Skipping town

I'm happy to be taking the kids up to Duck Creek for a few days this week. We need to get out of this HEAT. Whew. My parents are up there in their motorhome and we're going to try to motorhome out with them. Yikes! It might be a shorter trip than I'm hoping for. Thor's working so we're leaving his butt behind! Sorry honey.

Here are some pics of the trip we took up there a few weeks ago. The boys were with us then and we stayed in a hotel. With lots of stairs. That Maison loved to climb. Madeline was diggin' nature. Maison was not. But he did dig in the dirt a little and throw some rocks. Madeline got to ride a horse with me and when we were riding the guide looked back at us and said, "Madeline I don't think your smile could get any bigger!".

She's been singing jingle bells lately

jingle bells jingle bells jingle all the way
so much fun do what's right
a hohoho hoho

a hohoho hohoho ho ho ho hoho
a hohoho a hohoho aho hohohoho
ho!

I laugh and ruin everything

I'm trying to remember to ask Madeline to help me clean up her messes. I've been really bad so far and used to let the kids go hog wild and I'd clean up while they were both napping. I liked it that way. No fights and I like to piddle and straighten anyways. But now with Madeline not napping, I need to find a new routine.

So today, I had moved my huge and EXTREMELY heavy mattress off my bed and moved the box springs so I could vacuum up the cat nastiness from underneath. While I did that, the kids got into the hall closet and took out all 12 rolls of paper towels, 3 packages of toilet paper, and whatever diapers, tin foil, Brita filters, and packages of baby wipes I had in there. They built a "bathroom" within the mattress frame so Madeline could go (pretend, thank goodness) pee. They were playing together and keeping busy so I left them alone.

As I made the bed back, Madeline was supposed to put all of the closet stuff back over by the closet, 1 hallway width away. After each roll of paper towels she said, "ugggghhh, I had a heart attack!", by the time she got to the toilet paper it was, "oh my gosh, you're killing me!", after the toilet paper she walked in all hunched over with her hands practically dragging on the floor talking about the heart attack again. That's when I couldn't hold my laugh back any longer. So then, of course, she wouldn't do anything else except walk around "exhausted" with her head hung low and her fingers nearly dragging the floor. I ended up cleaning the rest of the mess. She knows how to play me, that's for sure.

Super Grumpy Butt

That's me. Super Grumpy Butt. I think it's the heat. Almost like cabin fever or something. Stuck in the house. Not that I usually leave all that often anyways, but we could at least go outside if we wanted too. Or I could at least send the kids outside to get a breather. And when we do leave the house it takes extra effort because of the heat. And the kids just don't move fast enough for me, of course (because I'm Super Grumpy Butt).

The kids have been extra fiesty the last few days, too. Madeline is requiring constant attention and has hit a new level of brattiness. She is officially nap-less. Although every few days she has a complete meltdown and passes out in my bed at about 4 in the afternoon. Some days she does good playing in her room by herself for awhile to take a break, but I'm not pressing that too hard. This is adding to my grumpiness. I can't figure out how to function without my mid-day-kid-break. It's when I would "hhhhmmmmmmm", relax my shoulders, and get things done.

Tomorrow will be better. They go to my grandparents' house for the morning so I can get my shopping done without lugging them along. It always helps my week go smoother. Now I have to go make my lists and check my coupons...

Right now

It is 10:00 at night and 100 degrees outside.

Right now, in San Diego, it is 32 degrees cooler.

Now for the recital pics

In case the video was not enough cuteness for you.


(Please excuse my collage making skills and don't notice that in the before the recital pics I have her hair bow in upside down and in the wrong spot).

Madeline really enjoyed being in the recital and all of the attention (and presents) that went with it. She even seems to be more excited for dance class now. Maybe she'll grow up liking and grabbing the limelight (not like her mama, that's for sure). Thor yelled out her name when she walked on stage and later when I asked her if she heard him, she said (enter a like, duh... tone here) "no, mom, I was too far away."

Fourth of July

I have complete blogger's block lately. I have pictures I want to post of my pretty girl from her recital, but I'm just going to post about our holiday weekend first and hopefully get to her later.

Thor had planned to work Saturday morning, but couldn't, so he decided to do yard work instead. But, then he got hungry and his plan changed again and he scrapped the yard work for breakfast at a Mexican restaurant downtown. Maison ate like a champ. Madeline did not, but she did score 2 bouncy balls and a ring from the quarter machines in the back.

That afternoon we went to my parents' house for swimming and BBQ. Thor even dressed like a firework for the occasion.


Madeline is really getting into swimming. She loves the pool and is much more comfortable than she was last year. Maison got in too for a little bit. I even caught a couple pictures of him smiling with Thor. He got all of his crying out while I had him. He's still pretty freaked out by the water and hangs on FOR DEAR LIFE with all of his limbs.


I love this belly. It is so big.


We had LOTS of yummy food. Jalapeno poppers, jalapeno guacamole and jalapeno burgers were all on the menu. My stomach was in a bad, bad state the next day. I made the jalapeno thingies from PW's website and they were way too good.


When it started to get dark, my mom got out some glow wands, swords, and necklaces for the kids. Then we started the fireworks when it was dark enough. The boys' dad was there so they put on the firework show. Madeline just sat staring at them. Maison started to giggle as the first one started to whizz around, then it started popping and scared the poop out of him. I couldn't get him far enough away from them after that and we ended up inside, watching from the window and even that made him very uncomfortable.





We let the kids stay up late that night. It may be the latest they've ever stayed up, or at least close to it. I expected them to be crashed out as soon as we started driving, but they both managed to stay awake the whole way home. And luckily we live in a quiet neighborhood and no late night firework crazies woke us up in the night.

Lens giveaway!

If anyone's interested, MCP Actions blog is giving away a DSLR camera lens. Sounds like a yummy one, too. Go here for details.