Thursday, October 20, 2005

Birthday Wishes and Ninja Turtle Dreams

Hard to believe that my P man is the big 0-5 today! That's all he's been obsessed with the last few weeks is his bday. We had it marked on the calendar (he's also obsessed with the calendar in general). He was of course up bright and early and we went downstairs to open his presents... a big red bike and a helmet. Red is his favorite color so he was thrilled. He drove around a bit in the family room and said, "Where are my other presents?" I had made him a generic cake for tonight to blow the candles on and is said, "Where is my turtle cake?" Both times he wasn't snotty or anything, he was still thrilled, but we had to explain that his big party is on Sunday. He got to wear a big bday crown today and he even wore it to bed. When I came home tonight he said, "I'll wear my crown everyday that way it is always my birthday." We had choir tonight so we had a rushed cake eating tonight. Tomorrow Ronald McDonald is coming to school to do a presentation on something kid like (which I guess includes no reference to the grease they serve). Yesterday was the pumpkin patch field trip. Most of those kids don't shut up, I'm assuming Miss J drinks when she gets home! Steve even found a nice big one for our house. I stayed for a bit after we got back to school , saw all of their opening stuff, saw P count the cold lunch etc. They carved them that afternoon and when we got home Parker saw our pumpkin and said we need to carve it too. I said we'd do it Saturday, but he said Tuesday was when you carve pumpkins. He took a butter knife and I really didn't think it would go in so I was going to let him "try". Well it did. P's eyes got really big and he said, "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm putting the knife back." It's just a tiny cut and I wasn't mad, but I think he was worried he'd be in trouble. Tuesday and Weds were both smiley days, but Monday no smiley, just words as Parker calls them, so of course he was upset. I guess he wasn't following directions, but then it said in the afternoon he was much better. He gets so upset when he doesn't get a smiley, so he's learning consequence to his actions. Sunday we had the usual Sunday School and church and then the neighbors were having a hobo dinner at 5 for a church thing. The kids really like their kids (preteens) and their pets. Parker couldn't wait for the clock to be 5 zero zero so he could go. We went on a hayride and the kids had fun playing with the others. Saturday was soccer and then the Pheasants Forever Banquet Saturday night. P and E went to Lauri's so Katy could watch them. (I think Lauri really just wanted some P time!) We have a busy couple of weeks coming up. Tomorrow night E has class so I think I may run and get the food stuff for Sunday. She is still very upset she can't go to school, so she'll be giddy she has class. We're getting pics taken at WM on Saturday morning (crossing fingers that goes well) and our neighbors are having a Halloween party for families that night. Then Sunday is of course the BIG PARTY! Next Friday is P's school party, then next Saturday is Costume Party on the square late morning, then P has a bday party to go to in the afternoon and then in the evening we all are going to another Halloween Party in DM. Somewhere in there too we are doing Night Eyes at the Zoo and Halloween at Living History Farms and maybe trick or treating on the 30th in town. Glad we are getting some use out of their costumes! Of course all of this is noted on P's calendar. Sorry not much about E on here (but my fingers are getting tired), she's the usual smart and sassy! Still no more pooping in the yard! She loves Sunday School, but half the time acts shy and says she doesn't want to go, stinker.

Over and out!

Friday, October 14, 2005

Long Time No Blog

I know, I know, no P and E info for a long time. But as with everything I do, I go gangbusters and then burn out for awhile. (Have you seen the dusty treadmill, but in my defense that was Steve's idea)

Preschool has made Parker a different boy. He talks all the time, he's coloring, trying to write, ok now I wish he was quiet like he used to be! His bday is on Wednesday and he is obsessed with the calendar and marking down the days. We also have written all of the other doings this month on there. We have a number of Halloween parties and of course a bday party this month. Tuesday Parker is going to a pumpkin patch for a field trip and I volunteered to chaperone. I am the only parent of the 14 kids to volunteer (how sad is that), so I am making Steve be the second parent if no one else volunteers, otherwise they can't go. His Halloween party (excuse me it's actually a fall party since they can't wear costumes because Halloween is evil) is on the 28th and I'm the lead parent in charge of that. This week I have started going to work at 8:15, so I can drop him off at class and not have to pay for morning day care. Plus I can get more updates on Parker from Miss J. This was his first week of 5 smilies, he was very proud of himself. He's also still obsessed with the Monsters Inc game and wakes up bright and early to play for a few minutes before he leaves in the morning. He always comes in to ask if he can get up and play computers and most days it's around 5:30-6 so it's ok. Some days he's a bit off though. Last weekend when Steve was gone he came in around 4 and I said it's not time go back to bed. Then 5 minutes later, he'd check again and again... Finally he fell asleep. Little does he know he could go right downstairs and play and we wouldn't know. We put out an alarm clock for him and told him he can't get up till the first # is a 6. The first morning, it was 5:36, he said it didn't have to be the first number. We explained that it had to be the first one and this morning he walked in at precisely 6:00 and explained it's six zero zero, I can get up!

Emma is still the same, loud! She is potty trained, although every once in awhile when she's outside I swear she just wets her pants on purpose. No poop in the undies anymore either. Although last weekend I kept catching her outside pooping... I guess just like Bosco does. She was very upset the other day when I took P to preschool when I had the day off and she couldn't stay. She said, "But Mom, I am a big girl now." I have promised her that she can go next year, so looks like she'll be going to Kindergarten early when she's almost 5. I just can't imagine 3 years until Kindergarten otherwise. A lady at the store thought she was almost 5 the other day. She is having fun at Sunday School. She knows most of the songs already and if the mood strikes her she really belts them out. P is having fun too, even coloring and doing the crafts. I volunteered to play for the kids Christmas program (once again no other parents volunteered), so I'll add that to my to do list.

Tomorrow is our last soccer already. Steve was in KC last weekend, so after soccer P, E and I raced to the zoo for Saturday Safari and they learned about bats. They really thought it was cool. P did the craft (wow again) and E had a blast using the glitter glue. Of course after class E wanted to stay at the zoo forever and P wants to go home.

Great news this week, Steph and family are moving to Des Moines. The cousins will be able to play together more and all 3 sis's can swap babysitting services. Not sure when and where their moving to exactly yet, but that's in the works.

They did tons of cute stuff, but of course since I didn't write it down, can't remember it, sorry!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Does the Dog Have Thumbs??

Bosco is either really smart or probably more than likely just really determined. After chewing thru his nylon collar and getting him a leather type-one, we have been putting him on the tie out again in the yard when we're home or not gone for very long. Now instead of chewing thru his collar, he just keeps unhooking the leash thing from the collar and poor Roger (our neighbor) has returned him twice. Bosco seems to have some obsession with Creighton. I don't know if it's a lab bond or maybe love, but since Creighton doesn't get mad at him, that's where he goes. The other neighbor's St. Bernard (a girl) snapped at him and now he keeps his distance. His hearing also seems to go when he's over there. Although tonight when we looked and he was gone, I went out and saw Roger and Creighton out in the yard and guess who was following along behind with his chewy and when he saw me he came running he was so excited. I haven't been able to spend much time with him lately, since we've hardly been home and then when wer are it's dark and I'm not about to let him out! Steve has now two attachment things put on the collar, so we'll see how this works out.

Last night we all got into a pretty good game of Thomas. We even turned off the lights and they took turn being the moon on Sodor Island. We got out the flashlight to be the moon so the trains could see in the dark. Of course then no one wanted to go to bed, but the meanies here finally made them go. Of course they were still wearing their Thomas shirts and I caved and said they could wear them to bed too. Then of course this morning E did not want to take it off. I said she could wear it again, but it'd have to be washed tonight. I Febreezed her, so she'd at least be a little fresh. Then she proceeded to pee all over at Lauri's and so ended up soaking the Thomas shirt anyway.

Tomorrow is P's costume day and sharing day, so I need to put a big sticky note on the door so we don't forget. He got another smiley today. We are noticing such a difference in him. He came home with paint on his shirt, so I think he even did a craft today. I just figured out what his task is for this week. He's in charge of the weather. I kept thinking he said he was in charge of the letter yesterday and I kept asking him what letter and he looked at me like I was stupid. He informed us it was sunny today.

Tonight I had Mom's group, so daddy was the lucky bath giver. Fortunately I think the shower thing was short lived, as they are really having a blast playing in the tub again. At least good to know in a pinch somewhere, they would still do a shower.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

A Day Out With Thomas

The day was finally here.... Thomas! After a smooth morning (the kids sat quietly at church and Sunday School and both of them were belting out the tunes during music time) we headed to Boone. Stopped at KFC for lunch, the kids ate popcorn chicken and potato wedges. P wouldn't used to eat any kind of potato wedge but he wolfed them down. He's trying more and more things, I think Pre-K is helping him, both of them ate chicken enchiladas the other night. Steve said all he did yesterday was eat. Pancakes, waffles, cereal, lunch, dinner etc. Back to Thomas.... I was a bit worried that E was going to be so excited that she would cry and practically hyperventilate. She was very excited, but no tears. And no tears when we had to get off the train either. That was the other thing we worried about, she just said Bye Thomas! We did the train ride first. There was probably 8-12 cars packed with parents and kids. For the number of kids it was remarkably calm. Both kids were waving at everyone while we drove around. E was even waving at corn. You ride for 25 minutes and then Thomas sits for a half hour for a photo op (but of course you'd have to pay for the picture, so we skipped that). We then did all the activities - there was face painting, music, maze, bounce house and slide, petting zoo, storytelling, a bunch of toy trains set up - the kids would have done that all day but we were mean parents and kept moving them along, and then finally hit the merchandise tent. The merchandise tent was really the only crowded place. I was suprised the other tents weren't chaos too. Most of the stuff there was stuff you could find at Target and cheaper, but I did want to get them something, so they got Thomas shirts. We told Emma she was getting a shirt and she started stripping down right there. After paying for it, she wore it with her pink skirt on the walk to the car and then P wanted his on too. I'm washing them as I type, so they can wear them tomorrow. P really wanted to leave his Thomas on his cheek, but since he's going to school, I thought it best to scrub it off. We spent an hour or so going thru the tents (our ride was at 1) and then headed home. I zonked off and on and of course the kids were wide awake the whole ride home and then played hard the rest of the night. How do they do it?? On the way up they kept threatening to give each other dots (see the post about the ladybugs at Pre-K). It was so cute.

Yesterday I Cropped for the Cure with Marnie and some others from Indianola. I primarily talked, but did get a couple things done. I bought a bunch of stuff (most was garage sale stuff so I got a ton of stuff super cheap), but hey it's for a good cause! I wish I could have bid on some of the silent auction stuff, but no extra funds right now and the stuff went pretty high. It sounds like dad and the kids were busy while I was gone. They went to Menards like I predicted and we now have an electric fireplace. They also did a bunch of stuff outside and in. He is way more hands off with them than me, so he's probably back to being the favorite parent again!

I'll post a few pics from today. I'm running out of steam (no pun intended) so signing off for the night.
People Everywhere Posted by Picasa
Number One Engine Posted by Picasa
On Our Way To Thomas Posted by Picasa
Fancy Moves Posted by Picasa
Big Thomas Posted by Picasa
Waiting In Line Posted by Picasa
Little Drummer Girl Posted by Picasa
Weeeeeeee Posted by Picasa
Are We There Yet? Posted by Picasa
Waiting For It To Go Posted by Picasa
Twins on a Train Posted by Picasa
I Picked James Posted by Picasa
Mavis Posted by Picasa
Little Drummer Boy Posted by Picasa
Toy Time Posted by Picasa
Mismatch Outfit Posted by Picasa
Emma the Panting Dog Posted by Picasa
Mr. Chocolate Bosco Posted by Picasa

Friday, September 16, 2005

Blog Housekeeping

I think I changed it so that anyone (even if you don't have a blog) can post comments. Feel free to try! Also, I turned on word verification, to hopefully keep away the spam!

Over and out!

You've Got the Cutest Little Happy Face

Parker's progress report for the week showed 4 out of 5 smiley faces. Yeah! Of course we'd like 5, but I think once he gets more used to things he'll have a perfect. Her newsletter today said that each day they get a smiley face if they didn't have any dots on their ladybugs. Each kid has a lady bug and 1 dot means warning, 2 dots 5 minutes from recess, 3 dots no 2nd recess and 4 dots principal's office with parents. I think he had gotten a dot last week because he was all excited when he didn't have any dots again and he said, "I'm being good now". When they get at least 3 dots for the week they get to pick out something from the prize bucket on Friday. He said he picked out a candy today. He also told me that in the morning he said, "Hi Miss Jandrey", that Jessica wasn't there today and that Darren was still the leader.

Emma also did great today, including a poop on the potty. "Mom I pooped and it's brown." To which Parker says, "My poop is always green." Sorry if that's digusting!! She rode around on the little 4 wheeler tonight and manage to totally tip the thing backwards. Of course she jumped right up. She also managed to scrape her knee when they left Lauri's today. She was just healed up for the last one! Emma was so excited tonight because she could see the moon from her bed. She has quite a fascination with the moon and sun.

Daddy has an exciting Saturday ahead of him with the kids. It involved pancakes, soccer and it wouldn't suprise me if a trip to Menards wasn't in there somewhere. Well I'd better finish cleaning (Toys R Us exploded again in here) and then had better pack for the crop tomorrow. Of course I'm doing everything last minute!

Happy Happy Birthday to You!

Hard to believe that 3 years ago a little girl was born with a bunch of dark hair, chubby cheeks and screaming her head off. Now she's losing those chubby cheeks, has dark blonde hair and is still screaming her head off. She took cupcakes to Lauri's today and she got a couple new Thomas trains and a hair thing with Emma on it from Lauri. She even came home with it in her hair, I was amazed! For a birthday treat we all went to BK tonight (plus we had nothing defrosted for supper). She was so proud of herself because she can finally climb to the top of the tubes. "I'm a big girl now, I did it myself!" P was equally wound up. He has really come out of his shell (Ninja Turtle Shell) this week and has been really chatty. He's belting out the songs he's learned and has learned all of the days of the week. This week he's in charge of the milk for snack time. He's even colored some more pics. We did get a comment on his journal this week though that said one day after lunch he didn't want to sit down and kept moving around....oops! Back to Emma, it is her big day after all. She has been doing pretty good with the potty training. She'll go 4-5 days and then have a wet incident. Still working on the lack of pooping in the potty. Tonight at Walmart Parker informed me he had pee in his wee and needed to go. After BK we headed to WM as he needed pullups and has been wearing pink Tweety ones all week. Hopefully I haven't scarred him for life! We checked out costumes since I know they get picked over fast and this year they probably didn't want mommy picking for them. P is going as of course, a Ninja Turtle. Emma is going as a princess. She couldn't decide, but a lot of them were skimpy and then if it's cold out they end up having to wear a coat. This one she could wear clothes under if she had to. They tried them on when we got home and they were both sooooo excited. I guess that makes me the favorite parent again! (Especially since I forgot Wed was his sharing day, but I don't think he even noticed)

Working backwards since I haven't been good about posting...

Wednesday - We had choir practice and the kids had fun with Dale and Julia from church. They played at the park and once again Emma stayed dry. We came home and when Steve got home later he went to put Bosco in since it was dark out. We've been tying him out so he isn't in his pen all the time. He went out to find his collar wrapped around a bush, ripped into pieces. He'd somehow managed to bite it off. (We bought a strong leather one tonight at WM). He'd already bit thru the neighbor's leash too and our retractable leash. We've lost count of how many balls have died. Steve went in to get the flashlight to begin the hunt for Bosco. He turned around and there he was was wagging his tail, wanting to go into the pen. Whew, glad we didn't have to spend hours looking for him.

Tuesday - I'm pretty sure we weren't home much that night, but for the life of me can't remember what we did. Will post more on that when I remember!

Monday - Had church meetings and so the kids played in the nursery again. Emma also managed to poop her undies while we were there....errrr..... We also generally just tried to recover from the party on Sunday

Sunday - After a crazy morning of Sunday School, Steve singing in choir and his band playing at church, Mom's Group Bake Sale we headed home to get ready for the party. Emma had great fun at her party. She had a cranky spell in the middle (I think she was getting tired), but overall she loved it! She has managed to play with every toy/book by Monday. She slept on her Care Bear sleeping bag and wore her new outfit on Monday. She is having fun painting, reading and playing dollhouse. Unfortunately we haven't had much time at home this week, so it'll be dollhouse 24/7 on Saturday I'm sure. She loved her Thomas cake and ripping into all her presents.

Saturday - Parker had soccer for the first time this fall and couldn't wait to go. He seemed to do pretty well. They didn't try any "games" yet, but he is doing great at the kicking the ball part. E and I left a couple minutes early and headed to Zoo Class. They were learning about bugs. I wish I'd thought to bring a camera. She got a butterfly painted on her arm, did some coloring and listened to some stories. About half way thru she lost interest and was getting crabby, but after the touching of the bugs (she didn't want to and I didn't push it) when the hand sanitizer came out, she was happy again. She made an ant farm picture with sand and was back to being excited. Since the poor thing hardly ever gets any mom time and usually she doesn't get to see much at the zoo because I am usually trying not to lose Parker because he walks so fast and doesn't want to look at anything, that I got us tickets to ride the train. She was soooo excited to ride little James. I had a dollar so we then went and fed the fish. She then wanted to look at every animal in the zoo. Poor thing though, I made her leave after awhile because I had to race home, drop her off and get back to Des Moines for Marnie's baby shower. She got crabby in the car, so I knew a nap would soon be needed. I had tricked her into getting her outside from the zoo and so I was not her favorite parent. I decided to take P with me to the shower, so Steve could have some time to himself. P was great. He sat still, ate his cupcake and peanuts and was thrilled when a word find came out. One of the ladies there just gushed about how well he did. Whew! When we left I said, "Parker you did an awesome job." He said, "Mom, you did an awesome job too!" Then I went home and baked like a mad woman for the bake sale.

Friday - I went to Marnie's to scrapbook with a couple others on our tribute album. We all had a great time. While this was going on Steve took the kids to The Machine Shed to see all of the Hansens. I was nervous since it would be so late, but I guess the kids did great, another whew! They even went shopping before they went to eat.

Since I didn't blog all week I can't remember all the cute stuff they've been saying, shame on me!

Tomorrow night I think we actually have nothing going on. I really need to get my stuff packed for my 12 hour "Crop for the Cure" crop that is happening in DM Saturday to raise money for breast cancer. I am going with Marnie, her sister Heather and there are some other Indianola area scrappers going as well. Parker is asking that Daddy make him pancakes on Saturday. P will also have soccer.

Then Sunday after church and Sunday School (I have a cute craft idea for SS, but of course have not started on it yet) we are heading to Boone to go to Thomas. Both kids will probably freak out. And such a photo op!!!

Good night!

Thursday, September 15, 2005

The Cake Posted by Picasa
Looking Pretty In Our New Outfit Posted by Picasa
Looks Dangerous! Posted by Picasa
Whimsical Girl Posted by Picasa
Toot Toot! Posted by Picasa
I'm 3 Today! Posted by Picasa
Trick or Treat! Posted by Picasa