Gotcha!

Now give me my ball back.

Lunar Eclipse

These are all blurry... I should have used a tripod but I wasn't really planning on taking pics, just stuck my head outside on my way to bed to check out the eclipse... And it was FREEZING.

Never A Dull Moment...

Everyone I know has been sick, including myself. Last month Annabelle had infections in both ears and was on antibiotics for 10 days, this month she had another (or the same) ear infection and was put on a different/stronger antibiotic for 10 more days. Her Doctor said that the new antibiotic might cause stomach discomfort so it was no surprise to me when she started complaining of having a tummy ache a few days after starting her new meds...

On Wednesday morning, after coughing all night, Jack woke with a fever. He was pretty lethargic and grumpy so I called and made an appointment with the Dr. for later on that afternoon. Just as we were getting ready to leave for the Doctor's office, Annabelle started complaining that her tummy was bothering her again. She had mentioned it several times that day but, once again, I told her to try and go to the potty and dismissed it as a side effect of her antibiotic (which, at this point, she had been on for 9 days). By the time we were in the car and on our way to Jack's appointment, she was screaming and crying that she was in a lot of pain. By the time we arrived at the Dr.'s office (20 minutes later) she was doubled over and hysterical.

The Dr. saw her right away and gave her a quick exam... Within 2 minutes, she had called an ambulance to take us to the hospital. Two minutes after that, the Dr.s office was filled with paramedics and fire fighters... It was amazing how quickly they got there.

They loaded Annabelle, Jack, and I into the ambulance and zipped us off to Children's Hospital.

Once there, they performed a series of tests and hooked her up to an IV. The CAT scan results showed what looked like early signs of appendicitis, but they were inconclusive. The Doctors weren't 100% sure it was appendicitis so they opted to wait and observe her for a bit before performing surgery.

Lucky they did decide to wait on the surgery because, although it was a rough three days in hospital, she was eventually discharged WITH her appendix! They believe that the pain was caused by a virus, but we were told to keep an eye on her for the next few days "just in case" it really was the early stages of appendicitis... So far so good!

The first two days were pretty tough but once Annabelle began to feel better, she really started to enjoy hospital life...
She had constant attention, a tele in her room, room service (once she was allowed to eat), all the chocolate milk and popsicles she could ever want, an activity room filled with toys, books and movies, and a never ending audience. The Doctors and Nurses at the hospital were amazing. They took great care of us and made Annabelle feel right at home. They even arranged activities for the kids on Valentine's day; The three activity rooms on her floor each had a different theme: one had card making, another had cookie decorating, a chocolate fondue guy, and a fruit sculptor, another had painting. Annabelle almost didn't want to leave!

Eventually Annabelle was discharged, but not before everyone on her floor knew her name!

After all that, Jack finally got to see the Dr. today... He has an ear infection.

Happy Birthday Annabelle!!!

Hard to believe that Annabelle is FOUR YEARS OLD!!! I feel like I was just writing a post about her turning three, and here it is, in the blink of an eye, one year later! It feels like it's gone by so quickly, yet so much has happened over the past year; Annabelle has basically gone from a little toddler who swore she would wear diapers forever, slept in a crib, and thought the world would end if she couldn't find her binky, to a big girl who goes to school, made her own decision to stop using a binky, and basically potty trained herself!

She sure is growing up...

In growing up, Annabelle has become very particular about certain things. Things like clothing, and shoes. She likes to decide what she will wear for the day, and night, and usually changes several times a day. It is not unusual for her to wake up wearing different pajamas than the one's she went to bed in. At times she will fixate on a certain article of clothing and want to wear it for a week straight... Last month it was this shirt she saw at Target, which she just had to have, but could care less about now. Other times she just wants to wear something similar to what Jack is wearing; he's wearing monkey pajamas-she wants to wear monkey pajamas.

At four years old, Annabelle is still very outgoing. She is overly friendly and extremely talkative, she talks to everyone. She always needs to know who everyone is and what their story is. In the mornings when we are walking to her classroom she will say hello to everyone she passes, when she doesn't recognize someone she will ask them who they are, if they go to school there, who their teacher is, their social security number, etc... And everyone knows Annabelle. She makes friend's very easily... Even if someone doesn't want to be her friend, they become her friend. She is just that relentless... And she has this crazy Jedi mind trick thing.

Annabelle seems to be pretty athletic; she loves to run, play soccer, ride her bike, ice skate, and roller skate. Her newest obsession though is the skateboard. Recently she got it into her head that she needed to have a skateboard. And so, somehow she batted her eyelashes enough and her Daddy bought her (an adult size) skateboard for her birthday... He also got one for himself. Not surprising, she is a natural... Daddy is not.

Annabelle also loves to draw and paint. Most days she comes home from school with at least two paintings... She is actually getting pretty good! She also loves to take pictures with her camera and has recently mastered using the computer- Scary.

Annabelle is very goofy... She still loves to dance and put on a show, she has recently invented some crazy new break dance moves. She loves to be the center of attention and has a flare for the dramatic.

Annabelle is a puppy maniac. She has about 200 stuffed animals on her bed, most of them puppies. She desperately wants a real puppy, which we are not ready for, so is compensating by stocking up on the stuffed variety. Every time she is allowed to choose a toy these days, it is puppy related. She is even having a puppy themed birthday party on Saturday!

She is also still crazy about balls... I've lost count, there are so many.

Annabelle can be a very bossy sweet and caring little girl. She loves her brother and, although she has been known to put him in "time out" on occasion, she genuinely looks out for him. When her Nana took her out shopping for her birthday, Annabelle came back with a few presents, including two stuffed puppies. After holding onto them for a day, she decided to give one of her puppies to Jack.

Annabelle is always very keen to help. I often see her helping her brother with his coat and shoes. Today she said she wanted to help with his pajamas, and then asked if she could help change his diaper! I will be reminding her of that when she is a teenager... She also loves to do things like make a mess pancakes, dust, clean the windows, push the dirt around sweep the floor, and put things in the trash for me. I can usually get her to do things by telling her that I have a "big kid" job for her, which is an excellent card to play when I want her to help clean up her toys!

As big as she is, she is still my little girl... But don't ever tell her I called her little. She still mispronounces some words (pajamas are WAjamas), which I think is adorable, and she says things like; "He gived it to me", and "I hurt-ed my knee". One of my all time favorites though is when she is trying to say "Don't forget about" something, she always says "don't about" something... She forgets to say forget!

I won't about wishing you a Happy Birthday, Annabelle!!!!

Smarty Pants

The brilliance kills me. He's a mischievous little devil, yet so clever!

Yesterday Jack was watching Annabelle as she was playing the Super Why game on the computer. Whenever she would get stumped he would shout out the CORRECT answer!

A little while ago he was watching Curious George on PBS when all of a sudden he ran into the kitchen and came back with some magnetic letters from the refrigerator.

This is what I found on the coffee table:

Officially A Big Kid!!

Yesterday, Annabelle decided that she was ready to take the final step in becoming a "big kid" and tossed all of her binkies in the trash!

We had been discussing losing the binky for quite some time... As she used it only at night we weren't in a major rush to get rid of it, but had given her until her fourth birthday to make her peace with the separation. She had agreed that four was too old to use a binky and said she would be willing to give it up then, but I had my doubts. With a little over two weeks to go, I was mentally preparing myself for a battle.

Much to my surprise, she announced yesterday that she was ready. She marched over to the trash bin with a fist full of binkies, tossed them in, and said goodbye. When it was bed time she went straight in... Without even mentioning binky!!

WAH!!!!

The boy has finally discovered that he can climb out of his crib. Not good. I was kind of hoping that he would take after his sister and stay put until he was at least three and a half, but now I'm thinking that's not going to happen. He's a determined little bugger, that one.

This has been a looooooooooong week. I was sick with a pukey stomach thing (no, I am not pregnant), and then Annabelle came down with a coughy thing. The cough is not that bad, just constant... And annoying. She has been waking every hour on the hour at night, as have I, and not napping AT ALL during the day. I fear her napping days may be coming to an end soon and this frightens me... I look forward to my daily nap time "break", as I think it is what keeps me sane(ish).

Anyway, because she has been sick and the weather has been crap, we have been trapped in the house for days. I'm starting to feel a bit crazy. I'm actually looking forward to taking Annabelle to the doctor later, just to get out of the house.

Speaking of feeling crazy, Annabelle has developed a new sound, kind of a cross between a moan and a whine, and she has been making it constantly. Constantly. As in, all day. And night. At 5-7 second intervals. I know she isn't feeling well, but this noise, this awful noise, is making me want to rip my hair out!!

Speaking of wanting to rip my hair out, Jack has become insanely mischievous whilst we have been under quarantine. Every time I turn my back he is into something new... I'm wiping up the 2 gallons of water he has spilled on the floor in the kitchen, he is in the living room playing in the fireplace (filled with ashes). I'm cleaning up the mess from the fireplace, he is pulling Annabelle's hair. I'm consoling Annabelle, he is getting up from his "time out" and putting my coffee pot in the trash bin. That sort of thing.

Life is good.

*update: Back from Annabelle's Dr. visit and I no longer wish to rip out my hair. Despite the fact that neither child napped today, they were both shockingly well behaved at the Doctor's office. As it turns out, Annabelle has double ear infections. She's on meds and seems quite chipper, in fact, she is roller skating around the house at the moment.

Painting Banks

Fun With The Camera

Hey Annabelle, want me to take your picture? OK Jack, I'll sit here.

Oh- no- no- Mommy, you're not allowed to take my picture.

I'll take my own picture!

OUCH... My eyes hurt!!

Motorcycle

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to 2008!
I was thinking about making a new list of things to work on in 2008, but really, there's no point in making a new list when I have a perfectly good list just sitting there waiting to be completed. Sooooo, in lieu of a new list, I will expand upon the old:

• Finish what I start- like the projects on the 2007 list.
• Be more diligent with the recycling.
• Don't buy the kids something every time we go into a shop... No matter how much they whine.
• Try to be more patient.

That's all I've got right now.

Happy New Year!!

Last Year's List

Last Year I made this list of things to work on in 2007. Being the last day of 2007, I thought I might check back to see how I did...

1. Try to shower daily - I'm still working on this one but, I NEVER go 2 days in a row without a shower. So that's an accomplishment, right?


2. Get dressed every day, even if failed at #1 - I've been pretty good at this one, as I tend to like to leave the house daily, but I must admit, at this point I consider wearing yoga pants being dressed.


3. Shave legs at least once a week - That was an easy one.


4. Eat less chocolate - I did well until, oh you know, Easter maybe?


5. Read more books - Believe it or not, I have read a couple of books in 2007!


6. Try harder to keep up on current events - Who's running for president?? I suck.


7. Repaint living room - I repainted the ceiling, then decided to keep the wall color.


8. Refinish bedroom furniture - ahem.


9. Paint master bedroom - I've actually started this project! I've painted the ceiling and have chosen, but not purchased yet, the wall & trim colors.


10. Paint exterior house trim -hahaha.


11. Make prints of all digital photos - FAILED miserably at this one.


12. Organize all digital photos (after printing) and put into photo albums - Dido.


13. Frame (and hang) more photos - More could mean one, right?


14. Complete at least 2 paintings - Does "pin the fin on Nemo" count as a painting?
15. Continue with my quest to find the perfect Margarita - Still working on it. I've discovered that Legal Seafood makes a fantastic Mojito, though.
16. Make it a point to see people even when I'm feeling lazy - Hmmmmm.
17. Stop being lazy - I'm not really lazy. I should have never put this one there in the first place!
18. Get to the gym at least twice a week - I've been pretty consistent with this. Something has got to balance all that chocolate eating!
19. Go to the movies more often - The last movie I saw in a theater was Shrek III. That was THE ONLY movie I saw in a theater in 2007... bad. bad. bad
20. Get my hair cut more than once this year - I actually had my hair cut TWICE in 2007!!

Well, it's about 2pm-ish on the last day of 2007. I should probably get busy if I am going to complete this list!

Smashed Pumpkin

What a pumpkin looks like after it has been sitting outside for three months, frozen, buried in the snow, defrosted, and then punched by a three year old:

Merry Christmas!!!

... A very belated Merry Christmas!

Blah, blah, blah, Christmas. It was nice. Annabelle was as sick as a dog, throwing up all night Christmas eve, and all day on Christmas. Nick cooked, we had my parents, and my sister and her boyfriend, over for dinner. In between wiping puke and opening presents, I somehow managed to do some baking, set the table, and take a few pictures WITH MY NEW CAMERA!

Yes, it was a nice Christmas. I finally got to play with my new camera, the one that had been sitting in it's box, tormenting me for over a month.

It is every thing I had hoped for and more... I am in love.

But enough about me.

Christmas is about the children after all...

Here Nick is showing me how his new iPod works. He was very pleased with his present, and we were all very pleased that he managed to knock out Christmas dinner with that thing in his hands!

Annabelle was so excited, yet so sick, on Christmas. The poor thing spent most of the day lounging on the couch, watching Jack play with all of the toys.The day after Christmas, she managed to muster up enough energy to take the car out for a spin, despite the fact that she was still not feeling well.

Much to my surprise, Mr. Jack was not as excited about the big car as I thought he would be. Yes, he liked it, and spent a good deal of time sitting in it, but he was more interested in playing with the Geotrax Grand Central Station, that Nana had given him on Christmas eve, than opening any of his presents!

Ice Skating

Annabelle and I went ice skating on Saturday!

I haven't been ice skating in probably 15 years and this was her first time so I was a little nervous about taking her... In case I fell on top of her or something! But it was all good. After about 3 seconds it all came back to me and I was even able to show Annabelle a few tricks.

Annabelle was so excited about going ice skating. She had been asking to go for about a month, since my mother gave her a shirt with a big ice skate on it, so she has had a lot of time to "prepare". On the drive to the skating rink she kept talking about what a great ice skater she is (did I mention this was her first time?) and how she was going to make a "figure eight" and do all sorts of stunts. I think it was a bit of a shocker for her when she first stepped onto the ice and realized that it might not be so easy!

She did surprisingly well though... She was, understandably, a little nervous at first but she held on to the side and did a complete lap around the rink with minimal assistance from me! By lap number two she was ready to let go and head out into center ice to practice her stunts!

Annabelle was so funny. She spent a lot of time checking out what the "big kids" were doing and trying to mimic them. She was also checking out what they were wearing, particularly their skates. Some of the kids were wearing hockey skates and others had nice clean white skates... Annabelle had dirty white rental skates, and she was VERY annoyed about that!

So of course I had to promise her that we could get some nice new CLEAN ice skates for the next time we went skating... But in the mean time she would have to eat some cotton candy to help ease the pain.

Sparkley Red Fingers!

Annabelle has been begging me to paint her nails for a while now -since she saw that nail polish in the shops a few months ago and just had to have it. Last night I finally bit the bullet. I have to admit, I was pretty impressed at her ability to sit still while her nails dried... She only got one spot of polish on the sofa and two on her pajamas!

Just Another Day

This video clip is really dark, but I thought Jack was being very cute so I posted it anyway.
Also, Annabelle's singing is pretty funny too...

Snow Angel

Acceptance

Since the start of the Christmas season the Christmas music has been on, pretty much nonstop, here in the Monkey house. I've discovered that having the music on constantly has caused quite a few bouts of unconscious singing. Mainly by me. On the occasion I found myself randomly singing "Silver Bells", I heard a small angry voice behind me say, "I'm NOT silver"!

Because all things revolve around Annabelle, obviously this song, "Silver Bells", is about her, Annabelle... But she'll be the first one to tell you that, she is NOT silver.

So naturally, being the evil loving parents we are, and knowing how this song annoyed her so, Nick and I started to sing "Silver Bells" on a regular basis. Each time Nick or I would sing "Silver Bells", Annabelle would follow with a, "I'm NOT silver!!"

This has been going on for several weeks now.

A few times she thought she was being clever and started to sing, "Silver Jack", but we just laughed at her. Then there was the time she actually sang, "Silver Brother", but again, the laughter ensued and we quickly chimed in with a chorus of "Silver Bells."

Because we love to taunt our children.

Yesterday when I sang a quick verse of "Super Belle", Annabelle decided she liked that much better, and that the song wasn't that bad after all.

Earlier today, when I informed Annabelle that "Silver Bells" was playing on the radio, she looked at me in a very defeated way, let out a big sigh and said, "I guess I am silver."

Happy Erica!

Annabelle came home from school today with a dreidel that one of her little classmates had given her. She told me that Rebecca's mother came in, told them a story and gave each of them a special spinning top. When I asked Annabelle if she remembered what the story was about she told me that it was a story about Erica. When I questioned her further, she told me that it was a story about Erica and, ya know, you light candles and stuff. Why would Rebecca's mother tell you a story about a girl who plays with fire? Then I realized that she was talking about Hanukkah!

The Santa Picture

The Santa picture isn't the best this year but it will have to do. This is actually the least offensive of the second round of photos taken. In the first round, Annabelle was wearing a hat and making crazy faces, and Jack was grabbing at the basket of candy canes next to him, out of frame. The first few pictures were so bad that the woman taking them asked us to go walk around the mall and come back to try again! It was a bit disappointing because there were some cute moments where the kids were laughing and looking right at the camera, but the woman missed them because she was too busy talking to someone else. It was a real struggle for me not to grab the camera and take the picture myself!
But they had fun ... Annabelle told Santa that she wants a camera and a remote control jeep and some purple floam and Jack told Santa that he wants cars.

Snow Globe

Dream

Last night Annabelle had a dream that spiders were climbing all over baby Trey (neighbor boy), and he was laughing.

Hide And Seek

Now that it's too cold and dark to play outside after supper, the winter indoor games have begun. Tonight it was hide and seek. Annabelle hid in that same spot... Every. Single. Time.

We can see you, Annabelle.
When playing hide and seek, one must always wear their hat, mittens, and puppy slippers.

Tiny Dancers

Torture

My little Canon point and shoot is busted again. I turned it on yesterday and it made some horribly sad struggling motor sounds and then beeped an E18 message at me. I did some research (gotta love the Internet) and found that there is actually a whole web site devoted to the E18 message, which apparently, is a pretty common problem. But what exactly is the E18 message? According to the web site, and I quote; "Canon E18 error happens when the lens gets stuck while trying to extend". That would make sense, since my lens got stuck when it tried to extend!

So this morning I took the camera back to Best Buy. They were the ones who "fixed" my camera back in August (when I dropped it on the lens while it was extended), and I'm guessing that they didn't fix it properly, because after I got it back 90% of my pictures were out of focus and I thought I needed glasses! Turns out, it was most likely E18 related all along. They are going to take another stab at repairing it and I should have it back in a few weeks.

Anyway... Since I was going to Best Buy, and know exactly what I am getting for Christmas from Nick, he agreed that I could pick up my present while I was there dropping off the point and shoot. I really want a new camera more than I want to be surprised at Christmas, so I was more than happy to pick it up myself. Little did I know, not only was the camera of my desire on sale BUT there was also a promotion, and I was able to get an additional lens (55-200mm), a camera bag, an extra battery and an instruction manual, all for about half the price of the lens alone!

So there it is, my new Nikon D40x and friends. In the box. Torturing me until December 25Th.

Conversations At Our House

Jack: "Mommy, I'm pooping."

Me: "Do you want to go sit on the potty?"

Jack: "No thank you, I want to change my diaper."

Annabelle: "Jack, you have to go on the potty so you can wear your big boy underwears. You really like them, they have cars on them, Jack. They have Mater on them, and McQueen, and The King, aaaaand Ramone! You really like Cars, Jack. You should try them. I'll go get my little potty so you can use it because I'm too big for it now. It's just the right size for you. You can have it if you want, and then you can wear your big boy underwears with Cars on them!"

Jack: "No thank you." "Mom, I need a new diaper."

Mr. Mischief

When I Have My Umbrella, You MUST Take A Picture Of Me

French-Fish Feast

Annabelle had a friendship feast at school today. It was basically a mini Thanksgiving, complete with a turkey dinner served on long decorated tables in the school auditorium and a performance by the pre-K's finest. The kids all got up on stage and recited a poem and sang a song. Some of the little ones got stage fright and broke down in tears, not Annabelle, she stood tall and proud and looked right at home up there. She did a great job!

Each child made a flower arrange-ment and a place mat, which were displayed on the table during the feast and then later taken home, and a beaded necklace, which they swapped with another child in the class. Annabelle traded her necklace with the little girl next to her in the picture -in the blue stripey shirt.

Last night, in anticipation of today's big event, Annabelle kept asking me if the french fish feast was tomorrow, which made me chuckle every time. As funny as french fish feast was, we spent a good while working on the phrase "friend-ship feast", which is much easier to say than "french-fish feast". She must have practiced saying it all night because when she woke up this morning the first thing she asked was, "is the friendship feast today?", and she pronounced it perfectly! ( but I still like french fish feast better)

Leaves

King Of Pop-s

How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?
Or five?



Jack thought he might try and answer this age old question while he was collecting lollipops from the pinata at my nephew's birthday party on Sunday.

Jack Tunes

A little while ago this song came on the radio:

Feist - 1234.mp3

When Jack heard it he started swaying to the music and singing along... It was very cute. In an attempt to keep my amusement level up I started singing along with him. He looked at me very seriously and said, "Mom, nice singing mom".

About an hour later, out of the blue, he started singing it again... "Oh, oh, oh, changing your heart", "oh, oh, oh, you know who you are"...

This singing business is a new thing and it is pretty funny to listen to. Wasn't it just yesterday that he started speaking?

Sheeesh.