Every Princess Needs A Pony, Right?

So we have decided to go against all of our better judgement and money saving thoughts andget the girls this pony for Christmas. This is the pony that moves and stuff. As you can see it can also be sat on. Sad to say it doesn't move.

I have talked myself into this and out of it. Then T and I decided that the girls will both use it and they seem to LOVE it. Little A only wants to "see my pony" as soon as we set foot into Target. B remembers this great toy from the Martin family so she wants one too. Plus she is into horses now and this is cheaper than the real thing.

I have been online daily looking for the best deal and tonight I finally pulled the trigger on it. Walmart had a good offer for the horse and accessories. I ordered and called my parents to let them know a pony was on its way to their house to hide.

B had this as the #1 gift from Santa, but T and I decided that we want the credit for this one. Sorry Santa, but when it is this expensive I get the thanks! Now I have no idea how I am going to be able to keep the secret knowing this will just blow their minds on Christmas morning. I can't wait!

Oh the best part is that if I do still find a better deal I can still return this to any Walmart store. See, I'm always thinking of saving money. Now all I need to do is look at all their other presents and figure out which ones I will return. Wish me luck!

She Is At It Again

Yesterday while I was at B's school for lunch duty I was informed of another one of her "stories".

This time she had 2 teachers convinced that she had an older brother named Elliot. B's teacher told me that B said Elliot went to SCL for school and she went here. B continued to say that I sent them to different catholic schools to save money! Her teacher said that B had a good answer to every question and might have kept it going. It seemed to stop once the other teacher said she was going to call me and ask about Elliot. At that moment B confessed that she was "just kidding".

So perhaps I have a future author on my hands. If not I have a future compulsive liar. I was glad to hear that they thought it was funny and were impressed with her ability to keep the story going with great believable answers. I guess she has a gift! Now if only I can get her to use it for good and not bad...

Questions From a 5 year old

Like many people, many deep conversations take place in the car while driving. My 5 year old is no exception to this. It amazes me what she comes up with to discuss while we are driving. In just a 10 minute drive from school yesterday she came up with these.

B: Mom? Why does God make bad things?

me: God doesn't make bad things. People choose to DO bad things.

B: Why does He let us choose to bad things?

me: Because He gave us the ability to choose. When we do bad things that means we are listening to the Devil not God.

B: Well why would God want us to listen to the Devil?

me: He doesn't. He wants us to listen to Him and be good.

B: Like Santa?

Me: Something like that, yes.


Another set of logic...

B: Why does Santa think crying is naughty?

Me: What are you talking about?

B: In the song on the radio...You better not cry, you better not pout...

Me: You know I have no idea I never thought about it like that. I guess it is crying like when you whine.

B: Oh, I guess that would be naughty then. It is not naughty to cry when you are hurt, right? because then you are sad.

Me: Right again.

All these thoughts in just 10 minutes. Who would believe it?

Turkey Over...Santa Next

We have officially begun the Christmas season. I have done nothing but shop and husband has done nothing but watch the girls so I could shop. It has been a great weekend. I will really miss his help tomorrow when he returns to work and I return to life as a stay at home mom. Not that my life is bad, but it was nice having 2 stay at home parents.

As for shopping I tried to get most of the girls gifts well before Thanksgiving and finished. At least I thought I was. Now with all the sales and new ideas I bought some more. I'm sure I won't believe all the stuff I have once I pull it all out to wrap. Good news is that I can keep some for their birthdays and can return others if need be. As for myself I have gotten a few things and I'm not sure they will wait to be under the tree. I mean I just have to wear the new sweaters now, right?

I did hit the midnight madness at the outlets Friday. Madness is exactly what it was. I was not ready for the amount of adults and kids. Yes, some winner parents thought it was a good idea to bring their 2-6 year old out with them. Now I didn't mind the babies in the strollers who were warm and sleeping, but the 3 year olds that were out till 2 am and being yelled at for whining?!?!? plus both parents were there. I'm thinking one of them could have stayed home with the children. Oh well, to each their own I guess.

I did find a few good deals for myself and my sister and mom. Other than that nothing great. I did get the girls a few items too, but again just clothes, so not much fun. I don't know if will go next year, but perhaps.

Today my mom, sisters,B, and I went to the movies. It was a nice activity that all 3 generations could enjoy. We saw Enchanted. I liked it. (McDreamy was not the reason either.) It was a cute movie. I say go see it if you have girls. There were no bad words, no major sex stuff, and really no bad messages or violence. Hats off to Disney for this one.

So all in all this Thanksgiving weekend has been great. I did miss Philly a little, but it sure was nice staying home.

You Sure You Want To Eat Those?

Yesterday A decided that she wanted to help me make our turkey cookies. She is very into "mixing". She pulled and pushed a chair to the counter and got herself ready to help. The first step was to pour in the powered sugar. I filled the measuring cup and told her to pour it in the mixer. Before I knew it she was telling me "sorry mommy" and there was powered sugar both in the bowl and on the counter. Well how do I fix this? Just eyeball it and pour more sugar in the bowl. A was really upset about making a mess, but after a few "it's ok" from me she was ready to move on to the next thing.



As I continued to add a few more ingredients to the bowl I noticed A was beginning to squeeze a soapy sponge into an empty measuring cup. Then all of a sudden the sponge was right next to the mixing bowl. NO! I yelled. Do not squeeze the sponge into the bowl! "Why?" she cutely asked. The best I could do is "Cause it is gross". That seemed good enough for her and off she went.



Dough was on its way out of the bowl to the freezer and little A kept grabbing dough and saying "yummy, my favorite" Then as I began cleaning the messes she continued to help by licking the remaining sugar up saying "yummy, sugar. I love it"



Needless to say the little helper was not a helpful as I thought, but we still had fun. Hope they turn out tasting good and that A doesn't get sick from the raw egg she licked out of the bowl too :)

The Turkey Is Coming

I am very happy. For one thing it is a yucky day which means no hurry to go outside. I can stay inside and perhaps in my flannel pants for a while. B does not have school today which is good. I am planning to make turkey cookies and perhaps some craft with the girls. Uncle Marty might come over later and spend the night too. Daddy is home too and that means extra hands for me :)

I love Thanksgiving! I find no better holiday than this one. When can I eat and eat and eat without feeling bad? Never! I am looking forward to going to my mom's for a great meal. This is one of the first Thanksgivings that we will not travel to Philly to the in-laws. I will miss being there, but am happy to be here.

One new thing I will be doing this year is hitting the Midnight madness at the outlet mall in WI Friday morning. I am sooooo not a black Friday shopper, but for some reason I want to go do this. The idea of shopping while others are sleeping is cool. We will be going there around midnight and back early so I can still get some rest. Of course in my head I see the whole mall open to only me and there are no crowds and tons of sales. For some reason I don't think the reality will be the same. I will be going with my sisters and hope to find a few deals for me of course :) Perhaps a few gifts for others too since it is the season of giving.

To all of you, HAPPY TURKEY DAY! May it be filled with family and food. I know mine will be.

Instead...

I began my day actually yesterday by planning not to work out, instead I would go today. Getting up this morning I knew I should get in work out clothes right away, but didn't. Instead I decided to wander downstairs and have breakfast. Then it was clean up the kitchen and get kids dressed time. Tom was taking A to a winter parade and B was going to the same parade with a friend. I was going to stay home and go work out.

After the house was people free, I decided again to not go work out. I dressed for a nice walk outside. Well once I got out there I changed my mind. It was cold! So still wanting to work out, I set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes and began running my stairs.

I have about 20 steps to climb from first floor to second. A good amount for stair climbing I figured. And so I was going full out and doing well. After about 3 laps pf stairs up and stairs down I decided that this was much harder in real life than it was in my head. How many minutes have I done this for? After a few more laps I figured I must have used up at least 10 minutes for I was out of breath. I decided I had better stop the stairs because I didn't want my muscles to be so sore that I couldn't go up and down them tomorrow.

I moved on to jumping jacks and mountain climbers. Yeah, that didn't last too long either. I decided I had better go check how much time I had left. What?! The timer must be broken! How could I have done all of that in only 7 minutes?!?!?!

Well heck I better just turn off the timer and find something else to do. A work out just isn't going to happen. I decided instead I would go outside and rake, oh I mean blow the leaves.

My day ended with a soak in the tub. Now some of you might remember a time when I was pregnant with my first and had to take a bath every night to help my itching. That was probably the last time I took a bath. But since I gave the girls each one I figured I deserved one too.

I should have known better. Again, the bath in my head was soooo much better than the bath I actually took. For one thing it is not so relaxing when you can hear the crys of your youngest and her bellows for "fresh water." Nor is it relaxing when your oldest comes in to the bathroom to go potty and decides it would be ok to talk to you. She did point out that if I had cucumbers on my eyes my bath would be more relaxing. It would also be more relaxing if there was no talking!

Needless to say I did not stay in the tub very long. Instead, I am blogging about my day. Relaxing? I will have to say it is.

Project Runway

I was so excited to begin the new season. I recorded it and finally watched it yesterday afternoon with B. She likes the runway show part. It is funny to listen to which dresses she loves and which ones she does not like at all. I might just have a future judge here. She definitely does not hold her feelings back while she comments.

So after we watched the show (which I think has way too many gay men this season) B decided to have her own fashion show. A woke up at this time and wanted to be a part too. Girls went to the basement and gathered all the dresses that they would be showing. This was going to be a long show by the looks of the outfits.

I was on the phone with Jen at the beginning of this and while she was able to hear all the fun instructed me to video the show. I quickly hung up the phone and grabbed the video camera. I am so glad that I did for the show was good. B had so much fun changing outfits and doing her runway walk complete with model pose. Little A had fun too running down the runway and doing a little spin. She never did change outfits like her sister. I was even able to get the girls singing on tape.

We had a good time and it sure was more fun than watching tv. I get a mommy star today. Plus now when we watch the video (has been seen twice) B can't stop laughing. I wish I could get the video on the blog, but don't think I can. Since I was the movie maker I was unable to take photos. Sorry!

What a Mouth

My sweet little A is really getting quite a sassy streak. Last night for example, I took a bite of her ice cream and she immediately told me "NO Mommy!!!" "Spit it out!". And when I did not spit it back in her bowl she got even more pissed. Now perhaps I would have spit it out it if it hadn't been ice cream. Then again, I give her anything and most of whatever I am eating. So I tried to explain that to her. She wanted none of it.

She also ended up on the naughty step for spitting at me twice. I received that because I told her to go upstairs and get daddy to dry her hair.

Her other favorite line to tell me is "have to" this is used when she wants me to do something for her. Even when the request is something I can not do right this minute. I get "HAVE TO!"

Now that she knows how to open the fridge by herself we have opened a whole new world. But this will be saved for another post :)

Fun in the Leaves

Here are a few pictures from our time spent raking up the leaves yesterday. As you can see we had a lot of fun.

I came home from working out and found the troops out back with rakes, gloves, and leaf blower. Needless to say as soon as husband began complaining about how this will take forever and he would rather spend $1000 on a leaf vacuum, I took over.

It took no time at all especially with the blower. B and A even took turns using the leaf blower. Soon the pile was made and it was time for the fun. Since Tom decided that he would bag all the leaves I had no problem with the nice neat pile getting destroyed by jumping and throwing. The girls had a great time as did Tom. He actually let the girls bury him in the pile! I would never do that. I finished the front leaves too and that was it for me.

It broke my heart when I looked outside this morning and saw all my hard work ruined for there were more leaves. The girls were happy, for this meant more piles to jump in. How nice it must be to live in their world.

Who Knew

Tom sent me an email the other day that stated if you put Vicks vaporub on your feet and then put on socks, it would stop your coughing. I was not so sure, but thought maybe since your feet do have many, many nerves and stuff.

Well B now has a full case of her cold induced asthma. So I was actually able to test this new found cough remedy last night. I am happy to report that for some reason it does seem to work. Now it is not instant relief, but within about a half hour her coughing seemed to stop or at least had many minutes between coughs. I was pleased with the results, so we continued this treatment again tonight. Anything to get me some needed rest.

The only down side is that little A also wants to wear Vicks rub and socks. So far we have just given in on the socks part.

Last Weekend With Uncle Danny

The Northwestern football team will have it's last home game this weekend. This means for us that this will also be Uncle Danny's last weekend with us till next April. For many people a weekend house guest gets old after a few weekends let alone an entire football season. For us we will be sad to see him go. It is so nice to have him with us. The girls just love it when he is here. I too like having some of the Philly family here. Danny is Tom's oldest brother so I get to hear a few good "Tom as a baby" stories.

Danny loves to sit and watch the girls play or listen to them sing. He is good at actually playing with them as well (Little A even beat him twice today in dominoes.) Most adults find PBS old after a show or two, but not Danny. He will sit and actually get into the shows with the girls.

April is a long time away, but we will be ready when it gets here. Until then thanks for the visits Danny!

Our Newest Family Member

Well I have finally given into the pleads of B for a webkinz. She has earned her first one and is thrilled to bits. We spent some time today while A was sleeping getting Annabelle's room together. B sure loves shopping! I on the other hand love earning her money by answering quiz questions. Yes, as of now, I am smarter than a 6 year old :)

The bad mommy award also goes to me today for I forgot to pick up my daughter from school. How does this happen you might ask? Well I was out running errands while my sweet parents watched A, and for some reason I thought B got out at 11:30. That would be wrong. At 11:15 my cell rang and thank God, I not only heard it, but was able to answer it. B's teacher was asking me if I was on my way to come get her. B seemed worried that I was not there yet and it was webkinz day. I could not believe that I forgot to pick her up on time. What kind of mother am I? Well, it all worked out except perhaps for my parents who not only had to watch A longer, but now got to feed us lunch. Needless to say Annabelle was also has a new carrier since I felt so bad.

Perhaps one day my mind will return to normal and I will be able to remember simple tasks.

Halloween

This holiday again demonstrated just how different my girls are. When B was 2 she put on a full clown outfit with rainbow wig and red nose. This year she wanted to be a bride. We had the beautiful dress (thanks Kristin) and I made the veil and bouquet.

My little A was going to go as a Renaissance princess. I had the costume from last year and I made the cone hat to match. As you can see in the photo A did not go for it. In fact, she would not even put the costume on. Instead I got her to wear the purple princess costume from our dress-up stuff for a photo. I got her to wear it for the photo and then off it came. To go trick or treating all she would wear was a pair of cat ears. So off she went in a Halloween shirt and cat ears. She loved it too by the way. She was very proud to tell people she was a kitty cat.

There is no way this little stinker will do something if she doesn't want to. I have learned that there is no sense bribing for it doesn't work. I don't fight it either. I just let it go and end up with a costume that she won't wear, but cat ears from the dress-up bin that she is super happy to put on. Kids sure are funny.

Curse the Time Change!

For many, many years the fall time change was my favorite. I liked nothing more than sleeping one hour more and waking up knowing I missed nothing. Well things sure have changed.

The girls have not adjusted to the "sleep more" concept. In fact they are now up earlier than ever before. We are now beginning our day at 5:30 am!! No matter how I try to tell them that they must stay in bed for it is too early, they just don't seem to get it. They are awake so should I. A actually told me today as she went down the stairs that "Mommy is up, daddy is up, B is up, and so A is up. Time for tv"

Good news is that today knowing that they were awake got me out the door to the gym so Tom could deal with them. I don't want the tv on right away, for I swear that if they think they get to watch tv, they will be up this early every day. I am not having that!

I am now looking forward to the end of the week when I pray they have returned to normal sleeping patterns and I can get some sleep.

Pumpkin Time

Here are a few photos from our fun filled pumpkin carving night. Tom did not carve pumpkins as a child so he never really understood this strange act. I on the other hand looked forward to family carving. My dad would do most of the artistic work and us kids would do the scooping. Some years our pumpkin was so large we would put the youngest kid in it too. Mom would take all the seeds and toast them for us to eat the next day. It was and great family activity.

I have tried to create the same in my house, yet until this year it didn't happen. For some reason this year was perfect. Even daddy got into the pumpkins with his girls. B and A loved scooping out the pumpkin guts and spent lots of time playing with them once they were out. A wanted the big spoon and didn't like B getting in her way. B thought she was so funny with her new pumpkin smile. I have to say I thought it was funny too.

The finished pumpkin turned out rather well and it was nice to add it to our decorations. We did have a few more to carve, but figured this year we would stick to just one. I was getting tired :)

Oh Technology

So I am sorry I have been unable to get to my blog for a while. Our house has been going through a technology storm. I have not been able to log on, get to, or view many blogs due to problems with Google and my computer. It took me 4-5 steps and 3 new windows just to get here. We have also had issues with our microwave and electricity. But at this time things are looking better.

I will post Halloween photos and others soon. I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and have not forgotten to blog.