Go, Go, Goers!

Oh what a wonderful week it's been!  Once I got over being sick over the last weekend, I've really managed to enjoy this time off of work.  I was able to have a few lunches with friends, do some shopping without kids, meet up with Scott for an afternoon weekday drink at a local bar, and still manage to knock some things off the to do list.  I also managed to find time to start watching Game of Thrones and am now halfway through the 2nd season (time for viewing slowed down dramatically once the entire family was at home for the long weekend...it's a little tricky to explain all of the violence to a curious 7-year old...)  We also pulled out some of my old toys, and Ava has been having a ton of fun with MY My Little Ponies...she's been eyeing up all of the Barbies, and has been patiently waiting for us to dive into that tub of toys. The 2nd grade classes at Ava's elementary school had their winter program this past Monday night...it was farm-themed (E-I-E-I-Oops!...

We've all heard of the Terrible Twos, right? I remember thinking with Ava that two wasn't so bad...it was when she turned three that it all went downhill. Those threenager years were tough with her! Gradually, she grew out of it, and has become a mostly sweet and smart, yet sassy, young lady. And while her ears appear to be broken at times, she still does as we ask, and very rarely disobeys. Things are different with G.  He has fully embraced the life of a treacherous toddler. Oh, he hears what we say, and then he gives a mischievous grin, and looks you in the eye as he does it anyway. His favorite word these days is "no" followed by whatever verb/noun he doesn't want anything to do with. Sometimes there's an emphatic swat that accompanies it, and every once in a great while, he still tries to take a chunk of skin with his sharp little teeth (for the record, there have been no biting incidents at daycare...I think it must have been that one little girl who h...

Hunting weekend #2 is drawing to a close, and when we spoke to Scott last night, he hadn't "caught" a deer (Ava's words) at that point.  I don't think he has seen too many deer over the last two weekends, so I think the warmer weather is having an effect on how much they're moving about. It'll be interesting to see if he decides to head up north again for the final weekend...he had mentioned that if he did NOT, then we could work on painting the office.  Clearly, that option has my vote! It's been a rough week...I've been sick for the majority of it, we did another round of lice treatment on Ava and found some small ones (that's ok - we were expecting that...the goal was to kill them before they become mature enough to lay any eggs.  We'll do a 3rd treatment this coming week.)  And our sweet Darla's health has spiraled downwards, very quickly.  Last weekend she started scratching at her right eye, and ended up ripping off chunks of ...

Our fun times came to a screeching halt this week when we realized that Ava picked up lice from somewhere.  This was our first experience with it, but obviously, we had both heard how tough it was to deal with them in the aftermath. And it's all true.  I've spent hours this week, treating and combing through Ava's hair, examining her hair strands, looking for any last little nits that I can find.  I have done a gajillion loads of laundry, all in hot-hot-hot water, so we can sleep peacefully knowing that we don't have any louse of the loose.  I have learned SO much about lice this week, and my fingers are crossed that we have eradicated them.  It doesn't appear that Scott, G, or I have had any little visitors, but we'll keep watching ourselves closely the next few weeks.  The good news is that I now know exactly what to look for, and can nip it in the nit, right away! One of my coworkers mentioned that tea tree oil is a natural deterrent, so I've purchas...

I lied.  I thought summer was busy.  Turns out that the last two weeks in October kick off some serious crazy time where there's something going on every day/night! We kicked off the Halloween spirit a few weeks back by taking in a Thursday evening showing of Hotel Transylvania 2.  Ava and I were the only ones in the theater! Random pic of G, watching a Mickey Mouse Halloween movie... Last Saturday, after going out to a new (to us) restaurant in the area, and making sure all the kids were tucked safely into their beds, I headed out with my friend Tina.  And stayed out until 2:30am.  I haven't done that for a reallllly long time, and I certainly should not have done that before the very full Sunday that we had planned... ...where Ava and I met up with my friend Amy (and her daughters) for the Hallzooween event at the Minnesota Zoo...trick or treating throughout the different animal sections, crafty projects, and yummy treats.  After getting ...