Random Pictures

Brennan gave Stella rides through the house yesterday.

I painted our tiny ass main floor bathroom a dark brown red color a couple weeks ago. I really like it. The beige walls had dirty handprints all over it. The room feels clean again. Forgive me for not cleaning the mirror or the cherry poptart residue on the sink, which I didn't notice until I posted the picture. Imagine the torture beige walls went through.


We rearranged the kids' rooms today. Yes, Brennan is still sleeping on a blowup mattress with no decent bedding, but no complaints from him and he sleeps pretty good. We'll have to get him a real bed soon. I'm thinking of painting his room green.



Maya dressed herself for school today. Honestly... I did nothing. The teacher's called her Miss Vogue.
Adam made this bench for me to hold some of the kids' toys and a speaker I hate. I still say I can hear the TV just fine out of the TV. Boys and their speakers.

WinterDaze

I suppose all of us midwesterners are dealing with the same weather, but what is up. Tuesday I dropped Maya off at school at 12:45 and it was 54 degrees. At 3:00, when I picked her up it was 22 degrees, windy and freezing. That night around 6:30 I had to go to another house party and it was 7 degrees with crazy winds. I opened my car door and lost it's grip. I honestly thought the wind was gonna tear that sucker off. I enjoy a good storm every now and then, but it's hard to go to bed and hope you are going to wake up with your roof still attached to the house. It was cold too! So cold again, that the kids' bathroom pipes partially froze. Today we are expecting 4-6 inches of snow, followed by some warmer temperatures next week. Maya is already talking about the groundhog that is supposed to pop it's head out on saturday. I'll give him $100 to say spring is coming.
On another note, when did this 100 Day Celebration at school begin? Children now celebrate being in school 100 days? Just another day I now have to volunteer my services to the school.

Lucky Kids

So when I was in the shower having my alone time for the day, I was thinking about how my kids have done more by the ages of 3 and 4 than I had before age 18. For instance, Disney... my parents took the family when I was 16. M and B went when they were 2 and 3. They've taken many plane rides, my first one being age 17. I was talking to a friend while we were watching our daughters do gymnastics and we had similar reasons for having our kids in activities. I was telling her how I was never in anything. No dance, swim lessons, gymnastics, sports (until my freshman year in high school. Softball... by which time I was gonna not be very good anyway, cuz everyone else had been playing for years). Why no activities?? I am sure a number of things. My parents didn't have the money to do it. Maybe they didn't realize how much I wanted to do something. I did take piano lessons for a couple years which I do love. Anyhow, back to my girlfriend talk, she too was never involved and both of us said, we wanted our kids to have the chance to do these things cuz we didn't. I'm not living through the kids, but I want them to have fun and not feel left out. I want Maya to have the techniques down to be a cheerleader, just in case that is something she wants to do later on. Blah Blah Blah... the good thing is, my kids want to do these things. They love being active and playing with others. That being said, however, Brennan's first day of tumbling was awful. Something triggered the evil twin to come out and he was hitting, pinching, biting.. you name it. Yesterday, Maya had soccer practice. Poor Brennan was pissed again, as his sister got to kick balls on the gym floor and he didn't get to. I did feel bad, but these are the little issues with children this close together. One year makes a big difference at this age. Maya wasn't well behaved at class. Quite lazy to tell the truth. Like gymnastics, she gets one more chance to make an effort to learn the game or this "opportunity" will be taken away from her. "I'll listen next time. I promise" are her cries in the car as I tell her I am not going to waste our time if she's not even gonna try. Sassy little thing.
Saturday's school carnival went really well. The prize table was crazy, but I survived. I got to watch the cake walk go on, and I was happy to see my cake went third! (Winners chose the cake they wanted from 60 cakes) I ended up making a chocolate bear cake. My parents came and helped Adam with the kids. I think everyone had a fun time. Maya left with kid make-up.. oh boy! and Brennan with a bouncing Dora ball and truck. Maya says "There's always next year"... to get a better prize.
Adam is going to England next month for work. I think he'll be gone a just a couple of days, but who really knows. My only request.... bring back some Cadbury chocolate. Speaking of, my brother who works for Hershey, stocks Cadbury. He gave me a whole box (48) of cadbury eggs. Yum yum.
Nothing much else going on around here. Random birthday parties keep our weekends busy and the kids love a good party.

Happy Birthday Uncle Tim

The Naked Post

No pictures taken the last week. We've been running around or just laying around trying to keep warm. Last week I kept busy trying to find volunteers for Maya's school carnival which is this coming weekend. It begins! My first cake addition for a cakewalk. I loved the cakewalk when I was a kid. I love cake... so why wouldn't I love winning it for a prize. The only thing was you could win a yucky cake. I think I got pretty lucky and got some good cakes. I was thinking, since I had a lemon cake and lemon frosting in the pantry, I would make a double layer round cake and make it into a yellow smiley face. Not too much effort with that design. I am set to work the prize table. Unfortunately we also have a bday party that night and I may miss the delicious real bakery cake. Last thursday, the girls in my neighborhood got together for our monthly Bunko night. We never play the game, but it is always fun to get out of the house and realize we all feel the same way and deal with the same things with our kids (and husbands).
Adam had classes to obtain an accredidation this weekend, so really there was no break of a weekend. Saturday, the kids and I traveled with my parents down to Effingham to visit my brother. He turned 28 on the 17th. I glimpsed down the road to Charleston with a smile and a flood of memories. Frankly, I couldn't tell you about many classes I took at EIU, but I do remember all the, let's say, extracurricular activities I participated in. Probably 3 years of life I would go back to in a heartbeat. Sunday evening we spent with friends watching the football game and playing poker. MLK day, my dad and I took the kids to see the Veggie Tales Movie. I couldn't believe it, but this theater was 3/4 filled. The kids did really well.
So the upcoming months are filled with lots of activities. Maya is taking a beginning soccer class so she's ready for soccer in March. In May, she starts T-ball. Feeling guilty of all of Maya's activities, I signed Brennan up for a tumbling class on friday evenings. He loves flipping around with Maya, so I thought we'd try it. And lucky Stella... she's signed up for puppy classes on sundays. I lost my sanity a long time ago. Keeping ourselves busy with activities dbeats watching tv all day.