Wishing I was here. I took this photo at Monument Valley last September. We had to get up at 4:30 to make it in time for sunrise.

Today officially marks the 20th day in a row that it has rained. I’m not complaining though, I lived in Australia under drought conditions for ten years and I love having the rain; much better than the alternative. I don’t miss living with water restrictions and bush fires. All this rain we’ve had recently has made a huge difference in the landscape behind us, everything is so gorgeous and green.

Taken today at 4:30, dark and raining

Taken one month ago

Daddy was back at work so it was time for the kids to get into trouble. I had some phone calls to make this morning and made the mistake of trusting the kids in the playroom. Big mistake! My daughter has figured out that dumping her toy box and turning it upside down makes a great step stool. She dragged it all the way across the room and took a box of crayons down. Yes, she colored on the walls. Not only did she color on the walls she colored on the same walls I just repainted after the black sharpie incident. While this was happening my little guy was standing on the dishwasher door pulling cups out of the top rack. This was only the first call of the day, the second call Georgie took a box of Cheerio’s off the kitchen counter and turned it over on the living room floor. To top the day off I found a trail of ants in the playroom leading under the TV stand where the kids had shoved some cereal. I love my kids, they make sure my life never has any dull moments.

My favorite products by Crayola are the Color Wonders line. With two toddlers and only two eyes it is easy to lose sight of one while they are coloring and painting. I love the Crayola Wonders products; they only make marks on special Crayola Wonder paper which means my walls and carpet are safe. I can set the kids up at their table with the Crayola Wonders fingerpaints and markers and get my cleaning done without having to worry about what surfaces the kids are drawing on.

We are giving away one Crayola Wonders Fingerpaints and Brush Tips set. Entries are open until 12am May 31; the winner will be drawn at random. To enter all you have to do is comment on this giveaway. To earn extra entries you can

1. Follow us on twitter
2. Tweet about this giveaway
3. Blog about this giveaway

Check Out NEW Crayola Products at Crayolastore.com

Nascar is on and I am planning on spending the night blog hopping at the Virtual Girls Night Out. If I could choose one thing to change about my husband it would be his need to watch cars driving around in circles.

My daughter picked her clothes out today and even dressed herself. I love the independence; just have to work on her color matching skills.

We’re looking to feature some mom bloggers on my daughters site at the end of May. Check out Internet Toddler and contact us if you are interested.

It has officially been raining for almost three weeks straight with yesterday being the only day we were able to see sun and sky. It did rain within the 24 hours so it was not a day without rain. In three weeks we have had four storms that produced hail, three storms that put us under tornado watches or warnings, two lightning strikes close enough to make your hair stand on end and enough rain to flood the pool and bring the pond up to its banks. As I sit here typing I can feel the ground rumbling from the thunder and the mirror on my wall is reflecting the lightning all through the room. Maybe I’m strange but there is something about thunderstorms that I find calming and relaxing. I don’t mind the rain but it does get old after spending three weeks trapped in the house with two toddlers.

This photo was taken at 8:30 this morning. I haven’t seen clouds this dark in years

The dark clouds cleared out about 9:45 and the evidence of how much rain they left is easy to see.

I signed up for Harriet’s 1000 comment challenge and at the time thought, about 32 comments a day, I can do that. Wrong! I am averaging about 15 comments a day. The kids were sick and now I’m sick and trying to take care of one healthy kid and one teething cranky one. I am not going anywhere or doing anything this weekend so I will catch up! Is anyone else as far behind as me?

My daughter frustrates me and amazes me on a daily basis. Today was spent mostly in battle with her over cleaning up her toys. She managed to turn over the entire toy box and had the entire playroom floor co.vered to the point that it was impossible to walk in there. I would tell her to clean up her toy, she’d say no, I’d tell her again, she’d throw a tantrum and end up in a time out. I would let her out of time out, she would apologize and then we’d repeat the whole process. This went on for over an hour. I swear there are permanent indents in the carpet from where her butt spent most of the day.

She finally decided after over an hour of whining, screaming, crying and tantrums that she was going to pick up her toys. as she stomped off and made her way back to the playroom she said clear as day “I need a maid”. I have no idea where she learned this little phrase from but it sure was funny. I was pulling my hair out with her and in a split second she managed to make me laugh. That’s the great thing about kids, they drive you absolutely nuts then they give you moments that make you forget why you were so upset with them in the first place.

I’m blogging from my brand new Dell Mini 9 netbook and I have to say that I love it. A couple of weeks ago I sat waiting in a Dr’s office waiting room and was thinking of all the productive things I could be doing instead of trying to decide which out of date magazine to read. I had a blog post going through my head that of course was gone by the time I got home. This was also during the height of MomDot’s America’s Next Top Blogger comp so I was missing out on all the action. I decided then and there that I was going to fold and get an iPhone.

I made a quick trip to AT&T to get an iPhone and that turned into me arguing with the customer service woman. When I signd up with AT&T I was told I could upgrade my phone once a year; turns out I can upgrade it every 21 months. I wasn’t about to pay full price for an iPhone so I left. My husband came up with the brilliant idea of me getting a netbook. We’re about to get a mobile Internet card for the RV so I’ll have that to use while we’re not on the road.

The Dell Mini 9 has an 8.9″ screen and weighs a little over 2 pounds. It is small enough to fit in a purse and light enough that it won’t weigh me down. The best part about this little netbook is the price; they start at $249.

I’m looking forward to taking this little netbook to New York with us at the end of the month and being able to keep up with the blogs on the road. I had been trying to stockpile posts to go up while we were away now that’s one less thing I have to worry about.

I took a me day, left the kids with my husband, went for a drive and did a bit of retail therapy. We have a kids resale shop down the road that I decided to stop and have a look around. It was only the second time I’ve stopped in there and it was the second time I found Hanna Andersson. Today I hit the jackpot and found two dresses and a pair of pj’s! The owner knows nothing of the brand I got all three pieces in perfect condition for $11. I asked her today if she got much in and she told me that she doesn’t see it often; it doesn’t seem to be a popular brand. I was already on a high from finding jeans at Gap on the clearance rack for $8.99, what a great me day! I came home all excited from a great day of bargains and of course my husband just doesn’t get it. Oh well, at least my daughter was more than happy to try on her new princess dress.

Enjoyed a nice country drive