My attempt

I have all sorts of pictures to go through from our Easter weekend in Fairmont which I'll get to posting later this week I'm sure.  I thought I would share a piece of our weekend -- my attempt at cutting Joseph's hair.  We normally go to one of those kid hair places that costs $16 per kid (2 in my house) plus tip.  Of course they get their hair done at the same time so that means tipping two people.  I don't mind tipping and I don't mind paying for a good hair cut.  I just mind because my finances have changed.  My mom and Arnie had some clippers so I thought I'd try on Joe.  Joe looks better with short hair because his is thick and gets unmanageable when it gets long.  James' hair is better with a little length and I'm a little scared to do his.  In true James fashion as soon as I started cutting Joe's hair James threw a tantrum about how I couldn't do it and I needed to take him to Snip-Its (the normal hair place).  I made James take a nap and went back to finish.  It took me forever because I was terrified of having a bald child.  He did not end up bald.  Relief for me.  I'm have some control issues and I'm very particular about some things.  This turned out to be one of them.  I'm trying to let it go and accept that I didn't do to bad for my first time.  Joe's not crying at his reflection and no one is laughing -- that's success I guess.

The before and after.  Don't mind the chocolate mouth -- he got a treat for being a good "patient."

Ick

 

November . . . . . . . . . pretty

April . . . . . . . . . . . . icky

Egg-cellent Evening

I can't believe that Easter is next weekend already.  It seems to have come up quick even though it's so late this year.  We hadn't colored eggs yet so we got busy doing it this evening after the boys came home from their dad's house.  They didn't come out looking very perfect but they're perfect enough for us.

We only had one pink one because I didn't read the directions about how to make the pink dye work effectively.  Oops.

We got the dye ready.

 

 We put the eggs in. (and watched)

 

We took the time to make silly faces while the eggs were soaking.

We tried to take a family picture. . . go figure.

 

All the while Donkey Kong and Princess Peach watched.  Mario and Luigi couldn't make it because they're currently lost and Toad and Yoshi are in the infirmary but that's another story.

 

Then we took out the eggs and admired our finished product.  Nothing flashy, just plain colored eggs.  You know, like we used to do back in the day.  Our one little enhancement was to write our names with crayon. 

 

All in all, a successful activity with no fighting.  :)  The best kind of all.  Happy Easter everyone!

RAIN!

 

This weekend we had rain.  Yes people, rain.  It was a nice change from snow and a sure sign that spring is here.  Or so I thought until I looked out the window this morning.  Ick.  That's neither here nor there though, we're talking about rain.

The boys were at their dad's house this weekend and I was wondering what we could do when they got home.  It only made sense to put the rain boots on and go splash in the puddles.  Why not?  They had a great time and came in with soaking wet pants.  (If you follow my facebook updates this would be the night we ate dinner and I was the only one wearing pants.) 

 

The kids had to keep making sure I was really saying that it was Ok for them to jump in the puddles.  I know I'm uptight sometimes but that's why I bought the rainboots -- to have a little fun.  :)  Can't wait until it gets warm enough that we can splash in the puddles without big coats and hats.  Happy Spring everyone!

Weekend Out of the City

Last weekend I went down to Fairmont for a little R and R.  By last weekend I mean the weekend that happened over a week ago -- I'm a little behind.  I've been busy and haven't taken the time to write which I really like doing.  I also haven't taken the time to take pictures which is one of my favorite hobbies.  :(  I'm taking the time now.

Anyway, back to my story.  I planned to go to Fairmont initially to do a Lia Sophia party.  I've just become an advisor recently (needed to find something to keep me busy when I didn't have the boys and help fill up my bank account at the same time) and my cousin's wife Lori said that she would host a party.  Thanks Lori!  We had a great show -- I was able to bank a little money and spend time with the girls.  The weekend turned out to be so much more than a great party though.

Friday night I got to hang out with my mom.  I had such a great time!!  It's rare that my mom and I get to hang out -- she works weekends which is when I end up going home.  She had the night off and we hit the town!  Ok, it's Fairmont, how much "hitting the town" can you actually do.  We went to the Legion for a meat raffle.  That's right folks, a meat raffle.  You may have seen me post about it on Facebook.  I had a few too many drinks (3 -- I don't have much of a tolerance), ate, and then had a few too many more.  I won pork chops and steaks in the meat raffle and the best part of the night is that my mom paid for everything.  Kidding here folks, the best part was hanging out with my mom (the not paying anything part was just a bonus).

Saturday was the party and then my dad came to town.  Woo hoo!  I hadn't seen him since Christmas so it was great to see him.  He had hair!  I didn't take a picture because I was preoccupied with everything that was going on but I will be going to visit him in a month and will take plenty of pictures then.  We went out to dinner that night with my extended family -- loved getting to see everyone.  Got to see them again on Sunday for brunch.  An added bonus . . . my uncle from California came to town so I got to see him too. 

I know that you're thinking that my weekend couldn't get any better than that, but it could.  The icing on the cake is the fact that I got to bring Jackson with me.  I don't get to see him very often and since it was Mike's weekend with the boys it was nice to have some company along.  Jackson never complained about my singing in the car either.

Isn't he the cutest?  ( I might be biased.)

The only downfall to my weekend was the weather on the drive home.  It cleared up after awhile but when I got out of the car I saw that the snow / ice had attached itself.  Thought it was a kind of cool pattern.  Thanks for listening to my wordiness this evening.

Where did he come up with that?

These children keep me in stitches.  The things they come up with sometimes are priceless.  One of my favorites came from Joe.  He was about 3 and he had cars all lined up between the coffee table and the couch.  I said "Why are you making a mess?"  He replied "You call it a mess, I call it a party."  Where did he come up with that?

Some recent ones:

In the bathtub I asked them who looked like a wrinkly old lady (that's usually what Joe says he looks like after a soak in the tub) and James quickly shouted "Mommy!"  He must have seen the look I gave him and he quickly changed his answer  -- "Grandma Judy?"  I just had to laugh . . . (sorry mom).

After bathtime Joe looked in the mirror and said "Daaaaaang, I'm hot."  Excuse me?  Later he said that he was just saying he was tall but I know what I heard.

My dad has recently undergone chemotherapy and lost his hair.  I talk about it often to make the kids feel more comfortable with it.  Their dad's brother is also bald (by choice).  When we talk about it James always gets excited and says "Papa D has no hair, Uncle Mark has no hair, and daddy has no hair in the middle."  Contrary to what some people might think, I did not teach him this.  (I do think it's a little amusing though.)  His teacher is so sweet, she has been teaching him to say that daddy does have hair in the middle because she doesn't want James to hurt his feelings.  (We love Ms. Jean.)

More to come from my two little munchkins later.  I have to savor these precious moments with them -- time is flying by fast.

Pre V-Day patience

Today was one of those days.  You know you've all had them.  One of those days where everything seems to drive you crazy and your patience wears thin.  I should have expected it after yesterday.  Yesterday was nice and relaxing and the kids kept their fighting to a minimum -- What more could I ask for?  I could have asked for a whole weekend of that type of behavior and peace. 

Our day started off with pancakes as it does every Sunday that they are with me in the morning.  We did cinnamon pancakes today instead of our normal chocolate chip. . . . maybe I should have started the day with chocolate.  The boys play and fight.  Are you really surprised?  My patience is wearing thin . . .

Time for the Valentine Day cards.  Yep, we waited until the last minute.  Again, are you really surprised?  I had Joe write his name out on all of his cards and let James color his.  Some of my patience returned.

Lunch time.  James did not eat anything.  Sometimes it's so frustrating.  Little bit of patience gone with that one.  More arguing and whining.  More patience gone.  Time to make our Valentine cupcakes to bring to the teachers at school tomorrow.  We, of course, had to eat some.  (I did make James eat something before he could have a cupcake though.)

Does it look delicious?

Naptime.  Did either one of them sleep?  NO.  Why would they?  I did get about an hour of peace as they laid in their room reading books.  Welcome back patience.  :)  I went to tell them they could be done resting and it looked like a library threw up in their room.  Ugh.  We tried to play a game but there was screaming (it was happy screaming but it still was not what I wanted to hear) and running and craziness.  Just not the day I wanted to hear it.  It was driving me crazy.  Enter one-on-one time.  Something Mike and I do with the boys every other weekend.  Joe went to daddy's house this weekend and I got some one-on-one time with James.  It's kind of relaxing to just have 1 kid.  Patience slowly returning.  

Joe returns.  Lots of picking on his brother.  I have the cure -- bathtime and bedtime.  No naps had them both falling asleep quickly.  

Patience -- it really is a virtue, isn't it?