Ouch!

I have been told by my dentist for years now that I really need to get my wisdom teeth removed. Something always got in the way...wedding, baby, baby...and every other excuse I could think of. We put money in our HSA to more or less force me to finally get it done. I had been told by others that had it done that it was either not a big deal at all OR it was horrible. I went in thinking it would be a little painful, but definitely something I could handle. Boy, was I wrong. It was AWFUL! My appointment was scheduled for Friday, April 15th...and Darren had class all day on Saturday and worked all day on Sunday so that meant me alone with the girls all weekend. Friday night came and I still wasn't able to lift my head off the couch without getting nauseous. Kate offered to help out with the girls on Saturday, but called about 8:30 Friday night saying Henry just threw up... There went my relief on Saturday. What else is a girl to do other than leave her mom a blubbery message on her cell phone crying that she needs help? Thankfully, my mom works evenings in Rochester and is more than willing to drive to Farmington instead of home when she's needed. Between she and Kate (Henry was well enough to have company on Saturday afternoon and Sunday) the girls were well taken care of all weekend.

No, Cara really isn't sleeping here...just doing one of her favorite things, tickling her ears with her Lovie!

The picture really doesn't do the puffiness justice. I looked as if I were a chipmunk storing nuts for the winter...lots of nuts...and by the looks of it it was going to be a long winter. It took a full week for the swelling to go down and another for the bruising to completely go away. I would highly recommend only removing the wisdom teeth that have emerged and are not impacted and take the "let's wait and see approach" on the others!

Best Birthday EVER!

My 32nd birthday proved to be my best birthday ever! It started out on Friday, April 8th with the Berlings coming over with dinner and an ice cream cake...and we were able to play outside, have a bonfire, drink beer, and roast s'mores. You would think it wouldn't get any better than that, but it did!

Mid-dinner Claire decided she needed to go outside, followed by Brynn, then Cara. It was quite chilly to be having a picnic but the girls made the best of it. Cara even thought she would help Brynn eat her vegetables! As you can tell from Brynn's face she was not interested.
Brrr, Claire says!

After dinner the girls played outside for a bit. Thankfully Claire was at the end of the slide to make sure Brynn made it down safely.

Brynn helped Darren make a fire and

Cara made sure to keep it stocked with wood.

A couple awfully cute Asleson girls!

Three adorable Twins fans!

Me and my favorite girls!

Jen always takes the best family photos :)

With so much picture taking going on Cara thought she better get in on the action.

Sweet little Beaner!

After all the s'mores were gobbled up we came in the house to warm up and play on Pete.

Cara and her favorite playmate.

Saturday morning we were up with the birds (thanks girls) so we decided to make the best of it and head to the zoo for the farm babies. The girls both loved it, especially Cara.

At first Cara was quite nervous to feed the animals until she saw Brynnie do it a couple times then she couldn't get enough of it.

The best part of the zoo for the girls was the goat petting zoo. The volunteers even had brushes to use on the goats. That was a big hit for both girls. They spent the majority of the time chasing after goats to brush them.

Cheese!

Cara even was able to pet a bunny before we left.

But it gets better! After leaving the zoo Darren took the girls and me out to lunch at El Azteca (my favorite Mexican restaurant). It was the most relaxing lunch date with kids. One of the waiters LOVES little kids and played with the girls almost the entire lunch...even when he was taking orders at other tables. The girls didn't eat much since they were giggling the whole time, but oh well. After lunch we all came home and took 3 1/2 hour naps. Then Kate, Tommy, and Honrey brought dinner (Two nights in a row without cooking?!? It must be my birthday!) and a few other goodies over.
While Darren was grilling Tommy entertained the girls on the swings while I drank my gigantic beer.

Not only did the Parkses bring over dinner they also brought beans over to fill our water table with and a ginormous Bud Light Lime (The best beer ever!). I can't say I've ever had a Bud Light Lime from a can before, but I would certainly do it again :)

The kids all had fun playing in the beans...we on the other hand did not have fun cleaning them all up.

Finally, on Sunday my parents stopped by to bring my birthday gift. Brynn thought we better pull out the easy bake oven and make some cookies for our guests. Grandma and Grandpa graciously ate them even though they looked less than desirable. After dinner we polished off the ice cream cake Jen and Pete brought over on Friday night. As you can see Cara enjoyed it to the fullest.

DELICIOUS!

I don't think I'll ever need to celebrate another birthday :)

Cara's new favorite side dish and snack...

Cara has a new favorite side dish as well as snack...frozen yogurt tubes. I almost hate to give them to her because she throws a fit every time her tube is empty, but she sure does love them while she is eating them!

The Reinardys come to visit!

Over spring break the plan was to go to Winona and visit the Reinardys. Unfortunately, our plans had to change since Darren needed to leave the state and we didn't have anyone to watch Ollie. Thankfully, Mindy and Rhiannon made the trip up, and we had such a great time catching up. I promise I will make my way to Winona this summer, Mindy. Thanks for coming and seeing us!

They're getting too big!

I initially took this pictures because Brynn had to tuck her pants into her socks. She just had gotten new ones and wanted the flowers to show. I love her sweet innocense! After looking at it I realize how big the girls are! Wow, days sure can be long, but years are short. How do we already have a 4 year old and an almost 2 year old? I can't wait until summer!

SPRING BREAK!

Darren and I has spring break the last week in March. Since we didn't plan on leaving MN over the break we decided to take the girls to Rochester (I know, you're jealous) to the Ramada Inn. We were even able to talk the Eckhoffs into joining us.

We left Tuesday after naps and it didn't take long for us to hit the pool.

Apart from going down the big water slide, this was Brynn's other favorite thing to do. I am so glad we brought her life jacket. Although she is getting really good at swimming she likes her independence in the pool and can't quite be trusted for any length of time. There was also a shallow area for the little kids. Cara loved climbing up the slide and sliding down all by herself.

Landon had fun sitting on the turtle and letting all the water splash in his face. If Cara wasn't so busy on the slide I would have tried her on the turtle too. Water splashing in her face would be right up her alley. Riiggghhhht!

We ordered pizza to the hotel room. Lucky for all of us when the pizza came the kids had had enough swimming.

The social girl sitting all by herself eating dinner. After 20 minutes or so we did move her by the other kids so she wasn't so segregated.

After eating the kids had a great time jumping on the beds, and

playing in Landon's pack-n-play.

Cara loves looking at the pictures I take. I barely get the picture taken before she is saying, "I see?"

Rub a dub dub. Four cute kids in the tub. We thought it would be a really cute picture of all the kids in the tub together. It worked out much better in our heads than it did in reality.

Wednesday morning we all went out for breakfast before Jeremy went to work (he has a real job and doesn't get weeks off just to get weeks off. Poor Jeremy.). After breakfast Melissa and the boys met us at the House of Bounce. So much fun! The favorite activity for all of us was this HUGE slide.

Although Cara looks freaked out here she insisted on going down by herself...many, many times. She surprises us how independent she can be.

Cara was being just a little bit social and met this girl in one of the tunnels. The two of them played for a good half hour together.

Just before we left Cara thought she better try out the exersaucer. If only she would let me contain her in ours at home...

Landon loved crawling around in the princess house!

These pictures were taken about 4 seconds after leaving the House of Bounce. A sure sign of a good time!

After getting home we unloaded the car then picked Ollie up from Dog Day. Ollie doesn't do well at all without us around...and without Cheese he's even worse--he's a full force Nervous Nellie. I am sure he didn't sleep a wink the whole time he was there because this is where he slept for the next 3 days. Poor Wally!