Let's Just Say.....

This was the state of the bathtub after our outside time this morning....yes both children required a bath..

I wish I had thought to bring my camera out to the park. But basically Anna plopped herself down in a pile of dirt and proceeded to take fistfulls of it and rub it into her hair for about 15 minutes. As lacking as she is in the hair department she still required two shampoos to get it all cleaned out. And in the tub are the remnants!

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window... It is beautiful and sunshiny now, but it is supposed to be hot and in the 90s all week. I am ready for cooler weather!

I am thinking...About all of the things I need to get done both around the house and for preschool for Ben and then various other things like calls to doctors and appts.

I am thankful for...my little family

From the learning rooms... Well I started my felt board this weekend (pictures later) and I need to finish that up and Ben and I are off to the library once Anna is down for a nap to get the books we need and to see if we can find some books on tape.

From the kitchen... My mother in law made us some bolognese sauce yesterday so dinner is ready to go. Just got to make some pasta and a salad!

I am wearing... brown shorts, a white tshirt, and brown crocs

I am going... to the library with Ben and to Acme as we are nearly completely out of toilet paper (oops!)

I am reading... Emily of New Moon

I am hoping... that I get my ideas for the year all figured out and solidified and that I can develop a good/flexible/comfortable/happy schedule and rhythm for the household.

I am hearing...Anna screaming. As she has basically done during every waking hour of every day of the last few weeks. She is teething. Four new teeth at once. Three have cut through and there is one left. But we are thinking at this point that she has just gotten so used to crying and immediately being catered to that it has become habit. We are all about to tear our hair out if this doesn't end soon! She may be tiny but she has some mighty lungs on her.

Around the house... the usual Sunday messes need cleaning and lots and lots of laundry. Got a load to fold, a load to put in the dryer, and at least two or three more loads to throw in.

One of my favorite things... Bedtime :P

A few plans for the rest of the week: Get in touch with Anna's pediatrician over the results of her celiac panel and try to figure out where we are going from here. Prayers would be appreciated for this situation. There is a fairly good chance my little girl will need a biopsy of her small intestine. No fun and a definite "mamma trauma"

Here is a picture thought I am sharing:

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Figuring Out What Works and General Cuteness

In an attempt to tweak our routines, particularly our morning routine, we have been trying some new things around here.

It is clear that my almost a preschooler needs some more time outside to work off energy and some more structured one on one time. He is EXCELLENT at entertaining himself....for hours if need be. But we need to also start working on settling down and getting things done and learning how to focus on a given task.

So this morning we took some balls out to the park behind our house to have some run around and be loud time before Anna's nap. A few snafoos: I didn't have their clothes for the day set out including socks and shoes so then there was a mad dash to find what we needed. With limited time before Anna's nap this was a big deal. The other issue is that the grass was still quite wet. Not sure what we can do about that, but Ben is in that "must have clean hands" etc phase so he was not pleased with sticky wet grass. And Anna generally got soaking wet with all her toddling and falling and crawling. So she needed to be stripped down when we came in. Either way it was fun to get out in the cool sunshine!

And look at that face!! I just love it!!!!

Ben and Anna got this nice bouncy balls at their cousins' birthday party this weekend and they are loving them!! Great favor idea Aunt Laura!!

Cute action shot ;)

And there is Little Miss assessing the situation with a little grass snack before she decides what she wants to do.

You can see the wet grass stuck to her legs

Once Anna goes down for her nap I am trying to get Ben involved with whatever household tasks I need to take care of. This picture is from a few days ago where he helped me get a soup into the crockpot by meticulously putting the veggies into the the pot for me. He had a lot of fun doing this and it definitely kept him occupied for a good amount of time! Today he helped me make some banana bread by pouring ingredients into bowls for me and mixing the dry ingredients with his hands. And tasting the dough for me (since it is egg free I let him taste as much as he wanted....it was basically just sugar, apple sauce, and banana!).

And a "smile" for a job well done!

In other scheduling news/ideas I hope to try and incorporate a "circle time" in the morning either before or after outdoor time. We will include a picture book story, morning prayers, days of the week/date, nursery rhyme. There is a circle time worked into the Little Saints program so hopefully this will seamlessly transition into Little Saints when we start it this winter.

And onto the general cuteness :) Here are Anna's new adorable sneakers that we got with some of her birthday money! They were on sale at Olly's and I just couldn't pass them up! So now she has nice dressy/church shoes and nice sneakers for everyday.

I was trying to get a good picture of her outfit because she just looked adorable in these little floral denim overalls and her new sneakers etc. But she wasn't too cooperative so this is the best we got.

Wordless Wednesday

New Shoes

Now that Anna is walking we got her her first pair of REAL shoes with soles. I remember it taking Ben some time to even STAND up with real shoes on. Anna, being the girly girl she is instantly fell in love with these adorable shoes and was off and running! Even when I took them off to put her pajamas on I found her trying to shove them back on her feet. Little girls are so cute!!

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window... Beautiful cool sunshiny late summer morning! Delicious out! And I think it is supposed to rain later. And I love rain too. So it just may be a day of perfect weather. I never understood the idea of "rainy days and Mondays" getting someone down ;)

I am thinking...About my grand plans for the day. The kids went with Claudio to my inlaws for the day. Won't be home till after dinner. So I have plans to do all those projects that are hard to do with kids around.

I am thankful for...A mommy day off!

From the learning rooms... Nothing for the kids. I got my copy of Little Saints so need to start compiling materials. I plan to start in February. So I have plenty of time, but I also want to come up with some stuff to start this Fall.

From the kitchen... NOTHING...I am off duty today! Although I do need to do some dishes.

I am wearing... A denim skirt, pink tshirt, brown crocs

I am going... To Staples to drop off our Fios box, to the library to return a book, to Good Will to browse about

I am reading... Emily of New Moon

I am hoping... to have a productive, but relaxing day

I am hearing...the TV

Around the house... a disaster mess that I need to clean up!

One of my favorite things... days like today :)

A few plans for the rest of the week: I have a dentist appointment on Thursday and other than that nothing too exciting.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing:

Cla's new Apple computer that I am jealous of. Not too exciting but it was the only spare picture I had around of any interest LOL

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Ohh My Poor Baby!!!!

Little Anna had a little mishap with a head first tumble over one of the toy containers.

I think it must look a lot worse than it was because she didn't cry much and was laughing and giggling a minute after it happened.

I have NEVER seen an egg like that except in a cartoon!

What We Have Been Learning

Strength: Sweet little Annabella had her blood drawn yesterday. She was a brave little soul, only crying while the needle was in her arm. I hope to hear the results soon. I am not sure to pray they find an issue or not.

BTW she is crying here not because of the blood draw but because she wants her lunch!

Letters: Ben continues to love all things having to do with letters, so the other night I took out some playdough. I wondered if he could try to make letter shapes, but he would not make anything with the playdough! I don't know if he doesn't get it or doesn't like how it feels, but he will barely manipulate it at all. He did, however, enjoy smelling it! LOL!

So I made letter shapes and he matched them to the letters on his placemat. He got 100% correct.

Anna was equally unimpressed with the playdough! She broke her little blue piece into tiny crumbs (which I am still cleaning up).

Earlier in the day Ben danced around the living room singing the Alphabet song (with varied accuracy) along with his little Leap Frog refridgerator toy.

Nursery Rhymes: I have been helping Ben to learn to recite Jack and Jill. I figure it will take him quite a bit of time, but we go over it several times a day and he always lights up when I ask him if he wants to say it. And please pardon the view of his rear. We are still working on the potty training and I tried to keep it out of the picture.

Now I Remember!

After a difficult week. It is little moments like this that make me remember why I think I have the most precious, beautiful family.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday

My first organizing job completed. Entertainment center cleaned out.

Another Day...

Today started off rough (much like yesterday!). Anna is still miserable with teething. Basically without Ibuprofen she is just inconsolable and with it she functions teetering on the edge of hysteria. Ben is in some sort of phase that I am just HATING. Basically he is being destructive (today he tore pages out of a book and broke the towel rack in the bathroom) and not listening to mommy at all. And the most frustrating thing is he won't give me straight answers suddenly. "Ben do you want more water?" "Robots!!" "Ben do you want more water??!!" "*singing song*" ACKKK


Anyway, by 1 oclock and a failed lunchtime I was either going to lose it or they had to all go take naps. We opted for naps :) I regrouped and realized that Ben was probably restless from spending so many extraordinarily hot days inside where there is limited space to play (since our basement is being finished) and that Anna is ALWAYS happier out of the house. So when they woke I took them out to play with a sprinkler, get some sun, and work off some energy! The rest of the day went MUCH better because of it and the mental note has been made!


There is nothing sweeter than a soaking wet baby sitting in the grass eating a whole tomato just picked from the garden! She just loves tomatos and eats them like a fruit.



Ben was afraid of this sprinkler last year. Which is why I totally forgot we had it! I turn it on really low. Just enough water to turn the petals. Ben loved it today and needed no coaxing to come play in the water. Last year I remember he sat in my lap and wept!

Well after weeks and weeks and weeks of working on potty training we finally had a breakthrough today! We started training Ben by letting him go bare bottomed and he basically caught on immediately and in a day was 100% trained to use the potty with no reminders from us.

But as soon as you tried putting underwear on him he totally didn't get it. He would go in them even as you were asking him if he needed to sit on the potty. I was getting so frustrated and discouraged! Then a friend recommended using a timer. So today I set up the timer on my ipod and let him pick the ringer sound (he mostly requested robot and duck). I had it go off every 15 minutes. So every 15 minutes he had to sit on the potty and make a pee pee. A few times he didn't have to go so I let him get up and just reset the timer. I referred to the timer as his "donut timer" because I told him if he stayed dry I would make him donuts with dinner.

Well he did it! Dry allllllll day! No accidents at all! And after being totally resistant to his underwear at bedtime tonight he told me that he wanted to wear his underwear and not his pullup for bed. So I promised him he could wear underpants again tomorrow LOL

As for the donuts they were SOOOOOOOOOOOO good!! I am so happy I have an eggless donut for Ben and I was able to whip them up in just a few minutes!

just reshape the biscuits to look like a donut:

Toss them in hot oil

Mmmmm golden brown!

I tossed them with some cinnamon and sugar.

And Captain Underpants dug in!

Thank you Jessica at Shower of Roses for this fantastic recipe!!

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window...It is sunny and humid. *sigh* This weekend was a little taste of early Fall and I was hopeful that it would continue. But it is supposed to be hot hot hot all week. I am so sick of air conditioning!

I am thinking...I have a lot to do today and is wondering where the relaxed/renewed/refreshed feeling from Saturday went?? I am hoping if I put on the smiley happy face the rest of the family will follow. We all seem to be in a funk today.

I am thankful for...a little boy that TRIES to be helpful and a new budget that allots me some extra money!

From the learning rooms...uhhh, we are seriously working on obedience today!! Other than that some coloring and perhaps, if I haven't torn my hair out by then, some playdough. I have been wondering at what age does a child color with more organization. Not necessarily in the lines, but just with a basic idea of appropriate colors in appropriate places and not just scribbles?

From the kitchen...dinner is defrosted. Some sauce, meatballs, and sausage I made last week and froze. With some pasta and salad. I am hoping to make those special donuts for Ben this week. I think we will make it a potty training reward. But today is not that day for that.

I am wearing...a beige skirt, a red tshirt, and brown Crocs

I am going...to take Anna for her bloodwork before lunch today and hopefully to UPS to send back our Fios box and to make a photocopy of my driver's liscence as I realized I never sent for a copy of Anna's birth certificate!! Yipes!

I am reading...I am finishing up the last of the Betsy/Tacy books. I hate coming to the end of a great series. But next I will be re-reading Emily of New Moon and then finally getting to the other two books in that series. I am also reading a book called Passionate Housewives. I thought it might be too sappy for me, but I am actually loving it.

I am hoping...today ends more peacefully than it started. Teething baby girl and emotional 2yr old.

I am hearing...a Woody Guthrie Nursery CD, the dishwasher, and the little noises and babbling stream of conscious from Ben.

Around the house...I have a lot of organizing projects I want to get to in the next few weeks. Also need to paint the ceiling in the basement...a HUGE job. A heap of laundry to fold and put away.

One of my favorite things...a husband that works from home.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
Hopefully we will stay home all week!!
Hopefully I will get my Little Saints curriculum in the mail today so I can start compiling what I need for that

Here is picture for thought I am sharing:

From Anna's birthday party :)


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I Am So Proud of My Little Pixie!!

Look at her go!!!

Blessed Feast of the Assumption To Everyone!!

Pillows and Wires

Ahhh the end of a very long week!! This morning Claudio treeated me to a morning out without any kids. First I ran to Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee. I have been dying for one, but since I usually have Ben with me and he would be upset if we stopped at D&D without getting a donut (egg allergy issue). Then I went to Cherry Hill and went to Lakeshore Learning Store, which was overwhelmingly wonderful. And I picked up some things we would need for Little Saints. Then I went to J.Jill (sadly underwhelming), Learning Express (ditto), Olly's (covet covet covet), Barnes and Noble where I sat and read on a cushy chair, and then treated myself to a yummy lunch at Panera before getting home in time to see the kids off for their naps!

I was much refreshed and renewed when I got home! Thank you Claudio!

Grandma Joanne picked up these cute pillows for the kids and they have been enjoying rolling around on them and snuggling.

This mess of TV, wires and antennas means we are once again without cable. Our Fios introductory rate expired and we decided it just wasn't worth the extra money. It took some tweeking, but we now have all of the regular network channels at least.

Speaking of donuts...I hope to try these egg free and delicious looking ones soon for Benjamin!