Spelling our own name (and the emotions it brings to mom)

So yesterday while sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office for Kaidynce's well check, Brennan tells me he can spell things. So I ask him to spell his name, expecting the typical, "B...r...n....I can't" response I usually get from him. But not this time. This time, he looked me straight in the eye and spelled his name perfectly. I was so excited since he hasn't done this at all for us. Then we discussed doing some in our workbook (thank you Costco) this weekend. He told me it was really important to catch up because he had so much homework to do and that he is behind. I love my little brain child.

So I thought I would test the world of the unknown and ask Kaidynce to spell her name, knowing I might get the K and that was about it. Nope, she surprised me to. Her response, "K...a....d....y" and that is much better than past responses so I will take it.

I think this weekend calls for some reading time with Brennan to see if he can recognize some of the easy words in our books. And we will work with Kaidynce on letter recognition. Their brains absorb so much and we can make it very fun this weekend.

Trying to get back in the blogging mode

So life got the best of me and I ventured away from this to pursue other time consuming activities. You know the activities I am talking about....work, work, exercise, kids, work....oh and vacation. It was a nice family vacation that was two wonderful weeks of relaxation. And I really do mean relaxation. I don't know how many times I took naps on the patio while the kids were taking naps in their "camping beds" and my husband played games on his iPhone but it was bliss....sweet bliss.

Anyway, with the recent changes at Facebook (which I am none too impressed with), I plan on bringing my quirks and daily statuses here and transforming them into longer than 140 character summaries. At least here I can explain why Tangled is on constant repeat in our house, or why my son spelling his own name in the doctor's office today brought me to tears.

Tomorrow will begin updating more frequently, both with pictures and stories of the things that take place in our world and the humor that is our life.

March brings....

So March brought to us Brennan turning 4! Yeah, he doesn't understand that he didn't ask for permission before growing up. He thinks I said it was okay to grow up. Yeah right! I want him small again and needing his cuddles, and most of all, not being mean. Yeah he is a typical 4 year old in that he wants things his way and at that moment. We are working on that one.

So he wanted a Buzz Lightyear and Woody birthday with a Buzz and Woody cake with Martian Alien cupcakes. If you have seen the movie you would know exactly what he was referring to. But just in case, here is a picture so you can see how creative I was for this request.


And then his friends showed up for some backyard playing in which they climbed all over the swingset but couldn't fall because the shark would get them.




He received all kinds of presents that he has thoroughly enjoyed, especially his nerf gun and his cowboy stuff. He has been shooting the bad guys since!


We ended the day with one of his friends hanging out at the house and watching cartoons while her mom ran some errands. He was so excited that she was able to stay.


So as Brennan thinks it is okay to grow up and get bigger, Kaidynce has decided to do it too. She is no longer wearing diapers and totally is enjoying wearing panties with only one day of accidents so far! So much easier than Brennan's potty training experiences.

Well dinner should be getting done so I best be feeding my growing children so that they don't rebel against me. Hope to update you all soon!

We are "those" parents

So on Thursday, I went to pick up the kids at daycare and while getting Brennan's stuff together to head out, his teacher asked if the other teacher told me what he did that day. Oh great - here it comes.

She proceeds to inform me that the other teacher caught him peeing on the playground. Now mind you, yes we do let him pee outside at home but he knows not to do it anywhere else. So they explain to him that it is not allowed and he was told to sit on the platform where the teachers are while they cleaned it up and disinfected it. So as I am trying hard not to laugh when she is telling me this, she proceeds to tell me the other thing he did that day.

Aaron has taught the kids to give a "good game" which is a smack on the butt while saying good game. It is cute but at the same time, inappropriate in some situations. Well he has given each of his teachers one at some point or another, but when he gave the director of the preschool one, we explained that he could only do it at home. But alas, he did not listen. He gave a parent one on Thursday and she was a little upset (okay a lot upset). The teacher explained that it was not sexual or malicious but just in fun. The parent didn't care.

So we had to talk to him this weekend about these two things. He apologized to the teacher for the peeing thing on Thursday and will be apologizing to the parent today for the good game.

We will see when we pick him up how the apology went.

The Perry's have been a busy bunch

So now that things have been not as busy, I can catch up on here again.

Brennan is going to be 4 in just a couple weeks. Where the hell has time gone? What happened to my sweet little boy? Well here is what happened - he grew, he got too smart for his own good, he wants to be big and strong like his daddy, but still tells me he will always be "mommy's baby boy." Does it make me feel better? Kind of - at least the last part. He has become this sweet, caring little boy who also has moments of not listening, hitting, and talking back. But seriously - telling me that he is still my baby boy somehow makes me forget those not listening, hitting, and talking back moments. That is, until Kaidynce starts crying and comes to me saying Brennan hit her, while holding her forehead in what could be perceived as extreme pain but in reality is a teeny tiny red mark that is more pronounced by her hand holding her head than his original hit.

But he is growing up. And testing the boundaries. For example, his bedtime is 8:00. But does he go to sleep at 8:00? Hell no! Here is a typical night's conversation come bedtime:

Brennan: "Mommy, I need a drink."
Me: "You just had a drink and you don't need another."
Brennan: "But mommy, I DO need a drink because I am coughing." Insert fake cough here.
Me: "Fine, you can have one drink." I do this because it will be a never ending conversation with him that will end in a crying fit that will wake Kaidynce and completely put mommy in a bad mood for the remaining two hours that is adult time.
Brennan: "Thank you mommy. My cough is gone."

Yeah the kid won. I know but in all reality, the one tablespoon of water I put in the cup for him to drink was worth it to not hear the crying.

Another of his testing the boundaries is that somewhere along the lines he has learned to roll his eyes (my biggest pet peeve of children to do to their elders) and sigh with huffs and puffs when he doesn't get his way. Yes, it takes every ounce of my being, sitting on my hands, for me not to react to either of these. So calmly (I emphasize calmly because it takes major effort on my part) I tell him that he is to follow mommy and daddy's rules in the house and if he doesn't like it, he can choose to live in his bedroom for the remainder of the night. He doesn't like this choice so he suffers with the rules mommy and daddy set forth.

Now of course, Kaidynce is picking up on these habits too. Yay for mommy and daddy! Not really considering her reactions are much more dramatic. The typical eye roll is paired with a huff, puff, and shrugging of the shoulders followed by a flat out ignoring of mommy or daddy. This frustrates daddy more than mommy as I can put up with the ignoring. And she reminds us daily that she is not a baby, but a big girl. Yet, she has no desire to get out of diapers - a whole different frustration.

But she really does have a very happy and bubbly personality. For example, her bedtime routine consists of kissing Brennan good night and then running into her room, jumping in her bed, and covering up under her blanket so that she is "hiding" from Daddy. He then comes in, lays on her (because he can't see her since she is "hiding") and commences to tickle her. This is a HUGE improvement from just a couple months ago where we had to lay with her for anywhere from 15 min to and hour just to get her to sleep.

She also loves her music and loves to be without clothes (oh wait - bad combo for daddy's heart). She sings all the time, making up her own songs. She dances all the time, including when she is getting dressed, resulting in her dancing around the house naked and providing daddy with chest pains. This morning while getting her dressed, she stripped down to nothing, put her hands on my knees, and started shaking her booty. She then started singing "I shake my booty. Naked girl shakes her booty." Yeah it is a good thing Daddy is out of town right now otherwise I might be writing this from the hospital where he would be undergoing testing on his heart. He keeps telling me he needs more guns before she starts school. Wonder why?

We do however feel that she will be our child to break the rules when she is older. You know that kid that brings the boy home, goes to her room, shuts the door and tells the boy not to worry that it will all be okay. Yeah she will be that child! Poor boys don't know that they are in for. Yeah we are looking into some kind of curtain for her door when she is older and removing all doors from their hinges.

So as Brennan turns 4 and Kaidynce enters the world of singing and dancing, the Perry family is doing great. I will try and keep updated more often if life can just slow down a bit to do it!

Holiday Season 2010

What have we been up to? Well Thanksgiving was fun, relaxing, and quiet. We enjoyed a great dinner at a great friend's house. The kids played, the parents relaxed, and best of all, the food was awesome. Even though it wasn't a huge formal thing, the kids enjoyed sporting some new clothes.



So then came the rest of the Christmas shopping. I was surprised when I was done by mid-December. Go me! Well that is what I thought. Come to find out, one of Kaidynce's gifts didn't work (aka was broke) in the box and on Dec. 23rd, on our way to San Diego, we had to stop at 3 different Targets to find it. The third store had ONE and I grabbed it. It worked (thank god).

For Christmas, we enjoyed a visit with family at my dad's and the kids absolutely enjoyed being at Grandpa's house. We had a nice dinner on Christmas Eve at my dad's and then returned to the timeshare to set out cookies and milk for Santa reindeer food for Rudolph. Did you know that reindeer will eat all of their food off the small balcony of a second story timeshare/condo? Yeah....not sure the downstairs neighbor appreciated a deck full of glitter and oatmeal but my kids sure thought that the empty balcony was great. It meant Rudolph came. Brennan was a little concerned though that Santa left one cookie. I think we will have to talk to Santa next year. It took me pointing out the big stack of presents to him before he actually realized Santa came and left them. He walked right past them to see if Rudolph ate his food but didn't notice them. Gotta love kids right? So after a great morning enjoying gifts at the timeshare, the kids learned that Santa also visited Grandpa's house (who knew!). More toys but the greatest gift left by Santa was the scooters. We had to bribe the kids to get them in the house for lunch. And then we had to fight them to take a nap so we could enjoy the evening and not have devil children arrive.

So here are some pictures of our wonderful holiday. Hope you enjoy!

Our Little Boxer

So on Monday, November 8th, I received a call at work at about 10:30 telling me Brennan had fallen at daycare and had received a pretty gnarly mark. The preschool director suggested I come and take a look at it. So I call Aaron and head to daycare, with him meeting me there shortly thereafter.

Upon arrival, I am totally expecting a crushed face. I am expecting the worst, especially when the front desk person tells me it is bad. She takes me back to where he is and there he sits in a chair with an ice pack to his cheek. My first thought was "At least it is not as bad as I was expecting" but that slowly changed to "my poor little man" when his lip started quivering and he started crying upon seeing me.

His face was extremely swollen and quite bruised. He said he fell really hard. I asked him what he fell on and he told me it was the steel climber on the playground. He also told me he needed to go home because he had a fever (leave it to my child on that call). After calming him down and daddy arriving, we had him take us to the playground so we could see where he fell. He showed us and then had to show everyone his owie. We decided to take him home but not without stopping at mom's work for tacos first (yeah definitely my child). He smiled in the car, ate crunchy cereal, and was overall in a good mood. I called the doc's office and was told unless his face was crushed in, there was nothing they could do so we decided to skip taking him for x-rays that were just going to tell us that he broke it and to keep ice on it since casting his head was not an option.

So it has now been over a week and the bruise is still present. Not nearly as present as the first couple days, but present all the same. He has had no issues with it and unless he presents problems in the near future, we will be maintaining our position of no x-rays or poking and prodding of doctors that is not necessary.

So here is the damage on the first day:


I don't have another pic of how it looks today, but I can assure you, it got worse after this picture and now is much better.

Kaidynce's Birthday, Halloween, and Oh My it is Already November

So I am not the greatest at this blogging thing. I go and post an update and then seem to forget about the fact that I have people who follow this. So I will make an effort to be more consciuos of this blog and my "fans".....

Anyway, September brought Kaidynce's 2nd Birthday to us in the form of Tinkerbell and Princess dress up.

She loves her dress up stuff. She enjoys her baby dolls she got. She loves her clothes that were bought for her. Did I mention that she LOVES her dress up stuff? Oh yeah, and so does her brother.

But hey - at least he is playing with a jet.

So her birthday has passed bringing us into October. We began that month with a trip to San Diego which included Sea World. The kids loved it and I have to say I had a pretty good time too. I think we will be getting a family pass when our taxes come back.




October also brought the pumpkin patch at Murray Family Farms in Bakersfield. We had a good time as did the kids running through the ant farm and being able to pick their own pumpkins.



And then came Halloween where my little Tinkerbell and Lightning McQueen Pit Crew Member were troopers when it came to trick or treating. Brennan kept up with the bigger kids while Kaidynce tried stealing everyone's Halloween decorations, especially the pumpkins. Yeah I know I am in for a world of pumpkin smashing from her in my future. And upon coming home, candy was split up for me, daddy, and the kids and Halloween was over.

So here we are in November with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner and I can honestly say - we are almost done with Christmas shopping already so no rushing at the last minute - YAY US!

Okay so I promise to try and keep this updated more often. Time just gets away from me and I forget. No other excuses!

Pictures of the House

So as I stated in my post a couple days ago, I was going to post some pictures of the house showing our painting project. Well here goes........

This is the before image of our tv wall (note the visible speaker wires):


Here are our after shots. The tv wall is now blue and the rest of the walls in the living room and down the hall are ivory. Also note that there are no visible speaker wires (that was a project in itself but we succeeded).



And this is the back wall in the kitchen that we painted a couple months back. The rest of the kitchen walls are ivory to flow with the house.

Leave me alone - I have been busy

Okay so when I logged on today and noticed that it has been over a month since I have posted, I kind of felt bad for my followers (yes I have a few).

Well August has been a busy month. I was sick with the flu at the beginning of the month all the while celebrating turning another year older. By the middle of the month, I was ready to paint our house. We have been talking about it for quite some time but we actually did it. We hid the speaker wires, repaired the wall where those are hid, and painted. And if I do say so myself, it looks awesome! I will post pics on a separate posting (they are on the home computer).

The end of the month brought forth a lot of work for Aaron. He was busy working his tail end off at work and ended up with some nice overtime for it.

Labor Day weekend included a trip to San Diego which I will post about in a couple days. I have to collect my thoughts and details before I end up rambling.

Allergies, Colds, the Flu....Oh My!

If one were to come to my house right now you would think it was the middle of winter sickness. But then you would realize that it was over 105 degrees outside and July. So why are we sick?

That would be because of our petri dishes, or germ factories as we tend to call them. Kids + daycare = sickness for the whole house.

Since March here is how it has gone:

Brennan = walking pneumonia 3 times, pink eye once, allergies, colds, and the occasional vomiting for no reason

Kaidynce = walking pneumonia once, double ear infection once, a single ear infection, pink eye, allergies, colds, infection of her girly parts, and the occasional vomiting for no reason

Aaron = allergic reaction to Levaquin, allergic tests resulting in allergy to animals, sinus infection, allergies, colds, and the occasional vomiting we blame on the germ factories named above

Chevonne = sinus infection due to extreme drainage from allergies and the stomach flu - and mine was all in the past month.

While I love the daycare environment for the kids and the social networking that they are getting (btw - they both have best friends), I have to wonder some days why I put myself through this constant state of being SICK!

Oh yeah, because I have to maintain a job for my sanity........I know I would not survive as a stay at home mom!

A year half over

So here we are in July. What was that - July already??????!!!!!!!!!!! Where the heck did the year go? I am now a firm believer that as you get older, the years get shorter!

Anyway, so as I said, here we are in July. Things with the family are good. Aaron and I are learning so much about control when it comes to the kids. The kids are at the age of testing our every nerve and seeing which buttons do what to us.

Brennan is now taking his anger out on his sister. If he doesn't like what she says, does, or is about to do, he hits her. Needless to say, we are encouraging using words instead of contact, but he is struggling with this concept at home. I say at home because we found out at his progress conference today that he uses his words at school just fine without physical contact. But with every day and every hit from him, he loses a toy. He has lost a total of 4 toys so far with no real progress in this newest punishment. We will have to see what another week brings.

Kaidynce is developing more and more in her personality. She talks and talks and talks but we are only able to make out about 2/3 of what she says. She LOVES Tinkerbell and Buzz Lightyear. She is completely and utterly infatuated with shoes. In fact, if anyone is looking for ideas for her birthday, shoes and dress up stuff will be welcomed. I am sick of not being able to find my shoes when I need them. But in all seriousness, she is doing great. She is learning her shapes and colors with Brennan (well attempting to learn). We are working on potty training but right now her record is about 3 seconds on the potty chair before she is "done." We will get there.

Both kids are about to move to new classrooms in about a month. Kaidynce will be moving up to the Dolphin classroom, which is Brennan's current buddy classroom (some shared activities). Brennan will be moving to the preschool ward, and if all goes the way it is planned, will be with a teacher that encourages independence. His new class will also be going on field trips and have a lot more art/craft stuff to do. He will be learning more as well. We are all looking forward to the new developments to come, minus the part of Brennan leaving his current teachers whom we adore.

Aaron and I are doing great. We have our biweekly lunch dates without kids and it has helped in both our sanity and relationship. I highly encourage anyone to steal an hour when possible. Even though we are stuffing our faces with pizza, salad, or whatever the food of choice is that day, we are with each other and not having to worry about what the kids are doing.

Well since I have probably bored you to tears, I will end this now. Here's to a positive second half of a year!

Turbo: Fall 1999 - Summer 2010

On Friday July 9, 2010, our beloved Turbo lost his life. He was sick and in pain with no relief. He is now in a better place and hopefully running among his friends (Millie & Shady) all the while, chasing rabbits.

Our family is doing fairly good with it all. The kids have asked where he is but we just explain he is in a new home and he is not sick anymore. That is enough of an explanation for them.

Aaron is doing better than I expected as well. Turbo was his pal, friend, companion. I was not sure how he would do, but I think he is relieved that his trusty friend is no longer in pain.



RIP Turbo!

Containment

So the word containment can be utilized to refer to anger, frustration, happiness, laughter, the kids, etc. You get my point. So today I am going to talk about all of the above.

First, containment of anger. Those of us that have kids in daycare know we all have issues with certain aspects of the facility. Whether it be small (attitude) to major (injury), we all have issues. Well today I am trying to CONTAIN my anger with regard to an injury Kaidynce has sustained at daycare. Last night after Aaron had given her a bath and dressed her, she came running into my room to play with me. I noticed her ear had a spot on it, which at first I thought was dirt that daddy missed. Upon further inspection, I noticed the ugliest bruise over the top of the ear. My first thoughts were:
"What happened?"
"What did we miss during the kids fighting?"
"Did daycare say anything?"
"Honey, do you know what happened?"

The answer to all of the above were "NO" and so then came the thought process. Aaron and I went back and forth over the possibilities of what happened for an hour. This morning I asked the teachers if she had an accident at daycare only to be told, "oh yeah, she fell yesterday and hit her ear." This was before I showed them what I was referring to. HELLO - don't you think you should have mentioned it to us. Hence the containment of anger came in since they take care of my kids for eight hours a day.

Next, the containment of frustration. This happens in our house daily at meal time. Aaron and I get frustrated with the kids and their lack of eating habits but we CONTAIN our frustration to the best of our abilities. This might be through a channel between our eyes (we have to maintain eye contact and not break) or it might mean taking a break from the table.

Containment of happiness is a harder one because you want to show your happiness for people. But when the happiness comes during the frustration at the table, you have to contain it so that the children do not feed from it. For example, when Kaidynce uses a new word in sign language or says a new word that we have not heard, or Brennan sings an entire song by himself that we and daycare have been singing to him, while we are extremely happy, we cannot let him know that he will get out of not eating his dinner.

Laughter has to be the most difficult to contain. And when I say laughter, I mean the laughs that come from deep down in the belly. And with my kids, this happens frequently. Brennan was worried sister's pee pee fell off in her belly button and I lost it. I could not contain it. Or when he thinks that if he gets off the bed the dinosaurs will get him and eat his butt, I laugh hysterically. Or when Kaidynce just gives us a look that tells us she is goofing off. Or when she comes out of the bedroom with her shorts around her ankles, shirt around her neck, and her diaper hanging off her butt (she is teaching herself to dress/undress), you can't help but laugh. But then again, you are a parent and have to maintain control and containment right? So how do you do this when things are absolutely hilarious? Well you cover your mouth and pretend to cough and hope that the kids don't catch on.

And as discussed above, containment can also refer to containing the kids. Whether it be in a dog crate such as the case on mother's day when I turned around and the kids were sitting quietly in Turbo's crate, or on the couch watching the electronic babysitter, containment of kids should be enjoyed! To an extent of course because then the anger, frustration, happiness, and laughter tend to take over and the containment of children itself is long forgotten.

Where has the time gone?

So until I logged in here today, I didn't realize it has been more than a month since my last post/update. So here goes....

April came and went rather quickly. Brennan and I took a trip to San Diego to visit with Aunt Jaimie, Cousin Amanda, and her baby Conrad. The trip was fun but quick and short. I wish I was closer to family in order to see everyone more often.

So now we are into May, hell we are almost back out of May. I will start with the beginning of the month. Brennan and Kaidynce were both down and out for 3 days with pink eye and the beginnings of pneumonia. It was a rough few days but they went back to daycare without causing me to lose too much hair.

Mother's Day brought a new smile to my face. I had a breakfast with Brennan in his classroom the Friday before the actual holiday. We had donuts and fruit and he gave me a little treasure chest with candies, a necklace, a picture of him, and a poem. It was sweet and I enjoyed being able to spend some special time with him in his environment.


That afternoon I had a party with Kaidynce in her classroom. She gave me a treat bag with some tea and her handprints laminated with a sentence that stated to remember when her hands were small. It is a magnet that hangs on the refrigerator at home and I love to look at it. We enjoyed juice, strawberries, pound cake, and ice cream on the playground.

Yummy!

On Mother's Day, Aaron let me sleep in and got up with the kids. He had them color pictures for me and they made cinnamon rolls as I requested. Of course, Aaron went outside to smoke and the kids took advantage of it and came to wake me up. It was okay though since I got up to pictures, coffee, and cinnamon rolls. We spent the day running errands and had a nice relaxing day.

So here we are at the end of May. Aaron and my anniversary is coming up. Can you believe it has been 5 years since we said I do? Dang time passes too fast. The kids are amazing us every day and I can't believe how big they are.

In fact, Brennan was given the discussion about boy and girl parts being different last night since he was very worried that Kaidynce's pee pee fell off and into her belly button (she has a small outie of a belly button when she stands up). He is climbing on the furniture in his room (namely the dresser) so we have moved furniture.

Kaidynce is suffering from "Mom doesn't focus on me and only me" syndrome. What, you have never heard of it? I will let you listen in the next time she suffers from it. It really is quite entertaining seeing how difficult life is for her.

Well this is my update for now. I will try and keep up with this since I promised it would be a way for me to share our quirks with everyone!

The Chinese

On Wednesday of last week, Aaron noticed we had bird eggs in our bird feeder (we use it as decor and not so much for food since we have such lovely winds). After dinner I went out and took some pics of the momma bird protecting her eggs.



I also took pics of Brennan's tomato plant to send to Grandma so she could see he was taking care of it. That is when I noticed that we had tomatoes.



I brought Brennan outside and showed him. He was so excited. He wanted to pick them but I explained we had to wait until they turned red. We watered the plant and went inside.

He called Grandma to tell her he had tomatoes on his plant. Told her he missed her and that she needed to come see him. Then as Aaron was talking to Grandma, Brennan starts yelling that the Chinese were going to eat his tomatoes. I about lost it. I have no clue where he learned that but he had all of us laughing so hard I am sure we were close to peeing our pants. He was very serious about the Chinese coming so I had to explain that his tomatoes were safe and that when they turned red, he could eat them. He finally calmed down.

I LOVE HIS IMAGINATION!

Weight Lifter

So on Friday I decided that I was going to start the Jillian Michaels 30-day Shred. So I picked up the DVD at Walmart on my way home and thought the best time would be right before I shower each morning. On Saturday morning I began my workout, but not alone. Brennan and Kaidynce joined me in the living room jumping around, climbing through my legs, and then sitting on my stomach during the ab sessions (yes that made it very difficult to do the exercise). About halfway through the workout, Brennan started doing some of the exercises. By the end he was telling me we had a great workout.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. Aaron is outside doing the yard work so I started my workout. As soon as Brennan heard Jillian's voice, he came running out and got into position. I picked up my weights (didn't have them the first day) and Brennan wanted some too. I told him to go get a couple of his cars and use them as weights. So he did. He brought out the handmade wooden cars that have a hole in the top (made by my grandfather).

So we start working out. And Brennan did everything I did. Of course, he has his own interpretations of how the exercises look, but stuck with me for all 20 minutes. He even told me not to take a break until we were done working out (all I was doing was taking a drink). Here is a pic of him working out:


Last night he told me he can't wait to workout with me again.

Easter Vacation

We took a mini vacation to San Diego to visit some friends and family for Easter weekend. The week prior to leaving was very stressful for me as it was coming up on the end of the quarter at work, the beginning of the month, payroll, and just not getting enough time to get it all done. I got through it though - BARELY!

Anyway, we head to San Diego on Thursday. The drive was nice and the kids were excellent. Friday we went to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful weather!




During our beach going I realized I was extremely happy. My little family was complete. The quirky things that come out of my son's mouth and the funny faces my daughter gives me make everything perfect. Oh and the hubby makes things great as well! Love ya dear!

We visited with friends later that day and played on the trampoline. By the way to the grandparents that might read this, the kids really loved the trampoline and would like one for Christmas - hint, hint!

Saturday the kids slept until 9 am. I could not believe it when I heard the little voice say, "Mommy, it is time to wake up. We don't need to sleep anymore. It is light out now." Rolling over to check the time, which I was sure was before 7 am, I was pleasantly surprised, okay completely overjoyed, to learn it was 8:53 am. I don't remember a time since kids that I slept past 7:30 am, let alone almost 9! We enjoyed a relaxing day at the timeshare where Brennan decided to try and sing the ABC song. It came out as follows:

ABC, how I know, QRSW next time won't you sing with me!

I was a proud mama! My son was trying to sing with Leap (the frog from the leap frog toys). He continued this each time with a different version. Kaidynce decided to take her independence further this week and took off out the back door of the timeshare, literally giving me a heart attack when I turned around and could not find her and she didn't answer to her name. Luckily, she was just purusing the back patio.

Easter Sunday we went to my dad's house and the kids, even Aaron, enjoyed hunting Easter eggs.





We had a great weekend and didn't want to come home but responsbility called and told us to come home! Hope you all had a great Easter

If I was a Drinker

So remember I described our blog to include parental tantrums.....well here is mine.

With both kids being sick last week and Aaron's vasectomy on Friday of last week, by Sunday night I was ready for everyone to be better. My husband was a very easy patient. He stayed in bed and only called to me when he really did need help with something. For the most part, he took care of himself (thank you honey).

But for the kids, that is a different story. I think I have yelled, swatted butts, and spent more time trying to run away this past week than in the past year. I think the kids knew Daddy wasn't going to be getting up to punish them. They pushed every button possible to the point that Tuesday night when I went to bed, I was in tears.

I have come to the realization that I am not the parent I wanted to be. Of course, we all think we will have angel children that will listen and behave and that is not true. A nice dream but not reality. Anyway, by the time I get home each day, I try to cook dinner, attempting but not succeeding, without yelling at the kids to stay out of the kitchen while hot stuff is being cooked. If I was a drinker, it would be at this point that the first glass would be poured.

Kaidynce has a fetish with food. Okay, she LOVES food. If she is in the kitchen while I am cooking, raw or not, she starts screaming for me to give her the food I am cooking. It is frustrating. So on these nights that first glass would be chugged (if I was a drinker of course).

So I get dinner on the table and we spend the next hour, yes I said HOUR, eating dinner. My daughter who loves food (see above), takes forever to eat her dinner. Brennan takes awhile too but usually starts whining to get down because he "doesn't feel good." That is another frustration in itself as it is his new favorite excuse. The second glass would be poured about 30 minutes into the process (if I was a drinker).

Dinner ends and I clean up. I once again find myself begging/yelling/and even swatting the kids to get them into their room for this process. Uninterrupted, cleaning the kitchen takes me about 15 minutes. That is all I ask for. With my kids testing my patience on a minute-by-minute basis, the second glass would be chugged (if I was a drinker).

Kitchen cleaned. Now it is time to play with the kids. But at this point, since they have been in trouble, it is whining and crying. After about 30 minutes, I have had enough. At this point, the third glass would be poured and probably chugged (if I was a drinker).

I usher the kids to the bath, wash them up and hoping for no whining but it doesn't happen, and then off to bedrooms for pajamas. It would become easier to put up with their whining and clinging at this point if I was a drinker of course as I would be a bit buzzed. But since I am not a drinker, I fall into the computer chair with Kaidynce in my arms and her glass of milk. Thirty minutes later, the kids are put to bed and I am able to relax.

This is how my nights go. Well not anymore. Last night, the kids played in their rooms for about 20 minutes, only coming out twice and being told to go play while I finished what I was doing. No yelling, just asking! It was nice. I then played a game of Candyland with Brennan, gave him his snack, cuddled Kaidynce, and put them in bed. It was a nice evening. Starting tonight, there will be a time limit on dinner for Kaidynce, a no whining rule for Brennan (meaning "I don't feel good" is not going to work anymore), and then a family game. It was much more relaxing last night and I never once thought about becoming a drinker!

Doorknob Underwear

So after Brennan's nap today, I asked him to go get his underwear from the top of his dresser. He ran down the hall and then I heard his door close. He came running back to me with no underwear. Upon asking him where they were, he responds with "I put them on my door." Knowing ahead of time that my son is pretty literal, I grab the camera. This is what I found: