Mother Knows Best

A few weeks ago, Grandma bought the kiddos balloons from the dollar store. They LOVED them.
And the next afternoon after school all they wanted to do was play with them. And when I suggested we go outside for a little bit, they agreed, but insisted on bringing their balloons with them, with promises to, "hold on tight." Well, clearly, you know what is going to happen. Morgan's was the first to go,

And he handled it quite well for a 21-month old. Instead of crying, he waved bye-bye to his balloon until it could no longer be seen. I gently reminded Tessa that hers could fly away like Morgan's and we should probably take it inside. She refused and promised she wouldn't cry if hers blew away.

Well, of course, hers also blew away. (It's kind of a distant image by this point).

And she definitely cried. Handled it WAY worse than her 21-month old brother. Maybe next time she'll listen to me? Doubt it. And I'm sure she won't listen when she's a teenager either...

But for now, I really do know best. Maybe Morgan will listen?

Too Good to Be True

I have actually attended every single day of work for two months. Until today.

I was thinking how much easier my job had been - it is so much better being in the classroom every day, knowing what is going on, and planning good instruction for every day, instead of occasional fillers when I am out. And I was enjoying it. We just started Romeo and Juliet, and though my students struggled the first day, they were finally getting into it. And now I'm stuck at home. Morgan was puking all night and had a fever. Again. And my students are reading three scenes today with a sub. But what can I do? Last time Morgan was like this it lasted a week...and I can't have my students do "nothing" for a week. Normally I think it is pretty manageable to balance work and my family, but days like these frustrate me, as I can't be in two places at once.

Fortunately, Morgan seems to be doing better this morning. After a rough wake up, he has been playing happily and reading books most of the morning, and even successfully downed 6 pancakes. Fingers crossed I'm back at school tomorrow and this is a 24-hour bug as opposed to a 7-day one!

And since I can't have a post without pictures, here are two Nate took last night at my parents, where we headed for dinner but kind of had to eat and run since that's when the fever began. Tessa worked on a puzzle with Papa.

And here is Morgan "hiding" because he didn't want his diaper changed. Silly boy!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Winter

It is finally cold (or should I say was cold, now it seems to be warmer again). But the weekend was cold, very cold. We spent a lot of time indoors, and the freezing rain didn't help, as we stayed in the house most of the day Saturday to avoid icy roads. But we did get creative in our indoor adventures. A quick trip for dog food turned into an hour when we discovered an pet rescue was there. Tessa and Morgan went from one cage,
to another,

and had a great time petting the various dogs. They were cute too - but not cute enough to bring another one home!

We also went to the mall just to get out of the house for awhile. There is a new toy store in the upstairs at Kenwood, and while I wouldn't rave about it, the kids did have a great time playing with this:

Rubber mulch in a repurposed sandbox. I love it! The kids thoroughly enjoyed bulldozing their way through the rubber. And it kept them occupied for quite some time...until Morgan started throwing it. Boys...

Tu-tu Cute?

When we first started at our in-home sitter almost four years ago, there were all girl children (including Tessa) and one boy (who had an older sister also there). He always wore his sister's princess shoes and wanted his nails painted etc. And I always thought Morgan would not share those wishes. So far, he hasn't wanted his nails painted. But, he does enjoy a good princess tutu. And he sports the princess shoes just as often. In fact, he gets more wear out of this tutu shown than Tessa does. I'm not sure how I feel about it. For now, obviously it is fine. He sees his sister dress up and so he follows what she does. Does anyone else have a little boy that has done this? And do they just eventually grow out of it?

For now, I secretly think it is kind of cute. But...I don't want him to be wearing pink tutus around town when he is four or five...

But when it comes to toys, my little boy is all BOY. Cars, trucks, trains. Anything with wheels and he is all over it. Santa brought Morgan a Thomas train table and enjoys playing with it every day, especially since we configured a new and improved track :) (Monday's project on my day off work)

Have a great rest of the week!

It's Official!

Yesterday made it official - our little girl is four as of 1:24 a.m. yesterday morning. She wanted to savor every second of her birthday, and awoke before 5 a.m. and finally crashed around 9 p.m. last night, which really isn't that abnormal in our house yet still drives me a bit mad. No naps, but a fun day nevertheless! We had a low-key morning, hitting the gym and running errands for her party. Family and the Polcas came over to help celebrate the big four and Tessa thoroughly enjoyed the fiesta! We went with a rainbow theme for the food since Tessa selected a rainbow cake. Too bad I didn't take pictures of the food. I meant to, and then clearly was busy. I (bad mommy) only took pictures of the singing and candle blowing. But my mom managed to capture a few other moments.

To cap off our weekend of Tessa-related fun, the four of us ate dinner at Chick-fil-a on Friday night and enjoyed the play land (until some crazy non-supervised boys started doing karate in there...super fun when you have a 21-month-old) and an afternoon of swimming today at Lifetime. Daddy came today, so we have a few pictures from the afternoon. Morgan is now consistently wearing a lifejacket when we swim, which makes him much less of a liability/hazard to himself. He really is a wild child, but now I am at least sane when I take them swimming by myself.

Super great weekend already, and one more day to go! We managed to accomplish all our errands already, so the day is a mystery to be determined. Any suggestions for Monday family fun?

Tessarina Ballerina

Angelina Ballerina is the favorite show at our house right now, and Tessa has been asking to go to dance class for quite some time. And that time came. Last night. Mikala and I signed the girls up together, thinking it would be a fun activity for them to experience together (and fun for us too). Tessa was so excited about dance class. We put it out on giant kitchen calendar at home and she counted down the days. She donned her beautiful new leotard (thanks, Grandma Bullock), tights, and slippers. Doesn't she look adorable?

Class began with a small talk with all the girls, a high five from each as attendance was called, and some directions for the class.

Each girl was given their own blue line to stand on. And boy did our girls listen. In fact, they refused to leave their blue lines...Tessa and Anna stayed there religiously, not moving to dance, twirl, hop...or really move at all.

After class was over, the teacher (who happened to play Snow White at Tessa's birthday party last year) called them over and talked about being nervous the first night, etc. It was all really very sweet.

She also reassured Mikala and I that every girl does this the first class. She said when a new class starts she usually has every single girl just staring at her the entire class. Hopefully this is true; I'll keep you posted if our little dancer decides to actually try out her dancing shoes next time!

"Tessa's Toy"

My cousin Elissa works on the Family First Saturdays at the Cincinnati Art Museum and we finally headed down to one yesterday. Tessa had a blast, though the clear highlight of the day was the Toy Factory, where she was able to create her own toy using 7 recycled toy parts. It started by choosing and collecting your pieces on a tray.

Then a toy engineer helped you put the pieces together to create a one-of-a-kind toy.

At the end, the announcer introduced you, your toy, it's name and the magical powers. (Tessa's toy was called Tessa's toy and its superpower is that it has amazing vision.)
Morgan didn't come to the art museum, as it coincided with naptime, but maybe in the future!