Bribery and Chuck E Cheese.

Several weeks ago, in a fit of desperation caused by a really long string of pre 5:30am wake up calls delivered by one or both of the children, Joel and I offered up a deal.  An old fashioned bribe, really.  We told the kids that if they stayed in bed until 6am every day for a whole week straight, we'd take them to either Chuck E Cheese or the Kids Commons (local children's museum).

Our bribe worked and both kids have been doing really good ever since then.  Very few wake up calls before 5:30 - and if there were, it was Tyler and it was cause he had to pee and wasn't totally with it enough to go on his own and wanted help - and then he'd go right back to bed until 6 or pretty close to it.  Most mornings they were making it past 5:45.  

I'm guessing most people probably think that's still super early... and it is.  However, when you're used to waking up at 4:15am (for Farrell's in my case), 5:45am feels like you've slept half the day away.  

Anyhow, Lily has been totally on top of the fact that we promised Chuck E Cheese or Kids Commons and every few days, she'd ask when we were going to take them.  We finally made good on our promise.

The kids had a total ball.  We walked in the door, they got their tokens and each kid ran off in a different direction.  Joel followed Tyler and I followed Lily.

Lily was all about any game where she got to drive.  I think she played every single one.  

She played a few other games too and collected a few tickets.

Tyler was off having a good old time with Daddy.

Both kids, at separate times during our visit, rode this ride and showed their bravery with their "Look!  No hands!" pose.  

When Chuck E Cheese came out, Lily went and checked him out - from a safe distance.  She danced along with ol Chuck and some of the other kids.

Tyler got all up in this soccer game, grabbed the ball and was kicking it around the room - not exactly how that game was intended to be played.  Guessing he didn't get that many tickets playing it like this.

Both kids checked out the only "free" activity in the joint.  That lasted about 2 minutes.  Long enough for me to sneak in a couple games of skeeball.  

Lily was all about the photo booth.  I think she would have spent half her tokens here if I let her.

Tyler even shared his ride in the car with his sister when she had used up all her tokens.

After all the tokens were used up, we cashed in our tickets.  Feeding them to the counting machine was like a whole other game.   We had earned/found about 100 tickets which was enough for a couple of really obnoxious whistles, some stickers and a couple plastics tops.

Spring 2015 School Pictures.

Mommy goes on airplane = Whitecastle for everyone else.

Why is it that these kiddos wake up at the butt crack of dawn when you don't want them to, but EVERY TIME you need them to wake up at their normal early hour, they are just snoozing away?  This kills me.  Just kills me.  These pics are from the last time I was out of town and Joel had to take them to daycare in the morning.  He has to leave at 6:15 in order to drop them off and get to work on time.  Normally they are up definitely by 6 and usually at least 5:45 at the latest.  On this day, at 6:05, still sawing logs.

 

A few times when I've traveled for work, Joel has taken the kids to Whitecastle for dinner.  Now, because of this sort-of tradition, at least once a week as we go past the Whitecastle on the way to daycare, one of the kids will ask me, "Mommy, when are you going on the airplane again?" (That's what we call it when I travel - cause usually it's on an airplane.)

Earlier this week, Lily saw the Whitecastle and asked me when I was going on an airplane next.  

Me:  "In a few weeks.  Why?  Are you trying to get rid of me so you can go to Whitecastle with Daddy?" 

Lily:  "NO!!"  (pause for a few seconds)  "When is Daddy going to go on the airplane?"

Tyler:  "Daddy not going on airplane.  Daddy's going on motorcycle trip."

I couldn't believe my ears.  Joel has been planning a little motorcycle trip for this weekend and we've just been talking about it between the two of us.  We hadn't specifically told the kids what was going on - but they had been around when we were discussing it.   It just blew my mind that Tyler had picked up on the conversation, understood it and relevantly brought it up in the right context.  He's 2.5!  Not 5!  Maybe this is totally normal and age appropriate and I'm just stuck in the "he's my baby" mode and not realizing that he's not actually a baby anymore. 

Back in the Saddle.

Last week, before the trike-a-thon, I suggested we take a little bike ride around the "short loop" in the neighborhood so Lily could get some practice on her bike.  I was feeling adventurous and wanted to see if Tyler could handle riding on the tag-a-long bike so off we went.

I was nervous as all get out with Tyler on the back!  His feet just  reached the pedals.   He was so excited to be riding with me.  I went really slow (for his sake and mine) and he did really good back there!  I don't think he's ready for a ride that's more than about 1/2 mile long or on actual roads - or maybe it's me that's not ready because it's pretty stressful.  He is only 2.5 years old. 

All was going really well.   And then we hit about the half way point.  Lily was riding on the sidewalk in front of me.  I was giving her wide berth and was about 30 yards behind her.  She was flying - well flying is relative, but she was going pretty fast for a newby bike rider - and were we approaching a left turn.  She got nervous, saw the turn and forgot to brake - tried to turn and crashed.  I saw this coming about 10 seconds ahead of time but it was just too late for me to do anything....I watched helplessly as she fell to the ground.  Mommy heart broken.

She skinned her knee pretty good, scraped up her hands and hit her head.  Check out the photo of her on the bike - you'll see her helmet is loose and catty wompus on her head.  She did that because it was "too tight."  Well when she fell, the helmet did her no good because it was sitting too far back on her head.  Mommy guilt pangs ensued when I saw a little bit of road rash on her forehead.  I learned a lesson about making sure the helmet was actually secured properly before we take off.

Anyway, now for the silver lining.  Since Lily's injuries were just some scrapes, Joel and I gently encouraged her to get back on the bike.  She cried and was upset for about 5 minutes.  Mostly cause she was scared and little shocked from the crash.  But after about 5 minutes, Joel convinced her to just sit on the bike.  She did.  Still pretty upset and insisting she didn't want to ride anymore.  But Joel kept encouraging her and got her to just pedal a few feet.  Then got her to pedal a little more.  And after about another 5 minutes, she was riding again. 

I.  Was.  So.  Proud.  And I told her so about 47 times as we completed the short loop and made our way back home.  I think she learned a couple really valuable lessons.  Some practical like SLOW DOWN before you turn on your bike and some with life long applicability like when you fall, you can be brave and get right back in the saddle.

Project Patio

It's feeling a little like the yard barn project, reincarnated, around our house these days.  We have started a "little" backyard renovation project.  And by "we," I mostly mean Joel.

The kids absolutely love to eat outside.  Love it.  Sadly, our little 10x10 backyard patio isn't big enough for the grill and a patio dining set so every time we want to eat outside, we have to drag the card table around back.  It's super annoying.  Plus the card table is in pretty shabby condition and the vinyl on top has been repaired with scotch tape in multiple locations.

So, it's either go buy another card table OR dig a 12'x25' hole nine inches deep, make several trips to various locations to get rid of the dirt, rent a jackhammer to break up the concrete patio, figure out where to put this busted up concrete and then, four truck loads later, haul it away, haul away two truck loads of the pea gravel that was under the concrete slab, have 9 tons of regular gravel delivered to the driveway, haul the gravel to the back yard, rent a giant compactor to settle the gravel, have 5 tons of sand delivered to the driveway, haul it to the back yard, haul 250 huge pavers to the back yard, painstakingly arrange the pavers in the correct pattern, order some patio furniture from Sam's Club and badda bing, badda boom, we can have dinner outside any time we want to.  Needless to say, we opted for the second option.  Slightly more expensive and time consuming than the first but (hopefully) worth it in the long run. 

As you can clearly see, Tyler has been a HUGE help in the project.  He never put pea gravel back on top of dirt that was just cleared out.  He also never put dirt on top of the fresh gravel.  And he definitely never put pea gravel and fresh gravel in the grass where it doesn't belong.  Also, he never tripped over the strings that are marking a level surface and skinned his knees such that he was in need of a new bandaid every 5 minutes.  See what I mean?  Big help!!!

I love how he's wearing boots and shorts - cause Daddy was wearing boots so he needs to wear boots.  Also, I love how his boots are on the wrong feet. 

 

 

Oh and did I mention that we also decided to dig out two feet on either side of our drive way so that we can put pavers down there as well?  Since we both park our vehicles in the driveway, there's not a lot of room to get in the car without walking in the grass.  This is SUPER annoying, particularly in the spring and fall when the grass is wet and the ground is soft and your heels sink into the mud while strapping the kids in their car seats.

We're currently in the gravel compacting stage and then on to the sand hauling and paver placing phase of the project - Joel thinks we've entered the home stretch.  Gawd, I hope so.  Otherwise, by the time we're done, it'll be July or August and 105 degrees outside and no one will want to eat out there.  

Mother's Day 2015.

I had such a lovely Mother's Day weekend - the kind of weekend that makes this momma super happy because it included a great mix of relaxing, shopping, cooking, getting sh*t done around the house and of course presents.  It doesn't get much better than that.

First off, Tyler ran up to me and said, "Happy Mother's Day!"  Melted me right into a puddle.  And to top it all off, I got a little couch snuggle time with him to boot.  That doesn't happen very often so I relish in it when I get it!

Joel offered to make me Mother's Day breakfast, but I declined in favor of making it myself.  I make a bad@ss omelet and I just kinda enjoy doing it.  Served up with a side of homemade guacamole I made on Saturday and a super sweet, juicy naval orange and I was in heaven.  Can you imagine a breakfast heaven that doesn't include bacon?  Well, if there is such a thing, I found it and it's on that plate pictured.

Then it was on to presents.  Homemade Mother's Day gifts from the kiddos are simply the best gifts.  Ever.  I love all the various hand and foot print art work that I never fail to receive.

Joel has started a tradition of having the kiddos put their hand prints in a card.  He is so thoughtful (for Father's Day, I do good to make sure each kid scribbles something on the card).  It's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between Lily's and Tyler's hands!!  Next year, I may not be able to tell!

Lily is responsible for these creations:

And Tyler wins the prize for bringing me to tears with this one (thanks Miss Stina!):  

He also made me this jewelery holder - at least, that's what I decided it was perfect for.  Love it.

Is it a bit ironic that when Joel asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I said, "To go to Greenwood shopping BY MYSELF?"  Well, ironic or not, that's what I did on Saturday.  And it was great.  I spent a lot of money on some much needed wardrobe additions and probably a few indulgences - but let's just assume, for giggles, that it was ALL much needed.

And then, because I bought so many new clothes and our master closet is tiny, I cleaned it and pulled all the winter clothes out.  And then, because I was on a closet cleaning roll, I did the same thing to the kids closets.  I have a love hate relationship with cleaning out closets.  I HATE doing it, but I LOVE it when it's done.

We also got the garden planted which is often a Mother's Day weekend tradition.  Lily was actually a big help.  I would dig the holes and place the plant and Lily would come behind me and push dirt into the holes and make sure the plant was standing up tall.

So, see what I mean?  Got lots done but still got in some slow down time.  Perfect weekend.