The Grand Experiment...

Day 1, night 2. 11:08 pm.

The children are adjusting well to their new sleeping quarters. All belongings from upstairs have been moved downstairs and put in the new room. The kids helped choose where to put things, and also helped organize. Occasionally they had to be reigned in. Sebby wanted his airport ON his bed, despite it being 3x1.5, and Miss Maddy thought ALL the stuffed animals should be in her bed.  "No, mom, it's okay. I am pretty little, and I just won't move much." Sebby even picked a new nightlight, a white flower to match his sisters pink one. (Dean is so proud... he wanted Seb to choose the flickering Knight's Torch one.) They continue to ignore all warnings to be quiet and go to sleep, however.  they were, once again, up until 9:00 pm this evening. Tomorrow comes the crack down. (the crackdown involves a parent sitting just at the doorway, hissing "psht!" or "shhh" every time the children make a sound.) Hopefully this tactic will once again work. 

Day 1, night 2. 11:15 pm.

The grown-ups are having a tough time adjusting to the childrens new sleeping quarters. They spent five hours moving all belongings from upstairs to downstairs, and boy, are those kids lucky!! After repeatedly moving things like airports and dolls BACK TO THE SPOT THEY BELONG IN, hanging up nightlights,  organizing books by height (yes, I am serious) and generally trying to be pleasant to the kids when totally worn out, tuckered, exhausted and really really tired, they finally went to sleep. Or, at least the Daddy did. The Mommy tossed and turned, and wondered if she could convince the children to share the much smaller (but closer to mom and dad's room ) bedroom upstairs. Alas, the children LOVE their new room. And being together. And their toys. Oh, and you too Mommy! Thanks for the new room! 

We'll keep you posted, and here are some pics of the almost finished room.

Seb's bed

Miss Maddy's bed

The store. We still have to fill the shelves with all the goods.

The closet/clubhouse, and Seb's closet unit.

Sporadicus here... finally! I have been on hiatus for a while. On hiatus from things like making dinner. Or lunch. Or breakfast. On hiatus from typing, crafting, cleaning and walking. Oh, and driving. All kinds of things that are really hard to do when you are lying in bed with a back that is on hiatus. Things are MUCH improved, which is GREAT! It is so fantastic to be upright once again!

Flash Forward to the Future...

Maddy's beloved "Cousint Clara" is having her sixth birthday party on Sunday. It is a wedding party. A REAL Wedding party involving wedding dresses, cakes and all the trappings. Maddy and I found this ridiculously beautiful dress at Winners a little more than a month ago, and it has been hanging in Daddy's closet under lock and key with and armed guard ever since. Okay, okay, not really locked, and no guard, but strict instructions to NOT TOUCH until the big wedding day. Looking and sighing were fine, and were carried out on a weekly basis.

I decided to try my hand at making a veil to complete Maddy's bridal outfit. I had visions of a lovely, flowing white veil cascading off of Maddy's locks, nicely edged in satin, perhaps with some glitter... instead, I used the stuff from her princess party, chopped it off and wrapped an elastic onto it. Simple, stays where it is put, and REALLY easy to make. Also beautiful, according to Little Miss. All you need is tulle, scissors, a white elastic, and enough hair to twist into said elastic. Voila! A veil. Then, of course, we had to see how it all looked on. 

Whew. I had a moment, as I looked at my six year old daughter through the lens of my camera, that it seemed so very, very wrong, for an instant.  She looked too old, too sophisticated, somehow.  I lowered my camera to tell her that we had enough shots, and she stuck her tongue out at me. Yup... she is still my little girl. And will be for a long long time. And on her wedding day, should she decide to marry, I will bring out these pictures to show her how her ideal at 6 is different and the same as her ideal at 40. (I can hope, right??)

Incidentally, if any of you remember my absolutely gorgeous wedding dress, you may note some of the similarities between what Maddy chose, and what I chose that day.

Showing off the beautiful, long veil...

The beads on the waist...

What am I doing?

Bridezilla!

First Ever Skytrain Ride

Today was a red letter day for Seb and Maddy! We had the First Ever (LONG AWAITED) Skytrain Ride. The kids think that Dean is the luckiest Daddy alive, not just because he is married to Mommy, but because he gets to take the skytrain to work every day.  Dean, not wanting to miss the First Ever (LONG AWAITED) Skytrain Ride, skytrained from Waterfront Center to Science World, where he met up with us, and Papa. Then, we bought tickets (a long process involving much pushing of buttons, inserting of coins and pulling of tickets) and walked up to the platform. Seb had very big excited eyes! Maddy was giggling and twirling the whole time. We all hopped on the train and went (back) to Waterfront Station to have lunch near Dean's work. Then Papa, Maddy, Seb and I skytrained back to Science World to visit the Lego Exhibit. 

Seb is clutching my fare ticket, determined to "hold on to it for a little while."

(Love Maddy's little ballet feet!)

Dean explaining how the whole "fare ticket" thing works.

We got the coolest seat... the one in the front, where it looks like YOU are driving the train! Woot woot!

This was on the way back from lunch, the kids were Skytrain veterans by this point...

not interested in sitting properly at all.

Seb was actually able to speak on this trip. He was pretty much mute with excitement on the way there.

(Whoops! this is slightly out of order!) Seb and Daddy at lunch.

Maddy on the train.

Papa on the train. 

Science World!

Today the kids and I met with Papa, and had a field trip to Science World. (This counts towards school... how cool is that?) We went specifically so that my Dad and I could see the Lego exhibit. The kids went specifically so that they could play with stuff, other than lego. Kidding. Although, they were less than impressed with the lego stuff, neither of them understanding the sheer amount of work, patience, skill and time that go into these massive, intricate creations. Dad and I were pretty jazzed though! However, the kids DID find some things they could enjoy...

Who doesn't love a full size lego race car?

Seb was pretty intrigued...

Seb's worried look is because on the tv in front of him, he is driving the car, and "those other cars are chasing me!"

We have one of these at home. Maddy says if we have a race course with tires, she will ride it more.

Sebby makes this incredible sound when he is going faster than he can walk. It is this strange, whiskey laced, husky, shriek that I can't help laughing at... and it is ALWAYS accompanied by this face.

A great time was had by all. We were very glad to have Papa's company for the better part of the day... he is pretty fun, and very loved!

Easter Egg Fun part deux.

We dyed Easter Eggs tonight! The kids, Dean and I had a great time too. I almost managed to keep my "psycho - clean - mommy" persona in the closet, but she popped out a few times. So the kids were naked, the towels were black, and the dining room was liberally plastered with newspaper. On the plus side, clean up was a breeze!

I took some really fun pictures of the kids while they were dyeing the eggs, but after I loaded them onto the computer, I realized that not one of them was publishable! In two of them, Maddy was holding her chest, in one Seb had a tight grip on his nether parts, and in the others, they were picking their noses, and totally blurred out. So I didn't include them. But I am hanging onto them for blackmail purposes. What?! Wouldn't you?

Zut Alors! I have meeesed one!

I forgot to add Miss Maddy's princess! I know, I know... it is Ariel (again). But at least I cleverly avoided the whole shell bra issue by adding the flowing train/dress/skirt thing! Isn't she lovely? Maddy sure thinks so!

Easter Egg fun, part one

Easter is upon us, and this year, what with homeschooling, and being all organized, I actually remembered to hard-boil eggs for the kids to decorate. I even bought a nifty kit for them to use, which includes several permanent dyes. (Not that I am concerned about my kids and permanent color. Why would I be?) For our homeschool art stuff this week we made some fun little bunnies and chicks, which we then used to decorate the house. The Easter Bunnies plan was to have an outdoor egg hunt this year, but it seems as though the weather thinks that is a terrible idea. Being as how it is supposed to monsoon on Sunday morning. So I had all these plastic eggs that the Bunny was going to stick the chocolates in, and nothing to do with them.  I was cruising one of my favorite craft sites, and saw that the big plastic eggs could be put to good use~ AS EGGS!! Anyhow... with some felt, a *low - temp glue gun, some sharpies (shout out to Bill!) and a whack of pipe cleaners... Dean and I created. And created and created and created! Enjoy the fruits, er, eggs, of our labor!

Cutest little piglet ever! He even has a corkscrew tail made out of a pink pipe-cleaner

Arrrr, me hearties! This one was special for Seb!

This is Dean's Indiana Egg. Note the detailing of his vest, and satchel.

Must have the crooked grin, stubble, and of course, the coiled rope!

Squeak! Squeak! Mouse (NOT PIG)

The greenest cat ever invented!

I love doing the eggs this way. Way more fun (for me) than those stinky, messy dyes, that NEVER look like that ones in the Martha Stewart magazine. Whenever I try to combine colors, everything turns out muddy brown. These eggs are easy! And look so cute! And next year, I will already have started my decorating!

*low - temp glue gun is seriously hot. I have many, many, many burns on my fingers from this supposed "low - temp" thing. I'd hate to see the high - temp one!

Wacky things my kids say... an in depth explanation...

Once I had my kids, I noticed that my body, my life, my house... these things I once thought to be sacred, and fully my own, no longer were.  These tiny little infants depended upon me for everything. Well, they don't depend on me as much anymore; Maddy can make snacks and breakfast, Seb can dress himself (mostly), both are potty trained and play well independently. However, they still ask for lots of stuff. And I don't always want to share. But, well, I am a mom. And it is sort of in the job description. So when Seb asked for some of MY strawberries last night, I gr(udgingly)aciously gave both him AND his sister one. (see? what a great sharer.) Apparently sharing opens the floodgates of entitlement. "More please!" and again "More please!" and again "More please!" ad nauseam. Seb, sitting next to me, had his head almost IN my strawberries, and he looked up at me with those big blue eyes, and something happened inside me. *sigh* I leaned towards him, he smiled, I smiled, and gently, oh so gently, I poked him in the forehead with my fork. He screeched with delight! "MOMMY FORKED ME! MOMMY FORKED ME IN THE HEAD!" I don't think we'll be going back to that restaurant in the future.

More creativity...

These are my two favorite shots of the day...

Something about this little hand and the vibrant pink. *sigh* Love it.

I love her furrowed brow in this one. Totally amazing. I also kind of like the reflection of light on her side, by her elbow.  The sun was pouring in through the window, which she was working in front of. Just beautiful!

Art on Mom's day

We decided to bust out the paints today. It was such a beautiful sunny day, and the kids were feeling inspired. It was contagious, so I busted out my camera too. 

I love the face! He makes it fairly often during the creative process.

The light was kind of funny here, but I love the pink on the brush... and the way her chin is resting on her chest... "the painting repose"

See? Same funny little creative process face! 

I am feeling obsessed with this shot right now... I will post it up on the next entry too...

Halfway through quiet time, I have the kids do a halfway (maybe half-a**ed) tidy of their toys. That way, theoretically, at the end of quiet time, there is not this huge mess. And the tantrums are way less intense. And the kids are better about it too. So I walked into Seb's room, and it looked like a toy store had thrown up on his floor. An eerie silence fell shortly after I asked him to clean up. (Trust me, any silence in this house before 8 pm is eerie.) I opened his door to ask him how the monster clean up was going, and this is what I found. Aw....

What a cutie... all cuddled up on his blankie from YaYa, and his hippo. With his head resting on that hard plastic top to his jeep. And some of the bristle lego under his temple.

Wow. That's a lot of stuff on the floor...

Oh. My. Gosh. 

This is NOT going to be an easy clean when he wakes up.  (why'd we buy him a bed, again?)

TROUBLE...

Our kids are not exposed to a whole lot of media. I don't read magazines, we don't let them watch anything else but pre-school shows on TV, and I really don't think they even know what a commercial is. Once again, my darling daughter has taken the opportunity to bring the whole "nature vs nurture" conflict to the forefront of my mind. She was preparing to go for a special date to the Ballet to see Peter Pan with her Nana and cousin Riley. After she got dressed up, she began to pose, and asked me to take pictures. It turned into an impromptu photo shoot. She wouldn't stop. I had an insane amount of pictures in fifteen minutes, and I quit shooting before she quit posing. Lord help us!!!

Vogue, baby!

Stayin' Alive!

SOOOO much trouble!

This is NOT coached, people

And I promise, she is NOT ALLOWED to watch America's Next Top Model

Or Canada's Next Top Model.

I promise.