(At least according to his Preschool "I Am Special" book.)
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Temple Trip
So yesterday we trekked all the way up to the Chicago temple with four kids in tow. All in all, it was not that bad. (Although we decided our next trip would be to the Louiseville, KY temple, mainly because we've never been there. Also, we're pretty sure the weather and the traffic will be better.)
The drive up was pretty uneventful. The kids all behaved pretty well, the snacks were yummy, Tess took a short and much-needed nap, and we only got lost once. Okay, not lost so much as took one wrong turn. Which is ridiculous, because how many times have we driven to the temple? But seriously, now that I think about it, it seems like just about every time we go we take some sort of wrong turn, or there's an unexpected detour or something like that and we have to reroute. Whatever, thank goodness for Google Navigation on our phones is all I can say. Anywho, we got there with just enough time for Lance to make it to the 10am (Chicago time) session.
Unfortunately, it was a chilly, windy, rainy day. So finding a park to eat lunch at and play was out of the question. I decided to take a chance and see if the tri-stake center down the street was open. I had never done this before, but for some reason this felt like the best decision. (Rather than finding a McDonald's or eatin in the car or something.) So we drove down there, and low and behold, it was open!
I got all the kids out, grabbed our lunches, herded everyone inside and went into the first classroom we could find. Turns out it was a little nursery room, complete with a few toys and a low table with chairs, perfect for little kid dining. Score!
I felt very blessed at this point. I couldn't help but think something along the lines of "We are being so blessed for coming to the temple! I can't believe my good luck with this!"
The kids spent a good hour eating, playing, and running around. They were so glad to be out of that car! I spent most of it cleaning up after them because I didn't want to leave any sort of mess there. I also took some pictures, just to document our good fortune.
About every ten minutes I would say "Who needs to go potty?" and both Josh and Spencer would answer "Not me!"
But eventually Spencer decided he needed to. And then Josh did, too. And then Josh started jumping around and doing the potty dance, and I just knew that he had been holding it in all this time, dang it. So I swooped everyone up and we rushed to the bathroom. We got in. Everyone was going potty. And then from Joshie's stall I hear "Mooommmmmyyy... I need new clothes!"
What?
So yeah, apparently Josh decided to have an accident while standing in front of the toilet.
IN FRONT OF THE TOILET.
Are you kidding me?! I mean, for a recently potty trained child I get this. But Josh is five and a half. He knows better. He can do better.
And yet, there he was, soaked from the waist down. (Because a five and a half year old bladder can hold quite a bit.)
Boy, was I ticked. Especially as I cleaned up all the pee on the floor around the toilet.
AROUND THE TOILET.
Josh just couldn't understand why I hadn't brought extra clothes for him. "You brought them for Tess and Cole!" he whined.
"Tess and Cole are babies. They are expected to have accidents. You are five. You aren't supposed to have accidents." I replied.
So I had him take everything off and I tried to dry it as best I could, but it was just way too much pee. I mean, seriously, a lot. I briefly thought about making him just wear wet clothes the rest of the trip, but that would have been way too mean.
Making him wear wet clothes for the next hour, though? Not too mean.
So I made him put his pants back on, got everyone and everything back into the car (much to Tess's dismay), and off we went to the nearest Target.
Oh boy, going to Target with four kids for an unexpected quick trip? Yeah, not so great. First, this target had the smallest boys department I had ever seen. Seriously tiny. Second, they no longer had any sweats or other cheap pants, so I had to buy Josh another pair of jeans. (Fortunately, they had some for only $8.99!) Third, Josh kept loudly complaining that "My pants are cold! My pants are COLD!" and so of course everyone around us looked at his wet pants, which I was hoping no one would notice, sheesh.
We finally bought the clothes and trekked back to the minivan, where I made Josh change. Have you ever had a five year old change in a minivan? You'd think it was the hardest thing I had ever asked him to do, for Pete's sake. And then he and Spencer started fighting again and Cole was whining and Tess was fussing and I started to wonder where all those blessings from going to the temple went!
Anyways, he finally got changed and we finally got back to the temple and I was finally out of patience and it was finally my turn to go in.
And all was well.
I was able to sit in the chapel for about 15 minutes and just decompress and think and read my scriptures and feel at peace. Because that's how awesome the temple is.
We really are blessed to be able to go to the temple. (Even if we do have to deal with accidents before hand!)
The drive up was pretty uneventful. The kids all behaved pretty well, the snacks were yummy, Tess took a short and much-needed nap, and we only got lost once. Okay, not lost so much as took one wrong turn. Which is ridiculous, because how many times have we driven to the temple? But seriously, now that I think about it, it seems like just about every time we go we take some sort of wrong turn, or there's an unexpected detour or something like that and we have to reroute. Whatever, thank goodness for Google Navigation on our phones is all I can say. Anywho, we got there with just enough time for Lance to make it to the 10am (Chicago time) session.
Unfortunately, it was a chilly, windy, rainy day. So finding a park to eat lunch at and play was out of the question. I decided to take a chance and see if the tri-stake center down the street was open. I had never done this before, but for some reason this felt like the best decision. (Rather than finding a McDonald's or eatin in the car or something.) So we drove down there, and low and behold, it was open!
I got all the kids out, grabbed our lunches, herded everyone inside and went into the first classroom we could find. Turns out it was a little nursery room, complete with a few toys and a low table with chairs, perfect for little kid dining. Score!
I felt very blessed at this point. I couldn't help but think something along the lines of "We are being so blessed for coming to the temple! I can't believe my good luck with this!"
The kids spent a good hour eating, playing, and running around. They were so glad to be out of that car! I spent most of it cleaning up after them because I didn't want to leave any sort of mess there. I also took some pictures, just to document our good fortune.
About every ten minutes I would say "Who needs to go potty?" and both Josh and Spencer would answer "Not me!"
But eventually Spencer decided he needed to. And then Josh did, too. And then Josh started jumping around and doing the potty dance, and I just knew that he had been holding it in all this time, dang it. So I swooped everyone up and we rushed to the bathroom. We got in. Everyone was going potty. And then from Joshie's stall I hear "Mooommmmmyyy... I need new clothes!"
What?
So yeah, apparently Josh decided to have an accident while standing in front of the toilet.
IN FRONT OF THE TOILET.
Are you kidding me?! I mean, for a recently potty trained child I get this. But Josh is five and a half. He knows better. He can do better.
And yet, there he was, soaked from the waist down. (Because a five and a half year old bladder can hold quite a bit.)
Boy, was I ticked. Especially as I cleaned up all the pee on the floor around the toilet.
AROUND THE TOILET.
Josh just couldn't understand why I hadn't brought extra clothes for him. "You brought them for Tess and Cole!" he whined.
"Tess and Cole are babies. They are expected to have accidents. You are five. You aren't supposed to have accidents." I replied.
So I had him take everything off and I tried to dry it as best I could, but it was just way too much pee. I mean, seriously, a lot. I briefly thought about making him just wear wet clothes the rest of the trip, but that would have been way too mean.
Making him wear wet clothes for the next hour, though? Not too mean.
So I made him put his pants back on, got everyone and everything back into the car (much to Tess's dismay), and off we went to the nearest Target.
Oh boy, going to Target with four kids for an unexpected quick trip? Yeah, not so great. First, this target had the smallest boys department I had ever seen. Seriously tiny. Second, they no longer had any sweats or other cheap pants, so I had to buy Josh another pair of jeans. (Fortunately, they had some for only $8.99!) Third, Josh kept loudly complaining that "My pants are cold! My pants are COLD!" and so of course everyone around us looked at his wet pants, which I was hoping no one would notice, sheesh.
We finally bought the clothes and trekked back to the minivan, where I made Josh change. Have you ever had a five year old change in a minivan? You'd think it was the hardest thing I had ever asked him to do, for Pete's sake. And then he and Spencer started fighting again and Cole was whining and Tess was fussing and I started to wonder where all those blessings from going to the temple went!
Anyways, he finally got changed and we finally got back to the temple and I was finally out of patience and it was finally my turn to go in.
And all was well.
I was able to sit in the chapel for about 15 minutes and just decompress and think and read my scriptures and feel at peace. Because that's how awesome the temple is.
We really are blessed to be able to go to the temple. (Even if we do have to deal with accidents before hand!)
Friday, April 27, 2012
Temple Wear
Okay ladies, this has been on my mind all day and I want some of your input.
We're going to the temple tomorrow, and all day I've been trying to figure out what to wear. It's that age-old decision between form versus function.
See, my outfit has to be nice enough to go into the temple, but comfy enough to handle 6+ hours in the car with four children.
Apparently my church wardrobe cannot be both comfortable and cute. Either the dress/skirt looks really nice but isn't something I really want to wear in the car all day, or it's totally comfortable but makes me feel a bit frumpy and not nice enough to wear into the temple. Okay, I do have one dress that fits the bill for both, but it's a bit too dressy for when I take the kids to the park/library/wherever while Lance is in the temple. It's one of those dresses that I have to wear high heels with, and that's a deal breaker. No high heels on temple trips.
So dang. Does anyone else out there have this problem? What do you do about and/or wear?
We're going to the temple tomorrow, and all day I've been trying to figure out what to wear. It's that age-old decision between form versus function.
See, my outfit has to be nice enough to go into the temple, but comfy enough to handle 6+ hours in the car with four children.
Apparently my church wardrobe cannot be both comfortable and cute. Either the dress/skirt looks really nice but isn't something I really want to wear in the car all day, or it's totally comfortable but makes me feel a bit frumpy and not nice enough to wear into the temple. Okay, I do have one dress that fits the bill for both, but it's a bit too dressy for when I take the kids to the park/library/wherever while Lance is in the temple. It's one of those dresses that I have to wear high heels with, and that's a deal breaker. No high heels on temple trips.
So dang. Does anyone else out there have this problem? What do you do about and/or wear?
E-N-D
Well, we all know that Cole is in love with the alphabet.
But now he has discovered a new love: timers. Specifically, the timers in the kitchen.
This began during a particularly rough week, where Cole spent an exceptional amount of time in his timeout chair. He knew that once the timer beeped he could get off of that chair and go back to the business of being two years old. He grew to love that beep!
Pretty soon, we would come running into the kitchen whenever the timer beeped, whether he was in timeout or not. And pretty soon after this he started shouting "E-N-D" when he saw that the timer was done.
That's right - he had discovered letters on the timer. Oh, the joy.
Now, no matter where he is in the house, no matter what that boy is doing, if he hears the microwave being used he comes running as quickly as those little legs will carry him. And he'll wait and wait until those beloved letters flash on the screen.
E-N-D!
But the fun hasn't ended there. The other day I came into the kitchen and discovered this on the fridge:
I asked Spencer if he had put 'end' on the fridge. Nope. Joshie? No, Mommy. Umm... Cole? Did you put that on the fridge?
To which he happily replied "E-N-D"!!!!
You might think it was a fluke, but it wasn't. We have moved those letters several times, and included others, and they always return to E-N-D.
Not only that, but he has also started sounding out basic words, like c-a-t (kuh-aah-tuh) and red (ruh-eh-duh). He'll be three in about a month.
Good heavens.
In all fairness, I don't really think he's some sort of child prodigy. (Or, as Calvin says in one of my favorite strips ever, 'child progeny'!) I place most of this on all the educational electronic toys and games he has. However, I am interested to see how this affects him in preschool next year.
Until then... this is the E-N-D!
***********Addendum!************
About five minutes ago Cole came up to the kitchen, crying and bleeding from his lip because he had fallen off of the desk downstairs. He cried for a solid minute before the timer went off. He immediately stopped crying and said "Oh, it's an E-N-D!"
And all was right with the world.
But now he has discovered a new love: timers. Specifically, the timers in the kitchen.
This began during a particularly rough week, where Cole spent an exceptional amount of time in his timeout chair. He knew that once the timer beeped he could get off of that chair and go back to the business of being two years old. He grew to love that beep!
Pretty soon, we would come running into the kitchen whenever the timer beeped, whether he was in timeout or not. And pretty soon after this he started shouting "E-N-D" when he saw that the timer was done.
That's right - he had discovered letters on the timer. Oh, the joy.
Now, no matter where he is in the house, no matter what that boy is doing, if he hears the microwave being used he comes running as quickly as those little legs will carry him. And he'll wait and wait until those beloved letters flash on the screen.
E-N-D!
But the fun hasn't ended there. The other day I came into the kitchen and discovered this on the fridge:
I asked Spencer if he had put 'end' on the fridge. Nope. Joshie? No, Mommy. Umm... Cole? Did you put that on the fridge?
To which he happily replied "E-N-D"!!!!
You might think it was a fluke, but it wasn't. We have moved those letters several times, and included others, and they always return to E-N-D.
Not only that, but he has also started sounding out basic words, like c-a-t (kuh-aah-tuh) and red (ruh-eh-duh). He'll be three in about a month.
Good heavens.
In all fairness, I don't really think he's some sort of child prodigy. (Or, as Calvin says in one of my favorite strips ever, 'child progeny'!) I place most of this on all the educational electronic toys and games he has. However, I am interested to see how this affects him in preschool next year.
Until then... this is the E-N-D!
***********Addendum!************
About five minutes ago Cole came up to the kitchen, crying and bleeding from his lip because he had fallen off of the desk downstairs. He cried for a solid minute before the timer went off. He immediately stopped crying and said "Oh, it's an E-N-D!"
And all was right with the world.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
A Head Cole with New Decor
I have a head cold right now. Not just any head cold - the type where if you bend down your head feels like it's gonna explode and you kinda wish it would just to get it over with. The kind of cold that doesn't respond to anything - sinus rinses, Coke Zero, heavy drugs, death threats to all cold viruses in existence...
This cold started with a light sore throat last night, so I knew it was coming. What I didn't know was coming was my throat catching on fire at 2:30 in the morning, so that I couldn't sleep, swallow, or breath normally until the ibuprofen kicked in, much, much later. I dunno. Is it worse to know the cold is coming, or to just come down with it all of a sudden?
I'm dying. (I'm not dying.)
But I am certainly not feeling or thinking at my best. The new layout for blogger took me a good 5 minutes to figure out. I'm no tech dummy, so either Google did a really bad job with the redesign (a distinct possibility), or I am really out of it and should just go to bed. I'm thinking it's a combination of the two.
So instead of blogging about the enlightening experience I had this morning when the power went out during aerobics (Zing! Did you get that pun there?! I still got it...), I am instead going to blog about something that requires a bit less logic.
Home decor.
I know, you're super excited. But I was super excited to get some new home decor up this past week! Do you ever feel like your house decorating gets in a rut and you just need a few new projects here and there to spruce things up? That's totally where I was.
The first problem was with my ginormous mantle. Seriously, it's huge. And tall. Which makes decorating with it on a budget a bit difficult. During the holidays it's a bit easier, but you can't keep pumpkins or eggs or evergreen boughs up there all year. (Maybe I could get away with the pumpkins...)
Anywho, I decided to jump on the initials bandwagon and put up a bunch of "M"s. As in Madsen, not Maren. Or as in "mmmmm", as Cole says whenever he looks up there.
This project cost me around $5 at Hobby Lobby, and that's only because I didn't wait for things to go on sale and I didn't have a coupon. Hey, sometimes when inspiration strikes you just have to forget about the dang budget.
I kind of feel like I should have one more giant M up there, a little bigger than the largest one that's already up there. Painted in dark blue. What do you think?
My next project was completed at a craft night with some friends. Awesome friends. Awesome friends who let me stay late at their house and talk their ears off because I haven't had a real adult conversation in several weeks. Awesome friends.
Anywho, the inspiration for this came from some tutorial found online, but I don't know where it is now and I'm too lazy to go find it. It also cost around $5, and that's only because I went a little crazy in buying the scrapbook paper because it was 50% that week. It was super easy to make, too. Paint the canvas, cut out some leaves, glue them on, and then slap a coat of Mod Podge over everything. (Don't look too closely - my Mod Podge layer wasn't exactly even, something I didn't notice until I was hanging my work of art up yesterday. Dang.)
It's no Mona Lisa, but this little art critic sure likes to grab for it every time we pass.
It hangs in the little alcove that leads to our master bedroom. And look - it matches the big M on the mantle just perfectly! I'm cool like that.
This cold started with a light sore throat last night, so I knew it was coming. What I didn't know was coming was my throat catching on fire at 2:30 in the morning, so that I couldn't sleep, swallow, or breath normally until the ibuprofen kicked in, much, much later. I dunno. Is it worse to know the cold is coming, or to just come down with it all of a sudden?
I'm dying. (I'm not dying.)
But I am certainly not feeling or thinking at my best. The new layout for blogger took me a good 5 minutes to figure out. I'm no tech dummy, so either Google did a really bad job with the redesign (a distinct possibility), or I am really out of it and should just go to bed. I'm thinking it's a combination of the two.
So instead of blogging about the enlightening experience I had this morning when the power went out during aerobics (Zing! Did you get that pun there?! I still got it...), I am instead going to blog about something that requires a bit less logic.
Home decor.
I know, you're super excited. But I was super excited to get some new home decor up this past week! Do you ever feel like your house decorating gets in a rut and you just need a few new projects here and there to spruce things up? That's totally where I was.
The first problem was with my ginormous mantle. Seriously, it's huge. And tall. Which makes decorating with it on a budget a bit difficult. During the holidays it's a bit easier, but you can't keep pumpkins or eggs or evergreen boughs up there all year. (Maybe I could get away with the pumpkins...)
Anywho, I decided to jump on the initials bandwagon and put up a bunch of "M"s. As in Madsen, not Maren. Or as in "mmmmm", as Cole says whenever he looks up there.
This project cost me around $5 at Hobby Lobby, and that's only because I didn't wait for things to go on sale and I didn't have a coupon. Hey, sometimes when inspiration strikes you just have to forget about the dang budget.
I kind of feel like I should have one more giant M up there, a little bigger than the largest one that's already up there. Painted in dark blue. What do you think?
My next project was completed at a craft night with some friends. Awesome friends. Awesome friends who let me stay late at their house and talk their ears off because I haven't had a real adult conversation in several weeks. Awesome friends.
Anywho, the inspiration for this came from some tutorial found online, but I don't know where it is now and I'm too lazy to go find it. It also cost around $5, and that's only because I went a little crazy in buying the scrapbook paper because it was 50% that week. It was super easy to make, too. Paint the canvas, cut out some leaves, glue them on, and then slap a coat of Mod Podge over everything. (Don't look too closely - my Mod Podge layer wasn't exactly even, something I didn't notice until I was hanging my work of art up yesterday. Dang.)
It's no Mona Lisa, but this little art critic sure likes to grab for it every time we pass.
It hangs in the little alcove that leads to our master bedroom. And look - it matches the big M on the mantle just perfectly! I'm cool like that.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Tess and Cole Birthday Portraits
I have decided that it's not worth the trauma of trying to get portraits of all the kids all at the same time. I'm sure I will lose my mind at some point and try to get a picture of all four of them together in the future, but never again will I try to get individual portraits for each of them at one sitting. (It was No. Fun.)
So for now I have decided that Tess and Cole will get their portraits in the spring, because that's when their birthdays are, and Spencer and Josh will get theirs in the fall, sometime in between their birthdays.
After today's session, I might rethink this policy as well. Oh boy.
Both Tess and Cole started off well and happy enough, but Cole soon turned into... well, Cole. He was belligerent and stubborn and just would not cooperate. This made Tess anxious and upset. (Actually, my anxiousness and becoming upset with Cole probably brought it out in her, but whatever. Tomato-tomahto.)
It was like pulling teeth trying to get some cooperation and smiles. Geez-louise.
And at one point I caught Cole trying to pull down the flash bulb shade. And then I caught him trying to climb up some boxes at the back of the studio to reach all the wooden letter props. (Remember the ABC obsession? It's still there.) And how many times did he run into and ruin Tess's pictures?
Oh well. Despite all thetorture fun, we managed to get a few good shots.
And it must be said: I have the Cutest. Children. In. The. World. (Just not the best behaved.) ((At. All.))
So for now I have decided that Tess and Cole will get their portraits in the spring, because that's when their birthdays are, and Spencer and Josh will get theirs in the fall, sometime in between their birthdays.
After today's session, I might rethink this policy as well. Oh boy.
Both Tess and Cole started off well and happy enough, but Cole soon turned into... well, Cole. He was belligerent and stubborn and just would not cooperate. This made Tess anxious and upset. (Actually, my anxiousness and becoming upset with Cole probably brought it out in her, but whatever. Tomato-tomahto.)
It was like pulling teeth trying to get some cooperation and smiles. Geez-louise.
And at one point I caught Cole trying to pull down the flash bulb shade. And then I caught him trying to climb up some boxes at the back of the studio to reach all the wooden letter props. (Remember the ABC obsession? It's still there.) And how many times did he run into and ruin Tess's pictures?
Oh well. Despite all the
And it must be said: I have the Cutest. Children. In. The. World. (Just not the best behaved.) ((At. All.))
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Happy Birthday, Grandma Susie!
Dear Grandma Susie,
Happy birthday! While you will probably hear much better renditions of "Happy Birthday" this weekend, I highly doubt the singers will be as adorably cute as these kiddos. We hope you had a great day!
Love,
Your Favorite Hoosier Family
Friday, April 20, 2012
Rice Crispie Treat DEATH MATCH Trial Recipe: Cookie Dough-Stuffed Peanut Butter
Right now my basement is full of men. Big, manly men, playing on their big, manly computers. Big, manly men, playing on their big, manly computers, eating big, manly snacks. (And the rest of Tess's pretty pink flower birthday cake.)
These rice crispie treats fit right in. They are big enough to satisfy any sort of manly appetite. (I should know - they didn't last long downstairs.)
These are by far the most involved rice crispie treats I've made so far in this quest for ETERNAL FAME AND GLORY. You can find the recipe here. Not that they were hard to make, but adding any sort of step beyond melt the butter and marshmallows and then add the rice crispies is gonna be harder, right? Not only did I have to make cookie dough truffles, but I actually had to make layers. With rice crispie treats! Madness.
Verdict?
Pretty dang good. I mean, you've got peanut butter rice crispie treats and you've got chocolate chip cookie dough. What's not to love?
However. 1) I don't think there was enough chocolate involved. If you're gonna invite chocolate to the party, you should have it in every bite. I actually doubled the amount of chips used and I still don't think it was enough. 2) The peanut butter flavor in the treats kind of overwhelmed the cookie dough. So if I made these again I would either cut back on the amount of peanut butter or leave it out altogether. 3) These suckers are big. My jaw is tired from having to open up so wide to take a bite. Don't laugh - this is a serious issue. (No it's not.)
Actually, I really, really like the peanut butter crispie part, so if you're looking for a good, basic crispie recipe you've found it.
Well, back to my list of rice crispie treat ideas. Those manly men are gonna be sad when they find out what's on the docket for next week!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
How Big is Tess? Soooo Big!
Tess's 12 month stats:
29 inches tall (50%)
22lbs 10oz (90%)
So big, indeed!
Oh, and a big thank you to Grandpa ElRay and Grandma Susie for the cutie-pie outfit Tess is wearing. How cute is Tess? Soooo cute!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Credit Card Blues
For whatever reason, Joshie is obsessed with credit cards lately.
Heaven only knows why. He asks for one often. He even wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him one. I have tried, on several occasions, to explain to him that you have to pay for a credit card. As in, it's not just free money - whatever you spend with the credit card, you have to pay back.
I actually think he gets this, but he doesn't care. He's always talking about all the things he would buy if he had his own credit card.
For all our sakes, I hope this means he'll grow up and get a good job in the financial sector, and not that he'll down in debt and want to live in our basement when he's 34.
This is what he looked like today when I, once again, told him he was too young for a credit card.
Sometimes it's really hard to be a five year old without a credit card.
Heaven only knows why. He asks for one often. He even wanted the Easter Bunny to bring him one. I have tried, on several occasions, to explain to him that you have to pay for a credit card. As in, it's not just free money - whatever you spend with the credit card, you have to pay back.
I actually think he gets this, but he doesn't care. He's always talking about all the things he would buy if he had his own credit card.
For all our sakes, I hope this means he'll grow up and get a good job in the financial sector, and not that he'll down in debt and want to live in our basement when he's 34.
This is what he looked like today when I, once again, told him he was too young for a credit card.
Sometimes it's really hard to be a five year old without a credit card.
Happy First Birthday, Tess!
Oh my goodness. Today is my baby's first birthday. My last baby's first birthday. Part of me wants to jump up in the air and celebrate, because babies are a ton-o-work. The other part wants to break down and sob because she is my baby, my last baby. And now she's one. She might as well just move out now, she seems so grown up.
But wait - she's still not even crawling, let alone walking. (Following in her brothers' footsteps. So to speak.) So I guess I can have my baby for a little longer.
The day started with a very special birthday breakfast: baked chocolate/banana oatmeal. Super yummy!
Okay, confession time: I actually made this oatmeal more for Josh than for Tess. Josh has been on a real anti-oatmeal kick lately, which is too bad because we eat it 3 times a week. I thought for sure the chocolate banana would be a hit. To his credit, the boy did try it out. But then decided he didn't like it. Oh well. I guess he's just gonna have to either learn to like oatmeal again or learn how to live on an empty stomach in the mornings! Anywho, Tess sure seemed to like it!
Now, on to the cake.
I just had a thought. Thirty years from now my children are gonna wonder why I make such a big deal about their birthday cakes on my blog. Seriously, it's just a cake. I answer with this: when you put that much time, effort, and butter into something, it's necessary to blog about it. I know these are not professional cakes by any stretch of the imagination, but just try to understand the amount of effort it took me to get them to look halfway decent!
Anywho, this year I wanted a very, very girly cake because we have never had a very, very girly cake in our house before. I tried to do a pink ombre rosette kind of thing, and while it's not quite how I imagined it in my head, it's not so bad, either.
I made two batches of frosting and that was barely enough to cover the cake. Needless to say, the boys were in heaven eating their frosting with a little bit of cake attached...
I had to protect the cake from Cole all day long. He kept hovering around the kitchen saying "Cole's happy birthday cake. I want!"
Today was much like any other, which is perfect when you're one year old. After Tess's nap I put her and the boys outside to play. I told Spencer to push her on the swing, but, surprisingly, Cole took over that job. (Cole has not always been Tess's biggest fan, but he's been warming up to her recently. Just last week at aerobics he chased some other kids away from Tess because, as he yelled at them, "MY BABY!! COLE'S BABY!" He also frequently gets worried that I'm going to leave Tess at home or at the store or wherever. "No! Don't leave Tess! Tess, Tess, TESS!!!" You know, because I leave my children all over the place all of the time.)
I just love this shot of the two of them!
Tess looks a little scared here, but truly, she was lovin' it!
For all of our other children's first birthdays we have gone out to dinner. This is because I always felt that I shouldn't have to cook since it was really me doing all the work the year before; therefore, I should get a night off from making dinner. But we never had a 2 year old Cole before this. That child... well, he's no fun at restaurants right now. So we decided to feed the kids macaroni and cheese (a collective favorite) and Lance picked up a couple of burritos for the adults (Welcome to Moe's!).
As you can see, mac and cheese is a big hit with the one year old set. Omigoodness, I love the darling look on her face!
I was dying over the fact that she had to hold one of her balloons while eating. Just look at those cute, chubby little hands.
Spencer and Josh demanded a picture with the birthday girl. The birthday girl demanded a bottle.
Time to sing Happy Birthday!
At this point I usually post a video, but for whatever reason my videos are in some sort of funky format that I can't seem to fix and our resident IT Genius is out playing basketball. So, no video. Just try to picture in your head all of us singing as Tess looks at us and the cake as if we are all psychos. Then Lance tries to get Tess to touch the cake, but she will have none of it. (Probably because she heard me yelling at Cole all day to stay away from it.) Then Lance sticks a glob of frosting into her mouth and she decides that the cake is really not all that bad and deserves further investigation.
Unfortunately, I let Tess fill up on mac and cheese, so she wasn't that interested in eating cake. This is a TRAVESTY, because my very favorite thing about first birthdays is letting the baby go to town on the cake and getting all messy. Tess was already quite messy from the mac and cheese, but mac and cheese mess is not quite as endearing as first birthday cake mess. So maybe I will let Tess have cake for dinner tomorrow and get some good pictures from that.
I think she takes after her mother. (In looks, not in cake-eating.)
I let the boys each open one present for Tess. They were more than happy to oblige.
Tess was not so happy about this. Actually, Tess knew it was bath time and was not so happy about having to wait for it.
Tess got a Fisher Price Little People's doll house, complete with door bell that works and potty that makes flushing noises! (These were the most exciting features for the boys.) It also came with the Little Peoples SUV and a set of Grandparent figures. My good friend, Misty, got a great deal on this and accidentally ordered two; I was only too willing to take it off her hands for her. (Thanks again, Misty!)
Kind of random sidenote: I thought I had chocolate cake mix in my basement storage room. I kinda feel like all first birthday cakes should be chocolate because that makes for a more interesting mess on the baby. However, when I went downstairs yesterday to get the cake mix all I could find was the $.49 Spring Cake Confetti mix I had bought on clearance at Aldi last week. (What I thought was chocolate cake was a brownie mix. Dang!) So I used that instead. Oh sure, I could have made a chocolate cake from scratch. But I didn't wanna.
So anyways, sprinkles. In the cake. It was a hit.
Since Tess is only one year old and the fourth child, and since I had already scored the doll house, I didn't really feel like the boys needed to buy her any toys. So I talked them into buying some balloons for her instead. They were only too happy to oblige.
She loves them and so do the boys. Can you tell they picked out the color scheme? (It was one of those moments where I really wanted to step in and say "Hey, let's pick some colors that actually match!", but I bit my tongue and let them choose what they wanted, because does it really matter? No. But do those non-matching balloons really bug me? You betcha.)
After her bath, Tess finally got to play with her new toys. Of course, she had to fight with Cole for the chance. But that was pretty much a given.
"Oh hey - there's my tummy!"
I couldn't get her to look up for a single picture.
Guess that means she likes the doll house. Score!
A few things about Tess right now that I love:
But wait - she's still not even crawling, let alone walking. (Following in her brothers' footsteps. So to speak.) So I guess I can have my baby for a little longer.
The day started with a very special birthday breakfast: baked chocolate/banana oatmeal. Super yummy!
Okay, confession time: I actually made this oatmeal more for Josh than for Tess. Josh has been on a real anti-oatmeal kick lately, which is too bad because we eat it 3 times a week. I thought for sure the chocolate banana would be a hit. To his credit, the boy did try it out. But then decided he didn't like it. Oh well. I guess he's just gonna have to either learn to like oatmeal again or learn how to live on an empty stomach in the mornings! Anywho, Tess sure seemed to like it!
Now, on to the cake.
I just had a thought. Thirty years from now my children are gonna wonder why I make such a big deal about their birthday cakes on my blog. Seriously, it's just a cake. I answer with this: when you put that much time, effort, and butter into something, it's necessary to blog about it. I know these are not professional cakes by any stretch of the imagination, but just try to understand the amount of effort it took me to get them to look halfway decent!
Anywho, this year I wanted a very, very girly cake because we have never had a very, very girly cake in our house before. I tried to do a pink ombre rosette kind of thing, and while it's not quite how I imagined it in my head, it's not so bad, either.
I made two batches of frosting and that was barely enough to cover the cake. Needless to say, the boys were in heaven eating their frosting with a little bit of cake attached...
I had to protect the cake from Cole all day long. He kept hovering around the kitchen saying "Cole's happy birthday cake. I want!"
Today was much like any other, which is perfect when you're one year old. After Tess's nap I put her and the boys outside to play. I told Spencer to push her on the swing, but, surprisingly, Cole took over that job. (Cole has not always been Tess's biggest fan, but he's been warming up to her recently. Just last week at aerobics he chased some other kids away from Tess because, as he yelled at them, "MY BABY!! COLE'S BABY!" He also frequently gets worried that I'm going to leave Tess at home or at the store or wherever. "No! Don't leave Tess! Tess, Tess, TESS!!!" You know, because I leave my children all over the place all of the time.)
I just love this shot of the two of them!
Tess looks a little scared here, but truly, she was lovin' it!
For all of our other children's first birthdays we have gone out to dinner. This is because I always felt that I shouldn't have to cook since it was really me doing all the work the year before; therefore, I should get a night off from making dinner. But we never had a 2 year old Cole before this. That child... well, he's no fun at restaurants right now. So we decided to feed the kids macaroni and cheese (a collective favorite) and Lance picked up a couple of burritos for the adults (Welcome to Moe's!).
As you can see, mac and cheese is a big hit with the one year old set. Omigoodness, I love the darling look on her face!
I was dying over the fact that she had to hold one of her balloons while eating. Just look at those cute, chubby little hands.
Spencer and Josh demanded a picture with the birthday girl. The birthday girl demanded a bottle.
Time to sing Happy Birthday!
At this point I usually post a video, but for whatever reason my videos are in some sort of funky format that I can't seem to fix and our resident IT Genius is out playing basketball. So, no video. Just try to picture in your head all of us singing as Tess looks at us and the cake as if we are all psychos. Then Lance tries to get Tess to touch the cake, but she will have none of it. (Probably because she heard me yelling at Cole all day to stay away from it.) Then Lance sticks a glob of frosting into her mouth and she decides that the cake is really not all that bad and deserves further investigation.
Unfortunately, I let Tess fill up on mac and cheese, so she wasn't that interested in eating cake. This is a TRAVESTY, because my very favorite thing about first birthdays is letting the baby go to town on the cake and getting all messy. Tess was already quite messy from the mac and cheese, but mac and cheese mess is not quite as endearing as first birthday cake mess. So maybe I will let Tess have cake for dinner tomorrow and get some good pictures from that.
I think she takes after her mother. (In looks, not in cake-eating.)
I let the boys each open one present for Tess. They were more than happy to oblige.
Tess was not so happy about this. Actually, Tess knew it was bath time and was not so happy about having to wait for it.
Tess got a Fisher Price Little People's doll house, complete with door bell that works and potty that makes flushing noises! (These were the most exciting features for the boys.) It also came with the Little Peoples SUV and a set of Grandparent figures. My good friend, Misty, got a great deal on this and accidentally ordered two; I was only too willing to take it off her hands for her. (Thanks again, Misty!)
Kind of random sidenote: I thought I had chocolate cake mix in my basement storage room. I kinda feel like all first birthday cakes should be chocolate because that makes for a more interesting mess on the baby. However, when I went downstairs yesterday to get the cake mix all I could find was the $.49 Spring Cake Confetti mix I had bought on clearance at Aldi last week. (What I thought was chocolate cake was a brownie mix. Dang!) So I used that instead. Oh sure, I could have made a chocolate cake from scratch. But I didn't wanna.
So anyways, sprinkles. In the cake. It was a hit.
Since Tess is only one year old and the fourth child, and since I had already scored the doll house, I didn't really feel like the boys needed to buy her any toys. So I talked them into buying some balloons for her instead. They were only too happy to oblige.
She loves them and so do the boys. Can you tell they picked out the color scheme? (It was one of those moments where I really wanted to step in and say "Hey, let's pick some colors that actually match!", but I bit my tongue and let them choose what they wanted, because does it really matter? No. But do those non-matching balloons really bug me? You betcha.)
After her bath, Tess finally got to play with her new toys. Of course, she had to fight with Cole for the chance. But that was pretty much a given.
"Oh hey - there's my tummy!"
I couldn't get her to look up for a single picture.
Guess that means she likes the doll house. Score!
A few things about Tess right now that I love:
- Whenever I take her bib off after a meal she always has to grab one more thing off of her tray and gobble it down, even if she's full. (Because you can never tell when you'll be fed again, right, Tess?)
- Tess claps with her feet when she's really excited. It is super awesome, but she won't do it for the camera of course.
- When Lance comes home Tess lights up and says in a baby way "Oh, Hi! There you are! I wondered when you'd get here!" She likes her daddy.
- She still likes her mommy more. And I'm good with that, because I know there will be a day when she won't.
- Tess always sticks her feet strait up into the air when you put her in her crib. I put the blanket over her face, and she kicks it down and snuggles in for a nap.
- Tess is not afraid to let anyone know when she is upset. Ever.
- As I mentioned, she's still not crawling. But that doesn't mean she's not mobile: she scoots around on her bum or on her back. She's quite pleased with this.
- Tess claps whenever she hears applause on the TV.
- She still doesn't smile at many people - she stares them down. It's like she's trying to figure them out; you can almost hear the gears in her head turning!
- Tess lurves when I wear jewelery - especially necklaces. The chunkier and easier to grab, the better. She'll use her chubby little hands to move my head from side to side to check out my earrings, too.
- She gets so excited when I come to get her out of the crib. She does a whole body bounce that's pretty funny.
- Tess still has crazy fuzzy hair on the back of her head because she's always rubbing it against her bed and the floor. It sticks up everywhere and looks as if she has put her finger in a socket. I'm always fighting a losing battle to keep it down.
- She already preens in the mirror when I comb her hair or put a necklace on her. Love it.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Spring Fest 2012
We actually made it to Spring Fest this year. Hooray! (Last year I was far too pregnant.) We only stayed a little over an hour and only hit about a 1/3 of everything to see, but you know what? We were fine with that; with 4 small kids in tow it's always a bit of a gamble going anywhere.
This was Tess's first year. She enjoyed chillin' in the stroller and taking in all the sights.
Spencer in the Boilermaker Barnyard. The kids were impressed with just how big those cows were! Fun fact: cows can smell things up to 6 miles away. Lance and I couldn't figure out why this incredible sense of smell is necessary for a cow, other than maybe they need a 6 mile head start to get away from any cow predators.
We waited in line to pet the calf, but Cole chickened out and refused to do it.
Spencer braved it, though. (It was a pretty viscous looking calf. Grrrrr...)
We didn't make it to the Bug Bowl this year. We figured Cole would not do well in that situation, and we had seen it enough times to not feel too picked on in missing it. But we did peruse the extensive pinned insect collection. My favorite part was the "Humbug" collection - a bunch nightmarish bugs pinned on a board with four real bugs. It was actually pretty difficult to figure out the real bugs!
I kept thinking about some entomologists having great fun creating these Frankenstein bugs. They did a great job, too - they looked very realistic! Here are some of my favorites, posted especially for my entomologist father.
Love the arms on this guy.
How'd you like to find this arachnid in your basement? AUUUGUUGGGHHHH!!!!
I shall name him Spike.
I'd always wear my shoes if I lived in an area with this bug and I'd never take them off. EVER.
How'd you like this little guy to land on you at a picnic?
Wanna arm wrestle?
This one looks like some sort of devilish fishing hook.
We of course had to stop in the tent with the free balloons. There was also free mealworm fried rice, which was actually pretty tasty. I was the only one brave enough to try it. I was also the only one brave enough to hold a rather large cockroach - Spencer and Josh wouldn't even get close. Hey, I am the daughter of an entomologist, after all.
Soon after this picture was taken it started to rain, giving us a good reason to call it a morning.
P.S. For whatever reason, the baby ducks and chicks weren't there this year. I was SO sad! That's always my favorite part!
This was Tess's first year. She enjoyed chillin' in the stroller and taking in all the sights.
Spencer in the Boilermaker Barnyard. The kids were impressed with just how big those cows were! Fun fact: cows can smell things up to 6 miles away. Lance and I couldn't figure out why this incredible sense of smell is necessary for a cow, other than maybe they need a 6 mile head start to get away from any cow predators.
We waited in line to pet the calf, but Cole chickened out and refused to do it.
Spencer braved it, though. (It was a pretty viscous looking calf. Grrrrr...)
We didn't make it to the Bug Bowl this year. We figured Cole would not do well in that situation, and we had seen it enough times to not feel too picked on in missing it. But we did peruse the extensive pinned insect collection. My favorite part was the "Humbug" collection - a bunch nightmarish bugs pinned on a board with four real bugs. It was actually pretty difficult to figure out the real bugs!
I kept thinking about some entomologists having great fun creating these Frankenstein bugs. They did a great job, too - they looked very realistic! Here are some of my favorites, posted especially for my entomologist father.
Love the arms on this guy.
How'd you like to find this arachnid in your basement? AUUUGUUGGGHHHH!!!!
I shall name him Spike.
I'd always wear my shoes if I lived in an area with this bug and I'd never take them off. EVER.
How'd you like this little guy to land on you at a picnic?
Wanna arm wrestle?
This one looks like some sort of devilish fishing hook.
We of course had to stop in the tent with the free balloons. There was also free mealworm fried rice, which was actually pretty tasty. I was the only one brave enough to try it. I was also the only one brave enough to hold a rather large cockroach - Spencer and Josh wouldn't even get close. Hey, I am the daughter of an entomologist, after all.
Soon after this picture was taken it started to rain, giving us a good reason to call it a morning.
P.S. For whatever reason, the baby ducks and chicks weren't there this year. I was SO sad! That's always my favorite part!
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