Life Does Go On After Christmas

I set a goal for myself that I wanted to get another post up on this here blog by the end of January.  And here we are with just three hours to go and I am achieving said goal.

Clearly, I strive for greatness.

Most who know me in real life know that I call January "let down month."  It truly does stink.  If I had to rank the months from favorite to least favorite, January wouldn't even make the cut.  All the festivities are over, school is back in session, and while I once claimed I like love winter, I've come to realize I simply don't.  What I do love is the fall/winter season right up until real life resumes the day after Christmas break. And then?  Well, winter might as well be done.  Which is truly discouraging, since according to that thing we call an almanac, says that we have about another 10-11 weeks of winter left.

Hmph.  

Now, if we actually got a little snow, that could certainly change my perspective, but the weather here has been very, very mild and I don't see any snow in our near future.  Not that I am a meteorologist or anything.

So, here are just a few highlights from the last time I posted.....

As I mentioned awhile back, my awesome dad has been working on the top part of our "built-in" desk.  I'm getting SO excited.....it's getting so much closer to being done!

♥

At Peanut's school, we have to put in volunteer hours for each student enrolled.  Because I have a two year old and a hard working husband that works crazy hours, I didn't feel comfortable committing to things/activities at school with never knowing what the Hub's schedule would be and not knowing if I would have someone to watch the boy.  So.  I signed up to help with a fruit platter once a month for the weekly staff meetings.  It was something I could do completely from home and I could just drop off in the office.  (Side note:  I was totally hoping for the muffins portion {so much cheaper!}, but they only had need for the fruit platter, which I guess is how God wanted me to bless them, so there you have it!)

Well, despite all my ranting and raving about the month of January, ironically, out of the three fruit platters I did (September, October, and January--November and December aren't done because of the holidays), January ended up being both the prettiest and best tasting month!

♥

On New Year's Eve, I was reading the little brother's devotion to him before bed and it talked about being thankful for all the blessings from the past year.  I asked him what he was thankful for this year. I kid you not, he looked at me and whispered, "Money in my piggy bank."

ALEX P. KEATON.

I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried.

 ♥

We've had quite a few nice days in these last few weeks and so the kids were actually able to play outside.  The Peanut was all into her chalk drawings and the little brother was semi-interested in the chalk.  What he really liked was the small piece of bubble wrap I gave him to play with that was from a package I received that afternoon.  Yes, I know you aren't supposed to give small children pieces of plastic to play with.  #momfail


Peanut also got to have fun at her school's Family Fun Night this past Friday night.  She got to eat pizza, an ice cream sandwich, popcorn, and I even threw caution to the wind and let her get an orange soda instead of water.  Plus, she got to play in three bounce houses, get a balloon flower from the balloon animal artist, play the Plinko booth, shoot in a basketball shot competition, and walk in a cupcake walk.


Obviously, she was miserable the whole time.

♥

Daddy converted the little brother's crib and now he has a "big boy" bed.  He was just a little bit excited. He shows everyone who will watch how he can climb in and out "all by my-sef."  It's pretty cute.

Except when the 6 am wake up call comes running into our room.  #thatsnotcute

♥

My aunt and uncle got the Peanut a Lego set for Christmas.  WOW.  Had I known how enthralled she would be by them, I would have got her the set myself.  We did get her a very small set as soon as she was old enough (2.5-3 years ago?) and all she did with it was use the many pieces to "cook" with in her kitchen.  You know, sauteed Lego with a wine reduction?  I was less than impressed, because I knew the pieces were all going to wind up missing.  Anyhow, fast forward several years later and she hasn't stopped playing with it since Christmas.  Plus, she had some leftover birthday money and we let her buy another set off of Amazon.  Hours upon hours of entertainment, people!

And last but not least, I was getting all stressed about getting her Valentines done.  I was thinking they had to be done this week, but I guess I could use a calendar, because I actually had about two weeks to get them done.  Peanut filled out all the Valentines and I made the little pencil arrows to go with.  Thank you, Pinterest.  Once again.  Because we all know a Valentine is just a Valentine....unless we Pinterest it, right?  Yes, I realize I am part of the problem.

The Theater

About a year and a half ago, we began a new tradition with our little Peanut--we have been taking her to plays.  

One of my closest friends (her mom matched up the Hubs and I) has a daughter (our flower girl!) that is involved in a Christian theater arts group and I have taken the Peanut to several of their productions.  Of course this is an "amateur" arts group, but I seriously think they put on some really great performances.  Although I've only seen three of them, I have loved each and every one! 

Last year we saw The Little Princess.  Just an FYI, this was the first book that I never finished as a young, avid reader--I thought the story was so sad and depressing--I just hated it as a little girl.  But their performance of it made me love the play, so I really think that says something. 

Earlier this year we saw The Little Mermaid, Jr.   Need I say more.....I mean really, what's not to love??!?  Great characters, great music, great costumes......

And just this past weekend we were able to go see our former flower girl starring as Miss Hannigan in Annie, Jr.  She did SO good!  And this time we were finally able to work it out so the Hubs could come with us.  There might have been some initial arm twisting.  In the end though, I think he had a really good time. 

This is actually how we were able to get the Peanut into her voice lessons.  Her instructor advertises in the play's programs and since the Peanut has always been such a little singer around the house, I thought why not put her in voice lessons?  I mean, I certainly can't instruct her in that area, so why not have a professional do it one day a week?

Anyhow, we had a great time and we can't wait for the next one!

A New Chapter

Her lunch is all packed, and her uniform is laid out for tomorrow and she is FINALLY asleep.  She usually doesn't go down at night without a fight and tonight was no exception.



The first day of school butterflies, to be sure.  But whether or not they are jitters or if it's just all around excitement, I don't quite know.  When I was her age, it was jitters all the way (even through my first days of new classes in college!), but thankfully not much seems to make this girl scared.  I certainly don't want to plant those ideas of nervousness in her head, so I don't ask if she's nervous.  I ask if she's excited, and I get all sorts of yeses combined with jumping up and down.

She starts school Friday and yesterday, we fit in a last minute trip to the coast.  We've been talking about it for awhile and the days and weeks just seemed to be getting away from us, so it hadn't happened yet.   My mom encouraged us to make it happen, so we did.  And I am so glad we did.

Because they had SO much fun.  My one regret is not packing their swimsuits.  I am sure you are thinking you went to the beach and you didn't pack swimsuits?  But hear me out.  This is the Pacific NW.  The high for the day was supposed to be 65*.  And our ocean water?  NOT warm. At all. (It hovers around the high 50's this time of year, which to me sounds absolutely miserable!)

But I forget my kids are not my kids when it comes to water activities.  They are their father's children through and through, loving any and all water related recreational activities.  Like I said, that is so not me.  My idea of good recreation is a Netflix marathon.

You think I'm kidding. 

It ended up being such a nice day and the kids were taking off their overprotective mom gear (rubber boots, socks, sweatshirts....) and rolling up their pants within minutes of getting out on the sand.

To put it simply, they played for hours.  And thankfully they have a daddy who loves it just as much as they do.

This mama was content to take pictures and try and record as many memories as possible.  In other related news, I was also the pack mule, carrying my purse (never leave it in the car anymore, not after having my car broken into and my purse stolen from said car) and their shoes and sweatshirts and camera bag.

Thankfully I had a decent excuse for not taking off my boots while on the beach.  Not really--I tripped the other day and ripped off half my big toenail.  Ouch!!! It's still very much in the early healing stages, so I was not about to get all kinds of sand in it.  So for me, the boots stayed on.

I wanted to get a fun jumping up and down picture of all of them.  They gave it their best effort to be sure, but the timing was never quite right.  However, lots of laughs were gained in the process--and that was priceless!!

It was a great bookend to our summer.

As for tomorrow, it's a new beginning......

First HomeTown Parade

I must confess.

While I have lived in my HomeTown for more than 20 years, I have never attended our annual parade. 

I know.  It's a shame isn't it? 

I have however, been to many a parade in my life.  It used to one of the highlights of the year, where my parents dad took me and my sister to the big city parade at the beginning of every summer.  I loved it so very much.

As we were waiting for the parade to start this past weekend, I was talking with my dear, sweet, husband and it turns out he had never even been to a parade prior to Saturday. 

Talk about so un-Amercian!! 

I mean, I just can't even. 

Well, this last Saturday, not only did he get to "attend" a parade, but our family was actually IN the parade.  For both Peanut's preschool and this upcoming Kindergarten year, we have been blessed with the opportunity to be able to send our little Peanut to a small, Christian school.  With it being an independently run school, it comes the requirement for the parents to put in volunteer hours to help with the school's various functions and any maintenance needed throughout the year. 

One of those functions is needing volunteers to represent the school in the Hometown Parade.  How easy is that, right? 

So walk in the parade we did.  Well, I walked.  They rode the "float."  My biggest worry about being able to log on the required hours is that Hubs works such inconsistent hours and with having a little 2 year old at home, it makes figuring out those details a little more difficult.  So when this opportunity was on the list of events where "help" was needed and it involved the whole family, I penciled that our calendar right away! 

Plus, it was such a fun time for the kids--very much a win-win for us! 

 

The Sandbox

I said two years ago that the money we spent on the used sandbox on craigslist was so worth it.

Well,  I'll say it again, it was SO worth it.

This is the third summer Peanut will be using it and the first for the Little Brother.  Even though the Peanut is entirely too tall for it, she still LOVES playing in it.  In fact, this little girl has an obsession with pretending to be The Pioneer Woman while "cooking" in her sandbox.  How you ask?

Well, let me tell you.  

I often have the TV on when I cook dinner.  Mostly, I like it for noise, and cooking shows are something I've always loved to watch (since I was like 10--I kid you not).  Anyhow, cooking shows are about the ONLY thing that are appropriate for children when little ears and eyes are around.  The Pioneer Woman comes on right about the time I usually am cooking dinner.  Peanut has liked watching her shows from the nearly the beginning.  To the point of referring to her little brother as Ladd (Marlboro Man) and telling me about her {Peanut's} four {imaginary} kids.  Just like PW.

Imagine that. 

Then to further solidify her obsession (my mom got her the Charlie books nearly a year ago), when I read PW was going to be in our metropolitan area this past December, we trekked out to the book signing.

For Peanut.  Really.  I honestly didn't get my cookbook signed--I didn't even bring it actually.  Peanut brought her two Charlie books and I was just trying to be considerate of PW and all the other attendees.  I was not about to have THREE books signed.  So Peanut's two books it was.  Little did I know, that others there would have like 20 books each! 

Anyhow, back to meeting PW.  My girl?  A little star struck.  This is the girl who can strike up a conversation with ANY cashier at ANY store and tell them half our life story before we walk away from the register.  To put it nicely.....there really isn't a shy bone in her body.  So when she walked up and met PW, she didn't know quite what to say at first.  At first.  Then by the time we left, according to Peanut, they were old friends.

She has, in fact, asked me during several occasions, just when exactly she will get to meet PW's kids.  'Cause you know her and PW are tight.  I've tried to explain that probably never she lives very far away, so most likely that won't ever happen.  Besides, can you say stalker?   

Her innocence makes me laugh.  Seriously.

So yes, Peanut can be out playing cooking in her sandbox for hours at a time.  And the Little Brother?  It's his favorite past time as well.  (Well, that and going to Papa's and Grama's MawMaw's--my mom isn't quite ready to let go that he can now say Grama instead of his coined phrase, MawMaw)

Upon waking up from his naps:  "San?  {Sand?}  Pway? {Play?}  Quocs? {Crocs?} aka {let's get my shoes on so I can go play in the sand. Pronto.}"  He LOVES that sand box too.

He also likes to drink the dirty sand water.  Which Hub's insists that he won't do for long--it can't taste good, therefore he'll figure it out soon enough.  But after 6 or 7 times?  I'm thinking it's more like wine and it's an acquired taste.

But that's a story for another day. 

Until then, I am loving this view out our backdoor:

 

Spring Happenings

Spring has been busy!  I just got done with the spring clothes resale, like the one I did last fall.  It has proved to be a profitable endeavor, so I can't see not doing them anytime soon.  Although it seems like it takes forever and a day to get ready for these sales, they are very much worth my time, effort, and cardstock!

Our little Peanut kicked off our beginning of spring with her spring voice recital.  If you are interested in her fair performance at the end of last summer, click here.   She also did a Christmas recital last December as well, but sadly I never posted anything.  Ahem. 

Anyhow, the spring recital.  

Be still my heart. 

I mean, I know I am full of COMPLETE bias, but she is just a brave little girl!  I hope to be like her someday.

First, the costume.  My amazing mom ROCKED the costume making.  Peanut's voice teacher requires each of the students to wear an outfit/costume that coordinates with their solo.  Peanut's solo was My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music.  I searched online and couldn't find any type of Swiss Miss costume to purchase, so I offered asked my mom to make one.  And she so kindly obliged and the little Peanut was oh. so. darling.

The voice students all sing an opening song together and it was Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast.  Complete with cabaret kick line.  A fabulous opening song performance, I must say!  Then each student does their solo song and they all close in a group song as well.  The closing song for all the students was So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music.  (Why yes, it was a von Trapp practicing three months in our household!)  Peanut's voice teacher asked her to preform the role of "Gretl," so she had a small solo in the closing song as well.  Made this mama cry.  Of course, that really isn't saying much, but still. It made me cry.  

In other news, I had a good birthday.  I am officially half way through my thirties, which honestly isn't really that big of a deal, but I could do without all those crows feet marching across my face.  Name that movie.  I just have to post this picture, since I am nearly almost always behind the camera and don't get hardly any of me with the little loves.  

We had a great Easter, and while I'd like to say that my sweet girl and sweet boy ALWAYS get along so charmingly and NEVER ever bicker (as exhibited above so deceivingly), can I just say I so wasn't prepared for the bickering and squealing from a nearly six and two year old?!?!??  While I knew that definitely was to come, I just wasn't expecting it so soon!!  And really, for the most part they get along great, but MAN, do they know how to push each others buttons!! 

While they do bicker, the Little Brother still goes along quite a bit with his older sister's antics.  Because on most days, he still thinks she hung the moon.  Here he was told to wear her pink super hero cape as a "hair cutting apron," while she "cut" his hair.  And then she tells him right where to stand as they wave goodbye to Daddy when he leaves for work.

The days are long, but the years are short, right?

We had a fun trip to the local aquarium for one of Peanut's field trips and Peanut got to "pet" the sting rays.  She had a blast, just as she always does on any adventure.

My dear sweet cousin, graduated with her Master's degree last month (she is SO much more motivated than me!) and what was my contribution?  I brought the cutest cupcakes EVER.  Yes, I might need to work on my humility.  But they were the cutest.  Ever.

For my acceptance speech: Pinterest, what did we ever do without you???

And last, many of you may not know this, but apparently in the male DNA in my bloodline, there is a strong affinity to closing one's eyes (purposefully!!) when grinning for the camera.

Who knew?

This is, of course, not to mention that our little son is a Mini Me for my dad.  It's kinda scary.  

Pumpkin Patch 2013

Peanut is currently outside with her daddy and grandpa "helping" with projects and the Little Brother is down for a much needed nap after all the excitement this morning.  I even started a load of dirty clothes from this morning's excursion.  So with this quiet time on my hands, what a perfect chance to blog, am I right?

Peanut's preschool class went to our local pumpkin patch once again and this year, Hub's schedule worked out so he was able to attend too.

Thank goodness, otherwise we would have brought home a mud caked little squealer, otherwise know as the Little Brother.

Fun times.

No, we really had a great time though.  Even though Peanut hardly let me get a good picture of her picking out her pumpkin (or her brother's for that matter). 

The rule was that the preschoolers had to be able to carry their pumpkin back from the patch.  That meant no pumpkin for Little Brother three times his body size had he had his own way.  So rather than try and explain that to his 15 month old little self, we just let his big sister pick his out.  And she was more than willing. Did we expect anything less? 

Our little girl loved every minute and she even got to see her little buddy from last year.  Her friend is actually in the PM class (Peanut is in the AM) so it was a fun little reunion for them as well.  Can you believe how much they've grown? 

And we were TOTALLY blessed because it didn't rain and it wasn't even that cold this morning.  PTL!!!

The Little Brother is still sleeping so I am going to sneak off to do some shopping.  I can't even believe how productive today has already been! 




 

Tangled Birthday Party!

We have one more week of four and then our girl will be five.  Five.  I can't hardly believe it.  We had her party a week early this year (fantasy football draft complications--I know) and it's already over.  Now this next weekend, it will be just a quiet little gathering at home as we celebrate the day of her birth.  I can't believe we are already half way to ten.  A third of the way to fifteen, a quarter of the.....anyhow, you get the idea.  It's just amazing how time flies so fast. 

My mom took her to Disney on Ice last year and the Rapunzel braid was her choice souvenir.  Peanut was handed down the Tangled crown from her cousin, so score in both those departments. And funny enough, she didn't even wear either during the party.  Too busy having too much fun. 

I'm thinking this photo of Little Brother is gold for adolescence black mail. 

These senior picture poses......totally all on Peanut.  It's her new pose whenever the opportunity arises.  It makes me smile.

But, back to the party.  It was such fun!  I kind of totally convinced Peanut of the Tangled theme this year.  Okay, there was no arm twisting or anything illegal, but let's just say I totally talked up the fact that if we did a Tangled birthday party, we could light off sky lanterns.  And there was absolutely NO convincing needed after that.

And our girl loves Tangled.  She knows the songs by heart (except when she fills in the words with her own 'cause she can't remember) and she was deciding which boy at her party she would demand convince to play Eugene--AKA Flynn Rider--you know, so they could dance at the end.  Ahem.

That's our girl.  Because dancing =  getting married.

We did a nacho bar (complete with drippy, yummy, no real food whatsoever nacho cheese) and my wonderful mama made her always amazing fruit platter.  We had the standard cupcakes and ice cream and then because we were waiting for it to get dark for the lanterns, we also had a campfire at the end.  And no campfire is complete without s'mores.   So s'mores it was to close out the evening.

And lest you think I came up with all this stuff on my own, as I've said before, I can copy the heck off of someone elses ideas.  Thanks to Pinterest, there are no shortage of ideas.  Period.

Most of this stuff was very inexpensive thanks to the dollar store and Joanne's coupons and sales.  The cupcakes I made myself, the sign was from an old fence piece my parents had and paint I already had on hand, and the rest was just card stock, yarn, and a little creativity on the computer. 

Oh, and of course the sky lanterns.  They were a little pricey with the shipping (but quite honestly they really aren't terribly expensive in the grand scheme of things--I am just flat out cheap).  However, we do say NO a lot to our girl, just because we have such tight finances (we don't even have smart phones, people).  So when birthdays roll around, we do tend to indulge her a little.  And our Peanut is none the wiser--although she is a smart cookie and I am sure she will fully understand shortly.  But that is another post for another day. 

The sky lanterns worked just like they were supposed to.  Although we didn't let them go as they are designed to.  We tied them off with string, which the instructions say DO NOT DO.  Although we had a pretty wide open area to light them off in, my parent's neighbors have some big tall fir trees in the distance and we just felt it was way too much of a liability to let these lighted lanterns off on their own.  So that made the process a little more difficult than we anticipated and Hubs likened it to flying a flaming kite.  So that's fun.  I thanked Hubs more than once that evening for making my hair brained {Pinterest} ideas come to life.  I am always doing that.....coming up with some grand scheme and expecting my husband to figure out how to make it work.  Although my mom is the same way, so I know I come by it quite naturally.  And what's a girl with great ideas supposed to do? And we have to keep our husbands on their toes, yes? 

It was a great, fun day.  I got a little teary as we said goodbye to my mom and dad that evening.  Happy tears.....very much happy tears.   I am We are just so blessed.   We are so happy to be just minutes away from my parents and to have such a wonderful extended family and friends that are there for us.  I am so glad that Peanut and Little Brother have that, because you simply can't put a price on it.

Life is about relationships.  And you have to make the most of them. 

Next Up:  She starts her last year of preschool this Friday, where Miss Independent will become even more independent.

But I don't even know if that's possible.