Checking In...

Well hello! Sorry it's been a bit since my last post. Blame all the wall cleaning following the great poo incident of 2012! Haha! In my sweet boy's defense, I would like to share that later that afternoon, my little guy crawled up next to me on the couch and took a little nap with me. It was fantastic!!! I can't even count on one finger how many times that's happened since my boy got so big. It was like he was silently saying, "I'm sorry for smearing poo all over my walls, window and blinds, Mommy!" Such a sweetheart.

As you might imagine, we've been staying pretty busy around here. We had a fun trip to the zoo last week with LO's class. Of course I took some pics of my little crazies...

Another thing keeping us busy is t-ball! LO loves playing and is actually pretty good! She definitely has some athlete in her! Here are some more pics...

It's safe to say that we're STILL settling into the house and there are STILL a zillion things to do. We did make a trip to IKEA last week to pick up a few things, mostly for the play area. I nabbed that funky rug and a great kids' table with stools. We also got a nifty bookcase for the office and a few other little things. I can't say enough how overwhelming this process is! We are so very blessed to have a new home, but goodness! It sure does require a lot of time and energy (and money!) to get it "just right." It's a work in progress and I have no doubt it'll take quite awhile before we finish all the projects on our list.

Oh! Have I mentioned that we received an offer on our old house? It was on the market for less than 2 weeks and we accepted the first offer we got! We're in the process of dealing with little fixes n' stuff following the inspection, but I'm hopeful we'll have this thing sold by the end of May. Woot!!! :)

The One with the Poo

WARNING: This post is about poo. Continue at your own discretion.

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Chase came into our bedroom and woke me up around 4:30 AM this morning. I took him back to his room, tucked him back into bed, turned his lullaby music back on, and went back to bed.

He then came back into our room around 7:00 AM, and I told him to go read books in the play area until Mommy got up.

He played in the play area for about 15 minutes before he proceeded to go into his sister's room to wake her up.

Lovely.

So I sent them both downstairs to watch PBS until I came down to make breakfast. One brief siesta later, and I was making my way downstairs to start the day. I made some pancakes for the kids, enjoyed my bagel and then started cleaning up a bit.

About 30 minutes later, I told LO to get dressed and headed into Chase's room to grab his clothes for the day. I was NOT expecting to be greeted by the following scene:

((this is totally grody to the max... consider yourself warned!))

You can't see just how smeared on this mess was all over the window and blinds. Just imagine it, shall you?

Oh.Em.Gee.

Poo. Everywhere. On the walls. In the carpet. On his bedding. All over the window. On the blinds -- slats, bottom rail and even the strings.

Are you kidding me!?

((gag))

After the initial shock wore off, I called hubs upstairs to survey the damage. He was as shocked as I was!

The worst part of this whole mess? It.Was.Old.Poo. As in, it had to have happened not long after he went to bed last night. It was dried on, caked on, crunchy nasty poo.

Eeeew.

As you can imagine, it hasn't been the easiest task to remove dried on poo from walls, carpets and blinds.

What a wonderful way to start your morning, no?

Play Area Fun

Things are slowly starting to settle down now that we've been in our new home for about a month. I won't lie - there are still quite a few boxes waiting to be unpacked or schlepped up to the attic. But for the most part, we're in!!!

The kitchen is pretty much finished with the one (MAJOR) exception of my gorgeous porcelain tile backsplash which has yet to be installed ((sad face)). But the drawer pulls are on, the mini-pendant lights are in, and the cabinets are all organized. It's such a wonderful experience cooking in that kitchen of mine. I cannot tell you how much I feel like I'm working as a line cook in an upscale restaurant somewhere! Some amazing things have come off that gas stovetop and out of that electric oven (and even the nifty warming drawer!). I love love love it!

All of the bedrooms are "settled" in, which basically means they are functional. Kids' closets have lower shelving so they can reach their shirts, they have beds and dressers in there, but ZERO decor. It's totally okay. I'm not worried about their rooms. I know we'll get there... eventually. Just not a big priority to me since they are functional and honestly, the kids really don't care.

The office is a major mess. It's kind of become dumping ground for all the tools, materials, etc. we've been using for various projects around the house. I like that I can just close the door and pretend that particular roomful of chaos doesn't exist (although secretly I know deep down that it does). Again, not a priority.

There's one room that I've decided to tackle next mostly out of necessity. The kids need a play space and a home for all of their toys, and I'm tired of seeing all the boxes upstairs in the loft/play area, so that's next on the list.

I started out by picking up 3 of these ClosetMaid Cubeicals for toy storage. Oh, and just for the record, that IS in fact how ClosetMaid spells "cubecials." It's really annoying to me, and I needed to point it out in case anyone thought I was misspelling it... ;)

We already had several fabric bins (although they don't really match anything in particular) so I started taking toys out of boxes and placing them in the bins.

It was around that time that I realized I really don't have a vision for the play area.

One of the three walls will don the white cubeicals, but what about the other walls? And what about a color scheme? A theme? Anything??

I got nuthin'.

So I hit IKEA's website today to do a little searching for some inspiration. I found this rug, which I think I totally love (although hubs doesn't care for it):

I love that it has a bunch of bright colors so I wouldn't be forced into a color scheme of only one or two colors that would tie my hands a bit when it comes to selecting other pieces for the room. Is it fun and vibrant? Or just weird or annoying? Thoughts, please...

While surfing IKEA, I also found these cute curtains:

Again, I love the bright colors! And I think I could really run with the "pennant" theme by creating some stringed fabric pennants for wall decor like "PLAY" or "FUN" -- ya know? Something cute, but not too crazy.

I'm still searching for more inspiration, but I know I'd like a rug, some curtains for the two windows, a small kids table for games/crafts and a fun/funky floor lamp for a little reading area with bean bags. I'd also like to put up chair rail and paint some chalkboard or whiteboard paint somewhere in there. I'm thinking about taking the kids on a road trip to our nearest IKEA (only 2 hours away!) later this week to pick up some stuff. I'll try to remember to take some "Before" and "After" pics to share with you guys (assuming somebody still reads this ol' blog...). :)

Pie Time!

It's been a rainy, yucky day today. When I picked LO up from school, she asked what fun stuff we were going to do today. Obviously with the rain we weren't going to be able to hit up the playground across the street, and much to her dismay, we had no scheduled plans to see Gramma, PaPa or Mona, so she was royally bummed to hear that we were just gonna head home -- just her, Chase and I.

After lunch, I asked her if she'd like to help me make an apple pie. She was totally stoked with the idea, and started peeling the apples while I made the dough for the crust. I tried my best to let her do everything, even though it meant things would get pretty messy. She had a ball! And she's so good at helping! She really enjoyed herself, and we have an amazing pie to show for it!

Here's a little clip of her helping me slice the apples, with Chase as her helpful assistant. They had so much fun together -- it was awesome!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This pie was created for consumption by our family only. No way would I let this sort of "help" happen when making a dessert to share with people outside of our little family of 4. ;)

Here's the finished product! Not too shabby, LO! :)

Kindergarten!!?

Ugh. It's that time. It's time to register my sweet little baby girl for Kindergarten. As I'm sure all moms in this position have said, "Where has the time gone?!"

LO has been in a 3-day morning K4 program at a Christian school not too far from our home. The school runs from 2-year-olds through high school. It's a pretty great school, and I've always loved the faith-based education LO has been receiving there for the past 2 years.

But it's not cheap.

Shocker, right?

As much as I'd love to take finances out of the equation and just send her to Kindergarten there this fall, I have to be realistic. Especially considering a certain little guy who will be ready for class in less than 2 years when he's 4. Those tuition payments add up! Let's just say sending both of them would be more than our current car payment, and almost twice our monthly mortgage payment at our old house.

GASP.

We've looked into the public schools. In fact, we decided to build our home in the neighborhood we did because of the school assignment. Just in case. I'm planning to register LO there tomorrow so it's all said and done, but it's apparently NOT that easy for me.

And not just because of the typical sentimental mom stuff that happens when you realize your child is growing up right before your eyes. But it's also the thought of putting her into a new school -- a totally new environment, where she knows no one at all. And it's 5 days a week instead of the 3 she's been used to. And it's full days -- 'til 2:30PM, instead of the short half-days she's been accustomed to.

But more than that, it's knowing she'll no longer receive a Christian education. I had no idea how important that truly was to me until I started filling out the public school registration paperwork. The reality of it all hit me like a ton of bricks! Will she still get a decent education? Sure... Probably... Hopefully!? But will she learn Bible verses and how to treat others and about the real meanings of Easter and Christmas? Nope. It'll be all about Easter bunnies and Santa Claus. And I hate that!

I know what 'they' always say. "We had a public education and we turned out just fine." Sure. But that was 10, 20, 50 years ago! Things were different then! I guess I'm just scared. I don't like change, and I don't like the uncertainty of it all. This just sucks.

I went ahead and made an appointment with the vice principal next week to take a tour of the school and have a little chat about the kind of individual attention I can expect for my girl. I'm concerned she might be a tad bored initially and I'm curious if they will individualize her education to meet her specific needs. But I also want to ask questions now concerning how my little guy will be received once he starts at that school, too. Not that I'm planning to hash out a 504 plan just yet, but I just want to know that the administration there will be supportive if we find that Chase will need additional attention and safety precautions. I'm hoping to have a sense of peace after visiting the school and hashing through some of my questions/concerns.

Ugh. What is up with this? Why does parenting have to be so tough sometimes?

Field Trip!

Last week a friend of mine and I took our combined 4 kids to Columbia for some fun. We started at the Riverbanks Zoo, but for some reason that we never quite figured out (a Justin Beiber appearance!?), the zoo. was. packed. Like, not just busy, but CRAZY-packed. Like overflow parking lot packed. I'm not much of a zoo person to start with, but the idea of cramming outside of the lion exhibit while 1,349 other people invaded my personal space did NOT sound enjoyable whatsoever.

So we turned our strollers around, packed the kids back into the Sienna and hit the road. Destination? Columbia Children's Museum. It was only a short 5-minute drive and before you knew it, we were in a beautifully spacious parking lot, standing behind the only other person in line purchasing tickets, and well on our way to some museum fun!

The kids all had a great time and it was a wonderful way to spend a Spring Break day. Here are some pics of our fun!

Here are the kids posing next to a super freaky-looking fireman statue. Chase wasn't too excited about posing for pics.

Here's a scary glimpse of what lies ahead in the future. Seriously, like only 10 years away. SCARY!

The kids really enjoyed this wall of magnetic gears, and I had to snap a picture because it was amazing to see the kids playing TOGETHER and not annoying the crap out of each other. Win!

LO climbed up on a huge tire just so I could take her pic! But of course I didn't really get the tire in the pic so you can't really see how massive it was...

Chase playing a fun Q&A game.

Ah, yes. A ginormous water table experience. Truly the best part of Chase's day. The pictures (and soaking wet outfit) are proof!

So handsome!

This kid was putting his arm -- up to his shoulder -- in the water, playing with plastic boats.

He got a wee bit wet...

He loved turning the crank that sprayed water everywhere.

LO had a turn, too, but made sure to stay dry the entire time.

See? Told ya it was the best part of his day. :)

Splashing. Water. Everywhere.

Sinking and splashing his plastic boats.

Inside the museum there was a huge, oversized chair, so I thought it'd be great to get a pic of the kids together. Check out the progression:

LO kind of maybe loving on her brother??

A deep discussion between the two, most likely over whether or not to give mommy the shot she wants.

Cheese it out!!! Although neither of them are looking anywhere near the camera, I still love that they're sitting less than a foot apart and actually SMILING and not HITTING! :)

This was one of the coolest things! There's a color that shows up in the center and you're supposed to touch all of the blocks with that color so they turn off. Once you do that, the next color shows up and so on. The kids (and mommy!) all loved it!

I had to share one more pic of the kids... You can't really see their faces, they aren't necessarily smiling, but they ARE playing TOGETHER and I have to document that as much as possible since it truly happens so very rarely...

We had a great time and the kids really loved it! I'm thinking I'll try to take them back to our local Children's Museum soon since I'm sure they'll love it, too!

Remember Me??

OhEmGee. I cannot believe it's been almost 2 weeks since my last post! Well, actually, I guess I can believe it, considering how crazy-busy these past few weeks have been. Between moving into a new house, working on the old one to get it listed, plus Spring Break, work schedules, t-ball practices and Easter... whew! It's been ridiculous around here!

I'm happy to say we were finally able to get our old home listed, so the painting, yard work and massive clean up are over... now we sit and wait with our fingers crossed, hoping for a relatively quick sell. Since it was just listed over the weekend, and it's only Tuesday, we haven't had much time to truly settle into things here in the new house just yet. A majority of the past 2 weeks has been hubs at the old house working on projects to get it listed while I'm here at the new house, entertaining kids and doing projects to try to get settled into this place. Needless to say, it's been a tough few weeks. But as usual, we've managed to get through it and now we can (hopefully) focus on the new house while we try not to be too anxious/occupied with thoughts of the old house selling.

LO's been on Spring Break for a week and a half, and I'm SO HAPPY to report she finally returns to school tomorrow. Amen! I'm not sure how I'm gonna survive this summer, but I keep trying to remind myself that in just a few months, my little girl will be in "full time" school as a Kindergartener in elementary school. No more school 3 days per week 'til noon -- it's the full deal with 5 days per week 'til 2:30PM! Yikes! I'm gonna try my best to enjoy these lazy days of fun with both kiddos while I still can!

We had a nice and quiet Easter this year. Of course we headed to church Sunday morning, then home to ravage Easter baskets, eat lunch, and NAP (myself included, thankyouverymuch!) before heading over to my mom's for the big family dinner and Easter egg hunt. The kids had a great time and it was for the most part a relaxing day for mommy & daddy, too!

Here's the part where I post a zillion pics of the kids, so please either (A) enjoy them (probably because you're family and you can't help it) or (B) move on to the next blog you follow in your Reader! ;) But I'd suggest the former because, really, these kids are too darn cute! ;)

Saturday morning the kids and I had some fun dying Easter eggs! How amazing to have a pic with BOTH of them smiling AND looking at the camera! Wooot!

I can't believe how grown up this girl of mine is getting. She's so beautiful!

LO was super excited to see her eggs changing colors before her eyes. She was really into it this year!

Cheese!!!

This little guy was all into it, too. Just look at the concentration on his sweet face!

He, too, loved seeing his eggs change colors. He would shout out each color as he lifted the egg out of the cup.

I sure hope that stuff was non-toxic or whatever. Although he only had a blue thumb and finger for less than a day, so I'm sure it wasn't too bad. ;)

My cheesy boy!

Easter morning I opted not to have their baskets sitting out when they got up, mostly because LO almost always beats us up and I can imagine she would've torn through her basket without us. Instead, I had them ready to go and put them out on the counter after the kids were buckled in the car to head to church. When we came home, let's just say they were a tiny bit surprised.

LO:

Chase:

They had baskets full of goodies and, most notably, a new horse for LO and a Thomas bubble train for Chase. They. Loved. Them!

After lunch we took the kids out back to play with their new outdoor toys (bubble train, chalk, etc.). Check out this great shot of my boy. Those wheels of his are always turning!

As I mentioned, after naps we headed over to my moms for dinner and an Easter egg hunt for the young ones. LO and Chase had a blast and both found a TON of eggs.

Please pardon LO's crazy hairdo. She went all out with some hardcore egg hunting, hence the disheveled 'do.

It's never too early to bust into the candy, right??

I think they had a great day! I'm pretty sure any day that ends with a basketful of candy is a pretty darn good day! :)