The Juice Box Incident

What is going on in my house?!
I admit it...We buy juice boxes, but they are strictly for "on the go" use. I care about the environment, but it takes long enough to get my brood out the door. Add the time it takes to pour individual drinks in non-disposable cups and well it's just too much. Occasionally one of my children will beg me for a juice box to drink at home. I don't get it, what is the draw of juice from a box as opposed to a cup? The answer is always no. Today was Lily's turn to try the old ritual. She brought me a juice box from the brand new set I just bought. I took it and told her she couldn't have a juice box, but I would get her another drink in a cup and continued what I was doing thinking she'd just have to wait a minute until I could get her a drink. I guess I was mistaken because Little Miss Independent just went and got herself another juice box, put in the straw and was drinking it by the next time I saw her. Little Dickens! I didn't know she could do that. At the exact time I am resigning myself to the fact that we have wasted a juice box I hear Ryan downstairs obviously very upset at his missing bongs! Apparently my parenting style has become a little too Laissez-faire!

Lost?

If you're a Lost fan you should check out Find815.com . Lost starts January 31, but it will give you a little mystery fix while you're waiting:-) It's pretty fun and interesting. Little tip: create a login before you start to track your progress.

A Day in the Life

I'm not feeling well today. It started with a sore throat last night and now I feel crappy all over. My muscles were burning from walking up the stairs people. That's just not normal, even if I am way out of shape. I decided that I would just let the kids watch a little a lot of extra tv today and just rest on the couch. So much for that idea. Ryan wanted to play on the Wii. The subsequent screaming about Lily messing up his race nearly drove me over the edge. Did you know while you are resting on the couch you will have to get up 6 times in the span of an hour to get drinks and food for your two completely helpless lovely children? What to do when the TV has gotten old, but you don't have the energy to go outside or play with the kids? BATH! Both kids got really excited and they took about an hour long bath. Lily got to choose the color tabs to use today. She chose blue. They played with Cars bath stickups, a couple measuring cups and each other. Lily even asked to get out to use the potty. She used it and got back in. She has been very cute when she uses the potty lately. She opens her eyes really big, looks right in mine and says, "Ah di stinky un da Po-ee!!!" [translation- I did stinky on the potty!!!] yesterday she said this to me for the fourth time on while sitting there and I guess I wasn't celebrating enough because she took my thumbs and put my hands together and said, "Cap!" [clap]. She does like to be celebrated. So today I knew how to react when she proclaimed her victory. We both celebrated accordingly. Bath time was good.

At some point during the day Ryan decided to be the most helpful kid ever. From washing himself without complaining(or even being reminded), to cleaning his room without being asked, he was helpful and thoughtful. He even cleared Lily's lunch dishes when he cleared his own!

My doing nothing has given way to boredom, so I have taken some pictures and now I'm blogging. I'm not sure what I'll do next, but I'm thinking a nap would be nice at some point. I wonder how I'll work that out.

Look What I Did!!!

I made curtains! This is my first attempt and while I realize they are not perfect I am very satisfied to have taken on something new. I think they look pretty good. I'm pleased as punch to have pretty curtains (at least in one window- three more windows to go).


I took this picture when I finished them last night. The colors seem a little more true to life in this one.


This picture is from today when the sun was shining (sort of, it's pretty cloudy) outside.

Incidentally, I'm trying to decide which way to face the finials on the curtain rod. Each one is facing a different direction in these pictures. What do you think?

By Request

Apparently I need to post more pictures. This was not so subtly revealed to me by Erin. So here are some pictures. Some I will be adding to the posts where they belong.

This is Christmas Day. Everyone around was opening presents, but Lily was busy giving her baby a bath.

Lily is sitting in the baby doll tub giving baby a bottle.

Jay's dad schooled him in [Wii] tennis. Apparently he played in high school and was quite good.

More tennis on the Wii.

Just about everyone got a turn.

I think Zach and Ryan are bowling.

This is Ryan playing his favorite game another day. Can you guess what it is? Take a look below...

Here Lily is wearing the bunny shirt. Later that day we got a package from Miss Jodi, Uncle TJ's girlfriend, she sent all the kids crocs. Lily has been wearing hers quite a bit. She really seems to like them.

This is just a cute picture of Lily:-)

Ah Wan Bunny

Lily is growing up so fast. Today she picked out her own shirt for the first time. We were all sitting around in our PJs this morning. Lily saw the shirt she wanted to wear, picked it up and brought it to me. "Ah wan bunny." (literal translation- I want bunny.) I asked if she wanted to wear her bunny shirt. A huge grin spread across her face as she nodded furiously and said, "Yes!" She is very happily wearing her "snuggle bunny" shirt right now. It is however covered up by the life jacket she found and has decided to wear around the house. She is something else our Lily. She has been putting on her shoes at random times for no other reason than she wants to wear them. If she puts on her shoes and her coat she is definitely sending you a message that she wants to go outside. Once she gets her hat and mittens on you'd better be ready to hit the door;-) She loves going outside. We really enjoyed all the mild weather this week because she got to go outside and I didn't have to freeze!

Sometimes it's hard to keep up with her. She recognizes and says most of her letters now. She can count to ten and recognizes even more numbers in books. She often points out letters or numbers on signs. She now walks up and down the stairs on her feet. She can jump off the ground and do a forward roll by herself now. She amazes me every day.

I often get comments from people who have seen her in action with other kids. Most of them have to do with her not putting up with any funny business. She never really gets in trouble, but she does stand up for herself. At home it's a different story, she does get in trouble;-)

Things I Learned this Christmas Season

-Getting all my shopping done before Mid-December is a great idea.

-No matter how prepared I think I am something will slip through the cracks.

-The traffic from people shopping the last two weeks before Christmas will make it so my usual drives take longer, even if it is a 5 minute ride to preschool.

-Putting lights on the tree in a way that looks good is harder than I thought, but it is enjoyable enough to make it okay.

-Lights that are nicely rolled and wrapped are much better to work with than a jumbled mess. Thankfully Jay did a good job putting the lights away last year.

-Taking the lights off the tree is also hard and not enjoyable at all. I can see why some people just throw the lights in a box in a tangled mess after all the annoyance they caused coming off.

-Puns still make me laugh. There was a sign at the Christmas tree shop that said, "Real trees make scents." It made me chuckle.

-Hosting a get together to spend time with friends is an oxymoron (I realize this is a bit of a stretch on the term, but you know what I mean). You spend the whole time in the kitchen while everyone else spends time together.

-It's fun to buy the gifts, it's fun to watch people open the gifts, but finding a place to put all the new stuff... not so fun.

-The Wii is fun for all ages...Well, Lily is a little young, but she likes to "help" drive.

-Getting all the Christmas stuff to fit nicely in the same number of boxes, even with all the new stuff, is very satisfying.

-I love traditions. I think they help us feel connected and part of something bigger than ourselves. In that vein we give each of our kids an ornament every year. This year Ryan was very worried about putting his ornaments on the tree because I might forget which ones are his. This, along with some other chance happenings, gave me an idea. I covered Composition books with some Christmas scrapbooking paper and wrote down the ornaments they got each year(I had to guess on a couple of them), who they were from and if they have a significant meaning. Like this year I got Ryan a Charlie Brown Choir ornament because he discovered the greatness of the Charlie Brown specials this year. He even spent the whole day of the first snow with his tongue out trying to catch snowflakes like they did in the Charlie Brown Christmas. Lily got a Tinkerbell ornament because she was such a cute Tinkerbell for Halloween. Incidentally I was going to get Ryan a Buzz Lightyear(he was Buzz for Halloween), but the Disney store was sold out and I couldn't find them anywhere else. That's when I started looking for Charlie Brown. I'm really glad it worked out the way it did because I think this way is more meaningful.

-I really enjoy it when everyone takes turns opening gifts so I can see what they got and their reaction.

-Sometimes the Advent wreath just catches on fire during dinner and no one knows why. Also this reinforces the don't leave candles burning unattended rule for me.

-Something is bound to not work out according to plan. Like your daughter will not take a nap during your son's preschool time the whole week and a half before Christmas even though that's when she has always napped. This of course is the time you had planned to do all the secret wrapping for Santa.

-Chuck E. Cheese closes early on Christmas Eve. (see above)