"Elmo's World" Has a Little Something Extra

William came up to me and said "Elmo's world." I was a little confused because the TV wasn't on, and I tried to explain to him that we can't watch Elmo right now. He looked at me again, and said the same thing. "Elmo's world" and pointed to his diaper area. As I picked him up and tried to explain again, I caught a whiff of his stinky diaper and brought him upstairs for a change. As I put the new diaper, he says the same thing again. I'm a little slow, but I got it. He's talking about the Elmo on the diaper! I can't believe he made the connection all by himself to tell me that he was stinky by talking about the diaper. What a cutie.

"Woof woof"

William has a favorite stuffed dog-blanket that he holds tight and calls "woof woof." Most animals are called by their sounds, not their proper names. Tommy's brother brought his new puppy over the other day, and William was mesmorized by the noises the "woof woof" made. It took him a really long time to pet the dog, but I finally got him to pet her.

There is a lot of noise (it's mostly Daddy) but you can juust hear him say "niice woof woof" quite a few times. So cute!

It's a Bug's Life

Patrick was so excited to find his bug collector container. It has a magnifying glass on the top, as well as air holes so the bugs will be okay in side. He can even put the strap around his neck to take care of the bugs. I was thrilled at his enthusiasm, because he's not the most interested in bugs and getting dirty.

He very proudly came upstairs and announced that he has some new friends. He has roly polys named John and Betty. With a big grin on his face, he starts to tell me that his "pets" eat dead flies, and they were doing just fine. He brings over the container, and all rolled up in the corner are, in fact, two very small roly polys, but, they aren't moving. Not a single bit. I hesitatingly asked Patrick where he found them, and he says "in the basement." After a few more prodding questions, I finally said, "Um, Patrick? Do you know your bugs are dead?" He says "of course, I'm just pretending."

I still get the giggles when he talks about "John and Betty."

The next time someone tells me to smile with "no teef" remind me not to. Oh, and please don't let me take a photo and make it "black and white" with all my extra primping.

Emma's World

In Emma's world, every day would have something artistic in it. She would love to have her face painted like this EVERY day.
There is always room for more stuffed animals ("stuffy-wuffs"), especially when you can accessorize them!

Every day would be ballet day, and even a Boy scout dinner gets the honor of a pink tutu as part of her outfit. She got up to the microphone in the middle of all these boy scouts and told a joke. She was the talk of the evening in her pink tutu outift, and was so excited to come home and tell me about "winning first place with her joke." (Mr. Matt, she told your tissue joke!)

In Emma's world, there are never enough questions to be asked, and never enough answers.

While playing, every kind of toy has to be "married" to somebody. I love listening to the kids play, because even a spiderman and barbie can be married in her world. Her favorite line to use while playing is "pretend he didn't see her."

There is always a song on her lips, as well as a dance in her heart.

In Emma's world, every playground, party, store, doctor's appointment, stranger at the grocery store is an opportunity to make a new friend. Now, remembering their name is another story, but calling the girl with the black shirt "the black girl" seems sufficient to you.

Yesterday, my sister-in-law brought the new dog to our house. Emma was asking her about her baby in her tummy, and finished off by telling her, "Remember, when a baby moves in, a dog moves out." (for those of you who don't know, that is from Lady and the Tramp) She is quick with her comments, and usually bring a smile to our faces.

There is always somebody that needs to be told what to do. It's even better if it's a person smaller than you, and they are willing to listen and follow the lead. The little mommy is always ready to take a smaller person under her wing and show them "how to do it."

In Emma's world, there is not enough hours in the day to be with Daddy, and even sitting on top of him is not close enough. Daddy's Little Girl definitely has him wrapped around her finger.

"Cheese!"

Primped all day.
Fussed with my hair and put on more makeup than a regular Tuesday.
Picked just the right outfit and accessories.
Practiced my smile in the mirror.
Got a babysitter for the kids to make the trip easier and to make me look more relaxed.
Then I was off.....

.....to the DMV to renew my license and take my new 30 year old photo.

What? You would have done the same thing!

Just a case of the Mondays

We had a busy weekend with family in from out of town, family visiting, parties and working. Phew! It made it hard to get up this morning, and was feeling a bit off. I think everyone was feeling "off" today as well, because we had some extra meltdowns and whining. So, I made an executive decision: naps.for.everyone. Well, I thought at least the kids. I hoped to get some housework done, as well as tackle that mount Neverest laundry pile. You know what's coming next, don't you. Yep. I fell asleep. I put my head down amidst my piles of laundry and the next thing I know it's two hours (plus!) later. I woke up in a major fog, and was SURE that Emma's dance class was scheduled for next week, and even if it was this week, we wouldn't have made it because of the time. An HOUR later, I realized her class WAS this week, and we COULD have made it because the time had changed. Oh man. Don't you just HATE it when that happens?? On top of it all, that Bachelor picked the wrong girl, and was just hard to watch.

Here's hoping tomorrow is better!

My February Ramblings

• What is it about February and the weather that has made my kids crazy? We have had some of the oddest "lessons" lately, that I thought we had already covered, but, here I am, doing this all over again.
  
• I am starting to feel that I really need a maid. Need is probably not the right word. REALLY WANT a maid. The only problem is that my home is not maid-ready. I would have to clean/organize BEFORE the maid could come and clean. Sigh. Anyone up for either of those jobs?
  
• Why yes, I did just have a birthday. Milestone too. It was quite lovely, and no, I didn't cry. I don't feel old....yet. I took the kids to the House of Bounce and had friends and family all around the whole day, and ended the day with dinner with my mom, sisters, sister-in-law and new neice. We stayed out for hours, and it was just wonderful! We haven't done that in forever. I don't have any pictures of the "new me" yet, but I will do that soon. Tommy keeps making jokes that we "haven't been here since you've turned 30" or such nonsense. You know what's funny? I have a great group of friends, and I am the oldest of our group! That is just so weird to me.
  
• I have been thinking about what I am going to get myself for my birthday, and am realizing that there is a theme for my gift requests. For Christmas I asked for an attachment to my Dyson vacuum for my kitchen floors (I LOVE it!). Now, I want one of those Shark steam mops to use AFTER I vaccuum. LOL I must be getting old! I just want practical gifts.
  
• The snow is finally melting. It's mostly the big piles at the corners and in the front yards in our neighborhoods. Call me crazy, but I miss it. I loved seeing all the whiteness outside, and remembering the fun we had. I kind of wish it would snow again.....(ducking for cover before someone in my area throws a snowball at my head!)
• Lent is upon us, and I have yet to begin anything. I know. It's terrible. But, to be honest, I have come to discover (in my old age) that each penitential season, I don't usually pick my own penance. God almost always sends something my way to work on, and though I may not always listen, I do notice, and really want to try. I need to help my kids understand the meaning of "giving up" for Lent, because though we had a manger and straws to do during Advent, they really didn't get it. I read a great idea from a new blog I found, and I think I would like to implement something similar. I think a trip to the craft store is in order!

To The Alarm Clock

Dear Tommy's Alarm Clock,

He is not home. Really. He's not here. I promise. You don't need to go off at 5AM. I know you have this internal program that tells you that you MUST go off during the week, but He's.Not.Here. I am not sure how to work you, so I thought I had the best solution for this week. Can you please explain to me how you STILL went off at 5 after I unplugged you??!?! I'm pretty sure I wasn't dreaming because I made sure to look at my own clock before I crawled to that side of the bed to shut it off. Really? I mean, REALLY? I know it's Lent, and it may be a time for more penances, so I should accept it as such, but it's hard.

Could you please get your act together for the next couple days?

Very respectfully,
The sleeping momma-that-just-may-throw-you-out-the-window-if-you-try-that-again

"Massanuthin" Weekend

I kept telling the kids we were going to Massanuten, but they kept saying massanuthin' and it made me laugh. We had planned a trip with the Iveys and Matt Wilson for the long weekend. Little did we know that we would be indoors and Tommy would be home for the whole week before! The house belongs to Matt's parents and it was just perfect for our weekend. I loved that it was a winter wonderland around the ski resort with all the lovely mountains around. Our day trip was to Luray, which I had never been to before.
The kids were really excited, but kept asking us if it was real rocks, or just pretend. LOL

This is the Dream Lake, the formations are on the ceiling!

See the headsets? There was a version for the adults and one for the kids. The latter was WAY more entertaining!
Here's the Iveys! Susan, Mike and Lauren (and baby due soon!).

This was Patrick's favorite: The Fried Eggs!

Here's Wilson and Patrick! My camera doesn't do the caverns justice.

Lauren and William played so well together! Look how cute.

We played LOTS of Wii, and William was right in the thick of it too! See those pajamas William has on? Those are his "football" pajamas that he loves because it has the redskins and footballs, his favorite things. Well, one night while we were there, he found them in my suitcase, pulled them out and brought them to me, saying "footballs, footballs." He was already in pajamas, so I just put them aside. He got very frustrated and kept repeating the same thing, and handing me the pajamas. Finally, he points to the pajamas and pats on his legs to get the point across (all the time repeating "footballs" over and over, each time with more emphasis) that he wants to wear them. I said, "okay, but you have to lie down" and he did just that. I put them underneath his other pajamas. All night he kept patting his legs and saying "footballs" in a very contented tone. That kid is too funny.

After Sunday Mass, most of us went Tubing. Emma absolutely loved every minute of it, and Patrick was done after 2 times. The kids called my mom to talk about it, and while Emma was telling her that she did something "twice, no, three times" Patrick corrected her and said "thrice." What a kid! I wished I had brought my camera to capture their fun on the slopes. It was a great weekend, with much needed time away.

Sing with me now: "Let it snow, let it snow!"

Call me crazy, but I love snow. I love being at home in the nice warm house with my family and watching the snow fall from inside. The snowstorm which dumped 32" of snow in our area was soo pretty to see! I was amazed at the amount, but it was just lovely.

We had some great plans for our snow day, but the power had other ideas. So, our day was spent bundling up inside as well as out. For about 12 hours we were without power. Tommy spent the day shoveling and trying to figure out where to put all this snow. (There's a photo that shows piles and piles of snow on either side. The left are the cars and the right are the piles in the front yards.) The kids were playing outside with all of the other neighbors who were out of doors as well, since we were all without power. I spent the day hanging wet clothes that wouldn't dry and fielding the same questions from the kids: "Why won't the stereo/light in the fridge/clock on the oven/light in the bathroom work?" It was pretty funny. My favorite conversation was when I heard Emma on the phone with my Dad who offered to loan us some of his power. I don't think she understood, but to hear her tell about Mommy shoveling, and the lights out, it was too cute. We had some wonderful family time, and it was really nice to go out and chat with our neighbors. (On a side note, we have AWESOME neighbors! They let me kids help them shovel and brush snow off, because they wanted to help, and they were just so kind. I would like to think of this as a bonding experience.) Our dinner was served by candle light which included a mix of all the scented candles I had on hand, of which I seem to have quite a few! LOL Thankfully, the power went back on before the REALLY cold night. I have to admit I was happy to go to bed with the hum of my dishwasher and heater lulling me to sleep.

One of the neat things that came from the storm happened the following day. We were invited to watch the Super Bowl at our neighbor's house! It was so great, and the kids had so much fun in a different house with a change of scenery and toys. It was just nice to sit and chat with such a great couple and their son who is Patrick's age (he's in the sledding picture).

Can I tell you that I am excited that we have another storm coming through with about 10-20" more?? ;)

The Most Roaring Car!

Patrick had his first Pinewood Derby race today. He and Daddy worked really hard on the car. Patrick picked the shape and design and Tommy (and Emma) helped with the painting. The cars were really amazing, and the theme was "Heroes." I was impressed with all the different designs of heroes, and Patrick decided he wanted to make his hero the Tiger Cubs (which, is the name of his pack, er, den? Something. He's called a Tiger Cub right now. :)
His car is second from the right (it's sitting backwards). It has Tigers and stripes on it. This is pre-stripes (can you tell it's a tiger?). Emma "helped" paint some more with no supervision. I'm not sure which stripes were her doing. It's still kind of cool.
The judges voted on the cars the night before, and Patrick won the "Most Roaring Car" award. I love this photo.

The side of the car says "Tiger Cubs" but the wheels covered some of it up. Patrick raced 6 times and won 2 of the six. Here is a video of one of his wins! My favorite part is the "good sportsmanship" part at the end of the race. Each boy did that after each race and the proud mommy in me loved it. (I only got to see a couple races since I had to work. I was grateful that Tommy filmed one for me!)