Ian's skateboard cake, take 2

Ian was just a few months old when Thor and I started dating. Now he's 11 years old. 11 years! Holy cow.

Ian liked his last year's birthday cake enough to ask for a similar one for this year. He said he wanted it exactly like it was last year with donut wheels and everything. But he wanted Blind on it instead of DC. I took a design off the skateboard website and frozen buttercream transfered it. It ended up looking much better than it tasted. I picked a BAD cake/frosting combination. Add to that lots of black food coloring and it was barely edible. Max actually gagged on the frosting a little bit. But I'll just blame that on him being choked up about a sad lizard issue just a few minutes before. Sorry Ian (and everyone else)! At least it looked cool. That's all that really matters anyways, right?

His party ended up being 9 days before his actual birthday because my parents had a trip planned. So, lucky guy, got some of his presents early. Giftcards, really cool dirt bike riding gear, and a model car kit, from what I remember. Here are a few pictures from his party.

Happy birthday Ian. Now stop growing please. Love, Auntie Jessica.

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.

I'm a little biased, but she's adorable

Madeline had her dance recital yesterday. We were all so, so proud of her. We dropped her off at the backstage door and the stage moms took her back to get settled and wait for her class's turn to preform. It was only the second time I've ever left her with someone I didn't know. The first time was just on Wednesday when she had to go to the rehearsal at the dance studio and parents weren't allowed in. It was a funny feeling to just drop her and leave. Up on stage, she did great. She didn't even look scared. You can't really see her face in this video, but she was even smiling a little. She's the last one on the left, closest to the teacher.

Recital from Jessica Stewart on Vimeo.

Today's 10

1. I found Madeline sucking on her toes. Took me a sec to realize she was trying to get the nail polish off.

2. Plumbers crack.


3. Madeline swam in the little pool on the patio. Maison stuck a toe in toward the end of the day.

4. 3 loads of dishes. I don't know why, we haven't been eating anything out of the ordinary.

5. 2 naps, barely overlapping.

6. It was Thor's night to do bath and bed with the kids. Madeline only got up once because the batteries in her flashlight went dead. Thor got her to go back to bed without changing them. I don't think I would have been able to.

7. I got lots of pages read in the book I'm reading, thanks to the swimming pool and the bath/bedtime routine. Yay for me!

8. Questions have taken over my life. Why is the cracker broken? Because it just is. For what? I don't know. Where is the princess? Right there. Why is she wearing that? Because she likes it. Where's the princess now? Right there. Why? I don't know.

9. Pulled pork and baked beans for dinner. I actually remembered to make the coleslaw this time. Tried a new bean recipe and it was yummy.

10. Chocolate pudding for desert. With bananas in the kids' bowls. Maison looked like he swam in it.

Madeline in June

June 06




June 07




June 08




June 09

Current events

We've had record injuries lately.

Madeline had her finger bit by a tortoise, was busted in the lip with a dog bone, fell off the couch and hit her head on the table, was poked in the eyeball by Maison, and loads of other miscellaneous bruises and scratches.

Maison tipped a lawn chair and busted his lip really bad and smashed his finger, was hit in the head with a flying Skeeball ball, hit his head on the slide, had his finger pinched in a cabinet, head banged with mom, and lots of other misc. head bangs. That thing just gets in the way.

The other night, we had a water gun fight. Madeline and Thor ganged up on me & Maison. Maison was my partner-slash-shield. The kids loved it, except Maison when he was my shield. And Madeline when I accidentally got her in her eye. They got me pretty good considering the guns were just tiny little things from the Target dollar bins.

The kids had another trip to the zoo. With dad this time. While I went to a convention thingy and got lots of good skin stuff.

Madeline had a thing about her pudding. Thor was teasing that he was going to eat hers. It took us a while to notice that she was actually standing in front of, GUARDING, the refrigerator. We assured her that her pudding would be just fine, but she nearly broke down. Last week she whacked Thor for eating the last few bites of the ice cream. She's definitely her mother's daughter.

I think Madeline's going to need a bigger bed soon. Her feet almost touch the bottom. And with all of the toys she keeps in there I get claustrophobic just looking at her.


We had another fun trip to Chuck E Cheese. This time we met Jen and her kids. I can't believe the tokens we went through. Maison ran around like a mad man following the big kids and wandering off by himself too. Shorty was hard to find when he did that.


We have a new addition. Thor's such a proud papa. (It's a jalapeno)


Thor and I got to have a movie/lunch date. We saw Hangover, which was pretty funny. I think the last movie I saw in a theater was the third Lord of the Rings. Sad. This was definitely a nice break. Lunch without having to tip extra to make up for the mess on the floor and a non-cartoon movie. And I got my Milkduds. Perfect.

So I busted her in the lip

Today we were supposed to take Madeline to tumbling, but Maison has had a runny nose since yesterday and I chose to not spread his possible germs around and kept them both at home. But he's fine. He was crabby yesterday, but felt fine today. And his nose is even less leaky. Yesterday, he'd sneeze and snot would shoot all the way down to his shirt. I've never seen so much snot come out of a nose.

I didn't let him play outside yesterday, thinking he may be getting sick, but we were outside lots today. The weather was so nice with the clouds and all. I cleaned off the patio while the kids played. Then we came in and Madeline played with her playdoh, Maison ate some playdoh, and I hung some pictures. I think I finally have an idea of how I want to hang some of my pictures. I've been going over different layouts in my head for almost three weeks. Seriously, this stuff does not come easy. And when it does come...well...I'm not going to show what I hung.

After dinner, we went back outside to hang out. Madeline begged Thor to get the helium tank out and blow some balloons up. They like to let them go and watch them fly away. Not good for the environment, I know, and I try to tell them, but they don't care. Although I think they only let 2 go this time and one was an accident. So maybe I've made Thor feel a little, teeny, tiny bit guilty? Probably not.

Madeline handed me her balloon to hold while she got another one from Thor. I was throwing Sophie's bone for her, since she was demanding loudly that I do so (even the dog bosses me around). The balloon was in my right hand, so I had to throw with my left hand, and I somehow chucked Sophie's half-chewed rawhide bone right into Madeline's face, just feet in front of me. She was horrified. It was weird. I thought I knocked out a tooth because it was bleeding more than I expected, but it just cut the outside of her lip and underneath too. She just asked me, "Mom, what happened? Why did you do that?" I felt horrible. But she got over it quickly. And we went out front to play on the driveway, where I convinced her to let me take a picture of her fatty boombatty lip. She even put on the pitiful puppy dog face for me.

She was really well behaved the rest of the night. :)

Jealous

Oh my, I missed my Wednesday Wanderings. I started to write them, but can't finish it. My brain is just stuck. What can I say? It happens. I still can't think of anything interesting to write about, so I guess I'll just tell you how my husband left and went to San Diego without me. Waaaaahhh. They took a guy's trip, which I have no problem with, but I'm still JEALOUS. I mean, come on. And he keeps sending me pictures of the sunsets and the view from the room. Ha!

At least the weather is so incredibly nice here this weekend that I can close my eyes and pretend I'm there too. For a second.

We've stayed busy. We went to the zoo on Friday, which Maison LOVED. Madeline loved it too. Her absolute favorite part wasn't the orangutan or the fossas or the lion or the alligators. It was the goldfish pond. Silly girl. She cried when I wouldn't make a second trip back to see the fish, so I had to promise her that we'd go to Petsmart soon to look at the fish there. A sad thing though, was that their male lion ate a football that was thrown over the fence and had died the night before.

Madeline was EXTRA rambunctious today. She stared me down when we were out eating pizza with my parents. I was telling her to stop spitting or keep her fingers out of her ranch or something, I can't remember exactly. I almost started to laugh, but held it in. But I didn't know what to do with her. At home it'd be time out. In public like that? Clueless. I ended up grabbing her and taking her into the bathroom, which was right there. Some how telling her to knock it off in the bathroom worked much better than telling her the same thing at the table.

Speaking of rambuctuality, I would think that Maison would thank me for changing his stinky pants. I AM doing him a favor. I sure don't get anything out of it (besides not being turned into child protective services, of course). Instead he acts like I'm torchuring him and how dare I interupt him for such a thing.

How about some random pics to round out my random post?