Nobody listened to me.

Becca came down with her iCarly shoes.  They give her about a half an inch.  I sent her to get her other shoes.  Chloe?

She came into the family room wearing roller skates.

As Tony and I suppressed our laughter, I asked her, “Don’t you think it will be hard to get around Disney World with roller skates on?”  She told me that it would be, “no problem.”

HA!

Well, I got her tennis shoes on her and we measured.  There was (obviously) a lot of commotion and laughter going on between the two measurements.  Tony looked at the number.  41 1/2 inches.  Sorry Chloe. She walked away

“Wait.”  I said.  ”Wasn’t she taller before the shoes?”  As Tony and I argued whether or not she was, I just told her to come back and get measured again.

44 inches exactly.

I asked, “Chloe, why were you shorter before?”

She had a big old case of bent knees.  What was she thinking?  I have absolutely NO IDEA.  Maybe she really DID want to wear the roller skates.

Because she was so very grown up about the whole situation, I told her that we could go and get some the next day after school.  We headed to a new store that opened near us, Five Below. I got Becca three packs of twelve bracelets and told her that the only way I was buying her three packs was if she shared with the kids in her class who didn’t have any.  Chloe got two packs (dinosaurs and cars, of course.  She’s SO not girly.)  They were super excited to trade and share.  A neighbor had told me that she was going to use them for her kids as a reward system.  I decided to jump right up onto that bandwagon.

I now have a jar full of them where I sit.  They each get to pick one if they get along with each other all day, and one if they clean up after themselves all day.  So far (it’s only been three days) it seems to be working well.  And it was a pretty inexpensive way to motivate them.

Hopefully I can ride it out for at least another week or so.  Becca’s teacher just banned them from the class room.  UGH.

There was damage everywhere.  Trampolines were ruined, tons of shingles were missing (thankfully, not from my house).  And the icing on the cake?  No electricity.  If you’ve never experienced a loss of power with small children, you are missing small people asking you the same thing about eight bazillion times.  ”When is the power coming back on?!?!”

We got through the first hour and a half pretty easily.  I actually took a little nap while they watched the battery operated television we have.  Then it died.  So, I told them to just play!  It wasn’t dark.  So they did play blocks for a while, and they were ok (aside from fitting that famous question in whenever they could).  We got a bath and got ready for bed.  Still no power.  I was figuring that it would come back overnight.  No such luck.  They woke me up at 6:50 am.  I very calmly (but sternly) looked at them with my one open eye.

“Can you do me a favor?  Brush your teeth, get an outfit and brush your hair.  Mommy needs some coffee, so we’re going out for pancakes.”

That took the edge off.  We had a great breakfast, went to Downey’s House, I did my work and we came home.  And, YAY! We had power.

Everybody made it through the “big ordeal” just fine.  Except maybe for the dog.  He starts to whimper every time it starts to sprinkle when he’s outside.

One little snippet from the weekend that I have to share.  As we (which includes Tony) were out and about yesterday, there was a “gentleman” who just wouldn’t let me in to merge while I was driving.  He wasn’t very nice.  Tony let him know that while he was looking in his rear view mirror.  I’m sure the man read Tony’s lips while he said “Thanks for letting her in, Dickhead!”

Becca promptly said “Yeah!  You’re a stickhead, man.”

I’m sure glad she said THAT.

First, I made her dress up.  She was OK with that.  (This is also her Easter outfit we got on our ‘Good Friday Girly Day.’

Doesn’t she look cute? I love that she’s not all girlie.  The black eye along with the cute outfit completely fits Chloe’s personality.  (The black eye is because she got bit by a dog.  Nothing major, the dog was a neighborhood puppy.  All is well.)

So, we head downtown.  We never go downtown.  We drive PAST downtown.  We go to the museum.  We go to the Science Center.  But I’ve never had the kids downtown.  Chloe was amazed by how tall the buildings ACTUALLY  are.  We parked in a garage (which she thought was cool – I think because it was pretty scary looking).  She loved all the people.  She asked about the rows of newspaper machines (“Wow, Mom! That sure is a lot of newspapers!”).  We finally get to the building where she gets to see the ballet.  Just a snippet, of the ballet, mind you.  Which was good.  It was a litmus test for her.  I had no idea if she would like it or not, or if she would sit still.

We had lunch first.  Well, Chloe had cookies.  We were on the twelfth floor.  There was a beautiful garden terrace.  Chloe loved being that high up.  The people looked small.  She wanted to lean her head over the side of the building.  I held onto her so tightly, I thought she might pee on me.  As I grabbed my stomach out of my throat, I explained to her that heights make mommy a little scared.  And I didn’t want a splat Chloe.  Here’s a pic of her on the terrace:

So, next we got to meet the creative director, Terrence Orr.  He told us about Swan Lake, which is playing next weekend at the Benedum.  (Well, if you want to check out all the ballet stuff, head over to their site, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. I liked Terrence.  He was a nice guy with a sense of humor.  He also talked about some of the other shows.  Three Musketeers is coming up.  And he talked about how he has added many Pittsburgh touches to The Nutcracker.

Chloe was less than enthralled with the question and answer period.

Surprise.

She kept whispering to me “Mom, this is BORED!”

But, alas, we were escorted down the hall to see our little performance.  She was captivated.  She really loved watching these kids dance. (I can call them kids because, you know, I’m old).  She couldn’t wait to tell Becca all about it (um, rub it in), and play ballet at home.  Mandy, the PR person for the Pgh Ballet, extended an invitation to see the dress rehearsal.  I think that we’re going to go.  Both kids will get to see it, and it will be yet another litmus test.  I’m not sure if they’ll sit more than an hour.  So we’ll see how it goes.

I enjoyed it too! Hell, I can’t even walk gracefully, let alone move like those dancers.  And I got to meet a couple of cool bloggers.  I met Debby Perry.  She runs the Macaroni Kid stuff you may have seen if you’re in my neck of the woods.  And I met Anthony Closky. Cool to see people in person.  And now they’re my twitter buds

So, that was our adventure.  Of course, there’s more to tell.  Last night, Becca told me she wanted to be a cheerleader. Registration is tomorrow.  Is this the beginning of me becoming the ‘run your kids around to their activities’ mom?  I’ll keep you in the loop!

I’m actually looking forward to it.  (Keep in mind, however, that today IS day one).  We have a bunch of stuff planned.  Today we went to the park with a bunch of friends.  There is a huge hill at the back of this park.  Perfect for “King of the Hill.”  My kids haven’t quite figured out that game yet, but they did figure out how to roll down the hill.  Right into the mud.  They came home filthy, but happy.  Nothing like an afternoon bath after a morning at the park!

Our plans include dying eggs with the extended family, trip to the outlet mall tomorrow, haircuts, some time with my brother and his family, Easter Egg hunt, Easter dinner, and school conferences.  The weather is FANTASTIC!!!!!!  The temperature inside my car today read 77 degrees.

Aaaahhhhh, now THAT feels better.  The girls have been getting along FAIRLY well.  I mean, they are still sisters.  They have their moments.  But they’ve really been depending on each other, protecting each other, and entertaining each other.  They are starting to act older, and I’m OK with that.  In fact, we went to see “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” on Monday.  They were SO well behaved.  I mean, the chair still swallows Chloe a bit.  And she doesn’t like the booster seat.  So she ended up on a lap for most of the time.  But they were good.  Quiet.  Attentive.  Awesome.

And the movie?  Loved it.

So, I hope you enjoy YOUR time with your kids.  Let’s hope they all get along.  And don’t trash the house TOO much.

As we were walking through the bakery (because I told Chloe she could get cookies), we browsed.  Have you seen the Costco cupcakes?  They are gigantic!  I mean, they have to be three times the size of a normal cupcake.  Chloe then asked me if the food in there is made for REALLY big people.  Yup, I guess so.  I do have to say, though, that I DIDN’T buy the coconut cream pie because it was just too damn big.  And I would have to eat the entire thing.

We paid for our groceries, and stopped to buy our customary churro.  As we were driving home, Chloe talked to me about what she did in school today.  They were talking about weather.  She said “Mom.  Weather is either a tiger or a sheep.”

:::huh?:::

OOOHHHHHHH, you mean either a lion or a lamb?  OK, I get it.

By the way, today got a lamb

So, it was St. Patrick’s Day and I went to get our personal taxes done started.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny and warm.  Tony caught me on my cell just as I was leaving the accountant.  He needed some supplies for the bar…could I stop somewhere?  No problem.  I headed to Wal-Fart, which meant I had to pass the DQ.  (Now that I live out in the ‘burbs, I don’t drive past a DQ very often).  It was open!  I got right back on that cell and screamed to Tony “DAIRY QUEEN IS OPEN!!!!”  I never seem to stop on that very first day I see that it’s open.  I save it.  I plan for it.

The days passed.  We had fantastic weather.  There was bike riding, chalk drawing, basketball, roller skating, swings, bubbles.  All that good stuff.  Well, yesterday I made the plan.  I told the girls that we could head to DQ after dinner.  Ice Cream?  Sprinkles?  They were in.  As we were getting ready to head out, I looked at them.

Oh my gosh.  To put it nicely, it looked like they had a fun day.  Becca had a gigantic splash of mud on the back of her shirt from throwing various objects into the sandbox-that-is-now-a-science-experiment-because-it’s-filled-with-water.  She had biker shorts on. Both of their hair?  Mess.  Chloe had on some hand me down flowered corduroys that were too short.  I made her change her pants, brushed some hair, and had them cover up with some hoodies.  Becca looked at me and said “Mom!  Why do we have to look nice?  We’re going to get ice cream, not to a wedding!”

Smart ass.  She’s never even been to a wedding.

We had a great night, got to the DQ before there was a long line, and headed to the park for a couple of hours.  Chloe passed out on the couch as soon as we got home.  Slept in her outfit all night.

Sure beats what was happening a month ago…more than two feet of snow and being stuck in the house for a week.  Glad that’s a distant memory!

Enjoy whatever weather YOU have!!!!

Saturday morning, as I tried to wake up from my Nyquil hangover, the kids decided that they wanted to go spend their money. They wanted to sell various bags of ’stuff’ to their friends. These bags contained small toys that they didn’t want anymore and some candy. They made up a bag for each of their friends. I told them that it probably wasn’t a good idea to try and make their friends buy this stuff from them. Giving these bags to their friends? Fine. So, I asked Becca if she wanted to try to sell some of her artwork online. She was all for it. I scanned in her latest art project from school, and what you see above is what we came up with. Here’s a link to Becca’s artwork, too.  Of course, she wanted to BUY everything that she made.

We went through our day, and I had a plan.  I was crabby and sick.  We had some running around to do for the restaurant (it was the day of the St. Patrick’s Day parade – one of our busiest days of the year).  After we did our work, I was going to take them to Target to spend their money.

Well, we get to Target and they’re just super excited to spend.  They had 34 dollars.  I told them that if they wanted to buy a game for the Wii, that I would pay the difference.  They I had my eye on Wii Sports Resort.  A few of the neighbors have it, and their kids all seem to really enjoy it.  They wanted nothing to do with it.  So, we head back to the toys.  I told them that they needed to pick something out that would keep them busy for the afternoon.  I had visions of my arse plopped on the couch with a blanket, tea and some tissues.

Well, they started with a bunch of crap.  A plastic dump truck and squishy dinosaur for Chloe.  A fake princess camera and musical wand for Becca.  Really?!?!?  That stuff would last them five minutes.  Finally, Becca spotted UNO.  She plays it in school, and would teach Chloe.  OK, fine.  Then we got a game called Don’t Make Me Laugh Jr. I figured I could still lay on the couch, but I could read the cards.  I was figuring that this would take up an hour, tops.  So, I went ahead and bought Sports Resort.  And the extra controller add on.  And I forgot the tissues.

Well, we got home and they started playing.  I had to play UNO.  I had to play the other game.  They were arguing and fighting.  I set up the Wii.  I got them started.  More arguing.  More fighting.  More phlegm in my head.  Tired.  Had to make dinner.

I snapped.

I had a mom freak out.  ”Can’t the two of you just get along for more than ten minutes?”  ”Chloe, you keep hurting yourself because you DON’T LISTEN TO MOM. STOP JUMPING ON THE COUCH!!! QUIT ATTACKING THE DOG!!!”  ”Does anybody care that I feel like a GIGANTIC PILE OF CRAP? Is it your mission in life to just make me feel miserable? CAN’T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?!?!?!?!?”

Yeah, it wasn’t pretty.  I didn’t yell about wire hangers, but that’s exactly what I felt like.  Good ol’ Mommie Dearest.

Now, I know these things happen.  I think that everybody freaks out every once in a while.  But man, the guilt. We all made up, and we all apologized.

They DO really like Wii Sports Resort, though….

Well, he’s becoming a man  Even more so.  I’m not sure if you remember the post about his girlfriend or not.  The girls asked about that, but didn’t have any probing questions.  And I’m going to start this story off as delicately as I can.  Let me just say that Rex isn’t neutered.

He prefers to lay on his back, legs all spread apart.  Well, a few months ago, when the…um…”boys” popped out, Chloe had some concern.  I’m going to tell you exactly what she said, but let me first say that Rex’s belly (and those other various parts) is white with black spots.  Just so happens, that the black spots landed exactly on the boys.

Chloe came running into the kitchen, screaming in a panic.

“Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!”

“What!!!” I screamed.  I was hoping nobody lost a finger.

“Rex has meatballs coming out of his but!”

“Um, what?”  I didn’t really make the connection right away.  It took a second.  But it did hit me before I actually SAW the dog.

As I chuckled under my breath, I gently told Chloe that they were not, in fact, meatballs.  All these different words (both medical and slang) flew through my brain.  I decided to keep it as simple as possible.

“Chloe, those are his boy parts.  Girl parts are inside.  Boy parts are on the outside.”

She looked at me, and I saw the wheels turning in her head.  Obviously, the next question HAD to come.

“Do Dad’s boy parts look like that?”

I simply answered “Well, Dad’s not a dog. If you want to know anything else, you’re going to have to ask Dad.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

There was literally cheers and jumping up and down.

So, after we finished all of our work at home, we packed up.  We had to stop at the bank and the restaurant first, but then we could have our little adventure.  As we were getting ready to go, Becca asked me where my backpack was.  I told her it was in the closet….why?  She told me that I needed to take it to the zoo.  OK, I understood.  I told her I didn’t need to take it to the zoo…I didn’t need diapers, wipes, bottles, extra formula, etc.  The last time I took Chloe to the zoo, she was just about to turn three.  Well…she was out of diapers by then.  But I still needed that emergency extra outfit, just in case.  (I never actually had to use the extra outfit, but I felt better just having it).

I told the girls that they were much easier to just take along to places now.  And they are.  I fed them McDonalds in the car.  Beautiful.  I didn’t have to rent a wagon – they walked the whole time.  Chloe was a bit nervous on whether or not the animals could get out.  We had a great time – the two favorites were the monkeys and the polar bears.  One of the polar bears was in the water, playing with his toys.  We ended the day in the Kids Kingdom, running across wobbly bridges, crawling through tunnels and climbing gigantic rope spider webs.

There wasn’t any fighting.  Although there were a few attempts to plead for a stuffed animal to take home, they both settled for a huge sucker and a mood ring (yes, I got a mood ring for myself, too – but not a sucker).  It was a fantastic afternoon.  It was one of those days that I fantasized about when I was awake at 3:00 am feeding a bottle to a cranky infant.

My chicks rock.  My family rocks.  Although Tony couldn’t be with us yesterday, we get to have an awesome family day today.  I’m holding on to yesterday.  And next week, when I’m screaming for everybody to stop touching each other, telling Chloe to stop choking the dog and cleaning up everybody’s mess, I’m going to stop, sit down, and think about yesterday.

Maybe it will stop me from having the “Mom Freakout.”