some practice. When we gave him a piece of bread, he ate it. When we threw bread on the ground for the ducks, he raced the ducks to the bread, picked it up and ate it!

The kids had fun and we were all WORN OUT!

Crash!

We've been trying get things back up and running around here! About a week and a half ago, my computer crashed........my hard drive was completely dead, everything lost. I called Dell and now have a new hard drive, but I'm starting from scratch. Luckily, all pictures that weren't backed up were still on the SD card in my camera. Needless to say, I'll be a little more diligent about backing up my hard drive!

On the same day that my computer crashed, Pete found out that his job was eliminated AGAIN. This is the second time in less than 7 months! Manufacturing is a rough place to be right now. Everything will be fine, but the job search is definitely more difficult than a few months ago. So, our computer has obviously been used for researching jobs and sending resumes in lieu of reading and writing blog posts. :-)

In between the resume sending, we've had some fun family outings.......a guess this is a perk of Pete having more time to hang out with us. :-) Pictures to come soon!

Beating the Heat

My mom recently sent me a picture of this contraption that she saw at Sam's Club and I just HAD to have for the kids.........

(small picture because it was sent from a cell phone)

Who needs the Disneyland of water toys when you have a sprinkler and a metal bowl to wear on your head?

One of those funny moments that I caught them with the same expression........

I asked Emery to hold Gavin's hand for a picture. This obviously isn't going to work since he ALWAYS has a Matchbox car in his hand!

We're going to pick up a $5.00 swimming pool this weekend, since last year's model was lost in the move to Texas. We're looking forward to spending lots of time in the water this summer!

Just some pictures......

I thought I'd jump back in to things with a few pictures from the last two weeks!

If you're wondering what she's eating, it's just a leather bracelet. :-)

Helping with the laundry.

Very serious about his cars.


Checking out his new tow truck that came in the mail from his cousin Christian!

Ready to help out Daddy with her new tool belt.

Bubble baths.........

their new favorite thing!

Gavin and Emery have been hilarious lately and are starting to talk up a storm. They're FINALLY both saying the word "no"........within days of each other. Emery mostly uses it to tell Gavin what to do, which is funny to watch. Gavin uses it with Annabelle, my mom's dog. So far, there haven't been any defiant "no's" screamed at me, but I'm sure that's just around the corner!

Don't Write Us Off Yet!

The last week has been crazy. Thus, the lack of posts. Last Saturday I spent ALL day at a convention for Texas Mothers of Multiples. It was a lot of fun, but at the end of the day I had a horrible headache, which led to being sick in bed almost all day on Sunday. It wasn't the swine flu, but it wasn't fun. :-) I decided to pack up the kids and drive to my Mom's house on Monday. This was a great decision! She helped me out while I was under the weather and the best part is that she fixed every single meal for the kids! Any mom of toddler knows what a beat down meal preparation is, so this was awesome. We drove home on Wednesday and I've just been trying to get my head back above water. We are leaving again tomorrow to spend the weekend with my mom (and see my step mom) for Mother's Day. So, basically I'm just checking in to say that I'm checking out again for a few days! :-) More details on the TMOM convention and other fun stuff to come!

Oh.......how could I forget the nap update! Most people say that it takes a couple of weeks for the "one nap schedule" to work itself out. Well, we are entering week 3 and it is a disaster! Most days they are sleeping an hour and 1/2 TOPS. This wouldn't be so bad if it was enough sleep for them to function, but it's obviously not. By about 3:00 in the afternoon, they are crazed maniacs. They have literally been begging for a nap by 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning (standing by the door of their room!). I've even tried giving up and going back to 2 naps, but Emery refuses to take an afternon nap. I'm not sure what the next step will be. This has added to the craziness of the week!

Have a good weekend! Be back soon!