Father's Day

Holidays are so fun with a 3-year-old around. She loves them & thinks that each should be celeberated with a cake, but she settled on brownies.

We have a great dad! He is such a hard worker, & manages to balance everything on his plate! I don't know how you manages to work, & study as hard has he does.. and on top of that he is still here to help me out! He is so hands on & really gets down & plays with the kiddos, it's one of my favorite things to see! Thanks for everything you do for us!! Love Ya!

Hannah's drawings are getting so great! This one she did a few days before Father's Day, she said it is her & her Daddy.

Mother's Day Weekend

I know I posted a Mother's Day post, telling all about my fabulous day, but I never got around to posting about the rest of (well the beginning) of my Mother's Day Weekend. We spent Saturday morning doing yard work. Graduation was the following Saturday & we had family arriving starting on Thursday... so it was our last chance & a good excuse to get stuff done around the house.

Every year on Mother's Day Weekend is The Village Fair (The Village is where we live) & it's just a fun little collection of shops, crafters, etc that put up little booths to wander through. It's quite small, but has a good turn out. It's free to get into, but there is food & goods to be purchased. The proceeds support the library. It's right by our house. They also have free face painting, balloon twisting, pony rides, music & other little theatrical things. They also have a fire truck, ambulance, squad car, dump truck, tractor, etc. for the kids (and adults) to climb in & look around.

We thought Hannah would love it now that she is older. Last year she wasn't feeling good, I can't remember if she was coming down with something or teething, but we just remember her being really grumpy. This year wasn't much different, we decided to skip out on her nap, since we had spent the morning doing yard work & didn't get over there until after 1:00. We started off by going over the the vehicles for her to go through, she wasn't interested. We sent her on the pony ride, where she refused to smile, but gave us some world class crusty faces. She eventually snapped out of it & we were able to enjoy the afternoon. She LOVED getting some pretty pink, glittery flowers painted on her face.

Painting Fun

We got a new storm door & I saved the box, thinking that it would be a great box to do some painting. So one morning (yeah, you caught me, it was awhile ago, June 3rd to be exact) we went out back with our enormous box & some paints & went to town.

I was making a flower when Hannah asked me if I'd make a flowers that she could paint. So this started the process of me making the outlines of objects & she would paint the inside. This was so fun... at first... when it was flowers, turtles, etc. Then Hannah told me to paint Mulan, & when I told her I didn't know how she said she would go get her figurine so I could see her. I'm so glad I had that figurine to look at, can you imagine what she would have looked like without it!

Hair Cut, Gone Wrong

I've trimmed Milo's hair before... he used to have like 7 hairs that were super long on top & I trimmed them. I would continue to try to tame those wild hairs, but it didn't seem to matter, since all of his hair was wild (Although since then I've seen wild hair on my cousins darling new baby... I digress.)

After returning home from Harmony's wedding at the beginning of May I finally took out the clippers & did a real hair cut. It wasn't super noticeable, because I just cut the top so it was all the same length & then I trimmed the sides a bit (especially around the ears where I was having to tuck it back) but even though I took a lot off, you couldn't really tell because I would usually try to slick the sides down. And in true male tradition, he was in need of another haircut a couple of weeks later. So on May 28th (Yes, people... I am behind!) I decided to do just that. Between not remembering what number I used on the top & just not thinking I buzzed him! Come to find out I used a 7 on top last time & this time a 4. I ended up putting the same 3 I used on the sides & went over the top again. I was sad, he didn't care & to tell you the truth, the lack of heavy, hot hair is probably a good thing in this heat. These pictures don't really show you how short it is... or was.

Wedding Pictures

Here are a few pictures from my sister, Harmony's wedding in May. These are some of the ones that my sister-in-law took & sent to me. I can't wait to see all the pictures she got back from the photographer... I sure wish she'd post them on her blog. (HINT HINT)

I can...not be...lieve it!

I know, you all think that your kid possesses some super-human, inate ability to screw up, or at least give you a pretty good scare. However, I guarantee that your kid is FAR from being that kid.

Case in point:

1. My kid ate her own poo.

2. My kid lives on chocolate milk.

3. My kid has a fat lip because she crushed her face into another kid (pictures to come)

4. My kid sticks these:

In here . . .

Which creates two booger soaked balls like these:

Which also requires a nice big pair of tweezers for her daddy to fish these out of their hiding spot.

What's even more tragic is that she didn't even get to pretend to be the clown she wanted to be and make us laugh.

HELP!!!

 

I have a dozen posts floating around in my head of things from the last month, but just haven't had the time to sit down & post! I RARELY get on the computer when my kids are awake, so that leaves nap time (if they decide to nap at the same time, but I have lots of stuff on my to do list during nap time)and after bed. Jeff is on the computer after the kids go to bed, & since he is using it to study for the bar exam his needs trump my need to blog. But right now I am in need of some help.

So I am breaking the rules. It's the middle of the afternoon, both kids are awake & I'm blogging (Jeff is home, so I guess it's okay, right?) Well anyway. I know this family that has a little girl, she is 3 1/2. She comes from 2 stubborn parents, so she doesn't have a chance! These parents are struggling with the fits, whining, tantrums, not wanting to sit up to the dinner table & eat (She prefers to treat the table, surrounding chairs & her brothers high chair as a jungle gym.) She is put in her room when she throws fits & tantrums & told she can come out when she is finished & this seems to work. The dinner time battle is new & so far she has been told she can sit up & eat her dinner or go sit in her room until dinner is over. It's not like they have long leisurely dinners, we're talking 10 minutes here. Any suggestions?

On top of that she doesn't like/want to clean up after herself. Mom & Dad are willing to help, but she doesn't want to do her portion of the work. They have attempted the threat of taking the toy away if she doesn't help clean it up. In the beginning this worked great, but it isn't working anymore. Toys have actually had to be taken away. Mom isn't sure when the toys should be given back. Should she have to earn them? Or do she wait a set amount of time & return them?

Mom & Dad have implemented a little "Good Girl Jar" (something mom had heard of before & a friend had just started with her friends) The jar was decorated by the 3-year-old & then told how each day she will start out with 3 candies in the jar. She can earn more candy by being nice, cleaning up, listening to mom & dad, etc. But candy can also be taken away by NOT doing these things. At the end of the day, after dinner/before bed she gets to eat whatever candy is in her jar. This worked great yesterday (it's only day 2 with the jar) but today it's been it & miss. Sometimes the 3-year-old is quick to earn or keep the candy & other times she tells her mom "It's okay, I'm not hungry."

This mom is running out of ideas & closet space to store toys. If anyone has any suggestions or similar experience that I could pass onto the mom & dad I would, I mean, they would appreciate it... poor parents! I can't even imagine what they are going through, I'm so glad I have my little angels are so cooperative.

Hannah's Music

Hannah enjoys playing the piano. As she plunks away, making all kinds of noise, she sings along. She often plays & sings a rather dark & loud version of "I Am A Child of God" it's interesting.
A few weeks ago she took her love of music a bit farther. She played for a couple of minutes & then she got down (I thought this was strange, because the piano usually holds her attention longer.) So I went to see what she was up to now, & she was sitting at her little table with a sharpie & some paper. I told her she can't use that marker & we'd find her another. She informed me that she needed a big black one to make her notes. I am thinking more like letters or little love notes... & I ask her to show me...

 

I of course let her continue.

 

It wasn't until later that I noticed what paper she was using... it was some of my sheet music. I snatched it up, & got her a proper piece of paper for writing music.

 

The best part was when she told me she was finished & she wanted me to play her song for her.
*Yes, I did play it for her.

Thanks Laura

I saw the recipe for these brownies on Laura's blog and was intrigued, despite the thought of the ingredient list. Well I made them tonight & they were so yummy! I had a friend over, so I gave both Kristen & Jeff a brownie before informing them of the black bean factor. They were moist, dense & fudge like, & to think of the protien & fiber they pack!!

Thanks Laura!!

We Love Our Shark

Not this one:























Or this one:


































and unfortunately not this one:
































But this one:






















This pint-sized piece of fabulous European engineering has been a fantastic life-saver. Ever want your kids, or husband (me) to help out with the house work? Purchase this $20 beauty, and suddenly your world has changed. It's better than lugging around a huge vacuum for tiny spot cleaning, and does a remarkable job at catching flies hovering in the window. We got ours at Target.

**MEGAN EDITS** I still want a Dyson, but I don't think Hannah will beg me to use a dyson, like she does the shark. I want to start Hannah on a few chores around the house to get used to the idea & we will start with the shark... she can vacuum under the table after each meal!