Our new pet...sorta

Yes, this is a rock. A rock sitting on my countertop. On purpose. It reminds me I am a mother of a B-O-Y! A "special" rock, that has been for a ride in the car today, transported in a pocket, and very carefully and purposefully carried in the house despite my questions. Oh, and the rock had to "watch" us eat dinner tonight. I want to throw it out, but I am afraid he'll ask questions in the morning! What's a girl to do?

Chatter from the little people

Ryan: Mommy, look at me! I am a goofball!
Julia (copying): Mommy, goofball!

Julia is putting on a Ryan's shoe.
Ryan: Look, Mommy! (pointing). Julia is going to take that shoe for a walk!

We are going to dinner. I run in a restaurant to see what the wait is, and Jeff and the kids stay in the car. I come back out, shaking my head "no".
Me: 1 hour wait. That won't work.
Ryan: That's right, we are hungry in this car!

Me: Ryan, come here and put on your shirt, please. I have ironed it for you.
Ryan (as I am buttoning it up for him): Thank you, that is really nice, Mommy!
(Seriously, did I hear him right!!!!? YIPPEE!)

Ryan sneezes in the backseat of the car.
Julia: Less you, RyRy. Less you Ry!
Ryan: (looking out the window, ignores her).
Julia: (louder) Less you, RyRy!! Less you, Ry!
Ryan: (annoyed) Baby, I am looking out my window!
Julia: (louder yet) Less you, RyRy! Less you, Ry!!!
Ryan: Thank you, baby sister.
Julia: Ur elcome, RyRy.

Dinnertime conversation.
Daddy: Ryan how did your secret sack go at school today?
Ryan: Well, I don't like the girls. Just the boys.
Daddy: You only like the boys in your class?
Me: What about Bubba and Morgan? Mrs. Kelle told me that Morgan said she was your girlfriend!
Ryan: Well, ok Bubba. But not Ellery.
Me: Who?
Ryan: Ellery! She cuts in line and talks too much.

Wednesdays With Grandma & Papa

The kids spend the afternoon at Grandma and Papa's house. Looks like they had some fun, festive playtime today, according to the photos Grandma posted!

Ryan Andrew (4 yrs)

Julia Claire (23 months)

Stitches & Seams by Gwen

For Christmas, Julia was gifted the absolute sweetest little pillow from her preschool teacher, Mrs. Gwen, whom she adores. (That embroidery is done by hand!!!) Today, I learned that Gwen has a website for her creations, and I wanted to share it with you! Please visit Stitches & Seams by Gwen. She makes some custom darling items for affordable prices. I only wish I'd known about her before we ordered Julia's bedding!

Poor Baby!

(This pic is from a photo shoot we had this weekend...a little "blooper" that seemed go along with this post. I will post more pics from this shoot later when we've got more time...)

We have NOT been sleeping around here. For WAY WAY too long now. (You might even remember a recent post about the nightime nightmare here!) Poor little Julia has been battling fluid in her ears now for just what seems like forever! She acts fine during the daytime (except sleepy!), and at night when she lays down and the pressure builds, all chaos breaks loose. (Anyone up for an overnight nanny position?!)
We have been to our pediatrician 2-3 times and the ENT 1 time in the last month. We are headed back this afternoon. Good times. I heart co-pays. NOT.
I have been managing this "ok" for a few weeks now. If you have seen me recently, it's probably been sipping a Starbucks and/or DietPepsi Max! Saturday night I nearly had an overnight breakdown. I mean, really. Fortunately, as much as my husband pretends to not know what is going on in the house all night long, he picked up on my distress. He took over caring for Miss Julia from about 4am on through the rest of the night/morning, holding her up to relieve the pressure and even sleeping on her floor. Thank you!!!
Say a little prayer for our cutie...hoping for better news from the Dr. this afternoon!

Celebration and Superbowl Sunday

Today we had a celebration luncheon for Glammie (and Papa!) who made Executive Director of Premier Designs Jewelry! Mom started working with this company years ago with the intent to pay for this huge jewelry kit and then get out (a perk with 4 girls in the house at that time!) and she had so much fun she never stopped working! CONGRATULATIONS!

After stopping by for a bit at our neighbor's house for a Superbowl/Baby Shower party, we headed to Uncle Patrick & Aunt Crystal's house. We had fun watching the 3D commercial!

Princess Tea

I was so excited when Julia and I were invited to attend a "Princess Tea"! (This seemd like one of those perks for moms with girls, and a first real girlie program for Julia and I!)

(A very tired) Julia and the Disney Princesses...

Julia, Allison, Sarah and Lexi with the princesses. I was so excited they invited Julia for this fun event! The poor child mostly gets dragged along to all of Ryan's activities and doesn't really have her own "friends" yet, so it was so sweet for the "older" girls to let us tag along!

TGIF!

We had a fun Friday playing! I pulled out some toys the kids had received as Christmas gifts that we hadn't opened yet and they had so much fun playing with their "new" toys! Then Grandma and Grandpa Schuette came by for a visit. The kids L-O-V-E jumping on Grandpa's back and taking rides around the house. (Yes, it does make me a bit nervous!!!) Grandpa seems to love it too though, so let's hope for no falls!

Bacteria, Anyone?

Dear Health Department:
My son found the above bottle this morning hidden under my bed. This picture does not even do justice to show some of the organisms and bacteria we seem to be growing here at our little lab. See the top part? All fuzzy up inside there. Yummy. Anyways, should we all come down with something crazy from breathing in these vapors, I wanted to have this documented. I immediately threw it out in the trash, so that's where you can find this "evidence" if necessary. It particularly scares me that our family (uh, excuse me, my husband's) dog, who is normally not picky about what she chooses to eat/chew on (her personal favorite is Little People and DVDs) didn't seem to be interested in this goodness.
Sincerely,
A mom who apparently has inflated pride about the cleanliness of her home!

Sledding

"

Jeff was SUPER excited to bring the kids sledding this year. Actually, to bring Ryan sledding. However, Julia doesn't like to be left out and she wanted to go to, so I "got" to go along on the trip to our local park since we thought it might be difficult for Jeff to supervise the two of them. (And because I was putting my foot down that Ry is too young to go down the hill by himself! I mean, seriously...that just sounds like an accident waiting to happen! I think only a dad would consider sending his barely 4 yr old down this hill by himself. The part you see here in the background is not even the steep part!)

Would you believe I trek the camera up this big hill and the batteries are dying as I try to take a pic?! So here is a (bad) shot of Jeff and the kids. Julia decided to stay up at the top with me, and Jeff and Ry went down. Ry did not like his first trip down (snow flew up in his face), he said "cool!" about the second trip, and then I went down with him...probably not nearly as fun since I am a safety-freak with out-of-control sports and had both hands and feet dragging the entire way..and it was still too fast of a ride in my book!

Julia did one small portion of the hill with Daddy, and she said, "I ant to go again! Again!!" but before Jeff could climb back up the hill with her she saw the merry-go-round and was distracted.

The kids had TONS of outside play time today...we did this between when Daddy came home from work and our small group came over tonight, and they played outside with me this morning, and Ryan again with Grandma/pa this afternoon!

Oh well, if my opinion counts, we've had enough sledding fun for this year. =)

Wednesdays With Grandma & Papa

Fun news! Grandma started a Wednesdays With Grandma And Papa blog!

I know that the kids will cherish looking back at this someday (they already enjoy the photos!) and seeing all the fun memories from their childhood!

Perfect Jammie Day

Today the kids preschool was canceled due to our latest snowstorm...I don't seem to remember school being closed when the snow doesn't even cover the grass when I was a kid, but I didn't mind having the extra-hang time with the kids (we've been super busy and on-the-go lately), and a great excuse to stay in comfy clothes all day! =)

A foo-foo drink...a great way to start the AM!

"I ant some!" demanded Julia, so I gave her a little squirt of whipped cream to top off her cereal.

Then we headed outside for some wagon rides....think Daddy will have to head up the sledding...that was a bit too much for me. I did shovel the driveway/front walk and the kids had fun playing in the snow.
Jeff hates to shovel. (Strangely, the past few years he has been out of town for every single one of our big snowstorms.) He has the "it's just going to melt in a few days anyhow!" attitude. I am the opposite. I think a shoveled driveway and walk are so cozy and welcoming! We have an ergonomic shovel that I LOVE. Jeff would like to sell this every spring in our neighborhood yard sale. So I make great effort to put it to good use when I can. Today was no exception. It really does make the job easy, and not tough on your back. A few years ago, 9 mos pregnant with Julia I was out there shoveling. One of my very kind neighbors sent her boys over to help me out afraid it would send me into labor...little did she know labor was exactly what I was going for!

Our neighbors are so kind to us! We were gifted this when they outgrew it, and Ryan loves to use it in the summertime to play in (mess up!) the landscaping, and it worked very well today in the snow!Later we came inside, had lunch, and had a playdate with Josie and Izzy O'Day. Their parents are busy at work trying to get their new restaurant (Wang Gang Asian) up and running, so the girls spent some fun play time here.

Dinner Anyone?

Ok, so here it is 5:30 pm, my hubby will be walking in the door STARVING any moment now, and Ryan has already told me, "I so hungry, Mommy!" which Julia happily repeated and it sounded something like this, "I ooo ungry!"

It's one of those days where I have ignored dinner plans all day long...despite the fact we haven't left the house except to venture outside for about 30 minutes of playing in the snow.

One of those days where everything I think I might whip together, I am missing ONE ingredient...the one you couldn't do without.

So, does anyone know what happens if you put frozen chicken tenderloins in the oven and throw a can of cream of broccoli soup on there? It kinda sounds like something my mom would have done years ago. You know, one of those things we would have hated as kids (sorry Ry and Julia!) but might have liked when we were older?

Well, going to try this out...cross your fingers! =)

UPDATE:

This is what it ended up looking like. (I sprinkled some crushed Ritz Toasted Chips on top to add a bit of crunch). I also got nervous when the chicken was in the oven that I wouldn't get it cooked all the way through, so I nabbed it out of the pan and stir-fryed it on the stove, cutting it into small pieces at the same time as to cook faster). Then I put it back in the oven and topped it with the chips. I gave this about 5 stars out of 10. For sure not something I would ever crave again. However, Jeff (who seems to be picky) really liked it enough for me to pack up the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Now, I did do a little PR job on him...when he came home, he said "What's for dinner?" And I said "Oh, It is a special surprise!" (Ok, not really stretching the truth too much there...it for sure was a surprise to me what this would be like, too!). Then I said "I think you will like it!" Well, either the cooking, or the PR worked...=)