Deadlines

Don't have much time for a post today. I've been busy. I am trying to get some stuff done for Christmas and I have a 24 hour deadline, which means I have 2 more hours to get the stuff done or I don't get my special deals. The weather is colder here today than yesterday, which made my run today not so great. We had a nice time at the park today, I took some pictures, but haven't had a chance to upload them. Sorry. Since I won't be under a deadline tomorrow, I think, I should be able to do a real post!

Helping

Over the last couple years I have met quite a few mothers, each with their own different style of mothering. I don't really know what my style of Mothering is, but I fully believe that the kids need to know how to fend for themselves...

Gwen now knows how to make her own jelly sandwiches.

She likes to help around the kitchen.

Of course, she still requires some help, but it is nice to have her "help".

Last Sunday

Last weekend Jess and I were FINALLY able to get our families together and hang out. Jess drove here, dropped some stuff of for the kids (THANKS!) and then we headed to Raleigh for the rest of the day. We drove through NC State, and then headed to our favorite museum...we took lots of pictures so I made a slideshow...

The kids had fun, I think, Nate was super exhausted and so was Gwen, but they made it through and that is all we can hope for, Jess says they were well behaved! I am not so sure, but that could be because I was also exhausted! But we had a good time and some good company, glad to be so near friends.

70 degrees?

The hubby and I are beginning to wonder about this fall thing...moving farther south, we are not quite sure that we are going to have winter at all. Seriously, 70 today, mid November! We are finally done with the Ida "remnants", no rain today and I got the rake up all the leaves. I am a bit obsessive about the leaves, I guess since didn't have any in Florida, I don't have any experience with the leaves and the raking! Despite my obsessive problem with the leaves; we had a good day today, the kids spent a lot of time outside. We cleaned up the garage, put more stuff in the attic, so yay, we can walk through the garage again! The hubby did a few odds and ends. We of course have more to do, but I suspect we will always have more to do! :(

Yesterday we received news that my great Uncle died. We are sad to hear it and send our love, thought and prayers to my great Aunt and family.

We don't have much else going on today. So, I'll leave you with some pictures of Gwen and Nate coloring, oh from September, you can tell, Nate must have just gotten a hair cut, he looks scruffy now! (that does not mean I am looking for him to get a haircut!)

Can you see the marker on his face?

Here you can see it better...

Friday, again!

I think yesterday was a Happy day for the hubby. We were able to keep some secrets from him. I made these, they weren't near as pretty, (I had a 3 yr old helper), and I didn't use red velvet cake, but I think they are good. We also had his favorite meal (I called his Mom and got the recipe), made his favorite appetizer, AND we went shopping without the kids. Our very sweet neighbor came over and watched the kids (she called it a vacation, because she has 6 kids!).
The kids and I are spending the day at home today. We had a morning filled with random accidents, all involving Nate, come to think of it. He was "playing" the piano, and fell off the piano bench. Nothing major was hurt, just his pride! I was watching him from the kitchen and it all happened in slow motion, so crazy, but he just landed on his butt! Then, to make matters worse, he climbed up on the hubby's chair and took a big sip of Daddy's coffee. Then he started screaming! Fortunately it had cooled off and wasn't straight out of the pot, and I hope Nate has learned his lesson. His skin turned bright red, but no blisters, YAY! I am going to go ahead and predict he is going to have us in the ER by the time he is 2!
Gwen appears to be having a pretty good day today, I had to give her some special attention because she was stealing toys from her brother, she has claimed everything as hers and I have to "gently" remind her that not everything is HERS!
A week or 2 ago I took out all the kids "big" toys that they never play with, and they haven't noticed. I took out the little people stuff, weeble wobbles and I think next to go is the pop onz. The kids just don't have any interest in that big kind of stuff. Nate was making me chuckle this morning because he was taking his bus and running it over my arm going "vroom" then he was running it over one of the stuffed animals. We need to start cleaning this stuff out before Christmas, plus the kids don't play with it so it is just clutter. And Lord knows this house can't handle clutter! Now that I am done with Eric's secret projects I can start keeping this house clean again, I was spending all my cleaning time working on his project and just straightening up a little, but not much. I wonder how anyone with kids so young keep up with anything. The problem is things get used up so quickly, and then in the old house I used to have the "cave" that I could put stash stuff easily until I had enough to start another bin or do big organizing sessions a LOT easier when you don't have to worry about a 3 & 1 year old finding the stuff. So, I am going to have to figure out how to do that, clutter makes me feel claustrophobic and lazy. It ends up being a negative downward spiral for me and then I hit bottom and start cleaning again. Also Nate gets into EVERYTHING! I also now have to keep the laptops up because he picks them up and puts them on the floor, and since I have never seen him do it, I can only assume that he is not gently placing them on the floor, so our toddler proofing has reached a new height requirement. I would like to think EVENTUALLY he will learn to stop touching and doing, but he is using negative attention right now to get the attention he needs, gotta figure out how to stop that! But, I am off to catch up on house work and de-cluttering. Ciao!

Happy Birthday!

(Huh, that posted just the title when I hit the wrong button, who knew!)

Happy Birthday to Eric today! We have been cooking up surprises and special things for him all day so hopefully he can see how special we think he is! I'm off to start his special evening extravaganza! HA! Just kidding, but I do have some special things for him that I have to get started now that he is on his way home from work, more later!

Happy Veterans Day

This week maybe I have been a little stressed. Eric's birthday is tomorrow and I have been secretly working on some stuff for him, most of which Gwen knows about, sadly. Why do I say sadly, because the kid is 3 and can't keep a secret. Fortunately, she hasn't spilled all the beans on everything we've worked on. But conveniently for me she spilled the beans on this: I think she would have kept the quiet on the quilt, except that someone decided to surprise us and come home early and not give us a call. So, Gwen says "Daddy, Mommy has been working secretly on your quilt, see its over there." Which I guess is good because I was able to finish it in peace, see I have been working on it during naps and I wasn't finished, I had to attach the bottom row and like 3 tshirts on the 4th row. Hopefully now that it is done, I will be less stressed about finishing the top and hopefully this means Gwen will be less crazy, but you never know.
We are currently under lots and lots of rain. We are surviving just fine, but sadly I had to go to the grocery store and we got really wet. The kids didn't care, and I really didn't, but some of the groceries won't be the same. To counteract the rains we have some pictures from before Halloween, we had some beautiful evenings so we decided to eat in the back, (well really the side) and we thought to document the fabulousness of eating outside.

Oh and thanks to our Veterans for serving in the military!

Today

is Tuesday, did you know that? It is my day to meet with my exercise buddy, I noticed it was raining so I contacted my friend and she said she was coming, but I guess she didn't read my email that said it was raining, how do you feel about that. About 15 minutes before we were about to leave she called and said she wasn't coming because it was raining. I was a little frustrated because that is why I contacted her in the first place and if she didn't want to go in the rain, then could she have told me earlier, before I got everyone ready. This put me in a bad mood for the rest of the day. I was already on tender hooks as it was; today also being my Dad's birthday and Gwen being a real pain, everything was an issue today. Everything I asked her todo was met with "NO" and whining/crying. GRRR!
So today, I leave with picture of my sweet boy, I am still trying to figure out if he is smart or not so smart. I mean he seems to learn things quickly but then doesn't figure out things like, DON'T CLIMB UP IF YOU CAN'T GET DOWN. So, here's my boy, hasn't quite figured out that he shouldn't climb up on the chair when it is pushed under the table.

I don't know what Gwen is trying to do here, but I don't think it is going to be helpful.

But, look, isn't he cute.

Memories Monday

We had a very fun and long day yesterday, well, not really long for us, but I think for the kids it was long, but more on that later, when I download the pictures. So today, we are going to look at pictures from September, Grandmom's visit. This is from our visit to the Museum of Natural Sciences. We love that museum, its free and lots of big stuff to look at, we've been there a lot, (I would say 3 times since we moved here would be a lot, don't you think?)
Here are Grandmom & Gwen looking at the a snake in the butterfly exhibit, well, it was in a cage!
Nate, in the butterfly case! HI!

Nate and Daddy in the dinosaur exhibit. Nate liked this exhibit, we completely missed it the first time.

Gwen listening to something, I don't know what, I guess I should check that stuff out, but I am hoping the content isn't too much for a 3 year old...

Grandmom decided Gwen MUST ride the horse and cart, here she is checking with Gwen to see if she was ok with taking the ride by herself.

For the record, Gwen was fine with the ride, she told Grandmom she was like a princess riding on her pony.

While Gwen was on her ride, Nate made himself at home...seriously just copped a squat.

Still riding

Outside the museum Gwen and Daddy check out the big bell out front, a replica of the Liberty bell...

Nate checking out the bell

Nate checking out underneath, I love the squat they do when they are Nate's age.

I totally stole this idea from Beth.

Yesterday, Saturday!

We have these 2 huge trees in our front yard. This makes for a new fun time for us outside. For a while these leaves have been piling up in our front yard (ok, I have been raking them into a pile in the front yard!) The kids, Eric and I have been playing in this pile...
Raking it, laying in it. The kids don't really get the idea of jumping into the pile this year, they like to walk through it.

Yesterday, Eric, Gwen, and I decided to finally get rid of the pile. The neighbors down the street are trying to sell their house and I feel like a big pile of leaves in our front yard looks trashy.

After Eric had been working for a while, Gwen decided to pull out her wheel barrow and help...

Of course, she doesn't really have the technique down, but she's trying.

(I'm thinking the leaves are probably more tolerable than our molded pumpkin, but I am afraid to touch it now!) Gwen's wheelbarrow pile, not much, but that is all she could tolerate, have I mentioned this girl needs a nap!

Off she goes...

Daddy found a stowaway...

and the rake...

The next batches of leaves Eric did, he had to do with Gwen in the wheelbarrow...

She didn't seem to mind

What did we do with all these leaves, you might ask? I read in one of my magazines that leaves are good for mulch, especially in places you are going to garden, as long as you cut them up first. The article suggested piling leaves up in rows, mowing over them and then using them as mulch. That is why Eric moved about half of them to the back yard, where my garden is going to be next year. We (and by we I mean he) mowed the leaves and I raked them up and used them as mulch in the front, in the back we piled some of them up, the rest we just left to decompose in with the grass. We still have more leaves to drop, but it is nice to get rid of the pile for a little while, the grass underneath was none to happy about that! I am thinking next time we try this project we should have both kids napping, not just the one!

Yesterday

was a busy day. I got up early with the kids so we could be on time for the school tour. We were 10 minutes early, go us! There was a woman there that volunteers to watch kids while the principal, Sr Catherine (haha!) gave a speech on the school and stuff. My kids didn't care at all, had a great time playing with the lady in the "after school" room. I took them with me on the tour. The facility is going through much construction to make the school "better, not bigger". I don't know, there is just something about stepping onto the campus and the feeling of community. I can't describe it to Eric, he went to public school! The kindergartners even sang us a song they sing to learn their vowels. Cute! We'll see what happens. I think I am going to have to do some major volunteering at the new Church (not that I mind) so that I can get Gwen in and financial aid. The kids got pretty bored by the end of the tour, plus Nate was pretty tired, fell asleep on his way home. I almost forgot to mention that Nate pointed to a picture of the Pope and said "Daddy" of course is at that stage where he LOVES Daddy and wants nothing to do with me when Daddy is around. Gwen has also noticed this shift and she has become very Mommy centered, after 2 years of "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy", I am not sure I am used to this shift!

I can't remember what else we did, but that seemed like alot for us.

Today we got these fancy aprons in the mail. Cool huh?

Gwen has been "cooking" in her kitchen all afternoon!

Then she figured out the string comes out and pulled it apart, but it is an easy fix. We will be the most stylish cookers on the block. Gwen did want to know where Daddy and Nate's matching aprons were! Thanks Mom, they've been a big hit.

Busy October

We were very busy in Sept/Oct. We had a visit from Grandmom, Grandma, Eric, Brooke, Uncle Tim & Aunt Mary; all in about 6 weeks! Busy, busy. Gwen now calls the guest room "Grandmom, Grandma, and Uncle Eric and Brooke's room" on occasion. We had a nice visit with all our respective visitors. Sadly during most of the visits I took very few pictures. But I think all visits have at least 1 picture, so we can say see, they were here! The first visit I am going to show pictures from is "Uncle Eric & Broke" They came for a weekend and we had a nice time. Sadly I think terrible movies were watched, but really some people should know better! We made it to a corn maze, it was quite terrible and sadly I forgot my camera. But, the kids enjoyed themselves, so that is great! The maze was rather easy and the corn wasn't very high, apparently mazes in MD, way more fun. We are going to have to do more research next time!
One evening before the kids went to bed Eric and Brooke did some guest reading. This next picture is not of that at all, but I just thought Nate looked so funny!
I know Brooke looks bored in this picture, but I assure you she is not...you'll see!

A close-up of Eric and Nate.

So these next 2 pictures show Brooke reading, can you tell she is a pre-school worker? She totally gets into it and I couldn't get a very good picture of her, but they are funny

and sweet!

Sadly Gwen was sitting next to her and didn't notice the expressions, but the meanings were conveyed with her tone rather nicely, I thought.

Tomfoolery

Several weekends ago we went to a book store, when they were offering free hot chocolate and cookies. Of course, we were there, I printed one out for all of us, that's right 4 free hot chocolates and cookies! We timed it that we arrived just in time for story time (Have I mentioned this already). At story time, they read spooky stories and Gwen did a craft and then she got these teeth, that she loved, for like 2 days, maybe a week!
I even taught her to "sneak" up on Daddy and growl at him...not scary at all, but Daddy faked it well!

The husband has the ability to fall asleep at any time. This time he was in there the guest room to read stories to Gwen for quiet time and maybe get her to nap, well I guess she decided to haze him for falling asleep, or maybe she just wanted him to be warm and not lonely?

Gwen posing with her handwork.

Now she is giving a kiss, but I missed it.

Apparently, Eric who was looking over my shoulder, slept through all those pictures, unaware that I even took any of them.
These pictures are why I feel sorry for Nate having an older sister, he does whatever she does! I am beginning to think we need to get some more boy stuff in this house, we have been taken over by pink! He even tries to wear my shoes, although, to be fair, he tries to wear Eric's shoes also, see where he left Eric's shoes.

They've found that this one piece of floor, makes LOTS of noise when you wear Mommies shoes.

Nate still trying to work out my shoes.

After Halloween Gwen decide to dress up her baby like Dorothy, even down to the bows in her hair.

We have fun around here, sometimes. My last post proved right, the kids were out cold by 8:15! Poor things! :(