The middle fumb - update

Ok, so I was duped by a 2.5 year old.

Yesterday, when we were leaving daycare and I was buckling little hugs up in the car, I decide to revisit the middle fumb.

So, I hold up my hand, and pointing at my pinkie, I ask, "What is this?". "A finger". Simple enough, so I move on, one by one, until I get to the thumb - "finger, finger, finger, fumb". Correct. I decide to go backwards, starting with the thumb - "thumb, finger, finger, finger, finger". Correct again.

Then, I state, "Yesterday, you said this was a finger", pointing at my thumb, "and this was my middle thumb", pointing at my middle finger.

Laughter, then "Oh, I was just jokin', I a silly gwirl" (not girl, she says gwirl).

A silly girl indeed. She was so adamant the night before, I totally bought it.

And I'll admit it, this is not the first time she's tricked me into believing something as part of her silliness. It is amazing how great (and intelligent) a sense of humor she has at such a young age.

The middle fumb

Last night, little hugs and I were playing around. She was sitting in my lap, facing me, and we were both being silly.

I had taken her pacifier, mainly because I can't understand her when she talks with it in her mouth, but also because we are really trying to limit her use of it. I had the loop of it around my thumb until she decided she had to have it back and she twisted it off, which actually hurt. I decided to play it up a little bit - "Owww, you hurt my thumb, make it feel better. "

Looking very concerned, she said "Let me see, where does it hurt". "Right here, on my thumb", pointing to a red spot on the top of my left thumb.

"That's not a fumb, that's a finger", then kissing it, "now its all better."

I decide to turn this into a lesson and, taking her hand and pointing to her thumb, I say, "this is your thumb and these are fingers, the thumb is a special finger, you have five fingers", and pointing to each, I count, "one, two, three, four, five ... see, five fingers."

"No mommy", holding my hand and pointing at my thumb, "this, is a finger, your fumb is in the middle, right here", pointing to my middle finger.

Of course, I feel like this needs to be corrected so I explain that the thumb is the thumb and its also a finger, just a shorter finger and, (again) you have five fingers on your hand.

But, being little hugs, she is always right and you can not convince her otherwise. She went on to explain, with all the seriousness in the world, that my thumb, was actually a finger, and "this is the middle fumb."

I'm sure we'll revisit this until we get things straightened out but I couldn't continue last night. I was trying desperately not to laugh and could not argue with such a sweet girl and the cuteness of the "middle fumb".

The evil weasel?

So, this morning on the way to daycare and work, the shmoo asked me to tell him more about "the evil weasel".

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about so I asked if that was some type of story he heard at school and was surprised by the response - "No, you told me about him."

"I don't remember that story, was it a book or something we saw on TV?"

"No, it was a telling story." We tell him a made-up story every night before he goes to bed. They are usually about super-heroes or special agents. Every once in a while I convince him that a true story from my childhood would be entertaining.

"Oh, it must be a story Dad told you, I don't know about Dad's stories."

"No, mom (add attitude and frustration), it was one of your stories, you have to remember".

"Well, I've told you a lot of stories and we've read a lot of books and I don't remember everything, maybe you can tell me more about this evil weasel".

"You told me how he only wants to do bad stuff and he wants other people to do bad stuff".

"I'm sorry but I still don't remember, anything else?"

"Ugh... mom, you have to remember the weasel, I want to know more about him, he's God's nemesis".

"I think you mean the devil".

"Oh, yea, the devil. Why does he want to be a bad guy?"

Who knows where "evil weasel" came from. I was totally confused. We talked about the devil months and months ago, I don't even remember why but now I'm surprised it took so long to come up again.

What almost five year old uses words like "nemesis"?!? He also likes to say things like "apparently" and "injured" (vs hurt). Kindergarten is going to be fun!

Update on the birds

It was looking promising for the Bluebirds. I even got a picture of the male, sitting on top of the house Saturday morning.
Saturday afternoon, the Bluebirds and a pair of House Sparrows were squabbling over the house and by Sunday, it appeared that the House Sparrows had won. There was no sign of the Bluebirds all day and the House Sparrows were very busily filling the house with grass. The male also spent a lot of time "dancing" around on the roof.

According to various birding sites, I have two choices:
1. Keep pulling the House Sparrow nests out until they give up and move on, giving the Bluebirds a chance to move back in.
2. Put up a second house within 5 feet for the Bluebirds.

Here's what I'm thinking:
1. I feel really bad destroying all that hard work, it just seems mean. I know that House Sparrows are an invasive species, i.e., non-native, but that still does not make it feel right.
2. In theory, this may work, because House Sparrows are so aggressive and territorial, they won't allow another House Sparrow to nest so closely but will tolerate a more passive bird, like a Bluebird, in their territory. But, this is also the more expensive option since it means buying a new house and new pole. And, does not guarantee that Bluebirds will move in rather than some other species.

I think I'm going to go by my local bird store this weekend and talk to them.

Any suggestions?

Sneak peak - wip

The past two Tuesdays, I have taken a quilting class at my local quilt shop. Both days, class was from 10:30-12:30 and I got to work around 1:30, taking a half-day of vacation.

I had a blast and can not wait to take another class.

In the first session, we discussed our color choices, in terms of what types of themes and combinations tend to work with the pattern being used for the class. I had already picked my theme and fabrics ahead of time, based on the instructor's recommendations on the class reminder so I was glad we didn't spend too much time on the topic.

Next we moved on to the cutting. This quilt is easy in that you start off cutting all the same size strips, in pairs. Then you cut some of the strip pairs into smaller pieces and sew some of the others together, then cut. I sewed almost half of my strip sets together and had already created one block when I realized my needle position was off and my seams were 3/8", not 1/4". That may not seem like much, but when you have multiple seems, it adds up quickly.

After moving my needle, and double-checking the seam width BEFORE sewing anymore, I completed sewing my strip sets and it was time to leave. The instructor mentioned that we were not expected to finish all of our blocks prior to the second class but the more that was done, the more time we could spend on the quilt layouts, which for this quilt pattern are numerous.

I spent that evening ripping out all of my wrong seams while watching TV.

Seems odd to say this, but I felt so energized all day by the creativity (I think because it occurred in the morning, not at the end of the day when I'm already tired), that I was really hyper (and productive) all day at work and even had a hard time sleeping that night.

I spent the next couple of days resewing the corrected strip sets and the messed up block, creating blocks from the strip sets, and cutting additional strips sets. By the time the next class rolled around, all 64 of my blocks were done! In less than a week! I can't even believe it myself, the blocks go together so quickly with this pattern and the results are so beautiful, I can't wait to do another quilt in this pattern but using different fabrics.

I picked this quilting class and the fabrics with a particular person and gift already in mind and since the intended recipient may be the only person who actually reads my blog and the quilt is supposed to be a surprise, I'm not going to show much.

Some of the fabrics, in stacks, before class
As I started working on the blocks, I added some fabrics and removed others.

Sneak peak of blocks

I spent the ENTIRE second class, yes, 2 hours worth, working on the layout of my quilt. At first, I thought I would follow a very uniformed pattern but was surprised when it felt dull and too ... well ... blockey, which is funny to say since its a quilt, made of blocks put together to form bigger blocks.

After trying a couple of other semi-patterned, semi-random layouts, I was feeling overwhelmed and a little lost. But, that's the nice thing about a class - you can ask the instructor and your classmates what they think and maybe, if you are lucky, the ladies working in your shop are nice enough to offer their opinions as well and help you rearrange your blocks. In the end, I decided on a completely random pattern, but getting it completely random, making sure that colors and combinations are spread evenly throughout, was hard.

I carefully stacked my blocks and pinned and labeled rows so I'll be able to duplicate the layout at home before I start sewing the blocks together. Luckily, one of the ladies in the class finished her layout a few minutes before class ended so the instructor had her sew one block of four blocks together so she could show us a few tricks to handle the seams - which will make a very big difference, especially when I start quilting. With her method, I won't have to deal with a terrible amount of bulk, right in the middle of each block.

After its been delivered, I'll post more about the completed project.

New neighbors

This past weekend, I put up the bluebird house I got for Christmas. I knew it needed to get up soon since the bluebirds start nesting mid-March in our area.

I had a pole mounted feeder in the back garden and when the hubby bought the house, he had a bracket added to the bottom so it could replace the feeder on the pole. That works out great since it is a 6' pole and the hole for a bluebird house should be 6-8' above the ground. I just wasn't sure about the current location. After a little internet research, I decided it would be perfect - open to a field (our little backyard) and 4-5' from a place for the fledglings to roost (our dogwood tree and fence).

So, Saturday morning, while dad was in class, the kids and I headed outside to put up the house, install a new shepard's pole feeder system, and hang our new suet feeder. It was overcast and chilly so little hugs didn't last long. Switching out the house for the feeder was quick and installing the new pole wasn't too bad, although, my shoulder has been bothering me so screwing it into the ground wasn't the easiest thing to do. I put the pole in the garden under the family room window with the hope that we could sit on the sofa and watch the birds out the window.

After some snacks indoors, we headed to the home improvement store to pick up another feeder to hang, a rake, garden gloves for mom and the kiddos, and a mole sonic spike to chase away the voles (not moles) which are destroying the grass along our sidewalk.

When we got home, we hung up the new feeder and sat down for lunch, then dad arrived. He and our neighbor had rented a thatcher and aerator to do the lawns, which was the reason we needed the rake.

While he and the kids finished lunch, I got started on the thatching. The machine wasn't too hard to use and really pulled up a lot of dead grass. I only did the main part of the front yard, which is small, and then headed inside to relieve dad and put the kids down for naps. Dad headed outside to continue the thatching and I joined him to rake. When he finished the thatching, he starting aerating, raked areas first. When the lawn work was done, we did some pruning and finished spring cleaning the front gardens. It had been raining for a while at this point and it was chilly, but it was nice to get so much work done on the yard. We filled 4 lawn bags with dead grass and and clippings. Our yard is now ready for the spring!

All day Saturday, I checked on the feeders and never saw a single guest. But, with as much noise and activity going on, that was probably to be expected.

That night, we headed to the in-law's house for a St. Patrick's day party. My brother-in-law and one of his friends brew their own beer every year for this event - black duck (our last name translated from gaelic) stout. As usual, a lot of friends, family, and neighbors joined the celebration and the food was great. We left late, sometime after 10, and the kids feel asleep almost instantly so our 45 min drive home was quiet.

Imagine my surprise when we woke on Sunday to not only find the feeders covered in birds, but a pair of bluebirds checking out the house. They seem to have decided to keep it - we watched them chase other birds off the roof and when a small chickadee took a peak inside, they were right there to scare him away. They went in and out all day but I saw no signs of nesting materials - I'm guessing that's because its raining and they don't want wet grass to rot in their house. We spent most of the day watching the "birdy-birds", as little hugs and shmoo put it, and looking them up in the bird book.

I'll try to get some pictures of our feathered neighbors this weekend and post them soon.

Snow day

We got a little snow - about 5-6".

Dad had been watching the weather starting Saturday. We wanted to go to Tyson's Corner on Sunday, to watch and participate in the Master Lego building event to create an 8 foot tall Lego Yoda.

The projected accumulation for our area continued to grow but as the forecast moved the storm to later and later Sunday afternoon, then evening, we decided to venture out.

The kids love going to Tyson's, aka The Big Mall or Daddy's Mall (because its across from dad's office), and they both thought the Yoda (still under construction) was cool. The event had a variety of tables - one where you could build lego people, a duplo (bigger blocks) lego table, another table with assembled lego food (which was glued together) and a photo album, and several different "brick" building stations. A "brick" is a lot of regular lego pieces put together to create one large brick which is then used on the model. Each brick building station had an instruction sheet with the specifications.

Shmoo instantly started building his first brick while little hugs had fun putting together lego people, checking out the lego food models, and looking at some of the pictures. She used to call them "lee-gos" which was super cute but now, its plain old legos. After watching his first brick be added to the model, the shmoo was so excited, he had to create 4 more bricks.

Then, we headed off to pick up the participation certificate at the Lego store, take care of a little shopping, and eat. After dinner, and dessert at Coldstone, little hugs and I went to the bead store while dad and shmoo headed off to see the Yoda be completed. Luckily, they got there just in time and, from above, were able to watch the last couple of bricks be added and see streamers shot off. Extremely exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera. Dad used his cell phone but without a flash, the picture is useless.

Edited to add: Dad found this link. The guy on right with the red shirt is dad, the kid in front of him, leaning against the rail in the grey striped shirt is the shmoo.

The snow had started by the time we left but it wasn't bad yet. Over night, we got about 3". Daycare and work were open but, our streets didn't get plowed until the afternoon so we all stayed home.

Here are a few shots of the snow from this morning:
And a few of the shmoo playing this afternoon:
Little hugs would barely step off the sidewalk and then didn't do anything except stand in the snow:
Darby LOVES snow. The breeder we got her from in NC was worried about her being a short-haired dog and living in a climate that usually gets some snow every year. Nothing to worry about, that dog would stay out in the snow longer and more often, if we'd only let her.
Most of those tracks are her's - from running around like a crazy nut!

Its supposed to stay below freezing for the next day or two so this snow will probably hang around until Thursday or Friday.

Stay warm!

They came from South Carolina . . .

. . . for a weekend visit (2 weekends ago). The grandparents - Babci and Grampy - that is, not some aliens.

We had a very nice weekend.

Saturday, was a quiet day. Uncle Sean came up and joined us. Then, the girls (and Sean) went to the bead shop while the boys ran some errands. Having Uncle Sean to entertain little hugs in the store was great - Babci and mom looked at beads (and bought) for over an hour! He kept her busy the whole time, first having her clean up the beads that had been dropped on the floor and handing them to the shop staff. Then, he answered her questions - "what is this?", "its a bead", "oh, a bead, what's this?", "this is also a bead", "oh, and what's this?", "a bead" (surprise!).

That evening, we went to Macaroni Grill for dinner. Luckily for the grandparents, who had been freezing since arriving in the great north (Maryland), we were seated next to the fireplace. Dinner was nice, but there was a problem with the order and poor Uncle Sean had to wait a while for his meal. Service was a little slow, probably more so for the grandparents, which is surprising since people in the south are supposed to enjoy a slower pace of life.☺ The kids had fun drawing all over the tablecloth and stayed entertained for the duration of the meal.

After kid bedtime, dad and Grampy watched an HBO movie, "Taking Chance", while the ladies worked on the crossword and sudoku. The movie is a true story about the trip a Marine escort takes to return the body of a young Marine to his family. For the full synopsis, go here. I think the guys enjoyed the movie and I, while trying not to watch a sad story, had a hard time not getting sucked in to parts of it.

Sunday, after mass, we headed to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum. The kids had never been and its been years since either of us have been there - college for me, probably high school for the hubby. Uncle Sean meet us there and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The shmoo was fascinated by the various planes and rocket ships and couldn't resist running from display to display. Little hugs seemed less interested but still had fun. She's been talking about the "airplane and rocket museum" ever since and can't wait to go back.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Pile on the bed (air mattress in the living room):
Not to leave out the Darby dog:
Some shots from the museum:

Serious man-to-man discussion about rockets:
The trip home on the Metro:
A little coloring with Babci Monday morning:
Everyone was sad to see the grandparents go on Monday although, I think the kids were much more affected - both had a terrible day at daycare. Little hugs received her first incident report (ever!) for kicking a friend. Definitely worse day ever. The shmoo had some trouble controlling his anger (short fuse, followed by yelling and stomping) and managed to get into a lot of mischief with his main partner-in-crime. Not sure it was the worst day ever but it made the top 5 list.

We're already looking forward to another visit. Hopefully next time will be a beach somewhere or in South Carolina with a ride on grampy's boat - this is something both kids are looking forward to.

good morning

Today I had to be a work, earlier than usual. I needed to leave the house around the same time the kids usually wake up.

Dad got the shmoo up while I went to wake little hugs.

I started with a sing-songy, "time to be waking up ..." and was surprised by an immediate, "good morning mommy". Then a little head popped up, turned to the window and said, "its not good morning yet mommy, the sun is still sleeping".

I explained that it was early, but the sun was waking up and she needed to wake up too.

"Is the moon going night-night now?"

She's so sweet and curious, always thinking.

I just want to squeeze her up.

Productive weekend

The weekend turned out to be much more productive then I had figured.

On Saturday, dad went to an afternoon Caps hockey game and being a single parent usually means a lot of work caring and entertaining and not a lot of crafting or cleaning.

I decided we would try and make these. Shortly after dad headed out, I put on "The Jungle Book" while I got everything together. I had given the kids a few hints so they were getting pretty excited. I had all the necessary supplies on hand . . .
Yarn - for the shmoo, we used blue, green, cream, and burgundy; little hugs got a pastel variegated yarn with blue, pink, green, and some yellow.

Glue

Balloons

And a nice cup of coffee for the mom.

Next, add willing participants . . .
And get to work . . .

Both kids took the project very seriously and each with their own style. Little hugs concentrated hard and spent the time to very neatly lay out each piece of yarn.
The shmoo was just as focused, but his method was much more haphazard, which really contradicts his personality.
He is generally exact, particularly when building or creating, and things must be just right. He had started the morning with many tears - the castle he was trying to draw was not as he had pictured and did not match the one daddy had drawn. This is when I decided today was the day to try the baskets and as I announced my plans to the family, I stated I had a craft project that would be messy and fun and impossible to "get wrong". I didn't explain any more since dad was getting ready to go and I wanted to add some suspense.

When you run out of yarn, wait for the glue to dry.
I don't have high expectations, I used an entire bottle of glue on what I feel was not a lot of yarn, but the whole thing was not as sticky as I would have thought. I just hope they hold together.

This was a low cost project so if they end up getting thrown away, I won't feel too bad. The yarn has been in my craft stash for over 10 years - I had tried my hand at crochet and envisioned a variety of afghans, scarves, and hats but failed. A friend has promised to teach me to knit so maybe the rest of my yarn will get used some day. As for the glue, I picked up 2 or 3 bottles last fall when Staples was running their back to school sale and they were free with an instant rebate. Now I'm regretting that I only picked up a few, instead of max-ing out the store limit, which I believe was 5 or so. I will definitely remember this later this year, when the back to school sales start again.

Saturday evening, after dad got home, we headed to the mall for kid haircuts and dinner. Nothing exciting but nice to get some things taken care of. The shmoo's cut is great - clean and short but not shaved and bare with the cold weather. Little hugs bangs are a little too short for my liking so we've been calling her pixie. Its amazing how a little trim makes her curls come back and her hair bouncy.

We hit Costco on Sunday to stock up and I spent the afternoon doing laundry. For those of you keeping score at home: 5 loads washed, 4 folded and put away, whites are in the dryer (still).

Potty training (PT) update: Little hugs went the entire day wearing pull-ups and did not try the potty, not even once.

Editor's Note: The yarn baskets are dry (its Tuesday already) but we haven't popped the balloons and check the them out - I put them out of the way to give them plenty of time to dry and I think the kids have actually forgotten. Hopefully, I'll remember tomorrow to get them to pop the balloons and then I'll post new pictures.

Adventures in potty training

Little hugs is 2 1/2. We haven't pushed potty training, our parenting style is strict (manners, behavior) but laid back (milestones, learning). We believe that each kid does their own things in their own time. The shmoo started potty training about 2 1/2 but wasn't completely done until almost 3 1/2 - there were a lot of issues and hang-ups with #2, and clogging the potty seemed to be (and still is) a big concern of his.

For about the past 3-4 months, when little hugs asks to use the potty, we encourage her and heap on the praise. Some days, she tries a lot and is usually successful (always #1) and then she may go days, maybe weeks, without asking. But, we never ask her to try. This is mostly because we don't want to push and also because we are lazy - the closer she is to being really ready and in control of her body, the quicker and easier the whole process will be. Another reason is - she is still in a crib, which means, she can't get up from a nap or in the morning, on her own, to use the potty if she needs to and I think that would add to her frustration.

I've had pull-ups for months and today, I decided since we were having a quiet day at home, it would be the perfect time to try them - she would have a lot of opportunities to be successful. I started by explaining that they were "princess diaper underwear" and before I could go any further, she lit up and exclaimed "those are pull-ups, just like [friend at daycare] has! I'm gonna be a big girl!". I guess she is ready. Then, I pointed out the flowers that disappear when they get wet and we put them on.

A short while later, I asked if she would like to try the potty and she responded, "no, I workin' on a poopie". Ok, maybe she's not quite ready. When she was done (workin' on it), I changed her diaper and showed her that the flowers were gone.

After we worked on a craft project (I'll post more about that later), she asked to use the potty. She had already gone a little in her pull-up and we looked at how the flowers had started to disappear, but she was successful. Maybe she really is ready.

At nap time, she went to bed with a dry pull-up. Fifteen minutes later, it had a poopie in it. After changing it and giving her the diaper or pull-up option (she chose pull-up), she laid down and began humming. This usually means she's ready to sleep so I headed off to take my shower, finally.

When I stepped out of the shower, I heard, "mommy, I need help to put my pull-up on". I'm thinking - ON? I enter her room to find a little girl with 1. no more ponytails, 2. no more socks, 3. no more pants, and 4. a pull-up in her hand. I spy a large wet spot in the middle of the crib and ask, "why did you take off your pull-up?" Answer: "I didn't want the flowers to disappear." She really is ready.

And I need to get moving (fast) on the big girl room transformation (much more on that in a future post) because her next comment was "I'm going to be a big girl tomorrow and sleep in a grown up bed".

Here's a picture of her resting on my bed, with Chester, while I changed her sheets.
Not the best picture but I only got one shot - Chester didn't want to be bothered by the paparazzi so he left immediately following this picture. Although, my next shot did catch him leaving.

A little ice skating ...

... maybe more like ice sliding.

Tuesday evening, it started to sleet. We already had a couple of inches of snow so this was adding a nice, hard, crusty top to everything. By Wednesday morning, we had close to a half inch of ice and all the schools in the area were closed. I really needed to be in the office for a 10am meeting so, we headed out, as usual, in the minivan. Our neighborhood streets were a mess. I would never have believed anyone had even tried to plow them if I hadn't seen the snowplow myself.

I took it slow and got to the main streets without incident. The roads looked clear and I even called the hubby to let him know that, regardless of the fact the news was begging people to stay home, it was safe to travel to work, should he chose to go into the office.

I was pretty surprised when I got to daycare and saw that like our neighborhood, no one had made a dent in the parking lot ice. There was a small path from the parking lot to the front door that had been shoveled but, of course, no parking spaces anywhere nearby. I parked as close as I could - in the handicap spot - which is completely not like me but, I wanted to limit the amount of ice I would have to cross with both the shmoo and little hugs.

I got both kids out of same side of the van, holding little hugs, and squeezing the shmoo's hand. We managed to get to the sidewalk pretty easily but that is where the problem began. I asked the shmoo to carefully step up onto the sidewalk, which he did, and instantly slid off. Luckily, I was holding him tightly enough that neither knees nor bottom hit the ground. This is about the time another mother came out and decided to help by telling me, "be careful, its really slippery", "yes, I know", I responded, all while trying to get the shmoo up onto the sidewalk and keep from slipping and dropping little hugs.

Finally, the shmoo gets on the sidewalk. Success, but short lived. Every step, he slips and, while not falling, isn't going anywhere, he just slides back to where he started.

Helpful mom says "its really slippery", "yes, I know", "but, its really, really slippery, be careful". Again, "yes, I know". So, now she tries to provide some useful information, "but its really slippery and you are holding a baby". After a deep breath, I finally look at her and calmly respond, "yes, I know". Helpful mom finally realizes, she's not really being helpful and states, "yea, I guess you know its slippery and you know you're holding a baby, that was really dumb of me", "yes, I know" - only this time, my response was in my head and she finally stops watching us and gets in her car.

I suddenly realize that our current strategy is getting us nowhere and I have a brilliant idea. I tell the shmoo to carefully put his hands on the ground and start trying to crawl towards the grass (between the building and the sidewalk). This new idea seems promising as he gains a couple of centimeters so, I give him a push to slide him the rest of the way. And, even though I tell him (almost daily) "Do NOT walk in the garden", I say "today, you need to walk in the garden, stomp through the ice and snow until you get to the part of the sidewalk that is shoveled". He followed my directions exactly - making sure to stomp hard and enjoyed every moment. Best thing all week. I know this because he told every single person he saw - parent, teacher, director, fellow children - that his mom never lets him walk in the garden but today he got to stomp the ice all the way through it. Yea mom.

When I couldn't step up onto the sidewalk (and I was not about to crawl), I decided to take a different route - I walked through the parking lot, making sure to step only on the broken ice, where I could break through, until I got as close as possible to the shoveled walk. Now, why didn't I think of that earlier?

I really like snow. I think if its going to be cold, everything should be covered in snow but, I could do without the ice.

Stay warm.

Angry

(still catching up - started Monday, posted Thursday)

Saturday night, we went to the birthday party of my college roommate's three year old son. They live an hour away so its a long drive but worth it to see a bunch of friends. Neither kid took a nap that day, not at home, and, unbelievably, not in the car, because neither one of them would stop talking.

The party was fun - lots of kids, good friends, and a ton of fantastic food, as always. The kids were loud and crazy and they had a blast, which is all that really matters when you're talking about a kid's party. It was nice to see our friends and visit. All in all, a fun but uneventful trip.

Until the ride home.

I wouldn't really say it was eventful, maybe just amusing.

By the time we left the party, both kids were in their pjs and it was 8:30pm - past little hugs bedtime and about the time we try to head upstairs with the shmoo. Without a nap and all the running around, both kids were exhausted. Or so you would think. The shmoo started fading as soon as the car started moving but, little hugs wouldn't stop talking - again. We watched as shmoo's eyes closed, then popped open, again and again.

Finally, dad says, very nicely, I might add, "you need to hush" to which little hugs responds, "don't make me an-gee, guys (pause) don't make me an-gee (pause, then accentuating each word) don't tell me to be quiet!". We do everything we can to contain our giggles and say nothing.

At this point, shmoo is asleep and all is quiet. About 5 minutes pass and I hear "mommy" to which I, of course, answer "yes, sweetie?". "You be quiet, mom, hush!". This only makes me giggle more while dad snickers.

Only 1 or 2 minutes later I hear "mommy, I soooo tired" to which I respond "then close your eyes [thinking - and your trap]", "ok".

When we got home, both kids were so deep asleep, neither one of them stirred as we carried them to bed, took off coats and shoes, and tucked them in.

Everyone was fresh and ready to go again Sunday morning, just a few minutes later than usual.

Three Reviews

(OK, I'm already slacking. My second post was started 4 days ago and I'm just finishing it and sharing it today, January 29th.)

This past Thursday was a rare occasion for us - we watched a movie, on a weekday night, because, somehow, the kids were in bed and asleep(!) earlier than usual. The movie was one of my choices - "Someone Like You . . ." starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd. I had recently finished reading Piece of Work by Laura Zigman and noticed on the inside, back cover that one of her other books, Animal Husbandry, had been made into a movie (in 2001, I'm a little out of touch). Small tangent - I've read all four of her books and would rate them in the following order: 1. Dating Big Bird, 2. Animal Husbandry, 3. Piece of Work, and 4. Her - which interestingly, is almost the order I read them in, just switch the last two. The movie was cute but it lacked that spark necessary for a really good romantic comedy. I'm still not sure if it was the script or the casting, maybe a little of both. I like Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman but I think they lacked chemistry together.

Friday, I had my yearly review with my manager - he's not a project manager on my current project, so he's not familiar with what I do on a day to day basis, he's more of a personnel manager for me. I was actually pretty nervous going into it since last year's review went so terribly wrong. Long story short, I ended up yelling at my manager (yes, I actually raised my voice, and I can say that is the one and only time I've yelled at someone at work) and I slammed the conference room door on him (and right in the face of the next employee waiting for their review). Whoops. Anyway, this year went MUCH better - hard not to. I got the rating I feel I deserve and he said a lot of very nice things about me. We also had a nice conversation about our families (we have kids that are similar ages) and what I was planning on doing with my career in the next year. All in all, a great review and a much more pleasant experience, probably for both of us.

One more movie review. Friday night, we watch "Definitely, Maybe" with Ryan Reynolds and Abigail Breslin. A young girl convinces her divorcing dad to tell her the story of how he met and fell in love with her mother - only he combines multiple romances and changes names - and she has to figure out which one he ended up with. I thought it was pretty cute - I think we both enjoyed it. Although, sometimes I do get tired of the predictable endings in these romantic comedy movies.

So, I decided to start a blog

I've been thinking about starting a blog for some time now. I've heard about them, I even know several people who have one, and I browse multiple "craft" and "quilting" blogs. So, of course, I thought - why not me? I have plenty to share, things to comment on, and even some crafting and quilting of my own to write about. I may even throw in the occasional book or movie review to mix things up a bit.

If you follow along, I'm sure you'll read plenty of anecdotes about my kids - little hugs and the shmoo - along with the occasional picture of a completed project, comments about a lot of unfinished ones, and you'll probably read about a few planned projects, but most likely, the planned and unfinished will outnumber the completed. Hopefully, this blog will provide some inspiration to keep the completed numbers up.

I don't intend to publish on a regular daily or even weekly schedule so don't be disappointed if you come for a visit and no one's been here for a while. I envision this as more of an irregular blog, one to share experiences and thoughts, however random they may be, as the material becomes available and the mood strikes.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you come back. =)