Ups and Downs

Monday, November 11, 2013

 
 Cecilia had her first Mass meltdown in QUITE a while yesterday.  I can't even really remember what it was about...  She thought John Paul had bitten her hair?  Anyway, I had to take her out while she screeeeeeeamed and yelled during the prayers of the faithful and boy, is it a good thing I put my foot down and didn't let John Paul seat us in the first row because that second row seat made all the difference...

Not?

I tried very hard to stage-whisper to John Paul that it was time to leave and that he needed to gather up all his things, but he chose to stare blankly at me and remain in the pew.  I chose to trust the three ushers sitting on the other end of the pew to make sure he didn't make a run for the altar.  But I apparently didn't need to worry about anything - when Cecilia finally calmed down, we returned to the pew to see him praying quietly from the missalette.  So that was our little Sunday miracle. 

And the fact that he didn't freak out when he didn't get to receive communion, although he DID decide to lead us aaaaaaaall the way around the back of the church to get back to our 2nd row pew, which led to many an awkward look at the people waiting in line for communion as he cut in front of them and Cecilia and I tried to follow...

I didn't get a decent picture of yesterday's outfit, hence the lack of WIWS.  But I was feeling pretty darned proud of myself for making TWO things for the kids - A box castle and homemade play dough.  And THEN I made homemade apple cider (but didn't let them drink any, because there wasn't that much and holy cow was it delicious!).
 

The problem was, I ran out of packing tape so it was a little... lacking in stability.  Andrew recycled it today, sadly.  But we have ANOTHER car seat that just came in the mail so you better believe I'm making another castle because, hello, awesome?


Baby Jaguar even loved it. 


Despite the apparent threats of decapitation (yes, he's a tiger.  She knows.  She tells me he's a silly kind of jaguar with stripes instead of spots, because that way it's more like Go Diego, Go!)...


While Cecilia imagined various scenarios in which I was the witch eating her or not eating her or telling her to leave my house alone or chasing her around the house, John Paul kept busy by writing math problems on the box. 

So there are the kids in a nutshell for you - imagination vs. mathemagician.


 
And speaking of math problems...  Do you like John Paul's homemade trail mix?  Raisins, craisins, and apricots.  Because we like to pretend we eat healthy by allowing free access to all forms of sugar as long as they come from fruit...


No, actually speaking of math problems...  That's what John Paul likes to do with play dough.  Make math problems and then solve them.  A close second place is making lumps of the dough and sticking toothpicks all over them to make aliens or sea urchins.


So I labeled it "homeschooling" and pretended that it actually counts even though our homeschooling consists entirely of me buying John Paul workbooks and him teaching himself everything there is to know.

I know, you're impressed.

7 Quick Takes: The Latest Wisdom

Friday, November 8, 2013

I promised myself I'd remember to write my quick takes on Thursday night this week so that I don't spend all of Friday trying to write them...  But I just spent so long researching car seats before upgrading the twins (who have outgrown their bucket seats - ) that I don't feel like writing much!  So here are some of the quotes I've compiled this week:

--1--




Me:  *Pained shriek*
Cecilia: Why you yewwin' Mom?
Me:  Because Elizabeth bit me very hard on my leg.
Cecilia:  Did she kill you?
Me:  No, Elizabeth couldn't kill me, it just hurt very much.
Cecilia:  Oh.  'Member when da soldiers killed Jesus?

Glad she can remind me that my suffering is nothing compared to our Lord.  Or something to that effect :P

...

Me:  *Pained shriek*  Mary Claire, we do not bite.
Cecilia, very concerned:  What part of you did she bite off, Mom?
Me:  She didn't bite off any of me...
Cecilia:  Oh.  Pweez don't die, I wuv you!

--2--



John Paul takes a bite of tomato and sprays the seeds all over himself...
JP:  laughs hysterically
Andrew:  Do you see anyone laughing?
JP:  ME!
Me:  Sigh...  Now put the tomato in your mouth whole.
JP, frantically feeling his cheeks:  Where is there a hole in my mouth???

--3--
 
"Take a picture of me hitting hammering with a wench!"
 
Cecilia, trying to tell me what underwear to wear in the morning:  No, wear your PINK underwear!
Me:  No, I'm going to wear this pair.
Cecilia:  NOT your beige underwear, I don't wike your beige underwear, wear your PINK underwear!
Me:  Cecilia, my pink underwear is dirty!
Cecilia:  What maked it dirty?
Me:  Well, when we wear our underwear for the day, it's dirty.
Cecilia:  Maybe you pooped in it a wittle?  Or peed in it?

She caught me.

--4--
 
 
Cecilia, in the middle of the night during a bathroom break:  Sometimes I don't see yewwow things.


--5--
 
 
JP, kissing me 20 times in a row at Mass:  Mom, I love you... a dillion times!  How many zeroes are in a dillion?  More than 100?  More than a googol???  Mom???  How many???

...

We're making paper crowns in honor of the Four Crowned Martyrs tomorrow and John Paul told me what color he wants his to be.

JP:  Oh, I want to make a white crown this time.  For purity.  And then I'll have my red crown of martyrdom and I'll have TWO crowns!

Yup, just call him St. Maximilian Kolbe.

--6--

And a little bit of instagram for you:


These babies are almost 1!!!  And they're both taking steps independently, Elizabeth sometimes up to 5-10 at a time.  Mary Claire still only wants to take 1 or 2 before giving up and crawling.  But I get such a kick out of this picture - one to ride, one to push!  Gotta love the unexpected benefits of having twins.
--7--
 
I hit up a library used book sale yesterday and got 17 books AND a Lilo & Stitch DVD.  So basically the kids are covered for Christmas!  I found a really interesting anatomy book about how babies develop, but I'm going to have to hide it for a few years because otherwise I KNOW we'll have an outburst from John Paul at an inopportune time...
 
"When will I have fallopian tubes?"
"No, I have a uterus!  I'm a woman!!!"
"MY OVARIES HAVE BEEN IN MY BODY SINCE I WAS A BABY!!!"
 
But what I think will be his favorite present was this brand-new reference set:
 
 
So I'm not expecting to see him for several months after Christmas, because I think he'll be memorizing all this information.
 
And with that, I send you to more interesting takes at Jen's - happy Friday! 

Five Favorites: Advent-style!

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

It's getting close to my absolute favorite time of the year, so I'm sharing 5 of my favorite Christmas/Advent things for the kiddos!  These are all terrific gifts for your own kids or your godchildren, and I've tested them out so you know they're awesome :)
 
Most links are Amazon affiliate links, so at no extra cost to you, you help support this blog by shopping through these links - thanks!
 
ONE
 

 
My sister got us this advent calendar a few years ago and I bought another one last year after a bunch of the pieces accidentally got thrown out with the Christmas tree...
 
There's a story for every day in December (the 1st through the 24th, so not necessarily every day in Advent...) that leads up to the birth of Jesus.  The books are sturdy and ours have been chewed on quite a bit and are still going strong!  Then the kids can hang the books from the Christmas tree and read them again throughout Advent.  We use a little fake tree because we don't get our real Christmas tree until Christmas Eve.
 
TWO

 
I've done a LOT of research on nativities for children.  There aren't a lot out there that are baby-friendly, actually stand up on their own, and don't cost a million dollars.  You can usually find a Fisher Price nativity for around $30, and the price is absolutely worth it.  This is the favorite of all our nativities, and we don't have to worry about the pieces getting chewed on.  The kids acted out the story of Jesus' birth ALL Advent (even though we hid Baby Jesus), and loved making the wise men move closer every day until Epiphany.
 
Christmas morning 2011 - playing with their new nativity!
 
They took that thing EVERYWHERE!  You can see the advent calendar books hanging on the tree...
THREE

Noah's Ark & Nativity Set -  Maxim Enterprises - Toys"R"Us
 
 
Another gift from my sister - this is a great price for a nativity AND Noah's ark set.  The pieces are only painted on one side and the stable is a little tricky to put together, but it's a great group of characters that allows for a lot of creative play!
 
The ark and nativity in action, 2011 (on the toy box).  Honorable mention: Giant Baby Gate  that kept the kids away from the tree!
 
FOUR
 

 
 
I get such a kick out of this one, and the kids do too!  Baby Jesus duck?  Angel duck?  Yes please!
 
You can get it for a better price at Oriental Trading Company, and we picked up some awesome St. Nicholas ducks a few years back (complete with a bishop duck - how amazing is that?) so it's worth a try!
 
FIVE
 

 
 
I picked this up on a huge discount after Christmas last year and the big kids are getting it for Christmas this year.  Since it has a lot of small parts it'll be one of those toys that they only play with at the big table, or while the babies are napping.  I have a feeling they're going to be ecstatic, particularly Cecilia.  All those animals!
 
Next week I'll be rounding up some of my favorite books for the Advent season - get excited!
 
 
Linking up with Hallie at Moxie Wife - check out more awesome favorites!

WIWS & Family Photo Shoot

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ohhhh time change, how I loathe thee...
 
Remember before kids, when "Fall Back" meant an extra hour of sleep?  Too bad infants and toddlers don't understand that.
 
So we were all up bright and early - Andrew took John Paul with him to a 7 AM Latin Mass and I took Cecilia to our regular 8:30 AM.  I tried to fall-ify a summer dress but I don't think it worked - this dress just needs to be relegated to the back of the closet until spring!
 
Dress:  Newport News
Cardigan:  Gap via Twice
Boots & boot socks:  DSW?
Belt:  Kohl's

 
Of course, it took until the last shot for Cecilia to actually smile!
 
She was ecstatic when I told her that since it's November she's allowed to start wearing last year's Christmas dress again.  It was HUGE on her last year and she's a peanut anyway, so it fits perfectly now!
 
 
And because the babies were looking adorable, here's what they wore:
 
 
Look!  They're all looking at the camera!  This is the only shot I got where Elizabeth wasn't chewing on her baby doll's head...
 
The light was awesome in the playroom so I thought I'd try to get some printable shots of the babies and I think I may actually have gotten a couple!

Mary Claire

 

Elizabeth

Aaaall she wants to do is be walked around...

All SHE wants to do is walk by herself - and she's ecstatic when she does it!  We're up to 5-10 steps at a time before she decides crawling is faster.
 Then Andrew made a giant leaf pile in the back yard and the kids spent a while playing in it (or eating the leaves, as was the case for the babies!).

I thought this was SUCH a Cecilia shot - her mischievous little expression is perfect!


And a quintessential John Paul shot:

 
And with that, naps seem to be winding down, so I'll link up with Fine Linen & Purple and send you on your way to better outfits!

7 Quick Takes - Fall Edition

Friday, November 1, 2013

--1--

I feel awkward posting this, but I wrote a song for All Saints Day in the car yesterday, aaaand here it is with my mistake-full piano playing.


My mom posted it to her facebook wall so I figured the cat was out of the bag...  Next we'll be buying an RV and touring as a modern day Von Trapp family.  John Paul's pretty much ready to start yodeling - anyone want to be our puppeteer?

--2--

So suddenly it was the night before Halloween and we hadn't carved our pumpkins...  We've actually never carved pumpkins with the kids (or introduced the concept), but John Paul kept reading about it in his books and was begging for it.  So we carved them.  And it wasn't thaaaaaat bad since Andrew cleaned them out most of the way.  

But seriously, reason #3,458 to keep your children illiterate:  Ignorance is bliss.


Cecilia wanted me to carve a kitty cat.  So of course John Paul (who has been talking about his silly jack-o-lantern face for weeks) decided HE wanted a kitty cat, TOO!


So there you have our pumpkins!  So spooky, I know...

The candle went out in the little kitty cat...

--3--

And the kids in their costumes!

Edit:  I totally meant to link up with Katrina!  And then I forgot...  But now I'm linking up!


St. Michael the Archangel (minus wings, because ain't nobody got time for that) and a butterfly.  I told John Paul that if anyone asked him if he was a soldier he should just say yes because really, does he need to explain to strangers that he's actually dressed as St. Michael the Archangel?

So he just focused on reading all the names of the candy they gave him, and Cecilia corrected everyone who assumed he was a soldier in an adorable and very quiet voice.

--4--
Oh, and the family in all our costumed glory!

Well, Andrew's dressed as a lawyer.  Spoilsport...


--5--

I couldn't help but notice a resemblance...


The ears...  the smile...  The bald heads...

--6--

Last trip to Cox Farms!  The weather was gorgeous and Cecilia was totally in love with the goats, as you can see:


They're just getting into the perfect age to REALLY enjoy the fall festival - they can finally go down (almost) every slide by themselves!

I'll never get tired of that smile!
Or that one!

The babies spent most of the time strapped to our backs, napping or just hanging out.  But they were absolutely entranced by the machine the kids could put corn through.  Mary Claire almost managed to climb in and tried to eat quite a few kernels of dried corn... 

Gratuitous "How Tall This Fall" shot


Just chilling inside some giant egg shells...
--7--

So, funny story...  We were in the little goat village at Cox Farms when I saw some really cute kids and I thought, "Hey, those look like Elizabeth Foss's kids!" 

And then I looked at the woman with them and I was like, "Hey, her camera strap is really cute!"

And THEN I thought, "Hey, I'm pretty sure that's Elizabeth Foss!"

So I spent several minutes internally debating whether I should say anything or not, because the only line I could come up with was, "Um, hi, I read your blog?"

And I thought that would be a little awkward...

So I said nothing.  But then I commented about it on her instagram and she said I should have introduced myself!

Internet is so much easier than real life sometimes...

I dunno, what would you do?  In either situation?  I pretty much feel like I know the people who read this blog regularly, so I would be REALLY excited if I ran into one of them in public.  But I don't have the wide readership of any of the more popular bloggers, so I feel like it wouldn't be as weird for me if the tables were turned, you know?

Anyway, I've been trying to write these takes since 7 AM and it's 8 PM!  Time to quit for the night :P

Check out more takes, most of which will surely have adorable pictures of children in Halloween/All Saints Day costumes!

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