I am rocking this kid to sleep while she cuddles with her own Duplo creation. Also watching Little Einsteins, known as Rocketship around here. She just correctly pointed out a triangle on the screen without them saying what it was first. Smart kid.

The boys have started football and are excited except for hot practice days. It really is hot. They have been training at home, pretty much every day.

Skywalker seems to be staying out of trouble, only with the occasional burst of stupid. G can't seem to function well enough to realize there are words coming out of my mouth. That comes with the territory I suppose, I just discovered something scary: he is now pre-teen. OMGoodness,nearly fainted at his check up when the "Your child's stage is..." Sheet labled him "pre-teen". I am not ready. I don't think he is either, though.

Can you be a tween and still watch RocketShip with your two year old sister?

Willingly?

Even when she isn't in the room?

Manners Get You Far

She just brought me an unopened bottle of ketchup from the pantry and said,

"momma, heah. Eat catch peas. Tanks."

For those not fluent in 20 month old that is,

"Mom, here. Can I have ketchup for dinner? Thanks."

Water, water everywhere.

It all started when she wanted to play with green play doh. Then she took a big bite, yum. It got stuck to the roof of her mouth and in her frustration she began hurling play doh tools across the kitchen.

As she knows that is an automatic out of the chair.

Only she was still battling the half eaten doh so she wanted a cup. Not happy with my choice of water over juice, she had to stay in the chair more for throwing a fit. She even explained she'd be glad to go nigh-nigh on the couch if I'd give her a cup of milkers.

Being the sneaky mom I am, I decided to pour her water into my cup. That looked even to her so she took it.

This is also what it looks like when you take your cup away from your toddler...

For doing this.

You don't want to see what happened when she dumped the water out just to keep me from taking it a second time.

Quack Quacks ala Warhol

A few months ago I had a plan for a group art piece for the kids bathroom. I searched for clipart stencils for my inspiration, and ubber excitedly printed them out thinking of how perfect this would be.

Then my perfectly edited stencils laid in wait in my "for the kids" file tray for a month. They would have been there longer if the short kid didn't find them and demand to "Colo Colo!" (Color). Finally, after months of wriggling to finish a project, we bring you

Quack Quacks ala Warhol.

Here's what it looks like with the shower curtain I found while ubber excited. You can't see it but there's a glass vase full of rubber ducks on the counter. I plan on making a tshirt/towel rug but that project is still in the second phase of Price House Crafting- "where did I put that in progress bag of supplies again?"

And in case you haven't been playing along very long, here's our inspiration... That Baby loves her some quack quacks.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy mothers day to all of you mamas! We celebrated by going to my sister's house to hang out with our matriarch, my mom. Sadly, we are on our way home now. The baby wakes with every other curve or bump to voice her opinion about leaving her poppy (my dad) behind. She whines herself back to sleep until the next bump or loud song.

Here they are back about 6 months ago and then a year ago.  I don't have a recent one on my phone but they still get into the same trouble any way.

Hey Teacher, Leave Them Kids Alone

Make a teacher smile this week. It is teacher appreciation week and being surrounded buy them in all parts of my life I find it important to show some love.

Our gift was inspired by Pinterest but fueled by my own desire for new nail polish for this rainbow, but I digress.

here's something I recieved from a student. It brightens my door in such a crafty way!

Digger

The baby digs at school. They have pea gravel on the grounds and I have been told that sometimes she gets so into her relocation of it that she ends up with it in her Pampers. She into it. Here she is digging in our rock yard with her newfound stick/digger.

Summer Loving

Hello my dear readers!

It is May and we are struggling to wrap up school and work and get to baseball and looking forward to not doing anything so we can do everything we always wanted to do but never had the time. I've made a board for it here, http://pinterest.com/bgilley/summer-loving/ and plan on doing a lot of artwork you see here http://pinterest.com/bgilley/rainbow-bright/. I'll try to post updates on our progress through summer. So far the boys want to make the play Harry Potter wands and Skywalker wants to go to the library a lot. G just likes to count down I am pretty sure. The last time he updated me, we had 20 more days left until summer.

I am looking forward to art projects with the kids, organizing my craft stash, scrap booking some, and the pool. Oh and reworking my art class curriculum. I had big plans last summer to do that and never go around to it. I would also like to update the decor for my artwork, or create some as I have never really had any just for "pretties" in my art room. I am obsessed with rainbows, thinking we will go that way.

completely random self portrait of Sweet Baby and Mom "CHEEse"

This week we sold our old house. I am filled with a sense of relief as well as uncertainty. We started our lives together in that house. We started our family in that house, bringing home the boys during custody arrangements, bringing their sister for summer visits, bringing the baby home from the hospital and finally M home for good. There are dents in the walls, chips in the tiles, and dog teeth marks in the trim because of us. I loved that house but we outgrew it very quickly.

Here's the kids having one last climb in The Tree...

We all picked rocks to take home with us. Its a thing we do, rocks. Started with a trip somewhere and hasn't stopped sense. The baby picks them up and asks "Take rock?" when she finds one she really likes. So I made the kids only pick one that day, but I picked 4 of my own and didn't tell anyone.

Sunshine and Rainbows

I got this idea from a pin. The blog is here WWW.dillydaliart.com/2011/04/gelatin-suncatchers.html.

If my daughter poops glitter tomorrow, this is why. We were elbow deep in gelatin and food coloring. I had just explained to the kids this was the stuff in jello but we would not be eating it, even if it did look like sugar.

Enter Sweet Baby, who had climbed into her chair herself, therefore was able to climb down, plan the best spot to sneak and roll her own highchair into position then climb back up for easy counter access. She was happily eating glitter perched from her nest when Skywalker turned to me and said, "uhm, is she supposed to be eating all that sugar?"
"We aren't using sugar, I just told you.... Who's eating sugar?"

I'll try and post the suncatchers when they are finished.

Trouble in a Tutu Surrounded by Slothes

The Sweet Baby knows a new word. Sounds like, "No, no a*%" but I'm going to guess she means ASK. Maybe kids have been taking things and then hear they should ask for a turn instead. Or maybe Mommy needs to watch her younger while driving. Sleep over with friends planned for tonight. The kids are way excited, and NiNi is watching them while I stock up on provisions. I leave you with this, a shot of Trouble in a Tutu. She is picking herbs from my kitchen garden. And for those of you who complain I never update you on big kids, this is why. They a sloths. It was hard to get them all in the shot and they wouldn't move either. This is what Saturday mornings are made for.

Technology

Technology! How many months with a smart phone and I am just now able to add another Google account to sync my blog. You should see more posts now. Should.

We are sitting it out at baseball practice now. Skywalker loves it and is pretty good. He's playing pitcher... Err.. I think. He's the one standing next to the pitching machine. That means he gets to know the coach rather well but also means he has a spinning machine to stick his finger in when coach isn't watching. I'm waiting.

Life Lessons for Moms in Training

That's the last time I will tell a toddler to
"make your mouth be empty if you want another bite."

I have to admit, that little booger is good at her problem solving. She kindly took the bite of mushy Goldfish out of her mouth, plopped it on my leg, and made the sign for "more, please."

Mushy Goldfish just don't have the same flavor as a fresh catch.

Happy Thanksgiving er, I Mean Happy Heart Shaped Balloon Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to you and yours.

Since becoming an elementary teacher 7 short years ago, my V-days are usually spent busying myself with 3 things:

1. reminding myself I really don't believe in expecting my husband to spend money on flowers just because everyone says he should profess his love,
2. maintaining control of short kids hyped up on chocolate and left over glitter from last minute crafting of Valentines boxes, and
3. tall kids hyped up on so many misdirected hormones they can't see straight.

This year, I accidentally created myself a day of magic. My neurologist, or what I have started to refer to as "the crazy person's waiting room" only had an opening for today. To make the most out of a wasted day, I scheduled the baby's check up for today. Some time last week while asking for a sub, I realized-- oh that is Valentines Day. What? Can I do this? Is this legal? Will other teachers shun me? Who cares! I might make this a yearly thing, doctor's appointments for all Price children! Dentist! Check ups! Shots! Yearlys for the misses even! As long as the date is February 14th! I missed the whole school balloons shoved into trashbags, hyper children, hurt feelings when no Valentines are given, the idea that this holiday has been so overrun by consumers in general, "You mean we have to WORK TODAY?!" awwww, and it was a day full of love, in the waiting room. Now I can go back to work tomorrow and do my job full of love for my students.

So one of the boys came home saying someone called the girl a diva. She didn't hear because she was too busy telling someone else what to do. He wanted to know what a diva was, making sure the person was being nice. Well... you know how your sister talks with her hand on her hip and sways her head? Yeah... that's diva. And how she tells you what to do all the time, yeah, more diva. Little did he know I had already dubbed her "The Diva" for the purpose of this blog. He complained that we had only just gotten home and her bossing was getting a little old.

Her answer to that, "Him supposed to be nice  *read "do whatever I want him to"!  It is Thanksgiving! We supposed to LOVE EACH OTHER!!"

Thanksgiving. Guess I forgot the turkey again. Dang. Slacker Mom, at it again. Mind you, I have explained the whole Valentines' Day is not Thanksgiving thing at least 3 times this week. And so has Skywalker.

Sometime I must tell you about how, after a last minute reminder text from the teacher, I beat out another mom for the absolute last cheap bucket of ice cream at the local Big Star this morning. Survival of the fittest- a second of hesitation loses you the gazelle, I mean generic bucket o' vanilla.

Basketball

I took down the tree decorations Saturday. The kids didn't seem to mind and considering it is the end of January they really didn't seem like it was that out of character. I should be scared by that, I think.

G has been doing well with basketball, his team has 3 wins under their belt and I do believe he has a few assists. I think he could have attempted to shoot the ball at the basket, but no luck making it. I say think because I spend most of my Saturday basketball game time wrestling a pig, I mean the Sweet Baby, in my lap while making sure that The Diva shares my pens with her "friends" and Skywalker stays within eyesight. The last game had real seats, and I remembered to give the baby some Benedryl before we left so I was able to watch more, yay!

All in all, he is doing well. Coach says he needs to be more aggressive. Gave him some mental image about a bee and the basketball is honey. Forget the bee, I said. Just imagine the other team is your sister and she just stole the basketball. Now that's aggression!

Sweet Baby Update

This month Sweet Baby...

• is saying "Cheese" for pictures, but I taught her to say that so I could brush her teeth better.
• loving to color, loving it
• still loves ducks, and they painted one at school last week that she has to show me every few days before we leave her class
• bubbles in the bath tub, she wishes she could push the button on the jet tub to make more bubbles but I won't let her
• Has started waking up for no reason in the middle of the night or nap and crying. A lot. And loud.
• play with Play Doh, she doesn't even eat it! I can put her in the high chair while I cook dinner and she will play with it by herself for 15 minutes
• puzzles, and she is good-- can turn those pieces and put them right in
• these Dr. Suess color flashcards she got from Santa, she goes through each of them, turns them, looks at both sides, puts them in a stack, then restacks them
• is trying to learn how to potty train, she likes to sit on the seat. She likes it when I sing "Twinkle, Twinkle" while she sits there, but nothing in the potty yet. Twice, I have to sing it twice.
• crawled out of her crib 2 weeks ago (I think I may have blogged about it), so now she is sleeping in our bed until we get a big bed for her
• Is learning to count because of how much trouble she gets into. I tell her no, when she doesn't stop, I count to 5 and go get her. She can count to 2 on her fingers with me now.
• Loves to dance
• Organizes things, anything
• Loves to rock babies and sing "bye, bye, bye" *her version of "Rock a bye baby"

Life Lesson #847

   Tonight I was 15 minutes late to pick up G from basketball practice.

   After, on the way to practice, I discussed with him why I was always early to things. He noticed we were going to be early to practice, so I shared with him my tip of setting the clock ahead, he seemed pleased I had a master plan. I suppose it being wrong had always bothered him.

   Typically, practice runs a little over so I was in no hurry. Wouldn't you know tonight would be the night they wouldn't. So as he jogged to the car, visably upset from his wait, I felt about as bad as I could have. 15 minutes is a long time spent waiting and his, "What took you so long?" didn't seem to help. I spent a while feeling guilty, told him I was sorry about 5 times, and resisted the urge to stop at Sonic and buy him I'm-A-Bad-Mom-Icecream.

   Then I told on myself to the husband who had the best idea ever. Why don't I think about these things? I should have just gone all "life lesson #847" on him!

"Well this is how it feels when people are late. Sucks doesn't it?"

   Ah well, I suppose humility and admiting when you are wrong is another life lesson to learn. I also told the hubs I now plan on screwing up more often. We can't have our children believing everyone is as dependable as their dear old mom. So things are going to change around here! Expect an unloaded dishwasher from time to time, and being late to ball practice... although I don't think I can do that to him anytime soon... and... I'm sure I'll come up with more to screw up in the thick of things. Chips for dinner. Maybe we'll have chips for dinner.

We had a quiet New Years this year. I was excited that Adam would be home, he usually misses New Years Eve with us and I was looking forward to spending the night at home with him and the kids. We did just that, nothing fancy.... cocktail wieners, burnt cheese dip, homemade "2012" glasses for G, and watching TV shows on Netflix. It would have been perfect if the cheese dip hadn't sucked.

We even let the Sweet Baby stay up to ring in the New Year with us. She had fun all night playing with the blow horns I had bought, eating the snacks, and playing with her brother, but at about 11:45 she started to lose her steam. Adam couldn't let her do that so he got her up and marched her around the house until she last exactly another 16 minutes. It was worth it, she thought the ball drop was magic, loved to hear the noises G made when it was 12:00, and gets happy when everyone is excited.

But then we've been paying for it since. Everyone warns against letting a toddler stay up but no one tells you why. Well here it is folks, for your information:

Reasons Why Toddlers Should NOT Ring in the New Year

1. They will cry a lot. The whole next day. *turns out it is actually the whole next TWO days.
2. Parents of toddlers are excited to have a wee bit of freedom since their child can now roll over without their attention, so they tend to drink a bit when they get the chance. You'll want to sleep in. They won't.
3. 7:00 A.M. wake up time is now 5:00 A.M. and no one knows why.
4. Everything is a tantrum.
5. You'll have to watch where you step, never know where your toddler has doozed off for a quick snooze.
6. They now know what those noise blowers are and how to work them.

The Great Escape

I was informed recently that I should blog more so here I am. I had planned on blogging about nothing in particular, just the hum-drum that is our lives but them something happened.

Now before I even start this, I am usually very happy to receive advice on child rearing and smile and take every old wives tale and tried and true practice to heart. Why reinvent the wheel anyway, other mothers have blazed the trail before myself, let them do all the heavy lifting and brain work. Yes, most of the time I am open to kind words of wisdom.

Now with all of that said, please do not inform me that my 16 month old should be sleeping through the night by herself.

I know this.
I suck.
I am sure your kid sucked his thumb until he was 6 but I am not casting any glances your way now am I?

Yes, I should have sleep trained her. No, I shouldn't have let her fall asleep on my boob after the 3rd round of breast feeding that night. Yes, I should have put her back in the crib when she looked up at me and made me give her bear a Night Night kiss. I know these things. And yes, she has slept some complete nights in her own bed, just not a lot.

So back to the something that happened. We're just going back to school schedule after Christmas break and after letting a young child stay up for New Year's Eve there are certain prices a parent must pay. Lousy bedtime routine is one of them. So I just put the Sweet Baby down in the bed after rocking and milk, told her good night and jetted. She cried for about 10 minutes I went and calmed her down, tried fake sleeping on her floor but she didn't care.  So I rocked her again but she was fighting me, literally, so I put her back in and left. Then about 4 minutes later I heard a bump and a louder cry (brothers down the hall didn't think that was possible I'm sure).

The little princess had escaped.

So I did what any other dead beat mom would do. She's now sleeping comfortably in the middle of my king size bed.