where to begin?

sheesh, I have been REALLY bad at updating this thing lately! It just seems like life has been flying by. I keep saying to myself-when I get a chance for internal monologue, that is-"what should I do with ALL my free time (hint of sarcasm here) wash the laundry, the dishes, and my kids or update my blog"??? As you have probably figured out, the first option has been winning out for over a month now! But both kids are napping, Mark is "tinkering" in the garage and although all the chores are not complete, I can at least tell myself that the dishwasher and washing machine are humming away!

So, where to start? First of all, Avery has started eating veggies and cereal. Or at least she started about 1 1/2 months ago! The cereal is no problem-she eats it right up. The veggies are more of a question...case in point...here is a picture of her "Bean Face"...both while tasting the beans and also after using most of them as a new kind of facial! Yeah, not that thrilled!!

And now on to the bathtub!!

In other exciting news, I have GRADUATED! Well, I went through the ceremony, got hooded and had a (Thanks mom!) great party-which somehow ended without any PICTURES being taken-what were we thinking? but due to my maternity leave I won't actually get my diploma in the mail until I finish rotations at the end of July. Then I sit for the boards in August sometime. But until then, here is a picture of me getting hooded at the ceremony...

geez, aren't you so proud??

Let's see...what else is new? Xander had an eventful day at the sitters about 2 weeks ago...He was tired from playing outside on one of the gorgeous days we were having and ran into the house, only to fall on the sidewalk. Poor guy! Then as he is walking in the house, still supposedly disoriented from scraping his face up on the sidewalk, he walks straight into the corner of an open drawer! OUCH! Here is the evidence!

And a couple of days later-we are healing!

Besides falling down and injuring his cute little face, Xander has been spending hours upon hours at the park. He is officially addicted to fun-can you blame him?

So proud of himself...he can make it all the way to the top!!

Oh my aching arms...he can (and will) swing for an hour straight! We are working on the whole pumping your legs and swinging by yourself thing! OH! and look who Xander convinced to get in a swing all by herself! She is loving the idea!Here is Avery with her daddy on mother's day-yeah...no pictures of the actual Mother, but that is b/c she decided since it was her day and all to wear her hair in a bun and dress in "bum" clothes! :)

Speaking of Mother's day, I got this fabulous 16x20 collage framed thing full of pictures of the kids with an adorable, and rhyming, poem in the middle about why I am a fabulous mommy! Isn't that the sweetest? Now hopefully we can get it up on the wall before next mother's day :)

Xander also had a fun playdate with his BFF, Ethan. Here is one shot of the two of them playing around in Xander's jumper! Those boys...

While Xander plays away the day, Avery has learned a new trick of her own...her she is in the beginning stages of finding her toes!! You can see here that they are starting to become more to her than just those things that Xander is always pretending are stinky and then gobbling them up!
And, just for good measure, see how happy finding those toesies makes her!!

So, as Avery has gotten more and more active, I have been more and more creative at finding ways to keep her occupied. Here she is with what I call a "15-min bottle of water"...She doesn't take bottles and has no idea really how to hold them, but she will spend 15 mins or so trying to figure it out. Meanwhile she ends up soaked with water, but it doesn't bother me one bit b/c being strapped into her highchair and not rolling all over the living room looking for Xander's "scraps" (aka crumbs from his last one or two meals!) keeps ME happy!

Ok, so I am SURE there is more and if I happen to think of it, I will be sure to get it updated as soon as possible. You can COUNT on me-but please don't place any bets or if you choose to, I am NOT responsible for the outcome!