Sometimes You Gotta Dance

Sometimes the urge to dance and act crazy just hits you, and you HAVE to dance...especially if you think it will distract anyone from the fact that you just completely missed the ball.

More just because pics...



and who says monster trucks are just for boys??  grace plays with evan's cars and trucks almost as much as he does.  most of the time he will let her...some of the time he IS NOT a fan.



evan loves hiding.  when he hears bret pull into the garage each night, he always looks at me and asks "where should i hide?".  he typically hides in the same spot every time, and he isn't always completely hidden.  its always a fun game...not so fun at a department store.

grace is just as happy as me with the new headband i made her while she was napping!!!  seriously, i'm still patting myself on the back for its cuteness...

better view of the adorable headband...and i may have chosen this one because of the adorable view of her chunk a monk belly and thighs : )



evan:  "mommy, i'm going to sit right here and cool off while playing with gracie.  then, i'm going to hug her and i want you to take our picture".  didn't have to twist my arm!  he also requested that we have a picture taken today with him sitting on my lap....awwww!



he may or may not have been just hanging on this branch.  bad mommy.  but he was having fun!

grace is working on feeding herself per the pediatrician's orders.  she does a great job with pureed veggies and fruit, but he would like to see her start feeding herself and practicing drinking out of a cup.  she just recently figured out that puffs can (and should) go in her mouth.  It was comical.  I would give her puffs at every meal, and she would just play with them.  Give her anything that she can't (and shouldn't) eat, and it goes straight in her mouth.  Puffs, nope, they stay perfectly on the tray!  Since we have figured out puffs, we have moved on to Cheerios and made a few (unsuccessful) attempts at eating small pieces of wel carrots, beets, pears, plums, squash, and avocado.  The cup...sorry Mr. Pediatrician, I barely give my 3 year old an open cup.  I will let her drink out of one while I'm holding onto it, but I'm sticking with the sippy until they are 15 and don't have the urge to put their food in it or spill it everywhere!

9 months and 3 years

E had his 3 year visit with yet another pediatrician this week.  Poor guy has been to 3 different pediatrician offices in his 3 years!  We adored our first pediatrician, so hopefully we will like this third office just as well.  What we found out...Evan is a growing well and apparently acting normal.  It all started with the I do it stage.  Then, he realized that he COULD do it, and then, he realized that he could CONTROL it.  That is our normal, going through his stages nicely three year old.  He WILL control his bedtime, his activities, his happiness and apparently my sanity.  We are working through it, and we love him so much that when he is screaming and acting like a wild animal, we can get through it.  Because tomorrow is another day.  Tomorrow may start out in a time out, but its another day!  In other news, he is progressing beautifully on his growth and development charts.  He weighs 31lbs and is 37.25" tall!

Grace also met with the pediatrician at the same time as Evan for her 9 month appointment.  I was happy that she didn't have to have shots this time around because I'm not sure she could have handled it.  The poor girl had an elevated temp (100.4) for the two days prior, and she was not her normal happy self.  She also was having crazy separation anxiety and extreme clinginess which is always fun...ok, in a way it kind of is fun because it is nice to be loved like that : )!  She is also progressing wonderfully in growth and development.  She is crawling well now and picking up speed...this may be linked to some of E's mood swings!  He is NOT a fan of her coming after all of his toys.  She pulls herself up on nearly everything, and it is a lot of fun to go get her from naps and in the morning and see her standing there smiling at you!  Grace weighed 20lb 4oz and was 28" long.  I guess if she keeps growing on this curve, her adult height will be 5'6"...WHAT?  Have you met her mother?  Where did that come from!




 

Working Hard and LOVING it

We had 7 yards of mulch dropped off on our driveway this week.  Evan was in heaven!!  He came out with me to watch the dump truck drop it off, and we immediately headed to Lowes to get some supplies.  Of course Evan walked out with his own wheelbarrow and rake.  Right now, this kid LOVES getting his hands dirty and helping out.  He had a blast loading up his wheelbarrow and dumping it out.  We spent nearly the entire afternoon outside transferring mulch.  My neighbors think that I'm a crazy lady now too because when Grace woke up from her nap, I absolutely strapped her on my back in the carrier and kept on going!

and when Bret got home, Evan was still excited to keep going!   Whose keeping their fingers crossed that this love of yard work continues...at least until late teens.  Can it cross over into a love of doing laundry and dishes too?  vacuuming?

Rainy Day Fun



Over the weekend, Grammy, Packaw and Uncle Phil came to visit.  Since we wouldn't see Uncle Phil on his birthday (today!), I took advantage of this opportunity to make (and eat) a cake!  We didn't plan very well, so we had to improvise a bit on his candle.

The next day was a rainy day, so we got creative with things to do inside!  First, Evan and I went hunting for small toys that would fit in the ziploc.  We added them to the bag, Evan added some rice, and we ended up with a fun toy for Grace

she waited "patiently" for him to finish.  since she is currently working on busting her top two teeth through her gums, patient and happy isn't 100% in her vocab.

he was very patient and explained to her what he did and how she should play with it

 hmmmm...how do i get these things out of here????

while grace was entertaining herself, evan and i made edible peanut butter playdough.  you can't tell in this picture, but evan did more eating and less playing.  I'm guilty too though...it was YUMMY!!!  

Shake Your Butt

We frequently have dance parties in our house...Evan loves music, and its a great way to burn off some energy. I have NO idea where this came from, but during one dance party, Evan all of a sudden told me to "stop. freeze. now shake your butt". he proceeded to stop/freeze and then started shaking his butt. FUNNIEST thing ever seen, so of course, we have had to have some repeat performances. Finally remember to get on on video! This version has a nice wedge pick in it too : ).

Lunch time fun

Evan (and Grace) LOVES to eat. He doesn't like to be hungry. at. all. In fact, if he is hungry, he does a very lovely personality flip from a happy, sweet little boy to a screaming, aggressive and stronger than he looks boy. That always makes lunch prep A LOT of fun, so to try to keep the aggressive version of Evan under wraps while trying to whip something up for lunch, I have been trying to come up with little activities for him to do at the counter. Yesterday, I had him make paint and let him paint while lunch was coming together. I think his favorite part was when the baking soda and water came together...they fizz. Probably should get this kid experimenting with a diy volcano! Evan also fed Grace today. I didn't realize that he wanted to, but when he asked for me to slice him up a plum, he scooted over, grabbed the spoon and started feeding her! She was thrilled someone would take over because she isn't a fan of having to wait to eat. It was adorable, and I would really like if we had a few repeat performances!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny did not disappoint! He hopped around leaving all kinds of eggs filled with yummy treats in our living room and dining room. And, to top it off, he left two packed to the brim Easter baskets for the kids. At the hint that the Easter Bunny made an appearance on Sunday morning, it took all we had to keep Evan at the top of the stairs. Parenting Lesson #456,644: Do not mention Santa, Easter Bunny or any other holiday surprise until you are 100% ready to move. Once he got the green light to sprint down the stairs, he instantly saw his Easter basket and started tearing into it. He was so quick into the room and to his basket that he never even saw that Grace had a basket on the other side of the hearth. Being the nice big brother he is, he took one thing out of his basket, handed to Grace and said "here Gracie, the bunny left this for you". Then, he noticed she had her own basket next to her and promptly took his toy back.Grace took her time and examined each item in her basket...but her favorite part...the grass notice the extremely full cheeks? he would find an egg, open it, and take a bite of whatever was inside. but, he was in too much of a hurry to take the time to chew it all and swallow.

Grace in her Sunday best. Her two front teeth are starting to break through, so a teether was a necessary Easter accessory. No picture of Evan in his Sunday best because he is right behind me rolling around on the floor throwing a tantrum like only a 3 year old that was allowed to have a little bit of chocolate in his easter eggs this year can. this tantrum (first of many on Easter Sunday) was about not wanting to eat lunch....so, like all of his tantrums was over a completely legitimate problem...or not.

Easter - Day 1

On Saturday, we took Evan to the Leo United Methodist Church for their community Easter Egg Hunt. They sang songs, heard the Easter story, hunted for eggs and did a craft.

They had covered a large field with hundreds of eggs for the little ones to "hunt"

proud of his eggs...each 3-4 year old was allowed to get 20 eggs

i like your facehis craft...a fridge magnetafter the easter festivities, bret and evan finished mowing the yardand grace did her morning workoutwe even managed to squeeze in some monster truck play timehappy easter! thanks to grandma pam and grandpa jeff for the easter presents that included these super cute bunny ears!

HUG and identical twins

Grace adores her big brother...

she wants to hug him... even if it is really just to get a little bit closer so that she can eat his cheek...or glassesor nose...catching up on her Easter card readinge likes the camera almost as much as i do! he always asks for me to take pictureand he chose this outfit today specifically to match his daddy

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Birthday TO ME. My birthday present from Bret and the kids arrived today, and I couldn't be more excited....neither could Evan. He had been hearing me talk about this present for DAYS now, and we had been tracking it online. Today, when he woke up, we discovered that it was going to be delivered that afternoon...woohoooooo! We could barely contain our excitement, and we ended up meeting the UPS guy at the front door (side note: pat on my back for remember to put the baby is sleeping sign on the front door so the delivery guy wouldn't ring the doorbell!). So, what is it? A CAMERA!!! A super nice, takes wonderful/beautiful/clear pictures kind of camera. I'm just a point and shooter right now, but I am SOOOOO excited to do re The rest of our day...me following around the kids making them take picture after picture.

Evan was a willing subject! and when miss grace woke up from her nap, she was a willing subject...at first. then, when she realized that the picture taking was distracting me from what was truly important (feeding her), she was not thrilledshe showed off her mad yoga skills....and taught e some movesthis was right about when she realized that she was hungry and i wasn't making any moves to feed herafter getting grace happy with a full tummy, evan demanded that we go outside. from his attire, you would think it was a steamy day outside. false. it was cold. grace and i were in long sleeves and pants. but, i guess when you are running full speed ahead for 60 minutes, you don't get that cold! his game of the afternoon, running at me full speed in "attack mode". i will probably have a giant bruise on my hip from him body slamming me non stop, but at least it will match the beauty he gave me when he bit me the other day!

Weekend at Grammy's, Packaw's and Uncle Phil

With Bret out of town for work, the kids and I had planned on spending a long weekend with Grammy, Packaw and Uncle Phil. What we didn't plan on was for E to wake up with a low grade fever. But, facing four days with a sick Evan and an infant by myself didn't sound like a lot of fun, so Grammy and Packaw were nice enough to let us drive down to infect their house. You knew that Evan wasn't feeling well when he fell asleep in the car at 10:30am...this child doesn't really appreciate naps like I do! He also sat and watched the entire Ratatouille movie with a brief nap towards the end. When Grammy and Packaw came up, he asked to sit on Packaw's lap and was instantly asleep. Poor guy!He bounced back quickly once his fever broke and his appetite returned the next day! So, minus the bedtime struggles with Evan, we had a nice weekend. Grace even got to try out the swing, and Evan was nice enough to push her! He even listened when we told him to swing her gently. She LOVED it! I'm not exactly sure if she shut her mouth the entire time...