Wednesday, December 31, 2008

noon years eve.

Happy Noon Years Eve! The kids and I celebrated it 'young child' style with our good friends, the Lobis's, at the Science Center of Iowa.


There were a ton of balloons and even more confetti.





We only had one episode of documented all out sassy-ness

(her shirt reads "sweet" a little irony anyone?)

Happy New Years to Everyone!

Friday, November 28, 2008

Ten Minutes by Herself, That is All It Takes....

INSIDE I am laughing so hard that I had to post before I even clean up...



Notice the 6 or so Oreos that she has cleverly cleaned the frosting out of, with a spoon (heaven forbid she gets her fingers dirty). And, if you could see inside each of the cups you could see that each is filled with M&M's.


Seriously she was alone downstairs by herself for 10 minutes. Fair to say she is almost self-sufficient, if left alone and hungry she will find food, even if it is just M&M's, Oreo cookies and a previously unopened bag of sugar.

(she is looking over my shoulder looking at the pictures saying "L made just a little mess on the couch).

UPDATEDED
It gets even better, as I am cleaning up, I pick up the sugar and ask her:

Me: "Why did you open this? Did it taste good?"
L: "I didn't open it"
Me: "You didn't? Who did?"
L: "Brother did"

Of note - brother was upstairs, in his bed napping like she was supposed to be doing.

(also of note, I was in the house with the kids - I was upstairs, she down)

Monday, November 3, 2008

The Worlds Best!

I was lucky enough to stumble across the worlds' best photographer when L was 6 months old. We have made many repeat visits to see her I am super excited to go back in a few weeks for T's 1 year pictures, hopefully she is looking forward to seeing us as well!

As a preview (or rewind?), here is a picture of T from his 6 month's session: http://amydoerring.com/blog/. Makes me want the day to hurry up so I can see my chubbers again!

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Just for Ed


"Move your hips in big round circles"

Why we don't travel thru airports...

L's favorite song is Laurie Berkner's Three Little Pigs. In fact it has become her favorite story to recite back. Except she has ONE little line wrong, as L tells it: "I'll blow your house up".

THE MOONS ALIGNED!

It has only taken 10 months, but it FINALLY HAPPENED. ONE good picture of the two kiddos together!!!!! Apparently all good things take 9-10 months.

I just had to share!



Now if only my little T would start to sleep thru the night... heck I'd even take 3 hour increments!

More posts to come, I have lots of ideas in my head, just been busy and haven't made the time to post.

Sunday, October 12, 2008

She's a Maneater

L built a cage for her brother today. He happily stay in his cage for about 20 minutes before the "woman you will not trap me" testosterone based syndrome set in.



Mothers, hide your little boys. She's a maneater

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Playdate

L had a friend (K) over for a playdate, they made cupcakes! Think they had fun?




Fun side note, my friend Jamie (K's mom) is an awesome mom and cook, but doesn't bake so the mixer scared the shit out of K! It was hilarious!

Senior Picture Pose

Senior pictures look much different today, but if T had been born 30 years ago this is the pose he may have taken for his senior pictures.

Another 10 seconds of L's faces

Ready Set Go (Again!)





(notice her jaws are always flapping)

Friday, September 19, 2008

It Happened

I once went to lunch with a friend and her 2 year old daughter several years ago, before I had kids. My friend picked the location - the deli of Hy Vee (an area grocery store). Her daughter was being ornery (actually she was just being 2) and my friend said to her daughter "That isn't the way you behave in nice restaurants". I had a great laugh about it - it was the DELI AT HY VEE not a nice restaurant! Besides, who willing eats there except old people? For many many many years I have made fun of Amy about that comment.

Fast forward to today, I was out running errands and found myself at Target during lunch time. No big deal, I have eaten there several times before, except today was different, after battleling for several minutes (felt like hours) with L to behave I opened my mouth and out came the words "This isn't how you behave at nice restaurants". OMG. Seriously I just said that.

Of course I had to tell my friend. Her response "what goes around comes around" - there will be a lot coming around.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

T-man

Because the blog is missing photos of T....






Her Father.

Dude doesn't know this, but L's real dad is Richard Simmons

Friday, August 22, 2008

When Pigs Fly

Guess where I took the kids for breakfast this morning? Better yet, guess what large ceramic animal they have standing outside the door. Thank you Iowa Machine Shed for making it nearly impossible to get in your front door (note the extreme sarcasim). I will forgive you though; our server (even in his overalls) was good looking.

(If you haven't read about L's fear of pigs, read this.)

Kiss it

The fashionista she is, L had my high heels on, purse over her arm, pushing her baby stroller around. The 2 1/2 inch heels were just a little too much and she tripped, falling on her bottom. Crying, she backed over to me, pointed at her butt and said "Kiss it".

Being the wonderful parent I am, I did.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Pretty postive it is hot where I am going

A few weeks ago the family took a trip to the Iowa State Fair. Good times had by all,



We visited the Cattle Barn, Horse Barn, Sheep Barn, Birthing Center and a little bit of everywhere else. L was FEARLESS. BIG, HUGE ASS BELGIN HORSES - BRING THEM ON! No fear - "I touch" to everything. The last barn we visited was the Pig Barn (not sure if that is what they truly call it). Anywho, for some reason L was freaked out by the 'piggies’ and would not touch them, even with my coaxing, pulling her arm and trying to force her to touch the pig's wet nose. Giving up, we move on to exit the barn. Completely oblivious to what is going on in front of her, just celebrating the fact that we let her out of the stroller to walk, I was able to say “L, look there is a piggy!” as it was running right for her, with the young 4-H’r trailing behind it. It might have been in those next few panic filled, screaming bloody murder moments as the pig brushed by her that her indescribable, over-the-top fear of pigs developed (or it could have been my attempt to pull her arm out of its socket trying to get her to just touch the pig prior). Just the mention of pig drives this child to look feverishly for her anti-anxiety pills.

Why the story? Fast forward to tonight, I took L on errands with me, hoping that providing this wild, short tempered (only a 20 minute nap, thank you cousin K) child a change of scenery might speed up the night. WHO THINKS LIKE THAT? (except a FRAZZLED MOTHER trying to have it all – career, friends (lunch with a girlfriend today) family and a little of ‘martha stewart’ baby shower planner). The entire Target store knew we were there and that sidekick was in a foul mood. I even tried bribing her with mini-oreos (which did nothing more than set her off even more when she couldn’t get ALL of the stuffing out of the cookie). So here is this child, end-of-day-food-stained attire, oreo-crap everywhere on her face, trying to climb out of the cart, SCREAMING about ANYTHING – frosting in the cookie, she wants that neckless, she wants the paci, she wants to ‘touch’ this toy/that toy. What does the parent of the year do? Nothing. We made it out of Target alive. BUT the Parent of the year (the one reference earlier, who wants it all) does try her luck and brings her to just ONE MORE STORE. (Apparently I had used my last brain cell in pouring the milk in her Fruity Pebbles diner earlier in the evening, I digress). In Stein Mart, after a scene similar to the one above, I am at the end of my rope so I say “L you had better sit down or I am going to take you to see the piggy’s”. Freak out follows, SCREAMING “I SCARED OF PIGGY’S” so I bust I out the back up line “If you keep screaming, they are going to know you are over here and find you”. She is now resolved to making herself as small as possible, whispering to herself “i scared of piggys” the entire rest of the shopping trip, even to the cashiers. All the way home “I scared of piggys”. Bedtime – pretty sure you figured it out.
Any bets on how many times she wakes up in the night?

(disclaimer: in my defense I didn’t realize the EXTREME extent of her piggy fear until tonight, I now know and will only use against her in EXTREME situations, like “DON’T RUN IN THE STREET, THE PIGGY WILL GET YOU”.)

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

It ain't sexy, but it is ours

A family picture, complete with cheeto-stained mouth on L's face (thank you Grandma K.... who gives a 2 year old cheeto's RIGHT before family pictures?!?!)

I'll paint your toes too



She isn't Asian, but you would never guess that by the way she paints toenails.

Cousins doing the nastics

Cousin K is going to be a big sister, so while her mom (dude's sister) had a dr appointment Cousin K came to play! L had gymnastics (otherwise known as 'nastics') and Cousin K joined us - the girls had a BLAST!


Does this lipstick match my outfit?

The family embarked on a bike ride last night, sidekick & wingman close to my side (backside) in a bike trailer. Because we road to DQ for a treat I had my purse in the trailer. One the way home from the bike ride I hear L smacking her lips...



What do you think, is it a good color on her?

Friday, August 1, 2008

Childless People Package Toys....

We have been under self-imposed quarantine at our house (I could go on a rant about people that let their children play with others when they are sick and know it, but I’ll save it for another day). After a late night trip to the ER due to a really high fever we discovered L had hand-foot-and-mouth (sounds so dirty, so animal like).

Good news, she is feeling better, to make up for the stagnate play of her toys for a few days she took every single toy out of the toy boxes this morning.


It is great that she feels better, but it makes me sick to realize that I need to sanitize every single one of those toys because of ‘play’ like this:


I'd like to take a moment to thank all the grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles for billion and two toys, especially the '150 ball pit' and the bag of '100 blocks'.

Now if only my little wingman and I can start to feel better....

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

How's your week?

One of the dogs shit in the front seat of my car and then jumped on it squishing it in.

Next day: L threw up in the backseat of my car, all over her carseat on the way home from the ER at 1 am.

Tell me, how is your week?

Friday, July 18, 2008

The phone rings, here is how the conversation goes:

Guy on the phone: Is this Beth Ann?
Me: Yes
Guy on the phone: This is Mark with something something Iowa Sheriff's department
Me: Okay (thinking in my head, I haven't done anything, that I know of)
Mark (guy on the phone): I am calling about id cards for children
Me: Okay
Mark: Wouldn't you agree that just 1 child missing is too many?
Me: Yes, that is why I talked with my therapist about it and am going to stop taking random kids.
Mark: silence
Me: just joking. But seriously I don't donate money over the phone.

Friday, June 27, 2008

A Little Diddy About Jack and Diane….

...except no Jack or Diane and really only a diddy about L. I’ll move on...

I am fortunate to have the flexibility to spend Friday’s (for the most part) at home and work when I can fit it in (not really work at home, but be at home and work). Anywho, I love being at home with the kiddos, it grounds me and I find myself looking back at the day laughing at the little things that I miss while I am working. Take for instance L’s attempt at a nap today. Here is how the first 45 minutes went (and she was the one who told me she was tired and ready to go night-night):

~ 5 minutes into her nap, found her in the spare bed, watching tv (with the fan and radio turned on)
~ 10 minutes into her nap, jumping on her bed
~ 13 minutes into her nap, in our closet playing with whatever she can find (leaving a mess for me to clean up)
~ 18 minutes into her nap, peeked in because it was quite; she had a stack of books she was reading (left her be)
~ 21 minutes into her nap (short books), in my room jumping on the bed (with T sleeping soundly on the bed as well)
~ 30 minutes into her nap, playing with block in T's room
~ 35 minutes into her nap dancing to Shrek music (all of a sudden the music got louder….)

She is asleep now, don't know why she would be tired. Thought about trying to take a picture of her sleeping – she looks so sweet. But I want the sweetness to last just a few hours so I can get some stuff done.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Me & L

The Best


My BEST picture of the 2 kiddos together. Not bragging....

10 Seconds of Faces

Ready, set GO:


















No joking these pictures were taken within a 10 second timeframe. I am not sure where she gets her visual 'animation' from.

(the orange on her face was a sample of T-man's sweet potatoes, she is the taste-tester for our prince)

Long time, no blog....

Long time, no blog. I'd like to say I am going to get better at posting, but..... 2 kids, 50 hours work week and somewhat a of a life.

At a quick glance here is what has been happening.

My baby brother graduated high school:



L had a REALLY bad hair day:



An old fashion 'pool party' with friends:



Camping Trip:



L gave horse back riding a try (sorry the picture stinks, it was poorly-lighted indoor arena):



L decides to dress herself:



T tried sweet potatoes:



Gave potty training a try (I vote for diapers):



And tried YET AGAIN to get ONE good picture of the kids together:








So that in a nutshell is what has been going on with us. What's new with you?