Painting The "Pre School" Tote Bag

What's a little bit of paint all over the floor, walls, and baby? Nothing that a little bit of water can't fix! Winston and Sheldon exercised their right brain hemispheres and creativity, and had a blast painting W's tote bag he is required to have for pre school. There was some serious painting going on!

Countdown To School: 2 days, and several hours...

I can't believe that Tuesday Winston will be a "student." Even though the definition of a pre-school student includes playing with play-doh, communal potty breaks, and making sculptures out of egg cartons....I still can't get over the fact my little man will be in a classroom with other students for 3 hours out of the day. I'm keeping my fingers crossed (very tightly) that this experience is a positive one for him and us. Brandon and I have made bets as to when we will get the first phone call home from the teacher. I'm hoping we can get through the first month at least without any calls or emails to home. If Winston makes it a month, then it will be smooth sailing from there. We had open house this past week, and I could tell he was initally apprehensive about being at the school. But once he saw all of the fun toys in the classroom (because learning is supposed to be F-U-N!!), he made himself right at home. I have a feeling that not only will the teacher being teaching Winston a few things, but he will be teaching the teacher a whole bunch of things--hopefully all positive! Wish us luck--I don't want to have to sit in the car like a stalker across the street, or have Winston give all of the other kids an anxiety attack with deafening screams!

3 Weeks Until The Big 1

I can't believe it....Sheldon turns 1 in about 3 weeks! Where did the time go? He's sleeping through the night, a climbing machine, eats anything put on his plate, and engages in sibling rivalry with his big bro. Today, we went to a moon bounce place so Winston could have a play date with a friend. Sheldon wanted to be right in there with the bigger kids. He was having an absolute blast bouncing and climbing all over everything. He is such a character (just like his brother), and I'm sure more of his personality will shine through as he gets older. I can't wait to hear what he has to say to all of us once he starts talking!

Dutch Wonderland!

One More Day Til I Turn 35...

So tomorrow is the big day...the big 35..halfway to 70....is 35 considered middle aged? I still have many things to cross off my "bucket list," so I better get cracking!
This past Monday we went to Dutch Wonderland amusement park. We weren't sure how W would react to all of the commotion with the people, and the rides....but we were pleasantly surprised. Initially we thought we would be there for 2 hours at most, but after 8 hours of riding all of the rides (some more than once) we knew we had a successful trip! At first, W was not too fond of waiting in the long lines, but he realized that he had to wait (with not many tantrums at all!) in order to get on the ride. What a great way to teach patience! That day turned out to be a blast for all of us, and a great way to start my pre-birthday celebration!

It Was a 5.8.....

So everyone is still buzzing about the 5.8 earthquake yesterday that hit the East Coast. I was feeding the baby and my husband was outside working on the patio when it struck. I have never lived on the West Coast, so I was a newbie to all of this earthquake stuff. My initial thought when I saw and heard all of my plates rattling was, WTF is Brandon doing to the house to make it shake that badly?! I also know we don't have a poltergeist, so that got ruled out as well. As the shaking continued, then I started to think we just had an earthquake. Winston looked at me and asked, "why is the house shaking, Mommy?" Sheldon kept eating of course. Now, I have always wanted to experience what a minor earthquake feels like. Call me bizarre--it won't be the first time, but I had always thought it would be an interesting sensation. Lo and behold, after almost 35 years of living, I can finally cross that one off my bucket list! (And it IS an interesting sensation!)

"Lord Of The Flies"

Hello. Thank God it is Friday. The weekend is almost here, and my husband will be home to share in the stress induced by multiple temper tantrums. Yesterday I took the kids to the Kids Museum. Sheldon was awarded a gold star for his behavior there. Winston, on the other hand, was awarded the "Most Dramatic-Best Temper Tantrum-Loudest Screaming-Most Misbehaved-All Eyes On You" Award. Things were going well, until Winston started playing at the communal building blocks table. Let's just say that, despite W's expansive vocabulary, the word "sharing" is not included. He threw a fit when other kids started playing with blocks. You would have thought he was auditioning for the starring role in the re-make of the Exorcist. We are talking all out screaming, stomping feet, almost hyperventilating, face all red kind of tantrum. The kind where every parent in the room stops and has a complete "WTF" moment. After about 15 minutes of his stellar display of acting out, I called my husband and asked if he could meet up with us there, because I was about ready to create bald patches on my head from pulling my hair out. Brandon works about 5 minutes from the museum, and he could hear W in the background, so he took an early lunch to come and meet us. Winston finally calmed down, but he was tired after expending so much energy tantruming (is that a word??). I just wonder how many calories you can burn with a tantrum?!
Today was not much better. Winston was up at 3:30 this morning, so he was still tired when he woke up later on. I packed all of the supplies needed to survive 2 hours at the park, and drove the kids to the playground. We were there for maybe 5 minutes before W transformed into a 50 year old grump. The list of complaints I heard, "no one is here...the slides are all wet...it's too hot...go home....put baby back in the stroller....the bench is all wet...my shorts are now all wet...etc. etc." I could tell it was time to go when a woman started talking about how she wished she watched Super Nanny when her kids were young, and how these young moms these days can learn a lot from watching it. Yeah, whatever...
When we got home, Winston decided to unravel the entire paper towel roll all over the floor while I was mopping the dining room floor. He had unraveled the toilet paper roll all over the floor this morning. He finds such amusement in doing this, since Sophia, on Teen Mom unraveled toilet paper on the floor. Just an FYI-we do not allow W to watch reality shows on MTV. He just happened to come into the room when my husband and I were watching it. Sheldon crawled over to the paper towel pile, and tried eating it while Winston was having a blast rolling around in all the paper. I really felt like I was living the toddler version of "Lord Of The Flies." All is well now, though, because both my little guys are asleep, looking like complete angels snuggled in their beds. This will be a nice 2 hour respite from the chaos!