Mad Slime Scientist

The PCP got a slime scientist kit for his birthday and we finally got around to pulling it out.  After months of staring at it on the playroom shelf, we had the best time concocting all sorts of different slimes over the cold, wet weekend!

Proto-Plasmic slime that looks alive, Thermo-Chromic slime that changes colors at the touch and Atomic slime that glows in the dark all received rave reviews from our resident mad scientist.

 
And who knew that slime was perishable?!?!  I never ever in a million years could have dreamt I’d have bags of slime next to the greek yogurt.  For that matter, I never dreamt I’d be the mother of boys or that I’d actually look forward to greek yogurt with fresh fruit and honey for breakfast (you know, as opposed to things like Krispy Kremes and day old pizza).



The littles have dentist appointments after lunch and swimming lessons this afternoon.  There's not much I despise more than an hour and a half in that hot, steamy, chlorinated cave...the baby nearly drowned in his lesson last week so here's to hoping things go a tad smoother this go round.

xoxo

Looking Back {March 2010} + Boy Clothes

Every now and then I find myself hunting down pictures of what life was like three years ago. I love to remember exactly what John looked like at Whit’s current age and I can hardly believe the blonde baby that was once a permanent fixture on my hip.  It seems like yesterday and it seems like forever ago.



  
Time doesn’t stand still, but every now and then I try to make it. Those precious years now seem mere moments in time.

Speaking of the boys and time flying by, I am currently selling a bunch of their clothes on ebay - mostly size 3 with a few 2's mixed in.  There are a few darling outfits with "w" monograms and appliques and bids start at .99!  I've had a few people ask if I sell them but have since long lost those emails.  Please contact me if you are interested!

xoxo

Musings

Have you seen this floating around?  I laugh every time I think about it. 
The PCP was super proud of this castle tower.  Somewhere between ages four and seven I guess they flip the switch from building to destroy to building to build.  I spend a ridiculous amount of my day protecting his Lego creations from the bull in the china shop that is his little brother.



While on the topic of the PCP (which is short for Precious Cutie Pie…somebody recently asked me that and I’m pretty sure I failed to reply), I’m going to go ahead and call his 2013 resolution in dire need of course correction seeing as I practically have to wrestle the i-phone from him on a daily basis and he can sniff out a piece of candy or marshmallow a mile away.



Baby girl is still just as sweet as can be.  I seriously cannot wait for warmer weather so that we can get her out of these sleepers and into a proper monogrammed bubble!



I finally received my standard four boxes of Girl Scout Cookies.  The littles were so rotten one night last week that Honey actually found me hiding in the living room with a sleeve of do-si-dos when he arrived home from work.



More often than not I am seen around my neck of the woods with this little one sporting some form or fashion of superhero garb.  I’m going to miss this phase.



Speaking of the little superhero, here is ready for bed.  What you can’t see is his diaper.  Yes, I said diaper.  After three weeks accident free over night, he wet the bed once (and sometimes twice) a night for a week and I couldn’t take it any more.  He didn’t want to wear the diapers again but it wasn’t anything a new pack of lego star wars undies for day time couldn’t solve.  I’m also going to miss the days when a package of undies solves any crisis.  I seriously hope that blonde AW delivers another batch of those divine cookies when he “masters” it the next time.



Neighbor friend H is one of the most thoughtful gals in the world.  She treated me to this divine S’mores cupcake from Miss Mamie’s in Marietta to thank me for being designated driver for our girls night out.  I’m currently trying to figure out what reason I have to go to that part of town so that I can try some more!  I mean, Mamie is a Cupcake Wars champion, for cryin out loud!!!



If you’re not already drooling over that cupcake, consider this…  sea salt caramel gelato, oh my!  Did I mention the mini chocolate caramel truffles tucked inside?!?!



Remember the darling twins from The Change Up?  Well, it’s nearly inconceivable that we celebrated their THIRD birthday last weekend at a Jake and the Neverland Pirates themed soiree.  Cookie was beyond excited to sport his new Captain Hook garb.





We are headed to Savannah for a spell and I cannot WAIT!!  This pretty much sums up our visit from my parent’s perspective…



I’ve got TWO birthday girlfriend dates today so I’d best be getting myself ready!
xoxo

Teacher Appreciation Week

We just had Teacher Appreciation Week at the PCP’s school.  The PTA does most of the leg work and coordinates something special each day.  Thursday was “supply day” and each class presented their teacher with a basket of supplies and other items from the teacher’s wish list.  A sweet mom in the PCP’s class went above and beyond and also organized a collection to have this sweet “I’m Special Today” chair painted for birthdays and other occasions.  Another mom provided the 31 Gifts tote, monogrammed with Mrs. B’s name, for the rest of the collected supplies.



I expect she’ll have the sweet chair in her classroom for many years to come.  The students signed their names on the bottom with a paint pen and were thrilled to give it to Mrs. B!

 
If you’re in charge of planning Teacher Appreciation activities or are just curious, here’s what the rest of the week held…

• Snack day – parent volunteers pushed snack carts through the hallways and had teachers pick a few special treats throughout the day.
• Lunch day – the room mom for each class delivered lunch to the teacher from her favorite restaurant
• Luncheon day – teachers were invited to a special luncheon in their honor

On another note, the baby woke up with this unique do this morning.  It exemplifies exactly what Sister was talking about when she penned the book “The Rats in My Hair” in second grade or so…



Have a good one, y’all!
xoxo

Funny Faces

The PCP “performed” in his first school concert since pre-K a couple of weeks back.  The entire first grade came together to sing all sorts of songs about recycling.  Of all things.  It was surprisingly cute and well done, but it wasn’t the scripted parts of the show that had Honey and I snickering.  Rather, it was all of the funny faces we observed on the PCP.  He certainly ran the gamut of emotions in the forty-five minute or so production before really going out with a bang.

bored

caught in the act

exhausted

guilty

vampire-ish

irate

put out

dumbfounded

beat

gone

“OMG. Honey…HONEY, WHERE IS HE?”

“There goes his teacher, up on the bleachers.”

“Seriously!?!?  Did he pass out?  Throw up?  I think he passed out.”

It was the next to last song of the show and I couldn’t get through the thick of the crowd to see what happened.  This is was one of those moments when I wished more than anything that I had Sister or bestie M with me.  They would have called off the show without a second thought to get across the room to their babies.  Instead, I fretted, freaked out and had a mini panic attack until I saw his teacher give me the “he’s okay” from across the room.  She saw him get flushed and then start to slip between the crowd and ran up there to get him.  A little fresh air and a sip of water later and his was back in business.

 

He’s definitely got some drama in him.  I for one was thoroughly entertained.  That is until I was thoroughly freaking out.  One things is for sure… there is NEVER a dull moment around these parts. 

xoxo

Musings

SPOILER ALET: Please tell me I’m not the only one that didn’t know the handsome and enviable Matthew was going to be killed off in the season finale of Downton Abbey?!?! I mean, I really cannot come up with words to express my supreme disappointment. I immediately booted up my computer to find some answers – I mean WHY would they do that??? Well, it seems he wanted off the show and that was their only way to make it happen. UGH. I have just five words for him… the grass is always greener.

Speaking of Downton, did you see the fantastic party printables at Tatertots & Jello? I wish I’d had a good reason to use them but it seemed a little over the top (even for me) to string them up around my bedroom while I laid here by myself to watch the finale.



The student council at the PCP’s school sold lollipop Valentine’s to be delivered on the big day.  The PCP sent a few to kids in his class and besties in other classes and came home with one himself…  From our family friend Jacob: “You are my best frend”.  awwww



The baby’s fourth birthday party was featured at Hostess with the Mostess!  I mean, that’s only like the best party planning blog EVER :-)  I was beyond excited to his smiling face in my blog roll.  (See all the details here)

Photo from HostessBlog

Daddy-O has come up to Savannah with a trunk load of oranges straight from my parent’s next door neighbor’s yard on his last three visits.  They are simply the very best oranges I’ve ever wrapped my lips around.  I made fresh squeezed orange juice for breakfast one morning and the baby said it best when he exclaimed “Mommy!  This is the BEST thing I’ve never had!”


Another success in the kitchen has been Oh Sweet Basil’s Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas.  I’ve made them twice over the last month and they are divine!  They were so good, in fact, that they were the chosen meal for our “prepare a meal for someone who doesn’t expect it” Lenten activity.

Photo from Oh Sweet Basil

On the flip side of successful foodie finds would be the salt and vinegar kale chips I made for snack last week.  Let it suffice to say they have nothing on Lay’s.  (In retrospect I am wondering why on earth I thought I'd like them in the first place.)



I received the sweetest email and shot out from Amelia at Monograms ‘n Mud yesterday.  I was completely humbled at her kind words and then completely wowed by her blog.  I die at her basement – full of DIY goodness and totally my style…

Photo from Monograms ‘n Mud

I ate lunch at Zoes Kitchen for the first time this week and it was SO yummy!  I had the half sandwich (chicken salad) and half salad (greek minus olives) and was super happy with the meal.  It felt good to break out of our “errand day” Chick-fil-A lunch rut.

With that, I’m off to “nuggle” the baby before feeding him his usual three breakfasts and coercing him into helping me fold the four loads of laundry piled up all over our bedroom.
xoxo

Dare I Say

… that we are a diaper free household?!?!!? 


When we jaunted off to Target to replenish the baby’s night time diaper supply, he pitched a royal fit right there in the aisle – professing himself a big boy and dismissing the need for any more diapers.  Sooooo… I put the twenty dollar box right back on the shelf and steeled myself for weeks worth of wet sheets and middle of the night accidents.  (Okay, really for a couple of days worth because after a night of changing sheets I would have slapped a diaper back on him so fast he wouldn't have known what hit him.)  You see, while potty trained during the day for over a year now, he was still waking up with a soaked diaper every single morning. 

Well, I happily admit that I underestimated the sweet child.  When he sets his mind to something he does it!  It’s really quite remarkable and something I’ve noticed about him from as early on as the days of rolling over and smiling.  He’s had just one accident in the last two weeks!!

Sweet friends Emmy and Lyla delivered some of their momma’s divine salted caramel chocolate chip cookies to celebrate the occasion!



And while I can hardly bear the thought of my baby growing up, diapers are one hallmark of baby-hood that I most definitely will NOT miss!!

Congrats big boy – we’re so very proud of you!!
xoxo

A Few Gems from the Doctor

I feel like a trip to the doctor with two children is some sort of nefarious parenting test – one where doctors and nurses secretly conspire to see how the unsuspecting and likely harried mom handles her offspring while locked in a germ laden three-by-three cube with nothing but a spinning stool with wheels and a bench from which a fall would be catastrophic.  They probably sit back and watch our every move on surveillance cameras and write notations in cryptic shorthand on their strange little tablet devices as we try to tame our beasts in our nicest possible mean voice.  I really should ask my childhood pediatrician friend KRB about all this…

As for yesterday, the littles’ seemingly innocuous annual trip to the doctor ended with me not knowing whether to laugh or cry.  They were clearly out to rattle and shame me.  Here are a few gems from our visit:

When the nurse tells the boys to strip down to their undies John yells “OH  NOOOOO!” I’m thinking he is just embarrassed for her to see.  But no, he continues “I think I’ve had these same undies on like all week.  Definitely all week and they haven’t even been washed.”  I assure you this is not the case.  I mean, y’all know me.  Well, not really know me, but surely you know me well enough to know that I bathe my children and wash their clothes.  We put on clean undies and clean clothes every.single.day.  I mean, unless it’s PJ day.  But six out of seven days the child has on clean underwear.  Cross my heart.

And it just got better from there.  Like when John claimed he didn’t know his age or grade in school (I duly professed his brilliance as only a mother can) and when the baby danced Gangem style when asked to hop on one leg (I feigned ignorance.) 

Oh… I also loved when Dr H asked the baby about his favorite activity in school – W: centers; DR: which one?; W: legos; DR: what do you build?; W: GUNS!!! (and he proceeds to pretend shoot the doctor)

Much to my surprise and relief, Dr H proclaimed them “normal and healthy based on everything seen today.” (Which leads me to believe he must see some truly bewildering creatures in his day.)

To top it all off, the baby was due for vaccinations.   Is it just me, or do you hate having to hold your child down and look into their eyes as a nurse just out of their line of sight sticks them in the leg with an insane number of shots?!?!  It has always broken my heart and I dread it every year.  This year, the baby screamed out in sheer terror “I WANT MY MOMMY!!!!” and he jerked his head up looking startled to find ME there holding him down.  He asked me countless times after why I hurt him so bad.  Bless his heart. 

Just like that I forgave them for acting like complete dolts and promised the baby anything he wanted for supper.  He chose hot dogs and s’mores roasted on the porch and, once again, all was well with the W family :-).







Next year I’m totally going to rehearse before we go and pay for good honest answers…thank the lord this is a once yearly event.  :-)
xoxo

Chess Champ

After much begging and pleading (he gets that from his momma), we let the PCP enroll in an after school activity for first semester.  And he picked chess, of all things.  I cannot lie and say that I wasn’t quietly thrilled with this scholarly choice.  Much to Honey's horror, I cannot claim to know the first thing about the game myself (other than it makes a nice decorative addition to the basement.)  He won third place in the 1st & 2nd grade tournament (which I believe involves three different types of chess) and is over the moon with his trophy.



Per usual, I had to blink back the tears when he went up to receive his award.  It’s hard work keeping those mommy emotions in check, but I am determined not to purposefully embarrass the child :-)

xoxo

“Yes!” Day

We wrapped up a long and luxurious (in the pj wearing, game playing, tv watching kinda way) Christmas break this week with “YES!” day.  You know… the kind of day where I say “Yes!” to all of their requests. 

Can we have biscuits and jelly for breakfast?  Can we have two oreos EACH for breakfast dessert? Yes! and Yes! (what on earth is breakfast dessert???!!!!)

Can we play Sorry and drink hot tea?  Yes!  (I’ll be the first to admit that they are unique.  I call them “rare breeds.”)


Can we leave the TV on all day long and never turn it off?  Yes!  (currently the baby is enthralled with the SJP Seasme Street episode)
  
Can we have mickey mouse chicken nuggets, bell peppers and TWO MORE oreos for lunch and lunch dessert?  Yes! YES! and Yes!


Can we play dominos until you want to pull your (dirty, unwashed and uncombed sick) hair out?  Yes!
 
Can we sword fight?  Yes! (as long as it’s outside and as long as you don’t make a scene seeing as I have on PJs, have not showered in I lost count of how many days and have vapor rub all over my chest and feet)


Can we play more games when daddy gets home?  Yes!
 
(After bubble baths (Yes!) and new clean PJs) Can we get all the legos out and have the biggest battle ever?  Yes!


And… can we take all the pillows of the beds and make a fort?  Yes!


How this is different than any other day I am not exactly sure.  That being said, I sure am going to miss these days…


I suppose I’d best get to it.
xoxo