Kid Conversation

Sometimes when Jack wants something we are hesitant to give him, like a treat, Jay wil ask him a hard question they have to answer in order to get it.  (it's often unfair... like what is the square root of 36?  Although, he's been trained to answer "what is the square root of 16?" since it's his age...)  This was the first instance Peach merited her own hard question.
Jay: (as he fills up her milk for her...) "Peach, who do you love more, mommy or daddy?"
Peach:  "blankie"

well.  now we know.

Brrrr

It has been SOOO COLD this year.  We have had snow on the ground since before Christmas and it has stayed put!  Luckily, The Frog is FINALLY old enough to spend at least as much time playing in the snow as I spend helping him put all his gear on and take it off when he's through, so the days of fresh snow are great, for him.  (Peach, on the other hand... doesn't last as long...)

Peach got a sled for Christmas and they've been sledding at a nearby park several times.  Though they have lots of fun while they're there, The Frog is always crying by the time he gets home because his thumb is cold (he sucks his thumb even through his mitten despite our reiterations of the consequences... le sigh).

It usually gets just above freezing during the day for a bit, and then goes right back down.  As a result, we had some amazing icicles going on this year!

One day, Jay and the kids decided to "harvest" the icicles.

And do what with them?  Turn them into guns of course! (boys...)

Peach was content to suck on them.

I attempted to go sledding with them once, so I could get a picture of them doing it, which means Hazel was going to have to brave the snow as well.

Wearing a bunny bunting sent all the way from Japan!  Thanks Iris!! :)

The Frog is already sucking on his mittened thumb.

Turns out it was too cold for Hazel (and me too) so after snapping one run down the hill, we headed back to the car so she could take her nap.  Thank goodness for my phone, I was able to stay happily occupied :)

Somehow, the kids don't mind getting sprayed in the face too much.

Kid Conversation

Peach loves playing doctor and will often come up to me out of the blue and ask, "mom, are you sick?"  This was a particular doctor visit:
Peach: "What's wrong?"
me: "My tooth hurts"
Peach gets out the blood pressure cuff and, with my help, puts it on me and "measures" my blood pressure.
Peach: (very authoritatively, with furrowed brow) "You got too much blood!"
She goes on to "measure" other things and The Frog comes over and puts the blood pressure cuff back on
The Frog: "You don't have any blood!!"
me: "Really?  Peach just told me I have too much blood!"
The Frog: (Leans in and whispers) "That's my sister.  She doesn't know much about doctor stuff."

I Hate You

I don't know where the kids got this from... but lately they've been saying "I Hate You" sooooo much!  In their pretend play, to Jay & I when they don't get their way.  I would have never DREAMED of saying this to my parents.  It's just soo RUDE!  (I think...)  Should something be done?  Is it just a phase?  Should I be worried?

I've been trying to say back to them what I think they really mean:
kid: "I hate you, mom!"
me: "Don't you mean you are disappointed that we can't do that right now?"

Thoughts?  What do you do? What did your parents do?  What do you wish you or your parents did?

Kid Conversation

For some reason, lately, The Frog thinks it's HILARIOUS to run outside BAREFOOTED in this below-freezing weather (and our sidewalks aren't completely clear either...)

Jay: [Frog], I insist that you put your boots on to come outside and help me shovel.
The Frog: I don't insist.

Which reminds me... Jay bought a new snow shovel the other day, and the kids were with him and convinced him to get one for them too.  The Frog LOVES it, and yesterday after an early-morning grocery run, he begged me to shovel the driveway.  What could I do but say yes? :)

Kid Conversation

I almost always have a burp cloth on my shoulder when carrying Hazel around, and often leave them all over the house, as a result.  The Frog found one and brought it to me saying:
The Frog: "Here mom.  You can use this when that one has too many burps on it."

Life with a Potty-Trained Child

Potty-training has been sooo long and drawn out with The Frog, and even now, he still has occasional accidents.  I never thought I would be so proud of someone for taking them-selves to the toilet to do a #2, but really I still feel so triumphant every time.   Some funny things about The Frog using the toilet lately I wanted to remember so I could tell his future dates ;)
Whenever he needs toilet paper, he gets off the toilet and give the roll his full attention.  Then, using both hands, he rips the toilet paper (always only 1 square) verrrrry carefully.

The other day, The Frog had been outside without mittens on and when he came in, he said (more like bawled...) his hands were freezing and he needed his mittens.
Fine.
We all went about our daily business and later The Frog comes running through, with a particularly proud look on his face, and soaking wet mittens.
The Frog: I used the potty!!
Jay: Good job!
Me: Were you wearing your mittens while you used the potty?
The Frog: Yep!  And I washed my hands!

Hence, the wet mittens.

As of yesterday, I have commenced the training of little Peach, who I fear has lost the eagerness she had right before Hazel was born.  Any pointers would be appreciated.

Family Portrait

We were reading bedtime stories, as usual, and it occurred to me that maybe if I pulled out my phone it could fit all of us cuddled up so:

Kid Conversation

Something funny lately, Peach often tries to defend herself with the conflicting
"Yes, I'm not!" or "No, I am!" when she means "Yes, I am!" or "No, I'm not!"

On Saturdays, Jay has been taking the kids swimming or to the movies (Peach finally got to come to the movies two times ago- "Wreck-it Ralph" was her first) and then they'll either bring home a pizza for lunch or get burgers somewhere.  Usually, they go to Smash Burger, but this time, when they got home, I inquired:

Me: Where did you get lunch?
The Frog: Five People
Me: You mean, Five Guys?
The Frog: Yeah, Five Guys.
:)

Uncomfortable Feet

Peach has lately begun the stage where she takes off all her clothes after we put her to bed, and then wets the bed.  every. single. night.  Even if I check on her after she goes to sleep, and then put her diaper and pjs back on, she'll take them off when she wakes up in the morning.  Finally, I decided to take matters into my own hands and put her pajamas on backwards- which she says makes her feet uncomfortable. :)

Anyone else deal with this?  How do you get them to stop?  The only thing I can think of that might work is to take her blankie away, but I just don't feel right about doing that...

Kid Conversations

I've been stock-piling notes about kid conversations and other cutenesses in my email for months and I'm starting to look over them and now I can't remember what I meant for a lot of them :(  I'm going to try and get out the ones I can still appreciate over the next few days before I forget!

Both kids often put on their filled-with-randomness-backpacks at say "bye, mom!  I'm going to ____".  Sometimes the doctor, sometimes preschool (Peach), grandmas... all kinds of places.  Well this particular day...
The Frog: "Bye, mom! I'm going to babysit!" (to himself) "oh, I need to bring my axe."

I can't decide if I should be more worried about his current babysitters, or his future babysitting career....

A Little of this and That

Some more pictures uploaded from recently:

Maybe this will give you a sense of the child love going on lately (and the mess...)

pile-o-kids

After finishing The Frog's and Peach's 1st year photo albums, I realized that I NEVER get a picture with the babe because I'm always the one taking the pictures! boo.  I asked Jay to take some photos of Hazel and I one day.

her tongue is a frequent visitor

don't know what's going on here... found her like this

helping me with the laundry

lately, whenever I make bread, The Frog really wants to help.  (it's so cute.  I have to let him!!  Even though whenever I do, Peach wants to help too, and she just eats the dough.  Is that safe?  I get images of her stomach exploding and dough flying all over the kitchen.  Now you know about my wild imagination...)  When he helps with rolls, he just tries to form the rolls (which is so funny to watch.  he looks more like he's about to play baseball) but when I make French bread, he likes to make his own mini loaf.

mini Frog loaf

He is so proud, it's adorable.

I wanted a sibling shot.  Can someone teach me how to get them to take their fingers out of their mouths for photos?!

size comparison

We recently decided to mandate a "stay in your room until 7am" rule to try and get The Frog to sleep in.  Otherwise, he wakes up before 6am to play with toys by himself, and is cranky the rest of the day for being tired.  If we give him a nap, he stays up later in his room, which causes him to wake up early again and the cycle repeats...  Here is the evidence:

The Frog fell asleep at the kitchen table while reviewing his letters with daddy in the afternoon.

After about a week of battling him in the mornings, he now "sleeps in" until 6:45-ish.  Hurrah!  He is SO much more pleasant to be around lately!  (and I get to shower before the kids are up.  PURE HEAVEN!)

Christmas 2012

Christmas was so fun this year.  We're still a young enough family that we're trying to decide what our traditions should be, and since our kids are really loving donuts lately, I thought it might be fun to try making some for a special Christmas breakfast.  (Normally, our kids aren't allowed treats until after lunch).  I made this donut recipe for Christmas breakfast.  SOOOO GOOD.  The glaze was much richer than your typical powdered sugar and milk also.  YUM!  I made the dough the night before and let it rise in the bowl overnight in the fridge.  Then I pulled the bowl out of the fridge while we went through our stockings.  Then we all rolled and cut them out and let them raise while we opened presents.  The timing was perfect!  We had dinner with our neighbors.  I'm getting really good at rolls... I'll share after a few more experiments :)  Some pics below:

Singing a Christmas hymn before opening presents

The Frog found the pickle ornament this year!

anticipating his pickle prize- green tic tacs (they look like pickles, right?)

Peach riding on Hazel's gift from Nanie & Gampie, wearing a gift sent from Iris

Frying doughnuts

glazed mmmmm

kids wanted sprinkles

whipped cream filling. mmmmmmmmmm

Christmas 'n Crafty

I had high hopes of pulling off an advent calendar with an activity every day, but just couldn't get it together.  I need to plan earlier next year.  We did do a few of the things on my list though.

I went SUPER SUPER easy for neighbor gifts this year- something the kids could help with, quick and non-messy.  We made these little nutter butter reindeer cookies.

We made snow globes of the kids one day, but it didn't end up being that cool- it was more like a mom project and also they just weren't that fun with glitter that FLOATS.  boo.  They didn't get a lot of use and now they are still sitting on the kitchen counter, cluttering up my life and I can't decide what to do with them.  For some reason, I can't throw them away...

At my ward's play group, the kids made these little "snowman Nativities".  Isn't marshmallow baby Jesus adorable?

Our kids always fight over who gets to say the prayer at meal time (and usually we end up saying it twice...) so I made a little prayer chart so we can take turns.

I wanted to make sure we did this hand-print ornament of each child, so I could remember they use to be small once. Hazel's was tricky-  she kept digging her fingers into the dough, so I had to trace her hand on paper first, then cut it out and use that as a template.  Sadly, some of the lines from the paper got in the dough and hers has little blue lines in it.  Live and learn.

December Kid Pics

It took me forever to upload my camera pics because I felt like I wasn't taking any. Well, when I finally did it on Sunday I saw that I in fact had over 300!!

Peach and The Frog beg to have a "sleepover" every night and we have decided to let them do it on Fridays only.  (they always stay up WAY too late playing and most of the time, someone gets hurt)  Here's a shot of one of the more successful sleepovers- they both ended up in the trundle.

One of The Frog's most requested video games to watch Jay play is Mega Man.  Here he and Peach are pretending to be Mega Man and Mega Girl.

2 of my cuties:

Just a cold day on the trampoline.  Sadly, it's hard to jump when you have all your snow stuff on, and it's not getting as much use lately.  (it's also FREEZING cold!!  More on that in another post)

I thought I should document how Hazel spends half of her time during the day:

Hazel started smiling at 6 weeks old and it is SOOOOO cute.  Usually it's a big open-mouthed one, but they are so hard to catch because cameras are not worth smiling for...

I thought Peach looked so cute in The Frog's hat.

Both kids are always wanting their turn holding Hazel.  It's so cute.  Here, The Frog wanted to set her on his lap while he watched Jay play video games.

Trying to catch a Hazel smile:

Here's a good one!

PS. I LOVE these little knit Mary Jane- if anyone has a pattern, I would so be interested!  I don't think I can pull off copying them on looks alone.

Love this girl.  If only we could all pull off striped pants with such cuteness!