Lets Go Fly a Kite!

It was a perfect day for kite flying today. We've been outside most of the day flying our little kites. We found instructions for a simple kite on familyfun.com. I was pleasantly surprised when they really worked! Jacob struggled a bit with his... so we made him a smaller one. This one was half the size of the original ones and only had about a 6 foot string. It was light enough that the slightest breeze would pick it up. It was perfect for him. Once he got the hang of that one he decided he was ready for the bigger one again.

He got tired of waiting for the wind to pick up and ran around the yard to make it fly. He ran a lot! I'm hoping he will go to bed early tonight. :-D

Lizzie made a few attempts with the little one but quickly lost interest and found other things to do. Jimmy just followed her around.

Jimmy was just happy to be outside, even if it was a little on the cold side.

It was nice to have a break from the rain today. It is supposed to start again tomorrow and possibly snow on Thursday. I'm hoping it won't really. Either way, I'm sure it's gonna be cold. I'm thankful for warmish days like today, so the kids can play outside and stop driving me crazy! :)

Wooden Wedding Anniversary

(Picture compliments of Google images)

Today Mike and I hit our 6th wedding anniversary. We celebrated last night because we knew we'd have a babysitter. Each year we take turns planning our anniversary and this is Mike's year. I'll admit, I was a little worried. I didn't know what to expect. Last year he was post call and was falling asleep on me the whole evening. I was a little worried about him doing the planning this time. But considering how little time he had, he did pretty good. He wasn't able to do everything he wanted to, but what he did do was very meaningful. The evening started off with a trip to the park, where he pushed me in a swing and read off a list he'd written, of 6 reasons he loves/married me. (My birthin' hips were #2, in case you were wondering. :-D) It was very sweet and romantical. Then we went to dinner and had some really, REALLY yummy food. (I highly recommend Smokey Bones. Seriously, good stuff!) On the way to the restaurant, he told me that he had planned to get me an additional anniversary gift (remember the ipad he gave me...I mean us, last week?) but that he didn't have time to put it all together. He was going to get me a wooden spoon (since according to the modern anniversary gift list, year 6 is wood.) and include a list of 100 things you can do with a wooden spoon. We had fun coming up with all the possibilities. After dinner, on the way to pick up the kids, we stopped at the store and he bought me some wooden spoons. (I needed some new wooden spoons. Evidently, my cooking has not been up to par without one! Remember this post?)



Here are some of the uses for a wooden spoon that we came up with.

1. Mixing (obviously)
2. Stirring coolaid
3. Attacking burglars that break into your house.
4. Chasing a burglar out of the house.
5. Reach extender (when you can't reach something, say, under the bed or couch. )
6. Back up TV remote
7. Back scratcher
8. Butt scratcher (As long as you don't then use it for 1 or 2.)
9. Butt paddler
10. Head smacker
11. baton
12. drum stick
11. Bug swatter
12. Poker (preferably not for the fire place, since it's made out of wood, but more for say, trying to wake someone up with a couple jabs in the ribs.)
13. Pretend sword
14. Door stop
15. Window prop
16. Baker themed Christmas tree ornament
17. White elephant gift
18. Paper Weight
19. Emergency row boat paddle
20. Fire wood
21. Sandbox shovel

That's about all we got. What uses can you think of?

Oh, and happy anniversary to us. :-D I love you shmoopsy pooh. I sure am a lucky girl.

(I had a picture I wanted to scan and post, but my scanner is once again having issues. So just imagine us {a much skinnier me and more hair on Mike} dressed in our wedding attire gazing lovingly into each others eyes.)

One Lump or Two?

Lizzie has been talking about having a butterfly cake for her birthday for WEEKS. Everyone who came to our house got to hear ALL about it. (And Jacob's dinosaur cake he is planning on for his birthday.) I'm glad she liked what I came up with.For Her birthday I let her choose 2 friends to come over for a tea party. So, her two friends and their moms came over this afternoon and we had a great time. As soon as they got here, they were able to choose a dress up skirt and hat to wear. Then they were directed to the jewelry that was laid out in front of a mirror so they could admire themselves for a bit before we got started. Lizzie chose not to dress up for some reason. I assume because I wanted her too...

Jacob did not hesitate do participate.

Next we made fans. Well, that was the plan anyway. I made the mistake of letting them use glitter glue. Which they used...a lot. Glitter glue doesn't dry real fast when it's gobbed on. :-D. So, the fans didn't really work out the way I had envisioned in my head. But, they had fun, and that's all that matters.

Mike did an excellent job with the streamers, don't ya think. :-D

Our tea party food consisted of chicken salad sandwiches, pb&j (especially for Lulu, since I knew that's all she'd eat), chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, and a veggie tray. Oh, and lets not forget the "tea" (apple juice). :) (Notice Lulu sticking her tongue between the bread slices, licking the jam. Nice. lol.)

He eventually ditched the hat because it kept falling over his eyes. It was fun while it lasted, I guess. :)

If you haven't noticed, Lizzie has an interesting way of eating. She does this same thing with candy bars. She eats the outer chocolate and discards the rest.

Blowing out the candles. I'm surprised Jacob gave her a chance. He was determined it was his birthday too and kept trying to blow them out himself. After Lizzie had her turn. he insisted on having his turn. He even sang happy birthday to himself.

She got some fun gifts!

Because Jacob was the only boy, I had to get a few boyish things for him. (Like the top hat.) I stuck these eye patched in his loot box. He loved them. Poor Jimmy just suffered through the torture.

Pretty stylin' hoop earring, aye?!

Good times, good times.

Yipee, She's 3!

3 cute things about Lulu.

1.Every morning she wakes up, climbs on the couch and politely asks for a creamcracker (graham cracker) and chocate meeoke (chocolate milk) and wants me to cover her up with her quacket (blanket), while she watches a morning tv show.

2.She is very particular about the clothes she wears. There are only certain shirts she will wear and she wants to put them on all by herself!

3.She's my little tomboy princess. She loves to be a girly girl, but isn't afraid to get dirty or wrestle with her brother or daddy.

Happy Birthday my Lulu! We sure love you!

Darn You Facebook

Dear Facebook,

since you came a long, my author has been seriously neglecting me. I used to get so much attention. But since she started posting on you my stats have gone way down. You've made her lazy. It's so much easier to post a short update each day, as apposed to typing out a full blog post. But I'm so much better than you. I provide details you never could. No really, statuses have to be short. Blog posts can go on forever. And pictures and posts can be combined. With you, pictures are separate with brief explanations. I bring picture and post together in harmony and joy, making stories come to life. Now I rarely get posted on. Complete stories are not being told. Important details are not being recorded. All because of you! I feel so betrayed and unloved. But I vow to win her back...somehow. I'm pretty sure if we met in a cyber alley somewhere I could take you. So watch your back!

Sincerely,
The Blog

p.s. I bet you get all the comments for this post as well! I do the work and you reap all the benefits. So not fair. You comment hog!

And we thought he was lying.

A few days ago, Jacob came excitedly down the stairs exclaiming, "Mommy, I pooped in the potty". Mike and I looked at each other a little sceptical, yet hopeful as we follow him upstairs to the bathroom. He points to the potty, but as we peer in we only see a bowl still refilling with water after being flushed. "Did you really poop in the potty, buddy?" I ask. "Ya, I did, I pooped in the potty." Not wanting to assume he's lying and discourage him from doing it again if he is telling the truth, we congratulate him, do a happy dance and reward him, but tell him we want to see next time he does it, and not to flush. The next day, same thing happens, and he takes me by the hand to show me the potty, but all I find is a freshly flushed toilet. "Jacob, I can't see it if you flush. Next time come get me before you flush." Pointing to the tank he tells me, "just look in there." I laugh and explain to him, "that's not where it goes". I decide to check his bum for "residue" and find nothing. At this point I'm having serious doubts, but he's so earnest about it, and he's usually very honest, Mike and I just don't know what to think. The next morning when I go to change him out of his night pull up, I find he's pooped in it. I finally draw the conclusion that he's lying about pooping in the potty. I make him clean himself up and stick him in the shower for a rinse (which he hates) and walk away convinced he's never going to be potty trained.

That was a couple days ago. Today while I was getting ready to bathe Lizzie, Jacob comes into the bathroom and tells me he is going to poop in the potty. He sits and pees and waits a minute, and when nothing happens he gives up and leaves the bathroom. Fast forward a couple hours, he once again come to me and says, "Momma, come see, I pooped in the potty." I follow him to the bathroom, praying he really did it, but having serious doubts. I walk into the bathroom half expecting to see he'd flushed, but nope. Sure enough, there was poop in there!!! I had him flush and we did a happy dance. I've been doing random happy dances ever since. Oh happy, happy day. I guess he wasn't lying after all!

Perfect Parent Syndrom vs. Hands-off Parenting

And then there’s me. The paranoid one.

While eating at Chick Fil-A this afternoon with the family (and my sister and SIL) we witnessed a very interesting interaction between two very strong-willed parents. In case you’ve never let your kids play there, the play area is completely enclosed in a glass room, so parents can peacefully eat, and still see their children play without having to actually be in the play area themselves. I rather like the set up myself. Anyhoo…

We were sitting there peacefully eating while the kids played in the play area, when I hear the mother at the table next to me say something to the effect of, “that kid is beating my kid up. I’m gonna kick his butt. Honey, go get him.” I look over to see my son, playfully rough housing with two other boys. They, ALL THREE, are hitting and pushing each other with smiles on their faces. However, I don’t like to encourage my kid to hit or push no matter how much fun they are all having. So, as the man with the oxygen tank is dutifully obeying his wife’s request to go kick my kids butt, I immediately stand up and announce, “I’m sorry, that is my kid. I’ll take care of it!“ and proceed to pull Jacob out of the play area. I then make him sit at the table with us as punishment for hitting and pushing. I sit down and continue to eat my chicken ceasar cool wrap, and soon hear another mother approach us saying, “it’s not just that kid, (referring to Jacob) that other kid is now hitting my daughter”. When no one gets up to go stop the kid, she directly confronts the offending parents (who, you will remember, were just about to kick my kids butt, for “beating up” her innocent and helpless child.) “Is that your son in the maroon shirt?” she asks. “Yes”, is all she says. “Well, he’s hitting my daughter!” No response. The woman just sat there, staring at whatever game device she was playing and ignored the concerned mother. Just then, the victimized child comes out, complaining that said “innocent child” had spit on her. She again confronts the couple. "Your son just spit on my child!" No response. So she takes her daughter back to her table and doesn't let her go back in. At that point, Lizzie was the only other child left in there with the two boys and I decided I better keep a close eye on her. The parents of these boys are sitting almost directly in my line of vision, and seeing I’m keeping a close eye on things in there, start making comments about the other mother. “I’m sorry lady, but sticking out his tongue is hardly considered spitting.” AKA, “I can’t believe you are accusing my perfect child of doing anything wrong!” As I’m watching these two boys slowly take over the play area and not let Lizzie do anything I decide to let Jacob go back in and I quickly finish my chicken ceasar cool wrap so I can go sit inside the play area to supervise. Things seemed to be going pretty well after that, other than a heated argument between the two parents, that I didn’t hear cause I was inside the play area, but was told it involved something to the effect of, “I’m sorry you have perfect parent syndrome” And “Well, maybe you should discipline your child.” A few minutes later all the kids were up inside the slide area where I don’t have a clear view of them and I hear one of the boys say, “hey that hurt, that was my peanuts”. At that point I wasted no time immediately ordering my children out of the play area, and announcing that it was time to leave, NOW!! Jacob came down the slide immediately, but I was getting no response from Lizzie, even after counting to three. Shocking, I know! So, I climbed in there and dragged her out myself. (If you know me, that's pretty surprising. I'm a little claustophobic. I've been known to make other mothers, who may or may not have been pregnant, go up in there after my kid before. Sorry about that.) I was not letting her stay in there with these bullying, child molesters. (Okay, I doubt there was any molesting going on in there, but I wasn’t taking any chances!) As we are leaving the restaurant we notice the offended parent had dragged management over to talk to the offending parents, and the argument continued.

We planned to do some shopping after we ate, so, when we got back to the van we got the stroller out for the youngest kiddos, got them buckled in, and I decide I need to go potty. I go back into the restaurant to find “offended parent” talking to management about getting “offending parents” kicked out for letting their children be bullies. I glanced over at the "offending parents" and sure enough, there they continued to sit. The wife, still playing her game, and I’m sure sticking around purely to annoy the other parent. It was quite the stand off. I can’t say I’m sad I didn’t get to stick around to see how it ended.

We did our shopping and it took us a bit longer than expected. So instead of heading to a park where our antsy kids could play in the dark, we decided to take them back to Chick Fil-A to play some more before heading back to our hotel. This time the restaurant is a lot busier. As we are sitting there, a mother walks up to the couple sitting at the table next to us and says, “is that your child? He just hit my child”. We all cringe. But to our relief, the mother stands up, apologizes and goes in and gets her son and makes him come sit with her. We all look at each other, relieved that we didn’t have to witness another cat fight. I don't thing restaurant play areas will ever be the same again. In the words of Mike, “I think we’ve all got PTSD.”