Crisis Averted...and Messy Fingers

Hannah Bear had a soccer game this morning in the rain.  Since the weather was less-than-stellar, Daddy and Jack decided to stay home where it was warm and dry.  Hannah and I bundled up and went to soccer.  I was glad that the girls got to play today since they were rained out last weekend.  Hannah did extremely well - she scored three goals and played tough the whole time.  I was a proud assistant coach!

After soccer, we ran a couple of errands together before heading home for lunch.  On the way home, Hannah announced, "Mama, can I tell you something?  I think it's a lie."

"What's a lie, Baby Girl?"

"I don't believe that Santa, with his belly like a bowl full of jelly, can really fit down the chimney.  The pipe is just too small."

I decided to wait this one out...while I bided my time, Hannah continued.

"I think he just comes right in the front door...belly like a bowl full of jelly...that rhymes!" she shouted through her girly giggles.

I took a deep breath, thanked my lucky stars that I'd kept my mouth shut, and agreed with my sweet girl of five.

*****

Later this evening, we decided to order Chinese food since neither Brad nor I wanted to make dinner.  Jack is not really a fan of Chinese food, and hasn't really found something on the menu that he loves, so we keep trying new things.  We decided to order him some barbecue spare ribs since he loves Grandma's ribs so much, and believe it or not, aside from the grumbling about getting the meat off of the bone, he really liked them.

It occurred to both me and Brad that it's the messiest we've ever seen Jack get during dinner.  I started to tell him about when he was a toddler, he hated to be messy so much that he would opt of art projects in the toddler room at school.  I said something about how impressed I was that he was eating and not worrying about his messy face.

"Oh, I'm very aware, and it's bothering me very badly."

We had a good laugh about that, and then I told the story of how Miss Tab had suggested that I get a bag of uncooked rice, put it into a big bowl, and then have Jack watch as I put his little cars and dinosaur toys inside the rice.  She was hoping that he'd get over his sensory issues while digging for his toys.  That, of course, is not at all what happened.  Eighteen month old Jack watched with big, blue eyes as I buried his tiny toys in rice, and then he ever-so-calmly walked away to play with something else.  He was not about to stick those tiny fingers in a bowl of rice when there were plenty of other toys to play with.  In hindsight, maybe I should have buried Skinny Bear?

Wordless Wednesday

"I'll eat you up, I love you so!"

Good Citizens

Today as I was driving the kiddos home from daycare, Hannah was chatting (as she typically does) in the back seat.  She said something about how on one of the days when "we're just lazy-ing around," we should pick up trash instead.

"Hmm...maybe.  What gave you that idea?"

"Well, if we pick up trash, that would be us being good citizens."

And I smiled.  Because I know that she is learning about citizenship in kindergarten, just like my first graders are studying citizenship now.  And she's obviously paying attention and soaking it all in.  It makes my mama-heart and my teacher-heart oh, so very happy.

Now, I guess I need to plan a clean-up excursion with my not-so-tiny peanut.

Adorable

While we were eating dinner tonight (and when I say dinner, what I really mean is a frozen meal I heated up because I am so very, very tired), we were talking about after dinner snacks as we were trying to convince Hannah to at least try the chicken enchiladas.

Jack was listing the various things he might have eaten if he finished his dinner, and at some point, I shared the fact that I often eat a bowl of cereal right before I go to bed.  (Don't judge.)

Jack was intrigued by this fun fact: "Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do it a lot.  Why?"

"Aww...that's so adorable."

Just like that.  It was the cutest thing, and I immediately smiled and jotted it down.  I'm not sure what is so adorable about me eating breakfast right before bed, but the fact that Jack had that reaction to it was the most adorable part.

Back to School

Today was a very big day.  It was the first day of school, and somehow I woke up to a third grader and a kindergartner!  I was surprised at how smoothly we were able to get up, get ready, take pictures, and get everyone to school in plenty of time.

Aside from a comedy of errors when we were in the Kiss & Ride line, all went smoothly.  Hannah couldn't open the car door, Jack had to climb over her seat, his foot got stuck in her armrest, and then he nearly fell out of the car and onto the curb as Hannah tumbled out after him.  But after they were both firmly on their feet, I said I love you, and I watched as my two babies walked towards the front doors, hand in hand.  And my mama-heart just soared.

Tonight, we are exhausted, understandably.  But I will leave you with some of my favorite back to school photos from our day!

Our babies aren't so small anymore

First Day of Third Grade

1st Day of Kindergarten

They were so excited and happy!

And very patient with my picture-taking

My loves

Excuse my florescent orange shirt, but that was our first day of school uniform :)

Hannah and one of her best friends on the mid-day bus to daycare...looks like she had a good day!

Look, Mama - no tears!

I couldn't have asked for a better first day experience.

Silent Sunday

{printable available here)

Our back-to-school teacher gifts are ready to go!

Too Much Mom Love!

Last night the kiddos spent the night with me in our bed since Daddy was traveling for work.  From the time Jack was a tiny baby, I would bring him into bed with me whenever Brad traveled.  As he got older, he'd look forward to our mommy sleepovers whenever Daddy had to go out of town.  Then Hannah was born, and once she was big enough, she wanted in on the sleepovers as well.  Lucky for me (?), they both want to sleep next to me so that we can snuggle, which transfers to the fact that they sleep soundly on the sides, and I sleep directly in between two little lovelies that thrash in their sleep.  I say this, but I really do enjoy these special nights.

This morning, Hannah woke up before me and Jack, and she quietly sneaked downstairs to watch cartoons.  Jack and I woke up around the same time, and we just snuggled in bed for awhile, chatting, catching up on our Instagram feed, and searching the internet for Minecraft lunch boxes (which for whatever reason, don't seem to exist!).  We got up, went down and had breakfast, and I straightened up the house a bit.  After awhile, I came up to get a few things done on the computer, and soon enough, Hannah Bear came up with snacks to ask if she could have some.  I told her first she had to give me snuggles, so I pulled her up onto the bed and tickled her like crazy.  Then I kissed her little cheeks and her eyelids and her hair and squeezed her little legs.  She was laughing and laughing, and then she started shouting, "Too much mom love!  Too much mom love!  Too much!  Too much!"

"Too much mom love?" I asked her.

Simply not possible.

Justified.

So Brad goes through Netflix binges where he becomes completely obsessed with one show at a time.  Sometimes, I get roped in and enjoy our binge-watching, but mostly, I suffer through however many episodes there happen to be of one show until it's finally over, and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

One of these shows was Justified.

It just wasn't for me.

It was absolutely perfect for Brad.  So perfect, in fact, that somewhere between watching however many seasons it was and traveling to Texas for work, Brad decided he needed a cowboy hat so he could walk around the house, tip his hat, and say, "It's justified."

I'm not even kidding.

Up until this past weekend, Brad decided to keep his hat at work...probably because I laughed when he returned home from Texas with a Justified-looking hat.  But on Friday, he brought it home from the office and promptly made sure that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES were the little ones to touch his hat.

And ever since then, they've both been dying to do just that.  

If he hadn't said anything to them, they probably wouldn't even have noticed he had a hat, but since it was forbidden, they were chomping at the bit.  (I'm taking this as a lesson learned, that's for sure!)

So tonight, as Brad was wearing the hat during our typical bedtime routine (well, typical, except for the fact that Brad was wearing a cowboy hat), the kids were attempting to reach the hat and Brad was enjoying their feeble attempts.

As I finished reading to Jack and Brad came in from reading to Hannah, he leaned over and teased Jack, "I let Hannah touch my hat!"

I gave him the "stop teasing" look and as Brad allowed Jack to ever-so-carefully touch the hat, I made my way to Hannah's room. 

Hannah, grinning from ear to ear, eyes glowing, whispered to me, "Daddy let me touch his hat," as I snuggled down next to her and she giggled away.

I know exactly what Brad was thinking.  The look on their faces and the happiness Jack and Hannah got from one little touch, made it all worth it.

I'm sure he'd say, "It's justified".

10, yes. 15, no.

This boy - I love him so very much.  I can't believe he's already eight, and every time he snuggles with me, I soak it up as much as possible because I worry that one day, he won't.

Having a sister (and no brothers), I never quite know what to expect from my ever-growing son.  We are very close, but I try hard not to baby him or smother him.  He seems to be at the age now where he's easily embarrassed.  He likes to pre-approve his pictures for my social media...  At the same time, I don't want the fact that he'll always be my first-born baby to slip away.  I don't want our closeness to disappear over time.

The other night, he came up from watching a show to snuggle me.  So as we snuggled, I asked him, "Will you still snuggle me when you're 10?"

"Yes."

"What about when you're 15?"

"No." 

So there we go.  I have at least two, but no more than six years left to snuggle him.

Good to know.

our newest addition

Don't get too excited.  This is not a post about babies...at least, not of the tiny human variety :)

Our newest addition came in the way of a teeny, tiny turtle.

Halfway through our very snowy, very chilly winter, Hannah decided that she'd like another baby turtle.  Mid-winter is not a very good time to get a new turtle, for a couple of reasons.  One, we already had a turtle in her tank that she'd raised since it was a quarter-sized baby, and bigger turtles and tiny turtles can't go together in one tank.  Two, you can't release a turtle to a new home in the middle of winter.  So we told Hannah Bear she'd have to be patient, and that once it got warm outside, we'd be able to give her turtle a new home, and only then, we could get a new baby turtle.

Hannah remembered this conversation very well, and as soon as she could wear short sleeves to school, she'd ask about getting a new turtle.  We'd explain that we needed to let the ponds warm up a bit, and she'd wait another week or two before she asked again.  Until it got to the point where she started to ask every day, and then Brad gave in and finally ordered a new baby turtle.  Just like that.
One Monday night after dinner, he called a turtle guy, and before we knew it we were expecting a special delivery the following morning.  Hannah was beyond thrilled.

This morning, we got up, had breakfast, and got ready.  As we were getting ready to go for a bike ride, I got a text from Brad:

As you can see, Hannah wasn't the only one excited about the new turtle.

We came inside and opened the package, and there he was:

(Hannah looks scared in this picture, but I can assure you, she wasn't!)

We named our new friend Key Lime, but Hannah mostly refers to him/her as Mr. Turtle, which is just as cute.  She checks on Mr. Turtle every so often, just to be sure he's okay...the way I used to check on Hannah when she was just a tiny baby.  It's adorable.

Mr. Turtle is here to stay...at least until Hannah decides she'd like to release him to a happy pond and start all over again.

Silent Sunday

Three Peas in a Pod

Never too late

The weather outside is simply beautiful.  Every time it starts to get warm and sunny outside, I imagine moving to Southern California and raising our family in sunshiny warmth, enjoying playdates on the beach and flip-flops at Christmas.  I think I'd love it - if only we could get our families to all travel with us...

Today was one of those sunny, dreamy afternoons - except that we had a dentist appointment and Hannah's tummy didn't react too well to the flouride treatment and the extra warm temperatures in our car.  Enough said about that...

So by the time we got home, Hannah was determined to lay low and Jack just wanted to relax.  Soon enough, one of his classmates came over to play, and they went in and out for a bit while Hannah watched a show in the basement.  Eventually, they settled on a game of Guess Who? and then before we knew it, it was time for Katie to go home for dinner.  Poor Hannah Bear came trudging upstairs to complain that Jack and Katie had played a game that she never gets to play with Jack without ever coming to ask if she wanted to play...and they didn't even tell her that Katie was over.

With sad, pouty eyes, Hannah explained that Jack said that Katie told him not to get her because she always screams at her.

I took a deep breath and slowly wandered into what I knew to be dangerous territory:

"Well, sometimes Jack says that Katie thinks you scream at her, so she might not want to always play if she feels like you aren't very nice to her."

Hannah just looked at me and didn't say a word.

"Do you sometimes scream at Katie when she comes over to play?" I asked.

"Well, I was going to start stopping today, but they never came to get me!" she shouted.

I tried to suppress a bit of laughter over the fact that she was going to start stopping today and asked why she yells at Katie sometimes.  Hannah explained that one time Katie got yogurt on the couch in the basement so I tried to reiterate the fact that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay if Katie makes a mess sometimes, but I could tell that it is not okay with Hannah.

I also tried to gently explain that if Hannah is always bossing Katie around, Katie probably isn't going to want to play with her and so maybe she could try using her words instead of making Katie feel bad.

I could tell she wanted to mull that one over, so we'll see what happens the next time Jack's playmate knocks at our door.

He's got this.

When we found out that Hannah Bear was going to be a she, Brad was a little nervous about how he'd navigate the waters of being a daddy to a little girl.  He wasn't quite sure that he was ready.

I'd beg to differ.

I'm pretty sure he's got this handled.  Especially since he's her most-favorite person in the whole wide world.

She's pretty lucky.

And so am I.

Keep On

Jack might be an engineer when he grows up.  He loves to build with Legos, and not only that, but he's really, really good at it.  He builds his own creations frequently and we're often amazed by the symmetry and thoughtfulness that each one displays.  Tonight, he made a spaceship all on his own and then came upstairs to share it with us.

In order to make this spaceship, Jack had to disassemble part of another set.  His conversation with Daddy went like this:

Brad: Would Lord Business approve?

Jack: He's imaginary.

Brad: I feel like I'm channeling Lord Business...

Jack: You're channeling something that's imaginary?  Keep on doin' that.

And then Jack walked away.

*****

I think we've created a smart-alec.  Just a tiny bit.

But I suppose that means we've also created a miniature engineer.

And both of these things are perfect to us.

Nope.

I came home today after spending a few nights away at a teachers' conference.  I was so excited to get home and see Brad and the littles.  I was also excited to unpack and crawl into my own bed for a well-deserved nap.  I thought maybe we'd take the kids out for dinner tonight, but surprisingly, they opted to stay in and order Chinese.  I think they've had a busy couple of days, moving around with different family members while I was away and Daddy was at work.  Jack and Hannah like their relaxation time as much as we do, thank goodness.  I think some of their motivation to stay in was that they didn't want to have to get out of their jammies, and I don't blame them!

Tonight while we were eating dinner, Hannah pulled a piece of chicken out of her chicken fried rice and asked, "Is this guts?"

Daddy told her that people don't eat guts.

"Or animal eggs?" Hannah asked.

Brad tried to clarify - "You mean animal eggs as opposed to non-animal eggs?"

"I don't know what that means," Hannah simply stated.

"Animals are the only things that lay eggs," he told her.

A few seconds of silence went by, and then...

"Nnnnnope."

We laughed and I got up to get a piece of paper to write this whole thing down.  As I was jotting and Brad was helping me remember exact words, Hannah went into more depth:

"You just got noped."

*****

I miss them so much when I'm away.

I was waiting for this day to come.

This morning I went out to get my haircut, and Brad stayed home with the little lovelies.  When I got home about an hour and a half later, he had a story to share.  I've read about stories like these, but nothing like this has ever been said by our little ones until today.

Apparently, after breakfast and playtime, Brad went up to take a shower.  When he got out and opened up the bathroom door, he found Hannah Bear lying on the floor, patiently waiting for him to be finished.  She had a great big smile on her face, and she popped up, grinning from ear-to-ear.

"Daddy, will you marry me?"

Now later, Brad told me that he'd considered explaining that this wasn't a possibility.  But she was so eager to ask and so happy...he thought it through and decided it was best not to crush her little heart, but to go along.

"Of course, I will, Sweetheart."

Hannah looked up, with an even bigger smile across her tiny face, and happily scampered out of the bedroom and into the hallway.  She apparently had chosen a special piece of her jewelry that she'd wanted to share with Brad, and she picked it up and came back in to present it to him as the bracelet he could wear when they got married.

When I got home, he was wearing it around his wrist.  In fact, he wore it all day, and as I type this post, it's sitting atop his dresser.  I know he'll hold onto it for as long as he lives - or until Hannah asks for it back.  It's no secret that she's Daddy's Girl :)

By Golly, I've Got It!

I'm not sure why this has never occurred to me before, but I think I've found a possible solution in regards to blogging consistently.

Stick with me here because I have to back-track a bit.

I think I have developed adult ADD.  Seriously.

I've noticed that I have a lot of projects and ideas swimming around in my head, but I have a hard time completing them, or following through.  If I'm honest, sometimes I have a hard time even getting started.  I would almost always describe myself as feeling overwhelmed.  I have a hard time completing thoughts aloud.  The list goes on...

In October, I went on a road trip with my mom and my sister, and I brought up the idea that maybe I have ADD, and they both pretty much laughed and said, "You think so?" very sarcastically.  Which started a whole conversation as to how they'd previously never brought this to my attention, but that's another story.

One thing I've noticed about myself, is that I thrive on structure and routine.  When I don't have a set routine for something - it rarely gets done.  For example, every year over summer break - I turn into a sloth.  On the weekends, if I don't have plans, I do a lot of napping.  I really have to push myself to complete tasks.  But - if I have a routine - I usually follow-through.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more frequently and to finally get it caught up so that I can print the last two years of our blog.  I'm so behind that this is an incredibly overwhelming task.  Which is why it hasn't gotten done.

And then it hit me!  I need a blogging routine that is realistic.  I need to be able to jot down post ideas during the week (when I'm exhausted and have school work and shows and reading to do) and then blog those posts on the weekend when I have some more time to really focus and write.

Let's see how I do.

Sticky Fingers and Hungry Tummies

Today was not a great day.  They can't all be, I guess, but whoa.

It's been a really long week, and it's only Wednesday.  It's so hard to get back into the routine after such a long, winter break.  The kiddos are sleepy.  I'm cranky.  We have to get up when it's really dark.  I have to make lunches.  And dinner.  And it's rough.

So keep all of that in mind and then consider this:

As I was unpacking Jack's backpack and getting ready to help him with his homework, I noticed some Lego figures that were definitely not ours.  As I called Jack into the kitchen, he mumbled something about "finding things lately," but also looked incredibly guilty and already knew he was in trouble.  After a long time-out in his room and a longer chat about doing the right thing and considering how he'd feel if someone failed to return something he'd lost, he came downstairs to write an apology to his teacher.

As he was writing, I couldn't help thinking about where Brad and I had gone wrong.  How could Jack, even for an instant, think this was acceptable behavior?  I was proud of the way I handled the situation: I stayed calm.  I didn't yell, and I stressed that everyone makes mistakes and it's what we do when we make those mistakes that matters.  But at the same time my inner-mommy voice was saying that I'm not sure that taking Lego figures counts as a mistake.  It felt like a mommy-fail.

Then after a half hour of listening to Hannah Bear say she was hungry as dinner was cooking, we sat down to eat, and within seconds, I could tell she wasn't going to eat the chicken and noodle casserole I'd served.  She probably ate one spoonful collectively, and I knew she was hungry.  I'd previously told her that after dinner she could eat the fruit snacks she'd asked about earlier, but when she realized she wasn't going to get those after she didn't eat her dinner, she cried.  Oh, did she cry.

So neither little lovely was a happy camper this evening.  And neither am I.

And it's only Wednesday :(

She gets it.

Do you remember how I told you about the mama that wrote her little boy a note to be an amazing friend?  And about how inspired I was by that tiny message?

She did it again.

This morning was a little rough.  The kids are so out of their routine, and were so super-sleepy when I woke them up this morning.  Getting ready and drop-off went smoother than I expected, but I was sad that our extra time together was over, and I was missing my adorable children when I got to work.

And then I got an email from my mama friend.  She'd come across someone else's blog post, and felt like it said exactly what she wanted to say to me - so she forwarded it my way and added that I do amazing work.

See for yourself - click here to read the post.

I read it during indoor recess and before I knew it, I was crying.  Not big splashy tears because my, that would've been embarrassing, but I definitely had to get a tissue and wipe my eyes.  My horrible mommy-moment outside of Hannah's classroom came racing back - the way I'd felt like I'd failed.  Like every day I'm there for other peoples' kids, but I couldn't get to her Christmas sing-along on time.

This mom...she gets it.

I felt so appreciated.  So I sent her a link to the blog post that I'd written about her, and we marveled about how good we can make each other feel if we're willing to be a little vulnerable and tell people what we're really thinking.

Our mommy-hearts are full today.  I hope yours is, too.