Picture Pages

Goodness, I LOVED Picture Pages. Sometimes I wish it were around for Kendall to watch, she too would love to watch this. Sometimes when we are coloring I will start singing the theme song, you know it...

'Picture Pages, Pictures, Time to get your Picture Pages,
Time to get your crayons and your pencils.
Picture Pages, Pictures Pages, Open up your Pictures Pages.
Time to let Bill Cosby do a Picture Page with you!'

Bill Cosby, I love him too. That's another subject for another day.

However, I have many picture that are worthy of some picture pages, and I thought I might start with this one. The one was taken by Mom on the way back from the 'Please Touch Museum,' on Kendall's Birthday. Mind you, all three of them were snoring like a pack of bears, can't you hear them? Of course I am getting it enlarged and putting it on the quotable pictures wall.

Oh, what is the Quotable Pictures Wall you ask? Well I will tell you. It is a wall in the basement on the playroom side that is quickly filling with black framed pictures of our little family that are worthy of quotes. There are no quotes attached, you can make up your own when you look at them, it is quite easy to do. They are mostly silly pictures, some cute. I plan to have these pictures go to every home we own in the future and to make a wall in each home, a Quotable Pictures Wall.


So here is my first picture page.

Politics over Lunch

Kendall has a fascination with the current president...hmm...wonder where she gets that from? Regardless, she likes to talk about him, and always asks to hear him talk. She will see pictures of him as we flip through news sites in the morning, and say, 'Hey Mommy, there is Barack Obama, he is the president, can I hear him talk?' Last night was his most recent address and if Kendall had had it her way, we would have been watching that instead of Blue's Clues, but apparently, Ethan is a Republican and balked at the insanity of us watching this.

Last night at bedtime she was asking me a ton of questions about him. I told her the basics that a 3 year old would need to understand; that he makes the rules, that he keeps us safe, that he is a Daddy, that he lives in the White House,that he has made history. She asks,'history?.' I said, 'yes Kendall, he made history, we will talk about him for a long time because, you see the color of his skin, it is brown, what color is your skin?', and she looks at me and says, 'white?', and I said 'yes, he made history because of that. He is the first president with brown skin.' She asks, 'Why?' Ugh...deeper, I say, 'because people sometimes think people with brown people are different.' And she says, 'that is silly.' I sigh, 'yes that is silly, Me and your Daddy think that they are just the same as us,' and she replies, 'well...me too.' Then she asks, 'So can I hear Barack Obama talk?' Back to square one. So warning to all our brown skinned friends, Kendall may proclaim upon seeing you, 'You are the same as me!!'

Nothing about a lesson on equality at bedtime at age 3, thanks Barack Obama. She may not recognize her letters, but she is for sure going to pass me in her knowledge of politics and government by age 5.

And well the bottom line is, Kendall would have voted for him just on the sheer fact that he isn't afraid to dance and look silly, in the name of fun.

A Weekend in the Clouds

This past weekend we went to the home of our friends, Kyle, Kristi, Mia, and Micah in Great Bend, Pa. They live on land that the Landis family is developing into a Christian camp, The Loft. Yesterday, Kendall was reminiscing about the weekend, and looked out our window and pointed in a northerly direction slanting towards the sky and said, 'Mommy, Mia lives just over there, up there high enough to touch the clouds.' This is Kendall's sweet interpretation of Mia living in the mountains.


So we left on Friday evening after Andy got home from work. Let me say that Friday was chaotic. To pack for four people for both inside and outside entertainment in the winter is overwhelming. Well perhaps just to me, and if this is not to you, well then pat yourself on the back. So we had a bag and basket for snow gear and boots, and then an over sized duffel with all the other clothes. A basket of blankets to keep us extra cozy and warm up there. Our pillows. I don't know, it is one of those things, while growing up we always took our pillows with us when we were going to sleep somewhere. It is the contour of the divot I suppose that your head has worked so long to achieve that gives you a peaceful rest. Then the bag of toiletries, diapers, wipes, so on and so forth. Camera, little fan, (because I was not about to have my children awake in the middle of the night because of loud boys), food and snacks, and then entertainment for the ride. (this included a basket of books, activity pages, magna doodle, snacks, a flash light, and Ariel)


Andy thought that they both would sleep on the ride up there since we were leaving after dinner. To assist in this dream, I did not give Kendall a nap that day. So you can imagine mid afternoon the hell that broke loose from and over tired girl and her Mommy not packing every last thing, just in case. 'Mommy, please, please, we need to take all the princesses, what if I need them?!?!' And this went on from there, over books, walking out to the van to load things, so on and so forth. Now Ethan, he napped, he needs a nap, I need his nap, daily. So as we embark, finally...he was 1/2 right, Kendall was out 10 minutes into the drive. Ethan? Bright eyed and bushy tailed the entire road trip. We played guess the sketch, on the Magna Doodle, either he is a really good interpreter, or I, brush my shoulders, am a pretty good artist. I rig up a flash light so that he can read. About 30 minutes away he starts the freak mode. Where, this is it, I have had it, this is so boring, I feel like I could rocket right out of this van. So I start saying, Ethan, ' there is a big truck coming up to Kendall's window, LOOK!!' And so it went on like this for the duration of the ride. Andy would slow down and speed up to catch tractor trailers. A little shout out to 81 and the truckers, my son loves you.


Ethan taking in the snow and cold weather, so not his style.

When we arrived Kendall awoke to a snowy and cold tundra, where we had to unload all of our things at the bottom of the hill and load them into Kyle's pick up. Why? Well because the driveway was a sheet of ice and is vertical. So then you can ask, how icy was it? Go ahead. Well was we start up to park next to Todd and Mandi's car, my husband, asks, ' I do not understand why we can't get up, it doesn't look that bad.' I am not lying as the sentence is coming to completion out of his mouth, and as I am thinking, 'bad idea' in my head, we begin to slide backwards. Awesome. Then the van begins to turn sideways. So now we are parallel, on a sheet of ice, on a hill, with two ditches in front and in back of us. He could not have got that van parked like that even if he had tried. So up this hill I see the lights of Kyle's truck, and I say to Andy, 'put it in park, and no one gets hurt.' No, I really just calmly suggested that maybe since Kyle is proficient with these conditions, perhaps he should get the van out of this predicament. It was a funny predicament to me. Just this van in the middle of a mountain road of ice, sideways. I love you honey.

So we get there.

Kendall and Ethan are awake, and I decide to let them play and explore a bit so that they can get acquainted with their surroundings. Mia and Micah were asleep, and so after about 30 minutes, I took them off to bed.

Then I return to the 5, Kyle, Kristi, Todd, Mandi, and Andy, playing this board game, Would you Rather or something like that. I don't know what the game is all about or its point, I came in mid playing. Kyle says he just loves this game. Kyle would. It is a game that involves debate, instruction, embarrassing challenges, i.e. Kristi having to act like she was a cat for an entire minute about to pounce something but portraying it as an interpretive dance. I know. Todd was going to have to belly dance for I think 3 minutes or something, but then my husband said something funny while he was taking a swallow of his beverage and it sprayed all over the table, floor, and games. Game Over.

The girls, we went to bed, the boys, they geared up and went outside on the gator until 4 a.m. on back trails, doing who knows what.

Ethan, Mia, Kendall, & Micah, getting ready for movie time.

Saturday, the kids got up and were instantaneous best of friends, and that was the tone of Saturday for them. It was just lovely, besides yelling, 'slow down,' and cleaning up after them, they entertained themselves. We went sledding before lunch with the kids. Ethan of course refused this. It was a big hill. Kendall loved it. But he tolerated being bundled and outside for over an hour. Then the toboggan was hooked up to the back of the gator, and it pulled everyone around an open field. Kendall of course refused to do this, so after Mia took her turn Kyle and Andy decided to whip each other around. Then Kyle got the fantastic idea to just hold on to the rope while being pulled by the gator, on foot. Kristi and I just gathered the children and took them in. I don't even think we watched what happened. I heard Kyle later talking with Andy and Todd about when he does that again, what would be the best thing to wear so that he does not get snow down the front of him. That is these boys.

This photo cracks me up because in the background is Kendall looking like the kid in a Christmas Story when he is all bundled up to go outside.

Daddy & Kendall on their first run.

Ethan, extremely content to just watch.
Kendall upon the gator, as it whips Andy around.

After, in Kendall's words, 'the best lunch ever,' I think she was so hungry, the kids took naps. From this point on the weekend went on, with Planet Earth playing in the background. Todd had brought out the dvd's while we were outside, and from that point we watched it whenever there was down time.

Before dinner I took the girls out for a walk to get some energy out and the appetites up, and Andy came to pick us up at the bottom of the hill in the gator. We then traveled on some of the paths in the woods, while Kendall kept a look out for Snow White.

After dinner Kyle and I thought, well the kids need baths, we will just put them in together. So we put them in Kyle and Kristi's bathroom tub. I left the boys up there to handle this situation and I began cleaning. Kyle then came down and was going downstairs I suppose to check a circuit breaker because the jets weren't turning on. All I needed to hear was jets and I started up the stairs. At the flip of the switch, they went on, and the screaming started. I then ran up the stairs to find a naked screaming Micah in Andy's arms, and Ethan flailing to get out. Needless to say, almost 2 year olds are deathly afraid of jacuzzi jets. So the boys and their weight get out, the level goes down, the jets go back on, water, water, spraying everywhere.

Post jets, still worked up as all get out.
Sunday we woke up and began packing up. Kendall was so sad to have to leave. As we were saying goodbye to Kyle who took us to our van, he said, 'well you guys should come up again next year!' Apparently he didn't have as much fun as we did. I think he was trying to say that we should make a point of doing this every year at this time, and we will see each other when we can in the middle, but just the same, it sounded so warm and inviting, don't you think?

The Princess' Sleeping Chamber

So next will be a blog on E, most definitely, two in a row of Kendall is just so not fair. Oh the life of the second born. But really Kendall has had a lot going on, I mean turning 3 and all. We are quickly approaching the month of Ethan's birth and so, there will be equality prevailing throughout the land.

Onto the pictures of the room. I gave you a sneak peek in the previous post in the pic of her and Juliana nestled in bed...this did not last long however, 10 minutes later they wanted to watch Lady and the Tramp with me in my bed...'ok', I said, 'it's a slumber party.' They fell asleep, I carried them to bed.

Sorry, these first two are a bit dark...the shelf over the bed was made by my dad for Kendall for her birthday.

On the dresser is her newest addition swimming around up there, Aurora & Belle, a gift from A. Michelle.

Exiting the room, that dress up hanging on the door is her prized dress up and it cannot be in the playroom because it is only for her to wear. Issues?

The Bed

The footstool to get on the bed, because every growing girl needs that, right? It was a gift from the Casey Family, and she loves it.

9 Princesses at a Tea Party

So I think we have it covered that Kendall is obsessed with Disney Princesses. Presently she is wearing a dress borrowed from Sarah because it is 'long and flowing,' and none of hers do this.

So her third birthday comes around and I think, Princess Party. And what a princess party it was. Kendall has a bunch of girlfriends, well because many of my friends have little girls around her age, and when I think about it, we all mass produce females, poor Ethan, he was the only little prince at the party.

Here is the rundown...

The invitees were to wear their favorite princess attire. I heard that many of them had been deciding on this since the invitation arrived in the mail. Kendall went back and forth between Belle or Cinderella. She does not have a Belle costume and if she wanted to be Belle she needed to go poopy on the potty, Kendall was Cinderella.

The Guests:

Molly-aka Sleeping Beauty

Brynn-aka Tinkerbell

Emily-aka Snow White

Sarah-aka Aurora-because we can't have a princess of the same name

Emma-aka Belle

Meghan-she also dressed as Sleeping Beauty, but wore a different dress

Gabriella & Juliana-they came some time into the party because they went to visit their Mommy in the hospital who had given birth to their Valentine, Annabel Lucia, the day before, and their Daddy brought them...we can't expect him to remember everything.

Aren't my kids so well behaved?


The Menu:

Pigs in a Blanket-just some dogs wrapped in crescent rolls-Andy made these, he is amazing.

Mac & Cheese

Princess Tea-served in Kendall's fancy tea china-Princess Tea is pink lemonade

Princess Crown Cookies

Chocolate Cupcakes

The Decor:

Pink

Tissue Paper Pom Pom's hanging from the ceiling

Hot Pink & Pastel pink streamers

pink and cream table cloths

pink place cards

hot pink & orange argyle ribbon wrapping things together, such as utensils in a napkin

The Activities:

Pin the Crown on the Princess

Princess Crown Craft-Can you say Glitter Glue?

Nail Painting-done by Drizella & Anastasia

Musical Chairs-aka Tear Fest 2009-no one likes to lose, but how else do we expect them to learn winning and losing?



The Special Guests:

The Ugly Step Sisters-Drizella & Anastasia

The Fairy Godmother


Kendall requested about a month ago in the planning stages that Mom Mom be the Fairy Godmother and that A. Meghan and A. Shelly be the Step Sisters (aka-Mommy's helpers)

Homemade parties are always more fun, and I think the girls did just that.

That evening we had the family party and Kendall was birthday partied out by the end of the night. It was to celebrate Erin's Sweet 16 also.

So fun by all, exhaustion to all. I am still tired from the day!

Kendall had her first sleepover in her big girl room with Juliana. They were so cute together!

Don't Call It a Come Back.

So I'm back...bit of a hiatus...my lap top passed away, and then I had a blogging brain fart. How and what do you blog about after being off line for so long? I plan on blogging about Kendall turning 3 and the fanfare that went with that, but I thought I would start with the craze going around facebook, 25 random things about yourself, but with my own added twist...

The 25 Random Things I have been doing since I blogged last

1. Making Martha Stewart inspired tissue paper pom poms until 3 a.m...buy the kit. I was bound and determined to make mine without her easy does it kit, and I did, but it takes a LONG time...those things are going to be used at every one of Kendall's birthday parties until she is 45.

2. Laundry. No,really, my laundry climbs walls.

3. Got my hair chopped. It was the longest I have ever had it since my Jr. year of high school, and I was so sick of it, and so my friend, neighbor, and stylist chopped it. (all one person, thanks Steph)

4. Made Kendall a big girl room. Big girl bed, decor, so on and so forth, she is now residing in a sea of pink with princesses floating around, and of course the Martha Stewart pom pom's. ( I love you Martha) Thanks for the great idea Trista.

5. Contemplated creative ways to have Kendall to be super excited about going poop on the potty. Unsuccessful.

6. Played outside, it was super nice out last week, if there is such a thing as global warming, which I sit on the fence about, I love its effects on February with a high 50 temperature.

7. Went to the Please Touch Museum and became Members...so if anyone wants to come, we have a free ticket and the rest of your clan would get in for $10. It was so much fun for the little ones and me also,...I will blog more on all of this later, also.

8. Olivia, the new show on Nickelodeon, based upon the children's books I love, started. So this is now one of our top three shows, well for Kendall, E, and I,(I am not quite sure about Andy and if he enjoys them, come to think of it, I don't think he has even watched Yo Gabba Gabba with us) the other two are of course, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Charlie & Lola, I think their British accents are just so cute.

9. American Idol started. I will readily and fully admit, I watch the show. It is also a show my children will tolerate because they like to pretend they are performers, and so I can actually watch something. I am not one of those that follows or supports the winner after the fact, but I can sit there and critique each singer like I am the 5th judge on the panel. So I of course will be blogging about that.

10. Saw Smurfs for sale at Target. I used to love smurfs. I actually had over one hundred figurines at one time in a collectors box. There was this little gift store across the street from our first home in Richboro, and if I was well behaved or something like that, I was able to go and pick one out. I used to love watching the Smurfs on Saturday mornings at my grandparents house with my A. Amy. I would prefer to watch it there because she was permitted to have sugar cereal, and watch as many cartoons as she wanted, a perfect Saturday morning. I suppose that is what happens when you are the baby of the family. Remember Saturday morning cartoons? Good Times. So what happened to my Smurf collection, which is no doubt worth something now because they are originals? My dad threw them away. That's right, and no, not because they were taking up storage space, this occured much younger folks, he threw them away because I wouldn't clean them up. Tragedy. Let's take a look...I could hardly believe my eyes...I for sure had this one. Inexcusable.

11. Read 6 books. Crazy. I love to read. Thank goodness for the library or my house would actually have books to sit on instead of furniture.

12. Heard my mother describe Kendall's new 3 year old attitude as her being extremely passionate. She is either extremely joyful about something or extremely miserable about something...I personally am passionate about some hearty time outs for the sass.

13. Found that Andy Kitty is missing about a quarter of his tail, and when I showed it to my grandmother, she says, 'Oh that is why he has been acting so strangely, and you know what, I thought he looked different, I just couldn't figure it out.' Oh, ok. His wounds are now being treated professionally. Oh, and Mom Mom has hunted for the tail, to no avail. Good to know.

14. Successfully communicating with Ethan. New words are spewing out daily, and he has moved on to phrases. Terrific. Because he would get so angry that we could not understand him. Now, for example, he says, 'I pooped Mommy,' and then, 'Change It.' Mmmm, that's nice because the smell coming from his pants wasn't a dead give away.

15. Watching Chelsea Handler on E at night as my bedtime talk show. Ok, so sometimes she is a little raunchy, but she is pretty funny, and I am a grown up, and I am justifying this because?

16. Andy and I had some twisted stomach virus that had me think for a second or two that I was pregnant again, but then realized that having conversations from one bathroom to him in another suffering from the same maladies does not mean that I am pregnant unless of course he was carrying the twin.

17. Redecorated the freezer door on my fridge. I love to post random things up here of important things to our little family.

18. Celebrated Kendall turning 3. What in the world is that about? Was I not just giving birth to her? Presently she is yelling at me because I am not playing Cinderella correctly...maybe I will just stuff her back in for a few hours.

19.Bought & ate Life Cereal. So yummy sprinkled with a little granulated sugar and some cold skim milk. Delish.

20. Watched Annie with Kendall, the Disney version. She now sings, "I think I'm Gonna Like it here..." several times daily. I think that it is strange she picked this song instead of the typical, "Tomorrow." None the less, it is always stuck in my head.

21. Got the kids slurpees as it is snowing outside. They thought that they were fabulous.

22. Took Ethan to the ENT for his ear check up. One tube is out, due to an infection pushing it out. He will go back in 2 months to get evaluated to see if he needs to get a new one in. Annoying.

23. Took Kendall for her 3 year check up. She is a tiny little thing weighing in at exactly 30 pounds, and being exactly 3 feet. She refused to pee in a cup for the urine analysis, telling me, 'No, Mommy, I am not leaving my pee pee here for them to look at!'

24. Toyed with the option of adopting a dog, then thought better of it.

25. Played Duck, Duck, Goose, and Hide and Seek several hundred times. Don't tell them, but sometimes I hide in the bath tub with my book.

Oh and in case you wanted to put on some pounds ladies, here is a little vintage ad for you...once again proving I should have been a mother in the 50's.