Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Snow Days

Biggest snowman on earth: Ready to pounce:
Little Man's keeping an eye out for rogue snowballs while Big Sis gets cookie crumbs removed (a necessity for serious snowballers):
Carter helped promote the "ice"ball throwing:
Whoever said South Georgia doesn't get snow? Atlanta, Buffalo, eat your heart out. It was a blizzard. The biggest snowmen you've ever seen. And although it came from a machine and only lasted a mere 2 hours, it was the "Snowstorm of the Century". Hey, you gotta do whatcha you gotta do in this warm climate. The Chapel's children's ministry can snowball fight with the best of them!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Art of Sickness

Yes, the "art" of sickness is taking over my house. Sister's got a molar that must be the size of Mt.Everest coming through. Thankfully, the final tooth until the wisdoms make their break. I've always been amazed at the effect a tooth breaking in can have on the rest of the body. Cutting a tooth causes much salivation, much salivation causes much swallowing (tires out the ole tonsils), much swallowing causes sore throat, much swallowing also causes more water in the body to float down and create chaos in the, how you say, lower regions, making for many a bathroom run. And somewhere in there, the nasal passages are affected and a cold ensues. All of this adds up to a beat down body...all because of a molar. So in honor of the final tooth, I made Sister a "sick couch". I only bring out the sick couch for extreme measures (and it usually has a trash can nearby). It has a quilt on it and is arranged for extreme comfyness. She seems to be enjoying her sick couch a little too much:

"Mommy, my tooth hurts, can you get me some more fishies & milk?"

"Mommy, my tooth hurts, can you turn Strawberry Shortcake back on?"

"Mommy, my nose is running, can you wipe it [as she holds up the kleenex]?"

"Mommy, Meerkat Manor is on commercial, can you bring me a game or somethin'?"

Lawsy, this girl has figured out the art of sickness.

Gotta go. She needs her lemonade refilled and her daily massage.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Cause you got...

[sing it with me now...]
Personality,
Walk, Personality
Talk, Personality
Smile, Personality
Charm, personality
Love, personality
And of course you've got a great big heart...

I wonder how many parents sit around and dissect their children's personalities. I mean really dissect. Not just the "oh she gets that from me" or "she's sweet like her daddy" stuff. I'm assuming all parents do...maybe they don't start until their kids get older and show true signs of a personality. Not sure. I've only been a parent once. But we sat around last night for a good hour digging in to our kids' personalities...mostly The Girl's. Right now The Boy just tumbles, wrestles, hangs upside down and cuddles. Fairly easy to predict. The Girl, though, wowsers, quite a different story. A thinker. An intellectual. An artist. A requirer of attention. And all of this before the big 0-3. What in the world will this look like at 10? at (oh dear heavens) 16? at 30? It's going to be fun to watch it play out, to see if what we're thinking now is actually on target or just a phase. And good gravy, whoever said boys and girls are different was right on. North Pole and South Pole living under my roof and I LOVE IT! Wouldn't want it any other way. I think it's hysterical...for now.

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

15 Minutes of Fame is Coming...

Or maybe 2 minutes, but I feel it’s going to happen. I’m planning a trip to New York City for our 5th wedding anniversary in April, and in my planning decided to check out shows that are taped in the city. Stumbled upon Rachael Ray who gives out free tickets if you can request about, oh, 1- 2 years ahead of time. Since we’re wanting to go this April and not April 2010, I still thought I’d try so I submitted an application. Felt a little cool leaving my phone number and thinking I may just get a call from someone who says, “Suzanne? Hi, I’m _______ , a staffer for the Rachael Ray show and I have 2 tickets for you in April.” I can dream.

But dearies, the dream gets better…

I noticed right above the “audience tickets” link was a “get on the show” link. And being my shy self, I thought I’d take a look. Lo and behold a wonderland of choices. Every topic imagineable. I picked the most fitting: Ugliest Playroom in America. No lie. That’s the exact topic title. I wrote an essay about our ugliest playroom in America (much to Carter’s dismay as he is quite proud of his extreme garage makeover), even mentioned how my playroom smells like poo (from Mr. Biggles’ litter box), how Little Man munches on cat food, and how both kids like to play with tools…the kinds that can poke an eye out. Even threw in the fact that I tried to spruce it up with carpet that is now covered in fur balls. I made it funny hoping my personality would show through so when Staffer Sally read it she would laugh hysterically, immediately print it off, and rush it to Rach (that’s what she likes me to call her) and Rach would call me and say “Suz, got 2 round trips to LaGuardia and a limo waiting…hurry up!”

Here’s the actual response I got. You really only need to read the bolded words [added for effect] to truly understand what was meant:

You took the time to write in -- that's so cool! We love hearing what's on your mind, but we gotta admit, we can't personally reply to every e-mail. But we can promise that Rachael's staff will take a look at your message and may follow up with you ... and then you could find yourself chatting with Rachael one-on-one!
Thanks for sharing your ideas, and we may be talking with you soon.”


I’m feeling it. C’mon Rachael. Pull through for me. Make me a winner. Make me famous.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Extreme Garage Makeover

There is nothing I love more than to drive through hip suburbia neighborhoods and notice the beautiful homes with the lovely manicured landscapes...only to get frustrated when I drive through other neighborhoods (ok, mine) to only notice the vehicles sprayed everywhere blocking the homes and the landscapes. Many comments have passed my lips, as in "Why the heck do people buy homes with a 2 CAR GARAGE with NO CARS in their garage?" or "Don't they know the animals can live in the backyard and don't need an ENTIRE garage...what is it - the pet-in-law suite?" or "Did the attic throw up in their garage??"

We have been the model American family for the past 2+ years attempting to prove to our neighbors that 2 cars can actually fit in a 2 car garage (novel idea I know). We have noticed we have rubbed off on no one.

So now...we become our enemies...let my words bite me in the butt...we're moving into the garage and moving the grocery-getter out.

The makeover began this weekend and we're at the half-way point. Once complete, it will become a play room for the kiddos. If I step on one more truck or leggo in my family room I'm going to lose my sanity. Carpeting is down and the toys have been moved out. All we have left is the partitioning which is still up for debate. Likely going to put up some curtainry mixed with a touch of storage units and finalized with some baby gates. Don't need this area to be pretty...just functional...and safe. And we're trying to work quickly to get some good months of play under our belt before we're forced back indoors with the 107 degree summer heat.

I'll post pics of the grand opening when we finish.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Quotes of the Week


FIRST
Jeweler to Customer (me):
"Well, we could size your ring down to a 5, but your ring finger may fluctuate in size a little since you're probably still carrying some extra baby weight."

ARE YOU SERIOUS?????

SECOND
Convo between Daddy and Little Girl, minutes before bathtime:

Daddy: "I'm so proud of you for being able to undress all by yourself."
Girl: "Thanks and I can take my clothes off all by myself, too!"

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Sibling Love

Everyday in my house is a day filled with sibling love (except those "few" times when Little Man swipes Big Sister's prized possessions, or when Big Sis thinks it's funny to hide The Bunny...THE prized possession in the house, yeah, and about every other hour...oh, but you get the point....).

In the last 2 days I've seen the sweetest of the sweet with these munchkins (which makes me hopeful they'll remain bff's until they're old and gray...here's hoping!). Yesterday was the big doc's appointment for Little Man - his 1 year checkup. Not a pretty picture. Pain. Pain. And more pain. In the form of gigantor needles. As gut-wrenching as it is to hold your baby when doctors intentionally do painful things to them, you still, as a parent, understand the greater good. We can go ahead and mark polio and all forms of hepatitis off the list of big bad monsters. But little people? Yeah, they don't see the greater good. So as I sat in a chair holding a screaming baby making every attempt I knew of to console, here comes Big Sister. She walks over, strokes his head over and over and sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. All crying ceased. He placed his thumb in his mouth and laid his head down to listen to his sister's sweet little comforting voice. She's got the touch. So much for my mommy powers.

This morning after breakfast, I got them both out of their high chairs with only one command: Go play. I wanted to eat my oatmeal in peace at the kitchen table and read my Bible. Since I didn't give any exact directions like, "Go play with specified toy A or B", they just stood around for a while and watched me. Finally, Big Sis gave the "Come on, Buster!" charge and off they went. Since our house is the size of a small apartment I can let them frolick the entire grounds without me being on their heels. It helps that I can hear them breathing in any room from any point in the house. (No need for monitors!). Off they went to play in Big Sister's room. After my "alone" time, I followed the sound of Sister's voice and found her sitting on the edge of her bed (in a teacher's posture) "reading" her devotional book to her baby brother (as he sat on Elmo soaking in every word...seriously, how does she do it...he won't sit still for me to even change his diaper!). She was pointing to pictures and telling brother that God wants him to always tell the truth (this was the lesson she learned last night after telling 2 lies in order to get out of bed). And although her brother can't say enough words to even constitute a lie, I'm sure he learned a lot in their morning devotional. He tends to listen to her. I think I may just use her as my puppet as he gets older. She's got a way. I guess it's that sibling connection I'm not allowed into. I can see our future conversation now: "Hey, sis, your brother just told a lie. Can you go give him the 'God wants you to tell the truth' talk? And can you throw in some consequences while you're at it?" "Sure, Mom, I'm on it......BUUUSSSSTTTTEEERRRR, get your hiney over here!"

Can't wait.