Silence is golden unless...

I was downstairs folding laundry, working on the computer, or something.  I realized that it was so peacefully quiet.  Then I realized I have a toddler.  When it's peacefully quiet with a toddler, you know it's going to be bad.

I walked upstairs to find this...

and this...

and these...

and finally...

Eli and Ruby taught me a lot about being a mom.  Nothing they ever did prepared me for this sensory-seeking (and sometimes sensory-avoiding) little boy.  What HE has taught me, is to get the camera first, and THEN begin the clean up!

Date Night with Ruby

Back in January I shared about my date night with Eli.  In February, it was Ruby's turn with Mom.  Just like with Dad, she wanted to go to the indoor water park with me.  Absolutely no complaints here!  We did crab races in the kiddie pool.  She jumped to me off the side of the pool and we did water slides until we were so hungry we couldn't do one more slide!

After the water park we had lunch at the pretzel place-- two orders of mini pretzel dogs and root beer!

Her original plan was to go earring shopping after lunch (since the next day she would be able to change out of her "starter" earrings).  While we were eating, though, she had to brilliant idea to go check and see if there were any good movies playing. 

As it turned out, "Escape from Planet Earth" was at the theatre.  She loved it and she loved not having to fight a toddler to sit on Mama's lap!

Afterwards, she decided she wanted to go earring shopping with her own money (since her date budget was gone).  She chose three adorable sets of earrings and we came home.  

She and Dad talked me in to letting her change her earrings that day instead of waiting for the next day.  As she was trying to put the new ones in, she must have gotten in out of alignment and poked her ear into a bloody mess.  Yep, I know, I should have trusted my gut and insisted that she let me help her the first time.  Anyway, she now has about 15 pairs of cute earrings that she refuses to even attempt to put in her ears again.  Ever.

I love spending time with the kids individually.  It gives me a much better sense of their emerging personalities.

Seuss-tastic weekend

We love celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday.  This year we had the same old green eggs, ham, and Seuss hat pancakes.  (Seriously, I think my kids would revolt if I ever tried to change this!)

Ruby made her dad and me Cat in the Hat hats.

Dad bought Seuss Memory...

and I found an app where you can listen to, and interact with, the Cat in the Hat story.

On Sunday we went to a Dr. Seuss party at the library.  We were expecting a craft, a coloring page, and maybe a small snack.  Let me tell you, they went all out.  It was awesome!

Despite it being Read Across America day, David was most interested in watching "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That" with Thing 1 and Thing 2!

Our crafty Ruby would have stayed until she did every single last craft (if we could have let her!).

My favorite part was "Hop on Pop" where they had laid out bubble wrap in a long hallway and encouraged the kids to pop it.  I think we may be adding that to our celebration next year!

David's 2nd favorite part was eating green eggs (vanilla wafers, icing, and green M&MS).  As a matter of fact, he tried to do this station twice!

Happy birthday Dr. Seuss!

Heart Attack

I originally found this idea on Pintrest (of course!), although several blogs had variations of the same idea, some fancier than other.  I went fairly simple, because, well, doing something consistently over a long period of time is not my specialty!

Starting on February 1, I woke up early, cut out a heart for each of the two big kids, and wrote something I loved about him/ her on it.  (When the waking up early part didn't work, I did it while they were at school.)

Ruby discovered the hearts right away and bounced out of bed each morning to read what I had left on her door.  Eli was a lot more low key about the whole thing.  It was about a week before I ever even caught him looking at the hearts.  Each one, though, in his or her own way, conveyed thankfulness for me having done it.

I will definitely do this again.  Next year I hope to have all the hearts made in advance so that all I have to do is write something and tape them up each morning.  That certainly would have simplified things!

Although this was great for Valentine's day, I think the idea could be incorporated at other times as well.  The first thing that comes to mind is a heart with what you love about your spouse, one for each year you are married, during the month of your anniversary.  I think this activity was even better for me than it was for the kids; it helped me put the focus on the fantastic children they are, rather than focusing with the slight irritations they might cause occasionally.

Sample "I love"s:

1.  I love what a hard worker you are.

2.  I love how freely you give hugs and kisses.

3.  I love how original you are.

4.  I love how flexible you can be.

5.  I love how energetic you are.

6.  I love how you stand up to bullies.

7.  I love how appreciative you are.

8.  I love what a good goal-setter you are.

9.  I love how forgiving you are.

10.  I love how cooperative you are.