Few Things

I recently found a purse pattern on one of the blogs I have been following. I have been needing a new purse so I finally got around to making it. I used some of the gift cards to JoAnns I got for my birthday (thank you Ann and Leslie) and bought the cutest fabric. I had to make some adjustments to the pattern once I started, but it turned out great. Take a look.

Elle came home from school this week obsessed with Volcanoes. She had read about them in a book at school and wanted Keith to look up video for her to watch. Keith decided to make one for her while she was at a birthday part on Saturday. Pierce helped. They both painted it. Apparently Keith got the idea after using vinegar to clean something one day. He was reading the many uses of vinegar on the back of the bottle and at the bottom it said how to make a volcano. Who knew? Here are some cute pictures of the volcano. The lava is pink because we did not have any red food coloring. :)

Fun at the Children's Museum

Last weekend we took the kids to the Children's Museum. We have a membership and it is a fun place to take the kids to. They can pretty much run around and play and we can sit and watch. Sitting and watching.......ah. That makes me happy. Anyway, here are a few pics from the day. The ball room and the grocery store were the most exciting.

Elle played in the grocery store for at least an hour. She is an expert checker. Pierce liked it too but he couldn't keep up. After a while he would run around and hand us food to hold. It was pretty cute. Needless to say when we got home everyone was exhausted. The kids took a nap and so did I.

There are times I still can't believe how blue Elle's eyes are. They are like the sky.

Consequences

What do you do with a child that is a little too smart for her own good? Hmmm........Today it just didn't' seem to matter what we said Elle was in no mood to listen. In fact, she would say she was listening while looking at you, but her hands would actually be getting her in trouble. So, trying to incorporate both an educational activity and a punishment at the same time, we came up with writing "I will listen" ten times. Even with this activity, she managed to get in trouble. Instead of using her notebook, she decided to use Pierce's. Once this was discovered, she didn't even try to make something up. I asked her if she knew she was using Pierce's notebook and she said yes. I asked her why and she said "because I wanted to." So, after the "I will listen", she got to write "I will not use Pierce's things."

Next time it will be twenty times. Secretly, I think she enjoyed it.



BTW, Keith made the most fabulous dinner tonight. I am a new fan of the Pioneer Woman blog. Keith made the baked beans and the grilled ribeye with onion and blue cheese sauce. Let me tell you, the baked beans were heaven in my mouth. Can I just say....eight slices of bacon. For those of you who wish you could be a member of the bacon of the month club, you know what I'm talking about. This is a great blog and the recipes are divine. Mental note, eat light at lunch. Most of her recipes call for at least 1-2 sticks of butter and bacon. But oh baby.....mmmmmm! Home cooking at the best. Check it out http://pioneerwoman.com

Double Trouble

I have a story to tell. It's Keith's story, but it deserves to be blogged about. Since he doesn't have a blog, I told him I would do it. Last weekend he took the kids with him to meet an agent at a rental property. He had to exchange keys for the clients he was working with. The house was completely empty. The clients were going to be moving in that weekend. The kids were being crazy, running around the house chasing each other before the other agent arrived. Keith said to point out the other agent was a real $#>)! You fill in the letters. Anyway, they arrived ten minutes early and the agent was ten minutes late. At the exact time the agent showed up and introduced herself, both kids proclaimed they had to go to the bathroom. Now this was a huge house so Keith sent them off to separate toilets, hoping but not knowing if there was toilet paper. As he was trying to conduct professional business, both kids started yelling from their separate bathrooms "Daddy, come wipe me." If you know Keith at all, this was probably the most mortifying moment in his life. Not to mention there was absolutely no toilet paper in either bathrooms. Being a practical person, Keith keeps a roll out in the car just for emergencies like this one. While the agent looked on...not literally, Keith took care of the dirty bottoms one by one. It got a little nerve racking when he went to Pierce's bathroom because apparently he dropped the most ginormous deuce Keith had ever seen and he wasn't sure if the toilets were even going to flush. It took two tries, but the deuce left the building.

Luckily I have not had to experience the double deuce dropping while conducting business, but I do think getting pucked on in the swimming pool and having chicken nuggets, oranges, and pasta go down my swimsuit top was pretty bad. Especially because it was witnessed by far more people then one agent and because it cleared out an entire side of the pool.

Kids make life a little more interesting.......and gross.

Hard Lessons

Pierce had to learn his first hard lesson tonight. When I got home from the gym, I walked in to the carpet full of change. The kids have been obsessed with taking their change out of their piggy banks and putting them in a box. Well, apparently they decided to throw them all over the house. When I walked in it was obvious things had not been going well. Keith said the kids had not been listening the entire night. I guess they needed some Mommy smack down. Right away Pierce went to time out. Every time Elle tried to put the money back he would take it out and throw it around. After his time out I was watching them pick up. He put some of the money in the box, looked right at me, and took it out preparing to throw it. I lost it. I grabbed him up and said he was going to bed early. Wow. Talk about wailing. I did his shower, brushed his teeth, and got him ready for bed. At first he wasn't too upset because he thought Elle had to go to bed too. When he found out it was just him he almost made himself throw up. I had decided that the morning ritual needed to be changed so I set his clothes out for tomorrow and told him that when he woke up he needed to get dressed before he came down for breakfast. I then read a book to him and put him to bed. About ten minutes later he came down the stairs fully dressed in his clothes tomorrow. When I told him that he was supposed to be in bed, he started crying so hard that he could barely breathe. I think he thought if he got dressed he wouldn't have to go to bed early. Of course Keith and I both wanted to cave, but if we did then he would know the next time he didn't have to go to bed early. So, I took him back up, put his jammies on him...again, and sang him a song. Right now he is still in bed.

When Elle was younger she got in trouble and had to go to bed early. Pierce was about 14 months old. While she was crying I told her that sometimes lessons are hard to learn. The next day Pierce got in trouble for something and she looked right at him and said "Pierce, lessons are hard to learn!" I think tonight is the first night he is learning that lesson!!! :)