Potty Training Day 1

So, we decided to potty train Emma Mae today. We're using the same three day intense potty training boot camp we used for Jake. Yesterday, I spent about two months worth of diaper money on stickers, treats, books and other bribes to positively encourage her to go on the potty.

This morning we got rid of the diapers and handed her some TinkerBell underwear. I have been peed on one time and cleaned up several messes. But, I think she is way more receptive to this than Jake was. He absolutely hated the idea of not wearing a diaper. She was able to get a little pee and one poop in the potty today. I think all of the incidents were more of an accident or just being in the right place at the right time, but I'm hopeful that she will catch on quickly and we will be done with diapers forever.

This and that

The short version of our day:

Kids slept in until 7am today! We went to the park for an hour and barely made it back home. I wasn't sure Jake was going to be able to walk or ride his bicycle the last block home. The whining was remarkable. I babysat again so we didn't go anywhere exciting. We did take the kids to the pool after dinner to wear them out in hopes of them sleeping late in the morning. We almost didn't get to go to the pool, however, because Mike sent Jake to his room after dinner and I had the misfortune of overhearing Jake saying "stupid, stupid Daddy. i don't wanna play with him!" Oh, my. We couldn't let that slide and I'm really wondering where he is getting that expression from. I don't think we really say that much around here. So he got a stupid spanking and then we went to the pool.

My mind is on food today. These are things I love right now.

1.) The Greek Gods greek yogurt in honey flavor. Now, Amy doesn't like it but I think it is the best thing since sliced bread.

2.) Nature Valley Granola Thins in dark chocolate. Only 80 calories and yummy! I'm trying to convince myself they are the only chocolate I need every single day.

3.) These lemon raspberry muffins I made on Sunday

4.) Yesterday, over at Kelly's Korner she posted a picture of some sliced fruit with poppyseed dressing. I just happened to have made poppyseed dressing the day before so today I sliced some strawberries, bananas, cantelope, blueberries and grapes up and put them on a big plate with the dressing. Then I gave the kids a toothpick to eat/dip the fruit with and we all loved it. Ate the whole plate and Jake declared again that it made him so happy!

Summer Days

Lately I've been feeling kind of on auto pilot in the motherhood department. I mean I try to plan outings for us or at least take the kids to the park or the swimming pool every day, but I also feel like the TV has been on a lot lately. So I woke up this morning with the intention to be intentional.

It is hard to be a mama with the best of intentions. I baby sat today so we were home bound. It took me two hours just to get breakfast done and get the kids dressed. They literally ate three breakfasts today.

Finally at 11:00 I put the little guy I watch twice a week in bed for a nap. Then I thought "oops! I better go be a good mama to my kids." So I turned off the TV and took Jake and Emma to the playroom for some art time. We got out paper, colors, and water colors. They were so excited! I got them all set up and then sat down beside Jake to try to work on his letters. That's when Logan started screaming in the other room. So I told the kids to keep "arting" it up while I went to rock Logan to sleep and to stay in the play room for goodness sakes and try to be quiet!

Thirty minutes later I had Logan asleep and went to check on the kids. They had done pretty well on their own but I still felt bad that I hadn't been right there with them. So we had lunch and then I announced that it was story time. Emma was stoked but Jake said he didn't want to read books. So he played with his little toy animals while Em and I read approximately every book she owns. I guess quality time with one child is better than no quality time at all.

After story time I told the kids they could go outside and play in the sprinkler even though it totally violates our water restriction laws right now. Shh, don't tell! Again, Jake didn't want to participate. What is up with that? I seriously think he may be getting sick or something. Emma had a good time though.




What is up with our camera? Do these pictures look fuzzy? I wonder if it's just the insane heat around here.

Mean Boy

I totally messed up my summer goal by not blogging yesterday. No one's perfect. We went to church yesterday morning and then came home and took naps until Katha and her boys came over to go swimming. Jake was on fire at the swimming pool. He seriously was acting like a totally different boy. He was shooting people in the face with a water gun, running and jumping into the pool like a mad man, hitting people with toys and generally running amok and wreaking havoc all over the place.

I had to put him in time out twice. Both times he sat on the side of the pool pouting and splashing water at me with his feet. We've been learning a Bible verse this week. A very simple one. "Children obey your parents." So at one point I pulled him over and told him that we needed to have a little talk. I reminded him about our Bible verse and told him that he was not pleasing God or mama by not listening and obeying. When we were done talking I sent him on his way secure in the knowledge that he was now armed with the tools he needed to do the right thing. And then he bonked a man in the head with this little plastic ball.

He came back over to me and said that he needed to have a talk with me. He told me that I really needed to be nice to him and start listening to him. I referred him back to our Bible memory verse. I asked him to tell me what the verse said. And he said "Listen to your children." One of us is confused.

Anyhow, Mike made tikka masala for dinner and Katha and the boys stayed to eat with us. He is a very good cook and it is always nice to invite people over for dinner when you're not the one doing the cooking!

Today I took the kids to the park and our new friend and neighbor Kristin was there with her hubby and little girl. We're trying to get the girls to be friends. Little Allison went to give Emma a hug and Emma threw herself down on the ground and did her best impression of a person who is not interested in making friends. It was wonderful. I'm hoping Allison won't give up on Emma Mae. Later, Kristin totally saved Emma by rescuing her from stomping on a big pile of fire ants. She got several bites but it could have been a lot worse.

During Emma's naptime I let Jake watch Free Willy while I also tried to take a nap. I don't know what is wrong with me but I have no energy lately. I am ready for bed right after lunch time. Anyway, I couldn't sleep because Jake was being kind of loud watching his movie. I kept hearing him talking to the people on the screen. At one point he screamed "LISTEN CHILDREN! OBEY YOUR PARENTS! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOUR NAMES ARE BUT YOU BETTER LISTEN!"

One last thing for today. While I was cleaning up after dinner, Mike went to check on the kids. They were in our bedroom. Jake was naked from the waist down holding our camera. Apparently, he was trying to take a picture of his booty. Fortunately, he was not successful. We now have about 30 pictures of the bathroom and our toilet paper holder on the camera. He was successful at taking the cutest picture we've gotten of Emma Mae in quite some time.

Cancelled plans and cupcakes

Today we had tentative plans to go to the swimming pool with Katha and her boys. However, that idea got nixxed before lunch time. The kids were on fire. It is amazing to me how quickly laughter and squeals of delight can turn into screams of anger and tales of woe around here.

I warned them multiple times that if they couldn't listen to mama and get along with each other then we would have to call off the trip to the pool. Someday those two are going to believe me when I speak.

We did venture out to the grocery store this morning because I wanted to make some cupcakes. I know I probably shouldn't have made cupcakes and given them one based on their behavior. But I had been craving these cupcakes for weeks and didn't really feel like I should be punishing myself because my kids can't listen.

We prayed when we left the driveway and we prayed when we left the grocery store for God to let Big Red make it home safely with one front tire that was near shreds. God didn't disappoint us. I'm thankful for that because Jake was very emphatic in the back seat that if you ask God to help you He will. Also, I'm thankful because I think having a blow out with two small children in the car and having to walk home carrying groceries would have sucked.

So, we came home and made cupcakes and stayed home the rest of the day. I got the recipe for these Pink Lemonade cupcakes from the Idea Room blog. They were quite good. Very summery. For the first time in his life, Jake ate the entire cupcake and not just the frosting. When he was done with it he looked at me and said "mama, that made me so happy." I know how you feel buddy.



While Emma was napping, Jake and I watched a documentary on the Galapagos Islands. This is probably the place I would most like to visit in the world. I'm so thankful to have a son who will sit and watch things like that with me. He kept saying "whoa! I never knew that before!" about everything. I love that little guy.

Last day of VBS

Well we made it through the VBS week! Emma was done. In fact, her class was out on the same playground that we had my class on at the same time and she threw a FIT when she saw me. At KKW we could run into each other all day long and she would smile and say "hi, mama!" and then go on her way. Not today. She wanted me to hold her and carry her and take her home. When I had to put her down to pick up one of the babies in our class she fell on the ground and seriously acted like she was possessed with a demon.

All of the classes came together at the end of the day to put on a big musical production. I'm thinking I may change my mind about Jake going into the acting business someday. I thought this might be right up his alley. I had visions of him stealing the show up there singing and doing all of the hand gestures and everything. Instead, our child sat on the front row of steps and kept pulling his shirt up over his head.



That's Jake in the green shirt. Can you see him? Mike came up to see the show and was videotaping some of it. He caught some stuff that I couldn't see from where I was standing. It seems that when Jake wasn't hiding in his shirt, he was intent on distracting the kids around him into doing "the wrong thing." Check this out.



We couldn't be more proud.

Emma's class didn't get to participate in the musical. But they did get to attend the performance. They had great seats in this cool red buggy. We had a great week, but I think we're all ready to get back to our lazy mornings of walking the dog and swimming in the sweltering heat.

Buzz Lightyear and Jesus

Today at VBS the toddlers let us know that they had had enough already. I think five days in a row for little ones is just too much. There was much crying, pushing, shoving and tantrum throwing. And that was just the adults!

Emma has been throwing huge fits when I drop her off at her class too. I don't know what's going on there. I mean screaming "NO! DON'T WANNA GO!" while kicking me fits. It's great. Her teachers still manage to put on a smile and welcome her with open arms though. They say as soon as they give her a snack she calms right down. Like mama, like daughter.

On our way home from church I was pressing Jake about what he learned today. Every day I ask him what Bible story they talked about. Every day he tells me they don't have a Bible story. Now, I know that's not true. Today he finally told me the Bible story was about a turtle. I guess I missed that book in the Bible. Then we got into a discussion about heaven. Jake wanted to know if Jesus lived on Earth. I told him about how Jesus was born a baby, grew up and then some bad men killed him. He filled in the parts about Jesus being killed on a cross so I was all "Score!" He knows something! Then we talked about how one day we will live with Jesus and God in heaven. Jake started talking about how heaven was really high up in the sky, but he knew how we were going to get up there. I was all ready for some heavy duty four year old theology. That's when he told me that Buzz Lightyear and Iron Man would fly us up to Jesus when we die. Maybe that white light people talk about is really just fire from jet fuel!

Last night Mike informed me that he has been having trouble going to sleep and then staying asleep. I was all "oh, i'm not having any trouble sleeping!" So of course I couldn't go to sleep last night and then I woke up several times and couldn't get back to sleep. He totally jinxed me. Meanwhile, he slept like a baby. I was so looking forward to my after VBS nap this afternoon but I couldn't even get to sleep for that. Bummer.

So instead, I woke Emma up early and we all headed off to the swimming pool. We're all getting some pretty awesome tan lines around here.

Amateur Photographer

Three days of VBS down and two more to go! It has been fun but Emma and I are worn out for some reason. We come home every day and take looong naps. I blame mine on the absence of Coke in my life.

So, really we haven't done much else this week besides VBS. Jake did get hold of my camera one day during my nap though. He was actually watching an Iron Man episode so now our camera has approximately 199 pictures of Iron Man on it. This is my favorite.



The last picture he took was a self portrait. Nice, huh?



I'm thinking Jake might need some glasses. Tonight at dinner he noticed a picture of Emma I just put on the refrigerator. The background on the picture is oceanic with a big killer whale breaching. So Jake's eyes got real big and he said "LOOK! There's a picture of Shamu on the refrigerator! Right behind that little boy!" Now, I know Emma doesn't have much hair but she definitely looks like a girl. Plus, he's known her now for about two years so he should know that she is indeed a girl or at least recognize her as being his sister. Also, he's been watching Scooby Doo ever since cousin's camp and every time Velma says "shut up" we have to have an in depth discussion about how she shouldn't say that. Only today he told me that Velma is a "he". Again, I realize Velma is a little ambiguous and she has really short hair like Emma, but she is wearing a skirt. Clearly, a girl.

In other news, Emma Mae has worn a hair clip in her hair to VBS the last two mornings. She rips it out as soon as we leave but progress is being made! Also, on Father's Day when we went out for pizza we ordered a salad to go with the meal. Both kids ate salad. This is huge. Not so much for Jake. He's a pretty good eater. But Emma refuses to let anything vegetative pass her lips. She ate quite a bit too! Now, if I had had the camera with me I would have totally let Jake take a picture of that!

Coke, cookies and self control

I'm trying to kick my Coke habit. That's Coca Cola in case anyone is wondering. I actually kicked my Coke habit a few months ago, but I replaced it with a Coke Zero habit. Then I kicked the Coke Zero habit and replaced it with a Vanilla Coke Zero habit. I figured Coke Zero was better for me because it doesn't have any calories. However, it does have a lot of things in it that I can't pronounce. Things like ACESULFAME and PHENYLALANINE. That last one scares me a bit because they put the fact that my Vanilla Coke Zero contains it on a separate spot on the can. All by itself, away from the other list of ingredients. I think it might be some sort of trouble maker.

Hi, I'm Kim. It's been 84 hours since I had my last drink of Vanilla Coke Zero. I don't seem to be able to just give up a bad habit. I can't mentally tell myself when I wake up every morning that I really like drinking nothing but water all day long. Around noon time I need some sort of pick me up. That's usually about the time the kids start fighting and whining and telling me they don't want to eat anything we have in the house for lunch. My hands start shaking. I feel faint. And I want a Coke. And some chocolate. STAT.

Instead, for the past four days I've been reaching for a glass of iced tea. It's not quite the same because there are no fun, fizzy bubbles in tea. But there is caffeine so I think it is helping me get over the hump.

The thing is that tonight we're having chicken enchiladas for dinner. You know what would go really well with Mexican food? A Coke. I'm really trying to talk myself down from it, but right now I'm not certain about how this is going to turn out. My self control is wavering.

Speaking of wavering self control, yesterday at VBS they brought us extra cookies. I was only going to have one cookie. Then I had two. And then I had three. No will power. Please pray for me. This summer I found cellulite in a new place on my thighs. A place that is going to take sacrifice and self discipline to get rid of. A place that takes no prisoners. A place where Vanilla Coke Zero and cookies cannot reside.

Oh, the tiredness

We started VBS today. I'm teaching a class of toddlers from 12 months to 21 months. They are pretty cute. And they all did really well today. Not much crying at all which is just the way I like it.

Jake and Emma had so much fun. The theme this year is SonSurf so everything is decorated up beach style and Jake's teachers even had a stuffed Shamu so of course he loves it!

Emma and I took very long naps after we got home. We were worn out. Then Mike made some wonderful spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and basil from our garden. It was lovely.

We ended the day with a trip to the pool. Who would have guessed? Leslie brought her two kids over to go swimming with us. It was so nice to see all of them. I have to say I'm exhausted and can't manage any witty remarks tonight. Can't wait to do it all over again tomorrow!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I have the best daddy in the world and I really wish I could spend every Father's Day with him. He celebrated today by making apricot jam. And I know he will bring me some on his next trip down here. That's one of the reasons he's the best dad in the world! That and also the fact that he (and my mom) agreed to buy me the coolest car ever when I turned 18. I miss you Powder Puff. Oh, and also, he never says anything negative about anybody, he is super smart, and I'm willing to bet that he never gave anyone a reason to say anything negative about himself. Just a little shout out to my daddy here.

I also married someone who is a fantastic daddy. Even if he is the loudest person in the swimming pool throwing Jake sky high and helping him to make the biggest splashes ever. Jake will remember having fun with his daddy at the pool.

I woke up early today to make some blueberry muffins for Mike before he went to work. The kids and I played hookie from church because I knew we were going to have to be at the church this afternoon for a VBS meeting and the price of gas is killing us!

After our meeting Mike met us and we went out for pizza to celebrate Father's Day. It was really good. The restaurant even gave him a free dessert for being a daddy. It was burnt, but that's okay.

After dinner I had to run over to WalMart to buy an iron. I found out at our VBS meeting that I needed to wear a t-shirt with a certain decal on it all week long. Ya'll. I haven't ironed a garment in at least 10 years. I don't iron. If it's too wrinkled to wear it then we don't wear it. Honestly, I was a little put out that I had to buy an iron and bring it into our house. My fear is that certain persons around here will expect me to begin ironing things. I can't have that. So, if you think about it please pray for our VBS week and please pray that no wrinkles dare to show themselves in our house while I'm still alive.

Pirates, pools and pretend

The kids slept in until 7am today! But, I was up at 5:45 and couldn't get back to sleep. Still, I had a little quiet time to myself before they got up.

After our morning walk we headed over to the local farmer's market for fresh veggies. I've been looking for okra for four weeks now and they finally had some. Come to mama! I can't wait to fry that stuff up.

Our own little garden is doing pretty well this summer. We have a bumper crop of tomatoes coming in. The only problem is that we also have a bumper crop of stink bugs out there eating them just as fast as they turn light red. Every day I go out there and get disgusted by all the bugs. Then I come in and tell Mike that I really ought to make up some "bug juice" to get rid of them organically. Then I never make it. So yesterday while I was gone, Mike made some for me. And that is why I think I'll keep him. He does stuff like that. Last night I sprayed the heck out of the garden and this morning I didn't see a single stink bug.

After the farmer's market, I took the kids over to the city park. Some days they play together or by themselves and don't really need me much. Some days they want me to swing them and play with them. That's the kind of day today was. Jake called Emma and I over to one of the playscapes and told us to get on his ship. Then we spotted some pirates in the distance and had to deal with them forthwith. (I love that word! They say it on Blue Bloods all the time and I've always wanted to use it.)

Anyway, we had to run back and forth between playscapes for a good twenty minutes fighting pirates off. And I sang "what do you do with a scurvy pirate?" more times than I care to remember. Oh, well. It was fun and I know it won't be long before they will be completely embarrassed of me especially if I'm singing pirate songs so I just tried to enjoy the moment.

I tried to get the house cleaned up before we had to go to FRIEND AIDEN'S! birthday party. Here are the kids playing in the choo choo train they made with our dining room chairs while I was mopping the floor.



Aiden's party was at the swimming pool so we continued our pool marathon. Emma found Jake's hat while we there and put it on.



And now Mike and I are going to curl up on the couch and watch Black Swan while we pretend we're actually in the Carribean not fighting pirates.

The smell of burning hair

Next week I'm working at the church for VBS. I'm super excited for Jake and Emma to go for the first time. I think they will love it. So today I went up there to decorate our room and then I ran a few errands around town while Mike had the kids.

Before I left for the day I decided to put out the effort to straighten my hair and make it look nice. I got it cut a couple weeks ago and it is much shorter which means it gets much poofier if I don't straighten it out. So I'm in the bathroom spraying on this product I bought (for way more than my normal $3.99 hair care budget) and I'm using the flat iron on my hair. This product is supposed to protect your hair from heat, specifically from the flat iron.

I hear a few sizzles while I'm doing this but don't think much about it. Then Mike who was in the bedroom at the time starts yelling that he smells something burning. Not two minutes later the smoke alarm in our bedroom started going off. All from my hair. I'm starting to think that straightening my hair out may not be the best option for me.

After my errands I came back home to the biggest welcome home committee you've ever seen. You would have thought I had been gone for months overseas or something. Right away Jake and Emma asked for a snack. I lovingly gave them a bowl of Pirate Booty and Goldfish Crackers fresh from HEB.

Ten minutes after finishing that snack, Jake told me that he was still hungry and asked for something else. I told him he could have fruit. So he said he wanted ice cream. I said that ice cream is not fruit. So he asked for cheese. Clearly we need a lesson on the four food groups around here.

The day ended with cheeseburgers and a trip to the swimming pool. Does anything scream summer more than that? Maybe some homemade ice cream, but we don't have any of that around here. We'll have to settle for the delicious mint chocolate chip ice cream Klondike bars we bought yesterday instead. And I'm gonna call that a fruit or veggie since they're green inside and be completely guilt free.

I'm all out of titles

So today started at 6am with Emma in our bedroom. I took her back to her bed, gave her a cup of chocolate milk and told her to go back to sleep. An hour later Mike and I woke up. It was wonderful. I went in to check on the kids and Emma was laying on the floor in Jake's room wide awake waiting for him to wake up.

We did our morning walk and then took the kids to the pool. Friend Aiden happened to be there with his family so Jake was super excited. I was able to meet a neighbor we had never talked to before and set up a future play date for Emma and her daughter. It's so funny to me that friendships used to be made over shared experiences or common values and now I can go to the pool and see someone with a daughter the same age as mine and say "hey, do you want to get together sometime? my daughter really needs some girls to hang out with!"

Mike put most of the finishing touches on our house painting last night. It looks so good! We painted our living room/kitchen/dining room in cappuccino. Now, when I get up every morning I expect to see a Starbucks barrister in the kitchen making me a skinny vanilla latte on ice. Alas, all I ever really see is the cat staring at me begging for food.

A few months ago I told Mike that I thought our living room would look really good with a mantle even though we don't have a fireplace or anything to put it over. A few weeks after that conversation Mike came home from work with this beautiful mantle that a co-worker had taken out of his house. Ask and you will receive. Mike painted it white and hung it up tonight. I think it looks really good. Okay, I know we have too much stuff on it right now. I'm trying to decide what to keep up and what to take down. I'm just praying the whole thing doesn't fall off of the wall and kill our TV someday.




My favorite part of today was listening to Emma tell everyone how much she loves us. All day long she came up to me, looked me in the eye, put her little hands on my face and said "I wuvs you mama" then she says she wuvs Jacob and she wuvs daddy too. So cute! And Jake spent the day telling me which room he tooted in and which direction the toot went. Lovely.

So many words Wednesday

Jake and Emma woke me up at 6:30 from a wonderful dream where Amy and I were shopping for formal evening gowns at the mall. Jason Bateman had just come up to me and offered me a huge piece of chocolate cake when I was rudely summoned out of my slumber. I tell you payback is gonna be so much fun when they become teenagers and just want to sleep all day long.

Took Pudgy for a walk. I had plans to go to Target today to buy a birthday present for one of Jake's friends. While I was getting ready the kids pushed every button on each other they could find. There was much crying and wailing and tales of he did this and she did that. My dreams of a fun, peaceful outing to Target were slowly fading by the dark, dark storm clouds of my offspring. I threatened them both with no TV and a possible cancellation of swimming pool privelages for the day if they acted up one bit while we were out.

They made it almost through the check out line at Target. That's when Emma had her first melt down because I wouldn't pick her up. I actually blame the melt down on the fact that I ommitted a crucial step to a successful Target outing with my kids. I did not buy the popcorn/icee combo for them. The price of that combo has climbed from $1.50 to $2.18 this year. That is highway robbery. Everything is going up except our paychecks it seems. Anyway, we still needed to go to the pet store to buy Scratchy some crickets and I wanted to go to Kohl's for a father's day gift. Jake was still being good so I thought maybe we could make it if I carried Emma for a little bit.

Mission accomplished in the pet store. Kohl's on the other hand was a different story. Perhaps I set them up for failure by taking them into a store to look at things other than toys. But, within three minutes they were running around like wild Indians while other mom's averted their eyes from mine and one bemused grandma smiled and said she remembered those days.

I hate it when I have to make good on threats. But, I couldn't let it slide. They were pretty crazy in Kohl's. So, the TV did not come on when we got home. We had lunch and after they were done they finally noticed the lack of noise in the background and wanted to watch a show. I told them "no" in no uncertain terms. Jake went to his room and played with toys. Wonderful! Emma stayed under my feet asking me every five seconds to put on Scooby Doo for her. Then she had to go to time out.

I finally got them wrangled to the playroom where I built the simplest of train tracks on Jake's train table. They played and played proving to me that I don't have to know how to build multi-level tracks with bridges and stuff that I need an engineering degree to design for them to have fun.





We ended the day with, you guessed it, a trip to the swimming pool. My hair will be in need of some deep conditioning by the end of the summer.

Reunions

So today I was awakened at 6:15 by something rolling around all over my body. It turned out to be Emma Mae. She then proceeded to cup my face in her little hand and demand me to "GET UP MAMA!" Someday when she is a teenager I will pay her back for this nonsense.

We got up, ate breakfast and took the overweight dog for a walk. Sound familiar? Two days every week I babysit our neighbors little boy. Today was one of those days. When he comes over we are basically home bound which can make for a long day. So even though the temperature was somewhere between sweltering and this is where the devil lives hot I put the two smaller ones in the stroller and put Jake on his bike and we headed over to the park. Jake was on fire. He kept switching back and forth between being Spiderman and Iron Man. At one point he was those two plus Super Man and BatMan. It was the perfect trifecta plus one of superheroes. He used up so much energy at the park that he didn't have much left for the bike ride home. Now, I have had to carry that bike while pushing the stroller with two kids in it home before. I was not going to do it today. Plus, there was nowhere for him to ride in the stroller. So Jake had to suck it up and ride that bike home. He cried the entire way. I asked him why he was crying and he said it was because he wanted his Willy (Shamu). I tried telling him that crying wasn't going to solve that problem but he wasn't listening.

We made it home and Jake found all three of his Willy's while I sang the classic Peaches and Herb's song Reunited and It Feels So Good. Then, we all needed a refreshing snack in the form of sugar and ice. So I broke out the Popsicles.




Have you ever seen a child look so pitiful about eating a popsicles? I think he was reliving the torturous bike ride home.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to Katha's house to be reunited with some old friends that moved to Idaho two years ago. I totally forgot my camera, but it was so good to see Jenn and her two adorable kids. Emma and Max spent the entire evening being too cute for words together. And Jake was on fire again. They were begging for bed by the time we got home.

Dear Diary

I think I need a goal for summer since I'm not working and the days are all starting to run together. I think my goal will be to document every single day of our life this summer. It will be riveting. It will be better than any soon to be cancelled soap opera you might watch on TV.

Today started bright and early at 6am. I asked Jake why he and Emma have to wake up so early and he told me it was because the new clock I bought was too loud for him to sleep. I just laughed and thought he was just copying Mike about the clock. I bought this thing at Ross last week on clearance and it looks really good in our living room. Mike keeps saying it is keeping him awake at night. I thought he was just complaining about it because he doesn't like the wall I hung it on and he's hoping I will take it down. Tonight, I went in to check on the kids in their rooms before I went to bed and I could totally hear that clock ticking through the walls. Now I know why it was on clearance.

The worst possible thing happened after we got up today. I realized we were out of cereal bars. Both kids started whining and crying that they NEEDED a cereal bar. I was not going to the store at 6am so instead I busted out a new recipe for whole wheat waffles. I added some blueberries to the batter and they were delish!

We took the overweight dog for his walk and I was covered with sweat by 8:30am. Lovely. Did I mention that a man in a pickup stopped me on Saturday while we were on our walk and asked if I would sell him the dog? Yeah. And I didn't even hesitate to tell him no. Who would have thought? It seems I don't want to get rid of the beast as much as I keep telling myself I do.

Anyway, I got brave and took the kids by myself to the pool for two hours this morning. They were so good! We had a lot of fun and now I know what most of our days will be like this summer.

Later, I took a nap. Exciting, isn't it? I was worn out. We ended the day with a new recipe from PW that my sister made for the kids at cousins camp and she said they ate it up for her. Emma took one look at it and told me she did NOT want to eat THAT DINNER! Which just proves that she loves Aunt Cheryl more than mommy.

Mike and I ended the evening watching the Prince of Persia and all I can say is that that Jake Gyllenhaal is a cutie patootie. The end.

They're Back!

Well, Jake and Emma came back to us Wednesday afternoon. I met Cheryl, Katie and the kids at our local hamburger joint to have lunch and do a munchkin exchange. As soon as Jake saw me he ran up to me and threw his arms around me and started saying "Mama! Mama!" It was so cute. He cuddled up to me at lunch and told me how much fun he had at Aunt Cheryl's house but that he was happy to be going home. He actually kissed the house when we got home. Multiple times.

Emma, on the other hand, refused to look at me or even acknowledge my presence when she saw me. She wanted nothing to do with me. She sat in between Cheryl and Katie at lunch and she cried hysterically when they left the house to go home. She kept saying "I want Cheryl! My Katie!" It was so pitiful.

Needless to say, both kids had a blast on their first official sleep over. They went swimming, played at a park and I dare say were spoiled rotten over the course of two days. For some reason, Emma thinks she should be carried around 100% of the time now. Not sure what that's all about.

She was either completely worn out or completely unhappy about being back at home with me. This is how I found her about two hours after they got home.


I guess she had to put her blankies over her face so she couldn't see me. She was probably dreaming about Cheryl and Katie.

I enjoyed my time off from mommyhood. I did almost everything on my checklist. Except for playing the piano. I'll have to bang that out some other time. Mike and I enjoyed a couple meals alone and we even took a break from painting the house one night to go to a movie. We saw Bridesmaids and if you can get over the raunchy parts it really is hilarious. I was super excited to see a painting of Rick Springfield hanging up on the wall in one of the houses in the movie. Crazy! Not only did I get to see a funny movie, but I got to see my Rick as well. Who could ask for more?

I'm so happy to have my little guys back at home. We have been swimming more times than I can count and are looking forward to a marathon of Birthday parties for the next few days.

Sieze the day

Yesterday, I took Jake and Emma to my sister's house and DROPPED THEM OFF there for the next two days. This is the first time they have slept at somebody else's house without me. I had to call Amy on my way home to ask her why I felt like crying because I missed them so much. She gave me some sage advice. She said "oh that will pass as soon as you get busy. Go have some fun!" Best. Advice. Ever. This is the first time in four years I have had an entire day to myself. I don't know what to do. Now, I have had two other occasions to go overnight somewhere without the kids, but I was with friends for one and with Mike for another. I had fun, but I still had to think about what others wanted to do. I'm looking at hours ahead of me where I can do anything I want to do.

George Michael's song "Freedom" keeps reverberating through my brain. Last night Mike and I went to Home Depot and roamed the aisles forever looking at things without anyone telling us they wanted to "GET DOWN NOW!" or "I WANT TO RIDE THE TRACTORS!" or "SHE'S HITTING ME!" It was blissful. Then we went to Target and didn't have to buy popcorn and slushies as a bribe to keep people quiet while we shopped. Wonderful!

Also, last night I ate a meal without having to get up fifty five times to cut up peaches, put more ice in a cup, refill ketchup or ranch dressing supplies, clean up a spill or threaten to spank a bottom if someone didn't sit down already and eat. Ya'll. My food tasted delicious. It was warm and it was fresh from the first bite until the last one. Also, I stopped when I was full instead of continuing to stress eat after everyone else had left the table to calm my nerves.

After dinner Mike and I started painting the living room. Isn't that what any two people in love with some free time on their hands would do?

Today, the possibilities are endless. I was going to sleep in, but I woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:45am. This proves that you can lead a little mama to water but you can't make her internal alarm clock drink of it. I'm thinking I will start the day off by taking the overweight dog on a walk all by ourselves. I will watch Good Morning America. I will use the gift card my sweet friend gave me for a mani/pedi. I will stop at Starbucks for a highly caloric beverage and maybe even read a book while I'm there. I may go out to lunch. I will walk the aisles of Hobby Lobby for as long as I feel the desire to do so. I will play the piano. I will call a friend on the phone and have a conversation. Today is all about me and I don't feel guilty about it at all.

Do you see the irony here?

We started off this morning with our walk of the overweight dog. About halfway through Mike spotted a little bird in the grass flapping his wings but not going anywhere. I did what I always do in these situations. I sent Mike to investigate. He picked up the bird and determined that it had a hurt leg. We are both relatively compassionate people and want to teach our kids compassion so we decided to scoop up the little bird in a towel we had in our stroller and take him home with us.

When we got home we let the kids take a look at the bird and told them that it was hurt but that we were going to try to help it. So I made some phone calls. There is a wildlife rehabilitation place in downtown Austin we could drop the bird off at. We put the bird in a box still wrapped in a towel and headed off to Austin. We named it Flinn. Half a gas tank later, we found the place and checked in with a volunteer. She confirmed that we had a baby dove with a hurt but not broken leg. She said it would be fine but that it was really hungry and she needed to feed it right away. Then she asked me if I had fed it anything and I felt really bad that the answer was "no." But, we only had the little thing for about an hour and a half and I didn't think it would enjoy goldfish crackers or Pirate Booty.

The rehab place was on some really pretty land with walking trails so we decided to take the kids for a little hike. We had a really nice time until some sort of foreign object lodged itself in Jake's shoe and he still has not found it or stopped complaining about it.

On our way home we talked about Flinn and how nice it was to help take care of one of God's creatures. I have to say we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Right up until a bird flew into our windshield and bounced off the car as we were going approximately 55 mph. Mike tried to convince me that he hadn't seen the body drop anywhere and that this bird was probably just suffering from a minor concussion or something. I don't know if I buy it. But I do know that the next time we find a hurt animal we will bring it home, feed it goldfish crackers and hope for the best.

Parks, playground and ponies!

Mike had to work on Memorial Day so the kids and I just hung out at the house all day. We did make our morning foray to the park. Since the kids are waking up at 6AM every single day now, we can actually get to the park before the temperature soars to somewhere above unbearable.

I started the morning off with a mild heart attack. Imagine being woken up at 6am every morning out of a sound sleep. Then imagine opening your legally blind eyes to a midget in a mask. (Okay, I know I should have written "little person" but come on, the alliteration!) That is what I sort of saw when I was awakened on Memorial Day. Jake is very into Spiderman right now and decided to wear his Spiderman mask to wake me up. It was frightful.

Today marks our first official day of summer break! We woke up with no plans and nothing to do. So I immediately fixed that situation. We went for a walk with our overweight dog. I'm determined to get him (and me) into shape this summer. Then I packed up the kids and my coupons and we headed off to the Jumpy Gym for hours of inside, air conditioned entertainment. After that, we went to Chick A Fil for some lunch and more indoor playground excitement. The fun never stops around here.

I didn't take my camera and I know the only reason anyone stops by this blog is to look at pictures of the kids. So, here are some pics we took at our neighbor boy's three year old birthday party a couple weeks ago. This party had a petting zoo, pony rides, a bouncy house, snow cones, Spiderman cupcakes and I don't know what all else. I'm afraid Jake and Emma may start requesting more than "a little family gathering" for their future parties.