Mommy your fired

Evan told me last night as he was very tired and miserable and headed to bed, that I'm fired. I asked him what happens since I'm fired he told me he is going to spray me with a fire hose. Guess he took that word literally! We have still been happy playing with our Christmas toys and planning Evan birthday party.

Last week when I stayed home with Evan I let him choose invitations and an edible image for his cake on etsy. He chose and edible image we could personalize much to my relief. I made Sara's Minnie Mouse cake and it was so much work. Without two preschoolers running around it may have been easier. Evans image goes on a frosted cake and presto magic its done. Last year he was obsessed with Gordan from Thomas the train and we made an edible image cake after I was quoted $95 for a cake!

Sara is talking up a storm. She repeats anything we say and is putting 3-4 words together on a regular basis. Her speech isn't as clear as Evans was but she understand everything. She has also been prone to temper tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She wants to do everything Evan does.

I took her grocery shopping and she saw corn on the cob. The 3 ears weren't terribly expensive so I bought them. Sara at 1 1/2 ears. Well Sunday Marc experienced blowout diapers. He called me yelling and telling me the new limit on corn was one ear! I couldn't help but laugh all the way home. Evan kept asking why I was laughing. I'm the one that has to deal with all the bodily fluids on a regular basis, so I guess it was relief and happiness it wasn't my turn. Its been a long time since she blew out a diaper!

This afternoon I had to attend smartboard training. It was offered by one of my friends that I had carpooled with for two years. It was so nice to see him. They also have two young children and we could commiserate on our lack of social lives! We had a 40 minute ride to school and had so much fun riding together. I haven't seen him since I lost Rachel and the twins and his wife invited me over for dinner. We keep in touch on Facebook but only live 15 minutes a part. I told him we would have to do a playdate.

Speaking of playdates we invited our good neighbors over on Saturday night. It was so nice to entertain and have the kids play. They had a blast playing in the basement and in Evans room. They a have two boys and Evan is right between then age wise. Evan is best friends with the oldest Joe and Sara plays with Dominic. Last summer she would stand on the driveway yelling "O, Ominic" O was Joe and we heard it all summer long! We spend lots of time with them in the summer but tend to hibernate in the winter. We decided it would have to be a regular Saturday night ritual - I hope so!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012

Wow where did the past month go? It seems like we just celebrated Sara's birthday and fast forwarded to the holidays. We had a fantastic Christmas. Santa brought way to much as always but the kids had a great time and it was so wonderful to have two little smiling faces Christmas morning. Evan received his first video game a Mobi-Go by Vtech and he is very proud that he plays one game by himself. the other games he hasn't mastered yet. I wasn't sure he would even like it but last time I went to a moms group at Fisher Price we were the only family without any type of video game and I figured a little exposure wouldn't hurt him. The games include number and shape sequences, finding the missing letter in words and following directions (left/right/up/down). He still prefers his toys and puzzles. Sara received the Loving Family dollhouse (paid for by our modeling gift certificates). Both the kids love it and play very well together.
We finished 2 - 500+ puzzles over break and last night did a 300 piece puzzle. He does well but the pieces are so small. He has mastered the 100 and 150 piece puzzles he has on his own. The frustrating thing was we did one of the manger scene and it was missing 3 pieces. Out of the 50+ puzzles we have we have never lost a piece. I checked out the website and it must be common because they will send a replacement puzzle.
Sara has been obsessed with watching Frosty the Snowman and the Polar Express. The Polar Express is not a favorite of anyone except Sara. Evan has fallin in love with Kung Fu Panda, again not one of my favorites.
Today was supposed to be my first day back at school but Evan has had a fever/cough the past few days and although he seemed better he burst into tears when I said he was going to the sitters. One more day home will hopefully cure us. Tomorrow he goes to my Mom's and preschool, we may be skipping preschool. Hopefully Sara will make her preschool class and my mom can have a break. Sara's class is 2 hours a week and she is the youngest but most independent in the class. Sometimes I think that means stubborn too!
We are debating what to do next year with Evan, our choices include 1/2 day prek at the public school district I teach in, the catholic school, or a nursery school that meets 3 days a week. I am leaning towards the nursery school. The public school worries me since he is so advanced I think he won't be challenged enough. Even now he isn't challenged with curriculum but loves playing, songs, games. The socialization is great for him and he is very outgoing at school Sara will move up to Evan's class if I can completly potty train her. She has zero interest, I even bought a princess potty for her and she will sit on it but won't go. There have been many mornings/naps she has woken up completly dry. Maybe we'll try hard core when I have my February break.
It is January in Buffalo and we still haven't had any real snow. December was green and there is a dusting on the grass. This weekend its supposed to be 40's again. I'm loving winter but wishing I was the plow guy collecting $400 per house and not having to plow. Oh well I'm thankful when he does plow multiple times a day.
Sara is talking more and more, and the few words Evan mispronounced he now corrects himself on, breakfast, girl, and cheez-its. Sara tried telling me snowflake this morning and I struggled to figure out what she was saying. She puts multiple words together but loves to wake up and say Momma Home, Daddy home. She loves to be home with us, I guess tomorrow its back to the grind until Martin Luther King day. Hopefully we can stay healthy.

Shutterfly Christmas Cards

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I finally made my Christmas Cards from my Shutterfly house party. I ordered the calendar last week and was planning on doing a dressed up picture of the kids until tragedy struck. At Sara's birthday party Evan and my nephew collided. Evans front tooth is loose, it has improved a great deal in the past 24 hours, but I'm still concerned its going to change color. I plan on calling our Pediatric Dentist in the morning. Not looking forward to anther morning out of school, my poor accounting students miss me every time I have to volunteer at Preschool (3 times in the past month, now I'm good until February). We are sticking to softer foods and reminding him not to use his front teeth. It is also a way for us to rid him of sippy cups. My poor nephew felt terrible but it truly was an accident. I told my sister in law after all we have gone through a loose tooth is pretty minor. Still hoping it tightens up and stays white though.

Evan is spelling Mom, Dad, Evan, Sara, Doll, Tree, Finn. We have been watching Word World and I picked up 2 more for Christmas. If you have small children the Christmas one is cute and a favorite year round for my kids!

Happy Birthday Sara

After a decade of waiting, the past two years have passed by in the blink on the eye. Two years ago I started my day waiting for a bed beginning at 5 am. Finally getting a bed around noon and then having an Amnio to check to make sure Sara was ready. Finally at 5pm I made it to the operating room and Sara was safetly delivered.

We had a fantastic 5 day weekend. Wednesday we picked up our pictures from JCP, and did some shopping. Thanksgiving we spent at my Moms and started putting up decorations. This is the earliest I have ever put the tree up. Next weekend we have Sara's birthday party so I figured we would decorate the house for it. Evan loves the decorations. We started decorating the tree while Sara napped. After putting on a few boxes of ornaments he told me " I love your ornaments, I love you, I love your hugs, I love your kisses, and sometimes you are so sweet" So many endearing words at once. I told him he was melting my heart.

I have a ton of ornaments, my Grandma would give me a box of ornaments each year for my Birthday and I told Evan this he told me I love your Grandma. My Grandmother passed away two years ago.

Sara has been such a joy. I had to travel to Philadelphia during November and it was my first trip away from the kids. She keeps telling me Momma home. Evan did surprisingly well, I left him a small gift each day. We have a countdown to Thanksgiving calendar and this helped him count the days until Mom came home.

The kids are making great strides, Sara is singing learning a few colors and saying the words for everything when we prompt her. She usually only strings 2-3 words together. She loves her dollies, and Elmo.

Evan is counting to 50, and wants to spell everything. He reads the letters on every sign he sees. The other day it was Pharmacy on Targets sign and he attempts to spell his own words. He can spell Mom, Dad, Evan & Sara. He has no interest in writing or learning to write. We can correctly identify all lower and uppercase letters.

We started Elf on the Shelf. Evan named him Gordon after his favorite train. He leaps out of bed each morning to see where Gordon is and two mornings I have had to dart downstairst ot move him. The Christmas season is so special having these miracles and now sharing the entire Christmas story with Evan. We set up the Fisher Price Nativity set and last year I thought we had misplaced baby Jesus and bought an extra baby Jesus at the Fisher Price store. Of course this year we have two. Well there was a big fight over baby Jesus. Sara insisted she needed two babies and Evan wanted one. We had a full religious war over Baby Jesus! Life is never boring.
My post is very random I've attempted this many times and its been a crazy week. Sara had her two year appointment she is 24.7.lbs naked and in the 23% her height was not measured correctly they measured her lying down screaming at 36 inches.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Working full time, taking care of the kids, trying to keep up with housework is crazy. Marc is gone by 5:30 am before we get up and either home between 6-8:30 or gone overnight a few nights each week. He is always home the weekends. I really feel like a single parent and overwhelmed at times. Maybe I need a cleaning service. Although then I would feel compelled to clean for the cleaning service. Laundry is a full time job alone, if its all done its never all put away. As I'm putting it away the kids are pulling something else out upstairs. Its and endless cycle. My neighbors house is always tidy I'm so envious. She can't go to bed unless her kitchen is clean. Mine is clean but there are nights I leave dishes in the sink or am running late in the morning and don't get everything cleaned up. I guess I'm missing the OCD gene instead I think I have ADHD !

Evan is trying to read. We picked up a book from the library about a Dog and each page has upper and lower case letters on it. He amazed me by sounding out the majority of the letters. He loves to watch Word World and I think it has made a huge impact on him. I swore my child wouldn't watch a ton of TV but the things he watches have increased his vocabulary tremendously. Thomas the Train has great vocabulary and concepts. Although it puts me to sleep, we were in love with it here for a long time. Today I picked up CARS 2, he was more excited about November 1 than Halloween. We had to watch it twice tonight, that won't happen again but it was like Christmas for him.

He suddenly is obsessed with Lego's and has added them to his Christmas list. Luckily I found some great deals at Disneystore.com and the Lego's were 30% off and I added a code for an additional 25% off. I love to shop online. I can usually find great bargains.

Today my houseparty.com kit came for Shutterfly Christmas cards. It included a code for 15 cards for each guest and a free calendar code. (If anyone needs one email me!) This is my 5th Houseparty, I had a Hershey Bliss, Sex and the City, Fisher Price, and Boston Market party. Usually I just share the wealth at another party.

Sara is a little terror lately. She hits and bites Evan. I think she has some major jealousy and wants him to play with her. When he doesn't respond she acts out. Evan doesn't hit her back and part of me wants him to. Time out hasn't worked, any suggestions? On a good note she is talking up a storm. We are up to four words at a time. She will repeat anything we say, her speech is not as clear as Evans was at that age.

Tomorrow I am off to Preschool with Sara, my Mom had to do the last one. I can't wait to see how she interacts and follows directions at school. Evan loves school but was very upset when he came home Monday. It took me a while to get him to tell me what happened. I even had to tell him if he didn't I would call his teacher. His little lip quivered and he told me I would be mad at him. After lots of prodding he told me that he got of his seat and his teacher had to tell him to sit down. He was very upset that he was scolded at school. Of course things like this don't upset him at all at home. I was surprised at his reaction but reassured him it was okay and his teacher isn't angry with him but he needs to listen. I hope he learned his lesson and behaves for the rest of the year. I guess I'll count my blessings I was waiting to hear something much worse!

Evan's Prayer

My parents gave our nieces and nephews $10 for learning the Lords Prayer. I told Evan this last Thursday and by Saturday he had most of the prayer memorized. He wants to buy a boat from Cars 2. I was amazed he memorized this so quickly. My parents were blown away when he said it for them. He is a little distracted in this video but does very well.

Potty training is on...

Sara has been waking up from her naps dry and sometimes she is dry in the am. She will sit on the potty but hasn't actually went on it. This morning she woke and told me potty and book. So we both went on our potties at the same time. Sara went potty! I am so excited hopefully it will happen again soon!

Puzzle season has begun again for Evan he completes 4-8 puzzles during a sitting. He wakes in the morning and wants to do a puzzle before breakfast. He is usually completing 48 piece puzzles but can do a 100 piece one. He likes to do puzzles of his favorite characters last year they were all Thomas puzzles and this year its CARS. CARS is not easy to find in anything bigger than a 60 piece. He has such patience and will stay until they are completed. Sara wants to play too, although last week when we were busy she took 4 puzzles and dumped them in a pile. It was not fun on a busy day to have to put all of Evans puzzles together to straighten them out.

We also love to watch Word World on PBS. The kids have a few DVD's and recently Evan has been making a game of building a word. He takes the magnetic letters and has to run like a crazy man around finding more letters to build a word. He then sorts the letters and numbers and groups them by color. He can use them to spell his name and Sara's name. Hopefully he will show some interest in writing soon!

It is supposed to be a miserable weekend. Marc won't be home until this afternoon. I'm ihoping we can go to the big mall 20 minutes away and stop at Sams Club and Hobby Lobby too. I think Grandma will tag along for an extra set of hands/eyes. Her wrist is slowly healing she has OT twice a week.