Stinky Shoes

Duke likes to tell the kids that Mommy's shoes are stinky. Max thinks that is a lot funnier than Mommy does.

Study Hall

Very serious business going on here today. Tessa is learning about IU and Max is learning about the potty.

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No Park, No problem!

I am so sick of the winter weather and Max and Tessa have been stuck inside for the last few weeks while Duke has been recovering from surgery. So, this weekend we made it a point to get them out as much as possible. Since we can't go to the park, we tried out one of the many indoor play areas around the city on Friday. Kid City is just around the corner from us and Max and Tessa LOVED it. Max is obsessed with cleaning and he spotted a vacuum right when we walked in and proceeded to vacuum all of Kid City. Tessa found the grocery store and got right to shopping. She picked up pieces of produce and dropped them into her cart yelling "boom" each time. I took them by myself and it took me quite a while to plan our exit so that I didn't have to drag out two screaming toddlers who didn't want to leave. I bribed them with food. Success!

Saturday, we took Max to get his haircut which did not go so well. Screaming is a word that does not do justice to what Max was doing during the entire haircut. Because he was screaming so loud, I think our description of the kind of cut we wanted was lost. It's short. I know it looks fine, but his curls are gone...gone. Please, someone tell me they will grow back. Please.

Today, was Kylie Faber's 4th birthday party at the Little Gym and we all had a blast!! We were able to see friends we had not seen in a while and Max and Tessa were in heaven running around. So far, Tessa seems to be much more fearless than Max. He was a bit hesitant crawling on the mats. We've been working on "no hitting" at home, but I guess it's not working too well. Max singled out Finn Faber who is younger, but bigger than Max and proceeded to call him "baby" and then try to hit him. I think this is a sign that we shouldn't have another baby!!

It was a busy, but great weekend. I'm hoping to get the kids to places like The Little Gym and Kid City regularly until the weather is nicer to get us all out of the house a little more. Spring, you can arrive anytime now.

It's the little things.

Tessa and Max have been enjoying a new treat the last few days and we just had to capture Max's excitement. Yummy pudding!

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Snow, Snow, More Snow & a Super Bowl

There has been quite a bit going on at the Cranley house lately. Duke had surgery to repair his torn ACL on the morning of the biggest snowstorm Chicago has had in 4 years. Unfortunately, the surgery was done out the in the suburbs. The surgery went very well, but we ended up leaving later in the day than we anticipate to head home which led to a 3 hour drive. Not so much fun, but we made it home safe and sound.

The snow storm was pretty amazing dumping close to 20 inches around the city. It was fun to watch, but not so fun to dig out of. I actually owe our downstairs neighbors big time because they did most of the shoveling to help us out since they knew Duke was not able to do it. Max and Tessa loved watching the snow and I've taken them out a few times to play in it.

Max and Tessa are almost 18 months and are more and more entertaining by the day. Max is obsessed with cleaning and pretty much walks around with the swiffer all day. Tessa is talking up a storm and pretty much tries to say anything we ask her to say. Max is turning out to be a bit shy and Tessa is turning into a total ham. She's just goofy all day long. I just love watching their little personalities develop.

They were all ready for the big Super Bowl last night with their Steelers jerseys and Terrible towels, but I guess their cheers were not enough. Maybe next year!

Worker Man!

Since Duke is on the DL, my dad was kind enough to help us out and fix a few things around the condo. Max was obsessed with watching Papa Mow fix things. He learned about screw drivers, drills and measuring tape and he officially wants to be a "worker man." Papa even went to Home Depot to get Max his very own measuring tape. I think Max was so impressed with Papa that he now thinks Papa is driving all the trucks in his truck books.

Happy New Year!

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a happy New Year! While we did not have the Christmas we originally planned, it was still special and so much fun to watch Max & Tessa experience all the fun of Christmas. Unfortunately, before Christmas, Duke tore his ACL. It's been a bit challenging since his injury trying to chase Max and Tessa around, and cross all our t's and dot all the i's at work, but we did get lots of company and help from family over the holidays. The torn ACL is in Duke's right knee which means no driving. We had planned to drive to Pittsburgh for Christmas and spend a week, but Duke's doctor recommended we stay put. Duke will require surgery sometime in the next couple of weeks to fix the tear and we're trying to make sure he doesn't injure it further before the surgery.

So, we stayed here and made the best of it. We had a great Christmas day with a surprise visit from Duke's sister Mary, a webcam Christmas with my family and then Duke's parents, sister Julie and nephew Jack came over for Christmas dinner. Max and Tessa LOVED opening presents. I didn't think they would get it, but they had zero problems opening anything. My parents drove in that Monday and we did Christmas all over again. Max and Tessa really enjoyed spending time with the webcam grandparents "Gaga Sassy" and "Papa Mow". It was really nice to have them here for a few days. I wish we could do it more often. They were a huge help with the kids too since Dada had to have his leg up most of the time.

The big hits with Max and Tessa were slippers, a school bus and stuffed Big Bird from Santa, a Peek-a-boo baby from Aunt Beas and rocking chairs and a rocking pony from Gaga Sassy and Papa Mow. We're getting lots of requests to "rocky rocky" right now. Here are a few pics from the last week. Sorry for the quality. We need to get a new camera and these are all taken on Duke's phone.

Happy New Year!