Moving right along

Dan's Aunt Danielle was in town from PA over the holiday weekend, and took the kids to Toys R Us and let them each pick out a new SOMETHING. Emily chose some roller skates. They're really neat as they will adjust in length as her feet grow, but are also really sturdy and solid and comfortable. They have ratchet-style straps so they're very easy to get on and off. Emily is having a BLAST "skating" around in the kitchen holding onto the counters. LOL

You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile

Emily's recital dress came in last week. Isn't it adorable? (by the way, she's doing part of the dance in this picture; it's to the song "You're Never Fully Dressed Without A Smile" in Annie)


Unfortunately, it's the itchiest, scratchiest thing on the planet and she HATES IT. She was in tears a few minutes before that picture because I was forcing her to put it on and wear it around the house for awhile (hoping she gets used to the scratchiness of it by the time it's recital day). SIGH

It also arrived WAY TOO SMALL, which was tons of fun. I could barely zip it up in back and she was yelling that it was choking her. There was BARELY enough room to stick my finger in inbetween the material and her skin it was so tight to her body. It's got a built in leotard, and that was pulled so tight from crotch to shoulder that the collar was sticking out funny. The sleeves were squeezing the heck out of her arms, and it was CLEARLY very uncomfortable. Her teacher said there was no way we'd be able to order another one in only a month, so we'd have to hope someone else's was too big. Parents have no part in choosing the appropriate size, and this is the second year out of only three years her costume as been too small (the first year of dance, it was stretchy material, at least, but it was stretched so tight around her torso you could plainly see the white threads of the seam showing the entire length of both sides). NEXT YEAR, I'm insisting on viewing the sizes and measurements and making my own decision, so at least if it's wrong, it's my own fault! Thankfully, another little girl's costume did end up being too big, so we traded, and all is well (except for the itchy factor).

Less than a month until recital day! I always get such a kick out of seeing her on stage.

Fuzzy Slippers!

Connor adopted Emily's fuzzy slippers for a day over the weekend. Everytime I turned around, the kid was wearing them. They do look rather cozy, don't they?!?




And he wasn't very proud of himself for finding them and getting them on either (can you hear the sarcasm?).

I've been tagged!

Norma-Ann at The Mommy Project tagged me for a "Seven Fun Facts About Me" meme, so here goes!

1) I never really had a nickname growing up. When we were first dating, my then boyfriend (now husband) would call me LeeLoo, but it didn't last more than a few months. He also used to call me sweetie pie and cutie, until Emily was born. Now SHE'S sweetie pie and cutie.

2) I'm afaid to be home alone at night. I come by it honestly as it runs in the family. My Auntie is the same way.

3) When I was little, I never thought monsters or boogy men lived under my bed. I was convinced the neighbor's dog did, and if I didn't have my covers pulled up JUST SO, then it would come out and bite me.

4) I've only heard my dad swear once in my entire life, and it was while they were pouring the concrete floor of the detached garage.

5) Even on a rainy day, I find being at the ocean (in a cabin on the rainy days) very peaceful and calming. Something about the bigness of the ocean and the sounds of the waves just make me happy. Everytime to go to the ocean on vacation, I feel very very sad to be leaving on the last day and wish I could have just one more day!

6) I would like to lose 15lbs, but haven't yet reached the full desire to cut out sweets and add in more exercise.

7) I enjoy being a mother far more than I ever thought possible, even though it's far harder than I ever thought possible.

I tag Erika, because she's a fellow preschool mom I'm still working on getting to know, Rachel, because she has a monkey and a princess living with her as well (I have TWO monkies, though), Chanin, because she keeps winning things and I'm hopeful that interactions with her will let some of her luck rub off on me, Jodi, because her mommy told me to (and because I would have tagged her anyway, because her latest blog post is still there from the last time I tagged her...LOL!), and Steph, because she's got some pictures of a newborn baby on her blog (scroll down a few posts), and I just LOVE babies! OH! And Kaci, because it irritates her when I tag her (she secretly loves me for it, though).

Name this photo

Sorry, this isn't a contest, but I'm at a complete loss for what to title this post and figured all you smarties out there could be creative and help me out...LOL I think the sleep deprivation (see Sunday's post) is affecting my intelligence and creative thought processes...

Class of 2008

Jared is part of the preschool graduating class of 2008. He's officially FINISHED with the 3's class, and is looking forward to the 4/5's class next fall. Actually, he's under the impression he gets to go to Kindergarten next year and ride the bus, but we're working on setting him straight...LOL

Quote of the Week

Everyone should have kids. They are the greatest joy in the world. But they are also terrorists. You'll realize this as soon as they are born, and they start using sleep deprivation to break you.
-- Ray Romano

It could be worse

This could all be DIRTY laundry instead of clean...


and there could be four more loads waiting in the sidelines instead of just two... LOL

I am happy to announce, however, that everything you see there has been folded. Some of it has even been put away, and the rest of it is waiting in baskets for a time-frame where I can turn my back on children for more than 30 seconds without something horrible happening (read: TODAY, because Dan is around and I'm not babysitting!).

I've been tagged!

Valarie tagged me for a GOOGLE PHOTOS meme. The whole point is to answer the questions using pictures from GOOGLE images.

Age on my next birthday


Place I want to visit:


My favorite thing:


My favorite place:


My favorite food(s):


and


Favorite color: (maybe not this exact shade...LOL)


Town I live in:


Name of a past/present pet:


Nickname I've had:
(I haven't really had any nicknames that I can think of)

College major:
(I got my AA degree at a community college, but never went further)

My first job:


Goal for next year:


I tag
Kaci, because she's a good sport and always plays along when I tag her
Kristina, because she apparently needs a blog topic so she can update her blog (hee hee)
Betsy, because she's one of the few people who will probably know exactly what is pictured for my favorite place
Kellan, because she has a bazillion readers and a fantastic sense of humor and I know her post would be very fun to read
and new friend Jodi, because it would be a fun way to get to know her some more

She knows what she wants

This is what I was given the other morning when I asked Emily to go get the supplies for how she wanted her hair done for the day:

She drew several hairstyles with big X's through them, and then the last one says, "Stop I like it" (but the "it" wouldn't scan in, no matter how many times I tried).


PS the person sure looks like she's peeing or something, but that was an unfortunate end result to Connor getting ahold of the paper and pen later in the day and scribbling away...

PPS this isn't her best drawing by far, considering she whipped it out in the time-frame of about a minute (while I assumed she was gathering a brush, an elastic, a ribbon or clip, etc)

Connor says...

Here is a conversation I recently had with Connor:

me: Connor, do you want some breakfast?
C: No
me: Are you thirsty?
C: No
me: Can I give you a hug?
C: No
me: Can I give you a kiss?
C: No
me: Do you need anything?
C: No
(I walk out of the kitchen, Connor throws himself down on the ground and bawls his eyes out, and kicks at the toy he threw down in the process)
me: Do you want to eat?
C: NO!!!!!
me: Do you want milk?
C: NO!!!!!
(I leave the room again. Connor cries harder, follows me. I pick him up, he fights to get down. I put him down, he cries even harder.)
me: What's wrong bubba?
C: (wahhhh wahhhh wahhh!!!)
me: Let's go sit in your high chair.
C: NOOOOO
(I pick him up and buckle him in, hand him a sippy cup of milk and a banana, which he proceeds to inhale)
me: Are you better now?
C: No
me: Are you still hungry?
C: No
me: Then let's get down from your high chair and get you cleaned up.
C: nonononononononononononono

Yes, you've guessed it, Connor has learned the word "no." For awhile, it sounded more like "woah" (like "woah horsie"), but now it's a definate NO. It's often very loud. It's often repeated several times in rapid succession. It's very frequently used when it's not meant. He knows it's a powerful word.

More of what Connor says:

HEY! (he said it especially forcefully when Daddy was trying to take a craisin out of his bowl the other day)
hi
bye
jiss (juice)
hat
buh-ba (grandpa)
mama
dada
derd (Jared)
ma-ee (Emily)
hot
eesh/ish (shoes, fish, tissue, drink, depending on the situation)
go
pah-ee (potty)
poopf (poop)
gog (dog)
back (with one finger held up for "be back in a minute")
bi-per (diaper)
my-ee (mine)
ball
eye
ock (sock)
yeah
yay
go
bapple (apple)
nahnah (banana)
boo
booboo
han (hand)
knuck (knucks--which is when he wants to touch fists with you, I believe our friend Dave taught that to Emily and it's passed on down the line of kids!)
uck (buckle, truck, stuck, depending on the situation)
bike
buck (book)
bah-poh (pillow)
nun (done)
boh (bowl)
annie (candy)

Those are what I can think of off the top of my head. He has a few others I don't dare try and spell! Obviously, he's not the most verbal kid on the planet, but he's gaining new words weekly at this point (Hey, done, bowl, boo boo, pillow, potty, diaper, and juice are all new within the last two weeks). Some lady just recently posted online that a two year old should be able to say approx 200 words. That leaves Connor needing to learn about 160 words in the next month! LOL I'm not worried about him at alll, just yet. He completely understands everything we tell him or ask him to do, he follows instructions that are several steps long, and he interacts and gets his point across rather well (Now, if only we could eliminate the execessive use of the word "no"). He also signs "please" (we still mostly have to prompt this one, but he's done it a few times unprompted), "thank you" (which he often uses for both please AND thank you), and we're working on the signs for "milk", "juice", "water", "eat", "sorry", and "more" (all of which he is quick to mimic if I sign them).

Jared says...

With my camera currently BROKEN, you'll have to suffer through photoless posts, unless I go through the photo archives and dig up some favorites (a definate possibility in the very near future). If my camera weren't BROKEN, I'd have taken a picture to share with you of Connor's knees, with three seperate scrapes on each knee (he looks like we beat him!). Or I might have taken a picture of Connor with his head stuck through the potty seat (the one that sits on the big toilet). Or I might have taken a picture of Connor sitting in my basket of folded laundry, happily tossing it out all over the floor. But my camera is BROKEN (have I mentioned yet that the camera is BROKEN??? Because it is.). Or I might have taken pictures of Emily in her recital outfit that we just got Friday night. If my camera weren't BROKEN, I'd have been set for a few days with good blog posts.

That being said, I've been keeping some notes on more funny things Jared has said. I'd intended to gather a few more before posting, but I'm in need of something to post. So here's what I have:

1)
Jared: "We're hanging out, right dad?"
Dan: "Are we HANGING out, or hanging OUT?" (ever the comedian)
Jared: "We're hanging out. Like monkies. But not."

2)
while getting ready to watch Bambi with the kids the other night, Jared pipes up, "This is about a deer that talks." I'm sure that's exactly what the creators of Bambi were hoping people get out of the movie...

3)
While out running errands with his grandpa (my FIL), Jared was being really well-behaved and helpful, and my FIL told him, "Jared, you are such a good boy, I'd take you anywhere with me." Jared was quick to reply, "How about McDonalds?"

4)
While preparing some french toast (following a recipe from the cookbook Deceptively Delicious where you use some carrot puree in the egg mixture), Jared spotted me and said, "I don't like those ones." I informed him that he'd eaten THREE the last time I made them and he liked them then. He said, "I didn't see what they were last time!" (but wait, there's MORE!). So then as he's eating them, complaining about them tasting bad, I say, "Jared, you can't even taste the carrot in there, if you hadn't seen me add them in, you'd never even know!" Jared said, "Yes I would, I have really sensitive eyes."

I love my husband

Truly I do. And I'll try and keep reminding myself of that fact as I sit here, stranded at home with a dead battery in my van because he left the driver's side door open after running errands yesterday and the interior lights drained the battery. Thank goodness for my neighbor who came to the rescue and got Emily to the bus stop for me, and plans to come back once the girls on the bus to jump my van. And hopefully there's still enough time to get the boys to another friend's house for the morning so I can work in Em's classroom today as planned!!!!!!

Party Fun

We had Emily's birthday party yesterday at her dance studio. Which meant NO HOUSE CLEANING OR YARDWORK in preparation; YIPPEE!! I won't go into the details of some of the beforehand drama, but let's just say that neighbors and a brother stepped in to help get things squared away and the show was on...

Here's the party-goers (minus one, who wouldn't come in for the picture)


food tables:




Here's the cupcakes I decorated to match the theme:


There was lots of dancing (they got a 45 minute dance class) and twirling and leaping and whatnot (ignore the blur, those girls were FAST!)


And then we sat down for cupcakes and goodies (each girl got a cupcake and then got to load their plate with cookies, candies, crackers, etc)


Then Emily opened presents


Then we handed out goody bags and packed up to come home. I think it went really well overall, and Emily LOVED it (which is the most imporant part). I could be very tempted to never ever have another party at home ever again!!!!!

Dan Needs

After doing mine yesterday, I thought it might be fun to do one for Dan as well!

*Dan needs a girlfriend (well, makes sense since I have Sam)

*Dan needs your help (notice this says YOUR help; I'm off the hook! woo hoo!)

*Dan needs your help to answer tough questions (again, this says YOUR help)

*Dan needs 4 peices of tape (maybe he plans to duct tape his bumper and hood back on like the guy I've seen driving around our town lately has done to his car)

*Dan needs your help in editing his news report (you didn't know he was a reporter on the side?)

*Dan needs an antenna (his bug costume for Halloween this year won't be complete without it)

*Daniel needs glasses (he really really does!)

*Dan Needs Intervention (it's the "stop leaving your laundry and dirty dishes all over the place" intervention)

*Dan needs to be rolled out (huh?)

*Dan needs to admit himself to any geriatric hospital (I don't think he's quite there yet...)

There weren't as many exact matches for Dan as there were for me!!

Leah Needs

At the requst of Betsy, I googled "Leah Needs" and have typed out some of the descriptive sentences of what sites came up:

*Leah needs donations for that operation she has been saving up for (you know, lypo, boob job...HA, yeah right like I'd be brave enough)

*Leah needs to shed the pounds and the sooner the better (gasp, it's public knowledge?)

*Leah needs to finish the leaders contact sheet (huh?)

*Leah needs a helmet by Rakooba! (again, huh?)

*Leah needs experienced, adult owners who will understand that this girl needs her space and does not like to be overly fussed over (yes, please, I need an adult owner ASAP)

*Leah needs some help. (yep, I need help with household chores and yardwork!)

*Leah needs to suffer through the crying and just break her child from the bottle (we went that route with Emily at 17 months old. I have horrible heart-breaking SCREAMING pictures of her pointing at the fridge wanting the bottle she assumed was in there. The boys made the transition without much fuss)

*Leah needs to get over Sam. (it's hard having someone on the side... ha ha just kidding)

*I think that Leah needs more training before she becomes the big star that she is GOING TO BE (I KNEW fame was in my future)

*Leah needs pocketless pants dammit (well, you know, sometimes you just can't be hampered down by the extra material)

*Leah needs you to carry her (my little legs are TIRED, as Jared says it)

*Leah needs gigs (how else will I become a big star?)

*Leah needs to lighten up. (sometimes I do need to lighten up!)

And apparently, Leah Remini (spelling?) really ticked people off on the Rachel Ray show or something, because there were some REALLY not nice looking links (like the bottle one, and the lighten up one) and there was one about how she apparently needs something shoved up her "bum" (to put it nicely).

That was fun Betsy, thanks for posting up the idea!

Someday...

Someday, CJ's gonna be a famous lineman for the Steelers and that truck will be REAL (and he'll buy me the house of my dreams and send me on fancy vacations)

Thief! Thief!

I walked into the kitchen to find Connor jabbering away into my cell phone, which he'd lifted from my purse. Thankfully, it didn't appear he'd tried to dial any numbers... LOL!

Like father, like son

Six already???

Six years ago today, I became a mommy (on Mother's Day of that year!). Emily Grace was born at 3:36pm, weighing in at 9lbs 3oz. She had fuzzy black hair and her daddy's nose, and I was IN LOVE.

We've had rough patches over the years, but I'm so proud of the funny, smart, sweet, caring, creative, enthusiastic (etc!) little person that she's become. This child has a passion for all things FRILLY and GIRLY (lipgloss, purses, shoes, dresses, clothes in general, hair-do's, jewelry, nail polish, etc), a passion for dancing and playing (which would also include her little prankster side). She's also a very observant little girl, and is very in-tune with when people are sad or hurt and is quick to offer a hug or seek help. She's eager to please, but also has her own idea of how and when something should be done. I'm so grateful to have her in my life, she truly has been such a gift in what SHE'S taught ME and what I've been able to experience and learn along with her. I have eleventy bazillion (a phrase I believe I hi-jacked from Shan) pictures of Emily which would each show you a little piece of who Emily is, and it was hard to narrow down to one from each year, but I think I chose a good representative of her overall personality:

My sweet, six day old Emily:


Emily at one year old (I swear you can see the imp in her in this one):


At two, she was already all about the accessories (the items pictured are just a small sampling of her stash at this point):


I had to include an extra picture here to point out that she was already so obsessed with dancing and ballet (HOW, we have NO IDEA because she'd never taken lessons at this point, nor did we/she know anyone who WAS) that one of her presents was a tutu I made her, which she pretty much wore EVERYWHERE for a long while after receiving it:


By the time she was three, dress-up clothes were her clothes of choice, especially this one:


At four, she was definately taking on diva tendencies:


And at five, she'd reach fulled diva status:


At six years old, things haven't changed much...


I haven't gotten her six year old professional pictures done yet, but I wanted to do a little collage to include anyway:

Rough night?

And yes, that is how I found them both, on the same night, no staging involved!

So sweet!

Jared picked Emily some flowers on the way down to the bus stop the other day:


(did you notice the clump of dirt and roots still attached?)

When the face says it all...

Do you think Jared was jumping at the chance to get to touch sea stars at the zoo?

Aughhhhh!!!!!!!

Call off the search party!!

Bedding for the boys has been found! Alert the media!

After a LONG drawn-out search for boy bedding, I've finally found something I'd be happy with. My goal was to find something suitable for a boy (boys, in our case) that wasn't totally BOY (bugs, sports, Spiderman/Superman/etc, trucks). I didn't want it to be something they'd lose interest in by next year (do I know for sure Jared will still be obsessed with Spiderman or Superman next year, or that he'll still be into construction stuff next year, do I have ANY IDEA what Connor will be interested in next year?).

A few weeks ago, I found one set online that I LOVED. It had wavy blue, green, white and yellow pinstripes. It was a reversible duvet cover. It had optional decorative pillows. It was boy, it was fun, but it wasn't BOY. It also cost $998 for a three-piece set! OMG! Do people actually SPEND that kind of money on their children's bedding? I don't even spend that kind of money on MY bedding!!!! The search continued.

There's been a reversible comforter at Target I've had my eye on for awhile, but it was just too PLAIN (solid light blue on one side, and solid dark blue on the other) and I didn't want the bedding to be totally boring for the boys, so I've held off, hoping to find something better suited, but knowing it was there if all else failed. WELL, the last time we went to Target, I checked out the bedding aisles, and this time, there was a new car/truck themed set. WAY too busy for my tastes, but there was an optional decorative pillow in light blue and dark blue, with a single red car on the front with the words "Beep Beep". It was something fun, without being crazy busy, it gave the light blue/dark blue set a little extra color and it sparked my interest. Then, I noticed some light blue/dark blue plaid sheets that would go perfectly with the comforter and the decorative pillow that added some "detail". I was sold.

So without further ado, HERE ARE SOME PICTURES:




The boys LOVE their "beep beep pillows" as Jared calls them, and Jared is just thrilled as could be to have new bedding along with his new bed. Dan thinks I'm nuts for putting this much effort into it, but J's reaction was well worth the LONG search. I'm very pleased with how it all came together.

Connor can read!

Well, he thinks he can, anyway!

Birthday LOVE

First, I got an email from cafemom.com wishing me a Happy Birthday:


Then I got an email from a local radio station I'd signed up with (in order to be able to email the radio DJ with a question about a song I wanted to use for Connor's First Year photo montage and didn't know the artist...) wishing me a Happy Birthday:


Then, I got an email from a new friend, Shellie, who is totally awesome and hilarious and I WUV HER:


In case you can't read the speech bubble, it's Patrick Dempsy thanking me for coming and watching his movie, and saying he was watching me too and calling me hot stuff. LOL!!!!!

THEN, I got a "delux spa package" from my husband which includes an hour massage, a pedicure, a facial, and I think a haircut and maybe a manicure?? He wasn't entirely sure, so I'll find out when I call to make an appointment in the near future...

Lastly, I got this award from one of my BFF's, Kaci, my internet partner in crime, whom I get to meet in person in approx 2 months, 2 weeks, and 6 days (YAY!):


And since I'm a lover, I MUST share this blog award with some other award-worthy people:

Betsy, who is an A earning school chick with teething monsters living with her (and who FINALLY is cooperating with my desperate pleas that she BLOG MORE OFTEN)

Cattigan, who has me obsessed with Gold Canyon candles, keeps me updated about baby births, and didn't mind that it took me eleventy bazillion years to pay for the Girl Scout cookies it only took us one day to devour

Shan, who has Linky Love linked me several times now, makes me laugh, and is a Martha Stewart type gal with her "what's cooking wednesday" posts, and her knitting and EVERYTHING else

And finally, even though she JUST received this award herself (and didn't find me worthy of the award...LOL), I have to award this to Shellie, because anyone who takes the time to draw me a birthday picture in Paint DESERVES some serious recognition