Rain rain go away...

When I arrived home from the store yesterday Sydney ran to the door to greet me. I love that when kids are this age. It was raining and she stood at the door and started singing:

"Rain, rain, go away

Come again another day

Rain, rain, go away
Come again another day."

Then she turned back to me, "Mommy the rain is not going away when I am singing."

She really thought the rain would stop if she sang this little song. How fun is that?

Using a movie to converse with your family

Yeah, I like movies. And DH likes movies. Yay!


We end up quoting movie lines. More than you can quote and still be reasonably cool. Today I called him to ask if he would pick up the kiddos...quoting ensued.


Me: 'Hey, I think I'm going to go straight to the gym. Do you feel like picking up the kids?'

Him: 'Why don't you just ask me to pick up the kids?'

Me: 'I just did. That's my way of asking. Don't try to change me.'

Him: 'Well, I don't feel like picking them up, but I will if you ask me.'

Me: 'I want you to want to do the dishes.'

Him: Laughing 'Why would I want to do the dishes? Yes, I'll pick them up.'

Me: 'K thx.'

Me: 'Big gulps huh? Well, see you later!'


There are two references in here - both have recently been on network TV. Got a guess? Quoting movies twice in a single five minute conversation might make me definitley lame-o. Or wicked awesome. Don't hate.

What do you call a gaggle of 5 year old boys?

First of all, probably not a gaggle. I would start with 'adorable' and move to 'hilarious' pretty quickly.

Tristen started U5 soccer this season. He is on a team of eight 5-year old boys and watching them is nothing short of a riot. It is so funny. They play 4 on 4 with no goalie (for good reason!)

The coach lining everyone up to start the game. The league is focused on learning the basics.

Go Tristen!

Tristen running on his way to scoring!

They have played two games so far. In the first game, the boys didn't even realize you are supposed to stop playing when the whistle blows. Oops. Maybe we should have worked on that. His team is called the Transformers which is a great name for my transformer-obsessed child. Tristen is quickly picking up on things and scored 3 of their 4 goals last week. Maybe it's all the awesome soccer genes he got from his mama. Word.

It has been super.freakin.cold. each week. We have been bundled up in coats, hats and blankets! I am really hoping for a basically decent week where I don't worry about Sydney freezing to death. Look how red her nose is!

Shout out to Auntie Liz for coming to a game!

Tristen enjoying a snack after his game.

One of the funny things I have learned during this experience is how OCD my child is. I've always noticed he has little quirks like when I find his 20 toy cars perfectly lined up by his bed. I could never imagine Syd taking on such a task. Now that he has something new he cares for he lines all his soccer stuff up in little rows. Shin guards lay parallel to each other, a soccer sock folded neatly in line with each, soccer shorts folded and placed carefully on top, followed by his ball. He calls this 'packing up' his soccer stuff. I came upon this little pile one day. Which means he probably learned this behavior from, uh, his mommy. Am I creating a little neat freak? I guess there are worse things!

The month of February

I didn't post anything for the whole month of February. I was too busy doin' to have any time for 'splaining' what I was doin'.


So here's my quick run-down. Most of the month I focused on Valentines Day. Some people hate it. Me, I love it. Lots of fun.


I took time to make some valentines cards. Then promptly sent them out late. Oops.

Hmm. I should think about taking better pictures. These have a 'postage stamp' feel to them. These use chalk and an overlay to make the white lines across the center and have a postage stamp edge on the white.

I feel like this pink and black is sweet and simple.

It's hard to see but these have glitter hearts in the bottom right corner and an embellished word.

We also made some quick and easy valentines for the kid's classes. These have a conversation heart stamp and the kids wrote their names on the back. Later I added ribbon but forgot to take a picture. Boo.

For valentines I received lovely tulips, candy and a bear (really for Sydney). There were two dozen tulips and they flowered so nicely in a few days.

My visiting teacher dropped by a really cute little cookie mix/heart cookie cutter/frosting package that I took full advantage of. Some cookies to go with a gift for my DH:

The kids also had fun helping to decorate some heart cookies (none of which survived the weekend!)

How cute is this little valentine holder Tristen made? It's a dog 'holding' a box to put his valentines in. He also wrote his name on it. I thought it was a fun idea for kids to do.

Ode to a Mall

A few weekends ago I got my hair cut. Thank goodness. Usually I go to Northp@rk mall to get my hair cut. There is a stylist I like there and I have been going down there for something like 10 years. Well the last time I decided I would try my friends stylist. So I did. And dis-as-ter. I wanted my a-line cut trimmed and I walked out with some kind of not-quite-right bob thing. I hated it from the minute I walked out. UGH. So I went back to Northp@rk this time and got it done right. It's a little shorter than I would like, but that was necessary to fix the cut. LOVE it.

I also remembered something else - I am in love with that mall. In honor of Valentine's Day, I give you an 'Ode to Northp@rk'.

Ah Northp@rk mall, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. BRIGHT covered parking. Want to valet park that pimp ride you're rollin' (well maybe not me but I've seen some very nice cars pull up)? Well you can do so right outside of Tiff@ny's. And then gawk at those lovely diamonds on the way inside. Want to park under covered parking? No problem. You can do so right outside B@iley B@nks & Biddle. And with the daylight-level lighting they use, you don't have to worry about not seeing where you are walking. Seriously it's some of the brightest lighting ever. Love it.

2. Best Shopping. Some of the best shopping in the world can be found in Dallas. And you'll find many of those stores at NP. Need to pick up the latest Burberry item and stroll through C@che? Check. How about pick up a handmade bath fizzy at Lush? Check.

3. Best Bathrooms. NP has the.best.bethrooms.period. You could fit a parking garage in this ladies room, no need to fear your new gucci purse will brush up against the masses here. I could fit a family of four in even the smallest stall. And after you've washed those manicured hands you can use the space age hand dryer and be dry with one swipe. No standing around huddled under a regular dryer here. No sir. No slumming at NP.

4. That cool turtle fountain. Seriously, even I want to run up and down those very fun sloped sides of this little pool. And who doesn't love to look at turtles?

5. The park at the park. Get a little nature by walking through the park - in the middle of the mall. Very hip idea.

6. Jonas brothers. This is where I saw the Jonas brothers in person. I was in Louis Vuitton and realized there was a crowd forming outside. I turned around and found that I am in the store with a celebrity! And maybe the entire Neiman M@rcus security force. srsly. I doubt they ever hang at Valley View.

7. Art. End of story. Check it out.

8. No annoying movie-goers. Some theaters require I bring my taser for fear of the clientele. Or I spend my time wondering if the thug kids in the row behind me will please stop talking. At NP, you can relax in a nice theater and not have to worry. DH says I'm a hater. Uh, yeah, I dislike annoying people.

9. Fun food-court and restaurants. Anything from Sonic to La Madeline to Kona's. Sit in the atrium on a nice day!

10. It makes me happy. Seriously I never walk out of there in a bad mood. Put it all together and it just makes me happy. I always wonder why I don't go more often. Oh yeah, maybe because it makes me want to spend money.

The One Where Things Break...

CRASH!

This was the sound I heard late yesterday afternoon followed by the tinkling sound of glass breaking. The kids were playing in Sydney's room down the hall when we heard the obvious sound that something had broken.

There's two things that run through your mind. First, I hope no one is hurt. This is followed closely by 'what could they have broken?'. I could only think of two possible things ( a mirror on the wall and a piggybank) that would even make such a noise so it didn't really compute for me. Immediately, DH and I were up and running to her room down the hall. Before we even made it there I heard both kids screaming. Screaming is good and bad when you're a parent. It actually fills you with relief when you hear the 'I'm not hurt too bad, I'm just crying' instead of the terror inducing 'I'm really hurt and have broken my arm' shrill. And I knew immediately no one was hurt (or at least not badly.)

When we reached the room, Tristen was in the hall crying HYSTERICALLY and screaming 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!'. He was frantic. He just kept repeating it and crying. Sydney was on her bed crying, probably just freaked out at her brother losing it.

A quick survey of the situation revealed the kids had broken the main room light. Tristen had thrown a ball up in the air and it had shattered the lighting cover in the room. And apparently my son thought he was in some serious trouble. DH was very calm and his first concern was checking them out and calming them down. It's funny, I had expected a little yelling so I was impressed by the restraint and it calmed me down too. DH spent the next 5 minutes calming them down and assuring them it was ok to be calm while I picked up the glass and vacuumed.

The first reaction in my head, after realizing everyone was ok, was to be mad. We have a rule...we don't play ball in the house. But that quickly dissipated when I saw how upset he was. I don't think I've ever seen him that upset, it really scared him. I just wanted him to know he was safe and that even though we all make mistakes, his Mom & Dad still love him. After everyone was calm and the mess cleaned up we had the talk about throwing things in the air (and how that's not going to happen again.) We were very lucky that no one was standing under this light when it shattered. This could be a story about stitches or worse. Whew!

So we've got one more thing I now have to replace in my house (sigh). And I think I learned a little lesson in patience myself.

Happy Belated New Year!

We rang in the new year with a family party and lots of food (anyone see a theme here?) and games.

I love the start of a new year. It feels like you can wipe out all the things you meant to do the previous year and start again! This year I am working on my food storage and cooking better with it. I found some additional material and am reorganizing the information I already have so I can use it better. So if you have any suggestions or want to work on it with me let me know!

I also will be the Sunbeams teacher (for children 3-4 years old) at church for the 3rd year in a row. I love the little kids, but using the same manual every year can get a little, um, boring for me. Plus I don't get to meet many new people. But working with the kids is always so much fun. This year I will have Syd in my class and her first week went fairly well. It's always hard for the little ones to make the transition from having a snack and to sitting (somewhat) still for 45 minutes instead of being able to play with toys. Every year the first few weeks are always spent on learning to sit in their chairs, not talking over one another, and just learning how to be in a class.

What new resolutions are you working on? I love to hear!

Christmas 2008

Christmas is such a fun time of year. We were able to have a lot of our families come and visit with us for Christmas. We even had a sleepover party on Christmas Eve with our family and cousins. It was so nice to see everyone and we are thankful they could all travel to see us!

We enjoyed more food than we could finish.

We read "The Night Before Christmas". We played some fun new games and enjoyed hanging out together.

And on Christmas morning, we all ran downstairs to see what Santa had brought us!

The kids were espeically excited to play on the new trampoline Santa brought. Sydney was very sad that Santa had left before she could see him.

Enjoying more of our presents in Christmas jammies.



Sydney took most of her gifts and tried to stuff them in her backpack.

Later we got to visit with more of DH's family.

We hope you all had as much fun and family as we did!

Christmas Outfits

These are the kids dressed for church in their Christmas outfits. The picture is not too great, I really could use a new camera! Tristen loved his little jacket and asks me if he can wear it every week. Sydney loves getting new dresses and spends a lot of time twirling in them. And I just don't think there is anything more sweet than little blonde curls, I find them adorable.

Funnytown Friday

Some fun for your Fun Friday. Enjoy.

Crane Fail


Police Stop My Car