A week in review - H turned FOUR!

What a week we've had!

Sunday morning at 3am, I left with the kids to embark on the drive to MN. I had planned to leave whenever we woke up, but I wasn't sleeping well (surprise, surprise!) so I just tossed the babes in the car and took off.

Of course, I expected them to sleep, but they wanted to converse, so they stayed awake talking to me until nearly 5am. Then they dozed off.

Shortly before 6am I got the feeling that I was going to need oil. My car tends to go through a lot of it. So while I was trying to think if there was a container of it in trunk the oil light went on and I was in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.

Gas stations do not operate 24 hours in the middle of nowhere.

So we took a detour and I had to wake up kids (because I'm too paranoid to leave them in the car, even when just running into a gas station). But once that was taken care of, we were good to go.

I told the kids the sun had to be up before they could watch movies. Turned out it didn't matter if there was sun or not, because the portable DVD player had met it's demise and was no longer an option.

It has a good run though. And put up with a lot from two raging toddlers during different trips. I cannot complain.

I stopped at three different Targets along the way, but none of them had portable DVD players that you can attach to the back of a seat. I have a feeling they're being phased out with the prevalence of tablets.

Despite that hiccup, we made it to my dad's

Shortly after we got there we ventured over to get the kids fishing poles, since my dad had told them last time he'd get them some. We have now have awesome light-up Princess and Spider-man fishing poles, ha. They are very delighted.

Monday we officially celebrated Miss H's 4th birthday. I have a four year old!

This is what a FOUR year old looks like!

 

My older sister M came up, as well as my cousin and her four kiddos and we all went to the Mall of America with my dad and step-mom. The kids rode rides all morning until our lunch reservation at the American Girl Store.

Ready for the day, like a knight!

 

My big sis and I!

 

Driving!

 

 

Grandma cuddles!

 

Grandpa says he doesn't like rides, but he seemed to go on every single one with B! He was obviously upset. ;-)

 

Lunch was really delicious, and the waitress was phenomenal. H was absolutely tickled pink that she got to eat with her babies. And her dolls got teacups and saucers and crowns to take home. And H and my cousin's daughter got goody bags with doll shirts and a book.

Birthday girl!

 

 

 

After lunch H decided she wanted the Isabelle doll for her birthday, since Isabelle is a ballerina. We bought some accessories and books and then moved onto the Disney store where M bought H a Sofia the First dress and crown and amulet. Then we finished off the day at the Lego store, which is becoming the newest obsession around here.

 

Loot!

I think H certainly had an awesome birthday! And we were so happy so many people could celebrate it with us!!

 

 

Pixi rocking H's amulet.

 

Princess Sofia!

 

Tuesday we ventured to an awesome indoor playground and then went out for lunch. When we returned home my little brother B was there and my B immediately got buddy-buddy with him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday we visited a friend and her adorable two munchkins and went to play in M's classroom (she's a 4th grade teacher). The kids thought that that was pretty awesome.

 

Spelling her name with floam.

 

Comfy chair for story time!

 

 

Playing pick up sticks with Uncle T's mom.

 

Cuddling while watching TV.

 

We left to come back home Thursday morning. The drive was long, but we purchased a new DVD player, so that helped.

My dad beat us back to Indiana as my grandma is in the ICU.

Anyway, we are for sure glad to be home. For a few weeks anyway before we're off on our next adventure. Maybe the biggest one yet!

A birthday fit for a princess

I did not greatly desire to have a birthday party for H this year. Sue me.

Mostly because I'd made plans to take her for lunch at the American Girl Store on her actual birthday and have a fun day at MOA with family. That's to come Monday.

But, H has been talking about her 4th birthday party since B had his 2nd birthday party back in August. So I didn't have much of a choice. I didn't want to let her down.

So I arranged her birthday part - she wanted Ariel. I invited all her friends and family via electronic email which I will never use again. I'd say at least 60% did not see or receive their invites. Bah humbug!

I tried to keep it as low key as possible, for my own sanity.

Orginally I had planned to drive up to my dad's right after the party, but that started to feel overwhelming and stressful, and since J was home due to a delay, I decided I'd rather just wait and drive up tomorrow.

By far a good call!

H was thrilled with her party though. And really, that's all that matters. Right?

I got pretty sidetracked and didn't take as many pictures as I typically do at their parties, I was too busy socializing.

 

 

 

 He was totally ready for the piñata!

 

Piñata goodies!

 Reading with Grandma Julie after the party died down.

 

 



All boys, or just my boy?

I noticed at Christmas that I had a much more difficult time coming up with stocking stuffers for B than I did for H.

And telling other people what to get him.

But that's really how it's been since birth.

I thought maybe it was just me who had a harder time with coming up with gift ideas, until J returned home from Hawaii yesterday for a few days and brought B a little airplane and H a flower clip and looked at me and said, "You have no idea how hard it is to find something for B!"

Oh, but I do!

Since we don't do most plastics,  unless I know they're for sure safe (Green Toys, Lego, a few others), that limits a lot of "traditional" boy toys like super her figurines, etc. He was really into trains for a short time, and maybe he'll like them again, but it seems that shipped sailed, and fast!

He has a handful of cars and trucks, but honestly, H plays with them more than he does.

He likes to paint. And destroy things.

Okay, mostly he just likes to destroy things.

And build things.

H plays with her toy food. She loves her baby dolls and could spend all day dressing them up. She could spend all day dressing herself up, ha!

B likes dress up. He likes to dance with H. He likes to help me cook. He loves reading. He really loves watching TV, but I won't typically let him do that all day.

He loves his instruments. Like really loves those.

But when it comes to a time where it's appropriate to buy the kids gifts, I'm just clueless with him.

I've been getting a head start on Easter Baskets this year (not really, since it's like 2 weeks away!). I got some great ideas from friends who suggested outdoor things I'd be buying anyway. Bubbles, (lead-safe) chalk, etc. And I will for sure get some for their baskets.

And I ordered B some Bubble Guppies pjs and H a matching outfit for her and a baby doll. I picked up a firetruck for B from a friend since he's really into firetrucks at the moment, and I will likely go get H the child-sized Ergo for her dolls. And there was a necklace I wanted to grab for her, and maybe a few outfits for her dolls because that's easy.

But B? I don't know. What else do I put in his basket?

What else, just in general?

And it would be one thing if this were the only time I had this dilemma, but it's all the time.

He's just so different from H. Which is a great and beautiful thing. I love B to pieces and the amazing, crazy person he is.

But H is my speed. She's so much like me, but better, that I feel like I totally know what to do with her all the time.

B, not so much. Most days I feel like someone put me in a car, blind, during a blizzard, and said not to cross the yellow line.

Yeah, okay.

So I guess the truth is, it goes deeper than just stuff. Obviously.

He's this awesome little boy. Who keeps me on my toes for certain. Opinionated, sweet, an absolute monkey.

But he's still a conundrum to me.

But I guess I've never understood boys anyway. Just because he's mine shouldn't really make it any different, eh?

15 things I learned today

I have spent 3.5 hours of my day sitting through gymnastics and dance classes today.

Things I've learned:

1.) H is hella good at gymnastics.
2.) The iPhone is a godsend for antsy 2.5 year old boys. And I don't care what anyone thinks.
3.) H is crazy focused.
4.) B really loves gymnastics - especially the bar!
5.) B is losing his interest in dance - that's okay.
6.) H is very dedicated. To everything she does.
7.) H focuses better in her ballet class with older kids as opposed to her aged 3-4 year olds ballet class. Like way better.
8.) H does much better with solo activities. She shines in gymnastics and ballet. Although she is good at soccer, she's not really a team sport. That's okay.
9.) B is a team sport.
10.) B probably needs karate lessons. There was a lot of "pow pow pow, I'm super!" going on while waiting.
12.) Two gymnastics classes and two dance classes in one day is way too much for momma. I'm beat.
13.) H wants more. And her gymnastics teacher agrees that she should have more. So she'll start taking gymnastics 2x a week. They're hour long classes. I will bring my phone charger. ;-)
14.) I never intended to be the kind of mom who did "activities" like sports with her kids - my kids have a different agenda.
15.) I freaking love these kids and our life.

School will always be there.

A lot of friends have asked what we did about preschool.

Didn't mean to leave ya'll hanging there.

Ultimately, J and I decided to enroll her. Let her go. It is her decision after all.

Her gymnastics studio is literally right next door to the preschool, so I intended to just drop by that Monday after her class.

Well, we walked out of her class, I pointed to the preschool with the kids outdoor playing and said, "Let's walk over there so we can enroll you for next year."

She looked at me, her eyes big and wide and said, "No way. I'm not going there."

I'm sure I looked quizzical, because all she's done is go on and on about school for months and after we had toured this particular school she'd talked about how much she loved it and wanted to go.

"You don't?" I finally asked.

I didn't want to influence her one way or another with this decision, but I also needed to understand this 180 stance.

"No. I would miss you too much. And B."

"It'd only be for a few hours. I'm sure you'd miss us at first, but then you'd probably have a lot of fun," I told her.

She shook her head.

"I can just do pretend school with you when I want to. I don't want to go to school every day."

I nodded. I could respect that.

"I thought you liked it."

"I do like it," she agreed. "But I don't want to go."

"Fair enough."

I think I asked her about 1237298 times if she was certain, because once I told them no she'd lose her spot. She assured me she was indeed certain.

So I called J and told him what was up. He played it totally neutral, but I know that secretly he was elated.

And since that day, H hasn't mentioned school once. Which is crazy. She went from talking about school non-stop to talking about it not at all. Which is A-Okay by me.

Funny thing, after it was all said and done and J and I were talking about it one evening, we both agreed Montessori preschool would probably greatly benefit B actually. I mean, H will thrive and do awesome anywhere, but the calm and quiet atmosphere would likely be really good for B.

So we kept H's name on the list in case she later changes her mind. And B is on it as well. And who knows, maybe next year will be their year. Or maybe not.

Either way, it's okay.

We said we would do this child-lead, and though some days I question our sanity on this choice - it's exhausting to be a control freak who willfully relinquishes said control! - I know it's the right choice for our family.

And besides, H is getting more involved with dance. She's trying out a more intense and older-age class tomorrow that she is very excited about. She's requested to attend gymnastics more than once a week. Once our travel schedule settles down she wants to do swim lessons again. She does piano, and is picking up on it far quicker than her teacher had imagined. She's a busy girl right now.

School will always be there.

This exciting, busy, fun, free childhood will not.

Stuff

When did we start acquiring so much stuff?

I am sitting in my house, two sweet babes tucked away for the night, and I'm just surrounded by so much stuff.

And not like a hoarders amount of stuff piled around me, but just inside of our house is so much stuff. Copious amounts of furniture, toys, clothes, 3 different coffee makers, receipts from the last 7 years, photo albums from when I was in middle school, more books than a small library, enough DVDs to stock a rental store, Christmas decorations, bins of outgrown clothes, and bins of precious stuff that will never have a proper home. We have cupboards full of dishes we rarely use, if ever. The cupboards under our sinks are all full to their brink, but I can't remember the last time I took something out from under one other than for some band-aids.

And the crazy thing is, if you want to play the comparing game, well, then, comparatively we don't have that much stuff at all. We have two small closets and that is all we can store away for a rainy day. We don't have much compared to some, but then we have copious amounts compared to others.

But when did this happen?

As a society, I mean.

There was a time this was not the norm.

Heck, people lived in tiny wood cabins smaller than my downstairs. And everything fit. They fit.

Just the very thought of the 4 of us in that small of a space baffles me. How could we do it? And we are only four people. More people than that could comfortably live in a small space 200+ years ago.

And people had like three outfits and they were happy.

Kids had maybe two or three toys and books were sparse. Coffee makers didn't exist and you only had dishes that could be used habitually and with purpose.

But now. Holy cow, now.

I know it's a different time and place. I wouldn't want to live 200 years ago. We've come a long ways in a lot of really positive ways.

But the stuff.

I really think I am the only person in the world who truly gets stressed out by stuff.

And I add to the problem. So it's not like I'm blameless. I buy games and books and shoes and cute clothes for the kids. I buy Christmas decorations and interesting muffin pans and cookie cutters.

Though most days I want to throw everything out.

Seriously.

I tell J that all the time. I just want to throw everything out and not look back.

We can all keep like 2 weeks of clothes and 5 books and a few toys for the kids.

Non-essential dishes, good-bye.

We can figure out one way to collectively drink coffee. We don't each need out own machine.

Receipts from seven years ago? That might be ridiculous.

The pile of extra blankets just in case people visit us can really go. We've been here five years. No one is coming.

Wait.

I think I said we'd just keep 5 books a second ago.

Bahahaha!

Yeah, who in their right mind could just choose 5 books? I thought I was doing awesome by cutting them down to fit onto two shelves. That was hard! And those were just my books, not counting the kids'.

Though seriously. If I could somehow purge like everything I own, I would.

I can't.

J would die.

I'm not even sure I have the will power.

And we'd likely just acquire it all back anyway.

I mean, I said I wouldn't buy any books during lent.

That lasted all of two weeks.

Ah, alas.

Their were a lot of cons living 200+ years ago.

But at least there wasn't so much stuff.

March 18 - Pictures!

I'm trying to put down the camera phone and pick up the real camera more.

I won't lie, it's challenging. The camera phone is small and easy and virtually glued to my person (which I should probably also work on!).

But real pictures are just so much better.

So here are a few snapshots from our day. Because then I can send J this link and he can see them, too, from afar. :-)

I cannot get enough of this gorgeous face!

B's standard grin.

She always wants to make silly faces.

In case you wanted to know what he was eating, ha.

I call this his Grandpa Shawn smile.

Pretty sure she would swing all day.

This boy is always in action. He never, ever slows down.