riding in the car, the call, and lady gaga

Ride to daycare:
On the way to Nancy's the other day, I was driving and accidentally missed my turn a little bit, and ended up cutting it a little too close, going over the curb, just a tad.

Jaxon: 'Mommy, what happened?'
Mommy: 'Oh, I bumped the curb.'

Jaxon: You broke the car mommy?
Mommy: NO, I just bumped hte curb.

Jaxon: Okay, maybe next time we can turn better.
Mommy: Thanks Jaxon.

The Phone Call:
As parents, we often talk about 'the call'. You could be at work, in the middle of a meeting, grabbing your morning coffee, or working hard on an important presentation. And then you get, 'the call'. It's the kiss of death and you know the rest of your day and the next are going to be spent staying at home with a sick kid. Or a kid acting sick. Or some combination of sickness.

So, when I got 'the call' on Thursday, I was fully expecting to be notified that one of my kids had pink eye, or a fever, or the crazies from such a long winter. So I was pleasantly surprised to have Nancy call and tell me some good news-- Kiley cut her first tooth!

We'd been waiting in anticipation for this tooth to break through, as it means a little less cranky and a lot more cute.

Ride home: On the way home from Nancy's, the new Lady Gaga song came on the radio (one of the rare moments I was able to listen to 'music' and not the 'ABC's' CD.

Jaxon: 'What song is this mommy?
Mommy: 'It's the new Lady Gaga song.'

Jaxon: 'Oh. (thinking), It's not the one that says 'ra ra ooh aah aah', like in Daddy's car? You don't have that one?'
Mommy: 'Nope, it's her new one.'

Jaxon: next song comes on. What song is this mommy?
Mommy: I'm not sure.
Jaxon: I think it must be Katy Perry.

And there you have it. My son knows more about pop culture than I do.

milestones

To be nine again. Aaaaah.... nope, nevermind, wouldn't do it over.

My niece Zoe, however, is in the thick of it. Zoe reached a milestone this past week (and you would have heard about it sooner had blogger not erased my entire post last Monday night, leaving me tired and exhausted and upset). She turned into a nine-year old. One more year and she's officially a tweener.

So, last weekend, my parents came for a visit and we celebrated her birthday. Zoe decided she wanted to get her ears pierced so we all met up at Claire's in Maple Grove. Yes, you need an enterouge to get your ears pierced, complete with photographing grandmas and high fiving cousins.

It was a riot. Have you been in Claire's lately? Do you know how much kitschy stuff they pile into a 15X15 foot space? A lot.

I think we were there for about an hour... we were placing bets on first, if the poor 20 year old girl working would be able to get one ear pierced. Then, on whether or not Zoe would leave with just one ear pierced. It was comical to us, traumatic to her I'm sure.

 But, Jaxon and Grandpa were there supporting her every step of the way.

 We were there so long, Kiley was actually wondering if it was going to be her turn next. Not so fast missy. You're not getting your ears pierced until you are 21!

And, it almost made me want to get my eyebrow pierced again. LOL, did you know about that one mom?

But, at last, she went through with it and both ears looked beautiful with their little amethyst studs. And so, after telling a few more Justin Bieber jokes, trying on some Elton John oversized sunglasses, and doing a fashion show with plaid berets and scarves, we put the singamajigs back on the shelf and made our way over to Dave and Busters for 'the best food in the world' (according to a nine year old) and some fun games (according to a nine year old and my 32 year old husband).

 The kids had fun riding a roller coaster, winning things from giant claw machines, and pretending to drive even though he couldn't reach the pedals (Jaxon, not Scott).

One of the real milestones though, was not that Zoe turned nine, but rather that she used her new mind flexibility to win the cool cat from the giant claw machine. Nice. Happy Birthday Zoe ;-)

baloons and baguettes

Ah, Valentine's Day. We really have no idea why we celebrate it, what it's purpose is, or who St. Valentine really is. And yet, we do it anyway.

I remember my first Valentine's Day dating Scott.

We were juniors in high school.

I was on 'the jury' (the twelve smartest kids in class- apparently all the screw ups called us the jury because we thought we were better than anyone else. so not true!) in AP history/literature. Now, Scott was in the same class mind you, so he must have had some brains.

That or he just bs'd really good back then too (likely).

I remember walking into class in the morning and I was greeted with the biggest heart baloon you could ever imagine- Jaxon would call it 'the biggest one ever' in a really cool growly sort of voice.

Not only was there the biggest heart ballon ever. But there was a french baguette that had been hallowed out and a fresh single red rose placed inside. (baguettes were my signature breakfast- seriously, there is a reason I have a problem losing those last five pounds).

And so, my husband won me over with a bigger than life baloon that I had to leave in the classroom and pick up at the end of the day and a hallow baguette.

This Valentine's Day... we spent Saturday night out with friends and I won our bowling match, winning me the opportunity to sleep in. Sadly, I only slept in until 8:30 as Jaxon woke up vomitting and didn't stop all day. Luckily we had crafted all our Valentines the day before:

Jaxon decorated his bags all by himself and we filled them with goodies for our friends at Nancy's. At one point, he looked at me and said, 'This is fun mommy. I'm having fun.'.

And that's really all a super mom can ask for right? That her kid has fun with the things she thinks are supposed to be fun?

Today, however, not so fun. Not for Jaxon anyway. He spent the day on the couch in front of the TV- second monday in a row. If he had a job, I might start wondering if there was a pattern to his calling in sick... 3 year olds aren't that smart are they??

But, Kiley is healthy so far. She got to go to Nancy's for the Valentine's party today. Here she is in her new pink shirt and heart pants trying to grab the glowworm.

 And falling for the gloworm... while trying to eat him and grab Jaxon's crayons at the same time.

While I love my high school memories of Valentine's Day with the baloons and baguettes, it is certainly fun to create new memories with Kiley and Jaxon and to let them in on the secret of Valentine's Day-- it's really just an excuse to get some candy and flowers. Happy Valentine's day!

losing track of time

Lately I find myself asking the same question over and over... 'what day is it?'. Where on earth does the time go? I swear if God was thinking straight he would have put 30 hours in a day so I could get it all done.

 But, then I sit back sometimes and think (and this is a stretch for me), that perhaps it isn't all meant to get done. Perhaps it gives us a sense of purpose to have a neverending to-do list. Makes us strive for more. Something like that.

Anyway, since I've been deficient in blogging, I am attempting to play catch up in one fell swoop so you can see what we've been up to... check that one off the to-do list!

Miss Kiley. She is a piece of work. The girl cried the first three months of her life, and now we can't get her to stop smiling. Okay, well, when she had croup, she wasn't exactly like this: 

This girl is too much fun. I want to bottle her up right now so I can take her with me to meetings and boring seminars. I love walking into daycare when she sees me. She is just so excited.  She's also really into her food these days- loves any kind of fruit or vegetable. I'm sure that will end. Loves eating her puffs. And could not think of anything more fun to do than laugh at Jaxon or play with her glowworm. Lately I've been having fun dressing her up in cute little outfits, tickling under her armpits, and watching her sleep after a nice full bottle. She is gorgeous and I can't help but notice she takes after me with her little attitude.

She is a keeper!

And Jaxon. He has an attitude all his own. It was his turn to be stuck home for two days with croup, so he's been working the system pretty good. I swear, as soon as Scott left the house tonight, he started trying to get me to let him stay up later, have more snacks, anything to prolong the inevitable bedtime. He's sharing his room with his sister now- a smoother transition than once anticipated- so far so good, but she's not fully mobile yet, so we'll just wait and see.

Jaxon started gymnastics last week. We all sort of joked at Christmas time about how he was a natural gymnast. But I think he actually is. He was enthralled with the older girls who were practicing while we were there. After watching them, he just jumped right in and got on the balance beam, trampoline, climbed over and under things... he was LOVING it and I'm so glad I didn't listen to Scott who said 'gymnastics is for girls'. To see the smile on his face and hear him asking about it every day since made it so worth it. Besides, if Jaxon can wear high-heeled boots and prance around in underwear, he can certainly do gymnastics.

The bonus part of Jaxon being in gymnastics is that every Wednesday night, I know I'm going to have a little bit of extra time that night because chances are Jaxon is going to feel like this at the end of his class. It's like being hypnotized. He becomes very sleepy... best thing ever.

And that's about what we've been up to with a few other things here and there ;-)