Cousin's Valentine's party

 We have a great aunt Mona who used to throw these elaborate Valentine's Day parties for the cousins when we were younger. They probably weren't particularly elaborate, but to my 8 year old mind, they were the coolest thing ever. She made sandwiches in the shape of hearts. HEARTS! It pretty much blew my mind.

So Big Sis and I decided the time had come for a festival (Into the Woods anyone?) and put together a shindig for the preschool crowd in Aunt Mona's tradition. Belatedly we realized that Saturday would have been better so that the kids who could actually remember the festivities would be able to attend. Maybe for St. Patty's day.

We did get a little ridiculous on the details, but it is a creative outlet more than anything else. And it makes you feel good to create pretty things instead of just looking at them all the time. Feel free to roll your eyes and mentally yell that it is a colossal waste of time, but we had fun doing it. Like putting washi tape around cups to hold  the cupcakes. (I was rather proud how that icing turned out. Buttercream is not usually my friend but we reached common ground on this project).

We had lovely fresh strawberry lemonade, in goblets for the madres, and washi tape adorned cups for the kiddos.





J liked it.

E was skeptical

The kids had heart-shaped sammies and the moms ate Big Sis's awesome Zuppa Tuscano (with kale from my garden!) along with sourdough bread.

I also wanted to make some rice krispie for a friend who is gluten free. Might as well make them ridiculous while I was at it.

The crew seemed very happy with our efforts.

Big Sis made these fun heart-shaped pom pom wands for out balloon popping game. It is pretty complicated. You take the wand and pop a balloon. The kids picked up on it pretty fast.

 We also had a lots of crayons and foam stickers for little valentine surprise for my parents. J thought the hearts were better worn.

And that chairs are for standing on. The more the better.

We also did a little photoshoot but that mass of pictures will wait until tomorrow.

I think J melted

Happy Valentine's Day!

Bathtub Paint

Remember my opinionated child? Well she was driving me nuts. Again. So I decided we would try some of those imaginative play ideas I always see on pinterest, thinking we might be able to do something fun without fighting.

It was a good theory.

She didn't want anything to do with making the paint. At the word paint, she had her heart set on painting in her coloring book instead of my wonderful mother-daughter bonding in the kitchen. Of course she doesn't want to help cook when I specifically mean for her to. And somehow I had no cornstarch in my house. Flour and food coloring worked well enough though. When I announced to her I was going to go paint the bathtub without her, she decided to follow.

Disrobing is one of her favorite pastimes so at least that wasn't a fight. Of course she had a great time once she started. Maybe she'll learn Mom is always right.

But why brush with the paint brush when you can stab the tile with it instead?

 I think she had just as much fun washing it off too.

Then we dumped dish soap into the bath to make some REAL bubbles. My mom always did this instead of  buying bubble bath when we were kids. (I use the super sensitive kind and we don't do it too often, lest you have concerns about my daughter's epidermis.) You can also dye the bubbles with a popsicle stick and food coloring and that was fun too. So much fun that I couldn't snap a good picture without some toddler nudity, but I'm sure you can get the idea from the picture. Even though it looks muddy brown instead of pink. 

Since then, food coloring has been a staple in our bath time routine. I found it to be a great way to use up the  partial bottles I've accumulated. I always run out of one color and buy another multipack since the bottle of just yellow or just red is twice the price. So I have three blues and two greens that have finally found their calling in life.

With all the fun it was, I'm pretty sure we would have had less fighting and more enjoyment if I had just sat down and watched Wallace and Gromit next to her for the 100th time. Painting makes me feel like a better mom though and I can put it on the internet as proof that I at least try to do awesome parenting things.

Heart Pancakes

I decided to get a little festive and try some heart pancakes I saw on pinterest. J just wanted to eat the batter.

I put some batter in a ziplock bag and added a bit of food coloring. So pretty!

Then they cooked and you couldn't see the heart at all so I tried just making heart shaped ones.

They turned out much prettier.

The aesthetics were completely overlooked as soon as she got her hands on the syrup bottle. Ah well.

Matching PJ's

My Lil' Sis and her husband stayed a few days with us in January and we randomly noticed we all had the same choice in pj's, grey shirt and black pants.

After messing with the camera timer so many times, we were all getting goofier. I think the cancan kicks were to emphasize the black pants, but it may have just been our own ridiculousness.

After that pic, we decided that all of us needed to make the same awesome face my brother-in-law.

Potty Training

Picture from my husband's cousin's company, fleeces. Poop shaped pillows now available through Amazon. Check out the corn log

I always thought the stay-at-home-mom world was disproportionately obsessed with potty training. There are so many do's and don't's and boot camps and what not floating around the mommy blogs and pinterest. It seems to be toilet training is an Event.

Of course, I think humans in general are a little obsessed with feces. Really, just say the word poop out loud and you will probably find yourself smiling. Try it now.

Fine, you managed to suppress the urge to simply prove me wrong, but the instinct was there. Poop is pretty much universally funny. I was telling some students about this once and a kid told me to say it randomly during a test. Totally did it. And it was awesome. 

Of course it becomes a little less funny once you start potty training. Actually no, it is just as funny, but not until enough time passes. Like when you are chilling with your sister as your kids are playing in the outdoor play place and you hear the distressed tears of your two-year-old crying "Potty!" over and over.

She gets very upset when she has an accident.

We rush around the corner to the restroom while all the mommy onlookers give me sad yet knowing eyes, silently wishing me good luck against the inevitable. I appreciated it because they could have been looks of disgust considering the happy glossy caterpillar slide was close to getting a shower of the urinary variety. 

The caterpillar escaped without incident but Sleeping Beauty was not so lucky. She not only received a thorough wetting but an unexpected treasure. I came prepared for this eventuality with a fresh change of clothes. A part of me was even a little happy because now she was going to wear the outfit I picked instead of the interesting ensemble she put together that morning.

All happiness and humor disappear a short ten minutes later when she had a blowout of breast milk proportions. All playground equipment was unscathed but my arm was not so fortunate. Then I was forced to make some decisions. I didn't want to expose my half-naked daughter to the masses while I retrieved my keys and stroller from my sister's watchful care but there was no clear alternative since I had nothing but a severely soiled toddler on my person. Not even my phone to call for reinforcements. So I swallowed my disgust, thanked the Lord we had the generous private family bathroom instead of the ladies' room, and did a bit of laundry. I'm sure my sometimes homeless Grandma W would be proud. 

Wearing a damp skirt and a smile from going commando, my daughter and I make our way back to home base and praise the designers of the San Tan mall for having all the children's clothing stores lining the play area. A quick $5 later I have a happy girl in a new skirt and the distinct impression that I might not be cut out for this motherhood gig. 

Yet at the same time, I am insanely proud at how quickly and easily the little peanut figured it all out. I love the sweet way she says, "I did it!" and "pannies!" It always has an exclamation point when she says it, even though she leaves out the t. I also love how she started to hoard her M&M's, demanding her reward each time, but storing them in a pan at her toy kitchen and savoring them slowly throughout the day. I also have new love for my little carpet cleaning machine that was formerly used in only canine capacities.

Though the best thing to come from all of this mess? Canceling my diaper subscription to amazon. Now I can buy more crap instead of just dealing with it.

Walks

Walks have become rather difficult lately since my daughter has an excess of opinion when it comes to her wardrobe. She must put on her hat, jacket, mittens, and shoes as well as get her baby clipped in with two bottles of milk and her purse hanging on the handles of her baby stroller.

Then she asks, "Where's my phone?"

Yeeaaah, I have no idea where she learned this routine.

We had a small fight because she wanted to wear these shoes.

The hat is my latest crochet creation. I love it and I'm glad she loves wearing it too. For now at least.

These are also the shoes she managed to pee in during our potty training adventure. Twice, she peed in them twice. Oh and she wore them outside and stepped in dog poop.  I'm not sure if I will ever wear them again

These are the boots I was trying to get her to wear. Ones I thought were two sizes too big until she demanded to wear them and showed me otherwise. I think they just need some apple bottom jeans to go with them.

We have various fights about some thing every time. Sometimes she is demanding to hold the dog's leash or doesn't want to wear shoes at all, but there is always something.This means we start our walks off like this.

Yep, she manages to walk and push the stroller while crying into her blanket. She may have opinions, but she also has some serious talent.