"I want a dark snack..."

When we got home after school yesterday it was about 4:00pm.  Later than usual because we stayed late to play awhile so when we all got home and the kids were asking for a snack I said,

"Yea, just a light one though because I want you to be hungry for dinner."

To which Sara replied,

"I want a dark snack."

A dark snack?  What the heck is a dark snack?

Matthew was quick to point out that she was saying dark because I was saying light. 

Opposites.

Can you believe that?  I was so surprised to see her make that kind of correlation.  And then, have Matthew pick up on it was the icing on the cake.  The two of them have similar minds I think.  There are a lot of similarities between Matthew at 2yrs. and Sara at 2yrs.  And then, the fact that Sara is a girl puts a twist on things where she is interested in playing girly stuff with Ella Jane.  It's like being in a science experiment. 

Of sorts.

Anyway, yesterday Sara drew a picture of her family.  Wanna see?

She was so very proud to show me and then even more proud that I would photograph it for her.  I can't reemmber who is who but we're all in there.

I see you...

Recently I've been making an effort to see my kids.  Actually see them.  Like turn my head and look them in the eye when they are speaking to me.  After all, this is what I expect of them, yes?  When I remember to look I'm always surprised at how much easier or better the conversation goes.  It might be a moment of "mom, I was running and I stubbed my toe....." or "mom, why did the chicken cross the playground?"  or "I can't find my red dress up shoe and I've looked everywhere."   There is always something to be said and most of the time it has to be said to the mom.  I suspect the same goes on at your house too.

I tell my kids all the time to make good choices.  Turns out I'm trying to do the same.  I want them to be noticed, to feel important and to feel loved.  I am a big reader as is our 2nd grader.  I believe the power of words is huge so it came as no surprise to me that I wanted to decorate a wall space in our dining room with positive words.  Be kind to others, Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Keep calm and eat a cupcake along with a few other special momentos that relate to the kids and our family.

It's turning out to be a wonderful wall that I love to look at.  We all pass by it a zillion times a day either reading the paper, eating, coloring or doing some other type of craft.  We do a lot of living in our dining room.

So glad to see these girls the other day doing a craft of their own.

It's that time of year again...

And actually, it's been five years since we've ordered Girl Scout Cookies so I figured we were due.  I consider us officially setteled now that I know a few little girls selling these tasty treasures.

And order we did.  This batch is just the first installment.  Oh yes, there are more to come.

It was a good afternoon indeed.  And to be honest, I suppose I should've stacked one of each on top of that lonely looking cookie right there.  You better believe I didn't stop at one!

He's just so funny...

You know, I've been married for 12 years and I still think my husband is hysterical.  I'm not sure if you think he's that funny or not but when you are with someone for that long, you know the in's and out's, the favorite shows and the lines that go with them.

We've had a stressful week no doubt.

But, we've had a ton of laughter as my dear Jim has tried to ease the tension that is on my shoulders.  And it works nearly every time.  I almost always laugh.  Almost. :)

Dinner is my least favorite part of the day.  Very rarely is my food met with compliments.  I'm not a mac n' cheese mom, I'm a salmon and potatoes with green salad, tacos, soup kind of mom.  My meals are usually met with groans and complaints.  I'm an either "eat it or don't" kind of mom, not a "oh dear sweet child what can I make for you instead so that you will eat tonight?" kind of mom.

This week I made (for the very first time) homemade chicken noodle soup and it was a hit all around.  I think what made it so yummy was the homemade stock.  Easy to do for sure and I plan to do it again.  Next time I will double the recipe so we can have leftovers.  Who knew they'd go crazy for that kind of meal?  Tonight was a meat in the crockpot dish and 2/3 of our chillin's liked it.  Good enough for me.  Plus, they said they liked it.  Even better.

Then we have Jim doing funny antics at the table like humming the tune to The Mom Song to get me to laugh.  Which I did.  I think that song is hysterical.  Take a listen for yourself and see what you think.

It's even funnier when the kids have no idea what he's doing but I do so then the two of us are laughing and the kids are sort of staring not quite sure what to do.  I love moments like this.  Matthew and Ella Jane will look at each other and giggle nervously and then we realize we've got 'em so we keep going.  Jim gets up and does his best Phil Dunphy impression of "we're all in this together" and before you know it, I'm ROLLING, and the kids are laughing because Jim and I are clearly having a moment.  We've been known to break out the old high school cheers which is fun for everyone and then we follow it up with something like, "Did you know that we knew each other before you were born?"

I suppose all of this is only funny to me because I live it.  Just like you have your moments that would probably leave me wondering.

But my point is, my husband is a star and has a made a tough week bearable and quite memorable to boot!

Thank you dear.

Just some random funny stuff...

So very excited for a three day weekend and having the day off of school tomorrow.  It just makes the day seem easier to me to have them all home.  Not that that is always peaceful.  We certainly have our share of tears and tantrums in a day but I do like being on my own schedule and seeing where the day will take us.

We've had a lot of snow melt over the last week.  Still no grass in our yard though.  It never gets much sun so we are pretty much the last to see the green stuff in our neighborhood.  As a result Jim takes to shoveling the excess snow into the driveway to help the melting process along.  It always cracks me up to look out and see our driveway covered in chunks of snow when everyone elses' is clean and dry.

Ella Jane is the coloring queen.  She LOVES art, LOVES to color, and draw.  In fact when we read stories she will often comment on the illustrations asking questions like "how did they draw that?" and I know she really is curious.  She really does want to know.  This dedication to art is a rather new development for her.  She's loved coloring for a long time but not like lately.  It's a lot of fun to see her be so interested in something.  It's also a lot of fun to see her drawings change as she gets older.

Reading is to Matthew as Art is to Ella Jane. 

I love that I can see these two distinct differences in them.

This morning all three kids went on some kind of hunt with flashlights upstairs.  They close all the doors so it's really dark in the hallway and go from there.  What they did this morning was new to me; they got out the little plastic animals we have (mostly bugs) and lined them up, or placed them throughout the hallway.  Then with their flashlights they'd spot them, scream, and run downstairs telling me they'd found a frog or a snake.  So funny, but even funnier to see Sara get in on that action.  She's still little but doing such big kid stuff.  Jim and I laugh so much at her right now.  Really fun stage.

I think the ice from today might be gone by tomorrow so I suggested we go outside to muck around in the mud.  They were all over that.  It sounds like fun to me (although I don't think I want to get my boots all muddy, but it'll be better than getting my tennis shoes all muddy)!

We are tearing up the house with house projects as of late.  Ever have something that's been broken or in need of repair/update for a really long time but there are more pressing things to take care of like raising kids and paying bills so the other stuff just takes a back seat for say 2-3yrs.?

Yea, us neither.  I was just sayin.

We've finally taken the plunge and replaced damaged/broken window shades in our sun room.  Along with that was the need to repaint trim that had water damage from long ago.  Next step is repainting the ceiling and perhaps a ceiling fan with a light.  It's one of those, one thing leads to another kind of projects.

The bathroom that I tackled all on my own (for the most part) is almost finished.  It's only taken me close to a year but I am very proud of what I have learned along the way and the work that I have put into it.  Next up for both Jim and I (so excited to have a partner on this one) is the kids' bathroom upstairs.  And then it's onto the master.  Note to homeowners out there; please do not put carpets in your bathrooms.  Just not a good combination.  Ever.

Right now I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife.  I'd already seen the movie and a friend told me I had to read the book.  So here I am reading the book.  I've never read a book of a movie that I've already seen.  I'm liking the book okay but all I do is picture what I saw in the movie and I'd rather have my own imagination create the characters instead of having it done for me.  Anyway.  I recently read The Help and was amaze by it.  I love to read did you know?  In fact one of our weekend activities almost always includes some type of reading time with Matthew.  He and I both share this passion, Jim does too, and it's very fun to be in a room all together just reading.  It's even more fun to hear Matthew react to what he's reading.  He'll laugh, or gasp outloud and it floors me everytime.  Love it.

Well, it's late, I suppose it's time to wrap it up.  Enjoy your holiday tomorrow.

Outlines for the girls, stripes for the boys...

Happy Valentine's Day!

My eyes, my eyes!

Are you a FRIENDS fan?  Phoebe fan?  If so, you'll understand the above title perfectly.  It's what I like to say about this time of year when the sun begins to shine and actually bring warm temps. to the day.

Yesterday I was so giddy with excitement over the warm weather.  I think the rest of the town felt it too.  It's like we're little butterflies emerging from our cacoons, or bears waking up from a long hibernation.  We still have mounds of snow in our yard but around town we can see things like curbs, medians, and even little pockets of grass.  Weather in the 40's allows us to be outside without heavy snowgear and that is (sigh...) simply lovely.

We've said goodbye to our ice rink.  For now.  We'll be back next year. 

It won't be long now.  The snow will melt, the ground will dry up and the grass will come back to life and everything will be green.  We'll be doing more of these activities...

I can't wait! 

So not into mama's meatloaf...