Cookies & A Field Trip

It's an annual tradition for us to make & decorate cookies at my parents' house during the week of Christmas. Yesterday the girls displayed their artistic creativity with colored dough and glitter gel frosting.
We also took a trip to a local science museum yesterday. The girls loved climbing on the DNA strand and whale outside.

December

There are so many fun pictures to share! However, because I'm super cautious about posting my kids' faces online, you'll have to email me when you want to see more of an event.
This month we've gone Christmas tree shopping, decorated the house, had 2 gymnastics shows, made ornaments with friends, gone ice skating & visited a science museum!

Thanksgiving

This month we had a birthday party & celebrated Thanksgiving on 2 different ranches! The girls enjoyed horses, karaoke, tractor rides & even driving a tractor!

Oops (again)

Oh yeah....we have a blog. Oops! Okay, so obviously we haven't posted anything since Halloween. But we DID have a fabulous Thanksgiving & we are looking forward to Christmas here in a few days. I'll post some pics of the last couple of months after I post this.

Happy Halloween

Pumpking carving (okay, so that wasn't done on Halloween, but it still counts for the holiday), trick-or-treating and watching cartoons. That was only half of what we did yesterday, but my little pumpkins had a great day!

Quote of the day

"aahh--shhoo, aahh-shhoo, aahh-shhooo" (the sound of a doll sleeping).
Me: "Why are you saying it that way instead of making the real snoring sound?"
Oldest Child: "Because I don't have any spit in my mouth!"

Bunyons!!

It's pumpkin season (yay!), and what do you do during pumpkin season when you have children? You visit all the cool pumpkin patches your other friends with children tell you about! We decided to cram two large pumpkin patches/farms into one week.
My youngest has fallen in love with tiny "bunyons," as she calls them, and my oldest discovered "tiger pumpkins." Between pony rides, petting zoos, hay bales, train rides and bounce houses we found time to pick out our favorite pumpkins to bring home (the rule: you get to bring home the heaviest one YOU can carry). Decorating said pumpkins is planned for this week (more pics to follow).

Wish Lists

Whenever I'm out shopping with my kids, one of my least favorite questions is: "Mommy, can I have this?" It puts me in the place of having to say, "No" more than I'd like. So, I came up with one of my most (self-declared) brilliant ideas: I say, "Let's put it on your wish list." Saves me the money, my kids getting spoiled, AND the time trying to explain WHY we can't purchase each item immediately.
So...did you know you can create wishlists online at Target & Toys R Us? You can. Then, anytime you're in the store, you can ask for a scanner/gun thingy and let your kids go nuts adding all their favorite things to their wish lists.
When you get home you can go back online and edit what they chose according to what you're willing to have in your house should a grandparent purchase from the list.
There's another cool website called wishlist.com, but it's slightly more complicated than the others.
Now, whenever I'm out I hear, "Mommy, can I add this to my wishlist?" and the answer can always be "yes." My kids think I'm the best because I don't say no to anything they want to add and I have peace for the shopping trip.

Creatures We've Seen

Glass Tables, Screen Doors & Thunder

So, this week...

My youngest pulled a VERY heavy glass table top onto herself. It was our entryway table and one end landed on her meaty little thighs, the other on her feet (she fell to her buns as she pulled it down). My husband & I were both in the room and got to her at the same time. I lifted the glass & he pulled her out from under it and gave her a head-to-toe exam--twice (YAY for Daddy being an EMT!). It's a miracle she didn't break both legs. Later, my oldest & I jammed our toes together in a mother-daughter clutz moment, and my toe nail slid under the skin of one of her little toes deep enough to create a big wound. :-( She was okay until she got in the pool at swim lessons & yelped from all the chlorine in her owie.

The next day was a 2-bath, 3-shirt day for my youngest. :-) I bathed her in the morning (she got out by herself because she had to poop & didn't want to do it in the tub--good girl), then I changed her shirt after lunch because about 1/3 of the peanut butter from her lunch ended up on it. She worked up a sweat at her grandparents' house, then came home to dig in the dirt. So, I bathed her again. She got out of THAT bath to pee in the floor, then, after slipping and skating around the bathroom floor in it for a bit, she got back in the tub. Again, I'm grateful for her thought not to pee in the tub, but it created a gross mess on the bathroom floor.

THEN, my oldest said she wasn't hungry at dinnertime (I made one of her favorites), and I discovered her temperature was 102. Well, stink.

Life is never boring with these two little ones. :-) I love them to pieces and wouldn't trade my mommy job for anything.
I can't help asking at the end of each day, though: When does my husband get home?

I, too, have my faults...

How did I discover the screen on the back door needed to be cleaned? I ran into it full-force and bounced off with a dirty forehead and nose! It's clean now. My pride on the other hand...let's just say my family all saw me do it.

Me, to my husband (early this moring):

"I just opened the windows & it's really muggy out. Weird."

minutes later... rumble-rumble-KA-BOOOOOM-BOOM-OOM-rumble-rumble!!!

That's when I went from the dining room to my bedroom across the house in about 3 leaps. I hadn't seen the forecast and I'm terrified of thunder. Yes, THUNDER. Yeah, I know lightning is the one that can hurt, but I can close my eyes and the light goes away. Thunder, though.... it's just not my friend.

Being Together

Because we aren't sure what D's schedule will be like with the new company he works for, we chose to take advantage of a beautiful weekend afternoon together as a family. The water was cold, but not freezing, the wind was light, the sun was warm, and we brought all the fixings for a picnic on the beach. We all had fun. Looking forward to doing it again soon!

Nan's 85th Birthday

We spent yesterday in Sacramento celebrating Nan's 85th birthday with that whole side of the family. Here are a couple of highlights. Everyone took turns posing with the face of Lindsay's husband, who was unable to attend because of work. And SOMEONE found the dessert before everyone else!

Dear Structure Currently Known As My House,

As my house, you've provided a cozy place for us to make our home and I fully intend to reside in you as long as possible. You've given us a place to make memories, to relax and to gather with friends and family. For those things I thank you.
However, there's an issue I feel needs to be addressed. Actually, it's more of a request. Can you please do a little more to contain the small insects and other crawly-things to the OUTSIDE of yourself? Now, I'm not completely inflexible...letting a few tiny outdoor creatures into the garage occasionally is acceptable. But the large pinchy-type bug I found on my curtains this morning? Don't ever let it happen again. Do we have an understanding?
Good.
I look forward to the rest of my [hopefully] bug-free day here at home.
Thank you.

No Voice

I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately, and this morning I woke up with NO VOICE! I could muster a whisper, but not a very strong one. It gave me a renewed appreciation for being able to speak when I'm not sick as well as some insight into my youngest's struggles with learning to talk/communicate.

I wasn't able to say the things I really needed to say, like:
"Don't put that rock in your mouth,"
"Please sit before you go down the slide,"
"Watch out for that step!"
and "I love you."

And I learned that if you're not making noise at our house, most of the time no one is paying attention to you! I found myself clapping to get attention when i needed to communicate something important. I even did it at work today! Speaking of work...I think I'm going to whisper every day when I'm there because my students were so quiet and obedient!

My Life As A Rock Star

This was written by Melinda Coats in the MomSense July/August 2009 issue (a MOPS publication). I loved it & agreed with it. Thought some of you might enjoy it, too:

I live the life of a rock star. It's true! I have wild hair and make-up with frequent costume changes.
Everywhere I go I have an entourage. People are constantly yelling my name. I look out into the crowd and they're actually crying for me, reaching for me.
I have no privacy. I'm watched when I shower, when I'm cooking, even when I use the restroom...for my own protection, I'm sure.
When I go places I must do so quickly before my fans get out of control and start a riot. Every night I different [person] wants to sleep with me. Each of them seems genuinely hurt when I turn [them] away.
Occasionally I get dirty undergarments whirled at me with a whoop and a smile. It's even hard sometimes to walk through my own home without someone spotting me and trying to grab my legs or my clothing.
Oh, and don't forget about the stalkers! You know those crazed fans that follow you everywhere? Why, I can't even talk on the phone in the pantry without an eye or two peeping in at me.
Yes it's true--I live the life of a rock star. And this goes out to my biggest fans--D., Z. & E.--thanks for making my debut so special!

Learning

Words/Phrases the youngest has said for the first time this week:
1. Gabba-Gabba
2. Whoops!
3. Gum

Things we've discovered this week:
1. There's a tomato plant growing in the middle of our back lawn.
2. The youngest had a flea in her diaper (stray cat that visits got sprayed right after this discovery)
3. The cat we thought was a stray actually belongs to one of our neighbors. Her name is Princess (perfect for our kids).
4. The youngest can & will chew gum! I'll try to get a picture of this up soon.
5. The oldest can flip over the bar at gymnastics without assistance! (VERY proud parents here)

Things I've forgotten about this week:
1. The water filling the tub for the youngest's bath (D. found it and turned it off before it was full enough to spill over onto the floor)
2. My grilled cheese cooking on the skillet. (so sad. why do I mess up the easiest things to make?)
3. The water filling the pool in the back yard. D. wasn't home this time, so it DID spill over. Benefit: I didn't have to water that part of the lawn today!
There's more, too, but guess what? I can't remember! My brain is mush lately.
But I DID remember to include some cute pics!

Family Time

We went to the zoo...

A little trip...

The girls and I went on a weekend trip to visit friends and volunteer for a cancer foundation fundraiser. The weather was beautiful. We played on the golf course (the girls also saw some ducks swimming in the pond), swam in the pool and had a nice visit. E. even found her belly button while we were there!

Why we've been giggling since yesterday morning:

D's sister played an April Fools joke on him that he & I decided to play on most of our friends yesterday. Here's the text message we sent out:
"Do you know a Mr. Behr? He asked me to have you give him a call at 415.753.7080."
(that is the number to the SF Zoo!) Hahahahaha! Get it? Mr. Behr= Mr. Bear (say it out loud)! Oh my goodness--we've been laughing nonstop because EVERYONE fell for it. Tee-hee!

The children are multi-colored and smell like hard-boiled eggs & vinegar

Because we dyed eggs today! Uncle J & Miss Steffie brought the fun and we all indulged in an early Easter festivity (Miss Steffie's were the prettiest, but I think our youngest had the most fun!). And, yes, we used Christmas cups to dye Easter eggs--it's what we had, okay?