Hip Hip Hooray!

I've got something that everyone should have. Really, life is much better when you have one. It's this right here:I'm not just referring specifically to the sweet 2 year old boy, I'm referring to the fact that I have my very own personal cheer leader. It is awesome. Here are a few recent conversations:

As I was refilling the soap dispenser in the kitchen yesterday: "Oh, Mom, did you get all the soap in? Woohoo!"

Or, P: "Are you making dinner Mom?"

Me: "Yep, I am."

P: "That's great! Woot! Woot!"

Seriously, do you know how awesome you feel, when someone is cheering for you every step of the way? (Especially when you contrast that with the dinner conversations from my other kids who say things like, "Ew, I don't want that for dinner!" etc., etc...)

Every time I walk in the door after being gone for any amount of time, I hear, "Oh, you are back Mom! Yeah!" and he runs to me and wraps his little arms around me.
On Sunday, as I was trying to wrestle him into his clothes as he kept trying to run away from me (don't worry, he's still got all the normal 2 year old mischievousness), he paused and said, "Mom?"

and I said, (with some exasperation) "Yes, Peter?"

"You are amazing." (I had never even heard that word come out of his mouth before.) The kid knows how to melt my heart.
And I know I have mentioned before how he always says "please" when he asks for things and anytime I hand him something or do something for him, it is always followed up with a "Fank you, Mom." He even declines politely when he doesn't want something, as in this morning's conversation: "Pete, let's go change your diaper and get you dressed." To which he replied, "No, fank you."
Life is absolutely better when someone is acknowledging all the little things you do, and even better, when they give you a cheer for doing it. Just imagine, next time you are loading the dishwasher or folding the laundry, that you have your own little cheerleader saying, "You're doing it! Good job, Mom!" I could really learn something from him. I could probably be a better cheerleader for my kids, as well, focusing a little more on the "that's great, you did it" parts of life and a little less on the, "what?! you haven't finished that yet?" parts of life.

He adds lots of fun to our days. Every morning when I first see him, he addresses me by what will be my "role" for the day. As in, "Hi, Mom penguin" or Mom Monkey or Mom puppy or whatever the animal for the day is. And of course, he expects to be referred to as "Baby penguin" and so on. Fortunately, this does not actually require much action on my part other than responding when he calls me. Occasionally there is a little penguin waddling requested or some animal sounds, but he addresses me that way all day long. It's always a fun surprise in the morning to see what animals we will be.

Hard to imagine life without this sweet kid. No wonder I'm dreading sending him off to preschool in the fall. (Of course, we have to conquer potty training first.)

Who Won?

I didn't see one bit of the Oscars, and I don't care. If I see more than maybe 2 movies a year in the theater, it' s some sort of miracle, so there just isn't much there to hold my interest. And as much as I would love to squeeze more movie watching into my life, in reality, I often have netflix or blockbuster movies sitting on the shelf for literally weeks before I actually get around to watching them. I'm more of a reader. If there is spare time to be filled, I will fill it by picking up the nearest book. So, it was fun to find this Oscar winner posted on the reading blog that I frequent. It's the winner of the animated short, and is all about books and the magic and color that books can bring to those who read them. I loved it. (And since it is only 15 minutes, I even managed to sit and watch it all the way through.) So now I can pat myself on the back for having seen one of this year's Oscar winners. (Phew, check that one off the list.)

I also thought MacEvoy did a fantastic job of casting actors as different authors. If you enjoy the game of _________would make an excellent _________ in a movie, then you might enjoy this post as well.

Happy reading (or movie watching) to all!

Time Out

Yep, they could have spent just 10 minutes helping us to clean up, but instead they both threw fits and were sent to time out. They've been there for over an hour. (Long enough that the tears and screaming finally ended.) We're hoping that if they sit there long enough they will decide that spending a few minutes cleaning up is far better than being glued to the bench unable to talk or play. Sometimes I have to wonder when the lessons will sink in.

Cupid Was Here

The girls were up VERY early to see if Cupid had stopped by during the night. I sent them back to bed for a little bit, but it didn't do much good. They just couldn't wait to collect their goods and see the heart decor.

When Peter woke up and saw the stuff on his floor, I heard him yell from his crib, "What?!"

When I went in to get him he, just kept pointing to things and saying, "Loot, (look) Mom! Oh, loot at that Mom."

And yes, he started in on his cookie before 7 am. (That darn Cupid and his treats!)

Dinner time was a bit crazy, what with ballet, water polo and parent teacher conferences. I snapped a photo of the Valentine gifts before the food or plates were on the table, but didn't get any pictures of the opening. All the kids were thrilled with their new books, and Shawn and I will happily devour our cake bites from The Sweet Tooth Fairy. (Yep, we both gave some to each other -unintentionally - because they are that good.)

A little more Valentine decor.

What was the favorite Valentine gift of all? A punching bag, of course. (I mean, really, what about punching something, doesn't say love?)

Duffy jumped right in to try some of her moves, and Peter gave it a shot, too, although the bag outweighs him by a few pounds and kept knocking him over when it would swing back.

Not planning on developing any prize fighters here, but hopefully it will be good to get out some aggression. No to mention that it is a great workout!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

And Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Samantha is 11!

No matter how much I bribe them, my kids don't seem interested in staying little. Therefore, we had to celebrate Samantha's 11th birthday. (Oh, it kills me to say that. How did she get to be 11 so fast?!)

She was up bright and early, begging to open a present or two before school.

Look at that face. This is a girl who loves her birthday. She plans her cake at least a year in advance, keeps a running list of possible birthday presents and generally knows within a few days how much longer until her next birthday. (I don't feel the same way about my own birthday and my kids can't believe that I actually lose track of how old I am. I wonder at what age that shift occurs?)

Oh, phew! We gave in and let her open something in the morning.

I have to say the cake wasn't much trouble for me or the cake boss this year, although there were some very specific requirements and expectations. (Two full pages to be precise.)

She wanted a cake covered with Harry Potter candy. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have a mother who is on top of it enough to plan ahead to find the actual Harry Potter candies she had in mind, in a timely manner, so we had to make a few substitutions. I did my best to find something close to levitating sherbet balls, droobles, chocolate frogs and string mints.

When it came time to make her cake, she got tired of waiting for Shawn and I to make it, so she finally made it herself. (That was a good deal on our part.)

I had just finished frosting it when she got home from school and she decided she wanted to decorate it herself, too. (Maybe all of that "Cake Boss" and "Next Great Baker" watching is paying off. - She loves those shows!)

So, here is the final product - birthday cake by Samantha:

Just so you know, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans are absolutely disgusting. (At least the flavors that aren't just your average jelly bean flavors. Dirt really does taste like dirt, and there are much worse flavors than that.) My girls thought it was hilarious to watch me trying the various flavors. Really, they were laughing hysterically at my faces. YUCK!

Then of course, it was on to more celebrating by opening the rest of her presents.

She was very excited to get a few things to add to her Harry Potter arsenal.

And she has happily been creating all sorts of things with her rolls of colored and patterned duct tape as well.

All decked out in her Gryffindor paraphernalia.

And finally, blowing out the candles and eating cake and ice cream!

Happy Birthday Samantha. We love you and are so proud of the young lady that you are becoming. You are becoming so responsible and helpful, and as always, you keep us on our toes and laughing all the time.

Sleeping Through the Superbowl

Not even the commercials could keep everyone interested in the big game.

Really, one of my least favorite discoveries - having a toddler fall asleep in the late afternoon. Makes bedtime a bit more challenging. Maybe next year's game will be a bit more riveting for him.

Done.

As of today, I am finished with P90X.

13 straight weeks of workouts 6 days a week. Never missed one.

Plus 4-6 days a week of running or spinning.

If I never have to do another pull up in my life it may be too soon. (And I didn't really mind them before.)

How did I celebrate?

8 hours of TRX training.

Now the question is, what to do next?

Boyfriend For Sale?

Anyone know of a boyfriend for sale? Because apparently my 7 year old is in the market for one. I found this gem as I was tossing all of the kids papers into the recycling

finished homework drawer.

In case you can't read it, it says,

"If I had $100 Dollars I would buy a new Phone & a Boyfriend."

First of all buying a new phone implies that she has an old phone. Unless there's something I don't know about, she has no phone. And as far as the boyfriend? Jeesh! What are they teaching them in school these days? I clearly need to restrict her access to all funds and discuss - AGAIN - that boyfriends won't be in the picture until she's 25. Man, talk about my lectures falling on deaf ears.

Apparently I should have been more concerned with the kissing episode in first grade. She clearly takes after Shawn. Now I'm wondering what the other second graders would buy with their $100.

Enlightening

On Christmas Eve, sunrise was at 7:47 am, while sunset was at 5:04 pm. Today, February 1st, sunrise was at 7:34 and sunset will be at 5:44 pm. That's a whole 53 minutes of extra daylight! And it's only going to get better! A month from now, the day will be a full 72 minutes longer. I can practically see summer on the horizon. (If I squint really, really hard and use a lot of imagination.)

That is all.