Party Planning.

Our plans for this weekend included to get David a haircut,

attend a friend's birthday party

and remain sane... not necessarily in that order.

On the way home from a party, I tried getting David involved in planning his own birthday party since I am running out of ideas where to host his party.
Me: David, did you have fun today?
David: Yes.
Me: Would you like to have your party at the little gym?
David: No party!!!!
Me (kind of overjoyed at the idea of saving some cash this year): Why not?
David: I don't like my birthday party.
Me: Huh??? You don't want Saul, Aidan, Shaun, Marko (and the name of a every single boy he knows) coming to your party?
David: No!!!
Then I realized why he loves going to the parties, but wouldn't like his own. The candles. He doesn't like blowing the candles. He closes his eyes anytime someone else does it. I think he is scared of a fire.
Me: David, how about we have a party, invite your friends, sing "happy birthday" to you, but there won't be any candles?
Julia (listening to GPS): Turn right, mommy.
Me: Daddy's driving.
David: Okay. Julia is coming to my birthday party too?
So, I think it was decided on a party place. Seth tells David that his words have an incredible power over me. It is true, I will do absolutely anything as long as David expresses his desires through his words.

The Game Is On.

We play games with the kids all day long whether it is Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, Jenga, Boggle Jr. Letters or other dozen or so. So, why not add another one while eating dinner?

Seth and I are so sick of constantly arguing with the kids and reminding them of good table manners, like when they bang their silverware or blow bubbles in their water cup. Attempts to curb this behavior, like taking their plates away from them, were never successful. (Note: It isn't any better at lunch time.) At night, in addition to their bad behavior, they eat little or even nothing. (For some reason, at breakfast time they eat in almost absolute silence, perhaps because they're too hungry to cause a fuss.)

So, to enjoy our dinners, rather than argue with the kids during the entire meal, Seth invented yet another "game". He writes all our names on a blackboard and whenever someone misbehaves, they'll get an "x". Whoever gets 4 "x"s gets to take a shower! (Our kids despise taking showers). And the verdict is ... it worked so far. The most David received was 2 x's and that even bothered him. Neither child has taken a shower and I think the noise level decreased about 80%. That's a game where everyone wins.

November Recap.

I wish I could say that I was training for a marathon and that's why there was a gap in my blog updates. Unfortunately, I haven't done much running in the last few months. Instead, here's what I've been preoccupying myself obsessively with every single day for the last month and I wish I were doing it now rather than blogging about it.

That's right, knitting. A month ago I came across a knitting blog which led me to dozen other knitting blogs. I kept bookmarking beautiful items people posted pictures of. I kept restraining myself from running to a craft store, but finally I gave in and purchased enough yarn to last me for ... 2 days. I wish Julia shared my passion, but since she ends up staying in a cart while I shop, it's no wonder she gets a bit cranky when we approach the same store for the fifth time in one week. Maybe if I make enough knits for her, one day she'll add up the two together.

So, what exactly have I made so far? Most of the projects ended up being rolled back into a ball of yarn since I either didn't like the design, the yarn didn't work for that specific item or the size wasn't right. I intended to make these socks for Julia, but they ended up big enough to fit me. So, that's one of the projects that isn't going to be worn, but that's ok because I enjoy the process not just the finished project.

What made it to our drawers? Julia's scarf (not shown here), fingerless mittens for myself, a set of mittens and scarf for a friend.

Now, back to a more fun topic -- the kids. There have been some pretty fun, busy, testing, will-it-ever-end days last month. So, onto the pictures. Of course they won't tell it all since I usually don't take the pictures of the kids hitting each other, screaming from the top of their lungs or potty talking for hours.
David loves drawing and he is getting pretty good at that. Here's one of his "masterpieces" of him and his sister holding balloons (I only drew a large purple balloon).

Here is one of him , rainbow , sun and the clouds.

Here's a picture of two snowmen holding broomsticks.

The cooler days keep us home especially since Julia has zero tolerance for even a slight breeze. David has no understanding of time yet, so our time outside is spent listening to one kid screaming "I am too cold, I want to go home" and the other "Five for minutes, please". It goes on like this for an hour and neither one of them enjoys playing. So, while the kids are asleep my mind plans the activities for when they wake up. Baking,

Non-stop singing from David's favorite "Free to Be You and Me" book,

Making a necklace (for Julia "b'cause big boys don't wear a necklace"),

Drumming (yes, call me crazy, but I do let him "play" drums),

Building Christmas tree out of playdough

And just old-fashioned playing. (Noticed a cape and a mask worn on both pictures on two different occasions? Once getting them as a favor at a birthday party, David wouldn't take them off for a week. What about the school? Playgrounds? Yes, he insisted on wearing them there too. We have to hide Julia's costume as she wants to wear it everywhere too. When I forget and call her "my princess" she literally yells back at me " I am not a princess, I am Tinkle Bell". It is too funny.)

Seth would always invent a game to teach David just about anything. So, to teach him higher numbers, Seth would draw a chart with David and Julia's names on it. He would draw a number and whoever would guess it right, would get a star in front of that child's name (of course, usually David would be the one getting more stars). At the end, whoever gets all four or five stars gets a spin from Seth. So, one time, out of nowhere David drew a chart, wrote "mama" and "J" for Julia and started playing this game with us. I let Julia guess the numbers, David would draw a circle next to her letter and at the end he gave her a hug. I had to turn the camera off for a hug and run to save Julia as hug turned into a strangle.

Every weekend we took the kids to play a miniature golf at an enclosed warehouse. I can't believe how concentrated both Julia and David get. Too bad we had to leave after two rounds.

David went bowling with Seth which our son is pretty good at this too.

I took both kids to the concert with some of their friends. They had a blast there.

Unfortunately, I missed David's Thanksgiving performance at his school, but Seth and Julia made it. Seth told me David did a great job singing two songs instead of running towards him.

Speaking of Thanksgiving. We were celebrating the holiday with Seth's cousins, uncle and aunt. As soon as we walked into the house (I had never been there before), I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry. Decide for yourself what I did especially since a dining room was located next to the instrument room. Oh, yes and they had 3 guitars (two of which they hid right away after seeing David's "performance") and a piano.

I don't know when I'll post next, but I'll be back.

Happy Halloween (About 3 Days Too Late).

(pumpkin drawn by David and carved out by Seth)

This year both David and Julia were grown enough to understand what Halloween was all about (it did help reading hundreds of books about this topic). They picked their own costumes last summer and David was disappointed that Disney store ran out of Peter Pan's hats and swords. Seth worked from home that day, so he could take David trick-or-treating to the stores in our town as he did when he was growing up in Leonia. Both kids ended up trick-or-treating 3 times on Friday. Unfortunately, I was so tired that day that I kept forgetting to bring my camera.
Luckily, I remembered to grab it just for long enough to take these shots.

I like how some people get into the spirit of Halloween. I am not one of these people and maybe that's why I really do appreciate it even more so when others make fools of themselves and the kids love it. We couldn't miss a famous witch's house who gives out toys and candies for Halloween.

David received a dinosaur and Julia got a bunny. She wasn't letting her new toy out of her sight. Now they both sleep with their stuffed animals.

The Halloween is over, but my kids still wear their costumes. It took me awhile to convince David to wear his regular clothes to the park yesterday and as soon as he got home from school today he announced that he is wearing his Peter Pan costume to bed at nap time.

One Great Weekend.

There are weekends, and then there are great weekends. This weekend was the latter. Not only did the kids have non-stop fun, but so did Seth and I. Saturday started off with a Halloween parade in our town. Of course, my kids went as Peter Pan and Tinker Bell. Julia actually believes she is Tinker Bell for real. One thing that was great this year was that both Julia and David were thrilled that they recognized a lot more costumes than last year.

Here they are with their friend, Snow White (a.k.a. Olivia) whose birthday we would celebrate a few hours later that day.

David was so excited to walk in the parade that he was actually skipping.

He shortly ditched his sister and joined Olivia.

Once in the Recreation Center, decorated for the Halloween season, they headed straight for the treats.

The kids were chasing one another like maniacs, and barely paused long enough so that the parents could take a picture of them.

A short time later, they were changed and ready to celebrate Olivia's 4th Birthday. After getting them dressed, Seth and I got ready while they preoccupied themselves with their favorite activity -- "reading."

Party time! For my kids it meant running, eating pizza and then a frozen dessert.

On Sunday, we continued celebrating Halloween by heading to the annual Cabbage Night Family Festival at the James A. McFaul Environmental Center in Wyckoff, NJ, which provided a zillion free activities for the kids. Some of the activities that the kids enjoyed weren't even part of the festival.

We went on a hay(-less) ride.

The kids participated on stage with the musicians and while Julia bolted after the first song, David actually participated for the duration of both songs.

David pushed his way into the bouncy carousel-house and I couldn't get him out.

Pumpkin painting was kind of activity they just wanted to get out of the way, so they could go on having fun again. After slopping on a few splotches of paint, they were on to the next activity!

They both rode ponies.

Over two hours later and with both kids missing their naps, they could barely stand on their feet.

Of course, once the car pulled into the garage at home, the kids' energy skyrocketed and sleeping wasn't in their plans. They both went biking, helped Seth in the garden and then proceeded to turn our living room upside down.

It was indeed a great weekend.

It Took Only Three and a Half Years.

I never thought I would live to see a day my son asks to go the pool. It started off with Seth taking Julia to the pool on a weekend. And just from nowhere, David expressed a desire to join them. The good news? David doesn't want to get out of the water now. Not so good, Julia wants nothing to do with the pool.

Creating.

Once in a while I have an urge to create something. I don't mean something that involves child size scissors, color paper, a stick of glue or a stick or two of butter. That usually involves the kids. My sort of "creating" occurs after the kids go to sleep while I'm watching repeats of old "House" episodes and continuing through "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" ... and beyond.
The other day as David decided to skip his nap and sat on the floor, quietly copying the book titles into his notebook, he inspired me to create as well. So that night I knitted a hat for Julia which seemed appropriate considering we are in the middle of the fall.

I think Julia approved of it. She loved getting all the compliments the next day and telling everybody that "Mama made it for me".

Unfortunately, the hat came out a bit too small, so it was back to the drawing board. The next night, I made another one that was a bit larger. And what of the first hat that was too small? David inherited it! For some reason, he took to the undersized hat. He even wore it when he went to sleep tonight! I promised David to make him a blue hat that would be his size - after all, it only takes a few hours to knit. But knowing him, he'll probably insist on wearing the small purple hat anyway.