Is that Pig?

If you have a weak stomach you may not want to read this post.  The bottom line is that I have food issues.  I do not eat meat on the bone.  When I make soup, I use bouillon cubes.  When Kevin hunts, he brings it to me wrapped up nice and neat, boneless, skinless, etc.  I love eggs, but only if I do not think about what they really are.  I gave up eating chicken for several years once, because I thought about what I was "actually" eating.  I LOVE FOOD, but do not want to consider the source.  I like to live in denial.  It works for me.  Until Now.  Now I have two very curious little girls that like to associate things.  The other day when I was slicing up some honey ham for a quiche, Kendall came running into the room.  "Is that pig?"  She asked this with great excitement as she went to get her stool.  "I LOOOVVVVEEE Pig.", she exclaims.  Then she climbs up and asks if she can have some.  Of course Sidney comes running in to investigate.  She too seems to LOVE pig.  After about 10 minutes of this talk, I had to stop and tell them.  "Yes girls, it is pig.  However, can we please refer to it as ham?"  Somehow that makes me feel much better.

Yesterday we went to church and they had a kids carnival after service.  The carnival was complete with jump houses, popcorn and cotton candy.  The girls had never tried cotton candy before.  Sidney was not a big fan.  It was a bit weird for her.  Every time she would take a bite she would gag and try to wipe it off her tongue.  Needless to say, she did not end up finishing the cotton candy.

We spent our weekend packing up the house.  We found a house that we really loved and it closes in less than 3 weeks.  For those that have followed this story, it is not the first house that we originally started this whold thing over.  This is a house that we found last weekend and fell in love with it.  The girls have been doing very well with the idea of moving.  We promised Kendall that she could have a garden in the first house that we saw.  So when we found this other house that we ended up buying, she was not super crazy about it.  Finally I asked her what she did not like about it, she replied "I like the first one because I will have a garden."  No worries little one, there is room for a garden at this one too.  She is a crazy little gardener.  She loves to pull weeds, and tells me often when I need to water.  It will be fun to see how her garden does, because we are letting her take full reign of it.  As we talk about the move, the girls ask a ton of questions relating to what we will be taking and what we will leave behind.  Will we take the beds, the pictures, Cooper and Coco, etc.?  (Trust me there are many days when I would love to say we are leaving Cooper and Coco behind.  Those crazy dogs!).  So yesterday as we were driving, they were asking more of these questions.  As they were describing the sitting room in our current house, they referred to it as the "time-out" room.  I found this humorous.  I had never really thought of it that way.  Imagine that, we have an entire room dedicated to time-outs.

We're Back!

I have written about 50 posts in my head but have not sat down to type them.  I have started to miss the blog, but the longer I procrastinated the harder it was to start up (sounds like exercise).  This blog has become a way for me to express myself and appreciate things, both good and bad.  It has also forced me to take more pictures.  So in my slacker hood, I have not taken one picture during the month of September and it is already the 17th.  I will post a few of the goofy favorites from the end of August instead.

The girls and Kevin are both back in school.  Kevin has been as busy as ever with football and all of the other things that Athletic Directors do in the fall.  Last night was a tough one for him as BSU was playing at the same time the High School football game was going on.  His loyalty to Vallivue won out and he went the the High School game, only to stay up until the wee hours of the morning watching the BSU game later that night. 

The girls each moved up a class in their preschool.  Let me tell you, they think they are hot stuff now.  Sidney is now one of the big 3 year olds.  She has already taken her first field trip on the school bus and was super excited to tell us about it.  She is learning zoo phonics and has been coming home with a new song each week.  She is a sponge this year! 

Kendall's summer started with a field trip to the fire house where they gave her a fire hat and had the opportunity to sit in the fire truck.  Her class this year is set up much like kindergarten with a lot of school structure in the morning and free play in the afternoons.  In fact several of her friends are in kindergarten this year and she cannot wait until it is her turn.  She is already asking if she will be in the morning class or afternoon.  She gets to eat breakfast with the "school age" kids each morning and thinks that is pretty awesome.

There has been a lot of excitement on the real estate home front, but since I am semi-superstitious I think I will save those details until things are done (or close to it at least)....

I will close for now with a picture of Sidney trying to hide her "letter" from me.  She is a stinker these days!  I think she takes after Kevin:)

Happy #3 Sidney!

This has certainly been a birthday "month" for Sidney, but here we are at last.  The big day has arrived.  Today my baby turns three.  Crazy how fast the time has gone by.  When the girls were visiting Grandma Karen and Papa Mark, they threw her a big birthday bash complete with pinata and party favors.  The girls had both received new nightgowns with princess wands.  They insisted that they wear them to the party.  Sidney started the party off with a little bit of break dancing.  Where she has learned this I will never understand.  Is it possible that she could have learned it from Wilson at our annual work Christmas party? 

The prize gift came from Aunt Stephie.  It was a doctors kit.  As soon as she opened it, she was not interested in anything else.  She had played with one of these at Audrey's house last year during the Superbowl party and loved it.  Her and Kendall immediately gave her new dolly an exam. 

Dylan did an awesome job of making the pinata a challenge for everyone.  Sid again did her tough talk and claimed for weeks before the party that she was going to "break that pinata wide open".  She was going to "hit it really hard".  As it turned out, she took one swing and was done.

Hallie did the honors of giving the pinata the final smash.  Of course, gram made certain that there was plenty of chocolate to go around!

Great Grandma Juanita made it to the party.  She bought Sidney an ice cream cake to celebrate the occasion.  Sid relished every moment!

Today we had a nice quiet birthday with the family.  It started out by Sidney picking each meal for her special day.  Breakfast was purple pop-tarts.  Unfortunately Sid had a bout with the flu yesterday, so she ate about 4 bites of her beloved pop tart before calling it good.  She opened her gifts this morning.  Her prize gift at this party was a wooden fruit set that velcros together, with a wooden knife to cut it.  Momma does know best (and momma is SO humble)!

By dinner time, her stomach was feeling much better (in her own words).  She started the day off by saying that she wanted her birthday dinner, panda food, tomorrow night instead.  Panda food is what the girls call the orange chicken from Panda Express.  By 4pm, she was feeling terrific and was ready for her panda food.

She truly enjoyed being in the spotlight.  She glowed from ear to ear and several times throughout the day asked us to sing happy birthday to her.  Tonight she had chocolate turtle cake.  Tomorrow she will have one last day of celebration by taking cupcakes into school to share with her friends. 

 Happy Birthday Sidney Nicole!

Kendall (4-1/2 years) & Sid (3 years)

The girls each had a picture day this last month.  When Kendall was born my sister had suggested taking pictures every 6 months while they are young.  I am very happy that I have followed that advice.  Looking back at their pictures over the las few years, it is wild to see how much and how fast they have changed. 

Kendall (4-1/2 years):

Sidney (3 years):

Beware of the Tire Swing

I thought about titling this post "Where have they heard that before?" as you will see later.  Last night Kevin and I took the girls to the park.  The girls wanted me to push them on the tire swing.  I was pushing them in a circle very peacefully until Kevin suggested that I spin them at the same time.  Yes, I will blame this on Kevin - why not?  As I tried to spin the swing, I lost my footing and started to stumble.  At the same moment, the tire swing started to make its way directly toward me.  My options were limited.  Since I was halfway to the ground anyways, I just dove to the ground to avoid being hit by the swing.  The girls were immediately concerned.  Sidney proceeded to lecture me, "Mom, that is why we be careful."  Kendall states, "Mom, did you get an owie?  You almost cracked your coconut."  Kevin in all his infinite wisdom just sat and laughed.  It was pretty comical.  When I finally shook the rubber chips off of myself, I stood up and started to spin the tire swing.  Bad idea!  The girls went from having a great time to screaming in terror.  They both started shouting "We are getting Bizzy".  That is not a typo.  They think the word "Dizzy" is actually "Bizzy".  Despite our many corrections, they continue to always get "Bizzy".  Needless to say, it was a moment to remember.  The biggest laugh for me was hearing them give me sympathy with the exact same words we use for them.  Uh Oh...we have now entered the parrot phrase.  Time to start watching what I say!  In reality, I think it might be too late...

What are we thinking?

That is the question that Kevin and I have been asking ourselvelves every day for the past 8 days.  Eight days you ask?  That is the amount of time that our beautiful, lovely home has been on the market.  Yes, the first home we bought.  The home that both of our girls came home from the hospital to.  We like consistency.  We like certainty.  So what were we thinking?  We take one day at a time right now.  Obviously something kept compelling us enough to continue moving forward with this idea, but it is very scary.  The one good thing is that we have come this far, we are giving it a shot, but if it turns out that we end up staying in this house we would be happy with that as well.

This brings me to my next funny tale.  It happened just last night.  Anyone who has ever sold a home knows that it is a bit of work to keep the place clean and tidy while still maintaining some sembleance of life.  Need I remind anyone that we have two small children and two large dogs.  So last night I thought I would make cookies with the girls.  As the girls get older, I try to give them more responsibility.  Last night Kendall graduated from "ingredient dumper" to "mixer girl".  She was responsible for cranking the bowl up in the Kitchen Aide and starting the mixer (on low of course).  Sidney graduated from "ingredient fetcher" to "ingredient dumper".  All was well and I had the situation under control.  We were making cookies in a neat orderly fashion.  After the sugars and butter had been creamed and the eggs and vanilla had been mixed in, I poured in the flour.  As I turned to put the flour away, Kendall cranked up the bowl and Sidney got a little overzealous and jumped in to turn the mixer on.  Rememeber...this is not her job.  She has not learned the art of turning on a mixer SLOWLY!  Flour went EVERYWHERE.  Two and a half cups of flour can go a long ways.  The girls were covered head to toe and so was half the kitchen.  As I turned around to assess the situation, I knew it would be either yell or laugh.  Thankfully, my laugh button kicked in.  We managed to get the mess cleaned up and Sidney had a post flour lesson in turning on the mixer.  The poor girl was afraid to even touch the mixer after that escapade. 

Thank goodness we cleaned up our mess because we had a showing today in which the people are coming back for a second look tomorrow.  Wish us luck in this roller coaster of a ride.

Sid Stories

A little bit sassy, a lot of bit sweet.  She is definitely hitting the terrible two's (though almost three).  Sidney's personality has really been emerging and she is seriously funny.  I have been keeping a log of humorous stories in my head that I have intended to document.  By the time I have gotten around to it half of them are forgotten, but here are a few.

A couple of months ago the little stinker in Sidney had emerged.  The first glimpse of it was one evening when I got home from work.  Kevin was not home yet and I had asked Sidney to do something.  She said "huh?"  I was preoccupied myself and repeated my request without looking up.  Again I hear "huh?".  Once again I repeated my request (yes, bad parenting).  For the third time, she replied "huh?".  This time I looked up to see her grinning ear to ear sitting still as could be.  That little turkey had heard me the first time and was just working it.  The really funny part was when Kevin got home that night.  I sat back and watched in amusement as she did the exact same thing to him.  He, like me, was also preoccupied and did not bother to notice.  He just kept repeating himself.

All talk, no walk.  That is our little Sid.  It is funny because Kevin and I are pretty adventurous people.  Not Sid!  No way.  She is the most cautious child ever.  For every ounce of caution, she has a big story to tell.  The other day she was bragging about how she loves Santa.  Finally I interjected and said, "Come on Sid, you would not even look the man in the eye and you certainly would not sit on his lap".  I asked, "So you like him now and look forward to sitting on his lap this year."  Her reply was a very firm "NO." 

Then there were the cows.  A couple of weeks ago when we were driving the girls to meet my parents, we kept seeing a bunch of cows on the side of the rode.  Out of nowhere Sid tells us she wants to ride a cow.  After repeatedly ignoring her, she started to throw a fit insisting that we pull over so she could ride a cow.  Kevin started to stop the car and he said, "Okay Sid.  We will stop the car and you can ride a cow."  Suddenly we heard her say a very firm "NO" once again.