That's Our Girl

 

Avery loves following me around in the mornings (ok, all the time) when I get ready for the day.  She tries on shoes or socks while I get dressed, spends 20-30 minutes putting on lotion and asking, "I open dis one, Mom?" -- mascara, no; lip gloss, sure -- and brushing each makeup brush on where ever she thinks each one goes... "dis for eyes, Mom."  I finally had my camera nearby to snap some pictures of her making herself at home in my closet and trying on shoes after shoes.  I told her to say, "cheese" once and from then on she wanted a picture of herself in every pair she tried on. Where did she learn these poses??  I have no idea!

Quick stop to say 'HI!' to Ben, who had found his way in from playing in the playroom

Having some extra time that morning without much on the agenda, I took a few minutes and curled Avery's hair and painted her nails.  Rudy was at school, so it was nice to give Avery some extra attention!

She was so proud of her nails.  She picked out 5 different colors - one for each finger on each hand

I had to put a chair in the middle of the kitchen so she wouldn't be tempted to touch anything while she waited for them to dry.  She did a great job, though!

This girl... perfect mix of Tom and Sally :)

The Things Kids Say

Now that Rudy and Avery have started conversing, and not just mimicking words/phrases, it's so funny to hear what they come up with.  I wanted a place to try and keep track of all the "-isms" if you will... These every day phrases or topics are going to fade too quickly in my memory if I don't write them down.  I started this list awhile back, and already I'm so thankful I "logged" some because reading them back makes me smile and my heart swell...  

"Otay, I pomise"

The way they say each other's names... "Ave-ray" "Ru-way" and "Bubby Ben" or "Bubbers" or Benners"

A: "Ben say, 'Mom come feed me! I want some food!'"

Me: "How'd I get three blue-eyed babies?!"
Rudy: "No three babies!  ONE baby!"
Me: "But you're all my babies!"
Rudy: "No me big boy and Ave-ray big girl.  Ben baby"
Me: Slumped, head on my knee, not reacting just resting from being exhausted from the day..
Rudy: "It's otay, Mom.  Don't be sad."

The way Avery whispers, "I. Want. Fruit. Snacks." at bedtime, 1 inch from my face, with complete seriousness.

When Rudy told me, "I like you, Mom.  You real funny."

R/A: "How bout dat idea"

R: "Ave-ray, you eat all your breakfast and I give you a prize!...otay? That a deal?"

A: (While doing jumping jacks) "When I do this real hard, I toot!"

R: "Mom, you beetiful"

R: "Guys, I miss you so much.  Give me hug and tiss"

A: "I like nakes, you like nakes?"

R: "Avery, what happened to you leg?"
A: "I fall down stairs at Gran's" -- sad face
R: "Dat look like it probly hurt!"
A: "Yea, I cry"
R: "Avery I don't want you fall down any body stairs because I love you Avery.  You neber do that again, otay?"
A: "Otay.  I neber do dat again."

R; "I love you too Mom.  You so sweet.  And pretty.  And beetiful."

R: "Mom, I tan't get ready for day yet.  I pway with Ben.  He so cute."

R to A:  "Ave-ray I have to tell you somefing.  When I get bigger, I pway baseball and you come watch me and you say, 'Yay, Rudy!  Go, Rudy!' and I hit the ball and run real fast!  Otay?"
A:  Just waking up and still half asleep.  "Otay, Rudy, I will."  As calm and serious as can be.

Valentine's Day 2015

 

The final Room-Mom party:  Valentine's Day.

We decided it was time to finally decorate sugar cookies.  The idea had been tossed around for other parties, but this seemed like the best time.  Combined with a little craft project and free-time to read books together, we got this one just right - Third times a charm! 

I stayed up the night before making 4 sets of these trays pictured below: complete with invidual white icing cups, 12 different varieties of sprinkles, 3 piping bags of different colored icing, and 6 different small candies.  They had all they needed for masterpieces of Valentine's Day cookies :)

Hard at work

Rudy would taste his along the way.  He just couldn't stand waiting until it was done.  Or maybe with each bite he was realizing it needed more sugar...

The general concensus:

The kids did a great job!  They were so focused, shared very well, and thoroughly enjoyed their treat!

These two :)

When we got home, I found this in Rudy's folder:

So sweet :)

Rudy couldn't wait to open his Valentine's.  The class all exchanged Valentine's earlier in the morning.  Each kid brought home a bag full of adorable cards, with more sugar!  Rudy was so kind and shared all the fun with his sister... and Papa, too! 

Later that week Rudy, Avery, and I made pom-pom Valentine monsters... eek!

They were so proud of their work!  We found some small pieces of wood that they painted and glued their monsters to... made for a colorful decoration!

Oh, Ben... next year, Bub...

AND to kick off Valentine's Day weekend, I made this IN MY OVEN!!



That's right!  Our cabinets doors were in and the appliances were installed!  I've never been so happy for Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizza!  I think I even cried a bit :)  We didn't have much of anything unpacked so my options were still limited, but I was using that oven darn it!

The guys couldn't quite get finished up on Friday afternoon, so they returned Saturday morning, Valentine's Day, to get the last few doors in.  A side story:  when the guys came over on Friday afternoon, after having been working all day, Avery kept commenting, "Those guys stinky, Mom." over and over and holding her nose.  I mean, sure, they didn't smell great, but whatever.  What was I supposed to say, though??  One guy even joked, "She's starting to make me feel bad about myself" -- I think they were sure to get a fresh shower in before coming over on Saturday and Avery let me know, loudly, "Those guys not stinky anymore!"  Phew!

Avery posing with my beautiful flowers that were delivered that morning :)

Dancing in the kitchen, "Spin me, Daddy!"

Best Valentine's Day ever!!

That night John and I joined our friends for a kid-free dinner and had a great time!  I was on Cloud 9... cabinets!!

The kids got to spend the night with Gran and Papa and scored matching jammies.. again, no luck on getting all three to focus at one time :)

I had big plans of spending the next morning unpacking the kitchen... but look closely... getting into those cabinets without handles was not so easy.  And we had yet to order pulls.  Oops!  I justified upgrading the shipping to get them sooner.  I cannot believe, after all this waiting, that we didn't think to have those ready to go.  But I didn't let it stop me from starting to hunt through boxes in search of some items... I at least had a kitchen sink now and an oven!

Cinnamon rolls AND muffins??  On nondisposable plates??  Things were looking up, folks :)

Nothing but love can rain on this parade!

And it's the truth! 

Our annual Valentine's Day photoshoot...

Are you ready for some football?!

Patriots made it to the Super Bowl!!!  

We decided to have a Super Bowl party at home, just the 5 of us.  John wanted to be able to watch every minute of the game and not be distracted by other people or kids and I was more than happy to stay cozied in.  The day before the game, the kids and I went to the party store to load up on party gear and to the grocery story for Super Bowl Sunday-football-worthy-but without a stove or much else-food for the day! 

We partied all day long.  Literally.  The kids looked like this starting at 8 am. 

Out take 1: The look on John and Ben's faces :)

The keeper:

Our view for the game:  Home Sweet Home

OH!… and they WON!!! 

(I guess that was the important part, right??) 

… in one of the most exciting, crazy ends in Super Bowl history!  John, Avery and I were the only ones still up to watch :)  But it was awesome!

The Mom I Judge the Most

I spent the last two days seriously judging a fellow mom. I know I shouldn’t, but just take a look at the mom I judge…

She gave her toddlers donuts for a snack before nap time. DONUTS.

She also gave them apple juice before bed.

She yelled at her son when he spilled her coffee.

Her three-year-old still poops his pants.

I saw her kids run away from her outside more than once this week. She chased them while stepping on the ends of her pajama pants which she is always wearing at 10 am.

She doesn’t shower every day.

She hid in the pantry eating M&M’s while her two-year-old threw a tantrum.

She lets her kids cry it out… except when she doesn’t. Couldn’t she choose a method and be consistent?

In almost every picture her kids aren’t fully clothed.

I saw her kids spill Cheerios all over the floor and then EAT THEM!

She unashamedly bribes her kids in public with cookies.

At bedtime, she fell asleep on the couch before her kids while they were sitting in front of the TV, eating cheerios off the floor.

Her son would not stop standing up in the cart at the grocery store while her daughter kept trying to open—and probably wanted to drink—the bottle of shampoo they were buying.

Her kids refuse to eat vegetables, and some days she doesn't even try.

She drinks Diet Coke every day.

Her house is usually messy.

The laundry -- can you believe she sometimes doesn't even get to putting it all away and just takes clean clothes from the basket in the mornings?

She keeps saying she is going to start working out or go on a diet, but I haven’t seen any difference in her figure at all.

Her clothes are plain and she needs a haircut.  She must own multiple pairs of those leggings because its all I ever see her wear.

Her family is always late for everything.

She longs for alone time and sometimes wishes she could just have a couple days without her kids. Why does she need alone time? She is a Stay-At-Home Mom. She gets to wear leggings all day and doze on the couch. I mean, seriously, isn’t her whole life a break?

That mom I was judging sounds pretty bad, right?

Oh yeah, that mom is ME.

I used to care what people thought of me and my kids.  Or worried mostly what I thought... you know that "mom guilt" that's always creeping up thanks to the media outpouring of what a "good" mom looks like - My life seemed to be consumed by what other people will think or say or worrying about how I should be doing this or that or what's "best" that I stopped enjoying it as much as I should.

My mantra of the new is: WHO CARES!?

People can judge and criticize each other all the time, all day long.  What works for one family, doesn't always work for another.  No two kids are a like, so no two parenting styles work a like.  Everyone's situation in life is different and there is no sense in comparing apples to oranges.

I may not be perfect, but I am a GOOD mom, and I really do know that.  I'm doing the best I can and providing the best I can. Sometimes I just have to go with my gut and stop worrying what "they" say (ya know, the so-called experts)!  Kids will be kids, and I'm letting them be just that.

So, from now on, others can criticize and analyze my parenting all they want - I even helped them out by writing this list - but I'm choosing to ease up on myself and enjoy these precious times!…because I'm learning all too quickly that it goes by so fast. So. Damn. Fast.

Playing Dress-up

Construction-working Power Ranger... that tool belt comes in handy for hammers and blasters... and a sword-fighting pirate princess, who is sure to carry a purse with her, too. 

No words.  Hanging with Dad...I'm sure the tunes are cool ones :)

This one is not my fault for having on film..."Mom, take me picture" - if you say so, Avery.  

I am happy to have a picture of that mask and sword, though.  On Christmas morning, after opening an obscene amount of presents, Rudy decided he wanted to be a blue knight.  John crafted a knight mask out of a rubber band and paper plate and a sword out of a cardboard box and duct tape.  Those two items were played with more than any other toy for days.. the only reason Avery has them in this picture is because Rudy is at school.

And Power Rangers have invaded our house.. "It's Morphin' Time!" is heard regularly.  Oh and "ha-ya! ha-ya!"  And "blasters" are a hot commodity. 

Never a dull moment around here!