Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Good, The Bad, and the Dirty - Vacation Edition

*Warning: the following post is massively long and includes some content not suitable for children. If you would prefer that your youngsters not be influenced by kids who think it is okay to cover themselves in mud, flour, and sand, kindly escort your child from the room.
Because it's about to get dirty.
Viewer discretion is advised.

So, as some of you are now well aware, I recently dragged myself and 2 small children half way across the country to beautiful sunny southern California. That's right, folks. I flew with 2 (count them, 2!!) toddlers BY MYSELF.
It was unpleasant.
And I would do it again in a second.
So, here's the good, the bad, and the dirty - vacation edition.

1.) Disneyland
The Good:
It was free. I'm all about free.
The Bad:
Sister Britt (you'll see more of her in a minute) got locked out of the park. Her ticket had problems and it's a long story, but it wasted an hour of our precious Disney time and was kind of funny until she started crying.
(OK, she didn't really cry - it was allergies. But we didn't know that 'till later.
Therefore, it was not funny. But now it is.)

The Other Bad:
We had ridden 2 rides by 2:30 pm.
2 RIDES!!
(That's an average of one ride every 2 1/4 hours. Not good.)
Everyone and their mom and their grandma and their step-sister's cousins' half-brother-in-law's uncle was there.
It was madness.
But I would do it again.
2.) The Trampoline
The Good:
Seeing my daughter love that trampoline the way I used to.
You know, before my spine started crumbling and my knees went bad and my ankles turned to mush.
The Bad:
Will you look at that face? There is no bad here.

3.) These two:
The Good:
We spent every waking moment together.
The Bad:
Even that wasn't enough.

4.) The Soccer Game
The Good:
We won.
The Bad:
If there is dirt, these girls will be in it.
And there was dirt.
(Look at her hair. That is dirt.
DIRT!! And yet, I would do it again.)

5.) The Beach
The Good:
We were at the beach. In November. Without boots, gloves, beanies, or snow jackets.
The Bad:
One of my children may or may not have cried
the entire time. She also may or may not have had a legit reason to.
**T.M.I. allert**
(the following sentences are not for the fainthearted)
Aubrey had a poo as hard as a rock and about the size of a small dog that refused to exit the premises. She was bent over in pain and not at all happy.
But one enema later, she was good as new.
You can go vomit now.

6.)Downtown Disney
The Bad: My kid now thinks that this is OK. For the record, IT IS NOT.
The Good:
I count 9 reasons.
7.) The Grandparents
The Good:
We saw lots of them. And that's how I like it.
The Bad:
Aubrey thought that dinner with the Grandparents would be the perfect time to have a flour-fight. She fought the bag of flour. And the bag of flour won.
8.) The Turkey Bowl
The Good:
No one died.
(50 year old men playing sports with 14 year old boys. The odds aren't great.)
The Bad:
There was sand. And if there's sand, well...

9.)Coco
The Good:
Coco is a dog. Aubrey likes dogs. Therefore, one could conclude that Aubrey likes Coco. And one would be correct.

The Bad:
That dog liked to lick her.
On the mouth.
Which she thought was funny and I thought was not.
And yet, I would let it happen again.

Good bye, California. We miss you already.
The end.

Friday, November 27, 2009

This is What Tired Looks Like...

We are back.
And we are pooped.
Trip details to follow.
But for now, we're off to bed.

Good nightttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.
(That was me falling asleep on my keyboard.)

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Lost in Translation

Nothing is new today.
Or yesterday.
Or the day before.
Or... you get the picture.

So, instead of blogging about all of our adventures (which are basically non-existent since the sun went down last Friday and has yet to make it's re-appearance), here's what has been said around our house this week.

Setting: Dinner table Sunday night
Me: "So, Brooklyn what did you do in nursery today?"
Brooklyn: "We did nothing. But we did sing songs. Like the beep song."
Me: "The beep song? What's the beep song?"
Brooklyn: (singing) "Jesus wants me for a sun BEEP!!"
*Disclaimer: this may only be funny if you are Mormon. If you are not, well, you should be. :)

Setting: Brooklyn is swinging on her bunk bed, bouncing off the walls, and chattering like a little monkey.
Me: "Brooklyn, you're a monkey."
Brooklyn: (completely affronted) "No I'm not!! I'm a people."

Setting: "The Playground" - a child wonderland complete with bounce houses, slides, balls, bubbles, wailing babies, the smell of corn dogs, and far too many hyper children. While we were there, we lost Brooklyn for a few minutes in the mayhem and I told Aubrey, "We need to find Brooklyn. Let's go look for her." A few minutes later, Brooklyn was found but I had lost Aubrey. So, I searched for Aubrey and finally found her. She ran over to me as fast as she could and pointed to herself excitedly and exclaimed, "There's Aubrey! Right there! I found her!!" Apparently she had been searching for herself the whole time.
Thank goodness she was successful.

Setting: Brooklyn is holding a bottle of lotion at the mall and after watching me smelling them all, she decides to give it a try.
Brooklyn: "Yummmmm. This smells licious."
Me: "It does? What does it smell like?"
Brooklyn: "Like my nose!!"

Setting: Making dinner while dancing around like a crazy woman to Taylor Swift at full blast.
Brooklyn: "Mom. Stop it. Mom. Mom. Stop it mom!! Mom. Don't dance. Mom! MOM!! Stop dancing mom!!"
Not one to be bossed around by a 3 year-old, I continued to ignore her. She stood there watching me for a few more seconds and then said very seriously, "Mommy, you're a silly billy. Don't dance anymore, OK? Please. It hurts me."

Sad, but true.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

To Buy or Not to Buy...?

A few weeks ago, Brooklyn had picture day at Preschool. That morning, a few important events took place.
First, we woke up at 8:59. (Preschool starts at 9:30 and it takes about 10 min. to get there.)
Second, she only had one clean long-sleeved shirt to wear. (It was laundry day.)
Thirdly, I decided that that day would be the perfect day to try a new hair style that I thought would take about 2 minutes - a braid and a side pony - how hard could that be...?
(It turns out... very.)
And lastly, I entirely forgot that it was picture day.

So, that said, I think things could have turned out worse.

When I picked her up that day, her teacher said to me, "She was a little timid during pictures." I figured she would be. A strange man she doesn't know telling her to tilt her head and sit up straight... I'd be a little timid too.

But honestly...
does this look like a little timid to you?
does it look to anyone else like she is quite literally crapping her pants?
(Look at those fists - she's ready to attack!!)

And yet somehow, there is still something adorable about these that I can't put my finger on.

But I still don't know....
$21 worth of adorable?

Hmmmm.....

Sooooo,
I'm putting it to a vote.
To buy or not to buy - that is your question.


Saturday, November 7, 2009

The Good, The Sad, The Messy, and the Glad - Birthday Edition

Today we (I) threw a birthday party.
It was doggy themed.
It was good, it was sad, and it was messy.
Here's why...

THE GOOD
-Friends
-Presents
-Games
-Food
-All at one time.
What more could you ask for?


THE SAD
This birthday girl wet her pants in the first 5 minutes of the party. So daddy went home and changed her.
Then this birthday girl smashed her finger in a door. So daddy went home and got her a band-aid.
Then this birthday girl went running down the hall, tripped, and banged her head into the floor. So daddy put some ice on it.
Then this birthday girl fell off a table and smashed her nose. So daddy kissed it all better.

THE MESSY
Rainbow-dyed, fluffy, 3 inch-thick frosting cupcakes.
Not my best judgment call.

Oh, and after the party came the "after party."
It involved the Curious George song at full blast, marching in a circle, stomping on balloons, and swinging around until we fell over laughing.
OK. Until I fell over laughing.

THE GLAD
That would be me.
I'm glad.
(that it's over)

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Never-ending, On-going, Infinite, Eternal, Unceasing, Forever-long Halloween

Our Halloween was like this title.
It just kept going and going and going.

In honor of the blessed holiday, we attended:
- A Preschool Family Party
-Halloween dinner at the Stromberg's
(flashback of these two below...)
(how is it possible for 2 children to change so much in only 1 year!?!)
- Boo at the Zoo
-Cookie Decorating with friends
- DMU Halloween Carnival
- Winterset's "Merchant Night" (Trick-or-Treating through town)
-Painting pumpkins for Family Home Evening (don't know what family home evening is? click here)
(Painting pumpkins is serious business in this family. Check out that concentration!)
-Fun Friday Halloween Bash
-Ward Trunk-or-Treat and Talent Show (video will be forthcoming)
(This is what happens when moms take 2 minutes off of mom duty and the dads decide that they are capable of supervising pumpkin painting. That poor kid didn't know what hit her.)
- "Fall Party" at Preschool

For those of you who lost track, that is 10 parties (not to mention my daughter's birthday!) in a span of 15 days!)

And the result was:

way too much candy and one very tired mommy.