Easter was two weeks ago?

I am running a little behind with my blog posts! I know... We had a really great Easter, and then a few days later,Phil and I left to go to Boston for a few days. It left little time for blogging since I was preparing for our trip. The kiddos stayed with Gigi and Papa and they haven't stopped talking about it. I think they had fun! And some how they found out that Oliver (the cat that belongs to my parents' neighbors) loves ice cream. I don't know what happened there.


First up...Easter:

..
Our Spring Break fell right before Easter, so we made Easter Eggs one of our projects that week. The kids had fun. Rush's eggs always turn out better than Fran's because he is so patient and will let the eggs sit in the dye for a long time, while Fran just wants to move on to the next color.

On Saturday before Easter, we headed to the city's Egg Hunt. It was the first time we had ever tried it before, and the twins had fun. Kate, Gigi, Aunt Ivy, and Uncle Tony joined our family. There were a lot of people, and it was very chaotic. It was over very quickly, and I am not sure we will participate again. We had lunch together after that at Chipotle, and everyone was happy to be there!

We went to Gigi's house to hunt eggs on Easter and to have lunch with everyone. It was lots of fun!


Fran was too busy hunting eggs to pause for a smile. Can you guess which picture I asked to her pause in?


Easter is a great time for family picture sessions!




That post had so many pictures that I am now too tired of blogging to do the Boston trip right now. The pictures are mainly of buildings and graves of famous Patriots, though. So probably not super interesting to anyone but me since I was by myself when I took most of them. Phil worked and I toured. We did have some time to explore the city together, though. So more on Boston later!

A Little Spring Break and a Night Bandit

We are enjoying the first morning of our Spring Break for the year! Spring is in italics because it is way cold outside. Our heater is just churning away. It is sunshine-y, though. We are going to be super exciting in a few minutes and head outside to clean/organize our disaster of a garage. I would post "before" and "after" pictures, but I won't. I am too embarrassed of the "before".

My main reason for posting today is that I need to document some stuff about Rush. I have posted before about how he just doesn't want to sleep. Ever.

Famous quotations from Rush regarding sleep:
"I can't sweep. My eyes just won't close." (Remember, "l's" are still only making an occasional appearance in his speech.)
"I can't sweep. See, Mom, watch." (He then closes his eyes and reopens them.)
"Can you rub my back and tell me a stowy?" (Remember, "r's" are still only making an occasional appearance in his speech."
"I can't sweep. Can you way with me?"
"I need some night time music to help me sweep."
"I am firsty. Can I pwease have some water?"

I have to admit, while we are addressing the speech issues with corrections at home, it is really hard to resist the cuteness of the words and the fuzzy head when he is making his night time requests. We aren't giving in, but it is still hard.

So the other night, Phil and I were watching TV. Phil got up to walk in the kitchen and saw this:

Yes, that is Rush camouflaged (or so he thought) by his rocket ship receiving blanket that he still sleeps with each night. I am not sure how many episodes of Friday Night Lights he watched with us.

If he isn't "hiding" in the hall, he is placing items in the hallway door in order to get our attention. Like his water bottle that goes beside his bed. He knows he isn't supposed to get up and that we will tell him "no" if he asks for something, so he sends silent signals. I swear I feel like he lurks all over our house at all hours of the night. I have seriously considered setting up one of those night cameras that hunters use to catch him in action to see what all he does when we are asleep. I recently read an article about kids with insomnia, and he met every description they gave. We DO NOT give in to his requests, and he goes to bed at the same time every night. I am at a loss really. I have talked to his pediatrician, and he said that as long as his behavior isn't affected then, we are OK for now, but if it continues, we may consider a sleep study to see if we can get more information.


I am considering trying a strategy called "sleep fading" that was mentioned in the article. It said that if kids have trouble going to sleep, they often associate their bed with the frustration of not being able to sleep, so you let them stay up late... until they are so tired, that they can't help but fall asleep. That temporarily becomes their new bedtime. Then, you slowly over a couple of weeks, back the time up to when you would ideally like for them to go to bed. In theory, it helps them to see their bed as a place that means sleep rather than insomnia. I know it sounds all child psychology-ish which isn't really my style, but we are at the point that I don't know what else to do. Except laugh at the rocket ship covered ball hiding in the hall. :-)

We don't have much planned for the week. An appointment here and there. A visit at a potential preschool for the twins on Wednesday... Well, actually it is my only plan for a preschool for next year, so I hope it works out. I am not sure if I have mentioned this before, but we are going to wait a year on starting Kindergarten. Even though the twins will be five in August and technically old enough to start "big school", we have decided to let them do a year of Pre-K before starting public school the next year. The only reason they would be able to start school is because they were born prematurely. Their August birthday was actually scheduled for October. So, if they had been born at full term, they wouldn't be able to start school. So, I look at it as we are putting them in the grade and with the peers they would have been with if they had not decided to make an early debut. There are lots of reasons we have decided to do this and none of them really have anything to do with how they are progressing right now. As a matter of fact, there is a small bit of me that worries that they may be bored with Pre-K because they have learned so much with Sue Sue. She uses the same curriculum that this preschool uses. On the other hand, they have no real school experience (walking in a line, being in a classroom, etc.) since their daycare experience has been in Sue Sue's home. I think it will work out just fine. I love to over-analyze things, though. So, I am currently doing that if you can't tell. :-)

So, as I enjoy my second cup of coffee this morning, I am going to try to chill out a little. A little low key garage cleaning is in my future, but after that... we will just hang out today. And yes, we do all still have on our pajamas. That's how we roll on Spring Break, y'all.

Camp Out!!

Do I look like the camping type? I think I must not. When word began to spread, we got lots of questions about what our "camp out" would entail. I will have you all know that I used to camp on Spring Break with Michelle, Jeni, and Leslie. :-)We cooked on the fire and slept and tents and everything. I was laughing at all of the texts and messages pouring in about our camp out, though! Maybe I just don't strike people as the "roughing it" type. You are right. I don't rough it. Phil and the kids planned a little camp out on their own and then let me know all about the plans. This camp out involved a fire pit on the patio and some hot dogs and s'mores. The next step was back inside the house for movies in their sleeping bags in the floor of the living room.

The kids LOVED it! Phil built the fire in the fire pit, and it was quite a "rip-snorter" to begin with. My goodness...I think it was the wind that had it going so strongly, but we had to wait a while for it to die down before we could start cooking. The kids found the fire a bit too hot to cook hot dogs, but they were able to roast marshmallows after it was a little lower. They loved the hot dogs, and Frannie LOVED the s'mores. Rush just wanted me to roast him marshmallows to eat plain. We sat around the fire for a while after we finished cooking. It was really the perfect night for it. Not too hot... not too cold. We really enjoyed it.

We came inside after dinner and took baths and showers! We all smelled like a huge camp fire. Then, we spread out our sleeping bags and settled in for a movie. This was about 8:30. Now, let me tell you that I had envisioned being able to watch some TV on my own by about 9:00 or so. Because surely my no-nap taking babies would be asleep by then, right? Yeah, right is more like it. They were awake until 11:30!!! And yes, they were awake by 7 a.m.

I think the night was a success, though. SF said, "That was the best camp out I ever had in my whole life." Sounds like a success to me. :-)

Dancing, Gymnastics, and Stepping Stones

Things have been clicking along here, and we have been having some fun. We went to a girls gymnastics meet at the Arena and had fun. Sydney Frances also had her last preschool ballet performance this past Wednesday. We had a good time watching her perform, and Gigi was able to come with us this time. She is such a good listener and loves to participate. I hope that will continue when she starts school.

Rush is always so sweet when he goes to watch a performance. I am pretty sure he could think of a million places that he would rather be, but he always tells his Teeta that she did a great job dancing. :-) We also love SF's dance teacher, Mrs. Wilton. She does such a great job with all of those little dancing ladies.



Anyone want to go to a meet with us next year? Phil participated this time, but he let me know this would be his last meet. :-) His coke was $7.00 and I'm not sure he was as entertained by the floor routines as I was.


The weather here has been beautiful, so the kids and I headed out to the park yesterday morning. We went to a different park from our normal one. It doesn't have as much play equipment, but it has more trails and places to walk and explore. That can be translated to... I enjoyed it more than the kids did. What started out to be a fairly normal trip to the park turned into quite an adventure. We played on the playground equipment for a little while, but truthfully, my kiddos were nearly too big for the elements they had at this park. It was designed for younger kids. While my two are very aware of being sweet to babies, etc., I was afraid they were going to hurt one of the smaller kiddos. So, we hit the trails. They liked the bridges and looking into the water for fish. We stopped for a while to play on some rocks that cross part of the creek before it heads into the lake. Then, we walked out on the pier to look into the lake. After that, we walked around the loop, playing along the way. At this point in the trip, everyone looked like this:



(This posing... I have nothing to do with this. I think it is a result of spending four years with a camera in your face.)

As we were getting ready to head back to the car, we decided to stop at the rocks one more time. These are the big, flat rocks that are meant to be stepped on to cross from one side to the next. Can you see where this is going? We should have stopped at the first trip across the rocks. All would have been well. So, there we were. I was giving them challenges. I would walk to a certain rock, and then tell them to try to find a path to get to me. We were all playing and having so much fun. Then... Fran lost her balance. I am not sure I have ever heard a scream that loud. From anyone. Ever. It was blood-curdling. Like end of the world, worst thing ever, I am scarred and my life will never be the same screaming. As in, "Moooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyyyy, LOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKK AAAAAT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! I am soaking WEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTT! Oh no, dry me off, what will I do, make it be dry, my shoes are wet, look at my pants, oh no there is dirt on my hands, oh no there is dirt on my pants, make it be dry, Mommy!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I wish that I had snapped a picture, but I was laughing too hard. I know that was wrong, but I couldn't help it. I was trying to calm her down, but I was seriously laughing to the point that my stomach was hurting. You would think that is the end, but in the meantime while I was tending to her, Rush was still "river-rocking." So, as I was bringing her back to earth with a normal heart rate, etc. I heard the most out of control, horrifying scream that I have ever heard. Worse than Fran's by a mile. Rush had also fallen into the water. The only good thing I can say here is that Frannie was somewhat under control for the moment. There are seriously no words to describe the howls coming from Rush's mouth. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that everyone in the park heard him. No doubt. I had to put him under a tree in "time-out" because he wouldn't pull it together and he was on the verge of getting a spanking. There was no consoling him. It was clearly the worst thing that had ever happened to him in all of his four years. A dog named Peaches saved the day in the end. He ran up to Rush and hit the reset button for me. (Thank you random college student and owner of Peaches for helping to pull our day back together. The student talked to Rush for a few minutes and let Rush pet the dog.)

I decided I had to make a decision as a parent based on this complete and total over-reaction to slipping into a creek and having some wet shoes. We needed a little lesson in rolling with the punches. I mean let's face facts... this definitely won't be the last time something crappy happens. We need to learn some coping skills because their reaction was not okay. So, we rolled up pants legs and headed back onto the rocks. I made sure everyone was playing, smiling, and happy again. By the way, Fran fell again and soaked her pants this time. She got up and gave me a strained smile and said, "It doesn't matter, Mommy. I don't care if I am soaking wet. I am having so much fun." And again, I could not control the laughter. At the end of the trip we all looked like this:



All ended well, though, and we had an adventure to tell Phil all about when we got home. Phil's question when I described the demonstrations of horror: "Was it worse than when they put the girl toy in Rush's Happy Meal from McDonald's?" My answer: "Yes, oh yes."

Helloooo?? Hello? Is anybody there?

Yes, I do plan to keep blogging here at Just the Two of Us. One thing that would help in a big way is for our computer to work. I am working off an old computer right now. It is a smidge slow but the best I can do right now. We have been using our phones and my Kindle for Internet access the last couple of weeks....not the best tools for blogging. We had a CRASH with our newish laptop. I am planning to upload some pictures of our latest happenings this weekend, so I will be back with more later. :-)

Date Night

This past Saturday was lots of fun! Phil and Sydney Frances got all dressed up for Daddy-Daughter Date Night. Rush and I made sure they got going ok and then we took off on a little adventure of our own. Sydney Frances looked so pretty in her "princess dress". At first, I felt like it was a little tacky, but I ended up just loving it. She was so sweet and excited all day. She sat really still and I curled her hair a little with a curling iron. She loved seeing her little curls. After she put on her dress, she twirled and danced around the house. Phil looked so handsome in his suit, too. Phil gave SF a pretty rose corsage. (See side story on this later...)She loved it, and Phil said she refused to take off her sweater at the dance because she was afraid it would mess up her "flowers". They got to eat Chick-fil-a and do lots of dancing. SF learned the Chicken Dance, the Macarena, and the Cha-Cha Slide (or whatever it is called...). Phil danced right along with her. The only tiny snag in the night was when the Chick-fil-a cow decided to visit. This is kind of like me and public spaces. We have covered Fran's dislike of "pretend animals" on more than one occasion. Phil said she was able to move on after a little while, though. I must say, the text I got from Phil about the cow being there made me laugh out loud at McDonald's. McDonald's you say? Yes. McDonald's. I told Rush he could choose any restaurant for our dinner date. He chose McDonald's. I am sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the current toy in a Happy Meal just happens to be a Transformer. After our dinner, Rush and I headed to Walmart and Target in search of the perfect Star Wars toy. Rush had some money he had saved up that was burning a hole in his pocket. After MUCH deliberation, he finally decided what he would spend his money on. After that, we went and had some frozen yogurt at Chill. I loved getting to hang out with Rush by myself, and Phil felt the same about SF. We really should do it more often. Some fun and funny pictures from the night:

Is there anything about these pictures that makes you think SF likes to have her picture taken? Just wondering if you noticed... :-)

Of course, I like to show the real side of things... it can't be all smiles. There was a minor meltdown on how the corsage would be arranged on her wrist.

**Corsage side story** Phil and I talked about corsages before the day of the dance. Phil was going to order one at a local florist, but I told him not to do that because I had seen some corsages at Walmart, so I would just get one with a small flower in it for her because she probably wouldn't wear it long. As I type that it feels just so "rednecky" to say I would get the corsage at Walmart... whatever... I was trying to simplify. You know... Mama knows best and all that jazz. So, unfortunately, I waited until the day of the dance to go buy one. Guess what? The boxes I saw at Walmart did not actually have flowers in them. It was only the little wrist part with some fake leaves and these tacky little pearl thingies. I also didn't really see any pretty flowers except a dozen roses... which we didn't need. So, I drove up to Winn Dixie. They had some flowers that were a little brown around the edges, but there were enough pretty ones left that I could see a couple of sweetheart roses I was planning to use. So, I bought the almost dead flowers at Winn Dixie. Then, I drove back to Walmart to buy the little empty corsage box. I needed the wrist part. Anyway, when I went back to Walmart I saw some pretty little roses that were basically in front of my face the first time I went. I was sweating by this point. So, rather than using the almost dead flowers from Winn Dixie, I bought a corsage box and the flowers I missed the first time. I did not have time to return to Winn Dixie, so I had that "bouquet", too. When I got home, the new flowers from Walmart wouldn't fit into the corsage holder. So, I ended up using the ones from Winn Dixie. But before I did that, I cut the tacky leaves and pearly thingies off the wrist corsage band. So basically I paid $4.98 for a piece of silver elastic. Holy crap.
So to sum all this up:

1. I was totally wrong on so many levels, and she wore the flowers ALL NIGHT.
2. After buying half dead flowers, missed- them- the- first- time Walmart flowers, and tacky wrist thing, I could have just bought her a dozen roses and been done for the day.
3. I really kind of hate corsages and always have. I hated them for high school dances. Especially those really enormous mums for homecoming.
4. Phil will order from the florist next year.


The end. That is the end of my SA. I hope you liked my SA.

(This is how my fourth graders end their writings. No matter how hard I try to teach them other ways to end it. They also have no clue what essay means. It just kinda makes me laugh every time, so I thought I would give it a go here.)

P.S. Now I have two things to look forward to in February next year. Kate Kate's birthday and our fun little date night. February is redeeming itself.

February

That's the only title I could come up with for this post. I think I am in a funk. I don't use the word funk on a regular basis, but I just can't think of anything else. That's why I am going to make myself some dessert. This is it.

Guess what? I am the only person in my house that likes these. Is it wrong that I will be preparing a dessert that no one likes but me? I think not. Mama deserves a little treat.

I pretty much don't like February. It's cold, rainy, dismal, and thankfully... short. I have never been a big Valentine's Day person. When my favorite niece,Kate, was born on February 3, 2010, it gave me an excuse to try to like February. So for the last couple of years, I have been enjoying at least the beginning of the month. This year?

She could have ended this little note with... "because I vomited all over the kitchen floor last night when I walked in the back door." See... it's February. So we didn't get to do our only fun February thing. Turned out to be a pretty mild "virus", but it still kept us away from our family and friends. :-(

We missed this..

And this...

Ok.. I will try to be a smidge cheerier. We did do a little craft that I saw in the kids' High Five magazine. I'm pretty sure that makes me a good mother. Actually, Frannie saw it and planned the whole deal. She even reminded me about the supplies she would need at the grocery store.

They were very simple. I used a die cut for the hearts and bought some popsicle sticks. We already had googly eyes.

True to form, Fran's were symmetrical and had very neat little smiles. Rush's were alien heart-shaped hand puppets that had between three and six eyes each. I love how they each put their own little spin on the same activity. :-)

I'll leave you with a picture of two seriously happy kids. I think it goes without saying at this point that I do NOT enjoy public toys. Who am I kidding? I don't like public spaces. Period. But when you have two little ones, you are generally in public spaces quite a bit. So, they went to a birthday party at a local public jumpy place. They ran wild and jumped and screamed with the other 322 kids from the five birthday parties happening in the place. We only left with one black eye. (Yes, really, Fran got elbowed in the cheekbone/eye socket.) So on the way out, Rush asked if they could please ride in the little jeep thing. You know the one where you put in quarters and it kind of shakes and bucks and make some noises? Well, my kids had never been in one. I know.. pretty sure that cancels out the crafty thing from earlier. I should have let them do this before now. I just imagine all the germs that are all over those things. I think it may be because I am around kids all day that I feel this way. I know how nasty they are. Anyway. I figured I might as well win Mother of the Year while we were there at the already public jumpy place. I popped those two quarters in and out came this...

Pure joy.

Fran and Phil go to their dance tomorrow night. I can't wait to for her to get dressed up. She is SO excited! Rush and I are going on a date, too. I told him he could choose the restaurant for our dinner. He chose McDonald's. I promise to be back with some sweet Daddy/Daughter pictures... hopefully by the end of the weekend. I promise to leave my sarcastic bone at home when I post that one. You caught me at the end of a week that had too many days in it. :-)