Chaos

Chaos. I love it. I only discovered that I love it because when it is gone I always miss it so. How could I not miss it when it exists in everything we do? 

If you could hear us in the mornings you would hear: "How many times do I have to ask you to get dressed?" "Do I have to shut off the TV?" "No! We do not throw our breakfast on the floor!" "Please stop screaming and let me brush your teeth!" "Stop running away from me and let me put this sunscreen on you!" "Let's get in the car guys... wait, did you poop Clark?!  Back in the house everyone!"

In the evenings it's a bit like this... At daycare: "Who wants to come home and eat dinner!?" "Hey, stop running away from me. We are going home now!" "Come on guys, the car is just across the street. Clark, stop screaming and trying to run away, we're in the street!" "OK guys wait here while I put the bags in the car" "Come back here right now or I'll open ALL the windows on the way home!"

In the car on the way home (8 blocks): "Norah, we are not doing 'something extra super special' tonight. Special things are only special because they don't happen very often." "Stop whining because you don't have something to play with, we will be home in exactly 2 minutes" "I know you said all the other kids are going out to dinner. How can that be true every day?" "What did you do today?" "You did Nothing? Did you play outside?" "You did too! You were playing outside when I picked you up!"

At home while trying to make dinner: "Clark, stop eating markers" "Norah, don't swipe toys from your brother" "No Hitting!" "Clark stop eating markers!" "Norah, if you want your brother to share with you, then you share with him!" "No Biting!" "Clark, if you eat one more marker they are mine!" "No jumping on the couch" "No pinching!" "Do you want a time out?" "OK Clark, those markers are mine!" "Dinner's ready!!!"

You can imagine what bath time, story time and bed time sound like with Clark who likes to run away and get into precarious situations, makes messes and eat things he shouldn't and Norah who only wants to play with what her brother has and is so dramatic that I swear she should win the next Oscar.

On hot days we like to eat in the playroom on the kids table. In the A/C.

Cheese!!!

Elmo SMASH baby! RAHH!!!.

OK Baby, Do Monkey Cheeks.... Zoooom!.

Kiss Elmo's Owie?

Oh, and did you know Elmo LOVES to drink salad dressing?

Miiiiiiiine!

Just for ME. On my Birthday :)

What is IN there?

Crazy at Grandma's House!

Good thing Grandma's such a good sport :)

Retaliation!

Love ~ Renee

Nothing Says Summer Like a Front Yard Picnic!

Leaving school on a Tuesday night, Norah complains of how she needs to go out for dinner...

Norah: "Mom, Annika is going out to dinner tonight, can we go out to dinner too?"

Me: "No, we are going to go home to eat dinner."

Norah: "But MOM.... Annika gets to go out to dinner!!!! Can WE go out to dinner too?"

Me: "No honey, just because Annika gets to go out to dinner doesn't mean we get to."

She argues back with a convincing: "But I reeeeeeeeally waaaaaaaant toooo!!!"

Me: "Norah, How 'bout this.... How 'bout we have a picnic in the front yard tonight?!"

Norah: "YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want a picnic Momma!!!"

So a picnic it was!

Love ~ Renee

He is All Boy

First of all, check out this brand new shirt after the first day Clark wore it:

Second of all, daddy got a brand new pressure washer the other day and Clark was just as excited about it as he was. This is a classic picture of the female in the house being annoyed at how excited the men are about power tools:

Clark helped dad put it together, and then later was mad when daddy wouldn't let him try it when he had it going...

Lastly, just like all men leave their stuff laying around the house in the most odd places:

Love ~ Renee

A Very Happy Easter

This year Easter was awesome... it was the first time that Norah "got" the Easter Bunny. I could feel her excitement when she woke up and came running in with a chocolate egg she found outside her door. One of the eggs in the long trail of candy that the Easter Bunny left from her and her brother's doors all the way downstairs to their baskets hiding by the pantry.

Norah: "Mom!!! Look what I found!! The Easter Bunny CAME!" 

Mom: "No WAY! Are you sure?"

Norah: "YES" (nodding her head and raising her eye brows up and down) 

She impatiently waited for her brother to wake up and then we all followed the trail down to their baskets. Norah's eyes were huge as she said "Woah!" when she found the goodies. 

They ate giant chocolate bunnies, gummi bears and chocolate covered marshmallows for breakfast (that was all the candy they got). They had one healthy snack before an early nap, then at Aunt Kathy's they had cookies and strawberries, which somehow replaced their lunch. 

They had candy all day. Then they crashed. They crashed big time. Just use your imagination :)

Oh, and last night we stayed up late dying Easter eggs. Towards the end, Norah interrupted me mid-sentence with a huge "SHHH!!!!". She went on to explain (whispering) that she saw a crack in one of the eggs, and that means that the baby chick is trying to get out, so we need to be quiet! "See that light mom?" (the chandelier over the table) "that is to keep the eggs warm so the babies will grow." As I started to ask her how she knew that, she interrupted with another "SHHHH!!!!!". 

She amazes me every day.

Love ~ Renee

What a beautiful day for polka dots!

This weekend we soaked up the sun, walked for miles, played at the park and had a picnic... believe it or not, the polka dots were accidental :)

Love ~ Renee

Random Thoughts & Photos

Exhaustion makes everything funny... absolutely everything. If I have to be this tired, I am glad I can at least enjoy it.

I want my kids to stay this age FOREVER. I am addicted to kissing Clark's fat baby scented cheeks. Norah amazes me daily with her crazy smart thoughts, and I love that when one of them wakes up from a nap before the other one, they get insanely excited when the other finally wakes up and they both hug each other like long lost siblings.

Norah's eyes have started to resemble my dad's. I think. I only have one picture of him where you can see his face clearly, and he is giving a funny look to the camera, but Norah has been giving us the same face lately. That's how it struck me. He never gave me a chance to know him, but it's comforting to think there is a piece of him with us and that he's not just a figment of my imagination.

I'm sad that Clark is moving from the infant room to the toddler room at daycare. Not because he is getting older (well, maybe a little because of that), but because I love his teachers and I'll miss talking to them every morning. I am excited for Clark though, because he seems to be bored and is missing his girl Grete who waiting for him there :)

What are you supposed to do when kids fight over toys?! Before I had kids I thought "that's easy, just tell them to share or take away the toy!" Turns out that is not the perfect solution. It's not fair to the kid who originally started playing with the toy to take it away if the other kid tried to take if from them. Which happens every time anyone picks up a toy. If I did it this way we would have 0 toys left. I give up! Just fight it out :)

The most relaxing fun thing I look forward to on a weekly basis? Well, I have three of them: Parenthood, New Girl & Up All Night. TV Shows. It really is so exciting to me to sit on the couch and not have to do anything but laugh (or cry) at the TV.

I love staying home on Wednesdays with the kids. I finally feel like life is just a little bit less hectic and passing us by just a little more slowly. Today we played in the snow all day making snow men, snow angels, snow balls you name it! 

Here are a bunch of random photos from the last month....

The Look

Saying "I Love Tacos!" in her looooow voice 

I love that they love each other so much

Can you resist this face?

Look Ma! No Hands!!!

Norah loves to color. 

Here is her specialty... Rainbow Dora

He sat himself down in this baby doll chair,

put the tray on his lap and pretended to drink from a toy sippy cup

Fighting - Norah had it first

Mr. Independent makes a mess

Muah!

Norah probably ate about 10 lbs of snow today

Love ~ Renee