Who doesn't love something FREE?

Normally I am not one for posting photos of myself in a bathing suit on the internet. But since it involves something free, eh, why not??

Frills, Fluff, and Trucks is giving away a $25 GC to TJ Maxx and a $25 GC to Marshalls just for posting a great find. Now, I've had many great finds at said stores, but I can't seem to think of what they are at this particular moment. Some must have been gifts? The one recent thing that came to mind was my new bathing suit. I picked it up in the spring at Marshalls. Its Jag and retails for $102 (who the heck would pay $102 for a suit?!). And the best thing about it? It actually fits and the material is not flimsy and cheap, unlike the 10 other suits I have.

I have searched high & low for a year for a suit that was a tankini with a skirted bottom. The problems I ran into were that the tops were either too loose in the midsection, or the skirt made my hips look like they were 5 sizes bigger than they actually are, or both. Or, the suit was flat out made for someone 20 years my senior. I just wanted something that stayed put while I played with the kids at the beach or pool...something that didn't require me to adjust every 5 seconds or have me worrying about how I moved or ran.

Here it is. $10. Marshalls, baby. Rock on.

Where'd he go?

Aidan and I are struggling and I am not sure how to handle it. I can certainly say that it has caught me off guard. He's always been my sweet boy, aiming to please. Almost a little Eddie Haskell ("mommy, you look so beautiful in that shirt today.")

Lately, he's been challenging me. Not that I don't want him to think for himself and make a strong arguement. But that's not what he's doing. He's giving me attitude and flat out not listening to me. I don't get it. Is this a phase? Please tell me its a phase and not something that I get to work with for the next 10 years.

Can they be any more beautiful?

You know what's better than peonies? Poppies.

First autograph....

Aidan is enamored with baseball. Completely and utterly, without a doubt. So yesterday, he and daddy went early to the game and got to get a little tour and see batting practice and Aidan got to meet Jeff Suppon and get his autograph on both his shirt and glove. He was seeing stars!
(photo quality courtesy of old sucktastic camera)

They never cease to crack me up

Friday, I was at my regular after-school-pick-up playtime at Meghan's and Elliott was taking forever in the bathroom. He finally came back outside, looked at us, and it was a scene from a commercial: mouth open, teeth exposed, and then he slowly licked his top teeth, making that smacking, clean teeth, satisfied noise, and then he said, "I just brushed my teeth!"
What?! We were cracking up. Come to find out, he apparently does this every Friday when we're at their house. Oops. So we had a conversation about how you don't use someone else's toothbrush. Ew. Ew ew ew.

Saturday, I set out for the neighborhood rummage sales and the kids saw Kelly and I leave. Apparently, the boys got their piggy banks and snuck down the street and Aidan came home with a THIGHMASTER!!!!!!! He said something to the effect of, "daddy, aren't you proud of me? I got something I can exercise with!" Daddy made him promptly return said Thighmaster.

Easy Baking!

Summer blooms

Peony
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

I used to hate peonies. The ants. The fact that they were a big mess after 1 rain. But I now appreciate the hard work that goes into making them bloom and how pretty they really are.

Skeletons aren't scary

Scary
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

how can they be with eyes like this?

snug bugs in a rug

snug bugs
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

or, in bed. our bed. during a thunderstorm. because they are all scared.

More Noteables....

On the way home from N&E's gymnastics class today, Aidan told me that he wants to be a school teacher when he grows up. He went on to ask if there are any boy teachers (his school is female dominated). I told him yes, and went on to tell him which of my elementary teachers were men, and he said, "Oh good. I want to be a teacher because you get treats for everyone's birthdays. Not just your students, but from old students, too."

Aim high my son. Aim high.

And...
Tonight's dinner conversation was focused on baseball and Norah said, "We like the Red Socks, right Aidan and Daddy?" Aidan said, "Yeah. We like the Brewers and Red Socks. They rock." And then Norah says, "The White Socks stink!". Elliott says, "And the Blue Socks stink! We don't like them!"

Who knew.

Dominick The Donkey

Dominick The Donkey
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

When Aidan turned 1, we got a compilation of songs off of the Mob Hits I and II CD from a friend. Since then, its been a regular in our dinnertime music rotation. The kids have recently taken a liking to 'Dominick the Donkey'. Aidan even put it down as his favorite song on a survey he did last week for school!!

Funny Little Creatures

When Aidan was at Take Your Child to Work Day with Chris, one of the questions they asked the kids was if they knew what their parents did. Aidan answered, "my dad makes money."

****
Today on our walk to school, Elliott informed me that God is Dr. Seuss. I don't know if this stemmed from me telling him that God was not male and in his mind, Dr. Seuss looked pretty much like he thought that grandpa male god would look. Or if he just thought Dr. Seuss was pretty cool. Or maybe Dr. Seuss was just on the brain. I couldn't get any additional info out of him.

Number Grids

Everyday Math. It seems like a great curriculum. However, its so not the way I learned math. As if its not difficult enough to help your child with their homework, a foreign way to learn something is thrown into the mix (foreign, as in alien and not natural to me).

Yesterday I was trying to help Aidan do some homework that involved getting an answer via a number grid. He was doing it incorrectly, so he was arguing with me that because the grid said that the answer was 19, that's what it (37-19) was. I was telling him that he was doing it wrong, because that was not the answer. We finally figured it out, but shiiiiiiiiiit. Number grids, fact triangles, name collection boxes, & function machines.... its like I am learning math all over again. As if it was not bad enough the first time around!

A Life Changing Event

That's how the little girl in the movie, Bedtime Stories, describes her first hamburger. Apparently, my kids feel the same way. Its only been recently that they've had beef* and oh boy... they love it and prefer it over anything else, it seems. I guess I can give them all the tofu I want and they'll still end up with their daddy's taste buds.

* I take that back. Back when I was in the hospital, pregnant w/ the twins, Aidan got a healthy dose of red meat and I recall that I was told that he would wolf it down.

I'm a big boy mommy

Im a big boy mommy
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Can't leave Elliott out! He did it, too!! And is very proud.

No More Training Wheels!!!!

Norah learns to bike
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Look at her go!!! Much like her big brother Aidan, she and Elliott got it on their first try. Yay!!!!!

Feelings

Today Norah went on a playdate, so Elliott and I snatched up the opportunity to go on a lunch date. We chose Alterra, where we could eat outside on a gorgeous, 85 degree day. He was thrilled to share a lemonade with me...such a treat. When we came home, we filled up a small pool and he played in it while I worked in the yard, and we talked to each other. It was perfect. He is such a sweet little boy. Just wonderful. Yet things change when you get him around his siblings and I am still trying to figure that one out.
He and his sister love each other and share an incredible bond. However, if you stick a friend in there, Norah decides to cast Elliott to the side and often even resorts to name calling. I am guessing this is one of the things that causes him to act up at other times.

When Elliott has his feelings hurt, he's recently taken to saying, "That hurts my heart. It makes me sad, and it makes God sad."

Ouch.

Speaking of God's feelings, Elliott's been quite concerned about making God sad lately. Everything from people smoking to litter me putting one of the kids in a time out to not letting him have what he wants. (God is sad when I don't give him ice cream. Don't you know? No dice.)

Aye.

Sadly Neglected

Not just my blog. But apparently someone's cupboards, as well. This salad dressing was something that someone donated during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive this Saturday.
Best when purchased by 1978! Seriously. Can you believe that?! GROSS!

Take Your Child To Work Day

Hopefully Aidan had/is having more fun than his expression shows here. lol.
I'll have to come back and talk about what they did today. I can't remember what was on the agenda.

Edited:

Yes, he had a fantastic time. They started the day with photos, and activity, and a welcome, and the kids were divided into groups. First they did a service activity (making no-sew blankets to donate), then the all-important snack break, then on to marketing, where they learned how to make a logo. From there, they moved on to a teamwork activity (I think he said they played the card game, War), and they finished up with technology, where they did an emailing activity. Then lunch with dad and a big ole goody bag to take home.

When I went to pick him up, he gave me that, "WTF you doin' here?" look. I am sure part of it was the novelty of being in dad's office is pretty cool. But the other part? He was borrowing another child's Nintendo DS. Which he pines for on a weekly basis. Which Mean Mama won't buy him.

How does one "accidentally" do that?

Scene:

We're at the school playground. Elliott approaches me and tugs at my arm. "Mommy? Can I tell you a secret?"

He goes on to say, "I accidentally bit J. I am sorry. I didn't mean to."

Maybe 15 minutes later, after a chat and apology, S says, "he bit me and hit me, too."

WHAT?!?!

How does a 5-and-a-half year old ACCIDENTALLY bite someone?! Twice? WTF?

Elliott is spending some quality time in his bedroom right now.

Discovering the World...

Aid watching the Divergirl
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

During spring break we headed on over to Discovery World, our newly relocated science & technology museum and aquarium on the lake. I had been there twice before, but it was for adult formal events, sans kids. This time was much different (and not just because I didn't have a glass of wine in hand). This place is so freaking cool. WOW. There is just soooo much to see and do.

The kids were moving too fast for me to take decent photos, and they were also moving so fast that it was often hard to really check out an exhibit. But that's ok....we're members now and will be going back again. And again.

Girl hoisting Boy

Girl hoisting Boy
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Silhouette

Silhouette
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

little vermicomposters

little vermicomposters
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Promising Picasso

Promising Picasso
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Its been awhile since the kids painted. I think I banished the paints when I discovered the ottoman was painted green. And it didn't come out.

The kids have been begging to paint lately. So I managed to find some really crusty watercolors. They're watercolors - of course they worked. And the kids created several masterpieces until we ran out of paper.

That's How Its Done!

Watching the dye work
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Look at her intent stare. All, "woah. what's going on in there?" Maybe she's thinking about how we're tainting the pretty white eggs with dye. Maybe she was overcome with vinegar fumes. Maybe she was analyzing the composition of the dye. Or maybe she was thinking about cats.
Who knows.

The Awful Egg Hunt

Aidan at egg hunt
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

He's anticipating the hunt. Excited, kind of nervous, but also thinking that this will be all easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.
Yeah. Not so much.

The horn blew and 100 7-9 year olds ran for the hills, grabbing every egg in sight. Aidan's not the fastest runner, and well, the next thing I knew, he turned and stopped and started bawling. "I. can't. get. any........ "

A Little Easter Lovin'

Easter Lovin
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Do you know that its really almost impossible to take a posed picture of 3 kids?
Also...its impossible to get your husband to finish your fireplace mantle after 3 years. (I love you, honey).

I come in peace....

These boys and those light sabers.
Santa brought them. Santa was veeeery generous, because mama? She loathes those light sabers. And in the morning and late evening when light sabers are off limits? Then oh-so-slyly any object will morph into a light saber.
However annoying, the boys are pretty fun to watch. They have it down to a real art. Right down to the noise.

Oh..."I come in peace". That's a new one. Elliott busted it out in the car on Thursday. He told me that he came in peace. Really? Oh, ok. That's good to know.

Lets get this party started!!!

On Friday...sunny, 70's, just a gorgeous day....we started our seeds. Veggies, fruit, and flowers. They're all planted and we're anxiously waiting their arrival. Once they are big and strong, we'll plant the veggies in our garden and the strawberries will be hanging this year. Not buying any annuals...these are it for my pots and empty spaces. I am most excited about the wildflowers Aidan picked out.

Misc. Funnies and Observations

Yesterday, Norah said to Chris, "daddy, I fed Sauce today!" (Sauce is her Webkinz cat). To which Chris replied to her and me, "Good, because the other day, Sauce was pretty much dead. You almost killed her. Her food was on 1 and her health was on 10. She had a big ole' ice pack on her head. You have to feed the cat, Norah. You can't just buy her crap to keep cluttering up her room."

Norah looked at him and said, "but daddy. I bought her some cute shorts for Spring!"

Ahhh. Priorities. Mama's girl. heh heh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday on the way to Aidan's 7 year checkup (51lbs, 49"....tall and average weight...failed the eye exam. Sigh.), Aidan said, "Mommy? Is the Easter Bunny real? Or is it just a human in a bunny costume?" As I heard him say that, i realized what a ridiculous concept the Easter Bunny is. I mean, Santa? Sure. He's a guy. Tooth Fairy? Sure. A person. But a bunny? Come on. So I asked him what he thought and he said he thought it was a human dressed as a bunny. To which Elliott objected vehemently! "The Easter Bunny is not a HUMAN! How can it be a HUMAN, when its a BUNNY?! A bunny is not human, Aidan." (you could hear the "duh" in his voice). So I said, "Well, maybe the Easter Bunny is more of a spirit? Kinda like how you think of God?" And Norah says, "The Easter Bunny is God? WOW!"
Ok. Guess my point was lost. lol.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Norah and Elliott could not be any more different. I have to remind myself that as fraternal twins, they really are no more than siblings who shared my body for 7 months.
Norah's independent as all getup. Walk her to her class line or class in the morning? Forget about it. "I can do it mommy. Goodbye." No kiss! Just a kiss blown to me! Sheesh. Whereas Elliott will not walk to his line, or if late, will not walk to his classroom alone. He will jump at the chance to try to stay home with me (*cough cough* I am sick . I need to stay home.) He's the obediant quiet little boy in class, who, when I am working in his classroom, comes up to me and gives me hugs and kisses. Norah? Girl will not even look at me.

Yesterday at Aidan's doctor appt, the pediatrician called her a court reporter. She would not stop yapping about everyone and everything. What mommy cooks, what grade they are in, where they go to school, what they did today, that her and "eddie" were born on the same day, their teachers names, that she wants to be a vet, but only for cats, puppies, birds, and bunnies. Etc. This girl has had more playdates this school year than both my boys combined. Ever.

Repelling

Aidan4
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

He was a champ!

On Belay!

Aidan1
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Aidan had his birthday party yesterday. It was the coolest party ever. We had it at Adventure Rock. I am pretty sure everyone had a rockin' time, including Chris and I.

Look what I found today!

grape hyacinths
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

My purple crocuses in my front yard had no blooms a few days ago and now look! SPRING!!!

Proof that the boy's got game....

Good aim
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

He shoots!

And he scores...

and he scores
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

Go Aidan!

The Case of the Missing Teeth

My Little Baller
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

It was before Christmas that Aidan was singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth." And yet..... Santa failed to deliver. Now its the end of March. And still no sign of those front teeth.

Oh yeah...he's a pretty good little ball player, too. The basketball hoop was definitely the perfect gift!!!!

Miss Norah

Serious Norah
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

So cute....using "them" instead of "they"
saying, "why you know?" in place of, "how do you know" or "how did you know that?"
Always using the word "very" in the wrong place... as in, "the kitties, them went very up there."

I know its all wrong, but I don't correct it because it is just too darn cute.

Success!

I thought I had blogged about it, but I guess I didn't. A year ago, in Mar/April '08, Aidan started a new swim class at the Y. Since he had just turned 6, he was no longer in the preschool class, and was now a youth. Youth=swim class in The Big Pool. I didn't think anything of it. He knew how to swim across the width of the little pool. But woah nellie...one would have thought we were trying to throw him in hot molten lava and telling him he could never come home again. He cried all class. We tried it again the following week. More tears. So they allowed him back into a preschool class. When that session wrapped up in early June, I stopped enrolling the kids in swim lessons all together. I needed a break. Between that and N&E not listening to their instructor and refusing to get out of the pool at the end of class.... yeah.

Fast forward to today. First lesson of this session. I figured that the Mar-June session was as best a time as any to stick them back in, seeing as how summer is coming up. I hope.

I could tell that Aidan had a few reservations, but was nothing like last year. He was stoked that one of his JK friends, Dane, and he were in the same class. I kept my eye on him and he was aok throughout the whole class in The Big Pool. At the end of the 45 min class, I saw the instructor walk them down to The Deep and explain what they were to do. I could see Aidan telling him that no, he was not going to do that. However, once Aidan saw his classmates and Dane do it, he crawled up on the platform, shaky as all getup, and low and behold, HE JUMPED! In the 10 ft deep water!!!!! I was so stinkin' proud of the kid. He overcame his fear. We celebrated his success tonight. Big boy, he is.

Project Rainy Day

We decided that today was a cookie making day because what better a day to bake and eat, than a damp, rainy day.

Preparations were made.....

Don't forget Hello Kitty. She's a vital part of the cookie making process, you know.

Kids, stirring the oat-flour-soda-powder mix

Our end result. Oh sooo good. Oatmeal PB cookies w/ some chocolate chunks....


Props to Robyn for sharing this recipe. It rocks.

Shake, Rattle, & Roll!

Last Thursday was our school's annual Sock Hop. We took the kids and they had a blast. After waiting until the last minute to look for a poodle skirt for Norah and then having no luck, I decided to make her one. And then it went terribly wrong. One little wrong fold and oops...there were 2 holes for the waist. Thankfully, felt is inexpensive and can be used for crafts. And thankfully, she was able to borrow a dress from a friend. Whew! Crisis averted.

The kids danced, hula-hooped, ate junk food, and had a good time.



Unfortunately, Aidan froze in a state of shyness when his friends (female) asked him to dance. Here he is, pouting.

WWJH?

That would be Where Would Jesus Hang... As in hang out. In our house.

The dude's name has been coming up in some funny contexts in our house as of recent. The last one being, "Ellie's got Jesus in his mouth!!!"

That comment referred to this tiny gold baby. Probably totally coated in lead. It was the baby from our King Cake that we had during Mardi Gras. And that whole ordeal was pretty funny itself. Before we cut into the cake, Chris read the story on the side of the box to the kids and then explained that the baby in the cake represented baby Jesus. Elliott was so perplexed during the reading. He solmnely stated, "But baby Jesus* is dead." about halfway through the explination. We giggled and went on. At the end, he said, "If baby Jesus is dead, how can he be in our cake?" He just couldn't grasp the concept of representation. Then of course, all the kids were screaming, "I WANT TO FIND BABY JESUS!" And then when we did, they were all, "No fair! Aidan found Jesus! and you cut his foot!" (oops. I accidentally ran into him with the knife when I was cutting).

*The whole 'baby Jesus' kept reminding me of Talladega Nights. "Look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm sayin' grace. When you say grace, you can say it to Grownup Jesus or Teenage Jesus or Bearded Jesus or whoever you want."

Speaking of finding Jesus, a month or two ago, I was in Marshall's/Home Goods with the kids, perusing the home decor aisles. I was one aisle over when I heard Norah scream (yes, scream), "MOM! I found Jesus!!!!"

Some heads turned. I went over to her and sure enough, it was a porcelin statue of Mary holding baby Jesus. Of course, Elliott had to chime in on how it was BABY Jesus.

And finally, we were at Bartz's party store last week, trying to find sock hop accessories. We passed the Easter aisle and they stopped and exclaimed, "Look! Its the Easter Bunny! And Jesus!" Yup. Costumes. The discussion continued about how the Jesus costume looked silly because of the long hair.

5 year olds. Gotta love them.

The sensitive one

We had conferences on Friday. All went glowingly well. Going into Aidan's, I was already up to speed because we had just had his IEP the week prior, and a lot came up in there.

Aidan is a good student. He's one of those kids who follows the classroom rules. If the teacher gives the strategies for being a Strong Reader, he follows all of them. He does every step, without skipping one. And because of this, he's moved up 2 reading levels in less than a month. We're so proud of him.

Aidan is a shy kid. Not so much with adults....he can sit down and talk an adult's ear off (hello, Uncle Ryan!). But it takes him a long time to build up a friendship that he's comfortable with. Or at least, that's what we see on the outside. His teacher says that he interacts just fine in the classroom, which is wonderful to hear. However, one of his very best friends is a girl. And there are some cruel boys in his class who have taken to taunting him for this, calling them boyfriend and girlfriend. Said boy has also critiqued Aidan's kicking and running skills when it comes to recess kickball. I'd like to have a word with the kid's mom, but that's not here nor there. Thankfully, Aid's teacher called a meeting to try and put a stop to the behavior by talking about how you treat your classmates and how boys and girls can be friends and its ok.

After the first meeting, Aidan and I were walking home and he was telling me about it. He was saying how 'J' has not been well behaved since the first day of school and he's just not very nice. I said something to the effect of, "Well, that's ok. You're not going to be friends with everyone. That's just part of life." And he chewed on it and said something like, "Well Mommy, he is still my friend, he's just a boy who does not make good choices most of the time."

Wow. He's so sweet...always willing to give someone another chance and the benefit of the doubt. I hope it doesn't bite him in the butt as he goes through life. I hope that he manages to stay a non-cynical person with a positive outlook.

Too bad he's so hard on himself. We need to work on that...

IDontDanceRoutine

IDontDanceRoutine
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

This was hilarious.

LittleBallerina

LittleBallerina
Originally uploaded by flabonganator

She trys. She really does. And she says she loves dance and wants to keep doing it. That's all that matters.

Little Artists

Last week, I came across some dry erase markers that were on clearance at Target, so I snatched them up, since 1) ours have been dry for months, 2) the kids lurve the dry erase board, and 3) they are darn expensive.

Norah and Elliott created some cute art...

Elliott's rendition of our family

"Mommy, this is you and daddy when you were married."

Norah's family portrait. Notice she left out her brothers? Just mom, dad, Norah, and the cats. hrm.

Perfection...

What a fun weekend....lots of swimming, waterpark fun, and friends.

Saturday morning we woke up and looked out the patio doors of our condo to see 3 deer.

What a fun weekend....lots of swimming, waterpark fun, and friends.

Saturday morning we woke up and looked out the patio doors of our condo to see 3 deer.


Not even 5 minutes later, the kids spotted the hot air balloon. Norah commented, "daddy, there are some cool things in this world."

Sure are, baby girl.

And now....a little Sunday Swimming Fun :)

We've got a fun-filled week coming up! We're going to go pick up our worms and start our worm farm (vermicomposting bin), which the kids are very excited about. Norah's got her dance recital on Wednesday. We find out if Aidan advanced to the next belt in taekwondo (he tested on Saturday, but they left early with permission because he and dad had already trekked back to MKE for the testing and we didn't want him to miss out on too much of the waterpark!). He broke his board during testing. Go Aidan! Hopefully we'll get some photos from some other parents. And we have our school's annual Sock Hop on Thursday! Fun fun fun!

Edited to say... ok, guess I won't link to Flickr photos. They're off center and not all there. Grrr.

Once upon a time, the temperature was above 32 in Wisconsin...

A little spring fun. Someday, we'll see temps like this again. Until then, its the blustery, 10 degree, winter coat crap.

Play-Doh Fun!

This? Tofu for you, mama!!!

And this? Pancakes, 'basketti, animal crackers, and oh, a flamingo, too.

Something I'm attempting to instill....

My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.
~J. Brotherton

Why I love you...

Norah & Elliott.... This is one of the many, many reasons that I love you.

When you rang the doorbell today and then charged in, carrying these in your hands, faces beaming, declaring, "mommy, we picked these for you. aren't they bootiful?", I loved nothing more than being your mom.

xoxo

Beethoven in Training

We are the champions, my friend-

Aidan took 3rd place overall in the Pinewood Derby. So he won all his races (6) and they averaged his times to get his place. He was thisclose to 2nd place!!

Go Darth Taiter!