How to Decorate with a Toddler

This Saturday, I did it. I decorated my house for the holidays with a 2 and a half and 4 and a half year old running around.  It was a total joyous breeze. Here is the breakdown of how you too can accomplish decorating with children.

7:15am  Children wake you up. Cuddle in bed. Get kicked in the face and stomach a few times but cuddle them anyways. Notice that kids don't have cute morning breath. Puppies, yes. Children, no.
7:45am Take 2 year old to bathroom. She doesn't pee. Put her in underpants. Pray. Set the timer to remind her (and you) to do another potty check in 15 min.
7:50am Turn on cartoons for the littles. Make breakfast. Since you want to set the tone for the Christmas spirit make some fresh eggs and bacon. The kids want more pumpkin bread. You don't want to give them the final piece, so you break it into small chunks. Pray they don't mind.
8:00am Timer dings. Go try potty. She pees. (Or "peeps" as she calls it). Call Miss Rachel on the Potty Training app. God bless the iPhone. Set the timer for 30 min.
8:05am Remember to let the dog out and give her breakfast. Shush kids so Daddy can sleep in.
8:15am   Eat your own breakfast, drink coffee. Change the channel so you get E! News. You can't decorate if you don't have celeb gossip.
8:30am Timer. Potty train. Nothing. Pray.
8:45am Finish coffee. Clean up dishes. Have kids try to bring you their plates. Clean up spilled cold eggs. Why didn't they eat their eggs? They only ate bacon and their bit of pumpkin bread. Oh well.
8:46am Turn on Christmas music on the tv.
8:55am Take down fall and Thanksgiving decorations. Yes, you should have those. No, you don't need Christmas before Thanksgiving. That's a separate rant post.
8:57am Potty accident.
8:57am Turn off Christmas music. Go clean up Potty accident.
9:15am Finish gathering Fall decor. Find a tub. It's full of old Christmas photos and crappy decor and lame children's art. (Trust, I save the good stuff.) Recyle. Save photos. Put in fall decor.
9:30am Dust the room. You need a clean slate. Windex the mirror. Husband is awake and grabs your butt as you clean the mirror. Kids weren't looking. Or were they? Pray.
9:40am Remember to potty with the little girl. Peeps! Yay! Potty app. Virtual sticker. Yay! Set the timer.
9:50am Kids are hungry for a snack. Punks didn't eat breakfast. Try to get them to eat something healthy. They eat crackers and M&Ms instead. Oh well. At least the Halloween Stash is going strong.
9:53am Refill cups for kids.
9:55am Get down Christmas boxes. Beg husband to break away from College Gameday during the commercial break to help you get boxes down. Keep begging. Beg again. Pray.
10:15am Boxes are down. Start to unpack. Baby girl wants to be close to you. Bring highchair over. Put her in it. Unpack and try to remember where you actually put all this stuff.
10:19am Potty accident. In the highchair. Arghsdkjsajfakl! Pray.
10:35am Encourage kids to play together. Turn on a movie in the other room for them.
10:40am Go take a potty break yourself. Read some US Weekly. Check Facebook. Check instagram.
10:50am Your butt is numb. Go lay on the bed. The kids are quiet but not too quiet. Check Facebook again. Check Zulily.
11:00am Play with kids.
11:15am Potty timer dings. Yay! Success. Potty app.
11:20am Kids want lunch. Make Thanksgiving leftovers.
11:30am Decorate.
11:45am. Beg husband to find some Diet Dr Pepper. Go with sweet tea instead. Take a sip. Have three Fritos. 
12:00pm Potty timer dings. Nothing. Oh well, nap time. Put on a pull up. Put her in bed. Convince the boy he needs a nap.
12:10pm Decorate.
12:35pm Eat lunch.
12:50pm Decorate.
1:20pm Exhaustion. The decorations are done. Go to bed and try to nap while the kids nap.
1:35pm Wow, wtf was the author of the Book Thief smoking in the first ten pages?? Keep reading. zzzzzzzz
1:55pm 4 year climbs into bed to cuddle with you. Convince him to nap.
2:15 He's done napping. Give him your iPhone so he can play Minion Rush. On silent. Try to nap.....

And still.... all that and my decorations look half ass. We got our tree today - fresh cut from the Home Depot parking lot "farm". I always forget the tree has to live outside in a bucket of water for a few days so it doesn't dry out. Arggh. So I've moved the furniture for the tree and now it feels almost like something Christmas-ish. A little. Why does the tree make all the difference? Why is such an ordeal? Why oh why does sap get so damn sticky? Anyways....

Hoping your decorating was a success! Or that you had your cocktail handy. Or even better, a babysitter to remove children from the premises so you can enjoy your Christmas music, bev, and decor. There's always next year...

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

Fall at the Arboretum

Who doesn't love a pumpkin?
Every year since Cade was born we have gone to the Dallas Arboretum for the pumpkin festival. Every day at the Arboretum is a gorgeous day. But the oranges and greens. It's stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Class

Two weeks ago was maybe one of my favorite mommy days ev-er.
We did the Arboretum in the morning and in the evening we were invited to join the girls in Cade's preschool class at ballet & tap Bring-A-Friend day! My friend and I were all about our boys giving it a go. As her hubs pointed out, a guy's gotta have moves.
Cade was kina curious about going to dance. But the day of he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he would NOT be a ballerina.  No probs, dude. I offered up Dance Ninja instead. He took the bait. He randomly insisted on wearing his pirate bandana. Whatevs dude. The girls had their tutus, the boys had their Batman mask hoodies and pirate doorags.

This pic. They got to skip across the room and "leap" around the stuffed puppy.

Methinks my boy learned a little Riverdance.

Checkin himself and likin what he sees.

Devyn was so into it that when they switched for the second half of the class, tap, they let her come in.  She went right up front and center with her big brother. Not sure why my kids got in the front or center, for that matter. First timers? Very bold. They did so good! I'm so pumped for Devy to get signed up for her first dance class. Pink tights and black leotard?

Towards the end of the class they made a circle and each child got to stand up and do a move.
Devyn was the second one to go. She stood up, twirled in two circles as she tapped in her Chucks. I think I shed a tear. Seriously such a proud moment, and so exciting to see her having fun with it!

 

Tiny Dancer.

She couldn't stop talking about dance class the whole week.
My sweet little tiny dancer.

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We visited the Pumpkin Patch at Storybook Ranch last weekend.
The weather was overcast and even a little drizzly at the end but the kids had a blast.

Each of them got to take home a mini pumpkin!

They loved doing the hay maze. But of course, our little lambies thought hopping the hay walls was the quickest way out. Little cheats! 

Part of the admission included three bounce houses and a haunted hay ride.
The hay ride had no hay, which was preferrable actually. It went through a haunted ghost town.
There were a few creepy scarecrows and ghosts. It would have been awesome in the dark!

Afterwards we saw a honkey dorse. I think their term was "ponkey".  I prefer honkey dorse.
It was rather cute!!  Devyn rode her first horse horse, and Cade rode his first tire swing!
I love pumpkin patches, they are the perfect kickstart for fall.
Up next, arboreteum pumpkin pics!

Mama's Sweetheart

This boy.  This face. He is such a sweet soul. He can be fiesty, naughty, silly, and strong too. But mama loves his sweetness the best.

He wonders about the world. He is curious, and he cares about people. He cares enough to ask "Why?" and he takes time to observe quietly.  He told me today that he enjoys being alone. At first I was a wee concerned. Maybe my instinct is to not raise a hermit? My dream son won't be trapped in his room playing with his computer all day long. There's so much to learn from interaction, baby. But then he elaborated. "I like to be alone and think up fun stuff to do."  Ahhh, the relief.

Maybe when he's alone he's a smug little mug.

Whenever I am playing up sad because his two year old little sister has made a sad choice, he is first to run to me and give me a hug and a kiss.  Little Miss Terrible Two hasn't quite caught on... but he always takes care of me.  If we have a quiet moment he will lean into me and look up at me and say "I love you, Mommy".  The sincerity and love there melts me. Oh his wedding day will be so joyous but a part of my heart will break a little. To think all of his heart used to belong to me. 

If I am honest, I know this affection is not just with me. He tells his daddy, his grandparents, his sister, and his dog that he loves them. He is so giving with his love. When Devyn is sad or mad he goes to her and tries to show her the ways he's learned at school to calm down.  When she's hurt he asks if she's okay. He will bring her a toy. He goes into her room at night to hug her and climb onto her bed and kiss her forehead ever so gently.

My favorite things he says:
"You are my best mommy I ever saw in this world."
(and I'm the only one that gave birth to all 8 lbs 6 oz of you....)
"I love you Mommy, you are my best friend."
"Ooh, you look pretty Mommy. I like that!"

His future wife (or hubs, we're liberal!) will be so lucky.
Whoever you are, Welcome to the Family. Just remember, I was his first love.

T is for teary

Cade is officially in pre-k this year! And every time I see a handwriting worksheet I get teary. It is so sweet to see him practice his handwriting, he tries so hard. Is my baby seriously old enough for a pencil?? Of course, but it makes me proud and sad that he's growing up. Only in motherhood can such a contradiction of emotions occur. 

It's soccer time!!

 

 

Excuse the lame MC Hammer reference.
That's aging right there. Kids these days have no idea who that even is. Ridic.
Anyways, we had our first game of the season yesterday! 
I completely forgot how much I have watching the kids play.
They are so cute in their tiny shoes and shinguards.
Oversized jerseys and shorts that cover their knees.

I can't even handle how proud I am when I see my kid running down the field, breaking away from the pack and scoring a goal. Or four. And two assists, Grammie is very proud of those assists, do NOT forget the assists because those goals woud have never happened without him she says.

I understand that pride though. Cause I feel it. I don't think it's just pride that he scored. It's pride that he was having fun working with a team.  Seeing him smile while doing something athletic. Knowing that being a part of a team, any team, is so important as a life skill. It's cool to move into this phase of  childhood where it's all about soccer practice and homework.

Speaking of pre-k, let's discuss his first homework assignment...
Find something with the letter C to bring for show & tell.  He rejected car, cat, cow, and went with his cape. Super cool because it's his super Cade cape and had a letter C on it. Double C's, baby!  I asked him what his friends brought in and he said, cars, cats, and courage.  Wtf- courage?!  Who the heck? I may have confronted the mamas at Saturday's birthday party to ask who was responsible for that one. They all denied it.  So, I'm secure in our friendship and understanding with those mamas.  No over-achieving pretentious homework doing helicopter mamas in this group. #Relief.  Maybe the teacher taught them about courage? Like vocab lesson #1?

I decided to ask him what other letters he knows and he said "B!"  Of course, because Batman starts with B.  I asked him what starts with B and he answered, "Beer, Bats, and Batman!"   I thought surely I had misheard my little angel, so I said "What's that, sweetie? Bear? Cheer?" He said, "No, beer!  Beer, beer, beer!"  Damn. Damn, damn, damn.  That's word #1 my kid knows? What are they teaching him in school? Ha. Ohhhhh, jeez.  So I said, "What's beer?" And he said, "What Mommy and Daddy drink." Oh... "What's bats, sweetie?"  He says, "Dark night bats."  I say, "What's Batman?" He says, "Dark knight Bruce Wayne."  Oh-kay.  Wonderful.

Thanking God Nick and I didn't prank his teacher as we had planned. We wanted to send him with a Coors Light, sack of sugar (Crack), and some condoms.  Apparently he will take care of the humiliation on his own.  Let's hope they don't study B for another few weeks so I can practice some more appropriate words.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Pics from Balboa Park in  San  Diego, California
 

 

 

 

 

Family Love

 

Time for a little Labor Day weekend reflecting on our summer.
Because this blog is my diary to my kids, I get to gush a little sometimes.
This is one of those times.

When we travelled together this summer we learned a few things about ourselves:
1. We pack the biggest food bag of anyone on any of our four flights. One momma had a clever little bead box filled with various healthy snacks. I had my gym bag packed with 12 pounds of food. One man in his 70s asked me while we waited for a connecting flight, "Is that really a bag full of just food?" I thought he might be hungry so I offered some,  but turns out he didn't want teddy grahams, pretzels, fruit snacks, lollipops, Twizzlers, mini sammies, squeeze fruit, pb crackers, or M&Ms. Picky  man. I don't know, maybe I watched too much Lost.... I might have to run from polar bears if we get stranded on an island from hell, but I will NOT starve to death. Nope.
2. Speaking of food, Twizzlers cures any roadtrip meltdown.
3. Hotel rooms with bunk beds for the kids? Seemed genius, but it was a disaster from minute one.
4. I really missed my DVR, but I had Candy Crush and went up like 20 levels on each trip, so that started a new addiction.
5. I learned that the whole family would have appreciated an itinterary. This is HUGE. The next family vacay will def be spelled out on a color-coded Excel document. Careful whatcha wish for, fams!
6. Nick and I definitely bonded over time at the beach with the kids. Just us, the water, the sand, some magazines... It was awesome. Everyone got into their own groove and it was perfect to just relax and enjoy nature and each other.
7. Trying new things together and making memories. That's what family travel is all about, right? Going to Sea World and watching the kids see whales for the first time, such a beautiful moment. Riding a kid-size amusement rides was a first and so exciting to get a taste of future fun to come.
Taking Cade to his first baseball game and seeing him get into it and catch the Padres spirit was a blast. Seeing Nick watch Cade as we sang the National Anthem before the game started and tear up when we all yelled "Play ball!" was a highlight. Devyn's breathy "Oh, Mommy, loooook!" when she got her first glimpse of the ocean.... my number one moment. Love at first sight for the kids in California made us seriously consider how we could move our family out there.
8. Coming home. All that said, coming home.  Seeing each other in a new light made us appreciate our home and the life we've made here and the family we've created made us not take any of it for granted.

Mommy and Daddy always love you guys.
Every moment, little and big.