saturday morning

(don't forget to enter to win your new car and other fun prizes here.)

while all of you were relaxing at home, sleeping in, enjoying your coffee on this cozy rainy day...

guess where i was?
try not to be too jealous.

this whole soccer playing "rain or shine" business is ridiculous.
especially when you are crabby like me because some little man decided he'd rather not sleep last night. for hours, thankyouverymuch. and maybe coffee would have helped this morning if it weren't for the fact i was too busy cutting up orange slices for half-time snack.

(seriously, half time snack? isn't this a little out of hand, soccer moms? didn't they just eat breakfast like 5 minutes ago? isn't it enough to bring snacks for the end of the game?)

sensing i was a tad bit irritable today, anthony tries to cheer me up: "this will be great! what fun memories! it will make for great pictures!"
whatever, optimist who needs little sleep.

and then bennett says to me, "mommy, can i take my shoes off. my feet are so wet."hmmm... wonder why?

hip, hip hooray! its time for a giveaway!

***closed***

that's right, people. who wants free stuff? sponsored by csn stores who carry everything from bar stools to mailboxes, kitchen gadgets to baby gear. (seriously they have a lot of stuff. check them out here.)

if you asked me what the universal favorite toy of my kids is (and every single friend that comes over to play) i would most definitely say this awesome ride by little tikes: so who wants one?

oh? your kids are too old for this?

how about:oh, you'd rather not have 615 beautiful K'Nex pieces scattered about your house?

ok, then. do you fondue?
and who doesn't like chocolate? how about your own personal chocolate fountain? one lucky winner will get their choice of the above fantastic items.

to enter, leave me a comment telling me which one you'd choose. (and if its the chocolate fountain, you better have me over to celebrate your win.) (you do not need a blogger profile. just be sure to leave your email address so i can contact you.)

for another entry, you can post about this giveaway on your blog and then leave me another comment telling me you did so.

good luck my dear friends. and go shop at csnstores.com so that they'll love me and let me do more giveaways!

*prize can only be shipped to U.S. or Canada

some things you just get used to

for instance, it doesn't even sound the least bit strange to hear one of my children say:

"daddy, can you throw me around please."

soccer observations: be prepared

to ensure your child scores his first ever goal... and your other child kicks her first ever ball during a game... just be sure to forget your camera.

and away she goes...

off went the training wheels...
and away she went. all independent and grown up and liberated and mature and self sufficient and never ever needing her mommy ever again.
when did my little girl get so big?
and why can't i look this cool while riding my bike?

this oughta keep him busy for awhile...

soccer snapshots

"snacks are only going to work for another few minutes, mom, and then you are out of time. get me out of this stroller." its ok if there are only 3 people playing for our team today. especially if one of them is sarah, the freakishly amazing 3 year-old who scores like 30 goals each week.
"woman, if you don't get me out of here, i'm going to start eating this play-dough. and then i'm going to throw an absolute fit." home free. (thanks to daddy.)
soccer is always way more fun with daddy.
well, pretty much anything is.
"is ella finished with her soccer playing yet?"i love my sister.

valentines day

my hubby and i... we don't exchange valentine gifts.

i think the day is a little on the cheesy side. like if anthony were to come home with roses i think, "oh, did hallmark tell you to get those for me."

not that i don't like roses, mind you. but specifically on valentine's day? really?

and its not that i don't like diamonds. but, there are still children starving in this world, right?

maybe its just that everyday is valentine's day for us. our favorite thing to do is kiss and cuddle and gaze into each others eyes for hours. and hours.
(note: i do not speak for all women. and if you are actually a guy reading my blog (could that even be possible?), this does not get you off the hook. these things may be important to your wife. oh, and also, this is not some subtle hint i'm trying to make to say that i really do hope anthony will get me flowers. it really isn't necessary. i mean it. really.)

(although, if he happened to find some awesome antique, possibly red, distressed-type wooden cabinet for the empty wall in our kitchen and gifted me with it on valentine's day, i probably wouldn't throw it out.)

so all that to say, i think valentine's day is super fun for the kids. although i don't want them to get hung up on the "romantic" emphasis of the day.

i sense, however, i may already have some troubles there... seeing how bennett was caught kissing one of our friends daughters. to protect her identity and precious innocence, she shall remain nameless.

(i may or may not mention here that she didn't push him away, though. and she's strikingly beautiful, in a fantastically 4 year-old way. yeah, that's right. she's a whole year older than him. funny how i can laugh at this fact since i'm the mother of the boy. i'm certain her mother won't think the above observation is all that funny. is this a typical sexist double standard? why, yes, i believe it is... but even as the boys mom, it is still slightly horrifying and i am certain he won't ever kiss another girl again until his wedding day.)

so, valentine's day is full of fun and candy. ella had her preschool party today.

before picture:(notice her contribution to the valentine party is paper plates. yep. the advantage of signing up first. like i'd really want to bring 15 cupcakes all decorated with valentine-y joy.)

after pictures:she brought home some good loot. and thank you to the preschool class of 2010 for the misc. cards and notes that will now clutter my kitchen table on a daily basis as ella constantly reads and re-reads her valentines. (as well as for the m&m's mommy had to confiscate.)

and, it was also package day. and while i'm super grateful for the new gift theme of clean teeth:
and other goodies, i'm wondering why the sudden absence of chocolate from grammy and poppa's valentine gift?

its not like my kids were the ones to eat it anyway...

handyman

bennett has become quite handy around here.

clogged drain: "mom, i can fix it. you don't even have to ask daddy. i'll save the day."so he got to work.

and sure enough...

only about 3 hours later, the sink was totally drained.

he also really, really enjoys washing dishes these days. he's so helpful. just trying to make my job easier.

this brings back a very vivid memory from my childhood.

my sister and i had just enjoyed a bowl of pudding.

or cereal.

(can't remember which. guess the memory isn't that vivid.)

and then one of us had a brilliant idea. "i know! why don't we just lick our bowls clean so mom won't have to wash them?"

makes perfect sense. why hadn't we thought of this before? seeing our mom slave over our dishes all the time. let's save her some trouble.

so we meticulously licked our bowls completely clean.

"lets not tell her so it will be a special surprise." yeah, real special.

i then remember dragging the chair over to the counter so we could climb up and "secretly" put our bowls away so she'd never know. for some reason, we knew enough to put the bowls on the bottom of the stack. you know, so it'd be less obvious.

we were so thoughtful.

we were a family of 5. and we had like 12 bowls up there. the ones on the bottom only got used if we had company.

so basically, if you happened to come over to our house for dinner sometime in the mid 80's-ish...

i'm really sorry.

we meant well.
bennett can't reach the cabinets yet.

at least... i don't think he can.

super party

"i just can't wait for heaven and for the superbowl!"

we get excited for an assortment of things around here.

like my 5 year-old and her anticipation of the big game.

i mean, me? not so much. every since kurt warner retired, i can officially go back to not caring whatsoever about football.


+ retirement =


sad times, sad times...

(or, mason might possibly be crying because i won't let him eat toothpaste.)

so anyhow, ever since anthony entered some random online verizon superbowl party contest, the excitement around here has been building.

why?

because he won.

which is awesome. because that means we got plastic footballs, microwave popcorn, pom-pom's, drink coolers for our... sippy cups, and....... a flip video camera. oh yeah. how awesome is that?

now we can record hours and hours of all the completely fascinating things our kids do.

thanks verizon.

so, for some observations on the big game:

bennett, while watching kick off and such: "so, when are we going to start? are we just going to move the ottoman and play right here?" apparently, he never thought he'd actually have to sit and watch all the hours of "excitement" on tv. he wanted to participate.
this sorta stressed ella out. "guys! you are missing out on all the fun-ness on tv."

yeah, all that "fun-ness" is really not so much family friendly tv. thanks to scary r rated movie previews and advertisements from such companies as "go daddy." and actually, "daddy"... i don't even know what it is your company does. but i'm guessing it has something to do with fornication.

just saying...

all a superbowl party really needs is good food.
don't worry ella, heaven will be way more fun.

promise.