We were recently invited to our first ever murder mystery party. It was a 70's-themed fondu dinner party.
We might have taken our costumes a "bit" too seriously, but it was a great night.
Stayin alive with disco fever!!
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
The 70's called...they want their dinner party back.
This blog is mostly for stories about the kids. But sometimes there are just pics that are too good not to share!
We were recently invited to our first ever murder mystery party. It was a 70's-themed fondu dinner party.
We might have taken our costumes a "bit" too seriously, but it was a great night.
Stayin alive with disco fever!!
We were recently invited to our first ever murder mystery party. It was a 70's-themed fondu dinner party.
We might have taken our costumes a "bit" too seriously, but it was a great night.
Stayin alive with disco fever!!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
And I Quote...
Molly has had a few good ones lately:
"cash money-er" - cash register
"Daddy, I bless-you'ed all over my cough-catcher!" - Daddy, I sneezed into my elbow:)
"hula scoop" - hula hoop
"I'm nervous to go to outer space" - after a fun trip to the Science Center.
And for one that requires a quick story, I need to first say that she LOVES junk food. She is a salt girl, for sure. There is a cream cheese/salsa dip that I make for corn chips, and she LOVES it. Usually after I make it, I let her lick the beaters from the mixer. One night recently I was making the dip for a playgroup for the next day, and she came in right after brushing her teeth. She saw me using the hand mixer to make the dip, and saw me finish, and then pop the beaters out of the mixer. I started to drop them into the sink full of dish water, and with TERROR in her eyes, she frantically screeched, "Mommy, WHAT are you going to do with all that stuff on the 'blixters'??!"
Ben has also been cracking us up:
"tefnichal difficulties" - technical difficulties
"Holy infant so tender and WILD" - so tender and MILD :)
"Mom, get that spoon with the hair on it" - referring to the pasta spoon for stirring pasta that is cooking.
"Mom, this is my handsomest shirt!" - after carefully dressing himself for a holiday event.
"I want to be a train driver, but I might be a Mars figure-out engineer when I grow up, too." - after a delightful trip to the Science Center
And my new favorite, fresh from him yesterday. He TOTALLY burned me, and I deserved it!
Here's the story: He has recently begun sleeping in socks every night. The thought of suffocating my feet in socks all night long makes me want to just go ahead and cut my feet off completely, but he loves it, so we are going with it.
Well, I found a clearly clean, but "tried on and rejected for sleep" pair of socks on the living room floor. I questioned him as to the socks on the floor, and he answered, "Too fat and too short. I don't like them."
Being the ever-overly-let's-work-on-a-moral-lesson-here mom that I am, I responded, "You know Ben, some kids don't even have socks. Their parents don't have enough money to spend on socks. They can barely buy food, much less socks. So you really should think about just ignoring socks because their not exactly perfect."
To which he expertly responded, "Ok, fine Mom. Send those socks to those kids. They can have them. I'm sure they would like them."
Um...well-played 5-year-old! I will just go right ahead and put these socks in the give-away pile for you.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Wheeeee!
So, here's the story. My kids are AWESOME, and bring me joy every.single.day. They are both so smart, knowledgable, compassionate, loving...I could go on all day. I am really amazed by who they both are as little people.
They aren't perfect at everything, however, and I have learned that one of the greatest challenges of motherhood, for me anyway, is finding peace in trying to honor and respect what is difficult for them, rather than only relishing what is easy for them.
Today's example: playground equipment designed for kids ages 6 to 12 years.
You might say, "Wait a minute, neither of your kids is even in that age range, so why is this discussion even happening?"
Here's why...kids don't pay one bit of attention to the signs listing the ages required for each set of play equipment. They want to play on whatever they want to play on.
When we go to the park with other little friends, most of the other little kiddos will charge right up the tallest towers and steepest slides without a second thought. My kids, however, are not always so daring. B, especially, was never too interested, as a 3-yr-old, in scaling the tallest ladder to the tallest slide, through a throng of 10-yr-olds, just to slide.
But as a mom, I worried that maybe his lack of trying the things that other kids were trying without a moment of hesitation meant that I over-protected him or that I wasn't raising him with enough self confidence.
Well, this spring, I have learned with delight that, far from being over-protected or lacking confidence, B was just waiting until he was ready.
He has become a monkey on the playground, and a brave one, at that. I am SO glad that I fought my urge to push him on the "big kid" equipment. Now he can enjoy having mastered it himself, and I can laugh at myself from 2 summers ago...now knowing that he was going to "find his bravery" as we call it, just in his own time. In fact, a whole year before he is even old enough, according to the makers of the equipment in question.
Here is the "slide of death", that B would have never even considered trying 2 summers ago.
Pretty tall, right!?? Seriously, I'm not even sure I want to go on this slide. It is SO SO tall.
And here are the series of action shots that Mr B and Miss M insisted I take of them...as they squealed with glee while enjoying the slide.
I will say that it is much easier for Miss M to try things like this, because she has her trusty brother to show her how fun it is first!
M was really wanting me to get a pic of her "pom poms" flying in the air. (her pony tails)
B was much more interested in action shots...the more creative, the better!
They aren't perfect at everything, however, and I have learned that one of the greatest challenges of motherhood, for me anyway, is finding peace in trying to honor and respect what is difficult for them, rather than only relishing what is easy for them.
Today's example: playground equipment designed for kids ages 6 to 12 years.
You might say, "Wait a minute, neither of your kids is even in that age range, so why is this discussion even happening?"
Here's why...kids don't pay one bit of attention to the signs listing the ages required for each set of play equipment. They want to play on whatever they want to play on.
When we go to the park with other little friends, most of the other little kiddos will charge right up the tallest towers and steepest slides without a second thought. My kids, however, are not always so daring. B, especially, was never too interested, as a 3-yr-old, in scaling the tallest ladder to the tallest slide, through a throng of 10-yr-olds, just to slide.
But as a mom, I worried that maybe his lack of trying the things that other kids were trying without a moment of hesitation meant that I over-protected him or that I wasn't raising him with enough self confidence.
Well, this spring, I have learned with delight that, far from being over-protected or lacking confidence, B was just waiting until he was ready.
He has become a monkey on the playground, and a brave one, at that. I am SO glad that I fought my urge to push him on the "big kid" equipment. Now he can enjoy having mastered it himself, and I can laugh at myself from 2 summers ago...now knowing that he was going to "find his bravery" as we call it, just in his own time. In fact, a whole year before he is even old enough, according to the makers of the equipment in question.
Here is the "slide of death", that B would have never even considered trying 2 summers ago.
Pretty tall, right!?? Seriously, I'm not even sure I want to go on this slide. It is SO SO tall.
And here are the series of action shots that Mr B and Miss M insisted I take of them...as they squealed with glee while enjoying the slide.
I will say that it is much easier for Miss M to try things like this, because she has her trusty brother to show her how fun it is first!
M was really wanting me to get a pic of her "pom poms" flying in the air. (her pony tails)
B was much more interested in action shots...the more creative, the better!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Get to work!
I often see a lot of myself in my first-born. We have so many similarities. We tend to be thoughtful and introspective, which lends it sometimes to a bit of anxiety, too. I also see him becoming more compassionate all the time...a trait of mine that I am delighted to see pass to him!
However, there are times when I have to admit that he is A LOT of his dad too:) They both have crazy, fun sides that are so fun to see. They also have similar senses of humor (though I don't know what that says about Aaron...that his sense of humor is similar to that of a 5-year-old boy!).
They love spending time together. Recently, we had a very snowy day and Aaron decided to work from home. Well, his little buddy just had to work along with him. I snapped these shots of the 2 of them "working".
However, there are times when I have to admit that he is A LOT of his dad too:) They both have crazy, fun sides that are so fun to see. They also have similar senses of humor (though I don't know what that says about Aaron...that his sense of humor is similar to that of a 5-year-old boy!).
They love spending time together. Recently, we had a very snowy day and Aaron decided to work from home. Well, his little buddy just had to work along with him. I snapped these shots of the 2 of them "working".
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sometimes I'm a bad mom!
Seriously...sometimes I'm not the greatest.
In my defence, first of all, often I am AWESOME. Like a rock star, but in elastic-waisted pants and a ponytail.
My kids are smart and creative. They pretend all sorts of fascinating, nuanced play, and I know it is just because my awesomeness has rubbed off on them. And because I try to give them a lot of unstructured play time each day. Some might call it "I'm ignoring you so go play and leave me alone", but those evil people would be wrong. It is really "I am fostering your sense of creativity and your sense of self by not directing all of your time". Yeah, I'm awesome.
But sometimes...well..oops.
For example, just a week or two ago, I was giving my kids "unstructured play time" while I worked on some paperwork for work (honestly!!), and I kept smiling as I overheard them talk. They had created this elaborate play scheme, and were in the process of very diligently hiding their most precious treasures in a treasure chest so that robbers couldn't find them. And they were setting creative traps for those robbers all over the house.
I was very pleased with their creativity and my awesomeness...until, that is, I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water and I discovered this:
Yep! Their treasure chest was the MICROWAVE!!! They seriously played with the microwave for a solid 10 minutes...rearranging and perfectly stacking their treasure...in...the...microwave.
Ummm...oops.
We have since had a very clear chat about microwave safety. And other, "more suitable" (meaning "less electric") treasure chests have been identified.
In my defence, first of all, often I am AWESOME. Like a rock star, but in elastic-waisted pants and a ponytail.
My kids are smart and creative. They pretend all sorts of fascinating, nuanced play, and I know it is just because my awesomeness has rubbed off on them. And because I try to give them a lot of unstructured play time each day. Some might call it "I'm ignoring you so go play and leave me alone", but those evil people would be wrong. It is really "I am fostering your sense of creativity and your sense of self by not directing all of your time". Yeah, I'm awesome.
But sometimes...well..oops.
For example, just a week or two ago, I was giving my kids "unstructured play time" while I worked on some paperwork for work (honestly!!), and I kept smiling as I overheard them talk. They had created this elaborate play scheme, and were in the process of very diligently hiding their most precious treasures in a treasure chest so that robbers couldn't find them. And they were setting creative traps for those robbers all over the house.
I was very pleased with their creativity and my awesomeness...until, that is, I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water and I discovered this:
Yep! Their treasure chest was the MICROWAVE!!! They seriously played with the microwave for a solid 10 minutes...rearranging and perfectly stacking their treasure...in...the...microwave.
Ummm...oops.
We have since had a very clear chat about microwave safety. And other, "more suitable" (meaning "less electric") treasure chests have been identified.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Just had to share...
What my husband made me for Valentine's Day:
Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake. And, yes, it was every bit as delicious as it looks.
Thanks to my Love!!
Flourless Dark Chocolate Cake. And, yes, it was every bit as delicious as it looks.
Thanks to my Love!!
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