Thursday, December 29, 2011

You Never Can Tell

these two apart...well I can, of course, but the girls have a hard time telling who is who when I show them a picture of Ava when she was little. They almost always think it's a picture of Gus. Gus at 13 months looks so much like his big sister when she was 16-18 months old... they both have a lot of the same expressions and mannerisms. Have a look see:



Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Ice Ice Baby

The girls wait patiently for their surprise Christmas date with mom and dad.


Photo op in front of venue, girls still not sure what we are doing.
Ava spots the ice and guesses correctly...

Disney on Ice!


This is how they sat most of the show:

In awe

and filled with wonderment.




                                                                   A priceless evening!

Friday, December 23, 2011

We Wish You a Merry Christmas


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Waiting in line to see Santa.

Gus takes a good long hard look at this Santa fellow.
He's not too sure...
Santa reading Ava's Christmas wish.
Picture perfect

We've been seeing this Santa since Ava was a baby and he is absolutely wonderful! You have to have an appointment to see him because he is in such high demand and gets booked up before the middle of December. In our family, Santa brings one present for the children and we, parents, supply the rest. So this year, I made sure the girls asked for something they really, really, wanted and to dream big... this is what they decided on:


What you don't see is me in the background shrugging my shoulders and mouthing "I have no idea why they want this?".  Funny little girls!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Dangerous

So what's this thing do?


Whadda ya mean you just sit here and pretend?? Booooring!


Now this, this is much more fun!

Friday, December 16, 2011

I'm Getting Nuttin' for Christmas


Except for a stocking full of these wonderful magazine inserts, I love these things!!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Crush On You

So there's this boy...



He kinda stole my heart

He calls me "Mom"


* He also brings me blankets if he thinks I'm cold. :)

Monday, December 12, 2011

C'mon 'N Ride It (The Train)

I interrupt this blog to bring you a very important Public Service Announcement:


Do not ride THAT train.

In fact, if you see said train...drop your stuff, abandon your cart, grab your children and get the heck out of Dodge.

This train derails often!

Your achilles will thank you.

The End.

Friday, December 9, 2011

A Day In a Life

Gus fell asleep while grocery shopping. Comfy, huh?

Ruby fell asleep while taking a brief break from playing in the snow in the garage.
Daddy fell asleep while transferring phone numbers from one phone to another.

This happened in a span of 8 hrs.

This happens all.the.time.

Sadly this never happens to me.

These two littles got this narcolepsy like gene from their daddy.

They also got his hair.

Boy, did they get his hair...


Thursday, December 8, 2011

Sing A Song



 I don't know what shocked me more at Ava's school winter concert that took place last Thursday; The songs Ava had been singing nonstop the past three weeks had full body motions to accompany the songs that she never once hinted there would be or her  Celine Dion like moves during "Silver Bells".

Unfortunately for you, I was laughing to hard to catch that part of the song on video but trust me it was hysterical.

I did catch some action shots on this one:


Ruby was not impressed...

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Hey Good Lookin



 Whatcha got cookin'?


* ha! at least someone in this house is making good use of these pot lids.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Two Times

the trouble...

Friday, December 2, 2011

O Christmas Tree



Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Warm Love


Monday, November 28, 2011

When Will I See You


Sunday, November 27, 2011

I'm So Dizzy


Friday, November 25, 2011

Don't Stop Me Now


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

And Winter Comes


Contemplating which is worse; Inside the Mall of America on a Saturday or outside during the first snowfall of the season?

Monday, November 21, 2011

Pump Up the Jam

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Last week, while I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready, Ava passes through to retrieve something in the dining room and informs me that if I intended to visit her when she's older that I would have to travel to Thailand to do so.

"Thailand?? Why Thailand?" 

"Tahm and I decided that after we get married, we are moving to Thailand."

"Um, okay??"


Flash forward the following week and I had made stir-fry for dinner. Ava is going on and on about how much she dislikes Chinese food and says she isn't  going to eat her dinner.On the spot, I come up with a brilliant comeback using the information I now know about her plans for Thailand and use it to my advantage in getting her to eat her dinner.

" Well you better start getting used to it because in Thailand they eat similar foods like this there!"

^^^ The ace in the hole^^^

"Oh, Tahm and I decided that we aren't moving to Thailand anymore, we're moving to Brazil."

Oh brother...

Ava for the win.




Tuesday, November 15, 2011

I Feel Pretty

Hey, quick question for you?

Just which side is my better side?

This side
or this side??



In other news:


If you can't beat 'em, might as well join 'em!

Thursday, November 10, 2011

What Goes On

When Ava comes home from school Ian and I go through her backpack and check what the teacher sent home with her. Ian handed me the papers after he had finished looking through them. One of the papers was a journal consisting of several periodic day in the last month. When I came upon this drawing depicting a typical day in the Bruins household, I burst out laughing.

See for yourself:



 Look a little closer.

Do you see it?

Let me help you.

Ava and Ruby are eating at the table, Gus is crawling around...probably looking for fallen food. ha! And I am doing some model posing (??). Anyhoo look at where she put her daddy, upstairs...in the bathroom...reading on the toilet. lololol

I then concluded that I must be standing there waving my arms and screaming..."Spray the freshner! Spray the Freshner!"

Oh, Ava that is classic. Pure Classic.

I can only imagine what her teacher thought!

Will she be able to look into to Ian's eyes at Friday's conference without busting gut?

I guess we'll find out!

*Ava did not see the humor in the drawing at all, to her that is her normal every day life. :)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Oh What a Night

3 excited kids.
Not many lighted houses.
Lots of walking.
15 minutes in, baby was done.
3 suckers later, he was really done and really sticky.
No wipes.
No diaper either.
Ruby was tired of holding her bag.
I held her bag.
It got cold.
Ruby had to pee.
Found a potty in form of a bush.
In someone's yard.
Front yard.
We got lost.
I like to say confused.
Gps on phone not working.
Realized we lived in a very hilly 'hood.
Our dogs are barking.
Gus is growling.
The other street over had lights a plenty.
Mommy wanted more candy.
Mommy needs more candy.
Ruby loses a shoe.
Ava laughs.
Ruby crys.
Then Gus crys.
Mommy wants to cry.
One hour in and the girls are done.
I'm so done.
Go home.
Eat candy.
Put the kids to bed.
Eat more candy.
Just one more Snicker bar.
Ok, this is absolutely my very last one.
I promise.
Breaks promise.
Continues to break even more promises.
Sugar Coma.
Gulit Trip.
The End.


How cute is this?



When Ava was 16 months at Halloween she dressed up like a princess. My mom had gotten this really pretty white dress at a thrift store so Ava could start a dress- up clothes collection. What a handy, free costume at our disposable.  Well, the dress was about 1.5 inches too long and she kept tripping on it all morning.  When Ava took her afternoon nap, Ian went out to the Halloween store and picked her up a costume. A $60 Elephant costume!

I'd say we finally got our money's worth!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

One Time

For prosperity :)



Monday, November 7, 2011

Let's Hear It For the Boy

Baby Gus turned one exactly a month ago. He started his one year already walking (10months), mastered the stairs, and weighing in a whooping 24lbs! He weighs as much as Ruby did when she turned two.
Ruby also celebrated her 4th birthday last Saturday. It would be suffice to say we have been in a sugar coma all month long ...

Better Day

This morning we had a bit of fun playing with a new phone app that I added last night. These pictures made my less than stellar night's sleep and early morning wake a lot more bearable. Actually, the double twins frightened me a bit. To think that was my mom's reality but much, much closer in age. Eek, no.thank.you.