Team Pellow

Critter Barn

2012-02-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

I took advantage of a relatively sunny day and took the kids to the Critter Barn. It had been a while since we'd been there and the last time we went was a beautiful sunny day, so I had kind of forgotten the "indoor" animals--mainly the cats and rabbits. My kids had a great time (until they got way too cold). My allergies did not have a great time.

Old School

2012-02-20T08:23:00.001-08:00

Do you remember doing this when you were a kid? Not sure what made me think of it, but I decided to teach the kids how to climb up a doorway today. Tate is a little too small to make it work, but Rowan can make it up and thinks she's pretty amazing.

Nap Time Serenade

2012-02-17T12:40:00.000-08:00

Tate is finally starting to give up his nap. So, instead of sleeping during rest time, he often plays with blocks or Legos, looks at books or sings songs--quite loudly. This is what I'm listening to right now:

"Jingle Bells, rottenest elfs, Robin laid and egg

Batmobile lost its wheel and Joker goed to ballet"

Occasionally he'll say "Joker got away. Oh, no. That's not what I want it to say. Joker goed to ballet."

This has been going on for a good 20 minutes. Love how this kid can entertain himself!

Yee Haw!

2012-02-04T18:46:00.000-08:00

The one committee I'm on at church is organizing the Daddy-daughter dinner. In years past, it's been a formal affair--girls dress in their finest, eat a nice meal, do some dancing. It's a bit prim and proper and, while fun, we decided to switch it up a bit this year and do a hoe down. The girls (and dads) dressed in western apparel. We had a miniature horse come for pictures. We hired a square dance caller (who was great with our group of lots of little ones). We had silly stick-on mustaches and cowboy hats lying around for everyone to wear. It was high energy and lots of fun. As you can see, Rowan and Lance had a great time together!

Groundhog Day!

2012-02-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

We're finally out of recovery mode from a stomach bug this week and seem to have some sort of respiratory/cold issues now, but that didn't stop us from having a little Groundhog Day fun!

I made the kids an indulgent (but still kind of healthy) snack of cookie dough dip (made from garbanzo beans) topped with chia seed "dirt" and groundhog graham crackers. Then we made groundhog sock puppets. Tate named his Sweet Pie and Rowan named hers Sydney Pinkie Pie Pellow. And Lance did not disappoint by bringing home fun orange tulips to brighten up the house! This morning, the groundhog didn't see a shadow (spring is right around the corner) and this afternoon, it did. Which meant it was sunny out and we played outside with neighbors on this rather beautiful February day. If winter stays like this, I guess I'll take 6 more weeks.

What a Morning

2012-01-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up to a sweet little boy crawling into my bed to cuddle, showering me with kisses and saying "Mommy. I'm never going to marry anyone because I want to be with you forever." This was followed by a sleepy little girl crawling into bed to cuddle as well. And it was just after 8am. It can't get much better than that.

Later in the morning, Rowan got out her brand new Twinkle Toes light-up shoes and tied them herself! She was so proud of herself, she said "Don't you think we should call Grandma?"

Then we did some playing outside at the Winter Carnival at church--a treasure hunt on the trail complete with finding a real fox den and wagon rides behind a 4-wheeler because there isn't enough snow for snowmobiling (Did I mention we rode bikes yesterday? It's JANUARY, people!)

Lance is, of course, working, but will be home soon and I'm guessing we'll have an evening of going out to eat and playing games and reading in front of the fire.

That plus a great adult dinner with friends last night makes me a happy girl!

Maybe It's Cold Outside

2012-01-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Tate has taken to singing "Maybe It's Cold Outside" (to the tune, of course, to "Baby It's Cold Outside") and it seemed like a fitting title to this blog. Maybe it is cold outside. Maybe not. Today, yes, it's cold. Really cold. Last week? A random 50-degree day. NO snow on the ground. SUN SHINING!!! While I'll always take warm over cold, sunny over cloudy, the pool over the sledding hill, I have to say I'm not feeling entirely defeated by winter yet. I'm sure it will come. But it's late January and I'm still feeling sane. That's saying something.

And when it does get too cold for me and the kids still want to play in the snow, we do a little something like this:

Deserting Desserts

2012-01-14T19:04:00.000-08:00

Since our family ate enough dessert in December to last at least two months, we've decided to skip the sugar this month. I've always had a sweet tooth, but I don't know if I realized just how often I reach for sweets during the day. As soon as Tate is down for "rest time", before anything is crossed off the to-do list, I have dessert. At least a cookie or two, some ice cream or some sort of chocolate-y goodness. After dinner, more of the same. Once the kids are in bed, same story.

Lance and the kids are joining me in this (thankfully, because watching Lance eat cookies would make it much harder). The kids can have a few cheats. If it's someone's birthday at school, they can still eat the treat. If they are at an activity and the snack served is something I'd consider a treat (fruit snacks, etc), they can still have it. But they've been pretty good about it, too.

I find myself reaching for fruit or yogurt when I want something sweet. I feel like I have a touch more patience and energy (though I feel that's possibly due to the fact that we've been defying winter here for quite a while now) and I'm pretty sure I can get through the month without cheating.

Advent

2011-12-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Two years ago, my mom brought over an advent calendar for each child, complete with a piece of candy tucked into a little pocket for the kids to enjoy each day. After one December of children waking up painfully early just for that little piece of candy, we learned to change things up a bit. This year, each day contained a slip of paper with an activity written on it. Some things were fun Christmas traditions (cutting down a tree, seeing a living nativity, going on a horsedrawn carriage ride, visiting Santa, etc.). Some were acts of kindness for others (caroling at an assisted living center, donating toys to the less-fortunate and randomly placing dollar bills around the dollar store). Others still had to do with food or candy but were much more fun that just popping a piece of candy into your mouth (decorating gingerbread houses, going to Biggby for hot chocolate, taking cookies to neighbors). We have had a fabulous, fun-filled and really busy month!

December Breakfasts

2011-12-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

When Rowan is in charge

2011-12-22T18:38:00.001-08:00

These are the pictures that are taken. I love that girl.

An Inquiring Mind Wants to Know

2011-11-15T18:49:00.001-08:00

Rowan is starting to ask questions I'm pretty sure I didn't ask until I was much, much older (and, admittedly, still ask today). Tonight before bed, the conversation went like this:

Rowan: If Adam and Eve had three boys, then where were the girls? How could they ever get married and have kids if there weren't any girls?

Lance: Well, maybe Adam and Eve had girls later on and we just don't hear that part of the story.

Rowan: But people can't marry someone in their own family. That is not allowed.

Lance: Well...that's true...

Rowan: Unless that rule started later.

Sooooo....I'm pretty sure we have our work more than cut out for us with this curious child.

Favorite Things: Chicago

2011-11-14T07:10:00.000-08:00

What we did in Chicago: swim in the hotel pool, shop (American Girl for Rowan, Lego Store for Tate, H&M for me), go up to the top of the Hancock Building, eat at Rainforest Cafe, go to the very decorated Macy's, ride the subway, swim in the hotel pool (again--before bed and again in the morning), go to Trader Joe's where Rowan was thrilled to use the little cart, play at Lincoln Park Zoo, meet baby AJ.

This morning, I asked the kids what their favorite thing about Chicago was. Tate responded "Chicago? What Chicago?" Then he remembered. "The Lego Store where we played the claw. And the Hancock Building--seeing everything! And eating breakfast at the hotel with the pancakes they made to look like Mickey Mouse." Rowan's reply "Eating breakfast and going to Baby AJ's house. I liked standing up in the subway and riding the carousel at the zoo."

Halloween 2011, in photos

2011-11-10T20:59:00.001-08:00

The Things They Say

2011-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Three conversations:

Tate: Mom, is Indiana a real word?

Me: Yes, Tate. It's one of the states.

Tate: Oh, I know the states. Michigan, Saturn...

Rowan, commenting on Tate's post-bath spiked-up hair: Tate, you have a mosaic in your hair!

Me, while watching Tate concentrate forever on Perler beads: Wow, Tate. You have great concentration. Are you going to be a doctor when you grow up?
Tate: NO!

Me: What do you think you'd like to do?
Tate: I want to be a Valentine!

Contents of a Mom Bag

2011-10-27T11:54:00.000-07:00

In no particular order:

1 pair boys sunglasses
1 flower headband
1 random "picture day" comb
1 pair stretchy gloves
1 cell phone
5 lollipops
chap stick
1 piece Super Bubble bubble gum
1 mint
random paper with a tiger that says "orange"
1 pack sticky notes
2 McDonald's "treat packs" for our cousins (ordered while my son was saying "Wow! I've never been to McDonald's before," and I noted that, in fact, that was true.)
1 wallet with random gift cards and merchandise return cards
1 wallet containing $2.18, credit cards, license
"To Buy" list with lots of craft supplies listed
1 checkbook
1 powder
1 mini-lotion
1 camera
1 Spiderman mask
1 mini-hand sanitizer
1 pinwheel
World Market receipt for wine and gum
1 pipe cleaner "art"
4 crayons
1 tube Carmex
1 spa appointment card
1 pack Buzz Lightyear Kleenex
stack of napkins
1 pen

My Little Buddy

2011-10-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

Tate and I had the perfect morning at the park. I am so in love with this kid.

Because We Could

2011-10-11T12:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went to the beach. Because it was October and sunny and 80.

School Spirit

2011-10-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

Each school in our district gets a designated night at the football game. Of course we can go anytime, but Rowan was so excited to make the pre-game tunnel and run across the field at halftime. She was so independent running around with the big kids.

Side note: Tate fell and hit his head on the sidewalk today. Yes, you can feel bad for him. Yes, it looks even worse in person.

Fall Family Fun

2011-10-08T01:19:00.000-07:00

Apple picking, corn maze, pumpkin train, horse tire swings, hayride, zip line, and, of course, donuts. We've been packing in some fall family fun the past few weekends and we plan to continue the next few as well.

Art Prize

2011-10-08T01:04:00.000-07:00

We love all things ArtPrize! Especially when it's sunny and 70. And we're with friends. And the kids are having fun.

Tate loves bugs...and they love him, too!

2011-10-08T00:58:00.000-07:00

One of Tate's favorite things to do is catch bugs. All summer long, he has walked around with a screen house catching grasshoppers, moths, dragonflies, slugs and anything he is able to shove in. Here was one particular moth who seemed to love Tate. And Tate loved him back.

Saturday Afternoons

2011-10-08T00:38:00.000-07:00

For the past few weeks, Rowan has been playing soccer on Saturdays. I use the term "playing" rather loosely here, as she does a little playing, a little wandering around, an occasional "Look, Mom! It's a butterfly!" But she is having fun. Lance is coaching. It's good daddy-daughter time. Unfortunately it's quite obvious that, despite having a soccer player for a dad, there hasn't been much playing soccer over at our house.

The first game actually went quite well and, while there's no official score-keeping, I think they may have won! The next game, when she played against three of her classmates, they lost. By about 15 goals. After the game she said "Mommy, I know we don't keep score, but I know we lost." The next game I think they only lost by about 5. There are two more games left in the season and I'm not sure any of us are too sad that it will be over until spring.

Before her first game, Rowan decided to really work the camera. Enjoy the pictures!

First Day of Preschool

2011-10-08T00:17:00.000-07:00

When we were getting ready for Tate's first day of preschool, he started to cry a bit and tell me he wasn't going to go. Instead he wanted to stay home with me all day. And, while I didn't admit it to him, that's kind of what I wanted, too.

We had some days, last year, when Rowan was in preschool, that we could spend 2 hours playing just the two of us. Sometimes blocks, sometimes Toy Story. But a good portion of her preschool time was spent heading to my thrice-weekly skin therapy. And he was such a trooper for that, too!

But now he's three and, while I think preschool for 3-year-olds is completely optional, I knew it would be good for him to play with kids who aren't his sister. And to make connections with someone who isn't his mom.

Now that he's 3 weeks in, there are no more tears. He talks about preschool friends. He likes his teacher. He sings me songs from school and fights with Rowan about whose songs are better. He has a Spiderman backpack that he is quite pleased with. His school is in a gymnastics center and part of the curriculum is 30 minutes of gymnastics a day. This means he gets to wear "comfy pants" every day. This is fabulous. His teacher, Miss Jenny, is sweet. His class of 7 are all well-behaved. We're both pretty happy.

There She Goes!

2011-09-07T18:26:00.001-07:00

The weeks (and let's be honest here--months) leading up to Rowan's first day of kindergarten have been full of tears (for me) and excitement (for her). I wasn't necessarily sad about her actually going to school. I knew she'd have fun, meet new friends, love her teacher. I was more sad that it's the end of an era. The end of hanging out with the kids all day. The end of knowing, for the most part, exactly what my child did during the day. The end of innocence, so to speak. Not that she'll come home from kindergarten knowing about everything bad in the world. But that, when sitting with her friends at lunch and playing on the playground, she'll learn about things. Things like crushes, naughty words, Justin Bieber.

Luckily I had Lance to remind me that I loved school. That I loved (and still love) learning. And that Rowan is so much like me. So when the fateful day came, I was surprisingly dry-eyed. I felt tears coming a few times, but I held it together. I drove her to school and took her to her classroom. The parents all stayed for a while to see how the classroom was set up, where the lockers were, etc. Rowan's teacher clearly missed the whole "check the gender" box on the kindergarten registration form because all of her nametags were blue (while the other girls had red) and she had a bat on her nametag which she just couldn't get over. After she asked me approximately 100 times about why there is a bat flying on her nametag, I embarrassingly had to ask the teacher if there was any way she could get a different animal on her nametag (as the other girls had butterflies and ladybugs). Ridiculous. But when I left, she was excited as could be. She blew me a kiss and went to play.

And, just as I thought she would, she loved school. She loved the bus, she made new friends. It was a long day and she even missed me a tiny bit. I think the all day, every other day schedule will be perfect for us. Still some lazy days mixed in there, but plenty of time for fun at school, too.

Sweets

2011-08-30T02:24:00.000-07:00

Lately Rowan has given Tate a new nickname--Sweets. And I think it's pretty fitting. I kind of want to call him that myself.

Wonder

2011-07-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

At the end of every July, our little town puts on quite the festival. Saturday night fireworks are part of the festivities and it's a tradition for us to wake Rowan up and watch from our front porch. This year we thought Tate might like to get in on the action as well, but he was way too deeply sleeping for us to wake him up. So Rowan had some alone time with both mom and dad. I loved hearing her running commentary about the fireworks: "That one is my favorite! It's sprinkles down and looks just like a dead rose." "Do you think this is the grand finale? I hope it's not; I want this to last for hours." And my absolute favorite "Mom, are people doing these fireworks? Or is God making them for us?" She didn't want to miss a moment of the action. When we retreated from the front porch to the big windows in her room, she ran as fast as she could. She kept asking us to wake up Tate, even though we both tried. She couldn't believe that she will be 6 years old the next time we watch these fireworks together (and, admittedly, neither can I).

I started to wonder when it will be that we won't have to wake her up at 10 because she'll still be awake. When she'll want to go to the fireworks with her friends instead of with us. When she might just catch a glimpse of the fireworks out her car window as she's driving to a friend's house. And I hope that she'll remember our little tradition. Maybe she'll remember sitting on my lap on the front porch swing or sitting, cuddled up with Lance at her window, and she'll have just a little slice of childlike wonder one more time.

Half-Full

2011-07-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

How is it that this lovely summer is about half over? We have been busy beyond belief this summer, even though I intentionally kept several weeks with no plans. We've had fun every single day. We've been swimming in lakes and pools, we've jumped on the trampoline, played on the jungle gym, pumped as high as possible on the swings (except Tate, who still needs a good push). We've played with neighbors, friends across town, friends in other towns, friends in other states. We've been on vacation (Lake Michigan beach house, thanks to Mark and Sonja; and family camp, thanks to the sheer insistence by my mother that we absolutely must go to family camp). We've done swim lessons, soccer camp, safe city and VBS. We've picked strawberries, tomatoes and snap peas from our gardent. We are doing our best to make the very most of this summer.

So while it's easy for me, an outspoken loather of all things winter, to already start to dread the winter that is to come, I'm looking at this summer as half-full. I really feel like we've made an entire summer of memories and we still have over a month left!

This weekend, Lance and I head to Philadelphia and NYC to celebrate 11 years of marriage. The kids will spend the weekend at Grandma's. We'll come home, refreshed after some great adult time. They'll come home, all sugared up and spoiled from some great Grandma time. And we'll spend more time making memories.

Part of That World

2011-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

My little man has a bit of an obsession right now. Not cars, not sports, but The Little Mermaid is what is occupying his mind. He talks about Ariel kind of non-stop and wakes up from his naps singing Part of That World. He asks for stories about Ariel and likes to play Ariel and Sebastian with Rowan. Sometimes I play the role of King Triton, sometimes Ursula. Occasionally I'm the one of the sisters. There's always lots of yelling about going to the surface. I'm reminded that humans are not barbarians! There was an argument today about who got to get the Ariel tattoo in a new tattoo pack.

And while I know his love of Ariel might not be the most boyish behavior, but you to admit, it is one of the more adorable things you've seen today.

***Okay, the video would be the cutest thing ever if, in fact, you could see it. Ever since getting my new computer, I can't post pictures or videos or even publish to this site. I also can't e-mail pictures or videos to myself (or anyone else) to try to publish them on another computer...

Two Wheels!

2011-06-15T18:27:00.001-07:00

Last night Lance took the training wheels off Rowan's bike and we headed over to the park to let her ride on the huge area of soccer fields. It was a bit frustrating for all of us, but after about 20 minutes, she was able to at least ride a little bit without us holding on. This morning I took her out in front of the house and, after more frustration, she started to catch on. She can go probably 100 yards or so down the sidewalk before she gets scared and either bails into the grass or actually stops herself. She is so proud of herself! And I'm super proud of her, too!
Not to be outdone, Tate, who has been struggling with the concept of peddling, decided to show off his newfound mad tricycle skills. Love his look of concentration!

First Pick of the Season

2011-06-15T18:19:00.001-07:00

My favorite plants in our yard are our strawberry plants. Every year we have so much fun picking them, eating them, making fun recipes with them. Last week was our first pick of the season and we've picked a few hundred more since then. We made strawberry cupcakes, strawberry muffins, strawberry jam. Tomorrow's dinner is balsamic-strawberry chicken and salad with strawberry dressing. We are loving it! The kids are having fun counting the strawberries and making a bar graph. Tate could eat them all day. Rowan prefers me to make them into some kind of sweet treat. I love that we literally do nothing with them all year--no weeding, no thinning out, no pesticides or fertilizer, and they just keep coming back! That is my kind of plant. Our sugar snap peas are also coming up and the kids are eating them straight off the plant. I am relatively certain this is the first time they have been excited about eating peas! We're loving our garden and the farmer's market and can't wait until the pineapple tomatillos are ready at our favorite organic veggie stand!

Three Wishes

2011-06-13T07:23:00.001-07:00

Last night Rowan and I were cuddling in bed and I asked her what she would wish for if she could have three wishes. She said "That I could eat candy all day, that I could cuddle with you all the time and I'd like a pack of horses."

Adios, El Puente

2011-06-05T19:12:00.000-07:00

Even before I dropped Rowan off for her very first day of preschool, I knew we were in the right place. This school has been great for Rowan. And even though it's hard to say goodbye to our friends, teachers and little community, I feel pretty confident that Rowan's elementary school will also be the right place for her. Rowan is sad to go to school with Tatum. But she felt the same way about Clarissa last year. And I'm sure she'll meet another great friend next year (or "next SCHOOL year, Mommy, not next year" as she likes to remind me). Along with Rowan's last day of school, I had my last Mommy-Tate day. We loved having a little one-on-one time while Rowan was in school, but we're all so excited to have a whole summer just to play together. We've already spent a few days at the pool, a day at the beach and some time at Grandma's house. We are more than ready for a fabulous summer!

Mother's Day

2011-05-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

Best Dad Ever

2011-05-31T11:48:00.000-07:00

When my ENT told me I'd want to stay in bed for two weeks after my tonisllectomy/adenoidectomy, I kind of thought he was exaggerating. I figured it would hurt. A lot. But as someone who has had strep more times that I can count, I figured I could handle a sore throat. I was wrong. My mom came for a few days to take care of me while Lance had to work and then Lance took a full week off of work to hang out with the kids. And he was a rock star. He did random taste tests with them. He took them to pick out veggies and plant a garden. He read them books, took them to the park, even had a playdate with Matt and the girls while Susan stayed home with Paisley. And I stayed in bed. Pretty much the entire time. Doing absolutely nothing. And what's even better than the fact that he did all of this is that he didn't complain! Not even once. Best. Dad. Ever.

The Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-27T20:43:00.000-07:00

Last year, on Easter, my mom set up an Easter egg hunt for the kids. Lots of plastic eggs filled with way too much candy, money, stickers, etc. And since then, every time we visit my mom the kids ask for an Easter egg hunt. And every single time they ask, she says yes. Every. Single. Time. So, in the past year there have been quite a few Easter egg hunts. The big difference this time is that the hunt actually occurred on Easter.

Curly Top

2011-05-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

When I was younger, I remember begging my mom to let me sleep in rollers. They were pink, sponge rollers that would poke me all night long and, if I managed to keep all of them in, would leave me with a head full of what we called back then "banana curls". Inevitably, however, one would fall out during the night leaving me with one long, sad, straight piece of hair a full 5 inches shorter than the rest of the curly 'do.

Somehow Rowan caught wind of the idea of rollers. A girl in her preschool had worn them to bed and came to school with curly hair. Well, Rowan just had to have them. She talked about them. She wrote them down on her birthday list. We would look in the aisle at Target for them, just to make sure they were still there.

Finally, at her birthday party, Lily and Layna included some rollers in her present. Pink sponge rollers that she could sleep in. So we tried them out. She loves it. She wants to wear them all the time. And we have, so far, avoided the one long, lanky clump of hair.

Party Girl

2011-05-27T20:04:00.000-07:00

With Rowan's birthday party a full 6 weeks ago, I guess it's time to post a few pictures of her fun day. She had a great gymnastics party with lots of friends, pink and purple cupcakes and tons of fun. We headed to Red Robin afterward (her choice, of course) for her birthday dinner. Rowan was thrilled that she got to spend the day with so many of her favorite friends and I was thrilled that all I had to do was bring along the cupcakes!

Why Waking Up Isn't So Hard to Do

2011-05-01T07:00:00.001-07:00

Let's get one thing clear. I am not a morning person. At all. Clearly my days of "sleeping in" have been gone for some time, but I still haven't really adapted to waking up early. But when I am greeted by the happiest, sweetest 3-year-old boy ever, it makes waking up so much easier.

This was my morning...

6:30am--Tate wakes up, earlier than usual at a time when I usually say something like "It's not 7:00 yet. You can stay in your room and play and I'll get you when it's time." and then I try to go back to sleep, to no avail. But today, having been up since 5:30 when those pesky narcotics wore off, I walked in and climbed into his bed. The conversation went something like this:

Tate: Mommy, come cuddle with me. I just love you so, so, so much.
Me: Okay, bud, let me climb up (we assume cuddling position)
Tate: Mommy, you are the cutest mommy I ever seed.
Me: Thanks, Buddy. You are the sweetest 3-year-old I know.
Tate: But you are the best mommy ever. (Gives many many kisses)
(Kisses, hugs and cuddles continue. As do compliments upon compliments from Tate. "Mommy, I like your purple jammies. They are soft. Mommy, you are so pretty. Mommy, I had a dream about you last night. Mommy, you are so special. Mommy, I love you.") Then we have a "kissing party" where we give each other tons of kisses and sometimes I get lucky and he lets me kiss the cutest little belly ever.

This went on for a full 30 minutes. Seriously, this boy is going to be the best husband ever someday.

My Mom is the Best!

2011-04-29T04:36:00.000-07:00

Here I am, lying in bed, not even a full day after having my tonsils out. There is absolutely no way I would be running around with my kiddos after a night of no sleep, drugged up on narcotics. Since the doctor rescheduled at the last minute, there was no way Lance could miss work since it's alumni weekend and he's planning a reunion. So my mom arranged for care for Michelle and came to stay. I know lots of moms would do the same thing, but when my mom has to hire a caregiver for her own child just so she can take care of my kids, I think it's extra-amazing.

I also think it's pretty amazing that after my dad died, she just took over. She gets up early in the morning to snowblow or mow the lawn. She called the other day after chainsawing a tree that had come down in the storm! She'll be 70 this year! If I'm even half as hardy as she is at 70, I'll be pretty proud of myself.

So, with Mother's Day coming up, I was making her a photo card and realized I really don't have any good pictures of her with the kids. Or of our whole family. So I think I finally came up with the perfect Mother's Day gift---a photo session for our whole family. Mom, Michelle, Eric and Thy and their kids and our family. I'm guessing it will be better than a teapot or hanging basket or whatever it is she might ask for.

5x7 Folded Card

View the entire collection of cards.

The Perfect Day for a Birthday

2011-04-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

There it went. That year of Rowan being 4. The year she became so independent--dressing herself in her idea of a great outfit (today was a pink Birthday Girl shirt, an orange skirt and striped pants with red sparkly shoes), speaking fully in Spanish at school (while it will be lost by next year, I still think it's pretty amazing), using the term "BFF" (though I'm not entirely sure she knows what it means), choosing to grow her hair out as long as Rapunzel's (thankfully it's not there yet and I've convinced her that frequent trims will help her hair grow really long). It was also the year she dropped her dream of becoming "President of the United States" and replaced it with becoming "a singer on a CD". How time goes by this quickly I'll never understand. How a day can drag on for a year, but a year only seems like a day.

But here she is, a 5-year-old. As is always the case, her birthday will stretch for days. First it was a trip to Chuck E Cheese with Grandma (and me and Tate and Aunt Miohelle). Lots of rides, games, food. Last night, she got to have a sleepover in Tate's room which is what she really wanted to do for her birthday. They had a blast and are already begging for another sleepover. Today it was just playing at home in the 84-degree weather. Testing out her new presents--the sprinkler, the Giga Ball. Grilling out with neighbors and eating cupcakes. Playing in the kiddie pool. We did not get into the car even once today for any reason. We knew going to Red Robin for dinner would be much more fun on a rainy day and we needed to soak in the sunshine while we could. Next weekend will be her "friend party".

Her presents included the ZhuZhu Pet she was asking for but did not include the skateboard (?!?) she said she wanted. There are many thing Rowan does well. Coordination is not one of them. Thankfully with all the other presents she got, she somehow missed the fact that the skateboard wasn't among them.

Rowan, you made me a mom 5 years ago. You amaze me with your creativity, inquisitiveness and imagination. I love watching you grow up, watching you change. listening to your jokes (as cheesy as they may be). You are full of life, bursting with energy and always ready for a new adventure. I absoltely adore you and can't wait to celebrate many, many more years with you.

April Fools

2011-04-01T20:15:00.000-07:00

Every time there is a moment of silence in our house or car, my kids ask me to tell them a story. They probably ask at least twenty times a day. I probably oblige about 4 times a day. Anyway, one such story, many months ago, was about April Fool's Day and the jokes people play on each other. This must have started something with Rowan because she was very excited about April Fool's Day this year.

I should have been a better mom and planned something big, but I didn't. We had 6 adults and 8 kids over for dinner tonight so I decided against the whole "I'm going to feed my family something that looks like eggs and bacon but is really marshmallow fluff and dried apricots". Instead, I just told them silly things. Like when Rowan walked into our room this morning I told her there was a peacock in our backyard. I told them it was bedtime 30 minutes after they woke up, etc.

They got into it, too, but weren't so convincing with the things they chose to do. As we were in the car today, Tate said "There's a bear in the backseat"! Rowan told me I had turned blue. It went on and on today. Every time the kids would laugh and yell "April Fool's". Tate would add "Tricked ya!" or "Joking"! They thought they were just hysterical. And, while I can't say they ever really tricked me with anything they did, it was still pretty amusing to see their minds at work.

Later in the day, we met some friends at the Children's Museum and then had them all over for dinner. These are college friends (or, really, the wives of Lance's college friends) and their kids who we hadn't seen since New Year's Eve. And somehow I missed taking any pictures of the adorable 8 kids (and one on the way). But we had a great time, the kids had a great time and it was a great way to start off April.

The Cute Things They Say

2011-03-31T13:05:00.000-07:00

Today, when discussing how both children desperately need hair cuts:
Rowan: I think Tate should get a buzz cut.
Tate: No, I think I should get a Woody cut. (Clearly he's Toy Story obsessed).

A few days ago, when Tate had finally fallen asleep for his nap:
Me: Rowan, make sure you're quiet while Tate is napping
Rowan: I'll be as quiet as an "h" in Spanish!

Rowan: Mommy, when I grow up and live in Florida, will you come live with me?

Disney Princess Magic

2011-03-31T12:52:00.000-07:00

Since the actual Disney trip won't be happening for at least another year (main criteria being that Tate no longer needs naps, children are slightly taller and can ride a few rides and, honestly, hopefully, children miraculosly develop a little patience), we opted for the next best thing--Disney Princesses on Ice. Clearly they loved it. It was actually really good. It helped that we were sitting on the floor and had only one row of people in front of us. Yes, Tate is waving a wand I bought him for the occasion, but if it makes it any better, his favorite part was Ursula's eels. Rowan's was, of course, Sleeping Beauty. It was kind of magical, seeing the looks on their faces, watching their excitement over the princesses. And Tinkerbell. And Mickey and Minnie and Goofy. Great family date night.

Things Fall Apart

2011-03-10T18:15:00.001-08:00

It seems that every time Lance travels for work, something around here falls apart. I use the term loosely, I suppose, because things aren't that bad.

Initially it was a sick dog. Sebastian got sick once on Monday. He tends to get into all kinds of things so the whole act of getting sick isn't ever a huge surprise. But then he got sick twice on Tuesday--on the carpet, no less. Then in his bed on Tuesday night, once again yesterday and twice today. One dog bed in the garbage, lots of cleaner on the carpet. Yuck.

Also on Tuesday I noticed a rash on Tate's stomach. Then a few bumps on his legs, then his arms. Since I've essentially been a modern day leper since November, I might have freaked out just a touch. It ended up being nothing.

Then today I had just picked up Tate to head down the stairs (he loves to be held--especially down the stairs) and I slipped. I couldn't stop myself since I was holding Tate so I fell hard right on my tailbone. It may be broken. It may just be badly bruised. My arm has scrapes and buises, my back hurts and I have a headache. I feel I may be 80. Worse than that was that Tate hit his head right on the sharp edge of onr of our spindles. He was crying. My eyes teared up. Rowan said "Mommy! You never cry. Be brave! Be brave!" I told her that Tate and I were both hurt. She brought a sticker for us.

The week wasn't a complete loss, though. I got to volunteer at Rowan's field trip. She's still at an age (and hopefully will be for quite a bit longer) when it's totally cool when your mom is the one helping. She was so excited about it. Tate has been back to his normal self--happy, sweet as could be, generous and pretty darn adorable.

Today Tate was wearing a new Spiderman shirt from Grandma Jackie. He was so excited about it. The first thing he did when Rowan woke up was show her his shirt. "Mom! Look at Tate's shirt," she said, "Spiderman is saying 'I love you' with his hand!" And, sure enough, he is! That made my day. Then, in the car, Rowan requested that I play #13 on the CD. I said "What's #13?" She said "Mo-om, it's the number after 12!"

Birthday Boy

2011-02-26T12:19:00.000-08:00

Somehow, when you're young, your birthday celebration morphs into more of a birthweek celebration. On Tate's actual birthday, we celebrated at home. He had a special request of beans and rice for dinner and brownies for dessert. He talked about the brownies all day long. He was showered with lots of Toy Story gifts including a scooter, a talking Buzz and green alien, a few Toy Story figures and a pair of rollerskates (which should be amuzing if nothing else).

Day 2 of the celebration came the next day when Grandma Jackie and Aunt Michelle came to take Tate to Red Robin for his birthday lunch. He had pizza and a special sundae and a balloon. And more presents, of course. A Lightning McQueen bike and helmet and various other Cars paraphrenilia.

Day 3 wasn't so much a celebration when we went for Tate's 3-year check-up. He had a pretty bad ear infection (and probably had it since Sunday when he was complaining that his ear hurt, but then he never mentioned it again) and had to get one shot. He weighed in at 29 pounds (25th %ile) and 36 inches (also 25th %ile).

Day 4 (today) was his party. He had been looking forward to it all week--not so much for the fact that it was at a fire station or that his friends would be there, but pretty much because he really wanted a cupcake! And more presents, of course. The kids loved checking out all the fire trucks, ringing the bell on the old fire truck and trying on all the fire gear. I loved that it wasn't at my house so all I had to do was show up with food and we were ready to go. And I love that Tate's friends have parents that are my friends. A win-win situation!

Tate, the week started off rough. You skipped a nap, cried a lot, were clingy, liked to say "No" way too frequently. I was dreading the whole "3 is much worse than 2" stage that seemed to be happening. But today you were more yourself. Not necessarily always cooperative, but pretty good. Full of cuddles and kisses. I'm blaming the ear infection for the beginning of the week and I'm hoping you spend this year proving my previous statement wrong.

I love that every night when I ask God to give you sweet dreams about _________, you always fill in the blank with "Everyone. Because I love everyone in the world." And I love that you occasionally fill in "especially you" after that already adorable statement. I love that your new favorite statement is "Oh, yeah" and you say it anytime you even mildly agree with something. "Tate, are you ready for a brownie?" "Oh, yeah." "Tate, are you finished with your dinner?" "Oh, yeah." "Tate, do you think you could eat one more piece of asparagus?" "Oh, yeah." I love that you are obsessed with Toy Story and Cars, even though I think you've seen each movie once and not in their entirety. I love that you are the only boy in dance class, but I'm pretty sure you haven't even noticed. I love that you have always happily played with Rowan's toys, but you ran down an aisle in Target the other day and shouted. "Mom! Look over here! It's BOYS TOYS!" You are becoming such a little boy, as shocked as I am to say it. And I can't wait to spend the next year watching you grow even more.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

Since Lance and I went out over the weekend for Valentine's Day (and had a fabulous time and spectaular food), we let the kids call the shots on the day of. So we had heart-shaped pumpkin pancakes for breakfast and went to QDoba for dinner, finishing up with chocolate covered strawberries at home for dessert.

During the day Rowan had a Valentine's party at school and both kids had a party with some church friends. Overall, a fun day with way too much candy.

I, of course, decided to make all of the cards (with a little "help" from Rowan). As usual, it took longer than I thought, though they were pretty cute sitting on the kitchen table. When Rowan came home with a bag half-full of pieces of the cards, I promptly went to Target and bought Valentines for next year, in an attempt to talk myself out of any sort of homemade nonsense next year.

Puddle Jumping

2011-02-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

We had to take advantage of the warm temps today to stomp around in some puddles. So much fun.

Feelin' the Love

2011-02-13T18:34:00.001-08:00

Tonight after dinner, I was writing a card for a friend whose mom recently died. Rowan asked why I was sending her a card. I said "Well, when your mommy or daddy dies, it's sad and you really miss them. Like when my dad died I was really sad and I still miss him." And Lance added "When my mommy died, I really missed her and I still do." And I said "If I die, would you miss me?" And Rowan, without missing a beat, smiled and said "No, Mommy. I would just get a stepmother."

Mommy-Daughter Date Day

2011-02-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today I took Rowan to her first ballet. She knew we were having a date day, but where we were going was a surprise. When I told her we were going to a ballet to see real ballerinas, her response caught me off-guard. She said "I don't want to go. I just want to stay home and play with you. I AM a real ballerina." "Well, I suppose you are, Rowan, as you do take real ballet classes and all, but this is going to be different", I assured her. So she got dressed up and we went downtown to the St. Cecelia's Music Center for Carnival of the Animals. It was pretty impressive. Rowan was asking questions the whole time. "Why are the lights off?" "Why aren't they talking?" "Why it is a boy who has the dreams and not a girl?" "When is the mermaid coming?" "Why is the kangaroo on stage with the fish?" "It looks like they're really underwater. Is that really water all over the stage?" "Can we stay and watch another show?" "Can I go meet the mermaid onstage?" She did meet the mermaid, but was too shy to get a picture with her. She loved it, but couldn't wait for the next part of our date.

We lunched on the back deck of Rose's (where Rowan insisted she wanted another hot dog after finishing her first. After getting hot dog #2, she licked the ketchup off and declared herself done.) and then went out to the frozen lake for the kite festival. There was a little station set up for the kids to make their kites. Rowan picked a red kite with a pink tail and loved running through the snow trying to get it to fly. She did pretty well, getting her kite into the air and running as fast as she could to keep it up there. She had a blast. She begged to stay longer. I let her. It was about as perfect of a date with my little girl as I could imagine.

Daddy-Daughter Dinner

2011-02-04T19:58:00.001-08:00

The pictures pretty much say it all. Tonight was the Daddy-Daughter Dinner. Rowan couldn't wait to be Daddy's little princess tonight. She told her classmates all about it for show and tell. She picked out her outfit (after I banned the size 2T Sleeping Beauty dress with a large hole). She planned her meal (I don't like chicken or mashed potatoes, so I'll eat a roll, some corn and my cupcake--and that's exactly what she did). She listed all of the friends she might see (Will Marley be there? Will Cassie be there? Will Lydia be there? Will River be there?)

Since I volunteered to help out, I was a fly on the wall, observing, sneaking in for a few photos. Watching Rowan be swept off her feet (literally and figuratively) by her daddy (and hoping that some day, a LONG way down this road, that she will expect to be swept off her feet by a guy as nice as Lance). Games, dancing, dinner, cupcakes.

I went to check on her tonight after she fell asleep and there she was, with a picture frame (one of tonight's gifts) lying on the pillow right next to her. Sweet dreams.

Groundhog Day Blizzard

2011-02-02T18:31:00.000-08:00

Tons of snow. No school. No work. Groundhog Day. What could be better?

Extreme Winter Sports

2011-01-30T18:35:00.001-08:00

Let's get something straight from the beginning. There are days in winter when it is rather extreme for me to even leave the house, instead opting to hang out in jammies, sipping hot chocolate by the fire while reading. I honestly think I'm doing a pretty good job getting outside with the kids once or twice a week. I'm hoping this weekend didn't set a precedent. In that case, any hope of cozy days lounging by the fire might be long-gone.

When the outdoor sports club at our church was hosting a winter outdoor festival, I initially read that as "hunting festival" since that tends to ne the outdoor "sport" of choice here in small-town midwest. But then I read there would be hot chocolate so I was sold. We bundled up and headed the 500 feet to church where we spent the next few hours snowmobiling, ice fishing and being pulled in a tobaggon on a 4-wheeler. And eating chili. And, of course, drinking hot chocolate. It was fun. Maybe a little too much fun. I'm afraid taking my kids to the nearest sledding hill isn't going to cut it anymore.

Today, though, we did go to a sledding hill (across from Grandma Jackie's house where we were celebrating Michelle's birthday). It was still fun. There was no begging for a snowmobile. We didn't last long there, but Rowan and I stayed outside to play for a while. The snow out there is way too powdery to make a snowman (which is what Rowan really wants to do). But even with all the powder underneath, it's kind of like creme brulee. The top is hard and crusty and we were able to carve out a giant heart and just kind of lift it up. Rowan was so excited she went to ring Grandma's doorbell. Then we set it up against Grandma's house and hope she notices it--like a Valentine card in her front yard.

My Little Baryshnikov

2011-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Tate,

It amazes me how much I love you. Before you were born, I worried. I worried that having two kids would overwhelm me (it did), that labor wouldn't go as planned (it certainly didn't) and I even worried that I might not love you as much as I love Rowan (I do. I really, really do). I couldn't really imagine how my heart could have that kind of love. But ever since you were born and your dad shouted out "It's a Boy" (much to my surprise as I'd been calling you Baby Charlotte for a good portion of my pregnancy), I have loved you. And though it doesn't seem possible, it seems like every day I love you even more.

You aren't quite like any other almost-three-year-old boy I know. You always choose cuddling and kisses over rough housing. Your favorite color is orange, but pink is a very close second. You have the most active imagination ever and could play pretend with Rowan and me all day (if only I could stand playing for more than a few minutes). Your favorite part of the day is picking up Rowan from school. You wait until Maestra Lake opens the door and run in. Rowan runs up to give you a hug. You are best friends. You love to be held, love to read books, love your family. You are the sweetest, most sensitive little boy I know.

So when I asked you several months ago if you wanted to do a sports class or tumbling, I shouldn't have been surprised when you said "I just want to take ballet". We had to wait until you were almost 3 and Miss Angie pulled some strings to get you into her class. So you took a sports class. And a music class. And a tumbling class. And kept asking when you could take ballet.

That day finally came last Monday. You wore some comfy clothes, grabbed your ballet shoes and tap shoes and I took you to class. You fretted a bit that I'd be dropping you off and not staying with you. Lucky for you, Rowan was there to hold your hand. I peeked in the window more than once. You were smiling. You were serious. You were really trying your best to follow Miss Angie's instructions. You were adorable. You can't wait to go again today.

I have to admit, I got more than a few odd glances and even some not-trying-to-be-rude, but still a little bit rude comments about signing my son up for ballet. And I want you to know that no matter what you choose to do, I will always be proud of you. You can be a dancer, an actor, a football player. You can become a CEO or a CNA. You can be gay or straight. You are my son, my perfectly unique little man and I adore you.

Christmas, Part 2

2011-01-10T18:08:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we headed to Grandma Jackie's house along with Eric, Thy, Nathan, Gracie and Aunt Kathi. We stayed for 3 days. There was lots of playing, laughing, eating large amounts of spectacular food. Not much sleeping for anyone, way too many presents to bring home, but a great way to end the year--celebrating with people we love, counting our blessings, eating a meal (and the accompanying desserts) that I look forward to all year. The kids love their cousins, love all the attention and, of course, can't get enough of Grandma. They loved spending time with Aunt Kathi, sledding down the neighbor's hill and, of course, opening more presents. When we read Luke 2 (as we always do Christmas morning), Rowan chimed right in and read 2 verses when it was her turn. Rowan was thrilled she got the "music player" that Santa had not brought her, Tate was excited that his Woody doll finally had a Buzz Lightyear friend and I was less than happy that my mom decided to buy the kids lots of presents since we had previously agreed to just one big present for the backyard. Instead they got the big present and the little ones (which we do not need or have any more room for in our house!)

There is something really comfortable about being back in my childhood home. It's warm, there's always a hustle and bustle going on in the kitchen, there are lots of people who love my kids and who love each other.

Christmas, Part 1

2011-01-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

We here at the Pellow home have a special pact with Santa. We'll lighten your load a bit on Christmas Eve if you come the day before. It works great. The kids get their gifts, we have our own little private Christmas at home and we all head to Grandma's the night of Christmas Eve for it to all happen again (except for the Santa part. We are the only Santa "believers" in that group). So, on Dec. 23, we wrapped, filled stockings, left cookies and reindeer food for Santa, Mrs. Claus and the reindeer and went to bed. I'm loving that the kids don't feel any great need to wake up ridiculously early and pull us from our slumber. We slept in. The kids ate breakfast (and the leftover crumbs from Santa) and we opened the presents. The biggest hits? The matching American Girl jammies (despite the fact that they are enormous on my tiny little girl), a spinning teeter totter, an orange chair and all of Tate's Toy Story insanity (Toy Story dolls, Toy Story walkie-talkies, Toy Story game, Toy Story cards, Toy Story EVERYTHING!). Rowan did mention when she opened a cute pair of shoes that shoes are not an appropriate gift. "Mom, I DO NOT want shoes for a present." After it all, they both stated that their favorite gift was the candy (even though we hid virtually all of it later and they didn't actually eat it!) Note to self: avoid malls, Target, and online shopping and head straight for the Holland Peanut Store for Christmas gifts next year. The kids picked out gifts for each other this year. Rowan picked Tate a singing Toy Story card at Hallmark and while I balked at the $8 price tag (for a card!), it remains one of his favorite gifts. Tate got Rowan a watch. He picked the one he wanted and was such a good little brother at the store. Lance and I pared down the gift giving a bit and bought tickets to Wicked instead, which we loved. A nice, adult night out is much better than something I would have probably just bought for myself anyway!

Last Day of Ballet

2011-01-10T17:06:00.000-08:00

Rowan's ballet class goes in 6-week increments, so every 6 weeks or so is the "last day" of class. This is her most recent "last day" (though her "first day" will be next week--as will Tate's). Despite spending alarming parts of the day standing on her head, Rowan still chooses ballet over gymnastics. I'm hoping it's not just for the lollipops they get every "last day". But, really, she does love it. And Tate loves the idea of it, too. So much so that he has been begging to take ballet for quite some time now. He's not 3 yet, which is the age of the drop-off classes (and the starting age of this particular ballet class), but Miss Angie is so excited about having a boy in class she gave us special permission for him to join. As you can see from the pictures, he loved dancing with Rowan. And did NOT love when we made him sit out so she could dance on her own a bit.

Another thing on the Christmas "To Do" List

2010-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas Cards! While our family pictures were taken in August, we have yet to order our Christmas cards! So, those of you on our list, don't take offense to a late-ish card. But don't worry. Shutterfly to the rescue! (This is a total Tate-ism. Everything "to the rescue")

We recently ordered some photo books from Shutterfly--a few for stocking stuffers and one for Lance's grandma. She was so thrilled with the pictures and I was thrilled with the quality and the price. We're going to order another one for my mom since she was ogling over one we had here at the house. They are definitely a big stocking stuffer hit over here. Check them out here

Calendars are also a big stocking stuffer hit. What grandparent doesn't want yet another way to show off their grandkids? Check them out here

So, we'll be looking through the cards at Shutterfly. Does anything here catch your eye?

A few friends of ours always have creative or hilarious Christmas cards. Do any of you have any great holiday card ideas? There is a certain family I'm really hoping will sport matching Hanna Andersson jammies! And another that, while I don't think you're actually trying to be funny, I always get a giggle out of the entire family (mom, dad, 4 kids) all sporting Santa hats. Ours are always more traditional, but I'm hoping one year I can do something really funny. Because with everything else on your plate during the holidays, a little laughter might be all you need.

First Snow

2010-12-01T19:20:00.000-08:00

I suppose I can't complain. The snow held off until December first and, other than moving back to Charlotte (where it is 66 and sunny, I might add), I can't ask for a whole lot more. And while I must say the start of snow kind of fills me with dread, there's something spectacular about Rowan and Tate waking up to the snow, Rowan exclaiming "Mommy, look outside! It's SNOW! I LOVE SNOW!" giddy with anticipation of playing, throwing snowballs, drinking hot chocolate.

So after school, what was there to do but suit up and make the most of it. Snowballs, snowmen, snow for a snack. The kids loved every minute of it. Until the minute that Tate decided to take off his socks and boots and jump on the yet-to-be dismantled trampoline. It quickly got too cold. But it was nothing that a yummy lunch couldn't cure. Rowan and Tate certainly make winter much more enjoyable.

Friends, Family and Farewell

2010-12-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

After the weekend in the mountains, we stopped in Charlotte (for all of 3 hours) to see Trang and Mike and the kids and then went to visit Lance's grandma. While she didn't get out of bed, she was in great spirits--laughing, loving the kids, talking to everyone. She really seemed happier than I'd seen her in a while. We were pretty sure it would be the last time we would see her and we were so happy to spend time with her whille she wasn't in pain--happy, laughing, hanging up pictures the kids' drew for her. Had we known she would die today--just over a week later, I don't think we would have done anything differently (except remembered to take a picture--but it's okay, we have plenty of those).

While it's never easy to say goodbye, Grandma Liz was ready to go. She lived on her own until just a few months ago, her husband died almost 30 years ago, her friends died over the years, too. Given our past few years, it seems almost miraculous that people can live a full, long life and die at a time almost of their choosing. So we are thankful that we had so many full years with her, that she left this earth when she was ready to go and that we got to see her one more time.

Freakin' Weekend

2010-12-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, while we were still living in Charlotte, Heather and Mike rented a house in the mountains for the weekend and we came up to hang out. The next year, we did it again, this time with Andrea and David, who were also in NC. Leading up to the weekend, Mike called us and played the very-popular-that-year "Freakin' Weekend" song by R. Kelly, thus starting an all-too-fun game of calling each other immediately upon hearing the song and playing the song on voice mail. The latter of the two Freakin' Weekends may or may not have included one or more of the party drinking way too much and reapting "I'm like, so what, I'm drunk" continually. Somehow, after that year, though, despite the fun, the Freakin' Weekend seemed to die as quickly as it started.

Until this year. It just so happened that we were planning a trip to go see Lance's grandma, Andrea and David had the weekend off, Heather and Mike are always up for a road trip and David's dad and Kitty were out of town, leaving the mountain house open. So, somehow, with 2 weeks notice, we all ended up (kids' included!) in Hendersonville together. While it wasn't exactly like the previous Freakin' Weekends, we did send the kids to bed at 6:30 one night and had a great dinner, we sipped wine, we stayed up way too late. The kids got to hang out with the kids of some of our best friends. We will certainly be doing this again.

5 Days

2010-12-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

If I spent 5 days here, it would look something like this: Drive to and from school and music class, go to the library, play outside, read some books, make dinner, hope family eats dinner, clean up. Rinse. Repeat.

5 days in New York City, though, kidfree I must add? Completely different. Staying at a swanky hotel sipping spendy drinks at the bar (The ONLY perk of Lance's insane travel schedule this year)? Check. Taking in 2 shows (In the Heights--superb--and Elf--okay)? Check. Eating delicious food (no cleaning up, cutting up or worrying about what children will eat at the Venezuelan restaurant)? Check. Watching the marathon, shopping, Letterman, Tom's Restaurant (we couldn't resist Seinfeld's fave diner), Statue of Liberty, a photo op with Meredith at the Today Show, trekking around town with friends, staying out way too late? Check, check, check. The trip was wonderful.

Here on the homefront, all I can say is, well, everyone survived. The kids were happy. My mom was exhausted. My favorite piece of furniture (the rustic green trunk) is broken past the point of repair, my mom forgot what time Rowan's school ended and took a guess--she was a full 30 minutes late, the kids ate S'mores for breakfast. But, they had fun, too. They went to the Children's Museum, the library, the mall. They made happy memories and I think my mom might even be up for it again--maybe not right away--but eventually. It was good for all of us.

My Little Boy

2010-11-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Tate,

When I went away for 5 days (the longest I've ever been away from you), I expected a few things. I expected to be stressed out, I expected to miss you like crazy, I expected a few tears on your end as well. I did NOT expect to come home, walk into your room the next morning and discover that my baby had, magically, become a little boy. I know it didn't happen in 5 days. I know that you're 2 and a half (and you make sure no one forgets about that half), that you're potty-trained, that you sleep in a big boy bed. But in my mind, I was holding onto that picture of you just a little bit younger. You aren't a baby anymore, not even a toddler, but a little boy. My little boy. The sweetest one I know. I'm so lucky to be your mommy.

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-03T17:57:00.000-07:00

What a perfect night for trick-or-treating. Not overly cold. No rain. Still light out when we left the house. Lots of friends. Lots of fun. Lots of candy. An impromptu playdate with Lucy while I was lured in by the adult treat of hot spiced wine. My little Sleeping Beauty and Harley rider were adorable, remembering to say "thank you", hiding behind me if anyone scary walked by, happily eating their Skittles (Rowan) and Nerds (Tate) at the end of the night.

The next day Rowan said "So, we did our trick-or-treating yesterday, but Grandma is handing out candy at her house today." "Yes," I said, "our city did trick-or-treating a day early." "Sooooo," Rowan said, the wheels turning, "We could go to Grandma's today and go trick-or-treating!" It didn't happen. But I was pretty impressed she thought of it.

Zoo Goes Boo!

2010-11-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

With Lance working 4 weekends in a row, his decision to take a vacation day was a good one. So we took full advantage and took the kids to Zoo Goes Boo. Sort of a crazy, crowded mess, but they loved it and it was a good kick-off to Halloween. They went with the animal-themed costumes (which was great since it was a cold day). And even though Lance's "vacation day" ended with him in the office for 4 hours, we made the most of it!

Art Prize

2010-10-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

While "kicking and screaming" might be a bit harsh, I will say I wasn't extremely excited about moving here. I was going to be leaving great friends, amazing weather and a pretty great city to move to Michigan, where thankfully I already had some great friends, but the weather and the city weren't really beckoning. Since living here, though, I've found that Grand Rapids is actually a really great place to be. There's virtually no traffic and there are some amazing places and events that Charlotte does not have. Art Prize is one of these great events. I remember walking around Grand Rapids last year, pushing a double stroller loaded with tons of treats and feeling completely awestruck at the amazing art all around. This year was no different--except the kids were a little more aware and interactive with the art. We went twice. I was hoping to squeeze in one more visit, but I can't complain. These pictures are some of the art--not my favorite pieces--but with the the sheer quantity of great art, I only took a few pictures. I just couldn't get it all. We loved it and will love it every year.

School!

2010-10-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Really? It's mid-October and I haven't even written a single post about school? Well, let's be honest here, I haven't really been writing many posts at all lately. For no reason other than sheer laziness.

Well, even though I was worried for a good portion of the summer that maybe I should have put Rowan in afternoon preschool or wondering if she would feel lonely without her best friend from last year (who is in a different class), school could not be going any better for Rowan. She is loving it. Loving her friends, loving the Spanish, loving her teachers.

One friend in particular, Tatum, is talked about quite constantly here at home. We'll be scheduling a playdate soon.

And with this amazingly gorgeous, wish-I-could-just-bottle-it-up weather, we've been staying after school every day to play on the playground. Sometimes kids from her class stay and play. Sometimes kids from the other classes stay. We're loving being out in the sun, spending time with friends.

For the Birds

2010-10-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

Birds aren't really my thing. That might be putting it a bit lightly. There was once a bird in our house in Charlotte and I called Lance at work. The incident ended with me donning a hat, sunglasses and heavy coat and using an umbrella as a shield. Even then I couldn't handle entering the room with the bird. I got it out, somehow, and it made for a funny story to tell at dinner parties.

The fear has gotten somewhat better, but as you can see in the picture of Rowan with a bird on her head, I stayed in the budgee cage long enough to take a few pictures, but exited to a much safer place to take the picture of Rowan. Thankfully Lance doesn't share this fear (though I have killed a spider or two for him) and he and the kids had a marvolous time with the budgee sticks at the zoo.

A few of my favorite things

2010-09-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

Crane's Orchard--Every year we head to Crane's for apple picking, donuts and cidersicles. Every year we take pictures. Except this year when my camera was left at home. Some shots I wish I had taken: Lance holding the children up ridiculously high so they could pick the highest apples they could see, Tate peeking out from the middle of the apple tree, Rowan's big grin when the cidersicles came out after eating dinner.

Night Time--This is a time I love and dread at the same time. The dread comes mainly from Tate's inability to get to sleep, stay asleep and wake at a reasonable hour (in my mind, 5:30 is unreasonable). But the cuddles at bedtime can't be beat, Rowan snuggled up in her bed, cozy as could be in her footie pajamas, telling me she loves me, asking unanswerable questions (Mommy, will you be in heaven when I get there? Will we eat in heaven or will we just never be hungry? Do you love me more than you love anyone else?). Tate, snuggled in his big boy bed, looking so tiny in such a big bed, begging for more hugs and kisses, yelling "I. LOVE. YOU. MOMMY." over and over until I reply and, only then, can he quiet down and go to sleep. The fact that I told him "I love you" several times as I put him in his bed doesn't seem to matter. It's the extra one after I close the door. Peeking in at their sweet, little selves after a long day and seeing only innocence.

Jokes without a punchline--Last night, at 10:08pm, Rowan marched into our room and said "Knock, knock." I looked up from my book "Who's there?" "Thumbkin," she said. Thumbkin who?" "Thumbkin Pagumpkin!" She laughs hysterically which, in turn, makes us laugh hysterically, which makes her think she has just made up a really, really funny joke. We heard it approximately 36 more times today.

Fall--Fall has always been my favorite season, but I'll admit, maybe it's the teacher in me, though more likely it's just my love of the sun, summer has taken the place of fall as my top season in my adult life. But I still love fall. I love the cooler weather (though I hate the allergies that come with it), I love the fresh smells, all the pumpkin and apple peeking through in yummy recipes, I love the running around at the park, in the neighborhood, on our bikes without overheating and needing water breaks, I love the new colors outside, the crunch of the leaves. Instead of seeing fall as the impending doom of winter, I'm going to try to enjoy every moment of it.

Aiming High

2010-09-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

Proof that "You can be anything you want when you grow up" is taken quite literally around here:

Me, to the children: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
Tate: "A CD."
Me: "Well, you can't actually change into something completely different. I was really just wondering what job you might like to have."
Tate, somewhat exasperated: "I said I want to be a CD!"
Rowan: "Oh, Mom, just let him try."

National Ice Cream Day

2010-07-28T18:47:00.000-07:00

This is my kind of day. Of course ice cream deserves a national holiday. So we celebrated by making ziploc baggie ice cream-vanilla for Rowan and strawberry for Tate. Yum!

When the Kids are Bored

2010-07-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Rowan and Tate are always making up very odd games--things to do while they are bored, basically. I love it when this entails playing an actual board game, coloring or even playing with play-doh. And while I shouldn't fault them for being, well, creative, I guess, I'm just not exactly sure what this is.

Potty-Training 101

2010-07-20T12:27:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: If you are bothered by the word "poop", hearing about poop or giving poop a name, please, do not read on.

I'm not sure what sparked it, but I decided to go ahead and try to potty-train Tate. I thought, well, it's summer. He can run around naked and not freeze. Let's go ahead and potty-train. Here's a run-down of the week.

Day 1: Spectacular. No accidents. Easy peasy. I thought "Wow, that was easy. I didn't even do anything." (Note to self: When a very regular 2-year-old doesn't poop all day, something's not quite right).

Day 2: Irrational fear of pooping on the actual toilet begins. Poops on kitchen floor.

Day 3: Saves up poop for naptime when he's still in a diaper. Better than the floor. Less clean-up for Mom!

Day 4: No poop. Yeah! Another accident-free day!

Day 5: Poops in underwear. Three times. Holding it in yesterday made for a rough day today. Yikes.

Day 6: Lance is home! A little rest for the weary here. We rationalize, we bribe, we beg. Tate will not poop on the potty. After pooping in his underwear, Lance sets him on the potty and a tiny little pea-sized poop drops in the toilet. I'm certain this was just sitting there, ready to fall, and not a result of any sort of effort on Tate's part. Regardless, the celebrating begins. Tate gets a gumball, the bribe we had been dangling in front of him. He's pretty darn proud of himself.

Day 7: Tate poops on the toilet. 8 times. Seriously, 8. He has taken to naming his poop. "Oh, look, it's a little wormy. This one is a snail. Look at the turtle in there!" Of course, he gets 8 gumballs for the day. Each poop is approximately the size of said gumballs.

Day 8: More frequent pooping. More gumballs. Seriously this kid is going to be the only 2-year-old with hemorrhoids.

Day 9: A bit of Day 8, plus a naptime surprise. We'll see what happens the rest of the day.

Synopsis: Well, he is doing better than I expected. It was like he was immediately potty-trained in one area. Just not sure what to do to discourage the amount of pooping going on over here. I think we'll be running out of gumballs very soon...

Fireworks Flops

2010-07-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

Since I have no desire to keep the children up late, only to have them stressed out at the noise of the fireworks, we attempted to at least let them partake in a few little things at home--sparklers and snakes. There were no flames shooting into the air, no loud noises to upset Rowan; it should've been cake.

But, alas, I did not plan for Rowan putting her fingers directly onto the sparker immediately after dancing with it. One sparkler total. Three blisters from burns on her fingers. A little brother too scared to try.

So, we tried the snakes. We lit them at the end of the driveway and watched as the huge "snake" came out of the little wrapper. The kids were, at best, unimpressed. Rowan (while nursing her fingers in a cup of ice water) said "So, you light it and then it just looks like poop?"

There you have it.

I Hope They Stay This Way Forever

2010-07-07T18:02:00.001-07:00

Sure, there are moments, hours, even full days that Rowan and Tate do not really like each other. They fight. They hit. Tate actually spit on Rowan today; I didn't even know he knew how to spit. But, for the most part, they are best friends. They understand each other, they play with each other, they make up riciculous games, they say they're going to get married someday. Yesterday, after Rowan finished up a time-out and Tate opened her door, she yelled "We're together again! We're together again!" and they both started laughing and dancing. I couldn't help but laugh along with them. Since I don't have a particularly close relationship with my brother, I'm not sure that I really know how to teach sibling camaraderie. I just desperately wish that they will be close forever. I wish I could just wrap up all this love and pull it out when they get older, when it seems siblings either drift apart or drift together. I hope that, even though they may have completely different personalities, beliefs and affinities, they will always love and respect each other. I hope they will have one of those amazing sibling relationships that I'm always a bit envious of.

Binder Park Zoo

2010-07-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

After the slight disappointment with the balloon festival on Friday night, we were so excited about how much fun we had at the zoo on Saturday. The kids loved everything, from feeding the goats to feeding the giraffes. It was a great day with the kids, my mom and the animals.

On the way home, we stopped by a parade in Allegan where the kids loaded up on candy. We knew the 4th wouldn't be complete without a parade and they were not disappointed. We even took the dogs with us and they sat, relatively calmly, even with all the chaos of a parade.

The Waiting Game

2010-07-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

Here we are, waiting in Battle Creek for the hot air balloon launch. It was supposed to start at 6:30. We got there around 6, had a picnic, read books, walked around, played "The Waiting Game", met some guinea pigs that some little girls brought along. We waited. And waited. And left. I'm still not sure if the balloons actually launched that night at all. But we had fun anyway. Rowan is still talking about the guinea pigs and they completely forgot about the balloons. We may try it again next year.

Bye-bye, Butterflies

2010-07-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Since Rowan had become pretty attached to her butterflies, I was more than a little concerned about releasing them outside. We talked about it ahead of time. She was sad. She knew, all along, that the plan was to put them in their natural habitat, but as the day grew closer, she seemed more and more upset about it. So, I did the easiest thing I could think of. I made sugary, colorful butterfly cookies that we could only eat after releasing the butterflies. It was the perfect solution. Her favorite part of the butterfly lesson was releasing the butterflies--which, of course, meant eating the cookies.

Happy Father's Day

2010-06-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

Last year I dressed the kids up in Lance's clothes and took a picture of them. So, I'm making it a tradition. A rather odd one, I suppose, but the kids love it. They picked out their own clothes (can you tell?) and posed for the picture. Rowan also wrote the cutest book ever for Lance--one that will most certainly be put into the little box of things I actually keep and plan on keeping forever. It's all about why she loves her daddy.

We had a low-key day, went cherry picking and just before we were going to leave to go out to dinner, Tate got sick. So, we altered our plans and stayed in. I have to say I'm pretty thankful for a great husband who is such a wonderful dad to our kids, who really embraces what it is to be a dad, who makes the kids feel extra-special all the time, who rushes to me with towels after I've been thrown up on, who is fine with eating pizza for dinner on Father's Day instead of a nice dinner out (of course it helps when it's goat cheese and pine nut pizza--our fave) and who gets a little teary-eyed when Rowan reads her book to him.

It's my fifth (!) Father's Day without my dad and the first I've managed to not cry. I'm sure part of that is because we skipped the church service and didn't have to sing sappy dad songs, part of it is because I know my dad would want me to cherish this day (and every other day, too) and part of it is because I'm able to sit back and enjoy life's blessings with Lance.

Cherry Picking

2010-06-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, Lance wanted to go cherry picking. Never mind that he doesn't actually like fruit, cherries included, this is what he wanted to do. So we went. We picked lots of cherries. Obviously a few ended up on Rowan's shirt. And this is a very random video of her afterward. I'm not sure what that dance is, but she's clearly excited about the disaster she made of her shirt.

Last Day of Ballet

2010-06-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

6 weeks flew by and Rowan's last day of her little ballet class was last night. She chose to wear a fancy dress from her dress-up bin and is doing a little curtsy in this picture. She LOVED ballet and we will be signing her up again and again, I think.

Butterflies are Blooming

2010-06-16T18:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to get Lily a butterfly kit for her birthday and went ahead and ordered one for Rowan, too. The caterpillars came in the mail about a week ago and, as you can tell, she was pretty excited. We decided to keep a butterfly journal as we watch them grow and change. I'm letting her complete it with invented spelling
(which I love) and we're checking on our little "pets" every day.

Day 1 of her journal reads: Today the Painted Ladies look like cadpilrs (caterpillars). Their colors were black. They were about (less than) 1" long. They were: 1 is moviig, 4 r slepig (1 is moving, 4 are sleeping).

She has since named her caterpillars: Anu (Anna), Lideu (Lydia), Avu (Ava), Case (Cassie)and Dorau (Dora) and they are now becoming pupa and making their chrysalides. I think it's so cute how she writes all of the names (except Cassie, of course) ending in a u because "U says 'uh', Mommy".

Tate's liking this little project, too, since he loves all bugs and all things nature. I think I can see a few little lightning bugs flying around outside and I'm pretty sure we'll have to keep the kids up late one night (since it doesn't get dark until around 10) so they can catch them, put them in their little bug jars and then let them go.

2010-06-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

I took the kids to the Grand Rapids Art Museum for the first time, expecting it to be a bit of a disaster. But, they did pretty well. Though I kind of wanted to just stare at Open Water for a while, they were pretty into Andy Warhol--especially his endangered animal prints. But they were really into the fountain out front.

Adios (for now), El Puente

2010-06-16T18:41:00.000-07:00

Somehow, though it was pretty important in the life of a 4-year-old, I haven't yet written about Rowan's last day of preschool. Possibly because, while I thought it would be rather emotional for her (and I wasn't really sure which kind of emotion--extreme excitement for summertime fun or extreme sadness at not seeing her school friends all summer), it was sort of just another day. While I felt a twinge of sadness watching her pass yet another milestone, she was pretty much oblivious to it all. She just knew they got to eat popsicles on the playground.

A few of Tate's latest obsessions

2010-06-13T19:23:00.001-07:00

1. Happy Birthday--still. Many times a day, Tate sings "Happy Birthday" VERY loudly and presents me with a present. I think I wrote about this once before. It's been going strong since his birthday in February. I'm thinking he's hoping for a real birthday present or cake or something.

2. His penis. He just loves it. The obsession really does start young. He has lately been very concerned about where his penis is when I get his diaper on. It was just there and now, all of a sudden, IT'S GONE! Today there was a luncheon after church. Tate was successfully flirting with an older (MUCH older, dare I say, elderly) woman--playing hide and seek, talking to her with that adorable voice of his. Soon enough, she asked "Where is your belly button?" As soon as the question came out of her mouth, I knew what was coming. Sure enough, Tate's reply, after showing her his belly button: "But where's my penis?" I couldn't help but laugh and, thankfully, so did she.

3. Being called Tate. Example: When I call Tate "sweet", "adorable", "little monkey", etc. he will say. "I'm not sweet! I'm Tate!"

4. The "hot dog dance" diapers. The giant packs of Huggies have two designs. One is Mickey and Minnie dancing. The other is Mickey with a bluebird. Despite my pathetic attempts singing "Zipadee Doo Da", I have not been able to convince him that the bluebird diapers are wearable. I do lots of sneaking around, getting out one diaper to put the other on, etc. as it's getting a bit out of control.

5. Nature, in general. On every walk, Tate has to stop to pick every flower or weed, collect more rocks, move any and all dead and dried up worms to a safer place in the grass. He really is a sweet, very inquisitive kid and I'm kind of wishing there was a farm preschool closer to us because I think he'd love it.

The things he comes up with are hysterical.

Playroom Concerts

2010-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

Tate often will bang around on the piano and sing and I finally caught him on camera, so I had to share. Rowan, of course, wanted in on the action when she saw I was taking a video!

First Strawberry of the Season

2010-05-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

On Monday, I was cashing in on a Mother's Day gift from Lance (a design consult with a friend of a friend) and Lance took the kids outside to play. When the consult was done, Rowan said "We have a big surprise for you. It's the first of something." Sure enough, it was the first strawberry of the season in our side yard. Lance adorably split it into four pieces and we all shared it, but not before the kids drew a picture of the occasion. Since then we've gathered quite a few more berries and love being able to pluck some ripe berries, rinse them off and eat them immediately.

Loveness

2010-05-23T17:59:00.000-07:00

A recent conversation between Rowan and Lance:

Lance: What kinds of things will our plants need to grow?

Rowan: Water and sunshine.

Lance: Great, Rowan. Is there anything else they need?

Rowan: Loveness.

Warm, sunny afternoons

2010-05-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

The rain has stopped, the sun is shining, it's feeling a lot more like May (finally!) and a lot less like March. So yesterday, Lance took advantage of the forecast, went to work at 6:30am so he could leave early and we headed to Tunnel Park. Of course I forgot my camera on our first beach visit of the season. But it was wonderful. Pretty cold with the wind, but the kids loved every minute of it. I stood with my feet in the warm sand and pictured many, many summer days spent at the beach. I packed a picnic and fully planned on our inaugural trip to Captain Sundae, but, alas, the kids didn't eat their dinner (surprise!)so we didn't stop for dessert. There's always next time...and the time after that...

Meijer Gardens

2010-05-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

While May has been nothing but cold and rain, April in Michigan was gorgeous. So we took in a few days at Meijer Gardens. On one visit Susan took a few pictures of the kids--sort of a 2-year and 4-year mini-shoot. I love them for two reasons. One, the kids are getting so big and I love comparing their pictures each year to the ones the year before. Two, we are outside. Wearing shorts. In April.

Mother's Day Tea

2010-05-14T12:26:00.001-07:00

Lemondae Stand

2010-05-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

It can't get much cuter than this. We had a garage sale last week. And while we were excited to unload a bunch of stuff, the most fun thing was Rowan's lemonade stand. We made some lemonade and Rice Krispie treats together and set up a little stand. I didn't really think about telling her what to say or do, so she sat in her little chair. Then people started coming and she started yelling "Lemonade! Lemonade for sale!" She was a bit relentless. I had to help her tone it down a bit. When people would buy something, she would say "Thank you for your business." I couldn't get enough.

Cloud 9

2010-05-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

Last week, Rowan started ballet. She has been asking to take lessons for a while now, but we decided to hold off until her birthday, mainly so that my mom could buy her lessons and shoes (instead of some toy with small pieces that seem to collect everywhere but the actual toybox). To say she loved it is an understatement. She is thrilled. I'm thinking we'll be sticking with this for quite a while.

Like Father, Like Son

2010-05-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

I couldn't get a great picture of it, but Tate likes to "shave" with Lance in the mornings. It doesn't get a whole lot cuter than that.

Kalamazoo Air Zoo

2010-05-11T07:46:00.000-07:00

This past fall, my mom took us all to Kalamazoo Air Zoo. I must admit, my hopes were less than high. Why on earth would 2 small children want to walk around looking at old planes? And, let's be honest here, why would I want to? But, as the pictures show, we had a great time. And we've been back a few times. The biggest hits are the hot air balloon ride, the biplanes ride and the Zero Gravity ride. The kids love it!

Family Photo

2010-04-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

On Easter, Lance managed to take a picture in which every member of the family was actually looking at the camera! I had to post for that, if nothing else.

Easter, itself, was perfectly calm. We started the day with an Easter egg hunt at home, then church, then Grandma Jackie's for another Easter egg hunt (and a fabulous beef tenderloin, because ham just doesn't cut it around here). I'm wondering if it's the last year I can fill the eggs with things like dried apples, cranberries and blueberries and still get sincerely excited looks from the kids when they open them...

Happy Birthday, Bean

2010-04-12T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rowan,

You are now four years old. Four! You're truly a little girl--not even a little bit a toddler anymore. This past year, you grew and changed more than I could imagine. You have learned to be patient and considerate and you're even nice to your brother--most of the time. You learned to read, get dressed by yourself and can understand quite a bit of Spanish. You still love pink, pigs and Mommy, but you sure are becoming quite the Daddy's girl and are starting to choose Daddy over Mommy most of the time.

We celebrated with a Piggy Party which was just perfect for you. You had so much fun with your friends and your family. In true Rowan style, you woke up that morning with a scrape and bump in the middle of your forehead. Somehow you managed to hurt yourself in the middle of the night! Everyone kept asking what happened and you would either say "I don't know" or "I don't want to talk about it." You also woke up asking how much bigger you were now that you're four. And refusing to allow help with anything because since you are four you can do it all by yourself.

I've had so much fun watching you become the little girl you are and can't wait for all the fun things you'll be doing in your fifth year of life!

Birthday Girl

2010-04-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

While Rowan's birthday isn't actually until this Saturday, she celebrated at school last Thursday, what with spring break happening this week. Because all 3-year-olds who go to school all of 2.5 hours twice a week desperately need a break. (But I really get that the teachers do need that break.)

Needless to say, she was excited. She insisted I make pig cupcakes, which turned out surprisingly well, but took a bit of work. She wore the "Birthday Girl" shirt (which I was hoping might make it through two days, but is now too stained to wear on her actual birthday) She got to wear the birthday crown. The weather was gorgeous and she played outside at school and after school. She was pleased. I was pleased. What more could we ask for? Except a Leapster, which Rowan has informed me is what she would like for her birthday. But I'm pretty sure she's not getting it. So I'm hoping the actual birthday will not turn out to be too disappointing.

Vacation

2010-04-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

We're back from a whirlwind tour of friends in the south. While it was a great time for all of us, there's something amazing about coming home, getting back into a routine, sleeping in my own bed! And I think this is the first time I actually felt like I was coming home. The first few times we went back to visit friends, I felt like I was leaving home when we left Charlotte. This time I felt like I was coming home. And I was ready to be here.

Since we were gone for 11 days, we got to see a lot of people. I was thrilled to finally catch up with Andrea after her months of chaotic scheduling. It was amazing to finally meet Madison and to watch Rowan and Nathan catch up right where they left off. I had a blast catching up with my teacher-friends and the dinner-group girls. There was a wave of nostalgia when we drove by our old house--especially since there was a "For Sale" sign out front. Rowan said "I like that house. Can we buy it?" It was great to see Heather and Mike and to cheer the guys on at the Lexington half-marathon. The kids were champs on all counts. Great car-riders, great (with the exception of two horrible nights with Tate) sleeping in strange places, great playing with new friends.

While I didn't get to actually do a lot of the things I wanted to, I got to see virtually everyone I wanted to. The shopping, eating at great restaurants and doing any sort of "adult" thing will have to wait for another visit. Thanks to Trang and Mike and Heather and Mike for letting us invade your space for a while. We had a wonderful time! And, Heather, thanks for getting Pig back to us so quickly. Rowan didn't even ask for her until the day she came! (Yes, I know Piglet is a boy, but not to Rowan. All things pink must be girls.)

Playhouse Disney Live

2010-03-07T17:56:00.000-08:00

After listening to Rowan talk about Disney characters, Disney shows and wanting to go to Disney, I decided to take her to Playhouse Disney Live. She was thrilled. I didn't tell her ahead of time anything about our little date. That would certainly have ruined the off-chance of her napping. And, miraculously enough, she did nap. So she was in a incredibly happy, energetic mood and could not have been happier with the snow.

I woke her up from her nap, told her where we were going and who she would see (The Little Einstein's, Pooh and Tigger, Mickey and Minnie and Handy Manny (whom she had never heard of before)). She chose to wear a sweatshirt with ballet slippers on it since she was so excited to meet June from The Little Einstein's who loves to dance.

I could not believe how excited one little girl could be. She would squeal with delight, dance in her seat, sing along and take pictures. I could tell she was a little nervous that the characters might make their way down the aisles which would not have been okay with her. But they kept their distance and she was thrilled. We had to come home and look at the pictures and watch the videos.

She also had a fun Saturday with a birthday party for her friends Hope and John. Plenty of Mommy-daughter time this weekend!

Tate is talking up a storm, letting his opinions known and no longer sleeping through the night. He is as sweet as could be, full of hugs and kisses and such a Mams's boy. Which is why, I think, he isn't sleeping at night. He wakes up, calls for me, and cries. And cries. And cries. Thankfully he's happy in the morning; I just wish I was!