Party on Party People!

First off, this is a follow up of the tooth fairy coming to our house. Brayden is holding up his pillow, but you can't see the shiny half dollar on top of it. Yes, he did get more than a dime! YAY, for a fun party weekend! My college room mate, Julie, and her son, Carter came for the weekend! It was so great to have them here. Brayden and Carter got along amazingly well, until somebody touched someone the wrong way, then they had to be angry for a few minutes....then friends again! Talk about emotional roller coasters. They did a great job overall! :) And as always, it's always so fun to see Julie. We were telling our kids how we used to live together, and it seemed crazy that we only lived to together for two years! (Julie transferred to UW our junior year). It seems like we have known each other forever and have always been connected, funny to think we were only together for two years....but they were an inseparable two years! She is also an SLP so it's always fun to talk about our clients, and she always has good ideas for my little ones.

This is Carter, zooming by on his bike.

Carter, Dani and Ellie. Saturday night we got a baby-sitter and Kent, Julie and I went to the White House Grill for dinner (love it)! It was so nice to be able to sit and chat and catch up for a couple of hours without interruptions.....after dinner and a few party errands we were back home by 7:30 to put the kids to bed. Once they all were in bed it was on to cake decorating. WHOA! This was a much bigger task than I was planning for. I baked the cakes during the day, and I decided to make TWO cakes, since Ellie wanted pink and Dani wanted yellow. I had four layers total, then decided the cakes would be too flat so I added one more layer to each of them. Three layers for my three year olds....

This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. It was a disaster from the beginning, the layers kind of plopped out of the pans and broke and crumbled to pieces. No worries, that's what frosting is for..

This is Julie's project, it turned out way better than mine...

4 cans of frosting later, between both of us, + I had to MAKE my own, to help piece some final holes together, this is the masterpiece:

You can't tell from this pic. (Julie has much better ones) but it is so lumpy, and bumpy it was amazing that it stayed together until the party. At one point I finally said, "Ok, it's going in the fridge before I destroy it anymore!" Julie and I almost peed our pants laughing so hard at the masterpiece, but the next day no one even cared, I am sad to say that Kent's family is used to my disasters! But it was so good, it didn't matter how awful it looked!

A girl's best friend! Julie and Carter got the girls new shoes! They were thrilled and immediately put them on with their party dresses!

Hair brushed and ready for their birthday breakfast.

Julie and Carter ready to party.

Cousin Owen ready to party.

Carter and Brayden partying!

Dani and Ellie in their new princess chairs from Grandma Phillips. They didn't get out of them for the rest of the day AND she got them chap stick! They had no interest in any other presents.

Yes, they are holding soap. That is one of the gifts we got them, it turned into a big joke. Sandy asked Kent what she should get for them, and Kent said, "Get them some soap, they don't need anything and they can always use soap!" Sandy was disgusted by this, but Ellie said, "I want pink soap!" From that day on, whenever anyone asked what she wanted for her B-day she said, "Pink soap!" By the time her B-day came, I had to get her pink soap, and Dani wanted yellow soap.

Jax beach shirts from Uncle Pete, nice clashing tights and their new shoes! Lookin' good ladies!

The masterpieces!

Tastes good though!

AND they got new jammies/nightgown from Auntie Shelby. They have worn them every night since, and I have to pry them off of them in the mornings. They don't understand why you can't just wear them everywhere we go....I really wish we could, but people frown upon it.

Happy Happy Birthday girls!

I apologize sincerely to all of my neighbors!

Really?!? My weekend is starting off like this....the girls are trying to "give up" their nap times and I am really TRYING to deal with this nicely. Today they didn't seem tired and they all were playing nicely, so I didn't even bring up a "rest time," instead we headed to the park. Am I not such a fun mom? I thought this would keep them busy, they could burn off some energy and then Kent would be home. :) What a great plan in theory.... we were at the park for maybe 10 minutes when the melt-downs began. First Brayden hit his face on his bike, IDK how, but he managed to scrape his cheek, I did the necessary hugging and soothing, but before B was finished screaming and shrieking Ellie starts in. Apparently she wants to go home, but she wants to go home a DIFFERENT WAY!!! Ok, I don't care, that's fine, we can go the other way, but then Dani starts screaming because that's the WRONG WAY! Seriously? Why would we be able to have a nice, relaxing time at the park, we need to scream and fight about which way we're going to leave in 40 minutes? Who cares? Well, apparently B did not get enough soothing from me so he is SCREAMING at me, (which is really nice) "You are so mean, I got hurt and you didn't even help me! I AM HURT!"

me: "Yes, I know, that is very clear, what do you need me to do?" Meanwhile, the girls are STILL screaming about which way to go home.

B: "YOU ARE SO MEAN! I AM NEVER GOING TO TALK TO YOU AGAIN!"

Me: "Ok, well I guess I can't help you." (I was quite proud, I didn't raise my voice once, and I just gave him a super sweet plastered on smile).

B: "Well I NEED a kiss to make it better."

Me: (Is it horrible that I am thinking that, that is the last thing I want to do right now, while my children are shaking the earth from their ear piercing screams?) I buck up and plant one right on him, then I stalk up the hill with one screaming child in front of me and two screaming children behind me. :)

Low and behold I look up to see my friend, Julie, coming out onto her deck. (The back of her house is right on the edge of the park. Not so good in situations like this, I know I wouldn't want to listen to these kinds of trips to the park).

I'm pretty sure she was coming out to check and make sure I wasn't seriously hurting my kids. Oh no, I was just walking along with a crazy, pasted smile on my face....we chatted for a minute in between the blood curdling whimpers.......

Needless to say, we are home, EVERYONE is in their room for a time-out or rest, or whatever you want to call it.....for a long, long time......

Have a good weekend! :)

Clarification

I was NOT the one to suggest a dime from the tooth fairy. I am cheap, but not that cheap. I was thinking more along the lines of a dollar per tooth. When Brayden's tooth came out he screamed, "I will get a DIME from the tooth fairy!" It should be noted that we have not taught him the value of various coins....when we do, I think we'll be in trouble.

The tooth fairy was generous and he received more than just a dime. In fact, he got a full half-dollar coin! Originally he was going to get two half dollars, but Kent made a good point in saying that it may be difficult to come across more half-dollars when he loses the next ones, so the tooth fairy scaled it back to just one, but still, that's better than a dime right?

Yay me!

All right, I am feeling pretty good...I have been such a "Debbie Downer" lately, I apologize! The flu bug passed through the kids and I over the past few days, and now we're back on track and as healthy as ever. Which leads me to my list of productiveness: (I know it's really sad that I have to take note of this, but these are huge accomplishments that make me feel better about my day)

1. All kids up, showered, dressed and fed by 8:30. (no this does not happen every morning, the showering part at least).
2. Brayden finished his homework.
3. I scrubbed the downstairs toilet/bathroom and cleaned the basement so it would be presentable for my clients today.
4. Dusted the entryway.
5. Cleaned the kitchen (washed all the dishes, unloaded dishwasher and cleaned off ALL the counters, (this is huge, the mail is organized and all the randoms got put away).
6. Cleaned out the girls closet and filled up 2 bags of hand-me-downs.
7. Ironed B's shirt for pictures today.
8. Got the oil changed in the van.
9. While the oil was being changed, walked to the coffee stand and dropped off a latte to my MIL. I love that she works so close and I can do that. (I don't know that her boss really appreciates it, but WE do)!
10. Sped home, fed the girls lunch, put their party dresses on, picked up B and headed to pictures at Sears.
11. Spent an hour and a half getting pictures taken and picking them out! This was the first time in 3 years where I wasn't sweating profusely through the whole process. All the kids did such a great job listening and posing and smiling! I was quite impressed, we got some good pics.!
12. Now I just have 4 clients to see, then on to dinner and bed time! YAY for a wonderful productive day!

Which is more annoying "Debbie Downer" or "Happy Heidi?"

Hopefully you can view their pics. at: www.searsphotos.com
id: 41038A11123768
password: 3JFPF3KYM

I will post them when I pick them up!

He lost it......

His first baby tooth is missing! It was loose for a while, and this morning it fell out while he was wiggling it. Brayden wasn't quite sure what to think, I think he was a little bit scared. The other one is already on its way up.

He is so excited to get a DIME from the tooth fairy.

Calling Dad, and all the grandparents to tell them the news!

Of course these little ragamuffins needed their pics. taken too!

Whoah, that's a LONG time!

These are my wonderful parents: Jeanie and Bill. The only pictures that I can find of them (together at least), are from our wedding. Sweet Mama, a little nervous before the ceremony.

Dad, finally relaxed when the reception was in full swing.

Breathing a sigh of relief.....

I really want to know what my mom was reacting to at this point of our reception. Which of my friends was being inappropriate? :) Those big-girl wine glasses got some of them in trouble. Yeah, you know who you are. :)

Happy 40th anniversary Mom and Dad!

WOW, 40 years together really does seem like forever.... congratulations!

"Are we having fun yet?"

Highlights from the last TWO days:

1. My darling daughters decided to wear party dresses! This is fun, I like it when they actually want to look cute....but we were only going to the YMCA and Fred Meyer. Oh well, they adorned their party dresses and tights. I so wish I would have taken a picture, my description will NOT do it justice.
Ellie: Big, poofy, red, black and white plaid silky dress with polka-dot brown, pink and green tights with princess tennis shoes. Lookin' good!
Danielle: A spring/summer sundress that is a size 24months (way too small) that's yellow with lots of little flowers on it. Half of her diaper clad bum was hanging out along with some nice brownish/whitish tights (they're supposed to be white) with flowers on them with princess tennis shoes. This is so not doing it justice, bare with me....they're dressed like they're color blind. BUT I am choosing my battles, and this one is so not worth it.

We ate breakfast (oatmeal all down both of them and their dresses) and took Brayden to school. Went to the Y and then had to go pick up my nephew from school. We had about 30 minutes so I went to FM and got a prescription and stopped at the bank in the store. We had to walk past the hallway where the bathroom is. Of course Ellie said, "I have to go potty." She has to go potty at every public restroom in the city. Ok, let's go potty. We walked in the bathroom and E bee lined it to a small stall. There are about 4 old ladies in the bathroom as well. (The old folks home dropped a bus load off). I said, "Ellie we all need to go into the big stall so I can help you so your dress doesn't fall in the toilet."

E: "NO, I want to do it by myself in here!" Then she slams the stall door in my face. Lovely, I love two year olds.

Me: "Ellie you need to come into this stall with us so you don't get your dress dirty." After much persuasion she finally crawled out on the nasty bathroom tile and joined us in the big stall. Yeah, her dress was in good shape, I'm so glad she decided to keep it clean. She walked into the stall and she and Dani fought over who got to lock the door. Mind you, they are both SCREAMING at the top of their lungs and pushing each other around the stall. They had to have had EVERY single germ possible on them. Meanwhile I can hear old lady snickers echoing in the bathroom in between my daughters screeches! We probably spent a good 3-5 minutes in the stall and E never did go potty. We exited and scrubbed hands and I had to physically pick both of them up to haul them out of the bathroom. They are still shrieking and screaming and flailing, snot is flying and I am trying oh so hard to not FREAK OUT. The older people were so nice, I got such helpful comments:

"Oh, someones not happy." (In my head: oh are you sure? Thanks for clearing that up for me, I was so confused).

"WOW, you've got your hands full." (Yeah, and I'm about to drop both of my children on the ground, they weigh 30 pounds each, can you get out of my way?)

"Are we having fun yet?" (I have to say, I do enjoy a few good temper tantrums in public with the whole retirement home watching! That is my idea of a party!)

Wow, that was a long number one, I may not be able to go through my whole list.....

2. A fun thing with Brayden right now is that he is growing up so fast! Good and bad:
Good: He loves to help me, he is really wanting to do chores and take on responsibilities, he really likes to write and make lists (just like me), it has been so fun watching him mature and step it up. He is also getting up in the mornings and playing quietly and putting waffles in the toaster for himself and his sisters! LOVE IT!

Not so good: Along with this helping thing, he is trying to become more and more independent. I walked out of the shower this morning to find my curtains, blinds and window open (it was 38 degrees) for the whole street/neighbor to see. GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! He also has tried to haul a whole gallon of milk up from the garage fridge, open it and pour a glass of milk. These gallons are a little too heavy for this tough guy, resulting in lots of milk EVERYWHERE! He also seems to be turning into a tween way too early. When did my sweet boy stop thinking I was the best thing ever? I have caught him with some eye rolling, exasperated sighs, and down right evil looks. (I know this is partly my fault. I do give a mean glare, I need to keep that in check).

On Monday morning he came in my room and said with attitude, "MOM, I don't have any clean pants for school." I was thinking, yes you do, they're in your drawer. Not so much. I took two days off from laundry and he was out of clothes. This is because he goes through multiple outfits a day, he doesn't like to be dirty. So he was really pleased when I told him to grab a pair out of the hamper and put them on. (They weren't even dirty, just maybe a little smelly at this point). I then saw a brand new pair of jeans in the hamper.

I said, "Here put these on, these probably fit you now."
B (with attitude): "No, they need to be washed, they're too big."
Me: "Just try them on, they probably fit now."
B: "What don't you understand? I told you that they need to be washed so they will shrink. They're too big."

Yes, that came out of my 5 year olds mouth. Wow, we had a little talkin' after that one.....


3. Falling down the stairs, oh so gracefully....it was not pretty. I had just walked a client out the door, I turned around and caught the toe of my shoe on the landing and catapulted all the way to the bottom landing....it was loud and scary! (Everyone who knows me is not at all surprised by this incident, but it has been a while since I've done something this clumsy). I am lucky I only sprained/twisted my ankle, the way my day was going I thought for sure there would be more permanent damage. Thankfully there were no clients/parents waiting for me at the bottom. :) It turned out that my next client was late (which is very unusual for them), so I was able to shed a few tears and regain my composure. :) Of course the kids wanted to come down and see what all the commotion was about, and I had to send them away, I was hurting too much to deal with them. The bad part is I won't be able to go to tap class tomorrow! :(

4. After rushing through with my last client, I bolted to the YMCA for Brayden's swimming lesson. Low and behold 5 minutes into it, someone pooped in the pool! I just had to laugh. Clear the pool everyone to the showers! (yes, we pay for poop in the pool, we do not get a make-up session).

I didn't mean to write a novel and that was just a few of my highlights, the others will have to wait for another day.....or never.

Ahh, it is now 8:15 and I think I will be heading to bed and await a new, fresh day tomorrow. It's kindergarten registration morning, hopefully my luck will change and I'll have smooth sailing getting B into the AM class!