Brooks has his fair share of time-out time. Chloe gets upset when he is in time-out. She tries to console him, which leads to more screaming from Brooks. Here is her attempt at consoling her Brother. He wasn't having it.

Chloe must keep up with her Brother. Therefore, you may find her at any moment ready to shoot.

We call Brooks "Mini-Opa" because he looks just like my dad when my dad was 4. It's amazing the resemblance, really.

Originally, we bought the Squinkies for Brooks. Yes, they are pink and he loved them. They quickly got old, but Chloe loves to organize them. She'll spend long periods of time at the table putting them each in their place.

The differences between my little girl and my big boy are obvious. My little girl prefers snuggles, tummy rubs, footie jammies and feeding her dollies. My big boy prefers to make fake guns out of everything, break most of his toys and run wild on the "property" (our yard). I love the difference and feel blessed to have the best of both worlds.

*For those who are concerned: We don't teach Brooks to shoot guns at people. We only shoot animals at our house and we really avoid violence at all costs. So, before you start to worry about our parenting...We've got it under control.

My girl. So beautiful.

Brooks and Chloe are buddies. When they want to be. If we can capture the moment on film, we do. The funny thing about his picture...it was taken this morning, before school and before our big adventure to "Minneapolis to go to the Waterpark". At this moment, we are still at home with a little boy who is very ill and will miss out on the adventure (until next time).

He doesn't look sick in this picture. Actually, he looks awesome and is even holding his Sister's hand. How quickly things change.

We went on a hike on the Superior Hiking Trail last week. It was very nice to be outside enjoying God's creation. Brooks would really like to live in the woods now. He asked several times if that was a possibility. He said to me, "Mom, I really want to live in the woods. And we can park our van nearby, so in case we need to go watch a show (referring to the TV) or something we can."

Brooks used his wood as a gun. Imagine that.

Chloe had to wear the Vikings hat. She grunted (remember she doesn't talk--that's another story) until we put it on her. As long as she was representing the Vikings, she was all good. Greg thought it made for "not so cute" pictures, but I think she looks like a little ragamuffin. I love it.

Have I mentioned that my kids like to fight over things? One of the things they like to fight for it Mommy. I could pretend this picture is of us loving each other and having a bonding time before bed, but that wouldn't be fair. Actually, Chloe was getting some snuggles and Brooks wasn't having that. This is the result of two kids fighting for their Mommy.

We've been trying to enjoy any moment of nice weather around this place. We've had a very cold Spring and are ready to get HOT! The kids love to be busy (shocker...they are 1 and 4), and Greg is the master at finding them projects that keep them busy for hours.

The latest is washing bikes just like Daddy.

Happy Mother's Day to me, I guess!

I love my kids.

I love being a Mom.

I love my husband for making me a Mom (he didn't mind the task, I'm sure..hee, hee!).

I love the responsibility of raising my kids to love Jesus.

Thank you, Lord, for Brooks and Chloe.

Your love and mercy never fails.

The ONLY good thing about the weather this Spring so far, is that our babies look adorable dressed up in their rain gear.

It's made for great pictures, lots of wet socks and hopefully some night crawlers for Brooks on Friday night.

He and his daddy have a plan..."In the "middle" of the night, Daddy will wake me up and we'll shine a light and we'll get some night crawlers."

I wish we could bottle up some of this kid's energy and sell it. We'd be rich!

Oh, and for Little Miss Chloe and myself? We'll be sleeping. Have fun, BOYS!

We try to get our kids to brush and floss. We're doing our best.

Really though (like in real life), Chloe despises getting her teeth brushed. Brooks said last night from the bedroom, "Uh, oh! Mom! Chloe is getting her teeth brushed!" as we heard a blood curdling scream come from the bathroom where she and her daddy were getting ready for bed.

Maybe we should explain to her that if this hate for teeth brushing continues she is at risk for looking like this!

We had a great Easter. Brooks was sure to write the Easter Bunny a note about a week before Easter arrived. Then, he forgot to lay it out for the big "EB" before he went to bed. He was just so nervous about the Easter Bunny coming into his room and him being awake. So cute. I laid it out for him.

Brooks was thrilled when he woke up in the morning to find a pink mark on his nose and his Sister's nose. The Easter Bunny had actually gone into their bedrooms and kissed their noses! Brooks was so upset that the "kiss" came off in the bathtub and that he couldn't go to church with the Easter Bunny's kiss on his nose. He is so very precious.

We were up early, so we had TONS of time to play BEFORE church. We rode bikes, explored and ate LOTS of candy. The kids bathed and we headed off to Easter Service.

Church was packed and the sermon was right on. We sang some wonderful songs and reflected on the real reason we celebrate Easter. I was brought to tears thinking of Jesus hanging on the cross, being beaten and taking it all for US. We are so undeserving! It's so powerful and our family celebrates God's faithfulness, forgiveness and grace.

Our kids wore their Easter best and then proceeded to play outside all afternoon (the second nice day we've had ALL Spring in Duluth) in their church best. It was fun to just let them be kids.

Chloe got a new helmet from the Easter Bunny. She loves it and likes to wear it whenever we'll let her. Greg had to take it off to tighten it and adjust the straps and Chloe threw a royal fit. It's great to know that her little (or should I say huge) head will always be protected whether she is swinging, playing T-ball, big-wheeling, walking, sitting on the porch, eating lunch...you get the idea. Right?

Brooks was thrilled that the Easter Bunny came to our backyard while we were in church! It was fun for him to run around with his cousins collecting even more candy. The funny thing is, Brooks could care less about candy or sweets or junk food. He's amazing and really one-of-a-kind. He would much prefer ham, green beans and broccoli.

We are so blessed and had a terrific day.