Category Archives: Alex

I love you because…

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One of  my Januaray goals was to hang the “I love you because” signs which I bought from Kiki Creates when she was having an “oops sale.”

The defect in the prints turned out to be the white rim around them. Eventually I will add a little black border to cover that up, but hey, they went up in January and it’s still not done so don’t hold your breath.

I bought cheap IKEA frames to display them on the wall (I think the frames were $3 for a pair).

the view coming down our stairs – everyone sits on the stairs to put their shoes on so I thought this would be the perfect spot.

Current and previous entries…

“you love to dress up”

“you love to have stories read to you”

“you love your brothers”

“your laugh is contagious”

“you have a passion for animals”

“you have found a love of reading”

“Your smile makes me smile”

“You love to listen to NPR with me”

“You are a wonderful big brother”

The kids immediately notice when a new reason has been posted so it’s fun to listen and watch them discuss it. Which reminds me, I need to go write something new right now.

*Here’s Kiki’s original post which inspired me to put these prints up in our house*

Easter Synopsis Part 2

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Let’s see, where were we when we last left off…

7:24 am – Oldest Bunny decides to change attitude

7:27 am – Shoes are on and baskets are empty – let the games begin. First up, the front yard.

7:38 am – The backyard. Happiness overtakes sleepiness when candy bar is found.

7:39 am – “There’s even an egg up here!”

7:47 am – The examination begins.

This is the dumper. Each egg is opened and emptied into a pile.

The examiner. Each egg is opened. Looked at. And closed again. The candy will be removed at each eating session. This technique is quite frustrating to Momma Bunny when she’s searching for a quick treat in the pantry.

The Eater. Open an egg. Eat whatever’s inside – all of it – as fast as you can.

8:02 am – Yep, she’s still eating.

8:25 am – Momma Bunny jumps into the shower throwing Dad the kids outfits, yelling that they need to leave in 35 minutes if they are to get to the 9:15 service.

8:30 am – 8:55 am – Pleading, negotiating, threatening all take place.

9:14 am – Bunny family slides into pews two rows from the back.

9:17 am – Momma Bunny pulls out a pad of paper and a pen for Littlest Bunny to play with.

9:19 am – Momma Bunny is tracing Littlest Bunny’s hand for entertainment.

9:24 am – 30 pieces of paper later Littlest Bunny decides she needs a new distraction so Momma Bunny pulls out some magnets and paper clips.

9:26 am – The priest tells all of the children of the church to answer him this question, “Doesn’t the church look beautiful now with all of the flowers in it?”

Middle Bunny shouts out, “No!”

Momma Bunny quickly brings her hand to Middle Bunny’s mouth while Poppa Bunny gives him a stern look.

9:28 am – Oldest Bunny and Middle Bunny start arguing over who gets to hold the hymnal so Momma Bunny takes hers and gives it to the Middle Bunny. Momma Bunny and Poppa Bunny just stand now and move their mouths as if to show they have memorized every Easter song.

9:30 am – Littlest Bunny starts talking loudly. She is escorted to the front yard by Poppa Bunny for a prolonged botany lesson.

9:58 am – Church is over and Momma Bunny is ready to leave. Unfortunately, Littlest Bunny has been outside for the last 30 minutes watching the egg hunt being set up so there is no chance of that.

10:04 – Littlest Bunny mentally prepares for the challenge ahead.

10:05 – Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny talk strategy with the Littlest Bunny for the hunt. There is talk of pushing and shoving if deemed necessary.

10:08 am – The hunt begins. Littlest Bunny is not keeping her eyes on the prize.  This frustrates Middle Bunny and Oldest Bunny who are doing their best to form a human wall discouraging other Bunnies from snatching eggs in the vicinity.

10:11 am – The victory walk.

10:14 am – Champions Easter egg hunters

10:30 am – Bunny family arrives home.

10:31 am – All designated Easter clothing has been stripped off and thrown to the ground by little bunnies.

10:32 am – Momma and Poppa Bunny tell the bunnies to go put some clothes on and stay upstairs. Momma and Poppa Bunny have designated this time as mandatory quiet time.

10:33 am – The Bunny children just laugh at their parents. They know their sugar high will last until right before dinnertime when all three will meltdown at the same time at the sight of their dinner.

Easter 2012 is deemed a success!

An Easter Synopsis

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9:00 – 10:00 pm Easter Eve – Momma & Poppa Bunny fill Easter eggs with candy, check to make sure the gifts (books, coloring books, card games, stickers are equal).

10:05 pm Easter Eve – Momma Bunny complains her stomach hurts from eating so much Easter candy already.

10:06 pm Easter Eve – Popppa Bunny is not sympathetic and says, “Well that candy was for the children.”

10: 15 pm Easter Eve – Momma & Poppa Bunny watch the news due to rain possibility.

5:30 am Easter morning – Alarm goes off in Momma & Poppa’s room

5:35 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny check the online weather report. Debate over next move due to lots of green on the radar.

5:37 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny go to the front of the house and put out eggs for littlest bunny.

5:40 am – Momma & Poppa Bunny proceed to the back yard where they lay out eggs for the boy bunnies.

5:46 am – Momma Bunny writes note to little bunnies explaining the layout of the hunt.

5:47 am – Poppa Bunny goes back to bed. Momma Bunny takes dog for a walk since the backyard is now a “No Pooping Zone.

5:59 am – Dog poops on lawn three blocks from home. Momma Bunny surveys the area for any witnesses. Debates about possibly leaving poop on the lawn due to the fact that’s it’s dark outside and no one will know. Momma Bunny begrudgeonly picks up poop.

6:10 am – Momma Bunny and dog return home. Momma Bunny turns on the tv and sits on the sofa.

6:15 am – Momma Bunny has to tell dog for millionth time that she cannot go outside until all the kids wake up.

6:20 am – Momma Bunny retrieves the newspaper and sits on the sofa again.

6:50 am – Middle bunny comes downstairs ready to begin Easter hunt. Eagerly looks out window yelling, “I see one!.” Momma Bunny bursts his bubble when she says he will have to wait another 20 minutes before waking up other bunnies.

6:51 am – Momma Bunny suggests he look for a note to see if the Bunny left instructions about how the yard has been divided.

6:52 am – Middle Bunny finds note. Reads it and notices one bunny has been left off the list while another bunny has been given two sections of the yard.

6:53 am – Momma Bunny curses to herself for writing the note in the dark and quickly explains that the Bunny must have meant something else.

6:54 am – Middle Bunny asks if the note was written by Momma Bunny since it’s on the back of a bingo card.

6:55 am – Momma curses again but says the Bunny must have used whatever paper was available. Vows to buy special paper next year.

7:15 am – Momma Bunny tells Poppa Bunny it’s time to get up. Poppa Bunny looks at the clock and gives Momma Bunny an ugly look.

7:15 and fifteen seconds am – Momma give Poppa a dirty look hoping to convey her wish that he enjoyed his extra hour and a half of sleep.

7:20 am – Littlest Bunny and Poppa Bunny stumble out of bedroom. Littlest Bunny was ready to hunt at 2 am but was persuaded to sleep in Momma & Poppas bed as a consolation prize until morning.

7:22 am – Oldest Bunny stumbles downstairs complaining of lost sleep.

7:23 am – Momma & Poppa explain to oldest bunny that he can go back to sleep and in doing so relinquishes all rights to his candy.

7:24 am – Oldest Bunny decides to have a better attitude.

Continued on Thursday 🙂

Easter Mess

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Two days ago we had tornadoes come through the Dallas Metroplex.

Around 2:00 the sky started to look ominous. My oldest was home sick so I went to see if I could get my six year old out of school a little early. I was told the school was on lock down due to the tornado threats; no children were being released. I went back home and watched the news coverage for the next hour, all the while listening to our city’s tornado sirens. I knew my six year old was safe in the school but it was quite nerve racking to not have him in my sight during this time.

Roughly an hour after school should have let out, the school starting releasing students. I picked up my son who enthusiastically told of being stuck in the teacher’s bathroom for an hour with his class. (In my mind, his teacher should receive Teacher of the Year for being in a bathroom for an hour with twenty-two kindergarteners – can you even imagine?)

So… because of the storm…our night activities were cancelled…so….we were able to do two Easter “crafts.”

First off, dying Easter eggs (and yes, Caroline does not have clothes on, it’s cleaner this way for everyone).

Notice the fingers…that’s what happens when your technique for dying the eggs is completely hands on.

Once the eggs were dried, it was time to decorate with stickers.

Just because it was time didn’t mean it actually occurred.

Apparently, peeling your eggs was more fun (I’m looking at it from the perspective that it was a scientific learning experience).

My six year old said, “Oh yuck! These smell like rotten cheese! No, wait. They smell like rotten ham!”

Just for the record, he has never been served either one of those options.

For our second craft of the night, I thought it would be fun to create some No Bake Chocolate Egg Nests which I saw on the Chef in Training blog.

This is what we were going for…

but this is what we ended up with…

but we sure had fun making them…

although I’m not sure if anyone but Mom really completed any nests…

since they were too busy “cleaning up.”

Easter Mess

=’s

Easter Fun

Old Timey

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My husband and nine year old went to a hockey game with my son’s friend and his dad.

The friend was asking all kinds of questions to his dad.

“What year did the Stars first have a team? Why do the referees where black and white stripes? What’s the most popular kind of skate used by the players?”

The dad turned around and said to his son, “What do you think I am?…An encyclopedia?”

The friend scrunched up his face and said, “What’s an encyclopedia?”

Alex, ever the knowledgeable one said, “It’s sort of like an old timey Wikipedia.”

Mine?

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I don’t have much of a blog post today because I spent the time I should have been writing at the grocery store.

You can blame my children.

I do.

After school around 4:30 yesterday I had a hankering for some cookies or ice cream. We didn’t have any at home so I asked the kids if they wanted to go to the store to buy some cookies. (They of course, would not have had any until after dinner while I would have stood in the pantry and shoved a handful into my mouth while cooking dinner).

In answer to my cookie question, they said, “Nope. Don’t really feel like cookies right now.”

It’s this answer and their love for science fiction which has me questioning the if they were possibly switched at birth.

So, I had to wait until dinner was over, showers were complete, and story time was done before I could go to the store.

And in case your wondering…my cookies AND ice cream were worth the wait.

Spring Break is Over

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Spring break is over today but we had a busy week doing a lot of kid chosen activities.

*First haircut

*Went to see the movie “Tin Tin”

* Trip to the zoo

*IKEA trip for lunch and closet supplies (OK, so not all trips were kid chosen)

* 3 days of half day soccer camp

*Having a friend over to play

*Dinner & Painting Class for Mom with her friends

* Watching 3 Netflix movies

* Eating green St. Patrick’s Day pancakes

* Making Rainbow cupcakes

* Lunch date for mom and dad (Believe me when I say the kids enjoyed this one too)

*Everyone in family to see “Big Miracle” movie (Drew Barrymore, John Krasinski movie about saving three whales – comes highly recommended from our family)

* Dinner at In & Out

Yes, it was a good break.

But if any one of my three wake up tomorrow morning sick and can’t go to school, I will not be pleased.

Star Wars Art: The Final Chapter

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So I have shared most of the room my boys shared but I left out one key ingredient – the large wall art.

The boys found images of their favorite Star Wars vehicles in a book and I copied them onto paper. I then used the tracer to trace the image onto the painted canvas. I then took navy blue paint and painted inside the image. Relatively easy – good thing since they wanted me to make eight of them.

Here’s my favorite – an AT-AT – that’s All Terrain Armored Transport for you Star Wars novices.

The other side of the room…

To visit previous Star Wars Bedroom posts…

Go here for the Jedi Name Art

Go here for our Minifigure Storage

Go here for our Red Frame Chicken Wire Display Boards

So that’s it.

The Star Was Bedroom for two little Star Wars fans.

Let’s hope this little obsession last for several more years.

Olive Garden Dinner

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Last night Derek and I took the kids to the Olive Garden to eat.

Right now my sister is seizing at just the thought of eating in that, so called, “Italian Establishment.”

I, however, have kids and count their endless salad and bread sticks as a lifesaver.

So we go to the Olive Garden.

We were having one of those meals where it seems as if your children have never eaten out before.

They seem to lose all concept of appropriate restaurant behavior.

Touching each other constantly. Clanking their silverware together. Arguing over crayon colors. Sitting on their feet. Talking loudly.

(Of course our third reason for going to the Olive Garden, behind the endless salad and bread sticks, is that everyone else is talking loudly. But let’s move on.)

We were almost through our meal, you know the point, when you just want everyone to finish eating as fast as they possibly can. You are already planning how to throw everyone in the shower in record time, limiting everyone to five minutes of reading time, turning off the lights, guiding a little one to bed, guiding her again to her bed and making some sort of threatening statement about not visiting the zoo the next day IF YOU DON”T STAY IN THIS BED.

Anyway, we were at that point.

When it happened.

To some other parent.

While spooning some pasta into my mouth, the restaurant fire alarm started to go off.

Near the exit door a mom was looking just as frazzled as us and looked mortified that her daughter had just made the alarm go off.

I could feel her pain.

Almost.

Derek and I just laughed and said to each other, “Well at least our kids have never done THAT!”

February Goals Revisited

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So it’s that time again.

Time to review which goals I have officially accomplished in February and which ones I needed about 5 more days to complete.

*Get Yearly Photos Framed – Check! These will be ready to pick up in a week and I will share them with you.

*Pay Library Fine – Check! We haven’t gone to the library in six months because I was convinced I had a large fine to pay. Turns out it was only $10.

*Make Birthday Skirt or Dress for My Daughter – Check! She wore the skirt to school on Monday and I’ll be sharing those pictures soon.

*Play more Music in the House– Check! – I played some music but not as much as I would have liked, though going from no music to some still counts as a check in my book.

*Figure out How to Keep My Car Clean– Check! I think! So far so good in the clean department. I shared with you here how I started the process and next week I’m hoping to share with you some storage holders I made for the car.

*Do the Art Project with Andrew he’s been asking to do– Check! Go here to see the process

*Hang “I Love You” Signs – Check!

*Make Jeopardy Game for etsy – Fail! It’s about 20% complete – will bring this goal over to March

*Paint Bedroom Lamps and Buy New Shades – Check! But not 100% sold on them yet. Will share soon.

*Read a Parenting Book – Check! I read How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Farber & Elaine Mazlish. I have to admit, I am not a big nonfiction reader so for me to read this is a big deal. I am so glad I decided to read it. The authors provide tons of scenarios and cartoons that show positive and negative ways parents and children interact. The book is meant to be used as a workbook but I chose to read it front to back since I wanted to make sure I completed it. Now that I’ve read the book through I’m going to go back and read each chapter more thoroughly and use it as a workbook.

One point the authors try and guide parents toward is not making all of the decisions and solving all of their children’s problems. One day Alex had a friend over and this was turning out to be a little difficult for Andrew. He wanted to be involved in all of their games and was feeling left out.

He came downstairs and said, “Alex and *** won’t let me play their game.”

I took my moment and seized it, “How does that make you feel?”

“It makes me angry and frustrated.”

Here was my biog move, “Ummmm.”

“I’m going to tell them I’m frustrated with them.”

AND HE DIDN’T COME BACK DOWNSTAIRS TO COMPLAIN AGAIN!

I’m hoping for more of these moments when I read the book again.

*Host a Mardi Gras Party – Check!   Go here for the door wreath and here for the decorations.

*Do not accumulate one single bag while shopping – Check! I will admit I probably stretched out my purse a bit when I forgot my bags. Other times, I simply didn’t have enough bags so I would have the bagger just stick those remaining 8 items into the cart. I found myself saying several times, “I know it’s weird, it’s just a resolution I’m trying to keep. My friend emailed me about a great bag to use when out shopping for clothes so I have gone ahead and ordered one since placing new shirts in the bags that previously held onions is really not a smart choice.

*Scrapbook 10 pages in Andrew’s scrapbook – Check! Barely. 10 pages done.

***As a side note, last month I had the goal to drop $100 from our food budget. I failed miserably since I didn’t keep an ongoing written list of spending. This month I redeemed us by spending $300 less than what we normally spend on groceries… so we are back on track.

Overall, I feel like I accomplished a lot this month so I know the list is helping me. But. And it’s a big but… I feel like the list is constantly looming over me. When I was sick for a week this month I worried about all the wasted time. I may shorten my list for March since there’s birthday parties to plan and a whole week of spring break – and we all know that nothing off the list will get done that week.

Have you accomplished anything this month your excited about?