a last-minute snowday

While Tyrel's parents were here about two weeks ago, the Midwest showed her best and decided that she would gladly accept 8 inches of snow in our little town.

This has been the longest winter ever.

To top it off, we keep seeing little flurries outside as we walk by our windows today.

I am about ready to throw in the towel.

The only thing that made that last storm bearable is that it was warm enough for Kemry to actually play in it, as opposed to the negative bajillion degree temperatures we suffered through the past four months.

I need more sunshine, stat.

I woke up with a headache today {despite Tate sleeping in the nursery ALL NIGHT with ZERO crying!}, and Kemry has had two timeouts already {to put this in perspective- she usually gets only one a month, blessed child, so we maxed out our quota by noon today...}.

Every loud toy was found, and every annoying screeching sound was made.

If spring doesn't make itself a permanent resident in Minnesota soon, my brain is going to fry.

My freckles are dying, Mother Nature!!!

Please! Sooooon!

 

See also: the world's cutest snow kangaroo.

a day of daddy {and mommy too, i guess}

Not to brag or anything, but Kemry sure loves me.

She falls down, she gets scared, she gets lonely, she gets happy, and its all, "Mommy!!!"

But I secretly think she loves Tyrel a little more.

You should see these two play together.

No one gives better horsey rides, rocket blasts, or sneaks of sugary foods than Daddy.

Tyrel just finished up this last semester, which means we have a month where his days off are completely dedicated to us.

We are so excited.
Tuesday was the first of those days: no school, no work, no church, no baby appointments.

Nothing.

So we did everything!

We met up with Kemry's bestie at the Mall of America to ride some thrilling toddler rides and get smoothies.

Then we headed off to the zoo, the park with a picnic, the greenhouse to smell yummy flowers, and home to run around our {finally green} backyard.

And let me tell you, Kemry wouldn't let Tyrel out of her sight.

Or maybe it was the other way around ;)

This is what happens when you tell her we are going home. The world ends.

My parents are heading up our direction as we speak so we can tear up our yard.

There will be gardening, wood chipping, tilling, dirty fingernails, sweat, and lots of achey backs.

And I can't wait :)

goodbye april, hello may

Phew.

Are you as relieved as I am that tomorrow is May 1st?

April flew by, but that didn't mean it wasn't stressful, snowy, and not my favorite month of the year.

But then I check the weather for the week and realize our beautiful 70 degree bliss will be turning back to 40 degree torture {with the chance of snow Friday?????}, which leaves me completely unmotivated to do anything productive.
We did hit up the park last week.
Kemry was terrified of everything and needed a constant chaperone on every piece of equipment, no matter how inflexible said chaperone's muscles were.

We just got back from a super quick trip down to South Dakota to celebrate my dad's birthday {while throwing in my mom's and Tyrel's as well}.

We had such a great time, but Kemry had a REALLY great time.

As in Grandma-and-Grandpa-put-a-toddler-swing-on-their-deck-just-for-her great time.

She only came off that swing to go play in her little playhouse in the grass or to go to bed {unwillingly}.

We soaked up as much good weather as we could handle, knowing we had another icky week coming at us.

In other unrelated news, I am T-Minus 15 weeks from my due date, so we are heading into full-blown baby mode.

Hospital tours, onesie washing, bottle sanitizing craziness.

And this belly is out of control.

My belly button might even pop out with this one.

Send good belly button vibes my way.

this messy month called april

Does April seem ridiculous to you?

It does to me.

Seriously.

Ridiculous.

It was always a crazy month growing up since all four of my family members {and our dog, at one point} had their birthdays smooshed into those 30 days of almost-spring.

And, now that I am married, we also have added four Murri members to that list.

Eight birthdays.

It is a good thing I like cake.

A lot.

So, here is the run-down.

The happiest birthdays {in order} to:

-My momsie AND little brother {who share the same birthday...which also happens to be April Fools Day...does that mean Bryan was adopted? We are still waiting for the verdict on that ;) }

 -Jason, who got to celebrate with a new wifey, which is the best thing ever!

-My sweet hubster, who got to celebrate with a not-so-new wifey who is getting pregnant-fat and ate all of his cake by herself.

-Coya, who got to escape this crazy house {from a super fun Easter visit} just in time to celebrate hers.

-Mike, the raddest Father-in-Law ever! Guys. He WON Murri Maddness this year!

{Sidenote #1: I managed to come in 5th out of 30...and Tyrel? Oh. 12th. That's right. 3 years and running of whipping my husband in his own game.}

-Lyle, who gets a fancy new executive job for his birthday present {and has AT LAST quit JCPenney for good...of all of us siblings, he held out the longest at that darn place}

-And last but certainly not least, my sweet daddy, who will get lots of Kemry kisses on his birthday later this month.

Phew. 

There.

I did it.

We love you all!

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On a more lame note, we had a nice teaser of spring {where our two-and-a-half feet of snow engulfing our yard COMPLETELY melted}, just in time for Wanda to come through.

But she is way wimpier than they planned, which I am so fine with.

Two inches so far?

It beats MY birthday snowfall {do you like how I tied that all in? You do, don't you?}.

{She did bring some thunder-snow for Tyrel, however, which was a weird first for him}.

It is enough, however, to make our cabin fever burst through the roof.

Poor Kemry has been so bored.

I think she has put all of her toys in time-out about five times each today.

{Sidenote #2, I hope I don't sound as snarky as she does when I put her in time-out...

but she sure sounds sweet when she puts them to bed and says "Sweet dreams!!", so I guess it is a trade-off...}

And, now, as she is in her room for nap-time, she is banging on her xylophone singing "Jingle Bells" as loud as she can.

But spring is coming.
I can feel it.

I can't wait to plant my garden, rip up my flowerbeds, and get awkward sunburns from sitting at the park in our winter-white skin.

But, until then, here are a few pictures of Kemry frantically running to each window in her room telling the snow that it is naughty.

We taught her well.

kemry vs. the grass

Kemry hates grass.

Remember this from last summer?

This might be my favorite picture I have ever taken of her.

I just laugh and laugh and laugh when I look at it.

We were hoping she would change her opinion about grass this year.

The following is what happened when Tyrel tried to find out {make sure your sound is on}:

Maybe next summer.

kemry's first zoo-outing

This past weekend was very much anticipated.

We needed a time off.

Time to spend as a little family.

And while 2 days hardly counts as a vacation, it was a nice refresher.

After all, we have to hold out until the end of June for a real vacation anyway, so this had to do. 

We loaded up our car and headed to Utah so Tyrel could attend his {probably} last mission reunion.

And to swim in the hotel pool {which was far too cold and just made Kemry cry... to which the remedy was to fill up the bathtub back in our room and have our own pool party. All three of us in our swimming suits, squished in that tiny tub. What you do for the baby's sake, right?}

And to eat lots of burgers and ice cream.

And to take Kemry to Hogle Zoo.

We got there early {due to both lack of sleep at the hotel and a desire to beat the crowd}, and it only took us an hour to walk the whole thing.

An hour.

I certainly remember spending a lot more time than that wandering around when I was little.

{But that might be due to the fact that my little brother dropped his binki in the gorilla pit when he was tiny...and proceeded to watch those muscular primates smash it to bits. Hours of crying ensued.}

It was a fun little time, though!

Kemry sure enjoyed herself.

She like blowing kisses to the cats and saying hi to the giraffe.

Most of the animals got pretty close since we were some of the few there that early.

I guess it is just a warm-up for when we hit this monster of a place in June!

happy sunday!

Kemryy pulled out her sunglasses yesterday and has since refused to take them off {except to sleep, of course}.

I guess that means we will just have to go outside and enjoy the weather.

Hope you have a great one!