Storm-Watching

Davis watching the weather from our front window.

We survived Hurricane Irene (it was actually downgraded to a tropical storm before it even hit CT, but I'm still claiming I lived through a hurricane)! In fact, we never even lost power. Our only casualties came from our garden.--I don't know if the tomato and pepper plants are going to make it, but you won't hear us complain about it. Thanks for all the phone calls, texts, and especially prayers!

Preparing for Hurricane Irene

We are in full-fledged disaster prep at our house this morning. At least I am. The kids are clueless to what might happen over the next few days and instead are watching PBS while check all our supplies to make sure we have enough batteries, flashlights, and matches. I also stocked up on water, diapers, and chocolate, so we should be set if the rains really do start to come down.

I never thought I'd say this, but I think I miss those crazy Iowa ice storms...so much for moving to a milder climate...

Passionate

If I could pick one word to describe Davis at his current stage of life, passionate is the word I would choose. From his sticky, slobbery kisses ("muuuuaaaahhh! Te quiero MAMA!!") to his full-body tantrums and mad hair-pulling skills. Lately, whenever he takes a bite of anything, whether it be pasta or strawberries or garbanzo beans, he makes me feel like a world-class chef. I captured a little bit of video of him eating oatmeal this morning.

Allow me to translate the video. When I first pull out the camera, he yells (that's the only way he knows how to speak these days) "cheese!" a couple of times. A few seconds later after he notices the oatmeal on my spoon you will hear him bellow, "Some!!!" I then remind him to ask nicely and he exclaims, "por fav-some!!!" That's some sweet Spanglish, I tell ya. Upon trying the oatmeal you will hear him express his satisfaction for his gooey breakfast (correction, it was my gooey breakfast--he had already eaten his but insisted on eating mine too).

Davis loves anything with wheels and refers to all cars as "Lightning" ( he pronounces them  "eye--eeeeeennn"). That little red race car is going to be in my life for years to come. 

Look closely and you'll notice that my stove has no knobs on it. It's because my baby has attempted (on more than one occasion) to light his own hair on fire. Needless to say, I caught him just in the nick of time. Two close calls was too many for me so now I just pull the knobs out one at a time when I need to fire up the stove.   

I found all three of my monkeys jumping in D's crib the other morning when I went to get the kids up for the day, but Ike jumped out before I could get a shot of him.

When we are out in public I often get the same three comments about our D-Man. 1) How white-blonde his hair is/how much he looks like Ryan, 2) How tough he is--the boy can take quite a spill and stand right back up, and 3) How unafraid of strangers he usually is. A women at church recently said to me, "You better watch out, that boy would be really easy to kidnap." Thanks for the heads-up. I'll watch my back.

From the Mouth of My Babe

Isaac trying on Ryan's sleep mask (ok, so it's my sleep mask).

Isaac had an accident this afternoon in the bathroom. Let's just say his aim was a little off.
"Mom! I got pee all over the floor!" he bellowed.
I handed him a towel and tried to make light of the situation. "That's ok," I explained. "We all make mistakes sometimes, but it's no big deal. Even moms and dads make mistakes, too."
"Yeah," he agreed, "but they make them a lot more than kids do!"

Snack Dinner

My MIL gave me a piece of advice when Ryan graduated this past spring and we found ourselves on the brink of beginning residency. "Just find things to enjoy about having Ryan gone a lot."

While I can't complain about my husband's schedule (thus far it hasn't been the nightmare I expected it to be), there are usually two or three late nights a week. Those are nights when snack dinners come in handy. I usually love to cook but not solely for little ones (who usually don't appreciate it), so I don't. With snack dinners I just put a bunch of food in a muffin tin and let the kids go to town. No coaxing or bribing them to eat dinner, and when we eat outside I don't even have to remind them repeatedly to sit in their seat while they eat.

Someone stick a gold star on my forehead for convincing Davis (with sound effects "mmmmm, delicisoso!") that canned garbanzo beans are tasty.

Ike didn't even feel the need to exert the energy it takes to sit upright while eating.

Maddie shoved the popcorn in her mouth at record speed.

So when Ryan can't be home to eat with us, popcorn and apples at least make dinnertime less of a battle.

A Do-Over

I recently started a gratitude journal where I try to keep track of good things that happen throughout the day. It's also where I write funny things the kids say so I can remember them in the years to come. Tonight I feel like sharing what I wrote this evening:

• Today Maddie said to me at the beginning of quiet time, "Could you leave some water in the room for me to drink for when I start achooing?" I think "achooing" is a much better word than coughing/sneezing.
•  I am thankful that today is OVER. One of my hardest days as a mother EVER. I wish I would have handled things differently. The low point was losing my temper with Maddie over a HOT DOG. I told Ryan after the kids went to bed (with tears streaming down my face) that I wanted a do-over. "That's the great thing about being a parent to young children, honey, you get a do-over everyday because they won't remember this stuff in the morning." His words made me feel much better (even though Maddie probably will remember this stuff in the morning--just ask her what happened to her Dora's Pirate Adventure dvd).
• I am thankful for this episode I found about Motherhood on mormonchannel.org
• Today in the midst of my horrible day, I prayed that Ryan would call me. He did. He is somehow able to see me at my best even when I am acting my worst. I am thankful that I have the kind of husband that I hope calls me because I know he'll always cheer me on and give me just the pep talk I need. He even brought me home ice cream because he knows that Blizzards make any bad day better. 
• Family Home Evening was comical. I planned a lesson entitled "Using Kind Words" (because I myself needed it, thank you very much). We had not even finished the opening song, "Love is Spoken Here," when the D-Man marched unprovoked up to Isaac and yanked on his hair as hard as he could, which caused Ike to holler in pain, and both Ryan and I (and probably Maddie as well) to reprimand Davis, who then burst into tears. I felt a little hypocritical finishing the song, "...and the things they teach are crystal clear for love is spoken here..." after that incident. It only went downhill from there.
• At one point before bed, both Ryan and I were scolding Maddie pretty harshly for trying to KICK Davis down the stairs. "Do you know what happened to Isaac on the stairs?!?" said Ryan, "He broke his arm!!!" "Do you want Davis to fall and break his head?!?" I snapped.  "Actually," chimed Isaac, clearly oblivious to the tension in the room, "My arm didn't break, just the bones inside it." Not now, buddy, Not.Now. 
• Good thing tomorrow I get a do-over.

Luckily this sweaty boy was too exhausted to put up much of a fight at bedtime. A dirty look was his only retaliation. 

Should I lay off the Veggie Tales?

I just recently purchased a smart phone and for the first time tonight realized that I can take video with it and then upload said video to youtube with just the click of a button. I may be late to this party, but how cool is that?

Lately Isaac has been making up all sorts of songs, and below you will find the song he made up for me tonight at bedtime. I am certain that he found some of his inspiration in this video. Not sure quite what to think of it, but Ryan has been telling me that I need to lay off the Veggie Tales with the kids or Ike will be asking to go to Vacation Bible Camp before we know it.

My only response to that is, "What's so wrong with Vacation Bible Camp?"



After I uploaded the video, I started to watch a few videos that I posted about this time a year ago. I cannot believe how fast kids grow up. It doesn't seem fair that the days can sometimes drag on and on but yet I blink and they are a year older. These childhood years are so so short, so here's to enjoying them as much as I can while they still think I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Here is a video of Maddie from almost exactly a year ago singing her favorite cartoon jingle:



And here is one of Davis. How could I have forgotten how super-chubby my little Chancho was???



And I wonder why Davis is such a loud child...

Corey Comes to Visit

My sister, Corey, came to visit this week. It was wonderful to see her and spend a day with her. 

First we hit up a splash pad across the street from the beach.

Maddie was inches from getting drenched by a bucket full of water.

Isaac livin' it up.

D was a little skeptical at first but warmed up to the water after a minute or two.

After the splash pad we crossed the street and played at the beach for awhile.

Never a dull moment with Maddie around.

Loading up on Vitamin D.

After the beach we filled up on Slurpees and later, delicious seafood. Here is they only pic I have of all of us before my sisters headed out on a cross-country trek to the Bayou. We will sure miss them. Thanks for the visit, Corey! Come back soon! How 'bout Christmas? I pinkie swear I'll take you to NYC next time!

Because I'm too Lazy to do a Separate Post for Each Event...

...here are a few random photos of things we have been up to over the past couple of weeks.

Davis learning to play "Hungry Hungry Hippos" with his Papa.

 We have been getting together with friends in our neighborhood once or twice a week for a little co-op. Half of the moms stay with the kids and supervise their own children as well as the other children in the group, and half of the moms drop their kids off (as long as they are at least 2 1/2--no toddlers are left without their mamas) and have a couple of hours by themselves or with just one child. It's wonderful. It gives us something planned that we can look forward to during the week, and I don't even mind being one of the supervising moms because all of the other children in the group seem to get along really well and are well-behaved. Plus, it's great to have time to run errands with just Davis when it's my turn to drop kids off--grocery shopping with just one child---yes, please! I only wish we would have come up with this great idea while we lived in Iowa.

Isaac at the park with some new friends.

On our park days, D usually spends most of his time milling around other people's strollers, looking for snacks and water bottles. 

Ike has since had his cast removed. I cannot tell you how much easier MY life is(not to mention HIS) when this boy has TWO functioning arms. 

Maddie, contemplating the meaning of life.

We also visited a local orchard for the first time since moving to CT and it was a big hit. We picked fresh peaches (peach pie, baby!) and blueberries. 

I had never seen a blueberry bush until that day. 

Brooke came along as well. The kids adore her. She's heading back to Louisiana for a few months and we will all miss her so much. Davis even refers to her as "mommy."

It doesn't get much better than holding hands with your babies, does it? We can't wait for the pears and apples to be ready--there are 28 different kinds of apples in this orchard!

Balsamic black bean salsa, where  have you been all my life? This is my current favorite recipe (and honestly, one of the only recipes I've attempted this summer. My kitchen is on sabbatical right now. Otter pops have taken over). 

Isaac gave his very first talk in primary on Sunday. His topic was "My body is a temple." He surprised both Ryan and I by not getting nervous. We sure were proud of our little man. I recorded a clip of him practicing his talk before church that morning so that I can always remember the sound of his little voice at four years old. It's a bit long, so I don't imagine it will be of much interest to anyone other than myself and grandparents.

Long-Winded

Until about a week ago, Maddie was always our go-to girl when we were in need of a short and sweet prayer. Every body's starving? Call on Maddie to pray. Want to get the kids down to sleep quickly? Maddie's our girl (i.e. Dear Heavly Fauder, tank you for dis day, name of Jesus Christ, Amen!).

Sometime in the past week, though, she has turned over a new leaf. Her prayers are now a good 3 to 5 minutes long at times. Just tonight after saying everything she could think of, she gushed, "And tank you dat we can say 'tank you', and tank you dat we say 'amen' at da end of our prayers..."

"No Pressure..."

The other day Brooke and I had the following conversation:

Brooke: "Hey, no pressure, but I have these NYC city passes that are going to expire in the next week or so. Jeremy and I don't really feel like going back into the city and using them ourselves. If you and Ryan want to use them, we would happily take your kids so you can take advantage of them this weekend."

Me: "No pressure felt here! When can we drop the kids off?!!??"

So Saturday the kids spent the day in Springfield (the lucky ducks actually got to spend the night there on Friday as well) and Ryan and I headed south to the Big City.

We used the citi-passes my sis gave us to take a ferry to Liberty Island and then on to Ellis Island before returning to NYC.

A view of downtown Manhattan from the ferry. Ellis Island was such a neat experience.  Ryan and I spent a couple of hours at the museum there.

After our ferry we got a bite to eat at the shake shack. I am a big fan of the "Downtown Butter Brown" concrete.  Vanilla custard, hazelnut crumble (hello!), and yummy blueberries. After lunch we took the Subway to the Empire State Building and waited in a ridiculously long line to get a view of the entire city. On more than one occasion we felt like cattle being herded from one line to the next to see Manhattan from up top.

But it was worth it.

Meanwhile, the kids spent the day feeding camels...

Slurpee-ing it up...

Hanging with the monkeys...

And talking to the animals.

Needless to say, our entire family had a great time. Our kids are so lucky to have family so close and so am I! On the way to Brooke's house on Friday, Maddie said to me with outstretched arms, "Oh Mama, I love Brookie so so so so so much!"

You and me both, little one!