Meet the Little Splashers

So, vacation bible school has begun at our church. For those of you unfamiliar with VBS, you and your kids are missing out. It's a week (2 hours a night) filled with songs, crafts (yes, even for the teeny tots), sugar filled treats, games and activities. In short, enough to fully exhaust this parent after one night.

OUr theme this year is "Take the Plunge." So it's all about a beach theme, and our nursery class is known as the "Little Splashers." These are the little splashers, all 6 at the table at the same time and rapt with attention to their teacher, known to my kids as their adopted grandma MawMaw Donna. Nanny is an assistant teacher, who managed to pawn off most of her assistant duties on yours truly. Something about my handwriting being neater and me being a better cutter-outer. Likely excuse...
This is Emma not looking at the camera of course, but isn't her shirt adorable and beachy? Her cousin Robby is sitting beside her and he is rocking the cutest mohawk right now. He later fed Ethan some fishies.
Here are the kids just after craft time and just before snack time (the aforementioned fishies and nice sugary blue koolaide). Last night's theme was "Plunge into Obedience." I think Ethan missed the memo as he's the single misbehaving kid in the background with the green tube going over his head. Notice how Emma will sit nicely for a looonnngg time? Not so much with Ethan.
Emma and Bradley eating their snacks nicely at the table. In about 5 minutes the sugar kicked in from the koolaide and life savers and all the kids were running around like banshees. Fun times.
Ethan finally sitting still with his fishies. A "nack" is about the only time he'll stay seated. He was thoroughly disappointed that scissors were not necessary for last night's craft since he is the official scissors passer-outer in Sunday school, and he takes that job very seriously.
So, doesn't this look like fun? I know that Sophie, Max, and Hailey want to join us, right? And anyone else with kids? It's Buffalo Church of God, 6:30-8:30 all week. Everyone is invited! Fun, food, toys, and crafts. What more could a kid want?

Some random pictures

Ok, I haven't posted any pics for a long time, mostly because they're all still on my camera card. It's kinda like that one commercial where the kid is begging to be let out of the camera. Anywho, here are some random ones from the past month.

The first is from 4th of July. I don't know why but I just love this picture of the kids watching the parade. THey didn't leave the ear protectors on for long, even though they needed them. For those of you not from Small Town USA, let me tell you about small town parades. It's 34885 fire trucks from all over the county, the local marching band, some floats from churches and local ball teams, some local politicians, horses, and the local beauty queens. Notice how the fire trucks outnumber all the other entries? Volunteer firemen are SERIOUS about their duties.


This is Emma this morning with her pink glasses. Yes, she just got up. But people have been hounding me for pics of her with glasses, so here ya go. I'll try to get some good ones this week at Bible School, when maybe she's actually awake.
Ethan wanted in the pic this morning. This is his combination "cheese" face and nosiness to see what Daddy was doing.
Emma in her new turtle float. It holds up to 50 pounds! Whoo hoo, and on clearance.
Ethan's rhino float which was short lived cause he felt he needed a turtle and quickly said, "bye bye rhino!" So it went back in exchange for another turtle. Lesson learned...just buy two of the same thing. Now I know why Auntie Lala and I always had the same stuff.
Have a great week!

And then there was one...almost

OK, let's see if BLogger hates me today. First off, sorry for the triple post. I kept checking all day and my blog wasn't posting so I copied and pasted and reposted, then of course at some point yesterday evening they all posted.

So, it was a rough night in Twinkie Land and I am fried today. I have no idea what was up with my daughter. A little background- she's never been the best sleeper. She pretty much feels that sleep is wholly unnecessary and a total waste of her time. She slept through the night fairly early but then around 10 months started getting up at night, several times. That lasted til probably 15 months then we got back on track. Well, I had a flashback to old times last night and I was nearly down a kid by the end of the night.

I had just finished congratulating myself for making it into bed last night at 10 pm, after doing 2 loads of laundry, cleaning a bathroom and hanging up about 34 pieces of clothing. That's a big night for me, as I'm super lazy on weeknights. Well, I watch 15 minutes or so of TV then shut it off to go to bed. Around 1ish, I hear Emma sobbing. I go in, rock her, put her back down. An hour later, same thing. This time I see she has a diaper drooping to her knees and is starting to look like she has Britney Spears butt, so I change her. Back to bed. About an hour later, back up, but she's dry and sobbing again. I give up and put her in bed with me. I think she went to sleep but I'm not convinced that she wasn't just laying over there plotting my demise. She saw that the veins were starting to pop out on my neck by then. So she decides, about 13 seconds after I get back to sleep that she NEEDS Emma Bear (her Boyd's bear that has the name Emma) so it's back to the crib. Two more wakeups and she's back in bed with me at 4:30. I threatened her life at this time and told her I only had an hour and a half to sleep until I had to get up or be late to work (6 am is the latest I can get up and still reasonably make it). At 5 FREAKING thirty the neighbor's car panic button goes off and Ethan wakes up. I just looked toward the sky and asked God if he was serious with all this. THen I rolled out of bed. Of course, Emma is sound asleep by this time and Ethan goes back down so I can shower, because heaven forbid Daddy would help at any point during these shenanigans.

So, that is the story of how I nearly killed my daughter. Thankfully I have a spare, but he's not so big on pink hairbows...

Kid obsession and the things kids say

So I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not I'm obsessed with my kids. You know, moms always get accused of this, and how we never talk about anything else. I consider myself of at least average intelligence and I think I'm educated and semi-worldly enough to have opinions about most major issues, and the gumption to discuss those issues. But do I talk about my kids too much? Do I bore people? Ok, this blog doesn't count because duh, it's about my kids.

I admit I have been dosed with an extra strong case of mommy guilt. I very rarely leave my kids' sides when I'm not working. They go everywhere I have to go with me when I'm not working, and I've only spent 8 nights away from them (that I can count) since they were born, all with a grandparent or Daddy. And no more than 2 consecutive nights. So, my life pretty much consists of work, which is boring and no one wants to hear about, and home. I'm worried that I'm too boring to talk about anything else. Hm. I do find myself stopping from sharing stories sometimes (unless it's to another mommy and we're swapping stories) because I don't want people to think I talk too much about them. Am I the only one who feels this way? Am I really this boring now, or obsessive? So here's an apology to all those I've bored with too many stories.

Now, to completely counteract my previous paragraphs, kid related stuff...Am I the only one who gets great joy out of making my kids say certain things? I have even recorded some of their utter cuteness with my MP3 player and if I knew how to post it, i so would. Ethan especially has some unique terms for stuff, including his pronunciation of motorcycle (mokercycle- no clue where the K comes from) and yellow (lellow). Plus, he is now constantly saying "Knock. It. Off." (mostly to Emma of course) and he periodically calls his daddy Michael. Or as he says it with his Boone County roots accent, Miiiiii-chael. Or, of course, there is how he says another- "anunny". "Mommy, can I have anunny juice?" And he says "I luuzzz you" which I just melt over of course. So I make him say all this stuff all the time just to hear it.

I make Emma say certain things too, like baby chinchilla (chinchiiiiwwwah) from their Diego stickers, and she now calls boogers "reg-wah" (regular) boogers because she distinguishes them from sleepy boogers, or as more civilized people call them, eye boogers. Emma sticks with "I wuv you" but she now also refers to me as Emma's mommy instead of just Mommy.

One note on Harry Potter, since I'm obsessed. LOVED IT. And I've taught the kids who Dumbledore, Harry, Snape ("Nape") and Sirius are from the different covers. But it's sad when your kid says "Mommy, close the book" after it arrived on Saturday.

From the mouths of babes...

Ok, it wouldn't let me do a title either, Kim, but you know Blogger hates me, so I tried to rig a title.

Quick post today detailing my morning conversation with Emma...mawmaw is my MIL.

Me: Mawmaw is coming today to see you.

Emma: Mawmaw is nice...

Mommy: Yeah, Mawmaw is nice. Is Mommy nice?

Emma: Mommy...mommy....mommy....

Interject Daddy: "How do I put this delicately?"

Emma: Mommy...mommy has ponytails!!

Mommy: Great, Mawmaw is nice and Mommy has ponytails. Who is your favorite? Is it Mommy?

Emma: DORA is my favorite. Eggo is Ethan's favorite.

So, not only am I not nice, but I rank below a bilingual kid whose best friend is a monkey. Guess I'm doing my job, right?

*note- Emma is currently obsessed with ponytails and wants one or two the second she gets up, and often details exactly who or what characters have ponytails. Hence our current obsession with Dasha the Happy Duck from Wilbur on TLC. Ponytails AND shoes. The perfect combo.

More from the big trip

Ok, first an apology because I'm getting woefully behind here. (Isn't woefully a great word??) But I have a lame excuse, I have tried like 3 different nights to post on here but it wouldn't allow me to put pictures on. I don't think it works well with Firefox but who knows? So for once I'm allowed to post this morning, so here goes.

These are the pics done by Kings Island because Daddy forgot the camera after naps. So we paid a pretty penny for pics where my children are not even looking but they were so enthralled by Dora and Diego it didn't matter. I'm pretty sure that this may have been the greatest moment in their short lives.

Here is Ethan meeting "Eggo." That look is his "I don't know what to think about this" look, but my fear that they would be scared of the giant foam characters was quickly assuaged as they grabbed them in huge hugs first thing.
Here is a particularly crappy pic of Emma but a good one of "Dora Dora." I have no idea why she has two names to my kids but she always has, along with Spongebob ("Bob bob") and Bob the BUilder (also "Bob bob). Emma hugged her about 8 times and the person who plays the Dora character was great, she even put her hands up to her mouth like Emma was doing so it looked like Dora was giggling along with Emma. And then...
We had the audacity to walk away and leave Dora to the throngs of other kids. I was holding Emma's hand and so didn't see the tears welling up til it was too late. I look down and see the most ginormous tears ever welling in her eyes, and then she just...loses it. That's all I can say. I believe, as my husband said, that Emma experienced the greatest moment of her life, and the worst (leaving Dora) in the same 5 minute span. She was thoroughly unconvinced that we couldn't just leave here there and didn't care when we said we'd miss her if she moved in with Dora. But we do have the above photo to commemorate the greatest and worst day.

On a side note, how did my kids develop such vocabularies overnight? It seems like just a month ago their sentences consisted of "yellow truck" and "Mommy take." Yet just yesterday and this morning, I've heard the following sentences:

Emma: "Mommy, my crib is soaked." (diapie leak!)
"I need a strawberry NOW!"
"Mommy, make me some ponytails"

Ethan: "Mommy, I need a strawberry too."
"I want Ethan's Diego sheets."
"I want to lay in my bed now."

They went from 2 to 10 in a month!! I can't believe they actually speak in full sentences, it seems weird, especially when they enunciate each word, like Emma often does. The other night she was being ignored briefly while we were fighting to get Ethan to sleep and then all the sudden, she says "I. WANT. APPLESAUCE. NOW!" Huge pauses between every word. I'm thinking she had been asking for it for a while. It was so funny that I actually gave her the applesauce, which she ate then went promptly to bed.

I will try to do more later, as I got some cute 4th of July pics I think...and I still have the zoo to do. The story of my life, several days late and several dollars short!

Tagged again darn it...

Ok, Janice tagged me, so here goes...

- I have to post these rules before I give you the facts (check)
- Each participant posts eight random facts about themselves.-
Tagees should write a blogpost of eight random facts about themselves.-
At the end of the post, eight more bloggers are tagged (named and shamed).
-Go to their blog, leave a comment telling them they're tagged (cut and run).

1. I am a compulsive list maker, especially when going on a trip. I keep a list of what I'm bringing, what I'm bringing for the kids, and even a list of groceries to get when we get there if it's a week long trip. I mark things off the list as they go into the suitcase or car and check it right before walking out the door, and sometimes bring it along. I also make lists of housework that needs done, etc. I am a supreme dork.

2. I am the queen of starting craft projects and never finishing them. Currently I have an afghan for each of my kids started that I vow to finish, at least before they get married. But give me a break this time, it's only been a month.

3. I love Harry Potter and even sometimes read Internet theories about the new books and FanFic stories. Yet again, supreme dork.

4. I hate to work out and always have. But I love sports so I'd suck it up to work out for sports in high school and college. I don't consider playing sports working out.

5. I am pretty sure I got pregnant on the weekend that WVU finally beat Maryland. Go Eers!

6. My husband and I are pretty much polar opposites when it comes to politics. So we generally don't discuss it. I know he's wrong and think he secretly knows it.

7. This blog may be the longest I've ever kept up on a diary, even though I'm sporadic. I don't see how people find the time to blog every single day.

8. I'm a little bit jealous of high powered jet setting kidless martini drinking career women, but then I think of how lonely it would be every night when they went home and I get over it. BUt a night out every now and then would be good, if only I could erase this danged mommy guilt...

And now I'm supposed to tag 8 people, but I don't even know 8 bloggers and the few I know were tagged so I'm going with Heather and Jennifer if they haven't already been hit.