children

Breakfast in Bed

October 21, 2011 by Amy 5 Comments

The girls are off of school today and I’m working from home. I thought I’d give myself extra bonus points for still getting up early. It was still dark outside and I had a batch of pancakes going and K-Love playing in the background. Even though I usually have to drag the girls out of bed, they both stumbled into the kitchen at normal wake-up time. “Girls! Go back to bed, I’m making you breakfast in bed!” They’ve been begging for weeks since their grandmother sent home their trays. Their faces lit up and they dutifully went back to their room.

After it was all prepped, I carried their trays in and let them eat, getting a kiss as a thank you. I glossed over complaints about the chocolate milk not tasting right and even replaced Emma’s fork she didn’t want.

I went back to the kitchen to finish the batch and then walked back in the room to see how they were faring. I knew there was trouble when I saw a plate, off its tray and directly on the carpet. “Did something spill?” Lexi was quick to say, “Yes, Emma hid it under those pajama pants.” And sure enough some pajama pants had been wadded up to cover some syrup and pancake. I didn’t handle the next few minutes well really. I was more upset they had tried to cover it more than they had spilled it. But I wasn’t really happy they spilled it either.

Probably lots of morals to this story. Pride comes before the fall. It’s better to try and fail than not try at all. Parenting is hard. More proof we’re born with a deceitful heart. No good deed goes unpunished. I don’t know which one I was supposed to learn but I do know I learned a day off school, working from home and PMS aren’t really a good combination.

And the 2011 Christmas Card Begins

October 20, 2011 by Amy 18 Comments

My jaw just about dropped yesterday when I read a tweet saying there are only 66 days until Christmas. 65 today. And the days will just go by faster. How? How are we near the Christmas season in 2011?

This is the time of year I start thinking about Christmas cards and my yearly photo gifts and I start kicking myself in the rear end for not taking more pictures during the year. As the girls have gotten older, I’ve found that I’ve had less reasons to “grab the camera quick”! Yes, they are learning new things all the time but usually it’s happening up in that little brain of theirs instead of an outward manifestation like crawling or walking. Or, you know, smearing spaghetti all over their tray. In any case it IS time to start thinking about those cards and gifts.

Last year I super-duper LOVED my Shutterfly Christmas card.

The pictures meant a lot but I love the layout allowed me to share so many from that photo shoot. I’m ecstatic to say this year I’ll be using Shutterfly for our cards again thanks to a fabulous blogging program. If you have a blog, make sure to check out the end of the post!

It looks like they have some great holiday cards this year. Here are a few of my favorites:

Clearly I’m a sucker for cute little happy girls. Hm, wonder why?

And here’s the best part. I have the opportunity to give THREE of you a code for 25 free Shutterfly cards!! Just leave a comment here telling me which of the above is your favorite and I’ll pick a winner next Thursday.

I was given 50 free holiday cards in exchange for this post. Shutterfly, you rock. Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

She’s Full of Grace

October 12, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

“Grace is giving someone a gift they don’t deserve and that’s what my middle name is,” Emma paused in her explanation. We’ve gone over her name meaning a few times.
“Yes, and Emma means ‘full of’ so your names mean you’re full of grace.” I closed the car door as I finished the explanation and grabbed the girls hands. We were walking into the Speak Up magazine launch last night in an area of town we’d never been. It was getting dark and it was rainy and it’s not in the newest part of town. I didn’t feel unsafe but I think the kids did a little. I was glad to hear I could take the girls though since Scott was working and I wouldn’t have been able to go otherwise and I was truly glad they could come and see firsthand. It seemed like it was going to be a great teachable moment.

One of the vendors (low-income/homeless person selling the magazine) was at the party selling copies of the magazine. At the advice of Lana’s email earlier yesterday I had stopped at the ATM on the way to get $20 so we could buy our own copies. After we chatted at the party for a few minutes I took the kids out to the vendor to buy the magazines. A very gifted artist who is featured in one of the articles of the magazine (pictured above) was happy to help us. “I have $20 so whatever that will buy me! 6 and you can give me $2 change or 5 if you only have a $5,” I said happily. Dag was happy to oblige and gave me 6 with $2 change he pulled out of a hat keeping his money. I carefully explained on the way home that the magazines would be sold by homeless or jobless people to help them earn money. The girls asked if Dag was homeless and I replied I really didn’t know. They seemed to move on to other topics on the way home like how one of the new buildings downtown was lit up in rainbow colors unlike the red we had seen last time.

Last night as I was putting the girls to sleep Emma asked again about Dag. She said, “You know, next time someone buys magazines from someone like him and they have $20, they should, you know, just let him keep the $2. I think that would help him.” Like a punch in the gut, my eyes were opened. I hadn’t even thought about letting Dag keep the change. I was so excited about giving him business that I made it too much about business. “Yes, Emma, I don’t know why I didn’t think of it but I’ll do that next time. That would show a lot of grace, just like your name.” She gave me a big hug and Lexi understanding dawning says, “Mommy, you’re mean!” “Lexi, I’m not mean, I just didn’t think of it.” “Yeah, Lexi, Mommy wasn’t mean, she didn’t do it on purpose.”

I tried to teach my kids about giving and while I might have, I think they taught me a lot more about grace.

Warm Heart, Wet Ear

October 10, 2011 by Amy 4 Comments

Lexi recently playing dress-up with my clothes

Lexi and I were sitting in the recliner watching Scooby Doo last night. The sun had set and the lights were low in the living room. I turned to my left as I felt Lexi’s hands at my hair. She was looking at me with a smile and pushed my hair behind my ear. “You’re pretty.” Melt my heart. “That’s so sweet, Lexi. Thank you.” I turned back to the movies with a smile in my heart. I felt her still smiling and looking at me again so I looked back and smiled, sure that we were having a wonderful mother-daughter moment. I turned back towards the movie and suddenly felt a wet finger in my ear and heard her beginning to laugh. Lexi leaned forward towards Scott and Emma on the couch and yelled, “I gave Mommy a wet willie!!”

Stinker.

The Swingset

October 8, 2011 by Amy 2 Comments

Just in case you’ve been thinking about our gigantic swingset, I thought I’d post an update.

It’s now gigantic-er.

Yes, it’s like a second house in our back yard. Huge! I can stand up straight inside!

Last night before Scott finished it we had a little pizza picnic for dinner. Lexi clearly is excited. Look how tall it is! Scott is almost 6’ and the base is at his chest!

The girls have a friend over this evening. They’ve taken a ton of toys out there to play.

Scott built a cute bench for them.

Tucker cannot stand that he hasn’t found a way up yet.

So that’s that. The kids love it. I’m sure the neighbors are rolling their eyes. Scott is taking lots of IBProfen tonight. But honestly? I’m super proud of him for doing that on the fly. His carpentry skills are one of my favorite talents he has. Now. If I could just get that pool cover stand I was after….

Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream Review

October 6, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

Tonight we got to attend the Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream show. Since Scott was working, my niece got to come along and the girls decided to get dressed up.

They were so ready with their blankets for the cool air. They barely wanted to look at anything. They just wanted to sit in their seats!

The show started off with Princess and the Frog. I’m not a fan of the movie to be honest and I was holding my breath, worried what they would show from the movie. There was one scene with the voodoo guy and some scary costumes. My friend from The Carolina Clipper and I looked at each other like what is that? Once that was over though, they ignored that storyline for the rest of the scenes and it turned out great.

We were more than excited though to watch Cinderella unfold. We loved singing Bippity Boppity Boo. And Lexi thought Prince Charming was just so handsome.

All the squeals of delight though came out when Flynn came on the scene. And I do mean came on the scene. He came straight out of the sky and dropped in to steal the crown. He had the crowd’s attention from the first second.

We really enjoyed seeing Rapunzel and her iron pan.

And they really surprised us with some beautiful acrobatics

The girls had a great time. My niece who takes figure skating lessons seemed mesmerized the entire time. And I do also love that they fit in jumps and holds into the routine. I also loved that all the voices are prerecorded so you really felt like you were with the original characters unlike what happens sometimes with live shows.

All in all, a great night out with the girls and I recommend you check it out. Don’t forget to use the discount code ICE when you check out!

Not on the Honey-Do List

September 20, 2011 by Amy 3 Comments

Remember that honey-do list I mentioned? Well, next on the list was the pool cover stand. Just 2 4x4s and a metal bar could have done the trick so we could roll the cover off the pool onto it for storage instead of dragging it off. But Scott says, “Why don’t I take our swing set down and use the 4x4s from that for the pool stand and build a whole new swing set?” Well, um, ok, honey, but you could just go buy 2 new 4x4s. Look, I’m not complaining that he wants to build the kids a new swing set and honestly the steps were in bad repair but it seems a little much to do the WHOLE thing.

But, guess what I came home to today? Wait. Here’s the before of our swing set. It’s a 3 year old picture of Scott’s mom pushing them but you get the drift. Simple, standard swings and slide. PS Lexi’s hair was oh so long and cute and her wegs are so teeny tiny. Lexi! You’re distracting mommy!

Well, here’s the ginormous swing set I found in my back yard this evening:

Apparently he realized a little too late he got 10’ 4×4” boards instead of 8’ boards. Just a wee bit different. I have to give him props for getting all this up in one day and the kids are ecstatic. But dear mercy, I just hope I get my pool stand out of this.

Cute Boys and Infomercials

September 13, 2011 by Amy 10 Comments

Lexi’s love of infomercials is well known and very well documented. To date, she has encouraged us to buy Oxiclean, stacking hangers, deep-cleaning vacuums, space-saving bags and my favorite, to have laser hair removal.

Her infomercial ways have struck again. To be fair, this is less infomercial and more generic commercial. But still.

The girls were at Mom’s shop (where my sister Heather works too) waiting for Mom to take them to the allergy doctor and the following conversation occurs:

Lexi: Heather, do you have a boyfriend?

Heather: No.

Lexi: I can get you one.

Heather: Really. How’s that?

Lexi: It’s on a dot com. I saw it on TV. The boys are really cute.

Ladies, you are welcome.

Alrighty, just so I know Lexi isn’t alone in her love of infomercials, someone tell me the last As Seen on TV product you bought.