Rain, Rain Go Away!

We're not arguing that we needed rain at all, because we did.  But... did it really have to rain a majority of the weekend?  Friday evening was a busy one, as we went through the garage, crawl space and shed and loaded the truck up with crap for the community trash day on Saturday morning!  Success, as the truck was loaded.  And then a bonfire, with off-and-on rain.

Saturday... Busy morning of cleaning, running to get Franny Crocs and a night out for mommy and daddy it was a good, productive day!  Why does Franny need Crocs, well because that kid LOVES water... playing with buckets, in the dog water dishes, dumping her watering can on top of herself regularly, the bathtub... you name it she loves it.  After soaking 3 pair of shoes last weekend, I made the decision that she's going to live in Crocs.

And Sunday, it rained all morning.  Rain, rain go away... and it finally did mid-afternoon and everybody was able to get out.  The pictures below are of Nece helping Robby (Mona's boyfriend) build his pond.  It's hard to see, but she insisted on having us put her Dora kneepads and gloves on to help (just like Robby with his knee pads and gloves).

And, in case anybody is wondering... here was our lawn on April 8.

And a picture taken from the exact same spot today.

Hopefully after another 2 weeks (ideally 3 or 4) off the lawn, it'll be ready to mow and play on again... we shall see!

Whats Appropriate?

Here are two conversations that have happened over the last week and I truly don't believe this blog post is going to do it justice... but I will try.  Gosh, my kid doesn't forget a thing.

While watching Dancing with the Stars, Kate Gosselin comes on and out of the blue Nece says, "mom, I hate her." (mind you, I really don't care for Kate, and it was the week that she had that freaky red outfit on for those of you that watch DWTS).

Nece, hate is a really strong word.  We don't hate things, that can hurt people's hearts and feelings, and we can't make a judgement about somebody we don't know.

Deep in thought, processing what I've said.  End of conversation.

This past Sunday morning Nece and I ran to Aldi around 9AM.  As we were going in, there was a lady coming out that was completely disheveled...had on old, ripped pajama pants, an oversized sweatshirt and a crazy 80's pony tail off the side of her head.  She CLEARLY looked as though she crawled out of bed, went directly to her vehicle and into Aldi.

Mom.  I do NOT like that lady's outfit AT ALL. (in that very loud, embarrassing voice that everybody in the parking lot can hear, where mom wants to crawl into a corner.)

Nece, you shouldn't say stuff like that, it's rude and can hurt people's feelings.

But MOM, member (not remember, but member) you told me that I cannot hate something as it hurts people's feelings.  I didn't say hate, I said I don't like her outfit at all.

I seriously stood there staring at my child, with my mouth wide open wondering how in the heck you explain this concept to a 3 1/2 year old.

It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I was mortified, but at the same time could barely contain my laughter, as this kid was SPOT ON.  This woman looked ridiculous!

A Weekend of Fun!

It was a beautiful weekend and we could not have asked for better weather!  Marc worked all day Saturday... the girls and I had "Breakfast with the Ladies".  We met for breakfast at 9AM, had been up since about 6AM and were still late.  Can anybody guess why?  Shouldn't be too hard to figure out- we had to do beautiful pink hair again!  After breakfast with the ladies, we ran a few errands and came home to hang out!

Sunday was a busy day with a run to Aldi and the grocery store, LOTS of playing outside, lots of laundry, dogs bathed and spring cleaning around here!  It felt so good to be so productive this weekend!

Unfortunately, before we got to Saturday, there was a little accident on Friday afternoon!  The wagon that Auntie Cindy and Uncle Marc gave the girls last summer had a little accident and its gone.  There is no more Red Flyer wagon.  Thankfully, I snapped a few final pictures earlier this week of the girls enjoying themselves with it!  No kiddos were in or near the wagon, but the girls did leave it under daddy's front tire, and he didn't see it when he moved the truck. 

My next task is to figure out how I'm going to stay motivated and updating multiple times/week.  I really do enjoy it, and realized a couple weeks ago how much is really captured (go back and look at some OLD posts, it's amazing the stuff you forget).  This past week was easy with school and the daily themes!  If anybody has any ideas or suggestions for me, please let me know... I am completely open to it!

A few pictures from Sunday!

Week of the Young Child- Friday

Welcome to Friday!  CRAZY HAIR DAY!!!!  Except in our house, it wasn't crazy hair day... it was Beautiful Hair Day!

Nece would have NOTHING to do with crazy hair day, but beautiful hair day was okay!  It took us an extra 25 minutes to get ready on Friday morning.  We had to do piggys with the top of the hair, then curl it, and then spray it pink and finally glitter!  And Franny insisted on being like her big sister... but she doesn't have long enough hair, so she got a pink, sparkly mohawk!

And now on Monday, we go back to regular days!

Week of the Young Child- Wednesday& Thursday

It's been a fun week, thus far and the girls have enjoyed having some type of theme every day when getting dressed.  However, Wednesday was Backwards Day.  Nece wasn't really feeling the vibe of this one.  Franny doesn't really know what's going on, so I'm able to do whatever I want to her!  HA!

And, it was also parent appreciation day.  When dropping off this morning, the school had breakfast treats out and afternoon snacks out for the parents!

Here are some pictures from Wednesday, Backwards Day!

And Thursday was color day for the girls.  Each classroom was asked to wear a different color and an all school picture was taken.  The toddler room was green and the preschool room was blue.  It was also kid appreciation day and Lakeridge rented a jumper for the kids.  From what I've heard, they had a BLAST!  Once again, Franny doesn't know what's going on so it wasn't an issue... but Nece, that's a different story.  This is how the conversation went between Wednesday night when picking out the outfit for Thursday and Thurday morning.

Nece, guess what.  It's color day tomorrow.  Franny's room gets to wear green and you get to wear blue.

Mom, I don't like blue.  That's a boy color, how about pink and purple?

Nece... Katie (the director) picked colors and said, your room is the blue room today.  (in my most excited voice)... I have a GREAT idea.  Why don't you wear your jean skirt because it's blue and boys don't wear skirts.

That IS a great idea mom.  Can I wear my Tinkerbell socks?  The eyes are blue and they have sparkles on them.

Fast forward to Thurday morning.  We're still all good with the outfit choice and we're putting on shoes.

Mom, what shoes should I wear today?

How about your Tinkerbell Crocs since they match your socks. 

Nece thinks for a minute and then starts to put them on.  She then suddenly stops.  "Mom, I can't wear my Tinkerbell shoes today, they aren't fancy enough.  I need my pink sparkly shoes."

Okay... and the pinks sparkly shoes it was!

Pictures from before school this morning and a couple I snapped when i got home today!

And let me just say... STAY TUNED to see what Friday brings to culminate Week of the Young Child!

Picture problem

I don't know who is following my daily Week of the Young Child entries, but I'm not slacking.

I have Wednesday and Thursday done and ready to publish... however, when I try to upload pictures my internet connection at home is crashing.  Trying to resolve this and will have Weds-Friday updated no later than Sunday.

Thanks

Tuesday- Week of the Young Child!

Tuesday is celebrate your teachers today and we were asked to bring a little homemade card for each of the teachers.  We love art projects in this house, and we love sparklies, so there was nothing better than making homemade bookmarks for each of the teachers... Except for the fact, that I'm pretty much positive that we're going to find glitter all over the kitchen for the next, oh... ten years!  That's okay- it's all worth it and the girls had fun decorating!

And what is the dress theme for Tuesday? Dress Yourself Today! 

Celebrating Week of the Young Child!

Did you know there is a celebration of the young child and those that are important in their lives?  Neither did we... until a couple weeks ago when 'school' sent a newsletter home and let us know they had many fun activities planned for the kids, teachers, and parents this week.  Every day has a dress theme and every day is celebrating something different!

Monday
Today was Dress Your Best!  So, what did we do considering Nece insists on wearing a dress every day?  I struggled with how we were going to pull something off, and had planned on putting Franny in her Twins dress (home opener at Target Field... HUGE day up here for us).  Then Sunday night at dinner, daddy had a fantastic idea... and I was just hoping they truly meant dress your best, as the girls went to school dressed to the hilt!

We were able to reuse Auntie Cindy's flower girl dresses and let me just say, the girls were so proud and happy to be in them. (and yes, Nece had to put her own spin on the dress with striped tights and her sparkly shoes, I tried for plain white dress tights... not worth the fight).  And our activity today- Potluck!  Come have lunch with your kids!  Marc wasn't able to join us for lunch, but I did spend the lunch hour with the girls, lots of other kids and parents.  I could tell the girls were very happy and proud.  When Nece called me on her way home and told me "Mom, thank you for coming to lunch with me today, that was really fun!" I knew without a doubt the girls were absolutely proud and excited to have me there!

Here are a couple pictures from today!  Stay tuned to see what Tuesday has in store.

Projects

House projects... I should get excited when I hear those words come to fruition, however, I know what that means in reality.  We've had many 'practice projects' in our home and we have many projects that still need to be completed.  See... Marc is great about starting projects, but completing them before starting a new one- not so much. 

I'm STILL waiting for basement and living room trim.  It's been five years, friends.  And the trim around the new front door that was installed last year, yep... I'm still waiting for that.  And let's talk about the multiple kitchen floors we've put in- yep, practice projects.

So, what's in store for us now.  Earlier this week, I was told that we're moving to the basement and we're going to begin the remodel of upstairs.  What's in store? ripping the carpet out (needs it BADLY), ripping the railing out and building a half wall (with built in cubbies, in my mind, we'll see if we get that), fixing the ceiling that had a bit of damage when the new roof was put on and painting.  At that time, we'll be able to move the girls upstairs, and we'll take Franny's room (how much you wanna bet our bedroom keeps a circus theme for awhile?) and Nece's room is going to turn into a TV room/office.  LOTS of exciting changes to make our home more functional for us. 

When we originally bought, this was our five year plan house.  We're going into year eight next month and there is NO way we're going to be moving anytime soon.  Why, well the market tanked and if that wasn't bad enough, a neighbor 2 doors down did a quick sale/foreclosure and we lost $20,000 value in the last year.  We'd have to pay somebody a ridiculous amount of money to sell our house.  So, thank God, we have fantastic neighbors that watch out for eachother and those we have lots of fun with.  And thank goodness, we're in a great school district.  So... now is the time to make this house more functional for us, knowing we're not moving anytime soon.

As the upstairs project unfolds... I plan to chronicle it... the good, the bad and the ugly as we go through it.  At this point, we've done nothing more than talk about it... we'll see what happens.

But what have we done this week?  Well, the yard has been prepped and everybody is out of the yard for a good six weeks.  We've tilled the yard, laid starter fertilizer and seed.  We'll see what the progress of that is this year.  AND, we have prepped the new garden area.  Here are a couple pics of the current state, as the season progresses, we'll update with the progress.

Randomness

Because our computer took a crap and I've not posted in quite awhile, and because we were busy before going to Mexico and I hadn't posted in awhile, I just thought I'd give some of the randoms since getting back from Mexico!

Enjoy and I now consider myself caught up and ready to make a concerted effort to post more regularly.

Easrly March... see the snow still in the background.

The first day we hit low 60's, we treated ourselves to Dairy Queen.  Watch the progression over the next three pictures!

Late March... NO Snow and LOTS of Fun on the swingset!!

Happy Easter!!!

It's not often that we get to spend a holiday at home... but we did this Easter we did and what a nice long weekend we enjoyed!

However, the week leading up to Easter was a bit rough and we had two little girls with temperatures upwards of 102.  NOT Fun, but all in all they were troopers.  Between Marc and I we've been home since Tuesday with a bit of a reprieve on Wednesday morning when Kimberly (one of the girls favorite sitters) was able to help us out this morning.  Basically, as long as we had Tylenol or Ibuprofin in their systems they were in good spirits and it didn't seem like anything was wrong.  And then, on the flip of a dime (4 or 6 hours to a tee) they were a mess until their meds kicked in again.

We've been wonderfully blessed with absolutely beautiful weather over the past couple weeks and it seems as though spring has arrived.  This last week, we were in low-mid 70's and were able to spend lots of time outside... including time to color Easter eggs.

Don't mind the snowman plastic tablecloth or Nece's Christmas PJ's.