Decisions, Decisions

Ryan wanted to make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich today. I'm all for independence and letting kids accomplish tasks for themselves, but peanut butter and jelly? That could get messy. VERY messy. He has been making his own cheese sandwiches for months. Since he doesn't like anything but cheese on bread it's really not too bad. He sometimes ends up tearing the cheese in little bits and placing it all in the middle of the bread. That's fine with me because it's not messy and he is still getting the same amount of nutrition he would have been getting anyway. This peanut butter and jelly thing has HUGE mess written all over it. Against my better judgement I let him do it. I did give him some assistance, like holding the jar for him and guiding the knife when he was getting his jam. He did most of it himself with some "here use the knife this way" and "let's turn your plate so you don't get peanut butter on your arm" he did a really good job. It was really hard to let him take that step though. Sometimes it's just easier at this age to do it for him. He does get a lot of joy out of doing it himself though, so I guess it's worth a little extra mess and some heartburn.

Am I the Last One?

Blogger finally let me switch to the new version. Apparently my blog was too big before. I don't know how that was since I know people who have blogged much longer than I who were able to switch before me. I have not really explored all the new stuff, so I will reserve judgement for now. Seems okay so far though.

Reconciling Myself

I often feel at war within myself. No, it's not some spiritual awareness problem. It's more like feeling like there are two parts of me. Two parts that it's hard to reconcile. I was thinking about it the whole time I was picking up the kid's toys last night. There is the ultra organized part of me that has all the toys in separate bins according to what type (i.e. wooden trains in one bin, cars in another, take-a-long Thomas in another, Wooden blocks, foam blocks, you get the point) and there is the super lazy part of me that has every surface above Lily's reach stacked at least 3 inches thick with stuff and the dishes overflowing from the sink. There is the [slightly] germaphobic side of me (stop laughing Jay, I'm not that bad) and the side of me that doesn't get around to wiping the table down for days (maybe even weeks) at a time. There is a part of me that has wants a place for everything and everything in it's place and yet dusting, not so much and making the bed? Why, I'm just going to get in it again and mess it up. I know some of you are jumping out of your skin right now, sorry. It's not just cleaning either. There is the part of me that wants to raise grateful, well balanced children and the part of me that wants to buy them everything and make them happy all the time. There is a huge part of me that HATES to look or sound stupid and yet I still write as I think, no drafts, no trying to organize my paragraphs the way they tried to teach me in English class and the closest I get to proofreading is spell check. Part of me thinks with two kids under 3 there is not enough time in the day to do all I want to do and the other part wonders why I am blogging instead of cleaning the bathroom. So how do I reconcile the lazy and the wanna be clean, healthy, do-the-right-thing side of me? I don't know, but for starters maybe I should go change the stinky diaper I smell. ::sigh::

New Stuff

The kids got some money for Christmas. Zach didn't have school Monday or yesterday, so I thought going out to spend Christmas money would be a good way to mix it up a bit and add some excitement. We went to Target to give a variety of options. Ryan and I already talked about what he would get. He has been having so much fun with this pretend camera Lily got for Christmas that I told him there is a real camera he can get. That was all she wrote about that. He wanted his own digital camera from that moment on. Even when I told him it would be all of his Christmas money he was set on it. He is mommy's boy:-) I think he loves taking pictures as much as I do too. First thing this morning he went down to get his camera and started taking pictures. He had taken 31 by the time I looked at it. We have pictures of everything from his feet(taken on purpose), to the windows, to people. Discerning he is not; In love with the camera, he is. That's where it starts.
I picked out this ball popper toy for Lily because I remembered how much fun Ryan had with it at a friend's house when he was younger. She seemed to like it though I think her brothers like it more at this point. She had tons of fun clapping the balls together though. It was pretty funny watching all three of them go crazy with the balls flying everywhere, but after a while it got old. Lily thought so too. She walked away and left Zach and Ryan playing with it. I have discovered that this toy is fantastic for changing time. I just have Ryan play with it while Lily watches from the floor. It is such a different experience from the floor that she is mesmerized.
Unfortunately for Zach he didn't actually get to use his new computer games last night because I have the kids computer disconnected to transfer it to our old desk. He picked a Sponge Bob game and a Scooby Doo game. To me they are just 2 more games in his collection, to him they are a great new adventure. He is his father's son.
I will leave you with some photography by Ryan...

This is me coming down the stairs this morning. Like I said, first thing this morning. I wish I could say this is the worst picture of me ever...

Action shot.

This is a close up of our welcome mat completing Ryan's repertoire with artsy.

Lily Update

Lily has gotten no video play on my blog. Ryan got quite a bit as a baby, so I feel bad. In my defense, we did get a new computer and it didn't have a firewire card for a long time. It does now and I can bring you video once again:-) Without further ado here is Lily in her first web video showing off her walking skills.

In other Lily news...
Due to the crazy design of our split-level house and Lily's incredible desire to climb stairs we have been turning her backwards to do the tummy slide down the stairs herself(with adequate supervision of course). Today she turned around and got on her tummy at the top of the stairs all by herself!

Has anything been going on?

In short YES. Tons of stuff is going on and that's part of the reason I have not had time to write.

-I still haven't even gotten all my Christmas stuff down, but I have started.
-Jay and Zach finished their car for the Pinewood Derby. Which meant lots of time in the basement and I spent lots of extra time with a baby and a toddler.
-Ryan had a friend come over to play last week. His first girl /boy play date. It was interesting. First he wanted to play cars...his friend? Not so much. Then trains...the girl? Again, not so much. I suggested a game. They settled on Cranium Cariboo. That went well for one round. Then Ryan was done, his friend? Not so much. She played by herself for a long time and he played with his trains. They finally came together again to play cooks in the kitchen. They didn't play together the whole time, but at least they didn't fight, right? Well okay just once because they both wanted to mix in the same bowl. I just got another bowl and it was all better. I think Ryan might have a lot to learn about entertaining the opposite sex. I'm not all together unhappy about that ;-) His friend has a little brother that is not too many months older than Lily, so this may be a good family for us to get to know :-)
-I got to go shopping all. by. MYSELF! I got two coats instead of just one. I really like them even though the heavy one is very similar to the one I have now.
-Ryan and I both got hair cuts. I saw another little girl that was older than Ryan having a fit about her hair cut. It really made me appreciate how good Ryan is for hair cuts. That's one good thing about having baldy babies...they don't need early hair cuts that can be scary since they don't know what's going on. Ryan has seen my friend Sheri for every haircut. He loves her. He even asks to go see her sometimes to get his hair cut.
-Lily has had a cold, so she has been a little extra clingy.
-Lily is also a full fledged bi-ped. She has not crawled one lick for weeks.
-I put a desk together and Jay built the hutch for the top. We love the way it looks.
-I have decided to redecorate my house from top to bottom.
-Jay's brother Ben came to visit for a couple days. They took Ryan to Port Discovery Saturday, but Lily and I stayed home since she was sick.
-We had dinner with Jay's parents and Ben on Monday.
-Our regular schedule has kicked back in since the winter break, so I watched the kids at church for Bible study and we went to gymnastics.

Somehow that doesn't seem like a lot for a whole week, but the Derby car and Lily being sick really took a lot of time. So, I'm still here, but I really need to get some cleaning done while Lily naps, so I'm leaving now.

A Bit of Color

My mom gave Ryan these bath color tabs. They have proved to be helpful, educational and fun. The first time we used them he was in a grumpy mood after having wet his bed during a nap. I was trying to convince Ryan it was a good idea to take a bath because believe you me if you put him in the tub when he doesn't want to get in it is not a good situation. Someone is likely to get hurt from him dropping or wiggling all around. My mom came to the rescue with the color tabs. I opened the lid expecting one big tab of each color. I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of little tabs in the and the directions saying use one or two. I tossed in a blue one and asked if he would like to take a blue bath. His teary eyes turned quizzical as he peered over the edge of the tub and nodded "yes." As he got in his whole face lit up. He had a great time splashing around in the blue water. He wanted to me to add another tab, so I asked what color he wanted. He picked yellow and the education began. "What do you think will happen if I put a yellow tab in the blue water?" Since the tabs come in all three primary colors we have been having lots of fun discovering what colors we can make by mixing the different colors we have. Somehow the magic of the colored water doesn't wear off as his bath wears on. He has lots of fun splashing around in his cool water until I tell him it's time to get out. So thanks to my mom who has provided hours of fun with one little jar of color.



On a side note I just have to share this conversation we had when Ryan was picking up the tablets.
Me, "Don't pick it up or it might dye your fingers blue."
Ryan, dropping the tablet, looks at me with wide eyes and says, "If I touch it my fingers will die?!"
I won't bore you with the details, but I tried to explain the difference between die and dye. I don't think I had much success. He still looked very worried.
I summed up with "What I mean is it will turn your fingers blue, but they will be just fine. It would wear off after a while even if they do turn blue. You don't have to worry."


Incidentally, when he put his hands in the water the dye came off and his fingers were back to normal.

Getting Dress

That's what Ryan calls it and he is insisting on doing it himself. [side note: If Ryan ever tells you he needs to put on his dress- fear not; He is just mixing phrases. He means he needs to put on clothes.] Not only does he feel the need to get dressed himself he needs to pick out his own clothes too. Most of the time he does okay. Some of the combinations he picks I probably wouldn't have thought of, but they work. Sometimes the results are hilarious. Some make me think that trends of the 80s and 90s were the result of a three year old dressing himself.

Without further ado I give you designs by Ryan...

The Thomas short sleeve over a polo paired with Thomas jeans.

Okay the hat was at a museum dress up center, but he did do his outfit.

This Mickey short sleeve is over a shirt that already looks like a short sleeve polo over a long sleeved tee.

And my favorite piece of hilarity...

He insisted these overalls were on the right way:-)