Drum Roll, Please...

I know that all 10 of my blog readers are desperate to find out the results of Sean vs. Julie : The Battle of the Thundercats and SpongeBob Chalk Masterpieces.

I am very happy to report that we each won a category:

ThunderCATegory Winner with a 6 to 4 margin...
SEAN

SpongeBob Winner (in a landslide victory)...
JULIE

Thank you to all who voted :)

Twins!

Ava and one of her BFFs, Emma like to do lots of things together. One day, Emma's mom Sarah and I ended up buying the girls the same shirt from Gymboree and we said, "wouldn't it be funny if they randomly wore their shirts the same day?" Keep in mind, it would have been extra funny because the girls go to preschool together on Tuesdays and Thursdays...

Well, Sarah and I thought we would take the action into our own hands and really freak the girls out by planning to have them wear their shirts on the same day. Not only that, but we took it a few steps further by having them wear the same shorts AND wearing their hair the same!

When the girls saw each other that morning, they were in such awe of the fact that they looked the same. In fact, later that day, Emma told Sarah that her favorite part of her day was Ava being her twin! So cute :)

Here are the doppelgangers (along with one of Emma's little sisters, Delaney):

And the Oscar Goes To...

On one of the nice days last week when we were playing outside, Mommy and Daddy kept the kids entertained by sketching some of their favorite cartoon characters in chalk on the driveway. Once we finished, I took a step back to admire the work, and thought it was photo-worthy.

As we discussed the masterpieces, Sean and I kept asking each other, "Which one do you think is the best?" This gave me the idea to let our readers decide.

To the right of the page, you will notice two polls - one for the Best SpongeBob category, and one for the Best Thundercat. So...you decide! Please vote for the best in each category (artists' names were purposely left off, so as not to create any kind of bias). Once the poll is closed, we will announce the winner and the artist who created them.

PANTHRO

CHEETARA
PLANKTON

SPONGEBOB

I Scream, You Scream...

One of our favorite spring/summer things is to go to our favorite local ice-cream parlor for a sweet treat in the evening after dinner. We got our first trip of the season in last week, and the kids (and parents) loved the yumminess of it all!

The kids split a cup of Thin Mint, and Mommy and Daddy split a graham-cracker-chocolate-caramely cone. Looking forward to more outings!

Man, I am all about unflattering pics of Ava these days (it was the only solo one of her I got):
Big man going in for a big bite:

Cute, happy, sugar-crazed kids:

TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!!!!!

Raise your hand if you have been loving the warm spring weather! We have spent many nights enjoying the nice evenings outside with the kids.

With warm weather comes bubble blowing, scooter rides, sidewalk chalk, and wagon walks. And if your kids are like ours, it is usually a battle to make them come in for the night!

This year has been especially nice because Aidan has finally decided to mind us when we ask him not to go into the street or run laps around the house. And of course it's always nice when Mommy and Daddy get to hang out drinking cocktails on the deck after the kids go to bed...

Which One Are You?

Are you a "you're welcome" kind of person, or a "uh-huh" person? Allow me to explain: a while back, my friend Jessica brought that up to me. She said she needed to break the habit of saying "uh-huh" when someone says "thank you". When I heard her say that, it perked my ears up, because it's true - so many people (including me from time to time) say "uh-huh" rather than the customary and more polite "you're welcome".

I had kind of forgot about it until this week at work. I followed a lady into the restroom, as she held the door open for me, I said "thank you". Her response, "sure". When I heard her response I thought, "how weird". Oddly enough, I also followed her out of the restroom and she held the door for me again, and again I said "thank you". This time, I didn't get a "sure", I got the "uh-huh".

You may be wondering why I thought this was important enough to blog about it. But I kind of wanted my readers to ponder whether they are a "you're welcome" person or a "uh-huh" person. Is it that difficult to simply say, "you're welcome"? Does it suffice to say "sure", or "uh-huh"? Are we intentionally trying to be rude, or are we just lazy?

Just a thought...

Big(ger) Boy Undies!!!!!!

Last Friday night, we had a big potty-training victory : Aidan did both! We were hanging out on the couch, and I started to smell something, so I asked Aidan if he...you know. He told me, "No", but I didn't believe him, so I checked and he in fact hadn't. He has been doing this for a few weeks, but each time I asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty, he very emphatically said "NO!!".

Friday was different. This time when I asked, he said, "Sit on the potty". I sat him down, read him a book and - SUCCESS!! He has peed on the potty a handful of times over the last couple months, but kind of lost interest for a while.

We of course got very excited, and he was allowed to eat two jellybeans (one for each) AND he got to wear a Diego pull-up...it's kind of a big deal.

Here's the big man modeling his new undergarments. Let's just hope he keeps it up (he better, he already wears size 6 diapers - I think that's as big as they go).

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone had a great Easter! We are very happy and proud that Ava was able to tell us why we really celebrate this holiday - and her answer did not include eggs, baskets, bunnies, or candy.

This year, the Easter Bunny visited our house Saturday morning, because he knew we would be in Ohio visiting family on Sunday. He was very good to the kids : they got lots of fun outdoor toys like bubbles and chalk...and a few pieces of candy.

Here is Aidan modeling the cool shades he got:
And here is Ava modeling hers. Doesn't she look like a little rock star?

Here is the only shot I got of the kids together in their Easter Sunday best. This was the first time Aidan wore a tie, and he actually liked it...he kept it on all morning:

SOOO stinkin' cute:

Our precious little princess was just sitting in Aunt Pat's backyard cradling her baby-doll. The baby was cold, so Ava wrapped her up in her sweater - such a little Mommy:

And the car ride home. All in all, the kids were really good in the car and in the hotel. They were both zonked on the way home, and these stupid high-back boosters don't give much support. Can you imagine?

Some day, one lucky man is going to get to wake up to this each morning (she is totally going to kill me one day for posting this):