New bike

The other day, ok maybe a couple weeks ago I saw my neighbor throwing this out in the trash.
I thought why let that go to waste, so I picked it out of the trash. (It was on the top) I thought even if it didn't work for Nate we could give it to one of my friends' kids. Nate loves the thing and uses it all the time. He uses the pedals unlike the other bike we have, so I guess we will keep it. He won't even let Gwen use it.

New trike from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Round 2!

I'm in the midst of potty training number 2.To be sure, I am not the only one potty training this time, Gwen seems to be doing a lot of the work for me. We have been very busy, I don't think Nate and I spend that much time at home anymore, which makes the potty training difficult. Nate totally gets it, which makes this time easier. Last week he just said I've got to go potty, Gwen took him to the potty and took care of it, awesome! She also fielded the pottying today during nap time. Which was great because I could only tolerate so much of sitting on the potty after the terrible ride home!
I have learned this time around to wait until he is ready and shows an interest, have the underpants that he is going to be excited to wear waiting for when he is ready and to not freak out when there are accidents. So, I seem to have no down time these days, HOPEFULLY next week will be quiet and we will be home or something, but I suspect it won't be. Does anybody else look back to the days where the kids and I had nothing to do and no where to go and think gosh was I bored? I think I am looking forward to summer...it will be much less running around and I might be able to be productive and on a schedule again...

A conversation

Gwen: Can you share the book with me?
Nate: NO!
Gwen: If you don't share it with me I won't get married to you or play with you at bedtime.
Mom: Gwen, you have to make the consequences something more attainable.
Silence
Gwen: Nate can I have the pirate book?
Nate: This book?
Gwen: Yes!
Nate: YES!
Gwen: Thanks!
Nate: Will you still marry me?

I guess they still like each other...

Spring!

Have I mentioned my husband loves living here? He thinks that the early spring we get here is awesome. This year I was able to secure us some free tulips and I planted them last fall. They are really pretty. It is supposed to be a random assortment and it seems I have put all the pink ones together, at least of the 3 that have bloomed so far they are all pink.

I think they are very pretty, the best free thing I have secured...

St. Patty's Day

I have been incredibly busy, so busy, I've been exhausted and haven't had much time to blog, but I have pictures and things to talk about. Today is the first day in my recent memory that Nate and I had nothing to do this morning. It was lovely, we ate breakfast, first for one of us, second for one us, I'll let you guess which one. So we read some books, sorted some laundry, and this is where the problem began. Our house is tiny, so I can see him from the bedroom in the kitchen. He was playing with the closed vitamin bottles, shaking them while listening to the music, so I was keeping a pretty good eye on him, but what I didn't realize is there was a marker attached to the refrigerator, that he could reach and then he yelled look 2 red ones, and I freaked out thinking he figured out how to get the last 2 (red) vitamins out of the bottle. I saw this:So then we took some pictures of his "work".
Then I decided maybe we should enjoy some outside time. Nate was in agreement so we went for a walk. Nate went for a little run down the hill and in the field. He had a good time. Here you can see more of the "damage".
I decided to do something fun for St. Patty's Day. I am not a huge fan of beef...and the other day we were at a grocery store that was giving samples of corned beef, neither of the kids liked it, I thought why make a meal they won't eat anyway. So I decided to make an all green meal. I was even going to make green cupcakes, but changed my mind...maybe some other time. So today I made green noodles, cabbage and green smoothies. The green smoothies were a hit, although Eric was doubtful. Seriously could not taste the spinach, just tasted like a banana smoothie and I got some spinach in Gwen...score! Man who knew you could sneak veggies into smoothies and you can't even tell!
The kids were distracted by the ability to sit outside and eat for the first time this season.
And, Nate asked to go to bed at 6:30! You can tell that I might have had him outside too much today. He even took a nap. I guess drawing all over yourself with permanent marker will tire a boy out...(and no I didn't wash it off him, I mean if you go through that much effort, you might as well wear it all day with pride)

Dance, dance, dance

My Momma completed her first complete week back to work after her football injury, so I thought she'd like to see some videos of the kids...mostly Nate dancing. Because I am pretty sure there is nothing cuter than Nate dancing. He is definitely my musical child and sometimes while Gwen is at school he sits on my lap and I play the piano, it doesn't last long before he is sitting next to me playing his own tune. But it is not something I did with Gwen, Nate enjoys it though.
First I give you "Charlie Brown song" as Nate calls it. His current loves are Zip-a-dee-doo-dah and Linus and Lucy. He asks me to play them all the time. This is a back view, because he likes to look at the iPod as it plays, I don't know why, I guess he likes to be close to the speakers...

Charlie brown dancing from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

Our next video is from after dinner (well for everyone but Eric). We don't usually listen to music while we eat, but today we did and when this song came on Nate said "I don't like it, another song" the refrain of my life...but then the song continued to play and I said "Daddy likes this song" Nate decided, it must not be a bad song...he certainly doesn't have that reaction when I tell him I want to listen to a song.

Superstition from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

His sister as you can see couldn't handle he was possibly getting his picture taken and she wasn't in frame, so she joined in, slightly obnoxiously, but whatever, Friday night dance party at our house! The hilarious part of the story is that Nate totally sings this song now "There is superstition driving down the wall" I don't know where superstition is going but sadly he doesn't know more of the words. Guess we will be listening to that song more so he can learn the words!

Visiting

This weekend we had a visit from the godfather and his girlfriend. We have not met this girlfriend before and were excited to finally meet her. The kids where SO excited to see the godfather they could hardly contain themselves...although I think Eric doing the countdown every night at bedtime contributed to their being so pumped! They flew in and stayed for several days. It was nice to see the godfather again and to meet the girlfriend. She seems very nice. I didn't take near as many pictures as I should have. At one point I thought, I should really pull at the camera, but sadly it stayed a thought, so I missed so great pictures, so I think.
Friday was a quiet day, picking up from the airport. The kids playing with Uncle Eric and Ms. Bruschi, board games, outdoor games. Fun! There was bowling, a night out alone for Eric and I, a trip to the Mall and a trip to the Botanical Gardens. I think everyone had fun. Here is a slide show for your viewing pleasure.

King Cake Day

Gwen came home from school today all fired up! She has been so excited about Mardi Gras today "SHE HAD A PARTY AND GOT A BALLOON AND MADE A MASK AND SHE GOT A BABY JESUS!" So I decided to make a King Cake, we had the baby Jesus after all. We've never made a King Cake before, but what the heck, I knew I had a recipe somewhere. It took me a while to find the recipe, but I did and we made the King Cake. The kids where very excited and helped. I remembered to take pictures. Gwen was very excited to place the baby in the cake, well not at first, but I assured her the baby would stay warm in the cake. Seemed weird, but she's 4 and well she was like ok and went and found the baby she previously hid.

Gwen has also learned that today is the day for sweets, no sweets tomorrow. "No ice cream, pancakes, cake" and no meat tomorrow. I haven't pushed the abstinence/fasting thing with them yet, because they were too young last year. Now I don't have to go over it with her, score!