Christmas Recital

Madeline had a little Christmas recital a couple of weeks ago. She amazes me with how well she does on stage. Their dance was maybe a minute long to "Let it Snow". She's the tall girl in the middle:

Filling in the blanks

In an effort to get 2009 stuff up in 2009, here's a quick rundown of what we've been doing the last couple of months.

Starting new fashion trends...

Practicing fancy new things...


Hosting Thanksgiving for the first time...


Making our Christmas lists...

Decorating our tree, starting a third of the way up...


Posing for pictures, in front of said tree...

Making and eating gingerbread houses...


Putting up the lights (of which a quarter are currently falling down and a half have stopped working completely for some reason)...


And we had a two year birthday, but I'll have to get to that later. Whew.

Polar Express

We took a trip to Williams, Arizona to ride the Polar Express train. What a blast. This year all of the cousins got to go together and they had so much fun.


The rest of the pictures are here.

They all visited Santa. Madeline was happy to sit on his lap and ask for a Barbie house. I think Santa was very surprised about that since she had NEVER MENTIONED IT BEFORE. Maison was not exactly happy, but since he was on Ian's lap and not Santa's he wasn't crying, which is much more than I expected.

Cutest baby on the toilet award goes to...

I know. He's not really a baby anymore. But he's my baby, so technically (or not) I can still call him one.

This is pre-potty training. He'll potty as he sits there, but is really there just for the toilet paper he gets to throw in the bowl. And he likes to flush and wave to the tp as it goes down the drain.

Impossible conversation

Here’s just a piece of part of my day long question/ answer sessions with Madeline.

In the car…

Her: Mom, are we going far, far away?

Me: Well, kinda far, but not like to the beach far.

Her: Oh. Like this far? (her hand trailing her arm from her shoulder down to her wrist)

Me: Uhhmmm, maybe.

Her: Like this far? (her hand trailing from her shoulder down to her elbow crook)

Me: Yeah, like that far.

Her: Can we see Marlee?

Me: No, we’re going to Miles’s and Isabella’s house.

Her: Is it far like Marlee’s house?

Me: Yes, but just not the same direction.

Her: Can we go to Marlee’s house?

Me: Uhhmmm, not right now.

Her: Why?

Me: Because we’re going to a birthday party right now.

Her: Oh. Marlee’s birthday party?

Me: No, remember? It’s Miles’s birthday and his baby sister’s.

Her: Go faster. Why are you not going faster? Because there’s cars?

Me: Yep.

Her: Why are there cars?

Me: I don’t know, there are always cars.

Her: Are we getting closer to Marlee’s house?

Me: No, we’re going to Miles’ house.

Her: Turn here! Turn here!

Me: No, that’s not the way.

Her: But it’s a shorter way!!

Me: No it’s not.

Her: Can I go to sleep?

Me: Sure

Her: Are we getting closer?

Me: yep

Her: Are we by our house?

Me: Nope

Her: Are we far, far away? Like 46 seconds far?

Me: Yep, I think so.

Her: Like 183 seconds?

Me: I don’t know, honey.

Her: Like NRRRRRMMMMMM (car driving sound) far?

And on and on and on and on and on

I love how she’s really trying to figure out the measurements of things, even though she gets her terms all mixed up. She typically measures distance on her arm, quantities on her fingers, days by how many times she has to sleep and sizes by mommy, daddy, baby references. Anyways, between her measurement terms getting mixed up and her throwing whatever number comes into her mind in there, understanding is very difficult on both sides of the conversation.

And, yes, I know this here blog has been sorely neglected. I barely hit 3 posts in November. So sad. My wonderful friend Angela has me reading again and I can not tear myself away from the books. I'm going to have to go cold turkey for a while after my current batch is read just so my bills get paid and dishes get done, and presents wrapped, and cat box cleaned, and children fed, and laundry done, and so on and so on.

Today my ears hurt

I think today was the loudest day of my life. Both kids were up super early, Maison may be having some sort of teething issue, Madeline is just Madeline. One would scream and the other would scream louder. We almost got kicked out of the library. The security guard asked me if I had a pacifier or bottle that I could give Maison. My ears are still ringing, my shoulders are in knots, tomorrow will be better.

Halloweenie

We did a few different things this Halloween. It is really the first year that Madeline knew what was going on, picked out her own costume and was excited to wear it (almost every day for a week and a half). On Wednesday we took the kids to Ian & Max’s school for their costume parade and classroom trick or treating. Madeline was so brave walking around the whole playground with the other kids holding Max’s hand. And she got to hone her trick or treating skills.


On Friday the boys and my mom came over to decorate some pumpkins. My kids painted. The rest of us carved, except mom she carved at home. Hers is the fancy cat. Ian’s is the big one. Mine is the small smiley one and Max’s is the other small one. Maison’s painting attention span is short, but very intense.



We had some family over on the big day. Miss Piggy showed up with her Harvard student boyfriend. We also had a hippy and a cat. Next year the rest of us losers are going to dress up. Maison was a train engineer. He wasn't paying attention and I was able to get the bandana on him. We chowed on mini pumpkin pies, mini caramel apples (which turned into apples in watery caramel goo, unfortunately) and chili and cornbread.


We went through a disgusting amount of candy again. I had chocolate withdrawals for a few days after because I didn’t stash enough chocolate and Madeline traded all of hers with the boys for Starbursts. We took the kids up our street and back down, until the boys wanted to leave us in the dust because we were slowing them down, and both of our little ones wanted to be carried everywhere by then anyways. Maison learned right away how to hold his bag out for candy.

Thirty-eight

Holy cow, that's almost forty!


For his 38th birthday last week, Thor asked for BBQ'd hamburgers, tator tots and a Spongebob cake. So, of course, that's what he got!




Spongebob turned out pretty cute, although he was falling apart by cake cutting time. Too many layers, not enough support. He was in BAD shape by the end of the night. The grand finale was us chanting as he fell over backwards right after Thor blew out his candles.

We had a nice dinner out on the porch and the kids and Thor beat on a pinata for a little bit. Thor doesn't trust his family enough to believe when we scream that he's about to bash in our living room window with the pinata (broom) stick. Thank goodness Gpa interveened and got him turned the right direction.

FALL!!

Brrrrr....

We're not complaining.

Faster than a speeding bullet!

Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!


Also, likes to shop with her mom...



Nerd rope sword fight with her brother...


And go to birthday parties...


IT'S SUPERGIRL!!

We're getting our money's worth out of her costume this year, that's for sure.

Family Pictures!

Yay for family picture time! I get so excited to have our pictures done. Then I stress out to no end getting ready for them. This year I scheduled earlier than usual and I decided I’d get ready early so it would be No Stress. Ha! Whatever. I’m a horrible clothing coordinator. Although I think I now know the KEY to making my life easier this time next year. Pick out Maison’s outfit first. Then coordinate the rest of us with him. Little boys just have so little to choose from. And even less fun outfits to choose from. So there’s my tip to myself for next year.

At least our session was short, sweet, and fun. Thanks to the Wonderful Lesley. I think the kids would have jumped in her car and went home with her if she’d have asked them too. We decided to take the pictures in front of a neat looking library, so there wasn’t much walking and there was lots of shade, which was nice since it was still so stinkin’ hot outside.

You can see most of my favorites here at Lesley’s website, but these two are my favorite faves. I love them and they are hanging in my dining room right now looking beautiful!

First Word

I think we have a first word here. I've been throwing out guesses of what I thought his first word would be for a few months now, as I waited for him to say something. At first I thought it would be "SOPHIE!" because that's what we're always yelling. Madeline's first word was actually "GO!" because we used to tell Grizzly that all the time since he was ALWAYS breathing right in our faces.

Then I thought it would be binki because he loved his binki SOOOOO much there for a while. Which he's gotten over, thank goodness, but he still uses it when he sleeps. And I thought I heard him say banana not too long ago, and I thought that could be it since he eats 3 of them a day and begs for them constantly.

I certainly didn't think it would be what it has ended up being. I wasn't even aware that we said it very much, but I bet between me and Madeline we probably do. Maison's first word, which he's been saying for 3 days now, is "TA-DA!". He says it when he finds something that he's looking for, when his hands come out the end of his sleeves (he still loves the "uh oh, where did your hands go" game) and when he does tricks.

I'm pretty sure he's saying "hot" too, but since it sounds more like "argh" Thor won't confirm that one.

My most handsomest boy is going to be 2 years old in 2 months and 2 days.



And since he was mentioned, ol' Grizzly Bear...

Wednesday

I'm a mess. I have only one leg shaved, and mascara under my eyes. I can't find the cookbook that has the recipe for tonight's dinner. I can't find the socks that I pulled for Maison to wear today. I have a load of dishes running and another waiting in the sink. I have laundry up the yin yang. And I just finally feel recouperated from my mom's and my yard sale last weekend. It wore me out.

Our yard sale went well, but I still have some stuff I need to try to sell on Craigslist or Ebay.

Both kids have gone up a shoe size recently. And I just noticed that Maison's socks are too small, but his pants are all still too big. He must have short legs or something.

Madeline has started earning a quarter everytime she helps me clean up the toy room. She values quarters more than dollars because she can put them in the vending machine at the grocery store and get a little doggie, or the machine at where we like to eat breakfast and get a "squishy thing".

Thor is on a workout rampage again (his current motivation is a trip he's hoping to take to Florida for a music festival). And we're all trying to eat better. Thor does lots better than I do, but I have been planning healthier dinners lately. I even found a no-meat bean & avocado wrap recipe that Madeline will eat. Not that she'd eat it if it had meat. She really only likes PB&J.

Madeline seems to have stopped eating chicken ever since she saw me picking the meat off of one of those roasted chickens from the store. She said "WHAT'S THAT??" and then "EWWWW, I DON'T LIKE CHICKEN!!".

Thor pushing the kids on the swings-

Gone forever

We finally threw the binki away. At 22 months, you'd think I was talking about Maison's binki, but we're not that ahead of the game. Madeline, at over 3 1/2 years old finally threw her nasty, broken, loved to the very very very end, binki away. It was a sad night.

It was time and I am sad about it. Sadder than I got when we moved her to her big girl bed. I was completely set against MAKING her give her binki up because it was her lovey, and if it was a teddy bear or something wouldn't it be cruel to just up and throw it away? It just sucked that it was affecting her teeth. I was hoping she'd just forget about it one day. 3 years old was my absolute limit. So at least we made it by 4.

Since about 18 months she's only had it in bed. Before she was 3 we started talking about how it wasn't forever and that it was for babies and la-dee-da. Then we got her some books about it and read them too her. Then I tried bribing her with toys from Target. Finally Thor took over and cut a tiny hole in it and we told her it was broken, and I started taking it out of her mouth at nights when she fell asleep. Then, not too long ago he cut a bigger hole in it.

Finally, the other night, he cut a giant chunk out of it. And when Madeline showed it to me, I thought it had come apart when she slept and it freaked me out. I thought she swallowed it. So I told her that we had to throw it away the next day, which she was fine about (she's thrown it away before, but then gotten it out before bedtime). The next afternoon I reminded her and she tossed it. This time I didn't let her get it back out.

At bedtime, she started panicking and freaking out. I gave myself an hour. If she didn't start to calm down by an hour I'd let her get it (I know, I'm a lost cause). At about an hour, we ate a pumpkin muffin and she calmed down. I let her stay up until 10 to get really tired and then I stayed with her in her bed until she fell asleep.

She woke up once that night (last night) and cried because "her breath felt funny" without her binki. So I layed with her until she fell asleep again. She woke up this morning and was happy to see that her new barking puppy toy that she had picked out long ago was waiting for her on the counter for being such a big girl. And tonight Thor put her to bed without a hitch.

Now, every bit of baby is gone from my little girl. Except for the snuggling, she still loves to snuggle.

Between 3 and 4

- She still calls the park the "parking lot".
- She calls her toy seal, a "ceiling".
- She still calls daddy, "da-yee".
- She can open the car door and buckle herself into her carseat.
- She can swing herself on the swingset and likes to push Maison too.
- She likes to make her own breakfast- waffles (in the toaster), and yogurt.
- She sleeps in a big girls bed. No more toddler bed.
- Some of her favorite sayings are, "Dang it!", "Don't talk to me!", and "You're killing me!"
- She likes to walk around the backyard holding Maison's hand.


- She rides a big girl's bike.
- Her favorite music is a toss-up between Elmo and house/dance ("fun") music.
- She loves peanut butter n jelly and ham n cheese sandwiches.
- She has started to drink milk again.
- She can take off her own jammies.
- She is the queen of goofy faces.


- She does not like her hair washed because water gets in her ears and eyes.
- She can use safety scissors.
- She can play computer games all by herself.
- She took it upon herself to develop a Maison-proofing system for my bathroom vanity using her stretchy headbands. (Thank you Darling)
- She loves Spongebob and Animal Planet- especially shows that are too graphic for my liking.
- She loves her grandma's dog, but our poor Sophie bugs the heck out of her.
- She calls most of the dinners I serve "disgusting".
- Once she swished all of her (kid's less sugar) yogurt around in her mouth and then spit it back into her bowl to make it taste better.
- She's a bag full of sugar, and a really big bowl full of spice.

Sandy Eggos

We were able to escape to San Diego again this year. Oh how I love that place. We mostly did the usual stuff, but this time we did a day at Sea World and spent a little bit of time down where the rides and games are on the boardwalk.

To my dismay, two days before we left our Denali had to go into the shop, so the kids and I crowded into my mom's and my grandparent's vehicles, and Thor drove down a couple of days later since he had to work anyways.

Maison was a brave boy and touched the sand and the water. Madeline was brave too, until a wave knocked me over while I was holding her, then she was only brave with her dad.

Here are a few pics of our trip, the rest are in my Flikr

On my 31st birthday

I donned my not so itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini and shoved myself into a wetsuit to take a surfing lesson. And now, let me tell ya, it kicked my butt. First of all, I'm not a huge fan of swimming in cold salty water (I'm not a fan of swimming in cold unsalty water, either). And that water was killer in my eyes, up my nose and in my mouth. But it was fun. I like a challenge. I just need to work out for a year before I think about trying it again. Maybe then I won't have to cut my lesson short because I don't have the stamina to get the board back out past the smallish waves to where the instructor is waiting for me. And maybe then I won't be so mortified when I find out I have to PEEL the wetsuit off, outside, next to a patio bar with a bunch of people sitting right there.

This is what Thor must have looked like most of the time, feeling my pain as I crashed off the board.


and here's what it looks like when I crash off the board-


But I did get up. Quite a few times. Not on any big waves, mind you, but I did stand on the board, and coast towards the shore. So, I guess it was more like mini-surfing.