If at first you don't succeed...cry, cry again

I know this runs along the same lines as my post yesterday but it sure does seem like my kids cry alot.  OK, let me rephrase that...Carter cries a lot.  Ever since he neared 2, he's taken on this major attitude.   I keep hoping this phase will end soon, but the end, quite sadly, seems nowhere in sight.

Play dough

I was not completely naive when I embarked on this journey of parenthood.  I knew that having kids meant a lot of sacrifices, less sleep, poopy diapers, and yes, crying.  And I think I was prepared for the crying of an infant...to a degree...I mean they can't talk so how else are they supposed to get your attention?  But the crying of a youngster with a healthy vocabulary...yea..NO...that's just not cool with me.  The kid whips out words like pistachio, rhinoceros, and aerial lift (which he will excitedly point out whenever he spots one) but for some reason is rendered speechless when he wants a drink of water and will instead just cry and whine in some intelligible language, driving me close to insanity.

Ah kids...who knew they could be so complicated...

No matter what you want....you can get it by screaming.

Yep and if that doesn't work, just scream a little louder.  Or at least that is what my two kids think.  You need a drink...scream.  You have to pee...scream.  You're hungry...scream.  You just like to hear yourself screaming....scream a little more.  They love the echoing sound their screams make when they are outside.  They love how their screams are amplified when they are standing upstairs on the landing.  And they really love screaming in small enclosed spaces where I can't get away from them...the car...bathroom during a bath...etc.  And would anyone care to tell me how long this phase will last...or don't I even want to know?

Today while I was trying to cram lunch into my mouth the kids were running around tormenting the poor dog.  I kinda let them do it, I'll admit, because it was better than the usual Carter tormenting Reese routine.  So Carter got out the vacuum and pulled the hose right off and was "shooting" the dog with it because apparently, in his words, "She is on fire!"  Well after lunch was over, I had some cleaning to do and it took me a good 10 minutes of vacuuming and getting totally frustrated thinking my vacuum was broken to realize...it has no suction because there is no hose on it.  UGH!!!!  CARTER!!!!  Now I feel like screaming...

Happy Easter

 
Carter loved waking up to find an Easter basket full of candy and goodies today.  He went on and on about how sneaky the Easter Bunny was, coming in last night and filling his basket with surprises.   You can see his reaction to the Thomas the Train Pez dispenser.  That bunny...he sure does know how to pick em!  ;)

Thomas Pez?!?!  What could be cooler?

Reese's favorite books right now are "Goodnight Moon" and "The Foot Book".  She requests them EVERY night before bed and often wants to read them during the day too. She wants me to sing "Baa Baa Blacksheep" to her every night before bed also.  So funny how they get so attached to certain routines.  

Another birthday cake!!!

Happy Birthday, Dadda!

We celebrated Derrick's birthday today.  Happy Birthday, Derrick!!  He was rewarded with almost a full day without rain...woohoo.  We also had a big landmark today.  Derrick sold his car on Craigslist...it seems very strange to look out and not see it anymore.  It served us well.

Reese can say, "Happy Birthday, Dadda."  Carter wanted to open all of the presents himself and then asked what he was getting for his birthday.  He's been telling me things he wants for his birthday all week.  Too bad it's still months away.

Great song for Easter

Egg Hunts

 Tis the season for Easter Egg hunts.  Our neighborhood does a great egg hunt every year for the kids and out play group also had one today...but it had to be indoors since it is 45 and raining here...ugh.  The kids didn't care though...they had fun at both!

The other night while praying, Carter said again, "It hurts my eyes to close them so they just stay open."

Reese said "Happy Easter" today.

Coloring

Oh to be a carefree little child again.  How amazing that such a simple thing as coloring with chalk can bring such joy.  We colored on more than just the deck and table as you can see in the photos below.

Sneak attack

They know it when they've got you...they wait for these opportunities and then seize them.  Kids are cunning...they know just how to get under your skin.  They know just when to strike when you are at your weakest.  Like take talking on the phone, for example.  Is it just me or do everyone's kids wait until just after you've started a phone conversation to start screaming as loud as they possibly can?  And, if you try to move into another room of the house, they follow you, still screaming.  Today they really got me good.  They waiting until I was talking on the phone and had my back to them making their lunch.  They'd colored pictures earlier and Carter took them off the table and completely shredded them into tiny pieces and scattered them everywhere.  Then Reese was shaking her water cup and got herself completely soaked.  Carter then took her cup and chucked it on the floor and the lid popped off so there was a huge puddle in the middle of all the shredded paper.  I went downstairs to get something after I'd cleaned everything up, only to find that there was more paper thrown all down the basement steps...he'd pushed handfuls of it down through the cat door.  UGH!!!!

Reese is speaking in small sentences now.  It's amazing how quickly her vocabulary and speaking skills are taking off.  "I do it." "Me buckle it."  "Bibby on"  "Thank you Mamma."  (my personal favorite!!)

I found a great resource today with lots of updates on all the shale/gas drilling issues.  The Post Gazette has created Pipeline, as a resource for all the Marcellus news locally.  Knowledge is power.

Early Easter pix

 I know Easter isn't till next weekend but since it did finally stop raining today, I thought I'd take advantage of the kids already being dressed up for church and take a quick photo shoot.  They somewhat cooperated...these are the only ones that were semi-good out of about 100 pictures I took.  I got both of their outfits entirely at consignment sales and from thrift stores, even the shoes...not to shabby, eh?

What you can't tell from these pictures is that it was about a 40 mph wind while I was shooting...it's cold out there today.  Hope it's warmer for Easter and all our egg hunts this week.  We've already had 2 or 3 practice egg hunts in the backyard.  I put a couple pieces of candy in one or two eggs out of the 50 or so we chucked out in the yard.  Both kids went around shaking the eggs and throwing them back down on the ground if there was nothing inside...clever little kiddos, they are.

Just when you thought you'd seen it all...

 Reese is still perfecting her skills as an escape artist.  She, as usual, unbuckled the chest strap on her car seat today, but in addition to that she actually pulled her arms/shoulders out of the straps so she was able to lean way forward in her seat.  Then, as we were driving 60 mph down the highway, she was able to lean forward enough to grab the door handle and open the door.  It was only open a crack, but STILL!!!  Unbelievably crafty child.

 Carter and Reese got to see the Easter Bunny at the grocery store today and Carter even sat on his lap and SMILED!!!  He then requested to be left in the store play area for kids...by himself...and he was excited when I left him there.  I could not believe it...who stole my real son and gave me this independent little boy.

I let the kids "help" me make rice krispie treats this afternoon.  They were a huge help, as you can imagine, but they had fun with it.

Updates...

Carter said to my neighbor who was watching Reese yesterday for an hour, "You just let us know if she wears you out."

Reese now says, "Wuv you Mama and Wuv you Dadda"

The kids were playing in the other room while I made dinner last night.  Carter had taken a pair of ice tongs out with him...I looked out and he had punctured a big hole right through the screen with the tongs...arghhh!

Trapped in a Maze

So I don't know how common indoor play areas are but we've been testing out quite a few with all the rainy weather lately.  We visited one today that was quite elaborate.  There were about 4 levels the kids could climb up over steps, through tunnels, up rope latticed ladders...I ended up inside the maze with three boys, Reese, and some other little boy not much older than Reese who was just tagging along.  We got into one really narrow part at the top and basically the only way down at that point was down this long, dark, twisting slide.  Well, Carter started screaming in fear which only caused the other 4 to start crying.   Here I was at the top of this tower, it was about a million degrees at the top, with 5 screaming kids.  So I did what any thinking adult would do, told them the slide was the only way down and got them each to go down one at a time, of course my 2 had to go down with me which is so much fun. Ugh, I was sweating by the time we made it down...all in one piece thankfully.

Reese has an amazing new game in the car...well the game isn't new.  She ALWAYS takes her shoes off as soon as she is able to. Well now, in addition to that, she's come up with a little "song" she sings while doing it.  She says in a little sing-song voice, "Shoe off, shoe off...ha ha ha."  Hilarious...(not really)

Wake Up Call

 No I'm not talking about some great epiphany I had this morning...I'm talking about my very literal wake up call, a la Carter.  For the last 4 days he's been darkening my doorway at 6:45 AM.  Now I know this is not that bad and for many kids it's even the norm.  However, he usually sleeps till at least 7:30 if not even 8.  He stopped napping at 2 years old and stays up till 8:30 or 9 every night...so the least he can do is cut me just a little slack in the morning, right???  Yea...probably not.  What does the kid want to do as SOON as he comes downstairs this morning...go outside.  Oh yea, right outside, no breakfast, no nothing.  So after scarfing down a quick breakfast, I joined him in the front yard to "cut" the grass.  He wanted me to get out the lawnmower and the weedwacker and that was just not happening at 7:45 AM so instead I handed him a pair of scissors and said, "Have fun."  And you know what...he did...

 We were out just about all morning and just came in now at 3 for Reese's nap.  It's upper 70's again today...loving it!!!  I had to get a few pictures of Reese with my new daffodils before we have another hailstorm tonight and they get destroyed.  Yes, sadly this weather will be ending shortly when the next round of thunderstorms roll through and tomorrow is only going to be 49.  Well, it was nice wearing shorts for 2 days at least.

80 Degree Day

 They've been waiting for months and months, and when the temp finally hit 80 this afternoon, we finally pulled out the water toys.  And they were ecstatic.  They splashed and jumped and played for at least an hour.  Pure soaking wet bliss.

Here's to a loooonnngggg, hot summer!!

Easter project

I began months ago to plan some homemade Easter goodies for the kids Easter baskets this year.  In an attempt to keep it low budget and make it a little more personal, I decided to make them some carrots and Easter bunnies from fabric I already had in my scrap basket.  The carrots were very easy, fast and turned out great.  The bunnies were alright...I definitely am not as talented as the woman who made them on this blog.  But regardless, I think they will enjoy them.

 
Don't use fabric that frays easily (like I did) or you will want to poke your eye out after about 5 minutes.

P.S. Yes, I am aware that my carrots are dis-proportionally large for these bunnies.  Use your imagination once in a while, ok???

A Breath of Fresh Air...quite literally!

Watching the baby tiger play

 The giraffe really liked Reese's hat at the zoo yesterday.  I should have gotten a picture, but it just kept looking at her and trying to get closer...it was really cute.

Baby tigers are getting big

We did finally get to the zoo yesterday as it was a day in the mid-60's AND sunny!  Imagine that!  It was so nice to be outside and in the sunshine again after a long bout of rainy and cold weather.  All of my daffodils are blooming now...it seems like we've finally made it to Spring.  After returning home yesterday we finally got out to the garden to get some planting done.  We got our beets, lettuces, carrots, onions, shallots and garlic in yesterday before Reese woke up from her nap.  She isn't exactly the most helpful gardener yet so we are limited to what we can do while she's awake.

Those are some BIG fish!

When he burst into our room this morning at 6:45, I asked Carter why he got up so early. He was up till 9:30 last night and also woke up once during the night.  He said, "The sun just came up.  I heard it!"

Gratetful Hearts

Kid's aren't born with manners...and that's a fact!  They aren't naturally inclined to be polite or to show appreciation when someone does something for them.  Those rough newborn months would probably seem so much easier if your baby could show appreciation.  "Thanks for the milk, Mom."  "Thanks for changing my poopy diaper, I feel so much better."  "Thanks for getting up with me in the middle of the night." Ha!  Wouldn't that be something!?

Something very important to me as a parent is to share my faith, and hopefully all the behaviors that accompany it, with my children.   One of the simplest ways we have started out on this journey with our children is to try to teach them to be thankful.  This is no easy task with little ones who are consumed with the "Me, me me" attitude from birth.  But something cool I've noticed lately is how early on little kids begin to learn things, just from watching their parents.  For the last few months, Reese has been really excited to pray with us over dinner.  She wants to hold hands with Derrick and I and will yell, "Me me me" if we forget to include her in saying grace.  I know this is really no big deal, but I do find it amazing that a 20 month old is already gaining a concept of saying grace before the meal and thanking God for all the good things that He's given us that day.  Too many kids these days are being raised getting anything and everything they want, and then some.  I want my kids to realize and be reminded daily that nothing we have should be taken for granted, and we should be thankful for every little thing.  No "Thank You" is too small at our nightly blessing...from playing outside, to our pets, to play dates with friends, to peas and corn...we thank God for anything the kids want to include.  I hope and pray that by starting early, we can raise our children to be good, moral and polite people who take notice of the little blessings each day, are kind and courteous to others, and have a real gratefulness in their hearts for life and all it's possibilities.



Carter caught on quickly that movies he's not allowed to watch yet are rated PG.  I guess he heard me say it enough times to gain a concept that PG is for bigger kids.  So anyway he always seems to grab a couple books at the library that are really long and beyond his age level.   He was holding one such book the other day and said, "This book is PG, Mama!"

"Those" neighbors

 Yep, we are officially becoming those neighbors. The ones people talk about in hushed tones or discuss over dinner.  "Did you see what the Berads were doing today?"  Well, I'll tell you what we were doing...we were taking advantage of the short break in the steady rain to plant our strawberry patch.  The plants were sprouting in the packages and needed to go into the soil ASAP.  Convenient that it happens to be 38 degrees with a brisk wind, the yard is a total swamp, AND it was snowing really hard after we got started.

You can see the snowflakes shooting down in this picture.  Like Reese's outfit?  She was outside for 3 minutes and fell face down in a 3 inch deep puddle, so I had to completely strip and re-dress her and this is what she ended up with.  It's bad...I know...

A New Take on Laundry

Sometimes pictures really ARE worth a thousand words...

There's a reason they say everything takes twice as long to do once you have kids.  It's 100% true and you can see why.  Yes, that is Carter's (CLEAN!!) underwear they are both wearing on their heads.

It's rather convenient Carter is wearing his "I didn't do it" t-shirt in these photos...adds to the ridiculousness of it all, doesn't it??  I jokingly told Derrick this would look great on our Christmas card next year...who needs a cute and perfectly posed picture when you can show your kids wearing underwear on their heads, right?  I mean, this is how they really are every day.

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Cute? Scary?? You decide...

Next year's Christmas Card??

She reminds me of a pirate in this shot...