The week so far...

First, this comic strip cracks me up (click on to view larger) ...who got into my brain...or rather, Justin's?
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Second...- we have 3 Kelly's in our life - which can, at times, be very confusing
1. Kelly our sitter
2. Kelly our neighbor in our old house
3. Kelly our new neighbor that is Ella's friend
So, we have to have ways of figuring out which Kelly we mean, especially Ella. So she's gotten into the habit of referring to them as:
1. Ethan and Kelly
2. Kelly with Gavin in our old house
3. Kelly our neighbor that lives next door to Joey
this is all good and fine until you try to work more than one Kelly into a sentence or conversation. Like on Monday -
Me: Ella, Kelly is sick today so you and Si are staying home with me.
Ella: Which Kelly?
Me: Ethan and Kelly
Ella: Can I play with Kelly my neighbor next door to Joey since Ethan and Kelly are sick?
Me: Maybe
Ella: Can you call Kelly my neighbor next door to Joey's mom and tell her Ethan and Kelly are sick and so I can play with Kelly my neighbor but not the Kelly and Gavin Kelly?
The problem is that once we've already established the Kelly we are talking about, she still needs to refer to them that way - adding about 500 more words to our conversation...
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Third:
A few more Ella words:
"Mom, I can hear my heart beeping!"

"Can I have some gasoline for me lips?" - um, I think Vasoline would be a little better...

Ella and Si are playing on my bed while I am getting ready in the morning. They hide and pull the sheets and covers up over them on Justin's side of the bed (which he had vacated hours before) - Ella yells "eeehhhh, it smells like Dad under here!" Welcome to my world little girl...

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Which brings me to Four:
Justin and I differ a bit on what the kids should be getting into around the house - messing stuff up, getting into stuff that makes a mess, etc. Example: he hates when Si gets into the diapers, but it keeps Si occupied for a long time when he does. And yesterday when they were totally destroying my bed after I had already made it I started to say, "hey don't do that, I just made the bed" BUT then I figured it's keeping them happy for 10/15/20 minutes and it will take me 30 seconds to remake - sounds like a good trade-off. So this is my new rule (at least when Justin isn't around): If it occupies them for longer than it takes me to clean up (and clean up is less than 5 minutes), have at it!

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And FIVE: a couple pictures of bath time

Video killed the radio star

Remember that tune?

This blog has become my brain for remembering all the things that the kids do and say.

I have a video here that Ella took without us knowing - she had the little video camera and I didn't think she knew how to work it - she quickly grows bored with us and turns the camera on herself...do we think she will become an actor or a director?



And here is a very quick video of Ella at swim last week. Nothing too exciting but it's only 25 seconds : )



And last but not least is Si at the dinner table being goofy

PJ day at school

Ella had her PJ party at school today. They wore pajamas, brought sleeping bags, slippers, robe, stuffed toys and then they made popcorn and watched a movie. She had a "BLAST" as she told me tonight. Here she is with her cousin Jaden.

Today on the way to school she had another Ella question. We were talking about the weather and how it was going to get "warm" today (47 degrees).
She asked: "Who makes the degrees, God or Santa?"
I swear, I love her questions, though they often stump me (well, not this one so much)...

And Silas the other night at dinner: "More snowballs peez" Asking for more MEATBALLS PLEASE!

And then there is Mason, telling us how he's a genius, but then has to pause and ask - "How do you spell Genius?" That's my boy!

Media overload

It's been a couple days since a posting so of course there are lots of pictures and video :)
We had a nice, lazy weekend - the most I did was push the button to take a few pictures yesterday.

Here we have Ella posing with her made up face - apparently we need to have some mother/daughter time going over where the make up goes.
Then we have Si building a "house" out of his blocks this evening. He is VERY good at building towers and houses.
Then we have Si and daddy reading books before bed. When Si gets sleepy he tucks his hands behind his head. And then there is the back of Mason's head - with all that hair ;) And back to Ella wearing the make-up again because that is just how the collage came out and I can't fix it!


Here is some video of Ella and Si - they were jamming out to the music until the video camera came out, then of course they got shy. They groove like their father but I love how Si keeps looking at Ella and copying what she does :)



And here we have a quick video of Si yelling for me when he woke up in the morning - he is yelling "I all wet, I all wet" - sometimes he yells "I wake! I wake!"

Another day at home

The kids stayed home again today. Ella had school this morning and then we came home and ate lunch. I had a meeting planned with a friend of Justin's that is looking for a job so I took the kids to the coffee shop with me to meet with him. They were great for the first 45 minutes and then it started getting a bit hairy. I know the coffee shop man was happy to see us pack up and leave!

Here are a few picture of the kids from yesterday.

Ella bundled up and went outside to swing for all of 10 minutes...which was longer than Justin made it outside. It has been REALLY cold here this week. Down to 2 degrees and worse with wind chill.































Silas occupied himself under his bed for a good while. He has a disturbing obsession with diapers right now. At our house and at Kelly's, he is constantly pulling them all out and wants to play with them. If you walk in on him when he's made a big mess with them ("I make mess", he says) he will close his eyes knowing that he's busted and say "I sleepy".






And here we have our daughter Mason - the hair is REALLY starting to get on my nerves, but it IS something to hold over his head for punishment -
bad grades = hair cut off, do something bad = hair cut off. It's working better than grounding from the TV or PS2 and other threats...


Stamping/scrapping club was great fun last night. We made 3 very cute projects (see the 4 bulls blog for details if interested) and I got to drink wine. Everyone was asleep but Si when I got home. He was in our bed so we ended up having a conversation that went something like this:
Si: Mouse say squeak. Lion say ROAR!
Me: Go to sleep Si
Si: Cow say Moo, mouse say squeak
Me: Siley, time to go ni-night
Si: Mommy go sleepy?
Me: yes and Silas go sleepy.
Si: What that noise?
Me: (sigh) That is daddy snoring
Si: Daddy sleep, mouse say squeak, cow Moo, lion roar....what rabbit say?
Me: Rabbit say GO TO SLEEP!

Tired Tuesday

Justin and I did a rare thing and went out on a "school night". G Love was playing in town and so we went to see them. We left the house at 6pm and went to Lucky's and had wings and then headed down to campus for the concert. The opening group (The Wood Brothers) went on around 8:15 but we both knew we were in trouble when G Love hadn't started by 10pm - our typical bedtime. They started at 10:15 and were great so we made it until almost 11:30 but did leave before they had finished playing (something I hate to do!).
Some things that make going to a concert like this different in one's late 30s as compared to early 20s:
1. The already mentioned inability to make it all the way through the concert...no matter how good it is.

2. Getting completely skeeved when the hem of my jeans touches the ground in the ladies room (not to mention what my butt is sitting on)

3. Not having the bladder control anymore to make it through the entire concert without having to go to the bathroom...

4. Thinking all evening about how much my back hurts because we've been standing for 2 - 3- 4 hours but then heaving a sigh of relief that at least I haven't been holding a kid or two on my hip as well.

5. Only drinking ONE beer (which kinda goes back to # 2 and 3)

6. Being preoccupied all evening that the girl behind me was about to puke in my hood.

7. The realization that I don't know what 1/2 the stuff written on the bathroom stalls means, kinda like text messaging or IM lingo.

8. Having to text a reminder to my kid at home that he needs to put eye drops in his eyes before bed.

9. There is a 9 but I can't really post it since this is a family blog - but it has to do with the post-concert activities, or lack-thereof...

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So today we were tired and the kids were tired because they stayed up later than usual since Aunt Margie was watching them. Ella and Si didn't go to the sitter today because her son Ryan was ill so they spent the day at home with me. Ella played dress up and tea party quite a bit of the day.
And Silas was exhausted and took a 3 1/2 hour nap so I actually got a lot of work done.

Tonight is my first scrapbooking/stampin'up club at my neighbor's (our old house). We will meet monthly for 6 months and make cute stuff :)

Smiley Siley is now Sticky Siley

I've said many, many times that Si is by far the messiest eater we've had. Pancakes are a regular weekend breakfast for us but I'm beginning to think we might need to change that. Here's why:



Can you see the beads of syrup in his hair? and up his nose? And he's been known to take the pancake plate and wear it as a hat...sticky side moshed in his hair of course.

Swim lessons

Ella was excited today because she "swam" by herself. After class she ran up to me and said "Mommy, I swam by myself today! And I'm not lying...because I don't lie anymore." Good to know!
I'll try to get some swim lesson video next week.


UPDATE:
I asked for some clarification about what she's lied about. She said "well, when Silas cried and I said I didn't do anything to him, sometimes that was a lie. Sometimes I took stuff away from him and said I didn't"

So it looks like she's turned over a new leaf...at least until she hits 12 or so...

Notice the forehead?

Here are two pictures of Si that our sitter (Kelly) took. Notice the bruise on his forehead? For awhile, when he didn't want to go to bed, he'd bang his head on the side of his crib - or if he'd get mad, he'd bang in on a door, or the floor or anything he could. Luckily, he realized how much that usually hurts and doesn't do it very often now and if he does, he picks the carpet or something soft.
He's got some anger management issues but apparently a bit of common sense...

At Christmas time we got a calendar that Ella made at school. Each month has an art project that the kids made with either their handprints or footprints. This is the January art:

Sunday and a link to playground pictures

Headed to the park

Only click on the picture above IF you are interested in seeing the 100+ pictures from the kids playing at the school playground.

What a fun weekend. Mason is still not feeling great - I feel bad that his whole weekend was spent feeling cruddy. He sat on the couch all day reading and watching TV. Poor guy.

Today we knocked off a bunch of stuff on our To-do list (laundry, more organizing, weekly menu, grocery store, library...yada, yada) and then took Ella and Silas to the mall - Si played in the kid play area while Ella and I went to Build-a-Bear. We FINALLY used the gift certificate that she got for Christmas in 2006!! Sorry it took so long Mam-moo!
She picked the pink and white bear and named her Pinky. Can you guess what she picked out for her clothes? Yep, a Hannah Montana outfit with a microphone and bunny slippers. That was our first time to Build-a-Bear and I loved it. Next time I am making ME a bear!!

repost - can you see the pictures?

I took my new lens to the park today and ended up with about 120 pictures from less than an hour of play. Here are a few of my favorites.

She is such a banshee!
Notice how high she is and how Justin has to JUMP to push her??


Happy with himself for climbing up something else.


She can turn it on, can't she?

A few more pictures

I took my new lens to the park today and ended up with about 120 pictures from less than an hour of play. Here are a few of my favorites.

She is such a banshee!

Notice how high she is and how Justin has to JUMP to push her??

Happy with himself for climbing up something else

She can turn it on, can't she?

Out for some fresh air

Ella started back to swim lessons this morning. Everyone must have made their "get-fit" New Year's resolutions because the Y was packed!! Ella is starting to tread water for a few seconds on her own, but that is about as far as it goes. She's not afraid to get in, get her face wet and will even go under water but she hates when they try to get her to float on her back. This is her 3rd session of swim lessons.

Justin and I had full test coffee this morning (instead of our usual 1/2 caff) and it seemed to boost our productivity...we were buzzing a bit and got some cleaning and organizing done around the house. We might have to make that a permanent switch!
It warmed up to about 46 degrees today so we went out for a walk and took Ella and Si to the school to play. Poor Mas was still sick and was snoozing at home.

The kids had a blast running around and climbing on everything and rolling down the hill. I love El's face when she gets to the bottom :)













































Silas climbed on everything there was - he had a bit of trouble here...







Up, down - oops, on the ground.













Cry for a bout...
















Then comes the pout.

A lazy Friday night

Not even 9pm on Friday night and we're jammied-up and watching movies. The choices were Barbie, Barney, Planet Earth and Harry Potter - can you guess who wanted to watch what!? We started with Planet Earth (AMAZING if you haven't seen it!!!).

Mason appears to be sick again - his temp is 100.2 and he feels crappy. He is about ready for bed. He got his report card today too (see below) - a very good report card all-in-all (though the consensus between his parents is that he could be putting forth more effort when it comes to his homework). Click below if you are interested in seeing his grades (current grades are under MP2):

Silas had his 2 year check up today - Dr. M was asking me how Si does eating and I mentioned he does a better job in the morning with breakfast- Si chimed in telling the doc "I eat oatmeal breakfast, I eat oatmeal breakfast". Justin and I laugh because he sounds a lot like Rainman when he talks. Si weighs 27 pounds and is 34 inches - about the 50 percentile for both. He had to have his finger pricked for the lead and anemia test (standard at the 2 year checkup) and also had to have a vaccine which required a stab in the leg. He's got a bit of a limp this evening. He took at 2-hour nap from 4-6pm so he may be up all night tonight!

I had a 2 hour dentist appt today, just for a check up and it gave me a huge headache. Can't imagine what it will be like when I have to go back to get "real" work done, and there will be lots of that this year :(

Justin was excited about the beer he got this evening - deviating from the usual Natty Light, he got Miller High Life and it came in orange cans for the hunting season - how's that for some marketing. We think it should also be sold at Halloween too.

Notice the hunting accessory in the background? Who can tell me what it is? Take a guess and I'll post the answer in the comments - you'll probably never get it...unless you are Dad J who bought it, or an avid hunter. Here's another picture to give you a better view.

An Ella question

Ella: How does God make us?
Me: Hmm, good question - I'm not sure
Ella: Does he buy our head and eyeballs?

anyone know??

Morning sunshine

Ella and Si were hanging out in the front room yesterday morning and the sun coming through the window was hitting them just right. Ella looks like such a big girl!
Si refused to take off his doggy pajama top yesterday but I did manage to get the bottoms off and real pants on him.
Miss Boo spends much of her time writing these days - there are some thing she can spell herself (Ella, Mason, snack and Barbie for example) and everything else we spend hours spelling out for her so she can write it down.
Mason is finally getting back into the swing of getting up at 6:10 - the bus comes at 6:50 for him. He was starting to sleep until 9am and a couple times 10am on break. Oh the life!

Exhausted...

It's been a tiring 3 weeks with Christmas, the New Year holiday and then the National Championship game (we won't go into detail about that!) - lot's of napping and sleeping like a rock going on.







Here are Si and JP napping one afternoon










And Miss Ella down for the count one night.

Question of the Day

Ella asked me: Mom, do your teeth come out like mam-ma's?
Me: No, they don't
Ella: But why, you're old too.

ugh!

Crazy weather and GO BUCKS!!!!!!!

I don't know these people but cool picture :)

It's Jan 7th and 65 degrees! Crazy Ohio weather!

Ella, can you get dressed please?

When I ask that question, I know she will usually end up in a skirt with tights on (it is 16 degrees here today). I hadn't expected the boots - but we did get a bit of snow last night, so good thinking!