Michael's Second Birthday

My Dearest Mikey,

Here we are... Two short years after you made your entrance into the world and into my life.  My life has not been the same since.  You and your sister are my biggest source of joy and my biggest energy drain.  You keep me going, you keep me laughing and boy, oh, boy do I love seeing you smile.

I tried and tried for months upon months to get you to say 'mommy.'  But you just refused.  You called me every name, but mommy.  You called me daddy, G.G, Roxy, Popa, Mac, and Gramma before you finally said mommy.  But when you did finally say it, my heart grew three sizes that day.  I waited and waited and waited for you to finally say it, and you did. I couldn't be more happier.

You are a crazy little boy though, do you know that?  You run in circles with your sister around the living room, laughing and giggling and sometimes falling out as soon as you make yourself dizzy.  

You are a human garbage disposal.  I have yet to see you turn down any food.  You keep going and going and going.  It seems like you never stop.  Unless, of course you are asleep. 

And you are such a good little brother.  You are always looking out for your big sister, giving her hugs and kisses every night before you go to bed.

I will always love you and I will always be in your corner.  I will promise you that I will always listen to you and I will always be someone that you can count on.  I will do whatever I can to make your life better for you as long as there is air in my lungs and my heart still beats.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Love Always,

Momma

December 15, 2014

Lyric's Fourth Birthday

My Beautiful Daughter, Lyric,

My Sweet, Loving, and Wonderful baby girl. You are turning four today.

Four fantastic years old!

I am not sure how that is even possible.

I thought that you were never going to come along. But you finally decided to make your grand appearance.

And the waiting was so worth it. You are the baby that we were meant to have.

Days old...

I thought that I knew what it would be like to be a mother.

I thought that I knew what it meant to love.

Then, you arrived and taught me that, in fact, I knew very little.

One year old...

You taught me that once you have a child, you are more vulnerable that I had ever thought possible.

You showed me that watching you sleep was the most important thing that I could do on any given afternoon.

Two years old...

Loving you has shown me that I can't control everything. 

That sometimes the most amazing moments come from letting go just a little bit.

That sometimes it's better to let life guide us just a bit.

You have taught me to laugh at myself, because nothing makes you laugh harder.

Three years old...

You have helped me to realize that throwing caution to the wind every once in a while doesn't have to be scary.

You have taught me that the amount of love that the heart can hold is endless.

That just when I am certain that I couldn't possibly love you more, you make my heart nearly explode.

Four years old...

You have shown me that life passes by us ever so quickly.

I don't want to waste a single moment of this time that I've been given to share with you.

You have brought me more joy that I had ever dreamed possible.

Happy Birthday, My Beautiful Baby.

With more love than you can possibly imagine, 

Mommy

November 25th, 2014

Homemade Finger Paint!

Thanks to Pinterest I found some easy to make Edible Finger Paints.

I made the paints last night and then this afternoon the kiddos and I enjoyed painting with them. They had a weird texture to them. And I don't think that they tasted very well. I managed to keep Lyric from eating it. But with Michael.... That was a little harder. He managed to sneak a little taste here and there. And he wasn't too into painting. He did stick his fingers in it a couple of times, but didn't really paint on the paper. I knew that he was getting tired because as Lyric was finishing up he was rubbing his eyes and his face. And can you imagine what happened when he started to rub his face. The paint that was on his hands went straight to his face and his eyes. I wasn't able to get a good picture of his face after he rubbed his face. 

Lyric loved the paints. She didn't want to stop. :) It is going to be another go to paint in the future. I think that she liked the feel of them. She would scoop the blob of paint up that I put on her paper and would smear it across her paper. Then she started to mix all the paints in her hands and then would go about and make her masterpiece.

The Recipe:

1/2 C Cornstarch

3-4 Tbsp Sugar

2 C Water

Mix in a saucepan over low-medium heat until it becomes thick but smooth. Let cool. Scoop into bowls or cups and add food coloring.

Homemade Pancakes

So, Monday morning and this morning I made egg-less pancakes. I wanted pancakes but didn't have any eggs. So, I got to looking on the computer for pancakes that didn't involve eggs. Well, I found a very easy recipe. And it tasted wonderful! And both the kiddos enjoyed them as well. They both out ate me. But that doesn't surprise me. Lyric ate 4 pancakes Monday and this morning and Mikey ate 3 pancakes Monday and this morning. I can see these pancakes in our very near future again. Like probably next week if not this weekend. :)

After we ate breakfast we cleaned up. Lyric wiped down their table and I vacuumed the floor, with Michael's help of course. I've got some pretty amazing kids, I must admit. Even if they don't listen to me very well. :(

Now, you probably want the recipe... Huh?

I found this recipe over at Rak's Kitchen.

I added a few things to them to make them a bit sweeter. :)

I used:

2 c flour

3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

a dash of salt

1 tbsp of cinnamon

2 c milk

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp or so of vanilla

1. mix all of the dry ingredients first.

2. add the milk, oil, and vanilla. mix well. let sit for 10 minutes.

3. heat griddle. 

4. pour batter, do not spread. heat until bubbles pop and the color changes. then flip and heat the other side until finished. 

5. serve with butter, peanut butter, powdered sugar, and/or syrup. however your heart desires.

6. enjoy!

"Slamming Doors"

The other night I was working on getting the kiddos ready for bed. But they had no desire to come to me to get diapers/pull ups on and jammies put on. Instead they wanted to play in their room and open and close the bedroom door. They both got a hit out of it. Michael's face was just priceless! He was having a blast!

Bath Paint!

After dinner the other night I decided that I was going to make some bath tub paint for the kiddos. It was very simple to make. All it was was shaving cream and food coloring. I used a six count muffin tin and put some shaving cream and different colors of food coloring in each tin. 

I put both of the kiddos in the bath tub in a diaper and underpants. And then I let them paint to their hearts desire. They painted the walls of the bath tub and Lyric painted her brother's' tummy. The first thing that Michael did was stick his hand in the shaving cream. I think he may have liked the feeling of it. He also liked to mix all of the different colors. It was so much fun watching the two play and paint. Then we took our baths. 

Cuddles with Sick Kids

Super Bowl Fun!

Pictures from Super Bowl Sunday.

Amy and Me

Me, Mikey, and Amy

Lyric and Adam

My Kiddos and Me

Mikey and Me

Lyric

Chris and Me / Chris and Amy

Oinkers!

Oh boy do I have a little piggy on my hands. 

I can't go into the kitchen without Mikey on my heels and wanting something to eat. It seems as though he is constantly eating. But where does it all go? He is a tiny little kid. He must have a really fast metabolism. I'd like his metabolism. :) 

He is a lot like his daddy though. Seems as though they are both constantly eating. 

We went to IHOP for lunch this afternoon and when Chris is full he tilts his head to the side. Well, this afternoon Mikey did something similar to that. He slumped back into his high chair and just sat there like he was in a daze. I wish now that I would have gotten a picture of it. It was too cute!

He even ate half of my meal. He ate all but two bites of my scrambled eggs. Which is okay, because I wasn't going to eat them anyways. I had gotten them for him. And he ate about a third of my hash browns. Boy, did he like them. He even downed his apple juice before our food even got out to us. He is like his big sister on that part. She chugs her juice and then doesn't have anything to drink once her meal gets to her. They both like their drinks. :)

When Mikey is older, I think he is going to be just like daddy. Trying to eat us out of house and home. :) 

Random Pictures From Our Day

We had a pretty good day today. Although, I woke up with a terrible headache. The kiddos woke up about 0730, Michael thought that he was still tired and wanted to sleep some more. So me and Lyric came out into the living room and cuddled while watching a movie. After a little while though, she was done cuddling and wanted to play a little bit. So, she played with her kitchen stuff and I laid on the sofa while watching her and a movie. I got rid of my headache! :) Michael decided that it was time to get up.

We went about our day. Nothing big happened. Stayed inside as it has been bitter cold out.

Here are some random pictures from this evening. :)

Lyric "Roaring"

Mikey carrying a sock on his shoulder. (he put it there)

Lyric snuggling in her blanket from her Godmother for Christmas.

Mikey ramming his car back and forth and back and forth into the toys.

Making faces at mommy while taking pictures. :)

Mikey was coming after my camera, so I got a picture of him. Love his face! Bright flashes were coming from my camera. 

I love getting to spend my days with these two kiddos. :)

Our First Tea Party

This evening we had our first tea party. Lyric and I started our tea party with just the two of us and her two baby dolls. Then Once we started to set out the plates and cups Mikey decided that he would join us. He just had a little bit of sibling rivalry going on. 

After Lyric took all that she could from Mikey messing with her tea party she messed it up to the max. She scattered everything on the floor too. 

After our rivalry session, we moved the tea party to the picnic table. 

Here are some pictures of just Mikey and what he was doing during the tea party.

And then there is Lyric... Boy, was she having fun!

Snow Day!

We had a snow storm night before last. They were saying that we were going to get anywhere between one to three inches of snow. Well, when the snow started coming down it wasn't sticking to the ground. So, I had my doubts. I didn't think that we were going to wake up and have any snow. :(

Well, I was wrong...

We ended up getting about three inches of snow. :)

It was Lyric's second time out in the snow and Michael's first time.

Lyric is making foot tracks in the snow. :)

I don't know about this 'white stuff' yet.

Whatever it is, it is cold. 

Both of my babies standing by each other, wondering what to do. 

We only lasted about ten minutes the first time we went outside. Lyric decided that she didn't want to keep her gloves on and wanted to play in the snow bare handed. She would not keep the gloves on for nothing. Well, she fell in the snow and made a snowball all bare handed. Then got hysterical because her hands and fingers were frozen. She is a lot like her daddy on that part. He hates when his hands and fingers are cold, he gets cranky too. :) 

Then, when Mikey took his nap, me and Lyric went out and built ourselves a snowman. :) It was our first snowman that we built together. The only thing that could have made the experience better was having Chris there to help us.