Little - Big Girls

My little girls are getting so big and doing so much more than I am ready for!

Eva has decided in the last few weeks that I am no longer good enough to feed her anything. 

I was fine with this for Olivia and even Annelyse, but with Luke and now Eva, I would like more control over this and would like the least bit of mess as possible.

She does love the fact that she is a big girl now.

Another first, recently, is Eva has enough hair for PIGGIES!!!!

I think she looks so much like Olivia did, when she was this age, with pig tails.

Annelyse has become my little buddy since the older two have been in school.

She is my little sidekick.

I have learned so much about her since August. I would have probably overlooked certain characteristics of her if Luke and Liv were home all day. I am so thankful to get this opportunity with her.

On this day I was making chicken soup, so I gave her some celery, carrots, a few bowls and a kids knife to keep her busy. 

Oh and to make her feel helpful, I put some flour and water in a bowl so she could make her own little concoction of messy goo. (smile)

OH my little girls are getting too big!

Finger Lickin' Good

A certain little girl found some leftover cinnabon icing the other day and did not  hesitate to snatch it up and finish it off.

And she did not even feel one ounce of shame in doing so.

That's MY GIRL! *wink

Lesson Learned.

So....

Remember the 'incident' with daddy's phone?

Our children paid the price by doing the dirty deed of dishes!

THAT'S RIGHT!

They did not go unpunished.

They dunked, scrubbed, wiped, rinsed,

redunked, rewashed and re rinsed until everything was clean and shining!

The sweat, tears, wrinkles......

... laughter, fun, excitement.

It's too bad all this washing was just 2 little kids who ASKED to wash the dishes because Mommy seems to make the job seem so much fun!

It's too bad cause it would seem like I really put these two to work after they snuck Daddy's phone the night before.

It WOULD have been such a great lesson about how there's a price to pay for being sneaky!

If ONLY they didn't jump at the chance to play in the water with sponges, rags, brushes and dishes.

Next time I guess. *smirk*

** Oh and no worries to those that join us occasionally for meals. ALL of the dishes touched by these little fingers were all rewashed thoroughly after the sneaky fingers ran off to play.**

Go ahead, admit it. You thought for a moment how mean of a mother I was for making my littles to the dishes when they were just being kids and having fun.

"aww! Not Luke and Livy!"

MmmmHMMM.

A few rings a little late

A phone call at 10:50 PM usually means somethings up.


The first thing that came to mind was, " oh no. what happened."


Nervous about why Rog was going throughout the house while talking caused me to make my way up the stairs.
As I reached the bottom of the steps I heard him tell the kids for the first  15th time to go to bed.
When I asked him what was up I got a story that went a little like this:


Rog: " So, your mom said she just got a call from us from my cell phone. I went to go get my phone but couldn't remember where I left it. I checked the kids room and saw they were sleeping so figured it couldn't be in there. I then called my phone to find it and heard it in Luke's room. I figured he took it in with him and fell asleep with it. I pulled back the blankets and there HIM and LIVY were, under the blankets, fingers pointing and ready to push on the screen."


They called THREE people!!! At 10:50!!!!!!! PM!!!!!


Where did they get the phone from?
What possessed them to think it would be a GOOD idea to take daddy's phone?
AND!
How in the world did they figure that thing out?


I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!!!!!


So, SINCERE APOLOGIES to:
Grandma,
Uncle Jay,
Mr. Coffey


Daddy gave a LONG, STERN talk that made our little ones freeze with their eyes glued to daddy.


I think our little ones were scared into next week to NEVER touch daddy's phone again!!!!!


(while  mommy was in her room with a huge smirk waiting to blog about it!!!)
NO really though, I don't take it lightly that my mother almost had a heart attack when she answered, didn't hear us, called us back and not get us to pick up.
I'm just really nervous to hear if we woke up the other two victims.
SOOOOOO SORRY!!!!


*smirk* (no really.....serious)


Apparantly Luke and Liv have moved away from messes to now just being outright sneaky!
If you need a refresher to remember all of their mess stories, feel free to venture on over.


It's always interesting around here.
And to think that soon they will have a trainee in their hands to do all the dirty work.

Alright. WHY NOT!

Middle of August.

90+ degree days.

Extremely humid.

30 weeks pregnant.

Rather Large.

All of that is not a great mix to take a two and a three year old outside to play during the day.

So.

What does all of this mean?

It means my little ones have come to this in order to release energy.

No need to worry though.

This 30 week pregnant Momma has come a LONG way since last year.

I have embraced the fact that a two and a three year old are capable of having fun even AFTER making a mess!

That, along with the fact that I already vacuumed once this week and my hips couldn't take another cleaning until next week.

I've learned since the CAT FOOD incident!!!!

So, I guess if we can't go out because of the intense heat and a drained Momma, then we will just have to embrace it and make a mess and just HAVE FUN doing it!

Apparantly it was time for a remodel???

This lovely border is up in a room at my mother-in-laws home.

A very nice little yellow room that is for sleeping, using the computer and playing with kid toys.

And THIS

is what happens when you put a 2 and a 3 year old in a bed together at 10 at night and have great confidence and hope that they will eventually finally fall asleep in the same room!

That is until they both come out of the room holding only a small piece of the border that was, just 10 minutes before, up so nicely on the wall.

My little precious ones saw me and said, "Look what we have Mommy." So innocent and cute.

I looked at it and gasped the biggest gasp and then walked in the room to find most of the wall with torn border just dangling off the wall.

These pictures would have been way better if we took them before we cleaned up the torn wall but Mommy wasn't thinking her cuties were very cute at that moment.

Our home is one thing but it's on a total different level when it's someone else's.

Let's just say the matter was taken care of very quickly and then the snickers came out by the adults in the house.

MOMMY WAS NOT HAPPY!

Apparantly, my children thought it was time for a remodel!
                           SO SORRY Grandma 'Nette!

An Everyday issue!

I think all I said was," LET'S GET DRESSED!"

And this is what I walked in to.

And of course, the greatest mother, housekeeper, that I am, picked up every single piece of clothing, folded each one perfectly and placed them in the proper drawer.

OF COURSE.

NOT.

It will have to wait until the Spring when I am changing out the clothes for the Summer!

THESE LITTLE CULPRITS would be in BIG TROUBLE if they just didn't look so stinkin' cute!

If it weren't for these two, I would be out of a job!

LOVE EVERY MINUTE!

(yes, even these minutes)

Ah YES! ANOTHER MESS!

This was a month ago or so.

 I can't remember what day it was or what we were doing but Rog was home to help with this one.

I will just let the pictures do the talking!

A YUMMY Mess that tastes good and fun to clean up!

NO.

 I did not let them eat the ENTIRE MESS!

Ah. A month go by and no talk about a mess???

I figured it has been a while without a post about some sort of mess in my house.

Well, what do you know!

I found one!

Before I start with the pictures let me set up the scene.

Rog and I were downstairs when I realized the kids were being extra good without us around.

I mentioned to him that I should probably go check on our children because the pattern is that when everything is good and peaceful, Luke and Liv are up to something.

I kid you not, it wasn't even five minutes later when Luke ran down the stairs with a big smile and something to say.

"LOOK MOM! Look at me!"

Now, all I had to do was glance at his lips to figure out just what it was.

Rog, however, didn't figure it out as fast but all he could say was, "That better not be my chap stick."

WHAT???

We both rushed up the stairs, Rog, looking for his chap stick, and I was looking for my.....

 Ah yes!

My opened bag of makeup with everything thrown on the floor and my lip stick smeared all over Liv's face with a bit on the carpet.

Why not right?

Now. Let me just say this.

It's almost as if my precious little one's read my mind because before I went downstairs to sit with my husband I went to my bag that was sitting on the floor. We had gone away the night before and I hadn't put anything away yet. I remember thinking that I should zip my bag so that Luke and Liv did not see my makeup bag because, if they did, it would be everywhere!

How did I know?

Why did I not just take 5 minutes and put everything away?

Not sure but probably just figured their little minds would never think of such a thing.

Nope. These little children of mine know better than to go in MOMMY'S makeup and smear lipstick all over!

So. What did I do you might be thinking?

Nothing more than make sure I told Rog not to touch a thing before I took some pictures!

After all.

They are kids and are little and devious only for a short time.

Well. Devious might be for a while!

Alright, THIS TRUMPS THE CAT FOOD!

Oh Boy!

Where do I begin?

I think I need to start with what went on in my mind last night while I was grocery shopping.

The fact that I was out getting groceries last night meant that it took every bit of me to force myself to walk in WALMART yet again, for the second time that day. I tried once already yesterday but the karts are way too small for groceries and two little children. I try as best as I can to go at night after they are in bed.

So.
Before I make this a post about my shopping, let me jump ahead to aisle 7, where most of this will make some sense. I hope?

I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE the cereal aisle! I HATE, LOATHE, DESPISE buying cereal because:

~ Cereal is not my favorite thing

~ The choices are either SUGAR or a NON TASTING GRAIN that is known for all of it's good FIBER

~ I feel like I always buy the same exact thing and we only eat it because that is what we have in the cupboard.

~ I never know what to get and will occassionally wait until Rog is with me so he can go down that aisle by himself and pick out what he wants.
That way, WE ALL WIN!

SO, NOW.
With all of that said I can proceed in saying that because of all of those feelings, I decided last night to venture out and be a mom who was a bit out of her mind and bought a few too many cereals with WAY TOO MUCH SUGAR!
I hardly ever do that and if I do I try to sneek them so Luke and Liv don't see them.

WELL, this morning, that didn't happen. Luke found every single bit of cereal and decided that after breakfast, he was going to try every one.
While I was preoccupied, Luke asked me for a cup of dry cereal.
SURE! WHY NOT??? A little snack won't hurt? Besides, I have to get a few things done and if they are happy with a snack then all is well and peaceful in my home today!

WELL! WELL! WELL!!!!!!!!

I heard some rustling down stairs and thought that now would be a great time to become UNpreoccupied and start seeing why they are being so good!

OH YEAH, I found out really quick why they were doing so well down stairs!!!!!!

OH YEAH! you can close your mouths now because I did the exact same thing! I walked down, seeing them walk all over this cereal! OH MY! I just opened up this box about 20 minutes before this! These were extremely new boxes of cereal that were now all over my carpet!

I know I said I hoped my day didn't want me to do much today but I am guessing it wanted me to vacuum!

And of course I was an AWESOME mother and took pictures of this mess before I talked to them about why I never wanted to see this happen again!

OY VEY!!!!!!

Back to Aisle 7!!!

And Yet Again. Another Mess!

I just found this post wasting away in my draft pile. How could I ever forget this?
These pics were taken a few days before I had Lilliana.
I remember exactly what I was doing when we heard this mess happening.
I was sitting in the living room BLOGGING and Rog was on the couch next to me on the phone with one of his friends. All I heard for the longest time was our children getting along so I knew something was up.
I went down stairs and found this!

Our precious little ones got into the cat food and probably emptied about 2 weeks worth of food. I about lost it but then remembered that this was just a "kid" moment and not much else. Well, at least that is what I tried to believe. I think I remember Rog warning them that cat food was not one of their toys but I could just have been dreaming while I was posting that night.
I think I might still feel the exhaustion of when I had to clean up this entire mess. Somehow I did it all by myself? I don't know how that worked out? I was ENORMOUS and it took everything out of me to bend down and clean all that food up. (Not trying to make you feel bad Rog, I am just stating what happened. Love you!)
Anyways. I was tempted to leave it all. Buddy would have eventually eaten all of it right?

Caught!

I got home from church one night, unbuckled the kids, ran in the house really quick and came out finding the munchkins sneaking some of these! Guess they were a little hungry?

I don't know how they climbed up to the front seat so fast but hungry bellies, determined minds and little legs will get you to many places pretty quickly.

And they didn't think anything of this! See where all their fingers were? I had hand prints everywhere because of how greasy their fingers were from their little snack.

LOVELY!!!!

Sometimes it's ok to be messy!

You know those "moments" ok well, minutes, hours, spans of your day. OK your entire day when you just want a little bit of quiet or just some time where screaming, crying or loss of toys is NOT involved?

Well. I was having one of those days where I thought to myself.

"Self? How can I be a creative mom and allow my children to venture out into their creativity and play with something that is not normally supposed to be played with?"

I figured if I put on my "teacher" hat and tried to think of something I would let my "students" do then surely I could come up with something I could tolerate my own children doing.

So.

After a couple minutes of brainstorming and rummaging through my cabinets I figured it out! OH and thanks to a post from my sis in law, Karie, a few weeks back, I remembered she let her little guy venture out and be creative with some food as well.



What did I use?

Nothing more than some dried oatmeal and lemonade mix. I threw in some measuring cups, a sifter, and some bowls and they were good to go!

Now, yes, the lemonade mix may have been a mistake to try but I wanted something grainy and different texture than the oats and I figured how big of a mess could it really make? REALLY???

I must say, this was a pretty good idea because after I put everything in front of them and demonstrated what they were supposed to do with all of this they took off and played for a good 35 minutes or so? I lost track of the time because I didn't want to ruin a good, quiet thing.

There was no screaming, crying, stealing of toys... And ALL was DEAD SILENT for almost the entire time! I couldn't believe it! Two little children, making such a mess and no words coming out of their mouths at all for that long of a time just impressed me to the max! I was sitting right there the whole time and they barely moved from their original spots!
Now, I could tell when this little activity was about over because Luke no longer played carefully. He began to dig out all of the oats and lemonade mix and scatter it all over the floor. I figured some of it would get on the floor and even in areas where they weren't playing but I was prepared for that! It wasn't until he started chucking everything that I opened my mouth and requested that he keep it near the rest of the mess.

I was prepared for the clean up and also realized that sometimes you just need to make a mess and it's ok to make a mess sometimes. How else will our minds stretch right? It wasn't of course because I needed another mess to clean up or a floor to scrub or more laundry to do but sometimes you just gotta give!I think that this day I gave a bit. Wouldn't you say? At least it was all in the kitchen!

When they finished, their sticky feet were cleaned, their sticky pants were taken off and they pulled out a few books and read together while I cleaned up their lovely little mind stretching mess.Maybe, after all, the lemonade mix wasn't a great idea because it was so sticky after a while but you live and learn. Nothing a little bit of water couldn't fix! I figured if they ate some it would taste good anyways.

Ten minutes of clean up and it just ended up being nothing more than a little pile of garbage! My mind was rested, some things were accomplished and my children embarked on a new kind of fun that day! AHHHHH!!!!! What a stress reliever!