I made salsa

Today I made some salsa by throwing together a little of this and a little of that...definitely not my style, but it turned out ok! Which is good because you have no idea how much courage it took to just throw some things into the bowl and have faith that it would turn out. Its missing a little something still I think but it IS definitely yummy. Maybe I'll add a little lime to it.

What I did last weekend for Mother's Day

It's Mother's day. 9:25am. I've been up since 6:30 with Ian, and am doing my best to remember the awesome time I had last weekend. I participated in a crop Friday night and all day Saturday which meant that Tony had the kids Friday night and all day Saturday by himself. Could this be why he is sleeping in today? Probably. I wish we could both sleep in, but there will be many more years when the kids are older that we can do that. Last weekend was a blast and I told Tony to consider it my Mother's Day gift...it did cost $30 and I did get 2 catered meals and 2 days without cooking. And I had uninterrupted time to preserve my family's memories. And hang out with my friends. Here is what I completed (I still have some journaling to do on some of the pages).

Maybe we can go out to lunch or dinner today. I hope all the moms are having a great day! I will be celebrating with my mom and Tony's mom next weekend. I will definitely be enjoying the quiet today and probably chilling with a movie or some of my friends or er seasons today.

Unexpected Harmony

Tonight we went to Melody's recorder concert. All of the 3rd grade students at her school learned to play the recorder thanks to their wonderful music teacher. And they played a concert tonight. It was a 20 minute concert and they sounded very good! I feel like I am qualified to speak about this ... I did play the violin for many years and have attended many orchestra concerts. That music teacher had a lot of courage and patience. So proud of my little girl! Might have to get her violin in working order so she can continue working on music.

Momma's night out!

This Momma's night out is fast approaching! Actually I get two in a row this weekend. I am doing a weekend crop...that's right, scrapbooking! Friday all evening and Saturday all day long.

I'm working on getting photos together so that I will have something to scrapbook about. I just finished finding pictures from Melody's year in kindergarten. I really should have much more done, but Ian was a bit demanding slash crabby tonight. He has found his demanding streak and his stubborn streak and he's not getting through this phase very quickly. Bless him, I know it will come in handy when he's an adult, but man its tough for me to deal with.

But this morning he was so sweet. We had a memorable moment. This morning, when we were leaving for daycare, he picked up his toy car on the way out. Before we got into the car to leave, I took his car and put it at the top of our driveway and let it roll all the way down. It made him so excited! And I'm glad he didn't try to run after it...lol. From the look on his face, you would have thought I had just done a magical trick...gotta love gravity!

Tonight I had to go to walmart to pick up a few things so Ian and I went on the way home. While we were there he said "hi" to a dozen or more people as we passed them. He loves to say hi and he is always surprised when they say "hi" back.

Tomorrow night, Melody has a recorder concert. Note to self.... REMEMBER THE CAMERA!

Ok I'm off to find more photos...or go to bed. hrmmm yep I think bed. G'night.

Trying something new....

Instead of thinking each post must be full of something amazing, I will try to just blog about my day at least 3 times a week.

Today, I started the morning without an alarm. I absolutely love how I can wake up on time without it. My inner clock is awesome and I am thankful for it!

But no matter how on time I wake up, I can never seem to leave on time. I couldn't find one of Ian's shoes. And I got to work 30 minutes after I wanted to. But that means 30 more minutes with a pleasant little boy who doesn't need breakfast as soon as he wakes up.

Work was ... ok I don't want to think about it and you don't want to hear about it. It's busy and just a jumbled mess right now. So lets skip forward 8 1/2 hours.

When I picked up Ian he had a big smile and said "heeeeeyyyy!". He's on this kick where he says "hi" all the time to everyone and its so cute. Then he pulled the wagon of blocks that the sitter says he was obsessed with today into the sitter's kitchen and then promptly lets me know he's ready to leave by going towards the door.

When I came home, Melody was down the street at the neighbors...for an hour and a half after I got home! Tony had to go pick her up because she failed to come home and check in. I used to do the same thing to my mom. I remember her getting so angry with me. I knew where Melody was so I tried to be calm about it. Definitely something we need to talk about. 1) checking in and 2) respecting the neighbors week night family time. Well, they aren't just neighbors, they are friends, but still.

When she came home I looked over her homework and tried to help with math. It's division and multiplication word problems. Hate them! But I was able to help her. That's my goal...help her with her homework ... work through the problems slowly. Maybe she'll slow down when doing her school work.

I cooked dinner. Chicken Chili with diced tomatos added in. That's as homemade as I get. It was good.

And I remembered Ian's medicine for his Impetigo. Yeah, he gets weird illnesses. Now, Castle is on. I love that show.

Sweet moment

So the last week or so I've been whispering to Ian at bath time ... "Ian do you want to take a bath?" At first I just wanted to see what he would do and then he would whisper back "bath" real soft and it was so cute so each night I've been asking him in a whisper.

Tonight, I got Ian undressed for his bath and then I was just sitting on the couch being lazy and not actually going in to run his bath. Apparently he understood why I had undressed him. He came over to me and got real close and whispered "bath".

:) It's so exciting! I think it was the first time he talked to me to ask me for something without me prompting it. It was so sweet. And he whispered, which I love, because he can be quite loud!

Melody turned 9! (6 weeks ago!)

Ok I am a little late getting this posted, BUT better late than never, right?

For Melody's birthday, we went bowling. It was a very small party, but we had fun and didn't blow a lot of money, which was my overall goal. Melody had 4 friends attend...Kayla, Mercy, Danae, and Matthew. Her Grandma and Aunt Beth came and of course mom, dad, and brother were there too.

The girls

Melody and her friend Matthew

Melody and her friend Danae

Melody and her friend Kayla

Melody and her friend Mercy

Time for cake, but mom forgot the candles (oops)

Her one gift from mom and dad
I think she likes it

Here are some photos of Ian. I was so proud of him. He stayed in his stroller most of the time and was rather entertained by the kids. He even tried to hold a bowling ball.

And back to Melody:

We did candles on a 1/2 eaten cake at home

Stay Tuned

Ok folks I have lots of updating to do and lots of pictures to go with! I think I even have a video stashed away.
Stay tuned for...
-Melody's 9th birthday recap
-Tony's all time high score in bowling
-Melody is going to be a flower girl and I have a sneak peak of her in her dress.
- Ian Paul and his great hair and his tackling of the slide and cornering of a tree.

But before we go there, here are some things that Ian is doing that melts my heart.

• When he wants to go to bed, he goes to the gate and attempts to climb it.
• Every couple days I get a kiss, open mouth and all.
• He points, a lot.
• He picks up toys when encouraged (this gives me hope)
• He claps and says "yay!" when he knows he's done something great
• He loves to sit on the couch, especially right next to daddy.
• He knows just the right time to smile, you know, just when he's about to get into big trouble.
• He truly loves to be outside and does his absolute best to get outside as soon after I put his shoes on as he can.
  

Yes, those are words that he is saying!

Melody's first word was light. Her Grannie taught her that. And whenever we entered a room, she said "light" and would point. She was about 10 months old. Ian's first words were bye bye, also at 10 months. But he has been pretty quiet since. He doesn't jabber quite as much as Melody did - trust me, this is ok! : ) But now, he has a collection of words that he can say.

"Dad-dy"
"Kit-ty"
those both have very pronounced syllables.
Duck
Bye bye
an attempt at Melody which consists of different syllables every time he says it but I know who he's reffering to because of the tone of his voice
Ball
and we get a very rare "pup" sometimes for "up"

I love hearing him talk!

It snowed and we sorted some shapes!

It snowed this weekend so we were inside Thursday pm through Sunday afternoon. I took time to try to teach Ian to sort shapes. He rocks.

circle in a star? nope...

sqare in a circle? nope...

ah...this fits I think!

He managed to get two circles in there!
Not to mention many more after I put the camera down.

Did I mention snow? Yes! Here was our yard this morning.

Snow + Freezing Fog = Pretty!

And we took a little time this afternoon to experience the snow!

Melody and Ian

I sat Ian in the snow and this is the face I got.

Action shot!
Melody threw a snow ball at me!

Melody is holding some snow and Ian is checkin' it out!

Here is a great photo of Ian. He is taking in the snow.

Ian is just beginning to talk some. Today when I was yelling for Melody he repeated after me... "elllll eeeee!" It was sooo cute! His babble is getting more conversational so I think its just a matter of time before he comes up with something really serious to tell me. He is also starting to put his mega blocks together. He walks around with two in his hands and pulls them apart and puts them back together over and over. Tony built a tower with his mega blocks today and Ian added one or two to the tower....but it wasn't long before he took them back. HAHA

And, he's at the imitation age. Melody and I taught him to fake sneeze.

Melody turns 9 in Feburary. We are less than 2 weeks from her birthday. We are going to have a bowling party. I hope the weather cooperates for her. I was supposed to go scrapbooking on Saturday night and that didn't work out because of the weather. Hopefully soon I'll get to go.

I've got cabin fever!!

So during this past week we have had the coldest weather that Arkansas has seen in TWENTY years. I realize this was felt all around the country and we were not the only ones, but it was COLD! On top of that, it snowed last Saturday night, so we've had snow and ice on the ground ever since which makes going out and about that much more difficult, but I guess I've always said that if its going to be really cold we should at least have snow on the ground because then it's much more pretty. Well, I'm am ready for the snow to melt and for the temperatures to rise and for there to be some warm air and sunshine. It is supposed to climb above 32 today. And by golly, we are going to Walmart to do our weekly shopping.

Melody was supposed to go back to school on Monday, but did she? Nope...in fact, she still hasn't gone back to school from winter break. She has been out of school for three weeks. Lets hope the above freezing temps melts the rest of the snow on the roads and they get back to school tomorrow.

I enjoyed two days at home last week, one of which I was off work and one of which I worked from home. I am super glad that I am blessed enough to work at home when I need to but it is super hard to stay focused and keep the kids happy. I owe Melody something super fun here soon for being such a big helper. On the days that Melody was out of school and I worked, she went to Ian's baby sitter's house. She has older kids and was able to watch her for me. Soooo thankful for that!

On the Ian front, he has switched to whole milk fully. He drinks about 24 ounces a day, give or take some. I think it may be too much, but he is also bigger than the average 1 year old so I hate to not give him what he seems to want. He also drinks 18 ounces of juice mixed with water (only 6 ounces of juice daily). He drinks the milk straight from the fridge at the sitter's house and warmed up at home (yep, spoiled rotten). He is sleeping really good right now and (knock on wood) hasn't been on antibiotics for a week . I have been giving him 1/2 a tsp of children's claritin daily and he sleeps with a humidifier.

On the Melody front, she has been rather mopey, but being inside for nearly a week straight and not seeing her friends from school in 3 weeks is enough reason I suppose. I realize that a great mother would wisk her away for some girl time, but money is tight so we'll have to see what we have left after grocery shopping today.

Tony and I have been passing the time by watching Friends on DVD since I completed my collection for Christmas. It is so funny! I never realized how raunchy it is, and I've been letting Melody watch it, which makes it even worse. But I suppose there are worse things in the world that she could be exposed to. And it makes her feel included. Maybe we can play some games later today after we get home from the store. That would be fun. I bought her boggle for Christmas...and haven't seen it since...where did it go?

Here's a picture from earlier this week when we had lunch at home. I've entitled it...spaghetti head:

I have been procrastinating posting again because I know I've waited too long (2 months!). So what's happened since Halloween?

an ear infections
a visit from Grannie
Thanksgiving
another ear infection
Hand Foot Mouth Disease
Ian's 1st Birthday!
Bronchitis
Christmas

Yep, that's what my life is made of lately. I am ready for the sickness to end.

So lets go over the three things that didn't involve illness.

Thanksgiving was fun. I hosted. Mom-in-law and sister-in-law were here. We had ham and all of the fixins. I took short cuts to try and enjoy my day with my children. We had steam and mash potatoes, noodles from the frozen food section, and stove top stuffing. It was yummy and Ian enjoyed it! Probably the last meal that he truly enjoyed for nearly a week because he got hand foot and mouth disease not too long after that. And then we lived through the most miserable week of our (Ian and Mommy) lives together.

Hand foot mouth was apparently very painful for Ian. He didn't want to eat or drink. I prayed for wet diapers. But we got through it slowly but surely. And then we CELEBRATED!

Ian's birthday party came about a week before his real birthday. It was great to see the people there who love him most. He went after the cake and truly enjoyed it. We opened presents. The kids that attended played with balloons. We played some music (although it was barely heard) and gave out CDs with "Ian's Party Tunes) on them for favors along with animal crackers and john deere fruit snacks. It was perfect.

Then we had Christmas. And I'll be honest. Ian was not at all impressed with opening presents on Christmas morning. It made him very cranky. I have a little man who is stuck on a routine and we don't open presents every day so it made him cranky. But we did have a white Christmas which was magical. And Melody had a great Christmas. We were thankful to be able to give our kids presents. It's been a pretty hard year financially and there were probably some creditors we should have paid more instead of buying gifts but we were able to have a very nice thrifty Christmas, and I will be honest, there wasn't too much that I didn't buy at Walmart or with my Swagbucks (yes, I got some Christmas presents for free for my family buy using Swagbucks to search all year).

And now 2010 is upon us. Ian is getting over Bronchitis. I am trying to figure out why he doesn't sleep at daycare. Melody is spending the week at grandmas. And I can't help but think of all of the wonderful things that happened in 2009. My little baby boy that we started the year off with has grown into a toddler. He has learned to walk (he learned during his 12th month) and is out to push every button I have.

He's been throwing his food at dinner time, mostly veggies, so I've been buying jarred veggies again just to be sure he's getting the vitamins he needs. He has started whole milk and is doing ok with it. I don't think he likes it very much.

Melody is getting ready to turn 9. This blows my mind away. Tony and I have already bought her birthday gift. She wants to go bowling for her birthday so that is what I'm working on planning. Luckily I still have about 6 weeks.

Now that I've rambled....lets hope I can post again before Melody turns 9!

Halloween Fun

We had a wonderful Halloween! I would have to say that this was the absolute best for our family. It was tons of fun because we had a super cute costume theme and lots of places to go and lots of parties to attend. Our costume idea began with Ian being a bumble bee. Then we decided that both kids would be bumble bees and Tony would be a beekeeper and I would be a beehive. It was so much fun. I am lucky to have a creative friend with lots of Martha Stewart magazines that helped pull everything together nicely. I don't think I could have pulled it off without my friend Amanda. She really came through. Thanks Amanda!

I have put together a slide show of our photos with photos from the following events:
- Pumpkins for Bumkins party from 10/24. We carved pumpkins at Amanda's house with a group of people.

- Hallow's Eve activities from 10/30. I dressed up for work and Melody dressed up for school. I went to Melody's school to help with her party and we attended a costume karaoke party as a family that night. Ian slept through the whole party and I was able to have a great time!

- Fall party at a friend's house on Halloween which included a lot of fun and games for Melody. She had so much fun and I am thankful that we were able to go.

Just a little update

So, the past month or so has been quite busy.

Ian had an ear infection probably about 6 weeks ago. So I was off for a day with him then. I went with him to the doctor complaining that he cried when I kissed him on the cheek. Strange, I know, but it was true and he had an ear infection.

About 2 weeks later, his sitter's daughter had a stomach bug so I kept him home for the day. Then Tony woke up with it the next day and the daycare was closed so everyone could get well. This same day, we went in for his 9 MONTH checkup! He was 26lbs even and 30 1/4 inches long. Yes, he's a big boy. 90% for height. over 95% for weight. But when you look at him, he just looks older, not necessarily too big, so I figure that's ok. Melody was a big baby too and now she is one of the smallest in her class. Back to the stomach bug, Tony had it, I think Ian had a spell of it (not as bad as the rest of us), and then Melody and I had it too. It was the worse stomach bug I've ever had. Just awful. I'll leave it at that.

Then a week and 1/2 ago we went in with 103.6 degree fever as a symptom. His ear infection was back. We are just finishing up his other antibiotic and hoping for a couple of months of health for our household.

Melody has made it a little over a month into the 3rd grade. She currently has all A's, although math and science are 90% so they are right on the border. She had a couple weeks where she had to be reminded to do things like check over her work and answer every question. She is a great big sister and loves to entertain Ian. We are working on a family plan for Halloween and she was willing to change her costume idea for us. We've been taking advantage of a lot of free activites like First Friday on the downtown square and the Farmer's Market and going to the park.

Melody at the farmer's market.

Ian at the Farmer's Market playing in the fountain.

We have moved mostly to finger foods. It's been about a week now since we turned that corner. As I type, he is just finishing breakfast. It's taken him about 30-40 minutes to eat, but he is thoroughly enjoying it. This morning, he had Bananas coated with crushed Banana Nut Cheerios and then about 1/3 cup of Banana Nut Cheerios. He also had a 6 ounce bottle. We've been cooking a lot of frozen veggies. He does ok with those. Sometimes the green beens are a little tough to chew. I've made chicken and turkey and turkey meatballs and put them into the freezer easy quick dinners. I still throw in a jar every now and then for a super quick dinner or digestion help. He also likes wheat toast and wheat pasta and loves to come get food off my plate when we eat. I am going to try to serve him some cheese pizza this week, we'll see how that goes. He has eaten some meals with us too. My number one worry is just the level of sodium in everything - I don't have time to make everything home made, but I try to keep his intake on the lower side. Over the past week, he's been eating "big boy breakfast and big boy lunches" at day care which is pretty exciting for him I hear because he gets to sit at the table too and he doesn't have to go steal food off the other kids' trays. Yeah, he was that kid.

Ian with his mouth full of peas, chicken, and toast.

One notable thing about his personality is his early love of music. He likes to "dance". You'll see a video of him dancing below. Whenever he hears a tune he likes, he head starts to move back and forth...he does it whether he's sitting, standing, or crawling. It's so cute. Here is a video.

Yesterday, he walked across the room with his little walking toy. That was pretty exciting. I'll do my best to get some pictures of that or even video but I'm pretty busy following him closely to make sure he doesn't fall.

Here is a photo of Ian looking toddlerish in his fall clothes.

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September is here?!

Oh my goodness. This year is flying by! A year ago we were preparing to paint "the baby's room" and I was still pretty set on buying a crib set and did not really have anything to make a baby's room except for crib which was still in the attic. Fast forward a year and my baby is sleeping in his crib. His room is the perfect color blue and his crib, although never adorned with a beautiful matching "set" is comfy enough to allow him to sleep through the night. Today I was driving down the road and I heard Darius Rucker's song "It Won't Be Like This For Long" and it touched my heart because the last 8 1/2 months flashed before my eyes and I can't believe we are really well on our way to toddlerhood. Tony even lowered Ian's crib on Saturday (although this should have been done a couple of weeks ago).

This weekend was quite low key for us, although it was super busy for Miss Melody. She got invited to a sleepover on Friday for Friday - last minute good times! They went to Chuck E Cheese and then had a slumber party and then I didn't see her until 3pm on Saturday - I guess they played all day too! Then, our friends took Melody to ice skate later that evening which she enjoyed immensely. That said, she slept well Saturday night.

So, with Melody being the exception, we didn't leave the house until this afternoon. I did some laundry...actually A LOT of laundry, Melody cleaned her room, top to bottom, including her closet. This child needs no clothes! And I yelled at her so that she'd keep on task...hahaha. She just needs a little motivation. I made a chore chart for her too. It doesn't have much promise in my mind though, because I remember when my mom made me a chore chart and I ignored it on purpose. She seemed strangely excited though, so maybe I should take advantage. Anyway...

When we did finally leave the house today, we went to the park, and took these oh so lovely pictures.

Daddy is getting Ian.

My family at the park.

I think I may start keeping her indoors more...

Note his disgust in grass

No, he's not posing, he's checking out the cars.

The President's Speech to school children

My daughter is in 3rd grade, so this whole debate has made me think pretty intently about what the big deal is about. I know that there are a lot of people who don't agree with everything he stands for. I honestly am not too sure about what I agree with and what I don't. With an 8 month old and an 8 year old, a full time job, and all the housework that comes along with those children, I haven't really had time to think about all the issues that face this country including healthcare and the wars we are fighting across the Atlantic. But I did take time to think about the President giving a speech to my daughter that she would view in her classroom. And then, when our school system decided they would post it on their website and not show it in the classroom, I took time to think about whether or not I will show it to my 8 year old. I decided...yes, my daughter and I will watch it together on the internet and we'll have a conversation about it afterwords. Why? I've listed the reasons below:

• Respect. The President deserves to be respected. I don't want to teach my daughter disrespect by telling her what he has to say isn't important because I may not agree with everything he has to say. We don't have to agree with everything he has to say, but that doesn't mean we can't listen. This goes back to having and open mind and not judging a book by it's cover...these are life lessons here!
• The President has taken time to make a speech to school children. My daughter is one of those children. My assumption is that it is a speech meant to motivate children at the beginning of the school year. I would be sadly mistaken if I thought that my daughter only needed me and her teacher to be motivated. I bet she can use all of the motivation she can get and I know that one more person telling her that they believe in her and her future isn't going to hurt one bit.
• I want her to feel like she is part of a country and that everything doesn't just revolve around our family or her school or her town or her...she's part of the United States, and frankly, that is something to be proud of.

This morning, I found the site where they are sharing the "Prepared School Remarks". There is nothing in it that I would keep my child from hearing. In fact, I look forward to watching it with my daughter this week on our public school's internet site so that I can hear her perspective.

Today was Melody's first day of 3rd grade. I got up extra early this morning, made sure Ian looked nice and was fed, and off we went to take my 3rd grader to school. We left the house at 7:20am, plenty of time to park, put Ian in the stroller and walk Melody into school. Little did I know, she is way too big to have her mom walk her into school. She asked me to just drop her off at the door. She knew where she was going and was confident and excited. I guess I've done a good job, but it sure was hard to swallow. So I dropped her off and, with tears in my eyes, I drove Ian to Ms. Kim's and then went to work.

Here's my 3rd grader!

She had a great day! I am looking forward to this year. We are in the 2nd half of elementary school now, after all!

Ian isn't only crawling...

So about 3 weeks ago, Ian began to move like an inchworm...he'd fling those arms out in front of him and pull his legs up behind him. Then about a week later, he figured out the alternating arm and leg movements, and he began to move quicker than I ever imagined. Then, about a week ago (last Friday to be exact), he pulled up. Luckily, I don't think he'll be walking this week as that requires a bit more than a week to master, but I'm sure it won't be 11 months like I have my heart set on. He'll probably be like his sister and walk around 9 months. I'm still hoping for 11 though!!

Here are some pictures of him pulling up:

Here he is pulling up on his bouncy seat.


Here he is standing at the window in the living room. This is one of his favorite places to be.

Last night was quiet around here. Ian fell asleep on the way home at 5pm and slept the whole night with exception of a bottle at around 9pm. This gave me time to take a good look at my new photo collage site that I threw together last week and make it look how I really wanted it to. There is a link to the right if you'd like to check it out. If you have a blog or a website, I now have a button on there that you can "wear".

I would like to leave you with a picture of Ian as an infant and then a picture of Ian now.

The difference between me and those who surround me...

So I've come to the realization that I seem to be surrounded by people who need to escape their everyday lives for one reason or another mostly due to their job as far as I can tell. But my perspective is different. I am happy with my career choice - not that I don't get stressed or overwhelmed with it every now and then - and when I come home I have two beautiful children and a husband who loves me. I know I am blessed with friends. But many people I know, except my children, all seem to feel the need to escape their lives. Tony comes home from work and logs into an online game because he hates his job and people make him angry and he chooses to take his anger out there. I also know many people who choose to escape in other ways - having a beer or enough beers to forget their stresses or exercising excessively. But I feel like I don't have anything to escape. So I feel like I am surrounded by people who need to escape while I am enjoying life. Except sometimes I find it hard to enjoy life when surrounded by people who do not. And that depresses me as I feel the need to enjoy life with others instead of by myself. Melody enjoys life and I think, other than her being my daughter, that is why I love her so much. Maybe I need to invite people to enjoy life with me. Corny ways I can think of doing that are board games and trips to the park and scrapbooking. Ah, I feel the need to move pass being the mother of a newborn and enjoying my interests again. I just wish there was someone who I could share my joys with even though I am a corny person who loves life and tries my best to cherish each moment. I think corny is fun!