BLOGGER TEMPLATES - TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Friday, March 30, 2012

First Wheels

Check out Ty's new ride.

I decided to take him to the park today for a test drive.
"Heck with that" he said. "I'm out."





Hayley and I had a good time playing basketball together while the little boy roamed free....and Tia....where was Tia?
Ah yes. In her own world.
Skipping to made up songs and carrying a box of goldfish crackers.
And here is Mom cashing in on the baby kisses.
Can you blame me?

Thursday, March 29, 2012

iphone pics.

At Ikea testing out real cribs. Once we put him in, he didn't want to get out. Let's hope that means good things for night-times in our new place.


J's special birthday crown I whipped up for him in an extra extra large.
"There's no way my head is that big," he said
But as you can see, it fit him quite perfectly.
And here is the best one we got of the two of us that day.


A stunning couple. And he looks like he's so in love with her.
Or does she have him in a head lock?
It's hard to tell.


Hayley chose to do her fairy tale book report on the three little pigs.
She had to dress up like a character from the story, and she chose to be the 'smart pig'.
She did a fabulous job on her presentation.

Today was Tia's 6th birthday.
Our candles were nowhere to be found, so we had to make do with what was still left in our cupboards.
When she blew out the candle, Ty surprised all of us by exploding into laughter.
So we lit the same candle and had her blow it out again. Same reaction.
We lit the candle about 8 more times, and each took turns blowing it out and trying to get the biggest reaction out of Ty. He couldn't get enough.
I can hardly wait until his first birthday in a couple of months. He is going to have a ball.
Tia decided she wants to wait until we are in our new place to have a party with her friends, so I will keep you posted on that.

Moving day is getting closer. Exciting times ahead.




Tuesday, March 27, 2012

A few pictures...

I've been spending a lot of time packing lately. Once a box is all packed up, Ty likes to climb in and start pulling things back out....

thus ruining all of my hard work.

Hayley is 8 now, which means she gets to go to Activity Days at our church. She absolutely loves it. I had to sneak in and take a picture as they were making their cute little crafts the other night.


There is nothing that makes Ty happier than sitting in the swings at the park. He would sit there for hours if I was willing to stay that long.
And here we are at the Picadilly circus.
We have definitely seen more exciting circuses than this, but still a fun time.
And here is a portion of each of our faces.
It takes a pretty skilled photographer to take a picture like this. ;)

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Pile

While walking through an Amish market a few months ago, I saw a Mennonite woman with three young children giving them a stern talkin' to. It looked like she had reached the end of her rope, and I still remember what she said.

"When we get home I'm going to pile you, all three of you!"

We laughed to ourselves, as parents do when we see others in the same predicaments we often find ourselves in....just glad it wasn't us that day. We have since adopted the phrase, "I'm going to pile you" even though we still wonder what exactly that means.
(I even googled it but got nothing)

If it means what I think it means, today I was definitely in a 'piling' kind of mood. Small spaces, loudness, crying, interrupting, messes, things broken, sibling fighting, button pushing, whining.
I wanted to pile everything and everyone.

Thank the heavens above for green smoothies, and consignment sales to lift a woman's spirits.
And also for the cute baby boy who somehow managed to remove his own shirt before he fell asleep in his bed tonight, (how adorable is that?)
the sweet girl with the beautiful singing voice that gets all of the lyrics to every song she knows wrong, but sings her heart out anyway...
and the freckled beauty who used the word "pardon" at the dinner table to demonstrate to me that she actually had been listening when we had our manners discussion the other night....
(even though I've probably only used the word 'pardon' a total of 3 times in my life, including the night we had our manners discussion.)

They drive me crazy at times.
Like pull out my hair crazy.
Like stick a needle in my eyes and ears crazy.
But man, do I love these kids.



















Tuesday, March 20, 2012

laugh at THIS

My husband is a tough crowd. I'll say something that I think is hiLARious, and he won't even crack a smile.
"Did you even hear what I just said?" I'll ask.
"Did you really not think that was funny at all?"

Me constantly trying to gain his humor approval can be seriously exhausting.
I remember one day, long ago, that I actually impressed him 3 different times...on the SAME day. He laughed out loud and looked at me every time with an expression of shock. "Honey, you were actually kind of clever right there."
Insult of the century.

Who needs his laughter anyway? Recently, I found another crowd who is much easier to please and makes me feel like I'm awesome every time I do ANYthing. After a morning walk and a quick trip to Trader Joes this morning, I sat with my little boy and played blocks with him. I built a tall tower and he thought I was amazing. I picked up the little square blocks and started to juggle with one hand and he laughed for like 5 minutes. I did 50 jump squats and he was extremely amused. I did a hand stand and he laughed again. So I did another one, and he laughed just as hard. I did handstands until I felt like I might pass out, and he laughed every single time. I fed him a banana and he thought I was the best thing in the world. I got on my hands and knees and he crawled right up to me and smothered me with love.

I may not be FUNNY Babe, but I'm awesome.
And you're lucky I'm an easy crowd because your jokes are kind of lame too.
;)





Sunday, March 18, 2012

Pinch and be pinched

I am generally not a happy camper in the mornings.
I am a mother, like many other mothers, who gets little to no sleep on a regular basis. It's my life, and I have to deal with it, but it doesn't mean I always have to do it with a smile.

On the morning of March 17th, as my eyes were just opening and acclimating to the light, I felt a sudden painful pinch on my arm. Ouuuuuuuch! What the heckkkkk?
My daughter, all caught up in the spirit of the 'holiday' that we call Saint Patrick's Day, had crawled onto my bed and found that in my SLUMBER I was not wearing green, and therefore felt she was perfectly justified in pinching the heck out of me.

As you can probably imagine, I wasn't laughing.

The ironic thing is that she didn't even know that pinching was a part of St. Patty's day until I told her two days earlier.
"Don't forget to wear green or you'll get pinched!" I said. She had no idea what I was talking about.

Next year I will be sure to emphasize that it only applies to people who are out of bed and have chosen their outfit for the day.
And pinching moms, no matter WHAT they're wearing, will result in a thousand pinches on her naughty little tooshie.
You think I'm joking kid?
Go ahead and try me. ;)

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Man of the Day

Today my husband is 32. We watched some home videos of him just recently that had been recorded when he was about 7 years old. His hair was big and floppy and looked like a mushroom sitting on the top of his head. He told his sister she had blubber, and instead of handing her the object she wanted, he threw it just out of reach to push her buttons. It reminded me of my own children. Now we know for sure who to blame for their behavior.

I met Jordan when he was a young, strapping man, about 9 years later (He was my grandma's paper boy) and knew right away there was something different about him. I had never known another guy who was so 'together', genuine, thoughtful, FUNNY, mature, and solid.
I wanted him as my own.

He was not short of female attention in the least. He was a great catch! A HARD one to catch, and don't think he didn't make me chase. The day I finally caught him...and realized he was mine to keep, was the happiest day of my life. ;)

I mean look at him.

Happy Birthday to an amazing Daddy, Husband and Friend.
We love you like crazy. ;)


Friday, March 16, 2012

Trouble. All three of 'em.

Raising his hands up in the air and grunting. It's his new thing.

Here's my big girl studying hard. Every time I take her on walks or drives lately, she wants me to ask her math questions.
Let it be known that I would rather do anything else in the world than ask her math questions. But I usually agree to it after a bit of bargaining.

It doesn't matter where you are, what you're doing, or what you're holding.
Ty will want to be there, do it, and eat it.
Every time.




My husband's birthday is 2 days away. For his birthday evening he has requested roast beef and confetti cake with 2 cans of rainbow chip frosting.
His hair may be graying a little (a lot) but when it comes to his cake preferences, I don't think he will ever grow up ;)

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The way it's supposed to be.

This morning I woke up to a baby boy still in my arms, smiling that adorable, killer smile.

This charming act is unfortunately still very effective and goshdangit I wish he would stop, because this child should NOT be in my bed every single morning. He should be in his.
His smile should not be the one I wake up to.....it should be my husband's with that irresistable scruffy face. Now when I wake up, my husband is no where to be found because Ty has squeezed his way in between us during the night and kicked/punched/slapped Jordan until he no longer felt welcome in our bed.
I am done with this adorable charade.

You should all know (because I've complained enough about our current living situation) that we found a place to move! It is a town home with 4 floors.
We can be loud
We can wash our clothes IN our home.
We can spread our wings...and we can actually hang out in a variety of rooms, rather than being stuck to one.
The biggest bonus: J and I each have our own huge walk in closets.
We have no yard, but we have access to two swimming pools and a clubhouse with an exercise room. We have a garage.

We will not have enough furniture to fill this space, which is exactly what I've always wanted.
I'll post pictures when I get some. They will most likely be of my children standing in each room with bigger than life smiles on their faces because they can't even wait to scream and jump and yell without being scolded.

And I may throw in a picture of me with a humongous smile on my face because I am so very tired of scolding.

Little baby will have his very own little boy room, with a real crib. And I will wake up to my husband once again, which is how it's supposed to be.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Lies.

Life would be so much simpler for me if I could just tell my kids there is no tooth fairy... Tonight as I tried to swap the tooth out for the money, little girl woke up and I had to make up a lame excuse as to why my hand was under her head.
If she's going to continue to believe....or pretend to believe (which I think is the case) she could at LEAST put her tooth in a reachable place so it doesn't have to be so DIFFICULT.

I think over breakfast in the morning I may just come clean about all the fictional characters they believe in because of their parents' lies.

There is no tooth fairy.
There is no Santa.
Leprechauns don't exist.

The girls know nothing of an Easter Bunny, so that makes my job a little bit easier...

Parenting is hard enough without having to keep track of a bunch of lies...
There are too many opportunities to slip up- Too many stories to create - and too much money required.
This mom is going broke.







Friday, March 9, 2012

Wet kisses

How delicious are open mouthed baby kisses? I just got my very first one just now,
and it was Bliss. ;)


I'm still wiping off my lips though.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Barricade

I wondered how long this chair would keep Ty out of the kitchen.




It only took him about 20 minutes to figure out that there was a big hole he could easily fit through.


He finally made it to the other side when I had my back turned. I wish I had taken a picture of this very proud little boy after he had crossed over. His face was priceless.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Hello!!! (again)

I drive my girls to school every morning, and every afternoon I pick them up. Every day it's the same routine.

A friend of mine drives the same mini van as me, same color and all, except for she has a little sticker on the back of hers that says NUT. I need to ask her what that stands for one of these days.

Every morning she drops her kids off at school, and every afternoon she picks them up.
Every morning and afternoon we pass each other.... day in and day out.

For the first few weeks of school I would give her a cheery wave every single time. We're friends, right? Friends wave. After a few weeks of this I started to wonder, am I being totally obnoxious? Is it really necessary for me to wave every time I see her?

It reminded me of when I would go running around the cemetery in PA every day in preparation for my half-marathon. There was always at least one other person there running in the opposite direction as me. The first time we'd pass each other we would make eye contact and nod hello, but every time we passed each other after that it was a little bit awkward...I can't say hello again. Do I smile even? or do I just ignore their presence all together? Sometimes I would look up in the trees like I was bird watching, or I would act like I was looking at the grave sites along the side of the path.

It's also kind of like when you run into an acquaintance at the grocery store and you say "Hey! How have you been- Good to see you, " and then part ways, only to run into each other again in the cereal aisle... Do you pretend you don't see them? Or do you continue your conversation from a few minutes ago?

I decided that it wasn't really necessary for me to keep waving, and that I had maybe been overdoing it a little. I began driving right passed her without giving my cheery wave. It felt so unnatural. It's not like I could pretend I didn't see her. We are the only two in the whole school with the same exact van. So I decided to do a modified wave,(barely raising my hand from the steering wheel) every 2 days or so, but NOT in the morning AND afternoon on the same day. That would seem way too eager.

After a week or two of doing the modified wave, I started to lift only my index finger. More like a 'yo' then a hello. A peace sign would maybe have seemed a little less unfriendly/obligatory.

Does she even think about her greetings to me every morning? Does she stay up passed her bed time blogging about it? Does she even HAVE a blog? Does she...ahem..... read this blog?

At any rate, this morning I decided that I, as her friend, am entitled to wave at her however cheery and however many times I want to throughout the day. I'm sorry if she thinks my jazz hands, and my bed hair and makeupless, early morning face frighten her, or seem too obnoxious for her taste, but the modified wave/finger lift just isn't going to cut it anymore. Not for this minivan sisterhood.
She should consider herself lucky that I don't honk.





Sunday, March 4, 2012

Cursive

Tia is really into cursive writing lately. She thinks it looks fancy and royal...so the other day she had me sit down and fill an entire page with cursive words so she could use it as an invitation to the 'royal ball' that her and her friends always play when they get together.

"Dear Princesses," I wrote "Please come to the ball at the castle. There will be many princes there. There will be dancing and royal music. You will be picked up in a royal carriage. Wear your prettiest dresses."

When Tia saw the page filled with cursive words she said "That's beautiful Mom, good job!"
When I looked at the page, I actually laughed. My cursive writing is a joke. If I didn't know I was the one who wrote it, I would have thought it came from a third grade classroom....(Why do we need to know how to write in cursive anyway?) but she hung it on the fridge and was proud as could be.

In walks J from work...
Tia excitedly showed him her princess invitation. Wasn't it beautiful?
"Who wrote this?" J asked, and then chuckled "Was it you Mom?"
I wasn't about to admit it.
"This looks like third grade handwriting."
Hahaha. I KNOW, okay? Who even writes in cursive these days?

What I really wanted to know, was could he do any better? I gave him a pen and a pad of paper and told him to get writing. I walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later.


He had written a total of
4 words, because he had forgotten HOW....and just as I suspected, his cursive was even worse than mine.
Don't dish it out if you can't take it, babycakes.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Tears

Ever since Ty began crawling we've held a contest every night before bed. We set Ty down on one side of the room, and then J and I, or all 4 of us will kneel on the other side of the living room and see which person he will crawl to.
It has never been a contest really.
There is only one person that Ty has wanted every single time.
One person that had truly captured his heart,
One person that made him smile and speed-crawl like no one else could.
Me.

Two days ago we held the same contest,
but something unexpected happened. His eyes betrayed me, fixating on someone else.
With a smile on his face as bright as the sun, those tiny little legs speed-crawled in another direction...right into the arms of his Daddy,
four times in a ROW.

Talk about major (major) heart break.




Thursday, March 1, 2012

You know you're a stay at home mom when,

well maybe I should rephrase. You know you're a LAZY stay at home mom, when your child wants you to inspect their 'clean' room, and you tell them to go take a picture and bring the camera back to show you, so you don't have to get off the couch.

There, now it's out in the open.
I just had to laugh at today's episode, because this is the first picture they took of their 'clean' room.


Really? Did they really think this was clean?

"Guys!" I said (while still sitting on the couch, even though their room is literally 2 footsteps away) "This is so messy!" Then I started pointing out the details in the picture, and giving specific commands. They would do what I told them, and then they'd come back in and look at the next thing I was pointing to on the camera, and then back to their room to clean it up.

After they swore they had finished everything, I asked them to take another picture:
Better, but still random things on the floor. Pick them up please!

Here is another picture Hayley took. Again, I had to laugh because what did she expect me to say. Oh, that looks real nice. Good job?
I sent Tia back in to clean that area of the room, and Hayley took a picture of her a few minutes later READING A BOOK, not cleaning. (She gets sidetracked just like her mom) Busted.

And here was the last picture she took. I sent them back in to pick up the marker and the sock, and then we called it a day...because I was exhausted. ;)

A million and one pictures of Ty and his bear.

Grammy, this post is 'specially for you.












Most of you probably didn't know that Ty's left eye is 2/3 blue, and 1/3 brown (look a little closer) This eye, along with the star shaped birthmark on his bumcheek makes him a very unique little boy.
Sometimes we refer to him as 'the chosen one'.