Vacuuming...

So this is what we (and I use this as a collective "we") accomplished today! I think I'll keep these pictures handy for when the children are teenagers. That way, they'll have a reminder that they did enjoy cleaning at one point! "Train up a child in the way he should go..." We insisted upon vacuuming the entire upstairs...with minimal help from Mommy. So independent!

"My turn!" (or "ME!" from Christian) was the common phrase when vacuuming the couch!
Everyone loves a newly vacuumed couch! (Especially Mommy! Happy sigh....)

Thanks, kids! Mommy loves you!

Choices and a "New" Car

Tonight, Emily and Cubby had the following conversation while we were trying to persuade Emily to go and clean up her room:

Daddy: Emily, please go clean up your room--remember, Choose the Right!

Emily: Daddy, I'm going to choose....something different. I'm going to choose the LEFT!

Can you argue with that while keeping a straight face?

Also, yesterday we went over to my mom's house for dinner. As we were coming into the house, the following conversation transpired:

Mom: Who's white van is that?

Me (looking across the street for a white van and not seeing one): White van?

Mom: Yes, the one you pulled up in!

Me: Mom, that's our silver van; you just don't recognize it because it's clean!

Hmmmm....maybe I should get the car washed more often!

Chili, Harry Potter, and Basketball

Emily was learning about our new president in preschool this week. Apparently, these are his favorite food, book, and hobby. Who knew I had so much in common with the President?

--CUBBY

The "M" Word, Basketball, and the APM...Our Saturday

Mullet. That was all Cubby had to say to get me to finally agree to let him give Christian a haircut! Now, you may remember a previous post regarding Christian's first haircut. He was not so thrilled. This time, much to my great surprise, he had a great time! AND, Cubby was using the clippers! Hmmm....hated the scissors, loved the clippers??? He thought they tickled! Go figure. He also liked sitting in his chair with a lollipop, watching, "The Jungle Book."

Cubby used the largest setting on the clippers, but it still took off a LOT of hair! I did tear up just once--look at all of his sweet, soft hair! However, when it was all over, Christian looked just as cute as ever and there was no need to do the "come on over" comb-over look with his hair! He looks like such a big boy now and, it may just be me, but his new "do" seems to have made him a bit more prone to mischief!

That was early Saturday morning. Next up, Basketball! We got to go watch Cubby play up at the church. They were playing the Gretna Branch (those who USED to be in the Papillion Ward!). It was a bitter rivalry :-) and a fun game to watch. (Cubby is just so cute when he's driving up the center for a lay up or making a three pointer!) This shot was of Cubby going up for a rebound...even though he thought it was of his friend, Kyle, stuffing his shot...twice. Kyle is quite tall and somehow mananged to be in the lane on a couple of Cubby's drives! Emily had a great time cheering Daddy on and coloring with her friend, Ashley. Christian enjoyed exploring the stage and watching the big boys play ball.

To top off our Saturday, we took the kids to the Amazing Pizza Machine. Emily had kept her undies dry all week and this was her reward! (She apparently just needed the proper motivation :-)....and some friendly reminders from Mom.) Emily and her friend, Taitum, are becoming quite the big girls as they both wanted to ride the big-fast rides. Christian LOVED the little train that he got to "drive" around the track. He must've ridden it a half-dozen times and was just so sad when it was time to go! We promised to go back and ride again. Oh boy!

One Name Per Hospital, Please!

Just so you know, "Children's Hospital" is also called "Methodist Hospital". It is NOT the same as BoysTown Nat'l Research Hospital or Creighton University Medical Center. You'd think that after living in Omaha most of my life, I would've realized this. Not so. It was only after driving w/Emily downtown in blizzard-like conditions that I learned a valuable lesson: ALWAYS double-check the address of where you're supposed to be!! However, thanks to the blizzard, many of the people who were supposed to have tests done down at Creighton had cancelled and they were able to get us in for Emily's renal ultrasound rather than having to reschedule with Children's (aka Methodist) Hospital. I'm pretty sure that the radiology staffs at Children's, Creighton, and my own doctor's office got a good laugh out of my lack of knowledge about our hospital names and venues. It was just one small part of a very odd and long day. Hurray that Monday is over!!

PS For all of you non-Omahaians out there, in addition to the above mentioned hospitals, there is also Bergin (or Bergin Mercy) Hospital, Midlands (or Alegent Health) Hospital, and Lakeside Hospital. There may be more, but hey, I may have mentioned them already and not even realized it!

Turning A Page...

Today and, well, most of this week, has been one of our "slower" weeks. We're starting to return to our routine and I've been realizing that taking things "slow" is not necessarily a bad thing. Like other mothers I know (and blog with--you know who you are!) we sometimes have trouble with being "stay-at-home" moms. We're more of the "on-the-go" moms. I just enjoy being busy and having things to do--and, in my defense, the kids like the "change in scenery" from the house too. They enjoy playdates and going places and the like. (It's not like I drag them around to department stores or anything!)

However, I think I've turned a corner (at least for this week!). Today we spent all day at home, just playing. Well, I did have some laundry and vaccuuming to do, but aside from that, we just played. It's been really fun! And, it's been like that most of the week. I get cabin-fever pretty easily, but I decided to just relax and enjoy the time we have together, even though we couldn't be with friends, or go to a park, or the zoo, or well, anywhere really.

Emily and Christian are at the age now where they can play together and it's a lot of fun to play with them. Granted, by the time dinner is over, I do need to get out for 45 min and go and run, BUT, then Cubby gets some quality playtime too!

Anyhow, I just felt the need to record this as I've been learning the importance of unstructured playtime and that having a few "slow" days is not all that bad!

FRUSTRATED!!!

I have two current frustrations:

1. Public Enemy #1: My crockpot. It is determined to thwart any attempts at a delicious meal. Actually, it cooks pork just fine (the ribs are always great). BUT, chicken and roast??? No way. It has consistently been over-cooking them and they get so dry and gross! I follow all directions and even use the minimum amount of time (on low) that the recipe calls for. No dice. Ugh. Should I just ask for a new crockpot for my birthday? (And, until March, I could just stick to pork recipes??) Or, is there some way to find out WHY this keeps happening??? Again, ugh!

2. Emily keeps wetting her undies. And it's not what I used to pull when I was her age (waiting until the last minute and then wetting everywhere when I couldn't quite make it...yes, it's true!). No, what she does is also the waiting game, but then she only wets a little bit (but enough that she has to change her underwear afterwards.) At first, we thought she might have another UTI. But, we had that checked out and it came back negative. Sooooo, that means that she's just not wanting to make it to the bathroom in time. I've offered a reward if she can stay dry, but that only worked for one day and then it was back to where we were before. I've also threatened to put her back into pull ups, but that's just so humiliating and the one time I tried to follow through, she had such a melt-down that Cubby told me that it wasn't worth it. I'm out of ideas. Any suggestions???

New Year, New "Timers"

Happy New Year! We started 2009 off with a fun family day on Saturday. We took the kids to a place called Boingz! They have so many places to bounce and jump around--it totally wore the kids out (us too!). I'd highly recommend this place (for those readers who are "in town" and all). They have open bounce from 10-8 Monday through Saturday, kids under 2 and adults are free, kids 3-12 are $7 for the whole day. Yes, you can leave at noon, come back at 3 and get right back in! Such a good deal. We had a blast!

The kids also had some new adjustments at church today. Emily is now in the "CTR-5" class and Christian, although he remains in the Jr. Nursery, got some new teachers. I was worried about Christian since he LOVED his previous teachers and has a tough enough time adjusting to Mommy and Daddy not being around during nursery-time. Sure enough, it was tough, and Cubby and I took turns hanging out with him and his class, but by the end, he seemed to have warmed up to his new teachers and should be fine by next week...we hope!

I wasn't too worried about Emily--she loves her new teacher and being a CTR-5. (It's so great now that she's older and change is becoming a fun thing rather than one more thing to fret about!) Accordingly, her prayers tonight included the following: "Bless us to be happy, and bless us to choose the right and be good CTR-5s." Amen to that!