Shhhh....It's a Secret

My kids love sweets. Alex more so than Anna. I really blame it on the fact that when I was pregnant with him I indulged in a giant chocolate muffin from Starbucks....everyday. Hey, I was in Qatar. It was hot. I was pregnant and bored in the heat. What else can a girl do, but shove lattes and muffins into her mouth. I digress. So, kids love sweets.

As a treat yesterday, I picked up a small pint of ice cream. We don't keep very many sweets in our house mainly because I will eat them all. After dinner when I brought it out, the kids' eyes nearly popped out. I heard lots of ooing and aahhhing over plain ole' vanilla ice cream. So easy.

So as we're enjoying it, Alex says we should hide it and surprise Daddy. He ponders for a bit and wonders would be a good hiding place. "If we hide it in the freezer, he'll see it." Anna responds by suggesting the cabinet ABOVE the freezer because he never looks there. "No," Alex explains. "It will melt there."

Everyone thinks for a bit. Anna suggests perhaps the North Pole would be a great place. Alex agrees that this is the perfect place because surely Santa needs a snack by now. Anna begins to illustrate how it will go (as Anna always does). "We'll put the ice cream in the car. Driiiiiive it up there and give it to Santa. He'll say, 'Oh thank you thank you.' We'll tell him we're only storing it as a surprise for Daddy."

Both kids agree this is a great solution. But then I suggest it would be easier to just walk over to Safeway to get some more rather than drive back up to the North Pole to pick up ours. The room is quiet for a while. Alex shrugs his shoulders and says, "Then I guess the freezer is really the best place. We'll just not tell Daddy and when he opens it up he'll say, 'Wow! Ice cream!' Then it will be surprise."

Good thinking. And that's just what we did.

My Patriotic Girl

I had to share this. They teach them this at school. I love it. No, I did NOT choreograph the balloon send off.

The Angst Continues

We have an emotional household. Before children, it was me. Hey, I can fess up and admit that I am a HUGE drama queen about...everything. Enter children. Suddenly my drama means nothing to anyone anymore so now the kids drama trumps mine and rightly so.

Tonight as I'm speeding about to get kids in bed after a day of listening to Anna cough and choke (damn cold), I hear Alex weeping. I walk in and he's not just upset, but clearly processing something in his mind.

Mom: What's the matter, baby?
Alex: I'm so afraid that Froggy might end up under the pillow in the middle of the night. [sob] And if he does [sob] I'm so afraid that the blanket fairy will come and take him and leave me a big boy gift.
Mom: Do you want the blanket fairy to take Froggy and leave you a big boy gift?
Alex: [Weeping] Nooooooooooo. But I'm afraid that might happen. What if she thinks he's there for that reason.
Mom: Where did you get such an idea?
Alex: From that book Owen. [Damn kids books!]
Mom: OK, the blanket fairy doesn't come unless we write her a letter. So as long as we don't, Froggy stays with us.
Alex: He can stay forever?
Mom: Yes, forever. How old is Mommy?
Alex: Old. [Nice.]
Mom: Does Mommy still have a lovey?
Alex: Yes.
Mom: Ok, then we're OK. Froggy can stay with us until you're 25 if you want...or even as old as Mommy. If you ever decide you want the blanket fairy to come and leave you a present, let me know.
Alex: I only want Santa to leave presents.
Anna: [from the other room] What about the tooth fairy??
Alex: She only leaves money!

His sobbing finally stopped when we agreed that Froggy would follow him wherever. I did explain that the thumb sucking would need to end, but that Froggy could indeed stay.

Ski Trip Success

We had a blast! Apparently not skiing in 20 years (man, that makes me feel old) doesn't mean anything. They say it's like riding a bike. I was swooshing down the slopes by the end of the first day.

I cannot say enough good things about Liberty Ski Resort. What a wonderful family-friendly place. Alex was part of a three-hour ski camp. He finished up begging for more and asked if we could do it again soon. I loved watching him come down the hill without the poles....and not falling. He was such a little man. We knew Anna wouldn't last long so we switched out their boots/skis for a bit so she had the experience of being on the skis. Of course, that caused a whole meltdown from Alex because it meant he had to share his skis--God forbid!

The only down point was that all four of us were in the same room and Anna really, really snores. Plus, 8:30 is too early to go to bed.

Great trip for us all and I can't wait to go back.

Ski Weekend, Sort Of

To escape the crazies from the Innaugaration the next few days, our family decided to take a trip. We're giving skiing a try. Yep, all four of us are going to try skiing. And who has done this before? I am the only one of the four of us who knows how to ski. And when did I ski last? When I was 14. I was spending too much pining over a boy at that time so I'm not sure I even retained much of what I learned at ski school.

But part of our New Year's resolutions (at least mine for hubsand's anyway) was to be more fun and be spontaneous. Look at us!

Will let you know how we fare.

Kids with Cameras:

When our latest Netflix movie arrived, I told my husband the movie was for me. He asked, "Is it about Afghanistan or India?" Apparently I've been type casted. Yes it's true. I love foreign movies. So much of Bollywood that I'm starting to know some of the actors and the song. How sad is that?

Latest movie rec: "Born into Brothels"

If you haven't seen this, I recommend it to everyone. It's a documentary about a photographer who goes to Calcutta to photograph the red light district. Instead she finds another world in the children who live there. She befriends them and begins teaching them photography. And through their eyes, you discover their world. They take beautiful and very moving photographs which she later sells back in the U.S. at Sothebys to raise money....for them to go attend school. Great movie!

Sock Fuzz is Gross

I’ve really been lacking in good blogging material lately. You’d think with preschoolers I’d always have something witty to say, but lately even their super cute and adorable antics seem mundane to me. I’m always jealous of people who have funny or strange encounters and recently I was hoping that could be me. I realized it’s because I haven’t been venturing out much lately.

My world consists of home, preschool car line, Target, the gym, soccer practice and ballet. That’s it. Stick with me here….I swear I’m getting to the funny part. So part of my first week of the new year was to start scheduling appointments for all the things I’d put off doing late last year and one of them was a trip to the podiatrist.

I have been having a foot issue since right after Alex was born. And that’s been 4 ½ years. I’ll leave it at that because you don’t want to be bored with my foot problems.

So, made appointment with foot doctor. Showed up today and realized my manicure was waning. Yep, feet looked pretty gross. But I figured this guy looks at nasty feet all day. At least mine were clean. Or so I thought. The nurse tells me to take off my shoes and shocks. As I do, I pick off a piece of sock fuzz from my black socks. Blah, blah, blah….she asks me a bunch of questions. I answer and then sit back to read my book and drink my coffee. Hey, this is like vacation for me. Feet up and a great book and Starbucks. Woo hoo!

The doctor walks in and introduces himself by his first name. Already liking that. I hate doctors who act all high and mighty. So he asks me a bunch of questions and as I reach down to point to my toe, I look and see the bottom of my foot is all covered in black fuzz. A lot. Eeeeewwwww. I gasp. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry. How gross is that? It’s like going to the dentist and not brushing your teeth or having bad breath.” He laughs and reminds me that he does look at feet all day and not to worry. Then he holds out his hand so I could give him the fuzz to throw away--the very sock fuzz I just scraped off my feet. Gross.

I say to him: I'm sorry. I can't just give you this sock fuzz that was on my foot. That's kind of gross.

He says: I'm about to touch your feet anyway. You look pretty clean so pass it on over since the trash can is right here.

So I pass it over anyway thinking I have no where to throw it out. I go on to explain that this is totally blogworthy and he needs to be careful because this will probably show up on my blog later. His next response, “What’s a blog?” For real? I explain it and we laugh. But he keeps coming back to the blogging.

The friendly banter continues. Next thing I know he's my new best friend....asking me about the book I'm reading and more about the blog. So he looks it up right there and then tells me he's a Baby Buncher since he's the dad of 19-month old twins. Ooooo....maybe I have new fan!

And now I have super cool inserts that massage my feet quite nicely.

Four-Year Old Angst

My son told me the other day he sleeps with his eyes open. When I asked him why he told me this, "Because I'm worried about robbers coming into the house." What???

Apparently he's concerned that robbers might come in. To steal money. And bring a gun. So because of this he's going to "sleep with his eyes open."

When I digged a little deeper on this, he explained further that he's afraid that we won't look a door, someone will come in and he's going to stop him before he comes upstairs.

I now make sure the door is extra locked everynight. But where would he get this from?

Her Cute Pooch

I'm over at DC Metro Moms today talking about my daughter's belly....and how cute it still is.

Ahhhhh....Beauty Spa

We've become big fans of the Fancy Nancy books. Even my son loves to read them. So in the latest book we own, Fancy Nancy stay in a hotel and plays beauty spa. My daughter LOVED this idea. So last night we got out all the tools and played beauty spa.

Here are our Beauty Spa rules:

1. Beauty spa always starts with a bubble bath. And bubble bath we did. No toys. Just bubbles and our individual beverages. Because rule #2 is you always have some kind of beverage in your hand.

2. Beverage required, preferrable with ice.

3. No boys allowed. OK, we finally allowed Alex to come in for the face mask part.

4. Part of beauty spa means smelling. So each product--face mask, soap lotion, bubbles have to be smelt as well. And you have to close your eyes and say "Ahhhhhhhhh."

5. Coming out of the bath means you need a bathrobe. No rushing to get dressed.

6. Lastly, you have to keep saying "Ahhhhhhh....beauty spa." And then giggle.

So together we took a bubble bath, put on a face mask, lotioned up, buffed toenails and painted them super red.

It was a fun girly activity for a dreary day.

I Just Don't Get the Wii

So the Wii FIT thing is popular this year. I feel like I’m back in high school because EVERYBODY is getting one—except me. But I feel like the only person who doesn’t want one.

Here’s my philosophy on working out. I love it. I’m not skinny or super fit, but I love working out. I love to be around other people and be motivated by what I see. I want to have variety in my workout routine—pilates, yoga, cardio classes, running, biking, etc. Part of working out, for me, is getting out of the house.

But I just am not getting the whole Wii thing. Please fill me in. Educate me. To me, it just seems like another at-home workout--similar to a workout DVD. Granted I know you can track your progress and compare scores with other people in your house, but it's still very limiting. And after reading more about it online, it really looks like much of what you do, you could do on your own without the Wii or at a gym.

So, what's the scoop. Why do you use it?

New Year's Resolutions

I guess I need to do the token New Year's post. I typically do not make resolutions because I don't keep them. It's just easier that way. I tend to not follow through on lots of things, as a general rule.

But this year I want to focus on a few things:

1) I want to become more organized. Our teeny house is growing tinier everyday it feels. So we've taken measures before the new year to sort and purge. I want to continue on with this.

2) I want to continue with my current workout schedule. I'm managing the gym 4-5 times a week. I want to continue with this because it is making me feel great and less stressed.

3) I want to spend more one-on-one time with my kids and more quality time with my husband.

4) I need to get my resume ready. It's time to head back to work.

It's That Time Again: Preschool Admissions

On Monday I started getting my things in order for the new year: doctor's appointment, dentist appointment, signing Anna up for ballet and getting all my preschool application deadlines on the calendar. It's hard to think of the new school year when we just got started on this one.

This blog was super busy this time last year with my preschool application journey series. So where am I this year? Well, Alex starts kindergarten so that's one less factor to consider. This year I'm not going to have to coordinate his schedule with hers since he'll be in school all day, everyday. Crazy!

With Anna, I'm looking for a program that is five days a week, preferably in the afternoon since she's not really napping much anymore anyway. I have two schools in mind to switch her to and will use our current school as back up--IF I can get a certain teacher.

The good thing is I know both the schools and have visited them already so that should cut down on my time. I just need to get the deadlines in order and the applications filled out.

More to come.....