The deal

I tried to bribe AJ tonight and he flipped it back to me.... so we have a deal.

I've been sick again.... I blame it on the stress of this last week of work, more than I care to go into. I am going to work Fridays though for now, so I am sad to lose my day, but thankful for the opportunity. So on top of everything going on, AJ has decided to make over his personality and not be the thoughtful compassionate kid I have always thought him to be. Twice in the last week he has closed the car door on his sister. He has developed an attitude that he doesn't care and only wants to argue. I fear I am getting a dose of my own medicine from when I was child. I remember my dad constantly telling me maybe I should be a lawyer since I liked to argue so much. My parents always said I would have a kid like myself one day.... Well I sent AJ to bed early tonight, before TK. This he understood, to be the older child and have to go to bed first (they normally go at the same time) was the end of the world. I told him that if he could be good for the next 2 day we would either go buy Toystory movie (he has been asking for) or he could pick out a prize. Here is his response:

"Well mom, if you can be good at work for 2 times then I will take you to the mom mall to look at magazines and then we get pick something out for me, ok?"

All I could do was smile. Hopefully this is just an ornery phase for him.

not my water baby

We had a fabulous day.... except for one incident! We started the day going to the local Farmer's Market and it was amazing!! So much more than what I excepted.... can't wait to go back next week. AJ can't wait to choose more veggies and donuts and TK, well she just loved it all. (Then I got a little time out for a much needed hair cut & color.... looking fab now!) Then we headed to a beach/campground place we joined last fall. We went with Mark's parents and his sister's kids. The kids were playing in the water and his mom and I were sitting in chairs enjoying the day. TK started getting a little far out and I told her to come back closer and she started walking towards me, so I turned to Mark's mom and asked if we were about ready to start heading to the mini-golf before dinner. I turn back around and TK is thrashing in the water and going under ~ I RUN out in the water as fast as I could and realize that her cousin is going under too!!! (Her cousin about 8 months older, but they pretty much the same size) I grab TK and throw her under my arm trying to thrust my wrist into her abdomen to force water out.... I have no idea what I'm doing.... and then I yank R out my her arm. Thankfully some guy saw me run out there and came part way out and grabbed R and gave her to Mark's mom.... by this point both girls are crying pretty hard, which made me think they were at least getting air in their lungs. Both girls are fine.... eating and drinking and playing putt-putt and talking about what happened. I feel like I should take lifeguard training or something to be more prepared for this instances. I was scarred to death!! Of course it dawned on me afterwards that I was in my only clothes, since I never changed into my swimsuit and my car keys were in my pocket, but thankfully the car remote still works!

Yeah for company!

AJ couldn't quite understand why he couldn't pet the goose at the local wild animal park.... this was a momma goose with babies on the other side. (I severely dislike birds so I get a little anxious when my kids want to get close to birds... birds of any kind.)




All the kids were impressed with the tortoise

She was so proud of herself for petting the calf.

Grandpa came to visit the week before our friends came.

We have been busy with friends and family over the last couple of weeks.....

for joanna

Let me know what you think girl.... I have 2 valances, the quilt, a blanket, bedskirt, bumper, 2 shams & 1 insert.... i think that is all!

the ants

I do not know if it because of my work schedule or I am just slacking, but I am not up on the housework like I should be. Well warm weather is here and so are the ants. They are coming in through the patio door in the corner.... I think the smell all the food the kids drop. Another conversation:

Mom: "I do not like these ants in my house we need to figure out how to get them out."

AJ: "Why mom, they are black ants, black ants are nice they won't pinch you like the red ones."

Mom: "I don't care, do you want ants crawling on you when you are sleeping or playing, 'cause I don't. Plus I didn't just spend all that money on groceries for ants to eat."

AJ: "Well then maybe you should have just bought some groceries for the ants and then they won't need to come and look for our food. What are we going to give the ants."

Mom: "Nothing... I don't want to give them anything."

AJ: "That's not sharing."

Mom: "Fine, give them this piece of pancake, but throw it way out in the backyard."



Mark (a couple of hours later): "What in the world is laying next to the house?"

teaching privacy

We have been a little busy, but just a couple of quick tales:

Both kids are excited the weather is getting nicer and very excited about being outside. I let the kids go down the sidewalk in the cul-de-sac as long as I am sitting on the porch. Most of the time AJ will ride his bike and TK just sits by me.... lately though TK wants AJ to push in the stroller. AJ is a great brother and is always willing to give her a ride and is very patient with her (and her sometimes excessive whinning!) Well the got down the sidewalk about 4 houses and I look up and AJ is standing on the sidewalk with his pants down just peeing all over the neighbors grass. I try yelling at him, but had no voice and my knee is sprained so gimping down there was a sight I am sure. Here's the conversation:
Mom: "AJ - when we go to the bathroom that is private, we don't do that on the neighbor's grass or our grass."
AJ (looking at the dogs) "Why not mom... Louie and Ellie pee all the time in everybody's grass."
Mom: "You are not a dog... people go in toilets in the house.... do Not take your pants off when you are outside."
AJ: "Fine"

Mark's response at a later time: "That's my boy!"
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We have had a couple of new neighbors move in a couple of different houses. I would guess that 90% of the neighbors in this little street have 2 or more kids and at least 1 dog. Lots of fun!! I think my kids are really excited to be somewhere with kids their age. They are always starring out the window asking if they can go say "hi". (of course once we get out there neither of them say a word and then it looks like their crazy mom forced them out the door to say "hi".)

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In this house, there is no "play room" so most all the kids' toys are in the basement, along with Christmas decorations and misc. boxes. We do not go down there much, except for the weekends. Well this last Friday I took the kids down there to play so I could finish getting ready and then we were going to be out the door for a great day! AJ jumped off the last step and "SPLASH" followed by "Mom!!!! why is the floor all wet?" The kids thought it was fun to push the water towards the corner to make it go away and they were great sports about throwing some of their stuff away. I was not quite sure how they would handle that. This is my hunch as to what happened..... The previous Sunday Mark started building a closet around the subpump and water pipes so that the kids would not mess them. (This was a decision we made after a couple of cold showers - kids turned off the hot water heater and a couple of very cold days - kids turned the furnance off..... who installs a switch for the furnance at the same level as a 2 year old!!!) I do believe Mark's hammer bumped the plug for the subpump which did not completely knock it out of the outlet, but it was not plugged in!! Then add a week of pretty solid rain and there you go at least an inch or two covering the entire basement. That was loads of fun to climb those stairs a million times with my almost healed knee.... needless to say it was not feeling so well the next day. We are still drying it out.

sk8r boy

AJ has been asking for a skateboard..... Averil's song popped into my head round about the 20th time he asked for this... hence the title although I believe it is boi in her title???? I'm so outdated! We started giving him a $1 for doing a good job of getting ready for bed and having a happy day. I didn't think a ton about it, but he loves it! We have only been doing it for 3 weeks, but ever since he was about a year he would collect coins.... Money was one of his first words. So for the past 4 years everytime Mark empties change out of his pocket or he hears change in my purse he takes it and puts it in his bank. Last night he asked me how much money he had because he wanted to buy that skateboard. Nothing before this, expect a rocket that he only asked for about 4 days, was been worthy of spending his money. That kid had well over $20 in that little bank. Who knew! I was suprised and he was estatic and wanted to go to the store right then and get it, but thankfully it worked out that we could wait for today (: I asked him if I could take a picture and this is what he did....

(I just wonder what he is thinking.....)

I realize his bedding doesn't match his curtains, but we are trying to figure out what to do.... he still wants to paint his walls black and his closet tan....