Rainy day here

This is how we made it through the day so far. We went off to Target and ended with a pretzel for the kids and a Chai for me. Oh how great that was.

Elijah loves to feed Ada food.

We did not just go to Target for the Chai I am taking an online digatal photography class and we are to go someplace boring and take photos this week. Well I am going with a 4 year old and a 8 month old, life is NEVER boring, but I did get a lot of cool shots at Target. I think people might of thought that I was strange for taking photos of towels and stuff while trying to explain everything to Elijah and keep Ada happy, but what the heck.

Who needs toys?

She did not even look at the toys that I put next to her. She went right for this box, pulled it over, and started exploring it. Thank God we did not buy her a bunch of new toys, (she mostly has the 15 million that I HAD to buy for Elijah;)

We had a good weekend. Not much to tell about so I will leave it at that.


Today my goal is to be able to sit on the sofa at the end of the day. Wish me luck, I do not like to fold laundry and I have more loads to do.

It might be time.

This is what I used to cut my hair today, I think it might be time to call and get an appointment.

We had a nice day with friends (THANK YOU to everyone that came over today!) There was lots of fun, but at one point a friends child tells us that he wants to have a stepmother and not his mom. When asked why he tells us that he wants to fight her all the time. Cute. I guess this means that my child is not the only one that just wants to pick a fight.

I am so glad that it is Friday and Mark should be home soon, as long as when he said he might not be back was just a joke because there where so many kids here today (I hope, I hope, I hope)

Our blessed friends are taking Elijah for the night tomorrow, I do not even know how we are going to celebrate party live with out him(wink). (Thank you Stephanie for showing me how to do that.) Maybe we will go out to dinner and have a nice dinner with only the one kid that eats everything and does not talk back (yet). OK more then likely we will just watch something on TV and read our books, but it is nice to think that we might do something fun.

Have a nice weekend.

What is he doing?

'nuff said

Update

This is why we needed new bigger bookcases. (BTY my floor has been like this for oh about 8 months! Can you image how happy I am about this?)


AND HERE THEY ARE!!!!!!


Now I just need to stop myself from going up stairs and filling them instead of cleaning the house, which really needs to be done. Well if I get the house done fast I can work on this, if I do not take a nap instead;)

Good Big Brother?

E: Ada is crying
M: What happened?
E: I pushed her over because I wanted to hear her cry.
M: (silence, did I hear that right?)

The Park

Ada's first swing ride. I think she likes it.

Elijah going up the slide, who needs stairs?

Elijah coming down the slide.


Fun time was had by all.

The joy of the class clown

I have often referred to my son as the class clown so now I am going to look at the positive side of this.

We where in the car the other day and Ada was in an ok mood, until the class clown started singing, making faces, playing peek-a-boo... ,you name it if it made her laugh. After that she was laughing and screeching with joy. It was great!

Sorry that I did not write yesterday. I had a great day with my friend Mary, working on some new jewelry for me! (she makes jewelry and I just had to get her started making it again, by going to her house and picking out stuff I want her to make, showing up at the house the next day, and making her make it! I do not have any other reason for making her start working in jewelry again besides my deep desire to help her do things that she loves;) I will put up some photos when she gets the pieces done.

It is to be a nice day today so I am hoping that we will be able to walk to the playground and get Elijah out to get some of the pent up energy out. Right now he is in his room, because he was hitting his toy car for not behaving the way he wanted it to. I do not think that the car learned a lesson from the punishment that it received.

Got to go now and start being a parent and stop blogging.

I do not think this works the way you think it works.

I was talking to my friend on Friday who is 39 weeks pregnant, due next week and this is the conversation that we had:

Z: So you do not have long now, right? ( I have trouble remembering what day it is let alone what day she is due, but I do have an idea that it is soon.)
J: Next week.
Z: Yaehhhh!!!! What are you going to do with Ian while you are in the hospital?
J: We do not have a good option, we feel safe with the people that we have picked out, but not comfortable with calling them in the middle of the night. But I know that I will not go into labor before next week anyway.
Z: Why is that?
J: Because that is when my mom is coming and I am to stressed about the whole where is Ian going to stay to go into labor before then.
Z: (silence) OK

I do not think that labor works the way she thinks it works, but hay what do I know?

She was going to see the midwife that day and I was excited to find out what what she was going to say so I asked Jess to call when she finds out. So later I called to find out what was up.

Her husband answered the phone.

John: Hi Zoe
Z: Hi John, how is Jess?
J: In early labor, she is 5 centimeters dilated. (sounding a little freaked out)
Z: (YAEH!!!) Really? How is she doing?
J: OK, I am trying to pack for Ian and the hospital. I thought that I had another week.
Z: (Have these people never heard about babies coming when they want and not when you want them to?) It will be OK
J: I got to go now (panic is now setting in). Can I have Jess call you back?(not thinking clearly)
Z: It is OK just tell her I hope it is a fast easy birth.

After a long weekend, in which they got her mom to fly out and stay with Ian their baby was born! Little girl. Congrats to them!!!!

HAPPY EASTER

Not the best photo, but 2 happy kids.

Cute baskets.

Ada Elizabeth had a photo session earlier this week. I was making sure that the dress fit and she looked so happy and cute I had to take some photos.

We are having a great Easter. Even with the extra sugar that Elijah got, that made him a little crazy.

Excuse me?

Elijah and Ada took a bath together today and this is the conversation that I had with Elijah after the bath:

M: OK Elijah go get dressed, I am going to get a shower.
E: OK mom.
E: Oh wait I you did not put lotion on!
M: Thank you for reminding me, lets go get some lotion on.
E: NO!!! I DO NOT WANT TO HAVE LOTION ON!!!!!!!
M: (rolling eyes, smiling at Mark)

He is currently in the bathroom, it took him 1 1/2 hours to eat b-fast and go potty, saying "I wish I had purple soap" to himself.

It is snowing again, and it sucks! (not a great photo, but it is what I have the energy to take)

Fun Day Yesterday

OK I love this photo of Elijah. He looks so old and well like himself.

We had a great day with our friends yesterday. We meet them at Olbrich Gardens (and if I was cool I would know how to link that word to their website, but I do not know how to do that yet). Elijah was a bit of a tool, but it was still fun. I was going to bring my camera, but I forgot so I have not photos of that, sorry.

After Olbrich we went to lunch at Noodles and Company (again with the link thing). This seemed like a good idea at the time (go to a REALLY busy restaurant at noon with 4 kids) until Ada tipped over a full (and they give big glasses) glass of Coke on her lap. (When was the last time I put any extra outfits in the diaper bag for her? Oh good I have one shirt, but no pants.) Elijah had a brake down because the sun was in his eyes. (Thank God you can lower the shades.) It took a long time to find someone to help clean the table, because of the really busy restaurant thing. After we got Ada changed 2 kids to the potty, the shades lowered, some food in the kids things settled down some. I even got to eat. I am sure that there was at least one person around us that remembered they needed to refill their birth control pills because of us;)

After lunch we all come back to the house and the kids worked on removing the snow from the back yard. They had tons of fun.

By the time all the snow removal was done and they had had a snack, it was so late that I asked them if they just wanted to stay for dinner and a movie so that is what they did.

Yummy dinner of fish sticks and french fries.

So after a long day. Both my kids where in bed by 7:30 and where still there passed 7am! It was a great way to pass the day.

Today is a school day so it has been low key. Here is a nice photo of the trim work on the bookcases. For those of you that have been holding your breath waiting for it;)

Which one is better for you?

I was sitting at the counter eating my bowl of Special K and reading the back of these boxes to make myself feel better about the cereal that I chose. What do you think I found out? That the Wild Puff is in fact a little bit better for me then the Special K. I have to say that the Wild Puffs is kinda like Fruit Loops. Maybe tomorrow I will be having my Wild Puffs;) (BTW for anyone on Weight Watchers they are both 2 points for 1 cup).

I will post more bookcase photos later, because I know that you are all waiting with baited breath;) But they are starting to look really nice.

She Can Do it!!!

She can roll over!! The last 3 times that I have gone into her room after nap or sleep she has been like this. Happy and on her tummy. If I put her on her tummy she would scream until I take her off. So now we know that it is in fact not killing her to put her on her tummy;)

This is what my bedroom looked like yesterday.

This is what it looked like last night! It is coming along nicely. He says that it will be about another 8 hours of work. He will be back a couple of times this week so heres to hoping it will be done this week. All is going well as long as you over look the time that Elijah tipped over one of the end bookcases, thankfully Reed was there to get it before it went out the window, that would of sucked!

Elijah is really into bad guys these days. Everyone is a bad guy and bad guys always win. Most of the time Ada, me and himself are all bad guys and dad is a good guy (why is dad always a good guy?), but today we had a little different conversation.

E: I am a bad guy
M: OK (sigh)
E: Ada is a bad guy to
M: OK, but I do not want to be a bad guy.
E: Oh, you are not you are a good guy and dad is a good guy. Ada and I are bad guys and you and dad are good guys.
M: That is the way I think about it on most days (oops maybe I should not have said that out loud;)

One other Elijah saying;
E: It is as hot as cold water.
(how hot do you think that is?)

Advanced for his age

Elijah's new thing is jokes, but he does not get the idea of a joke and because he is 4 everything is funny. Here is an example of an Elijah joke.

E: Knock Knock
Me: Who's there? (reluctantly)
E: Door
M: Door who
E: Door who forgot to flush the toilet

At this point Elijah is laughing very hard and I am thinking, I thought that we would not get potty jokes until the 3rd grade. These kinda jokes go on all day long, a laugh all day here.

Sunday

photo by Zoe

We are having a nice weekend. Most of the snow is gone! We have been having really nice warm weather (in the 40's!) It is nice to see the ground again. OK it does not look as nice this photo, but nice (the photo is yet another one from South Africa). I am thinking about gardens and summer. Elijah was in the sand box this week, in his snow pants, but in the sand box.

Things are moving forward with the bookcase, moving kinda snail like, but moving. He is to be here today with the end bookcases and to start the trim work. If there IS major changes today I will post a new photo tomorrow, please do not hold your breath because I like you to much to have to pass out over something silly like my bookcases;)

Guess that is it for now. Hope that everyone is having a warm Sunday.

Hardship

Z: Elijah can you please show me how that works when we get home?
E: YES!
Z: If it is a hardship you do not have to show me.
E: No Mom it is not a hard ship I can show you.

Thank God its Friday

We had friends over today and it was fun. We did craft projects, played outside (it is sooooo warm out) and ran around. James, Ruby and Stephanie spent a good bit of the day here and it was nice to be with kids Elijah's age again. He has been going to school, but when it is mom-Elijah-Ada days we have either been sick or to many other things to do.

That is it for now. I will write more tomorrow.

Just for me

photo by Zoe

A list of things that are making my life fun these days:

• Craft night (I started a craft night and we had one last night it was small, but wonderful. I love that I can just hang out with my friends and work on crafts that I do not seem to have time to work on otherwise.)
• Weight Watchers (I have been wanting to loss some weight since before Ada was conceived, but it was more then I could handle. But now I am ready to loss all the baby(s) weight and all the "I can eat all those cookies" weight, and I am doing it with a friend so I get to see her every week and that is nice)
• This Blog (I love to take the time to write down stories, and use some of my photos for more then just space eaters on my hard drive)
• Quilting Retreat (Another one of my friends and I are going to go on a quilting retreat where all we have to do is quilt, talk and eat, this may not mesh well with the weight watchers one, but I will love it.)

That is all that I can think of right now, but for me that is enough for right now. Let me know what you all are doing just for you. It is fun to hear what others are doing.

Elijah Day

photo by Zoe

Elijah just laying around today. Just a list of things that Elijah is doing now:

• He can could count up to 29 without help and if I give him the 30, 40, 50s he can keep going.
  
• He loves to write letters and sees them everywhere we go. (E: I just saw 2 ee's)
• He is starting to know what letters words start with.
  
• He loves to give you a number and ask what it is. (a little hard when I am driving and I have to think what the number 58346 is? But still fun)
• He loves to talk to people on the phone (even the guy at Pottery Barn;)
• He can not sit still when he talks to people on the phone. (always on the move)
  
• He loves to draw and do craft stuff.
• He is a BIG help with Ada.
• I think he knows what most of the letters are. (some of them still confuse him like M and W)
• He told me the other day that he would eat Baked Ziti if it did not have any meat in it!!! This is big and we will be making BZ this week.
  

This is all I can think of right now. I am going to go play with him now as Ada is taking a nap.

Ada Liz

My mom ask me the other day if Ada was feeding her self so I thought I would put a couple of photos of her doing this. She loves to feed herself.

Photos by Zoe

The last one she is looking at one of her favorite things these days, Pippin! Who would not love a cat that lets you pull her near you and hug you. (we do try and stop her, but it is hard to keep Pippin away from her. We think that the cat just does not care as long as someone is paying some attention to her;)

The Vacation

OK not a great photo, but a good story.

Mark is going away for sometime. I wanted my parents to come out and help out with the kids. I thought that it would be fun for all and helpful to me. Here is the time line of the events that followed my request:

Z: Mom could you come out and help out while Mark is gone?
Mom: How about you come to Philly? We could take care of you here.
(ha lets see I could drag my kids 2 car seats, pack-n-play... through 2 airports to go to my parents house that is (I love you both but ) not the most child proof place in the world (fine for Elijah not as easy for Ada)).
Z: Thanks but no thanks that sounds like more work to me.
M: OK well we will talk about it.

A week or so later, while talking to my mom again.

M: Your sister and I were talking and we where thinking it would be fun to go on a family vacation. We where thinking that we could go camping, I just got a new tent and it is really big and wonderful. We could meet in Arizona or someplace like that. Your sister thinks that we could meet you in Chicago and help out with the kids. (this is a nice thought, but how am I to get to Chicago?;) What do you think?
Z: (silence) I will think about it.

*ahem* how do I tell my mom that the idea of camping with my 9 month old does not sound like it would make my life easier.

Z: How about we go to Portland OR? My friend lives there and she has a nice size yard. You and the kids can stay in the tent and I can stay in the house. ( this is a nice compromise right?)
M: What and be blown up by the volcano?
Z: (silence)

OK time to talk to my sister.

Z: So I hear mom wants to go camping. I do not think that I am up for that. I know that you and Lewis would love it and I am thinking that I should just tell mom to go without me. Do you think she will take this OK?
Alyssa: I think she will be fine with it, but I do not need to go camping, why don't we get cheap flights somewhere and meet for a vacation? How about Vegas? I hear you can get cheap flights there.
Z: That sounds like fun I will talk to mom and dad about it.

Time to talk to mom again.

Z: Mom I am not really the camping kinda girl and I think that you should go camping with Alyssa and Lewis, but it does not sound like that much fun to me.
M: (silence)(I think that she is more disappointed that I am not a camping kinda girl then anything else;)
M: That is OK we can do anything you want. (What a great mom)
Z: I want you to come here and help while Mark is gone.
M: Of course we will do that!
Z: (thank God!)
M: But I still want to go on a family vacation.
Z: I will look into if for us if you want.
M: Sounds great!

So after MANY calls to the travel agent (she is GREAT) and to my family (how hard can it be to find something that all 9 of us would like and a time for all of us that would be good?) we decided on a cruise!

So to sum this up we started with a simple camping trip and ended with a cruise (much more up my ally;). Way to go mom and dad for sticking with us.

Sorry this is so long, but I had to get it down so we could remember it.

Crazy Socks

Elijah has this new thing that he loves 'Crazy Socks'. Crazy Socks is when you wear 2 different socks. This is a conversation that I had with him this week about socks.

E: Mom today is crazy sock day.
Z: OK that is nice to know.
E: Do you have crazy socks on?
Z: No I did not know it was crazy sock day.
E: Can you PLEASE put on crazy socks?
Z: If I need to change my socks I will put on crazy socks.
E: OK if you pee on your socks you can put on crazy socks!
Z: OK if I pee on my socks I will put on crazy socks
(I had to try really hard not to laugh)

By the way I did not have crazy socks that day.

Good Day

Photo by Zoe

Another random photo from Africa.

We are having a good day. Elijah helped me clean the upstairs earlier and when I say help, I mean HELPED! He dusted, cleaned, entertained Ada and much much more. How can this be the same kid from a couple of days ago? (I know he is a 4 year old!) I even let him watch extra TV today because he was so good. (I hope this will encourage him to help more often;) We still have the downstairs to do and I have run out of steam, I hope that I will have more energy after I rest a bit.

Thank God it is Friday. I am looking forward to a nice weekend and help that all the cleaning will make it so we can do some fun things this weekend.

Have a nice one everyone.

Plants

photo by Zoe

Mark has taken over the watering of the plants in our house. This used to be my job, I was the only one that remembered that they needed watering on a regular bases. But since Ada's birth they seem to be off my radar. I think that they might all turn brown before I noticed. But with all good relationships my wonderful husband has stepped up and now every week or so I see him with a bucket of water (I always wonder what he is doing as I have once again forgot we have plants) saving the plants. What a great man.

Africa day

photo by Zoe

Just a random photo from Africa. I am planning a quite day with Ada and my friend Mary. We are going to craft and maybe hit the stores. I may write more later and I may not depends on how much fun we have! Have a nice day, enjoy the snow if you have it and enjoy the warm weather if you are lucky enough to have that!

The Good

Elijah is now showing me numbers and asking me what they are, very cute. And he is making his sister laugh wonderful, I guess I will keep him;)

The good the bad and the ugly

This sums up our day so far. The E-man is in quite time for an extra 1/2 because he could not stop being his grumpy self today;) Oh 5:30 here we come! We went to the zoo and that was good for the time we where there, but there must be something in the air here at home today because the min we got home things turned bad again.

6:30

Here is a random photo of Elijah as I have not put any of him up yet.

Both kids where in bed by 6:30 last night!! Ada could not make it any more and Elijah was in a foul mood so we just made him go. It was really nice.

Got to go and figure out what out-of-the-house thing we are going to do today. Elijah NEEDS to get out or tonight he will be going to bed at 5:30!

Here are the bookshelves. They are not all here and need facing and all, but there is something done!! For those of you that do not know the long story of this I will not fill in all the stories that go with it, but the long and the short of it is that we have been waiting for these for over 9 months now. I am so happy to have something there.

This is what our house is like today. QUITE! Elijah is at pre-school today and it is nice and quite.

You will soon find out that I am using this blog mostly to have a place to put up all my photos;) This is another photo that I took in South Africa. I took about 3000 photos so there are plenty of photos to last a long time.

I need to give a nod to Mark who was very helpful last night getting this web page up and running. I love that I can fall into these things and Mark can help me get out of the hole I got into and into a place I really wanted to be in. Thank you Mark.

2nd try

I am not sure that I love this layout, but I am giving it a try. I expect things will change over time, but for now here it is.

Also I wanted to add this photo of my mom and I from when we where in Africa. I love this photo of us and thought that on her b-day it would be nice to have a photo of her up.

OK it is not the best photo, but I still love it.

Oh and we got part of the bookshelves. I will try and send photos tomorrow.

B-day greetings

Oh, I forgot to say,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!

First Day

From earlier today (4:11 PM) on wrong blog provider...

Ok this is just a trial so if you do not like what you read tune back in when I have gotten better at it;)

Ada Elizabeth is in a bad mood today and I think it is because she has this sickness that Mark and I just got over (not really got over just not as bad anymore). Elijah is in a forced outside time. It was a kicking and screaming get out of the house time (him kicking a screaming not me).

We are about to get some bookshelves that we have been waiting for (about 9 months) and it is about time! I hope that they will look nice after all this time. I will try and put some photos up, but do not know how to do that yet.

I have to go as Ada is crying and Elijah is coming in. Will write more later.