Cabin Fever

I hate this time of year. I'm sick of winter, the novelty of wearing sweatshirts has absolutely worn off, and I'm really tired of being cooped up in the house. This time of year there's little to report but the usual bath tub shenanigans:

Taylor has my "Obnoxious Smile" down pat.

They forgot I was watching. Now and then they like each other.

And since the weather keeps me down, we tried out some exotic new hairstyles on Ms. Ava:

You can see the excitement written all over her face as she sports her first ponytail.

Since she looked like a sumo wrestler, I opted for a headband instead.

Oh, and Ava is teething too. Notice how she chews on absolutely anything:

Soccer ball, or tasty snack?

Aw, who cares, she's still my cute little butterbean.

But then today, we got a break from the winter doldrums. Holy hell, it was a balmy seventy-two degrees in the 806 today! The drive home at 5:00 was about one-third of the usual traffic, because everyone skipped out early to sneak a patio beer or warm up their grills. Not ones to miss out on an opportunity, we decided to join their ranks and head for the outdoors. It's amazing what a little fresh air will do for everyone's demeanors.

Taylor was so happy to be out of the house she posed willingly!

My sweet girl.

Everything was copacetic, until I noticed this little bit of activity after I put Ava to bed:

These two conspiring by the back gate, and Taylor has a mini-shovel. Oh boy.

Then they made a beeline to the rusted out, uber-craptastic bathtub that's supposed to be a flower bed (I think), but is actually just full of nasty stagnant dirt.

And then she's off.......

Sigh..... Jody had her patching up the holes that miscellaneous critters have burrowed under our fence. On one hand, kudos to him for making a game out of a mundane chore. But on the other hand, it was more than redneck from any angle you try it.

After the sun went down, it was dinner time. Taylor has been on a "helping" kick in the kitchen lately, and tonight was no different. We were having BLT's, and she was all in for assisting. The first thing I did was empty the bag of tomatoes into the sink for a wash. As soon as I turned to throw away the bag they were in I hear, "Bite the tomato!" And this is what I turn to see:

Munkie had snatched the tomato out of the sink and taken a huge chomp out of it. After that, I called it a lost cause and just let her have the whole damn thing. Totally made her night.

Seriously??? What kid eats a tomato? Apparently mine. After she polished this bad boy off, she wanted a big helping of chili-mac, then actually requested to go to bed. I don't care if I was one tomato shy of having salad for leftovers tomorrow, the kid actually asked to go to bed. That alone is worth all the tomatoes in the free world.