Snow-time!

So it is FINALLY supposed to warm up a bit here. We have been wearing long sleeves and jackets all week...despite the calendar assuring me that it is May.

But in honor of the arrival of warmer weather, I wanted to post some winter pics so we could all remember how far we have come:)

Davenport often gets WONDERFUL snow. Far greater inch counts than in St. Louis. And while I think living there and dealing with it as a daily way of life could get tiresome, visiting and getting to play in deep, deep snow is just awesome. Here are some pics of one of our visits this year.

This first pic was just to show that the snow really was nearly waist-deep for M and B. Thankfully most of the Iowans are hearty and compassionate people who are quick to shovel out pathways on sidewalks, so the kids were able to get around outside just fine. But the snow was literally up to their thighs!


And the rest of the pics are just to remember the fun! Because the Davenport natives are used to the snow, and because school is rarely cancelled due to snow, all of the local school kids have plenty of time to play in the snow while they are waiting for the bus. Nana and Papa have a bus stop on their street, and the school kids made awesome tunnels in the snow that had been piled high by the snow plows. B and M had an awesome time with their Papa, exploring the tunnels and slides created by the school kids. Looks fun, right?!
You can just barely see M peeking out of the snow tunnel in this first pic.

And I Quote...Molly turning 3!!

1. What is your favorite color: “ley-yow” *still saying “yellow” in her own sweet way!
2. What is your favorite book: “Princesses” *don’t know what exactly this means…I guess it means any and all books involving princesses.
3. What is your favorite movie: “Um…a princess one”
4. What is your favorite food: “um...rice and beans” *this girl still loves her Mexican food!
5. What is your least favorite food: “Peppers”
6. What is your favorite fruit: “pear”
7. What is your favorite vegetable: “carrots”
8. What is your least favorite vegetable: “I don’t like peppers…ley-yow ones or green ones.”
9. What is your favorite t.v. Show: “Um…Mom, I TOLD you…it was the princess one!”
10. What is your favorite song: “ABC”
11. What is your favorite thing to do with Mom: “Snuggle and read books”
12. What is your favorite thing to do with Dad: “Play tickle bed and play chick hugs.” *I wasn’t sure what chick hugs were, so I asked her and she added, “Mommy, it’s a thing that you play. It’s very blackish.” *???
13. What is your favorite game to play with friends: “Um…play dog-es with Anna and Ben”
14. What is your favorite store: “Um…the cookie store”
15. What is your favorite sport: “What sport?” *I explained what a sport was, and she added, “I like gymnastics and playing soccer with Ben.”
16. What is your favorite Bible story: “Um…Mommy, I’ll go get it. It’s a big book…The ship one.” *she bought be her children’s Bible and turned to the story of Noah’s Ark.
17. What is your favorite place to go: “Mama, I like to go and get those cookies with M&M’s” *they sometimes get a cookie when we are shopping at Schnucks.
18. What is your favorite restaurant: “Um…rice and beans” * she means Lily’s, the Mexican restaurant down the street from us.
19. What is your favorite toy: “Um…playing with those flowers” *she was looking at a vase of flowers on the table.
20. What is your favorite thing to do with Ben: “Um…when Anna’s here and my birthday came, then I like to play dogs with him.”
21. What is your favorite drink: “juice and water and milk”
22. What is your favorite thing to do at school: “Uh…I like to play there with all the other kids…like all the other girls and I like to talk to all the other girls”
23. What is your favorite thing to do outside: “I like to play tricycles with these!” *On “these” she pointed to the knee pads that she happened to be wearing.
24. What do you want to be when you grow up: “A doctor and a nurse and a fighter-fighter (fire fighter) and a Mommy”
25. What can you do now that you are 3: “I can go to Atrium.”
26. Who is your best friend: “Anna and Rosie and Ellie and Alex and my favorite is Gwennie’s Mom and Gwennie is my favorite too!”
27. What is Mom's job: “Go to work and help kids.”
28. What is Dad's job: “Go to work, too.”
29. What does Mom always say: “Do not put your hands in your bottom” *Um…don’t even know what to say about this one!!
30. What does Dad always say: “Go potty in the bathroom.”
31. What is your nickname: “Molly Ruth Schiltz”
32. What makes you laugh: “When something drops, then I laugh”
33. What makes you sad: “When we go to bed and you NOT sit in the hall for 3 minutes, then that makes me cry.”
34. What are you thankful for: “God”
35. What does Mom love about you: “Giving flowers to me!”

Driving my train!

So anyone who has met Mr B pretty much any time in his entire life will confirm that this guy loves trains. His addiction fluctuates...sometimes he is "completely driven", and sometimes he is just "nearly totally dedicated". I honestly couldn't even begin to estimate the number of days that my living-room-since-becoming-a-mommy has looked like this:

I really don't mind at all. In fact, when he wants to get out the wooden trains, I love it. As he has gotten older, the "real" model train, his Lionel, and the GeoTrax, as well as a few other train systems have begun to captivate him a bit more. But when he is randomly wanting to be a little more creative with track building, we head back to the good-old wooden tracks and have fun!

Though lately, he has been getting a little more creative with his Lionel train too. Just a few weeks ago, I heard him directing a train-building mission with his favorite accomplice. They put a lot of effort into getting the set-up just right. I was doing the dishes, so I couldn't overhear exactly what they were both so serious about.
Finally, I went in to check things out, and discovered this excellent tunnel creation:


But let me be sure to say, in the interest of full clarity, that M sitting ON the red chair was somehow a VITAL part of the set up, and she was totally on board with it. He would just sit and wait patiently with the train not running if she had to get up for a moment. And she really tried hard to stay in the chair for quite some time.

Ahhh...good times!

How to turn 3 in style...

When you are turning 3, and you really want to do it right, you've got to think through the details, and get everything just right.

For starters, you are going to need a chocolate cup cake, but MAKE SURE it is heavily iced....this part is VITAL.

Then, step one looks something like this:


Once you have completed step one, you can move on to the next step...step two looks pretty much like this:


Once you are well on your way to celebrating in style, it might help to add an accomplice. Pick carefully. You need someone who will truly support you and encourage you whole-heartedly. It might help to choose someone who will laugh with glee at each new step in the process. As a pair, you two might look something like this:


And finally, finish with a flourish. Really, you've already put so much effort into in. There is no good reason to pull back now that you are almost finished!


And now, Happy Birthday! Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Ever wonder...

Ever wonder what goes through a 5-yr-old's mind as he angrily sits in a time-out for trying to crash a fort that his mother and sister are sitting in after being repeatedly asked to leave the fort standing? It goes a little something like this:

"I don't love you...you are the worst mommy ever...get me OUT of time out...I'm hungry...I'm thirsty...I'm very bored...Now let me get out...I mean it NOW...get me out...OK?...Molly, don't look at me!...somebody do something to get me out of time out...I will never give you kissies or huggies ever again...I want to build a train track where the fort is and you are NOT letting me...go away...somebody get me out...I don't want to talk...I don't care about time out...GET ME OUT!"

In fact, this is EXACTLY what is going through his mind, because it was also coming out of his mouth, and I wrote it down word-for-word.

Good times:)

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!!

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.