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.

First day of school!

So yesterday was Gracie's first day in K4.  Finally!  Seems like we have been talking about this day forever. 

She is definitely ready for school.  But this past weekend, whenever she was asked about school, she would say, "I am a little bit nervous."  In the cutest, sweetest little voice. 

That morning she was a bit apprehensive, but overall very excited.  And she loves getting her picture taken, so she was happy to pose with everyone in her new uniform.

When we got to school, we had to wait outside for the teachers to comeotu and meet the class.  This was a long wait, and there were a few moments of this....

But mostly, Grace was smiley and excited.

When I picked her up a few hours later, she was so happy.  She got to play outside, have a snack, and do some artwork.  She also talked her teacher into giving her a barbie band-aid for her papercut.  Before we could leave she had to run and give a little girl from her class a big hug.  "Mommy, she is my best friend in the whole wide world!" 

"Thats great Gracie!  What is her name?"

"Umm, I don't know?"

Birthday Boy!

This past weekend we celebrated Andrew's 2nd birthday.  We opted for a farm theme party at PopPop and JuJu's.  Their house really sets the "farm" mood.  Bonus - I didn't have to clean my house!

Here are some snapshots from the party.  Andrew does not like sweets, except for donuts.  So I made him a donut cake.  So easy

.

And for those of us that like sweets, I had sugar cookies and cakes in mason jars. 

Every little one got a gift bag with fun toys. 

Andrew and Mikey loved playing in the water fountain. 

We also had a fun game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  Grace totally cheated.  Here she is precisely placing the tail right on the donkey, looking through the edge of the eye patch.

Mikey embraced the spirit of the game and Andrew just played with the stickers.

And the largest kid, Uncle Mark, even got in the fun.

Check out my sweet tattoo.  It is a pig and it says "Oink, Oink!".  Funny story, later that night I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and thought, "Geez, why do I look so trashy?  Ah yes, because I have a tattoo on my arm."  No offense to my readers who like body art.  I don't.  I think tattoos are a mistake and will be regretted later.  Like the lady I saw at the pool this summer who has a tattoo on her upper thigh (horrible place for a tattoo), that is a picture of Winnie the Pooh and says "Carpe Diem."  Seriously.

Andrew loved having Happy Birthday sung to him and he tried to blow out the candles....without spitting!

But of course, he didn't eat his donut.  Oh well.

Andrew loved his gifts, gave out a lot of hugs, and had a ton of fun!

Gracie Quotes

Kevin: "Grace, it is really hot today so you are going to need to drink a lot of water.  When it is hot, we sweat and then we need to replace that water...."
Grace: "I know Dad.  I need to re-hydrate." (July 2nd)
         Update (July 28th) ->  "Mom, I am going to have water before sports class.  I need to rehydrate before I dehydrate!  Right?  Rehydrate not dehydrate!"


Me: "Grace, this weekend we are going up to a cottage to visit Kelly!  It is going to be so fun because there is a lake right there and you can go swimming and play on the beach!"
Grace: "Will it be like Mexico?" 
Me: "Sort of, there will be water outside, but no pool.  It is more rustic.  It is a cabin in Wisconsin."
Grace: "Will there be a bar?"

"Mommy, look at my Mrs. Potato Head!  Isn't she so fancy?!"
"Yes, Grace she is.  I love her purse.  What is in it?"
"Well it is really small, so she only has an iPhone."

"Mommy, Andrew just push-ed me!"
"Grace don't be a tattle tale."
"Mommy, I never, ever tattle.  Ever.  But Sophia, at daycare, she tattles all the time!"  (The irony of this was lost on Gracie.)

"Mommy, do you know why I love Daddy more and Andrew loves you more?" 
"This is going to be good."  Grace decided she was not going to win any points continuing the conversation, and changed the subject.  Smart girl.

A great day for the zoo

Landscaping!

My faithful blog readers, I know you have been waiting for the final landscaping pictures! 

Remember what the yard looked like a few months ago?

And the demolition in process?

Here is the interim....a pile of dirt. 

We lived with this for about 6 weeks until....

We had grading done, sod planted, a row of arborvitae and 2 accent trees planted.  We also had a cobblestone edge installed.  Please appreciate the cobblestones.  Its been too hot to really enjoy the yard yet, but we LOVE it.  We added so much more space to our little yard. 

This is an ivory silk lilac (clump form) tree.  This is what our landscaper suggested in the initial bid.  Instead of listening to him, Kevin and I decided to look at every single tree that would grow in that spot.  And because we enjoy torturing ourselves, we picked the ivory silk lilac.

This is a tina crabapple.  It will bloom white flowers in the spring.  It will stay short and cute.  I love it.

I also planted a hydrangea and row of weigela bushes (they should have pink flowers on the next year and they grow really fast). 

When I planted these bushes, I kept running into tree roots.  So I dug around them and either pulled, chopped or cut them out.  I was really proud of my brute strength. 

We are done with the yard for this year.  But next year we are going to:

1. Build a playhouse for the kids.  Actually, PopPop is going to build the playhouse.  And maybe we will have a shed built behind the playhouse.  Exciting stuff.

2.  We are going to pull out all these hastas and plant some more interesting plants.

3. I am going to dig up this hasta, that has grown up under the fence from our neighbors yard.  Split it.  Give half to my mom and plant the other half somewhere you can actually see it.  Isn't it pretty?

4.  I am going to get something pretty growing on this side of the house.  In July, while the kids were napping, I came outside and pulled out all the weeds that were back there.  The entire area was filled with knee high weeds. It took a long time.  A very long time. 

When I got married, I told Kevin that I would not do any yardwork.  Somehow I am the one trimming the bushes, mulching, pulling the weeds, and doing all the planting.  As Grace would say, "How crazy is that?!"

In all fairness, I must say that Kevin does all the snow removal, lawn mowing, and deals with the wacky trugreen people.