This is. Cute.

This is. Uh oh.

The kids love to color.  Have I mentioned that?  They do. 

A few weeks ago, I bought these big glass jars to keep their crayons and markers in...How cute!  How smart!  Not really.

Flash forward to this past Saturday when Andrew tried to put the jar on the table and it fell. Leaving this mess...

We were all right there, so I said to Kevin, "Take the kids upstairs and I will clean this up."  He replied, in fear, "But I don't have shoes on!"  To which I replied, "Just.  Watch.  Where.  You. Are. STEPPING!"  As you can imagine, I used a tone that made it very clear how concerned I was that he would cut one of his precious feet on the glass.  I, for one, was more worried about the kids.  Not myself.  The bottoms of my feet are like horse hooves, a little glass is not an issue.  Plus, I have been through a foot injury before.  And I survived. (Adding a link here as Kevin requested.)

Andrew kept saying, "This is. Uh oh."  over and over again.  Which was so darn cute it almost made all the sweeping, vacuuming and wiping worth it. 

Now the kids needed new crayons (couldn't risk any little pieces of glass being stuck in the paper or crayon). So I bought the kids each their own set and  little metal bucket to put them in. 
They got to pick out their own bucket.  How cute! 
Plus, now they won't fight over the crayons because they each have the exact same ones.  How smart!
Not really.

As soon as I set them down to color, they started screaming at each other.  Grace held her crayons over the top of her head and Andrew crawled across the table screaming and clawing at her to get another white crayon.  Even though white doesn't even show up on his white paper.  Geez.  Pull it together Little Buddy.

Sweet Stuff: Amazon Prime

You don't know what you've got until its gone, right?  Well our subscription to Amazon Prime recently expired and we are missing it so, so much.  If you join, you get free 2 day shipping on a good percentage of the items offered on Amazon.  It is like $75 for a year or something.

Now you are thinking, wow Bridget, can't believe you paid that much!  Uh, have you met my husband?  I most certainly did not.  We had it for about 2 years and never paid the membership fee.  We bought so much stuff that they just kept extending it for free.  Which is not exactly a good thing.  For us.  For Amazon, it was worth it.

Amazon Prime allowed me to have discussions with myself that go a little something like this, "I need a cake pan for this weekend.  Am I going to go to Target this week?  No.  Okay, I will order it on Amazon." 

OR

"Darn it!  I keep forgetting to buy coffee filters at the grocery store.  Oh I know!  I will order them online! I am so darn smart.  Thank goodness for Amazon Prime."  I realize it is really not smart (or "green") to have coffee filters shipped to your house.  Don't judge me.

This past Christmas I did most of my shopping on Amazon.  Which was fabulous.

A side benefit is you get to know your UPS man really well.  Probably too well.  When he sees you on a walk a mile from your house and waves, that may be a bad sign.  I tell myself it is because he thinks I am just so cute.  But I know he loves that I give him job security.

Andrew Update

1. Andrew is talking so much lately.  He understands every single thing we say, and he is saying new words everyday.  He is even putting some sentences together.  His favorite word combination is, "This is."  Such as "This is.  Momma's chair."  "This is.  Gracie's.  Brush."  And when he doesn't know the word he says, "This is.  This."  So cute.

2. He loves to clean.  He grabs a wipe and a little container of handsoap, and says, "I cleaning!" while he pretends to spray the floor and wipe it down. 

3. We all know that he adores vacuums, but he has a affection for my swiffer wetjet as well.   

4. Andrew loves to brush his teeth.  He is obsessed with it.  If he gets the idea that he needs to brush his teeth, there is NOTHING that will stop him from heading up the stairs, climbing on the step stool and screaming, "Momma!  Momma! Brush teeth!  Momma!" until I come and put toothpaste on his brush.  The catch is that only Andrew can brush Andrew's teeth,  he tantrums if Mom and Dad try to do it. 

5. I have trained Andrew to give me a kiss whenever he wants something.  So now he says, "Please. Momma!"  And puckers up.  Love it.  He has also started requesting a hug from me after the kiss.  If I forget, he yells, "Hugga!" and opens his arms sooo wide.  Love him.

6.Andrew makes a mess with his food.   He has regressed in this area.  Usually we are ready for a full outfit change after a meal. 

7.  He loves the baby pool. 

4th of July - Part 3

Here is my final post on the 4th.  Finally!

After a little rest, Grace and Kevin headed out to the annual BBQ at Canon Park.  There were a ton of kids there and Grace got to go swimming in the little splashpad.  I waited until Andrew was done with his nap before heading over.  And the pool was closed when we got there.  I call that "perfect timing."

After another nap/rest we headed out to Tripoli for the fireworks.  Grace got her face painted.

Grace, as usual, was super expressive while watching the fireworks.  Andrew was super serious.

Today

1. I steam cleaned my carpets, which was deeply satisfying.  Definitely the highlight of my day - despite the fact that I managed to dump filthy water on Grace's carpet.  So I still may need to pay for a professional cleaning. 

Did I mention Andrew loves vacuums?  Or I should say he admires them.  And respects them.  He calls them "Da-hun"...he hasn't quite mastered that "v" sound.  He was, uh, thrilled that I was using the steam cleaner today. 

Did I also mention that Andrew has the Huggie's denim diapers again this year?  And that he now "gets" taking pictures, he will pose and do total cheese-ball smiles.  As soon as the picture is snapped he says, "I see?!" and runs over and stares at himself and smiles.  He is so vain.

 

 He will even spin around on request.

2. Andrew ate applesauce for dinner.

 By taking handfuls and rubbing them all over his face and the table.  Then he said, "Momma.  This is.  Applesauce mess."

3. Grace and Andrew each smacked each other approximately 1043 times.  I intervened twice. 

4. We went to the pool for 5 minutes today.  That was fun.  It was about to rain.  Grace threw tantrums, because I wouldn't let her go in the big pool.  I got to chase Andrew (in my bathing suit) as he repeatedly ran towards the big pool.  I got smacked with a water can.

5. Andrew's finger got shut in the sliding door of our car...which is not supposed to close on toddler fingers. 

6. Grace insisted we go on a walk to see our neighbors that we have met about three times.  The last time was over a year ago.  Grace remembered where they lived and that we stopped and talked to them once on a walk last summer.  "Mom, you remember the Thomases!  We said hi to them on a walk last week."  Implying that I was a crazy fool for saying, "What are you talking about you want to go visit the Thomases?  Who?"

7. Grace and I had the following conversation.  "Mom, why do dinosaurs have tails?"
"I don't know."
"Maybe it is so they can poop."
"I don't think so."
"Oh, I know!  It is just decoration."

8.  And a picture of Grace from last week....since I didn't have one of her from today.  This was taken after we played an exciting game of Candy Land.  I won.  She didn't like that.  Enough said.

4th of July - Part 2

We had a busy 4th.  In the morning, we headed out to Katie & Brad's for their annual party before the Whitefish Bay Parade.  This is our first year and it was great.  The parade in our neighborhood is at 9am, which is a bit early for a parade.  The WFB parade is much better, obviously.

Look at how little they all are! Their larger than life personalities (or so it seems to me)  always make me forget how tiny they really are. 

Andrew was such a good boy.  He sat on the curb and watched the parade for a good 15 minutes while eating his donut.  Then he decided that he was done.  So we needed to go back to the house to wash his hands, wash his face, try to go potty, wash his hands again, and then play with trucks.

We ran into Baby William and got a few pictures with the little cutie.

Sweet tattoo Mikey!

We dragged my brother along with us.  His girlfriend took off to Europe without him, so we took pity on him and included him in our day.  He acted awkward.  Last time we invite him anywhere fun :)

4th of July - Part 1

We had a very and wonderful 4th of July weekend.

We kicked off the weekend with a dinner at Eddie Martinis to celebrate my parent's 33rd anniversary and my dad's birthday.

Then Saturday, we packed the van full of gear and drove up to Amherst Junction for the day.  My friend Kelly was in town from LA and was at her family's cabin for the weekend.  She kindly invited us to visit and the Malones never say "no" to an invitation!

  The cabin is right on a lake and it is so beautiful up there.  We went swimming and took a boat ride.  Plus Andrew took a nap, which was a pleasant surprise.  We headed back at dinner time and stopped in Oshkosh at the Rocky Rococos for a bite to eat.  That was the highlight of Kevin's day.  He loves Rocky's. 

For the record, the highlight of my day was NOT changing Andrew's poopy diaper in the 90 degree car and then not being able to find a garbage can to throw it in. 

Anyways, here are some snapshots from the day.

 

Yes, that is me in the water.  Shocking!  And just look at what a beautiful day we had.

On the way home, the kids got a little silly in the car.  Gracie was making up new safety songs and Andrew was screeching and being silly.

In the last 45 minutes...

...the following happened.

1. Andrew pooped in the tub.
2. Andrew dumped a cupful of poopy water on the outside of the tub.
3. Kevin put the bathtoys in the sink to soak in soapy water and the stopper got stuck.
4. I put my rings on the side of my sink (i took them off to scrub his bathroom), closed the drain and the stopper got stuck.
5. While Kevin was trying to fix his sink, he knocked over the toothbrush holder and it shattered.
6. I headed downstairs to get a knife to pry open my sink drain and stepped on the broken toothbrush holder.

You cannot make this stuff up. 

Both kids are in bed and I am off to pour myself a large gin and tonic.

Keeping Busy

The kids love to tear apart my living room.  Throw all the cushions on the floor, run around, jump, and flop all over the place.  I am a super cool and flexible mom, so I let them do it.

Grace loves Andrew.  She keeps telling us that they are getting married.  He is the only person she will marry.  Andrew just plays dumb when we question him about this.  The date has been set for "next week" (Grace says everything is next week).

Andrew has been very into coloring lately.  He says, "I coloring!" So cute.  Of course, Grace and Andrew usually fight over the same exact crayon, even though there are at least 3 of each color.  And the crayons constantly roll on the floor and need to be picked up by yours truly.

They also like to destroy the mail.  But doesn't Andrew look cute?  While taking this photo I had no idea that he had a poop in his pants.  A poop that had somehow found its way outside of his diaper...bathtime and laudry-time immediately followed.

We also got out our baby pool.  I spent $7 on it at Walmart three years ago, and it is still just as fabulous as the day I bought it. 

During the swimming session, Grace had to go to the bathroom (of course).  So I sent her inside and stayed outside to watch Andrew.  Well then I heard someone SCREAMING, "HELP! HELP!".  So I ran inside, while keeping my eye on Andrew through the window, (those of you who have been to our house know this is possible...just covering my bases here so no one thinks I left my kid unattended in a pool). 

I said, "Grace, what is wrong?! Why are you yelling 'Help!' " and she said.  "What do you want Mom? I was saying 'Santa's Elf!' "  That, my friends, is a perfect example of how Grace messes with my head.

I didn't plan ahead and fill up the pool in the AM.  So the sun didn't warm up the water.  So it was really cold.

Shockingly cold. 

The kids also spent time looking at the clouds and determining what they were shaped like. 

They decided this one was a dog. Huh?