The Perfect Day

Today was a PERFECT day.  As perfect as you can get with two kids ages three and one.  :)  Let me just say, that these last two weeks have been rough, rough, rough.  Every day we battle sibling arguments, potty wars, Bridget's extreme obsession with me between the hours of 4:00 and 7:00 pm, Marshall refusing to go to bed, the list goes on and on.  I have ended just about every day these last two weeks by telling Richard that we are never having a third child.

Well, today was a gift from heaven.  Yes, I still had to discipline Marshall for hitting/pushing/kicking his sister, Bridget still screamed to be held by me and only me, but through it all, we had a lot of fun and I enjoyed a lot of unusual pleasantries with my children.  :)

I began my day by sleeping in until 7:15 and let me tell you, it was grand.  Lately I have been waking up early with Richard at 5:50 to either go running or get things down without the interruption of children.  But, today I bagged all of that and slept in!  I had 45 minutes with just Bridget until Marshall woke up at 8:00...halleluiah!  The rest of the day is documented with pictures...

Fun at the park.

Loving her pigtails.

This is Bumblebee.  Marshall adores him and today he informed me it was Bumblebee's birthday.

We had a picnic at the park and as soon as Marshall plopped down on the blanket he said, "Isn't this wonderful?"  He continued to just lay on the blanket for several minutes without eating; he was loving it!  Ah, the simple pleasures of life! 

I brought an apple to cut up for the three of us, but forgot the knife.  I figured we could all nibble on it together, but after I took two bites Marshall took it out of my hands and ate the entire thing.

Just checking on some road construction.

After our picnic we went to Baskin Robbins to get Marshall an ice cream cone as a reward for participating in his soccer class last night.  It took seven weeks for this boy to play the entire 45 minute class!

We ended the day with dinner at Pizza Hut.  Fine cuisine, I know!  But, both the kids had coupons for there for a summer reading program and I didn't have to cook or clean up a kitchen.  Win win!

Besides all of that Bridget took a three hour nap, I read, and Marshall and I played outside for an hour.

GREAT DAY!

Romney Ryan Homecoming

I'm putting this out there now...Richard and I are pretty much Republicans.  :)  We are supporters of Mitt Romney, so when we heard on Saturday that he had chosen Congressman Paul Ryan from Wisconsin as his vice president we were pretty excited.  (I am sure this is making our liberal friends cringe.)

Anyhow, on Saturday evening Richard heard via Twitter about a Romney Ryan Homecoming event on Sunday evening.  He checked into it and found that it was free and just about 15 minutes away from us.  We decided to go.  How could we not go to a free event that featured the Republican nominee for president and his running mate from our state?!

Well, we went and had a great time and our kids were troopers through it all.

The event started at 5:30, but our tickets said doors would open at 4:00.  Knowing that we were taking our kids on a Sunday evening we didn't want to get there too early because we knew they wouldn't last very long.  We left our house at 4:45 and at about 5:00 we were less than two miles from our destination, but we found ourselves in a horrible traffic jam!  Who would have thought a Republican event would bring so much traffic in the liberal state of Wisconsin?!  After hardly moving we talked about just turning around and going home, but we decided this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity and we should just keep going and see what happened.  I ended up getting out of the car and walking with the kids who were getting very restless.  We walked for 1 1/2 miles!  But, as luck would have it, Richard finally pulled in right as we got there, so it wasn't any faster for us to walk, but at least it gave the kids a break from the car.  

Anyway, we got to the entrance and had to stand in a long line for security.  By this time it was well past 5:30, but the event ended up being outside so there was plenty of room for latecomers like us.  They were also just playing country music, so we hadn't missed any of the action.  We found a place near the back, but we had a good view of the big screen.  We didn't have to wait very long before the program began and it was excellent.  Senator Ron Johnson and Governor Scott Walker spoke briefly and then introduced Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney.  They each gave their remarks and did an excellent job.  

We made a beeline for the exit as soon as Romney finished.  We did not want to relive the traffic!  

Waiting in the security line.

So many people!

Our poor children.

Paul Ryan speaking.

Mitt Romney speaking.

Our friends, the McAllisters, were also there.  It came in handy as the three boys were able to entertain themselves with the ipad.  :)

It was a good time and one I won't forget.  Whatever your political beliefs, it is pretty cool to see a presidential nominee and his running mate together.  How often does that happen?  The next morning I heard on the news that Romney and Ryan were heading on their separate campaign trails and wouldn't be together again until the convention.  It was a historic event!

Back in Business

Hmmm...let's see...its been almost a month since my last post.  In the past month the kids and I spent two weeks in Utah, Richard spent the weekend after that in Utah (why the kids and I didn't extend our trip, I still don't know) and Bridget and I just got back from a weekend in Michigan.

Wow!

It has been fun, fun, fun, but we are tired!  Richard and I finally put away the suitcases last night for the last time this summer, whew!

Obviously I have a lot to catch up on and those posts will be here in the coming days, hopefully.  :)  But, until then, these two gems were too good to wait on...

Bridget's first beach experience.  :)

And now I give you animal sounds from Bridget.