Thursday, December 20, 2012

CRRRAAAACCCKKK

Today was quite a day. I got up late. Then, while looking for something to wear, I closed a drawer and a painting fell over knocking off the 3 glass picture frames we were given at our wedding 12 years ago. None of them shattered, but they are all chipped and scratched.

Dakota was happy initially, but things went downhill starting around 9am, her normal nap time. So, after lots of crying an general grumpiness, I decided to pack the kids in the car and go to the store with the hopes that Kota would fall asleep…which she did.

We ended up at Target. I brought the stroller in so that both kids could be in that instead of a cart, and since I was only getting a thing or two, I figured I’d just use a hand basket. We shopped, but when we were getting ready to leave, I remembered we needed toilet paper…and it wasn’t going to fit in the hand basket. I grabbed an abandoned cart, transferred my stuff and then pulled the cart behind me while I pushed the stroller. Maneuvering the two massive vehicles was easy as long as I didn’t have to make any corners…so, really it wasn’t easy at all. As I was heading back through the aisle maze I was telling Harper that it just wasn’t easy pushing the stroller and pulling the cart and he said “I have an idea!”. I asked him what it was and he said he was going to help me push.

Hmm. I thought he’d want to get out of the stroller to “help” but he just reached his little hands out and grabbed the cart. I was then able to push the stroller while he pulled the cart along. I thought it was brilliant, and couldn’t believe that my little two year old came up with that idea on his own!

Once we got up to the register, I emptied everything out of the cart and while the guy started to ring everything up, I went to grab my wallet…only my wallet wasn’t in my diaper bag. It was at home. I asked the cashier to please hold onto my stuff and that I’d come back to get it later, and after getting a manager to okay it, that’s what he did.

So, the babies and I head back to the van (Dakota’s nap is long over by now) and after getting everyone back in their seats and buckled, I got in and took and deep breath and said out loud “Lord I need a break”. A second later Harper says “Crrrraaaaaaaaccckkkk! There mama, I gave you a break!” Seriously. He totally said that. I laughed so hard I had tears. What kind of brilliant two year old do I have? I mean really?!

I had to ask Tony something so I called him from my cell on the way home. (Hands free of course! He was on speaker and everyone in the van could hear him!) I was telling him that I’d had a pretty rough morning, and that I was really just having a bad day when Harper chimed in “No mama, you’re not having a bad day, it’s a nice day!” and then when he heard me tell Tony that I needed a break Harper yelled from the backseat “Oh no you don’t! I already gave you one!”.

And you know what? I didn’t have a bad day…it was nice. It was nice because Harper made me see things differently. He made me laugh. He gave me a big hug and kiss too, just because I asked. And, when I told him I loved him, he told me he loved me too.

But, he isn’t the only reason.

Zoe saw that I was having a rough day and when she heard the dryer bell ding, she went up and folded my laundry for me. Without being asked or even telling me she was doing it. She also finished up the mac and cheese I started cooking for the kids’ lunch and read Harper a book and sang him songs so that I could get Dakota down for a nap. She also stayed with the babies while I ran back up to Target…and, I think those are all signs of love.

Landon got up this morning, got all of his stuff done and then finished reading the book he had to get done for school. Without being asked. He also kindly offered to sit with the two littles while I took a 4 second shower. And, he told me all about the fun he had at the special fundraiser activity that he attended after school today. And, he told me he loved me.

Dakota had a rough start this morning, but after she finally got a nap, she was back to her usual self. She smiled at me and talked to me. She happily played in her seat while I washed her bottles. She drooled all over my shoulder…and I think that’s the same as love.

And, Tony came home. I always have a sense of relief when he gets here. I know that I’ll finally be able to breathe a little and that he’ll help with the madness that is our life. We juggled babies and dinner. We had a good discussion at the dinner table with Landon. We caught each other up on the days happenings….and I would say, that too, is love.

Adventures of Peppermint

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One morning we woke up and found Peppermint had pulled out our cookie decorating stash. I guess she felt it was time to make some Christmas treats.

So, later that afternoon Zoe, Harper and I whipped up some sugar cookie dough, cut out some seasonal shapes and that evening we had a little cookie decorating party!

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(Zoe, Kiersten, Jeff, Tony, Dakota, Landon, Mema, Harper, Brandon and I did the decorating. I was at one end of the table and didn’t get Brandon in the shot…oops!) We had a great time and the cookies looked wonderful! I’m pretty sure we just adopted yet another Christmas tradition…

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Catching Up

Not sure if anyone noticed, but it’s been 5 whole days since my last post. Oops. We’ve had a lot going on around here…

Zoe’s done with finals and home for winter break. She took her last exam on Tuesday and came straight home. I think she’s actually happy to be here and I love it!

Kiersten and her boyfriend flew up for a quick visit this past week also. They came in on the 12th and left on the 18th. It was nice visiting with them and I loved that I got to meet her boyfriend. Harper absolutely loved playing with Jeff and Jeff seemed to enjoy playing with Harper as well. It always surprises me when a guy comes into the house and so easily plays with my kids; but I think it’s awesome.

Landon’s been finishing up all his school stuff in anticipation of break, and for him that meant a couple projects and finishing reading The Hobbit. Thankfully he’s all caught up and going to be able to relax during his break.

Harper, Dakota and I have been terribly busy with life. We’ve been doing a lot of errand running and finishing up the Christmas shopping. I have to admit that those two littles are pretty great considering all the running around we do. It isn’t easy taking the two of them out to shop, but I no longer fear for my sanity every time we go out…

We’ve been fitting in a little Christmas craft here and there and Peppermint, our elf, is always a hit in the morning. I always send Harper and Landon on a hunt for her before Landon leaves for school in the morning, and sometimes I have to pretty much tell them exactly where she is. I thought Landon would be able to help Harper, but not so much. Smile

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Glitter Snowman

Harper was pacing the house this past Thursday just looking for trouble, so I quickly printed out a little snowman for him to decorate.

He’s still a bit too young to really color, cut or glue on his own, so I thought I’d let him “paint” on some glitter.

I just gave him a paintbrush and some glue with glitter mixed in and he was set. He did a pretty good job getting the glue all over the snowman, but since it didn’t take too long, I thought I’d better give him a few more supplies to do a little more creating.

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I fought every urge to tell him that the buttons were supposed to go down the snowman’s front! I just let him put them where he wanted…and, it’s cute!

I gave him some plastic snow pieces and made some big dots of glue around the snowman…

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It was a super simple little activity, but it filled up about 10 minutes of his time. Since we were already making a mess, I got out some paints and we made a handprint ornament:

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I have plans for that little handprint ornament…

Adventures of Peppermint

Here she is playing in my ornaments:

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And, taking a whiff of a carnation:

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And this morning, she was thirsty and having a cup of water:

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If you look closely in the bottom picture, you may notice that Peppermint went and got herself a new little skirt…guess she wants to look spiffy for those long trips to see Santa.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

12/12/12

In honor of today’s unusual date, I took 12 pictures throughout the day.

Sleeping Beauty

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Potty Training

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Playtime Under the Pool Table

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Lunch

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Naptime

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Playtime

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Dada’s Home

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Soda Science

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Finishing his Project

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Wearing his Big Brothers Hat

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Chips and Salsa

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Bath Time

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Adventures of Peppermint

This morning we found Peppermint taking a ride around our tree on the Christmas Express!

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Symphony of Lights

After our trip to the mall yesterday morning, I got the babies home for naps. As soon as Harper got up from his nap, we loaded back up in the car to go get Landon from school.

After picking up Landon, we headed to the allergist office so Landon could get his monthly shots. Since we were already out in Columbia, we headed to the mall for a rare mid-week dinner, and then took the kids on a drive through the Symphony of Lights.

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I thought that Harper would get a kick out of seeing all the lights, and I was right. He loved pointing out the things he saw and really enjoyed the ride. Landon enjoyed it as well, even though he’s been several times. Dakota wasn’t so happy about it and cried and cried until I ended up getting in the back seat and holding her. She is such a mess in the car! Once I took her out of her seat (we were driving about 2 mph, don’t worry) she was happy to look out the window at the lights too.

Now, are these the same?

Yesterday was extremely busy. In the morning, the two babies and I made a trip to the mall to get a few last gifts. We stopped in Carters for a few minutes too, and Harper asked to get out of the stroller to play at the little block table while I looked around.

There was only one other little girl playing at the table when we got there, and as soon as Harper made his way over, he struck up a conversation with her.

The table they were playing at had 4 sections, a red, blue, green and yellow. Just a typical block table. When he got to the table, the little girls mother asked the girl to share some of the blocks. She handed Harper two yellow blocks, and after inspecting them, Harper held them up to her and asked her “Now, are these the same”? The girl just kind of looked at him, and when she didn’t answer, he said “Yes! They are the same. They are two yellows!” and put them on the yellow part of the table.

Next, he pulled out two blocks and held them up with the same question. Again, she did not answer so he very enthusiastically told her that No, they weren’t the same. One was blue, and one was yellow…and then he put them on the matching spot on the table.

I thought the whole incident was hysterical! He was so sweet about the whole thing and the little girl just looked at him completely puzzled. I don’t know if she understood him or not, but boy was he happy to teach her a thing or two! I couldn’t help but think about how lucky Dakota is to have him as her older brother. I’m just sure that as she gets bigger he’ll be teaching her all kinds of great things!

Adventures of Peppermint

Yesterday morning Peppermint was sitting in the window hanging on to one of our window candles. Harper was pretty excited to find her so easily and all by himself. He came running to me and said “Mama! I found the elf with the can-el”. Smile 

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Please disregard the dirty windows…

Monday, December 10, 2012

Line em’ Up

Harper read a book about cars this morning and immediately afterwards asked me to get his cars out for him to play with. Landon saw that I was busy and offered to run downstairs and get them for me…sweet kid.

Harper played with the cars off and on for a good part of the day, but tonight when I walked over to see what he was up to, I saw that he was putting all of his cars in a long line.

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He told me he was “putting them in a pile”. I had to get out my camera and take a picture though because it reminded me so much of Zoe when she was about his age. She had a habit of lining up her toys as well, but most famously, the dolls that she owned a the time. She would gather them all up and make one long continuous line through the living room with them. I think we have a picture of that somewhere…

I just thought it was kind of funny that he too likes to line up his toys. He also shares her interest in puzzles and her love of reading. It’s funny how I see so much of Zoe in him. I certainly see some of Landon’s qualities in him too, and then Harper is very much his own person. It makes me curious to see what little Koko’s gonna be like. I know one thing for sure, she is a feisty little thing! 

Adventures of Peppermint

Sunday morning, Peppermint was settled in the library reading a few of Harper’s books.

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This morning, she was checking out our snowman tree. Harper really liked this one, and said “I gotta get that guy down!” and then “She’s silly up on the hat!”.

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Saturday, December 8, 2012

Adventures of Peppermint

This morning we found Peppermint trying to help Landon out with his advent calendar.

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She had ripped open the number 8 box and had the pieces in her hands! Good thing we caught her in time or she may have put it together for him…

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Craft Night

Last night we had big kid art time. Once the babies were in bed for the night, we pulled out some glass ornaments, glitter, glue and paint and got to work making ornaments.

One of Zoe’s:

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One of mine:

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One of Tony’s:

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One of Landon’s:

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One of Brandon’s:

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I believe everyone ended up making at least two, and I know everyone had a good time. Sometimes it’s nice to just hang out with the big kids! Smile

Adventures of Peppermint

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Friday morning we found Peppermint playing with Harper’s cars. Finding her playing with his cars sparked his imagination and he then ended up playing with his cars for a good while that morning.

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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Harper’s Reindeer

Today was rough. I had just been thinking about how well our week was going and how I was starting to feel like a normal human again and then wham! bad day. Five months after having Koko and I’m just now starting to feel like I can handle all of this. I’ve been doing it, but now I feel like I may even survive it.

But this morning, both babies were out of control. Crying, fussing, wanting to be held. Grumps. And, to make matters worse, Dakota had a rough night and early morning which meant I was also tired.  Double grumps.

At 10am I was desperate for naptime. More for me than anything. Not that I took a nap or even considered it…but, I probably should have. Instead of getting some sleep, I did the usual. Cleaned up the morning chaos, ate a quick lunch, did laundry, chose the evil chore of the day; you know, crap.

Even though our morning wasn’t the most pleasant, I did find a few minutes to make a little reindeer with Harps. Somehow I was able to put Dakota down long enough to trace Harper’s little hands (antlers) and foot (face) and cut them out.

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He chose his googly eyes and pom pom nose and slapped them on with a little glue. That nose fell off a few times, but I think after half a bottle of glue, it’ll stay on now.

I should mention though, that even though I had a rough day, Zoe brightened it considerably with this text:

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I love when she texts or calls me first. Then I feel like less of a burden/worrier, and know that she’s thinking of me just like I’m thinking of her.

April Fools Pranks

The two little kids made me laugh yesterday morning.  I was upstairs getting things ready for school when I heard them talking about how ...