Happy Birthday to Little A???

Tonight we went to Fresh Choice for dinner. During dinner we were talking about our weekend plans which include Big A's LAST baseball game of the season and a birthday party for two of their friends. Little A asked if we would sing "Happy Birthday" to their friends tomorrow and we assured her that they would. With that they were off with Daddy to get ice cream cones.

When they returned, B left again to get his own dessert. Little A asked again if they'd sing "Happy Birthday" tomorrow and again I said yes. With that Big A and Little A broke into a heart-felt rendition of "Happy Birthday to Little A" which resulted in a huge round of applause and many birthday wishes from the surrounding diners. (Note: Apparently my fluency in two-and-a-half-year-old is NOT as developed as I once thought!)

A bit embarrassed, I quickly jumped in with, "Well! That's news to me! It's NOT her birthday!" About that time B returned with his dessert and was just as shocked as I was.

Funny? Yes! Awkward? A little!

Really, we WERE there for the REAL birthday party and we have the pictures to prove it!

Cluck, Cluck, MOO

Today I asked B and Little A to run an errand for me while Big A was in school. Since they ended up close to my work, they called to ask if I wanted them to come visit. They arrived and I went down to the car. I talked to Little A and gave her snuggles and then got in the car with them to go to Starbucks (Who says you can't have more than one cup of coffee per day???).

When I got in the car the conversation went something like this:

Little A - "Where are we going?"

Me - "We're going to Starbucks."

Little A - "I want chicken nuggets and Coke."

Me - "Honey, they don't have chicken nuggets and Coke at Starbucks."

Little A - "I WANT chicken nuggets and Coke."

Me - "They don't HAVE chicken nuggets and Coke at Starbucks, Silly."

Little A - "FINE! I'll have a hamburger and milk."

Out of the mouths of babes...

Ear Tubes & Allergies & Bad Words, OH MY!

Ear Tubes - Little A is suffering from her NINTH ear infection since late October. NINE! Poor baby! She can't hear you half the time because there is so much fluid in there... "WHAT?" I hear that A LOT in my house. It gets old, but at the same time it's SO sad. And getting her in to a doctor who can help her has proven QUITE challenging.

We started with an ENT who had treated me after our cruise last fall when I was suffering from some CRAZY sinus infection that would not respond to any treatment (Okay, so it turns out it wasn't a sinus infection... Perhaps that would be the reason why it wouldn't respond to treatment for a sinus infection?) Anyhow... She told us that Little A needed tubes but we weren't madly in love with that doctor decided to seek out a second opinion because we had heard such WONDERFUL things about another ENT in a different town. The new ENT took one look at Little A and said, "I'd like to operate on this little bird right now." That said, we knew it was time to get tubes but the new doctor couldn't operate on her because he can't operate on patients in our health plan at his local hospital. He referred us to ANOTHER doctor back in the town we'd started in but after making an appointment with THAT doctor it was brought to my attention that maybe we were not making the best decision in seeing that particular person.

OKAY! So NOW we're back to square one. No really... I mean SQUARE ONE.... Okay, well maybe square two. We're back to the same practice as the first doctor, but a different practitioner. However, we can't get Little A (and Big A since he's failed FOUR hearing tests) in until June 22. Our pediatrician was going to see what he could do about getting Little A in sooner so that we can get a surgery date sooner and get her on the track to recovery, but I haven't heard anything yet. Wish us luck!

Allergies - Poor Big A... He has the WORST allergies. Today grandma brought him to his baseball game and when I met him there it looked like he'd been playing in the dirt all day and crying the entire time. His face was streaked with black dirt and his eyes teared continuously. If there is one 'trait' I wish I hadn't passed on to him, it's allergies. Sorry, Buddy!

Bad Words Words That We Feel Are Inappropriate - Okay, so they may not be BAD per say (unless you count the occasional dammit or crap ("Mommy, is that how you say poo-poo in Spanish?") ) but they are definitely words that we have agreed we don't want to constantly hear in our home. Can you guess what they are? If you guessed POTTY WORDS, you're correct! EVERYTHING begins or ends with poo-poo! Did you know that for dinner tonight we had poo-poo hot dogs? Go figure! Unless it's a reflection on my cooking, I don't even know what a poo-poo hot dog is! I need advice here! How do I get the kids to stop saying potty words?

Tonight was one of those bad mommy nights... You know... The kind where you say things that you later regret and are feeling guilty as the kids are supposed to be going to sleep and in the end, what's done is done and there's nothing you can do to change it??? I HATE THAT!

Maybe tomorrow will be better.... *HEAVY SIGH*

Annual Yard Planting

In our house, spring means a newly planted front 'yard' and vegetables in the back. I was so excited to spend today working in my little dirt patches, weeding and cleaning, digging and planting... And the finished product is so pretty! All we need to do is finish Little A's stepping-stone and get some more cocoa mulch. Oh... And we haven't started out back...

Big A had planted seeds in a little plastic cup at school a few weeks back . After a couple of weeks the little sprouts weren't doing so well and I told him we were going to have to throw them away. He looked at me and shouted, "YOU KILLED THEM, MOMMY!"

Shocked... "No, Honey. I didn't kill them. I'm not sure what happened but I think they may have had too much water." (Great! Now my son thinks I'm a killer...)

And then it hit me! "I have an idea! I have two little pots in the garage. We'll go pick out some seeds and you and Little A can each plant one pot of flowers. I have two large planters in the back. You can plant those too!"

"OKAY! Can we go now???" (WHEW! Redemption! And off we went to get seeds...)

Today we planted the little pots in the front and sometime this week we will finish the back but for now they're satisfied (and DARN CUTE!)!

Hey Monkey, I Graduated!

After 12 long years and lots of money, B graduated from college yesterday with a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Studies. The ceremony was at 9am and it was cold and foggy. This weather was much preferred over the rain from last year or the extreme heat from two years ago.

We weren't sure how the kids would handle the three hour ceremony but we bribed them with cheezits and raisins they did AWESOME! Big A walked up and down the aisle flirting with Grandma T and Sinda and sitting on Grandpa T's lap. Little A played with princesses and got her nails painted and listened to all of the names being called.

After the ceremony we had a lunch back at my parents' house. We celebrated with a few good friends and family and just enjoyed the day.

It's been a long, sometimes stressful road but we're all SO proud of B. He's worked really hard and has accomplished so much over the years. The question of the day was, "What's next?" B has had many thoughts on this subject... High school teacher, lawyer, etc. but most recently he's thinking that he wants to be a pastor. He's looking at at least six more years of school in a seminary program. We have a seminary within 50 miles of us but it is a full-time, live-in program. He has found a program based in Minnesota that is mainly conducted online and requires 4 weeks per year of study at the Seminary. This would be a difficult feat while working full time and raising a family, but if anyone can do it, B can.

B, God has big plans for you and while they might not be clear at the moment, they will be. Keep praying and whatever will be, will be. GO B!

Also, we want to give a big shout out to our good friend, J! J graduated yesterday with a Masters in Education! YOU ROCK, J (and the pay increase is nice, too!)!

All Quiet On The Webbstern Front!

I heart quiet Sunday afternoons following LONG Saturdays!!

A Shout Out To Linda Vujnov!

For Mother's Day B and the kids got me a book of devotions for moms called Spilt Milk. (Let me just interject here that Big A chose this gift for me because it has a bowl of Fruit Loops on the cover. It's very appropriate for Big A since A) Fruit Loops is his favorite cereal and B) he is the biggest offender when it comes to spilt milk has many accidents resulting in spilt milk.)

http://www.amazon.com/Spilt-Milk-Devotions-Linda-Vujnov/dp/0310285119

The author, Linda Vujnov, starts the book with a story about her kids singing about "a gal named Miss Susie". I'm sure you've all heard the old hand slapping chant before... "Miss Suzie had a baby, they named him Tiny Tim..." You know the rest! Admit it, you know it!

Anyhow, the first few pages is devoted to the author complaining about her kids singing this song over and over and over for days on end. She was complaining because she couldn't get the song out of her head and was singing it ALL the time as she went about her day. I just want to take a moment to thank you, Mrs. Vujnov... I have now been singing Miss Suzie for TWO DAYS STRAIGHT! If it bothered you so much, why put us through the same misery?

But seriously... I'm enjoying the book!

"I NEED TO GO POTTY!"

Why is it that kids who are potty training pee their pants and THEN say, "I NEED TO GO POTTY,"? And why is it that said kids will not tell you ALL day long that they need to go potty (unless of course they just wet their pants) but as soon as you put them in bed at night they're screaming from upstairs, "I NEED TO GO POTTY"?

Yesterday Little A had two... Count them, TWO.... accidents! And both time she was RIGHT at the bathroom. Then last night (and at 5:00 this morning), after the lights were out and everyone was settled in for a good night's sleep, she got up to go THREE times!

While I must say I'm SUPER proud that she's telling us she has to go sometimes, I'm always annoyed a wee bit frustrated when she has accidents which could have SO easily been avoided. She's lucky she's SOOO cute!

Naptime... Or Something Like It...

Big A hasn't taken a nap since Monday. We don't usually give him naps during the week, but on the weekends we do so that he can catch up on his rest. Today it's so hot in our house that I let the kids sleep downstairs on the couches where it's cooler. I'm working at the computer near the couch where Big A is napping flailing his arms and legs around and rolling all over whispering to himself. He pops up every few minutes to ask if his nap is over to which I reply, "No, you haven't gone to sleep yet."

The last time he popped up the conversation went something like this:

Big A - "Mommy, can I be done with my nap now?"

Me - "No, you haven't gone to sleep yet. You've fought a nap for the past three days. You need to get some rest."

Big A - "*HUMPH* I wish I was ninety-nine so that I could do whatever I want!"

We had a similar conversation at breakfast this morning when he asked why daddy gets to drink soda with breakfast. I guess it's a good question, since we always make the kids drink milk or juice but daddy drinks Diet Coke...

And then comes the answer that growing up we always hated and promised never to use on our kids.... "Because I said so..."

And with that, Big A has lunged himself off the couch and into a heap on the floor and the fight goes on....

Ah.... The joys of the fabulous fours!

Farewell to Mama and Talking Death with a 4 Year Old

At 10:30 last night, B's Mama went home to be with Jesus.

We've known for about fifteen months that the time was coming, but were somewhat surprised to find out yesterday that she had a maximum of three days left to live. I decided that it was important to fill Big A in on what was going on so I got down on the floor with him and we started talking. We talked about who Daddy's Grandma was, where she lived, and if he remembered why Daddy had gone to see her last year. He knew all of that so I continued on by telling him that she was really, really sick and that very soon she would be going to live with Jesus in Heaven. He just looked at me for a second and then the tears filled his eyes.

I pulled him into my arms and we cried together. He said to me, "I really hope I can see her again before she dies." With my heart aching I explained that Daddy had already been to see her, that we would not be able to get to her before she died, and that it would be really, really expensive to get plane tickets for all four of us. His response was to cry harder which made me cry harder and snuggle him tighter.

We stayed like that for a minute or two and then, in typical four year old style, the tears stopped as quickly as they had started and he said, "I REALLY wanted to fly on a 727." I love that boy! So sensitive, yet so.... BIG A!

Be at peace, Mama... We love you and we will see you when we get there!

Erma Webb ~ April 23, 1923 - May 14, 2009

The Cutest Little Mickey!

Last night Big A had his spring show at school. It was cute! The show was Disney themed and all the kids were asked to dress up in Disney costumes if they had them. Big A wore his light-up Sorcerer Mickey hat. Right before the show started they turned off the lights in the chapel. We couldn't figure out why and were bummed because it was not optimal lighting for picture taking. The show started with the theme song to the Main Street Electrical Parade and all the kids marched in with glow sticks. Had it been truly DARK in the chapel, it would have been a super cute idea! Big A's hat would have really twinkled, too. Oh well! The thought was a good one!

After all of the kids were situated the entire group sang a song and then the 3 year olds sang. After that Big A's group sang "Hi Ho, Hi Ho" and "M I C K E Y M O U S E". You could tell that the kids were truly enjoying themselves!

After Big A's group sang, the older kids sang and then the entire group performed one last song. Little A stood in front of me and danced and clapped the entire time. She is super excited for her turn to "go to kool!" Only one more year! I can't believe how quickly time passes!

Although it's all happening so quickly, I'm really getting into all of this 'school' stuff... Shows, carnivals, PTA, etc. (Maybe a little TOO into it seeing as how overtired I am this week! Between school, church, baseball and the mother's club, I can't remember if I'm coming or going!)