Comfort food

On a laid back day like today, I find it's nice to make comforting food for my family. Tonight's menu was Chicken and Ham "Pot Pie" and Pluot Cobbler. The "pot pie" is a WW recipe (5 POINTS), the cobbler is not! :)

Everyone loved the pot pie except Bennett. The cobbler, though a total stab in the dark with the pluots we picked on Thursday, turned out really well. It was tart and sweet. Delicious!

A low key day

Bennett is still in his jammies. Morgan's hair hasn't been brushed. I haven't put makeup on. We're just hanging out, having a low key day.

Lance went white water rafting yesterday and I had a Sex And The City premiere cosmo party to go to. Lance wasn't home in time, so I had to institute Plan B, which was my sister-in-law coming over to bridge the gap between when I left and when he got home. When Lance called yesterday afternoon to let me know he was on his way home, he informed me that he had messed up his ankle. So, this morning as he was describing to me what happened, he told me about how he had his foot tucked into one of the stabilizing tubes of the raft and they tipped over and his foot was stuck. He told me he heard a "pop" right before his foot was freed and his ankle started swelling. Yeah. Gonna need to go have that looked at, hun. So, off he went to the emergency room for x-rays and all. Luckily, he just has a sprained ankle and only had to have a brace put on, as opposed to a cast, and he's gimping around with crutches.

Last night, I wasn't able to make it to my friends' house for drinks by the time I got out of the house. Luckily, though, I went straight to the theater and got into line for the movie we had tickets for. It was a mad house! It's been a long time since I've seen so much estrogen in one location! The theater employees, which were mostly 18-25 year old guys, were fascinated with this phenomenon and as we were leaving the theater after the show, the guys that worked there were actually counting the men in the audience. As we were walking out, I heard them yell, "Sir, you are number 9 man in this theater. Way to go!" It was pretty humorous. I haven't seen that number of women in one location since Lilith Fair. We all agreed that the movie was good and worth the time and effort.

After the movie, we headed over to a great spot for drinks and food. We ended up seriously closing the place down, staying an hour and a half after they closed. Oops! It's always good to have a girls' night out, though. Our waiter, a Mormon guy who is getting married in July, was very accommodating to us, and even brought us some chunks of chocolate he smuggled from the kitchen after we lamented their lack of something chocolaty on their menu.

I finally got home around 12:45am, and lucky for me, Bennett slept until 8:45 this morning! This is a good hour and 45 minutes later than normal. He must have known! Lance was up before me, but wasn't wanting to get Bennett on his bum ankle. So, I got up and did breakfast and then played with the kids until lunch time. I made them grilled cheese with tomatoes for Bennett and soup for Morgan. Then it was nap time Bennett is currently on a morning nap strike, which isn't too surprising since he woke up so late, so he went down first. Lance got home from the ER just before Morgan went down for her nap, so I fixed him lunch before I got her down for her nap.

I actually napped while the kids were napping, which is something I don't normally do. When I woke up, I went upstairs and cleaned out and organized some drawers and our medicines. Now it's time to cook dinner. I haven't even stepped foot outside today. Feels weird, but good. :)

We'll file this one under I for irony

I'll get into the details later, but suffice to say that I was out late last night, up late this morning and left to the kid wrangling myself since Lance is at the emergency room having his ankle x-rayed.

While I'm entertaining the kids, the phone rings. I answer it and it's Rescue Rooter. They are calling to thank past customers by offering a complimentary water heater sediment flush and inspection. Ha! I actually laughed and told her that she was a week late, as we did the job ourselves last Monday. Her response? "Wow! Good for you!!" Ha!

Damn that preschool book!!

Today was Morgan's last day of preschool. We are going to be out of town during their preschool graduation, so we cut her preschool experience off at the end of May. Given that we won't be there for the graduation ceremony, the director of the preschool gave Morgan a gift bag and a book called The Night Before Kindergarten. Very excited that it was her last day at preschool (she pretty much announced it to everyone upon entering the building this morning), she was far more excited about his new book talking about kindergarten. She looked at it all the way home and then was immediately ready for nap upon returning home because she was anxious to have this book read to her.

The book is very cute -- it's set to the same "tune" as The Night Before Christmas. It talks about how the kids are getting ready to start kindergarten the night before by setting out their clothes and getting their supplies ready in their backbacks, parked by the door. It talks about how the kids are very excited but also a little scared. It then goes on to describe how the parents are supportive of their incoming students by telling them that they'll go to the classroom with them. The kids immediately fall into the fun of kindergarten with songs and circle time and the parents are left looking in from the doorway, with tears in their eyes. Then the kids console their parents and tell them that everything is going to be okay.

Morgan wanted to know why the parents were crying and I had to explain this to her, and of course, I couldn't do it without tearing up myself. I'm a good 3 months away from her first day of kindergarten and I'm already a wreck like this? This is not going to be good! Seeing the tears in my eyes, Morgan smiles and then wraps her arms around me and tells me that she loves me and it's going to be okay.

My little girl is growing up. *sigh*

Life is a bowl of cherries

We had our first adventure into the world of U-Pick farms today. I took the kids to a nearby town that is well known for their cherry picking this time of year. The drive out to this town was an adventure all to it's own for my two kids. This area is well known for the windmills that produce energy year round. It was quite a site to see and Morgan really thoroughly enjoyed it. She kept saying that it was Windmill Town and how wonderful it was and how awesome it was that they were making electricity. She made up stories about people living in the windmills and "milling" the wind. For the shorter of the two, there were plenty of cows for Bennett to "moooo" at. Both kids were happy for the drive out.

We met Morgan's playgroup at Bacchini's Fruit Tree, got our buckets and we were on our way. We walked down a looooong aisle of olallieberries (blackberries) and as hard as it was, we were able to convince the kids to pick these on the way OUT so they don't get smashed by the larger fruit. We headed on down to the Plum and Pluot trees and picked some of those. Then, we went to our favorite spot, the white cherry trees. We spent lots of time finding just the right colored cherries. The farm cat took a liking to the kids (I'm positive it had nothing to do with them feeding him) and began to follow us through the orchards. After we had picked most of the trees clean of their ripe cherries, we headed back to the stand and to pick olallieberries on our way out.

We paid for our fruit and headed home to admire our bounty. By the time we got home, it was a sticky mess with blackberry juices running free. This didn't matter in the least to Morgan, who couldn't wait to try some of the cherries she picked. After I washed some and gave them to her, she told me that this was such a fun thing. She wanted to know if we could do it again next year. :) She was very excited when I told her that we didn't even have to wait until next year. I told her we'd have to take Daddy and she can show him the best cherries to pick. She said, rather casually, "Yeah, I can do that".

Party! Party! Party!

Knowing that we are going to be out of town for the three weeks prior to Morgan's fifth birthday and that she has her dance recital the day before, I have been working on getting everything ready now. Early on, we decided that we were going to keep her party small this year -- last year was out of control - probably 20-30 kids. Since her last day of preschool is tomorrow, there's no need to feel like we need to invite her entire class again. Invitations will be handed out outside of school, so as to not upset anyone. I told Morgan that she could pick five friends to come over for a pajama party. She is very excited about this. It's not a true sleepover since the kids are only 4-5, but they will wear their pajamas, bring a sleeping bag, and we'll decorate pillow cases, play games, eat popcorn and watch a movie, and we'll be having breakfast for dinner - pancakes, sausage, bacon, fruit, etc.

Not wanting to spend too much money on everything (keeping it to five really helped!), I made my own invitations. I think they turned out pretty cute, if I must say so myself. I'm always amazed because I'm the least crafty person on the block, so when something isn't a big mess when I'm done, I'm happy. Of course, I rely heavily on a digital scrapbooking software, which gives me options that I would never come up with on my own.


I decided to buy a book for each of the kids ($1 each at the dollar store!) which fits the theme since they can be used for a bedtime story. I also put together a container of homemade pancake mix as favors for the kids. The card on them says "Thank you for celebrating Morgan's 5th birthday with us! Add the following incredients to this mixture to make up a batch of Morgan's favorite pancakes!" Then it lists the ingredients to add and the instructions. I know Morgan loves to help me make pancakes, so hopefully this will be a hit with both parents as well as the kids.


I got the plates and cups at the dollar store, where I also got those red and white striped popcorn bags that we can divvy the popcorn into so as to eliminate fighting over it. We are pretty much set!

It's a boy!

We were running a little late for playgroup this morning because there was some last minute scrambling to find Morgan some Dramamine to take before she left for a field trip for preschool and so Bennett missed The Window (the only time in which the child will go down easily and quickly for a nap - between 8:30 and 9:00 am). So, I put him down at 9:15 and of course, he didn't go to sleep until 9:45.

Playgroup is at 10:30 and it takes 20 minutes to get there. I wake him up after he slept for 30 minutes and get him ready to go to playgroup. I'm a teensy bit distressed because he has not had his morning poo yet. But, what's a mom to do? So, we pack up into the car and head to playgroup. When we are about 5 minutes away from playgroup, I look in the backseat and see a red-faced Bennett. Obviously pooping. Oh joy. Now, I'm not new to this job. I know this kid and I'm certain that if we are trying to go somewhere and he's pooped in the car, this surely means a full on blow out. When we get to playgroup, I cautiously lift him from his car seat and see the familiar wet circle around his lower left butt cheek. Great.

I carry him into the house, making a grand entrance with my child held approximate a foot away from my body so as to not get any "poop juice" on the WHITE PANTS I decided to wear today. With the help of the hostess, I get him changed into his backup clothes, which deceptively say 6-12 months and now he looks like a poor homeless child. We stay and play for a while and at some point, sit down to have a snack. Once snack time is over, Bennett gets up to continue playing and I suddenly hear this really loud noise. And two of the other moms go "nice one!". My son decided to burp really loud right into one of the other kids' ear. Did I mention he's the only boy and surrounded by dainty little girls?

But the final thing that really hammered home that I am the mother to a boy today was what happened when we got home from playgroup. I bring him inside and put him in his highchair for lunch. I give him his sandwich, some goldfish and his milk and he goes to town. He's having a good ole time and laughing at himself while I'm preparing my lunch. I sit down at the table next to him and then he farts the loudest most ridiculous fart I've ever heard come out of his small body. And then he laughs. Looking to me to get my reaction, he sees that I have a startled look on my face as flashbacks of the morning spring to mind. This only entices him to do it more. I can see him pushing, and then I hear another EVEN LOUDER fart. More laughing. Another fart and more laughing and then, THEN, this BOY of mine? You know what he does? He points at himself!! Like, "Yeah Mom. That was totally me. I can do it on command". This kept going until he was pushing and no sounds came out. Boy was he disappointed at that.

It's most certainly a boy. Good grief!

My husband loves it when I cook all "southern"

I introduced my husband to what I consider to be REAL BBQ. Recently, I've found a Weight Watchers recipe for Carolina Pork that makes for some killer pulled pork. I have made it twice now, this last time, prepping it ahead of time and freezing it so all I did was thaw it over the weekend and then plopped it into the crock pot this morning. Out of the two times, I preferred my first foray into this recipe a little more (I think I must have used more liquid then), but this time was good, too.





We had pulled pork sandwiches (on hamburger buns), paired with a cucumber, tomato, onion salad (tossed with red wine vinegar, garlic, and a dash of balsamic vinegar) and oven garlic fries. This menu was a hit with the entire family. Lance went back for seconds on the pulled pork sandwich. Morgan ate her entire sandwich and the salad and some of her fries (pretty good for her). And Bennett kept squealing every time he saw the salad because he loved it so much. Best of all, the whole meal was 7 WW points and was easy to make. I prepped the oven fries for baking and threw the salad together before Morgan's dance class. Yummers.

My very own personal trainer

Who needs to pay exorbinate amounts of money to a personal trainer? My four year old will do.

This morning, after I put Bennett down for his morning nap and set Morgan up with an episode of The Backyardigans, I went out into the garage and hopped on the treadmill to squeeze in a run before Bennett woke up. I walked a 15 minute mile pace for a quarter mile before breaking into a 10 minute mile pace run for 2.75 miles. I upped the speed to an 8 minute mile pace for another quarter mile. I then changed the pace back to my 15 minute mile walking pace, intending to walk another .75 mile to wrap up my distance at a nice round 4 miles, total. During my run, Morgan came out into the garage, grabbed a snack and sat on a stool next to the treadmill. When I went back to walking after the run, she looked at me and said, "Why did you stop running?". I told her that I had already run 3 miles.

"Well, you know you can run four!"

The tale of the water heater

One of the things on my to-do list for the past month or so was to drain the water heater. It is something that is apparently supposed to be done once or twice a year and that we've never done. Like at all. In the eight years we've lived in this house. I looked it up online and found some great instructions and thought maybe I could do it myself, but wanted to wait until my husband was home to help just in case something went wrong. Now, I have to admit that I don't think my husband was totally on board until I sent him the link to the website that said it needed to be done every 6-12 months and why. I'm pretty sure he chalked it up to one of my hair brain "chores" in his never ending honey-do list.

So, yesterday, I gave him advance warning that it was going to go down that night. He's much like the kids in that he needs "transitional warnings" for things he doesn't want to do. Once the kids were tucked in bed, we reviewed the instructions online and said it seemed pretty straight forward and then proceeded to drain the water heater.

I have to give a little background here and tell you that things of this nature nearly NEVER go according to plan. Like, about two months ago, as I was washing dishes and the kitchen sink handle broke off? Yeah, that involved a sander, a blow torch and various other saws and tools I can't even recall. Hubby had to take a day off of work to deal with it. It's not HIM, he's not Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, honestly. It's this ancient house we own. Honestly!

Anyway - back to the tale at hand. So, the first obstacle was shutting off the water source to the water heater. It would not turn off until we found the appropriate wrench to loosen it from it's corroded state. So, it was no surprise that when it came time to open up the drain, it also took a wrench to do that. Out flows the water and we're all golden, right? Well, not exactly. You see, after HOURS of draining the water heater (which, we found out later, was because the water cut off from the house didn't shut all the way off), Lance decides to finally call it a night and goes to close the drain. Except it won't close. He tightens it all the way and water is still flowing out. This is not good.

Because he can't take another day off of work for something like this (this is a short week already, after all), we decide that he's going to get up and be at Home Depot when they open at 6am and get the parts we need. He gets up this morning and water is STILL FLOWING out of the hose coming from the water heater. He turns off all the water to the house and it finally stops. Because Home Depot didn't have the exact part we need, he had to fashion something that threaded onto the drain out that had a handle that we could turn off to get it shut off. But he finally did. We then were able to fill the hot water heater, but couldn't turn the thermostat back up to heat the water until it was full. Meanwhile, Lance needs to get ready to work. Cold shower for him (yikes) and then he turns the thermostat up and by the time he leaves for work, we have hot water again. Hallelujah!

You don't know how much you need things like a kitchen sink and hot water until you are without them.

Role model

We went on a family hike this morning. Lance carried Bennett on his back in one of those backpack carrier things and Morgan followed along, complaining periodically. We found four geocaches along the way and Morgan got to do a trade for a small plastic zebra.

The most interesting thing that happened, wasn't related to hiking or geocaching per se, but did reinforce the speaker I had recently listened to regarding discipline. She told me that the biggest way you teach your kids is through example. Not a new concept, by any means, but it was driven home out on the hiking path this morning.

After too many cups of coffee, I was out in the middle of no where and had to pee. I finally found a private push as we were searching for a particular geocache and squatted and relieved myself. After watching with amazement, Morgan announced that she had to go to the bathroom, too. Only she had to go poop. Oh my. I tell her that I'm not schooled in the ways of bush-pooping. This is when she informs me that the last time she went geocaching with Daddy, he went poop in a bush. Well, aren't we the excellent role models? She squatted but couldn't pee or poop. But she sure was trying to be like Mom and Dad, now wasn't she?

No Nap Sunday

We knew it would happen - we knew that Bennett would not nap at church today. We also knew that we were headed to the San Ramon Art & Wind Festival directly after church. We knew that he would probably not nap there either. BUT, we figured he'd nap pretty good once we got home, right? Umm, yeah, except that he fell asleep in the car on the way home and then proceeded to NOT NAP AT ALL once we got home. So, he survived an entire day with about 15 minutes of sleep. Which is to say, that despite his crankiness, he managed to survive being put up for adoption. This took a lot of restraint as he was wandering around the living room, in circles, crying for no apparent reason. It certainly made it easy to justify putting him to bed at 7pm.

Reason 1027 why my husband ROCKS!

We had planned to have my mother-in-law in town today, but she came down with strep throat and cancelled at the last minute. Suddenly, we were presented with not only an ENTIRE weekend free, but a three day weekend at that!

A few nights ago, I was lamenting the lack of options that I had seen in stores around here for my CD/DVD organization project. I told Lance that I really wanted to go to The Container Store, which was roughly 30 minutes from home. When we realized we had today free, he suggested that we load the kids up and go. This is like telling a five year old that we are going to Toys R Us, since I'm somewhat of an organization junkie. I even jokingly told Morgan that we were going to a toy store for Momma. When we got there, she was a wee bit disappointed. I'll be really glad when she starts to pick up on sarcasm. But I digress. We went to The Container store and we got these cool CD file boxes (which hold 100 CD's each) and then went out for lunch after.

During lunch, we started to discuss our plan of attack for organizing the CD's. We have, easily, 600 CDs and probably 100 DVDs. The CD file boxes have a sheet in the front where you list the CDs in each CD envelope, by number. It leaves little room for additions. UNLESS YOU COMPUTERIZE IT. This is where my hubby comes in.

You see, he happens to have a bar code scanner. Umm, yep. That's right. And, oh by the way, he also happens to have created an application that parses the data from the barcode and does a lookup to an internet database that pulls down the item's information automatically. Hello holy grail! Since we got home, he's been busy scanning bar codes. He plans to dump the information into Excel and then format it for the size of the cards that go into the boxes and then printing them out.

I'm in love.

No naps

For some reason, I've gotten into the habit of staying up WAAYY too late. I always know I'm doomed when Conan is on when I go to bed. That's at least 12:30 am here. And it's not like I don't know that Bennett gets up every morning at 7am, like clockwork. It seems like I'm needing more and more time to unwind each night. Surely that's a sign of something, right?

I'm sitting here on the couch for the first time today. It's 4:15. I've been on my feet all day. It started, as it always does:

7am: Get up and get dressed, feed the fish, get Bennett up and dressed (I normally also make my bed during this time, but today was the day to change the sheets)
7:15am: Breakfast for the kids and myself, check email, feed the dog and let her out, and clean up after breakfast
7:45: Impromptu dance party in the living room with the kids
8:10: Get Morgan ready for preschool (she dresses herself, makes her bed and brushes her teeth, but I have to prod her along, do her hair and apply sunscreen) and then gather her lunch together
8:30: Leave for preschool - we walk this morning (a little over a mile)
8:55: Drop Morgan off at preschool and walk home
9:10: Change Bennett's diaper and put him down for a nap
9:15: Listen while Bennett babbles, waiting for him to go to sleep while also cleaning the microwave and dishwasher, changing the sheets on my bed, starting a load of laundry and checking email.
10:15: Once I'm sure Bennett is asleep, get on treadmill and run two miles and walk another mile and then stretch afterwards.
11:00: Sweep porch and courtyard, prune roses, pull weeds in front yard and cut back grape vine
11:55: Bennett is up and it's time for lunch. Lunch for both of us and then cleanup.
12:25: Drive to pick Morgan up from preschool.
12:45: Back home and play with the kids/discipline Morgan for being mean to Bennett.
1:00: Take advantage of kids playing nicely and sweep and mop the hardwood floors in their rooms.
1:25: Read to Bennett and put him down for a nap
1:30: Pick up toys in living room with Morgan
1: 35: Read to Morgan and put her down for a nap
1:45: Go into Bennett's room and lay him down and tell him it's time to sleep (he was a REAL stinker this afternoon
1:50: Wipe down walls in laundry/utility area
2:10: Tidy up kitchen counters
2:20: Go back into Bennett's room and lay him down and tell him it's time to sleep
2:25: Get on phone and deal with leftover hospital bill from Bennett's birth (it's been in dispute for OVER A YEAR NOW)
2:45: Sweep bathroom floors
3:00: Take shower, get dressed, do makeup
3:30: Notice Bennett WALKING LAPS in his crib instead of sleeping. Go back into Bennett's room and lay him down and tell him it's time to sleep. Grab camera to film his craziness on the video monitor (of course, this time he actually went to sleep).
3:35: Put ham in oven for dinner tonight, consider options for side dishes
3:45: Fold load of laundry
4:00: Dry hair
4:15: Sit down to relax for THE FIRST TIME TODAY to write this.

No wonder I'm so tired! Maybe it has nothing to do with staying up so late! Note to self: Make more time for naps in the middle of the day. :)

I bet they've never seen this one before

I'm sitting at the kitchen table filling out paperwork for Morgan's kindergarten registration. The whole time, I'm refraining from making smart assed remarks.

Question: Do you have any concerns regarding yoru child's speech/hearing ability?
It's not the hearing I have the problem with. It's the listening.

Question: How would you describe your child to someone who doesn't know him/her?
I wouldn't have to describe her. She'd do all the talking.

Question: Does your child cry easily?
Ha. She's crying right now.

Question: What new skills has your child learned in the past three months?
Back talk, attitude and how to speak at the exact decibel, preferably repeating the same word or phrase over and over until she has successfully grated my last nerve.

But then I came to a question, that I *have* to give an honest answer to. And it's making me laugh. It's the honest truth, but I'm pretty sure they've never seen an answer like mine.

Question: Does your child have ay special fears of which I should be aware?
Loud noises such as fireworks or toilets that flush automatically. If they flush automatically, the generally accepted practice is to take a piece of toilet paper and cover the sensor so as to not have a total and complete meltdown as the toilet flushes while she's sitting on the potty and can feel the breeze of the water flushing down.

She's all mine, people. Hands off. :)

Time for new glasses

I've always been a person who sees through "what needs improvement" type of glasses. I guess you could say that it was how I was brought up and that my father is very much like that, and me very much like my father. But I feel like I'm breaking free from that little, by little. At least externally anyway. I still have the dialog going on inside my head, but I've gotten better about just leaving it there.

I'm bringing this up because I had some friends of mine over for a "playdate" today. No, not a playdate for us, but for the kids. It came up a couple of weeks ago that my one friend, Elizabeth, was in the market for a house, but she wasn't interested in the cookie cutter type of houses. Oh man! Do I have the house for you! It occurred to me that she and my friend Carrie had never been to my house. So, we worked it out via email that they would come this morning, with kids in tow to check out my insanely unique house.

My house was built in the 60s. It has garage doors that look like a wine cellar and a big stone wall with wrought iron fencing that encloses our courtyard. When we moved in, the first thing we had to have done was have all the SHAG CARPETING removed. And paint over the paneling, and remove the "parquet" flooring (err...vinyl) and about a million other things that if I didn't have the "before" pictures, I would never remember. Because, now? Looking at my house just makes me feel like we haven't done anything at all.

So, I give them both the tour and they are impressed mostly by the bathrooms, which is no surprise because these are some of the last rooms to remain "untouched". Our downstairs bathroom is lovingly dubbed the "Liberace" bathroom due to it's not one but TWO chandeliers. They are my least favorite parts of the house, but definitely will be the most time consuming and expensive areas to remodel (hence their pristine state). I'm always embarrassed by them. I mean, they are clean, but they are just godawful ugly. My friends remind me though that it's all the lens with which you view things through. Carrie agreed with me on how difficult those types of projects are and Elizabeth used words like vintage, "making a come back", and awesome. I know she isn't going to beat down the doors to Home Depot for some crystal chandeliers of her own, but it made me realize that my house has something a lot of houses don't have...a personality!

Now, my house will definitely be getting a new personality over the next year (now that I'm staying at home with the kids and this is my "job", I want to redo everything!). But, for now, I will try harder to appreciate what I have and see the good in it all. After all, we have plenty of room for my family. Our stuff fits nicely and neatly into our spaces and we are happy here. Plus, those gold flecked mirrors in the downstairs Liberace bathroom? They EASILY drop 5 pounds off of you instantly. How can I get rid of those??

It was a good day

A good day isn't really that exciting around here. A good day consists of us getting where we are going on time, without too much hassle, repeating myself, and drama. A good day is when I don't have to send anyone to their room, the kids play nicely together and the toys get cleaned up without nagging. Today was a good one.

I got Morgan to school right on time, with enough time for me to bring Bennett back home and get him down for a nap before playgroup. I was able to shower without peaking out the shower doors at the video monitor. I was able to shave. And apply lotion. And fully dry my hair. I got Bennett up from his nap and off we went to playgroup - exactly on time.

Bennett had a great time playing in the new area of a local kids' playcenter. They had all kinds of toys for kids his age, and a little "city" with houses with kitchens, pots and pans, and most importantly lots of HINGED DOORS! (My son has a fascination with these). He could climb up on the play equipment without me being too scared of him getting hurt. We finished up with a snack and left (on time, nonetheless) to go pick Morgan up from preschool.

Morgan is wrapping up lunch when we get there, so we don't have to wait forever for her to put her stuff back in her lunchbox, clear her things, put her chair away, etc. like we normally do. We head home and Morgan catches a TiVo'd episode of The Backyardigans while Bennett and I eat lunch. Bennett is getting loopy by the time I'm done eating my lunch and he's quite ripe. The one dark spot today was the nas-tay blow out Bennett had. It was bath-worthy, that's how bad it was. So, I bathe Bennett and put him down for his nap and then read Morgan another chapter of Ramona and her Father before her nap.

While the kids were napping, I'm able to organize the master closet shelves, dust the master bedroom, do two loads of laundry, and download/upload pictures. When the kids wake up, we head to the grocery store and have a tantrum-free shopping trip. Complete with promised cookie at the end. We got home, I unloaded the groceries and put them away and then the kids and I headed outside. I cut the lawns while they played and then it was time to go in and cook dinner.

I tried a new dish for dinner; fish tacos. They were a BIG hit! Both kids ate them, and the hubby and I enjoyed them as well. After dinner, I cleaned up the kitchen while Lance put Bennett to bed and then after Morgan cleaned up all the toys she had gotten out, I went and read her the last chapter of her Ramona book. When I was done reading to her, she told me that she really loves me a lot because I take her to all the places she loves. We talked about that for a little bit. She told me that she was really glad that I quit my job because now I get to spend more time with her and we get to go fun places and I get to play with her. She told me that it was Daddy's turn to make all the money and that she was proud of him for getting money for us to buy food and stuff. Smiling to myself, I tucked my little girl into bed and told her how lucky I was to have such a wonderful daughter.

A good day, indeed.

This is what makes it all worthwhile

Took the kids to a park this morning. They shared a snack. Awww, my babies!

They come here different

I am continuously amazed at how different Morgan and Bennett are. I know that every kid is their own, but the differences are just astounding, really. Take today, for example. Today, I had to take Bennett BACK to have his one year portraits taken again. The first time we went, he was not having it. Today wasn't too much better. In fact, we sat for one sitting and when going through the pictures, I was really, really having a hard time finding one picture that I really liked. I mean, they were all cute (he's a cute kid, after all), but he wasn't smiling in ANY of them and he wasn't looking at the camera in most of them. He's just All. Over. The. Place. That makes taking pictures difficult these days! I was struggling so much that the wonderful lady who was working there asked me if I'd like to try again. I hemmed and hawed, because who knows if he would do better for the THIRD try. But, we did try again and she managed to get some good ones of him smiling and all. THREE times! Unbelievable. Now, let's contrast this to Morgan's one year pictures. It literally took five minutes. We put her down, she stood there and looked directly into the camera, smiling a HUGE smile. Bam. Done.

I'm still exhausted from this morning's events. Bennett recovered nicely and was really hamming it up this afternoon. I looked at him during lunch and put my fist up and made a funny face. He squished up his nose and threw his fist in the air back at me. It was so funny! Then, I asked him to give me knuckles and we tapped knuckles. This just cracked him up! He was laughing so hard. Then he started banging his own knuckles together. Oh, and his new favorite thing is to tap me on the shoulder. Then he likes me to tap him on the shoulder and he just cracks up. Over and over. :)

Nothing beats a good baby belly laugh.

Wrangling the kids

This morning started early, as usual with Bennett making his usual "Dada! Mama!" morning calls. My husband was feigning deafness, but he already knew that he was on duty this morning, so I'm not sure what that was about. I got up, got a shower and got dressed for church, and headed downstairs where Lance was feeding the kids breakfast. There were cheerios mixed with shredded wheat in the older's bowl and shredded wheat and eggs on the youngest's tray. Hey, they were eating and I didn't have to do it, so what do I care? I grab a cup of coffee, toast a couple pieces of light bread (still trying to get back to my goal weight - just 6 pounds away!), and go check email. When Morgan was finished with breakfast, we got her dressed for church and off we went. On the way out the door, instead of waiting until later when I was silently baffled that the dishwasher had not been unloaded during my absence, I asked Lance to do so while we were gone.

Now, Morgan LOVES going to church. Her favorite part? Chocolate frosted doughnuts and lemonade. Hey, if I were four, that might be my favorite part also. Heck, even at my age it could be a highlight for me if I decided to indulge. After sitting in the courtyard and having a doughnut, lemonade and coffee, I check her into The Zone and drop her off at her classroom. She barely gives me the time of day to give me a kiss goodbye. After the worship service, I go back and pick her up and everyone now knows all about our trip to Hawaii, Morgan's current injuries on her knees, and that we are going to a birthday party later. Goodbye privacy.

We get home and Morgan asks to change into a different dress (she's really into wearing dresses right now for some reason) and since the birthday party we are going to is at a park, I suggest maybe a more casual skort. She finally complies after my promise that she will still be pretty and yes, she will still be able to wear her teddy bear necklace. Once I'm done with her, I go find Bennett and get him dressed. He was going to wear this cute little shark/surfboard romper that he got for his birthday, but HE'S ALREADY OUTGROWN IT. What?? My baby! Oh well - Plan B. I get him dressed, get his hat and shoes on and then go back and remind Morgan that she's supposed to be getting her shoes on. Lance, bless his heart, thought he was being helpful by pulling together food for Bennett to eat at the party. Only, this was a one year old birthday party and they were having food for kids there. I like the effort, though! Once the kids are ready, I set them in the Entry Way, which is the last step before we are in the car in our little world.

Only we haven't loaded up the car yet. Oh, and Lance has to go to the bathroom (this is a running joke with us...whenever we have to go somewhere, we'll be ready to go and then he will, GUARANTEED, have to either (a) brush his teeth or (b) go to the bathroom - ALWAYS). So, I'm wrangling the kids and trying to load the car up also. Oh, and I have a baby swing in the back of my car that's been there in the hopes that I would be going by my friend's house to drop it off. "Morgan, please don't pick up Bennett", "Bennett, please don't hit Morgan", and "Morgan, please close that door" as I'm in and out of the house. I get the gift, the diaper bag, a bag of sand toys/swim gear/blanket/sunscreen, 2 adult size camping chairs, 1 kid size camping chair, and a portable high chair into the car in between coaching the kids to leave each other alone and stay out of danger. Okay - car is loaded, Lance's bladder is empty and we are ready to go! Everyone in the car! As we are driving out of the neighborhood, I look back at Bennett and I notice he's missing his hat. U-turn, back to the house, grab the hat, and FINALLY we are off.

We only got lost once on the way to this park we've never been to before. Which, for us, isn't too bad. Especially since we took the directions I had mapped out from Google Maps and decided we knew better (we did drop the swing off on the way, so we decided to "wing" it from there). But, we finally made it and both kids had fun at the party.

Bennett enjoyed the watermelon entirely (I just adore how he just completely throws himself into whatever he's doing, which includes eating watermelon!) and Morgan had fun playing with the little ones.


After the party, the kids were exhausted and both fell asleep on the way home (of course!). We just got home and we put the kids down to finish their naps. Morgan had a melt down that she wasn't getting a story before nap. When Lance told her it was too late for the nap, she actually said to him that she was just going to check with me, because I'm in charge of the family. I couldn't help but laughing. I mean, I can totally understand why she would think this way. I gave Lance a nice big hug and headed in to discuss the topic with her. When I went into her room, the first thing she says to me is, "I want a story!". I explain to her that I realize that she normally has a story before nap, but because it's so late, we're going to skip the story before nap and maybe we'll do it after this time. Not satisfied with my answer, she continues her tantrum. I tell her that she wasn't very nice to Daddy by telling him that she was going to ask me. I told her that Daddy's decision stands and that she doesn't need to check with me. Then she says, "But Daddy said you are not in charge and I KNOW I'M CORRECT". Ha! Got to love a girl and her convictions. I explain that both Daddy and I are in charge and we will always agree with each other when it comes to her. Not liking my explanation too much, the meltdown continues. I wish her a nice nap and shut the door to screams of "nooooooo!".

I came and sat down to post this post and Bennett "wakes up" (i.e. I don't think he went back to sleep after we got home) and now he's up and hitting my laptop. The wrangling continues....

Life with two kids. Fun. Exhausting. Worth it.

The pot and the kettle

I just came to this realization as I was considering the content of this post. I'm going to tell two stories - one that has to do with my daughter and how she's obviously self confident, but also not very modest. The second story is an example of my son's genius nature. Pretty modest of me, huh? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, I suppose!

So, I've been really struggling lately with a characteristic my 4.5 year old has of announcing all the things she is able to do, in an almost braggy, sing-song kind of way. She'll even go so far as to repeat something she's asked me about in front of someone else to get their praise as well. Case in point - today after our garage sale, I took her to a friend's fifth birthday party. There was food out on the table in the kitchen and after perusing the options, I decided that she could have free reign over the food and get whatever she wanted on her own. When she told me she was hungry, I told her where the food was. She looked at me with this look on her face that said, "Really? You're going to trust me to not come back with nothing but Cheetos?". I responded with a look of, "You know what the good choices are and your legs aren't broken, missy". So, she goes off and gets a plate and loads it up with her choices; cheetos, pretzels, and grapes. Not too bad. But then she has to come back and announce that she got the food all by herself. "Yes", I say, downplaying it and hoping that she'll catch on and keep her voice down. Which backfires, because I'm pretty sure what she heard was, "What? What did you say? You got your very own food? Wow! That's amazing! Did everyone hear that??!". She turns to another friend's mother and announces loudly that she's "big enough to get my own food now", very matter-of-factly.

Hi, pot, here's where you meet the kettle.

I'm constantly astounded by my son's brilliance. Maybe it's just that I have low expectations for my youngest, but he is seriously so smart! Just now, he had manuvered through the "toy barrier" that is meant to keep him from our CD racks that hold roughly 500 CD's and DVD's. He managed to get behind the toys and was busy pulling on the baby gate that is haphazardly placed in front of the CD rack, as if it's the Berlin wall. I tell him "no touch", which puts that gleam in his eye that he gets when he knows he's being mischevious. His eyes dart between myself and my husband, as we barrage him with a chorus of "No Touch! Bennett, noooooo tooooouuchhhh!". Obviously, this makes him giddy at the possibilities, so I go to a different tactic. Distraction! "Bennett, where is your phone?". He lets go of the baby gate and comes wandering back through the "toy barrier", which happens to have a walker, which distracts him for a moment as he goes toddling down the hallway. I don't think anything about it, and then the next thing I know, he goes over to the gate that allows you to leave our Living Room and go into the Entry Way and Playroom. He's acting like he's going to open it (no, he's not that genius) and then gets frustrated and starts yelling for me. Because I'm really obtuse, I tell him, "No, we aren't going to open the gate". He goes back over to the CD rack. Rinse, Repeat. Only this time, he skips the walker step and when asked where his phone is, he goes directly back over to the gate. It then dawns on me that he's TRYING TO GO GET HIS PHONE. We have more than one, but his favorite one is part of his sister's kitchen in the Playroom. So, I go over to the gate, open it and help him navigate the step down into the Entry Way (which he actually signed the sign Help for!! 1st time!) and into the Playroom. He goes directly to the kitchen and grabs the phone. We go back to the Living Room and all is well. He's busy "talking" on the phone. Genius!!

The hardest part is letting go

We had a garage sale this morning, where we cleared out a bunch of baby gear that was no longer needed. That old Graco travel system that I got as a shower gift before Morgan was born, the matching swing, the bouncy seat that allowed us to get through many dinners with a fussy baby, etc. It feels really good to get rid of that stuff, but it's with mixed feelings. Bennett has not been the easiest child in the world and while I was going through the first 6 months or so, I swore that this was it for me and my child bearing days. Then began the purge. It feels so good to free up the space both physically and mentally that all this "gear" has taken up for the past five years or so. But....now that Bennett is a little easier (in the most important aspects), it makes me think about another baby. I have always wanted a big family. My husband, Lance? Not so much. I definitely wouldn't want to get pregnant right now, but NEVER AGAIN? I'm starting to have second thoughts. At the same time, I am anxiously awaiting the days when the kids will both be old enough to do certain things like independent hiking and biking, camping, etc. I know it's a normal reaction to letting go of the gear, but I was just so sure I was done, so I'm a little surprised by these feelings already.

Sibling Rivalry

My typical thing to do is to make a big batch of pancakes or waffles on Tuesday for the kids to eat on throughout the week. It just really seems to help the flow of the mornings and I like that my kids are getting "hot meals" most mornings. I also normally try to mix and match other breakfasts in there to keep it lively, but sometimes all they want is pancakes. Especially the 4 year old, who could live on pancakes, macaroni and cheese and ice cream alone. I mean, that is a complete and nutritious diet, you know. So, this morning, I thought I would mix it up a little and cook up some sausage and scrambled eggs to go with the pancakes. My four year old, Morgan, never has eaten eggs. Just never liked them, even since she was a one year old herself. So, my plan is to just scramble some up for my one year old, Bennett, since he'll eat them and do the sausage mostly for her.

No sooner had I given Bennett his scrambled eggs when Morgan decides that she MUST have eggs also. She asks me to hard boil eggs. I explained to her that hard boiled eggs are cooked an entirely different way and that I wasn't cooking that way, so that would be a no on the hardboiled egg this morning. Not to be outdone by her younger brother, she proceeds to ask me to scramble some eggs for her. What?

Now, she is notorious for always thinking that whatever anyone else has is better than what she has and then also not eating something she's asked for. So, I give her a little piece of Bennett's eggs to "try" since she doesn't usually like them. "Mmmmm. Those are good, Momma!". Okay. Whatever. It's just an egg. So, I scramble up another egg for her and proceed with the turkey sausage. She acts like she's enjoying the eggs, but as soon as she sees the sausage she stops eating. I asked her to eat a little more of her eggs before I gave her the sausage and she obliged. But man, I've never seen her eat so fast as she did when she ate the sausage this morning. No matter how much she feels she needs the same as her brother, her true colors always come shining through!

Bennett, of course, needs to learn a thing or two from his older sister. He didn't touch the sausage. Oh wait. I take that back. He did touch it long enough to fling it on the floor, and behind his highchair, in his hair and of course, scraping it down into his seat. Little stinker.

Yes, I'll join the proud, the many....the moms

Specifically, the moms that are out there talking about their day to day lives on this world wide web. I can't offer anything extravagant or particularly special about my blog, but I can tell you that I am totally loving being a stay at home mom and I just want to share. Plus my kids are damn cute. For that reason alone, please continue to read. :)

The title of my blog is the result of me searching for something related to the home. Umm....yeah....gonna need to narrow that down a little. The only other thing I could think of is how I just pour my heart into my home these days (home meaning not only my literal dwelling, but also my family, kids, husband, etc). Hence, the title, My Home is My Heart.

Enjoy!