Tock-it Milk and Bingo

When Brooke was first learning to drink regular milk, she never could get to love it like most kids do. Rather, she wouldn't drink it at all. So we started putting chocolate syrup in it, and VOILA, she loved it! And guess what? We've never been able to break her of the habit. She now distinguishes between chocolate milk and white milk, which is only for babies (in her book). So when Jack transitioned to regular milk last year, I was determined to keep him on and not allow him to get hooked on chocolate milk. Everything worked fine until a few weeks ago when Jack figured out that he could sip Brooke's milk whenever he found it unattended and - darn it! - it tastes better than his! Then he started offering her to "trade?" (naturally she declines) and now he's escalated to full-on demanding it. And it's not chocolate milk, it's TOCK-IT MILK! Heaven help us. Thank goodness they sell two-packs of giant Hershey's Syrup at Costco, right?



Brooke is having so much fun with a game that her Uncle Clark got her for Christmas, called United States Bingo. She doesn't totally get the concept of filling up a card to win the game, but she does love certain states because they have pictures of industries that she's decided she likes. So when we play, she always has to have the cards for Florida (because they have flamingos, palm trees), Hawaii (Pineapple), Maine (blueberries and lobsters) and inexplicable, New Jersey (shipping!) She is a real kick.


In other news, I'm up to 12 lbs. lost in 4 weeks and couldn't be happier about it! I'm going to keep on keepin' on... got quite a few more till I reach my goal, which I expect will happen sometime in late summer or early fall. As of today I have one pair of pants that is officially too big now. Bring it on!

My muses

Just a few shots taken today and yesterday that came out cute.

This is what happens when I scold Brooke for putting her feet on the table. Monkey see, monkey do!

Ah, sibling love!

Potty? At 19 months?

Jack has been showing some interest in using the potty. What the heck? Brooke didn't get potty trained until a few days after her THIRD birthday. Don't get me wrong, I'd be thrilled beyond measure to be done with diapers sooner rather than later. I'm just shocked. The other day we were at the grocery store and he started saying "poop! potty!" repeatedly. I was completely taken aback. So twice now I've put him on the potty when he says he wants to... he's all talk and no action but it's awfully cute to see his little chubby legs dangling there.



And for good measure, a pic of my girl. All geared up with her best friend Ellie in her backpack. I took the kids to Applebees for lunch yesterday and they came home with balloons, always a treat in our house. We are getting ready to sign Brooke up for next year's pre-school. We're very happy with her current school, so we're going to stay with it - again, three days of class, but it's longer (3 hours instead of 2.5) and we're adding a fourth day which is an "enrichment class" that goes on a field trip every week. I have friends whose kids have done this class in past years and have raved about it - they take the kids to places like the back room at the grocery store where they see how food comes off the trucks and is unloaded and stocked on the shelves. I'm excited for her, it will be a lot of fun and new experiences.

Late night ramblings

Yo Gabba Gabba Heaven at the Kennedy House

I'm not sure why I'm blogging instead of going to bed - it's almost midnight and everyone else in the house is asleep. I confess that this quiet time is golden to me. Even if it means staying up really late and sacrificing sleep, it's heaven to putter around and do whatever I want, without being whined at by anyone.

Brooke and I decided to host a Valentine Party for her pre-school classmates. I just finished the invitations and they are pretty adorable, if I do say so myself! Here is a photo of the front. The inside has a cute verse printed in red in a great font called Harrington. (I wanted Aged but I was too cheap to pony up the $29 and buy it.) We asked each child to bring a small (under $10) Valentine gift to exchange. Our friend Whitney, who works at the stamping store, helped us design it and also sold us this super fantastic elephant punch that makes a perfectly adorable elephant that even has an ear that sticks out. Too cute for words. Of course, my elephant-crazed girl has punched no less than 1000 elephants in all the colors of the rainbow and "sprinkled" (her word) them throughout the house.


I think the party is going to be a blast. We're making all kinds of pink and red foods, cupcakes, home made candies, and have even started collecting some fun things for goody bags. I even found a couple of fun projects at Oriental Trading Co. that are Valentine-themed (including one for girls and one for boys). Ah, I love planning a kids' party... and I figure since Brooke's birthday is during the summer and over a holiday weekend, it's unlikely that she will be able to do something with all of her class, so we'll have this party now and then do something special with one or two friends on her birthday.

In other news... I joined Weight Watchers last night and I'm happy to say that my first day is over and went OK! They have really improved their program since I tried it (briefly) in 2006. I have to admit I'm impressed. The online tools are fantastic - online tracking, food value lookups, recipes, etc. Tonight I made a Weight Watchers coconut shrimp recipe for dinner and it was quite good! Of course, it would have been fantastic with some corn-syrup laden dipping sauce, but I survived without it. I have a long list of "weight-watchers approved" foods that I'm anxious to pick up tomorrow to make things a little bit easier for me.

OK, it's officially after midnight and I must go to sleep. If I can drag myself out of bed early enough, I'm going to try and hit the gym before the munchkins wake up and the craziness starts.

A fresh start

2009 = the year that I get serious about losing some weight and keeping it off!

Today is the first day of an online weight-loss competition a friend of mine has organized and I'm off to a good start. Had salad for lunch, went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for 47 minutes, ate an apple for a snack this morning. Wish me luck - there is a lot at stake for me, both personally in terms of my health, and also the competition prize money! Of course I already have a few ideas how I could spend that money...

Jack cracks me up. His vocabulary is exploding which is so fun. He is starting to have real preferences - for his food (he points to what he wants in the fridge, usually mozzarella sticks) and his clothing too. His favorite shirt is his football sweatshirt and he asks for it by name - "football!" while pointing to his chest. It's quite adorable. When you confirm what he's asking for he nods vigorously and says "Mmm!" He is working on a whole bunch of two syllable words, like airplane, football, Brookie, and, inexplicably, pinecone. He imitates everything Brooke does, including asking "why?" incessantly which is a bit much for one mom considering both of my kids now ask why whenever I tell them to do anything. He adores his dog, Leo, and calls "Yee-Oh!" loudly, including yelling "Yee-oh, pee pee!" loudly out the back door as Leo tries to do his business with a shred of dignity. It's quite hilarious.


Brooke had a concert in pre-school today, which was postponed from before Christmas due to the snowstorm we had. It was darling. They all had percussion instruments (jingle bells, shakers, triangles, sanblocks...) and sang about 6 songs. I got some video on my Blackberry but am not sure how to get it off the phone and post it. Brooke was really proud of herself and had to restrain herself from running over to hug me several times during the concert.

Sharing

Last night I was reading a book called Flutter By to Brooke at bedtime. The essence of the story is that if you don't share, you will one day realize that others won't want to share with you and that life is better when you learn to share. At the end, there is a page where the (wise) worm says "Sharing is fun!" As I read that part, Brooke sat up and pointed to the page and said emphatically, "Sharing is NOT fun!" I almost choked I laughed so hard. I said, "why not?" Brooke said "When you share, people take your stuff." I said, "who takes your stuff?" And of course, the answer was: "Jack!"

Oh my.

Redeeming myself

OK, so we got Brooke to swimming lessons on time today. I aimed to leave at 3:15 for 4:00 class (20 minute drive - figured that was decent padding to get me there on time.) It worked! We pulled in to the driveway at 3:42 and had time to get her undressed and into the pool area and even sat for a bit before the teacher showed up. Much less stressful. And she did pay better attention this time. Not perfect by any means, but I impressed upon her that last time she played with the toys too much and since we had missed two classes, she REALLY needed to pay attention to the teacher so she could get caught up. I give her credit, she really made an effort. Yay Brooke! And yay me for not having a pseudo anuerysm at the pool.

Several of you have commented that you wanted to see pictures of our paint. The reason I haven't posted is that it just looks white in the pictures - not very interesting - but oh well, here goes nothing. It's a nice cream with the vaguest hint of yellow.


This is the transition from old (left) to new (right) paint. We had to stop somewhere -- our house has rooms that just blend one into another so it was hard to find a stopping point.

In other news, we had a nice sunny day yesterday (probably our last for 10 months) and I took my good camera to the park with me and got some nice pictures of Jack while Brooke was in school. Here are a couple of them. Is he not adorable? No wonder I can't stop kissing his face.

Brooke's Cardiology appointment

In July, at her 3-year checkup, Brooke's doctor heard a faint heart murmur and told us that we ought to get it checked out by a pediatric cardiologist. She assured us it was probably nothing, but better to be sure of that so we got in the queue for an appointment at Seattle Children's Hospital. Finally, today was the day. Good news - it's a harmless, very common murmur called a Stills Murmur that she will grow out of and we don't have to worry about it! What a relief. We were treated so well at Children's, Brooke actually really enjoyed her visit - the facility is incredible and so many fun things to look at and play with, and the two residents and one senior cardiologist who examined her were incredible. I hope we never have to go back there for obvious reasons, but if we did, it's good to know that such a high-quality facility exists only 10 miles from our home.

Fortunately, the appointment came on a day when our regular babysitter was scheduled to be here, so Justin and I were able to go with Brooke and focus all our energies on her. Afterward, Justin went to work and Brooke and I headed off to University Village for a "girls' day" (Brooke's favorite thing to do). We did some shopping, some playing at Pottery Barn Kids and in the mall playground, and we had sushi from a conveyor belt for lunch (a first for Brooke!)

Do the Puyallup!

For those of you not from the Northwest (or even not from the Seattle area) you may not know what a phenomenon The Fair is around here. A small town called Puyallup (pronounced "pew-AL-up") hosts a truly awesome fair for three weeks every September, and it's the best one I've ever attended. I grew up loving the fair - my grandfather worked the refrigeration systems at the Oregon State Fair, which was only a few blocks from my grandparents' house growing up, so we made it a family tradition to go to the fair with them every summer and the memories are sweet. I really enjoy everything about the fair - the rides, the animals, the demonstrations in the exhibit hall, and best of all, the food. So it's no surprise that I want my kids to learn to love the fair as much as I do - and I think we're on our way. Yesterday, Justin and I took the kids to the Puyallup Fair and we all enjoyed ourselves tremendously! The weather was incredible - 78 or 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We get like 3 of these days per year here in the Seattle area so when it happens, people get crazy!

Last year, my friend Marie came up from Portland for the fair and we took Brooke, then 2, and Justin stayed home with Jack, then 3 months old. Brooke had fun, but there were a lot of rides she couldn't really go on by herself because she didn't really get it. This year, we have clearly turned a corner. She couldn't get enough!! She is a thrill-seeker just like me.

Clean, dressed, and excited, ready to go to the fair...

Moments before slamming her head into the mirrored wall in the fun-house. Oops.

The carousel. Finally, a ride that Jack can go on with us! (At least he could after I fibbed and told the operator he was 2...)

That's Brooke on the yellow airplane, white sunglasses and curly hair are about all that you can see. She grinned at us and gripped the steering wheel every time she flew around the corner!

One of the best rides of all is the Giant Slide. You can see in the top pic how big it is, you have to climb over 100 steps to get to the top. Justin and I each took a turn on this one with Brooke.

Self portrait. Jack will have a lot more fun next year when he can go on more rides.

I caught this little lady with my camera through a window while we were eating lunch. I thought she was awfully cute and patriotic and check her out, partaking in the Krusty Pups (aka corndogs) and curly fries. You go girl!

Of course, an elephant ear was eaten by THIS little girl... who worships elephants!

And so it ended... two tired kiddos who came home and took bubble baths, ate dinner, and fell asleep by 6:30pm. What a day!

We knew this was coming!

Poor Brooke. After only 3 days in pre-school, she is already sick with her first "classroom petrie dish" cold. Having been at home with me for 3 years, she's hardly ever sick, and we realize how lucky we are. I have a feeling this is going to be the first of many bad colds she brings home. My little girl is currently dosed up with children's ibuprofen, propped up on pillows, and sleeping in a steam-filled room thanks to her cow-shaped humidifier. Now I just hope we can keep Jack from getting it (as well as Justin and me!)

First day of pre-school!

Wow! She did it! Brooke had an excellent time at her first day of pre-school. Justin followed us in his car so he could come in and see the classroom and kiss her goodbye. We got there and she dove right into an activity (there was Play-doh out on a table with cookie cutters, one of her favorite activities). She didn't even care that we were leaving. We stole a quick kiss and walked out the door and I don't even think she noticed. I would have been sad except that she was so looking forward to this day and she's been ready for school for a long time now, so the whole experience was 100% positive. When I picked her up, 2.5 hours later, she walked out of the room a little glazed over, but within a minute she was excitedly telling me all about her day. Over lunch she told me that one girl cried and her mommy had to come pick her up. Brooke said she didn't miss me (I asked) and she can't wait for Monday. Awesome, I'm so proud of my girl!

In other news, I am thrilled to say that I just hired a housekeeper! Woo hoo. Every other week, starting next week, and the price I was quoted was $30/month less than what I was prepared to spend (the amount freed up in babysitting dollars now that pre-school has begun). And, they can come while we're out of the house on one of the pre-school mornings, which is perfect. I didn't want to have to get out of the house just because the housekeeper was here. I am doing the happy dance right now!

Beads

She even made a bracelet for her BFF, Ellie.

I have noticed recently (ok, for a long time now) that Brooke is needing more and more stimulation. Pre-school could not come at a better time. So I picked up some projects at Michael's the other day so that she and I could do some fun things together while Jack naps. Yesterday, we stamped the animals from Noah's Ark onto white paper with "cages" drawn on it for a do-it-yourself Zoo, then she colored them. Today, our project was a $1 foam bead necklace & bracelet set. She loves it so much that I am going to go back and pick up a few more. I can't believe how well she did at stringing the beads herself! She even learned to use a toothpick to "unclog" some of the beads that needed it. This just confirms what I already knew about Brooke having inherited my artistic/crafty aptitude.

Labor Day Weekend

We celebrated Labor Day weekend with a day trip to Mount Rainier. I can't believe that we've lived here for 5 years (and Justin grew up here!) and have not been yet. It's a truly phenomenal and gorgeous place. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

On the way there, we noticed the temperature dropping. Little did I know that this photo would not be the end of the low temps (at the lodge, it was 36 degrees and snowing! In August!) Can you tell by Justin's face that we were pumped up to get out of the house for the day?


Jack was decked out in his new Chuck Taylors (and a bag of cheese ritz bits, apparently) for the event. Must look snappy.


We stopped for lunch at one of the visitor lodges. The kids met a bear.

A short walk was taken, rocks were balanced on, nature was inspected.


The highlight of the trip was Christine Falls - absolutely gorgeous! Above the falls, the river comes crashing around a corner and has carved a graceful arc out of the rock. Really spectacular. I spent a fair bit of time freaking about how easy it would be for someone to fall off the cliff though, as Justin pointed out. Hands were held tightly.




It was a lovely day, we'd do it again in a heartbeat. Next time we'd like to camp out one night so we can spend more time there and see more! The wildflowers were still in bloom at the higher altitudes, so I'm sure in mid-summer the park is unbelievably beautiful when they are in bloom in the meadows.