Friday!!!

OK, American Idol results show last night ticked me off. People went last night that should not have gone yet for sure. People have some crazy way of voting. Alexandrea was one of my favorites.

On another note... Oh, the snow is falling & it looks so pretty outside, but tomorrow I'll be in sunny Florida around supper time. Wish me luck flying, especially with kids. It's so hard for them to be still for so long. Thank goodness for those portable DVD players. :) You might just hear from me while I'm gone. Blog ya later!

Finger sucking

I'm looking for ideas on how to get Karlie to stop sucking on her fingers. She only does it now just as she's falling to sleep (nap & bed times). We've resorted to putting a sock on at nap time & bed time. We try to explain to her why she should stop sucking them: school, she's a big girl now, her teeth will get crooked, etc., but this girl has an answer for everything. The other night Adam's like you have to stop sucking your fingers or they may fall off (I know you're thinking what a terrible thing to say, but we're at our whits end; we don't want it to start affecting her fingers & teeth & it's starting to). We've tried rewards & all. The other day she actually made it through the night & got a little ice cream for breakfast (one scoop).

Then not so good the next night. Her answer to her fingers falling off was, "OK, I'll just use my other hand", and we're like "no, this is the hand you have to use to eat, color pictures, catch a ball, dig in the sandbox, play with your princess, etc., so you really need these fingers". She just looked at us and said, "yeah, I'll just use this other hand". We hard time keeping a straight face. The reason I ask for new ideas is the sock over her hand at night seems to be working OK at times, but sometimes it comes off in the night (I know this because I check on her before we go to bed), and then in the morning she'll come out, realize she's forgotten it (because I can see a bare hand), run back in her room to put it back on, and then come back out and say, "mom, is it OK if I take this sock off right now". Thank goodness Tanner took the nuk (I can actually take that away. Help!!!

Everything

This blog is about everything lately. My mind is a jumbled up mess & it won't settle down. I keep thinking about what I should be packing, do I have everything for the kids, what else to I have to do for household chores, etc. It must be a family inherited thing that I must have my house totally spotless before I leave for vacations, floors scrubbed, vacuumed, house dusted (which I hate), all the bed linens washed, & laundry done. I'm sure there's more I forgot, but these are the big ones. I like to be able to look at it as I go out & come back from vacation before the kids have torn it to shreds again, and sigh that this really is how my house looks. Mind you I do all this stuff on a regular basis, but these ones before trips are always mini spring cleanings that are hard core. Anyway...

One of the other projects we had to do before leaving was the infamous wood pile, which I hate wood with a passion right now. We did about 3+ cords of wood yesterday. He cut & stacked some & I hauled & stacked while he cut it. We have an outdoor wood boiler so it's big all we have to do is cut a log pretty much in half & we can throw it in like that so these are big logs I'm lifting. By the end, my arms were knumb, I couldn't feel my feet, and every muscle in my body burned with exhaution. I hurt really bad today. In fact I don't remember feeling like this since back in the highschool days of volleyball. You know those roll out of bed and almost collapse to the floor because your legs don't want to work anymore. Anyone know anyone who wants to do more firewood, I'll pay handsomely??? Anyway...

While we did the firewood, the kids napped for most of the time (we did this in about 3 hrs). We have one of those awesome little video monitors to spy on Tanner while we were outside, and when Karlie woke up she put her snowpants on & came out to play. She found bandaid babies (bark from the birch tree) and said she need to take them home so she climbed to the top of one of our snowhills we have from plowing the driveway and dug a little hole (a nest according the her) and placed them in there very carefully & covered them all up. She is sooo funny. I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. She tried to take her bike out & pedal it around, but ice/snow & a bike don't work to well. Boy, did she get mad at the bike. Last night she was a hoot except for the part where she dragged her brother back into the room by his leg...she said she was rescueing him. I was not happy about that. Then he broke her little tea pot. She has to have a tea party every day. It was almost like the world had come to an end. Head back sobbing, "He broke it mom, in a million pieces, how could this have happened, how could you have let this happen to me, my tea pot, oh, my tea pot". My daughter is such a little drama queen. These phrases she comes up with. I had a hard time keeping a straight face as I soothed & calmed her down. Fun, fun, fun. Anyways...

American Idol

Well, I must say a little of last nights results bugged me. I thought the rocker girl would go home over the other girl due to the fact I couldn't understand half of what she sang, but oh, well. The guys on the other hand, I figured those would be the 1st to go. My favorite again is that Michael Johns & Jon Archilita (or something like that) & for the girls Alexandrea & Ramiela (or something like that). I can't spell their names very well.

Adam & I went to Grand Rapids Tues. & came back Wed. I had to get a few things for going to Florida (swimsuit, sandals & hats for the kids, etc.) & Adam had some training. So just the two of us went. I think we found the one & only hotel that still uses keys instead of the swiper cards. The lady handed me 3 keys (this one goes to the outside doors if you want to get back into the hotel, this one is for the door to the pool area, & this one is for your actual room). I discovered keys were not that great, the kind you either have to pull up on the door or wiggle around to get to work, & then coming back inside the hotel when it's 20 below and not remember which key was the one to get back in, not good. The hotel itself was beautiful. My first night away from Tanner, but I was OK. If you ask my mom, I probably called more then I had to but I missed the little turkey's. Adam & I had fun going out to dinner & doing a bit of shopping (which was nice because if you've ever shopped with kids you don't get much done), and having a whole conversation together without being interupted, Mom, Mom, Mom, did you hear me mom... To be able to pop in & out of stores without hauling kids in & out during the cold weather is very nice, plus usually by the time you find something you want to try on one usually has to go potty or wants to go home. I think when we picked up the kids, Tanner wanted to get rid of me because I just love kissing those little cherub cheeks & I had missed them & Karlie gave a quick hug & kiss & off she went again, but they were glad we brought them home presents.

Today

I never, ever thought that a 'Good Day' for going outside in the winter for me would be one that my hand did not burn on the doorknob while heading outside. I neglect to put my own mittens on when carrying kids/bags out to the car. I was actually excited the other day about this. I was like, Hey Adam it must have warmed up because my hand did not freeze to the doorknob & burn while I was going out. Sad, huh, but only 2 weeks left until Florida...here I come Florida!!! This is all you'll probably hear from me for the next 2 weeks...me whining about going somewhere warm.

Today, Karlie said one of the funniest things; everyday there's at least one new one. Tanner was crying & she was frustrated with him so she hollered out "Stop that Cricket", which means stop that racket. :) Also, later on I told her she couldn't have any of her sweet treats because she wasn't listening. So she told her dad on me (happens alot), and he told her to talk nice, stop scowling, & listen & then maybe mom would give her a treat. She has a really good scowling face she can do at the drop of a hat. So about 7:00pm (she goes to bed at 8:00) she comes up to me & asks for a treat again & without a pause to listen to my answer she headed right into her own little story for why I should let her have it, "Please mom can't I have a treat, I'll be good & listen for the rest of the night, see (& points to her face) I have my happy face on now, & grins at me. I just about cracked up. How do you keep a straight face with this? I tell you it's hard work.

Celine Dion

I absolutely love Celine Dion. Her voice is phenominal. I watched her special tonight on TV. She sang The Prayer with Josh Grobin. Their voices together are just one of those things that strikes a cord deep within. You know the goose bumps & hair raising on your arms & back of your neck; that, oh my gosh, that was a beautiful and touching angelic sound. I would have loved to see her perform in Vegas. Hope some of you saw it.

Happy Valentine's Day

I hope everyone has a very Happy Valentine's Day. Adam & I are going out to eat together without the children so I know we will. Don't get me wrong, I love the children, but when you have two small kids it's hard to get out and away just the two of us. We've been making a point to try to do more of that lately and have some fun together. It's nice to be able to get out and do stuff together, as well as, the family time. The kids have Valentine's Day T-shirts on complements of Grandma Judy. Karlie's says Crown me miss Valetine (hence the reason she's wearing her crown and Tanner's says Hoppy Easter on it because it has little frogs on it. Love, love, love...Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Frizzling???

Has you're leg or arm ever frizzled? Mine has, but usually I term it that they fell asleep. Karlie makes up her own words for stuff and frizzling is just one she's come up with. This morning she was very distressed as she woke up, "Mom, mom, my arm is frizzling, it's frizzling". Some how I've adapted to her language, and know what she's talking about. Don't ask me how. This one actually took me awhile to learn. Another one that took me awhile was Blockers. My mom called me one day while her & my dad were watching the kids, kind of muffling her voice, "Jennifer, what are blockers, Karlie keeps asking Papa for them & is totally frustrated with him for not knowing what they are". I giggled, but had no idea what they were. Finally, I could hear Karlie in the background almost shout, "You know Papa, those things we watch the deer with". Oh, they're binoculars!!! So now she calls them blockeners.

On another note, American Idol was good last night. I have a fav already. That Michael from Australia. I love his voice. Josiah was also good (he's the one that sings in the British voice). Can't wait for tonight!

American Idol

Yes, I am an American Idol fanatic. Gotta watch it. The whole family does (us, mom, dad, Charlie & Jessica) then we call back & forth & giggle (at some additions), slam Simon with his bad talk, etc. Gotta go commercials over!!! :)

Punk Rocker & Princess

After Tanner's bath I couldn't resist...he looked sooo cute with his little mohawk. He just grins at mommy like she's a fool, which she is when it comes to her kids. Karlie's also been on a kick lately about being a princess. She dresses up everyday in her dresses, crown, & jewels. Today she was upset. She needed to run downstairs because her glass slipper were down their and she had to hurry up & get to the bulb (ball of course, I keep telling her this is the way you say it, but what does mommy know & it's extremely cute anyway). She didn't want to be late pricess Aurora called on her princess phone voice & all. These kids make me so crazy in love with them. I treasure each moment of the imaginary worlds I get to play in each day. What a blessing to be able to stay home and have each of these little memories etched in my mind. Where does the imagination come from and why does it seem to trickle off as we grow up? I hope my little ones always have one. I enjoy it sooooo much.

Lazy Day

Today I've had my lazy day. I'm proud to say I did nothing but vegitate today with the kids. It was cold & nasty outside so we couldn't play and didn't much feel like going anywhere in this. Adam was working so the kids & I snuggled & watched Mulan II, and Bedknobs & Broomsticks just two of my favorite classic movies. Maybe tomorrow we'll watch a few more. Some of the other Disney family movies I love are Swiss Family Robinson, the original The Parent Trap, & Pollyanna, as well as, any of the other animated Disney movies. I love lazy days. I'd like to have more of them, but I'd never get anything done!

Baby signing

I'm trying a new experiment of sort. I've wanted to try teaching Tanner how to do signing for quite some time. I found it interesting. I saw a few little ones doing it last week. They couldn't talk yet, but they were using a few signs to let their moms know what they wanted. This motivated me. I ordered the book "Teach Your Baby To Sign" from Mail-a-book (they come right to my house seeing as it's hard to go to a quiet place like the library with two kids). I love it. The book is great. It makes it really easy to teach. I'm working on teaching myself, too. I've always wanted to be able to sign. I just picked a couple of things out to start with and we'll work on those. I'll try to work with Karlie too. I just think this is great, an extra added bonus, and a new & different way to communicate. Wish me luck!

Dinner anyone?

OK, a special project for everyone who reads this...I need some new ideas for supper. As winter drags on and we seem to eat majority of the same dishes every other week, I need to spice things up a bit in the food department. I've done a couple of new things, but need some more ideas. I love cooking; it's a passion of mine so I always love trying new stuff. Tonight I did shrimp burgers, which didn't stick together in burger form, but were still good. I'm trying to keep with the cooking healthier, but still tasty meals. I'm kind of getting stuck in a rut though because not everything that's good for you tastes wonderful. Oh, & these also have to be easy meals. I might be a stay at home mom, but to actually stand in the kitchen & pay attention to stuff as it's cooking longer then 5 min. intervals, takes something special. For example tonights dinner went something like this...me chop veggies, open garbage to through some stuff away, turn back to chopping, then back to the garbage & find Tanner rooting around for something good in it, then amidst forming patties, Karlie would like something to drink & Tanner's crying & needs to be picked up, Tanner settles down so I continue with dinner, turn around & hear a thud; Tanner has now ripped down some magazines onto the floor & is proceding to eat them, so I quick go pick them up because too much paper in one day can't be good (his Middle name has now been changed to Trouble with a capital T), and so on & so on. This is kind of how my whole day goes. Minus the nap time my days pretty full & busy. So please toss me some tasty ideas. Thanks

My Brother???

As I look at Karlie & some of the things she does...I start to think back to when I grew up and what a really, REALLY big stinker my brother was. It scares the heck out of me because she does some of the same things that my brother did to my mom in order to get a rise out of her...and Karlie's only 3.

I used to come home from school and all of my barbies & dolls would have new haircuts and my mom would say, Charlie didn't go into your room today so I don't know how that could have happened. Or the days she would ask him to clean his room, my mom would look in after he said it was clean...it looked good...then she checked under & on the other side of the bed & low & behold there was what she had asked him to put away. She would ask him not to touch stuff & he would reach right out with that glint in his eye & touch whatever it was she had told him not to. Now mind you my little brother has grown out of most of this (he still gets this glint in his eye as he teases his wife Jessica just as my dad teases my mom) and we're the best of friends, but back then I really wanted to sell him off, but knew they would only bring him back. :) Sorry Jessica, as my mom says, "No deposit, No Returns". Sorry to tell on you little bro but these are good & true stories.

The other day Karlie & I really hit her room hard, ridding it of those toys we don't use (Happy meal toys), going through clothes that don't fit anymore, etc. Her room was spotless when we finished. So I told her we have to keep it clean, dirty clothes to hamper, clothes in the toy box, ect. at the end of the day. I walked by there the next day & clothes in the middle of the floor so I said pick them up, checked back later & they were shoved under the bed! Or there was the time we had to try out the timeouts. Karlie kept sliding off the chair to go get toys & laughing when I told her to get back on. Finally, I'd had enough & told her get back on that chair, if I see even one of your toes touch the ground you'll have to go to your room. As I was saying this that familiar glint showed up in her eyes, and she slowly slid one toe down to the floor & touched it, looked back at me with the whatcha going to do about it look, and said there now my toes touching. I know my mouth dropped open and you guessed it, off to her room she went, with no glint in the eye anymore. Then there is the selective hearing. So while Karlie likes to test me out every once in awhile; I know where this behavior comes from. Obviously not me for I did no wrong when I was young. :) Karlie is just a little one that needs to know exactly where her boundaries lie. She's wonderful, curious, and her own little individual and she'll turn out just fine even if she's a little stinker now & then like her Uncle Charlie.

The Shark

How often does everyone have to sweep up/dustbuster their linoleum floors in their kitchen??? Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I am so messy when I'm making supper, chopping veggies up ,etc. Something always makes it onto the floor. Now the kids, nealtime, equals a dirty floor as well. I was dustbusting my floor like 3, 4X a day to keep my floor clean & the other little Hoover vacuum (Tanner) from eating stuff off the floor because EVERYTHING goes in his mouth. Kneeling on my hard floor this many times a day was not what I wanted to keep doing. So out I went to search for a solution...I found the Shark. It's like a tall dustbuster that has a swivel head. It ges everywhere & gets everything with no more kneeling down. So this was today's thought as I was vacuuming up smashed peaches & cheerios this morning. Happy cleaning everyone!!!

Stunk pancakes anyone?

Chef Daddy was up early yesterday morning letting mommy sleep in for a bit and made a breakfast of pancakes. They were delish. Karlie doesn't just like any old pancake circle. She likes to get creative. She does the mixing, ingredients adding, etc., as well as, the design of the pancake. Yesterday, we made rat (from Ratatouille), stunk, Mickey Mouse, and rabbit pancakes. Adam is getting very good, one might even say artsey, hovering over and carefully distributing the batter to make just the perfect animal (ears, tail, etc.) for Karlie. She loves it.

Baby Learning

I can't believe how fast it seems that babies pick up things and learn so quickly. Adam brought Tanner a little standup V-Tech thing to help him learn to walk. The first day he would grab it, pull himself up, wobble, and topple over. Oh, & get mad at it, like the throw my head into the carpet & cry mad. By day two he was going a few steps with it. A week later he's cruising the house with it as though he's been doing it forever & transfering off of it onto the couch.

He's becoming a stinker lately with food, too. I've started self feeding (stuff he can pickup & eat himself) and now he won't eat any of the pureed baby food. He actually stick his tongue out of his mouth when I give him a bite & wipe it off with his hand & then wipes it on the highchair! Very independent little turkey.

This little pic is of Tanner & his music table he got for Christmas. He loves it. It has a little piano on it and he'll play it and bop up & down dancing. I'll ask him if he's dancin' and he'll start his bobbing. It's so cute. It's really cute when Karlie gets on there with him and they play the music together.