The title of this post may trick you into thinking that it’s a post about our kids and their lack of ability to play nicely together and share. But if that’s what you were thinking… you’d be wrong. This is a quick post about my inability to share.

As many of you know, we finally got grass down in our front yard last fall. This is exciting because it means the end of weeds and mud and dust and the beginning of being able to play in the front yard (without becoming a muddy, dusty mess). However, this also means that other neighborhood children will be drawn to our yard more as well. This is the part I have an issue with. I’m generally a pretty tolerant individual, but when the neighbor kids come over and pick the flowers and put crap down the drains and dig in the garden it’s hard not to want to bury them up to their necks in the yet unfinished back yard to prevent them from doing any further harm. I realize they’re just kids and I’m sure I did much worse when I was their age, but darned if I don’t have a hard time sharing with them.

I guess my parents were right. You really do appreciate stuff more when you have to work hard for it.

Yesterday was Mike’s 31st birthday.  We are so lucky to have him.  He is a great husband and a wonderful dad. I don’t know what I would do without him. We met each other 9 years ago on a blind date. I was with his friend and he was with my friend. The next weekend he asked me out and we have been dating ever since. He is my opposite in many things and I think that is why we work.  He balances me out. I truly need him. In these 9 years I have learned many things about Mike so in honor of his 31 years on this earth here are 31 things you should know about Mike…

1. He loves his Jeep 2. He likes anime movies 3. He still wears his favorite Nikes from high school (gross) 4. His favorite  ice cream is Breyer’s Mint Chocolate Chip 5. He always has a pocket full of Gobstoppers 6. He can fix our broken down cars 7.  He once bought speakers from a guy in a parking lot (they were probably stolen so don’t ever try that) 8. He secretly wants to be a rock star and practices Guitar Hero all the time 9. Loves his music 10. Loves computers        11. Has half a basement full of computer parts just in case he ever needs them 12. Still has his jelly bracelets from the 80’s  13. Owns a sea foam green leisure suit 14. Won’t kill a spider (not  because he thinks its wrong!) 15. Has the Training Table menu memorized (he proudly worked there in high school) 16. Has learned to like driving the van  17. Eats the same lunch every day, peanut butter and jam sandwich, Lays potato chips and a ding dong. 18. Hung his deer antlers in the garage for me (until the basement is finished) 19. Changes diapers (unless they are really messy) 20. Thinks The Office is a funny show 21. Eats Skittles by sorting them into colors and eats them in a certain order 22. Asked me to marry him on Easter 23.  Hates Hates Hates  mornings 24. Has the drive to Bear Lake memorized 25. Loves my family 26. Loves his family 27. Has to sit down to hold both the babies! 28. Holds me while I cry 29. Knows how to relax 30. Calms me down 31. He loves me!

I love you Mike!

Where do Swedish Fish come from?

Well… according to Mallory, fisherman catch fish and then dry them out so that they can be Swedish Fish so we can eat them.

Now you know.

We took the babies to their 6 month check up on Tuesday.  I am still in shock that they have been here for 6 months already but at the same time I can’t remember our home without them.  They fit so perfectly here in our family.  I had Mike come with me this time to help comfort the Jack and Annie after the shots.  We hate shots.  I have been very luck so far to always have my mom or Mike’s mom come with me.  I really don’t think I could do it alone.  They get so upset.  I don’t blame them and now Mike can understand they’re pain a little better.  They each got 6 shots and one liquid dose.  It’s hard to watch those chubby little thighs get so stiff and those sad sad tears.  Times two! Well times three on the tears (I’m a bit of a cry baby too!).  But it’s over for a month and then we have to go back for a second dose of the flu shot. 

We are proud to report that Jack is weighing in at a healthy 16 lb 1 oz and Annie is close behind at 15 lb 1 oz.  They have both reached 25% for weight and height.  It’s funny to look that their chubby little bodies that have really filled out.  I am trying to remember Hailey at that age. She was always in the 95% for her age. She was all rolls. It was so sweet.  

Jack can roll from his tummy to his back and Annie rolls from her back to her tummy.  They both sit up like old pro’s but Annie would rather stand all day.  Jack has one little tooth poking through on the bottom.

I also finally finished the nursery this week.  It’s not very fancy and it’s very small. It’s more the size of a closet than a bedroom but it works.  I didn’t want to make it too girly or too blue.  We put up the other crib, but they didn’t sleep very well apart. So they are back together in the same crib and sleeping great.  I guess they don’t mind touching toes!

Last Saturday Ben and I decided to go out and take advantage of the temporarily warm weather by taking a quick bike ride up by the University Hospital. This was the maiden voyage for Ben’s new bike and he was pretty excited to get it dirty. Unfortunately, due to our rather sedentary jobs, we’re both quite out of shape and our ride was pretty short as a result. It was still fun to get a ride in this early in the year though. The really crazy part was the fact that a blizzard rolled through later that afternoon so you never could have guessed that it was decent riding weather that morning. Hopefully it will turn warm again soon though because Ben and I are both hoping to get a lot of riding in so we can work off our “desk job guts”.

We didn’t get many pics on Saturday but here’s one of Ben looking like he knows what he’s doing on his shiny new bike. Lucky for him I had the camera all packed away when he tipped over about 20 minutes later. It wasn’t a bad fall… he just had some trouble getting his foot disengaged from his clipless pedal which resulted in a rather graceful “flop” onto his side. (Don’t worry… his bike was fine.)