Where is the time going?

I just had a moment that was very much a slap in the face. Not the kind of slap in the face that makes you curl up in a ball with a gallon of ice cream and a tub of cookie dough but the kind that makes you feel a little sad and proud all at once.

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Every day I realize more and more that my kids are not so little any more.

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(Brielle - brand new)

(Brielle - 3 1/2 Years Old)For some reason this seems to happen more with Claire than it did with Brielle. I'm sure it's because she is my second and I didn't have all the fears and anxiety that came along with the first, just pushing them to grow up faster.

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With Claire, I have been clinging to every second of her being a baby, unwilling to let the moments slip through my fingers. Holding her a little longer than necessary to put her down for naps, letting her have a binky a little longer because it makes her seem little, keeping her in a crib rather than trying to transition to a big bed because she's NOT a big girl yet...I promise.

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But tonight as we were kneeling as a family in the girls room before bedtime, we offered Claire her turn to say her personal prayer. We do this every night and usually prompt her as to what to say. Tonight, it went a little differently though. I asked her the usual, "Claire, would you like to say your prayer?" She quickly folded her arms and I began to prompt her "Dear" she followed suit.

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Then she continued on her own, without help..."Hevy Fadder, tank tu for house, Jejus Chis, Amen".

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Me and Marty looked at each other shocked and proud of our little girl.

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And for a moment I thought he was going to cry...because I'm way too much of a rock to cry over things like that.

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But he didn't, and neither did I. But I'm sure we both were wondering what had happened to our baby.

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(Claire - brand new)

(Claire - 1 1/2 years old)

A Wise Investment?

Oh, my sweet little Claire....words don't even begin to express the energy this child has. She got the Bounce and Spin Zebra almost a year ago for her 1st birthday (can you believe she'll be 2 in April?!) and LOVED it.

Just in case you weren't a reader a year ago, I will remind you that the face she is making is out of joy and excitement...she is not screaming out of fear.You often wonder if a toy was a good purchase or not and how long it will be until your child loses interest. Well...to this day, she still loves it. She just uses it a bit differently now.

(Scroll to bottom and pause the music)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

What are the odds?

Isn't this picture a beauty? I thought I'd just share the glory of my 20th birthday with you all. I was just sitting there thinking, I would sure love to post my 4th picture from my 4th folder but wouldn't have any reason to...then my friend Anjuli happened to tag me to do just that!

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What are the odds?

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It's just so unfortunate that it was my FIFTH folder that had all of my pictures from my belly dancing days....what a sad coincidence for you all.

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Now that you have enjoyed that lovely morsel of beauty, it's on to something else of the random variety.

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I tried to be a good mom today and make Valentine cookies with Brielle while Claire was taking a nap.

I burned about half of them.

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I'm pretty sure we'll run to the store on our way to pizza night (yes, that's right, Marty's family has a designated pizza night once a week!) and buy some cookies to take. I'm sure the problem occurred when I just turned on the light in the oven to check the cookies rather than opening the oven to see. They looked quite a bit more white through the dark shadowy glass than they did once I opened the oven two minutes later. Sheesh...who allowed me to play with the oven?

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I will still frost them and let Brielle sprinkle the dickens out of them, we just will have to take a few taste tests to see if they are worthy of being served to other people outside of our home. I'm pretty sure I'll have to eat at least half of them to make sure they REALLY are okay before making the decision. That's the price I'm going to have to pay for not taking them out at the exact moment of perfection.

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So, maybe baking isn't my forte, but I'm super good at making things in the crock pot....I'm also super good at browsing the bakery at the store and then taking said baked goods out of the packaging and putting them on my own plate to pass off as my own.

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What??

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How dare I do such a thing?!

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Well...I'll get over it.

Tax Return Season

The time of year has finally come that we got our beloved tax returns!

We were planning on rewarding our children for being born - thus giving us a large tax return - by getting a puppy. We (meaning ME) had researched and had decided on the perfect breed, searched through every classified ad this side of the Mississippi and were ready to make the leap in to doggy-owner-hood. I just KNEW my girls were mature enough and ready for their own dog.

(A white miniature schnauzer...hypoallergenic and CUTE AS CAN BE!)

Okay, so maybe it wasn't that I knew my kids were mature enough, I just knew that I was baby hungry but not ready for a baby and that a puppy would help reduce those baby wanting needs by giving me something else that’s small and cuddly to take care of.

Is that horrible of me to be baby hungry but not be ready to have one? Well, I’m sorry if it is but my husband is leaving for four months and I don’t want to be huge and pregnant AND be raising two kids on my own. So...there’s my rant/excuse, even though it really has nothing to do with what we were discussing.

BACK to our discussion of doggy-owner-hood. My brother and sister-in-law (aka gracious landlords) went to the owner of the house since they are renting – yes, they rent and we rent from them. Don’t think about it too hard or your brain my discontinue working...anyways, they went to the owner to ask how he felt about us getting a puppy.

I was hopeful but alas my dreams – uh, I mean my KIDS dreams – of having a puppy were crushed. The owner of the house said he didn’t want more than two dogs in his house (my brother and sister-in-law already have a Boxer and a Rottweiler...not exactly tiny dogs) Obviously we cannot complain, the guy owns the house, he has every right to say no.

So, we started brainstorming what we could do instead so our children wouldn't be too heartbroken over not being able to get their very own puppy. (Really they hardly knew anything of the puppy.) The ideas were things like:

Get a fish

Get a bird

Get a stuffed animal at Build-A-Bear

Go on a small family vacation

PARTAY

Etc.

After much anguish over what decision to make, we finally did conclude with what we believe to be the very best of the best. Being the wonderful parents we are and to help our children (me) be less distraught over the whole thing we took them out for ice cream.

What? We bought them an ice cream cone to compensate for not getting a puppy?? I know, but it does get better.

We then took that money that was going to be going towards a puppy and bought a treadmill.

We pretty much rock as parents!!

Now, excuse me, I must go bring sexy back...

(And yes, for your information I DO look exactly like that when I use the treadmill.)