Be Careful What You Wish For

For what seemed like weeks it's been in single digits at night and 10-15 degrees during the day.  I was going  crazy and I was like I NEED SOMETHING DIFFERENT!

Last night it was close to 20 below zero.  

I really need to learn when to keep my mouth shut.

Apple Juice?

Every other week we get a huge box of organic fruits and vegetables from Full Circle Farm.  This prompts all sorts of interesting conversations.

Dad - "Emma, can you guess what kind of fruit apple juice comes from??"

Emma - "Ummmm"

Dad - "Do you think maybe apples?"

Emma - incredulously - "It could be."

Anyone Need a Plumber?

There's three living in my house who are currently without work.  They've already "fixed" our toilet twice.  In three weeks.

It is only right that Jack should be a big helper since both times we have dismantled the toilet and lifted it off the floor, it was to rescue a Jack toy from an untimely death.

Emma is our little tool seeker.  She can get you pliers, a crescent wrench, a flat-head screw-driver or a phillips.  She doesn't quite get the metric system but give her a little time...

For a hundred bucks, we'll pull up your potty and haul out the toy.  

Comments on lack of child supervision and cursing are free.

No Motivation

This is what happens when I don't totally stay on top of picking up toys as we finish with them.

It was clean when we woke up, this was taken at just before 10am.

This is what Emma is doing about the mess.

This is what I'm doing.

I gave up, turned on a cartoon and finished my book.  

Sometimes, you've just got to let it go.

I can't resist a kid in head to toe stripes

I do exist

Here's a blurry picture of Jack and I to prove it.

Hot Tub Anyone??

The grandparents had just filled up the hot tub and it was a perfect temperature for a 4 year old girl.  Lucky thing.  She'll be really disappointed next time we go over and it's near boiling.

A Few Singles

No matter how many toys kids have, they still just love the boxes.

Emma playing computer games with her dad.

We LOVE nickjr.com, 

They have great games for kids.  Email me if you want to know which are the easiest.  They also have the greatest printables.  A ton of activities and coloring pages.  I'm always amazed at how well she navigates on the computer.

So, if any of you out there played with matchbox cars in the eighties, you may recognize some of these toys.

My very, silly, silly, girl.

This is a big Emma smile.

A Tunnel

Ya know, I don't really know why I still care about Jack crawling.  He's going to be walking any day now but I pulled out the tunnel thinking he would have to crawl through it.  He totally proved me wrong.

The Cold

Last night Mike went outside in 7 degree weather to grill our steaks.  He was like, Oh, you have to blog this.  It's FREEZING out!!  Where's the camera?  I said that when it's below zero and he's still wearing his flip-flops outside to use the grill it will be photo blogworthy.  

The steaks turned out well, even though at 7 degrees you don't hover the way you normally would.

Emma Rose

What??

On a side note:

This is a dress that my mom got for me when I started Kindergarten, many, many, many years ago.  Emma keeps telling me, "It's not your dress anymore mom, it's my dress now!  It's way too small for you."

Immunizations Anyone??

Cause I totally have a lot of practice.  

Who's next??

Jack actually went in for his shots a couple of weeks ago.  He was more mad about being held down that his shots.  As soon as the nurse let go of his legs, he stopped screaming.  

Catch! Emma! Catch!

She loves to do this but usually she looks away from the ball and holds her arms straight out toward whoever is throwing.  It's pretty great.

Catch Jack! Catch!!

See, gramma is nice and throws balls to Jack and not at him, like his sister does.

Stuff I/You/We Missed

Things I would have had pictures of:

1.  Jack sitting on the edge of the porch with his stocking feet kicking the new snow in our nearly 40 degree weather day.

2.  Emma playing with the dogs outside (we were puppysitting scooby - Aunt Melissa's dog).

3.  Scooby, aunt Melissa's dog.

4.  Jack and Emma "cooking" together.

5.  Emma with her face covered in red frosting.   I'm a sucker I am.

6.  Emma riding her tricycle in Gramma's snowy driveway.

7.  Emma baking Grandad's apple pie in a dress both her mom and aunt Julie used to wear.

8.  Jack and Emma sleeping together on the couch.

9.  Jack crawling up on the couch.

10.  Jack trying to crawl up on Emma's bed.

11.  Jack crawling up onto the toilet.

12.  Jack crawling over the dogs.

13.  Jack crawling up his mommy's leg.

You see???  And I know I totally forgot a bunch of things.  I just should never be left without a camera.  Ever.

Way Back at Christmas

Here is Jack on a chair my dad got with a pack of CDs of Charlie Brown.

I don't think it was made for someone the size of any Grandad, fortunately it fits Jack perfectly.

Isn't his huge head cute in Emma's new hat??

Thanks cousin Kim (soon to be Dr. Smith, pediatrician, yea!) for sending these up!!  I can't believe she functions at ALL with her insane schedule.  Never, never, go to medical school.  You spend tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for like 8 years of torture.  After undergrad.  I guess it means you have to really want it.  And I guess those are the people we want to be taking care of our kids anyways, right??

Out of Town with MY Camera!

I let Mike take the camera to Valdez so now y'all will just have to listen to me ramble.  Something I've been wanting to say for a while...

So, I get these great emails from you guys all the time about a certain post or the site in general.  It's really great.  I love the feedback.  It makes the hours a week I spend doing this more worthwhile.  I do have to say that there's this great little thing underneath each and every post.  It says "Comments."  If you want to make a comment on my parenting or lack thereof.  Or the absolute cuteness of my kids, feel free.  I will even accept the fabulous sarcasm of Rory.

You can totally use it, all of you.  You don't need an account or anything.

Oh, and thanks to those of you who made snide comments to Mike about the shake and exercise bike.  It was totally deserved.  Both on my email and on the comments.

There will be pics of Valdez when Mike returns.  If he took my camera in vain...

I don't know what to do with my kids without a camera.  I mean why would I set up something fun for them if I couldn't take a picture of it??

Oh, if you don't know me.  I'm totally joking!  It's not like I actually really think that...

Every Time

These two sitting together happily gets me every time.  And every time I capture it on film, you'll see it.

I also love Emma in a sea of pink and Jack in his very boy shirt of blue stripes.  Too fun.

The Ocean

This is Emma's drawing of under the ocean.  It's the first drawing that has a theme which carries to the whole page, usually she draws one figure, then another, not a collection such as this one which can be yours for the bargain price of 20,000 bucks.   

Cleaning? out the Van

So, I use the word "clean" a little loosely when I talk about what we're actually doing to the van. 
This is what we're actually doing.

1. Playing in the van.

2. Removing the two or three sets of winter gear.

3. Removing the two or three kid bags.

4.  Sweeping the crumbs of unknown kid snack food for the dog or for the kids, whoever gets to it first.

Jack could play in there forever with all the buttons and switches.  Most of them don't work.  My heater is on constant high heat defrost.  It's fine for now but when summer comes...

The radio doesn't work and I pulled out the CD changer when it refused to eject 4 brand new CDs.  I now am all digital music.  CDs don't stand a chance against the exploratory nature of my children.

So, that's pretty much all the fun buttons.  Oh, except the turn signals and wipers.

And the garage remote.  

I now take it out of the car before we go playing in it.

Cleaning With Kids

Since I do not want to spend every short nap time cleaning, I do it with help most of the time.

Here we are cleaning the kitchen floor.  

I put warm water in a few bowls and let them play in the bowls, knock the bowls over and then we clean up the water with rags.  It's not the best cleaning job ever but it does make a difference.

And, they have a great time.

During the last floor cleaning, Jack discovered something new.  Toothbrushes dipped in warm water.  Yummy.

This is not to cover their adorable faces.  

Since we only have one rug and two small bedrooms with carpet, I haven't bothered to spend the money on a "real" vacuum.  When I turned it on Emma said it was too loud and needed something to cover her ears.  This is what we came up with.

Gramma's Little Helper

He helps in the warehouse...
and at the house.
What a guy.

What the???

Here is Mike.

On my beloved exercise bike.

With his chocolate shake.

Yeah, I know.

My Kids are Lucky

My kids are so lucky to live in this time of convenience.  I think.

Yesterday morning as I was getting them ready for church, Emma requested a specific show to watch while I ran around gathering various entertainment toys.  I pulled up the menu from our TV and started one of the approximately 50 shows that we have recorded on the DVR.  I remember riding in my parents car and pushing the rewind, and then fast forward, and then rewind, and then fast forward looking for a specific song on a cassette.  I remember how cool it was when cassette players stopped between each song, what an amazing thing!  Again, yesterday, we drove out to Willow and I had some of their favorite songs on the ipod.  Organized by favorites, playlists, artists, albums...

This morning Emma asked me to make a paper hat.  What??  I know that it can be done so I googled it and watched this cute kid on you tube show me how to do it.

Awesome.  But it all makes me feel really old.  I can hear myself saying now..."When I was your age I had to push rewind buttons without knowing where the tape would stop..."

A New Adventure for a New Skill

Jack has been practicing stairs at the grandparents' house since we have none at our house.

He looked at this chair the other day and realized that it was kind of like a stair!   

He climbed right up.  I look over at Jack on a chair and put a pillow underneath him.  I had forgotten his love/obsession for pillows.  He promptly flopped off the chair to attack the pillow.  

These were taken later in the day when he discovered a less tumultuous way to get off his chair.

He just can't help smiling at the camera.  

Is it just me or is he really growing up??

The kind of family you want to belong to

is the kind of family who realizes the necessity of keeping a spoon in the jug of cookie dough.

A Cabin Luxury

Okay, so in most cases an outhouse does not seem like a luxury.

But when they're decked out like this one...

The inside is painted.  

There's a propane light which lights it up as well as keeping it toasty.  

There are lovely smelling candles. 

 A padded potty seat that's usually not frozen.  

A urinal for those who had too many "bud burgers" while riding. 

 And most of all, a really cool walkway to get there.