Birthday Boy, Part II.

When we last left our newest three year old, he'd had his birthday compromised by his sister being a barfcicle.

The good news is that the rest of the day went smoothly, and the lack of party didn't seem to bother him one bit. Both kids took good naps, and when they woke up we headed down to the trail so they could ride their bikes with a little more space.

The kids put Uncle Jake to shame - they rode almost a mile there and back. Everyone took a digger but carried on, and it was hilarious to watch Adam look down to watch himself pedal and practice turning.

We had pizza with Tim, and scotcheroos and ice cream and whipped cream, PLUS a dance party, so a good celebration all around.

We spent Saturday relaxing and getting ready for Easter, and then had ourselves another fine celebration. The kids were moderately pleased with their baskets, but Ellie wished that the bunny had left eggs hidden all over the house. IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE. The good news is that there were eggs all out in front of Gigi's house when we went over! She'd warmed up the spa so we had a nice splash and float and then lunch and a little hike up to the top of the hill. The funniest part was mom pulled a weed out of the yard and offered it to Adam to eat, and he goes "oh, I dats not fir me. Dats gwoss. I don't wike stuff." Yeah, why would anyone like stuff!

There weren't a ton of little cousins at Mimi's house this year, so we made Uncle Jake play with the kids.

Please note, I went and tattled to Don that Jake wasn't wearing a helmet and he got in TROUBLE. It's fun to be the little sibling sometimes!

Today Ellie went with Mimi for a fun day and a sleep over... and Adam went to the doctor for his three year wellness visit. He's grown over four inches in the past year (still only in the 70th percentile) and is healthy as a horse. It's always a nice reassurance to be told that your babies are getting big right on schedule.

I'm So Excited...

...about Adam's birthday that I could puke. 

Wait, no. Not me, Ellie. And not excited, but having the stomach flu. Way to be the mean big sibling and submarine your brother's birthday, Elizabeth Beans! Poor thing - she came into our room just after midnight last night covered in puke and sobbing. We got her cleaned up and put back in bed, and then Tim and I laid there and wondered if it was a one time upset stomach, or a busy day, or excitement, or food poisoning, because no one wants to admit that your kid has a stomach bug. Then just after we drifted off to sleep she threw up again, thus cementing all of our fears.

Much sobbing this morning because we had to cancel Adam's party, and because she missed her last day of school before spring break and didn't get to go to their Spring Fling and egg hunt, poor darling. She spent the early part of the morning curled up with me, and then after we opened presents (socks, underwear, books and trucks) we brought out Adam's new bike, and then Screamy and Barfy took to the streets (aka the back patio.) Everyone had some good cycling time, ate a decent lunch, and is now napping. So probably it's just a 24 hour bug and she's on the upswing - the only concern is whether or not the rest of us will catch it. 

In the mean time, we're making the most of having fun under quarantine. He really has taken to his bike quickly, though he doesn't quite understand how to turn all the way around. He gets the whole "turn the handlebars" part, but not "turn them so that you don't ram into the shed." If only we could keep our party plans and have Uncle Jake run a quick coaching session!

You Do You.

Nice outfits, nutbags.

BrewHaHa

This weekend we got invited down to San Diego County for the first annual Smyth Family BrewHaha, and celebration of cousin Marty's 60th birthday. It had been sort of a tough week, and a long Saturday morning - the kids are not their best selves right now, and I am SUPER not my best self when I have two hot garbage fires arguing with me and whining at me all day long while my mom is out of town and my boyfriend is working overtime, to say the least.

Also, it took me two hours and a half hours to drive what should have been an hour or so trip - long story, but we took the long route to avoid bad traffic, and then an even longer route thanks to the GPS. Poor Sara was in the car with me (we made Tim and Jake drive with the kids) and when we arrived, Tim asked her how the drive was and she goes "well, Meg threatened to drive off of a cliff a bunch of times." I'm such a comforting big sister.

The good news is that the kids weren't too terrible on the drive, and when they arrived, they found a herd of corgis just looking to be loved on. Ellie immediately told the owner of said corgis "it's okay, I've been a dog trainer since I was three years old," and then spent the rest of the night walking the various dogs on leashes, throwing balls, and generally squealing at the antics of her short legged friends. There was a great spread of corned beef and cabbage and plenty of delicious home brewed beer, and absolutely fantastic company. The funniest part of the night was when they brought out Marty's 60th birthday cake. They went to put it down on an ottoman in front of him, and Adam tried to jump onto the ottoman and end up under the cake, and then when Marty went to blow out the candles, Adam leaned away from Mimi's restraints and nearly started his hair on fire, helpfully blowing the candles out for Marty. I told Marty he could come down on Friday and blow out Adam's candles - that would show him! The two of them are such funny little muffins

Happy First Day of Spring!

For six years now, sitting in the time out chair, wearing our flower and bee horns from Target. It's a good tradition.

Flowers, Etc.

A compare and contrast. Every year I try to take a picture of the kids in front of the Indian Hawthorn while they're in bloom. The top is one of the funniest pictures of toddler Ellie - please note the total hack job I did on her bangs, and the remains of her huge, Harry-Potter-style bruise, which was easily twice the size when she first whacked herself on the bathroom tile. The second is from a few days ago - when I couldn't get Adam to smile, Ellie helped.

We've missed Gigi and Grizz this week while they've been off skiing, but I am happy to report that I was on time to get Sara to work EVERY DAY. And Sara was quite like a mouse on the mornings she slept over - I didn't really hear her until she was opening the front door, which is hard because I'm fairly attuned towards noises coming from the kids' rooms.

And we've kept busy - yesterday we did a cupcake tasting as a favor to cousin Emily (I know, how horrible of her to ask us to do a cake tasting for her, she owes me BIG now.) We've spent a lot of time at the park, we've hung out with friends, we've played with Auntie Sara, and done some solid zoning out in front of the TV. Today Ellie's school had a Pick-A-Book picnic, where they encouraged parents to come at 10:45 with a picnic lunch and a book to read, and we all sat on our blankets and read together. Then on our way out, we detoured through the school book fair. Ellie got a Frozen book and Adam got a book about construction vehicles, so your average book picking with those two.

The only bad part has been Adam running a fever yesterday and this morning. I'm not surprised - we were at a party a few weeks ago where one of the kids was getting over being sick, and this week all of the other kids have gone down with coughs and fevers, because small children are disgusting plague rats, but I'm hoping that he'll be able to rally. Yesterday he spent the first two hours of the morning curled up in my lap, sucking his thumb, and at nap time and bedtime he fell asleep in my arms while I was rocking him. Sick babies, they are so sad and yet also so very sweet and snuggly (and sweaty, yuck.) The cutest was yesterday when he wandered into the bathroom as I was putting myself together and said "oh, you wook so pwetty. Mommy, you a pwincess. And I your pwince. We haff to dance," and we held hands and danced for a few minutes.

St. Patricks

In case you did not know, St. Patrick's Day is now an insane holiday for children. THANKS A LOT, PINTREST. Kids are encouraged to set leprechaun traps, and then parents who love their children do a lot of crap after they go to bed, making it seem like the leprechaun visited, escaped the trap, left a lot of mischief and mess in his wake, and then of course, left presents for the kids. Because what's a holiday now if your kids don't get a bunch of gifts? I don't believe in making a mess for myself to clean up later for entertainment purposes/I don't love my kids, so nothing of the sort happened here.

But Ellie did make a leprechaun trap for school. Tim and I are terrible people, because when we were talking about it, he suggested we build a pit and put spikes in the bottom, like we were in 'Nam. I suggested getting a mouse trap, disabling it and then gluing some pennies down to entice leprechauns. We are not interested in any sort of catch and release program, apparently.

Instead, this is what we went with.

Trash Time!

HONK HONK! Big Truck Man Adam (and his dandy-wion) coming through! We got to tour Waste Management today with a group of ladies for MOPS, and Adam had a blast. He was so thrilled because our tour guide started by reading I Stink, which is one of his favorite books, and then we learned about all of the stuff we can recycle, and then when we were out in the yard, we got to actually watch a big truck dump its load, and then a bull dozer came and moved some garbage around. What more could an almost three year old, wanna-be trash man want?

All the kids had a good time, and it was very sweet to watch them all interact. Adam is big on hugging everyone as they showed up, and while we were out in the yard, kids were reaching for each other's hands, holding hands with Joanna our tour guide, or holding hands with moms who didn't belong to them. I feel like you hear a lot in the media about "mommy wars" and women being nasty to each other for their parenting choices, but I feel very fortunate about all of the other women and families we have in our lives - people who read to my kids, who squeeze them up in big hugs and hold their hands, who cheer and give high fives for Adam's Super Mario underpants and who help take care of the herd of little monsters we've all created.

Our other big fun this week was celebrating Gigi's 60th birthday with her, and bonus Auntie Lisa.

I'm sad that I forgot to bring all 60 candles over to help set her cake on fire, but thankfully, we still had the sexy man available.

They also did some good pre-dinner selfie time. And Ellie took many pictures of Gigi and Lisa together, none of which included Gigi's entire head.

Bonus photo of Ellie and Brownie. Recently she asked me why it is that the cats don't ever bite me or run away from me like they do with her and I tried telling her "well, they don't bite me because I'm their mommy and they're a little scared, because they know I mean business," because I didn't want to have to tell her "look kid, the cats don't really like you. They love me, and they barely tolerate you." Thor has definitely warmed up to her as time goes on, but when Adam comes in the room, he smartly makes himself scarce. Adam, still working on his gentle hands.

Schooling!

Today feels like a big day around here. This morning I toured the preschool where we'll be sending Adam in the fall, and dropped off my registration check and paperwork. It's happening! He'll be going a few hours on Tuesdays and Thursday mornings.

Meanwhile, I'm filling out paperwork and requesting immunization forms so that Ellie can get registered for kindergarten in a few weeks. Do you see it? Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? Come September, I will have a few hours to myself, a few days a week, without having to beg, borrow or steal babysitting from any of our wonderful parents. IT WILL JUST BE A THING THAT HAPPENS. Cannot wait! I think it'll be a great thing for everyone involved (mostly me.)

Then I had Ellie's parent-teacher conference, and her teacher had many good things to say about her, as a student, as a little friend to her classmates, and as a little lady. She knows the things she needs to know, she has the skills she needs to have. and her teacher thinks she's going to do great next year in kinder.

After I picked Beans up, we headed over to the mall to meet Mimi and Adam, who had been shopping and playing at the little play ground. We had a delicious lunch at Ruby's, with celebratory milkshakes for Elle's good "report card," and then it was off to meet the Easter Bunny. Adam had actually already said hello to him during the morning, and promised to come back to Ellie. So, I'm sorry to report, no one cried.

Please enjoy Lounge Lizard and Bootsy the Unabomber.

Updates

Oh hey everyone, are you wondering about how Adam is doing on putting his human waste in the toilet? GLAD YOU ASKED, he's doing great! We had a weekend of misses, but since Monday he's been 100% in the potty, and he's even keeping dry during nap time. I feel like the world is opening up to me, with the thought of having no kids in diapers. To be able to leave the house without worrying about having diaps and wipes? Flying without trying to pack an enormous bag of diapers or worrying about blow outs on the plane? It's going to be GREAT! (insert the story about how, the first time I got to fly first class as a nine year old girl, I had a dream about a river and woke up having completely wet my pants. It's a classic.)

Here's a video of Adam and Judd from this weekend - they laughed at this little owl on this pretend laptop for probably forty five minutes.

They're a pair of nuts, for sure. Much like their sisters before them!