Pucker up

We were headed out and told all the kids to get in the van.

Dave and I were gathering stuff and throwing last minute things into the diaper bag.

The kids made it to the car before we did.

Unbuckled children rummaging through the car usually means trouble.

I forgot I had left a tube of lipstick in the car.

Enter Olivia trouble.

Dave found Livvy doing what she does best- finding said trouble and then creating more, you guessed it- trouble!!

Some things only get better with time

Last night Olivia emptied a can of hairspray and a spray bottle full of water onto her head.

She was very proud that she had done her hair by herself and wanted me to blow dry it for her.

I opted to NOT blow dry it for a couple different reasons.

1. Her hair was plastered to her head and dried on like a helmet.

2. I believe it would have been a major fire hazard.

Today she woke up and it appears that water + hairspray + a good nights rest = an electrical storm.



It was quite the equation, let me tell you.

She was very grumpy which made it all the more funny. I guess I should cut her a little slack on the grumpy factor- I wouldn't be too thrilled with a camera in my face within minutes of being awake.

It took her just a few minutes to evolve into her normal happy self. One look in the mirror and she was thrilled- she kept saying, "Mommy, me have funny hair."



Last night it did occur to me (but I didn't give it much thought) that her hair should have probably been a bit more plastered down considering that an entire can of hairspray was gone.

Everything made sense within a few minutes of her being awake. All this talk of her funny hair reminded her that she had not fully disclosed all the antics of the previous night. She quickly ran upstairs and came hauling back down the stairs pleased as punch, holding a very disheveled Tinker Bell. Apparently Livvy was playing salon on more than just herself. It appears as though Tinker Bell fell victim to Livvy's creative impulses and is sporting a hair do we now lovingly refer to as 'the electrical storm'. So much for your cute little bun Tink. You have moved on to much bigger things!



I believe I now know where a good portion of that hairspray went...



I couldn't help but think of Toy Story when I saw Tinker Bell. How can you forget Sid, the next door neighbor kid, and all his mutant toys?



Or Toy Story 2- the very end where Prospector Pete is thrown into a little girl's backpack. The little girl grabs Barbie and puts her right next to to the prospector. Barbie says, "Hi. You'll like Amy." She then turns her head to reveal make-up all over one side of her face and says, "She's an artist."

Classic.

Toys really do put up with a lot, don't they?

Just one of the family...

A couple years ago I wrote this post about my kids.

It looks as though Spencer is fitting in with us rather nicely.



He was so darn tired today but wouldn't take a nap. He was cranky and sad. As much as I love holding him ALL DAY, dinner needed to be made so I put him in his high chair with a tray full of fruit hoping that would entertain him.

The next thing I knew- sleeping baby.

Confessions

I was driving the other day when I heard a little voice from the back of the car.

"Mom? (big pause)

Do you know why I put that rock in my ear?

You know how in Star Wars they have those things in their ears that they talk to each other with...

Well, I was trying to do that and then the rock got stuck and I couldn't get it out..."

Words to make a mother proud- there is some method to his madness!

The day of the rock-in-the-ear incident Taylor wouldn't say how the rock got in his ear. We finally dropped it thinking it would forever be a mystery. Dave mentioned that he would love to have been a fly on the wall to see what was going on when he put that rock in his ear.

Now we know. Now we know.

The Melting Pot

Okay, you know how I said I haven't been taking pictures at restaurants lately? Well, scratch that. Last night we went to The Melting Pot with Russ & Nat and Alan & Sam. I brought my camera, you know, just in case. I'm glad I did! We had so much fun!

Here we are looking a little fierce. I figure we needed to look fierce while eating fondue because we were wielding not one, but two, fondue forks.

Russ and Nat brought Amelia along. See her eyeing that bread... she was all about the fondue (not that she eats anything but milk but I can say whatever I want seeing as how this is my blog and I have never stated that all info on this blog is true or accurate...) See how fantastic Aunt Nat looks? Please remember that.

Sam and Alan looking cute and put-together. Each couple is given a platter of food to share. Lucky for Alan, Sam has a small appetite which mean Alan ate 3/4 of the meal, rather than the 1/2 the rest of us ate. We practically had to roll him outta there.

This picture of Russ and Amelia shows exactly how things were- steamy. Very very steamy. And delicious. And fun.

Natalie had this fantastic idea that each couple should feed each other some dessert fondue. Everyone else had it down. Not sure what happened here... All I know is that it made for a good laugh. Nat, I hope you won't give me up for sister-in-law adoption after seeing that I posted this picture of you on the Internet. Remember how you helped me start this blog? You knew what I was when you picked me up... It was done with love n stuff.

This was so fun and definitely something we should do again!

Another reason why blogging and mothering shouldn't be practiced simultaneously

I've found that one of the only ways to actually get stuff done in this wife and mother tornado I exist in is to multi-task. I am usually very conscious of it and can get a lot done. That said, I haven't perfected every aspect of multi-tasking. Some days I just can't get it right. Today was one of those days.

This morning Liv expressed interest in wearing her underwear again. She said, "No diaper. Pet Shop underwear." I was planning on being home all day so I figured today would be a good day to work on this whole potty training thing with her.

We went up to her room, picked out her pink pony Pet Shop underwear and put them on. She came downstairs with me to choose a big thing of juice. I figured I would just load her up on juice so I could work with her more often to go potty.

I gave her a drink and we went in and she sat on the potty. Nothin. I got her situated in front of a movie and I went to the computer to update the blog. And that, my friends, is where all my problems began. Blogging sucks me in and all of my mommy-radar capabilities shut down, or rather, are ignored. I tend to block out all playing, crying, whining, and um, potty-training 2-year-olds.

At some point I clued back into reality and went to find Livvy. Before I found her, I found this on the floor:



Yes, those are wet panties (sorry if the word "panties" makes you shudder- it doesn't bother me) on the floor with no child to be found. I went to find my nakie-buns baby. Upon finding her, I sent her up to her room to get another pair of underwear and then I went back to blogging.

Minutes passed and Livvy did not return. I could hear her very faintly upstairs and I just figured she was playing with her doll house. A few minutes later I heard a crying Livvy yelling, "Mama!, Mama!, Mama!, Mama!".

I ran up to her room and found her like this:



She was sad. She became even sadder when I said, "Liv, you are okay. Mommy will be right back with the camera." She began wailing louder- how dare you leave me stuck up here? I still can't figure out how she got stuck up there unless she opened the drawers, climbed them, and then shut them once she was in the top drawer. It's a mystery.



After I took pictures of Livvy-in-crisis, I lifted her and her nakie-buns out of the drawer. The backs of her legs were all red, adding to the mystery as to how she got up there in the first place. We picked out a pair of clean Pet Shop underwear and I helped her get them on. She was happy once we got new panties on- white with green frogs. She was even willing to pose for a picture to show them off. This kid...



We then went downstairs for another glass of juice. Seriously, I'm an idiot. Updating the blog must be serious business because guess what I did next? Yep- you guessed it- back to the blog.

A few minutes passed and I realized that I hadn't asked her in a while if she had to go potty. One step into the family room and I found this:



Don't recognize this? Then you must not have a cat, dog, or potty-training two-year-old. As I have mentioned before, the toilet and carpet are used interchangeably at our house so this is a familiar sight, usually met by either a sigh or lots and lots of ranting. And of course, the perpetrator is never anywhere to be found. Nor are the underwear.

I finally gave up and Liv is now wearing a diaper.

And the white underwear with green frogs?

I still don't know where they are.

Why?

Because instead of doing a search, I'm blogging!

Wicked

Last night we had tickets to Wicked! It was fun fun fun. (I know, that is the crappiest picture ever.)

During the month of May there is a thing called the dine-0-round going on. There are certain restaurants downtown that are offering a 3-course dinner for $15/plate and some restaurants offering a 3-course dinner for $30/plate. We decided to try out the dine-o-rama so we went to dinner at Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano. I'm not much for taking pictures at restaurants anymore but I figured, what the heck. So here we are, in all our big-group glory. Good times! Dave's brother and his wife didn't go to dinner with us but we met up with them at the theatre and sat by them for the show.

As usual, Wicked did not disappoint. Glinda threw her wand up during Popular and it didn't come back down- it got stuck up on the set. It was pretty funny. We have been safe-guarding our tickets for what seems like FOREVER. Time flies and now the show is over! It was worth the wait and we had a great time. Thanks for coming all you peeps of mine!