Talylor Lake....almost

Ryan woke up Friday and decided to take the day of and go camping. We chose a place called Taylor Lake that some of Ryan's coworkers suggested. It was a little far for just an over-nighter and was very high (and cold), but the drive was very scenic and we found a great campsite just short of the lake. I think we'll try it again when the kids are a little older, so Ryan can actually do some fishing and Cole will sleep better. For now I think we'll just have campfires at the lake across the street and put the tent in the backyard!

mclayne isn't one for princess dress-ups or make-up, but i caught this rare moment of her being girly. i came out to find her wearing lip stick, nail polish, covered with glitter, and flipping through a blank notebook like a magazine. a sign of things to come? i don't think so. she spent the rest of the day building a trap for the snake she found in the yard and chased into our rock wall. she was "confused{convinced} it was a guard{garter} snake."




by some miracle cole escaped being made over.

Bits of our weekend

Cole had some good times...mostly in his high chair. He has a messy habit of running his fingers through his hair while he eats. Syrup is by far the best product yet!













Mclayne was getting acquainted with this guy. It looks like crawdads aren't the only things that like hotdogs around here. Mclayne didn't even care that we didn't catch any fish or crawdads {again!} after we snagged this and a tadpole. Throw in the container of night crawlers that she got to play with, and then later feed to the turtle, and she was pretty happy.

hopefully no more studios for me

I needed to get some pictures of the kids in their wedding attire {well, almost all their wedding attire...mclayne's dress was covered with bubble stains when I went to put it on her, so she ended up with plan B}. Our trip to the studio to get Easter pics was less than pleasant, and I took some pretty cute pictures of Mclayne when she was a baby, so I decided to take the pictures myself. They didn't turn out perfect, but I think if I get a few lights and backgrounds, I'll be able to say goodbye to studio forever! It was hard enough getting Cole back in his tux, let alone getting him to hold still or look at the camera. But when I have a more professional set up, I think it will be a lot easier. I'm still not sure how excited I am about taking pictures of the kids, but it's going to be pretty fun turning the basement into a studio!

the news

here are all the random things that have been going on lately....
1. Crazy weather - snow yesterday and 74 tomorrow - what?!
2. Holly and I had our first attempt at selling our bows today. It was a windy day with not a lot of foot traffic, but we have a store interested in carrying them and have ideas for workshops. Nothing big, but we're pretty excited!
3. Cole was diagnosed with polyps today and has to have a colonoscopy and outpatient surgery to have it (or them, if they find more) removed on May 19th. He also has to have blood work done (the part i think is the worst!) so it's not much fun. Poor guy
4. Mclayne started to work on mother's day presents for her grandmas

5. still chipping away on my stockpile of bacon and trying to counteract it with spinach sludge shakes, although now i'm adding in a little ice cream. i'm sure the vita-mix lady would be VERY DISAPPOINTED with the addition, but what's bacon without a little ice cream, right?!

who doesn't love bacon........and sludge?

i love bacon. and when albertsons has buy one get TWO free I go a little crazy with the bacon. my usual four or five strips per week goes straight to four or five every morning. no lie. so today i decided to balance out my binge with a healthy little shake my father-in-law calls sludge (still paired with bacon).

It's basically a spinach based smoothie with fruit, water, and ice. I used spinach, an apple, pineapple, and blueberries and it was delicious. Vita-mix has a really great recipe guide for green shakes if you want to check it out. It's a great way to get rid of all the guilt from eating too much bacon...or reese's peanut butter eggs!;)

nine o'clock church...boo!

I really can't wait until we move to the 11 o'clock time schedule. and not just so we'll actually make it to church on time (we haven't made it on time yet this year...i just can't bring myself to wake up cole "early" at 8:30 on sunday mornings).
It will also make holidays that fall on sunday much more enjoyable to celebrate. for instance, this year the kids opened their baskets at different times, ryan caught very little of each, mclayne tested out each toy for about 15 seconds, and then we rushed to church an hour late.

mclayne's 15 seconds with BV, her beaver puppet. she put on a little show in a very low, husky beaver voice. wish we had it on video.

THE FIRST 30 YEARS.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

the fish killer strikes again....

mclayne has matured a lot since her third birthday. she literally exited the terrible twos. so, at our latest trip to the pet store to see all the animals mclayne insists she needs needs as pets to sleep with at night, i decided to pick up a couple fish for mclayne. given her past experiences with fish i decided against our usual "nice" $3.00 fish and had them bag up two of the 12 cent ones. the good times with blacky and lightning lasted one week. then today mclayne came into the room and said...
"um... don't go over by the fish um... area."
she has tried this method before of trying to ban me from a horrible mess. you would think by now she'd realize it only does the opposite, but it does act as a nice warning. at first i laughed a little at her use of the word area and then prepared myself for the disaster that i would no doubt end up cleaning. and there it was...the entire container of food dumped in the tank or sprinkled on the table. seriously an inch of fish flakes on the bottom and two fish fighting to stay alive in the nasty murky water. it didn't help that mclayne straight-out lied about it...she has always been so honest....sometimes TOO honest!
after a long discussion on lying, i explained to mclayne that her pet days are over until further notice. no more talk of fish, dogs, or cats. no more saying...
"i really wish i had a swimming thing"
or
"i just need a chinchilla to sleep with"
she agreed that pets are out and then went upstairs, laid on the love sac, pulled a blanket over her head, and feel asleep. ahhh...it's her first nap in a long time. she totally went and redeemed herself!

*as a parenting side note {only mean parents like me will sympathize}...
isn't it so frustrating when you're really mad and want nothing more than to calmly yell at your child until they realize what a horrible thing they have done and quietly apologize, but before you can even start they preemptively strike with the loudest scream ever! a screaming fit that never stops, not even to take a breath. aaaaauuuuugggggghhhhhh! nicely played mclayne....nicely played

Cole at 15 months

just takin' it easy in his high-chair/lazy boy recliner.....

i have completely lost confidence in the accuracy of growth measurements at our pediatricians office, but cole is still one petite boy (especially after being sick for a few weeks).
Weight 22 lbs......... 20th%
Height 31.5 inches.... 60th%
Head Circ 19 inches... ?????





i also tried snapping a quick picture of me and mclayne on our way out the door to see the doctor. as you can see from the pictures, that is easier said than done. i obviously have no idea what i'm doing. i was actually trying to get a picture to document her being sick for the last week, but of coarse she perked right up for the doctors appt. She looked like this most of the week. I hate when that happens and I end up looking like a dramatic hypochondriac when we check-in. Luckily, (not for mclayne) she had a sinus infection, double-ear infection and a red swollen throat. i would love for the easter bunny to leave me two healthy kids in my basket this year!