what's in your wallet

James is doing a video shoot tonight and so I find myself just waiting around for him to get home. So I watched some random shows on t.v., perused the internet, cleaned up the house, and then I decided that it would probably be a good idea to make sure that I am ready for playgroup tomorrow since we are headed downtown. I pulled out my bag and I was looking through it to see if I needed to add snacks, or diapers and wipes, you know the regular stuff, but then I looked on the counter and started laughing. Did I really carry all this stuff around everyday? So I thought that I would give everyone that takes a peek at our blog what this mom of two totes around. And yes I really do use all this stuff.

Looks like madness right. Well both my parents were avid scouters, and you know how they are "always prepared" not that I am saying that I blame them that I carry around a hand held yahtzee game, but I do think that I picked up a few things from them. So just for kicks I did a small break down, if you are embarrassed to know me right now you don't have to keep reading.
Now that I have two kids interested in toys, I have to bring some for each. Baby and kid kinds, and the plastic bag is also toys like dolls, brushes, bracelets, Gwen stuff.
I like to think that I am ready for anything with this little kit that I put together when I first had Gwen. Since then it has been modified for real life use, like stain remover, hand sanitizer, sunscreen, band aids and ointment, nail clippers, and some lady products. A girl needs tissues and I can't leave the house without a spare binki! I don't want to know what terror might ensue without one.
Food! snacks are tops, and this includes formula, when we are leaving the house there is a bottle and a cup in there for each kid, and this is slim on the treats from normal days.
Activities are a must. Gwen clips through wanting to do different things all the time, so if we are going to be somewhere like church one must be ready to entertain for a few hours. So we have books, pens, notepad, stickers, paper, crayons (one for Gwen and for a friend). The lea is not normally in there but it proved useful this last Sunday. The camera is always in the bag for whatever might come up, along with diapers and wipes, wallet, keys and phone tag along in there too.

Then there are some randoms like cash (not seen much around the bag), stamps, gum, ward phone book, hair ties for Gwen, spare kid socks?, a battery, chapstick, and a ton of change.

So now that I have revealed myself to everyone I think that it would be fun to see what others carry around. You don't have to bust everything out, but I know that I would enjoy it. Sierra if you are reading this your mom would put me to shame. I think that she would double what I have, easily. So ladies open up your bags and lets see what's in your wallets, or bags.

baby boxing

Gwen has decided that it is really funny, or maybe just a interesting game to play, to knock Harrison over while he is sitting up. I do not find this funny at all. Which leads me to our current problem, obedience.

How do you, or is it even possible, to get your two year old to do what you say? Sometimes I think that she gets it, then sometimes she acts like she can't hear a word I am saying. I know that these are all perks of the age, but I just keep wondering if it will pass.

morning start

This morning as James was heading out the door, a very fast visitor came in. It was so speedy I am pretty sure that I gasped really loud. We brought Gwen over so that she could see it and she kept calling it an alligator. When James went to try to pick it up he cornered it and as he went to scoop it up, part of its tail came off as a little defense mechanism. So then we had a really fast lizard and a tail flailing all over the place. A very interesting few minutes. James was able to scoop him up and take him and his tail outside.

When James picked up the tail there were these little grooves where the tail detached. It was really interesting. I think that it is really neat how all these different animals survive. I just don't really like them in my house.

daddy's boy

Tonight as I was wrapping up the bath routine, Harrison was getting pretty tired. When he is tired he gets a little whiny and starts to talk to get our attention. I dressed Gwen and was cleaning up the bathroom really quick when out of the blue a little voice from the bouncy chair starts saying "Da-da"! What!

Are you kidding me. I just stand there looking at him thinking to myself, after all that the mom does for you, and all the time that we spend together, the dad still wins. I will say that James has been coaching Harrison since he started making the "B" sounds. I guess that I should have been more on top of that. Well on the up side I must say that I was glad to be there for the first time he yelled at his parents. Oh how fast they grow up.

choo choo ride

Today we ventured downtown for playgroup, and what a playgroup it was. Harrison was really excited to ride the train, Gwen on the other hand was a little skeptical.
The 11:00 am train was packed as you can see, and we were not even the caboose. London and Maddie kept Gwen company and shared their snacks for the ride. Gwen liked that.
We went through tunnels, and did little round abouts. And here is Gwen looking over at the lake. It was a great day for the train, and what a fun way to see some scenery.
I wanted to take more pictures, but I was a little busy keeping Gwen from trying to exit the train, and Harrison from trying to get off my lap. Kids I tell you what. But it really was so much fun. We love trains.

the tub trio

We love a good bath but we also love a good sing a long, and you can't go wrong when you combine the two. So here is the tub trio singing a little happy birthday to "mommy", even Gwen said mommy, to celebrate the date.

After we sang the song I asked them to all look at me...this is what I got, Gwen still singing the "you" at the end of the song, London the only one who listened, and Maddie who is brushing her teeth.
So then I asked them to look at me and say cheese...All of them said cheese, but only Maddie wanted to smile. I think that it is because she just finished brushing and her teeth were so sparkley. So Happy Birthday Leslie from three silly girls who will be humiliated by these pictures from the age of 10 and up.

shady business

A little while ago Gwen was playing in the diaper bag and she pulled out my sunglasses. She knows what to do with glasses, but this time when I looked over she was opening them up with a little too much force, and before I knew it there was a snap and she was then holding two pieces. As I was checking out the damage it didn't look that bad. I thought that I could Maguyver them back into shape, but alas all my attempts have failed. So farewell shades you have been fun.

goodnight kids

Getting ready for bed is usually a interesting process around here, you know chase one down while the other one is whining type of thing, but there are nights when the whole process just works out and it doesn't seem like so much of work as it is play. Harrison makes this face all the time where he sucks in his bottom lip. It is a crack up. He also does it when making the B sound (which is all the time now) we love it.
the letters are not the only things that are slippery when wet. Harrison tries to give me the slip all the time. But what he hasn't figured out is that I always have a hold of him.
Here is a little smile we gush over.
This face from Gwen is because she is splashing and everyone knows how much fun that is. Harrison was caught off guard by it in this one.

Jammies are next followed by "BIG hugs and kisses" from Gwen. And that includes Harrison too.
Dad gets the last "BIG hug and kiss" then it is off to bed while Gwen sings twinkle twinkle little star. And then it is quiet.

feeding turtles

This is how most of our feeding adventures go. Gwen with the bread and playing in the bird poop crusted dirt.
Here are the birds and ducks that came for some brunch.
And the main population that showed up.
Here are some more.
Gwen and Tyson pose for the camera. This is one of like three pictures where Gwen is actually looking at the camera. Classic face right.
But this is what they would rather be doing. Gwen goes for the rest of the bread and Tyson makes an amazing jump off the bench. We ate lunch at whole foods, and then it was home for pretend naps. You can't beat a day in the outdoors.

mommy Gwen

As I was finishing changing Harrison the other day I noticed that Gwen was right in the middle of changing this bears diaper.
She was telling it things like "just one more minute"
and "let change a diaper". She did a great job because I didn't hear a peep out of the bear.
And here is Harrison just taking a little snooze while we get ready to go. This picture makes me want to sleep...uninterrupted.

Ode to Olive

This past week my grandma (moms mother) passed away. As I was talking to my dad tonight I was thinking of some of the things that made her special to me. Her name was Olive and when I was a kid my family would pack up in our van and drive for what seemed like days (really only like 12 hours) to a little farm house in Canada to see my grandparents. Each summer that we went it seemed like nothing had changed, when we arrived there it was perfect. Grandma Olive was always happy to see us, she always had lots of cookies stocked up for us to eat, and she always had the kindest smile on her face all the time.

Her house was the meeting point for all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to gather and talk for hours on end about their families, lives, and lots of the time people that they grew up with, I had no idea who any of these people were, but there was always laughter, hugs, teasing and jokes enough to hold us over until the next time that we would visit.

Now I know that there are so many of my cousins and other relatives that knew her better and longer than I did, but of all the wonderful memories that I have of her I know that she cared and loved everyone in her life, and she has left a wonderful legacy for us to pass on.

friends at last

Hello Harrison.
Gwen decided to test the water, will he play with me or just cry?
The answer is play play play all the time.
Harrison thinks that Gwen is the best thing around. He is always trying to find her when she is in the room, turning his head to watch her as she runs screaming by. When she laughs he laughs, when she screams he laughs. When he eats she laughs. I hope that they get along like this forever.

nap snaps

Ahhh one of my favorite times of the day, nap time. It is usually at this time when I come to a crossroad in my day, do I finish some random house chore that needs to be done, or do I lay down for a little while myself?
Honestly taking a nap wins 98% of the time. And when everyone wakes up from the afternoon slumber, we still manage to get a few more things done before James comes home. I just love naps.

belly laughs in the morning

James has taken my regular computer so I don't have the photos that I was going to post today, but instead a few things that have happened this morning that have cracked me up.

- While eating breakfast Gwen started laughing, which made Harrison laugh and made him spit out his cereal, which made Gwen laugh even harder, so then Harrison was laughing harder, and I had oatmeal all over me. But that didn't stop us from laughing.

- James called me on his way to work and I said to Gwen, "daddy's on the phone" she crinkled her nose and said "No, at work".  James and I were both laughing because that is what I tell her when he leaves. Smarty pants.

- After I finished talking to James on the phone I heard Gwen in the kitchen saying "don't eat it" I knew that she was talking about a vitamin that I had set out for myself earlier, so as I was walking towards her I asked her if she found the vitamin, and she said "yeah don't eat it, yucky" when I got to her she had licked a corner of it and when it tasted bad she had returned it to the table.  I have to agree with her though, it really does taste yucky.

I am surprised at the things that she picks up sometimes, I just hope that it won't be something strange that if she repeats it people think that we are bad parents. Here's to hoping.

The championship

I just want to say that tonights game was everything that a good championship game needs. Close tight score in the start, one team takes the lead, a main player fouls out with only two minutes left, a come back, and into OT. Congrats to Kansas that was a great game. And way to call it for Kansas Paige. I hope that you get a really big prize for your prediction. Now what am I going to do with my weekends now that it is over?

the wake up game

Gwen's new game of the day includes turning the lights on and off. When she turns them off...
She says its time to "take a nap" then she lays her head down, but she lifted it up too fast for the slow camera to catch her sleeping.
Then she says "wake up" and she turns the light on.
This is Harrison when Gwen says wake up and turns the light on. She surprised him every time.What a funny little game to watch.

mysterious injuries

A strange kind of black magic is going on around here. Gwen has the ability to all of a sudden have a random injury. We don't know where they come from, or when she gets them like for example this black eye that just appeared the other day.


It is not really that visible, but the thing is that we have no idea when or where she got it. I asked her if she hurt her eye and she said no. So maybe she didn't realize that she had it either. Maybe it is from rough housing, or jumping on the bed.

A mouth full

I just wanted to report that after three days of dealing with the tooth issue, and the longest dental appointment in history, I am now back to normal (besides the numbing effect wearing off). I still have all my teeth, and I hope that I don't have to do that again. To all of you who like to visit the dentist, you are better than I am, and you probably wouldn't have had this problem because of your faithfulness to the dentist. Thanks for all the support I really appreciate it.

when things get too quiet

We had Ryan and the twins over for dinner last night while Leslie is away, and after we had eaten I ran to the store to grab some ice cream for a treat. I was not gone more than 15 minutes and when I cam back I opened the door and heard little giggles and "its snowing". It wasn't until I rounded the corner that I saw these little girls covered, I mean covered in paper from the paper shredder. I yelled out to James hey have you seen this? He and Ryan came out of the other room and the first thing that they said was," I knew that it was a little too quiet."

Silly girls, while we cleaned up they stayed out of the way and ate ice cream. What a great life. I am out the door to the dentist. I hope to have good things to say when I return.

a quick fix

I went to the dentist this morning for what they called an emergency appointment. Well during this little appointment I felt like a lab rat. They had two new assistants in training. I was the one that they got to practice on. They took at least 30 x-rays because they couldn't get the right angle ( if I get stuck with the bill for all of those I am going to let somebody have it). Finally the dentist came in and looked at my broken tooth and told me that they were going to try to do an over lay, which is basically re-filling the cavity with a new and different kind of filling. It was that or a crown. Either way it is really expensive, and the worst part is that they told me that I have to wait to do it at another visit! So I asked what the earliest open appointment was so that I could just get this whole thing over with and they said that I could come in tomorrow morning and they would do it. So as of right this second I am banned from chewing on my right back teeth, just in case. I thought that having the poky edges of the missing cavity was bad, but now to have to make an effort to not get any food back there, that is kind of tricky.

So tomorrow morning is the scheduled date to get my tooth fixed, but with my luck who knows what will really happen. So stick around if you want to hear the end. At least I hope that it will be the end.

just my luck

Today has been interesting to say the least. The kids have been kind of cranky, Gwen decided that she was better than needing a nap, and Harrison must be trying to get bigger because he has been eating like we are in a famine. But the fun doesn't stop there, this afternoon I was eating a corndog and when I bit down it felt like I just crunched a rock! Turns out I lost a part of a filling.

Now for those of you who know me, you know that I dread the dentist, no dread is too soft, I basically fear the dentist. Obviously stemming from childhood experiences. I have not really had the best luck with my dentists in the past, and when I tried to get a hold of our new dentist to make an emergency appointment, I had to leave a message on an answering machine because they have really strange hours. But while the recording was playing one of the things it said was addressed to those who are anxious to go to the dentist. I was hoping that I was going to hear something like don't worry we have great drugs, or you will feel nothing while we work on your teeth, but their comforting message was that they had big screen televisions. Well how great is it that I get to see one of them tomorrow morning at 9 am.

I told James that because it is me I will need something drastic like a root canal, or a cap, or dentures but he thinks that they will just fill the old one. I guess that we will have to wait and see.