My kids were those kids today

Today my kids were “those” kids. Yep, once, a long time ago when I was STUPID I judged the moms with “those” kids… and payback has been received with interest. Sigh.

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Instead of dwelling on today's less-than-stellar performances of my two “angels,” I’m going to post of photo of a time not so long ago when they were on their sweetest behavior – because I just need to believe that they will be that way again tomorrow!

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Rain Rain Go Away

What do you do when it's raining so hard outside that your enclosed back patio is getting flooded?

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Why, you play warrior with tall hats of course!
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Ready...

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Charge!

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This was all Samuel's idea. He found the empty boxes and promptly stuck one on his head and offered the other to his Daddy - who obliged!

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Our GREAT Day...

We had such a wonderful day at the park - with bright blue skies, perfect temperatures, great food, and the best company!

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My brother, Dave, and his beautiful wife, Suignette, work and live on the water and they just happen to be in Ft. Lauderdale for the next couple months. Well, they came up this way today and we ended up at a park with our take-out with some other special people and lots of fun...

Dave and Suignette - aren't they just the sweetest?! And they are expecting their first little miracle this April - I can't wait!

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Also joining the gang is my incredibly handsome nephew, Ollie, who is spending a year working with Dave (Ollie actually belongs to my other brother Bill and his beautiful wife Ruth).

And I'm kicking myself for cropping so much of him out!

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And another favorite member of the group is our very own chef extraordinaire, aka Jo, who is more family than friend! She is about as wonderfully amazing as they get!

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So we had our lunch while the kids played, but we had a hard time picking out the kids from the "adults" on the slide...

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Oops, traffic jam!

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And the boys played some football...

Hmmm, who got that football stuck?

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We met a curious little fellow named Mr. Squirrel...

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...who was pretty interested in what Dave had to offer...

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And then we found some monkeys!

Ooo, ooo, aaa, aaa!
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So all in all it was a wonderful day filled with laughs, smiles, a few tears, and lots of memories to treasure :)

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"Fire in the Hole!"

And then he tooted.

Little stinker.

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Ever wonder what to do with travel soaps?

What happens when you pour three of these...

with a lot of this...

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One amazing bubble bath!

All thanks to one amazing Nonie!

Where Have We Been?!

Soooo, have you been wondering where we've been? Well, we have been out of town on a sort of "last-minute" mini vacation. Wanna clue where we went? Here's one...

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Figure it out yet?

Here's another clue...

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M

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C

K

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MOUSE!

Yep, you got it, Walt Disney World - WHOOOHOOOO!

Nonie and DuDad (aka, Brian's folks) have been planning this trip, well I think since they first learned they were going to be grandparents seven years ago! And in their extremely busy world, they were able to carve out a weekend and off we went!

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It was a blast - a COLD blast! We arrived Thursday afternoon and headed over to check out Cinderella's digs, and let me tell you, she has got QUITE the place, especially stunning at night.

Here's Jace and Samuel's first view of Main Street...

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Talk about one super e.x.c.i.t.e.d. boy! He was like Tigger - "The wonderful thing about tiggers is that tigger's a wonderful thing. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of spring. They're bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun fun fun fun FUN! The most wonderful thing about tiggers is that Tigger's the only one!

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Yep - that pretty much sums up Jace!

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We woke up our second morning to gray skies and rain - but it didn't dampen our spirits! Our ponchos matched our moods - well, at least mine anyway. Am I the only one excited about walking around in the pouring rain?!

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Well, the rain lasted through the early afternoon but we still got in some awesome rides, laughs and fun it. By this point, Jace has decided that his favorite ride is the train roller coaster over in Frontier Land. That little man has quite the adventurous streak - he was ready for anything ol' Walt could throw at him! HOWEVER, our previous night's late curfew and the rain finally took its toll and we convinced Jace to head back for a little snooze... thank goodness, I didn't want to be the one to admit the old bones were tired, hehe!

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Later that night we stuffed our faces on an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet and then headed over to Epcot and rode as many rides as possible... and again threw bedtime out the window, staying out until MIDNIGHT! Even Samuel was awake, sort of... he was all bundled up and I really couldn't tell if he was awake or not...

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On Saturday nature smiled on us and gave us a sunny (but still chilly) last day. We visited Animal Kingdom (RRaaarrr says the tiger!) and rode the new Mount Everest ride - it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

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We jammed as much as we could into three days and left for home exhausted and ready for our next visit!

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Thank you, THANK YOU Nonie and DuDad for a wonderful visit and amazing trip to Disney :)

Sweet Things

Usually Samuel is awake from his nap and playing with cars before I go in there to get him. I did, however, catch him still sleeping one day and after he woke up immediately wanted to look outside. It was a very sweet moment with him just checking things out.



Our stylish one had picture day today! This is a big deal because Jace wears uniforms everyday and to wear "regular" clothes means much planning. So yesterday after school we headed over to the mall for a little shopping trip... His teacher suggested "bright" clothes and I think we succeeded! Check back after this weekend for a shot of the two in their brand new clothes!



One last thought... this Thursday is Grandparent's Day at Jace's school and his teacher requested photos of the grandparents. I was horrified (and ashamed) to find that the latest photo I have of my children with their Nonie/Dudad and Nana/Papa was from nearly 2 years ago - Samuel was a baby! So, this is a deficiency that I WILL fix at the next opportunity. Beware Nonie/Dudad, Nana/Papa - I've got you in my sights now!

Mmmmmmmm

Know what goes better with spaghetti and garlic toast?

My spaghetti monsters!

Boy do they LOOOOVE them some sketti!

A Day of Learning

Mr. Jace was out of school today and Brian had to work so the boys and I headed out into unknown territory… the Science Museum! It was a nice little place with an outdoor area and planetarium and we hung out for a couple hours before I got tired of chasing Mr. Samuel.

(*there is supposed to be a photo here but for the life of me I can't get it posted!)

As we were leaving there were some “movies” playing in the auditorium so we decided to check them out. It started out okay, showing a documentary of the largest known creature to walk the Earth - you know that leaf-eating dinosaur with the long tail.

We sat down in front and settled in, sharing the theater with two dads and two other young children about 4 or 5. Suddenly, before I knew what was happening, the documentary took a frightful turn and we were watching the mating habits of these large creatures!

The narration went something like, “The female tolerates the male’s advance as he rubs his body the length of hers and she gets ready to accept him.” I sit up straighter in my seat thinking SURELY they aren’t going to show what I think they’re going to show…

“This is a dangerous time for the female as she must take up to 5 tons of additional weight on her back.”

AAAAAAHHHHH! As the image of the male dino mounting the female appears on the gi-normous screen 10 feet from us, I turn to one of the dads and as our eyes lock in mirrored horror HIS little girl says in all innocence, “What are they doing Daddy?”

What are they doing? The three adults in the room are sitting rigid and uncomfortably silent waiting for the “scene” to pass. It exits quickly as does the audience… Jace still hasn’t asked me about it – THANK GOODNESS – and I dread the day that he is old enough to have this conversation for real, with his DAD.

Knock, Knock...

Jace is notorious for his "Knock, knock" jokes. Here's the thing though, he makes them up - and shhhh, lean in close - they're not funny!

Of course, being the stellar Mommy I am, I dutifully toss a chuckle his way, but I have been also known to call him out on it (that's the NON-stellar Mommy coming out!). Here's his jokes today on the way home from school...

Jace: Knock, knock.
me: Who's there?
Jace: Car.
me: Car who?
Jace: Car I'm going to blow up into the sky! BAAHAAHAA!
Jace: Don't you think it was funny Mom?
me: Umm... well... no, not really Honey. But keep working on it okay?!

Jace: (undeterred) Okay. Knock, knock.
me: Who's there?
Jace: Powerline.
me: Powerline (?) who?
Jace: Powerline me up up so I don't get electrocuted! BAAHAAHAA!

Oy vey. Not so sure he's going to make it as a stand-up comedian... good thing he's got those good looks working for him!

Stuck in a Rut...

When I went to get Mr. Samuel from his nap he quickly dashed over the bed and promptly got stuck on the other side, teeheehe. I let him endure this predicament for a few minutes before rescuing him.

Quit laughing Mom!

Will you help me out now? Please?

FREEDOM!!!!

Some Change and other Ramblings!

On our way to school this morning Mr. Jace is in his usual non-stop mode and then at a red light squeals in delight as he spots some change on the floorboard. He grabs at it, discovers more (probably because my change jar spilled and money is EVERYWHERE) and proceeds to count it up. 76 cents - he is thrilled. Then he tells me that he is going to take it to class and put it in the jar for Haiti. When we get to school I hand him a baggie of more change (its our toll money, that's why its there!) and he thrilled, "WOW MOM! The jar is going to overflow now!"

Isn't it amazing what a little change can do?

I resisted the urge to take a nap after dropping Mr. Jace off at school and got to work straightening the kitchen, which included putting away yesterday's groceries.

Have you ever bought something just because it was on sale? Yep, me too all the time. Last night we went by a sale on cake mix - $.97! We probably overdid it, especially when I realized this morning that in the cupboard we already had 1 cake mix, 4 tubs icing, 2 packages brownies, 2 packages sugar cookies, and 1 chocolate chip mix. Oh, and somewhere in there is some pudding too.

Hmm, there is a reason I can't lose weight, why is it again...?

In the middle of the cake conundrum, I spotted a boxtop (see it in the photo?) and remembered the note Mr. Jace's sweet teacher sent home just yesterday about getting them in THIS WEEK. Each month the school has a contest - the class that brings in the most gets a dress down day. I keep forgetting to send my collection in. And Jace's class has not won yet. But that's going to change this month! After scoring and tearing, cutting and stuffing, I think we may have a chance. Hopefully the other forgetful K5 mommies remember to send theirs in tomorrow too.

Of course after all the WORK got done (well, it's not done... started though) I got to hang out with my favorite toddler. How can anyone resist this face?

The Next Project - WhooHoo!

So the older I get the more I am forgetting - to put gas in the van (oops, how embarrassing), pick up milk at the store (much to the chagrin of the kiddos), and the really cute comments my young sons say and do that I wanted to reminisce over with the family (but don't remember later, ahhh!).

My amazing and wonderful mother-in-law has been an encouragement to me since the first moment my sweet husband brought me home to meet them, and lately she has been in overtime encouraging me to write down some of the things that happen around here.

Sooo, here I am. We'll see how this goes...

Just my ramblings - hopefully they'll be sweet!