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.