hungry hungry couch

i am sooooooo lucky to have a 2 1/2 year old. if it were not for him, my couches would have shriveled away to nothing. you see, HE heard their desperate cries for food when i was beyond clueless to their needs. in fact, i had just removed the filling-less oreo cookies that had been tucked away between the cushions that my caring child had left for them.
well, seeing my insensitivity, kadence went right to work replenishing their food supply. i don't know how i didn't notice him cutting strawberries on the cushion with a dull butter knife until he was on the third one. do you know what happens when you try to cut strawberries with a butter knife! wala! you get a smoothie! i'm sure that hit the spot for my trusty couch.....no pun intended on the "SPOT".
then the next thing i knew he was painting on the other couch with sour cream. with a combination of dots, squiggly lines, blobs, and hand prints he put Picasso, DaVinci, and the Ink Blot Test to shame. obviously this couch was a bit of a pig because after i had washed kade's goopy hands and shirt the couch begged for a second helping....and he got it!
i have to say there's nothing worse than an energetic child combined with a slow, tired mom. this is why going to the bathroom is like a field trip where everybody comes. if they don't, you might as well put a stick of dynamite in a paint can because the damage is about the same as when little kids have 30 seconds to themselves unsupervised.
where was my 5 month old during all of this you might say? she was happily bouncing in her jumper blinking the water out of her eyes that came from kade's squirt gun.
i may have to go to therapy before i try to load my dishwasher ever again!

crispy crittered

all hale to the members of the human lobster club!!
tovey and i recently got back from our family boating/camping party. all i have to say is: why do we do this to ourselves? the camping part was awsome and the little ones did just fine. it's the sunburn part and the super sore muscles from skiing part i'm talking about. my hip is still sore from wakeboarding! all i have to say is that i'm just lucky i get to be home with the kids so that no one in public sees me waddling around like i've starched my clothes stiff.
the good thing is my husband can mark off one more thing from his list of stuff he's got to try before he dies. he's gotten banged up a little this summer. he hurt his back this last week (on the air chair), his ankle the weekend before (on a wakeboard), and he took chunks out of his hands long boarding. AND he almost DIED on a kite tube! i'll try to link the footage of his airborn voyage later. he's a crazy man i tell ya!!! one thing i can tell you for sure is that he's loved every second of it and doesn't show any signs of slowing down. i guess as long as he doesn't die i don't want him to quit all these things because then he wouldn't be Tovey anymore. what a groovy guy!
kadence is the biggest monkey ever! the other day he was climbing up on the outside of the stair banister. when he was about 5/6 steps high he would turn around and leap off. as he "air-jordaned" it through the air he stretched his little hand out to give tovey a high five. he loves the rush and kept leaping off over and over again. i tell ya this kid's got a career in the stunt man business! he has also learned how to climb up on the counters which means i can't keep a cookie in the house longer than a day. he is so hillarious though. he's picking up more and more words every day....not to menion the number of words he can sign. he asks questions all the time, is a maniac on the guitar, and is the best 2 year old break dancer you'll ever find!
haley is adorable (of course). she blows bubbles so much she's always got a slobber ring on the top half of her shirts. i'm considering putting one of those dog collar/cones on her neck to catch some of it. tovey's mom got her this little swim suit with strips of floaty things sewn into it. tovey thinks it looks like she's got a bunch of C4 strapped around her body. She's very happy and super social. I hope she has enough energy to keep up with kadence but not quite so much that i go crazy with two little energetic monkeys climbing throughout the house. i guess it's too soon to tell though....i mean, she's only 4 1/2 months.
as for me, i consider myself lucky for all i have. i'm also excited because i've found a bassoon to borrow for the summer so i'm relighting my old passion for playing. woohoo!!!

photo shoot challenges

have you ever noticed the unwritten rule that children will not smile during a photo session? of course they are happy right before, smiling and dancing around. they are also as happy as can be immediately after, jabbering and blowing bubbles. oh nelly, but boy are things different for that middle part! frowns so deep the grand canyon looks like a scratch....wild attempts to escape....and what seems like more water works than the flood of noah!!!
earlier today i set out to get my children's pictures taken in a photo studio. i planned the time so that they would both be awake and full-stomached......plan......did i just say PLAN?!?!?! yea right! in what world does a two year old and a 3 1/2 month old allow anything to go as planned?
to make a long story short, haley was hungry AND tired due to the photo place running behind schedule. also, kade had taken his shorts off and hidden them in some deep dark corner when i wasn't looking. so picture if you dare, a frazzled mom trying to keep her cool while one baby is crying and the other is half naked and trying to run off into the store! for all you veterans, i'm sure it sounds all to familiar.
needless to say, i triumphed in the end and now have adorable pictures of my sweet and very energetic little children:)
POINT FOR THE MOM'S!!! YES!!

fearless kade = fearfull mommy

so, kadence is about the craziest two year old in the entire world! i litterally have a stunt-man in the making. he'll leap off of the sixth step up on our stairs only to land on his butt...on purpose! either he is not afraid of the pain or i'm getting a lot more than i paid for in those diapers! the other day tovey had a band gig. as we were unloading all their equipment i noticed my son racing out the door at full speed (nothing he ever does is slow). in the five seconds he had outdoors by himself he had scaled an 8 foot chainlink fence and was ready to flip over to the other side. not only does he live for moments without parental supervision, he loves to be flipped, twirrled, bounced, and swung at a speed no slower than the speed of light! i can only imagine the news headlines when he grows up: World Record Set: Man Skydives Without Parachutte Landing in a Moving Rollercoaster Filled with Green Jello for the 12th Time. Mom Faints Yet Again.