Live, Love, and Learn

2 Days into summer...

2010-06-22T15:30:00.000-03:00

... and Ryan is lamenting the loss of his friends and his desk and his schoolwork. If I have to hear any more complaining about how much he misses school I'm going to have to lock myself in the closet.

...Claire keeps asking if it's ballet day. And that would be a big fat NO. I explained the whole concept of summer vacation and how Miss Anne is on vacation and we looked at the calendar and saw how many pages there are until September. And in 5 minutes, she asks if it's ballet day. Hmmph.

...Katie has been hired as the new ballet teacher for summer session.

with a side of compost...

2010-05-30T17:59:00.005-03:00

It is a weird thing of mine, I never order anything on the menu that comes with a "compote." The first thing that leaps to mind is "compost" and all I can think about is some filthy steaming pile of manure sitting on my plate and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the meal. There have been some dishes that sound heavenly, until they're ruined by the "warm blueberry compote" or whatever.

The other night I was waffling between 3 dishes, one with a roasted pineapple compote, one with a corn and black bean compote, and the third, which is what I ended up eating, which had no compost whatsoever. We were at Carrol's Creek Cafe, right on the docks of Annapolis, my new absolute favorite place. I should have taken a picture of my meal when it was brought out to me. Now I love to blog and keep documentation of everything cute my kids do or say, but I am not yet at the point where I can whip out my camera and take a picture of a plate of food in a crowded restaurant. But it was a delicious layer of sundried tomato risotto, topped with a macadamia encrusted mahi mahi, with creamed spinach on top. Looked a little Christmassy come to think of it with the reds and greens. It was melt-in-your-mouth amazement. Tim had a steak, the best steak of his entire life. He is still talking about this steak, days later. And we had crab cakes for an appetizer and Tim doesn't even like crab cakes but was raving about this one!

The best part was that we had to take a water taxi to get to this place, how cool is that?! And we watched the sunset right behind our table. And Tim had flowers delivered to the restaurant, they were waiting on our table as everyone around us wondered who's getting the special treatment. And then commenting on how we both look far, far too young to be celebrating our 12th anniversary.

We can't wait to go back to Annapolis! Tim wants to bring the kids and our parents, but I want to save it just for us. There is an overnight sailboat package with breakfast that I'm all over for the next time.

The Trouble with Potty Training

2010-05-27T16:35:00.005-03:00

Potty training is so much fun. You get to learn where all the public bathrooms are. And having a potty training toddler on your hands can save you lots of money because you're afraid to take any shopping trips lest you find out the hard way that all the bathrooms are too far away. Or too dirty. Or both.

The most fun you can possibly have while potty training happened to me today. We had to go to the store. Restocking the fridge and pantry. We were out of everything, even syrup. And we buy like 3 gallons of Costco syrup so it's very rare to run out of it.

So we're walking into the store talking about how we're going to stop at the bathroom on the way in to try to go pee pee so we can stay dry like a big girl. I plop Claire on the potty, and she immediately puts her hands on her thighs proudly pointing out how she's not touching anything, as her training has been adament on this point. She squints, indicating how hard she's trying to squeeze out something... but... alas, nothing this time.

About 10 minutes later, we'd gotten through the food line and were sitting down for a quick lunch before we tended to the list. Two bites into her chicken tenders she leans over to me and whispers, "I have to go potty." Oh, you have got to be kidding me right now. I think I may have said that out loud.

Have you ever seen a crazy lady bringing a tray full of food into the bathroom?
Well, that was probably me.

Food

2010-05-20T17:29:00.004-03:00

Does your son ever come home from school and eat 2 corndogs for an afterschool snack and then have a huge chicken cesar salad and 2 slices of pepperoni pizza for dinner a few hours later?

Someone is GROWING!!

Either that, or maybe he has a tapeworm, we'll have wait and see.

Look, he's almost as tall as Granny!

Sassy Mouth

2010-05-11T20:42:00.009-03:00

Combine being the baby of the family with some super cute bouncy blonde curls framing an adorably pouty mouth and dimpled cheeks and you really can go far in life! Let's just say Claire is used to getting things her way.

But we've been putting up some resistance lately. Maybe it's a little late for that, but we're trying.

She wanted a piece of cheese. Actually, she pulled her wrap apart to pick the cheese slices out of it and toss the rest off the side of her plate. Tim stopped her and reassembled her wrap and told her what we always tell her when she tries to eat nothing but cheese for every meal... too much cheese isn't good for you. And Claire came back in his face yelling, "It's yummy and healthy, what's the deal with you?!"

***********

Sometimes Claire likes to play by herself. She will be upstairs quietly playing with her dolls or changing her clothes or rearranging her stuffed animals or flossing, or who knows what else. When I call to her, I just want her to acknowledge that she hears me, a little reassurance that she hasn't left the house, since those childproofing doorknobs are soooooo effective.

So one day I was calling and calling and calling her name, starting to get worried that she wasn't answering me. I opened the door to the basement and hollered down there just in case she had slipped down there, and called up to the loft, and checked the pantry where she can sometimes be found sneaking granola bars or chocolate chips. She suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs with a really annoyed look on her face like it was soooo inconvenient to answer me. "I'm playing up here, what's the problem?" She asked, in a tone that matched the look on her face.

Oh we're in trouble with this one.

Something I learned

2010-05-07T20:02:00.004-03:00

I learned something new today. Or last night. Whenever.
Here is what it was. Cleaning vomit off the top bunk is very hard and gross.
That is all.

Sibling Rivalry

2010-04-12T16:52:00.005-03:00

We had a little bug ripping through the family. Ryan was very sick all night and a couple days later Katie started up with the vomiting. After several trips to the bathroom, I warned her that after Ryan had thrown up all day he then had a pretty bad bout of diarrea and she should be on the lookout for that to start up. Just in case. Well, Claire popped in from around the corner saying, "I want diarrea too!" Not a clue what diarrea is, but if her brother and sister are getting it, she better not be left out!

Waffle Glasses

2010-04-11T16:11:00.002-03:00

When Ryan was one, he bent the frames of Tim's glasses, and they have sat crookedly on his face ever since. Very cute. At one point duct tape has held the frame intact. Most recently a piece of scotch tape held a lens in place.

Maybe Tim should have gotten a new pair of glasses in the last 7 years... but he hates to wear glasses! He only wears them on the rare occasion that he would lose a contact and not have a spare.

Last summer on our family cruise Katie asked him why he brought his waffle glasses on vacation... was he planning on making some waffles? It was then that I realized the only time she had ever seen Tim wearing glasses was on Saturday mornings when he made waffles for breakfast.

We bid a sad farewell to Tim's waffle glasses.
The did not survive the camping trip.

Camping

2010-04-10T18:18:00.000-03:00

THIS... is why we should never go camping EVER AGAIN!!!

This is clothing and gear for a one night camping experience. Not including the tent, cooler, and 2 huge sleeping bags. What in the world were we thinking? It was August hot during the day and down to the 40s at night so we had to bring winter and summer stuff. It's still not all completely unpacked. And notice the potty seat... was I really expecting to work on potty training at the campsite? Really?

Beside our tent was a huge bristly bush. Wrestling around between the branches was either a serial killer, or it may have been a bunny. Either way, it totally freaked me out. Between that and the 50 million little cactuses the kids kept stepping on, we were not very comfortable in our surroundings. We did manage to grill a delicious meal, and I'd packed some random leftover paper plates to use up on the trip. As I served Claire her dinner she announced, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!!" when she saw her green shamrock plate. We roasted an entire bag of marshmallows and made countless s'mores. The optimum roasting time for Claire's marshmallows is approximately 4 seconds. She out-ate all of us.
Shhhh. Don't tell her she's not actually blowing up the tent. She wanted to be soooo helpful!

We had a fun time. Kind of. The problem was that we went to the same campsite last year for a night and had such a great time we thought we could replicate the same experience. We should have known that wouldn't work out very well. We found a different campground that we're going to try next year. Yes, we're such gluttons for punishment it's not even funny.

Napping

2010-03-20T10:00:00.000-03:00

Claire has never been a very good napper. For her entire life we've had a weird pick up/drop off school schedule for Ryan and Katie and never a solid chunk of time at home in the afternoons for a good quality nap. So she has always just caught a few moments of rest in the car here and there, when I didn't have any errands to run. She also doesn't want to miss out on anything exciting exciting that the older kids might be doing. So she fights sleep at night too, clutching tightly to my shirt or hair or bra strap (we went from nursing to groping). I lay in her bed for an hour or more each night trying to get her to relax and let sleep take her. And although she's the last one to fall asleep at night, of course she's the first one awake in the morning. She just doesn't seem to need as much sleep as the other kids. Or me.

So it was very odd that she just told that she was feeling tired and wanted to lay down. What? It's 2:00 in the afternoon and she's admitting that she is tired. Finally! I finally wore her out!

Ok, so I just realized I have no pictures of Claire sleeping in her sweet little big girl bed. Seems I've been too busy trying to get her to fall asleep and stay asleep in the bed and haven't had a chance to document the event. Maybe that's because she hasn't actually stayed in her bed for a full night yet. But here she is getting some big brother cuddle time, which is just as sweet as can be!

SnowKids

2010-02-03T22:18:00.006-04:00

We had a snow day *again* today, and are anticipating a ton of snow this weekend (various accumulation totals between 8 and 36" of snow depending on who you talk to). I love snow as much as the next mom of a toddler, but by then I will be too annoyed that our weekend is being ruined to take any fun lovin pictures.

Katie has 3 birthday parties to go to this weekend, and we wanted to have a Superbowl party with some of the kids' friends. These would be the plans that are most likely going to be ruined with this storm that's coming.

Every other time we've gone out to play this winter Claire has had to be dragged back inside with frozen fingers. She doesn't seem to mind the impending frostbite, she just doesn't want to miss out on anything fun Ryan and Katie might be doing. This time we were smart. We dressed her in 2 pair of mittens, layered with a plastic baggie tightened and taped around her sleeves. Our own little ghetto version of waterproof gloves. But they worked! Her hands were nice and toasty even after an hour of playing outside.

Poor, poor little Ryan. Snowmen are a very touchy subject for him. Stories, songs and poems he's learned at school all have a less than happy ending for the little frosty guys. He doesn't necessarily think that rebuilding another snowman the next time it snows is a good compromise. So imagine his horror when we pulled up from a shopping trip later in the afternoon and saw his snowman's head laying beside its body. It was a fast melting snow today, and I just prayed he wouldn't notice as we slid into the garage and sneaked that door shut. No way I was going to be that lucky. He saw it, and burst into tears at the sight of it. Poor kid will probably never make another snowman in his life!

Haiku Moo-Koo

2010-01-14T18:00:00.006-04:00

That's what Claire has been talking about today. A lot. Every time I turn around she's saying it. I repeat it over and over in my head and compare it to other words I know. Actual words. In English. And I suddenly get it... High School Musical. She wants to watch High School Musical! Yay, translation successful!

Bop to the Top!!

A wintery thought for you...

2010-01-05T14:35:00.005-04:00

Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things,

but just look what they can do when they all stick together!

No, this is not my front yard! I do love snowmen, but I sincerely hope to God that we never have this much snow! Although... think of the snowdays we would have... This snowman was built in a town in Maine, where they seriously know what to do with a ton of snow!

Happy Old Year!!

2009-12-31T17:08:00.000-04:00

We've been talking with the kids about resolutions and what we can each promise to ourselves to try to make us better people and live better lives.

Katie is going to try to eat more vegetables. Scratch that. Katie is going to try to eat a vegetable. I remember one meal last year where she ate one kernel of corn and we all did a celebratory victory dance. She knows all the good things that veggies can provide- the muscles, the healthy heart, blah blah. She always makes her dolls and barbies eat veggies, and hopefully will apply it to real life this year!

Ryan is going to set his bed every day because he's so practical.

If Claire were able to articulate this, I'm quite sure she would resolve to only eat healthy snacks. I am going to assist her in this effort by moving the snack box, which I should have done years ago!

I have to lose my Halloween candy/Thanksgiving dinner/Christmas cookie weight before bathing suit season. I will decide when it gets closer if it's going to be either 9 or 19 pounds- we'll just have to see how things are going come mid-May.

And I'm having issues with a very addictive game on Facebook...Bejeweled Blitz... buh-bye! I need to get my life back. I just don't have it in me to resist your pull anymore so I'm cold turkeying it. Deleting it from my facebook page and my life. Forever.

Tim has yet to weigh in on his enduring struggle for the year to come. More than likely it will be to reduce is intake of caffeine. And by February he will renounce that horrible plan because without Coke we are left with a very crabby, undesirable version of Tim. And life is too short to waste time with crabby. So he will give it up for Lent instead because we can survive 40 days of crabby, but not 365.

I am in shock that we're ending another whole decade. Remember 10 years ago when everyone was in a panic about Y2K and the world coming to an end? Doesn't seem like it was that long ago! Tim and I were at a Millenium Party with a ton of people playing Beer Pong in the basement. And now we have 3 kids, a house, and a dog with retirement plans and everything! Where does the time go?

Ryan will not permit me to say Happy New Year until tomorrow so until then... Happy Old Year!!!

Once Upon a Zumba Class

2009-12-17T23:24:00.005-04:00

A sweet friend of mine recently told me that she takes her little girl with her to Zumba class sometimes and I suddenly got a very funny vision in my head of Katie attempting to Zumba. I thought this is something we must try.

Our first attempt was a dismal nightmare because the instructor canceled class at the last minute and Katie had a throwback to 3 years ago and screamed and demanded to do Zumba class anyway. So I started jumping around the family room with her and she rolled her eyes and scoffed at me that I couldn't possibly have been doing it right. Which gave me a flashback to the reason I had to stop going to Zumba class a few years ago.

Because I may look Latino, and I took 2 years of high school spanish so I can ask you where the bathroom is and tell you your cat is fat, but I can NOT dance. I have no rhythm, no coordination, and no sense of direction. If the crowd is moving left, I go right and watch everyone leap out of my way. Most importantly, I have no bootylicious shakeability. Which is a requirement for Zumba.

I also always have such a dumb look on my face when I'm exercising. I'm trying to remember the steps, counting the moves and trying to remember when I'm supposed to turn, or flip to the side, or switch feet, or wave my arms in the air -which I always seem to do precisely when everyone else has just finished. And in Zumba, I cannot keep up with the rapid succession of changes and dance steps.

So my friend didn't tell me that she was an expert in the art of sexy latin dancing... for one song, the instructor moved her up to the front row as a shining example for us to watch. Catcalls and everything, she was really rockin the sports pavillion!

I had to laugh when we got there because I'd assured Ryan that he wasn't missing out on anything and this was a girlie thing. He will get his big day to partake in a class at the pavillion sometime, but this just wasn't going to be it. So when we got in the room and secured our spot safely in the back row, I noticed an old man in the front corner. I whispered to Katie if that little old man can dance, we definitely can handle it. Little did I know that he choreographs some of the songs and could out-zumba everyone in the room except the teacher. While singing along to the music. Of course I knew she'd rat me out to Ryan and let him know that boys can do it too.

Katie did great. She loved it and was bouncing around happily the whole time. There was only one collision where she was still moving forward when everyone else was on the way back already. She did every step wrong, but she's too young to notice or care. She can't wait to go back.

The Sears Angel

2009-12-16T23:54:00.003-04:00

Waiting for the repair man... why are they allowed to give a service window of 8-5? I think I'd like a job that I can show up anytime between the hours of 8 and 5. I hope he has the part he needs to fix the washing machine. I really don't want to do this again in a week when the part comes in. Ryan has already pointed out numerous times that he only has one pair of socks left. And they are shinguards! If he can't fix the machine today I might have to go to a laundromat. Do laundromats still exist? Actually it doesn't matter, I'll just buy a package of socks.

As soon as Tim and I slip out to get a quick lunch, the guy calls. He's 1o minutes away. Bummer. There goes lunch!

The problem with the washer? A 4 inch screw in Tim's pocket that must have fallen out and somehow got inside wedged under the drum. Probably several hundred dollars to fix, but this repairman signed off on it as a warranty problem and didn't charge us anything. We were warned when we bought the washer that little things like screws or safety pins could fall out of pockets and really mess with the motor and that kind of "user error" was not covered by the warranty. Our Sears Angel felt bad charging us for such a common mistake. He also showed Tim how to drain this little filter area that we didn't know we were supposed to be draining. He even cleaned out the dryer hoses and tweaked the dryer to make it run more quietly. I didn't even realize it was loud until now that it doesn't make any noise at all. . I thought we were going to have to return some of the kids' Christmas gifts to pay for this repair!

Now I'm wondering why Tim was walking around with a 4 inch screw in his pocket! That's pretty risky if you ask me.

Birthdays

2009-12-06T22:36:00.002-04:00

Birthdays have certainly changed over the years! This year my birthday included a lukewarm bath prepared by Katie with bubbles and candles and Claire hanging over the side of the tub asking every 10 seconds, "You like you bath?"

I could hear Tim setting up the bed, as he had just washed the sheets. I love the smell of freshly washed sheets! So after shivering in the tub for about 15 minutes as if I were dying of fever, I'd had enough and decided to snuggle into my nice warm bed to really relax. Hmmm, nice job on the sheets TIM, they're still damp! Brrrr! What a night!

Truthfully, I wouldn't have it any other way. Listening to the kids argue with Tim over where to place things on the breakfast tray, and fighting over who gets to help carry it upstairs, watching their little faces try to hold back the excitement and surprise over my gifts, staying inconspicuously out of their way while they bake me a cake, knowing how much Tim has struggled to find time to sneak down to the basement with the kids to make super secret birthday cards for me, all of it makes me feel so loved and special. Happiest of birthdays to me.

Him Not See

2009-11-12T14:05:00.003-04:00

The kids have a little Christmas tree that they decorate. It is filled with little plastic ornaments of all the Disney characters from my tree when I was little. Antiques, if you will. It was nice when they were little because they could feel involved with the tree trimming without breaking any of our nice ornaments. Their ornaments are constantly being rotated around the tree. Last year little silver strands of tinsel were added for a lovely effect.

Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs are all represented on their tree. Until this year (when the snow white movie was released from the vault) none of the kids knew who those characters were and took no interest in them whatsoever. But Claire's favorite princess is "So White" and she has loved the Hi-Ho's ever since she watched the movie.

So tonight, an hour after she was tucked into bed, she crept downstairs to take the Hi-Ho's off the tree. She proceeded to peel off all of their eyeball stickers. She brought them over to me announcing, "Him not see!" Those poor dwarfs never stood a chance... And yes, we do have our Christmas decorations up already... I know you're jealous! Christmas just lasts longer at our house!

Things I learned at Disney World

2009-10-28T23:23:00.013-03:00

It really is a small world after all... I bumped into an old friend from high school, right beside Cinderella's castle!
Everyone should use credit cards... and not just any credit card, but one that has a decent perk program. Three of our airline tickets were paid using miles earned from our visa, and we had so many disney reward points from our other visa, we were able to eat at the park free for 2 days.

Going to a bonfire on the first night will result in smelling like a bonfire each night thereafter.

Katie changes her underwear A LOT during the day. For our 6 day trip, I packed her 14 pairs of underwear and she used them all. By the 4th day.

A flight planned during Claire's naptime doesn't mean that Claire will take a nap!

I really shouldn't try to keep tally of all the money we spend on a vacation. It's just too depressing.

Disneyworld buses are trained to only turn right. It took 45 minutes on the convenient disney bus to drive us 2 miles down the road because we took backroads all around Orlando so we wouldn't have to make a very dangerous left turn!

A "travel" sized tube of toothpaste lasts for 4 days. Not long enough.

All Claire really needs to have fun is a beach ball and some water!

Sometimes a "Lazy River" is just too lazy! We were barely even moving!

I should not be in charge of packing... 15 pairs of flipflops, and not one single pair ended up in my suitcase! I had to buy shoes as soon as we got there!

Walmart in Orlando is a lot nicer than Walmart at home! But still, who wants to go to Walmart on their vacation!? Oh, yes... people who don't pack shoes or diapers.

The "Midieval Times" restaurant has a very low overhead. They don't even have silverware! As Katie said when they plopped a chicken on her plate, "Seriously, how am I supposed to eat this?!"

Breakfast in the Cape May restaurant... $100. Breakfast in our room... priceless! We got to relax in our jammies for an extra 20 minutes!

Balloon animals are useless. And when they pop it becomes a very bad day for everyone.

Don't take a picture of Tinkerbell as she flies down from the castle. Resist all temptation to capture that magical moment.

Do take lots and lots of pictures of your little girl meeting the princesses they love! These are the moments dreams are made of!

300 tvs to watch the Redskins game from every angle at the ESPN zone... and they still stink!

ADHD

2009-10-15T21:38:00.001-03:00

I think I might have ADHD. Maybe I've always had it, but it was never diagnosed. My distractability and inability to focus on any one task has never been as noticeable as it is now. My brain is jumping all over the place~ Here's where my head's at right now:

Geez, is it Thursday already? Another week done, another week that I still haven't gotten my Daisy leader training finished. Or started.
I gotta make sure I stop by the bank to open the account for our troop, at least I will have done something leaderish before the next meeting.
Ok the next meeting is tomorrow, I better iron on those patches to Katie's uniform... are we troop 1718 or 1817?
Why on earth do I need to send in more money for Ryan's lunch account already? All he buys is milk, there's no way he's out of money yet!
I hope that book order comes in before we leave on our trip so the kids can have some new books to read on the plane.
Why did I buy that 5 pound bag of broccoli? No one's going to eat that much broccoli... I guess I can make some broccoli cheese soup... a lot of soup.
I still have 12 apples left, what else can I make with apples?
Is there an apple/broccoli dish I'm totally overlooking?
We have to get our Disney Rewards points certificate before our trip... after saving them for 2 years, we better get a lot of free stuff when we're at Disney!
Do we want to do Odyssey of the Mind again this year? It was fun I guess, and worthwhile. Can we fit it into our schedule? Maybe, but only if the kids are on the same team. And I can't help out too much with coaching.
I need to figure out lesson plans for preschool next week... pumpkins...hmmm and then monsters... maybe we'll become Germ Busters and do a lesson in handwashing and flu prevention...
What questions do I need to ask Ryan's teacher at his conference? Hmmm, how to walk the line between advocating for your child and becoming a pushy know-it-all?
Why did I agree to be room mom? How am I going to get this fall party planned while on vacation? Am I going to get online and check email at all when we're there? I better get something out before we leave.
Why havent' we gotten Halloween costumes yet! Shopping the week before, everything is going to be sooooo picked over!

ok, my head hurts. But for every answered question or thought process, there are 5 new questions or tangents... my mind is in a whirlwind. Boy do I need this vacation coming up!

Rock the Red

2009-10-12T23:17:00.002-03:00

A holiday weekend, an extra day to procrastinate all the things that are piling up on my list. I am gearing up to really tackle my to-do list that has been catching up with me. Tim is in the middle of tiling the fireplace. Ryan has just started a big homework project that's due tomorrow. Katie is knee deep in Barbie clothes and some big party for one of her Webkinz pets. And Claire is naked. Yes, she's wandering around the house naked. But somehow the next thing I know, we're all in the van heading downtown.

We got a call. It's my friend, who shall remain nameless lest she get busted at work for giving out client tickets to her friends, offering us 4 tickets to the Capitals game. Tonight. In 2 hours.

Of course we'll go, how can we pass this up?

We're 8 rows from the ice, right behind the Caps goal. We're sitting with the rich people! Now THIS is a hockey game! We're close enough to see the players' facial expressions, and Ovechkin's missing tooth. Close enough for Pop Pop to see us on tv, thanks in part to Ryan having an end seat and dancing in the aisle flapping his little wings the entire time. What can I say, the kid loves hockey.

We all are swept up in the excitement, and surrounded by red jerseys, so we detoured to buy shirts for everyone. Plus we figured what we saved on tickets we could spend on shirts and food right?

Hmmm, is that Katie I see wearing a RED shirt? What? Has the earth imploded? Is that the same girl that doesn't admit that the color red even exists? Who draws rainbows with pink instead of red? I cannot believe my eyes!

By the way, with her missing her front teeth, I was cracking up all night listening to her shout at the top of her lungs, "Let'th Go Capth!" It was like sitting with Daffy Duck.

For Claire we bought a large foamy finger. Which turned out to be a huge mistake, as anyone else would have had the foresight to realize. Claire needed a 10 foot radius to swing that thing freely. But like I said, we were swept away with excitement and everyone around us received many bonks to the head. We also found out that Claire is good for 2 periods of hockey. Honkey, actually. During the third period she announced, "I all done honkey," and started to climb all over the 4 of us in an attempt to tunnel her way back to the car. She was asleep as soon as we clicked her carseat.

And speaking of sleeping... going to bed at 11 on a school night was probably not the smartest thing to do! Waking this boy up for school in the morning is going to be a nightmare!! Especially since I will be waking him up a little early to finish that Fall project.

Mickey Mouse and Bitches

2009-10-11T19:10:00.005-03:00

That's who we're going to see at Disney World... according to Claire.
I love her mispronunciations, listening to her talk is so much fun! (those would be princesses, by the way, that we are going to see at Disney World).

Another fun and slightly embarrassing mispronunciation is pumpkin. Thank goodness no one understood her or even flinched when she announced that she was going to the f***** patch.

Almost as funny as when Ryan was a baby and he had a similar mispronunciation for truck. Or dumptruck. We had so much fun getting him to repeatedly say dumptruck for our friends. Yes, we were so immature. Immature, but also very very funny.

The first time we went to Fuddruckers was also kinda funny, but anyone could make that mistake!

Katie never was difficult to understand. She had no mispronunciations to speak of. She went for the embarrassing moments in other ways, such as asking the Target cashier, "Are you a lady or a man?"

Dear Christopher Columbus,

2009-10-11T18:46:00.005-03:00

I know you wouldn't have predicted when you started out your journey 517 years ago that your accidental "discovery" of a land that would one day be known as America would one day lead to celebrations of your achievement with grandiose sales on mattresses and cars and days off from work and school. You wouldn't have known that this celebration would come just at the exact time when people would need a 3 day weekend. And you couldn't have possibly known that one day there would be a sport called soccer and that sport would sometimes be played at 8am on a Saturday, and that during said celebration of your journey, soccer games would be cancelled. But over here in Ashburn, VA we are very, very, very thankful!

Steamy Fun!

2009-10-01T19:59:00.004-03:00

Have you ever wondered if you can make your carpets even dirtier while cleaning them with a steam cleaner? Well I am here to tell you YES, you can!

It all starts with a tiny little gumball that your kids leave buried in the rug. The heat from the steam cleaner will dissolve that little gumball until it's just a mere blue smudge on your white rug. You will no doubt do a double take from the irony of suddenly seeing a stain where there wasn't one a moment ago. From a machine designed to remove stains there is suddenly a stain in its track. Hmmm, wasn't that fun?

Fl-ackle

2009-09-20T16:21:00.004-03:00

yes, that's about right... it's kind of a combination of flag and tackle football. Ryan is in heaven, it's the perfect way to spend a Friday night as far as he's concerned. I had no idea what to expect when we signed up for this. Every other sport we've enrolled him in involved one of the kids' dad volunteering to coach. The main focus and interest was on the snack afterwards.

This time, we have a former NFL player coaching, so I knew there was somewhat of a step up from what we'd been used to. So they had a couple of practices during the week, learned some plays, we have all these sheets of paper with little X and O figures with arrows pointing everywhere... I won't pretend to know what any of that means. So we show up at the field for the game and were blown away.

This was a real football field, with goal posts, yard lines, booming speakers, a flashing scoreboard, and concession stand brimming with tons of spectator foods. There we were, lined up at the gate, $2 in hand for admission, this was the real deal. I've never been this excited at football game in high school or college! The boys were lined up outside the field and as the announcer called each name, they came running out through the goal posts to the sounds of their adoring fans.

The boys will rotate through playing all the positions, and I won't pretend to know what they all are, but Ryan did get to be the quarterback a couple times- his favorite position so far because, as he pointed out, he will definitely get to at least touch the football if he is quarterback. And touching the football is very important.

I wasn't expecting much. I kinda thought that each of the teams would score a touchdown every time they got the ball. But there was a surprising amount of blocking and tackling involved (for a sport that wasn't supposed to have tackling). I also figured most of the action would be running with the ball, I didn't think they would be coordinated enough to throw to each other (or able to catch). I was wrong. One of Ryan's 2 touchdown passes was captured on the video below. Yes, I am the proud screaming momma in the background! He was so calm and cool, looking around for his receiver and lining up his throw just before the guys grabbed his flags. And the kid that caught it slipped right into the end zone. It was such a thrill to see Ryan's face light up. He was beaming. And he hasn't thought of anything else since. He's up hours past bedtime reliving the moment.

The Ants go Marching...

2009-09-06T11:47:00.001-03:00

Hoorah, Hoorah...
What's the very last thing I expected to see when getting home from vacation? All the unpacking, laundry, bills, restocking the groceries looming over my head... and yet there's another pertinant task taking the lead as I rank the priority of these jobs, weighted against the exhaustion I'm feeling from the day of traveling.

After all the cleaning we did before leaving because isn't it so refreshing to come home to a nice clean house... On the kitchen counter is a skittle. Or what's left of a skittle. It was a green one, but almost all the green shell has been removed. Removed by ANTS!! Ewwww, there is a steady stream of tiny ants marching to and from this skittle, each carrying off an invisible chunk of skittle. I follow with my eyes the line of marching ants and see that they're heading through a tiny crack in the mortar between 2 tiles on the backsplash. Heading through that crack and into the outlet! I shudder to think what it would look like if I took that outlet cover off.

Tim is on top of this situation quick as a wink. One minute he is my pack mule, unloading a weeks worth of junk from the beach, the next minute he is flooding the outlet and countertop with ant spray. Those ants don't know what hit them. Who knows how many days they had been working on that skittle. Who knows, maybe there was a handful of skittles and they were finally on the last one!

And NOW we can get to the laundry, the bills, and head out to Costco to restock the fridge with food for the week.

Time and Space

2009-09-03T21:20:00.001-03:00

I could enjoy the ocean views forever, from the kitchen, the bed, even the giant bathtub. Everywhere I go in the house I have a view of the shoreline, I just love this week. I am so relaxed, I feel like we've been here for a month instead of only a week. I can barely remember what the calendar holds for us when we get home. I don't even recall what my house looks like. I have lost all track of time and space, I've been in another world, and I don't know if I want to return to real life!

Goodnight 5 year old...

2009-08-21T00:46:00.004-03:00

I tucked my sweet little 5 year old into bed tonight for the last time. She is so perfect and snuggly sweet in her new bed. She jumped from a twin to a full, so she looks so little laying on that huge mattress!

As I whispered to her, "Goodnight little 5-year-old," for the last time, she just looked up at me. She is soooo not sentimental, not a thought spared for savoring childhood. She just said right back, "Goodnight big 33-year-old," and that was the end of that. No, she has no time or patience for mushiness or syrupy sweet musings about growing up too fast or things I remember doing when I was a little girl. She is all business. Very matter-of-fact. She is thinking about the party.

THE party. The Webkinz party. Have I finished making the Wheel of Wow? What about the gem mining? What other games can we have in case the things we've planned leave a lot of extra time? Do we have enough ribbons and flowers for the hairbows? What if the girls forget to bring their webkinz pets? What if the other girls have boy webkinz and they don't want to make hair bows for them? What prizes do I have to give away? Do I have enough prizes? Do we have enough cheese and toppings for the pizza? What if someone doesn't like the topping choices I bought? Ok, all these concerns are things that have crossed my mind as well, but the 6 year old birthday girl should not be worrying about them!

Tomorrow when she wakes up, we will snuggle together and enjoy breakfast in bed and I'll pull out her scrapbook and show her the pictures of when she was a baby with the cutest little punchy cheeks that were so thick and so fat I couldn't even tell if she had any teeth. My little baby Katie... all grown up.

The Fun Ship

2009-07-24T17:45:00.007-03:00

Carnival advertises as "The Fun Ships" and they truly are. It is the ideal vacation for a large group- big enough with enough variety of activities on the ship find individual activities, and small enough to reconvene at times to enjoy family time. We had people ages 2-66 on board the ship and found something fun for everyone to enjoy. Including "Camp Carnival" for the kids. None of our kids wanted to be separated from us, as I predicted, but maybe on a future cruise the lure of bright lights and video games (ahem Ryan) will entice them. Ryan was invited to a party one night in one of the lounges from 10-1am! Fun Ship indeed! These kids are learning how to party hard core from a very early age!

The kids had so much fun playing with their cousins on the ship. They loved the pool and waterslides and especially the mini golf course up on the sun deck. I don't know what Ryan would have done without that!

Tim and I had a good balance worked out which included me taking the kids back to the cabin after the nightly show had ended around 10pm and getting them settled into bed (after a bit of swinging from the bunks like monkeys) while he went to the casino for a couple hours with the guys. He enjoys a good game of Craps and has gotten either very good at it or very lucky. He won 60 bucks one night, the same night that someone lost 200, so he must have felt a little smug about that!

And before you get to feeling sorry for me that I had no free time... my me time came in the mornings. I snuck out very early and was usually the very first person at the gym. I enjoyed a nice workout and then sat on the sun deck watching the sunrise, in a quietnesss only the first one awake on the whole ship could enjoy. Then I took a nice long hot shower in the spa, where they have an unlimited supply of towels and tons of space, not like the little mini-shower stall in our stateroom with the floppy nozzle that keeps twisting and pointing in the wrong direction.

It is the little things, you know, and when all the little things are just right, they add up to make one very happy vacation.

The Long Haul

2009-07-13T08:21:00.008-03:00

The price of plane tickets for 5 to Tampa is a little steep for us, plus there's the added struggle of not being able to bring as much stuff. When you're loading up the car for a long trip, you can pack almost everything. Except toothbrushes, why can't I ever remember those? So it was a no-brainer that we were going to drive to Tampa for the cruise. We like to do our long drives at night. Get a couple hours under our belt, stop for a late dinner, and pop a movie on for the kids and BAM- they miss most of the journey, happily cuddled up with their pillows and blankets. And we actually get to have good conversations with each other, rather than running interference and throwing snacks and crayons to the kids. And we can listen to good music instead of the Wiggles or Sesame Street (not that I don't love a good Ladybug Picnic).

What we didn't expect was that Tim's dad would want to drive down with us... commit to 12+ hours in the car watching Disney movies and napping in an upright position. Especially since he could have flown down with Tim's mom and been there in a couple hours. But rotating 3 drivers behind the wheel would lessen the strain on all of us so we snatched him up when he offered. Plus, come on! Doesn't this look fun?

So here's how our drive went:
5:00 pm starting our journey, all smiles, excitement looking ahead to our vacation

7:30 why did I have to eat that chicken fried chicken at Cracker Barrel? I can feel that gravy congealing in my arteries while I sit here... all semblance of the healthy eating plan is out the window in preparation for the cruise

9:00 the way we've positioned the seats and cargo, there is enough space for me to curl up on the floor of the van. I don't sleep while sitting, so I finagle my way onto the floor with some pillows and am almost as comfy as I'd be in a bed... well, ok maybe that's a stretch, but it's not bad

12:30 I'm awake, it's my turn to drive. We're just pulling out of a gas station in NC when BAM a giant splatter of bird poop hits the windshield, right in my line of sight. What kind of bird is even awake this late?

1:00 I'm enjoying my quiet ride, everyone is asleep. Tim is using a roll of paper towels as a blanket, poor thing!

1:45 Wow does South Carolina have a TON of adult video stores! Glad the kids are asleep and not reading these billboards!

2:30 What in the world is Claire doing awake?! She's in a half awake dazed slumber mumbling "Mommy Hand, Mommy Hand." So now I'm holding her hand while sitting sideways in my seat. Great. Why did I sign up for the midnight - 4am shift?

3:00 Now Claire is watching a movie. At least I have my hand back. My numb, purple, dead hand.

3:30 There's Mr. Pete's Pecans and Gas... there's a store I think we'll pass on

4:00 Someone else's turn to drive, I'm heading back to sleep...

7:30 Look out Tampa, the Erny's have arrived! We're looking for a Bob Evans for breakfast and Ryan is complaining that he slept through all of South Carolina, he really wanted to see that state! Bummer for him, maybe on the way back he can check out the "Gentleman's Clubs" ugh, we'll have to find another distraction for him, or at least an alternate explanation for what those places are!

Multi-tasking

2009-07-06T11:47:00.001-03:00

I am hardcore. I've gone to the dark side. I will not miss my workout to cuddle and coddle this baby of mine. I am tired of her going to sleep at 10:30 or 11 and leaving me with no me time in the evenings. So today I had a crazy thought... and stumbled on a new multi-tasking endeavor- weight lifting and cardio all at once! She loved being in the backpack and kept saying "Giddy-up Mommy" (thanks Tim). 28 minutes into my workout the bouncing suddenly slackened and it felt like she doubled her weight. Finally. Asleep. Apparently she is just as hardcore as I am. Let's set the score at Mommy=1, Night Owl=0.

I carefully finished and stealthly, smoothly climbed off the pedals and maneuvered her ever so cautiously to the bed. I was nice and sweaty so the backpack slid right off and I was absolutely positive she was still fast asleep as I peeled her out and laid her gently on the bed. I was just turning to finally breathe and walk away when I caught her out of the corner of my eye. She was smiling up at me from the pillow and whispered, "Boobie Time?" Grrr. And the score's even.

This is how much she loves the pool...

2009-07-01T21:12:00.001-03:00

BeBe Choot On!! BeBe Choot On!! This is what I hear all day long, Claire chanting, asking if it's time to get her bathing suit on.... She is never satisfied, even if we spent the entire day at the pool, and so far 4 hours is the max for Ryan and Katie, Claire is still digging her fingernails into the door frame of the locker room as we try to pry her from her beloved pool.

The English Lesson

2009-06-27T10:36:00.001-03:00

We have seriously dumbed down our speech around here. I know you're not supposed to use baby talk when interacting with your baby, and you should explain everything just as you would want it explained to you when talking to a toddler. We've never done it before, but this time around with Claire, we have really dropped the ball on vocabulary expansion. We use sentences like:

Mommy do it.
Mommy hold it
Daddy take it
No touch!

She uses the same types of sentences to communicate with us. So we're all on the same level. Tim and I talk to each other like this when the kids aren't even around. Caveman speak, or cavebaby speak... it's very efficient. And completely unnecessary for a child who will frequently take the child safety locks off the cabinet doors, dig around for what she needs in the cabinet, and then put the safety locks back on...

Score: Wall-3, Katie-0

2009-06-24T21:01:00.002-03:00

This was a bad week for Katie's head. She slammed into 3 different walls and got 3 head injuries. I am a pretty calm person, I don't get rattled too easily, but the first time Katie slammed into the wall at my parents house, my mother gasped so loud she nearly sucked in all the air from the room, which contributed to Katie's panic. We held her down with an ice pack for so long, that the goose egg didn't get very large, and the bruise is already fading to a lovely yellowish gray. Thank goodness too, because our big family trip is coming up soon, and nothing would look worse in our family pictures than a huge purple lump on her forehead.

The next head injury was right under her eye. Again, forced ice pack, lots of screaming, and the bruise and swelling was pretty minor considering the force with which she she hit the wall.

The last incident was much worse, at least for me because there was a lot of blood involved. And we were at a friend's house... what could be worse than bleeding all over your friend's house? Katie suddenly was calling my name and stumbling toward me down the hall. None of the other kids could really tell us what happened, just that she must have tripped and fell into a corner. As she got closer to me, I could tell something was wrong, one half of her head was red. Like a horror movie. It started dripping down onto her shoulder, that's when she noticed it and started shrieking. I couldn't even see where the cut was, her hair was all matted and sticky with blood. We laid her up on the kitchen counter and used the hose from the sink to rinse the blood out. Eventually I found the source, and it was a pretty small cut, less than half an inch, but apparently head injuries come with massive amounts of blood. My friend assured me that her kids had all had much worse, deeper cuts than this on their heads and were turned away from the ER without stitches or staples. An hour on the couch auietly resting and watching tv, Katie was cured. What a rough week for her head... I wonder how many brain cells died during those ordeals...

Random Tidbits

2009-06-13T11:43:00.007-03:00

1. Add these to the list of keys that have been broken off my keyboard: control, alt, d,z,x,c,b and esc. So now I have to guess where the z and x are because I never really knew. Thank goodness I hardly ever have to use them. Claire brought them all over to me announcing, "I broke it!" Like that was her goal for the day. She was so proud. Last week it was my space bar. Luckily it kinda snapped back on and works almostallthetime.

2. Our washer and dryer are stacked, and up on the top of the dryer is where I store a bunch of lunch boxes, coolers and insulated bags. Why do we have 13 of these things? 3 I can see, one for each kid. Oddly enough, not one of them is big enough to store all the drinks and snacks we need when we have a day trip planned so we end up using one of the bigger coolers from the garage anyway. Every time I do a load of laundry, and that would be at least once a day, no fewer than 4 of them tumble right off the top of the dryer. Today I am going to find them a new home.

3. I discovered that Tim has an emergency golf shirt in his trunk with his clubs. As in, "Honey, I had a golfing emergency today, I'll be home late, the guys wanted to catch a quick 18 holes..." hmmm, sounds a little like premeditation to me.

4. Katie made a "Do Not Disturb" sign for her bedroom door. She told me that when she takes it down I am allowed to go in there and clean it... well, how do you like that? Hmmph.

5. For 2 days in a row I have raced into our room as an afterthought and put a diaper on Claire while she napped. She is sooo into her big girl panties now- the ones that have Minnie Mouse on them- that she refuses to wear a diaper. I tend to forget during the day how close we are to soggy carpets and puddles. Do you know how hard it is to put a diaper on a baby all balled up in the fetal position? And I live in fear that she will wake up and her hour long nap will be even shorter.

6. I recently found out that there is, allowable by FDA standards, up to 6 rat hairs ground up in each jar of peanut butter. Needless to say, this has caused me some distress as peanut butter is a major staple of our diet. I can't bring myself to buy it, and the kids are getting restless- they eat a pb&j sandwich every day for lunch. I should just get past it- the way I made concessions to eating chocolate even after finding out about how many insects are allowable per ounce. This rat thing is just different to me I guess. But if you put them both together, my obsession with Reese Peanut Butter Cups is cured!

7. Claire, "Clue" as she calls herself, or rather, "Baby Clue" finally has allowed me to put her hair in piggytails! She is sooooo cute!!

The Impulse Purchase

2009-06-12T06:02:00.003-03:00

There was no way we could leave the store without this...

She was just waaaaay too happy. And I'm a sucker for this kid. And I foolishly allowed the delusion to build in my mind that this might be just the thing that gives her incentive to sleep in her own big girl bed... hmmm. We'll see about that.

Puppy, Puppy, I love you!!!

Boppy-Boopy-Boo

2009-06-09T10:46:00.001-03:00

We watched Cinderella. Claire was in awe. After the movie she had her new shiny wand and was dancing around in circles pointing it at each of us singing, "Boppy- Boopy- Boo!!"

Ammo and Too-kie

2009-06-04T15:03:00.009-03:00

It was with much nostalgia and bittersweet emotion that I celebrated my baby girl's birthday. We took her to Sesame Place. She was totally starstruck and loved seeing all her favorite characters in the parade and shows. She loved the rides and enjoyed the wading pools and water attractions. Ryan insisted on bringing his wallet so she could pick out something and he could buy it for her, how that melted my heart for her to have such a loving big brother.

The pudgy baby is slowly disappearing from her face, but the sweet spunky toddler that is taking over is one of my favorite things.... well, it would be in the top 3 at least...

In the morning when she woke up we were singing Happy Birthday to her and talking about how she was born, and when Katie woke up and came in to join us, Claire announced, "Happy Birthday Katie!" When we explained that it's only Claire's birthday, her little face lit up and she seemed to understand this day was just going to be all about her. She got a Too-kie monster doll for her birthday, and carried it around snuggling it all day. A trip to the bookstore to buy "Goodnight Gorilla" a favorite book that we've had on renewal from the library for about a year, dinner out and a yummy Cookie Monster cake rounded out this exciting birthday. It's all about the little things, she's so happy and easy to please.

Claire with all her little friends!

Pool Time

2009-06-03T18:11:00.003-03:00

Well, I survived my first trip with the kids to the pool for the season. As suspected, Claire was in heaven splashing around in the water. She was squealing and clapping as she ran through the fountains and kept wanting to wade deeper and deeper into the pool, chasing after the big kids. Of course she doesn't realize they are 2 feet taller than she is and can walk around the entire pool without the water ever being above their heads. So I got to get in with her, lucky me! The pool temperature is usually starting to be just right for me around Labor day when it's closing.... I was dreading the freezing temps of early June, but Claire was just so excited, how could I not be excited too?! No pictures of this event... it was crazy enough trying to keep track of this fearless baby without worrying about dropping a camera into the pool.

The only problem came when it was time to go home. She just kept yelling over and over, "NO HOME!!"

The Hand of God...

2009-05-30T16:23:00.002-03:00

We did nothing to celebrate our 10th anniversary last year. Actually, not nothing, we spent the evening packing for a vacation- packing being on my list of chores that I hate the most. I hate packing almost as much as unpacking, and sometimes think it might be easier to just never go on vacations just to avoid those 2 unpleasant jobs. Actually, there is a suitcase in the hallway right now from our trip 2 weeks ago still waiting to be unpacked. Maybe I'll just leave the clothes in it for the next trip...

So, since our 10th anniversary was SO lame, we decided that this year we would definitely do something to mark the occasion. Anything, as long as we spent the day together... eventually it was decided that we would go on a hike, see a movie, relax by the pool, and eat out somewhere. My parents offered to play us for the day, God love them, and we sent them out in the morning with directions to the kids' sports events and embarked on our day without responsibilities.

The hike was amazing, exhilerating, and breathtaking. The Billy Goat trail through the Maryland side of Great Falls, definitely one to revisit. As we walked the mile from the parking lot to the trail, we saw warning signs of how risky this hike is, with some people needing a helicopter rescue! Yikes! Allow 4 hours for this hike, one of the most strenuous on the east... But we didn't see anyone coming out of the trail that looked much different than us so we thought we were qualified enough to handle it. And, we had all day if we needed it.

We stopped several times to enjoy the view, watch some rock climbers and kayakers, take pictures, and snack. Photos do not do justice to this beautiful part of our world. Who knew we could be so close to the city, but also right beside this. It was rock scramble after rock scramble with the occasional dirt path thrown in, and of course the intimidating rock wall we had to scale. I was just glad we weren't going the other direction when we arrived at the rocky ledge. Going down it might have been more stressful than going up! Every so often the delicious smell of honeysuckle or gardenias flowed out of nowhere, but we couldn't see any flowers, and butterflies as big as my fist were fluttering everywhere. A perfect day.

We soon found ourselves sitting in an outdoor patio for lunch, right beside a family with 2 whining obnoxious kids. Normally that wouldn't bother us, because we bring our own whining obnoxious kids with us to balance it out... but Tim looked annoyed and wanted to move inside the restaurant instead. They had just gotten their salads, who knows how long they would be there with those kids pouting and fussing. The parents weren't even trying to quiet them down. Just as Tim was reminding me that the whole point of today was to get away from that kind of noise, a huge gust of wind came and blew their table's umbrella up out of it's stand and crashed it down on the table, knocking their plates around. Ahhh, the hand of God. They decided to pack up everything and move inside and suddenly we were there alone to enjoy our meal. A perfect day.

Our next adventure found us poolside with our ipods and books. I haven't enjoyed a few hours of peaceful solitude at the pool like that in a long time. Of course I love playing and splashing around at the pool with the kids, but this was a totally different experience! Eventually we realized we were ready for dinner so we went to Maggie Moos and had a huge ice cream sundae for dinner before catching a late movie. A very full day, but also very relaxing. A perfect day.

The kids got some awesome grandparent bonding time, they went to the movies and out to dinner after their soccer games. By the time we got home that night, they were snuggled up having a sleepover with Gma and Gpa. It was a perfect day for them too.

The Newest Colonial Soldiers

2009-05-28T21:31:00.000-03:00

Downtown Philadelphia: we've been wanting to visit for a while, but just never squeezed it into our weekends at Sesame Place over the years. This time, we made a special trip and wanted to do a simple walking tour of the historical downtown area... the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Betsy Ross's house were what I was aiming for, anything else would just be icing on the cake.

Everyone walks around dressed in character from the 1700s, it was really something to see. We stumbled onto the most amazing experience for the kids. We heard some fifes playing in a little courtyard and wandered over to take a look... it's always better when you don't try to plan everything out too much..... The next thing I knew, these 2 Army Generals were calling all the kids to come "enlist" for the army and join in for some soldier training. After some gentle prodding, we finally got Ryan to join Katie who had bolted over to the line of children. They paraded the kids away, practicing marching and then handed them some long wooden guns for "Musket Training." I've never seen Katie so excited and happy as when she was swinging that gun around! After their training session they all got little certificates and orders to ship out the following morning at 5am. The rest of the day that's all they could talk about!

The cutest new recruits!

Charge!!!!

A salute!

Claire's Song

2009-05-27T09:30:00.002-03:00

I find myself referencing almost anything Claire does as "the cutest thing ever..." but bear with me. She sings now, and it's the cutest thing I've ever heard. She sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ABCs none of which sound like the actual song, but she has the melodies down so you can guess what she's singing. Her newest trick is to make up her own lyrics. Today, she composed a lovely tribute to 2 of her favorite things in all the world. It went something like this: (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle)

Mommy, boobies, mommy, boobies

Mommy, boobies, mommy boobies

Mommy boobies, mommy boobies... tada!

Things to Remember about Camping

2009-05-15T18:03:00.003-03:00

We took our first camping trip over Spring Break... just a one nighter- kind of a practice round to see if we're up for "those" kinds of vacations. Which, given my fear of insects, Katie's intolerance of heat, and Claire's innate ability to find sticky substances and smear them all over herself, I had my serious doubts that we could handle it! Plus I'm not keen on sleeping on anything other than my pillowtop mattress. And don't get me started on using leaves to wipe... So here is what I will take away from this experience, and refer back to should we ever attempt to repeat this little adventure.

Don't eat at Sonic. After 3 hours in the car you need a little airing out and leg stretching! And for heaven's sake find a restaurant that uses plates!

Make sure Claire is asleep the entire time the tent is being assembled so she doesn't wander off and get lost.

Learn to assemble tent in less than an hour.

Don't let the most clumsy child carry the lantern. Although, a huge fiery "Pumpkin" moon can be breathtaking and cast enough of a glow to find the way back to the campsite after the lantern was rendered useless.

Roughing it shouldn't involve 2 iPods, a laptop and 2 cell phones... good grief!

S'mores are just too darn messy!

April is a perfect time to camp in the Outer Banks- no bugs are out yet!

People who are afraid of the dark should not drop their lantern/night light!

On any given trip, our van is packed up as perfectly as a Tetris board... each item having its own exact placement in the cargo area. This is Tim's area of specialty. He will spend an hour just packing the car. And then I'll say, "Whoops, I need to grab something out of that bag right there," on the bottom of the stack no doubt. So in the morning after camping, I thought I'd help out and start packing up the bags. Of course I was doing it all wrong and I heard ALL about it...

The Perfect Mother's Day

2009-05-10T20:57:00.002-03:00

No, that wasn't sarcasm... this year, Mother's Day was truly a perfect day! I enjoyed breakfast in bed and a nice, long, hot, uninterrupted shower, Tim researched some new projects to do with the kids involving paint and fingerprint poems that I had not heard before. Have I really been out of teaching long enough to have new fingerprint poems written without my knowledge? Then we spent the day hiking and wandering around the old town of Harper's Ferry, WV. There was a beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds surrounding us all day.

What an adorable little church from the 1800's! The chiming of the bells welcomed us to town as mass was just getting out. If only we had been a little earlier, we could have gone to church here!
Thomas Jefferson said that the view of the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers converging at this point was worth the voyage across the Atlantic. "Really?" Katie commented..."Just a big old rock and some trees?" She has a totally different idea of the ideal view involving a huge field of pink flowers with a rainbow overhead and a pink sunset in the distance!

They did have a good time climbing on Jefferson Rock!
My little hiker!
Look at this cute little tiny town! We ate lunch in the "Rose Garden" of a little restaurant- it felt like we were eating in someone's backyard. We probably were! And when we stopped for ice cream, there were 3 or 4 people in line ahead of us and the cashier was flustered. She made a quick call on her phone saying, "Better get down here right away, we're swamped!" I had to laugh!
We walked along the railroad tracks, hoping a train wouldn't pass by and scare us all to our deaths. They were very loud! And poor Claire fell asleep and missed the ice cream!

One final note for next year, in case we forget about the red berry smoothie stain on the stairs... don't let the clumsiest kid carry the tray of breakfast food!

The Mother's Day Celebration

2009-05-09T10:54:00.002-03:00

Katie and I had a wonderful afternoon at the Mother's Day celebration at her preschool! We planted flowers in a cute little wheelbarrow, and her teacher went waaaay overboard in the gifts that they made: picture frames, a boot filled with flowers, a vase handpainted with little fingerprint bugs, and cookies in a jar with recipe and chefs hat! Adorable stuff from my little artist!
Sadly, on Mother's Day morning, Katie's teacher lost her home and all of its contents in a massive fire that brought out firefighters from all the surrounding areas. Luckily her and her family made it out alive, but I cannot imagine the anguish of having to start all over. The preschool is collecting donations for this family of 6 who was babysitting someone's baby chicks and the heat lamp caught fire and torched their entire home. As if you need one more reason not to raise baby chicks...

Going, Going, Gone

2009-05-06T10:20:00.004-03:00

Going...

Going...

Gone!

Toddler Speak

2009-05-02T20:23:00.002-03:00

Communicating with Claire is a little bit like talking to Lassie, if Lassie also could do charades. Her language development is happening so fast, she learns new words every day, and talking with her is so much fun. I just don't remember it being so much fun when Ryan and Katie were learning to talk. Katie jumped right into complete sentences so there wasn't this awkward phase of trying to figure out what she was saying. And Ryan was always ahead of the curve in language development and articulation although we did have some fun when he was learning to pronounce the word "truck" without using the "f" sound...

Anyway, maybe that's why having a conversation with Claire is so much fun. The other day she half told/half acted out an interesting story which explained why the front of her nightgown was smeared with green goo. It went something like this:

Me: reading stories with Katie, hearing Claire run down the hall: "Hi Claire, what have you been doing?"
Claire: "Hi Mommy." Points to her mouth, "Teeth"
Me: Were you brushing your teeth?
Claire: Nodding, "O-peen." Then squeezing her hands together, "Smoosh. Mess"
Me: Did the toothpaste squeeze out and make a mess?"
Claire: Nodding, and waving her hands around like a mime fingerpainting a masterpiece
Me: "Uh-oh. Is it all over the bathroom counter?"
Claire: Shaking her head "Towel"
Me: "Did you clean it with the towel?"
Claire: Nodding and pulling me off the bed and down the hall to the bathroom
I followed her and where she showed me the towel, covered with toothpaste and the counter which she had cleaned up very nicely. She started clapping her hands and I praised her great job of cleaning up her mess. Then she slowly pointed down at her nightgown and whispered, "mess" as if I hadn't noticed that huge green glob of glue immediately and she was saving it for a surprise ending to her story!

Unwinding after a Long Day...

2009-04-26T20:16:00.001-03:00

Ahhh, that's nice and relaxing!

No Beesh

2009-04-20T20:02:00.001-03:00

We don't know what it means either, but Claire says it... all the time. Running down the hall, arms flailing, yelling, "No Beesh, No Beesh!!" Tiptoeing quietly whispering, "No beesh!" We can't figure it out, but I'm sure it will become one of our treasured family inside jokes.

Manners and More

2009-04-15T17:29:00.005-03:00

No mom wants to have that grabby child at playgroup with no manners! We always model good manners from the beginning, hoping that they will be instilled at the earliest age possible. Claire has had "pees" down pat for a while. As she's snatching your food, toy, book, chess piece etc out of your hand, she does it with a smile and a "pees." She also is starting to say thank you when you give her something, although it sounds like the tiniest little baby sneeze, "t-yoo" but it is still music to my ears. Now she also has mastered "you-me" so when she coughs, toots, sneezes, hiccups, or burps, it's followed by a "you-me." And if you cough, toot, sneeze, hiccup or burp, she will be running right over to you, tapping you on the back. Because she genuinely cares for your well being.

Shhhhhh! is another word Claire uses a lot. Normally when Katie or Ryan are bossing her around or trying to negotiate their toys away from her, she gets her little pointer finger right up to her pursed lips and gets right in their face, "shhhhhhhhh!" It's an effective ploy to distract them from trying to take back their toy or book that she had stolen (with a smile and a "pees" of course)... she is becoming the master manipulator, and she is just a teensy bit spoiled!

When you come home, I bet you kick off your shoes, maybe toss them into the closet, hang up your coat... right? Well, when Claire comes home from an outing, she kicks off her shoes and pants and zooms away before you can even catch her!

She is becoming fiercely independent lately, especiallly regarding using the bathroom. She goes in there and closes the door! If I go in to check on her or ask if she needs help she yells at me NO, and waggles her little finger at me over and over saying "Go, Go, Go!" So I shut the door and give her some privacy. So far I have not encountered any smooshed poop on the walls or anything so I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt! Maybe she will just self potty train with no interaction from me. Wouldn't that be a refreshing change from potty training my dear little Katie who would sit for hours on the potty reading stacks and stacks of books, and hold each of her stuffed animals over the potty so they could also be trained. Apparently she could not use the bathroom until all 155 of those animals learned to do it too!

At church there is sometimes a director conducting the choir. That was the case on Easter Sunday mass and from our seats, Claire also directed the choir. A little too much Little Einsteins maybe? Her arms were swinging and swaying and pointing and she was dancing all around the pew, much to the delight of everyone sitting near us. It was the cutest sight!

Happy

2009-04-08T14:42:00.000-03:00

Claire wakes up with a smile every morning. She's up earlier than the other kids so we usually have a few quiet minutes of snuggling in bed before Ryan and Katie join us. We sing some songs and tickle, and she whispers in my ear, which is the cutest! And we talk about what we're going to do that day. When the sleepyheads wake up and come tearing down the hall to our room we sing the Good Morning song and then find something to watch on tv so I can get dressed... and a shower if I'm lucky. I think in part of that good morning ritual, me asking her if we're going to have a happy day has stuck in her head because now when she wakes up, the first thing she says is "Happy" And she is. She truly is a happy little baby girl.

I am trying to get her attached to a lovey. Right now I am her lovey, she needs me to fall asleep and to stay asleep. But soon, hopefully very soon, we will shift that need from me to this cute little frog that we have named, what else... Happy. She knows its name, she looks for it and finds it when I ask her where it is. She plays peek-a-boo with it, and builds a house for it with blocks. She does snuggle with it at bedtime, but thus far, she will chuck Happy to the side to get to me.

Gangsta prayer

2009-04-05T13:52:00.003-03:00

I was trying to work on the Our Father with Ryan during church this morning . As I started having him repeat it, he interrupted me saying he already knows it. No surprise there, he seems to learn a lot of things without anyone teaching him. So great, I ask him to say it for me. He didn't get very far when I almost fell over in a fit of laughter... now you have to picture Ryan wearing baggy pants down around his hips and maybe a giant boom box up on his shoulder, ala The Fresh Prince of Bel Air... Our Father, who art in heaven, how that be my name?

A Night Out...

2009-03-31T23:13:00.004-03:00

I certainly don't make it to every PTA meeting, or every event that they sponsor at our school, but when I do go, it is with the sole intention of skipping out on the bedtime routine. There, I said it. I'm not into the fundraising, I don't want an update from the Box Top Label committee, I just want a night off from bath, stories, and whining about going to bed. Tonight, though, it appears I missed out on quite an evening here at home. Let me tell you what I missed...

Imagine little Claire, ripping her diaper off for probably the 10th time today, wandering around the kitchen while Tim scurries to put away the dinner dishes and leftovers. She is without pants and diaper 90% of her day lately, clothes are just not her thing. Tim notices her naked bottom half and sends her to the potty. She wanders in there and is doing her thing for awhile until Tim goes in to check on her. He steps in a giant pile of smooshy poop, it oozes in between his toes. I can only imagine his face when he looked down at his foot. It went downhill from there... he kicked the potty chair, probably in a haste to get that nasty sock off! And Claire began crying and rushed over to rescue her little potty chair. Apparently God thought this was a good time to test Tim to his limit because somehow the pipes came unhooked from underneath the sink and water started spraying out from the sides of the faucet. Somehow this kind of thing NEVER happens when I'm around...

Everything eventually calmed down, was repaired, and cleaned, but suffice to say they were NOT all asleep when I got home from PTA.

Free Cookies!

2009-03-27T13:04:00.000-03:00

Do you know how to get free cookies at Subway? Well, I do! Send your baby over to the counter to dance. The lady will be so delighted, she will give her a cookie and blow kisses to her! I must warn you that this will hardly discourage your baby from her obnoxious behavior in public. It will probably ruin the chances of her eating the remainder of her sub, and when you take the cookie away, everyone in the restaurant will get an earful of screaming!

Clueless

2009-03-21T20:52:00.000-03:00

Our bathroom faucets are labeled with H and C, probably standard for many sinks. However, our H and C are written in a very fancy lettering so that apparently neither one is recognizable as an H or a C.

So when I told Ryan to wash, no scrub, his filthy hands with hot soapy water after picking up a nasty penny at the grocery store, he came out of the bathroom immediately asking for help reading the french writing on the sink to find which side was hot!

One minute I think he is just as smart as they come, and then something like this happens! Sometimes common sense isn't so common.... Let me try to figure out which side of the family blessed him with this trait.

Cross this one off my life list...

2009-03-16T21:08:00.001-03:00

We had company for the weekend- Tim's parents came and we wanted to do something fun, but not just our usual trip downtown to the musuems we always visit. We didn't have enough time to go to Baltimore due to an afternoon meeting for Ryan and we were slow moving in the morning so we found ourselves in a very small window of opportunity. We ended up downtown at The Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.

To think we almost passed it by... but it was starting to sprinkle and we wanted to duck inside to warm up and wait out the rain. We walked into the building and down a long hallway with some portraits of people we'd never heard of. Then we walked through several rooms filled with statues and photographs of people we'd never heard of. Then we wandered through a few more rooms with paintings of fruit, THEN we saw a couple of photographs of people being hanged... and quickly pulled the kids through the first available doorway (whew) which happened to be a very interesting room. Imagine total silence when Ryan suddenly announced, "Wow, Mommy, all the ladies in here are NAKED!" Ok, well it was a step up from the hangings but really? I couldn't just click my heels together and be back at home again?

"Look, that naked kid wants to get his ball back, but that lady won't let him have it! Oh, she's naked too! Why is everyone naked!?"

On a positive note, we did get to see a bunch of portraits of all the presidents so that was nice for Ryan, and we did walk through Chinatown and eat a ton of food at a very yummy restaurant. We also went in Ford's Theater where we got to see where Abraham Lincoln was shot and across the street at the Peterson house we got to see where he died. Kind of a downer of a day!

The moral of the story: The Air and Space Museum for the 100th time might not be such a bad idea!

Happy Birthday Kiki and Panda

2009-03-11T15:09:00.004-03:00

Kiki and Panda's birthday used to roll around every other week or so, one of the kids' favorite activities was party planning! Making invitations, making name tags for all the other stuffed animals and setting them all out for the party, wrapping gifts and making pretend cakes and all the other details that go into an imaginary birthday party! But ever since last year when we took them to Chuck E Cheese for their birthday and they posed for a picture with Chuck E. and had the date stamped on their photo, we finally had the date set! So a few months ago when Katie came across that picture in her room, she noticed that Kiki and Panda's birthday was coming up again.

We talked about it and decided that an ice cream party would be the perfect way to celebrate this year. The kids made birthday crowns and we marked on the calendar for March 10, party at Maggie Moos! What a fun special treat for all of us!

The Great Butter Heist

2009-03-09T15:20:00.003-03:00

Claire, Claire, Claire... sweet little Claire... do you not get enough attention? Why are you looking for trouble around every corner? Today was most certainly a day that trouble was calling out to this baby. She pulled out a box of spaghetti and ripped it open... strands of spaghetti poured out and piled up like a giant game of pick up sticks.

She moved a chair over to the counter, climbed up, and dipped her hand in the peanut butter jar. I looked over and there she was sitting on the island, licking her gooey, sticky hand. She had the softest smoothest hands, all oily from the creamy peanut butter lather we worked up at the sink.

And of course, the stick of butter that was sitting out on the counter softening up for a recipe, was smooshed and nearly devoured. I can't even imagine that tasted good at all, plain butter? But there she was chowing it down. I should have reached for my camera, but I was so grossed out, that all I could think of was lunging at her and grabbing what was left of it and scraping it off her tongue. No cholesterol testing for her this week!

She also likes to review the bills every afternoon when we pick up the mail. Often without pants... what a fun secretary she will be one day!

Mount Vermin

2009-03-07T10:26:00.000-04:00

President's Day is the perfect day to visit Mount Vernon. Perfectly priced, that is: FREE! How could we resist? It's a very nice place, and we enjoyed spending the day there. If the weather was warmer it would have been wonderful... I suppose we could just buck up the $45 and go in May or June... hmmm? And it would be great if we were able to bring our own food and sit beside the Potomac and enjoy the beautiful view and picnic. There was a wreath laying ceremony at George Washington's tomb, and then fife and drum corps marched up to the front of the house where we were welcomed and greeted by George Washington himself which surprised the kids since we had just seen his grave, hmmmm...

We saw the soldiers marching into a battle, and during the battle, every time the shots were fired, Claire jumped and then laughed hysterically! Santa is terrifying, but apparently being shot at doesn't phase her.

We waited in line forever to take the tour through the house. As it happened, our spot in the line was the perfect place to see the world's smallest hometown parade (as it is appropriately named because if we'd have blinked, it would have been over). A couple of horses and a family all dressed in costumes of the pioneer times walked by, then a goat, and one more song by the fifes and drums. Right after the parade, it was our turn to walk through the house. Ryan was a little repulsed and did NOT want to see the room where George Washington had died. He thought we were a little nuts for wanting to see that, and I can understand why he thought so. It was fascinating to see everything from that time on display and learn about George Washington and everything he dabbled in (he was quite the busybody and seemed to have his hand in everything from architecture, design and painting, and of course war, politics and the job of building the beginnings of our country).

We met up with some friends while we were there, and after lunch and running around on the lawn together, we walked through the museum which I thought would be a breezy 5 minutes but we could have stayed for hours. Ryan was so interested in everything, I'm predicting he's going to be a history teacher one day.

It was a great day and the kids were excited to share with their teachers the next day their adventures at Mount Vermin.

Birthday Wishes

2009-03-04T11:08:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to You,

You are 62,

Happy Birthday Dear Grampa,

Happy Birthday to You!!

That's the sweet song Ryan made up to sing to Grampa on the phone this morning.

Isn't he thoughtful?

Someone else who's thoughtful.... my dad's brother Rick. He planned quite a surprise for my dad. Apparently they've been having some birthday wars, trying to outdo each other with the most rediculous birthday greeting. I think my uncle now has the advantage. Imagine my dad's face when he opened the door to pick up the morning newspaper...

and found a flock of tacky pink flamingos perched all over the front lawn! They live at the end of a cul-de-sac and all day people were driving by waving and staring. All he needs is a rocking chair on the front porch to wave back!

Short and Sweet

2009-03-03T09:33:00.000-04:00

Ready for Spring... and all the new adventures it will bring!

Yummy Treats for Fat Tuesday

2009-02-24T17:45:00.008-04:00

We made cookies this morning, a rare occurance around here, mostly because when they're in the house I eat them!! All of them!!! But Claire got this cute little Sesame Street cookbook for Valentine's Day and we decided to make a batch of Chunky Lumpy Bumpy Granola Cookies. As Ryan pointed out, they're Elmo's favorites so they'll definitely be good. They kids have gotten used to their traditional jobs in the kitchen. Katie knows where the flour is and is strong enough now to bring the heavy canister out of the pantry. Ryan gets the mixer out and plugs it in so it's ready to go. They alternate measuring and pouring ingredients and each take a turn holding the hand mixer. Enter Claire. Last time we made cookies she was either napping or not born yet. But she is no wall flower, this one. She desperately wanted in on the action and since Claire usually gets whatever Claire wants...we had to make accommodations for her to participate.

The dough was ready and then we had a major problem... 3 little tongues trying to lick and only 2 beaters!! Oh no!! What a disaster! But since Claire usually gets whatever Claire wants... she just reached right into the bowl and helped herself to the cookie dough.

Then the cookies were happily baking, yes they were happy little cookies, they seemed to know how delicious they looked and smelled. And for 11 minutes, this is what I heard:

Ryan, "10:59, 10:58. 10:57, 10:56... yes, you get the idea..."

Katie, "Can I have 2 or just one? Can I have one after lunch? Can I have one after school?" Laying out her master plan for optimum cookie enjoyment.

Claire, "Doo-key! Doo-key!" Pointing feverishly through the oven door.

And as I turned to the sink to start in on the clean up, I felt a huge snuggly hug on the back of my leg. Oh, is that my sweet little Claire coming to cuddle? No. It's the dog and she's humping my leg. Again. Everyone loves me.

What is the appropriate amount of time to allow cookies to cool before attacking them? 2 minutes? That was long enough for us. Our fingers didn't burn as we picked them off the baking sheet so that was all that mattered. We snuggled on the couch for a couple chapters of Narnia and shared doo-keys all morning.

And in my never ending quest to get out of making dinner, we went to IHOP for a scrumptious meal of free pancakes. One day Ryan will truly eat us into the poor house. That kid has a mean metabolism. Ribs and shoulder blades poking through his skin, toothpick legs, zero body fat, but he packed away 6 pancakes. I have no idea where he put them.

A Surprise!!!

2009-02-20T22:06:00.000-04:00

Tim and I planned a weekend getaway with the kids about 2 months ago and have been bubbling over with excitement waiting for the day to finally come. We decided to make it even more exciting by keeping the trip a surprise. Our first stop was the hotel. The both did a double take when I popped the trunk and got the suitcase out. I really believe just the treat of sleeping in a hotel (and the rare privilege of jumping on the bed) would have been enough excitement. They truly had no idea what we were up to until we got to the mountain. We watched some people tubing down the big slopes and told them, that's what we're here to do.

The whole ride out to Wintergreen the kids were guessing and trying to get us to spill the beans. We had Katie in hysterics thinking she was headed to a Broccoli Festival. At one point I thought she just might jump out of the car to avoid having to go!

We stopped at JMU on our way to Wintergreen and had a nice time looking around our old college and having dinner. Then we still had almost 2 hours left to get to the slopes and we wondered why in the world we hadn't chosen to go tubing at Massanutten which was right there in Harrisonburg!! We sure did have a ton of fun, and we met some friends there and the kids had a blast tubing together. Next year we might try skiing!!

Falling Asleep

2009-02-18T15:18:00.004-04:00

I know lots of people who have trouble getting their kids to fall asleep. There's always some excuse... I need a drink, I have to go potty, I need a hug, I'm scared, I'm not tired, I'm hungry, I can't find (insert stuffed animal's name here). Of course we read... a lot. Either they each pick out 2 books, or we'll read a chapter or so in whatever big story we're in the middle of, these days it's the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm talking about after the storytelling, praying, tickling and tucking in. After the last kiss and nuzzle, what to do when they're still unsettled...

One night I told Ryan to count to 1000 to help his brain get tired. The next morning, he informed me that he only got to 758 before falling asleep. I almost spit my milk through my nose; he actually counted to 758? Wow, maybe he really wasn't very tired to begin with! The next night he counted the rest of the way to 1000. That was a long time ago, now we have much more creative ways to make their brains tired...

We play I-Spy, all kinds of alphabet games, name the presidents, review states and capitals, and our latest is the country game. We lay there naming countries in turn and every single time I run out of countries before Ryan does. That globe he got for Christmas is really teaching him a lot! He has a growing list of all the places he wants to visit. In order: Brazil, Arkansas, Qatar (because it rhymes with guitar), Argentina, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (because it has the most syllables of all the countries- 16).

Have you ever played an imaginary game of Uno? Ryan and I like to play this game in his bed at night. It goes something like this: me: red 8, Ryan: blue 8, me: blue 5, Ryan: blue 9, me: yellow 9, Ryan: yellow skip, blue skip, green skip, green 2, me: green reverse, green 3, Ryan: "Oh man, I was about to have Uno, but I don't have any green cards" and he "draws" about 10 cards (presumably so this imaginary game can continue for 20 minutes and he can manipulate me into staying in bed with him, but I don't mind). The game continues for at least a hundred more turns, until finally Ryan wins in a flurry of skip, draw 2, reverse, and wild cards. I, shocked to have lost, leave him with happy dreams of kicking my butt at imaginary Uno. We've tried also to play imaginary Battleship but I can't keep track of where I put my ships and Ryan gets very frustrated with me. Imaginary Chess is rediculously tricky to keep track of too!

Speaking of Uno, there is nothing cuter than Claire playing Uno with us. Picture all 5 of us at the kitchen table with our cards, happily playing a round of Uno. Claire sporadically tosses a card from her stack onto the pile. It's never the right color or number, but we don't mind. She's so happy to just be there. Eventually she gets down to her last card and announces "Oh-no!" It really is the cutest thing!

The Last Click

2009-02-14T15:08:00.002-04:00

Horrible news today... with a final click and a few beeps and groans, my camera has finally died. It had been on the fritz the past few months. Many times I worried I would not be able to capture a big event or happy moment. But I guess I got lucky a few too many times. Just before it's final click, in small writing in the corner of the LCD screen appeared "Q32" which I guess is code for "Go buy a new camera." Now this was not an old camera, we bought it just before Claire was born, and I'm a little annoyed that we're having to replace it so soon. But, luckily enough we sold our old sofa set on the same day so it looks like we won't be camera-less for too long. Ahh, when the door closes, somewhere a window opens...

But this does mean that one of my very best and creative mommy moments has been ruined. Last night before bed, Tim and I arranged all the kids' stuffed animals around the house. They were posed reading books, doing puzzles, making a cake, playing games, wearing dress up clothes; when the kids found them this morning, it was quite a riot of laughter. We were going to take pictures of all the silliness and we were going to write a story to go along with each page and make a very cute book and practice all sorts of writing skills. But now we just have a mess to clean!

We also set up an elaborate scavenger hunt for the kids to find their Valentine treats we had hidden. Clues like, "Oceans, Countries, Continents too... where do you think you'll find your next clue??" leading to the globe in Ryan's room, and "Make a pizza, fry an egg, or have some tea, where do you think your next clue will be??" leading to the play kitchen down in the basement had the kids running up and down stairs all morning finally leading to their stash. I would have liked to capture that moment too, but alas... we'll have to do it again next Valentine's Day. They loved it so much, a new tradition has been born!

The New Bar

2009-02-08T18:49:00.000-04:00

After months of planning, scheming and dreaming, we finally unveil our new basement bar! Tim has once again proven his worth as a handyman... he laid the floor in August, we ordered the cabinets in September, installed them in October not once but twice because the measurements were a quarter of an inch off. Just in time for Christmas the countertop was installed and we picked out the perfect tile for the backsplash. Tim spent an entire Saturday hanging tile! I thought it would take 2-3 hours, max! But as I've found before, I tend to underestimate how long every home project will take!

We just love the way it turned out and are finding themselves hanging out down in the basement more often now for family movie night. And the Margarita Machine fits perfectly in the cabinet and we're working on stocking the fridge with some nice wine selections.

The first time we made popcorn in our new air popper, the kids just about flipped out with excitement!!! They're always begging to try out different toppings on our popcorn- garlic, parmesean, cinnamon, all sorts of yummy healthy treats!

Ice Skating

2009-02-05T12:44:00.000-04:00

Ryan loves his sports. You name it, baseball, football, hockey, swimming, loves 'em all. Katie loves dancing and designing beautiful outfits, that usually clash, but are nevertheless beautiful in her discriminating eye. We stumbled upon an activity they could do together and have had the most wonderful time.... ice skating!! Not that we were desperately looking for something they could both enjoy, they play together better than any other kids I've ever met. But we signed them up for an ice skating class and they have had the best time!

They've picked it up so quickly! After one lesson they weren't clinging to the walls anymore. Now they can do forward and backward swizzles, and wiggle backwards! We will have 7 weeks of lessons and 7 free passes for open skate sessions to practice. And then they will have to teach me and Tim to skate!!

For Katie, ice skating combines all the gracefulness of ballet, but at a faster pace. Ballet is sooooo slooooow and boooooring. Ice skating is fast and fun!! We've been watching lots of ice skating on tv, and Katie dresses as a professional ice skater every day (which includes an old ballet leotard with tights and a sweater). And every free moment she has, she is twirling around the living room making swishing noises and the scraping sounds of her "blades" on the ice. So now she has me designing and sewing an ice skating dress for her to wear to class and she's planning for her birthday party to be at the ice house this year! Have we found the love of her life? Or is this just a passing phase? Or does she just throw herself into each new activity 100%? Time will tell, but we're signing up for the next session in March so she can continue the fun.

Doll House Debacle

2009-01-31T02:26:00.001-04:00

Claire got a new doll house for Christmas. A very nice gift, she really enjoys it a lot. So far her favorite thing is to throw all the people out the window and wave bye bye to them as they bounce on the floor below. But we are building a really nice dollhouse with Katie so won't it be nice for Claire to have a dollhouse to play with instead of breaking Katie's?

Well, our dog is usually sooooo good about leaving the kids' toys alone. We have lost a few things over the years, I remember the beautiful princess crown that after all the jewels were eaten and the frame was mangled and chewed Katie didn't want to throw it away. She continued wearing it and called herself the "Chewed Up Princess." And of course who can forget poor Woody? So I wasn't completely surprised when one day the mommy's feet were missing, nibbled away....

Claire was so distraught. She brought the mommy over to me looking very concerned. She gave her kisses on her feet. She had a glaring eye for Roxy as we talked about how the accident must have happened. For weeks she kept bringing me the mommy doll and giving her kisses. I told her to put the mommy in the bathtub for a nice soothing soak to take her troubles away.

Well, over the weeks I was sure that the foot injuries were getting worse and worse. The nibbled area seemed to be creeping up past the feet but I just couldn't be sure. Was Roxy hunting down this mommy when we weren't looking? Now I'm sure. Roxy definitely has it in for the mommy doll. Soon I'm afraid the dad is going to be a single parent!

Snow Day!!

2009-01-27T14:19:00.000-04:00

We had been wanting a snow day for a while, and we finally got it! Only a couple of inches, but the kids were off school and Tim stayed home with us and we got to play and go sledding. Yippeee!! Now winter can end!

Quick Question...

2009-01-23T19:38:00.006-04:00

When your onion looks like this:

Is it time to throw it out?

Hmmmm, I'm thinking maybe "Clean Out the Pantry Day" should happen more often!

My "Where Were You?" Moment

2009-01-19T23:20:00.010-04:00

I never cared for current events. Tim talks about Reagan and the Cuban Missle Crisis, or the Iran Contra affair... not a clue. My dad was in the Navy for 30 years, and the depth of my knowledge about the military is taken directly from Top Gun. I do have a vague recollection of Reagan saying "Tear down this wall..." or something like that, but only because my aunt lived in Germany and sent me a chunk of the Berlin wall. It was only recently that I became interested in how our government works, I guess when I started working, paying taxes, and realizing how laws affected me, and my children. And I guess I can thank Ryan for getting me involved in the presidents. He is so interested in history, wars, and anything involving the presidents that I couldn't help be curious about it too. So now, years after missing out on historical references, quotes taken from famous speeches and having no idea what people were talking about, I'm trying to make up for lost time. I want to go to the museums downtown and absorb history, looking at it through the eyes of my children.

My parents had "Where were you when JFK was assassinated?" and "Where were you when the Neil Armstrong landed on the moon?" Up until now, I've been wondering what big event would lead to people asking "Where were you..." and this is it, the inauguration of Barack Obama. Unfortunately, I will have to answer, "Sitting on my couch." If I thought for a second we wouldn't lose one of the kids, or have one of them trampled in a stampede, or lose a toe to frostbite, I'd reconsider going downtown.... but we will all witness this historical moment from the warm comfort of our home, which many think is smarter but I can't believe I live 45 minutes from DC and am not going to be on the mall watching it in person.

A lot of people are making a huge deal that Obama is the first African American president. I don't pay attention to the race factor. I think he's a family man. I saw an interview with his wife and was really impressed that he called his girls and read to them over the phone, and talked to them at bedtime each night from the campaign trail. That really got me. And I thought well, if he cares that much about his own family and his children, he will definitely have me and my family's best interest at the heart of his policies. A lot of people might laugh that off and think how contrived that interview was, but I can't be that cynical. Listening to him speak (which a lot of people think is just fluff) I felt all those innocent ideals from childhood where you think you can be anything when you grow up, and one person really can make a difference, and people working together makes our nation great.

With a potential crowd of 2 million for the Inauguration, we ultimately decided to stay away. The media has done a great job of scaring the locals away. Roads are closed, bridges are closed, the metro stations don't have unlimited parking... ok, we get it, you don't want us down there! But, on Sunday for the Inauguration Opening Ceremony if you will, the crowd was projected to be only 500,000 roughly the size of the average 4th of July. My parents offered to come up and babysit Claire for the day so we decided to take Ryan and Katie down for the concert. What a day it was! We actually woke up at 6am and were the only ones on the metro when it opened at 7:30. I thought maybe we had the wrong day! It was like a ghost town! We were ready for the day: hats, gloves with hand-warmers, 3 pairs of pants, 3 or 4 shirts, scarves, and plenty of patience!

The capital building looked beautiful all dressed up for the big ceremony! We were standing as close as the best case scenario for a person who has a ticket for the swearing in... the average Joe Schmoe would be standing 2 blocks farther away probably cranning to see a glimpse on a jumbotron somewhere.

Looks like someone was slacking off in the security department.... there were rows and rows of these metal barricades stacked up along the streets. What are they waiting for? Aren't there a few hundred people to barricade?The first thing we had to do was stock up on our Obama gear! Ryan picked out a T-shirt and a few buttons for his collection, and Katie loved this hat! Everyone was high-fiving her all day. It was a very friendly crowd!

We had a nice little picnic while we waited for the concert to begin near the Lincoln Memorial. Not too crowded... we can handle this! But slowly the crowd began encroaching on our picnic space...

Ok, we're really packed in now! The crowd stretched past where we were (now standing... picnic time was officially over!) all the way to the Washington Monument. See me in the white hat??Right behind the pimp with the huge fur coat.
I was struggling to hold Katie up so she could see the jumbotron. She was just as eager to use the binoculars to watch this guy climb a tree near us (we were all waiting for him to fall out). Soon, she felt like she weighed a hundred pounds and I looked and she had fallen asleep! She lasted all day and then conked out right at the start of the concert!

Porta-potties as far as the eye could see!! A couple of funny potty stories that will make this day even more memorable for us... Just before the concert began, not during the 3 hours leading up to it, Katie had to go. She really had to go, and when Katie wants something, she's going to get it one way or another. So there she was in a huddle with Tim, blanket over their heads (very discrete) 3 layers of pants bunched up around her ankles squatting over a plastic bowl. No one was the wiser. And a little later on, just as Obama took the podium, Ryan was in the same position peeing into a Crystal Light bottle.

Barack Obama, Joe Biden and their families were being introduced. Finally, after 3 hours of being smooshed in the crowd, the concert was about to begin! Ellen was dancing and ramping up the crowd, Elmo was there leading us in a chant of "We Are One" until the number one came out in protest saying, "no, I am one!" It was very cute and the kids got a kick out of it. Jamie Foxx did an awesome and hilarious impression of Obama! We heard performances from so many people I'm wishing I'd have bought one of those souvenir t-shirts on the way out just because it had pictures of all the performers on it! And I had no idea that HBO held the rights to the show. I was fully expecting to get home and see clips of it on the news all night long.

It was amazing how quickly the crowd dispersed after the show. Where did they all go? The metro station. Yeah, didn't see that coming! So the concert ended at 4:15 and we got home at 7:30... a very long, exhausting day but worth all the trouble to have been part of history.

When did I sign up for this job??

2009-01-17T16:13:00.002-04:00

Laundry... I think the most difficult thing about adding a third child to our family has been the laundry! Claire's clothes aren't big, and she was never a spitter-upper so she didn't go through extra outfits each day, but ever since she was born I have noticed that I'm always behind on laundry. There's just NO time. I can manage getting the load into the machine, it's the folding and putting away that never happens. So I end up with "the laundry chair" as I like to call it...

So... do I want to deal with tackling that huge monster once a week, or do just one load of laundry every day to keep the monster at bay. Hmmm, tough choice! Since that hasn't worked out for me, I think I'll start doing a little bit each day. Maybe that will cut down on the number of lost socks too, if everyone's laundry stays separated. I can only hope!

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

2009-01-15T00:10:00.000-04:00

Claire love to be naked!! The first thing she does upon waking in the morning is rip off her pants.

She loves to talk on the phone!! Or at least press a bunch of buttons and see what happens! She seems to call "Customer Service" quite a bit. And she tries to connect to the internet and open applications... stuff I don't know how to do. And when I try to take the phone away, she runs away laughing. She doesn't fall for the "Give it to Mommy" routine anymore.

Pat-a-Cake

2009-01-12T00:11:00.001-04:00

Here are Ryan and Claire doing Pat-a-Cake. Every girl needs a big brother like this watching out for her!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

2009-01-10T11:04:00.000-04:00

In the past month Claire went from having 4 lonely little teeth to now having 10. I'm thinking of enrolling her in a 12 step program for her addiction to Hyland's Teething Tablets. Every time she sees the little bottle she wants to get some. They must really work wonders for her teething pain. I cannot imagine how weird and painful it must feel for her to have almost all her teeth coming in at once so I always give in and let her have 2 or 3 tablets every time she asks for them.
So much is going on with the teeth in this family lately, we need to install a revolving door for the Tooth Fairy. I could probably make a very gross tribal necklace with all the teeth that are falling out around here. Ryan had a huge gap on the bottom for a while and now his permanent teeth are in down there and he has a gap on top! And Katie just lost her 3rd tooth on the bottom! They love to stick their tongue into the gap, and use it as a place for their straw.

Maybe it was the grossness of looking at the wiggly teeth hanging on by a bloody thread, or trying to help them brush them without using any pressure, which is impossible! But I never really got sad about them losing their baby teeth. Until today I noticed some tiny white ridges coming up through Katie's gums and burst into tears realizing that her *adult* teeth are on their way in! She's only 5-- how can any part of her be "adult" yet?!

So that's what's coming out of the mouths of my babes...

The Great '08

2009-01-05T20:45:00.020-04:00

With Ryan lamenting the passing of 2008, (seriously, no one wish this kid a Happy New Year- he is pissed that 2008 is over, the old calendar is down and life is moving on) I thought I'd put together our own TOP 10...since every news and entertainment channel has a top 10 and let's face it, this blog is chock full of news and entertainment! So here are our Top 10 memories of 2008... in no particular order, or are they?

10. Disney World!!! Katie and I were too afraid to go on the Pirate Slide last year, but this year we had lots of courage and went on it countless times! Because we spent a ton of money on park tickets, and had just as much fun at the hotel pool.

9. Off to Kindergarten... this memory will no doubt stick with me and Ryan for different reasons, but it was a major event of our year!

8. Webkinz... it feels like those cute little pets have always been a part of our lives, but it was just about 6 months ago that we were first introduced to them at the beach house when Pop Pop and Nana brought Jake and Curly into our lives. Now we have quite a collection and love taking care of the little critters!
7. Speaking of the beach house, we had lots of good times playing with the cousins and soaking up the sun in Emerald Isle AND Rodanthe this summer. Too many to name just one favorite, but Ryan and Katie learning to surf really stands out in my mind...

and so does the cactus incident - Imagine sweet, carefree little Katie in flipflops, flitting through the sandy path without a worry in the world and suddenly stepping on this
Oh yes, blood curdling screams were heard for miles. And I had to use tweezers to pull 6 or 7 of those loooooonnnnnnggggg needles out of her toes.

6. Spending the day at Cox Farms was another awesome memory for us. Wholesome family fun on a farm! Ahhh, good times!

5. Playing soccer with Coach Daddy. Katie had been waiting so long to finally get out on the field and play soccer. I'll never forget her running over to the sidelines for a water break, sweaty and out of breath from saying,"Mommy, I'm helping my team so much with all my running!!" She was so proud, so excited to be part of the team, although she rarely ever got a chance to get her foot into the heaping mass of people chasing the ball and actually kick it.

4. Katie loved performing in 2 ballet recitals this year, and going on stage as a "Guest Conductor" for the Fairfax symphony orchestra at a performance we went to this summer. Destined for stardom...

3. Who would have thought making tie-dye t-shirts would make our list of favorite things...the kids loved it!! Unwrapping the rubber bands and seeing the beautiful patterns and designs the dye made on our shirts was awesome! Ryan was flapping everywhere, jumping around like he'd just won the lottery! And the best part was that we had adorable matching shirts!
2. I think I'll note this as the year Ryan became obsessed with sports. He loved T-ball and Soccer and we went to several hockey games that he talked about all the time, especially the guys that fight and slam each other into the walls! And if there was a football in the room, he needed to be throwing it! At restaurants, he always managed to find a tv with a football game playing and would totally zone out watching it. He can't wait to play football, and he is not interested in flag football at all- he wants to tackle and body slam and will have penalties on every play!

1. Our little baby is a baby no more! Claire's birthday is a bittersweet memory for me... as sad as it makes me to realize that I don't have a little baby anymore, I'm happy to look back on the changes and growth she's made and know that I haven't missed a single thing. I'm so lucky to be able to spend my days with the kids. I wouldn't change a thing.

What a huge undertaking to narrow it down to only 10! I could have gone on forever, it was so fun taking a trip down memory lane! I can't believe Niagara Falls wasn't on this list! That is one of my favorite places to go! It would have definitely been on the list, but this was a compilation and the kids had some priorities that they could not let go! I also would have had to include Katie's tea party birthday... what a sweet day for my little girl! And the joy Ryan has found through his research and study of the presidents including all the campaign coverage and historical election is another big memory for me! So I guess we'll call this my top 13!!

THE END!!

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T16:52:00.007-04:00

Ahh, New Year, a time of reflection and resolution, change, turn over a new leaf, blah blah. It's always the same over here, let's get into shape, let's not eat out as much, let's eat healthier, let's save more money... whatever... by February we're right back where we started. Heck, probably within a week we've forgotten those lofty goals. But this year I am really going to try to stick with my resolution because this year I have a good one.

Inspired by my friend Annie, I am going to spend the year searching labels and NOT purchase anything MADE IN CHINA. Lots of luck, right? Hmmm, I think it can be done, it will just take a little work. A quick google search brought back lots of results of others who have done this little experiment and I am intrigued.

I don't claim to know anything about the trade industry or global economy or what federal regulations are in place regarding imports. And I don't mean to pick on China, I'm sure it's a beautiful country and I'd love to see the Great Wall someday, or see a panda living in the wild. I think far too many american jobs are outsourced for the cheap labor, and while our unemployment rate soars, other countries are thriving leaving us dependent on foreign imports. China in particular has been connected with using toxins in dog food, and lead paint on my son's Thomas the Train set, and rohypnol in my daughter's Aqua Dots. That's 3 members of my family they have tried to kill, so I now embark on my own private boycott of their imports. Maybe 1 person can make a difference.

The Dog Buffet

2008-12-30T10:36:00.000-04:00

There's a new addition in our family... little Molly, a puppy that the cousins just received for Christmas. We wanted to send her a little gift so we went to Petco to pick out some toys and treats. And at the treat bar, Claire thought she saw something yummy...

Who knows how many of these "cookies" she ate while we weren't looking...

Funny thing is that when the cousins received Molly's gift, they thought the cookies were for them! We had quite a laugh thinking about them scarfing down a batch of Petco's finest! The ones we sent did look just like Oreos... and I guess if they're okay for dogs to eat, they won't kill humans right?
woof woof! enjoy!

Just in case...

2008-12-29T10:30:00.000-04:00

I ran out of time and I don't know if we're going to get in for a professional portrait of the kids for Christmas, and it's a shame really because the girls have the cutest little matching red jumper with little scottie dogs on it, and we went out in search of a matching red sweater for Ryan because he is so bummed that he never gets to match with anyone. And we had such battles about Katie wearing the *gasp* RED jumper I need to have a portrait made to seal the memories of those battles that will one day be so silly to look back on. I mean really, we had to tie a little pink ribbon onto that jumper to get Katie to wear it! But just in case we don't get around to the photo studio... I took my own photos:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!!

2008-12-25T23:45:00.000-04:00

Our Christmas began much earlier than I ever thought a day could even start! Ryan came bursting into our room at 5:30 announcing Christmas had come. We held him off for a while, and then we were downstairs half yawning - half squealing with delight. While the kids checked to see if Candy Cane had truly returned to the North Pole, and peeked outside to be sure the reindeer had eaten their snack of celery with peanut butter, which thank goodness they did, Claire climbed onto the table to help herself to the few remaining crumbs on Santa's cookie plate! She wasn't sure what was going on, but it involved cookies so she was happy to go along with it.

She spotted her gift right away... a little bouncy pony sitting in the middle of the room and she hopped right on it. This is where she stayed for most of the morning, and ever since. She loves jumping around on this thing!

Ryan got exactly what he wanted from Santa -a guitar. He was jamming on it a little, and is excited to take lessons, but the gifts from Mommy and Daddy were really awesome, things he didn't even realize he wanted! A Redskins football uniform and a Didj handheld game system that he can't seem to keep his hands off of... I think we've lost him for good! Another favorite gift was the Leap Frog Learning Globe from Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a great time with this all day! And now I know where Kazakhstan, Tonga, and the Federated States of Micronesia are, 3 places I had never even heard of before Christmas.

Rockin' Ryan!

The population of Greece is 11,262,000... I think we've got a "The human head weighs 8 pounds" kind of kid on our hands here! Was this sweatshirt not exciting enough for ya?

Katie also got exactly what she was hoping for...which I was a bit worried about since she just yesterday decided there was a specific Webkinz pet in mind, and it had to be the polar bear! Good thing Santa brought the right one! She was interested to see if he could fit a real piano down the chimney or if he would just bring a keyboard instead... he took the easy route and just brought a keyboard! She is so funny on Christmas, Ryan always is overcome with excitement and joy when he sees his gifts and Katie is just like, "yeah, of course he brought me that, I told him the other day at the mall what to get me, what else would he have brought?" It is a super cool keyboard, the keys light up so you know just what notes to play for 100 songs. We've all had so much fun with it all day.

Katie with "Icy" the polar bear, our newest Webkin friend.

Mommy and Daddy pulled through for Katie too with gifts she loves including a beautiful sparkly pink gown which she immediately put on and will wear with pride on every "Pink Day" (a day on which everyone in the family MUST wear something pink), a jewelry box, and the coolest little wooden doll with little bits of fabric and ribbon to design into beautiful clothes. She loves this toy and has announced a new career as a dress designer.

Ryan and Katie were most excited to open the gifts they had bought for each other, with their own allowance money. A lot of thought went into choosing just the perfect gift, and they really know each other well and the gifts were perfect. Ryan bought a little beauty parlor for pets with nail polish, blow dryer, perfume and brushes and a little pet carrier. She's already making a list of which pets need to be styled and who has the first appointment. Katie picked out the game Battleship for Ryan, because there is a similar game on the Webkinz site that he enjoys playing and she was absolutely right, he does love this game and they had to play a quick round before moving on to opening the next gift.

What in the heck am I supposed to do with this thing??
Claire got a set of nail polish in her stocking... she loves to have her toenails polished and will show everyone her fancy feet. You only have to dip the brush once to cover all 10 tiny toes, and now the only problem is that she won't keep any socks or shoes on!

Deck the Halls

2008-12-24T14:37:00.002-04:00

Getting ready for Christmas around here is fun, little kids are so endearing around the holidays. And when they're not endearing, you can threaten to report to Santa, which usually gets them right back to being endearing.
In addition to our tree, the kids have a little tree with lots of old ornaments from when I was a little girl like little plastic figurines of Disney characters. They're very well loved, which is a nicer way of saying that they're falling apart and missing some eyes and other body parts. But the kids love decorating and redecorating their little tree.

One of my favorite little traditions is decorating Daddy as a Christmas tree. It is so hilarious, and the kids love it! Just one of those really silly fun family moments.

Here's our gingerbread house... another fun thing we like to do every year. This year it was really challenging to keep Claire away from the candy. Even now, weeks after it's been assembled, she will drag the kitchen chair over to the counter and help herself to the candy buffet. Many pieces are missing, none of the gingerbread people have any eyes left!

Whose little chubby fingers are those trying to steal an ornament off that tree?? It couldn't be Claire's could it??

These kids aren't so bad afterall!!

2008-12-23T08:58:00.000-04:00

Sometimes they leave their blankets out just for me to find and bury myself in!!

Now that I'm in the "Silver Whiskers Club" I need more downtime and napping in this chair is just perfect!

Happy Birthday Roxy!!

6044 minutes until Christmas!!

2008-12-21T14:06:00.003-04:00

Yes, that is how excited we are around here for the big day! We went downtown yesterday to see the national tree. Walking over to it I suddenly remembered last year when we were downtown and as we approached the tree, Claire the easy going baby suddenly freaked out and didn't want to even look at the tree. This year was much better, she really enjoyed it. We watched the trains that are set up around a little village that is built around the tree, we found the Virginia tree, we had some hot cocoa and listened to a choir, and warmed up by the huge bonfire. Santa was there too in a little log cabin workshop, but the line to see him was pretty insane, and we had already tortured Claire with meeting Santa so we didn't want to do that to her again!

The Big Man

2008-12-18T21:54:00.002-04:00

We finally went to see Santa! With much anticipation and excitement Ryan and Katie waited in line thinking of what to say, how to say it, and how not to act greedy about it. Ryan went first, and he ran over to embrace Santa and sat with him for a little while quietly chatting.

In previous Christmases they've just asked Santa to surprise them with a gift he knows they will like. Maybe he's been failing at that, because this year they have specific requests.

Ryan wants a guitar and apparently Santa told him that he had a few guitars to give out. Hmmm, I hope Ryan is one of the lucky ones who gets one! Katie was next in line, and when she sat with Santa she faced away from him talking and I don't even think he could hear her. But she also has a short list this year, just 2 things: a new Webkinz pet and a piano... you know, whatever he can squeeze down the chimney!

Then it was Claire's turn, and things took an ugly turn. If she was flipping out yesterday at the doctor putting a measuring tape around her head (and believe me that was quite an ordeal), then asking her to sit on this huge red furry monster was just asking too much! She didn't even want to look at him! I could barely stop her from climbing over my shoulder to get further away from him! And speaking of the big man, this is our little elf who reports back to Santa at the North Pole each night... his name is Candy Cane and the kids seek him out each morning to find where he has hidden for the day. They're constantly reminding each other to behave, threatening to tattle to the elf... every now and then I'll overhear one of them whispering to him. Very handy to have an elf, every family should have one. I think he might just have to pop in for a visit in July just to put everyone on guard and sharpen some manners around here!

Peek-A-Boo!!!

2008-12-16T14:02:00.000-04:00

I see you!!

Dancing Queen

2008-12-13T16:41:00.010-04:00

Today was Katie's winter recital, and after much hussle and bustle and craziness this morning, we made it to the show. This year Katie wanted to do a tap dance for the recital, but after seeing the costume for that particular dance, she reconsidered and settled for a ballet number even though ballet is much too boring for her taste. She is all about the outfit, so no matter what she had to do she was going to get that Snow Queen dress... such the diva that she is! In the back row, aaaak!!! I could barely see her behind the tall girls in front of her! She might think ballet is boring, but every arabesque was right on the mark and lovely and graceful as ever I've seen. She's ready to trade her ballet slippers for some soccer cleats, but I hope she hangs in there for a couple more recitals. She does love getting out on that stage and performing! The "Kingdom of the Sweets" was the theme of the show and Miss Lori had little candy shaped pillows for all the dancers after the grand finale dance, "I Want Candy"...how perfect! From her seat, Claire recognized and couldn't take her eyes off Katie the entire time. She's definitely ready to start dancing and join in the next recital!

It's been our tradition to eat out at Katie's favorite restaurant after her shows, and we met a couple other dancers at Olive Garden with their families too.

The pressure of performing was exhausting!

Really mom?? Another picture??

All I Want for Christmas is My 2 Front Teeth!!

2008-12-11T17:22:00.000-04:00

That's Ryan's theme song this year!! The Tooth Fairy is going broke with all the missing teeth lately!!

Birthday Time

2008-12-09T14:39:00.001-04:00

I love my birthday, it's always a great day for me. I always reflect on the year, take stock of things, and think about the year ahead and set personal goals for myself etc. Kind of like my own personal "New Year." And all the attention and love from my family and friends is so sweet and makes my day a very happy one. And cake doesn't hurt either... every year Tim makes a delicious birthday cake of my choosing from this cake cookbook we have. This year it was a Hawaiian dream cake with pineapple, lemon, coconut, mmmm we all dreamed of Hawaii as we celebrated. The best was when Katie asked me if anyone has ever sang to me in opera. I said no and she proceeded to sing Happy Birthday to me in her most cutest, giggliest opera voice.

So this year is the year I've decided I'm going to get back in shape... hopefully a different shape than I am now... so my gift was an eliptical trainer that I've been wanting for a long time. Since I have no time to go to the gym. And if I did go to the gym I'd have to stay in the nursery playing with Claire the whole time. So now we have this great eliptical machine and I'm proud to say that I've used it every single day (since Saturday). The kids love it and are so enthusiastic and supportive of my working out. Last night I was about halfway done with my workout when I looked over and saw Ryan spying on my from around the corner in his room. So I let him try it out for fun...

So the loft has gone through many changes... playroom, nursery, computer room, and now a home gym. Yes, it was was briefly Claire's nursery until she decided she liked our room better. Last night as the 3 of us (Tim, Claire, and I) crawled into bed and sat there watching Jay Leno I sat there wondering, what's wrong with this picture...

18 months and counting...

2008-12-04T22:02:00.000-04:00

Wow- Happy half birthday to my little girl! I can't believe she's already 18 months old! How the time does fly- I'm noticing it more with her than with the other kids. I don't know if the time is moving faster or if my memory is failing me, or my brain is just filled with too much other junk but I'm having a hard time remembering her babyhood, even though it is happening right now!

She is still my little adorable mute baby girl... although she does do a great "ho ho ho" Santa impression, and often walks around as if she's sprung a leak... "ssssss, ssssss, ssssssssss"

Here are some of her most favorite antics:

Baby Launch... prepare for take-off! A favorite game, which sends Ryan and Katie into fits of jealous "MY TURN, Do me next!!" As if Tim's back could fling 50 pounds that high in the air!

"Smelling" the flowers -which is actually blowing the flowers... apparently she is mixed up on how to use her nose. Although she learned from a very young age how to blow her nose. I've never seen a baby under 10 months be able to successfully blow any snot out of their nose... her biggest claim to fame thus far!

Reading books is still a favorite way to spend time... sometimes a whole hour will pass and she'll still be sitting there flipping through books. Ryan likes to try to read stories to her, but she is more of a silent reader.

Wow does this kid have some pearly whites- all 4 of them! She brushes her teeth endlessly- always walking around with a toothbrush. I'd say either brushing her teeth or painting are her favorite things to do. Although one day when she brushes her teeth with her paintbrush we'll be in trouble.

And THIS is what I get when she knows I'm about to snap a picture...

she'll look up from whatever she's doing and give me the old "CHEESE" face... does she really think THAT is a smile?

And We're 0 for 3 in the Mashed Potato Department

2008-12-01T10:59:00.005-04:00

She kept going back for more and more, with such optimism that the next bite would surely be something delicious!
I'm just baffled that none of our kids like mashed potatoes! One of my favorite foods! How could they do that to me? How can I make a pot pie without a layer of mashed potatoes in there? What's a thanksgiving dinner without a little volcano shaped pile of potatoes, gravy oozing over the sides?

Thanksgiving Fun

2008-11-30T23:18:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving... in Virginia Beach with our families. Tim's sister was up from Atlanta with her family and even my Grama was visiting. We squeezed a lot of fun into the weekend~ a hockey game, ice skating, a movie, dining out at our old favorite places (Guadalajara and Athens Pizza if you're ever in the area!) The guys went golfing, I did some shopping of course, and even had a night out with an old high school friend I recently reconnected with on Facebook! Not to mention a delicious dinner for 17 at the Founders Inn. Nothing beats a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner, but this place was a close second, especially since no one had to cook or clean! The kids loved spending lots of time with their cousins- especially splashing in the hot tub at Pop Pop and Nana's house! The beautiful Founders Inn

They had the cutest little kid buffet line with chicken nuggets, tater tots, and mac and cheese! It was perfect for our little non-eater.

"Cheers" from the kids' table! Beware of wine glass wielding babies! She much prefered to drink water out of this "upscale" sippy cup.

Pop Pop and Nana and all their grandkids. We always love looking at the gingerbread house!

Ryan's first time out golfing! He even got to drive the golf cart. They stopped to have lunch at the clubhouse and Ryan lost a tooth! A monumental day he won't soon forget!

We had a Thanksgiving party with some friends and made these cute little turkey cupcakes! And I wish I'd taken a better picture of Katie in her paper bag Indian vest... she wore that thing out!

Claire lost interest in the hockey game pretty early on... maybe before it even started... she kept climbing back and forth onto anyone's lap who would take her, and getting stuck in the seat.

Don't Touch My Chicken

2008-11-26T20:05:00.000-04:00

Doesn't she look like some crazed overprotective farmer? She had just woken up and there we were in the middle of playing at the farm museum.... one of the hazards of being a baby is that you just never know where you'll be when you wake up! All she wanted to do was walk around clutching that chicken! After a while she warmed up to the place and had lots more fun...

The Hidden Danger of Living with a Dog...

2008-11-24T22:01:00.005-04:00

Today was an especially dangerous day for Woody...
farewell my friend!

Random Tidbits from Ashburn

2008-11-21T17:52:00.004-04:00

1. Well, after many weeks and months of prompting, prodding and waiting... Claire has spoken a word. Aside from mama, dada, and the various grunts to indicate things she wants such as "mimi" which loosely translates to "Give me that NOW!" This morning she pointed to Katie and said, "Tay-tee." Katie was of course beaming with pride, Ryan was feeling a bit jilted, but he knows his name will be next. He then was quiet for a while thinking things over, and then announced, "Well, at least now we know she doesn't speak Chinese." WHAT? Did he think she would start speaking chinese? Hilarious!

2. We kinda sorta bought a countertop for our downstairs bar area today. I say kinda because I'm actually not sure if we ordered it or not. You see, the shop we visited started quoting prices, and sent someone over to measure, but no one wrote anything down. No one really spoke English. So in 2 weeks, if someone shows up ready to install a granite counter top sized 9' by 2', I guess we'll buy it.

3. At the Safeway checkout yesterday, I bought $13 worth of apples. WHAT?! Ryan suddenly noticed it on the screen and mentioned, "Mom, $13.46 for apples? Isn't that a lot of money for just some apples?" (Ummm, heck yeah it is!) I was hoping that as I scanned my Safeway Club Card, the price would be magically adjusted by at least half! No such luck, and I warned him that he and his sisters better eat every last speck of those apples! Then he continued, "Well, at least you're using your credit card to buy them- don't waste your real money on them." OK, it will be a very LONG time before Ryan is ready for credit!!

4. Just today we got a birthday card for Roxy... from her vet. Letting us know that she's now eligible for the "Silver Whiskers Program" since she now is considered a "senior" pet. Wow, our little Roxy girl is elderly now.... it doesn't seem that long ago that I carried her curled up in my hands all the way home from the breeder whimpering the entire ride. All 2.9 pounds of her.

5. What? No stories about Katie?? Oh, no, here's a doozy for ya... Yesterday at preschool they were making Indian headbands and Katie's teacher was assigning all the girls a name that begins with Princess, like Princess Flower or Princess Ocean, or Princess whatever they wanted to be named. Well who likes princesses more than Katie? No one; it sounded like the perfect activity until Katie decides she wants to be Sunshine, not Princess Sunshine - just Sunshine. But the problem was that the word princess was already written on the headband. Well apparently all hell broke loose in the classroom as Katie flew into a stomping screaming fit! I'd been wondering when she would show her teachers *that* side of herself... crossing my fingers and hoping NEVER, but here it has happened! At home, she acted like it was no big deal and kept changing the subject. She kept saying, "Why couldn't they just understand that I wanted to be named Sunshine?!" She is so strong willed and stubborn and knows exactly what she wants and will settle for NOTHING less... now where on earth could she have gotten those pesky personality traits?? Great personality traits for adulthood... for toddlers and preschoolers, not so much. By the way, she loves her Indian headband and a very cool paper bag indian vest that she wears all the time... seriously, all. the. time... over the top of her coat at the store and to church. "That is how much I like being an indian," she says.

Jamestown Revisited

2008-11-18T18:16:00.001-04:00

The kids have been learning about the Pigrims at school and today they created Jamestown with some of our blocks and toys. It started out simple enough with some Lincoln Log cabins, but then evolved... I'm not sure the pilgrims would recognize their little town since it now has a shopping mall with a parking garage. Didn't you know, some of the pilgrims drove Hummers? And look closely to see Mr. Potato Head climbing on some of the buildings like King Kong!

Claire the Painter

2008-11-17T17:48:00.000-04:00

Whenever we do a painting project in preschool class, Claire is the first one over grabbing the paintbrushes and ready to go. I used to keep her away from the art table entirely, but now I let her get right in there and do her thing. She loves painting. Her love of markers has also changed a little. She doesn't just pop the lid and start sucking the tip.., now she draws the most beautiful swirling lines on paper and tables and floors, and sometimes walls.

Notice she has 2 paintbrushes in her other hand... apparently no one else is allowed to paint... still working on the sharing!

The Leaves are Falling Down!!

2008-11-12T18:28:00.001-04:00

Oh how I love Leaf Day!! The kids helped us rake all the leaves in the yard and we made a big pile and jumped in them. Now our yard is spotless... cue the neighbors tree to start losing leaves... cue the wind to blow them right into our yard... and by next weekend we'll have Leaf Day again!

The kids are SO helpful with yardwork!

Ryan's Erny Family Record

2008-11-11T18:22:00.010-04:00

Ryan and Katie like to peruse some of the videos on You Tube (with lots of supervision of course!) We have a few favorites, you might want to check out the Treadmill Dance or Pilobolus or Human Tetris or the Hand Puppets for a sample of our style! The powers that be have taken some of our other favorites off the web due to some copyright issues and we were so bummed! But one of Ryan's favorite videos is a Guinness Book of World Records challenge. After watching several times, he decided he wanted to set our Erny Family "World" record and we had a mission for an otherwise boring Saturday afternoon...

Friday Funnies

2008-11-07T22:19:00.004-04:00

No major excitement over here, nothing specifically blogworthy, but lots of little funny things have been accumulating in my brain and I need to get them out before I forget them...

Yesterday we went to Bertucci's for dinner and Katie spilled her drink... nothing funny about that, it happens daily in Katie's world. Well, the guy came by with the mop and pretty much just spread water all around our table. For the rest of the evening everyone who walked past us slipped, slid, and spun around; it was like eating with the 3 Stooges.

Also at Bertucci's, we set Claire up with a plate full of little pieces of bread and gave her her own little bowl of dipping oil - they have a very tasty oil and spice dip and she just loves to dip anything into any kind of dip. Claire happily dipped and gobbled up each piece of bread. She then moved on to dipping crayons and nibbling off little pieces. We finally caught her with several chunks of oily crayon bits floating in her mouth.

At Universal Studios last month Katie fell in love with ET. We finally were able to watch the movie and now the kids love to squeak and point their fingers at each other saying "Phone home." Also, I never realized how much resemblance there is between Claire and ET. She sounds just like him, and she's got the finger pointing down pretty well too!

I had a sudden stroke of genius last week- I moved the dog biscuits to a higher shelf... problem solved! No more Milkbones for Claire! Although she still goes after the kibble when no one's looking. I recently scraped a whole handfull out of her mouth - it almost made me throw up. She seems to enjoy the taste of dogfood...

We've been following closely the news regarding Obama's cabinet choices etc. and one reporter was commenting on what the different candidates would "bring to the table." Katie piped in, "I hope they bring brownies!" She's so funny without even knowing it.

Tim was explaining to Ryan what the "economy" is, since that's a word we're hearing a lot on the news lately. He was telling Ryan that a lot of people are worrying about their money and some people are losing their jobs.. and Ryan interrupted with, "Is it like the Depression?" And then started asking if Obama was going to make up a New Deal like FDR did... hmmm, that's a puzzler for me. That's what happens when your kid is smarter than you are!

We recently discovered through Tim's aunt who has done extensive research on their family lineage that we are related to Barack Obama. I need to look into the exact details, but it dates back to the 1700s in Massachusetts through Tim's mother and Barack's mother. I told Tim he should call up his cousin Barack and arrange a private White House tour or something for us. He teases me that I'm only related through marriage, but he and the kids will get in without me!

Happy Election Day!!

2008-11-04T10:32:00.007-04:00

Last week Claire kept turning off the tv while we were watching the Obama 30 minute special so we were calling her our little Wee-publican. But now she has a new word, "bama." I'm not sure if that's an official endorsement or just a prediction.

Last weekend at the Great Country farms Pig Race, Barack "Oinc"bama barely edged out John "Pig"Cain for the win right at the finish line.

I've overheard Katie whispering to herself over and over, "Obama Biden, McCain Palin. Hmmm McCain Palin just sounds better to my ears."

Ryan and Daddy have been playing with the electoral college numbers and trying to get different combinations of states to equal 270.

We have a bipartisan house here, and it's been fun, friendly competition between all of us. We are all on the edge of our seats waiting to find out the results of this exciting election. Either way it goes tonight, Ryan and Katie have learned a lot about American politics and government and are excited to go to the inauguration in January, no matter who is being sworn in. If there's anything we want our kids to learn, it's that you support your president, even if it's not the one you voted for.

Look who I bumped into at the airport in Orlando!