3/31/2006

First trip to the park.

The weather yesterday was in the 60’s range, so of course we had to make our first trip to the park for the season. Last year the girls loved the swings and the slide, so I thought this year would be no different. Silly me.
When we arrived at the park, the girls headed right for the swings. They both had the same first reaction. “Annie no like it”. No? All right, lets try out the slide. They wouldn’t even let me set them on it. They both went up, touched the bottom of the slide with their hands and walked away. From there, we were off to the sandbox. I should have known better. The both wandered over, took one look at it and were off again. Louisa managed to get a little sand on one of her hands, and she came to me in complete disgust, insisting that I clean it off. When did she turn into such a girl?
Just when I thought the park was a complete flop, the girls found some sticks and went around banging all the metal posts and sticking them up through holes in the platforms of the play station (climby-thing). Then they went back to the swings. Not to ride on them, but to push them. So the park wasn’t a complete loss. I managed to snap off a few pics, oddly, all the good ones are of Annie. I wasn’t playing favorites, I swear! You can go check them out at our flickr page. (There’s a link in the side bar)

3/30/2006

Kids.

Just a few casual observations to share with you today.
Louisa: She thinks her name is Annie. I kid you not, she calls herself Annie on a regular basis. She doesn’t answer to it though. Weirdo.
Alex has had terrible headaches for about 3 days now. I think he’s inherited my headaches, which are no fun at all. His might be worse than mine because when they hit he completely breaks down. Either that, or he has no pain tolerance at all. Personally I think he’s just being a wimp, but I give him the benefit of the doubt.
The girls found a zip-lock bag the other day and have been carrying it around like it’s the greatest thing ever created. They put all their little toys in it, and ask me to close it. Too funny. I got a whole bunch of baskets from the dollar store for them to carry their collections around in. But no, they prefer the zip-lock bag.
(Warning: mom brag coming on) My son was totally adding and subtracting yesterday at lunch. Alex: there are 4 people at our house, if Grandma comes, we’ll have 5! And if Grammie comes, there will be 6! He went through all sorts of scenarios about people coming and going, and how many people would be at his house. Of course when I asked him to do it in front of his dad, he suddenly had no clue. It figures.

3/28/2006

First signs of spring.

It’s starting to feel like spring around here. It was reasonably warm yesterday (low 50’s) so I took the kids out so I could start some spring-cleaning. I was raking some leaves out of my flower beds and low and behold lookie what I found!

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These, ladies and gentlemen are my lilies! I seriously did a dance when I saw them. Of course I yanked Alex over so we could have a mini lesson about plant growth. He was so funny, he was so excited to help me uncover the flowers. Every time we’d uncover another new growth, he’d bend down and kiss it, and say “hello, lily!” We also found a centipede – the highlight of Alex’s day.
In other news, my grandmother is here visiting my mom this week. She came over to enjoy the kids yesterday afternoon. She spent the afternoon reading stories with Alex, which he loved, and I know she did too. And hey, it kept him out of my hair, so I’m not complaining either. For dinner we met up with my mom and we all had dinner together at a Chinese restaurant. Yum.

3/27/2006

Weekend highlights.

I won’t lie, it was an ordinary weekend in the Peterson house. That said, I do have a few lame highlights to share.
Alex: We were listening to some mp3’s on the computer and Alex says “I want Willie Nelson” (who I’m not particularly fond of) but Jory obliges, and turns on a random Willie song. Apparently the random Willie song wasn’t good enough, because Alex continues… “no, no, no, I want Blue eyes crying in the rain!” Wh-what!?! Where did that one come from?? All of a sudden, my son knows all of Willie’s songs by title. Jory and I got a good chuckle out of that one.
As I sit here listening to some of my new tunes I just downloaded, I realized this weekend, I passed the 800 mark on mp3’s in my player. Woo hoo! If anyone wants to trade songs, just holler.
Jory and I watched the worst movie ever created last night. It was called the “Hurricane Express” it was one of John Wayne’s earlier movies. Oh boy, where do I start, the bad plot, no sound effects, little to no character development, slightly redundant plot line, horrible acting… I could go on. Can’t say it’s going into our favorite movie rotation, but it was good for a chuckle. Just like Indiana Jones, right Jory??

Ok, I warned you it was a lame week end.

3/23/2006

A Recipe for Disaster ...

Sí, it is true. Last night, Papá took los niños out to eat at a Mexican Restaurante to give Mama a well deserved siesta. I feel so sorry for her. Every day I come home from the market, and see my poor esposa, so tired and worn out from the little bandidos that invade our hacienda day after day. They torture her from dawn 'til dusk with their wild games and crazy antics. They wear her down with crying and whining, raising their voices like the coyotes howling at a full moon. And they refuse to eat their frijoles, rice, and tortillas (even when Mama puts on the peanut butter and jelly!) like good muchachos and señoritas should.

So, I gave my muchacha bonita a night off.

Seriously, it had nothing to do with the expiration date on my special "birthday" coupon. That was simply a coincidence, no? Ok, so I'm fully expecting my kids to be on their worst behavior (thinking anything better will be a mucho grande success!) due in large part to my wife's insistance that I'm crazy loco to be taking three young children out in public by myself. But hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time! Little did I know ...

So the kids all sang along with Larry the Pepino and Bob the Tomate as we rode our donkey (Sir Charles Vanderbuilt III) all the way into the village. It took a long time to get there. Mi pequeño muchacho Alex was fast asleep when we finally arrived, and had to be woken up by his little sister Louisa. We all meandered into Mi Hacienda and were seated promptly.

Our waiter was very nice. He attempted to tickle Annie once, but in return got a very inhospitable glare. We placed our order and started in on the big bowl of chips and salsa. Louisa munched like a champ! She'd dip her chip in, and then take a large crunchy bite. Alex didn't go much for the salsa, and Annie preferred to dip her chip, and then slurp the salsa right off. She handed me her single soggy chip after the bowl had been drained, and I obligingly finished it for her. After that, we all marveled at the beautiful decorations. Underneath our glass-topped table we found some brightly-colored tropical birds and flowers. No such luck with naming them "eagles" or "toucans" or whatever they were, just "birds." We also saw a half-moon/half-sun decoration that Alex was leery of. He insisted that the moon was a "bad-guy" and had to keep a close watch on him all through dinnner.

Speaking of dinner, it was delicious! Burritos, tacos, enchiladas, french fries (what?!? ok, so I ordered them "just in case" because you never know with these kids) rice, and beans. Louisa ate very well, and the other two ... well, they didn't go hungry. And nobody made a big mess either! I was very impressed, and very full after eating more than my share of the grub. Annie finally smiled at our waiter too. After redeeming our coupon, it was time to head back to our casa.

My favorite part of the evening? Watching Alex hold Annie's hand as they crossed the empty parking lot, and stop to watch a bug crawl across the ground. Their favorite part of the evening? Getting home and eating ICE CREAM!

All in all, it was a recipe for disaster ... but then again, I'm not a very good cook!

He did it

Yep, Jory took all three to a Mexican restaurant last night. He said they were actually really good. I guess I’d put the fear of God into him, because he was expecting the worst. I don’t know why, our kids are almost always on their best behavior when we take them out in public. Louisa chowed down most of an adult sized dinner (not surprising) and the other two ate well enough to satisfy Jory. I on the other hand, was able to enjoy a quiet evening at home by myself. When was the last time I was home by myself? It’s probably been at least a year or two. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I ended up making myself a frozen pizza and surfing the internet, enjoying the fact that there were no children fighting over the right to sit in my lap.
The girls and I were looking at a magazine yesterday, and they surprised me by correctly identifying an eagle. I expected them to call it a bird, but no, they both called it an eagle. But on the next page they called a frog a fish. Pfth.

3/22/2006

And so it goes….

Last night Jory and I went out on a mini date. We went to a local Mexican restaurant, and to the library. Jory and I rarely go out during the week, but there was a pretty good reason this time. You see, way back around the time of his birthday, Jory received a coupon to this particular restaurant. Well the coupon was about to expire, so even though neither of us were particularly crazy about the food at this particular place, I had to drop everything to use this coupon (I was thrilled at the prospect, can’t you tell). You know what? The food was better than I expected, and the added trip to the library was a bonus. It’s been a very long time since I’ve had time to go peruse the library. It was a good night.
There’s an amusing part of this story: Jory has another coupon that expires tonight, which he really wants to use (despite my protest). So he thinks he’s taking the kids without me. Jory, alone with 3 kids, in a restaurant that the kids probably won’t like. I wouldn’t take my 3 kids to a restaurant they won’t like unless I had at least 3 adults, but whatever. If I get the night off, I’ll agree to just about anything.
I was reading an article last night in a scrapbooking magazine about preserving a snapshot of life at this very instant, which I thought was a really cool idea. Scrapping this very minute in time isn’t exactly an option for me, since I’m about 8 months behind, but I can do the journaling now and catch up fill in pics later right? Yeah, this is me recording a moment of my life “right now” except that this particular moment was 8 months ago - she says with a chuckle.
Anyway. Here’s a snapshot into ordinary life in the Peterson household at 9:38 am’. I’m sitting here typing away as I wait for a web age to load (gotta love dial-up). I’m listening to Madonna on my mp3 player. The kids are all playing happily in Alex’s room, which makes me a little suspicious. I really should be folding laundry, or giving the kids a bath.

3/20/2006

A standoff over a sandwich and other news.

It all started over two pieces of bread, a little peanut butter and jelly, a stubborn toddler, and two determined parents. The stubborn toddler, lets call her “Annie” requested one of her favorites for dinner, and then once it was prepared, decided she was just too good for such an ordinary meal. Well the determined parents, lets call them “elissa” aka “mom” and “Jory” aka “dad” had had just about enough of “Annie’s” antics and decided it was time for a little tough love. The punishment for her crime? Banishment to the isle of crib-dom. (Noooooooooooooo, anything but that!) Oh yes, (insert evil laugh) that… After a 20 year, I mean 20 minute banishment, she was permitted back to the table to feast on her meal of preference (as long as she preferred a peanut butter sandwich) - which, no she didn’t. So after another standoff, she went back into solitary confinement for another 20 minutes. (have I mentioned she’s stubborn?) When she returned from her second round of confinement she was so starved for nourishment that she had no choice but to accept her crust of moldy bread and luke-warm water. Actually, I think it was Louisa who convinced her sister to eat the sandwich, “sister, EAT IT!” Ahhh peer pressure.
In other news……
We took the kids to a nature preserve over the weekend. We went to a visitor’s center that had live fish and turtles, and a large collection of stuffed critters from the area; you know the girls were all over it. We then went down to the beach at lake Erie (which was freezing) but Alex had a ball playing in the sand and finding treasures. Including a fish head. MMMMMMMMM… there are a few new pics over in my flickr account from our outing (but not of the fish head).

3/17/2006

Flickr

If you look in my sidebar there’s a new little pic with a logo that says flickr above it. That, my friends is my photo blog. Sorta like a regular blog, but instead of text entries, I have photo entries. Go click on the little icon and you can go check out the pics and leave comments. My friend Joy uses it, and as is always singing their praises, so I thought I’d try it out… I’ve always wanted to start one, but this week my cousin Teresa emailed me about her photo hosting site, and that started the ball rolling… I’m still tweaking a little, but it’s a start… that’s what matters right?

3/16/2006

Mindless ramblings

Everyone’s entitled to a little mindless rambling now and then right? I have a few kid observations that I’d like to record, more for myself than all five of my normal readers, they might be used as journaling on a future scrapbook page, we’ll see.
Alex: My collector. He’s always been an avid collector, but these days his collecting has grown to a frenzy. He’s always carrying around a handful of random objects that go together in some sort of fashion – 3 yellow buttons, a yellow shoestring, 2 yellow legos and a yellow marble. What he does with these collections is beyond me. But they’re usually critical to his current episode of dramatic play in some sort of way.
Jory and I have decided that Alex is going to be a sculptor. I find these little sculptures typically made from some combination of chairs, blocks, scarves, beads and whatever little tidbits he finds around the house (does that count as a mixed media sculpture?)
All three of my children are suddenly fascinated with ladybugs. The girls call them “be bugs”. Whenever one is spotted they all start shrieking with joy, then they get down nose to nose with the thing, and watch intently as the poor critter carries on his merry way. There is one that hangs out on my sliding door next to the kitchen table, so pretty much every time we sit down to eat, some one spots the “be bug” and we all have to go watch it until Mom gets fed up with the “scientific observation”

3/15/2006

Still trying to catch up

Yesterday I spent most of my day cleaning and helping my poor house recover from the weekend. I’ve done so much laundry and dishes it’s not even funny. Sadly I still feel like I need a snow shovel to get all the crap off the floor, and the kitchen floor still needs to be mopped (you know it’s bad when your feet stick to the floor).
Yesterday the girls were both feeling under the weather. That means I had a pair of whiney-crying-clingy toddlers. Fun. The good news is that they slept a lot. They slept until noon, took an hour nap, and then went to bed early. So I did manage to get stuff accomplished while they were sleeping. Louisa is much better today, and Annie is still sleeping

3/13/2006

Catching up

Bad bad blogger, I know. I’ve been meaning to update this thing for the last few days, but I’ve been so busy… Likely story, I know. Cry about it.
So here’s a general run down of the last few days.
Tuesday – Wednesday: nothing noteworthy happened.
Thursday was one of the first warm days we’ve had, so I took the kids out so I could take pictures - I mean so they could play outside and enjoy the fresh spring air. I think I mentioned that I have a project that required like 24 spring photos, well they’re sorta springy, in a “my grass is all brown and dead, and there aren’t even buds on the trees yet” kinda way. Oh well.
Friday morning I would have posted some of the pics from Thursday, but my friend Laura from high school came over to play with the kids, then my dad brought over lunch (thanks Dad!). Friday evening my church had a free babysitting outreach; of course I couldn’t pass up free babysitting. So Jory and I went and ran some (boring) errands, and ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant, while the kids played with Ms. Becky at church.
Saturday I went to an all day scrapbook party at Sautters Farm. I finished my project, ate a ton of junk food, and gabbed with some ladies that I almost never see. It was a lot of fun. The best part: I left 5 minutes after the kids woke up, and got back after they were in bed. Jory got to be me for the entire day.
Sunday was a normal day. The kids were all in their “lets be cute so Mom won’t leave us again” mode. The girls giggling over the vacuum, chasing a lady bug, and lots of hugs and kisses.
But today reality sets in. My house is a complete disaster, the girls are fighting over my lap again, and I need a shower.
Ok, here are some pics from Friday. As I was getting these ready to post, Louisa looks up at the one of Annie throwing a fit and says “Annie crying??” to which Annie counters “No, Annie ok now”. It made me smile.

3/06/2006

Weekend adventures.

This weekend I got to have my birthday date with Jory. I wish I could say we went somewhere cool, like to a show on Broadway, or up into the mountains, but no. We went to Ann Arbor. We had lunch, walked around “down town” a little. It was fun. Not a stellar vacation, but still fun. Something out of the ordinary, for us anyway. My parents treated the family to dinner at Bob Evans after we returned. MMMMM.
I hear it’s supposed to warm up by the end of the week. Believe it or not, I’m really quite tired of the cold, and the snowy/icy/slushy mixture. I need about 2 dozen spring photos of the kids for a project that I’m working on for the store. But then again, I don’t think anyone would blink twice if the photos on my spring break book were of the kids in the snow. This is Ohio after all.

3/02/2006

Why yes it is my birthday!

I’m so impressed that you remembered. I don’t have much planned for today. Ok, I lied. My plans are play with the kids, accomplish as little as possible until lunch time, eat left over pizza (I had my birthday dinner a night early) for lunch and then Jory gives me the afternoon off to do whatever I want (that’s what he gives me every year for my birthday, I can’t think of a better gift!) I think I’m going to run errands, and then maybe scrap a little. We’ll see.
So last night my show was on. I gotta say, that Chris kid rocked again. I was a little worried that his last performance was a fluke, and that I’d be disappointed this week because he wasn’t as good as I remembered. I wasn’t disappointed. I wasn’t crazy about the song he picked, a little too hard core for me. But I was entertained. I would pay money to hear him sing it again. I hate to pick a favorite so early in the competition, but if he doesn’t win, I’d be really surprised. (Have you ever noticed how goofy people look in pictures when they're singing?)
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