Survived...Barely

I kinda wish I could rewind to last week, when I was lounging around a sunny pool in Phoenix. Fast forward to reality. Matt and I had an awesome, wonderful, relaxing few days in Phoenix. We only had one little glitch and that was Thursday night when I thought we would be able to get a table at Pizzeria Bianco (Phoenix's pizza version of the soup nazi)...anyway, I've been wanting to go there for about 3 years and knew the chances were slim...try a 3 hour wait, no reservations :( But did I let that get me down...did I waste a wonderful photo opportunity??? heck no...I'll take my picture in front of the famed Bianco in my lovely dinner attire...complete with sweaty spandex workout pants, sweaty sports bra, and borrowed bedazzled flip-flops - I just couldn't bring myself to don the sneakers. Nice.

We had a slight mix-up with the luggage and I was forced to dine in this special attire :) Not a stitch of pride in this old gal' (I would like to note that I'm also humble enough to post this awful image - completely un-photoshopped of course, can't be cheating as we enter the last stretch of largeness. I liked the angle...it hides the belly well dontcha think???)

So we ended up salvaging the night with good company and some "pseudo stroganoff" (translation: meatless--something that skipped my attention). We made it back to Phoenix well rested and ready to tackle the next 2 exhausting months. We have found that even though tax season officialy ends on April 15th - the craziness doesn't subside around here until June...a perfect month to bring children into the world-wouldn't you say??? So even though our fingers are a bit bloody, we can say that we survived the season, clinging to everything that was stable around us, and we're ready for summer to hit.

I've found that with the warmer weather, my kids have been much MUCH dirtier. This has forced nightly baths in our house, something that brings me great distress (not that I mind bathing...just don't like taking the time to do it! - I know gross...whatever). This past week I've had several sessions (all of which I'm behind on blogging of course), my almost 3 year old is still wearing underwear - weird, not quite used to that - and the fact that he just did it by himself--even weirder, and a slew of babysitters, for which I am grateful. They come around 4:30pm when its the awful time of day and I get to walk out of the house for 2 hours - make people smile - and they get to play with the kids - like I said... grateful :)

Laina went with Matt on a little Daddy-daughter campout last night and the boys and I had a date night "in". Indy had originally wanted to go to Freedom Station, but we wouldn't have been able to go until around 7pm, so when we went to the store and he started asking for all this junk food I told him we could get ALL the junk food and movies he wanted if we could stay home :) He took the bait and started loading the cart up. It was gross...disgusting...but was such a relief to think that I had just avoided an evening of awful chaos surrounded by loud crazy video games and kids...yippee! Laina waited in the car for 45 minutes while her dad packed up for the campout...just eating popcorn and chilling...and holding on to her princess flashlight. We have learned that if you try to show up to the campout withOUT a flashlight...you might as well go home...its like showing up naked. Its all about the flashlight. She was very very excited and her dad is a very very good sport - all he needs is a fried chicken dinner and coleslaw and some donuts in the morning and he's good.

Speaking of Laina and her father - he decided to help her find some socks yesterday for school (trying to integrate himself back into home life :) She walked out like this and I burst out laughing (still laughing - full belly laughing-as I write)...I tried to choke the laughter down so as not to hurt her feelings, but then Indy rounded the corner and started laughing too! He looked at me and we both tried to compose ourselves, but it was to no avail...I told Laina to stand there while I grabbed my camera (I think Matt was channeling the Lollipop Guild while searching for some socks:
Needless to say, I found some normal socks for her (and did her hair) but she opted to wait till we got in the car to change them - I think she wanted to spare her fathers feelings :) In his defense, he thought they should be pushed down...then they would be okay.

I ended up finding our Egg dying pictures and thought I'd better throw them up since everyone cooperated and we didn't spill one cup of dye this year! Note there's only like 9 eggs!

My dad just sent me the following video link (Cristin this is for you :) I have not been to this station, but I was in Amsterdam's and that's close enough for me. I will also note that this will be going on the labor pains ipod playlist (more on that later - no time to talk maternity/labor plans now) - and yes I will forgive the Macarena portion...I'm in a giving mood this morning.
Sound of Music