art class

Andrew and I have been taking an art class on Tuesdays.  He seems to like it, however sometimes he decides he is done about half way through the class.  "I all done art class."  He gets out of his seat and heads to get his coat.  There is no changing his mind. 

The art class is a bit, uh, advanced in the instruction.  It is for 2-4 year olds.  The first class we learned about Cezanne and then the children created their own still life pieces.  Seriously.  The pictures below are from the class on cubism.  Seriously.

The rec center description said, "no prior art experience required" in the description.  Seriously.  Obviously, here in Wauwatosa we take our pre-preschool art instruction, uh, seriously. 

"That is NOT mud" (not for the faint of heart)

...read the text I received from Kevin earlier tonight.  This marks the second night in a row one of us has had to clean poop off the kitchen floor after dinner.  The joys of parenthood.

HO HO HO! Gingerbread houses

A few weeks ago we made our annual trip to the MAC gingerbread house decorating event.  This year Andrew and Mikey joined us.  Mikey was the only child who was really interested in decorating. 

Below is the house JuJu and Andrew made. 

Here is Grace next to the house she and I decorated.

After lunch we attempted to get some cute pictures of the kids....none turned out!

Ultrasound Pictures

Here is a photo from my first ultrasound with this baby.  The baby is the little solid white dot on the far right edge of the larger white outlined circles.  It is amazing that the baby goes from that, to this in 3 months!

So for baby #3 we have decided NOT to find out the sex.  Well I decided I didn't want to know, and Kevin went along with it.  I have mixed feelings.  I want it to be a surprise, but I do feel that I would be more excited and bond better with the baby if I knew.  Also, we have to do some bedroom shuffling and knowing would be easier....nonetheless, we are not finding out.

Well,  except for the fact that there is an envelope sitting on our kitchen counter with the news inside.  The other day Gracie asked what was in the envelope.  When I explained it, she said "Well, I want to know!" and started to open it up.  Little stinker.  She would NEVER be able to keep it from me. 

Grace wants it to be a girl.  Really bad. This is the conversation we had a few days before the ultrasound...
"Gracie, Mom is going to the doctor and I will be able to show you pictures of the baby!  He will also be able to tell us if it is a boy or girl.  Do you think we should find out?"
"No mom, I want it to be a surprise, just like you.  But I better see a picture of a vagina!"

Andrew is not so excited.  We have conversations that go a like this....

"Andrew, are you going to play with the baby?"
No.
"Andrew, are you going to help Mommy feed the baby?"
No.
"Andrew, are you going to share with the baby?"
No.
"Andrew, are you going to be nice to the baby?"
No.
Maybe he is just saying "No" to everything?
"Andrew, are you going to act naughty to the baby?"
Yes.
At least he is honest!

Catching Up

Trip to the Farm 

 Grace and Andrew are lucky that their Great-Aunt Betty has her own little farm and lets the kids come and visit.  She has an ox, geese, chickens, sheep, llamas, dogs....and I am sure other animals I am forgetting. 

 Here is Andrew and Howard the ox having a little face off.  I think Howard is saying, "I am bigger than you, so watch it."  And I think Andrew was saying, "Whoa there Howard, settle down.  My understanding is that you will soon be Christmas dinner."

Halloween
Halloween was the never ending holiday this year.  It was a Monday this year, but the festivities began on Friday with a costume parade at school.  Here is Grace walking in with her class. 

Here she is worried because she doesn't see us.   

And now she sees us (and throws out a pageant-worthy wave). The best part of the parade was that K4 went first, so that meant that we all got to leave right after Grace's class was done!

Here the kids are about to head out trick or treating on Halloween night.  It was cold and we only made it around 1 block but the kids had a ball and got a ton of candy.  Our neighborhood really gets into the holiday with decorations and costumes!

Pookie on the Potty

A few weeks ago Andrew said, "I go pookie on the potty."  He headed up to his potty chair, told me to take his pants and diaper off, sat down, and did his business.  I was sooo proud of him!  Since then we have had a handful of successful potty visits, but he still likes his diaper. 

Tooth Removal 
Poor Gracie had to have a tooth pulled.  Luckily the dentist said it came out very easily.  We have learned the hard way that cavities in baby teeth are to be treated as a priority, NOT to be ignored for a few months (whoops).  We have also learned that it takes FOREVER to get appointments at pediatric dentists (and really they should be seeing one of the specialist from the start and not seeing general dentists that can't really treat any pediatric dental issues).  Then even when  you do get in to see them, it takes FOREVER to get another appointment to actually get work done.  So by the time we got in, the tooth was going bad on us.  Sweet girl was not in any pain at all (I believe she would have let me know!) but this whole experience has been traumatic (for me and Grace) and guilt inducing (for me).  Oh well.  Lesson learned.  Bright side is that the tooth fairy paid an early visit to Grace and she got a cool new barbie out of the situation!

Gracie & Andrew Quotes

Grace: Mommy, I will be with you at the hospital when you have the baby, right?
Me: No honey, no kids are allowed while the baby is born.  Grandma Jane or JuJu will bring you to see the baby after he or she is born.
Mommy, will the baby be white or brown?
Well, the baby will have white skin like you and Andrew.
But how do you know?
Well, God usually gives us babies that look like the parents.  You know, how you look like Daddy and Andrew looks like Mommy?
Well I think we all kind of look alike.
You are right, we do.
Well, except Daddy.  I mean, we all have hair on our heads, but he has hair EVERYWHERE.

I overheard this conversation between the kids.
"Andrew can I please use that color?"
Silence
"Andrew, can I please use that color?  Pretty please?  Pretty please...with...uh...pasta on top?"
"Okay!" 
Grace understands that Andrew doesn't like sweets, so needed to figure out something to entice him.  And for me she says, "Pretty please, with cheese on top?"


Andrew has been talking a ton lately.  This development has coincided with him developing a charming 2 year old personality.  Things he says to me are:

"No. You do it."
"No. You get it."
"No. You clean it."
"No. Mine!"
"No. Me first"
"Back up!"
and my favorite, "Gracie!  No drama!"
and sometimes he will take a stick or a fork and swing it at me, as if to say "Screw you Mom.  I know you gave birth to me and have been loving on me for the past two years, but I am soooo over you."

On a side note, this is pretty much what Andrew looks like for a few hours each day....

Look how cute Andrew is in his bathrobe!  I think he looks like he is at the spa.

Here is he trying to climb into the snack cabinet for some pretzels. 

Potty Training

Andrew has started to show some interest in sitting on the potty.  He even pooped in the potty two times this week!

Lazy Sunday

We had a ton of great family time this Sunday. While Kevin and Andrew went to the gym, Gracie and I went to church. We tried to take Andrew last week, and that was a mistake. Grace was very good this week - without her little brother distracting her. A couple funny things happened...as they always will when Gracie is around:

1. She heard a reader say Jesus died. She looked at me with the absolute saddest face I have ever seen and said, "What? Jesus died?!" She looked sooo sad, I felt bad for her. I was also a little nervous that this would turn into a major dramatic event, but she held it together.
2. She heard the priest say, "Jesus Christ" and she turned to me, alarmed and said, "Mommy! He said Jesus Christ!" Like he was swearing or something. So funny.
3. Gracie sees a lot of her little friends from school at mass, and doesn't get that we shouldn't give them high fives when they are walking down to communion. She also saw one of the K5 teachers that she "loves" and had to give her a BIG hug....while she was handing out communion.
4. They used a ton of incense today. The church was foggy. There is something in the incense that makes my eyes burn and water, always has. Apparently, Grace doesn't like the smell. "Mommy, that smells so weird!" and kept her nose plugged for a bit longer than I would have liked.

In the afternoon, we went swimming (Yes, I did too.  The pool was a freezing 87 degrees, not kidding, I was shivering the whole time.)   Then, we came home to watch the Packer game.  During the game we got bored and I suggested we see how many things we could put on Patty's back before she would get up.  We ran out of space on her back before she moved. 

We also saw how long we could balance things on her head.  Poor dog. 

Then Gracie had me take pictures of her making her classic angry faces.

Andrew watched a Beyonce video. 

Then I took this picture and realized that he is not a baby anymore.  He is a little boy!  When did that happen?

Gracie's Artwork: Portraits of Mom

Gracie drew some pictures of me.  In this one the baby is wrapped in a brown blanket. 

I love how the baby is smiling in this one.  Gracie chose a hot pink blanket for this pictures, because she is soooo sure the baby is a girl.  We'll see!

2011 Christmas Card Outtakes

Last week I snapped some pictures of the kids for this year's Christmas card.  I ended up with a couple cute ones for the card.  Here are the outtakes...not as bad as last year!

Do I need a stitch?

Today, poor little Andrew fell and split open his chin.  The little guy was taking off his coat, walking into the back hall and tripped over the shoes he left there.  I was right there but couldn't grab him in time.  Heartbreak.  Immediately I saw that his chin was split.  So I called the doctor, somewhat hysterically, and made an appointment.  Andrew cried for about a minute, then let me hold him, put a band aid on and apply some pressure. 

Grace on the other hand....

As soon as she heard the word "stitch", she literally flipped out.  "I don't want a stitch!"
"Grace, you don't need a stitch.  You didn't fall.  You are not bleeding.  This is not about you." 
This conversation continued to repeat, ver batim, for about 20 minutes.  Only to be interrupted by periods of sobbing and screaming. 

I did tell her that we need to be better about cleaning up things on the floor and that prompted her to clean up her room, for once.  Nice!

So we head to the doctor and sweet little Andrew got his chin glued, instead of  a stitch.  He was a model patient.  No tears.  No fighting.  No struggle.  He just laid on the table and let the doctor and nurse mess with his chin.  I only saw one little lip quiver.  Such a tough boy!  This past weekend he cut his lip twice and tumbled down the stairs, head first.  He looks like he was in a bar fight. 

Flash forward to about 7:30pm.  I am sitting at the desk paying bills in my quiet house.  I thought everyone was asleep until I heard, "Mommy, my finger hurts!"

Grace came down and after close inspection I saw a minuscule papercut on her finger.  I foolishly said, "Oh, you have a little papercut."  Big mistake.  She lost it.  Again.

She ran upstairs.  Screaming that she needs a bandaid.  I put my head in my hands, asked God for some patience, grabbed the camera and headed up stairs.  Okay, I was laughing, you would be too.  Don't judge me.  I made her pose for this picture before I got her a band aid.  Don't judge me. 

Apparently, she did not understand that Andrew's injury was a bit more, uh substantial, than hers. 
"Mommy, am I going to be okay?  Do I need a stitch?"
"Yes, Grace you will be okay.  You do not need a stitch."
"Mommy, why were you laughing?"
"Because you are overreacting."
"What is overreacting?"
"Freaking out about a papercut is overreacting."
"Is my finger cut off?  What is a papercut?"

Yesterday

"Mommy, today at dance class we heard "Stairway to Heaven" and saw a firetruck."

Apple Picking

About 2 weeks ago we took a quick outing to go apple picking.

Andrew, do your cheesy face!

Grace, smile!

Andrew's favorite part was riding the tractor out to the orchard.

While Kevin picked all the apples, Grace sang "Here Comes Johnny Appleseed", Andrew ate an apple, and JuJu and I loved on Baby Andrew.

Where are you going Andrew?

"juju"s house! Big purse go too!"  Thats my boy.

iPad art

Last night, Gracie went to eat dinner and left me with the iPad.  She asked me to make her a pretty picture.  So I spent her entire dinner making this....

And she LOVED IT!  She insisted it go on the blog.

Horrible things I say to my kids that I only kinda mean, and you all want to say but won't admit it.

"Stop acting like a GIANT BABY!"  Usually to Andrew when he is tantruming about something. 

"Seriously.  Stop talking."  I say this about a dozen times a week, usually to Grace.  Make that a bakers dozen.  In my defense, she talks constantly.  She usually asks a question three times before I can even come up with an answer.

"Andrew, get down from there or you will fall and crack your head open.  That would be an expensive mess."

"Grace and Andrew, be nice to each other.  When mom goes crazy and is sent away, you will need each other."  This is one....I maybe shouldn't say.

"Leave me alone."  Usually I want to say this out loud to many people, but only really say it to poor Kevin or my darling children.

"If you continue to act like an animal, I treat you like an animal. I will make you sleep outside in the dog kennel behind the garage with all the squirrels and bunny poop." Note that carrying the child out to the dog kennel would definitely drive home the point.  Not that I ever did that....

"Do not touch Mommy!"  I hate being touched.  Makes me cringe.  Creeps me out.

I know these sound just horrible.  However, my kids simply ignore me.  Excellent survival skills.   My pleas to be left alone and untouched, usually result in extreme cuddling.  Picture two kids on my lap and Grace's face plastered to my cheek and their grubby little paws all over me.  Maybe I should try reverse psychology.

And I have saved the best for last.  I cannot remember where I got this from... 
"If you don't stop that, I will beat you like a rented mule!" This always makes Grace giggle. I am sure someday I will be explaining this to some teacher or social worker.