Relationships Bloom Over the Glow of Mommy's IPod

Wordless Wednesday - Togetherness

Anna Does Her Best Snotty Teenager Impression

Daffodil Day

Today was Daffodil Day in the town we live in.  While the daffodils were definitely blooming the weather was otherwise quite frigid and UNspring-like!  We ventured out early as we are expecting a day of heavy rain.

Ben thought it was quite funny to peak through the little window on the stroller.  So cute that one!

Apparently there were going to be horse rides, a scavenger hunt, specials at the local restaurants, a Little Miss Daffodil contest, but it was just so cold that we just sort of quickly went around to have a quick look.

One of the little booths had this bee keeping display.  That is a  live hive with real bees.  The man who owns the hives mostly rent his bees out to help farmers pollinate
.

close up of the bees.

They were also having a sheep shearing at the local Quaker meeting house.  I peaked in at them in their trailor.

This is the Quaker meeting house.

Claudio and the kids waiting for the sheep.

It was amazing to see how patient and docile the sheep were while being shorn.  The man was twisting him this way and that and bending the sheep in half and they just went along with it.

There was also a little fleamarket where we got a few little things....an Etch a Sketch for the kids, a little St. Nicholas nesting doll, some ribbon, etc.


Now we are in the warm house snuggling on the couch watching movies and drinking cocoa.

The Heat is On!

Well Monday we had our first day of REAL heat.  It was in the mid 80s and bright and sunny!  We broke out the shorts and tshirts and sandals.....AND we broke out the little plastic wading pool!

I only meant for the kids to use it as a water table.  To just kneel over it and play with the toys in it.  But they immediately stepped in and plopped themselves down in the water.

They spent a good hour or more sitting in the pool (fully dressed as you see LOL) splashing around and filling buckets and other toys.

And if you look closely you will see even daddy took advantage of the good weather by working on the porch!

The warm weather was merely a fluke as it has been cool ever since!  Strangest spring weather ever!

Will Wonders Never Cease?!

The above is a package I received from my library!!! I requested these books from their webpage, they packaged them up in this nifty bag and delivered them TO MY HOUSE!!! FOR FREEEEEE!!!!

I now plan to have a never ending series of FREE packages delivered to my home!! I swear it is like magic!!

I have long since considered the library as just free, offsite, book storage and this new development has only fed into that delusion!

Update to Our Charlie and Lola Day...

Benjamin went upstairs for a nap around 11am after falling asleep on the couch. He woke about 2 and a half hours later crying and calling for me. When I got to his room he told me his ear was hurting.

I decided, it being a Friday afternoon by this point, that I better race him over to the CVS Minute Clinic (which, btw, I HIGHLY recommend. They have been lifesavers for us over and over...and TOTALLY affordable).

The Nurse Practitioner looked in his left ear and said, "Yup, it is bright red in there and infected....is this the ear he was complaining about?" I respond, "Uhhh no, it was his right ear.." So she looks in his right ear and that one was even worse! Poor little Ben!!! So uncomfortable!

Just a note of appreciation and realization after this saga: For the first time in my life as a mother I had a child old enough to verbalize to me specifically what the matter was and what was making them feel sick. I was able to run to Benjamin and in a matter of five minutes be in the car to the clinic knowing specifically where the issue was. It was SUCH a relief! So there is the silver lining.

It's a Charlie and Lola Day...

my two little critters have colds. Anna is already on the mend from hers, but Ben is in the thick of it. He basically doesn't function when sick. So we have decided that today is a Charlie and Lola sort of day.

that is what is on that glowing orb (I tried to take a picture that would show the actual image, but didn't work) that Anna is standing way too close to!


This is both Ben an Anna's by far most favorite show. And I will admit that Claudio and I really enjoy it too. They pick Charlie and Lola over Thomas, Shaun the Sheep, The Wiggles, Sesame Street, Charlotte's Web, etc etc. So, even though we have 4 volumes of the DVDs we are getting a little tired of the same episodes!!! Thankfully I thought to order a new DVD for Anna for Easter!!

Look at that poor sick boy :( He is clutching his two sippy cups. He told me he wanted juice in one hand and a "milky bots" (boost shake) in the other.

Spring Comes In Like A Lion

To celebrate the cold, blustery start to Spring Ben and I did this cute lion craft using a paper plate, some construction paper, pipe cleaners, paint, glue, scissors.

I compiled what we would need and cut up two pipe cleaners into 6 pieces to make whiskers and cut black construction paper for nose and eyes and yellow construction paper for the face.

This was the first time for Ben to use paint. He was very excited and dug in with gusto!! He painted his whole plate orange with just a little bit of help from me. AND he didn't make a mess!

We let our paint dry before gluing things on.

Benjamin drew the mouth on himself and I was impressed that he got the basic shape and idea!! Not sure why he wanted two whiskers on one side and four on the other, but I think it gives his lion character! We have them hanging up on our mantel....waiting for the lambs to be made sometime soon!

Yummm!!

A delicious breakfast prepared by my 3yr old. The best egg I ever ate!


(the irony....he is allergic to eggs!)

Wordless Wednesday - Everyone Needs Someone to Snuggle

Excitement Is For The Birds!!

The excitement started last night when Anna woke around midnight crying and then throwing up (and losing her tube). She had to be changed, the bedding had to be changed. Luckily she went right back to sleep with no problems and slept the rest of the night.

When she got up this morning it became clear the cause for upset tummy overnight was another cold :( The first sign of a cold for has been throwing up once her feed is started. So please pray that she gets better soon. Even a little cold means days of cutting her feedings in half and therefore lost calories and weight gain setbacks. And prayers please that no one else gets the cold!!!

Now if a big overnight mess wasn't enough.....

This morning Cla was collecting the trash from each room because it is garbage day here today! He comes downstairs to inform me that there seems to be a squirrel in the wall!!! WHAT??!!!!

So I ask, "Well what do we do??" And he said, "We break the wall open or we have a stinking dead squirrel in the wall!"

If you turn up your volume you can hear the animal rustling around in the wall in Anna's room!!



Cla gets everything ready (he put on several layers of clothes and heavy gloves in case it was a rabid squirrel (or possum, rat, mouse, badger....we had no idea what it was....we just assumed squirrel). Luckily Anna's room shares a wall with our bathroom closet.....I was quite happy we didn't have to put a hole in her wall....much better to put a hole in the linen closet!

Cla broke the wall open and out flew a bird!!! I peaked the door open to get this picture of it on the light fixture!! Cla eventually cornered it and was able to pick it up in his hands and put it in our cat carrier.
And there it is!! A very nice looking bird!



And we release the bird back out into the world....and hope that is all the excitement we have for a LONG time! We much prefer the quiet, boring life!!!

We Do Things Old School

Yes, this is literally an Atari.

April Fools??

I wonder how many bloggers have that as their title today followed by a picture of snow!! I am not sure you can even see the flakes coming down in my picture but I promise you they were!!



When I came in from taking the picture Annabella had a temper tantrum because I wouldn't let her come outside in the freezing cold and wet wearing her pajamas! I missed the part where she stomped her feet, yelled, and threw herself on the floor. But I thought her Jekyll/Hyde performance was SO funny. I laugh every time I watch this!



Ben was scribbling in this little notebook (cute note: the cover of the notebook has Strawberry Shortcake, the 80s version of course, and whenever he sees her he tells me that she is "so beautiful!" LOL) so I asked him if he could draw a face. He asked me to draw one first so he could see. And then he drew his very first little face!! A milestone for my little Bean!

The below picture I feel like I could play one of those "How many things out of place can you find" games! Ben is sitting and eating(weird thing #1) a piece of ham (that I convincingly told him was turkey: weird #2) as his stuffed pig looks on wondering if it was his cousin (weird #3), and a box of Jewish, Kosher for Passover Matzo...which is no longer Kosher now that it has shared a table with the pig and the ham (weird #4)....anything else weird I have missed?? LOL