HEY.

We are alive and well and glad to be back in California again.

3-24-11: Ms. Short sould (should) bring ice cream on Monday. I lick (like) ice cream. It wod (would) be very nic (nice) uv (of) you. I will be your best friend. I will be vere (very) good to you.

3-29-11: The boy shold not squish the ant. It wold be sad. He mite be his frend. He wold miss his famulee.

I think this last one is my favorite. It’s so sweet!

1-20-11:

Dear Polar Bear,

I heard that you are lonle (lonely). I heard that you cant see in the darc (dark). I will send you glow werms (worms).

Lov(e), T

1. Back in May there were two days in between when T’s school ended and camp began. I took those days off work so I could hang out with him. I went ahead and sent Q to daycare anyway so I could run errands with just T and get things ready for her birthday party. He came with me to pick her up and we poked our heads in the pre-K classroom to say hi to his pre-K teacher. It was their last day of pre-K and all the kids were on the carpet doing circle time. His teacher called him over and told the class how he was where they were one year ago and how he just finished Kindergarten. She asked him to talk about Kindergarten and then let the kids ask questions. It was so sweet! They asked things like: “Do you get to do art? How do you learn to color so well? Where do you eat lunch? What’s your favorite thing about Kindergarten? How do you learn to read?”
He did a great job answering their questions. The pre-Kers thought he was so cool and he was pretty proud of himself. I was really proud of him too.

2. Last week after a particularly long bath, Q looked down at her fingers and exclaimed, “I’m sprinkly!” (Ya know, like WRINKLY).

3. Q graduated from trike to bike (with training wheels) last month:

4. T and I went to Star Wars Day at the library. It was really neat to see all the characters! T thought it was neat but kept a safe distance – just in case!

5. I just finished reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. It was a page turner and I couldn’t put it down! It was sad and kind of depressing, but a good read. I heard some of her other books are great too so I’ve “ordered” them at the library and hope they come in soon!

6. Someone taught someone else how to use the computer.

7. Ken took Q to Princess Night at our local Chick-Fil-A. She had fun except when the Chick-Fil-A Cow-Dressed-Like-A-Princess came around. She was very afraid of it. Can you blame her?

She did enjoy getting her nails painted (for the first time) and the pink ice cream.

And here she is with one of the princesses:

8. Q asked me to take a picture of her snowflake. I was confused until she climbed on her bed and started making snow ANGELS. So, here’s a picture of my snowflake.

9. I just realized this post is very daughter heavy. Q is much more excited about having her picture taken. Also, lately, T spends much of his time playing games on the computer or his DS. He is currently obsessed with Club Penguin. Pokemon is making a resurgence since that’s what the kids are talking about and playing with at summer camp. And every other word out of his mouth is still fart or poop. I’m told this will never end.

A nice side effect is that sometimes they will randomly give hugs and express their love too, and not just when they are trying to butter us up (although that does happen sometimes). The other day, T told me he loved me and sometimes when he does this I like to tease him and ask, “Really? Do you love me more than… ICE CREAM? … more than CHOCOLATE???”

T: “Yes, I love you more than ice cream AND chocolate! AND BEE STINGS!”

This made me laugh a lot. I learned later that he heard this on a TV show but it was still cute. He gauged my reaction and wanting more laughs, he continued, “I love you more than stinky butts… poopy farts…”

Well, it went downhill fast but it was still sweet.

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday we went to Snake Day. The snakes were on display indoors but because it was so crowded, it was still hot inside plus it was hard to move around. There were some activities outside but it was just so scorching hot. The kids were not that into it and I have a hard time enjoying anything when I’m dripping with sweat. Extreme heat makes me grumpy, which means I will be grumpy well into September. We decided to seek relief at the library. Wonderful, free, air-conditioned library. We hung out there for a while and picked up some books. Then we got cones at Dairy Queen and visited with friends.

Sunday we got a little shopping done but other than that we hung out at home all day. I felt like I was busy all day doing things around the house but had nothing to show for it. I hate that! We all have clean underwear and clean dishes so I guess that’s something.

I’m becoming a bit concerned about Q. I’m thinking it’s probably just a phase but I don’t remember T going through this which doesn’t mean much I guess because I have a horrible memory and have not been good at documenting things. The girl is opinionated. She is demanding. And she is bossy! Some people might have a hard time believing this because around others she is usually soft spoken and on the quiet side. She saves the diva for us. She’s like a little teenager. She’s a threenager.

Last night, a few minutes after I put her to bed, I went back in to give her the blanket that we had taken out earlier. She said, “Why do you ALWAYS wake me up?!?!?” Um, I rarely go back into her room once I’ve said goodnight so I don’t know what she is talking about. But the tone of voice. Total attitude. Total threenager. Yikes.

It’s just a phase. It’s just a phase. It’s just a phase.

Right?

P.S. I thought I was pretty brilliant coming up with “threenager”, but I guess not.

I made these paper napkin flower centerpieces for Q’s birthday party last month. Excellent tutorial found at Made. Instead of using a wooden dowel, I used pencils and they doubled as take home favors. These were fun and easy to make. I’ll definitely be making them again for future parties!

T was in our line of sight and we saw him playing a game on the computer. We could not see or hear Q.

“Q, where are you?” I called.

Nothing.

“Q……………………………………………………………”

Nothing.

I went to investigate and discovered this:

Yikes! She climbed up on the counter and grabbed the Vaseline off the top shelf and was having a grand time rubbing it all over herself!

The Vaseline has now been relocated to a more secure location.

T’s school had an Art and Garden day that we attended. There were so many cool activities like potting a plant, making pinwheels from aluminum cans, pottery, and making your own wooden car. I wanted to do them all but I guess it wasn’t about me. The kids were NOT interested. We did manage to get them to make a butterfly using coffee filters.

Sadly, the most exciting thing about this event for them was the Fritos from the snack bar. Ah well. It was still a nice morning and they did run around and play quite a bit. I also was able to take this picture which is my new favorite picture of them together:

We also celebrated Mother’s Day. I requested pancakes at Cracker Barrel. They are buttery, slightly crispy, and awesome when you can dip them in blackberry sauce. Yum.

After that we went to Trader Joe’s where the kids were very excited to find Rocky the lobster that was hidden somewhere in the store. Once you find it, you get to pick out candy from the treasure box and then you get to hide it somewhere for the next kid to find. Wise marketing there Trader Joe’s! Now they want to go there all the time!

This month also marked T’s graduation from Kindergarten! It’s unbelievable how quickly the school year went by. It’s amazing to think of how much he learned this past year. I feel like this was probably the most monumental year since he learned how to read. He also made some great friends and most importantly he LOVED school. He loved going, he loved his teachers, and he loved LEARNING. School was such a positive experience this year and I hope that continues for him.

Finally, someone turned THREE this month! MY BABY! She is a baby no more and turning into a funny little girl. We have friends whose son shares her birthday so we had a joint party. It’s not easy doing a Strawberry Shortcake/Thomas the Train themed party so the theme started and stopped with cupcake toppers.

There was bouncing…

There was swinging…

There was a light saber battle…

There was Pinkalicious driving a 4×4…

Fun was had by all.

May was pretty hectic. I expect June will be quieter. I was feeling mom guilt that T has to go to day camp all summer but he’s having fun there. A handful of kids he went to pre-K with are there and a few of his Kindergarten classmates are there too. They go on field trips every Tuesday and he gets to swim EVERY DAY. He’s having lots of fun there. I’m not feeling so guilty anymore, just jealous! I want to go to summer camp!

We’ve got two daddy’s girls in this house. One is worse than the other. Can you guess which one?

It’s the one with four legs! Our whole family rescued Peanut but Ken is her hero! She cries and sometimes howls when he leaves. She panics if she can’t find him. She’ll sleep next to him on the couch but lately insists on sleeping on his lap so that he can’t get up and leave without her knowing.

Anyways, I love this picture. They are watching Ken through the backdoor working in the yard.

A snapshot of my world. It’s pretty wonderful. I feel so lucky for my family and that I was given the chance to be a mother. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but also the most amazing.

Motherhood can be frustrating and fraught with self-doubt. Most of the time I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Lately though, I’ve been admiring my children as they are and catching glimpses of who they are becoming and feeling more confident that I’m doing something right.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mamas out there!

We recently celebrated our 11th anniversary by enjoying a little weekend getaway to Helen, Georgia. We are grateful that Ken’s family was able to watch the kids and the dog (who was a little escape artist! twice!) and we enjoyed lots of peace and quiet. It was such a nice treat to sleep in, relax, and not have to tend to the needs of short people.

Ken has a new job! He started his new job last week (about one month after I started my new job) and it is all sorts of awesome because he works days (instead of nights) and the job is 10-15 minutes away (vs. 1 hr)! We are all so glad to have him around during the week and have a more “normal” schedule again. The timing worked about because I was about to either have a nervous breakdown or start therapy or both.

T will be done with Kindergarten in less than two weeks! I can’t believe it! Seems like yesterday we were walking him to school on his first day. I’m curious to see how he will handle it. He really loves school and his teachers.

Q is doing fine. She seems taller every time I look at her. She’ll be three soon and in a few months time will be the age T was when she was born.

Here is my favorite picture from Easter:

Can you feel the love? She was mad because he got more eggs (he only got like two more than she did!). I don’t think it would have been an issue except that she was sugared up, over-tired, and had not napped.