Tooth.

4. Seems too little to be losing teeth. She lost it and lost it at the same time. We thought maybe she ate it, but after a little freak out we decided it was just lost in the carpet. The Tooth Fairy did indeed find it and left payment and a nice tooth pillow for next time.

HOLY FREAK

I'm so far behind on this ol' bloggity blog I don't even know where to begin. How about a quick summer recap: We did lots. Alrighty, moving on.

So, we moved. Into a tiny house. In a not-anywhere-as-nice-as-our-old-neighborhood neighborhood. The kids love it here. They were not affected one bit. They like their bedrooms and the all dirt backyard.

It's a nice little house. Very (VERY) cozy. We have only one TV to share instead of three. We have only one living room instead of two. We spend A LOT more time very close to each other. Thor spends A LOT more time watching Tinkerbell and Avatar (I know...bad parents, it is rated PG13!). My "office" is the kitchen table.

I miss our old neighborhood. I miss being able to leave my trunk open while I bring the groceries in and not have to worry someone will steal my stuff (I may be slightly paranoid... but, only slightly as I have already had my Ipod stolen).

The dusting and general messiness is horrendous. But this is TEMPORARY. We aren't sure how temporary, but we're shooting for May. We hope. But if it doesn't happen, we are perfectly fine right here. Seriously, people live in worse. I have to get over this spoiledness. Ughhh.

Enough spoiled-brattiness. Here's a picture of Madeline helping potty-train Maison:


At least I have cute kids to make my day better. :)

Little known fact

Maison will only sleep on a pink pillowcase. It was all we had the first time he decided to want a pillow and now he cries if I try to replace it with anything else. I sure hope he grows out of that before high school.

1800 miles

Rental motorhome: check
Two kids, dog and husband: check
Lots of cookies: check
DVD player: oops
Car sick meds: check
Iphones: check (thank god)

We left on Friday morning and headed toward the Colorado Rockies. Met my parents and the boys right outside of Cedar City. I think we made it all of the way to Grand Junction that first day. Dad tried to find us a scenic spot to camp, but settled on an Albertson's parking lot instead. Sophie did not understand that, yes, we really expected her to pee in that rock landscaping. And yes, she was going to have to do it while attached to the leash.

From there we went to Thor's parents and stayed the next night parked behind their restaurant. It's a lot like camping, right by the woods, but right by a nice restaurant with a nice flushing toilet too. We almost didn't want to go "rough it" at our campground campsite.

We stayed 3 nights up visiting Thor's parents and his Grandma. Roy and Barb treated us to an awesome BBQ (in the rain) up at their farm/house and lots of breakfasts at the restaurant. Anna looks great and we were able to go visit at her house for a bit one day too. Maison was his grumpier self having missed lots of naps. Ian and Max loved everything- the restaurant, the animals, the woods, and Roy and Barb. And Madeline was THRILLED to see Oma and Grandpa Roy. And their office/car doggy, Tara.

The second half of the trip, we hee-hawed back through Grand Mesa, Montrose, Ouray, and Silverton. I have never in my whole life seen mountains so beautiful, ever. If I don't think about wintertime I can move Ouray, and the vicinity, to #2 on my Wish to Live Someday list. (California coast will always be #1, of course.)

Then we broke off from my parents to get home a little quicker and went through Hell with a pretty sunset. I think it was Highway 160, Northern Arizona. There were lots of cars, but we couldn't, for the life of us, figure out where they were coming from or where they were going. We slept on the side of the road. Nastiness. Hope to never have to drive that again.

For more pictures of the wonderfulness that filled our vacation go here!

Ooooo Scaawy Zombieeesss!!!

Ouch, that looks like it hurts! They obviously aren't worried about skin elasticity or saggy eyelids.

Monkey song

ME:
Two little monkeys jumping on the bed
one fell off and bumped his head
mama called the doctor and the doctor said...

MADELINE:
No more monkeys swinging on the couch??

You saw her here first, Folks!

Unless you already read my mom's blog, then you saw her here second.

recessed

This is what happened: one minute we decided it might be time to start looking into selling our house, the next minute it was listed, and about 12 seconds later it was sold.

Oh well. At least we have our health, right?

Maison in nature

Back when the weather was still nice, my mom and I took the kids up to Red Rock for a little hike. Turns out Maison isn't much into nature walks.






Walking on rocks was scary for him. The other kids had fun though. And we we made it to the little waterfall without getting rained on (the weather was kinda crazy that day).

Our Gremlin

Getting my referral on

So, I'm diggin' Swagbucks and want to pass it on in case anyone else wants to try it (plus it gets me more points, of course!).

I signed up and installed their search toolbar. There's no funny business AT ALL- no spam emails, no pop-ups, nothing. Then I use the toolbar to do my regular searches (facebook, google reader, bank, etc.). I just take the two seconds to type it in like a search instead of using my Favorites buttons.

I randomly get rewarded points here and there with my search results. And there's other ways to get a few points here and there on their website, blog and fb page.

I've earned $35 in amazon gift cards over the last 3 months or so. Not a huge amount of money or anything, but not bad for just doing my regular online searches. I do have Thor's computer signed up, so I get points from his searches too, but he's only earned a $5 card so far. He's not an internet nerd like me.

I used my GC's to buy an Nike+ exercise thingy & some songs for my Ipod.

So, if you want to try it, here's the link. And don't forget to install the toolbar!!

Oh, and I also subscribe to this blog that posts when bonus points are given on the Swagbucks blog and their facebook page.

Now get to earning me points, people! :)

Bloggity blog blog

Oh my, how Maison has changed. Still no real clear words but he talks and talks. Sounds like a gremlin. So adorable. Conversations between him and Madeline are like this:

Madeline: Maison, come up here. Let's blah blah blah.
Maison: gremlin talk
Madeline: Okay.

Madeline: Maison, come on! Let's go look for ladybugs!
Maison: gremlin talk
Madeline: MOM! MAISON WANTS HIS SHOES ON!

He does say ball, bug, bus, cheese, that, dog, popsicle and spongebob. But if you're not me you wouldn't understand those either.

His coordination has stepped up. He can run really fast, pedal his tricycle (it takes forever to get around the block because he has to stop to look at all the trucks), and today he conquered all fears of the playground. He was even waving hi to other little little kids. At first I thought he was being mean wiggling his hand right in their faces.

Naps are mostly optional these days. After a few straight days of napping he needs a day awake. And after two days of no naps he NEEDS a nap. It's nice to have more flexibility in our schedule.

Oh, and BYE BYE BINKI. So not a big deal with this kid. He didn't even notice the first night. And then he cried a little bit for a couple of nights. Then it was just a hung head and super pouty points to his mouth for a few nights after that.

We shaved his head and it made his belly look bigger. He outgrew his shoes and flat out REFUSED to wear three new pairs. I of course, want him to wear super hip name-brand shoes that his big cousins would be proud of. Turns out he prefers Dragon light-up sneakers from Wal-mart. Now he's showing everyone, even strangers, his cool light up shoes. Maybe it's the shoes making his belly look bigger.

Too lazy to go to bed

Weird, but not unusual.
I don't want to turn off the lights, put the dog away, and walk down the hallway
but I'll pay for it tomorrow at 6:30 AM when Madeline wakes me up.
Then my mom will pay for it when I'm late picking her up.
We're going to go for a walk.
Maybe I'll take the tricycle instead of the stroller. But can I push it and walk Sophie at the same time? Hmmm... decisions, decisions.
I think my brain has hit a wall.
I can't think of anything to post on my blog.
Everyday is busy, but there's nothing to post. That can't be.
Madeline is in swim lessons.
And except for her fear of getting water on her eyes, is having lots of fun.
I've bribed her twice with ice cream to keep her going after her teacher dunked her.
He doesn't dunk her anymore.
Maison is becoming very interested in the toilet,
but his fingers got slammed in the seat yesterday and now he's terrified of it.
Last night, all by himself, he tucked his shirt under his chin and walked back to lean his belly on the toilet while he peed in his diaper.
So funny.
One day I was on the phone and by the time I had gotten off, the kids had cleaned up the toy room.
That was REALLY STRANGE. And it hasn't happened since.
I'm trying to teach my body to j.o.g.
It's not a very good student.
Mostly my allergies are killing me with all this wind, so my workouts have been on and off (trying to go the free route with no gym membership).
We got two houses rented out.
Takes some stress off.
Guess I'll suck it up and head to bed now.

Prima Ballerina- the preview

Really, I think the price we pay for Madeline's ballet class is worth it just to see her dressed all up in her recital costumes. Yesterday was picture day, her recital isn't until June. I didn't order any pictures of her, but she still got to dress up for the group shot.

By Tuesday of this week

- We harvested our first strawberries. There were 4.

- Maison learned how to get the 4-wheeler to go in turbo mode.

- There were 2 ducks swimming in the pool at the new house. I'm sure they thought it was a pond by the way it looked and smelled.

- Using my mad couponing skills I got 7 boxes of cereal for FREE. I love free.

- Thor's TV stopped working. Thank goodness we bought the warranty (and have more than one tv).

- Madeline surprised me by knowing the name of our street.

- We had an awful parenting moment where Maison fell flat on his face getting out of the car. His finger saved his teeth from being knocked out. The doctor said his fingerprint will grow back.

Hoppity Hop Hop

One word: CANDY

I can not believe how much candy we ended up with this Easter. What's the point of this holiday again? Oh yeah with us being the non-religious type, the point is CANDY. I guess we got it about right then.

We did dye eggs and left them for Mr. E.B. to hide for us around the house. Madeline was super excited and found most of the eggs with very little help from us. Maison is a late sleeper so he had his own little egg hunt set up for him outside on the patio.



Then we had our awesome spring picnic on a beautiful day at a beautiful park.





More pictures are here.

Gardening al la Stewarts

Someday I will have a real garden. It's just so strangely satisfying to see food grow on a plant. That is until they all die because this is Las Vegas and sometimes I forget they need water to live. But for now we are very satisfied with our herbs (the basil already looks bad though), and the strawberries (so excited for these), and the tomatoes and jalapenos that are just blooming.

10 things about Madeline

1. BACK. SEAT. DRIVER.
2. 4 years, 1 month, 1 day; 36 lbs; 3 feet, 5 inches
3. Total Drama Mama
4. Can't stand to see or feel her body hurt in any way (see Drama Mama above).
5. Goes to the end of the driveway by herself to get the mail.
6. Doesn't skip the number 5 when she counts quite as often, and can get most of her teens correct. Except twelveteen. She still has that one.
7. Is usually very nice to her little brother.
8. Her clever joke: "Where do (pencils, grapes, pillows, etc.) come from?"... "Mommy's (or Daddy's or Gma's etc.) BUTT!!"
9. She only wants to watch Spongebob. And yells "Mommy! Spongebob's on!" a few times a day.
10. Wearing her "wobble gobbles":

Brunette

I went brunette once in high school and it was so horrible that I never went back. Could have been the perm/hair dye combo I was sporting, but I've been very seriously afraid to be anything but blonde ever since. Well, I finally jumped. I'm officially a brunette again. A much better brunette than my high school version (I hope).

Getting our craft on

Thanks to the blog eighteen25 for this quick, easy and cheap idea. Madeline loves her little basket.



For the record, I really do NOT like to craft with my kiddos. I will be very happy when they can craft by themselves. I know. Bad Mommy.

And yes she is painting a rock in the background. That's about as creative as it gets around here folks.

He's got style

It's an "I'm on my way to Nascar" sort of style, but I won't argue. My little man picked out a hat the other day. He hates to wear hats and with summer coming up quick I thought maybe he'd wear this one since he picked it out himself. Plus, it's Lightning McQueen for goodness sakes, who WOULDN'T wear a Lightning McQueen hat?


Turns out, he'll wear it all right. Like this:

And like this:

And when he's forced to keep it on his head, he'll wear it like this:



It's a really cool hat. And it'll keep the back of his neck nice and shaded. I can just feel the sunglass/sunblock fights ahead of us. Stubborn little pooper.

And yes, he's scheduled for a haircut very soon.

Goofy Goobers

I found these in my inbox the other day.

Her very special day

My baby girl turned four today (well, it was today when I started this, but now it's been a whole nother week). And it was a marvelous birthday if I can say so myself. She would certainly agree.

It started out the same as every day with her crawling into bed with me at 6:30. She took at look at her foot and confirmed that it had indeed grown overnight. Now it's big, and she's a big girl. Soon she'll be big like Ian and Max.

Grandma stopped by on her way to work and gave her a birthday hug and some mini scones. We made homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast, ate and then put on her "4" shirt so she was ready to go when GG came to get her.


They had an appointment at the "beauty shop" for finger and toe nail painting. Pink with sparklies and sparkly flowers. Then they stopped for some park play.


When she got home, Oma, Grandpa Roy, and a giant princess balloon were here waiting for her. By this time she was off-her-rocker excited about her day. After lunch, some errands and a little resting, it was time for the real party to begin.

She had a pink puppy cake with a purple bow, as requested (but when the tail fell off she let out a big, "Now my birthday is ruined!"), and some soda. The only thing missing in her eyes were the balloons. We forgot to get her more balloons to let fly up into the sky.




My baby girl is four. She's in such a hurry to grow up. She didn't understand why she still had to ride in her carseat today. So we weighed her and she was upset that she only weighed 35 pounds when she should weigh 40. And she cried before bed because she's not as tall as Max yet.

We love you baby girl. You are so smart. I love every word that comes out of your mouth. My little 4 going on 9 girl.

It's Sunday, can I hit 10?

1. Madeline is sick, sick, sick. Sore throat, cough, fever. We've locked her in her room and won't let her near any of us. I hope she's doing ok.

2. That was a joke, ha ha. SHE doesn't think she's sick, so we couldn't keep her away even if we tried. Her throat is really bothering her. At least that's what I'm guessing from her "I just can't take it anymore!" screams. She's extra dramatic since I've been letting her suck on candy canes to help it.

3. We won our Superbowl bets. Go Saints! I only bet a wimpy 20 bucks, but it payed pretty good and Thor's less wimpy than I am, so he won lots. Maybe he'll take me to dinner (hint hint).

4. Since it was SUPPOSED to be a rainy gloomy day today, we had tomato soup with grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches for dinner. If you like tomato soup this recipe from PW's site is soooo good. And super easy too. Certainly not low-fat though.

5. Maison has been practicing his jumps. Yesterday both feet left the ground. Go little dude!

6. We're in the midst of buying a house. A few wrinkles have been ironed out. Now I just hope it will close with no other problems.

7. Madeline needs more entertainment than I can provide. I would like to get her into preschool in the next few months. Although I haven't done any research on the matter, which probably isn't a good thing. Maybe living in an older area has it's perks- like maybe no waiting lists at preschools? Oh, and probably I should get a job.

8. Check out my friend's new photography website and leave her some love on her blog to win some cute stuff. It's really a nice site. And her pictures are BE-A-UTIFUL.

9. My tax papers are nearly ready to turn over to the CPA. This is a serious record- about 6 months earlier than usual. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this staying at home business. Too bad I have to prep for an IRS audit too. Suckies!

10. Eeek, It's 11 o'clock already. Time for bed!

Progress and lack thereof

Ok, so last new years I made a few easy resolutions. I actually managed to turn about 20% of those resolutions into habit over the past year. Which is good. For me.

I've managed to plan my meals monthly for the entire year. I really like it that way. I use a weekly calendar printout that hangs on my fridge to plan my week and I adjust my monthly food plan slightly if I have to according to the meat I have and our other plans for the week. At the beginning of the year the meal planning was hard because, planning that far ahead, we weren't ever eating what we were particularly craving like we were used to, we were eating what was planned. I was surprised how fast the craving something in particular changed for me. Eating like that was just a habit in itself.

The other thing I've really gotten a handle on is my shopping trips. Costco once a month was my biggest concern and I've got that one down. I only go when the coupon book comes out. And SUPER thanks to my grandparents still watching the kids for me once a week, I have a great grocery shopping schedule too. Every Monday.

The last of my 20% is my ever slightly better handle I have on updating my checkbook and budget worksheets. I actually converted everything to a computer program, which is nice, but it's taking a surprisingly long time for me to be really comfortable with it. I don't like change very much.

Well, that's the 20%.

As for the lack thereof...

The exercise video I bought to assist me with my exercise goal is still unopened. A whole year, and still unopened. I have lost 5 pounds though. But I'm assuming that's from muscle degeneration. My stack of pants that need hemmed is still the same size, and I still don't plan activities for the kids regularly. But I'm ok with all that. I feel pretty good about my 20%.

For this year I'm going to re-focus on opening that video and maybe running in my neighborhood. And the pants. I'd have so much to wear if I'd just get those damn pants hemmed before they all go out of style.

And I've added two habits that need to be formed this year. Firstly, I need to get ready for my day more regularly, in the morning, before the day really starts. Shower, hair, AND makeup if I'm going out of the house. And secondly (thanks Ang) I'll be doing my dishes at night more often than in the morning (when I could be showering) because it DOES make the next day easier (and cleaner). And so far, more than 3 weeks into the new year, my new habits are well on their way to being not so new habits.

On a side note, Thor stole my baby girl this morning to take a quick trip to Colorado and I miss her. She was SO excited to go and as far as I've heard she hasn't cried for her mommy yet at all. I'll have to have a talk with her about that when she gets back.

Getting along

The kids have been getting along unbelievably well lately. So much so that Madeline has been throwing fits whenever I have to put Maison down for his nap or to sleep at night because she wants to play with him more (unless she's waiting for a naptime popsicle, of course). I love it. Maison is getting old enough to sort of participate in Madeline's games. And Madeline is getting old enough to just pretend he understands even if he doesn't. And they communicate pretty well. Madeline understands Maison's gestures & noises even better than I do sometimes.


Madeline does get frustrated when he decides he doesn't want to play anymore and ignores everything she says, but before she throws a fit she tries being really, really sweet to him to get him back into the game. In her sweetness, she calls him Buddy and Little Buddy. And she sounds like she's calling a puppy. It's so cute.


I hope his "Buddy" nickname doesn't follow him into his school years. I don't think he'll want his friends calling him that.


They were playing together on the Sit-N-Spin here. The picture's freaky, but in person they were spinning and laughing.

Las Vegas fish

are hecka ugly. But we had some time to kill so I took the kids out to the marina to feed the carp. They loved it. It was a little stressful for me to have them so close to the water, but they mostly sat anyways. After their bags of popcorn were gone (half to the fish and half in their mouths) we took a drive over to the beach. I thought they could run off some energy. There was no one else there and it was a nice but windy day. Most of our time there, Madeline stood/ran/jumped with her arms spread wide enjoying the wind, and Maison wouldn't go near the water so he played in the dirt up closer to the truck.

A haircut

To stop the tangles.



She loves it. She can't stop looking at herself in the mirror and has taken on brushing it herself every morning.



And I love it too. She's growing up too fast.