Pretty Flowers

On Friday, BJ decided to use one of his vacation days and we all visited the St. Louis Botanical Gardens. We were considerably impressed.  The gardens were overflowing with spring blossoms!  The gardens also boasted an extra large Japanese and Chinese garden which, of course we both loved.

When BJ was done oohing at all the azaleas (despite his constant sneezing and extra puffy red eyes--allergies you know) and when I was done ahhing all the tulip beds (both of us making mental notes on color combos for our someday-we-hope-in-the-very-near-future yard) we took the girls to a really fun children's garden...where we promptly lost our precious # 2 for about 10 minutes.  After the panic wore off, the girls (and their parents) were able to run and get nice and dirty. 

It was a long day that made all our legs ache.  One of those good aches though, you know?  Oh but it was soooo wonderful to have an entire day with all 4 of us!  

You'll notice that most of the pictures are of Cambree.  Haylee didn't feel very well and was not excited about me taking her picture.  I guess I didn't take many pictures of the flowers either but hey, you all know what flowers look like right?  My kids are more fun to look at anyway in my perfectly unbiased opinion. :)

A Smile

I cannot look at this picture without smiling. 

I could definitely use one today.   

Anyone else?

Smarty Pants

Many folks put their kids into preschool around age 3. We noticed this especially in NC where kindergarten starts as a full day. Well, situations for us have not been such that it has worked out to get Haylee into preschool. Recently, I heard about a local high school with a parenting class that offers an extremely discounted form of preschool taught by the students. We've just wanted her in some kind of program to get her ready in some way to enter into the world of BIG KIDS this fall.
(Hold on, this fall? As in 5 months away??? )

You know what I mean: backpacks, lunchboxes, school busses, kickball, cubbies, paste, "you're not invited to my birthday party anymore"s, standing in line, raising your hand, trading desserts at lunch time, chasing boys at recess...

According to Haylee though? She's already there.

When I picked her up that first day I told her how much I missed her and casually asked her whether she missed me too. I was full on expecting a big hug and a "Yes MOM!" but do you know what she said?

She said: "Uh...actually Mom, I didn't even think about you. Nope, not once. Can I have a cookie when we get home?"

Stab to the heart. :)

It was a balmy 55 or so when we left. Hence Cambree's backwards winter hat and loner mitten.

"Bye Haya!"

So we're eating breakfast the morning of the first day and Haylee asks me what she's going to do at school. Among other things, I mention that she might talk about letters and I decide that a good mother wouldn't waste this perfect opportunity to review, right?

So I begin: Haylee, what sound does 'p' make?

(long pause, right when it's starting to get a bit uncomfortable I decide to prompt)

Mom: C'mon, you know this one! Pizza, Party, Purple, Panda...

Smarty Pants: Oh, you mean the letter 'p'...it sounds like puh. (DUH)

Ha ha ha. The fact that she wasn't even trying to be funny just makes it funnier. Also the fact that during the "long pause" she was possibly trying to decide how to mimic the sound of pee is funny too. Yes, we have potty (in all its forms) on the brain in our house...24/7. Want another example?

While reading about Eric Carle's extra hungry caterpillar, Cambree refused to let anyone call the cocoon anything other than POOP. Haylee and I were pretty emphatic but she was too. So she threw the book. End of story.

FAT FREE, CALORIE FREE CHOCOLATE!!!

I found a wonderful recipe for chocolate play dough here and made it for the girls the other day.

(Just a tip: if you try making this, make sure your water is really boiling before you add it so the salt dissolves. Ours was a bit grainy.)

We made cupcakes and cookies and they actually smelled authentic! The dough smelled delicious! So much so that even though I knew there was tons of salt and no sugar in it, I had to try it anyway as did both girls. YUCK!

Sometimes, I'll just crack open the bag and take a sniff.

Just for fun.

When no one's looking.

Sick Days...

...are blessings in disguise, for me anyway. Today (this was Monday actually) forced me to put my blessings a little bit higher on the priorities list (conveniently knocking "sweep the floor" and "clean the bathrooms" to the very bottom of the list, thank goodness.)

Our little Bree was so sick! Haylee caught her in-between episodes of "spitting up" to read to her. She was such a huge help in other ways too. Cambree didn't have much luck making it to the bathroom so we just held a bowl for her when she needed it and Haylee took over the job if I happened to be away when it was needed.

Which do you prefer?

So we're at the store today and while I'm debating between Always and Kotex, I hear my 2 year old say very loudly and, surprisingly, very clearly "Mommy Pullups!" over and over and over while my 4 year old corrected her over and over and over "No Cambree, those are NOT Mommy Pullups!"

A Peek into the Edwards household...just for a day

The following is pretty typical of a "normal" day for us. I just happened to think to write it all down so I can remember it when my daughter is all grown up and calls complaining about her own crazy kids. I'm sure I missed a few somethings but you get the idea...

The other night after 3-4 hours of fussing and prying hidden toys and books and backpacks and sippy cups and baby bottles and puzzle pieces from Cambree's little hands, oh, and 10-12 trips taking her back to bed, she finally fell asleep around 10pm. Before I went to bed, I went to check on her and noticed that her cheek looked red. Like a wind burn sort of. Worried a little, I mentioned it to BJ who went in to check on her and he noticed that her drool on her pillowcase was also reddish. We concluded that she probably stole another one of Haylee's dumdums from her stash in her sock drawer (that's where she puts them whenever we get back from the bank).

Fast forward to the next morning when I am awoken by the strange and uncomfortably wet (yet familiar) sensation of Cambree bite/kissing my nose. Again, I notice her cheeks are red, as are her jammies, slippers, and arms. Hmm...I go look in her bed and all I find is dried red drool. I am officially puzzled. Even more so when Haylee goes to the bathroom and right before she is about to flush, notices that Cambree's picture that she colored the day before has just been peed on. It appeared to have been there all night. As I fished it out I noticed that there were red smudges on the roll of TP and all over the toilet seat and lid. Hmm...again.

Breakfast was pretty normal with only one cup dumped on the floor after the above named child realized it wasn't what she ordered. I was able to stop that same child from breaking her egg maracas so I could make her eggies for breakfast, which were not thrown on the floor thank goodness. Oh, but when the "snoke" started coming out of the toaster things got exciting. Luckily the paper towel that had been shoved inside only resulted in sparks and more "snoke" and not a fire.

For some reason, an hour or so later, I came into our Pink Room, AKA the computer/craft/mess room and noticed the closet door ajar. I found our red culprit. Fingerpaint. Judging by the unorderliness of the closet, she got pretty creative in her efforts to get to that finger paint.

Mystery solved.


Later, when I attempted my afternoon escape ritual of hiding in the bathroom for a minute or two of peace, I neglected to lock the door. As I kicked myself, the "peace" I was seeking came in the form of a 2 year old, arms full of coloring books and crayons. "Cowo Mommy!" Don't be grossed out but I was using the toilet at this point. That, however, didn't stop her from dumping the crayon bin into my lap. Luckily, things were positioned such that I didn't have to retrieve any crayons from the bowl.

Dinner time is always an adventure at our house. Of course it is because I have to make it and I can't follow any of my posterities around as I make do so. This evening, Cambree decided to join me in the kitchen. She got to try 2 new foods. She loves to unwrap bouillion cubes and I guess I didn't put the thing away after she unwrapped the ones I needed because moments later I heard her gagging and spitting it all up on the floor. Yuck. Then she proceeded (for the next 10 mintues) to make this gagging/dry hacking sort of sound. It reminded me of a sound my dog used to make kind of like clearing your throat but with a disgusted sort of quality to it. Then she tried cilantro. That ended up on the cutting board where the rest of the cilantro was waiting to be added to my soup. No gagging this time though.

During dinner I only had to intervene a couple times to stop some bickering. Once, when Cambree dropped her broccoli into Haylee's juice when she wasn't looking. The next time was when BJ came home and while Haylee left her chair to welcome him, Cambree stole (and ate) Haylee's bread.

Later, as the girls were getting their jammies on, we heard Haylee shout "Cambree just peed on the floor!" Indeed, there was a puddle in the middle of the floor. (This was one time where I was glad we have hardwood floors instead of carpet.) Not sure what she was thinking, maybe that she couldn't make it to the potty? Or maybe that her diaper was full enough already that whatever she added to it would leak out anyway so she might as well enjoy some freedom?

So there you have it. A peek into our house...just for a day.

I just realized that all of these incidents only involve one of my kids. Interesting.