Fun With The iVideo and iPhoto Booth

So, we got a new iMac this week (yah!) and the kids and I are having a blast with the iPhoto Booth and the iVideo Booth.  Actually truth be told: I don't know who's having more fun.  Me or Emma.

Dora & Diego Exhibit at The Children's Museum

A new exhibit came to The Children's Museum a couple of weeks ago, "Dora & Diego Let's Explore."  Emma has kinda outgrown Dora, but it's still a great exhibit for her to play at.  And Drewbie's all about it...he loves running around, exploring all the different features.

Digging for Dinosaurs

Drew is at the age where he's really starting to enjoy the Children's Museum.  We have a membership there, so we frequent the Indy Children's Museum quite often.  For the first year of his life, he mainly spent his time in the stroller, while his big sister tore it up.  But not anymore.  Oh no, those days are long gone!  Mr. Man is off and exploring with the best of them!

One of his favorite exhibits is "Digging for Dinosaurs."  Wonder why he likes this so much?!?...could it be his love for sweeping?...

The Broom and The PeeCee

Since this past summer, Drew has acquired quite the love of cleaning. Sweeping, to be exact. He absolutely adores the broom and the dustpan, or what he calls the "Pee-Cee."

At least 3 times a day, he roams over to the hallway closet to get the broom out. Since he can't quite reach the dust pan (we keep it hanging on a hook), he started pointing to it, saying "PeeCee." So the name has just stuck.

And he doesn't just do this at our house. One of the first things he does when he's at my mom's, is open up her pantry door to get her broom and dustpan out. So beware. Don't take it personally the next time he comes over to your house and starts opening up doors to find your broom. While we keep it real, he's just keeping it clean.
 

Here's a video Andy took this past summer, when he first started this thing (look how little he looks!):

Happy 60th Birthday, Mom!

This post is long overdue, I know. Last week was a hooooribly long and insane one for me, so I never got the chance to update my blog. Which is a shame, because a milestone event happened on February 9th.

My mom's 60th Birthday.

I planned a surprise party for her, inviting her closest friends and family. And I almost pulled the whole thing off. But leave it to my highly intelligent and inquisitive daughter to make my mom start questioning my motives. Let me explain. I told Emma that we were going to take Grandma out to lunch for her birthday. After picking her up, I would "forget" my wallet, forcing us to go back to my house. This was done without flaw. (The plan, that is. I didn't actually forget my wallet.) But as we're on our way back to my house, Grandma asks where we're going to eat, and I make up some restaurant. Well, Emma goes, "No, we're eating back at the house." I kinda paused, hoping my mom wouldn't hear her or pay attention to her comment. Who'm I kidding though?!?....Grandma gives Emma her undivided attention at all times, so of course she wouldn't miss something she says! So, I say, "No Emma. Daddy and Drewbie are eating back at our house. We're going out to lunch." But she continues to challenge me, because that's not the truth. And you shouldn't lie. I should've known that I would have needed to walk through this line with her.

So, anyway, we continue along. Then, when we pull up to the house, Emma goes "Where are all the cars?" Oh crap, I think. So I say "Emma, what do you mean, the car's in the garage." Whatever, get her moving along.....just get Grandma inside the house so that all her guests can surprise her! And at that point, I knew my mom had to know that something was up. But she didn't say anything. We finally got her inside the house:

Now that she's 60, she can officially begin wearing "granny panties!"

Posing with her gag gifts! Some of the items featured are adult diapers, granny panties, Rogaine and denture cream.

And of course, Emma had to try on the adult diaper.  She thought it was halirious!

Three Generations:

And finally, a little letter to my mom.

Mom,


31 years ago, I was blessed to have you as my mom. Although you may think I am your gift from God, YOU are my ultimate gift. The sacrifices you have made for me over the years is unbelievable. The love you've given me is unconditional. And the guidance you've given me is inspiring. Most inspiring, though, is that you did it all without thought. You never thought twice about getting me a canopy bed, even if that meant that you had to sleep on a mattress on your floor. You never thought twice about denying me the chance to move across the country, even though you had lost your job.


For most of my life, it was just me and you, Mom. As a grown woman, who's now a mom herself, I can't even begin to comprehend how you did it. But you did. And you did it as a shadow, while I shined. You let me go when I needed to explore, but you have always been there when I needed to come home. You were always there for me, listening to my pre-teen angst or wiping my tears from a broken heart.


So here's to you, Mom. Here's to sixty years of wonderfully, beautifully, fabulous you!


Love,
Chris

Revisiting the Papasan

This past weekend, I found Drew sitting in his old papasan.  Little does he know that he slept in this thing for the first 6 months of his life...he LOVED his papasan!

Just a few weeks old:

21 months old:



Parenting Capability

A friend forwarded me the funniest email the other day.  (Thanks Lauren!)  It's so true, so much so that I felt the need to post on my blog. 

Enjoy!

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the paper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out...
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.
You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.
Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.
Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.
Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

I Scream, You Scream. We All Scream for ICE CREAM.

Even though it's chilly outside, we decided to treat the kids with some ice cream. 

Okay, Okay....you caught me.  We decided to treat OURSELVES with some ice cream.  But can you blame us?  Andy had been stuck inside with the kids for 3 straight days, so he deserved a little treat!

Ice Storm 2011, Take Two

While I headed back into work, Andy was still stuck at home with the two kiddos.  (And poor guy, he's just itching to get out of the house, as school was closed yet again.)  Check out the photos that I took of Emma and I....you can tell we were both slap happy!

Ice Storm 2011

Ahh, the Ice Storm of 2011.  With all the media-crazed attention this storm recieved, you'd think the world was ending.

But, it didn't.  We're all still here and kickin' it.  But not after suffering some extreme boredom, from being trapped inside the house all day.

Exibit ONE:

Exibit TWO: