Bugsy Malone

When Aleana announced that she wanted to audition for the local school/community musical "Bugsy Malone", I wasn't surprised.

School plays are certainly not my thing.  I did one once, in the 8th grade.  I was a girl scout - and had one line.  The idea of having a part sounded great, but actually being in a play made me feel self-conscience and uncomfortable.  I didn't like the feeling of everyone watching me.  And oh, the thought of messing up?  The whole experience was too nerve-racking for me.

But Aleana?  She's not like that at all.  She just does her thing, and if she messes up, it's no big deal.  It doesn't mess with her head like it would for me.  She has a quiet confidence about her that I only wish I had at her age.

The part she tried out for, she didn't get.  But that didn't phase her.  She was given the part of the Loretta, a 20's dancer/dance line.  She had a few speaking lines, and several group musical/dance numbers.  

She started play practice in October.  Everyday after school for two hours.  For 4 1/2 months.

And this last weekend was the big production premier.  I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of work and talent in the production.  It was over two hours long, with several solos and groups songs.  Fun choreography.  The kids did a fantastic job.

But my Aleana?!  She was the best out of the whole lot.  (Yes - my unabashed mama bear pride is speaking here).  

She was awesome.  Every once in awhile, I had to choke back the emotions...she's just growing up so fast.  

So proud of you Aleana Mae!

Trent's choice

I love it when Trent has library time at school.  

The books that he picks out never cease to surprise me.  

They are almost always non-fiction.

They are are books I would have never even cracked open at his age...let alone my age.

The subject/topic of each book varies.  But usually it's a how-to book or a full-of-facts book.

This book is his latest choice in leisure reading. The first day he brought it home, I could not get his nose out of it.  Every time I turned around, he was lost in the plethora of hints and tips for the home.  I actually had to take it away from him, so he would do his homework and chores.

I guess I am just amazed.  This type of book would never catch my interest.  It's not something that I would ever think a 9 yr old would read.  And yet Trent loves it.  

I love watching how he sees the world.  It is so completely different through his eyes.  It's been an eye-opening experience for me.  And he has taught me some interesting facts along the way...like how I can use a terracotta planter to bake my bread in for a unique loaf shape. :)

I'll take it!

Guess What?!?

Luke almost outdid himself.  It's hard to match a birthday present, like the one he gave when he decided to share my birthday with me...but this comes in a close second.

Luke got underwear for his birthday.  He wasn't over the moon about them.  He looked at them, looked at me, and then moved on to the next present.  Not the reaction I was hoping for...but I wasn't surprised either.  

Luke does things on his terms.  He took his time learning how to crawl.  I was afraid the kid would be still be crawling into nursery at 18 months.  When he finally decided to walk - at 17 1/2 months - he just stood up and walked and never looked back.  At the time we thought it was because of his giant head/balance issues.  And I am sure that had a lot to do with it.  But as we have gotten to know this guy, a big part of it, is it's just who he is.  He takes it easy, and adapts to change way better than any of the other kids.  And when he's ready to make a change, he does without hesitation.  He just takes his time to make up his mind.

Enter the dreaded idea of potty training.  

Of all things baby/toddler, this is my least favorite thing.  I would rather get up for night-time feedings, deal with dirty diapers, runny noses, and temper-tantrums.  I swear, potty training trains me more than the kid.  I have to learn where every bathroom is at in every store.  I have to remember to time everything around feeding/pooping schedules.  And then all the planning in the world only makes a difference about half of the time.

Trace and I discussed when we thought was going to be the best time to get Luke out of diapers.  We decided Christmas break would be the most convenient.  

It was not convenient for Luke.

Then with everything happening to me with the pregnancy, we assumed this kid would still be in diapers long after Giles baby #5 makes her debut.

After dinner, Superbowl, and birthday festivities had wound down - we started the post-game clean-up.  We asked Luke to put his new birthday things away.  And something clicked.  It probably had more to do with him stalling the inevitable bedtime, but when he saw the Buzz undies, he insisted on wearing them.  I took the mean-mama hard-line and told him he couldn't wear them unless he used the potty.  I was tired, and my reasoning may have been a little self-driven.  I simply did not want to deal with the whole potty mess.  There was the logistics of being on bed rest.  It was too late at night.  I was not into playing games.  

It. Was. Bedtime.

Well, Luke had his own idea.  He looked at me, then looked at his underoos.  Without a second thought, he dropped his pants, took off his diaper, climbed up on the toilet, and did his business.  Both kinds.

What the what?!?  Who does that?

Hannah comes running out of the bathroom giving me a play by play of what was unfolding, including the words: "He's squirting mom, he's SQUIRTING!!!"

And that was that.

He's been in undies ever since.

He's dry at night and makes it through his nap times.

I am in disbelief on how easy it has been.  Not that I am complaining.  I'll take it.

Thank you Luke!

Happy Valentine's Trace!

I fell in love with this the first time I saw it.  What a fun idea.  I knew I wanted to make it for Trace...but I wasn't sure about the template that was used.  It seems a little too fru-fru for him.  I have seen others examples all over the Internet.  I decided that if others could come up with their own design, so could I.  The question was, did I have the patience?  I tend to want things perfect.  And perfect takes too much time.  But I gave it a go...

is-is-last-ohttp://www.papervinenz.com/2011/02/hi-everyone-thf-my.html

I am so glad I did.  It took way less time than I thought to come up with a design and fonts that I liked.  And for once, I found that simple was the best way to go.  

I intended this to be something that Trace could put on his desk at work.  You know, as a mushy reminder of me and him.  But, I didn't want it to completely scream mushy-ness.  So, again, simple was the way to go.  No need to type out L-O-V-E.  Although, I couldn't resist a heart sticker. :)

I added our picture in the front.  If I had time, I think I would have placed more pictures throughout the pack.  But, as I said earlier, I only have so much patience.  I decided that I should quit while I was ahead.

Distressing the cards wasn't too difficult.  It seemed wrong to scuff up and ink brand new playing cards.  Although, it was cathartic.

And coming up with 52 things that I loved about Trace wasn't that hard either :)

This Valentine's Day marks 14 years since we got engaged.  Imagine that.

Valentine's Day Prep

This is one of the projects we did for Super Saturday last October.  How sad is it, that I am this excited that we actually have another Valentine's Day decoration? :) Yipee!

I finally got some pictures printed up - and I think it turned out really nice.

Hannah decided to "make" her Valentine's Day cards for preschool.  Translation: Mom makes them, and Hannah adds her stamp (signature) of approval.  Once again, thank you Pinterest.  Found a free printable.  We already had glow stick bracelets left over from Halloween.  Cheap cards - yet cute!

Trent decided that he wanted to make his this year too.  These are what he decided to do.  Not too shabby.

Here is the link for the printables for both:

http://pluckymomo.blogspot.com/2013/01/12-no-candy-valentines.html

Glitter Bottles

I found this idea on Pinterest about a year ago.  I promptly pinned on the board "To Do List".  And there it has sat until now.  

Glitter bottles.  Simple.  Easy.  What I really loved is the idea behind them.  They can be used as a time out tool.  A reset button.  A take a breather kind of thing.  

Sometimes my kids just need a break.  There are days when it seems like everyone/everything is unraveling.  They don't listen.  They can't seem to stay out of trouble.  Therefore, they spend a lot of time in time out...noses against the wall...that kind of thing.  Now these bottles aren't for the actual "time out - you did something wrong" moments.  But they are for the moments that have the potential to lead up to the time outs.  For those times when I can feel the tension, or when they are fighting about every little thing, or when there just gets to be too much chaos in the house.  

I am hoping that it will give them a moment to reset.  They can play with the bottle and swirl the glitter around and hopefully benefit from it's calming effects.

We'll see.

That's what the 3 younger kidlets are getting for Valentine's Day tomorrow.

Update: 

3/2/13

The kids love these.  Especially Trent.  He will sometimes steal the other kids bottles and line them up and shake all three, over and over again.  He took his bottle in the car on a trip to Boise and watched it for the whole 45 min trip.  I consider that a great success.  

Oh - and the kids have come up with a better name: Storm Bottles.  They cause a storm and watch it settle.  Cool name :)

The picture isn't the best quality - but it shows Hannah using Luke's storm bottle to keep entertained as she finishes her breathing treatment. 

My birthday loot

My birthday was celebrated in a very low-key fashion.  Like...at almost midnight after everything quieted down.  

Got my favorite flowers (tulips), some chocolate (can never go wrong with that), and two beautiful necklaces.  

Now, if I could ever get off of bed rest, I might have a reason to wear them :)

34 is going to be a great year!

Three?! Woah.

How can my baby be three already?!

Luke and I share the dubious distinction of having our birthdays fall right around the Superbowl.  Not that I am complaining.  It just guarantees that there will be good grub.  The only caveat was we had to have birthday festivities done before kickoff (per Trace).

Trace decorated for Luke - the dinosaur hanging in the middle of the room was a big hit.

Check out this cake!  Yes, it tasted as good as it looks.  At this age, Luke doesn't care what kind of cake he gets, and since I wasn't into making homemade cakes this year - I picked this one out.  I justified it,  Luke and I would share this cake.  I just didn't need candles to remind me of how old I am...

Happy Birthday Luke Boy!!!

Yes, we are those parents that actually give underwear for birthdays.  Potty training is essential at this point.  We even forked out the extra dough for underoos in the name of Buzz Lightyear.

Luke has a strong love for all things Mickey.  And Pluto.  Pluto is very important to him.  I was struggling to find something that included Pluto that would be something he liked and would play with.  We got Mickey's Camper - and it has been a hit.  It's the perfect size for his toddler hands, and plenty of little accessories to keep things interesting.

Last but not least, Luke was able to pick out an animal at Build-a-Bear Workshop along with Hannah.  He picked out a dog, he named it Joey.  He picked out the orange shirt (which appears to be his favorite color).  An added bonus, which we didn't notice until we got home, the shirt glows in the dark.

I can't believe you are three.  

Happy Birthday kiddo!

Going on a bear hunt...

Our little social butterfly was devastated when she found out that she could not invite her friends to her 5th birthday party.  Since she had a big birthday blowout last year - this year is a family party.  I tried to explain that to her.  She understood.  Then asked if she invited less of her family members, could she invite her friends.  Yep.  5 yrs old and too smart for her own good. :)

Trying to make it fun for her, without going all out, we decided to go with a bear theme.  You know, since she's Hannah Bear and all.  The idea slowly evolved to "Going on a bear hunt". 

Trace stayed true to tradition and decorated the night before:

We thought it would be fun to put streamers on her door, so when she got up in the morning, she would have to break through them.  However, our fun little idea backfired.  She woke up at 3am with a fever and cough and kind of freaked out because she couldn't get out of her room.  Oops.

I am not feeling all too hot at this point in the pregnancy - and even though I had all these grand plans to make an awesome homemade cake and decorations...it just didn't work out that way.  My only contribution that was somewhat handmade were these little bears:

They fit perfectly on Hannah's cheesecake.  She requested a strawberry cake.  Strawberry Cheesecake was close enough.  Thank you Costco.

Happy Birthday Hannah!

This just cracks me up.  And exactly what was she so happy about getting?

A toothbrush.

From the dollar store.

A bow and arrow set from the movie Brave.  It was to assist her on her "bear hunt".

Such a ham.

Target shooting.

Our next stop on our bear hunt?  Black Black Bear Diner, duh.

Not that we planned it this way, be we happened to show up at just the right time.  There was a clown making balloon animals - and I have to say, I was impressed.  And since it was our birthday blitz weekend celebration dinner - we let the birthday kids pick out one animal each:

Hannah chose a mermaid.

And Luke chose a monkey (big surprise there).

The almost-birthday boy...being cute.

Our final stop on this hunting expedition?...

Build-a-Bear Workshop!  

Hannah has been begging me to take her there.  She had a blast.  They lady who was working there was so sweet and made it a really fun experience.  We even let Hannah pick out an outfit for her bear.  You guessed it.  She picked out Merida's dress from Brave.  Oh and she named the bear Merida Bearida.  :)  My favorite piece of the outfit?  The red wig - it even has slots cut out for the bear's ears.  Genius. 

I think her birthday was a success.  She didn't ask if she could invite her friends - not even once.

Happy 5th Birthday Hannah Bear!  We love you :)

Out of the box...

Got a surprise at the door today - via fed ex.  

I wasn't expecting anything - but sure enough the box was addressed to me.

And any box that reads this:

Certainly has my attention.

I opened the box...and was greeted with this lovely note of sweetness:

And that note of sweetness was attached to this gorgeous box:

So far, I am liking it.  

I absolutely LOVE the name. ;)

Look at the delectable beauties that were just waiting for me inside:

And while technically they were all calling MY name...the middle one, just to the right was screaming the loudest.

I had no problem hushing that scream. And I may have made some muffled noises, something to the tune of Num num num - you know, just to be sure :)

Thank you Christie for thinking of me.  I had to wipe moisture from my face.  Not too sure if it was from a few tears shed, or the drool that was seeping from the corner of my mouth.  

You made my day!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Luke, in his first Halloween costume - 2010

Look at what he found:

 Of course, I argued with him for over 5 minutes, trying to convince him that it was much too small.  Finally, I caved.  I let him try it on all by himself, in hopes that he would figure out on his own that it was not going to fit.

Obviously he did...not.  He's been wearing this get-up for two hours now.  I keep thinking that it can't be comfortable.  But he's as happy as a...well, Monkey.