Wall Art

While I am all for adding new artwork to the walls in our home, what I saw when I turned around from making lunch yesterday isn't exactly what I have in mind.

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad my kids like to express themselves creatively. But this isn't the first inappropriate place Brennan has colored lately. And I haven't been having the best luck removing the so-called artwork.

My first reaction was to scream, "Brennan! No!!!" Which I immediately knew was the wrong response and tried to correct. But it was too late. Brennan went in to full pout mode, hunted down his paci's, curled in a ball on Rudy's chair and refused to eat his lunch. He eventually forgave me and decided to eat, whether from hunger or because he forgot what he was upset about, I don't know. But I was still stressed about getting that crayon off the wall.

Luckily, we live in the age of the internet, and with a quick google search I had a possible solution. A hairdryer! Yep, a hairdryer. First I tried removing with my go-to all purpose cleaner - warm water, Dawn and vinegar. Didn't touch it. So I decided to try the hairdryer advice, and sure enough, after pointing the dryer at a section of the wall for about 30 seconds and then wiping, it came right off.  I'm sure a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser would have worked too, but those things are darn expensive and I didn't have any in the house. This way was much cheaper and I didn't have to go to the store.  Now, if only it would work on the art on the t.v. stand, end table and the pen marks Kaelyn got on the hall wall...

Tiny Dancer

I had actually already had the title of this post in my head when, coincidentally, we heard Elton John's Tiny Dancer on the way home from Kaelyn's last ballet class.  She's been taking a ballet class at the rec center for the past five weeks.  I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little (ok, a lot) disappointed when the teacher told us at the first class we couldn't stay and watch.

We finally got to stay and watch for their last class. It was worth the wait. I was so impressed with how well she did and how much she had learned in just five short classes. And she was a great listener too and followed all her teacher's instructions. Most importantly, I loved seeing the joy on her face while she danced.

Oh, and by the way, when we went to buy her leotard and tuto (a.k.a. lifeguard) I was certain she would pick one of the pink ones. I was taken by surprise when we ended up with a black one. BUT... I think she picked the one she did because it had the poofiest tutu and the most sparkles.

She learned the five positions.

Chasse.

Skipping.

Twirling (her favorite).

Plies.

And leg lifts.

(I was having trouble with the video for those last two, but I'll keep trying to see if I can add them later.)

Looks like we have a little ballerina on our hands.

Easter in Wisconsin

Since we ended up having a long discussion over Easter weekend about what we had done on previous Easters and the answers were a little unsure, I thought I had better record this year so we can all remember. Or at least look back on something in writing to jog our memory.

It was a short but busy trip to Wisconsin this year. We were there less than four days but managed to pack a lot in to the time. Unfortunately, since Brennan was just getting over being sick and didn't sleep much on the 7 hour ride there he was cranky for most it.

Like our trip to Monkey Joe's. I almost wanted to not go because I could tell he was sleepy before we left, but Kaelyn had really been looking forward to it and asking me for months when we could go again.

He did a couple jumps and went down the big slide with me a few times but wasn't very happy the rest of the time.

At the end he only wanted to play arcade games. However, 5 of the 7 games were out of order. Including this racing game.

Sorry, Kaelyn. I didn't get any pictures of you since Brennan wouldn't let me put him down. But at least one of you had a good time. I'll have to ask Maya for her pictures and add some later.

Later that day we visited Uncle Joey at the fire station. Which we thought Brennan would love. But he flipped out about 5 seconds after walking through the door.

Kaelyn was a lot braver this time though.

Looks like Auntie Jenny finally got him to smile at something.

Hooking Kaelyn up to the machines to see her heartbeat.

Oh, the one thing Bren did love was that silly microphone. He made everyone sing into it at least half a dozen times.

Tate, finding out what it feels like to be a firefighter.

The full get-up.

On Saturday morning we got to see Tate play soccer. I think both kids enjoyed watching their cousin, who was the star of the game, even if they get a little distracted.  Running around the bleachers is a lot of fun you know.

And the obligatory egg decorating. Maya bought some fancy stuff this year. We had glitter, gems, jewels, crayons, makers, stampers, stickers...

Sunday morning egg hunt. Brennan found one!

So did Kaelyn!

Another thing that made him happy were the treats he found in the eggs. Especially the mini Larabars. That was pretty much all he wanted to eat after he discovered them.

Kaelyn with her Easter basket. In an attempt to reduce the junk this year Maya picked up some bunny bread from Great Harvest to replace the chocolate bunnies. The kids didn't seem that excited about it but I thought it was delicious. And they still get plenty of treats.

We did actually go to Easter mass and have a delicious Easter dinner (lamb, mmm, my mouth is watering now) but I went ahead and let my camera battery die so I didn't get any pictures. Maybe Maya can send me pictures of those too.

What should we do next Easter?

Boo-boo lip

Don't you think it's funny how kids just seem to innately know how to manipulate our hearts? Brennan has developed the cutest boo-boo lip when he doesn't get his way and has been flashing that thing all around lately. It makes me want to eat his face. Not really. But I might accidentally squeeze him too hard and make him cry more.

Even when his crying and pouting is totally off the reservation and I'm just about ready to scream, one look at that lip and I'm a goner. How do they know how to do that? Is it some sort of learned survival trait so parents don't abandon their kids when things start to get ugly?

Climbing like a gecko at The Children's Museum

He also started upping the ante on his pouting cuteness the other day. He woke up a little too early from his nap and was a little sensitive while I was trying to feed the kids their snack of smoothie pops. He was having a hard time eating it as an actual pop and got a little frustrated and upset. I tried cutting it up into chunks in a bowl but he was still struggling. I was trying real hard to be patient and figure out what he wanted so I could help him. Everything I tried to offer was met with a whiny "no!" and more tears. Eventually, since I was obviously not getting it, he decided I wasn't worth his time, crossed his arms and turned his back on him. Little did he know how adorable this actually was. I tried to sneak a picture of him on my phone but he just kept putting his hand up and turning the other way.

Who knew it would make my heart melt to see my child pout?

Food, trucks, cake, more food and lots of family

Well, dang-it. I'm behind again. I'm sure this is not a real shocker to any of you. I am just now getting to uploading pictures and writing about our fun birthday weekend celebration two weekends ago. But it was so much fun I really can't skip over it, so I must write so that I can move on with life over here.

First of all, the kids were so excited for everyone to get here on Friday. They completely wore themselves out and were snuggling on the couch right before the first crew arrived.

Naturally, we started the weekend celebration with food. Pizza from Jockamo's - Yumm! And, like every other party we had way to much and finished the last few pieces yesterday (they were in the freezer so no one got sick eating it almost 2 weeks later).

The next day began with more food (of course) and a trip to the bowling alley (which involved beer and more food). I was super excited because for once I planned well enough and prepared enough ahead of time that I got to go too. I know you're probably thinking that since this was just a small family gathering there shouldn't have been a need for much planning or preparation but I tend to get excited about food and get a little carried away.

Of course this is an appropriate dress to wear when its 30 degrees in March, but she just had to  be fancy.

Birthday boys sharing a secret

Right before the big meltdown. We knew it would come since it was past nap time, but unfortunately someone forgot to bring a paci and it was quite a long ride home. Whoops!

I'm not really sure who won. I wasn't really paying attention to the scores and Brennan had pretty much given up halfway through the second game. But I think everyone had fun. And we all learned an important lesson. Don't leave the house close to nap time without a pacifier.

I believe this was supposed to be during quiet time, but someone started a game of balloon bellies.

And there was plenty of Mario action.

Finally, after we had all stuffed our faces, the boys got to open their presents. Bren's were a little more interesting than Tate's. Here he is opening his tunnel with a little help. I'm not sure who was more excited, Kaelyn to give it to him (she talked about it at least once a day the entire week) or Brennan.

He really loved all of his presents and has been playing with them all pretty regularly. So I guess everyone did a good job. And no huge new toys taking up lots of space in the house, so Mama's happy too! :)

And then there was cake! I cheated a little and just made one cake into two smaller cakes so each of the boys could have their own. Two full cakes would have been way too much anyway.

Gracious! I can't believe this boy is 14! I still think of him when he was Bren's age. I think he might stay 2 in my mind forever.

And I went for an easier version of the dump truck cake I made for Kaelyn on her 2nd birthday. This one just involved smearing peanut butter filling on chunks of cake, plopping on the back of the truck and pouring chocolate ganache over the top. Oh, man. My mouth is water looking at these pictures.

And I was able to make him his own little personal dump truck.

Say "cheese!"

Brennan's favorite present might be a new pair of pajamas. Yes, I actually think he gets more excited about these Superman pajamas than any of the toys. He calls himself "Super-Brennie" and points repeatedly to the "S." He wanted to wear them the very next night and has worn them immediately the night after they get washed ever since. Which means Kaelyn has been wearing her Supergirl pajamas a lot and they've been jumping off the couch before bed. Bren must have been too fast to get a good shot, but Kaelyn actually slowed down a minute to pose for me.

Luckily for us, Nana, Pop and Care-Care were able to stay a little bit longer and celebrate with us on his real birthday. And, thankfully they got him some of his own tools so he won't try to pick up the real hammer any more when we're doing projects around the house. I was pretty sure we were eventually going to end up with (another) hole in the wall.

Since it has been six months since we went for K's birthday, we figured another trip to the Columbus Commons was in order.

Bren ventured up the climbing apparatus this time. Though he was more hesitant than we expected with his monkey tendencies.

Luckily he had some help from his big sister,

and Dada.

Somebody wasn't quite ready to leave when it was time and had to practically be pried off his spinny thing. I had learned my lesson and packed a paci this time, but luckily we got out of there without having to use it.

It wasn't nice enough to take the kids golfing, but we did manage to swing by Dick's later on the way to dinner for some green time.

Birthday dinner at Red Robin! Yummm!

I'm not really sure why neither of them could manage a normal smile here.

What's a birthday without a second round of cake? I think he was having a hard time waiting to dig in this time.

We are so glad that (almost) all of our family was able to come from far away to celebrate with us. The kids really love having everyone here and so do we. We are so fortunate to have family who are willing to travel to see us and we hope that we'll always get to be with family for special occasions.

By the way, I didn't count but I think there are at least 30 pictures in this post. That's not too many, is it? Do you think I should add more? (Cause I definitely could.)