Will you be my Valentine?

Found this idea on Pinterest.  Have your kid pose like this--add a message.  Use a hole punch to make two holes around his or her hand, and slide in a lollipop.  Super cheap and super cute.

 Tommy's not in school yet, but he didn't want to be left out, so we ordered a few for him to make and send out to family.

 Somebody turned 43.  (Not me!)

 Easter--was a blustery day, so we had an indoor egg hunt.  It was still super fun!

 Tommy enjoying his haul.

 

And after Easter dinner, we came home to find Grandma Deb and Glenn leaving presents for the kids.  This, of course, led to a visit!

My children are loved by so many people; we are so fortunate.

 It's never too cold to go to the park!

 The kids wanted "a new park we've never been to".  So we found one.

 I think they had fun?

The three amigos.

Little Dude turned two.

 Tommy turned 2 on the 16th...good thing he doesn't know his dates, because we had cake on Saturday.  Grandma and Grandpa sent presents for all the kiddos, and fun was had.  Probably our last birthday without a kid demanding a party.

And what to say about this little tyke?  T is for Tommy and for Temper and for Tantrum.  He is Mister If I don't get my way I will scream until you give in.

He's also destined to be the class clown, amusing his sisters at every turn with silly faces and gestures.

He's the daredevil.  The only kid we've really seen bleed.  Because when you are jumping off of everything, and getting in to it all, you are bound to get a little banged up.

He likes to announce "HAND" as he extends his so that he can lead you where he wants to go, which is, most often, to the kitchen for cookies. 

Amazingly agile, he could climb the stairs like a big boy months ago.  He's our little mimic, repeating everything the girls say.  Tonight at dinner it was "Chuck E Cheese" over and over in varying voices to Dani and Tori's delight. 

He is, by far, the best snuggler of the three.  When you pick him up, he wraps his arms around your neck and places his head on that sweet spot on your shoulder made for baby heads and just snuggles.

He is love.  He is energy.  He is chaos.  He is our Tom Tom.

 And he loves his sisters.  "DANEEE. TOWEEE" he calls, often when they sneak away to do something else.

 

 We went to Animal Land a week ago.  Tommy had no fear.  He touched every animal he could, feeding them, petting them, and at one point, picking up a huge piece of deer poop that we thought was a rock.....ugh.

 He's game for rides, and whatever his sisters have in store for fun.

 On the safari ride, one camel followed us, and was fixated on Tommy.  All I could think was "please don't bite my kid's face off", but the camel walked along us, sticking with Tommy as he petted her nose and said hello.

 And then, of course there was some cake.  Dani helped me bake it.  What a difference a year makes.  He wanted a fork, he always wants a fork because his sisters use one.

He's an amazing boy, our little Tommy.  No doubt, because he has grown up with two smart, older sisters, his vocabulary at his age is amazing.  He's the king of the funny face, and without a doubt makes Wes and I laugh at least once per dinner.  He's our little fireball, and I love him to bits.  Happy Birthday Tommy!

 

And, before I forget to add some of the recent fun things the kids have said.....

We've had a bunch of work done in our house recently, and I was somewhat friendly with the contractor beforehand...so that meant that he shared a number of meals with the family.  One day, his car broke down and he took a cab to our house.  We would routinely bring him home.  On day three of no car, he mentioned at dinner, "I just feel naked without my car."  Dani leaned over to me and said loudly, "Why does Mr. M think he doesn't have any clothes on?  He's wearing clothes!".  I looked at Wes, perplexed (probably because we weren't paying too much attention to Mr. M), but Mr. M caught on--and pointed out to us what she meant so we could explain.

 

In other news, and funnies, Dani is starting Pre-K next week.  We received a packet in the mail two weeks ago with information from the teacher, and which advised us of the dress code:  solid color collared shirts and pants/shorts/skirts in designated colors.  Reading it, I explain to Dani that she will need to wear solid shirts to school.  She looked both disappointed and perplexed.  "Mommy, will the shirts be hard?", she asked.  I looked at her, not having a clue...and asked what she meant.  "Mommy, solids are hard...you know that," she said.  There has been some talk of liquids and solids with water and ice cubes, but it's easy to forget how literally words can be taken.  Ice cubes are solids, and they are hard, so wouldn't the shirt be hard too?

 

These kids, all amazing in so many ways, but I feel like I'm leaving Tori out.  Perfectly potty trained, she's been accident free and wearing underwear to bed for about 6 months...amazing.  At newly 3, she can write most of her letters, as she showed me with chalk on the sidewalk yesterday.

 

They are amazing little peeps, my kiddos!

Memorial Day Weekend.

I haven't taken a weekend off since I started my business in 2010. 

This weekend, I was home on Saturday and Monday.  It was pretty awesome.  Dani has gotten into the habit every day of asking whether it is a work day for me....time to spend some quality family time.  Grillin' and Chillin'.

 Lunch picnics, and backyard fun.

 City parks and slides and running and swinging.

 Sweet shadow photos as the day starts to end.

 Nothing like recharging your batteries with family.

So nice to have a weekend with Big Man and the kiddos.

Toddlers and Tiaras.

Well, I'm glad to report that I'm back from the sick and back at it. 

In preparation for this weekend's "Princess Tea Party" we erected a castle in the playroom.

Prince Tommy stood guard over the princesses.

 

 The girs were so excited to get dressed up.  And to wear make up!

 Tori took a liking to Cinderella.  She refused to pose for many pictures, or to remove her sunglasses for the first hour.  She was surprisingly timid when we first arrived, but quickly got her princess on.

 We met Belle and Rapunzel.

 Knightly young men brought tea, and finger sandwiches to our tables.

 Iced tea tastes so much better in real china!

Dani recently watched Brave, and was very excited to meet Merida!

 Ariel was even there.

 What a creative fundraiser for the junior prom at my alma mater.  I saw a ton of women I remembered from high school, that I hadn't seen in decades a few years or so.  There had to be 200 kids, in various forms of princess/dress up clothes, all acting like little ladies.  The girls had a blast!

Balloons!

Dani and Tori saw a show where the host made amazing balloon creations, and they were so excited.  So, I suggested that we could buy some and make our own.  Big Man mockingly laughed at my idea and my promises to make balloon animals for the kiddos.  I assured him that balloon art was a hidden talent of mine--how hard could it be?

After nearly 20 minutes of trying to blow them up, and failing, we got out the hand pump.  I must say, I made a pretty sweet poodle.

And hey, my kids are toddlers--they were just excited that I could twist two balloons into something resembling a hat, and they loved Big Man's hula hoops.

Their favorite part was just to have balloon wars, chasing each other around the house with their arms waving with the long balloons.  The occasional POP would have them skittering and asking me to blow up more.

Even Tommy got into the action.

The best part of my day, every day, are these little, silly adventures.

More with Grandma and Grandpa!

Grandma plays a mean game of patty cake!

She's also pretty awesome at coloring!

 

And she lets you get big girl (Shirley Temple) drinks when you go out to eat!

And Grandpa does the heavy lifting!

Horsey rides!

And reading books.

Grandma and Grandpa sure are fun!

Will work for cupcakes.

We went to a birthday party today. It was for a 2 year old, so Dani was among her kind. They all took turns crying. Well, Dani didn't really cry, she was busy making kids cry by trying to play with them. Seriously--there was one kid who did cry alot...probably because she kept walking up to Dani with toys, and Dani kept helping herself to them.

The birthday girl's mom had cupcakes for all the little kids. I'm amazed to say that my little kiddo (who was channeling Jackie O with her faux fur neckline and cuffs) ate rather daintily while sitting in a big girl chair.
Really, she did. I knew that the hostess was planning the kiddie cupcake fest, and I brought a change of clothes because I figured Dani would be caked in frosting. Turns out, she prefers her cake with a fork.
Once she tired of the cupcake, she played with various toys, and then walked up to adults and stuck her finger into the frosting on their cake. It was well received. I had Tori on my lap, so could only offer the lamest of Dora references to Dani, "Dani, no swiping." I failed.

Lesson two for today was that kids whose parents buy them new toys have WAY better toys. Little Dani is perfectly happy in our second-hand toyland, but the birthday girl had a Mickey Mouse kitchen and Dora backpack and so many awesome toys that Dani never knew existed. I told her that her birthday was coming up and she would have a party soon, and she sang "Happy Birthday to Dani" all the way home.

In perhaps the best example of the fact that all our stuff is used or hand-me-downs, I had this sweet dress for Dani to wear. No black leggings or tights to go with it, so she wore grey leggings, grey socks and blue crocs, because that's what we had. Seriously every other kid there had shoes that matched their outfits and looked so cute. My kid just needed a sharpie-drawn cardboard sign saying "will work for cupcakes". I was really worried she's start opening presents or gift bags, because at home it's a free-for-all, but she just played very nicely near them, and when I told her not to touch, she didn't.

Tori, on the other hand, was adored by all. She was the only baby at the party. She happily sat on laps and had many a stranger pinch and stroke her chubby cheeks. My chubby mcdubbs was a big hit with the elders today.

It was great to see Dani and Tori interact with a decent crowd, because with the holidays and Dani's birthday coming up, this is a good indicator of what to expect.

Flying solo.

Big Man had to fly home to Chicago, as his brother is gravely ill. I've been on my own with the kiddos since Friday evening. How tiring!

We started today with a trip to the grocery store--just to pick up a thing or to because my friend Kristen and her daughter Mary were coming over--needed to get some kiddie lunch materials.

Kristen and I were pregnant together and Mary is about 3 weeks older than Dani. The day started great--both kids were fascinated with each other and playing and being cute. They kept giving each other "huggies" and jumping up and down.

As naptime drew closer, it became an all-out tantrum fest. Anything Mary picked up, Dani wanted, so Dani would grab it and Mary would shriek. Dani doesn't have much experience with other kids, and has no concept of personal space, and kept trying to pat Mary on the tummy, which she hated. The day culminated with a huge fight over Dr. Seuss' "The Nose Book". It was actually quite cute to watch the insanity, and Kristen and I laughed it off as the kids just wailed--they are silly babies that need to learn how to share. Dani has clearly mastered the art of taking what she wants, but not sharing--she was even upset to see Mary pick up a toy that was in the other room, even though Dani didn't want to play with it.

At the end of the playdate, they kissed and made up--here's Mary leaning in to plant one on Dani.

Dani was sound asleep about 14 seconds after they left. Of course, then Tori woke up, so there was no nap for mommy, although I was desperate for one. (Now I feel Big Man's weekday pain--they really don't sleep at the same times!) I spent the rest of the day just being silly with Dani.

Dani was asking to go upstairs all day to get Daddy (who is usually sleeping), and couldn't figure out where he was, despite my best efforts to distract her. We colored, played with a million toys, and watched way too much TV. Once I got Dani upstairs, Tori was ready to play--she's getting so big--and cute! They are looking less and less alike each day, with Dani definitely favoring my side of the family and Tori favoring Big Man's.
Tomorrow Grandma Deb is coming over to lend a hand so I can shop and get a few things done before Big Man rolls in around midnight.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Dani sleeps past 6am tomorrow, which was her wake up time today. She usually ranges from about 6 to 7:30am for her wakeup--and often will go back to sleep if it's on the earlier side, but of course, not this morning. And Tori slept so much today, that I'm hoping I am not in for a night of wide awake fussing, because I am dragging!