Happy B-day Dylan!

I am a day late in getting this up but thankfully Dylan can't read yet and he never checks the blog!! My little boy is 3!! He woke up and came in to tell me good morning so I gave him a hug and told him happy birthday and he said "it's my birthday?!". He is such a sweet little boy. He trys to be as helpful as it is possible for a 3 year old to be! And he says some of the funniest things! His current favs are Hercules, Handy Manny, Lightning McQueen, Mickey Mouse, and Curious George. He eats just about anything he lays eyes on and it makes me wonder how we will be able to afford to feed him when he is a teenager!! He also is loud. And I mean loud. Seriously, LOUD. I take comfort in knowing that it isn't a learned behavior, he was born loud and the nurses will back me up on that! In the hospital they took him for his hearing screening and on of the nurses came in and started to ask where he was and she cut off mid-sentance, kinda cocked her head and said "oh here he comes". Kinda sad that they can pick out a certain baby's cry when they are only there for 2 days!! Oh well, it has to come in handy sometime in his life right?!! We love you Dylan!! Happy Birthday!!

Abby's fight to go to sleep

I cleaned the kids rooms yesterday by myself because I didn't want to hear all the crying and arguments that usually go along with it. So Abby has a few things on the floor that she has played with today and I asked her if she could pick them up real fast before she went to bed. And oh my gosh you would have thought I had asked her to clean the whole house!! She has been crying for 20 minutes! She keeps asking to go to bed (it is 6:50 right now) and I told her that she could go to bed after she cleaned. She is back in her room and I can hear her talking to herself. It is really funny! I feel bad because she is so upset but this is what she is saying "I hate cleaning, I hate it every time, there are too many books, it is too much mess, I can't do this mess, I am so tired, I need to go to sleep, My body, my eyes, my arms, my legs are so tired, I am so super duper duper duper duper tired and I need to sleep, that is what little people do, I am little I want to go to sleep, please I will pick it up in the morning, I am so tired, I totally hate cleaning this mess, I really really want to sleep, I didn't take a nap today and my body needs to sleep" Seriously word for word!! It is now 7:25 and I can hear her starting to pick some stuff up. Geeez louisa stop the drama!!!!

The Shed

We took the kids out for breakfast this morning. Not something we ever do so it was a treat for us all. We went to the Iowa Machine Shed. It is a very popular local resturant (obviously since it has Iowa in the name!!!) The whole thing is decked out in farming decor. There are bails of hay outside and there is a guy that waits outside to give rides around the parking lot in a tracktor. Dylan is way into tracktors so we thought he would be all over it. Ummmm......Not So Much!!

I felt bad for him, but it was just so funny! He did eventually calm down and was telling me that "I like this, this is fun Mom".

The girls didn't have a problem with it and enjoyed the whole ride. After we got everyone in the car Dylan, who sits by Lacey, turned and asked her "did you like that Lacey?" It was so cute!

After breakfast we did some shopping. While we were driving Dylan was telling us the story of the 3 little pigs. This the 3 little pigs (shortened version) as told by Dylan.

A Sister's Help

Abby, thankfully, is usually pretty helpful. Sometimes we get the "you ask me to do to much, I can't do everything!" comments. Yesturday we were brushing teeth and she decided that Lacey needed a little help! Lacey was patient enough for her to do it. She just laughed and laughed and thought it was a fun game. I like how Abby has a grip on her head to keep her mouth open!!

Outside Finally!!!

Today we were actually able to go outside!! Unfortunatly for my kids I am not the best mom when it comes to playing outside. I love to watch them outside but I would prefer to watch them from the safety of my house! I am totally scared that I will get stung by a bee and I will have to use my epi-pen, and then who would I call to come help me go to the hospital and who would watch the kids. Always a million questions! So they usually have to wait and go outside with Bryan! We were outside for about 45 mins before a huge huge bee came buzzing around and I had to bribe the kids with ice cream to get them inside fast!!

Shots and Corn!

Dylan loves corn. Unfortnatly he loves to eat it out of the serving bowl!

It doesn't matter how much we put on his plate he won't eat it!! So he waits. When everyone has gotten how much they want he quietly grabs the bowl and chows down!!

Abby got her kindergarten shots today. I was really affraid to take her because Lacey had to get some too and she heard me when I made the appointment and started crying!! It gave me a flashback to when my little brother had to get his shots and he took off running down the hall and had to have a couple people hold him down!! Luckily Abby did awesome! She was really worried about getting the shots so we told her if she was really brave and did good than we could go get some ice cream. She was really brave and got 4 shots. She hardly cried at all and when they were putting on the band-aids she said "am I all done?" She is very proud of her band-aids

And this is Lacey after her shots.

She also did way awesome but it totally wore her out!

Happy Bithday Abby!

Well now I have a 5 year old. That doesn't even seem possible! She is really excited to go to kindergarten. She got a little taste of it at Kindergarten Round-Up and now I am fielding "when do I get to go to kindergarten school?" questions almost everyday! Lately she is really into Disney Princess stuff. She loves books. My Mom took her to a bookstore and let her pick out a book for her birthday and she was pretty much in heaven! She has gotten into word finds and she is really good at them! She is good at helping when we ask her to and only occasionally get the "I don't want to I have to do everything" comments! She toatlly cracks me up with the things she says. She came home from kidergarten roundup and told me that she did some puzzles. She is loves puzzles and can do them pretty quickly. I asked her if they were easy ones and she said " yes, but the car one was tricky". Sometimes when she talks she sounds lot older! Especially when she is talking to my mom on the phone. It is really funny. So that is a little about Abby. Happy Birthday Abby! We love you!

Fun in Ohio

Well this is a little late but we have been busy!! Abby is now 5! And she is excited! We took a trip out to Ohio and let her celebrate the Grandma and Grandpa. Since I am not really "allowed" to drive out to Ohio by myself (Bryan and my Dad are a little over protective!) A friend told me I should just go because what can my dad do about once I show up! My instant responce was "I can't do that! I would be in so much trouble!" Now tell me whats wrong with that!! I am almost 30 and I am worried about getting in trouble by my dad because I drove somewhere by myself!! So anyway to make everyone happy I roped my friend Jenn and her daughter Katelynn into coming with me! Now if you know my family, you will understand that I was alittle nervous about this. My brother Jeff is very comfortable in the spotligt and has a tendency (and well the whole rest of my family) to run away with something funny and run and run! We also talk in movie quotes and then laugh about what was said. So I did alot of prep work on the ride out to prepare Jenn for what was coming! And let me tell you Jeff didn't dissappoint! He was in rare form that weekend! We had a total blast and laughed ALOT! We had some friends over for a little party. My mom made a cake, and we had fingernail polish and little flower stickers for the girls to put on and wands for them to make and decorate. She had a totaly blast! (More pics coming)

During the party my Dad and brother took Dylan to the Air Force Museum (pics coming soon), they had a great time there and Dylan got some good one on one time with Grandpa and Uncle Jeff. After that we went to The Green. It is a totally fun outdoor mall with a water fountain thing that the kids can play in. Abby and Dylan dug up some courage and went to play in the water and Katelynn was really hesistant but eventually reached her hand out to touch some of the water shooting out of the ground! Dylan kept running over and talking to a lady sitting on a blanket and telling her he was having fun! I didn't want him to bother her but he is really fast and would be talking to her before I could stop him! We had so much fun and I was glad to get out there so I have to send out a huge huge thank you to Jenn and her alter-ego Heather (created by you guessed it...Jeff)! Hopefully we didn't scare her too bad and she will still be my friend!!

A Cleaning Game

So we have been having some clean-your-room-and-keep-it-clean problems at our house. The main problem is that well....little people who like to play don't want to clean up! I have tried just about everything to try to help the process. I have tried bribing, that didn't work. We have button jars where whenever Abby and Dylan help out or do what they are asked without whining they earn buttons and when thier jars are full they can go on a one on one date or something fun. So I have offered buttons, that didn't work. Usually this is the conversation with Abby:

Me:Abby I need you to come pick your room real fast.

A:(already starting to cry)I hate cleaning my room. It takes to long!

Me: There isnt that much to do, you can do it real fast and then you will be done!

A: I can't! The mess is too big and I am too little!

It goes on and on. It drives me crazy! All the time she spends crying about it she could be done!! So my mom gave me this idea she found in a magazine. You write out all the jobs they need to do to clean the room and then they pick them out of a jar and kindof turn it into a game. So I thought it was worth a try!

So I had some wooden shapes that I wrote her jobs on and she was really into it!

She thought it was a great game and after she had gone through all of them she came out and announced that her room was clean. So I went to look and apparently I need to be alittle more specific!!! There was stuff everywhere on the floor! I asked her why she hadn't picked up all her strawberry shortcake dolls and she said there wasn't one that said to pick it up. I guess the "pick up all the doll stuff" was a little to broad!!!

Happy Easter

Well a very happy Easter to everyone! We hope you enjoy the newness and wonder of this awesome Easter season!

Twilight and Visiting Teaching

My sister-in-law just sent this to me and I thought it was way to good to keep to myself, so hoprfully she doesn't mind me sharing it! Thanks Becca! So all you Twilighters enjoy!

The Sound of Music

o.k. I totally love the Sound of Music, with the minor exception of the "Climb Every Mountain" song. My family has always sung all the songs when eer we watched it. And luckily my good friend Jen feels the same way about the movie! When we were roomies we watched at least once a week, if not more and were pretty much sound of music nerds!! She even got us tickets to Sound of Music Sing A Long. It was totally hysterical! People came all dress-up and everything! Totally awesome! We even had a private joke about Lisel saying "wee" , I am sure you can figure that one out! Anyway I got a call from my mom to check out this video on youtube. My brother Jeff lives half his life on youtube just finding silly things, and honestly he finds great stuff! So for all of you who love The Sound of Music this is for you!

Dont forget to pause the music at the bottom!

Lots of Music

Music plays a big part at our house. We have it on all the time. I am totally addicted to musicals, so we watch those alot and the kids love to sing and dance around when the songs come on! I justify letting myself watch them during the day by telling myself that I am giving the kids alittle culture!! Bryan doesn't really appreciate that particular genre so it is my responsibility to expose them to it right?!! Any Abby and Dylan like to go to sleep with music on. Usually the cd player in Abby's room is up on the dresser so the cds stay nice but since I have been painting it has been on her bed and she has been able to switch the cds and play whatever she wants to. Her favs include the soundtracks to Mulan, Little Mermaid, Lion King, Pocahontas, and Tinker Bell. The one she is currently addicted to is Sharing Time by InsideOut.

If you don't know who they are they are an a cappella group who are completely fantastic! She wakes up in the middle of the night to turn the music back on, it is pretty funny when it is all quiet and then all of a sudden you her "The Itsy Bitsy Spider"! Dylan is currently addicted to Disney's Hercules.

Seriously he is addicted! He watches it almost everyday and asks for it on the days he doesn't. He listens to the soundtrack at night! The other day he came up to me while it was on and said "mom, Bercules is a super Hero, he goes the distance"! It caught me off guard that had picked that out of the movie, I was like holy cow, he is really paying attention to what is said in the movie!

Lacey loves the TinkerBell movie soundtrack.

While she obviously doesn't sing with it whenever she she hears the chimes that start with the first song she smiles really big and starts dancing all around! It is really very cute!

My Little Not So Helpful Helper!

Lacey has decided that she needs to be more helpful around the house. She like to "help" me load the dishwasher. What that really means is that she takes out everything I put in and either hand them back to me or try to put them back in the rack herself.

Not so helpful!

She also really likes to help with the laundry. She is especially helpful when it comes to collecting the laundry and getting it in a basket. Unfortunatly she likes to "help" me gather the clean clothes that I have just folded and put into neat stacks.

Not so helpful!

She does all this jabbering a mile a minute and with a big smile so it is really hard to get upset with her! Especially when she thinks she is being helpful!

A little Potpourri!

Well since I still don't have my camera you will have to settle for pics from my phone! They aren't as good but will have to do!

First, after whining from all who know we got a dog, here is Zander! He is a very fun puppy, and very energetic and even though we are still working on the whole potty training thing that he really doesn't get everything is going pretty good!

Abby loves him and is willing to play provided he doesn't jump or nip at her-kinda narrows down the play time don't you think?!! Dylan is completely petrified of him and spends most of his time in his room with a gate in the doorway! Which is nice for me because I know he can't get into too much trouble in there!! If he does build up enough courage to come out and acknowledge Zander he is usually running from a doorway and on to the safety of the couch! He really isn't in to him! Lacey doesn't really care about Zander. He jumps on her and tugs on her clothes and most of the time she ignores him until her pushes him over. Her new favorite place is Zanders doggy bed. She thinks we got it for her and she tries to push him out whenever he is in it so she can sit or lay down on it!

Another thing I have been working on is redoing the living room. Since the shape of the living room doesn't lend itself to being rearranged I talked/told Bryan that we were repainting! I wanted something bright and happy so I found a beautiful yellow for the walls and a lighter shade for the ceiling. I love painting ceilings, to me it just finishes the room.

So while I was painting the carpet was really bothering me! I have really hated it for a while but was hesitant to take it up. It is an older carpet, soaks up anything that will leave a mark and just looks nasty!! it was gross when we moved in and really hasn't gotten any better so you guess it! I ask/told Bryan we were ripping up the carpet! And luck was on my side!! The floor was in pretty good condition with a very nice 70's pattern linoleum. While it isn't a pattern I would have ever ever picked it doesn't look half bad! It will do until we put in the wood floors that we really want! That was one of my selling points to Bryan to get the carpet up! I told him that now when we get the flooring we can just put it in and not have to worry about getting carpet up! He was just like "whatever". But he did say that he is glad that we took the carpet up and he likes it.

It really does open up the room! I am now working on redoing the kids rooms. I am way excited to do those now that I have finally gotten up enough courage to paint over the jungle stuff I painted on the walls and totally loved! So you have those pics to look forward to!!

A little Twilight love!

In honor of Twilight coming out on DVD I thougt I would put up this puzzle thing I found! Being totally addicted to puzzles-I thought it was really fun!!

Twilight New Moon Movie

Are you Janeified?

Here you go Jen! I have done this quiz before but I am making my bestest friend Jenny Foo Foo(I know you thought I would spell it the other way! I thought about it!) take it because she took the Anne quiz and came out with only 20%, so she had to have cheated some how!! There is no way I am more Anne than she is!! Hahahaha! You know I love you!!! And don't read into the answers! Just pick one!!

Take the Quiz here!

No Sun?!!

Well apparently Dylan is anti-sun at nap time!

Are you like Anne?

I got this from my friend Jeanette-thanks Jeanette. She reads way more than I do, if you can believe that! Anyway I love love love Anne but I must say I am glad I am not 100% Anne! How much Anne are you?! How Anne are You?

New Things!

Well last weekend we drove out to pick up our new puppy! He is half havanese and half the neighbor's dog (hehe). We named him Zander and he is totally awesome! Unfortunately I left my camera in Ohio so I don't have any pics to show you right now. It really isn't my fault that I left it, that belongs to my brother Bryan who showed up as we were walking out the door, literally! So I put it down to give him a hug and forgot about it in the 10 minutes where we quickly visited before we hopped in the car and headed back home! I also have a ton of post that required pictures that I wanted to catch up on but it looks like that will have to wait too! I also talked Bryan (husband, kinda confusing to keep them straight I know, I usually say Bryan and Brother Bryan!) into painting the living room. He wasn't all that excited about it. He comes from a household where nothing much changed in the decorating department and definitely not in the colors that I like to use!! I cam from a household where furniture was definitely NOT nailed down and was frequently changed from room to room. Alot. After my parents bought a house my mom never hesitated painting and repainting whenever she wanted, and unfortunately for Bryan that is something I got from her! Bryan was like "but we only have had it this color for 2 years." My response " It has been this way for TWO YEARS!!" I needed a change! So we went from a very nice brown color that I loved to a muted yellow that is awesome!! It makes the room feel bigger and it is brighter and just makes you feel happy all around!! I also got him to rip up the carpet that I hated! Something else he wasn't really excited about. So when I get my camera back I will post some pics!

Upset=Clean House

When I get upset, mad or really frustrated, I clean. I really clean. So as my house was needing a really good cleaning it worked out that I was completely thoroughly seriously irritatingly frustrated!!! I think that covers it all! Have you ever had a day where the kids just don't listen and you feel like you are talking or using a raised voice at a brick wall and it smiles at you like "is that all you got?!" Well today was one of those days just times that brick wall by 5 and add a puppy! Have you ever been in a situation that is really really irritating and you cant do anything about it because if you said anything then it would just hurt feelings and upset people, it wouldn't make you feel any better anyway because you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings and would really end up not do anything to change anything so you just suck it up and try to let it go? Add that to the brick walls and all I have to say is my house is clean.

My 2 Homes

Well I feel bad because I have a lot of fun pics that I want to get up but time has not been my friend! Bryan has taken my laptop for schoolwork, so I can't really be upset with him, so that has limited my computer time! I could have gone downstairs to use that "real" computer but it is ALOT slower and we don't have heat in the basement so it is REALLY cold after about 5 minutes! So all that and trying to get used to no papers it has been a little crazy! I am still trying to figure out how to sleep all night! I wake up 2 or 3 times in a panic to figure out what time it is until I remember that it doesn't matter! Talk about instant panic! I will be sleeping nicely then all of a sudden my eyes fly open, my heart starts going a mile a minute, I sit straight up, try and focus on the clock and then it hits me that I don't have to get up! Try calming down after that enough to go back to sleep! Kinda hard! We are on our way out to Ohio this weekend to pick up our puppy! It will be interesting! I am so excited to go to Ohio! I haven't been out there for forever! I love going home out there although I do have to say that Bryan hates it when I call Ohio home. He is always "You live out here now so this is your home". Well "duh!" , but I can have 2 homes!!! It might sound weird but I feel very comfortable out there and I like to be the one who drives when we get there! I know exactly where everything is and I have a couple roads that I love to drive on! I know it sounds kinds loopy! But even though I have been out here for 6 years it still scares me driving some places because I am not really sure where I am! Everything is much better in Ohio!!

Happy B-day to Dr. Seuss!!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!! I have to admit he is total fav at out house! I love way to many to even try to pick a quote!! Sugardoodle has a whole page on activities, games, and crafts that are Seussified so have some fun!!!