Smoothie Pops

I am in love with this warm weather. Night and day from last week. And to mark the momentous occasion of the start of Spring and the return of the sun, Ben enjoyed the first popsicle of the Spring/Summer. I try to make a smoothie every day for myself and Ben as an easy way to increase our fruit and veggie (I use a fruit/veggie juice blend) intake. Now I simply blend up the daily smoothie at lunch, pour them into popsicle molds, and by the time the kiddies awake after their nap, I have popsicles. To enjoy outside on the grass of course. Messy, messy. While the boys get half the popsicles in their mouth and half on the grass, I lean back looking up at the warm sun through the leaves of our giant front yard tree, and pray the weather will last.

Because I don't think I can take another week cooped up with two two-year-olds who just can't get it through their heads why we can't go to the PARK! I really don't!

Mommy & Me Week: Day FIVE

I realized today while laying on Ben's floor waiting for him to drift off into sleepy land (yes I'm still doing that, but yes he falls asleep and STAYS asleep until the next morning at around 7:30, 8 o'clock, so it's a small sacrifice), that I forgot to wrap up our mommy & me week. Plans fell through with my parents to go to the Children's Discovery Museum, but have been rescheduled for this Friday so stay tuned. Thus the highlight of our day was a trip to the Dollar store for birthday party goodies. After scoring some great gag presents to add to our novelty prize table, I spotted some kites and slipped one into our cart. Ben immediately grabbed for it and spent the rest of the shopping trip jabbing passerby-ers and nearly knocking everything in his path off the shelves. Despite the mishaps in the store, I knew that it was the perfect purchase as my hands tightly gripped my steering wheel on the way home to prevent my car from being blown off the highway. Yes a perfectly windy day for flying a kite. Once safely home we ripped off the packaging and then after some light assembly I attempted to unwind the very thin string. The thing was completely twisted, and with an impatient yank, I got loose about ten feet of the hair-like string and called it good. We ran out to the front yard to try the new contraption. Ben was thrilled when I got the thing off the ground. So much so that he began to run around in a frenzy on the grass and came head-on with the kite, snapping the pole in half and permanently grounding our new treasure (in Ben's eyes at least). You know the saying trash-to-treasure? Well, our little kite underwent an opposite transformation, and in five minutes went from treasure-to-trash (when Ben wasn't looking of course).

There's just something magical about flying a kite. So you bet we will be giving it another go. And next time I'll throw down more than a buck. : )

Me, Myself, and I

Last Friday night I had my first microderm appointment in San Francisco, so I got to enjoy a whole five hours, solo. Even the drive was relaxing on my own. Ben doesn't fall asleep in the car anymore like he used to, even on long drives, and he has a tendency to constantly ask me questions from the back seat-- so I could actually think. Upon arriving in the city I got my car valet parked in a hotel parking garage (surprisingly no more expensive than other public parking garages throughout the city). Then I enjoyed a nice sandwich at a cafe before heading to my appointment. The environment was wonderfully relaxing and the treatment went great; I already love the results and get to go four more times (more on that later). It was just nice to get away by myself and get pampered. All women deserve that. And mothers need it. In my opinion, especially stay-at-home moms!

In an elevator on my way up to the tenth floor for my treatment.

Rain, Rain Go Away

What do you do on a very wet, rainy day with two 2-year-olds to keep your house decently clean and your sanity in tact? Take them to Pump It Up's Pop in and Playtime. Let them run, jump, and slide for an hour and a half.

Fill them up with a yummy lunch. Read them three stories. And tuck them in for a long nap. My plan worked perfectly. My house remained clean until 3:30 when the boys awoke, and was then barely messed up until Seb was picked up at 5:30. And I thoroughly enjoyed running, jumping, and sliding around too-- gotta love those endorphins!

But I am so ready for this rain to be GONE already. It's a rough week when we can't go to the park. :-) The sun did peek out for a short while yesterday though. So I bundled the little guys up and we took a walk around the corner to say hello to the firetrucks.

Then there was a friendly race home to avoid the oncoming rain. Not to brag or anything . . . but Ben smoked Seb!

Just for Laughs

I wanted to record down a few funny things Ben has said this week. He is talking more and more, and more and more of what comes out of his mouth is just so hilarious.

James and I were discussing something and apparently I was getting a little worked up about it and started to raise my voice. Ben who was sitting next to me on the couch stood up and placed his little hand over my mouth, saying "calm down, mommy." (Lesson learned Ben, thank you).

Ben walked into the bathroom where I was cleaning up and asked me very seriously, "mommy, you like me?" Then after assuring him that I did, he paused for a moment and then asked, "you like daddy?" I told him that I did and he immediately ran out to the living room and confirmed with his daddy that I like him. I'm not sure which one of them was wondering this?!

As I was putting Ben down for his nap today he told me "mommy, close door" (pointing at the bathroom door, which had a load of clothes in the dryer; one article's zipper clanking away). I confirmed, "you want me to close the bathroom door?" "Yes, mommy. So annoying!"

Where does he get this stuff? Oh yah, from me. Time to choose my words and tone of voice very carefully from here on out. Great!

Mommy & Me Week: Day FOUR

Every Thursday morning at 10:30 am for the last couple months we walk to our local library for Story Time. This particular Thursday Ben was not in the mood for it and told me he did not want to go. Instead we stayed in bed watching cartoons till past ten. I wasn't going to force him after all. To be honest I have before though. It's hard to balance planning activities for your children that are good for them and therefore, you want them to do. And knowing when your child is just worn out and wont have it. I don't want to be one of those parents that over schedule their child, but I also want to provide my child every opportunity to learn, socialize, and develop physically. I guess I have a while to get the balance right, and am not going to start stressing about it now. So instead we spent our day building block houses and trains and setting up domino courses for Ben to knock down. I need to remember that Ben enjoys just spending time with his mommy at home playing toys just as much, if not more than going to the movies, or even the park.

I also have to brag about a trip to Safeway. Before heading to the store I went to Safeway's website and loaded my Club Card with all the deals and coupons I could find for things that I normally purchase anyway. Then I emailed the list to myself so I could pull it up on my iPhone will shopping. After sufficiently filling up my cart, the total rang up before Club Card at $150. And after Club Card . . . $100. I thought that was a pretty successful trip, and will be doing this for every grocery trip.

Mommy & Me Week: Day THREE

Our day started with a wake up call from James. He decided to take an early lunch at around 9 (he gets to work before 5) and take us out to breakfast. We walked to a great little cafe that was recommended to us, and it did not disappoint. Now we know to get the short stack of pancakes because they were monsters, but so delicious. Definitely will become a new favorite spot for us. Here's Ben enjoying some leftovers.

I decided to take Ben to our little old theater downtown and the first showing wasn't until 5:30. So after naps we bundled up and walked to the theater. We saw Rango. It was okay. The animation was strange. Ben kept commenting about how ugly everyone was. They were dessert creatures like Armadillos and lizards. Not one that I will be purchasing, but entertaining enough. Full of "adult" humor. I thought more than normal. Thank goodness for the popcorn and gummy candy I brought Ben, because he wouldn't have lasted long otherwise. James was out-of-town, so after the movie we went and got some Taco Bell for dinner. Then got into jammies and called it a day. (Notice Ben's little friend at the movies-- he now goes everywhere with us. But I think he's contributing to Ben staying in his bed all night, so I don't mind.)