Monday, December 20, 2010

Signs

Any guesses as to what the girls have been up to?


A small request

Addison would like to be called by her new name, if you please.  It's "Belle Rapunzel Bisquit Marie Ralph."

Thank you.

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's in the cards

Jay has been working a lot of weekends.  Which means that I spend a lot of weekends yelling, cleaning moon sand out of hair, and trying, TRYING, to stop and smell the roses.  And while logically I know that I live a pretty stellar life (healthy kids, great husband, gainfully employed, no criminal record), life sometimes has a way of creeping up on you and making you want to take a nap in the clubhouse in the backyard. 

Explaining it this way makes the most sense to me.  Let's say I am a glass.  I can be filled up with a few big stressers or a lot of little tiny ones.  But, big stress or small stress, some days the glass is JUST full.  And it only takes a few drops of stress (or a few drops of juice, as it would be on Saturday) to make the glass overflow.  It doesn't matter that the issue isn't a huge one.  With a glass that full, a few more drops can be too much.

Needless to say, by Saturday night I was tired of yelling, my kids were grumpy, and my house still wasn't clean.  Toys and baby dolls were everywhere and a box of alphabet flashcards were strewn on the living room floor.  Out of principal, I refused to pick them up myself.  So I threatened, I yelled, and the cards continued to lie.

When I finally laid down to go to bed, my cup runneth over.  And not in a good way.  After a few nightmares about midgets (seriously, why is THAT my reoccurring nightmare these days???) I begged a higher power to give me some patience and maybe even a little sanity.  My kids aren't evil... But their mother sure sounds like she is when yelling at them.  Then I remembered someone telling me, "If you ask God for patience, he's going to give you chances to practice being patient."  And for some reason, that calmed me enough to fall into a deep sleep.

Sunday, I woke up and tried to enjoy the kids and their messy quirks.  So when Addi dug through a tub of too-small-Addi-clothes I had just spent an hour putting away, I applauded her sense of style. 

Then I took another picture, because really, the red sparkly shoes totally made the outfit.
Then I took a picture of Sam. Just because the kid is cute.
And then the girls hugged and reminded me again that even though those darn flashcards were still on the ground, life is way too short to get worked up over small stuff like that.
I'd like to wrap this up with a great lesson on how me relaxing and enjoying life led to Addison finally picking up the flashcards from the living room floor and my glass being empty of stress and full of love, respect, and peace on earth.  Instead, Addi DID pick them up, but only after a lot of tears and a (little) yelling from me.  And in true karma style, five minutes later Sam dumped them in the hallway. 

I think I'll just let them stay there. 

It only took 6 days

It only took six days to be able to look at the pictures of all the yummy food I baked last weekend.  Just to prove I have at least one domestic bone in my body, here's the proof.
While I baked, the girls saw the newly fallen snow and asked to go outside.  I sent them upstairs for snow boots, taking advantage of their independence, then got back to icing the brownies.  I turned around to see Sam's back heading out the door, then immediately grabbed her and dragged her back inside.

I choose to just be grateful Addison picked rain boots instead of focus on Sam picking two right flip flops.  It's the little things that keep a girl going.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sporty Spice(s)

The kids are finally at the age where they can entertain themselves for short periods of time without doing structural damage to the house.  A few weeks ago, I found them geared up for a rousing game of hockey. 

And I'm proud to say it only took me seven minutes and three clues to figure out that hockey was in fact what they were playing. 

 My first clue... a pile of raisins on the ground. 
Clue #2:  Sam wearing the bag on her foot and carrying a golf club.
And my final clue:  Addi wearing a snowflake oven mitt, my crocs, and several mardi gras beads.
I'm pretty impressed with their imaginations sometimes.  And with my only needing three clues.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

No pictures please!

Among some of the fabulous things that happened last weekend (Festival of Lights, baking with the kids all night Friday, a cookie swap with good friends, great time with the kids and their Papaw and Grandma Carol), there were a few negatives.

You know, small things like Sam yacking all over my bed on Friday night.  Then Addi, not to be outdone, barfing all over my bed on Saturday night.

After getting what might actually count as a 1/2 a night of sleep on towels amid random half-asleep conversations about fluke-pukes and washing the sheets Sunday morning, I woke up and felt...... Off. 

Then the "off" turned into "Holy moly what evil demon has possessed me and what ancient priceless artifact did I willfully destroy while laughing and poking cute babies in the eye to make me deserve this hell that might have been called the stomach flu if it weren't so amazingly evil that flu doesn't even come close to the torture this has given to me and my poor defenseless bathroom."

I like to have cute pictures to go with my blog.  I'll spare you that today, for your sake and mine.  Let's just say Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday have not been my best.  And I really hope that without pictures Jay will somehow erase the image of me sick from his brain. 

But, in an attempt to ring in 2011 with a positive, upbeat, updated Steph (aka Steph 2.0), I will now give you the list of positives I have made about our ill-fated weekend.

Things that ROCK about the stomach flu - by Steph 2.0
10. Super cheap Christmas shows your kids have been looking forward to for weeks are totally over-rated.  Who wants to get dressed up on a Sunday?

9. The Dettmans got an unexpected Christmas show and said it was great!  Awesome for them and letting someone else enjoy it actually made me feel good.

8. My inlaws have never left my house so fast.  Although sad to see them go, I now know what to do should I want to actually get rid of them in a hurry.

7. I honestly could have cared less when I saw the disaster the kids made while I was otherwise occupied.  Free day for them!

6. I got a break from everyday distractions, like Facebook, blogging, and showering.

5.  I napped.  A LOT.  Five hours, in fact, on Monday. 

4. I got to enjoy some friendly bantering about the flu with my other sick friend.  Sorry Beth :( Hope you didn't get this from me.

3. Addi and Sam got to work on their acting skills.  Namely by pretending to be Mommy and yelling "I'm gonna puke!  Rahhh! RAHHHH! Give me a bucket!"  Charming.

2.  You know how the last thing you eat before you get really sick is the last thing you want to eat for years?  Saturday night, I ate cookies.  Fingers crossed I never want another one again.

And, finally.

1. a 7 lb drop in weight.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Style and Grace

Each Monday Addison has her dance class.  Parents are kept outside and really have no idea how or what the kids are doing, which is probably for the best.  I'm sure the kids pay more attention to their teachers and us parents don't freak when we see how our kids act while dancing away our hard-earned money.

Right before Thanksgiving we had a "parents watch" week.  It was pretty fun to watch the kids show off their moves.  And after every "move", they all looked to see that their parents were watching.  We all had our cameras and I'm sure there are 100's of pictures, just like these, all over town.

Presenting.... First position!
 The ever popular fancy-foot-on-the-knee-arms-up-don't-tip-over position.
 And finally, the grand finale...  The "I'm-sure-all-dancers-pick-their-boogers-just-like-this" position.
I wonder if any other parents caught that one on film.

Twins

Sam saw this ornament and was so excited.  Because, according to her, it's a picture of her "Pop Pop."  You know, my dad.

What do you think?  Twins?

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