The Gardner Family

2011-03-03T12:08:00.001-08:00

me: "Trey, what are you doing?"
Trey: "Trying to play whac-a-mole on Abby!"

Yep, that's my life.

I suck at blogging.

2011-01-24T17:19:00.000-08:00

No, really. I SUCK AT BLOGGING. Things were going well there for a year or so and then I got a life. Well, I didn't get a life, more like life got me. It just seems that the days pass by so slowly but bedtime is always here before I know it. Weird. The kids are endlessly funny, sassy, cute, rotten and all things in between. I have oodles of pictures to post but alas, I am pretty sure I won't get to it soon. I mean, I'd like to think I will but let's not hold our breath here okay?! If by chance pictures do get posted that will just be a bonus.

But, the kids are growing up SO fast that I thought I'd share a tiny nugget of a story lest I forget it one day when I'm old, like really old, like can't remember where I parked the car old....teehee...just kidding mom, I know you're about the only one who reads this :)

So I needed to run to the store today and it has become apparent that when the kids nap they stay up later. Not so convenient when I have to get up at 4 am everyday. I made the executive decision that we would take a trip to the store and not do naps. When I informed Abby of my grand plan she threw a huge fit about wanting to eat her lunch (PB sammy and "healthy" cookies, of course) before we went. I said that they could eat their cookies in the car or at the store and we'd have lunch when we got home. That did NOT go over well. She yelled at me that 'I never feed her lunch. She's starving and she'll never get lunch again', oh lordy. Kicking and screaming she went up the stairs, while getting dressed, down the stairs, while going potty and into the car. Yikes. I then asked her if she wanted to be the "Official List Holder" and boom, we were all smiles again. Point - Mom.

At the store we got a cart with a cup holder...ooooh, so exciting. Abby spent more time putting her cup in and taking it out than actually drinking anything. At least she was happy right? Trey drank his mighty fast and then proceeded to try and throw any remaining droplets onto his sister. Abby was not happy. We went to the toy section, Abby was happy again. We did not get any toys, Abby not happy. Feeling bipolar yet??

After the toy section it was time to get serious and get our groceries. Abby was absolutely a riot as she was trying to be so grown up, telling me what was on the list, what we had coupons for, what flavors of yogurt she and Buddy like, etc. We were going down the cereal aisle and I asked her if she wanted more brown sugar PopTarts since they were on sale. She said "No. Well, they are on sale. I think we need them." threw one in the cart and then put one hand on her hip, tapped her lips with her other index finger for a minute, grabbed another box and said "Yep, pretty sure we're gonna need two". OH MY, she kills me! I didn't want to laugh since she was so serious but I was giggling on the inside for sure!

And an extra bonus, the kids both got new sheet sets (Tangled for Abs and Transformers for Bud) and SO DID I!! I got a $90 set for $21. Nice!

We also measured the kids the other night, Abby has grown an inch since October and Trey has grown 3.5 inches since the end of March. No wonder their pants all finally fit!

Silly sayings and kid updates

2010-12-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

The kids have been cracking me up lately with some of their funny sayings. Abby sings along to most songs in the car now. It's amazing how much she can remember and how fast she learns songs. I think that she's singing the right words but now and then she sings loud enough that I can clearly hear her. And the other day she was singing along to Paparazzi by Lady Gaga and instead of "paparazzi" she belts out "Papa Frosting". How funny is that. I kinda like it.

She's also on a health food kick now. Somewhere along the way she has gotten into her mind that junkfood will make her sick and die if she eats it. Now I'm all for promoting healthy eating but not when she's afraid of DYING if she eats it. Before she has a bite of anything now she asks 2 questions; "Is it healthy?" and "will it make me feel better?" Ooookaaayy. I've decided that she gets honest answers (mostly, she does think chicken nuggets and french fries are healthy!) and hopefully if we don't make a big deal out of it she'll eventually get over her fear. I mean, she won't even eat 1 M&M without serious coaxing. I guess there are worse things she could be concerned about. Along with the food thing she is always asking me to "check her head"..."is it hot, warm, or cold" I finally got it through her brain that when I say it's "normal" that she is fine. She's a nut.

Trey is my funny, funny, funny little guy. He is getting quite an imagination now and says so many outlandish/crazy/hilarious things that I really need to start writing them down as he says them. He loves his new Batcave toy he got for Christmas and played with it for half an hour the other night, chattering non-stop the whole time. He loves making things fight and die.............I'm sensing a theme with my kids. What is that about??!! His new favorite thing too is HOT CHOCOLATE! I couldn't get either of them to try it hot forever. They have both been cold milk drinkers but Trey decided that since Mommy gets hot coffee sometimes that he wanted his hot too. Now they both love it that way! I don't know why I'm so excited by this but it just delights me for some reason.

We did have an awesome Christmas morning here and a celebration the weekend before at my mom's but I haven't gotten around to uploading all the pics yet so check back tomorrow!!

latest cake!

2010-12-20T14:54:00.000-08:00

We had my mother-in-law's surprise birthday party last night.

I offered to make the cake for it and here's how it turned out!

Trey is my handy helper in the kitchen. He loves to bake, cook, clean and all that. So I let him "help" make some of the flowers. He just melts my heart!

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho

2010-12-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

It's back to full time I go! Starting on the 23rd of this month I will be back to a full-time position at the coffee shop. I'll be M-F 4:45-12. An opportunity came up and I was pretty confident that if I didn't take it, I wouldn't be offered it again. And I really couldn't pass up the chance to add a heft chunk to the family money pot. So, even though I will miss the two weekday mornings I get with my babies I know that I'm doing something that will provide us with more opportunities and the chance to do more things. Wish me luck!

Catch-up

2010-12-06T12:31:00.000-08:00

So apparently I"m not a goer or a doer or a blogger! Oh well, here's the latest Gardner business.

We went real Trick-or-Treating this year, Abby was all about it. She kept asking if she was the best trick-or-treater ever. Of course she was! She was a bumblebee and Trey was a monkey this year. I have one picture I think (lame, right?) but it's on my phone and no matter how many times Jerry explains how to get them from the phone to the computer I just don't remember how. Oops. So use your imaginations.

We went to Disney on Ice in November. We went last year with just Abby but decided that Trey was old enough to go with us this year. It was unbelievable! All the princesses/princes plus Toy Story characters and many others. It was such a huge hit with the kids, I hope they have another show in Everett next year.

We did Thanksgiving dinner at Jerry's parents' house on Thursday and then drove to Bremerton that Saturday to celebrate with my family. Both events were super fun! Abby and Sophia are now at the age where they just run off to play and when I went to check on them I was informed that I should GO AWAY! And so it begins that I'm not wanted when friends are around!

Jerry did most of our Xmas shopping on Wed and Thurs nights of Thanksgiving. I love it since I'm not much of a shopper! We have a few more items to get but now it's mostly wrapping and decorating that I have to do...the fun stuff if you ask me! And Jerry is working a 24-hour shift on Christmas Eve and won't be home until 9:30-ish so it's up to me to keep the kiddos upstairs until he gets home - should be interesting!

We went to Woolley's tree lighting/parade Saturday night and that was fun. It's a short parade and the SW Fire Truck is always by far the best decorated thing in the parade...all thanks to my bro-in-law Glen.

What happens when Abby and Luca do boy makeovers!

High Tea in the Gardner house

I am not...

2010-10-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

a go-er. Or a do-er. I don't like having a lot on my agenda or having to be places frequently. Work, errands, picking up Abby and going to volleyball. That pretty much sums up the extent to my weeks. I don't like to have organized time at home. I like to just see how the day goes. I don't spend all day doing chores and cleaning stuff. I like to hang out with my kids and just do whatever suits them for the most part. Given the choice between going somewhere with my kids and staying home with them I will choose staying at home over 90% of the time.

However, Jerry and I did get a babysitter (Taylor!! Our favorite girl!) on Saturday night and go to the SWFD Boot the Burn auction/dance. A few drinks in and I was having a great time. There were tons of people, some good friends of ours included, and the auction was a huge success! I managed to not be slurring my words and keep all my clothes on so Jerry said I wasn't embarrassing to him :) That last line makes me giggle.

And I did take the kids down to the house of one of my besties for a playdate last night. She has twins and our kids all get along super well. The boys played swords, guns and video games upstairs and us girls had "girl time" downstairs. It was super relaxing which is good because this is a long week for us!! And in case you were wondering, hanging out with Ranelle and the twins falls into the 10% of times I like taking the kids somewhere. Cheers to great friends.

Boo

2010-10-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today started well. Now it sucks. Cranky kids. Abby: no nap. Trey: blood-curdling screaming followed by a teeny nap. The end.

My New Obsession

2010-10-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I am beyond obsessed now with making/decorating cakes. I've only made 4 or 5 in the last 6 months but they've been so fun! It's pretty cheap entertainment for the kids and I have just been needing a fun/relaxing hobby for myself. Here's pics of my latest one we made this past weekend.

I really just wanted to try making the bigger pumpkins so those were all me. It then turned into a whole pumpkin patch that the kiddos helped with. It's all edible and made by yours truly. So fun!

Kids were super excited to see it finally done...so the could eat it.

Their Halloween Monster faces.

And here's an extra pic simply because he's so cute....

All he needs is the morning paper

Trip to the Farm

2010-10-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

My friend/coworker, Ranelle, and I have become friends with one of our customers and we finally all had a free afternoon to bring our kids over to her place to check out their place. What a fun day it was!!!!

Harley, the great dane. Such a sweet and gentle guy and how great you could pet him without reaching far!

Trey was all about petting the guinea pigs

Trey and Axel trying to find more guinea pigs

He kept trying to get the poor, not hungry, rabbit to eat a carrot

She was convinced that everything would bite her so she stood like this. Weirdo

He loved this car

Chasing down the fainting goats

Jack and Jill and oh so cute!

Roger was so sweet and set up a hay ride for the kiddos...a nice break for the mommies!

Doesn't he just look like an orphan

Waiting so patiently for his popcorn

Swingset was a huge hit with my babes

Little monkey loves to climb

An afternoon on the farm sure makes for a tired gal!

The kids have been talking so much about how cool the farm was and they are very much looking forward to another visit. We are even going there tomorrow to take our family pictures in the barns. Originally we were going to take them at a park but it looks like the weather isn't going to be very cooperative for an outdoor shoot so the Oudman's were so sweet to let us use their place

Trip to the Park

2010-10-22T13:37:00.000-07:00

The days were so nice for the last week or so and we took advantage of it one day with a trip to the park with some super good friends. It was just Trey and I since Abby was having an overnight with Grammy but he sure loved not having to share attention with her!

Luca! The most creative little lady I've ever met

Ready for the race

And the winner by a landSLIDE (get it?!), ROGAN!

Swinging with Kaley

Crafts and Sports

2010-10-22T13:29:00.000-07:00

On days when the kids are either bored or driving me to the brink of insanity I often get an art project out for them to do. The other day it was painting in the kitchen. These kids LOVE to paint and since all the paint bottles were nearly empty I let them use what was left to paint each other. I love Crayola WASHABLE art stuff. One good rinse in the tub and it was all gone!

Sometimes they even paint naked!

This summer we attended a few Mariner games too. The last one was looking to be the most fun but Trey started not feeling well about half way through the game. We ended up leaving in the 7th inning but they lost anyway.

This little guy was so attentive until he got sick. He is very, very, very, very, very into sports!

Abby just comes for the ice cream...she calls them cotton balls

Look Who's in Pre-School!

2010-10-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

Miss Abby is now done with her first few weeks of Pre-School. She had a small adjustment period the first couple of weeks but now she is up and excited to go on school days. It's a twice a week class done at the high school. There are only 14 kids in her class and it is part of the HS Family Science program so there are almost as many high school helpers as preschoolers so there is almost 1 on 1 attention for the little ones. The HS kids are in charge of discipline and helping with all aspects of the day and there are two teachers on site to oversee it all. The preschool curriculum is based upon the elementary curriculum so when she goes to school next year a lot of it will be very familiar. I have been very impressed with the school so far. And Abby comes home with lots of sweet art for us to hang on the fridge and new songs to teach us!

Forget It

2010-10-18T21:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in ages. Too much to catch up on now. I was going to hit the high-lights with a blog post each but then that never happened. So forget it, here's a short recap on what we did on our summer vaction...

4TH OF JULY
It started on the 2nd with a trip to the carnival.

On the 3rd was the annual SWFD Firefighter competition. Jerry was down helping out so the kids and I headed down for a short visit. They played in the bouncy house, watched some of the competition, ran around and we were home in time for naps.

Then we headed up to my mom's for the Bauthues Blowout! So much fun, lots of good food and loads of fireworks. How dandy that you can still light of fireworks some places. I took a billion pics but I'm posting a couple of my faves. I have no idea how to make collage pics, nor do I want to take the time to learn, otherwise I'd do those.

The 4th started with the kids and I getting to ride in the new ladder truck in the parade. We were first in line behind the mayor and the flags. Excellent seats since I didn't have to do any child wrangling...really, where were they going to go!

Then we went down to my brother-in-laws to watch the city fireworks show. Lots of family/friends there = lots of fun for the kiddos!

ABBY'S 4th BIRTHDAY!
In the midst of all the holiday festivities I managed to start on one cake and finish another for her birthday. She celebrated on the 3rd with my family since we were all together. I had always wanted to make a doll cake and she thought that would be fun

I let her eat her name...which was Aberella...her princess name

And she got a Furr-Real pet...a great surprise!!

Then I thought since the doll cake was so easy why not make a castle cake. Abby thought that sounded super cool so we looked at some pictures of castle cakes online...whoa...some folks out there have crazy talent! And of course she wanted a cake just like those...so I did my best!

It started like this...

And ended like this!

The back

Cake + frosting + brown sugar made Ariels beach

I made everything but the dolls

One happy 4 year old!

lots of family and friends were there...sorry you don't get more blog space. All but one thing were princess items and her mom and dad gift...a new bike!!!

I'm 4, I can be sassy.

Abby and her bestest Anicia

OCEAN SHORES VACATION
What can I say, every year is more fun than the last!

first morning of vacation breakfast

kids went bowling for the first time, here's Abby's I-bowled-a-strike dance

such a tough guy

lots of beach playing

some pool time

more beach playing

threw in some kite flying

caught up on our reading

and our snuggles

went mini-golfing for the first...and the second times

more beach playing

girlfriend wanted a "cuddly shark". sleeps with it every night now!

See, I was there too!

And my pool-hating daughter decided that she could swim (quite well too!) and loved jumping off the side, go figure.

POOL TIME!
We got ourselves a new pool this year. A 12 ft circle, 2.5 feet deep. Perfect for the kids and I. Abby and I especially spent a lot of time in it. And wouldn't you know it, I have NO PICTURES of the new pool. So you'll have to settle for a pic of Trey in our old one.

And I'm throwing these two in here...too cute not to post!

THE FAIR

This just made me laugh

Tough men

She became the fearless little girl that she has NEVER been before and didn't even bat an eye about going by herself. She must have gone down the slide about 20 times by the end of the day.

If she had big enough pockets she might have snuck this little guy home

Love this boy!

Watching Jerry cram his oversize frame into teeny-tiny rides was by far my favorite fair entertainment

CAMPING
Jerry took the kids one night on his own to give me a break (sweet!!!) and to have some alone time with the kiddos. His parents are camp hosts up at Colonial Creek in the summers so he had help.

The on Labor Day weekend we all went up camping. I am NOT a camper. But I always said that if our kids ever wanted to that I would do it for them. Apparently our kids like it.

How many Gardners does it take to fix a fishing pole???

HUSKY SATURDAY!!!

2010-09-11T12:18:00.001-07:00

Yeah, our kids are pretty cool! This is my favorite song they sing :)

Fishing Video

2010-09-09T23:49:00.001-07:00

Well this past weekend we decided to go camping with my parents at cornell creek campground on diablo lake. The kids had a blast and enjoyed fishing the most..... let's see if i can upload video/photos (from these new phones) for you to see....

Still Alive

2010-08-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

We are still alive. Just in case you were wondering. Summer just got too busy/crazy and my blogging went by the way side. Hiatus is almost over so stay tuned to catch up on Abby's 4th birthday, 4th of July, Ocean Shores vacation, Lynden Fair trip and much more!

Big News!!

2010-07-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

So I am crazy far behind in blogging again. I have a lot to write about, Abby's 4th birthday, her first (and now second) overnight camping trips without us, 3rd and 4th of July, etc, etc. But that will all have to wait until I have more time.

But there is big news that I must share with you all....Trey has gone potty in the big potty TWICE today. We haven't even brought up the potty thing with him yet. I was waiting for him to show some interest in it. Well, we have now had a successful #1 AND #2. He even let me know that he had to go potty the second time. Jerry bought him a thing of Pull-Ups today and we're going to start him in those during the morning or afternoon, whatever time I am home with him. Yay for my baby boy growing up!! And cheers to our Costco bill going down!!!

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!!

2010-06-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Jerry's last day of the 09-10 school year wrapped up this afternoon and we could not be more excited!! While he will still be working 2-4 days a week at his other jobs, he doesn't have all the stress that school brings for the next few months. It feels like we can breathe again!! He has a double-header for softball tonight and then other than a get-together with friends Saturday we have ZERO PLANS until I go back to work Tuesday. We haven't had this much time together without an agenda probably since last summer!!!

In other news, Trey has a slight skin infection near his eye (the dr. thinks so at least) so he's started a 7-day course of antibiotics for that. He doesn't seem bothered at all by the bump and it doesn't seem painful at all which is good. He has decided that he is now scared of EVERYTHING. He ran into the kitchen the other day saying "I scared mama, I scared". Seriously, it's getting old. But Abby went through the exact same thing at the exact same age so at least I was prepared this time. He was getting extra cuddles at night and now thinks that he needs someone to lay down with him every time he goes to bed. Well, no way, I say. That is just not in my parenting plan. He gets tucked in, a story if he wants, a little cuddle and hug/kiss and that's it. So I let him cry himself to sleep for his nap and now he has been crying for 25 minutes upstairs. It only takes a day or so to break a sleep habit with our kids so I'm letting it go. But I still hate to hear my little buddy cry!

I've still been baking a bit. The kids helped me make chocolate chip cookies last night. They're so cute and work so well together, letting each other take turns with no fighting! Tonight I made a double batch of the low fat brownies, most of which I'm packing up to send with a friend since she is taking her family on a road trip to California. She didn't have the time before she left to make them so I volunteered because, let's face it, I LOVE TO BAKE!!! It is my hobby, it's relaxing and everything always tastes really good!! And since this was my second time making the brownies they turned out even better than the first...I dare say they turned out PERFECT. Go me.

And this is just for my memory since I know you all don't care but I have been doing a decent job at making dinners most nights, doing the dishes daily and keeping the floor picked up and the laundry done. HOWEVER, I have had stacks of folded laundry on my table for over 2 weeks that has yet to be put away. I keep adding to it when I wash stuff and taking things out of piles to wear. It's getting to be kind of funny at this point. I do rather like looking through a pile than finding stuff in drawers and closets. Just seems easier!!

Recipes!!

2010-06-15T17:01:00.000-07:00

I've been trying out some new healthier versions of some of my favorite desserts and so far I've had really good luck picking out some delicious recipes to try. And since I've had several requests for the recipes here they are:

BROWNIES!
preheat oven to 350

BEAT WITH WHISK:
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
ADD IN:
1/4 cup unbleached flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant espresso - OPTIONAL
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pour into sprayed 8x8 pan. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer pan to cooling rack and allow to cool 10 minutes, cut into 12 squares.

Nutrition facts per brownie: 88 cal, 1g fat, 0 cholesterol, 2.5 g fiber (if using whole wheat flour)

CHOCOLATE CAKE!
Preheat oven to 350

Mix together:
1 1/2 cups flour (again, I used whole wheat)
4 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In separate bowl mix together:
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup warm water

Mix wet ingredients into dry until combined. Pour into a sprayed 9 in round cake pan and bake for 35 minutes. Cool and cut into 8 pieces, topping with sifted powdered sugar before serving.

Nutrition fact per slice: 105 cal, 4 g fat, 0g cholesterol, 2.5g fiber

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES!
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 oz light cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Melt chocolate chips in microwave. Beat cream cheese until smooth and add in melted chocolate. Mix until combined. Add in cocoa powder, mix will turn crumbly at first. Add in confectioners sugar and mix until smooth. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in either cocoa powder or confectioners sugar, place on waxed paper and chill at least 1 hour.

Nutrition facts per truffle: 70 cal, 2.5g fat, 5mg cholesterol, 1g fiber

My kids have also enjoyed all the recipes. I don't think they had any idea that these were healthier desserts since they all taste so much like the real thing. I hope to be trying many more recipes this summer and if I find some more like these I will definitely post them!

The Many Faces of Abby

2010-06-09T19:56:00.001-07:00

Trey got another haircut too. I miss my surfer boy, he looks so much more serious now. But boy, is he still about the cutest thing on Earth or what?!

And a first for Trey....he got sent to his room today. After about 50 time-outs on the naughty seat I decided it was time for him to have a break in his room. He started kicking his door, which I wasn't surprised about at all, so I had to put a baby gate inside his room before the door so he wouldn't be able to kick it. A good 15 minutes in there and he was ready to come out and be a nice boy again. Plus he was extra cuddly!

Abby's Best Quotes of the Day

2010-06-05T20:38:00.000-07:00

1) "Mom, I think you're falling in love with me!"

2) "That was refreshing!" (I asked her to repeat, wasn't really listening)
"I was leaning on the slide and I said 'That was refreshing'"

3) "When I go poop it makes me shiver. Want to see?"

Hello Sunshine!

2010-06-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

After a disastrous morning I sent the kids out for some much needed fresh air and space to get away from one another. I set up the tunnel thing outside. We had drinks and played for a bit, got worn out, came inside for lunch and took decent naps. I had all the doors open (back, front and garage) and locked Rusty up so he wouldn't run away and I managed to get a bunch of laundry folded...without losing a kid outside!! Nobody ran away or got hurt. YAY! I guess not having a fenced yard won't be the death of me.
After naps it was back outside. I took some patio chairs out for myself and made a nice little area to read my book while the kids played...and played...and played. I filled them up with homemade popsicles and tons of watermelon. For awhile it was up the ladder, grab a piece of melon, eat it while going down the slide, repeat! After a few hours I thought it was best we came in. Poor Trey was so lathered up with sunscreen but I still worry about his super fair skin. I'm really hoping that they burned off all their energy and after dinner and baths, will be ready for an early bedtime. Before 8 would be so great!

Watermelon in the clubhouse!

They just look like a couple kids who needed some outdoor time, don't they?!

Is It Naptime Yet???

2010-06-05T09:52:00.000-07:00

It's not even 10 and we have had 2 time-outs for Trey, 3 red time-outs for Abby, I've broken up numerous fights, they are yelling and whacking each other every 10 seconds. Abby has been tattling, tattling, tattling...about everything. Jerry is working until 9 am tomorrow. If you see a lady wandering around the highway, it might be me after I've LOST MY MIND!

On the plus side, I did the dishes and mopped the kitchen.

Abby's Latest Obsession

2010-06-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

I am now the proud owner of a Sedro Woolley Library Card!! I took Abby a month or so ago to the library for the first time. We talked and talked about how there were millions of books there and the library ladies were going to let us take some home BUT we were going to have to give them back after two weeks. She was gung-ho on getting new books but not so keen about the giving them back part. Up until then she had always gotten new books given to her for keeps. I was kind of hoping that she would be able to have her own card but you have to be 5 for that. Oh well, it's not like she can drive herself down there anyway!

Our first trip was good. We picked out almost all Max and Ruby books. Taking them back was a bit of an ordeal but then I told her she could pick out NEW ones. Problem solved. She picked out more Max & Ruby books plus a few that were displayed on top of the shelves. Taking those back was a little easier since she wasn't with me. I picked out the last Max & Ruby book plus a Shel Silverstein book and a couple others and brought them home to her. She liked my choices *whew*. Her trip two weeks ago went well too. There was another little girl in the kids section this time and Abby was not too thrilled about that. The other girl was a little more outgoing than Abby and she kept moving away from her. I think Abby was maybe thinking that the girl was going to steal her books! I let Abby choose all of her own books. She even picked out one from the shelf...not just the ones being displayed. I was happy with her choices UNTIL I STARTED READING ONE! She had picked out a Charlie Brown book and was very excited about it. I started reading and got three lines into it before I figured out it was a book about a girl, a friend of Linus', who got cancer and had to miss school and stay in the hospital and have medicine put into her arm through a needle!

Jerry was sitting at his computer and I saw him turn around and give me a "wtf?" look midway through the book. I didn't want to stop and was just hoping that the little girl didn't die at the end! Luckily she was okay. Abby is so observant and aware of everything that she might now be scarred for life on hospitals. Ooops. Jerry gave me strict instructions that I am to double check all of Abby's book choices BEFORE we check them out. And here I was so proud that she had picked out books on her own!

Tuesday was our most recent trip and as soon as we walked in the doors Abby said "Okay Mom, you go look at your books and I'm going to my special section". Right-O Abby. And off she marched into the kids area. She wasn't even fazed by the two boys in there. I went off to the mystery section and a few minutes later Abby came out with a Peter Rabbit book that she wanted. I told her she already had that one at home and to find another one. She was fine with that and off she went again. I found books for myself and made my way over the kids area. There was Abby searching through the books on the shelf...progress! She had only picked one from the displayed books and found a couple I-SPY ones off the shelf, on her own. I carefully looked over her selections and they all seemed appropriate...no books on kids with cancer this time. It was a long 3 minute ride home for Ab, she couldn't wait to read her new books!! Sounds lame but I am so jazzed that she is a book-lover like me!

Memorial Day 2010

2010-05-31T22:04:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day was a nice low-key day for the Gardner Clan. After naps, we got dressed and ready to go to the cemetery to pay honor to my late Grandfather Jack Young who was a CPL in the US Army during World War II.

I am not 100% on details but Grandpa worked on P52 Mustangs that flew sorties out of Great Britain (that would similar to where Ben Affleck was when he apparently died in the movie "Pearl Harbor"). Grandpa always talked about these planes and as a young boy I remember vivid believing they were the absolutely most dominating plane of their time. He was immensely proud to make sure his planes were in the air hitting their marks on German targets during his time in WWII.

Whew! Gardner Tangent Moment there... So we went to the cemetery to place flags on his grave, below you will find a pictorial of our trip...

While Mom & Abby were upstairs getting dressed Trey & I were watching a baseball game on TV...

He ran, got his bat said "Hit the ball" and proceeded to mimic the Major Leaguer at bat.

Flags in Hand, check...Ready to go!

GO!

He ran right up and tried sticking his flag like the one already in place.

Abby showed him how to do it.

Dad help place them after some time.

Me and the kiddos proudly finished :)

Grandma is right next to Grandpa and Abby thought she needed a flag too.

Megs favorite photo of the day.

Happy Memorial Day to all the Vets that served and are not with us anymore.

CPL Jack S. Young, US Army

Pancakes!!!

2010-05-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm Baaaack!!!! Hi Ladies.

Well, Megan has once again given me permission to post a few things on the blog... A few weeks back I found a super-sweet blog (http://www.jimspancakes.com) about creating crazy cool pancakes. Yesterday, I finally broke out the creativity and made some fun pancakes for the kiddos.

There is no special recipe just food coloring, lower heat, patience and ketchup style bottles.... Enjoy.

Trey's Firetruck....

Flowers for Abby....

Butterflies and Hearts for the girls too!

A for Abby (of course)....

She loved her flowers...

THEY WERE SO EXCITED!!

Not pictured were some baseball and pretty super sweet tri-color swirl pancake.

As for next time, I already have new bottles and more food coloring to improve my skill. Abby has already asked for a Princess Castle next time I do pancakes. You see the ladder truck in Meg's last post? Yeah, thats right... It will be LEGENDARY and Trey will love it.

Update In Pictures

2010-05-31T20:07:00.000-07:00

I'm too far behind to write individual posts so here's the highlights in pictures!

The kids and I went to watch the SWFD softball team play. We were lucky that they were playing on the field next to the playground; I got to watch Jer and the kids got to play.

They actually watched when Daddy was at bat!

Chef Abby. She made food and served it to everyone

My best buddy!

My other best buddy!

They are so precious!

Even when they look like this!

Trying out the potty seat. Not interested.

Abby trying to be a good helper and get Trey's shoes on for me!

Pretty lady!

Sitting in the new ladder truck!

Woman driver!

Brand new 55-15

Playing baseball....that's how Abby stands to field

In Anacortes at the BEST PARK EVER!

Baking cookies with me

Abby laughing at Trey because he just ate flour

Then the flu hit the kids

Color time is back. Abby spends most of her day coloring pictures. We finally bought her some new markers

The fridge ran out of display space so I found a new spot!

Darts, Darts, Darts!

Abby got her first pedicure. She was thrilled!

How you burn off the sugar-high after eating pancakes with syrup...notice Trey

He doesn't move

It got quiet so I went looking for him....and found him in a basket. They love their basket beds

Toddler feet are still squishy cute

Could. He. Be. Any. Cuter??????????

Rainy day play!

Mariners 2010

2010-05-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

We decided last Sunday that since the weather was fairly decent and we found some low priced tickets that we would take the kids to their first Mariners game. WE HAD A BLAST!! I had no expectations of how the day would go. It's kind of a crap-shoot with our kids and their moods. We got down to Seattle, parked in our favorite spot and walked the five blocks to the stadium and were in our seats before the first pitch. We made it through 5 innings before the kids started getting restless. So we went and walked around a bit, bought a little bat for each of the kids and some fries and went and sat back down. About the 8th inning the kids got tired of sitting and the game was really starting to head south so we left. It was not quite a 7 hour trip from start to finish and we made it home by dinnertime. I think Abby enjoyed it but Trey was in HEAVEN! He wants to play catch ALL THE TIME! He even has the right pitching form already. What an athletic little man we have!

Decked out in their Mariner finest

My favorite boys!

I'm not sure who was more excited about the whole thing...probably Jerry
All my favorite people!

The family

Got her game face on

He looked so stinkin' cute. We got stopped by loads of people commenting on his adorableness...like we didn't already know!

Good seats and a low price

Lots of airplanes and birds flying around

He liked to adjust his hat just like his dad does!

Post-game. New bats for both and a new necklace for Abby!

Trey Turns 2

2010-05-28T13:11:00.001-07:00

Our little buddy turned 2 on the 16th and the day before we threw him a good ol' fashioned birthday party. I had to work in the morning but got off a little early so I could rush home and do a mad-dash clean of the house before all the peeps arrived. I did the famous "put all the stuff from the counter into a box and put it in my room" maneuver so the counters were clean....but all the stuff is still in my room! We barbecued burgers and dogs, had a lot of other yummy food too, opened gifts, played, ate cake...a great time!

Trey's Wall-E cake that I made

My kitchen, with cleaned off counters!

Some of the Gardner family

Some of the Bauthues family

Abby got a new party dress for the occasion...and some new lip gloss

I finally woke the birthday boy up after an almost 4 hr nap...and he got some punch in his new special Wall-E cup

My niece Maddy playing with the fountain...it's a big hit with all the kiddos

Uncle Donald giving the birthday boy and wagon ride

Present time! When he opened his gift from Abby I said "What do you tell Abby, Trey?" And he said "Sorry Abby!" Oh so funny!!!! Yes, normally that's how that conversation goes around here, this time I meant "thank you" though.

It was Molly's birthday too the following weekend so lucky her she got to share the birthday spotlight once again. Story of her life! But I did make her some pink cupcakes

No pics of blowing the candles out, I think it might be on video?? Our camera died partway through the party and I was too busy with kids to be in charge of picture taking.

Abby and her VERY FAVORITE PERSON....GRAMMY!!!

Molly is the proud owner of an older....not old, just older....cat, Mabel. So she got some cat treats for her birthday :)

I think every kid got at least one turn in the wagon...so fun!

Trey made out like a bandit in the present department. Lots of outdoor boy toys, a couple new dart guns (so fun!) and some super cute new clothes. Can't wait for the next Gardner birthday!

Playtime

2010-05-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

The kiddos were playing outside with Grammy when I got home today. It was pretty nice out and my kids love being outdoors, plus I think someone was trying to make sure they were good and worn out so that they would take a nap...and let me have a break!

Little fashionista

He is just too sweet for words!

"Okay Trey, I'll stand here and watch you while you mow." Wonder where she's heard something like that before? She is such a little mommy!

Abby got her princess dolls taken away during naptime yesterday and this is what she told me later. "Mom, I am the mommy to my dollys and my Izzle (her cat) right? So you can't take them away okay!" I corrected her and said that while yes, she is their mommy I am HER mommy and can take away whatever I want. Boy is she looking forward to the day when she is a grown-up and can "drive a car and make decisions!"

randomness

2010-05-10T18:47:00.001-07:00

She wipes the snot across her face and it dries and has to be wiped off resulting in a rash that she gets EVERY time she has a cold.
She calls it her "radish"

They were a little out of control and since they were playing with the laundry baskets I decided to make them comfy beds to sit in. Haven't heard a peep since!
And my coffee cake just finished...and it looks REALLY YUMMY! I've been experimenting with whole wheat flour in my baking and so far it has worked out great. I substitute exact measurements and in the chocolate chip cookies there was only a slight taste difference, a little more oat-y but nothing the kids noticed. Haven't been able to tell a difference in the coffee cake. I even used it while making potato soup and it worked great. I figure that using wheat flour makes desserts a teensy bit healthier, hahaha!

2nd Story Fun

2010-05-10T11:59:00.000-07:00

Slowly but surely Trey's room is getting transformed into a big-boy room. Once we get the crib and changing table sold we'll get him a dresser and hopefully we are getting a train table this week for his birthday. I finally got his storage thing put together on Saturday and moved a bunch of his toys upstairs. I am eagerly awaiting the day that the toys upstairs far outnumber the toys downstairs. I would like to reclaim my downstairs!! Abby is good about playing in her room for a bit each day and I am trying to get Trey to spend some time in his room as well. My kiddos are growing up!

Abby has her paper princess dolls set up on the rug and she's reading them a story...so cute!

Trey has a new love...

2010-05-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

and her name is Croquet

We went to a birthday party today for my good friend's twins who are turning 5 and Trey discovered that he has a passion for croquet. He played almost the entire time we were there and quite well I might add. He'd line up his mallet and whack the bejeezus out of the ball. So cute. I have tons of pictures of the Mad Hatter Tea Party themed party which I'll post when I get the all clear. It was such a fun day! It was our second party at the park in two days too. My niece Maddy had her first birthday party there yesterday and I forgot to bring my camera. Happy Birthday to all my little buddies!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T11:29:00.000-07:00

~11:16pm on July 7, 2006....the moment my life changed forever~
That was the moment I became a mother and my life was no longer about myself but about my new darling daughter Abigail Grace. I love you baby girl.

~6:57 pm on May 16, 2008...the moment my life changed once again~
That was the moment I became the mother again to my baby boy, Jerry Edward III. I love you Trey buddy.

Abby and Trey, you are the greatest accomplishment of my life. I feel so honored to be your mom and I still can't believe I am lucky enough to have the two most amazing kids on the planet. You both are so kind and sweet and smart and funny and all around awesome. I am so very proud of you both! I LOVE YOU!

And a special Happy Mother's Day to my own mom! You are such a great mom and the fact that you love my kids as much as I do makes me love you all the more. I never fully (okay, not even mildly!) appreciated how much you did for us growing up until I had my own little ones. I LOVE YOU MOM!

What's One More Post, I'm Kinda On a Roll

2010-04-27T16:19:00.001-07:00

He wanted to go outside. Boots on the wrong feet and crocheted bowl cover for a hat. What a funny little guy!

Family Fun Day

2010-04-27T16:08:00.001-07:00

It turned out that my brother and family and my sister were all going to be up this way this past weekend so we all got together at our house on Saturday. It is getting so much easier with the kids now that they need a lot less monitoring than they did in the baby stages. We had some yummy pizza, some fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and had a great time hanging out!

I love the crossed legs

Abby regaled us with her many princess stories

Cutie-pie Easton

Grammy and her girls. Word has it Abby wasn't too thrilled with having to share her Grammy and kept giving Sophia a little bit of a stink-eye

The cutest little bubbas around

Trey and Sophia

Abby and Sophia with all the Princess baby dolls. I'm kind of shocked Abby let anyone else touch them!

Boys and cars

We get together so few times a year and usually it's for a holiday or birthday so it was really nice that we had no agenda and just got to enjoy each others company!

Playground!!

2010-04-27T16:02:00.001-07:00

Reason #87 we love the coffee stand....SUCKERS!!

The shirt says it all!

He is brave and fearless now....quite a combo

This kid LOVES coffee. He always wants mine when I have one. I usually let him drink the melted ice water/coffee after I've finished.

I Did It!!

2010-04-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

I weeded today. First time since last fall. I got the middle island that separates our house from our neighbors done. So nice to have accomplished even a tiny thing outside. It just hasn't been that nice out yet when I've had free time. The kiddos were helpful, they dug in the dirt, played on their swingset, and pulled each other around in their wagon. We came inside, showered together (oh what an adventure that is...the kids hate showers!) had lunch and they went down for a nap...so far a long nap. At least Trey is sleeping, Abby has been quiet but I don't think she's sleeping. Whatever, as long as she stays in her room, right?!

Plus, I hung up 3 pictures today. I could only find 3 nails so that was it for today. I did get all the frames filled so that I can finish the wall up the stairs. I finished Abby's on her first birthday, poor Trey had to wait until he was 2 to get a picture on the wall. Oh well. I'm hoping that I can get everything hung up by next week. I love crossing things off my list!!

Abby's 1st Haicut!

2010-04-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

It took almost 4 years to get here but we finally made it to Abby's FIRST HAIRCUT!! She has been deathly afraid of getting her haircut since she found out what a haircut was. But I went over to my friend/hairdresser's (AKA the mom of Abby's best friend) house yesterday to get my own hair done and Abby thought she'd give it a whirl. It was her own idea. You could have knocked me over with a feather. She got the ends trimmed up and she is very happy that her hair is still longer than mine.

Getting her hair washed...just like in the salon!

Oh, she is just so cute!

A Sunday Drive

2010-04-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

We were running pretty low on coffee supplies so a trip to Cash & Carry was our plan for Sunday. A small errand that turned into a 7 hour day of F.U.N.!!! The kids fell asleep soon after hitting the freeway so we decided to give them a few extra minutes of shut-eye and drive out to Hovander Park in Ferndale. I hadn't been there in many, many years and it was as fun as I remembered it to be. The kids had a blast checking out the animals and running, running, running! Abby was super bummed that we hadn't packed a picnic lunch so we promised her another trip, WITH a picnic, in the future.

Trey watching the duck swimming.

This turkey was huge and kept showing off his feathers

Abby was a little unsure of the turkey but liked the chickens

I don't know much about bunnies but I think this one may have had narcolepsy, it kept falling over asleep.

Checking out the goats in their barn

Climbing the tower

Go, Abby, go!

Trey liked checking out the surroundings

We were pretty hungry after playing at the park and stopped to eat at Sonic. We let the kids have a "picnic" in the back of the car. It's so nice now that they are a bit older. Jerry and I got to eat in peace in the front and the kids had a blast sitting in the back.

After that we finally made it to Cash & Carry, got our supplies and headed to Costco. We had looked at a tent at the Burlington Costco but they didn't have any in stock on our last trip so we gave the B'ham one a shot and they had it, so we bought it. Yes, we bought a tent. Yes, we might actually use it....even me. If you know me at all you know that is a BIG DEAL. I do not camp. I do not like it at all. The bugs, the dirtiness of it all, the bugs, the bugs, the bathroom issue, the bugs. Yep, I am going to go camping one day. The things I am willing to do for my kids. And to end our day we stopped at Cornwall Park. One of my favorite places as a kid (at least that I remember) and my own kids sure had a blast there. They thought it was so great to throw pinecones off one side of the bridge and watch for it to come out on the other side. Super fun!

The Beauty of Spring!

2010-04-23T15:36:00.001-07:00

So the colors may be artificial but they're still pretty!

Oh so smart

2010-04-23T15:02:00.001-07:00

Abby and I were cuddling in her bed after reading books last night and out of the blue we had this conversation:

A: Mom, people live on Earth right?
M: Yes.
A: And we're people and live on Earth
M: You're right.
A: There are other planets right?
M: Yes there are. Lots of them
A: But no people live on those planets do they?
M: Nope, just on Earth
A: How come?
M: Because our planet is special
A: Okay. And this is called the whole world right (spreading arms around again)
M: Yep, Earth is also called the world
A: How big is it? This big? (arms far apart)
M: Bigger
A: This big?! (arms farther apart)
M: Even bigger
A: This big??!! (arms as far apart as they go)
M: It's bigger than your arms and my arms can reach
A: Wow Mom, that IS big!
M: Where did you learn about planets from?
A: I just learned it in my mind
M: Any other questions?
A: No, that was it.

It's always fun to hear just what her little brain is pondering. Jerry and I figured out that she must have heard about Earth and whatnot from watching Space Monkeys the other day. Everything you know you learn on tv, right??!

'cause I think they're cute!

2010-04-23T14:43:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I find them playing together nicely.

Fireman Trey

Sassy lady

Look at that face!

They sat like this for a while, so sweet.

New baseball slippers!

And they wrestle...a lot. Trey is usually the instigator and almost always winds up on top. That kid is quite aggressive!

My little bookworm. She just cracks me up!

Trey is becoming quite a little chatterbox now. I understand most of what he says and I am constantly surprised by what he knows and how smart he is. I think it has been a combination of getting older and the fact that we read to him nightly that has made his language really come along fast the last month or so.

Happy Birthday Jerry!

2010-04-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

It was Jerry's 33rd birthday on the 11th, a Sunday this year which was great for us! I asked Abby that morning if we should get dad a doughnut for breakfast and she said "No! Daddy would LOVE a cinnamon roll!". Who am I to deny Princess Abby? When Trey got up the kids and I headed off to pick up the cinnamon rolls and coffee/chocolate milk. I found one of the kids' birthday banners and we hung that up and then I sent Abby to wake up her daddy.

A round of "Happy Birthday" or some toddler's variation of that was sung and Trey helped Jerry blow out his candle. A fun birthday tradition has begun! I even used nice plates :)

Hi-5!

Then Jerry went out and bought himself a new barbeque as a birthday present and spent the afternoon setting it all up. It's nice...real nice. His parents came over to bring him a gift and we ended up breaking in the new BBQ and cooking some super delicious steaks! We were going to have brownies for dessert but somehow I managed to turn the oven off while they were baking and so we suffered with no dessert. oh well.

This kiddo LOVES a musical card!

New Mariner shirt! Pardon the red-eye, I was too lazy to fix it before posting. Some days I envision them with red devil-eyes though.

Abby reading to Bumpa. Girl is a bookworm just like her mama!

My Loves

2010-04-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

Could it get any cuter??

Yes, it could!

Say What?!

2010-04-13T16:51:00.000-07:00

Some days I'd really like to get inside Abby's mind to see what's really going on in there. The following 3 things were said during a 15 minute car ride yesterday.

#1
A: Mom, can I rest my tummy? My tummy is really tired it needs to rest. Can I rest it please?
M: Sure, rest your tummy
A: Okay, it is tired of singing and needs a rest.

#2
A; Mom, lions go potty you know.
M: Yes honey, everyone goes potty.
A: Yeah, but lions go potty Mom!
M: I know, all the animals go potty.
* Song from Madagascar playing in the car and the line "We like to party party" is sung*
A: See mom! LIONS GO POTTY POTTY!
M: *laughing inside!* No Abby, they're saying "we like to party party"
A: No they're not!!!!
M: You're right, lions do go potty.

#3
A: I love the Easter Bunny. Next time I'm going to get up early and go see the Easter Bunny.
M: You know he only comes at night when you're asleep right? Just like Santa.
A: I know, but I'll wake up and go catch him. I run real fast you know!

Oh, the mind of a 3 1/2 year old!

When Things are Quiet

2010-04-09T18:56:00.001-07:00

It can be good!

Or it can be bad

Yep, he was cleaning the toilet AFTER putting dog food in it. Neat.

My Other Baby

2010-04-09T09:37:00.000-07:00

How could you not fall in love with this??

Rusty is almost 8 years old now and although he is no longer my only "baby" he'll always be my first. Yes, Doodles came first but cats are so independent they don't count as "kids". Once the real babies came along, Rusty got pushed to the background quite a bit. He is still just as energetic as the day we got him. Still barks at all things moving outside and still sleeps under the covers at night. I threaten to get rid of him at least once a week when the barking gets annoying or he just won't stop eating the kids food when they leave the room. But when Jerry is gone, boy am I glad to have a dog that barks at strangers! I never feel quite as safe at home alone with the kids as I do when Jerry is home. But I would be much more worried if I didn't have my little protector guard dog. I know that the second he heard a strange noise he would surely let me know. Plus, his bark sounds so vicious (he pretends he's a Doberman), that a criminal would have to be super dumb to try and break in. So thank you Rusty for being the man of the house when the real man is away!

Oh Boy

2010-04-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm caught up on the latest pictures and bigger events I'm going to try and get back to blogging about the everyday things so that when I'm old and senile at least I'll be able to read funny stories about my kids and their doings.

Monday night I gave the kids their bath and wrapped each one up in their big, fluffy towels. Abby is always wanting to be first for everything so she was the first to get jammies on. While getting her dressed for bed, Trey came wandering in holding his frog towel around his waist. He sauntered up to Abby and I and said "Here it comes"....and then proceeded to throw open his towel and shout "Weiner!!!" WHAT????? Abby and I looked at each other for a second and then both burst out laughing. Of course the fact that we thought he was being funny prompted Trey to do this a good 30 more times. After the first 10 or so he stopped shouting "weiner" and just laughed with us. I have no earthly idea where he ever learned to do that but lordy it was so funny. I wish I could turn my memory into a video to share with you all. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. So if you ever hear Trey say "here it comes", watch out! Oh, and I will not be purchasing him a trench coat. Never. Ever.

And lately Abby has been trying to have a lot of conversations with Trey. I insert a comment every once in a while but that is usually responded to by a "Mom! I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to Trey. Can you please be quiet?" Yowza. Abby is becoming quite the bossy little thing where her brother is concerned. "Trey, it's time to pick up our toys. You start and I'll watch" I hope when he gets older he'll figure it out her ploys! What a manipulator!

And another from Abby, "Mom, when I grow up to be a mommy like you, I'm going to drive a car and make decisions!" Most of her thoughts also start with "When I grow up to be a mommy and you're a little baby......" Good luck with that sister!

Overheard just now "Trey! DO NOT POKE PEEPEE'S IN OTHER PEOPLE'S EYES!" By peepee's she means Peeps. Why she calls them that I don't know, but it's cute!

Easter at the ZOO!

2010-04-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, we took our monkeys to see the monkeys! It was a great day for the zoo, overcast but not raining and a holiday so it was not crowded at all. Plus, almost every animal was out, something I don't think happens too often! We didn't tell the kids we were going until after our egg hunt in the morning. They were pretty darn excited about it, and so was I considering our last trip was not fun for me!

Two little monkeys, ridin' in a stroller

nothing much to see at first

so we headed on down the path but we saw the zebras heading out into the open so back we went to the viewing area

The zebras, ostriches, giraffes and some sort of gazelles all were out running around chasing each other...so exciting to watch!

Trey checking out the sleepy lions

There was an elephant behind us somewhere, but at least we got a family picture in

Feeding a wayward duck the kids' leftover Ritz crumbs.

Trey did more pushing than riding I think

Feeding the birds was pretty sweet. The kids each got a dollar in an easter egg in the morning and spent it on a feed stick

Having a super awesomely tall Dad sure comes in handy sometimes

And up on the roof of the bird hut I saw a duck walking around.

Some sweet frogs in the rainforest section. I thought they were fake at first

This little guy came swinging right up to the glass, scared the bejeezus out of my kids. This was as close as Abby would get to him.

The tiger was awesome, he paced and growled a lot. Trey was freaked out but Abby thought the tiger was hilarious. I told her he was hunting for some fresh Abby and she got quite a chuckle out of that.

We found a great little spot that fit the stroller perfectly at the penguin pool. We spent a good 15 minutes watching two swim laps. A few more were up on the rocks. They love the Happy Feet movie and consequently think penguins rock!

They must have swam by us at least 2 dozen times.

I was so proud of Abby for waiting her turn to see the Jaguar. There were some super pushy Cranasians that kept shoving their kids in front of mine but Abby just stood quietly until a spot opened up. That's my kid with the manners!!!!!!!

We stopped at the zoomazium to let the kids burn off a little energy.

"Hey kids, go sit over on that bench so I can take your picture". yeah, right.

And finally the 'Mingos. Abby asked about them roughly 50 times. They ended up being our last stop.

We were at Woodland for almost 4 hours and nobody fussed, fought or cried...including Jerry and I! We didn't even stop for food, just a few snacks in the stroller that we brought from home. I was definitely proud of my kids for behaving so well, especially Miss Abby. I like that we have raised a patient, nice, considerate LADY instead of a pushy, loud, obnoxious rugrat. Well, she may be all those things at home, but at least in public she's good!

"Maybe next year the Easter Bunny will leave me a chocolate chicken"

2010-04-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Easter this year comprised of a few days worth of activities for the kiddos. Bumpa Jerry came to visit and bring Easter treats for the kids on Wednesday, and then that night we went to the Gardner's for dinner, Saturday was the Easter Egg Hunt at the park and egg decorating at home, Sunday was the home egg hunt and a trip to the zoo (pics on that later). Holidays are getting more and more fun as the kids grow. Trey is capable of doing a lot on his own and it's a lot less work for us parents now!

waiting for the Egg Hunt in the park to start

A super windy day but Abby was a trooper, she's pretty easy-going and didn't get a lot of eggs...I'm glad she's not a pushy kid though.

Bumpa helped her search for more candy

Treybug

Can't go to the park without a side trip to the swings!

Grammy Cece, Bumpa, Uncle Glen, Becque and Abby all checking Maddy out.

Searching her loot

Trey eating his Scooby Snacks and playing with his favorite toy of his cousin's

Lovin' on their animals from Bumpa Jerry

New color book for Abby and Trey trying to get into his chocolate

Reading to Bumpa Jerry

Shooting!

Egg Decorating!

it's a messy job

Easter morning was very exciting. Lots of eggs to be found...all containing either M&M's or coins. Abby was so happy that the Easter Bunny knew just what she wanted in her eggs!

always check Dad's shoes!

Her knew book that was EXACTLY THE ONE SHE WANTED!

Trey with his Wall-E PEZ, Abby got Eve...these kids LOVE PEZ

Toy Story 1 & 2

Abby informed me that this was the BEST EASTER EVER!!!

Hodge Podge of Pictures

2010-04-07T19:17:00.001-07:00

Nothing is in order because at the moment my kids are beating each other with blankets and a balloon...lots of crying, lots of yelling, a few squeaks of laughter...a lot of crying and yelling. Did I mention they are crying and yelling?? But I am determined to catch up on the blog by Friday.

In their awesome fort I made

My fort-building skills pretty much suck, good thing they don't care

We got our furnace fixed (it wasn't working for a week before we noticed. small problem, easy fix) but I guess the kids still thought it was cold. They also have blankets covering their laps. Silly kids, the blankets kept falling off while they tried to eat.

We were looking at BBQ's at Sears and I turned around and found Trey on the lawn mower. Ugh, boys.

No nap + car trip = OUT LIKE A LIGHT!

TACO TREY!

Jerry was the babysitter during spring break and on one day he packed the kids up for a walk, which they loved. Trey was somewhere going into or coming out of his cross-eyed face. He loves crossing his eyes. Darn funny to see!

Jerry is super excited to have a little buddy to play with. Trey is talking up a storm and can now use words and ask Daddy to play "cars in kitchen". So fun, he loves cars, video games (especially baseball and football), guns, swords and all things boy.

Jerry is gone to camp this week with ALL the 6th graders from Sedro. He has worked all year on getting things organized and especially put in some long hours in the last few weeks. Seems like things are going okay for them. Weather hasn't been super great but hey, it's Washington, in April. I can't wait for him to come home!

Ahhh, a painted room!

2010-04-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Almost done. A little touch-up left but it turned out so pretty! Looks great in real light...not camera-flash light. And pardon the mess you see, our room is still the catch-all place for everything. Plus I'm participating in a garage sale next weekend so I've got box upon box of stuff stored in our room that I can't wait to part with!!

Thirties Shmirties!

2010-03-22T20:43:00.001-07:00

Since turning the big 3-0 I've managed to...

...have a fully stocked bar (with airplane shots given to me for my b'day!). We have a sweet bar set-up in our living room but we never have had alcohol for it. Now that I'm old(er) I figure why not! The counter still serves as the diaper changing station. It doesn't get too wild around here!

...capture a sweet moment with the kids. They were waving bye-bye to Grammy as she left. They love her!

...find Trey doused in powder. He was alone for about 2 minutes. He knows exactly what he's not supposed to get into and that's the first thing he goes for. That's what I get for letting him play in Abby's room while she was gone for the day.

...not get mad at him. Seriously, could you??

....to take a picture of the dog. Yes, we still have him. Yes, this is how he always looks when there's nobody outside.

...not get pinched by the "Pinch Patrol". I mean, how cute is that?!!

...cook a dinner that was enjoyed and (mostly) eaten by all. The kids are even into eating meat lately!

....to get the under-the-stairs closet cleaned out. It was one of those closets that you were afraid to open for fear of being swallowed up by a tidal wave of junk! Along with the closet I also cleaned and reorganized my pantry and my entire kitchen. But that was when I was still a young lass of 29 so no pictures of it.

...get something done in our room! I spent all day yesterday (9 hours!) cleaning it out. There were an array of items that had never been gone through/put away from when we moved in 5 YEARS AGO! Once that was done I decided I'd finally get around to painting it. So the kids and I went and got paint today and I got one wall done during Trey's nap. It's a darker blue/gray/slate kind of color. The wall behind our bed is going to be a dark charcoal/navy color. It looks awesome so far! I hope to get the rest done within the next two weeks!

Today was a busy day, the kids and I ran errands for three hours, came home, at lunch, put Trey down, painted, cleaned up that mess, cleaned the kitchen while the kids colored (fought, colored??? what's the difference?), started a riot on facebook, made dinner, gave the kiddos baths, put them to bed and now I'm blogging. Yeesh! Not sure if all this motivation is because I hit 30 or because I finally realized that No, the maid/cook/masseuse is NOT EVER COMING!

Fight the Fuzz!

2010-03-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

My feather duster has become a new favorite toy.
"Mom! Watch me fight the fuzz!!"

She also calls the dust in the air "moters". Moters are especially obvious when the sun shines and Abby loves to talk about the millions of moters flying aorund. Possibly I should dust more.

Roy G. Biv

We have spent a lot of family time coloring with markers. Trey is doing better at coloring on the paper instead of the table, his clothes, his face...but once in a while he still likes to put on some "lipstick". Go Trey. It's fun to watch the different coloring styles between the four of us. Jerry is very true to the picture (he actually went and looked at Trey's Lightning McQueen car to make sure he was coloring it right). I color with one eye on the paper and one eye on the children. It takes me a long time to color one picture and I usually wind up with someone on my lap "helping" me. Abby is all about using LOTS of colors. Nothing is the color it is in real life but she is really good at coloring in the lines. She's my creative child for sure. Trey is very serious with his coloring. It starts of with really short, small lines and eventually turns into big circles. He likes taking the lids of all the markers and refuses to put any lids back on, and he usually winds up with his hands totally covered in marker. Color time is often followed swiftly by bath time!

Did you miss me???

2010-03-12T22:13:00.000-08:00

I realize that I took quite a long break from blogging and thought I should give a few reasons why. First of all, Abby was banned from using the computer for quite some time and it was turned off during the day and I just never felt like booting it up, blogging, getting sucked into Facebook, only to find that I had to turn it off because nap time was over. And when Jerry gets home he usually has a few work things going on here that I don't want to take the chance of messing up!

Second, I have just been plain busy. Nothing outrageous or out of the ordinary but between working 20 hours a week and trying to keep up with housework and Jerry's crazy-busy schedule, I've found that it difficult to set time aside when the kids are asleep to blog. (I can't do it when they're awake because they either want to use it and whine, whine, whine or Trey won't stop trying to push buttons) I am still Velcro Mom!

Third and probably the biggest was that I needed to cut some things out of my day for a while and blogging was the easiest to stop doing. I finally went to see my doctor in January and after discussing things with him we thought it would be the right decision to start me on anti-depressants. What a FABULOUS decision that was!!! I have noticed for a long time (possibly even some issues with it as a kid) that I just didn't feel right. It was much more noticeable after giving birth to Trey but I thought it was just that I was tired because, frankly, I was tired. But the feelings never really went away even after he started sleeping all night. And sometime around last October/November I began to really go downhill. I was feeling super anxious all the time, very overwhelmed, tired, irritable, lots of different things. I was hoping that after the holidays things would improve but having the flu and a nasty month-long cold did nothing to help and things really did not improve. By January I was not interested in taking care of the kids at all. It took everything I had just to do the daily necessary tasks for them. I didn't want to get out of bed, I felt utterly exhausted. Mostly I just wanted to walk away from it all...and had that feeling EVERY DAY! It was terrible. I felt like I was a huge failure as a mom, as a wife, as a person. Jerry was so incredibly supportive and was very encouraging with me as I debated whether or not I needed medical intervention. I know there are lots of options on how to treat depression; exercise and diet being two big ones, but I felt like I was so buried under the overwhelming feeling that I couldn't even take steps to change anything on my own. So roughly 8 weeks ago I started the meds, it's a pretty low dose but seems to be working very well. Within 3 days, the anxious feelings were virtually gone. I didn't feel like screaming at everyone or running away. And just in the last 2-3 weeks I have finally gotten my mojo back. I am so much more patient, I feel much calmer, the house is getting picked up regularly, and I have even accomplished some projects lately. Everyone that is around me on a consistent basis can tell that my mood has improved and Jerry and the kids are especially grateful :) I'm sharing my story simply for the fact that I felt really isolated with my feelings but once I started talking to people it became apparent that many others have similar feelings as well. I felt as if I needed to want to be with my kids 24-7 and that if I didn't it meant there was something wrong with me. The guilt and the feelings of failure were horrible but I know that the expectations I had put upon myself were not realistic for the type of person that I am and the life that I lead. The kids won't remember that their house was never spotless, the laundry wasn't always done, that there was painting/decorating that I always wanted to do. My kids will always remember that Mommy played lots of games with them, read them lots of books, did a lot of arts/crafts and fun things with them and that is what really matters to me!

Winter Olympics 2010

2010-03-12T21:48:00.000-08:00

Jerry kept saying how much fun he thought it would be to go to Vancouver during the Olympics just to check it out and see the sights. We finally decided on the second Monday of the games that we would go on Thursday. I had an expired passport so I had to go to the DMV and get the enhanced license. I took a few hours of work Tuesday and sat there for 40 minutes before finally getting to the counter where I was informed that the EDL system was down and no, no one was sure when it would be up and running. Awesome. So I tried again Wednesday and after 90 minutes of waiting I was the proud owner of a temporary, paper EDL.

We dropped the kiddos off at my mom's house at 7:30...yes we actually got up and got going early that day! The Canadian customs guy couldn't believe that I handed him a PAPER license. I had my regular license too and that was fine (you really only need the enhanced to get back IN the states). So off we went on the Canadian highway into Surrey where we parked at Scott Rd and got on the SkyTrain. We rode all the way to the Waterfront and got off and grabbed some breakfast at the McD's there. Fueled up, we were ready to start our day of walking. We first stopped to see the cauldron, torch, flame, fire, whatever it was called.

We stopped to look out at the water too and I was trying to take a picture of the floating Chevron gas station (I am that nerdy!) and Jerry asked if I was taking a picture of the rings. I said "What rings?" And he looked at me like I was the biggest idiot ever, pointed, and said "Those rings!" I took another look and right next to the floating gas station was the barge with the Olympic rings. So I took a picture of them for Jerry.

My handsome tour-guide figuring out our route.

We walked a million miles, saw a million things but most of them you have probably seen on tv but this display really caught my eye. It was a long, double line of trees with these lanterns. It looked really beautiful at night all lit up.

We bought the kids each a stuffed mascot. Abby got MukMuk (the thing with the orange hat) and Trey got Sumi (the one with the green hat) and Jerry and I thought it would be funny to get a picture of us with them, in a bobsled of course. The kids loved it.

We scored free suite tickets from a scalper for the bronze medal, women's hockey game. Long story but the seats were sweet (suite/sweet, get it?!). Finland one which was great since everyone in our box seemed to be rooting for them.

Jerry again thought I was a tool for taking another lame-o picture but I full on claim my nerd status. Our box was right next to these guys and the one with the white hair was the announcer for the arena. I spent a lot of time watching him, and thought it was very fun and interesting.

There are guys on life guard stands on many street corners who shout out random informative things. Games that are starting, scores of previous events, directions, etc.

After the hockey game we walked across the street to Costco for lunch. Long story short, Jerry helped a guy having a heart attack (or something very much like one), pretty much saved his life as the ambulance took almost 25 minutes to get there, and Costco gave us free lunch. Woo-hoo! It was neat for me to see Jerry in action, I've never gotten to witness it. I was proud and impressed. We had such a great time together. We spent 12 hours together, walked a lot, shopped a lot and I don't recall arguing once!!!

The Past 2 Months (yes, I am that far behind!!)

2010-03-12T21:01:00.000-08:00

As I was adding ALL the pictures, I kept waiting for Blogger to tell me that I had reached my one-post maximum...but that never happened. So here is what the Gardner family has been up to for the last couple of months, in mostly pictures.

My two boys having some serious male-bonding time playing video games

He does not know that his controller isn't plugged in...that will be a sad day for us grown-ups when he wants to play For Real

We play LOTS of Sword-Man around here. Even Grammy gets in on the action.

His awesome bruise/scrape courtesy of the cement at daddy's school!

We've lived hear almost 5 years and I finally got around to buying something to store shoes in by the door. A new favorite game for Trey is to put in/take out the shoes

With his Xmas money Buddy bought his first train set up. More will be added for his birthday!

Trey's FAVORITE thing in the whole world is to wash dishes and he kindly let his sis join him. Kept them busy for nearly an hour (not the "greenest" hour in our house!) and when it was over there was as much water on the floor as in the sink

We had a playdate in January with Rogan and Luca (the twins belonging to my friend/co-worker Ranelle!) and Trey is always excited to have another boy around to do boy things with.

Meanwhile the girls were doing girl things....makeup is always a hit with these two

Is it Abby or a scary pirate clown????

Luca is pretty much a rockstar. She did a fabulous makeup job, including putting on her own mascara. Love this girl!!!

And of course Trey was dying to get in on the action so I let him pretend.

This is how I found the kids one day before we left for the store. They weren't playing or fighting, it was really a sweet moment!

New laundry baskets are awesome play toys. Abby would count to three (hence her weird fingers in the pic) and they would trade baskets.

No high chair, no booster, and using metal utensils....he's growing up!

Her new name is Abby Gardener...she truly loves to work in the garden. She is a great outside helper to both her grammys!

Trey with his "tooly" going to help Abby

He's just cute.

My three babies

So cute!!

The slide was finally added to the play set a few weeks ago, someday the swings will make it on too. Big hit with the kids. Here's buddy playing pre-slide

Rusty is the master digger around here!

Trey was all about the shaving. He likes to imitate everything!

And those dimples??? SO CUTE!

She. Let. Him. Sit. That. Close. WOW

My baking buddy...wonder why she likes to help so much!

Valentine's Day Balloon

Buddy loved his too.

She was so afraid of this hamster at Xmas but had it sitting on her shoulder the other day....what??

I finally got brave enough to let Trey paint.

She's such a little artist

No words for this

or this

Loves to cross his eyes too...hard to get a picture of though. Makes me laugh every time so they do it A LOT

Showing off his messy hands

Trey is doing really well at eating cereal now too. Not so much milk on the table anymore

And who doesn't love a bowl with a straw?!!!

Some not very sticky athletic tape leads to some interesting moments.

His "Death Laser Hand" pose...comes complete with fun noise. And when hit with the laser you are supposed to fall over and play dead. Oh the joys of life with a boy!

And as there have been so many moments unrecorded on the blog the last two months I am doing a general recap of each kid, mostly for my own sake before my memory fails but you all can enjoy reading it as well!

Abby: She has finally started staying in her room quietly (sleeping or not, I don't know) until around 6-6:30. A HUGE improvement from the 5 am business. She informed me today that her best friends are Luca, Grammy Suse, Anicia and she loves Ranelle and Gina too. This week she has eaten all her dinner every night and if asked for a dinner request will say "hash" every single time. It's become a family joke now. She's not any nicer to her cat Izzy. In fact she and Trey were playing hide-and-seek with her in Trey's room the other day. I don't think Izzy was a willing participant. She is a big "reader" still. All the words are from memory but we're starting to work on sounding things out so she can start reading for real. Her memory is ridiculously amazing for information of all kinds. She can now write as well. She writes lots of peoples names and can copy things I write out for her. I really wish that every person out there could spend one entire day with her just to get the full range of her smart, witty, temperamental self. She is one spunky, spitfire of a girl.

Trey: Well big changes have happened with this little guy. As of Monday we no longer have a gate on the stairs, he now sleeps in a bed and we did away with his bottle!!! My baby is no longer a baby...and I couldn't be more excited! The transition to a bed was a piece of cake. I stayed with him until he fell asleep on Monday for his nap and at night. Tuesday I started what is no the routine; brush teeth, read books, snuggle for just a minute or two, hugs, kisses and leave the room. He cried about 15 minutes before falling asleep for both his nap and that night. Since then that time has gone down and now he only fusses for a minute or so. LOVE IT!! I really enjoyed my kids as babies but I enjoy them having some independence more. His language is also exploding. He just decided to start talking one day and it gets more clear and he uses more words almost daily. He loves pointing out all his body parts that he knows: elbows, knees, tummy, toes, fingers, hair, eyes, etc.... I'm also continually amazed at his physical prowess. He can still swing a bat and throw a ball really well but he also can jump quite a distance and climbs everything. He is a big-time wrestler now too and his favorite target is Abby. She's pretty good about going along with it 75% of the time. He has good form and is so strong! I think he may be quite the athlete as he gets older. Big smiles for that!

Sometimes you've just gotta laugh.

2010-01-13T14:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very trying day around here, probably qualified to be in the top 10 Most Difficult Days. But instead of dwelling on it, I tried to find the positive and remember that my kids are smart, funny, healthy and very well loved and taken care of. And there were a couple things that lifted my spirits.

First, a picture of Abby's buds that she brings downstairs EVERY morning and then back upstairs for nap and nighttime. Missing from the pic are her blanket and books which were occupying space on the couch. She tells me all the time that her knees hurt from making so many trips up and down the stairs. I think now she's got it figured out how to get all stuff where it needs to go in only two trips. She really is a funny kid.

And dear, dear Trey. He stuck a bow on his head and I guess there was enough sticky stuff on it that it didn't fall off.....and he couldn't figure out where it went!! It stayed on his head for about 10 minutes, through all his playing and even for the few minutes he sat on my lap. When it finally fell off he was so excited to have found it again! He's such a bright spot in all of my days!

I'm happy to say that the kids were very well behaved for their Grammy this morning and Abby went down for her nap with NO COMPLAINTS, NO WHINING, and NO EXTRA REQUESTS. That, folks, is a majorly big deal!!!

Look What I Found!

2010-01-11T10:49:00.000-08:00

Too cute!!

Baking with Mom

2010-01-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

I asked Trey the other day if he wanted to help me bake some cookies. He ran right into the kitchen yelling "Cookie! Cookie!" I started getting the bowls and utensils ready and on his own he went to the bib drawer (where Abby's apron also is) and found his big bib, took it out and handed it to me. I put it on him and then sat him on the counter. He was so excited, I wish I had a videotape! We got down to business and he was an excellent helper.

He is growing up so fast now. He's starting to put words together to make little sentences. He's really into wanting people to watch him. I hear "Momma, watch" about 50 times a day. He has started calling Gramma "Gum" which is so cute! He loves his baths, his books, his animals, and most of all his bat and ball. He is crazy coordinated. Can throw a ball a long ways (and quite hard), swings accurately with little and big bats and can kick a soccer ball well. He is sure making daddy proud!! He's still going to sleep well, not interested in a bed yet but I'm in no rush since we aren't going to need the crib for anyone else. He's such a joy!!

Start of Another Year

2010-01-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

The new year started off like most others, a trip to the coffee stand and then a little morning cartoon action. Trey got his usual chocolate milk and Abby as usual didn't want anything. Since Abby has had her new princess babies Trey has been wanting them so Abby has allowed him to carry one of her other babies around so that he won't touch her dollies.

Poor Buddy woke up on the 3rd with a fever that just got worse and worse all morning. I decided that Abby and I should leave the house and go shopping for a while to keep her away from the germs. Right as I was opening my car door I heard Jer yelling for me...I knew immediately that Trey had thrown up. Yep, he sure had...all over Jerry and himself. It smelled gross and looked like wet cat food. Trey's first puke! He sat with Jerry most of the day but seemed to feel better after that.

What Abby decided to wear on our shopping trip...so darn cute!!

He was definitely feeling better by the afternoon.

Such a cute little guy

Abby and I battled about naps this week. She was told that even if she didn't feel like laying down and sleeping that she needed to have some quiet time by herself in her room. That worked for 2 days, she stayed in for almost 2 hours. The third day she only lasted about 40 minutes before deciding that she wanted to come back downstairs. I let her under one condition, she sit on the couch and watch a movie (I still had things to get done), and she promptly fell asleep. I'm happy to report that for the last two days she has napped once again...yay!!!

Asleep with all her buds

And for dinner since it was just the three of us, I let them eat while watching a cartoon. PB&J, bananas and olives, sounds delicious right?!

New Years Eve

2010-01-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

We did have a party, I promise. The Corey family came over as well as my friend Ranelle and her family. We had 6 adults and 6 kids under the age of 5 here...that would be why we got a whopping 3 pictures of the night. Big plans to play a board game or two but the little people kept us so very entertained that no games were necessary. We did manage to get in a few good rounds of Mario Kart and eat our fill of delicious party food. We recorded the New York feed of the ball dropping and watched it around 9:15 and toasted the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010. All were worn out by that time and I think everyone was asleep shortly after, I know I was!

Can't say I'm sad to see 2009 go. Trey changed A LOT, Abby didn't change at all (still up at 5 and as difficult...or cute...as ever! Happy 2010!

Best Mom Ever!

2009-12-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

I'd like to say it's me but the award goes to my mom! I was not having the best of weeks, Abby being one of the main sources of stress. She actually lost a majority of her new presents and her 5 new dollies Sunday night due to some very poor behavior on her part. My mom read my facebook status the next day and offered to take Abby on Tuesday for an overnight. I double/triple/quadruple checked that she was serious about taking on the demon and as the BEST MOM EVER she said it would be her pleasure! She remembers well the days of having a few little ones and how a small break can sometimes be such a blessing! We did not hesitate to take her up on that great offer.
So off Abby went Tuesday afternoon and Jerry and I got to stay home and hang out with just Buddy. He was pretty stoked about having all the attention on him. We puttered around the house and I played a little (or a lot) of Super Mario on the Wii. I don't think Jerry knew he married such a gamer :) Abby had a good time at Grammy's. She just love, love, loves her Gram. From what my mom told me, Abby was pretty well behaved and was up early but was very quiet and played her Leapster on her own for quite a while.
We are having our New Year's Eve gathering tomorrow and went out to do some last minute grocery shopping before Abby got home and boy did Trey have the BEST time hanging out with his mom and dad! He talked so much in the car, usually he can't get a word in with Abby around, and got to ride in the big part of the cart. He thought it was great to pile all the food around himself. It was really nice for us to be able to focus just on him without any distractions and we realized that we almost never get to have 2-on-1 time with him.
My mom dropped Abby off a little after 6 and she had slept the whole way down in the car and was totally ready for bed. She was still not ready to see me and wanted her Grammy to put her to bed, so I got out of doing the whole routine for a second night!!!

Conversation Overheard

2009-12-30T20:56:00.000-08:00

We were all in the car on the way to Mt Vernon the other night to get pizza (I love coupons!) and I was saying to Jerry how hilarious I thought the kids' conversations would be once Trey started talking. It wasn't 5 minutes later when we overheard this particular conversation...

A: Trey, say pizza.
T: Cookie. (he usually says cookie for food)
A: No Buddy. Say peeee-zah.
T: Cookie!
A: No. I said say PEEEEEE-ZAH!
T: COOKIE!
A: *exaspirated* No Buddy, we aren't having cookies tonight. We are going to get pizza. No cookies. Pizza. Mom, can you turn my music on now?

Hmmm. I think it's funnier when you hear the story instead of read the story. You have to pretend to be an ultra-sassy 3-yr-old when you read Abby's end of it. She likes to ask him to say lots of things (that's what Mom does too!) and when he doesn't say it perfectly she asks him over and over to "SAY IT RIGHT!" and when he still doesn't get it she usually gets mad and tells me to make him say it right! It tickles me every time we go through that because she is such a little mommy. I'm sure she'll rope him into playing "school" one day and I bet he'll never get to be the teacher!

Christmas Morning

2009-12-30T20:28:00.000-08:00

Christmas morning started as usual with Abby getting up around 5. I guess she went downstairs to get something off the table and didn't notice the presents and stockings that were out and when I went in at 6:30 and told her Santa had come she was VERY excited. Since Jerry had to be at work at 9 we woke Trey up and came downstairs to let the fun begin. Trey was super excited to see presents under the tree and ran right over, picked one up and said "This one! This one!" Too bad he picked up a present for me! I think Abby got everything she ever wanted and Trey got whatever we thought he'd like and each present seemed to be a big hit with him.

Another thing to throw!

A new princess book for my little reader

Rescue Squad Mater!

Jerry got her a kids MP3 player and pre-loaded it with her favorite songs. Now she sings LOUDLY and very much off-key (did I mention LOUDLY?!), and it's way funnier when she has headphones on because she doesn't realize how loud she really is. She has told me a number of times about how good a singer she is and I, as the proud momma, always agree. She does bring a smile to my face.

Finally got his own flashlight so he'll leave Abby's alone

See, I really was there!

Looks like somebody was hitting the nog pretty hard :)

Santa came through big time for Abby and brought her the little Snow White doll that went with the other 4 she got from Grammy. She was SOOOOO HAPPY!!

Now she has 5 to carry around, read to, play with and sleep with. And they all get 2 hugs and lots of kisses every night. Adds about 5 minutes to her already ridiculous bedtime routine but they just delight her to no end.

We finished opening presents and I cooked a ham and egg breakfast while Jerry played with the kids for a bit and then got ready for work. I was looking forward to the day as there were lots of new things to occupy the kids. I even dared to plan (in my mind!) to clean my room up. But the day did not go as planned. Both kids were on a present high and wanted to try out everything. We spent about 10 minutes on each toy and they both fought over everything. If someone was playing something the other one wanted to join in. Abby got a lot of things that were not Trey-proof so he had a really rough day. Abby got a little reprieve when Trey went down for a nap and I let her get out her new paint book. That night I thought that I would give them a bath to pass the time and wear them out but even that was a disaster. Screaming, yelling, fighting, screaming, screaming, water throwing, screaming....not cool. When bedtime finally rolled around I was delirious with excitement over the prospect of having 15 minutes all to myself before it was my bedtime! A super fun and wonderful morning....but Jerry is not allowed to work Christmas day again!
I was really not in much of a Christmas mood this year. I've been sick with a nasty, nasty cold since right after Thanksgiving and it has sapped my energy. But watching my babies have such a magical time really made all the crankiness and craziness of the holiday truly worth it. I am most definitely looking forward to next year with them!

Abby and Trey both got giftcards to Target as a present this year and I decided that Abby is old enough to pick out her own toys so when we were there the other day she found a Disney puzzle that she really wanted. I told her she had her own money and if that was something she wanted to buy she could use her giftcard. So home we went with a new 750 piece puzzle. It took us most of the afternoon but we finished it together. She put in about a third of the pieces on her own and spent a lot of time handing me pieces, telling me which character they belonged too (and getting that right!). She is such a smart cookie and I love being able to share my love of reading and puzzles with her!

Big Plans to...Nowhere

2009-12-23T21:08:00.000-08:00

Jerry is working a 24 hour shift today, his 2nd of three this week (Christmas day is the last one!) so I made the brilliant plan that after work I would come home and finish up a few things for the Gardner family Xmas tomorrow and then take the kids shopping after naps. The kids and I still need to get a few more things for Jerry and since he wouldn't be home at all, today was perfect for our trip. Alas, plans never work out. Trey woke up right after I got home and he was very cuddly1 I thought he was just tired from having such a short nap but as the hours ticked by and he still wasn't moving I came to realize that he just plain wasn't feeling good. Darn! He was running a slight fever but wasn't throwing up or acting like he was in any pain. He was not interested in his bobs at all...he is always ready for a bottle and didn't flinch when I picked a booger out of his nose (always elicits a nice scream) or when I said the word "cookie". Yikes!! I ended up rocking him until 6 or so. I finally got some Tylenol in him and about 7 he was ready for a bottle. He perked up a bit after that but then got tired after a half hour or so. After Abby went to bed, Trey and I rocked a bit more and he fell sound asleep and went to bed no problems. Hopefully he's ready to go for the party tomorrow!

Abby was a super girl too. I think kids now when they really need to behave. This morning I was a passenger on the bus to Crazy Town with her (she is the driver of said bus and also the mayor of Crazy Town!). It was our WORST morning with her to date...and it started at the gloriously early hour of 4 AM! (no that is not a typo!). She certainly redeemed herself by being a quiet little lady this afternoon, playing nicely by herself, not asking for help with anything. She played with her dollies and read her books. She even got hungry and opened up the fridge, found some grapes, got herself a plate and picked a bunch of the stem. Fabulous! I will take happy, self-sufficient Abby over the mayor of Cranky Town anyday!

Here's hoping for a quiet night and maybe I might get to sleep in until, say, 6 tomorrow?!!!

Lessons of the Day

2009-12-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

And so here is what I learned today:
1. Washable marker does actually wash off of dressers, barbie houses, books, clocks and kids, but is not as easily washed off of the CAT! Izzy is now sporting a nice set of blue stripes. When asked why her room was markered the doer replied "I wanted to make you happy." and when asked about the cat the answer was "I wanted to make her happy". I think the offender now understands that putting black marker all over a white dresser (among other things) does NOT make Mommy happy!

2. A 3-year-old does NOT understand that you don't need to get out every single present and play with it the day after you get it. Note to self: next year hide some gifts for a week.

3. Don't ask the girl if she would like a bacon and cheese omelet. The answer will be NO! Instead ask if the girl likes bacon (yes), eggs (yes) and cheese (yes). Then make the omelet, cut it in half, give half to the younger brother...at which point the girl will start asking (or screaming) for a whole one like brother's...NOT CUT UP. At which point, produce the other half, strategically placed on a Princess plate. Smiles all around!!

4. Never give one child a new toy for the tub without also having something new for the other one to play with. Or else the one who didn't get the new toy will start dumping cup-fulls of water on the head of the other one...resulting in blood-curdling screams that are magnified by the bathroom's acoustics. Smartly, I found a long-lost doll for the younger one to play with ending said water fight!

5. If the littlest one won't pick up his own toys and you generously start doing it yourself, remember to put away the box of chocolates from the table BEFORE you start cleaning up. Or else the non-cleaner-upper will find the box of chocolates and start eating them (and feeding them to the dog) without you knowing. :(
6. No matter how much your head knows that going in to rock a screaming boy will only delay the cry-it-out part of the night, your heart still hurts hearing him cry "Mama!" Blogging will help busy your mind while the crying subsides and by the time you are done blogging the house will be quiet again!

Nooksack Christmas '09

2009-12-20T20:34:00.001-08:00

Saturday was my family's Christmas Day. We celebrate a week early just to ease the crunch of the real Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. It seems that everyone has places to go and things to do and it's just not fun having to rush from place to place. Having it the weekend before allows for a relaxed time, lots of catching up is done and it's one of the few times that the little kids all get together to play. I took just a few pics (200 or so!) and narrowed it down to a good 30+ and to my family: if you didn't make it in many (or any) pictures I'm very sorry...the kids are probably just cuter than you! ;)

Abby and Trey in front of the massive pile of goodies!

He looks thrilled to be getting a hug from his sister

Have you ever tried to get 4 little kids to look at the camera - at the same time - and smile?
This is what you get

But aren't they cute?!

Caught one lookin'!

They really did have a good time, I promise! I think I'll be seeing that face of Abby's well into her teenage years.

Best family pic I could get.

Molly's favorite gift or an inside family joke? you decide!

I'm in love with Easton's blond curls!

A new party dress!

He wanted to put on his new shirt right away. And lots of wrapping paper balls were flying at this party!

2 VERY HANDSOME BOYS!!!

What kid doesn't need 1000 stickers?!

Miss Santa and her helper elf...best buds!

Molly and Abby

Boys and their toys!

Yes, there were adults at this party!

10 minute bobs break!

Who's getting tired?

Who heard she had more presents to open?

Comparing nail polish colors

Trey "the Tool man" Gardner

Cars go everywhere!

Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Ariel

Cinderella

Belle. All 4 were "Just what I always wanted!"

My super awesome cousing Emily. She has the most gorgeous blue eyes you've ever seen! And don't mind Abby...she was not a fan of the mamarazzi

Stocking time

Best day of her life!!!!!!!

Aunt Sally and Easton. Ahhh, sleeping babies are the best.

"Mom, go away. I'm reading to my baby"

What a fun night. I wish everyone lived a little closer so we could get together more often. Good food, yummy desserts, lots of presents (let's face it, everyone likes presents!) and a lot of laughter!

Have you seen...

2009-12-16T17:08:00.001-08:00

my daughter?? She is missing. Blonde hair, blue eyes, loud, cranky, in-your-face personality?? No? Me either!

She has recently decided that it is really fun to spend the afternoons in her room coloring, doing puzzles, putting stickers on everything and torturing the cat. I must say that I don't even really care what she's doing up there because it is QUIET downstairs!! Trey is off playing by himself. He's very self-entertained, loves playing with his boots and his blow-up bat/ball/tee set. Both come and say hi occasionally but for the most part I get to relax for a bit each day (I should be cleaning but let's face it, relaxing is much more......relaxing!)

How long can this continue???? I'm hoping at least through Christmas!

Let it Snow!!

2009-12-14T13:55:00.000-08:00

Finally we got a little snow. Abby has been looking forward to snow for quite some time and as soon as the first flakes started to fall she and Trey were decked out in their hats and boots to go out and try to catch some!

Trey trying to stick his tongue out

One of my favorite Abby pics ever!

A little more snow in the afternoon

Rusty

Eating a snowball

Our pretty house! Too bad nobody ever sees it!

Even the shed gets some lights.

Ready for trip #3 in the snow

The kids both LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the snow. Trey throws and absolute fit when he has to come inside. He loves his mittens, his boots, his hat, everything about getting dressed for snow. We still had about 3-4 inches this morning and they went out to play for nearly 45 minutes. I finally was too frozen to stand out there and watch. There is still a lot left this afternoon so we may venture out in a while!

Friend's Christmas 2009

2009-12-14T13:31:00.001-08:00

Saturday was our turn to host our monthly friend get-together and since it's December it was our Christmas party! All the kiddos came dressed in their Christmas jammies...so cute! Tacos were on the menu for dinner with ice cream sundaes for dessert, yum yum! We have such a great group of friends and getting together is always a great time. There are 7 kids, 5 and under but 8 adults so we still outnumber the little people! It's nice to be able to relax and share the responsibility of kid-watching. They are all such great kids too!

Trey and Abby pre-funking

Watching Prep & Landing

Some were ready to take the kid picture

One was not!

Buddy did NOT want to sit down

So darn cute!!

Not a bad looking bunch!

Present time!

The mamarazzi

Malia looking extra festive!

Isaiah helping Trey with his new toy

Lots of fun and laughter!

Ice cream sundaes!!

Christmas Card Rejects

2009-12-14T13:16:00.000-08:00

This one is cute but didn't make it

Buddy Bud

2009-12-14T13:03:00.000-08:00

Trey had his 18 month well child check last Wednesday. The only appointment I could get that didn't interfere with work and I had an available babysitter for Abby was at 12:45...smack in the middle of his normal naptime. I thought I was in for a not fun visit but Trey was so great! He tried flirting with a little girl in the waiting room but she rejected him, twice. Sad! He had a great time getting weighed and measured (26.3 lbs and nearly 35 in!) and he had a blast running back and forth on the paper covered table. He was a little shy with the doctor but didn't cry at all until he needed his teeth checked. He has NEVER let me look in his mouth since he was born. A tongue depressor finally worked and then he had a new toy afterward! Dr. Bishop said that Trey was the most mild-mannered 18 month old he'd had in months. A little crying during his shots and then he was happy again.

18 months old!

Into everything!

Likes to be up high

Sometimes when life gets you down you just need a pop tart

Nakey-nake is always cute!

And the Flu Rolled On!

2009-12-14T12:50:00.001-08:00

So after a week of recovery for me it was Abby's turn to come down with the yucks. She woke up from her nap last Friday and started throwing up, among other things. It was exactly like my flu so I knew the vomiting and all wouldn't last long. She was pretty mellow about it all and I even got to cuddle a bunch with her. It's not often that I get to just sit and hold one of the kids. She went to bed early, slept all night and has been a weirdo ever since! She's obsessed with throwing up now and keeps saying that she's sick. If she's distracted life is great but as soon as she gets a chance to think about it she starts acting up about being sick. Hopefully she'll get over it soon and be back to her normal cheerful (*cough, cough*) self.

Then last Tuesday Jerry came down with the flu himself. He had to go to school in the morning but it became apparent that he couldn't hold out until for the sub who was coming in the afternoon. His principal took over his PE duties for the last hour of the morning and Jerry came home and slept the rest of the day. He stayed home the next day as well, holed up in our bedroom with his laptop, tv, Blackberry, saltines and water! By Thursday he was feeling well enough to head on back to school.

Thursday night my sinuses decided to empty themselves and the faucet that is my nose hasn't really stopped since. I finally started feeling better once the pressure let up but I have continued to sound like a life-long smoker, complete with cough, ever since. I even woke up to find myself having a super awesome nose bleed about 5 this morning. Lucky me!! I'm really hoping that this is the end of our winter sickness...fingers crossed! I was thinking the other day that it would be fun to live in Australia where Christmas happens during the summer, not too many people are as sick in the summer as they are in the winter. It's hard to feel the Christmas cheer when you just plain don't feel well!

PS. Said illnesses are the major reason my blogging has sucked lately. I was informed Saturday that my last post had been November 29th. Oops!

Abby

2009-11-29T12:53:00.001-08:00

We've been trying to get Abby to give up her queen size bed and downgrade to a twin so that she'd have more room to play on her floor. Sears had a sale on Princess bedding and we took Abby to look at it and they had it all on a real display bed so she got to look at it. And that seemed to work because she really wanted it. I think without having been able to see it and touch it and sit on it she wouldn't have been as excited about it. So she and I went back and picked up the comforter, sheet set, bedskirt and an extra pillowcase (which included a trip to B'ham because the comforter wasn't in stock here!). The next day I swapped the kids' beds and put her new Princess stuff on and she is IN LOVE. Sure makes her room look way bigger!

And she is doing a little better on the whole craptastic attitude thing. She finally won her Leapster and a game so she's been busy playing with that. She earned it by staying in her room until a decent hour in the mornings for 35 mornings. Only took her 4 months to get there!