Summer break is over!!!

And I know I haven't posted much. I'm still spending way too much time on my parening boards and facebook. That darn Farkle!!! So in any case, I really don't feel as much *need* to blog. But then again just tonight I was looking for a picture that I knew I posted on here (to figure out which file it was in on my computer) and I browsed through the entire history of my blog. I may not have frequent entries and a few large gaps, but it dates back a few YEARS now. The most amazing and bittersweet of everything is looking at the pics of my kids and how big they are now. Man. WHERE does the time go!?! I'm going to be saying that for the next 40-50 years aren't I? It is neat to go back and read all the little things I mention about them and stories I tell. So heck...somehow I need to blog. Plus I think I can get to blogger from work and pretty much all the other sites I visit are blocked. Maybe I should try to blog on my breaks at work...you know if I'm not already behind on charting.

So I cannot believe this summer is officially over. Elise starts school Tuesday. We have the long weekend left and then school. Crazy. She will be a first grader. We had her orientation today and visited her classroom and saw who her teacher would be. She is excited and doesn't appear nervous at all, like psht...piece of CAKE mom!

The past couple of weeks I've literally been trying to cram in as much activity and trips to parks and stuff as I can. It will be SO weird to have Elise in school all day, everyday. Last year was just 1/2 days. Poor Kaedon is going to be a little lost without her. I'm hoping to do a little bit of preschool homeschooling with him, but he doesn't seem to be interested. Hmmm....we'll see how it goes. The boy just NEEDS to learn some basic respect/listening/following direction skills or I'm going to go nuts. He still is TERRIFIED to poop on the potty for some reason. I mean literally shakes and screams and acts horrified it will hurt him. We are working on that. I forced him to sit there despite the trauma a few nights ago and he finally went on the pot. He'd been holding it for two days or more cause he'd been in underwear.

On the pooping note, we've still had bad constipation issues with Elise resulting in more UTI's and FINALLY got our long awaited (SIX MONTH WAIT) to a pediatric GI....for of COURSE the very first day of school. I will have to get her early, which will be quite hectic, but what do you do? It just irks me though. I really hope she doesn't have major issues this year at school and I'm stressed about what they are going to want me to give her. Ugh.

So as not to leave on that "crappy" note (heehee) I will post some pics from the summer (for some reason they are looking grainy and pixelated to me here):




Tired out after a long day on "vacation" at the water park.


Swimming in Lake Michigan at sunset!


Lake Michigan Sunset (@Kirk Park)



Getting ready to go fishing!


Dancing at the local botanical gardens and sculpture park!

Evidently I've reached the limit on posted pictures for my post cause it won't let me add more. I haven't done much with my Photoblog either, but I think some changes are soon to come!!

Free food and some fun....

I'm just going to start off complaining because I have had a horrible headache all day thats only getting worse and worse. Ugh. I think its muscle/tension related, which is not new for me, but I've been lucky to NOT have major issues for many months now. All day I've been thinking "Oh it must be because I haven't had any or enough caffeine yet" or "maybe I need to eat something". However, despite my indulgences in M. Dew and plenty of food...the headache persists. Its a good thing I have a few good things to snack on though right!

That makes a nice transition into my next "topic" about the WONDERFUL prize (I freaking WON a prize) during the fun filled Carnival Week of Bloggy Givaways. Click the link to get the info on the next one. I seriously never win anything and of handful of giveaways that I entered I think I got the one I most hoped to win!! It was a big box of 100 calorie Little Debbie snacks from Mel at "A Box of Chocolates". Well...it just arrived yesterday. I was gone all day so I didn't get it till last night, so the kids and I had our "bedtime snack" from the new selection of treats!!




In other news: Miss E had "Elegant Day" last week which included square-like dancing in gym and many other prim and proper etiquette lessons. It was very cute. On that same day they exchanged Valentines and had other special things going on too. Today they celebrated the 100th day of school. (I think it was technically a few days off, but no one is really counting). This morning I made 50 pancakes so each of the kids in her class could put two pancakes next to a sausage link to make a breakfast "100". Pretty nifty eh?!! Actually I made close to 70 since the fam ate a few and I stuck about 10 in the fridge for the rest of the week. There will hopefully be more to blog about later this week as Miss E is on Winter Break after tomorrow afternoon. Usually she goes in the afternoon, but tomorrow I have to have her to school by 8am. Seriously!! How do people do that?!?! I am SOOO not a morning person. I have an awful feeling I will sleep right through till after 8. Well...I guess thats my cue to go set my alarm before I forget. Goodnight!!

My little girl is SIX today!!!

I've waited all night to post this at the time she was born. On Jan 30th 2003, my little girl was born at 1:50am. She was 6lbs 11oz and wide awake and healthy. It was such an amazing and wonderful feeling. Six years later I continue to be amazed at how much she grows and changes each day. The last year especially she has gotten so tall and her face so much more mature looking. She is amazingly beautiful, and I don't just say that because I'm biased. She has such a good heart as well. Even thought she sometimes struggles with difficult emotions for me to deal with as a mom, underneath I know most times she just wants more attention and to be reassured she is well loved. She is always excited to have "Girl Time" with me even if its only a few moments a day. Elise is into your pretty typical "girly" things right now; loves to have her nails painted, play with dolls and stuffed animals, etc...

At school she is thriving. I am floored, seriously in awe of how much she has learned and grown academically the past few months. She's gone from sounding out letters to truly reading. Its an amazing thing to hear her read aloud. It also really makes it hit home how fast she is growing up and changing. Its scary (for me). I feel like up to now she has been fairly safely under my wing, but she is starting to get brave and fly farther from home, experiencing more of the world and other people. I understand just a wee little bit of how veteran moms claim the worrying when they are truly little ones, is the easy part. Worrying when they are away or about how the "outside" world and people may affect them (or hurt them), is worse.

Well, I could ramble on about how guilty I feel that she has to go to a babysitter tonight (Friday) because both DH and I work, but it should be fine and we will celebrate earlier in the day and then on Sat too!! So I'm not gonna cry about it! Instead I'll post links to the cute things I bought her for her birthday presents.

I couldn't resist this PERFECT one:


And then this too (both are by Melissa & Doug):


And then this guitar. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but the kids will each get one as a Birthday present instead.


I hope she will feel special and have a great day!! And I will try to pretend that I'm not old enough to have a SIX year old. :)

OMG I have a blog...

I nearly forgot! Ok, ok, I didn't forget. I just never get around to updating and blogging on a regular basis. I think I'm just intimidated by all the "cool" blogs out there and feel lame to just come here and ramble about my ho-hum, nothing interesting days. That and I just lack the energy. When the kids are finally in bed, I'm usually on the couch, under a blanket zoning out to stupid television shows.

Lets see, whats new. A little over a week ago now, I took a road trip with my Dad and step-mom to see my step-brother Mike while he was in the hospital for 3.25 days getting his chemo. It was good to see him and spend time with the family. My sisters were there for one whole day too but then they ditched me (long story but they had to get back home). So all of Sunday and Monday, including the trip home I kinda felt like I was 12yrs old again, stuck hanging out with my parents with no hope of getting away. I should've used some of that time just sitting around the hospital room to blog, but my own laptop was not working so I was just borrowing my parents for quick FB and email checks. There was a good amount of driving back seat riding involved and I swear I had jet-lag like symptoms even though it was all car travel within the same time zone. I was hoping for a tad bit more vacation like fun included in my rare time away from the kids, but it turned out to be just pretty straightforward hotel-to-hospital-back to-hotel time. No stops for ANYTHING, not even a wine cooler. Sheesh!! But it was good, don't get me wrong.

It was AWESOME to see Mike doing so well and in relatively good health. He'll be going to Cleveland Clinic soon for stem-cell transplants and will need a LOT of prayers and good vibes to get through all this.

The kids are fantabulous. Tomorrow E has her very first school program. She is the *farmers wife* and her line is: "I suppose a Turnip souffle would bake up nicely". For the most part each kid has one line and I think they will sing a few songs and it will all be followed by cookies and juice. Fun times. I'm sure I'll have pics. I can't wait.

I think KJ got constipated last week for the first time in his life becuase I am SO.FREAKING.SICK of him crapping in his diaper. So...I MADE him go half nekkid cause I knew he had to poop....but he would.not.poop. He would beg and cry for a diaper. Its quite the ordeal. Evidently he had a huge blowout Saturday at the babysitters. Bwaahaahaa. Oops. I do feel bad actually. So we are onto another week of potty training madness. I'll keep ya posted.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree....

So last night (Sunday) was the only afternoon/night of the week that DH would be home at the same time to take the kids out to get a tree. We did the whole fake vs. real debate again. For a few years we borrowed a gorgeous fake one from a good friend that took out of state contract jobs and wasn't using it. It was so full and real looking we were spoiled. Our kids want to know why Uncle Josh took "our" tree. Heehee...I had to rub this in to him. Last year we got a real one from a little corner lot set-up and it was cheap, but seriously, totally dead. Sooo....this year we went to a Tree Farm and cut our own down. I should say John did. I mostly stood around with the kids freezing, telling him to hurry up before the placed closed and we all froze to death. I learned that it took 12 YEARS to grow my tree. Hokey petes....I didn't realize it took that long. I guess other types take a little less time, like 6-7 years. But I will stop balking at forking out $40 for a good tree now. It smells wonderful too! And my dear hubby had a stoke of genious for getting the tree in the house...made possible by our new windows that actually open. Our picture window now can actually slide open. I was tickled to get the tree in without a trail of needles all the way though the house. So here are some pics of the tree picking and home bringing process.







Again you can see I did a lot of hard work to help with the tree....

John bought these obnoxiously huge LED lights (he didn't realize how big they were) for the tree. They look a little oversized, but they give a cool light show so its not all bad. We did more decorating today and I will have to take pics of the final product soon after we add tinsel and the angel.

Oh and a bonus pic of the "Sculptures" KJ drew/made for me a couple of weeks ago while I was at work and DH was in charge:



And finally I leave you with the only pic I've taken in the last three months where both kid are actually looking at the camera (and getting along).

Holiday time!

All the holidays, so much fun (and perhaps confusion).

So tonight we went yet again, to our favorite little (actually NOT so little) place in town. The Gardens/Sculpture park I keep talking about. I feel like I need to just live there. My kids ask to go ALL the time and its just the best place. I've decided I really need to volunteer there so I feel like I can give back a little bit of everything the place does for our family. Maybe when KJ is finally in school or when DH gets a daytime shift and less crazy schedule. Or maybe in the summers when the kids are old enough to help out with projects there too. We'll see.

ANYway....Tonight was a special night of tree lighting...they have 40 trees/displays representing 40 different countries and cultures. They also had roaming Dickens Carolers, crafts for the kids to make and Santa Clause! I didn't even initially realize until a few days ago that Santa would be there. Last year we went closer to Christmas to see Santa....I believe the last day Santa would be there and it was wall-to-wall people and a LONG line to see Santa. Tonight was much more laid back, Santa was roaming around chatting with the kids- on a few different occasions. After the last time KJ was done chatting off the ear of his new found friend, he stated "You know, I really like his Halloween costume". It was SO freaking funny. My MIL took a little video of him and E talking to Santa, so I will have to get it from her and post it. Unfortunately we missed that last costume comment on video though.

I guess having just had Halloween not that long ago, planning for Thanksgiving and then adding Christmas celebrations into the mix is a little confusing for a 2.5yr old. LOL!!

We also met an adorable little girl and her mom there and I actually exchanged email/#'s with the mom before we left. The girl was a little older than KJ but both my kids loved her. KJ spent a good part of the night following her around and vice versa. Before we left KJ asked if he could give her a hug and then after he hugged her asked if he could give her a KISS! Heehee!! Uh-oh! At least he asked I guess, although we refrained on this first date/meet-up! ;)

Kid-speak

Just wanting to jot down (and share) a few other things the kids say...KJ in particular that crack us up some to which we like to assign our own definitions to go with the mispronunciations.

"Punk-quins" - Adolescent penguins that show rebellious tendencies against the colony. (Pumpkins)

"Fing"- Kind of like the word "smurf" to the Smurfs -"let me smurf you up some smurf berries...mmm....very smurfy". (Used for swing, sing, thing,...he just seems to say this A LOT).

Tonight while talking about what we were doing at bedtime he declared emphatically "Just make up my mind!" *giggle*

Tonight I was showing E a picture I took using a slow shutter speed while she was running and she looked not only blurred but ghost-ish and she declared "Hey I look almost indivisible". Heehee...hey, I'm just glad she is actually learning the Pledge of Allegiance at school.

Oh I know there were more I was gonna put down here, but they are slipping my mind- the exact reason I want to record them!

A Quote from the little kidlet....

To serve as a reminder to watch what I say....

DH: Kaedon, PICK up your toys. Its time to pick up the living room.
Kaedon: I can't. (pause) Its just too freakin' weird.

I'm pretty sure I must have used that phrase (too freakin weird) earlier in the day on the phone. Hey its a lot better than actually throwing the "f" word out, but sounds a bit odd coming from the little mouth of a 2.5 year old. Although quite funny. He just needed an excuse that sounded important enough NOT to have to clean I guess.

Ah-Choo...

Excuse me! *Pbbbbtzzz*, *sniff*, wipe, wipe. Oh pardon the snot.

It seems we picked up a little more than just sun at the amusement park. I came home from work this morning with the beginnings of a brewing cold/sinus thing going on and was greeted by two sick kidlets as well. Niice. E has had a fever off and on, but it goes right down with Tylenol or Motrin. She did nothing but lay on the couch or in bed all day and was obviously miserable. KJ was determined to be/act as sick as sissy was for attention reasons, but by tonight he is quite congested and very well may succeed in his endeavors by morning. He wouldn't cooperate for me to take him temp, but he doesn't feel too warm to the good ol' hand and cheek "mom-ometer". I am hoping for miraculous good health by morning. I think I'm gonna go look for some tea to soothe my throat since I'm thinking about it. Ciao.

Where did the week go?

And for that matter the month!? I can't believe its AUGUST. This week flew by fast for me. I cannot believe its Friday already. Ugh. That means I work tonight!! Its also a "sitter weekend" so I have to drop the kids off. Even though they do fine there, Kaedon still often cries and rips my heart in two as I leave. He clings to me like a little monkey and the sitter has to actually PRY him off me most times. They much prefer when Papa and Grandma come here to watch them and spoil them rotten and let them stay up late.

I did find that disgusting, squished dead mouse by the way....ewwww!

This past Wednesday was E's last soccer game for the summer. She seemed to like it enough to try it again, but is still a bit tentative out on the field and not so assertive yet. She also has asked to do dance again and by personality she is more the "artsy" type, so we'll just see where the sports thing takes us. This was really her first official sport she tried. She was elated to get a certificate and a medal at the end, so that was all good and cute!

Kaedon seems to be naturally coordinated at sports stuff already, but not so much in everyday walking. The kid runs into the corners of the wall and bumps his head several times a day....seriously!! He's a super fast runner and can already hit a ball with a bat when pitched to him and seems to be pretty good at soccer too...although he needs to learn NOT throw himself on the ground and throw a fit when someone gets the ball away from him, LOL.


Kaedon has been obsessed with fire, fireman and fire hydrants lately. I've explained that only the firemen can turn on the water at the hydrants. We happened to pick up a cheapy $0.49 firemans hat at a dollar store last week and he is thoroughly convinced that it gives him the power to turn the hydrants on. He seriously throws a fit in the van when I won't pull over and let him turn the hydrant on. Oh my!!

Here he is in action with the power washer. After having a campfire with dadda last weekend, he also seems to want to START fires all the time too, so um...I'm a bit concerned there and keep reminding him that firemen put OUT fires. Yikes.

And for laughs I thought I'd post a funny German commercial from Youtube I found last night:

So today we arrived at E's soccer practice a bit and played on a nearby playground. The field is HUGE where about 8 teams of little 4-6yr olds are divided into mini tot-sized fields. On either side of the big field are schools, each with their own playground of course. So somehow in the before-practice playtime E brought up whether or not mom and dad's butts would fit on the swings. Niiice. I told her that really wasn't an appropriate thing to talk about. Well, fast forward about 30 minutes while KJ and I are sitting along the little practice field with the other parents. He is begging me to take him to the other playground (on the other side) and I'm trying to hold him off and promise to take them when sissy is done. In a valiant effort to convince me he states "Yo butt will fit der mama". Thaaaanks buddy. I'll run right over there now, hehehe. Yeah, he totally mimics and repeats everything these days. Sometimes it super cute, other times you want to pretend your just the babysitter!

Stay tuned for some pics.....

My crazy fun weekend....

So I don't know how much I've complained here lately about my current position at work. Up till recently I was pretty happy with my "work part-time, but get paid full-time" weekend gig. They are now however, subtly trying to do away with us "weekend option" people and therefore our once guaranteed hours are no longer guaranteed at all. Oh no! So Friday I was called off, but managed to pick up an open slot in ER. I actually REALLY liked it. I've only been down there a few times and only for 4 hours at a time. But I think I could actually dig a new gig down there if the right spot opened up. Unfortunately they won't hire me into a weekend spot until I have MORE experience in ER. So we'll see....maybe I just need to get some!

Saturday, only 5 ICU patients meant, no work for me again. This was a "babysitter" weekend, so DH was home and the kids were at the sitters. He's been getting a free Saturday night to himself twice a month with this set up. Usually it works out to be a combo of guy time for him and get my "to-do list" done type thing. Sometimes I get mad at the fact I'm paying a sitter when he is home, but if it keeps us happy and keeps our marriage going in the right direction its worth it.

Soo.....we had a DATE NIGHT Saturday!!! Yeah, I really can't afford to be called off work too much, but we were desperately in need of some ALONE adult time. We went to dinner, watched a movie and flirted and generally just had a good time. It was SO nice. I felt so much more refreshed and alive after getting some *me* time....and sleeping in till almost NOON without any kids in bed with me!!! WOOHOO!!!

Our lazy morning came a crash ending when we heard a motorcycle whiz right by the bedroom window and then the snapping of branches along the tree line that borders the neighbors lawn. I thought I was dreaming for a second. I jumped up and squinted out the window (sans my glasses) and couldn't quite tell if that was a rear reflector I saw sticking out of the tree branches and bushes or not. After grabbing my glasses and noticing a swarm of various neighbors heading from all different directions into my yard, I realized the bike and person must still be IN there! I frantically threw on a sweatshirt and jeans over my lingerie and ran out there. How embarrassing to be an ICU nurse and not promptly respond to an emergency in my own yard, you know. It was a young guy, probably early 20's with a HUGE, heavy, shiny new motorcycle. I'm guessing a new purchase to combat gas prices. He was amazingly ok...at least seemed to be. He got up once a crowd had gathered and wouldn't admit to any injuries other than a bruised ego. He evidently only lives up the road so another guy helped him WALK the bike back. Yikes!! I haven't seen him or the bike since but I hope not too...at least not the bike. I kinda felt bad for the kid. I am just SOOOO thankful my kids were not even home, let alone in the yard. Can you imagine!

This week Elise is in VBS at a church right down the road. Today was her first day and I was really surprised at how huge and big it all was. TONS of kids. I was a little nervous to leave her, but then spotted three other kids who were just in her preschool class, so I felt a little better about it. She of course loved it! The biggest challenge will be getting there on time. It starts at 9am and I.am.not.a.morning.person!!!!

The sun, moon and the clouds....

The sun has been making the nice long days very hot, humid and sticky here in Michigan. Although the sun has been mixed with many clouds this past week as well. Yesterday was beautiful and sunny but prior to that we had several straight days with at least some rain. It would temporarily cool things off, but then just add to the humidity. I've managed to hold off using the central air. I love having the windows open and breeze flowing through and hearing the birds every morning. I just can't bring myself to close everything up, and let me tell you the cost factor is a pretty big motivation to stick it out as well!

The moon is another big fascination here, especially with KJ. The last two days in particular its been quite visible during the day. Knowing how enamored he is with the moon, Grammy told him during a phone conversation that it was out, and that she could see it at her house too. So, Tuesday he camped out on the edge of the neighbors lawn adjacent to our driveway so he could have a tree-less view of the lunar wonder. It was cute. What was even more cute was our conversation Wed. morning then, first thing, while still lying in bed. He was just going on and on about the moon.

KJ: "I saw the moon! Grammy has a moon too, at hews (her) house!!"
"It's BIIIIG!!!"
"I not reach it!"

Me: Nooo, its too high to reach it, you can't touch the moon honey.

KJ: "I need my tep-tool" (step-stool). I can tand (stand) on my chair to touch it"

He went on some more, but I can't remember everything he said. It just tickles my heart though, to watch my kids develop that "wonderment" about the little and big things in life that us grown-ups don't think twice about anymore.

Today I'm thinking of trying to take some nice outdoor pics of the kids and maybe my nephews too. Its supposed to be incredibly hot and humid again though, so I'm also trying to work in some plans to go somewhere with a pool...perhaps at Grammy's!!

Chocolate & Birthday Cake...for Me!!!

I'm 23... Well, that IS what my cake said!! You know... after insisting that the numbers be switched around. Thank you BIL!! Conveniently my birthday falls close to Memorial Day so it often works out nice to have a little get together around that time. So Monday my immediate family had a lil' gathering and I got to open presents and have cake a day early. Sunday afternoon and into the evening we had a relaxing time at my IL's as well. They live on some beautiful land that serves as a perfect backdrop for my obsessive picture taking, so it is always a treat to visit there in nice weather. I also went for a walk through some country orchards and had some good old fashioned girl talk with some wonderful ladies about everything from our bodies, to clothes, to spiritual stuff, to our abilities (or lack thereof) to still do cartwheels. (I can, by the way, still do a pretty darn near perfect cartwheel...in my old age of 32). I had not been excited to go initially, but I left feeling surprisingly refreshed and happy.

Tuesday (my actual birthday) will be nothing special, in fact I really want to get my closets cleaned out and haul some stuff away to be donated. Getting a bit more organized would be a miraculous gift in and of itself. I constantly struggle in that area, (as anyone who's been to my house can attest to).

Tonight Kaedon gave me another miracle.....he went to bed on his own....IN his OWN bed!! Usually getting him to sleep involves either me sleeping on his mattress with him, him sleeping in my bed with me, or falling asleep in someones arms or on the couch next to us and being transferred into his own bed. It took a few times walking him back in there, but finally he stayed and fell asleep. YEEEHAW!!! Please tell me this is the start of something wonderful and new to stay and be repeated night after night!! Please, oh please, oh please!!!!

Whats new in my little world?!?!

Well lets see, I haven't posted in a while.

For Mother's Day I actually got a BIG bouquet of roses from the kids & DH, and DH totally cleaned the kitchen and straightened things up in the rest of the house!! Woohoo! Oh, a little box of deluxe chocolates to boot.

For the past week we have been working on a garden outside. In the next day or two we have to finish getting the seeds and lil' plants in the ground. Its not a huge area, but I'm REALLY excited, and also a bit nervous that we don't kill everything. Its the first time we've had a garden. It's been really fun picking out seeds and planting them in cups with the kids and watching them sprout the past few days. So far we've started green beans, cucumbers, lima beans, pumpkins, watermelon, and a friend gave me 6 tomato plants. And we also hope to do carrots, radishes, peas and acorn squash. We did stawberries last year and those came up several weeks ago already and are looking great! It will just be small amounts of everything, but hopefully we will learn this year and perfect thing for the future. DH has been working really hard to get it all tilled and fenced in to protect it from the multitude of critters we have in our yard. I will have to take some pictures to post too.

Elise is almost done with school this year! On one hand I'm glad to have all my days open and free with the kids, but on the other hand I can't believe she is going to be done with preschool...forever!!! They have a special "bike" day, a big picnic and then finally a little graduation coming up in the next two weeks so I'll have to take pics of all those events too. I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She gets taller every week I swear. She really is our little fairy princess, with her long blond hair, and tall skinny figure. As I type she is coincidentally putting on her purple fairy wings, LOL!!

Kaedon is my sweet, sensitive little man. He continues to be a momma's boy, but don't get me wrong, he's ALL about tools, dirt, motorcycles, and dinasours too. His vocabulary is astounding (to me at least). He can count to about 13, and knows his ABC's. He loves to sing to himself and likes to listen to the Veggie Tales and the Beatles. Yes...the Beatles. Elise was the same way at that age, and she still loves them. Its sort of become a family right of passage.

DH has FINALLY been given an official hire in date at his work. So June 15th it is. He's already been there 7 months as a "temp". Nothing much will change really, at least not for the first few months. We just have to decide if its worth changing any of the benefit stuff, but most likely not.

So thats it...I think! Hope I didn't bore you silly!

Some quotes from the kidlets....

Yesterday from Elise to me: "You're the BEST MOM in the whole....(pause)....Um....STATE"!!

Kaedon talking to (and poking) the ants outside: "Hey little buddies"

Kaedon this afternoon: "I hear the sun-set"
Me: (thinking hard about that one) "You mean the rain-drops"
K: YEAH!!! Raindrops!!

Heeheehee!! I love kids!!

Its been spring break time!!

I was hoping to do a bunch of extra fun stuff this week, since Elise doesn't have school. But alas, she came down with a mysterious fever and was pretty lethargic all day. Add cold rainy weather to that and it you don't get much motivation to do anything.

At least we sqeezed a little extra fun and outside time in on Sunday. After I slept a few hours we all went to the park and flew big, neat kite. Well....ok, so DH was really the only *successful* one flying it, but I got in the air a few times.....for a few minutes, LOL!! The kids played on the playground there and it was a nice time. We then ran to the store and got a little rotisserie chicken and some sides and had a "picnic" on the front porch. The kids were SO excited by this for some reason. I guess its just been a long winter and its just SOOOO nice to be outside.

On a total side note....I'm actually really liking the editing features that Photobucket added. I noticed some of them are still labeled Beta, but I hope they keep them (like Curves...you can adjust CURVES in PB....whoda thunk it?). I've heard lots of complaints about PB lately and I'm not sure if its just because the editing page takes longer to load or what. But for snapshot like pics I just want to tweak and post to my blog, a forum, and then send a link to family to look at, its one stop shopping...er...editing for me!!

Sharing some more pics....

I've already posted some of these on the forums I belong to, but for those of you that haven't seen them....here's a few pics from last weekends lil' hotel trip/water park getaway that we took:

Toddler Anatomy 102

Pre-requisite: Please finish TA 101

So this past weekend while on a little mini vacation at a hotel with an indoor water park for the kidlets, we needed to kill some time between dinner and bedtime and decided not to go back to the pool for the 20th time that day (ok, slight exaggeration), so we opted to make a run for dessert. We just picked up some McD's sundaes and brought them back to the hotel room.

As I was getting ready to give the kids each their sundaes Elise asked if I would put the peanut sprinkles on hers. Ok, no problem. So I then ask KJ if he wanted peanuts on his ice cream too.

He gives me this crazy look and says "NOOOOO-OOH" (Ok fine I thought)
Then a few seconds later he says "Peanuts....my butt!"

I NEARLY spit out MY ice cream when I realized what I asked him in "his language". Poor guy must think I'm crazy! I was LMAO though!!

Toddler Anatomy 101

So a few days ago KJ managed to drop heaping amounts of shreaded cheese from his lunch down his onsie. It of course snaked its way down into his diaper and collected in a yucky mess. During his diaper change I had to wipe and clean thoroughly around some "sensitive areas". He exclaimed "Don't Touch, mama" over and over. So I matter of factly told him "I have to clean the cheese off your penis!" (One of those things you never imagined you'd have to say).

"My Peanuts?" He repeated.
"No, your penis" I corrected him.

But it was already decided in his brain.....(they are) it is now his "peanut."