Drum Roll Please...

It's hard to believe our week started out like this...

Although going a little crazy over enduring one of the longest MN winters in history, we were hopeful that spring showers...

...and flowers would come soon.

Our wish came true.  Ahhhh - finally a beautiful weekend.  All indoor chores got neglected as we spent all waking hours outside - playing, cleaning up the yard, putting our patio furniture out and having picnics on the deck.

 Yes, it was finally sunny enough to all wear our movie star sunglasses.

 Mmmm - those turkey burgers look good...

...I think I'll test dad's cooking.

Hanging out in the glorious sunshine is just what we all needed.  We had a perfect, sun-filled weekend at home.

All of my photos are still taken off of auto mode and I do think I'm improving.  My percentage of successful pictures (those that aren't completely black, white or blurry) has definitely gone up.  At first I thought the dark blur in the lower, left-hand corner in the picture below was yet another mishap in my photography adventure - but no - it's just Miles wanting to get in the pictures as I tried to snap away at my little monkey.

 Now I know what I look like taking pictures constantly.

As these two played outside, s Miles puts it "getting some energy out," at one point I caught them holding hands.  Miles was telling Hadley "that's what brothers and sisters do."

Hadley is my child with the perpetually dirty face.  She continues to be a rock star with potty training - wearing underwear (princess or Minnie Mouse) all day.  We even made trips to Target, Costco and the park and stayed dry!  I woke up this morning to my little one yelling "Mom!  Oh Mommy!  Come on!"  We ended her day, nose-to-nose, singing "You Are My Sunshine" to each other.  Although so sweet and smart - we've learned not to mess with her - Miles is still learning this lesson the hard way.  Miles' first response to things has never been to lash out physically.  Hadley is another story.  If Miles swipes a strawberry off her plate or takes a toy she doesn't hesitate to get a really good grip on his hair and yank as hard as she can.  She's also really good at scratching your face - today drawing blood from Miles' gums when he swiped a piece of her popcorn.  She's tough but seems to be tolerating one minute time outs and is so sweet in her apology and hug to her victim afterwards.  I'm a little sad - tonight we retired her high chair.  She hasn't been sitting in it lately - preferring  to mostly stand on a chair.   

While Hads is scrappy, Miles is the rule enforcer.  He's such a little man reminding Hads of the rules and letting us know when she's not complying.  Saturday morning he crawled into bed with me around 6 and whispered:
-"Is [insert super nanny's name] coming today?"
-No, it's Saturday.  Mommy and Daddy are staying home.
-"I love Saturdays!  And I love you Mommy.  And Daddy and Hadley, and Ruby...  and I love myself."

(The title of this blog post is just for you Jill.  :)  So fun on Saturday...)