We're still alive over here!  I'm not even sure what happened to us in the past two months.  Although the past few weeks would have me believing we were just buried under snow.

Let's recap since I'm feeling unproductive today and maybe I'll realize we've all actually accomplished something these past few weeks.

Oh, yeah, we went to Cabo San Lucas where Sweet Z had to be reacquainted with an outside world that didn't involve protective wind gear.

And Little R kissed a dolphin!  She also danced with him which was, by far, the highlight of her life to date.

We tried to teach the kids to swim but they were too weighed down by their Duggar inspired swim attire to make any real progress.

We also scared Little R with statues of sombrero wearing men.

Then, we went home to a snowstorm and ate candy for breakfast.  Sweet Z is still wondering where his bunny is.

But the best news is that Little R is officially potty trained!  This should really be a separate post as I have lots of thoughts on what it was to potty train a two year old.  I was totally psyched out by the overabundance of advice and horror stories I found on the internet.  Truth was, once we set our minds to it and made sure not to back track or give up it all worked out in a few weeks.  Nowadays Little R is running around in Cinderella underpants and going to the bathroom like a big kid.  Such a huge relief!

This is a strategically shot photo that only gives the viewer the illusion that Sweet Z can move himself forward.

Sweet Z has not learned to crawl despite the fact that he rocks on his hands and knees and then throws himself forward a mere 1300 times a day.  Little R never crawled and it never mattered much to me whether she did or not but Sweet Z needs to get a move on here because I don't know how much longer I can stand putting him back in a sitting position just to see him launch himself onto his face five seconds later.

Photo taken just three days ago.  Yes, in Mid-April.

Lastly, we have been stuck in the snow.  All spring.  I have a pretty reasonable tolerance for winter weather but this has gone beyond the bounds of anything I am equipped to handle.  Today is the first day in at least 6 months that I can say we may be able to honestly tell ourselves that the snow will disappear for the season.  The City of Fargo officials must agree with me since they are predicting a May 1st crest of 38-41 feet and are currently begging for everyone to make half a million more sandbags.  We don't live in the flood plain right now.  Let's hope a record flood doesn't change that!

Overreaching

Sweet Z doesn't roll and he doesn't like tummy time but he will go to great lengths to reach whatever he is after.  Maybe it means he'll be a crawler?

2 in 3

There are times when having two kids under three seems like it may have been a bit of an ambitious idea.  Sometimes it seems like there is only screaming and toy stealing.  Not to mention endless clothes changing and the daunting task of strapping everyone into carseats in their winter clothes in the subzero temps.  I realize it is an ordinary complaint.  Many people have two kids in three years.  It isn't anything remarkable.  Still, there are days when I wonder how everyone else is doing it.


Then, there are days like this where I realize that the kids are going to be just fine and maybe even occupy each other once in awhile.

Is this playing together or is Sweet Z just super tolerant of having buckets strapped on his head?

There's no doubt about it dogs can be gross at times.  They do all sorts of unspeakable things when you send them out the door to go to the bathroom.  They stick their heads where they don't belong and they eat things out of the garbage.  Well, at least CleverDog does these things.  And I can't lie, as she gets older, she stinks.

But she is also the sweetest companion.  She has adapted to having two kids in her house so well.  She lays on the floor with them and allows for their sometimes less than completely gentle hugs.  She even comes back for more.  It was 8 years before CleverDog had to accept all of these changes in her peaceful existence but she did so gracefully.

People often ask us what type of dog she is.  We always joke that she is part cat, part bat, part pain in the neck.  Truthfully, we have no idea exactly what she is and it is a shame because we will never find another dog like her whether or not we know what breed she is.

And there must be something about a boy and his dog because Sweet Z and CleverDog hang out together all the time.  

Is there a trend here?  Maybe CleverDog just wants to hang out on the soft blankets in the danger free not carpeted potty zone.

Love

Blizzard Sunday

Although it isn't as flashy as when it happens where people actually live we are having a blizzard here today.  Since we were going to be trapped in the house anyway Big R and Little R decided it was a good time to catch whatever black lung type illness that has been plaguing Sweet Z all week.

Little R poses in one of her mitts in front of our windows that have been almost completely covered in blowing snow.

Since Sweet Z is feeling better he is enjoying some quality time with CleverDog who is wondering why we took away the carpet from the room. 

Little R is also spending quality time with Clever Dog but her time is more of the trying to share the only soft spot in the room variety.

With all this downtime thanks to the blizzard Sweet Z has had time to figure out the iPad.  He's almost as good as Big R is at Words with Friends!

Today's Faces