The Parties, Part 2

The Party Games, Cont'd

Grandpa made Jakob his very own race car bed and Jakob got to help attach the wheels.

Noah helped turn on the headlights.



When the party moved outside, things turned a bit wild...


and more than one pair of pants went missing.

One month, two birthday boys and a whole lot of fun. We really enjoyed July.

The Parties, Part 1

The Cakes

Noah got cupcakes (and Jakob helped frost them.)

Jakob, a fan of all things crabby, asked for a crab cake. My dad did a great job making it!



The Party Games

Noah had one too many cupcakes and ended up with his new potty on his head.

Grandma thought she was going to play "tent" but ended up buried under an entire roll of paper towels.

Jakob and Noah thought Grandpa needed a new hat, but he got even.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jakob

Happy Birthday, Jakob!
I love you so much.

Year One

Year Two

Year Three

Happy 1st Birthday, Noah!!

THEN

NOW

Happy birthday, Noah! I love you so much and I have loved discovering just who you are.

Banana bread doesn't smell like diarrhea!

That's what Jakob said when I told him what I made for breakfast. I am not sure whether that is a compliment, or not...

Mother's Day

(original post date 5/10/09)

We had a quiet Mother's Day. Jakob and I painted on the porch. We painted with flowers and rocks. We even painted with his firetruck to see what kind of tracks it would make. Jakob kept saying, "This is for your happy Mother's Day."

Noah spent the day looking cute.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing me with my amazing boys!

Sam I Am

(original post date 5/3/09)

We have a lot of fun reading Dr. Seuss books. Jakob's current favorite is Green Eggs and Ham, which he calls his Sam I Am book. He takes stacks of books to bed with him and "reads" them to himself. I am amazed when Green Eggs is one of those books, because he remembers those l-o-n-g rhymes perfectly!

I scored big when I found a Green Eggs and Ham 20 piece puzzle at a yard sale for 25 cents. But what really got Jakob excited was the day I made green eggs and pancakes (yes, pancakes, says this non pig eater) for breakfast. He could hardly sit still while I was cooking.

I thought it didn't look very appetizing. Not even with the blueberry syrup.

Jakob was of the opposite opinion. He happily dug right in.

He cleared his plate and asked for more. (Weeks later, he is still asking for more. I guess I will be whipping up a green breakfast again soon.)

Check back over the summer to see what other book based meals we've made.

Technical Difficulties - Please Standby

I have started several posts and have some great photos to go along with them. I have, however, lost the cord that connects the camera to the computer. The littlest member of this family was seen in the vicinity of my open camera bag (camera was in my hands; accessories were not.) I strongly suspect he is involved in the cord's disappearance.

The search continues ...

I Hate Good-byes

Yesterday was our final MOPS meeting for the 2008-2009 year.

The green table is the best table ever! Katie, Kris, Kristy, Katherine (notice a trend with these names??) Jewel, Angela, Allison, and Julie - Thank you for the friendship, the fun, the food and most of all the laughter. Mothering is easier with friends like you.

Dessert, Busy Mommy Style

We had Chinese food for dinner. I had a craving for shrimp egg rolls. Jakob thought egg rolls would be yummy. Noah just likes food.

By the time we arrived at the fortune cookie portion of the dinner, the natives had grown restless and mayhem was about to break out. Without thinking, I stuffed my fortune cookie in my mouth as I shifted into chaos containment mode.

I forgot one thing - to remove my fortune.

Sigh.

I wonder if this means it won't come true.

Underwhelmed

Call it an exercise in cultural literacy. Call it submitting to peer pressure. Call it a desperate cry for help.

I did it. I read Twilight.

Yeah, I really did. And, ahem, I read New Moon, too. Almost everyone I know has read them. And loved them. Gushed about them. Even brainy women whom I respect. The bookstore clerk told me that the demand is so high they regularly run out of copies.

I don't know if I will read the third and forth books in the saga. I am clearly missing something.

I have turned into a stodgy ole fuddy duddy overnight or my romance-o-meter is out of whack. That, or everyone else is crazy.

A seventeen year old girl falls in love with a vampire who only looks seventeen. They have intense feelings for one another (isn't everything intense at 17?) but their relationship is not exactly stable due the fact that one of them wants to kill the other. In the second book, they break up (and no I am not apologizing for "spoiling" the plot. One of them is a teenager, the other a vampire, how unexpected could it be?) and there is a lot of depressed wallowing.

When they get back together, she asks him to turn her into a vampire in order to resolve the difficulties their differences create. He doesn't want to, but finally promises to do it at some unnamed time after she graduates from high school.

This is what passes for romance these days?? A teenage girl who wants to end her life and become a monster...for a guy?? Are you kidding me, America?

No comment

I saw this sign the other day and had to stop and take a picture:

Pirates and other thoughts

I confess that each time I hear a reporter say "pirates" I secretly want to giggle. Not because I am wholly unbalanced, but because I am a fan of Richard Scarry's books. I have some that are 3 decades old, saved from my own childhood, and many I have added to the collection because my boys adore them, too.




In Bedtime Stories, the first tale is about Uncle Willy, who plans to spend the day sailing, even though there are pirates in the area. He takes along a cherry pie for lunch. Predictably, he encounters the pirates - a rag tag gang of rats. Upon capturing his vessel, they make quick work of eating his pie. Uncle Willy bests the pirates in the end, and as the policeman leads them away, their faces smeared with pie, Lowly Worm says, "You bad pie-rats!"

I know, it is really lame. But it still makes me giggle!

Ouch

I think I am broken.

My left wrist is strained. My right shoulder is really out of whack. Both hurt like %&$! My neck and back ache, but what else is new? In other words, every time I pick up or hold Noah, lift Jakob onto the potty, put them into their car seats, or do a million other normal daily tasks, I just want to cry. I need a chiropractic adjustment, some serious acupuncture, a massage (or two) and a long soak in a tub.

But all that requires a lot of child-free time and Martin is going to be gone for the next few weeks. Maybe some duct tape will hold me together until he gets back.

Nail it to the cross

This morning was our very favorite kind of morning, a MOPS morning.

Our speaker was the pastor of the church that sponsors our group. He speaks to us a couple of times a year, and I always enjoy his messages. Today, he shared with us the importance of Easter. He read Colossians chapter 2 from The Message, emphasizing these words, "Think of it! All sins forgiven, the slate wiped cleaned, that old arrest warrant canceled and nailed to Christ's Cross."

Even though we know we are forgiven, most Christians continue to live with guilt from past sins. He invited us to let go of the the guilt, to nail it to the cross and leave it there.

He laid a wooden cross on a table, along with nails and hammers. He gave us all slips of paper on which we wrote down that sin that we continue to carry guilt over. One by one, we placed our papers face down on the cross and nailed them to it. How wonderful it felt to whack that nail into place!

When all were finished, he asked us if anyone wanted their sin back, maybe not quite ready to let go of the guilt. No one did. Then, he took the cross away, sins, guilt and all.

What are you holding on to? It is time to let it go. Jesus nailed it to the cross for you. You are forgiven. So live like it.

Adorable Picture Warning!

I declare today to be Cute Baby Picture Friday.

Noah really likes blueberries.

Jakob held some cheese from his pizza between his teeth so it dangled a bit, and declared himself an elephant.

Isn't he the cutest ring bearer ever?

Spring Break

A weekend with no children, delicious food, mellow wine and non stop girl talk... sound too good to be true? It is exactly the weekend I had with a wonderful group of women on our first annual MOPS [mothers of preschoolers] Spring Break.

We stayed in this amazing house:




I had a wonderful time. Did I mention the food? What about the girl talk? Oh, and no children... no diapers, no potty training, no whining and I got to sleep all night long in a bed by myself.

It was also the first time in months? years? that I have been able to read my bible, pray and write in my journal without interruption.


The only bad part was the drive to the house. Driving on narrow, winding roads in the rain and the fog is not fun.

I would need Valium if I lived there year round.

I vote we do this again, soon. How about fall break...at the beach? The roads are straight and FLAT!

Mouse Paint

We love the book Mouse Paint. Three white mice find three bottles of paint and jump in. When they get out of the paint bottles, they make puddles all over the floor. They discover that when they dance in the puddles and mix paint, they make many different colors.

Today, we played mouse paint.

Jakob had a ball mixing the paint with his feet, just like the mice. He was a little upset that we did not have people-sized bottles of paint because he wanted to dive right in like the mice.

We even made a poster with our purple, orange and green foot prints.

Jakob thought it wasn't enough to paint our feet and the paper.


How much fun have YOU had today??

If you don't have anything nice to say...

Since I don't have anything nice to say, I thought I'd share some of my oldest son's latest sayings.

On the way to small group:
"Mommy, Wooly [our group leaders' dog] doesn't have a bible. Wooly is TROUBLE! We should read bible stories to her."

Wanting to play with his little brother:
"Can I pet Noah?"

After wetting his bed:
"My big boy bed is BRO-KEN. Tomorrow, you need to buy me a new one."

After spilling some juice:
"Tomorrow, you need to buy a new house."

Before going to sleep:
"I am going to stretch out my arms in my big boy bed and fly, or something."

While hugging his little brother:
"No, Mommy, Noah is a GIRL."

In the busy restroom of a department store:
"You can do it, Mommy. You can potty. Lookie there. You did GOOD potty, Mommy. I'm so proud of you."

Four Eyes

Fill the tank up with gas. Pack the trunk full of luggage. Turn on your GPS and head out on a car trip. The roads are safe again.

I have been having some trouble seeing, especially while driving at night. It turns out I have mild astigmatism. That's why everything looked weird, like I was a little tipsy.

Yesterday, I picked up my glasses and now I can see. Amazing the difference a small amount of glass can make.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Today is chilly and rainy, the kind of day that has most people snuggling deeper into the covers, wishing they could just spend the day in bed. However, it is also Monday. As a SAHM with two young boys and room to improvise our daily schedule, one might think that Mondays are just like any other day of the week. NOT TRUE. Mondays around here derail as quickly as you can say "toot-toot."

Day 2 of our no-holds-barred, absolutely no diapers allowed, potty training begins pleasantly enough; Jakob awoke with dry underwear. But despite the temptation of temporary tattoos, he does not want to go potty, or eat breakfast, or get dressed.

Noah doesn't want a diaper change or to nurse and he isn't interested in waiting patiently while I try to make breakfast for everyone. He is the loudest little one I know. I'm trying to be quiet because Martin flew several nights in a row and his days are upside down.

I'm hoping to get fed, dressed and out the door as quickly as possible. So, naturally, it takes forever and we miss playgroup, like we normally do, because it is Monday.

I steer the car in the direction of the gi-normous outlet mall; the one with a huge fish tank worthy of a two year old's attention and a carousel in the food court. We are having fun and sporting big grins. I know it is almost potty time and head in the direction of the nearest restroom, but it isn't there! I know this mall has an abundance of restrooms, but I can only find pay phones and vending machines. Where have all the restrooms gone? I start walking faster and Jakob protests, but I know time is running out. I finally spot the bathroom up ahead and we dash towards it.

We roll down the long aisle, into the handicapped stall - the only one big enough to hold the three of us and the stroller. I am pleasantly surprised to find the seat cover dispenser fully stocked. I reach to pull one out, it tears in two. So does the next and the next. I am getting frantic now and I just pile all the torn covers on the toilet seat and I turn to Jakob and ... he is crying and saying, "Help meee, Mommy." He peed all over himself and there is a huge puddle on the floor. It isn't his fault, and I try to reassure him, but he is so upset. And I still have to deal with the puddle on the floor and all the wet clothes on my son. Sigh. It is Monday, after all.