Friends at the Zoo

We went to the zoo today with our favorite neighbors and had an awesome time. We go to the zoo pretty frequently, but today was extra special because our company was special. :)

Stella ruined her nap by falling asleep in the car on the way home...after she threw her sunglasses on the floor of course.

Stella was so good. She rode in the stroller for the most part without complaint even when she was tired. Love that baby!

Love the monkeys eating cleaning each other. I pretend to do this to the kids every once in a while. They think it's hilarious that I would "eat" bugs from their hair. I know. We're weird, but we home school so that's to be expected.

The polar bears were active today and so fun to watch. Brooke said because they were wet, they smelled. Kids aren't that much different from animals in more ways than I'd like to count.

The view from the shortest train ride you'll ever take at a zoo.

London and Brooke were super big sister helpers opening doors for the jumbo double jogging strollers both Stephanie and I have. Kids, although slow and very frustrating at times, can still be helpful. That ones for you Ace... I mean Christa. Surprisingly, I didn't see any old people in motorized carts. :)

Group pictures are like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get.

Who needs giraffes when you've got excavating equipment? I love the zoo before it gets hot. Hopefully, we can make it back a few more times before the summer heat sets in. Who knows we might even go with our favorite neighbors... again. Now that would just be crazy.

Slacking

Stella climbing into the "time out" chair in the dining room. It's not an optical illusion, she doesn't have pants on. The pants are my fault, but the time out I had nothing to do with.

Brooke's getting good at riding her big girl bike.

Stella, being Stella... being an 18 months old. Aren't they all short fused and demanding? She's mad because I wouldn't let her lick anymore of the brownie batter. I must be a terrible mother for her to be suffering so. I'm over it. If you click on the picture, you can see the drool coming from her mouth. That's photography at it's best.

Two things I like you to learn from this picture: Luke is supposed to be cleaning his room and Stella seems to be more productive at executing this, just as she is at taking off her own shoes, than her 3 year old brother. Secondly, Luke is wearing pajama shorts because EVERYDAY while he's not napping he's changing his clothes into something that is not appropriate to go outside in, which is what we do when the weather is nice after rest time. Annoying. Very annoying. Why he can do that but can't put his real pants on the correct way is beyond me.

The kids (including Stella) have recently discovered that if you yell into the vent in Luke's room, it can be heard clearly in the vent in the bathroom next door. To their credit, I have to say that it is pretty funny.

This is my underground lair, the corner of our basement that I claim as my own. I have been spending lots of time scrapbooking and therefore a lot of time in that really comfy folding chair. In the last 3 weeks I've scrapbooked 300 pictures and am optimistic that I will complete an additional 100 by next week. My goal is to finish 2009 by the end of April and since I've finished September, I seem to be on track to do so. More on that another day.

Stella LOVES shoes to the point that if we leave the laundry room door open, she'll find a pair to drag out and try on. She is really good at walking in them too.

If you regularly check in with my blog to see if there's anything new, you know that there's not been a whole lot of new activity in the last few weeks. It would appear by blogging standards, not that there are rules to this, that I have been slacking. Ironically, it's been quite the opposite. I've actually been living a lot more intentionally and as a result have been spending my time elsewhere as opposed to editing my pictures and being plugged into the Internet. Who knew there was more to life?

I mentioned on here before that I got testosterone pellets put into my backside because my body doesn't make enough on it's own. Since I initially mentioned that I've not really brought it up again. I really wasn't sure if this hormone replacement therapy was all that I hoped it would be, the answer to what was ailing me...which felt a lot like apathy. When there is no energy, everything feels like it's out of reach.

I got my second set of pellets about a month ago and have made a few changes to go along with it. For one I have been exercising regularly. Come again? Yes, exercise. Since I got pregnant with Stella, exercising has been the last thing on my mind, but now I've been making it a priority. I was hoping initially to suffer through at least 3 days with 30 minutes of exercise, but funny how the more I do it, the less it feels like suffering. I just felt dissatisfied with the amount of energy I had and figured that if almost daily naps weren't giving me energy, then I would have to get extreme and sweat. I have to say that in doing so, I feel so much better. Is it the second round of pellets or just the endorphins that exercising releases? Did the chicken come before the egg? It's any one's guess, but the bottom line is that I feel that I've got my "mojo" back. Literally and figuratively. :)

There are so many other little things that I feel so blessed about that are a by-product of living more intentionally. They might seem insignificant by themselves, but to me they are the bread to my butter. Butter to my bread? Just as the landscape here seems to be coming back to life, I am excited to see God working at renewing my spirit. When I am orientated towards Him, everything else seems to fall into place. And that is right where I need to be.

Are there changes you need to make today to live more intentionally? Something you need to stop doing to allow more time for those things that you really value? Spring cleaning doesn't always just have to be about your dwelling, it can be so much more. It doesn't have to be as dramatic as rising from the dead on the third day, but maybe a few baby steps. :) Wishing you peace, energy, and renewal this Easter and all through the year. Somebody contact Hallmark..I think I've just penned a greeting card. That's my cue to stop blogging and go to bed.

Who are you calling a baby?

I promise that it was a total coincidence that Mark's picture first appears under the title about someone calling someone a baby. Pure coincidence. I wouldn't dream of insulting the love of my life while he's busy expanding our garden. We're kickin' our farming skills up a notch this summer. We had a hard time keeping up with our original garden, but hoping to make some adjustments to remedy that. We're optimistic...or naive.

It was a family day on Saturday. We all went out into the yard and at least looked like we were gardening. Don't look at me like that. I pulled some weeds and raked the strawberries. Scouts honor. After we were finished gardening we had the pleasure of going out to dinner to what Brooke said "is the best restaurant ever, better than Culvers" with Mark's parents and brother, Steve. We dined at the Hofbrauhaus which is a German restaurant that has a band and you stand on the benches mid-eating to periodically do the "Chicken Dance". It was a hoot! Stella ate so much that we had to unbutton her jeans on the way home!

Speaking of Stella. That's what this post was originally supposed to be about. Her and her insistence on not acting like a baby. Being the third child she is determined to do all the things Brooke and Luke do and if you try to tell her otherwise, look out! Above she was taking a break from helping put the groceries away. Again, I use the term help loosely because 30 minutes after the groceries were put away I found cheese slices in the pantry. She's biting a bag of carrots if you are wondering. Why she didn't just pick them up off the floor is beyond me.

This is exhibit A: She insisted not to sit in her safe, made for her "baby" swing, but sitting in Brooke's swing without being held. To her credit, she held on and I was really able to push her...very slowly of course.

When we were working in the garden, also known as neglecting Stella, she got bored and climbed up this little slide herself. Brooke and Luke have such timid personalities when it comes to things like this that I couldn't believe Stella took matters into her own hands and climbed up herself.

She refused to be left out of the work and grabbed a shovel and wanted to dig exactly where Brooke was hence her nose up Brooke's rear. Brooke was not too happy about her tagging along.

After a long day at home with his family, Mark needs some TLC. His goal is to get Brooke to walk on his back, his attempt at a mini-massage, but Stella was having none of those plans. After Brooke stepped down, Stella hurried to resume the post. Did I tell you she insists on spitting out her toothpaste every 3 seconds when I brush her teeth too? Luke still swallowed his toothpaste until like last week and Stella has been doing this for months.

Speaking of things Luke just started doing that Stella can already do...Stella already takes her own shoes off and puts them in the shoe bin without assistance. Luke on the other hand stands in the laundry room and whines. Stella also gets the dish towel hanging on the stove to wipe up a spill on the kitchen floor, she puts her clothes in the dirty laundry when we undress her for the bath, and insists on eating ketchup with anything if Luke's having some too!

Today we were outside riding bikes (we had a pretend ceremony to pass on the bikes to the appropriate size rider which means that Stella got Luke's old Radio Flyer bike that doesn't have pedals) and Stella was all over the place handling that little bike like it was nobody's business. I cracked up because she's so business-like that it appears she knows exactly what she's doing. I told Mark this weekend that I think we forgot to tell her that she's only a year and a half now which in my book is still a baby. She's a hoot and a holler.

Prioritzing

There is so little time in my day for my leisure that I just can't do it all. Blogging this week was the first to be cut. Sorry, but my scrapbook has been calling my name. I'm up to August of 2009. I think I can , I think I can.

Brooke had her first ever swim lesson today at the YMCA and she was thrilled. We shelled out the extra bucks for private lessons and I think the money was well spent. Her swim instructor is a gem and I really feel like she made a lot of progress today already.

Poor Stella! She got put on lock down in the family changing room after Brooke's lesson for putting her hand in the toilet when I turned my back. Surprisingly, she took it in stride and succumbed to the restraint quite peacefully. Shocked the heck out of me!

Speaking of peaceful, I broke my own rule of never waking a sleeping baby today when I woke Stella up from her nap. Sleeping past 4 is not an option when Mark is gone because I'm not entertaining her monkey butt when the other two punks are already in bed. Selfish? I call it survival. I'm still alive so I must be doing something right after parenting solo going on 3 years. Those are approximate calculations because well, math's not my thing. I figured Mark is at home half the month, times the last 5.5 years of Brooke's little life and...I did say that math's not my thing so I'll stop there before you start adding up my fuzzy math.

We had a ceremony today that consisted of the passing on of swings. I'm kidding about that. I have to draw the line at book parties or I'd have to kick my own ass. Anyway, Luke got a YELLOW "big boy" swing for Christmas so we passed on his baby swing to Stella. It was a major milestone in the backyard and Luke who is reluctant to change anything (except for his clothes at rest time which he does unfortunately EVERYDAY) was quite happy with the new arrangements. And you know what they say, when the kids are happy, everyone is happy. :)

Before

It seems every time we turn around, trouble finds Luke. It's petty non-life threatening trouble, but trouble all the same. If there's an incident at our house, we needn't look any further than my son.

I came across some sweet pictures of Luke today on the screen saver of our computer. He was about a year and a half old when these were taken. He looks so sweet! It's hard to remember him being so little and sweet, especially now when every time we turn around he's getting into trouble. Today Mark found him during "rest" time in the bathroom with the tops off two hand soaps and some expensive organic lotion, pouring them into cups. Two days ago it was him wiping "glue" on his bedroom wall. Mark and I still can't determine what that "glue" was exactly, but thankfully it came right off with a baby wipe. I love baby wipes for their versatility.

Anyway, I do love this boy and am glad that his behavior is more inconvenient than dangerous. I can deal with petty behavior because when he's a bigger boy there's bound to be bigger troubles. If they could only stay little...longer.

Royal Fun

Stella is obsessed with shoes. She especially likes the new boots I bought for Brooke and Luke. Today she comes walking out of the laundry room wearing Luke's yellow boots that she had put on all by herself. Interestingly enough, she could walk in them fairly well. The picture above is her trying to get up after she took a spill. So much for fairly well I guess.

I think I might get Stella a pair of her own boots so the kids won't fight over them. If only it were that simple all the time as buying multiples. While I'm on the subject of breaking up fights, Brooke this morning tells me, "Mom, you should live in a queen's castle because you're always bossy." I cracked up! I chose to take that as a compliment, some one's got to tell these people around here what to do and my dad has always called me "The Queen". If the shoe fits...

This is Mark holding a hand full of hail. On Friday afternoon we had a quick burst of intense hail. It was pretty cool, even the part when Brooke took off running for the basement because she thought there would be a "twister". It was all a little misunderstanding that got cleared up pretty quickly. Long story. The short of it is that Brooke is petrified that there will be a tornado every time there is a cloud in the sky accompanied by light winds. I used to be like that too when I was little. She comes by that honestly...unfortunately.

I don't ever remember hail like this and I was so excited that I left two grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove while I ran for the camera. Got the pictures I wanted, but the grilled cheese? Not so much. Mom, it wasn't even brown....it was charred. :)

Today my sister Michelle turned a year older. She's 14 years older than I am, so you can do the math. That way I can say that I didn't tell everyone, you just figured it out. I'm so tricky like that. We (my lovely family of 5, my parents, and my sister and two nieces) went to Skyline for lunch. It has been ages since we've all be out to eat together and it was really fun. Why is my son looking at the camera like a one-eyed pirate? He needs a patch for his eye. Anyone got a patch? Moving on...Our lunch was partly a ploy to keep my sister occupied while her boyfriend was getting ready for her surprise party tonight and partly to see my niece home from college on spring break. Either way it was loads of fun and in my opinion, my sister looks younger than she did 10 years ago. Funny how feeling peaceful can do that to a person.

A Case of the Fridays

Have you ever gotten the feeling that one particular day felt like a specific day of the week but it really wasn't? Like you have to look at a calendar to convince yourself otherwise? That was today. All day it felt like Friday, minus home school co-op (which is cancelled this week anyway).

Our day started off with an unexpected visit from our favorite neighbors in the morning. Luckily, I was actually dressed and the kids were out of their pj's. Not like that would have mattered anyway. They're that good of friends. :) They ended up staying for lunch and even though the weather was near perfect, we stayed inside since the kids were playing peacefully and we got to talk mostly without interruption...if you exclude my son who seems to want nothing more than my exclusive attention when my friend, Stephanie, and I get together. Her house or ours, Luke seems to temporarily lose his mind and ends up screaming like a manic in time out for quite some time. We need a shrink for that phenomenon. Moving on... Interrupting kids playing happily that don't need a referee, is a sin in my book. It's right up there with waking sleeping babies and getting up earlier than is absolutely necessary. Bottom line-the kids had fun and I got adult conversation.

After they left it was almost rest time for the kids. Yippee!! Luke made amends for his craziness by taking a nice two hour nap and then going to bed early anyway. Love it! When everyone was awake we went outside to enjoy the sun and our backyard.

Speaking of our backyard, this is our garden and it appears to the untrained eye to be dormant, but alas there are already strawberry plants turning green. They are Mark's nemesis so I'll have to tread lightly here, but I am so excited that it is almost time to plant the rest of the garden again. Luke keeps telling me that we need to rake and I keep telling him that we have to wait for daddy to get home. :) I keep promising Mark that I'll take care of the strawberries, but that he has to trim them first and there lies the problem. They multiply faster than rabbits can reproduce and the next time you turn around they are trying to take over the rest of the garden. But none the less, I am so excited to see signs of spring along with the sunshine.

Stella Bella Lovebug is so cute toddling around the backyard. She is such a little person that there's not much baby left. Mark joked that we needed to get pregnant now (as has been the pattern the last few years) before Stella turns two and all hell breaks loose. I'd rather take my chances, see if I can survive hell, and go at least one summer without being pregnant or nursing. Amen.

Today while I was cleaning up from lunch, Brooke and Luke were playing in Luke's room. We have a Summer video monitor which in my opinion is the best piece of baby paraphernalia that you never knew you needed. It allows me to spy on Luke in his bed and Stella in her crib. You can without a doubt, tell if they are sleeping or playing possum, if they are trying to escape, and if they are crying you can assess the problem without stepping foot into their rooms which can become more of a problem than a solution. I highly, highly recommend it for all children under the age of 3.

Back to my point. I swear I had one and it's around here somewhere...Oh, yes. I turned the monitor on to see if Stella was asleep already which she wasn't and never did...She didn't even give me the courtesy of playing possum, she just outright didn't nap today. Then I flip channels to see what Dumb and Dumber were up to in Luke's room and the above picture is what I saw. The two of them, boxing gloves off, snuggled in Luke's bed looking at a book. Actually, I think Brooke was reading to him, then they turned off the light, shut the shade and were pretending to sleep in Luke's bed. It was so sweet.

This picture I took tonight because it represents a new era of independence around our house. There used to be three in the tub and now there are two. Don't get me wrong, I haven't been putting all three of them in the tub for a few months now because I didn't want Stella to drive Brooke and Luke batty grabbing them and all the bath toys, but it seems that Brooke has recently graduated to taking showers by herself in my bathroom. She's growing so fast, I can hardly believe it.

Luke and Stella are the least compatible bathing companions as they tend to irritate one another, but that's just the way the cookie crumbles. Gotta roll with the punches because you just never know what's going to change next. I'm pulling for a reduction in my "spare tire" or to be able to sleep in past 9, but that's about as likely as Luke eating steak for dinner tomorrow night. Yeah, right!

But the real reason it felt like Friday is because Mark is coming home today and will be home for 6 whole days! That's even better than it being Friday, or Tuesday or whatever day. The dad's in the house. What more could I ask for?

The Weekend

This is Luke on Friday before we left for co-op. It was also taken before some little boy (not mine thankfully!) pulled the fire alarm at co-op and we had to vacate the building while the firemen reset the alarm. I've heard about that fourteen million times since it happened, but who could hold a grudge against my boy that looks so cute with his shades and jacket Mark's aunt gave him for his birthday? The combination of the two was ridiculously cute.

We had a family "first" yesterday and I hope a "last". Mark had to call Poison Control because Luke drank some Children's Tylenol while the rest of us were downstairs thinking he was checking out his new garden boots in the mirror in my bedroom. He might have done that, but he was also chugging medicine. It wasn't his fault. It was all mine. I gave Brooke some Tylenol late Friday night when she woke up with really bad leg pains and then I left the bottle on the counter (apparently with the lid not screwed on properly. Strike two!). When I put it on the counter instead of up in my closet where I store it out of sight, I knew at that moment that I should have put it away, but I was being lazy. I really think God was trying to teach me a lesson when the consequence was small. Other than my guilt, everything was fine. As it turns out they have to drink more than half the bottle (which thankfully he didn't) to require medical attention. I won't be lazy (when it comes to medicine) anymore that's for sure.

It was almost like a normal weekend at our house. Except Mark was off Saturday and Sunday and he cleaned out the garage! That's so not normal. :) Luke and I went on a mother/son outing to Kroger and he "helped" me by putting things in the cart. I think he just came along to scavenge for free cookies at the deli, but it was fun for the two of us to be out alone.

Speaking of not helpful, Stella wants so badly to be like Brooke and Luke that she tries to put the groceries away too. Sometimes I'll find things in the pantry that belong upstairs in my closet like toothpaste. It's pretty funny to stumble upon that when I'm looking for the peanut butter. That and she's so darn cute when she's focused on "helping".

My mom had a coupon for Kohl's and I drug her out shopping (much to my father's chagrin) and got the kids clothes for summer. I was that lady with piles and piles of clothes at the register. I used to look at women that were buying that much and wonder first, what they'd do with all that and second, how they planned on paying for it all! When I got home, Stella was just as thrilled with my purchases as Brooke and insisted on wearing her new bathing suit as well as one I bought for Brooke. She loved her new shoes as well. I'm a little concerned that Stella is so taken with clothes already. I can only imagine how many clothes two teenage girls are going to require. It's a good thing we've got a few years until then. :)

The Sun Makes Everything Better

Yesterday was as awful as today was good. It was one of those days that make me wonder how I even survived. Although don't let me alarm you, really nothing traumatic happened except PMS, self induced sleep deprivation, and whiny kids. At 5 PM I actually said out loud, "I hate this day!" and then I made dinner and shuttled the kids to bed as soon a humanely possible.

But to my credit, the kids irritated each other from 10 AM until bedtime which was as early as 6:30 for Stella since she didn't take a nap at all. Some days they get along famously and it prompts me to tell Mark, like I did before he left for this trip, that when he's gone we've all been really content to stay home. Then yesterday happened.

Things happened like Stella getting into the markers and Brooke squirting lotion on her carpet so she could roll around and get some on her back. True story. Those kinds of childish things just about did me in yesterday. I still can't decide if the day went south as a result of my issues alone or if that kids were just that bothersome. Mark's gone, so I'll just go with the kids. :)

But today...the sun came out, I got up before the kids and had some quite time, I got our cable fixed with a phone call, the sun came out, sent a thank you note, got the car washed, the sun was shining, we went to the library and I taught the kids to sew buttons. Did I mention that the sun was gloriously shining ALL DAY?

The kids got along too which was nice. The one good thing about yesterday (according to my pessimistic attitude) is that I ditched my dinner plans and made the kids a cheese omelet and they all ate it without complaint. Even Luke. During dinner Brooke was choking on some food (not the Heimlich kind of choking, just something caught in the throat choking) and I told her to take a drink of her milk and then she was fine. She cracked me up when she said, "Mom, thank you for telling me to take a drink, that was SO helpful." She was dead serious and it melted my stone cold PMSing heart.

So everything was good today. Contentment reined supreme and the kids played nicely and all was well. I might be exaggerating a little about the impact of the sun, but maybe not. Seriously, the sun has not shone in weeks and even then it was for about an hour. Did you notice that Stella's mother did not wipe the marker off her face like a good mother should? They're washable and I did clean it off at dinner when her drool made the maker run. Well, I didn't want it to get on her shirt! Poor thing, looks likes she's got a bloody lip. Fire her I say! Fire her.

I am optimistic that tomorrow will be great too, sun or no sun. Friday's our home school co-op and we spend all morning there and come home just in time for a late lunch and naps. It's so encouraging and rejuvenating that we all come home happier than when we left. Thank God tomorrow's Friday. TGTIF!