Cherishing the little things

Up until now, we've not encountered the "terrible twos".

Suddenly, its hit, and his us with a vengeance.

My girl who's so well behaved in public threw a fit in safeway and bawled all the way home over not getting a treat. She's been trying to give up naps, and her grumpy self emerges near bedtime. She picks on her brother, she growls at me when I ask her to pick up her toys. She can be utterly frustrating at some times. But today, she helped me while I was sewing. Organizing my little squares, holding the scraps and telling her buddy not to touch. She kissed her brothers owies better after he had his shots done. She takes good care of all her millions of babies and bears. So throughout all the screaming, whining and picking fights, I'll be remembering and cherishing these sweet moments in between. I'll have to keep telling myself that we'll get through this.

I love you Sadie pie.

today is for mischief

Today we're shaking cans of club soda, pulling out potatoes and shortening out of the pantry. He shook up all 3 cans that I had in there. I ended up tying up the knobs of the door so he couldn't open it. Rubber bands are amazing. 

We're reading books on the floor in our underwears. Pants are not a thing here. If Sadie sees her pantsless brother, she will rip of hers as well.

She's such a ham lately.

They also decided to turn the hallway into a play area. Strange children. And also play with an empty pop bottle. Yesterday Lucas was sitting on top of a pile of dirty laundry in the hall. Its like the ghetto here some days. 

Currently...

Watching: Top Chef. Just finished part one of the finale, and so far I've loved this season. I think the Las Vegas season was also one of my favorites. I'm also watching Project Runway, and at first I was not sold on the teams idea, but I'm loving it now. I was really sad about Michael Kors leaving. He was a Project Runway icon, and his replacement is not the same. I havent bothered to learns his replacements name yet because I'm just too sad. 

Thinking about:  How to make Lucas stop screaming. He was doing really well for a few weeks, minimal outbursts, and then the last 2 days hes been screaming at everything. Anything can set him off. Today I've figured that its probably teeth coming in. He's been playing with his spit, and its gross, but its either that or screaming, so I'll take spitting bubbles for now. Tylenol has seemed to tame him a little. 

Reading: Finished The Silver Linings Playbook. It made me cry. It was a quick read for me, took only a couple days. Totally had me hooked. Its a story about a guy who's just gotten out of a mental institution and is living back with his parents. He lost everything, but remains positive he can reconnect with his wife. I loved the perspective of the book, how it was told from the eyes of a possible bi-polar guy. We're also reading Pete the Cat books with Sadie and Lucas. She absolutely loves them. She even tries to read along with me. She sings the songs in the book, and yells POP when his buttons pop off. 

Looking forward to: Seeing the movie for the silver linings play book, and my birthday present. The movie we'll watch on the weekend I hope. So, now on to my birthday present! This year I told Tony that I wanted a pasta roller attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer. I even found it on sale. This year my present idea excited him. Back when we were first married, we'd watch old episodes of Iron Chef. The ones where they were in Japan and it was the Japanese chefs making things like fish roe ice cream. Later on, we'd watch the american episodes where they'd make fresh pasta and we'd always sigh and wish we could make it too. Well, now both of us get to experiment. Other pro to this is that he didn't have to go to the mall to the "potent smelling" Lush store to buy me bath bombs and other miscellaneous things. 

Making me happy:  an upcoming trip to an antiques store. I saw pictures of what was inside and I squealed. There were walls of pyrex. I wanted to see if there was a loaf pyrex in my pattern - blue butterprint. I've never been to a real antiques place before. I've got a list of things to look for, and hopefully I'll find some pretty things. 

Happy Valentines Day

 At breakfast, we opened cards from Nana and Papa, and mama and daddy.

Lucas destroyed the card I made him. Things taped on should not be on to begin with.

Lucas could not get over the puppy card. He calls them BOO-EH. Not sure why. He cried huge tears when I tried to display it on the mantle. Kid knows that its his. 

After their nap, there were treats waiting for them. I found the mail boxes 2 days ago at superstore. I've been dying to have these for valentines day. The felt envelopes were from last year. 

They opened things furiously, and scarfed down all the chocolate.

New socks, crayons and felt food to be had by all. Lucas stole some of Sadie's smarties while she played with her crayons. I had extras though. Such a good Valentines day. Fancy dinner is planned for later, after the sugar wears off. 

Baking Day - Valentines Day Sugar Cookie Bars

 I do valentines day big around here. I mean, its something that we grew up with as being very special. I'm pretty sure other kids didn't get a plate of candy after school as well as a card.

Someone was licking his fingers and eating most of the sprinkles instead of decorating

 So I figured the kids would love decorating some sugar cookies or cupcakes. Then after wavering back and forth, I picked sugar cookie bars. Piece of cake to make, and delicious! Pinterest WIN! I've actually found a few Pinterest recipes that haven't failed, and I post them here if you're interested.

The recipe I used is here: http://www.highheelsandgrills.com/2012/08/sugar-cookie-bars.html

 They decorated, and as you can see. 

They sampled.

 They turned red. 

They were hyped up on sugar, and they loved it all.

Tomorrow they get to wake up and have valentines day treats ready for them after their naps. I'm so excited.

hard day

Today was a very bad day. It didn't start off right either. Lately my 17 month old child had taken a fancy to waking up growling in his sleep at 6 am. Yes, growling loudly. I stagger over in a half blind state and find him without covers or his pants, curled in a ball in his bed. He's not awake, hes just mad. Mad at the world for being cold. I feel like I'm partially to blame as I didn't get around to buying a sleep sack for him so this wouldn't happen.

I tuck him in as quietly as possible, and tiptoe out of the room, but the click of the door sets off his alarms, and he stands up to scream after me. PLEASE MAMA DONT LEAVE ME! So I head back in and sit in the chair with him until hes asleep again.

I get back into my bed, and somehow Tony has figured out that the bed his entirely his and is in the middle with his arm on my pillow. More growling ensues  and he is forced to roll over to his end. He remembers nothing. I try and sleep again. Nope. Read twitter. Finally its 7:45 and its time to be awake

Our morning was pretty uneventful. We watched Curious George, they picked at their breakfast. Unusual, but they were both getting over being sick. Beth and I decided to head to costco for a few things. Short trip. The short nightmare trip.

They behaved in the cart beside each other which doesn't always happen. We were taking our time, and then came the sample ladies. I suppose that was why he started acting out. I gave him my sample of a waffle. MOOOORRR! No buddy, not yet, wait a bit. MOOOORRRR!!!!!!!! MOOOOORRRR!!!!!! Beth by that time found another sample, and he was content to stuff his face full of muffin. Oh look a sample table of tea. I have a thing for tea. Its my preferred beverage right now. The kids also love tea, and drink it with me. So I went over and got a tiny cup of some orange tea. Buddy flew into hysterics because I was simply holding the tea and not handing him my scalding hot beverage. Panic, tears and then the screaming. Oh the screaming. He made sure all of costco could hear him scream. First it was TEEAAAAAA!! Then it was just shrieks. My son, he is by far the shriekiest child yet. I'm blowing on tea, trying to calm him down, with no such luck. I'm sure I'm getting a million evil stares as we are parked trying to keep calm. I hissed into his ear to stop crying, I flicked him (secret punishment that might work, but doesn't , I hug him, and all the while I'm just praying this damn tea gets cool. After hysterics from my child, the lady at the tea table came over with a cup of ice. Dumped it all in the tea. Lucas hiccups, and sucks back all the tea. When hes done, I hear MOOORRRR???? OMG HEADSMASH No buddy, no more tea. He's ok with this as Beth has handed him a sample muffin. Thank you costco for your samples of everything today. I guess it was like his second breakfast.

We escaped shortly after the tea incident, (but not after Lucas ate the majority of my hotdog) and the kids had a nap.

He woke up first, earlier than normal. He was suuuupper crabby. Wanted to watch TV. As I turned it on, we were waiting for the PS3 to load. Being impatient, he screamed and started running. He ran his tired self into the side of the couch, hitting his face on the wooden detailing. His eyelid  was puffy and turned red immediately.

So now he's crabby and has a black eye and is apparently starving. He sat with me and we watched tv and then made pizza toast for him and Sadie.

Its gotten a bit better this afternoon. My pants-less wonder has tried tucking me in several times. He tucks my head under his blanket. It hurts because hes not a gentle creature, but it was still cute.

We danced in the kitchen until he got so excited he buried his head into my shoulder and bit me. Sometimes he gets excited and bites anything he can. He's teething maybe. I cant tell for sure anymore.

So it was hard, and then the end was kinda cute in a warped way. I really hope tomorrow is better though.

Stickygram magnets and little chairs

These little chairs have not really been used for sitting, they've been stepping stools to reach things that are not supposed to be reached. Lucas has been getting into the dishes in the sink, touching my computer and desk stuff, and now they are playing magnets and things on the fridge. We had stickygram magnets printed, and they love seeing themselves on the fridge. If you want, I've got a $2 off code for your first order, use this: FRIEND01ZH  in your checkout, and save $2.

The kids loved standing and playing. The day after Sadie got mad at him and pushed him off his chair. Now the chairs sit in Lucas' room stored where they can't get them. She did apologize. She's getting much better at that. Before it was such a struggle to have her say sorry, and give him a hug or kiss. Now shes right there hugging and signing sorry. Lately they love hugging eachother. I've seen them just randomly hug until they fall over. My heart bursts when I see them do that.