I can't believe it's December....

I can't believe that it is already mid-december. It's crazy how fast the past few months have flown by. And even faster since Skyler has switched schools and looks forward to every single day...making every day a lot more enjoyable and easier to get through for everyone. Things have been normal around here. The usual ups, downs, and middles. Smiles, tantrums, and laughing at ourselves.

I decided to try a ballet class for Sadie. I was really excited to do something girly with her and we were both looking forward to it. I'm not sure if Sadie is just too young for ballet or if she is more of a hip hop kind of girl, but it was definitely not the smoothest experience. The girls had to stand quietly in a circle doing ballet kind of moves...this lasted about two seconds with Sadie before she started twirling in front of the mirror and ending with a wonderfully high pitched screech. Or when the teacher gave them a baby doll to gently rock as they walked quietly in a circle...Sadie took two steps, tossed the doll over her shoulder, and took off. Her favorite part was the leaping across the room...and she loves tapping (ahem, stomping) her toes gracefully (or forcefully) in front of her. Let's just say that my sweet Sadie may have a little too much 'umph' for ballet! We left early after her squeals of delight started giving the teacher a twitch.

Last weekend, Skyler was OFF THE WALL. Literally bouncing off of the walls...we didn't know what to do with them. Michael left for an errand and I decided to bundle them up and RUN them outside, despite the fact it was 30 degrees. Amazingly, they were unaffected by the frigid temps and we ended up having a really good time, especially when Daddy came back and joined in!

Here they are looking at the huge block of ice their toys had turned into after I forgot to put the top on their toy box. It was so cold that the ice remained in the yard for two days.

Ha ha, this picture of her all bundled up keeps making me laugh.

The ice....

"Hey mom, can we play waterguns?" Ummm, maybe if it wasn't 30 degrees and the water wouldn't instantly give us frost bite!!!!

So, Skyler talks a lot about xmas. I drew the line at a christmas tree and hanging up lights "just for fun", as he put it. But I did finally decide to let them decorate a gingerbread house. Skyler and I picked up a kit at one of the stores and we had such a great time putting it together and decorating it. We even managed to rope Michael in. The tricky part was keeping Sadie from eating all of the candy. She finally got the hint after the fourth time we pulled candy from her mouth and plopped it on the house:)

Not too shabby for our first time!

The kids drive each other crazy all day. I usually tune out most of the tattles as long as there isn't any physical harm being done...and even then, I may be guilty of a little ignoring. I was making dinner and heard, "Mom, help me, Sadie won't move." He kept repeating it so I finally got annoyed and looked, and this is what I found. Sorry Skyler!!! Next time I'll be a little faster to help you out:)

But just 20 minutes later, this is what I found. Sadie was telling him that she loved him so much.

So, in September, I decided to track their growth. I really wish that I started way back when because it's amazing seeing how fast they sprout! Here is the difference that a little less than three months made for Skyler...

And for Sadie who grew over an inch! Amazing.

Big Sigh....

I lost it...over and over and over again....and the day is only half done. My patience today is limited to about 20 seconds. Doesn't work well for two very rambunctious children whose main goal in life is to drive each other and their mother crazy. Today? SUCCESS! Yep...they succeeded in breaking me down within the first 10 minutes of our morning. I figured I'd blog about this because I want to look back on it and laugh. Will that happen? I have hope:)

It all started when Sadie woke up realizing she didn't have the exact stuffed dog she wanted in her crib. The problem? Skyler had it in his bed. I told her she had to wait until he woke up...she freaked-out. Started pounding on his door. Lovely. Somehow managed to get downstairs after the dog was recovered and they fought over standing on the same step stool in the bathroom (um, I bought two green ones to avoid this...apparently they are 'different') Fighting continues interjected by some play and laughing. I'm successfully tuning this out. Until Skyler reaches for our cereal storage container. I love these containers. I pulled it back on the counter and told him to leave it alone. He thought he'd be funny and pull it back...but LO AND BEHOLD, it flew out of his hands and crashed onto the floor. Cue mom breakdown #1. Got dressed and we were headed out the door. Decided they should wear rain boots due to the torrential rain. At this point, Skyler is on his best behavior...he might be a little scared of me. Sadie remains unfazed. Got in the car...Skyler is pouting because I won't turn around while I am driving under crazy wet conditions to look at his boot. Sadie begins to take off her socks. I tell her not to...off they come. Mom breakdown #2. We get to school, umbrellas are opened, and Sadie starts jumping in puddles. I get it...rain boots=fun times...I'm open to fun. Except when she chooses the biggest, muddiest, yuckiest (I am not exaggerating) puddle to not only jump in, but to FALL in. Yep, she is soaked from the waist down with puddles INSIDE her boots. Once again, she is not fazed. Cue mom breakdown #3. Get Skyler dropped off, Sadie having a great time in the puddles, I give up on her because I'm kind of tired at this point...and she's soaked anyway. I had a mission to get to Target. We get into the store despite her soaked condition, and I start shopping. Sadie is singing and dancing and rubbing her hands all over the dirty cart (literally rubbing, completely disturbing to my germaphobe self) in every department. Not listening. I'm desperate to find workout pants so that I can stop wearing my 9 year old ones. All of a sudden, the singing stops...she's pooping. Breakdown #4. She doesn't like to walk when she poops, begs me to put her in the cart but she's not allowed to sit. So she's holding on to the edges in a slight crouch and wasn't allowed to move...leaving a lovely draft o' poopy diaper in our wake. But I couldn't leave...I was there....and I HAD to finish! We finish after I was creatively wheeling the cart away from people to avoid offending anyone with our perfume, we get into the car, we are both soaked, and I change her diaper and now remove all wet clothes. In the process, I have hit both of my hair clips out of place. I sit in the driver's seat and go to fix my hair, but the hair clip flies out of my hand into the abyss of the minivan. It's now sticking straight out. Too defeated at this point for a breakdown:) We got home, I wash up, and turn around finding this....

How could you not love this mismatched, sockless, little girl who tests me daily...this is why I drop to the ground after a morning like this and hug her knowing that I'll miss our crazy mornings together one day. Oh, my sweet Sadie.

So Much To Catch Up On......

Has it really been this long? I put in my 'family' memory card and couldn't believe that these pictures came up! I have meant to do this for soooooo long, but I have to say, I've been incredibly busy with everything. BUT, even though I'm exhausted after a week of two very demanding little people (I'm not really complaining too much, because I do love it), I was excited to catch up on my OWN life!

Just a little catch up on my kids.....

Skyler...went through a pretty tough start to the year. I had to make some big mom decisions, which sent me struggling into a million different thoughts and emotions. I decided to move him back to his old school....with my tail tucked between my legs because we did not leave on good terms. But, this wasn't about me...it was about my son. I am not going to go into details, but what I will say is that we HAVE OUR SKYLER BACK!!! He really had a tough time and had to deal with things that are tough for someone of any age. But now, he is thriving, surrounded by kids that appreciate him for being the wonderful friend that he is...and the ladies? LOVE HIM! I'm so happy for him that he can LOOK FORWARD to each day, rather than dread it.

Sadie. She is one-tough-chick. She KNOWS what she wants and will do ANYTHING to get it. This will definitely work for her in the future. But for now? We are all just waiting to see what she'll do next:) Yet, she cracks us up daily and always makes me melt each day. She loves Booty and the Beast, Gaboons (balloons), and her brother. She can break me down with the words, "Mommy, I so love you." Or anything that makes her laugh is, "So much fun!". She's a completely different kid on her own...actually, they both are. Skyler told me he didn't want me to wake her up one day because, "It's easier for me when she isn't there to give me a hard time about everything." Exact words. But it's how they work...In the end? They love each other. Tonight I put her in his bed to sing to them, and they looked at each other until they giggled. It's all worth it...every frustrating minute is WORTH IT!!!!

Ok, catch up! My dearest friend Loree and I have been talking about having them come to DC for teacher's convention for years. It has always fallen through for one reason or another. But this year? WE MADE IT HAPPEN!!!!! I was beyond thrilled to have her here with us...to actually have days to really get to know her amazingly beautiful (inside and out) children. To have our kids (what???) get to really know each other. I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. One of the things I remember her asking is, "Are you sure you'll be able to spend the whole day with us in DC?" Oh sure!, I said. Of course! Um...we couldn't swing whole days with them...but we tried super hard and we had a really good time when we were able to hang in there:) Here are some pics of our time together. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE THEM???!!!!

We were waiting to meet up with them (actually we were kind of late and we forgot to make and actual meeting place and they were waiting for us at a different place) at the metro for our first DC day together and the kids were beyond excited.

I love this picture. Sean is incredibly sweet and I know he was talking 'seriously' with Michael about something.

They were excited to start their DC day!

Boys? Always hungry. Having a snack before we did the museum thing.

Sadie doing her snack on the other side of the display.

Cracks me up:)

One of my dearest...sweetest...closest....nothing really compares to her...friend.

Hanging out on some monument.

Um, enough said. Best people ever.

Michael had to 'supervise' on top of the monument. He caught Sadie:)

Love him!

We totally pooped out the second day. Spent the morning at another museum, and although Skyler could have spent the whole day there, Sadie couldn't. She lasted maybe an hour before she was having meltdowns everywhere. I couldn't deal....had to take her home and meet up with them later. Sorry we were such party poopers!!!

Did he really think he was hiding? That's one of the reasons why I love him!

Happy dog:)

So, the new thing was building a weather station. Skyler decided to put lots of toys in there....I had to end things when he put EVERY toy under there!

Um, enough said just by looking at this picture. Yep, definitely married the coolest guy ever.

Papa hanging with Sadie after Thanksgiving dinner! She was bushed and snuggled right into him.

Our Thanksgiving feast:) Perfect.

Our field trip was to the Reston Petting Zoo. Had such a FUN day there. The kids were giving the baby pigs a bottle of milk.

Gorgeous.

They couldn't wait for their pony rides. He was beyond happy....it must be in the genes.

We saw thousands of dollars fly through our heads when she smiled like this the whole way! Will she follow in my footsteps??!!!

Yep, this sums them up.

Waiting for the 'safari' ride. It was a long wait, but the ride was pretty cool. The kids saw some crazy animals up close.

See the horns on these guys? This picture doesn't do them justice...they were crazy long and my dad saved my head from being whacked by one!

It has become pretty cold here. Which means playground time is in the past...which means creative planning for the afternoon. The kids love play dough...I don't love it so much because it is such a mess...I was creative this time and put a cloth under their table. I pat myself on the back for this good idea! And they spent and hour very very happy:)

Sadie loves playing outside. Yesterday she found some ice and this kept her busy and very happy until it all melted:) It's hard to see, but she's holding a piece.

I promise to be better at keeping up with things this winter!!!!

I haven't forgotten...

It's been a ridiculously long time since I have posted. And I haven't forgotten that I have a ton of pictures to share and stories to tell. Unfortunately, a lot of those stories have already slipped my mind. But I promise, I see a light at the end of the zillions of things I need to finish.

Pumpkin Painting

This is kind of out of order, but I have FINALLY finished catching up on all my pictures:) Ahhh, feels good! Here are some pictures of our pumpkin painting. This year, I had two painters and had visions of what my house would look like when they were through. So, on a beautiful day, I set them up outside and let them be creative without me having to be crazy neurotic about paint getting everywhere. And, it definitely was everywhere! All over the chairs, the grass, their clothing. But, it was a perfect afternoon and we had a really good time. Now....the tough part. Getting rid of these pumpkin masterpieces without tears. Hmmmm, going to take some time to think of a plan. Any ideas??!!!! We have an entire Halloween decoration table that needs to go, but they are both very attached. In the meantime, here are the pics of my two very talented little artists.

Once I finally emerged from my bed when I was not feeling well, this is what I found. Beautiful, right? Thank you Mom!!! All of this ended up in the front as Halloween came closer....and as Sadie started pulling off the flowers and giving them to everyone as gifts....and kicking them over...well, you get the idea! They made our back and front porch look so festive:)

Let the painting begin! Amazingly, Sadie was super organized with the brushes, paints, and the lids. After this picture, she placed every lid by it's color. That's my girl:)

They painted forever. I finally pried the brushes out of their hands.

Yep, still concentrating.

Proud of their finished products!

Until next year.....:)