Happy Valentine's Day!

I’ve never gotten too worked up about Valentine’s Day.  It’s sort of a made up holiday. Like St. Patrick’s Day or Secretary’s Day. I'm not Anti-Valentine's Day, I would just much rather Adam did something romantic because he thought of it on his own or it’s our anniversary or something. (hint, hint sweetie pie!) We never exchange gifts. Although, sometimes we do buy candy after it goes on clearance. Ha! I think it’s a fun day for kids though. I’m a sucker for themes. Maybe it’s the Kindergarten teacher in me. So I love doing Valentine’s Day crafts, baking, games, etc.  And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing all week!

painting hearts with potato stamps

Abi's Valentine's Day lunch. Heart-shaped pbj, heart-shaped cinnamon apples and pink cottage cheese.
Adam said the cottage cheese looked like bloody maggots. Always a critic. Although, he was kind of right.

Abi and Lennox “helped” me make some heart-shaped muffins. I saw this cute idea on Pinterest where you put a marble on the side and it makes them heart-shaped. It didn’t work that well. Maybe I filled them too full? Either way, I know Adam doesn’t care what shape his muffins are.

baking assistants



sometimes I just crack myself up



my little valentines

 

Happy 1st Valentine's Day!



Not-So-Super-Mom??

Back when I was still teaching and pre-kids, I used to dream about what it would be like to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom. My daydreams always went something like this: Adam walks in the door after work to a sparkling clean house and I’m sitting on the floor playing with the kids. Who are all smiling and getting along. We are all dressed and I have on makeup and my hair is fixed. Dinner is in the oven and there’s a pie cooling on the counter. And he tells me I’m Super Mom. Fast forward three years. The house is always messy. The laundry is never put away. Usually all of us are dressed, but I rarely fix my hair and put on makeup. On the same day anyway.  And Abi’s clothes are usually covered in a combination of peanut butter, play dough, paint, etc.  I do make dinner every day, and can usually bang out some form of sweet once a week or so. I absolutely love staying at home and can’t imagine doing anything else. But sometimes I think I’m not very good at it. Shouldn’t my house always be clean? Shouldn’t I be able to find time to try all the recipes and projects I find on Pinterest? Sometimes I wish I did have a job just so I could justify hiring a maid! Whether you stay at home or not I think being a mom is all about balance. It took me a long time to realize that if I spend all my time cleaning, doing laundry or whatever I don’t spend that much time having fun with the girls. And isn’t that really the reason I stayed home? Yes. Luckily, I have a husband who doesn’t seem to mind a messy house. (As long as he can find black socks when he gets dressed for work) I know it bothers me more than it does him. So when I feel like I’m drowning in dishes, clothes to fold and toys that can’t seem to stay picked up; I try to ask myself: when my kids are grown up, would they rather I cleaned the bathrooms today or painted or made play-dough people or baked cookies with them or went to open gym or whatever. So when you come over to my messy house, remember a mom lives here. Not a Super Mom.



my lovelies



silly girl

  

bookworms



Michellin Man arms



Sooo....Mom is supposed to be supervising Abi's painting session. From the kitchen I hear, "I'm painting myself, Mommy!" Thinking she means she's painting a picture of herself, I walk in to find this. Sigh. Grandmas.



chubby and proud of it



Abi has three "jobs:" feeding Jack, picking up toys and sorting the silverware when I unload the dishwasher. She doesn't do all of them everyday. It's a pretty laid back system. I just wanted to start her out early understanding that everyone helps out and that when you work hard you will be rewarded. I am so tired of seeing lazy and ungrateful kids grow into unproductive members of society. (sorry, that's my rant for the day) Anywho, she gets a sticker each time she finishes a job. She filled up her chart and got her Big Reward - strawberry icecream! Although, I'm pretty sure she would be happy enough with just the stickers. Ha!



The Museum & The Mouse

Abi has had a fairly exciting week by a two-year old’s standards. Last weekend we were invited to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for her friend Harper. We avoided Chuck as long as possible. And it really wasn’t as bad as I expected. Mostly because we were there right when it opened and it wasn’t very busy. I hadn’t been to a Chuck E. Cheese since I was a kid and it has changed some, but the idea is still the same. Suck all the parents money up in tokens and trade it in at the end for an useless piece of junk awesome prize at the end. Also a new rule – you have to have yours and your kid’s hands stamped when you come in and they check the stamps when you leave. Well since we were some of the first people there, no one was at the door so we jumped the rope and went on in. So when we left they thought we were trying to abduct our own kids – oops!! Ha! Regardless, Abi had a blast and is still young enough that a handful of tokens lasted the whole party. Adam seemed to be enjoying himself as well. Always the self-less dad, he even played some games so Abi would have more tickets at the end.

On Tuesday we met Sarah and Eli at the Children’s Museum. They have a membership and got us in for free also – score! Abi looked forward to seeing Eli all week and they had so much fun. We said we could have probably just hung out in the entry way and they would have had just as much fun! Ha!



Top Left: They held hands pretty much all day. It was adorable. Top Right: Snack break
Bottom Left: Checking out the geckos. (Notice my future niece made it into the pic also!)
Bottom Right: Digging for fossils



Madi's Four Month Well-Check

At her four-month well-check, Madelyn weighed 17lbs 9oz and was 26.5in long. That puts her in the 96^th percentile for weight and height. The pediatrician informed me she is the size of the average 8 month old. As if I didn’t already know that since I carry her around all day and she wears 9 months clothes. And 12 months sleepers. She can roll over both ways now, but mostly just rolls from back to belly. She is really into playing with toys now and loves her exersaucer. Madi continues to be her happy self and loves to smile and talk to the other baby she sees in the mirror.



Crinkly paper is hours of fun



Couldn't you just kiss those cheeks all day!?



Madelyn is also enjoying baby food and cereal a couple times a day. I know I am weird, but I love making baby food and am so excited that she’s old enough now. So far she has tried bananas, apples, sweet potatoes, squash and green beans. I always figured she would just scarf down whatever I shoved in her mouth. But she is surprisingly picky. She doesn’t seem to like vegetables, but loves fruit. In her defense, plain green beans with no seasoning=grossness.  So I just mix them with her fruit and she gobbles it up. (If you know me at all you know that it took a lot for me to mix those fruits and veggies in the same bowl. It’s just not kosher. She must get it from her dad.)



Falling asleep between bites



Madi first slept through the night at 6 weeks and I did my happy dance. But about 6 weeks ago she started waking up 2 to 3 times a night again. I thought she was just hungry, but even with cereal she was still waking up. We tried everything. I was starting to feel very zombie-like. She grew out of her swaddler blanket awhile ago and I never bought her a new one. Mostly because I’m cheap thrifty and didn’t want to spend $20 on a blanket! Then Adam suggested I just sew her one….duh! And…ta-da! Problem solved. I know it looks like child abuse, but the girl loves to be wrapped up as tight as possible.

baby burrito

I love comparing pictures of the girls to see if they look alike. I've always hoped people would be able to tell they were sisters. The picture on the right is one of Abi at about 7 months that is still hanging up in our kitchen.