More pics from the past week

As I described below, we have had a busy and fun week! Here are some more pics!

We had such a wonderful time with Auntie Ava! :) From a daytrip to Stillwater, MN to snuggles with Liam and an evening out with some wine and martinis for the grown ups we had a wonderful time!







Here are some pics of our little Dallas fan. The outfit was a gift for Kate from Auntie Ava. As I type this, there are 30 seconds left in Game Six and the Mavs are down by 3 points for the championship. Ava is actually AT the game in Dallas!!!! Maybe by posting pics of the littlest fan they can pull off a win despite the worst officiating in NBA history. Oh well....we're still Mavs fan no matter what happens!

Wonderful Weekend

What a terrific - and eventful - weekend we had! First of all, many lovely relatives descended upon Saint Paul for a joint baptism ceremony for Liam and Mia (my sister's daughter, and Nick's and my GodDaughter!). It was so great to celebrate the day jointly! Nick's sister, Ava, flew in from Dallas to be Liam's Godmother and is was SO wonderful to see her! My Grandma flew in from Chicago and we had a lovely time. Family dinners and outings around the Twin Cities kept us happily busy and it all ended much too soon. Here are a selection of pics from the week past - though I will have to post baptism pics later as they are on my Mom's and brother's cameras (I was busy participating in the ceremony! :)

Kate at her first dance recital - so coy!


Kate loves to dance!


Our beautiful God Daughter, Amelia Rose Morris.


Adorable Mia's cutie pie big brother Jackson!

Flying Quesadillas

Thursday was ROUGH. Why is it that just when you think you have it all together, things completely go the opposite way? Is that sort of an offshoot of "Murphy's Law"? Wednesday I must admit I was feeling pretty darn great about my Mommy Multi-tasking skills. I did tons of laundry, organized the basement, straightened up the house, had a great day with the kids as far as good behavior and charming little anecdotes go AND I went to the gym and worked out. All this while Nick is away at a business conference. I rocked mommyhood Wednesday. I don't mean to brag. But perhaps I should have been more cautious in giving myself even silent kudos.....because the Parenthood Pixies got me back.

Woke up Thursday to Liam being so full of green snot that he could not even drink a bottle comfortably. Now he has been battling a cold for a while, but I am not a 'call the doctor, quick' kind of mom so I have been suctioning, running a cool mist humidifier - everything the books (and now the doctor) said to do. Well obviously it did not work. Poor guy was miserable. So I called and made an appointment to bring him in. Then Kate woke up - the first words out of her mouth, in a deep and muffled voice were 'Bobby, I hab to bwow by node'. More green stuff. Whoopeeee! Called the doc and got her in at the same time as Liam.

Long story short - kids are fine. Just a cold. No antibiotics, keep doing what you are doing. Blah blah blah. But it does not make the kids any more comfortable, poor things.

Actually, as the day progressed, Kate was totally fine cold wise. Almost like it went away. Until the tantrums. It was like someone took my sweet daughter and replaced her with an evil clone. Some samples:

Me: Kate, what would you like for lunch?
Kate: Quesadillas, pwease.
Me: Oh! Such nice manners! Quesadillas it is then!
(I make the quesadilla and present to Kate.
Kate: (Wailing) NOOOOOOOOO!!!! NO QUESADILLA!!!! NOOOO!!!!
Quesadilla goes flying across room.
Kate: I want applesauce!!!!!!!!!
Long talk about not throwing food etc. etc. By the way, I am talking. Kate is wailing.
Kate: APPLESAUCE!!!!
Whole routine on how to ask for things nicely. Etc. Etc. Then I cave and get the applesauce. Present kate with applesauce.
Kate: (Wailing Again) NOOOOO!!! NO APPLESAUCE! I WANT A QUESADILLLLLAAAAAAAAA".
Quesadilla and applesauce are placed firmly aside while Kate is removed for a time out.
Sniffle. Snarfle. Snot.
Kate then devours her quesadilla AND applesauce.

This kind of thing happened all day. Forgetting her manners and being downright demanding and bratty on top of things. Totally ignoring any instructions from me whether it be 'please pick up your toys' or 'no you may not bury Liam in stuffed animals while he plays on his floor mat...they are not loving him, they are hurting him when there are 15 of them'. It all
came to a head at bedtime with Liam crying and needing his nose cleaned while Kate totally flipped out and refused to:
A. put on her pajamas - she ran around half naked screaming
B. wash her hands and face before bed - she flung foamy soap bubbles across the bathroom while doing that gutteral, oh-my-gosh are they breathing cry
C. crawl into bed - she did that alternating stiff as a board, limp as a noodle routine that little kids are so awesome at.

I felt so helpless!!!! I am sure I was a sight to see. Trying to strike a balance between firm discipline at this total craziness and also knowing that she was tired and sick and she was not knowing how to handle it all. Also trying not to scream my own head off. The hysterics began afresh when, on her "good girl chart (which we do every day) she got a big "X' instead of a "good girl sticker".

It all ended with Kate falling limply into my arms, exhausted by not feeling well and from her dramatics. Sobbing that heaving, trying-to-catch-one's-breath-end-of-a-tantrum Cry. Arms viced around my neck and soaking wet tear stained face buried in my neck. Sobbing 'Mom-(inhale)-my-(inhale)-please-(inhale)-sing-(inhale)-me-(inhale)-a-(inhale)-bedtime-(inhale)-sooooong.

One verse of her favorite bedtime tune and she was out cold. Bless her little heart. Then it was off to Liam who mercifully cooperated with his bedtime and even gave me some smiles and giggles. It is the teary hugs and the baby smiles that ALMOST makes me forget about flying quesadillas and soap and ear-piercing protests. :) They are more than worth every bump on this road.

In the words of Scarlett O'Hara - "Tomorrow is another day".

Magnificent Minnesota

This weekend has been picture perfect! Not to sound trite in talking about the weather, but it has been glorious. Not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky, temps in the 80s but with a nice breeze. Everything is green and blooming and spectacularly beautiful! Minnesota is so lovely. We really took advantage of the beautiful weather and had one of the most fun weekends ever!

On Saturday, I told Nick that he needed to be ready to go at 9am, but I would not tell him what we were doing. Arranged in advance, Patrick and Tara showed up at 9am to babysit the kids for us. Isn't that so great of them?! Nick and I left and I drove him to our "surprise date day". We went to the amusement park ValleyFair and spent the day on thrill rides, playing mini-golf and racing go-karts. It was so fun! The thing is, one of Nick's and my first trips when we were dating was to Williamsburg, VA where we had one of our best dates ever at Busch Gardens amusement park. Considering Nick and I had not spent a day alone together in soooooo long, I thought I would try to capture some of that fun at the park here! We had such a great time! Nick has called me a closet adreneline junkie and we could not get enough of the thrills. One thing that we did that was amazing was we went for a tandem ride on the skycoaster! This was insanely fun. We got strapped into harnesses side by side and then a winch pulled us backwards up 18 STORIES into the air! Then Nick pulled the ripcord and we free fell down until the harness caught and we swung back and forth in the air in a huge arc. It was SO FUN! Having done that now, I would totally bungee jump! It was a great day.

Special thanks to Pak and Tara for watching the kids. They took Kate and Liam to the zoo while we were out and I hear they all had a terrific time! Pak is going to send me some cute pics. We ended the day by taking Pak, Tara and the kids and going out for Mexican food. Finishing off the day with good food, friends, and a margarita was the perfect end to a great day!

In the meantime, here are some pics from TODAY'S fun event! I took the kids to the Grand Ol' Days parade today. Grand Ol' Days is a terrific annual one-day festival in our neighborhood. Grand Ave. is a great street with all kinds of shops, restaurants etc. and it is about 25 blocks long. The whole street is open to pedestrians and there are bands and food and people everywhere. So fun. I popped the kids in the stroller and we walked the 6 blocks and watched the Grand Ol' Days parade! Kate loved it. There were horses and marching bands and beauty queens, old cars, clowns, firetrucks and all kinds of neat things! Liam slept through the whole thing! :) Nick had to work, so he missed it, but he can come next year! :)

We had a Grand Weekend! Hope yours was enjoyable as well!

Heavy Metal

Liam is such a funny little guy. Maybe I have a future rock-n-roller on my hands, here. Whenever we are in the car and Liam starts to fuss, I have the magic solution. His "off button'. He loves hard rock! I just turn on the radio to the local rock station, 93X, and he INSTANTLY quiets down. Whether it is Metallica (his fave, I think) or Nirvana or Black Stone Cherry he is completely soothed. If I put it on the pop station he flips out even more. Not a fan of Ashlee Simpson and Ashley Parker Angel, apparently! :) He is ok with classical. Forget Country. The only sure thing is rock. Maybe it is because Nick and I attended a few concerts when Liam was still in utero?

Anyway, as a result, I have a newly discovered appreciation for heavy metal - both artistically and as a sanity saver! :) I had forgotten how good of a song "One' by Metallica was and how much I love old school NIrvana and Pearl Jam. And BOY does Liam love Soundgarden and STP. Takes me back. He is so funny! Thankfully, Kate does not mind it either. I think she would rather listen to Rob Zombie than Liam screaming. I wonder if electric guitar lessons and a laundry basket full of dark colored band t-shirts are somewhere in our future? :) tee hee