A Little Left Out!

Ever since we have had little girls, playing with them has been like second nature. I didn't have to think about what might be fun for them, I just knew. Now, I have two little boys who do not seem to like most of what is in my bag of tricks. Yeah, I also get down on the floor and play blocks with them, but my goodness, they are much more impressed by whatever it is their Dad is doing! Yesterday, while they were napping, the girls and I rounded up all of their trucks and cars, anything with wheels. I had decided we were going to have a truck rally of sorts when the boys woke up. Both of them had fun with all of the "boy" toys out, and seemed to even be okay with Mommy's truck sounds! I admit I have been laughed at before for my truck and car sounds! Then, we all played Batman. This was a first for me as well. Garhett and Brenden have Batman's cave with a Batcycle. They also have Joker's house and Riddler's car, along with all the action figures. There are enough figures for everyone and a couple of people get to be two things. I was Batman for a while. Brenden is partial to Mr. Freeze and The Riddler while Garhett likes Robin and Joker. I tried my best at coming up with a good voice for Batman, but apparently did not do good enough. My Batman duties were soon stripped, and the boys moved their things to the window hoping I would not follow. I did try again but this time I was subjected to being the "girl". I tried to kiss Batman, and Garhett looked at like I was insane! He then grabbed my girl and put her in Joker's jail! He looked at me for a few seconds after that and I could tell he was telling me to leave them alone. Naturally I felt a little insulted! I will try being Batman again, and I will stay far away from anything too girlish. I guess I could always throw some things across the room to fit in!

Birthday Boys

This year our littlest people turned two!! I was as surprised by this as anyone else. Everyone kept saying, "I can't believe they are two already!" I thought the same thing. Then there are the days where I can't believe they made it to their second birthdays!! Well, I wasn't able to be home for the birthday party, so the pictures were all I got as well. From what I could see and also from the few updates I received, they seemed to have had a really good time. At this age though, they aren't sure why everyone is there, and not too certain why they are being allowed to eat with their hands! I think they did better with the candles this year. It is always amazing how fast time seems to go. I wish there was a way for me to go back and be able to hold them when they were little babies. It is so hard for me to remember those times. I do not want them to be little babies again, that is for sure. I am definitely done with "babyhood". I am happy that our youngest can sleep through the night and help feed themselves. They are even almost out of diapers. All I want is a refresher of the things I have forgotten! I guess everything is all jumbled up because of how chaotic it felt when they came home. Now, I have a hard time remembering most things about them as babies. Thank goodness for pictures. Anyway, the boys received a lot of cool presents, they have their own mini-quads now! It will be a riot trying to keep them from riding where they shouldn't or running into people! I think the quads will be great for camping! Oh, and did they ever get the best p.j.'s!! Bronco jammies rock! They also now have cornered the market on footballs! So, if anyone needs one you know where to look!

Catching Up

At our house we have been very busy, like most other households during this time of year! For whatever reason someone thought it would be a good idea to add a pair of birthdays into the mix. Oh, and to also make me feel like crap for a few weeks! Now that we are settling down again, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a great New Year! I know our kiddos had a really nice holiday season! They were spoiled beyond belief, as usual! It was so nice to see them getting excited when they opened their packages. It did take Brenden and Garhett quite a while to get around to opening everything. It was also nice to have all morning to hang out with the kids and eat breakfast before having to go anywhere, the boys even finished napping before we had to leave. Santa was very good to our group this year. So good in fact, Apryl and Alexys had a hard time thinking of something to spend their gift cards on! I kept urging them to wait a while to spend them, but you all know how kids are when they have money to spend! All in all, we had a real nice day. Christmas Eve started it all for the kiddos when they went to "uncle" Jim's and came home with a bunch of loot! That kinda put our Christmas Eve pajamas to shame!! In a good way though. Lots of catching up for me on here, and around the house. I know it's late but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone we weren't with and Happy Birthday to Grandpa Mike who now has to share his B-day!! Happy Birthday to Grandma Nora too!!

We've Got a Man Down

I know this picture is actually from over a year ago, but it is one of my favorites, and I can do what I want! Her hair is even the same length on one side! Well, that little lady was sick again today. Yesterday started out with a fever and Addy acting a little more tired than usual. Today started off with a bang for both her and I! For Addy it was because she woke up getting sick to her stomach, for me it was because Addy was sick to her stomach. Little ones are not good about making it to the bathroom, so they inevitably get sick right where they are. So, yes, I am still doing laundry as I type. I had to wash her pillow and her blanket, not too bad. Then I moved her into my room and now I am finishing up on ALL of our bed linens! I made the mistake of thinking she might be okay to have some medicine, but it came right back up. I moved her to another location, but gave her a towel to use rather than a blanket, which did come in handy...unfortunately. When I did remake the bed, she got right in and took a pretty good nap. As of now, she seems to be feeling a bit better. She has even asked for something to eat, always a good sign of a little one on the mend. I was dreading having a sick kiddo on Christmas! That would not be fun for anyone. I hope we have seen the last of whatever this "bug" is, as we all know how fast "bugs" travel from kid to kid! Especially now when they are all home!

Long Night Ahead

I am fearful that we, my husband and I, are in for a long night. Nap time did not go well. When there is not a decent nap, I can usually count on an extra long evening. Kind of like the night the picture was taken. That is Garhett trying his best to escape his seat during dinner. Today I am not sure what brought about such an awful nap. I lied the boys down at their regular time, after they had eaten a good lunch. I like to feed them before napping, I feel like they sleep better. They both ate great, they each had half a PB&J with pineapple slices on the side. I actually cut up the pineapple this morning, and it is so good. Then everything went downhill from there. I don't bother giving the boys their cats or their blankets any more when they first get into bed seeing as how they just throw them back out. I have to wait a few minutes 0r forty for them to settle down a bit. Eventually I go back in and lie them both down and cover them with their favorite blankets and make sure they have their cats again. This attempt will last a little longer than the first. Lately, it has been Garhett who is waiting until his Brother lies down to grab his things and toss them out of the bed. Today was more difficult than usual. I don't think G-man ever went to sleep. I went back in their room a few more times, and I finally got Garhett settled. Next thing I know Brenden is up doing what his Brother was just doing. He probably couldn't fall asleep after I had to go in and out of the room 20 times and now he is wide awake! I guess we are going to have scrap the nap for today and maybe look for an earlier bed time. Fortunately, I will be at the grocery store tonight when the boys will be in their cranky moods!

Battle Ground

At the end of some days I feel as if I have just fought in a battle. I am truly exhausted today. My day began at 6:45 which is very normal and also fine with me. It is funny how much different I feel at 6:45 versus 6:00. I got breakfast for the boys and we all sat on the couch and watched "Shrek" for what was probably the 100th time this week! It did give me some extra time to wake up however. Then, when the boys were fully awake, the chaos ensued. Each of them threw their daily quota of items, and had numerous glasses of milk. I swear they are non-stop eating machines! I can only imagine what they will be like in ten years! I was an unwilling opponent in quite a few wrestling matches today as well. Matt has started a wonderful game of slapping with Brenden. This makes Brenden then think that his Mother likes to play the game too. Well, I don't! While I was sitting on the couch watching the girls playing Wii, each boy took turns climbing on and the off of my lap. They will use whatever body part of mine they can in order to pull themselves up onto the couch. Man, that can really hurt sometimes. That doesn't include how bony their elbows are. I feel like I am their personal jungle gym. When they do finally sit still, they have a tendency to throw their heads back on to the person holding them. Brenden did that very thing to me this evening. Wham!! He slammed the side of my forehead with the back of his head. I felt lucky though, if he had hit me directly on my face I am sure I would have had a bloody nose, maybe even a broken nose! I even had to take some medication for my headache he gave me. Just before sitting down to write, I was helping Matt get the boys ready for bed. I changed diapers and then we both brushed their teeth. Brushing teeth has also become a battle lately. Both boys want to do it themselves, and want a crap load of toothpaste! I will let them brush their teeth after I have brushed their teeth. This usually results in toothpaste getting everywhere because they are fighting me so much. Some days we are practically counting down the minutes till bedtime!

Girls Night Out!

Last night I took my girls out to the movies and left the guys at home! Our littlest men are not ready for the movies anyway. We invited Grandma Nora and Aunt Sammi, and went to see the new Disney movie Tangled. It was Addy's first time at a movie theater and she did really well. She was pretty excited to have her own giant bag of popcorn. She shared Grandmas soda until she started making those annoying noises that come from the drink being gone! Addy felt free to comment on the commercials leading up to the film starting and also the movie itself. I choked on a piece of popcorn when she yelled out, "Mickey Mouse is wearing panties?!?" It was a black and white version of Mickey during a preveiw, and I guess to a three year old his pants look a little longer now-a-days! When Rapunzel's tower came on the screen, Addy made sure everyone knew who it belonged to. Then, when Rapunzel was in trouble, Addy shouted, "go, Rapunzel, run!!" It was very cute to watch her cover her head when she was worried about Rapunzel. She also laughed along with her sisters when something was funny. There were quite a few funny parts in the movie. I personally loved the horse named Maximus that thinks he is a dog. Very cute. The genius behind the Disney writers is amazing, it kind of reminds me of...me!!