Memorial Day Saturday

We all had a really good day today. It was fun to be together and not have anything we had to do or anywhere we had to go.

Mr Man woke up early and was ticked off about it so he went down for a really early nap. Andrew went for a 7 mile run. I planted some of those blasted flowers.  Miss M did whatever Miss M does. 

After he woke up we walked to the first farmers market of the season. We bought a few veggies and some donuts! We walked home and played outside and then played in the kids' bedrooms for a long time before Mr. Man needed another nap and Andrew and I needed to get ready for the day.  Andrew ran some errands. I watched Disney Jr with Miss M and took a nap in between each 24 minute show. 

After Mr. Man woke from his nap we loaded up and walked to the newly opened park fields. We were the only ones there. It's AstroTurf so we didn't have to worry about the grass being too long. They have painted lines all over the fields and Miss M wanted to just run the fake (painted on) bases. I can't imagine the energy Mr. Man is going to have once he can start running. We brought our soccer balls and just played and ran for about an hour before we had to come home to get ready for dinner and then bed. 

Kid loves to walk around with a ball. 

He also doesn't want his daddy to be very far away. He loves his daddy more than anyone else.

Andrew was helping/attempting to run Miss M out of energy by having her do wind sprints.

The kids found the (mini) bleachers to sit/play on.

Mr. Man doesn't have very many tricks but he loves to give high-fives. It makes him so happy. It's fun to ask him for high-fives b/c it's adorable to see him get excited and laugh/smile. He will clap on occasion when you ask him to but it's not consistent. We should probably try to teach him more 'tricks' but I don't really remember what to teach him at at year old. Oh how quickly we forget.

The fields aren't shaded but I think we'll try to go there more b/c the kids can run and they are fenced in so there's minimal concern about run-aways.

Flowers and the outdoors.

I have been busy planting flowers this week. I would prefer to say we've been busy planting but Miss M is pretty worthless when it comes to being a helper during planting. She doesn't want to get dirty and she insists on just being inside and eating a snack. I haven't particularly enjoyed it either b/c I have to time planting around Mr. Man's nap b/c he will escape into the street. The dirt hasn't been touched in years and is really hard so I had to try and use the hoe to loosen the dirt before potting the plants. 

I bought flowers from the babysitters brother for a school fundraiser. I had no idea how many flowers were going to be delivered. I have a lot left to plant and space for planting is running thin.  I think I will probably start giving them away to anyone who will take them.

Mr. Man wants to run everywhere he goes. He can't run yet but he's gonna get fast. He's just going to get faster and I am just going to get bigger. I don't see summer being very relaxing. 

I did take one of Mr. Man's blankets to the dry cleaners to have the seamstress cut the blanket into fourths and finish the edges. It's worked wonderfully. It provides that I have to do laundry less and he doesn't trip over it every few steps. 

One of the boys took this pic of Mr. Man while he was playing with the camera. It seems all the kids like to take pictures. I let the three year olds each have a turn taking pictures. I kept less than a half dozen and deleted 236 pictures.

 He also took this picture of Miss M. I am sure of it since I am sitting in the background.

When it rains...it pours

This week was a long one.  It seemed like there was something everyday.  And quitting isn't usually an option. 

Monday. I was lucky enough that the kids slept in a little (although Mr. Man was probably up at 4:30 b/c that's his new trick. I throw a bottle at him and he goes back to sleep). Andrew amazingly got up earlier than usual (usual being when the last kid wakes up) and was going to get to work early.  

I heard a lot of doors slamming. House doors. Car doors. Eventually I got a phone call (while I was in bed) asking where his transit card was.  I knew things were ugly so I got out of bed and went downstairs to an angry bear. His car wouldn't start.  He couldn't find his transit card. He had tried to jump his car to no success. I had taken his transit card over the weekend and couldn't find it to give it to him.

His dead car became my problem. Great. I called the dealership to see if they had someone who could come tow/jump/fix the problem. They didn't call me back until much later in the day.  As Mr. Man took a nap and Miss M and I watched Mickey Mouse I got to thinking I should go outside and try to figure everything out.  Andrew was all frustrated b/c he couldn't find the racket to get the nuts off the battery to remove it from the car. I was able to get the ratchet figured out and the nuts disassembled in just a couple minutes.  Victory #1.

As I was taking the nuts off it dawned on me that it didn't make sense that the car didn't even turn over.  I determined it was likely he hadn't let the dead car charge from the operating car so that's what I did. I hooked the jumper cables up. Let the van give the car some juice and chased Miss M around. It started to rain so I tried starting the dead car and voila the car was fixed. 

Oh victory is sweet. And I let everyone know it. 

For some reason the battery in the Volvo is in the trunk - it's actually quite convenient. 

I don't really remember Tuesday/Wednesday.  They must have been mild.

On Thursday Helen and the boys came over to hang out. Helen and I were sitting within a couple feet of Mr. Man while he played in the sand on the trampoline.  The trampoline is maybe 6 inches off the ground.  He started to lean over and we jumped. He sat back up. He leaned over again and we couldn't get to him fast enough. He barely skinned his head on the cement. He was sad. I was sad. It looked awful.  

After Mr. Man went to bed Miss M and I went outside to wait for Andrew to come home. She was running in circles around the sidewalk/walkway/driveway and before I know it she's on the ground crying. It's sully not a big deal but this time she had a knot on her head and both knees were skinned up. She recovered pretty quick and wanted to go back out and run. She went back out and down she went again.  I tried to tell her she was too tired and couldn't run anymore. Thankfully Andrew came home and she was done running.

Friday the kids both slept in again. Mr. Man was up at 4:30 so it's only sort of like sleeping in. I had wanted to go to an aqua class at the gym so I packed quick. Threw the kids into the car - almost literally - started backing out and noticed something wasn't right. My tire pressure light had been on for a few days but when I went to look at the tires to figure out which was low I couldn't tell. I didn't take the time to get it checked out. I didn't want to deal with kids and checking out cars. 

When I got out of the car to figure out what was wrong it was immediately apparent that I had a flat tire. Flat. Done. Not going anywhere. So we unloaded from the car. I contemplated for far too long whether I would call to have it towed or change the spare myself. I wanted to try to change the spare but having two kids running all over and into the street while I lay six months pregnant under a car didn't seem reasonable. 

I called the tow truck. 30 minutes and $75 later the van was towed to the tire shop. The tow truck guy was really nice and told me the van tires are very difficult to change and deal with even for him. 

The tire shop called a few hours later to tell me there was a screw in the inner wall (or something like that) and it was not fixable. Not fixable was really all I needed to hear. They were able to replace the tire for a low price of $225.  The kids and I walked to the train station and rode the train to the last stop and walked to the tire shop and picked up the van. I was so sad by the events of the day I went to Costco (my happy place) and bought anything and everything I wanted.  

 But baby legs make it all better.

So does McDonalds. Miss M got fries. I got a large fully loaded Coke. Mr. Man and I shared a sundae. Everyone won and everyone was happy. 

Preschool Memory Book

The teachers put together a memory book for the kids/parents throughout the year and give it to the kids/parents on the last day of school. It was fun to see all the pictures the teacher had taken throughout the year and see her art work in an organized fashion and not just lying all over the house.

Here are some pictures from her memory book.

This was Miss M's snack name tag that the kids each made in the first days of school. I am impressed it made it all year long. 

I found looking through the book made me want to cry. I don't know if this is normal or I should blame it on the pregnancy. I didn't cry on the first day of school rather I practically danced the entire way to school and ran out of the room as fast as I could. And now that the school year has come to a close my heart is sad. I don't know if it's sad b/c I love the kids and teachers in her class and her classroom will have new teachers and kids or if it's just that I have a difficult time with change.  I guess we'll have to wait and see how the close of next year goes and then how the close of the next kiddos in the Star room ends. Only time will tell.  

All good things must come to an end.

Today was the last day of preschool in the Star Room.

It was really hard...for me.

Miss M knows she's going back to school for summer camp (best decision ever made was to sign her up as I have no idea what I would do with her all summer) and next year to the circle or square room (I am not sure which shape she is next year).

I am also not sure that three year olds (or at least mine) can comprehend what the end of the school year really means. Or else I am trying to justify me being on the verge of tears all day while Miss M danced around and sang about it.

Miss M on the first day of school.

Last day of school.

First day of school.

 Last day of school.

First day of school.

Last day of school...silly cheese face...

 ...that turns into this face as soon as you start laughing at her.

 She's a nut.

There are so many differences in Miss M from the beginning of the year to the end of the year I can't even begin to list them all.  A lot of the changes/differences were bound to happen in the days between two years old and three years old but I credit her school for many of the ways she's changed even the annoying ones as we know she wouldn't get annoying tendencies from home. The future holds so much for this little sponge.

Life in pictures

Jessie bought Mr. Man a new pair of shorts. There was one day last week when it was so hot we all just wanted to be naked and turn on the air but we refrained from both and Mr. Man strutted around in his shorts.  They made me laugh. 

We made cupcakes from a kids cookbook. They were disgusting. Miss M made them but it wasn't her fault that they were disgusting as the ingredient listing seemed to be missing a few things but whatever it kept the girl entertained. And all she wants is to eat the icing. She insisted on icing her own cupcake.  When I told her she was using too much icing and wasn't allowed to eat all the icing she had used she turned her back to me and licked away.

Miss M got a new bike. I am hoping she can get the hang of riding it then we can go on walks and she can motor herself to our destination and I can push Mr. Man in the buggy car.

I often find Mr. Man under the table eating whatever scraps he can find that his sister has dropped. It's so gross although I found him at the park today eating sand and that made me want to throw up.

We went to the Children's Museum with our friends on Friday and they have a new circus room. Miss M is obsessed with the fact that her daddy was a Ring Master when he was a kid.  Therefore the top hat and mega phone was her way of being the current day Ring Master.

 Mr. Man drove the bus.

The girls were his passengers. They informed me they were not going on vacation but rather to Chick-Fil-A and they would be sure to miss me. Oh. Ok.

Speaking of Chick-Fil-A. It's my new favorite place to take the kids for lunch and since Andrew had never been there (it opened recently) we went Saturday for some nuggets.  Miss M got a travel Spot-It game in her kids meal and the two of them played after lunch for a bit while Mr. Man and I chowed down some milkshake.

Helen and Kevin and the boys came over Saturday afternoon so Kevin could help Andrew with a sound system project in the basement. In order to compensate them for their time and energy we bought lamb shanks and braised them for dinner. It was an interesting processing. I was set on not eating the lamb as when I have had lamb in the past I didn't enjoy it. When the lamb was finished it was quite impressive. I was pretty impressed with my new braising pot and my ability to cook lamb. I even tried it. It tasted good. I wanted an after picture of when the food was complete because it was so pretty with all the veggies but it was eaten way too fast to get any pictures.

Sunday we all went to the zoo to enjoy some nice weather and burn some energy.  Mr. Man just toddles around and goes in whatever direction his heart desires which isn't usually the way my heart desires but Andrew was there to wrangle him so it wasn't stressful.

 Then I was left to push the double stroller while both of the kids wondered the zoo.

Miss M was set on riding the carousel this year. Last year she wanted to ride it. I bought the tickets, we got on the carousel and she freaked out and we left with refunded tickets. Yesterday she wanted to ride it and Mr. Man seemed entertained with watching it so I bought us tickets and we loaded the carousel.  Mr. Man rode on a manatee without much of a fuss.

 Miss M chose to sit on the bench seats.

 We finally convinced her to ride the frog (which was next to Andrew & Mr. Man).

 Don't worry that Andrew isn't holding on to Mr. Man as Mr. Man had a death grip on the carousel.

Miss M wanted to ride on the lion near the entrance while we waited to leave.

The girl fell asleep on the car ride home - it was probably a 20-30 minute car ride home. The time was close to 5pm. We woke her up when we got home. I was excited we could have both kids in bed by 7pm.

Andrew and I were excited to go to bed early and watch a show. We got upstairs and Miss M's door was open. I made Andrew go figure out what was going on b/c I didn't want to deal with it. She was sitting behind her door and when he asked her what was wrong she told him that I had forgotten to give her her bedtime medicine. She doesn't get bedtime medicine. He asked her how long she had been sitting there and she told him she'd been there for 5 hours.  Geez. We're horrible parents. It's amazing how 45 minutes translates to 5 hours in a 3 year olds head.

I ended up fighting with Miss M from 8-10pm to either stay in bed or stop moving or shut her eyes. It was exhausting and not what I wanted to deal with. Around 10pm I finally decided I had had enough and she had to go to her bed and I would sleep on her trundle.  I think she was asleep within 15 minutes of me laying on her trundle so I went back to my bed. It's frustrating that a 15 minute nap can ruin her sleep for the night especially when she really needs a nap in the middle of the day.  But I would prefer she stay awake all day and go to bed at 7:30pm than have her take a nap and be up until 10pm or later. Kids are exhausting creatures.