Wordle! When you pull the most used words on my blog you get something like this...

Things that make me happy....

Hearing Fin say "woof woof" every time she sees a dog...

Hearing Parker say "uh oh" whenever he drops something...

Remembering how small our 'little ones' were only 12 months ago...

Brian's brother Joel works for Google and somehow set up my blog to 'track' all the hits I get (don't worry, I can only see what state and city you are in, not who you actually are!). Last month (a 30 day period) I received 646 unique visits! AND almost 90% of that was direct hits...meaning you didn't just find me from a Google search- 21 states and three countries (thanks Blake!). Thank you all so much for loving our babes! I promise to get pictures soon- the blog is looking kind of naked lately without them!

In life there are those people who enter our lives only for a fleeting moment yet touch us profoundly for eternity. My next door neighbor was one of those. An old farmer from rural Missouri, Roger was one of those grouchy old men who you just couldn't get enough of. During the babies' naps I would bring my recycles out only to find him weeding our gardens and there we would sit and talk until we heard cries coming from the house- and even then it was hard to pull myself away. He was one of those types that you felt like you had known forever. We talked about everything. Roger loved to give and even at the end when he was weak from all the chemo treatments I would see him pushing a lawnmower through our front yard. I would scold him only to be told "you have enough on your plate, go inside now and take care of those babies." It's strange, I knew his time was nearing but I suppose I never really imagined he would one day be gone. For someone whom I'd only known a short time he touched my life deeply...you will be sorely missed Roger.

Yup, we have 'em. Just when you think nothing more could go wrong with our 'perfect' little house. We knew the house had a history of termites but when the inspector came in May he didn't see any signs of an 'active colony' (just hearing the word 'colony' gives me the heebeegeebees). Then I get a little postcard in the mail advertising to spray our bugs and do a termite check for $45- I figure it was a great deal...little did I know that my bug spray was going to end up costing 20 times that. So the guy is out turning our mulch looking for the little buggers when he calls me over. Have you ever seen a termite? They are perhaps the grossest little things on God's earth. But there they were. Hundreds of little white wood-eating ants scurrying through our mulch and down the mud tunnels they had created towards our foundation. Luckily they're not inside yet. Unluckily it cost us over $1,000 to have the house treated. Oh the things I could spend a thousand dollars on- glazing my horrific yellow tile in my kitchen, a new sink in my teeny tiny bathroom, perhaps new linens for my bed, or hell, maybe just some new shoes- a lot of new shoes! Forking it over to Terminix was never in my plans... Hopefully they all die and we won't have to do it again in a few years. So gross.

Speaking of termites I think our 'colony' snuck into Finley's bedroom and abducted her for she too has become a wood eater. The girl, like termites, loves anything cellulose based- books, magazines, mulch. I cannot keep these things out of her mouth. Yes, it's normal for babes to put things in their mouths, but not like this. She literally chews and swallows mulch by the handful. US Weekly is her favorite. We have had to remove all books that are not board books from her room. We now have to choose the parks we go to based on their ground coverings. Between my daughter and our termite colony there might not be a house to be concerned about in the near future- we will have been eaten!

My son is going to be a hoarder...you know those four year olds that carry around their backpack full of toys they claim to be favorites, that will soon be Parker. Once he is into something, he really gets into it. Brian is on-call tonight so doing bathtime is always a bit of a dance- in order to leave one in the tub while taking the other out we fully drain the bath first. So I pulled out the drain (the thing that usually stays in but we have to take it out otherwise they end up sitting on it and emptying then takes forever- its the long metal piece with a metal disk on top) and set it on the ledge for the tub to empty. Soon Parker has it in his sights and it becomes the new favorite. I pull Fin out, dry her off, lotion, etc. all the while Parker is sitting in an empty tub fully amused by his newfound 'toy.' I go to towel him off and take the drain away and he has a full out fit. I give the drain back. We lotion with the drain. We get our pajamas on with the drain. Drink our milk with the drain. Read our books with the drain. Finally it is time to put them down and he still won't let me have the damn thing. I had to put my son to bed tonight with a nasty metal tub drain. I'm not sure whether to laugh or be completely repulsed by the idea of him snuggling up to a plug...Oh goodness, what will my son be carrying in his backpack in a few years?!

Michigan football is on today. I don't have high hopes. Brian took the babes to my parent's house to watch the game with my Dad and I have the whole house to myself! Whenever the house is empty (which doesn't happen very often) it always seems a little strange- no monitors to watch, snacks to make, boo boos to make better... I look forward to these rare days to myself but as soon as the car pulls away I always get a little lonely- I miss them after they've been gone for five minutes!

One of my mom friends asked me at our weekly playdate if I felt like I was always cleaning- the answer is a resounding YES! So I decided on my 'day off' that I was not going to touch a Swiffer or a rag. Instead I have big things planned today...painting stripes in the babes' room, painting a bookshelf for their room that has been sitting in our garage for a month, and filling and painting my new picture trim in the dining room. Jealous?!

As I was uploading some videos (no camera, remember?) I realized that the majority of our film is of Finley. Let me explain. Whenever we pull out the camera to take pics or video Parker literally runs to attack...the kid loves all things technology. Sooo we don't often get postable material from him. Here are some cute videos of Fin from this week...

Finley has been responding to "Hi Fin" with "Hiiii Daaaa"....Does this count as a first word?!

Gustav has hit the Midwest- what better to do than organize our closets! YAY! I spent the afternoon putting away too small clothes, shorts, and summer dresses and pulled out our new 18month and 2t wardrobe for fall. Goodness we have a lot of cute clothes! As always Finley takes up 2/3 of the closet while Parker's polos (boy's clothes are so boring!) get squished at the end. All of those things I bought last year and thought to myself 'our babes will never fit in these things,' are now looking about the right size. I have to admit I got a little sad packing all our stuff away- our babies are growing up so fast! We recently bought the babes their first pair of real shoes- no more Robeez. Although they are having a little difficulty walking in them, they're pretty cute nonetheless. No one tells you that babies have to basically re-learn how to walk when they have shoes on their feet! We also recently packed away all the bottles...it sounds silly but I was really dreading this! Bottles are kind of the last sign of babyhood...now our babes are officially toddlers! As these might (I said might) be our last children I can't help but be a little depressed over the fact they're on to sippy cups and Keds:( Why is it that we are so excited for our children to eat solids, walk, talk, etc and then when it happens all you want to do is turn back the clock and have your babys back?!

Brian is on vacation this week (yeah, don't feel too bad for him and those 90 hour work weeks- who get vacay for a week only two months into a new job?!) so we decided to head out to Innsbrook for a beach filled family vacation. It was wonderful- great food, great weather, the babes had a blast. Then we get home. The dry wall guy came over the weekend to mud and sand the soffit in our kitchen and the wall in the babes' playroom that got destroyed during our mini-flood (the contractor knocked a pipe loose and we had a slow leak over the course of a few days before realizing an entire wall was saturated in the basement. Awesome.). We walked into literally an inch of drywall dust on the kitchen floor, on the countertops, inside the cabinets, everywhere. We put the babes to sleep and instead of crashing on the couch to watch Gossip Girl (so?) we spent a good two hours cleaning our kitchen. Is life ever easy?

*Pics of the beach to follow- I broke my mom's camera while away- yes, if you're keeping track I have now lost one camera and broken another all in about 2 months time. Guess my dream for a Dyson has now morphed into a desire for a new digital camera...

One of my blogger mom 'friends' recently posted about her favorite things which got me thinking about mine. I know a lot of moms read my blog so I thought I'd share...

1) My BOB stroller...yes, it was a splurge but I am OBSESSED with it! I wouldn't be able to leave the house without it and actually makes running kind of fun (no, I'm not lying)

2) The pizza cutter- sounds strange, but when you cut up sandwiches, veggie burgers, cheese sticks, etc. all day everyday you'll soon find that this is hands down the best kitchen utensil of all time. We now own three.

3) American Apparel children's clothing- we all love the comfy tees for adults and I just discovered they make baby gear out of the same material. We just ordered tons of long sleeve tees and karate pants for play clothes in the fall/winter. They are FAB!

4) Mustela products- you've all heard me wax poetic about my love for their baby line but it truly is the best ever! Love the smell, love the lotion, love the bath wash, love pretty much everything about it...

5) Baggu reusable bags- I'm not a big believer in the global-warming-world-is-coming-to-an-end-al-gore-green-movement, however I do love that these fit in your purse, are super cute and, yes, they are good for the earth as well.

6) My husband- ok so this one is cheesy, but I am truly grateful for him coming home at the end of a 12 hour+ day and totally energized to play, cook, bathe, etc. I would be committed without him and am truly a better mom because of him!