A Girl and Her Shoes

Ava absolutely LOVES shoes! The very first thing she does in the morning is find her shoes and give them to me. She is a girl after my own heart.

 

Ava's Words

Bored Shorts: Good Clean Fun.

These are some of the FUNNIEST video clips I have seen in a LONG time! It just proves that something can be super funny AND clean. Love it!

Episode 1



Episode 2



Episode 3



Episode 4

Tanner's Favorite Toys

Have you ever heard of Bakugans? Well, if you haven't, give Tanner a ring and he will tell you ALL about them! He loves to talk about Bakugans. He talks about them in his prayers; he tells every stranger he sees on the street about them; I tell him that I love him and he sighs and says, "I love Bakugans." I think it is safe to say that these are his favorite toys. I don't know where he found those goggles, but this pose was just too good to pass up!

The Zoo

Today marked the last day of Spring Break here in Kansas...(I am shouting a silent Hooray!)  Thankfully, it was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day which meant a trip to the zoo for us. It was totally relaxed today. I wasn't trying to go see EVERY animal. We were just there to walk around, play, eat, climb, and ride the carousel. It was lovely.

Those legs make me ridiculously happy!

Ava had to get in on the climbing action...though she never made it very far.

The Vocabulary of a Little Girl

Ava is quite the chatter box.  After watching two boys build their vocabulary, it has been very interesting to see a little girl build hers.  I can attest to the validity of girls learning to speak faster than boys.  Ava is heads and tails above where her brothers were at at this age.  She doesn't speak all these words perfectly, but she says them clearly enough that you absolutely know what she is saying. At 16-months, here is a list of her words:

• Shoe...which of course tops the list as it is one of MY favorite words too!
• No
• Mine...with two older brothers, she learned this one pretty quick!
• Uh-Oh
• Whoa
• Mommy
• Daddy
• Riley
• Banana
• Apple
• This
• Oh-No
• Nana...not to be confused with BAnana, though when she says them, they sounds exactly the same :)
• Blues Clues (Boos Coos)
• Map
• Backpack...yes, from Dora
• Blink
• Duck
• Weeeee
• Tub
• One, Two, Three
• Hi and Bye
• Baby

She also makes lots of animal sounds: monkey, cat, cow, pig, sheep, dog, chicken, horse.

Tanner's Quote Of The Day

We went to have dinner at the park today.  It was a lovely day!  I for one am welcoming Spring with wide-open arms.  There were a lot of kids there playing, which made it all the more fun for our kids.  Well, fearless little Tanner walked up to a group of girls, probably around 7, and said, "Hi. I know what you're talking about."  "Really?"  "Yeah, I have Bakugans."  Yes Tanner, I'm sure that is EXACTLY what they were talking about. :)

Just "One of Those" Days

Yesterday was a "one of those" kind of days. I have not been feeling well for about a week. In fact, we've all been a bit under the weather. Cold season hit us hard! I would have never believed it possible to go through as many tissue boxes as we have. Anyway, back to my day. I was sitting on the couch with the kids watching Sesame Street. The phone rang, so I went upstairs to get it. Just a few short minutes later, Riley ran upstairs to tell me that Tanner was doing something naughty. "No" I thought, "not my sweet little Tanner. He would NEVER do anything naughty!" (yeah right!)

Well, I ran downstairs to find this:

Pretty isn't it? I was torn between being impressed at the straight lines and the complexity of the maze and being angry that he drew all over my wall. Anger won. He spent 15-minutes in a time out...a record I think. Then I told him he was going to go clean up the wall before he did anything else. He went downstairs while I went upstairs to get the Magic Eraser (LOVE that thing!!!) I came downstairs not 60-seconds later to find Tanner in the bathroom.



Sheesh! Well, after peeing in the shower, he set to work on cleaning up the wall. I hadn't been gone from the bathroom for more than 30-seconds when I turned around to go rinse it out. And what did I find? Ava playing in the shower. Yup. She was just scooting all over the floor of that shower having a gay old time. You'll have to excuse me for not getting pictures of that. No time for pictures when your baby girl is playing in urine.

So, how was YOUR day? :)

Two Small Happenings

I know I haven't been posting very much, but seriously, there is nothing really to post.  It's been a cold winter, we've been inside a lot, we've all been sick...boring blog material if you ask me.

However, 2 little things have happened that I think are blog worthy:

Happening No.1

Todd and I took the kids to a wedding of Todd's co-worker.  It was in a beautiful Catholic church...I didn't really see any of the wedding because I was in the hall with Ava and 2 other moms, but I'm sure the ceremony was lovely.  After the ceremony, there was about an hour or so of dead time before the reception.   So, Todd and I packed up the kids and went to...The Home Depot.  (Am I boring you yet...well, just wait, the good stuff is about to happen...I promise.)  Anyway, while we were there, the kids saw some candy and started whining,  "Mom, I am so hungry!"  "Mom, I NEED these skittles!"  "PLEASE mom, I'll be your best friend!"...any parent out there knows exactly what I'm talking about.  Todd and I told them no because we were going to a fun party with cake.  Riley seemed okay with that answer...Tanner on the other hand...

I turned to look at Tanner and he had such a cherubic, peaceful, utterly blissful look on his face...and a bulge under his sweater vest that strangely resembled a package of Starbursts.  Hmmmmm.  I asked him if he had anything hidden under his shirt.  He told me no.  Okaaaay.

"Tanner, I can SEE that you have a package of Starbursts under your shirt."

"No."

"Yes!  Tanner, that is called stealing.  Do you  know what happens to little boys who steal?   They get thrown into a deep, dark dungeon and get chained to the wall and are given nothing to eat but moldy bread for the REST OF THEIR LIVES!"

Okay, I didn't really say that, but I wanted to.  Here is the real conversation:

"Yes!  Tanner, that is called stealing.  Do you  know what happens to little boys who steal?  The police come to get them and they have to go to jail.  Do you know what jail is?  It is a big building where they put you in a little room with only a bed...and no door to get out.  It's like a time out that lasts for a really long time!"

"Oh...okay, I'll put it back."

(That was a 10-grey hair moment)

Happening No.2

I had taken the kids to Walmart...(No wait, this story is good, and short, promise!)  Okay, I'd taken the kids to Walmart.  It was cold outside.  After we had done our shopping, we made our way back to the car.  The car parked next to us was occupied by a lady who was smoking.  Riley had to walk past her open, smoky window to climb into his seat...and this is what he said:

"(Big sigh) Oh no...she's smoking mom.  Well, she's gonna die."

And then he hopped into his seat and shut the door.  Out of the mouths of babes huh?

Mom of the Year

Well, I think that I will definitely get the Mom of the Year award for 2010...and I so deserve it!
(By the way, that comment is completely dripping with sarcasm if you couldn't tell.)
Riley turned 6 in November...and we had his birthday party in February. So, you see, the award rightfully belongs to me :)

He did have a super-fun party though. We had a swimming party at our local YMCA. The kids had so much fun swimming! After swimming, they headed back to our party room where we had a Star Wars cake...complete with light sabers that actually lit up! Then we opened gifts. I love giving Riley gifts...for the most part, he loves everything he gets. He was so wrapped up in the gifts his friends gave him! He would smile really big, run over and give a big bear hug to each friend after he opened their gift.

The party was a huge success...so that makes it okay that it was a teeny-weeny bit belated right? :)