2015 :: week 13

March 22

Now that we have afternoon church I have more time to pamper Lauren in the morning. I never thought I would look forward to and enjoy painting my daughter's nails, but it turns out I do.

March 23

For the last day of Spring Break Will and I worked on a solar system poster for his room. It is something that he has wanted to do for awhile and I finally got around to taking him to Hobby Lobby and getting the supplies. If you are new to world of solar system models, they sell kits that are far more cost effective than buying individual styrofoam balls. We had a fun, albeit mildly chaotic afternoon of painting planets while trying to make dinner for the missionaries and keeping Lauren from painting herself.

March 24

The finished product! Will was very proud of his poster and to be honest, so am I. It even lasted four days on his wall without falling or having a planet fall off (due to over touching).

March 25

It warmed up a bit on Wednesday and the kids played in the backyard for an extended period of time for the first time since last winter. Lauren has decided she wants to try her hand at climbing trees. I enjoyed getting a little Vitamin D and seeing the daffodils in bloom.

March 26

I snapped this picture as we were getting the kids ready for bed. Will likes to wear socks to bed and watching him walk down the hall with no pants and black socks made me laugh out loud.

March 27

Every March my extended Crane family members try to attend the temple at least once in honor of my Grandpa Crane's birthday (March 29, 1905). Friday night we took this flattering selfie as we headed home after a very full session.

March 28

Anthony has taught the kids that graham crackers and milk is the perfect afternoon snack. Before the basketball games and our evening activities started the kids watched Cinderella and dunked some graham crackers in milk.

bedtime contraband

I was reminiscing the other day about how easy it used to be to put Lauren to bed. When she got tired she would grab her blankets and walk upstairs to her room and ask us to put her in bed. She would often sing or talk to her "kids" for awhile, but putting Lauren to bed was generally a fast and pleasant experience. We are making up for that now.

A few things have changed: 1-we took away her pacifiers, 2-she's transitioned from her crib to a toddler bed, and 3-we started keeping more toys in her room after her birthday and Christmas. Apparently the freedom of the toddler bed paired with losing the relaxing effect of the pacifiers and the toys in her room are proving to be too much of a temptation and she can't help but play once she's left to herself. It was her "after lights out" shenanigans that caused us to move her back to her own room after about a month of sharing with Will. For the most part he is a rule follower and her nighttime sneakiness was driving him crazy and keeping him up much later than before they shared a room.

   How can wearing a crown to bed be comfortable?

I went to check on her and she had two tubs stacked on her bed. Who knows if she actually played with them or just planned to play with them and fell asleep before she got around to it.

Sleeping in the hallway with a few of her kids and books. 

I guess she'll never get lonely with all these trinkets in her bed.

We've started taking the toys out of her room and putting them up high in her closet where she can't reach them, but she still manages to smuggle things into her bed. We basically have to do a bed check every night at bedtime to make sure she isn't hiding something under the pillow or blanket. What drives me the most crazy is that it's almost like she wants to get caught. She gets this sly smile when I lift up her covers and find a handful of duplos. This girl is keeping my brain active!

2015 :: week 12

March 15

I've mentioned that Lauren likes to stash things before. Sunday during church she was shoving pieces of the foam number puzzle we have in our church bag up her leggings!

March 16

Monday was the first day of "Spring Break" and the weather was excellent. We had a fun day chock full activities. In the afternoon the kids were hot (and a little sticky from the free ice cream cones we picked up at Dairy Queen) so we turned on the sprinkler in the back yard. My phone said it was 83 degrees.

March 17

Tuesday was about 20 degrees cooler than Monday and my allergies hit in full force. We went to  Will's friend's home for a St. Patrick's Day party, which was nice because I did nothing to celebrate at home besides set out green clothes for the kids.

March 18

Wednesday was rainy and gray. We got out a bit in the morning, but spent the entire afternoon and evening indoors. Anthony went and played basketball after putting the kids to bed by himself. I took this picture of the things the kids threw over the balcony while I was distracted with relief society stuff after they were supposed to be in bed.

March 19

Day 2 of the rain and cold and day three of my obnoxious sinus headache. The kids were stir crazy and all I wanted to do was stay in bed and read. I finally bribed the kids with an hour of playtime at the new McDonald's playplace and hot fudge sundaes if they would play quietly in their room for an hour (in addition to our regular quiet time). Definitely worth it, though I was not the only parent with a similar idea. The place was packed and it was a lot harder to read my book than I had anticipated.

March 20

Friday night we went to the Plaza to get some dessert and search for bunny statues. The kids really wanted to go to the park, but it had been so wet the past few days I wasn't sure how dry it would be. The Plaza was a fun second choice. We spotted several bunnies and had a fun time exploring (and eating ice cream). Lauren chose her own outfit. She's wearing three shades of pink, mixing multiple prints and had far from the most daring ensemble we saw that night.

March 21

We had a busy Spring Saturday. We finally upgraded our phones! Did some cleaning, hung some pictures, watched lots of basketball and attended a baptism. After dinner we went to the park. The kids rode their bikes and were so pleased to park their bikes at the bike rack. Will rode right over and positioned his bike and looked so satisfied with himself. He's pointed out other bike racks to me before when we've been out, it's clearly something that he's been wanting to use for awhile.

caricatures

A few weeks ago we went to a "Winter Beach Bash" put on by our credit union. One of the things we did while there was have our caricatures drawn. Here they are:

Not to muddy the waters of opinion too much, but I think the boys are slightly more recognizable than the girls (the same artist drew Anthony and Will, and a different artist drew Lauren and me). Worth remembering, it took less time to wait in line and have all four of these drawn than it did for Will and I to wait in line and have a balloon sword made by the balloon artist.

mr. clean

No, not the bald guy who's tough on dirt and makes amazing magic erasers. Will J. Will has been on a cleaning kick lately that is starting to exhaust me! It all started a few weeks ago when he helped Anthony vacuum and realized he wasn't scared of it anymore. It intensified when I let him use the hose attachment and help vacuum out the inside of our car Monday. By Thursday morning he was waking me up rolling the vacuum into my room around 7:15 am and asking me if he could vacuum in my bathroom because he "saw some dirt and dust in there."

I'm quite proud of him for not only being willing to help around the house, but also for taking initiative to get work done. Unfortunately, his size, capabilities and attention span limit the usefulness of what he does. I'm learning again that I like to be in control by how tense I feel when he does something very differently than the "right" way I do it, and it's good for me to relax a bit.

It is nice having someone push me to get some things done too. Cleaning windows is never high on my list of "must get done soon" chores, but when Will asks me, "What's next on the list?" I'm having to get creative to find things he can do that won't stress me out if it isn't done perfectly.

And he is setting a good example for this girl too, and I appreciate that.

2015 :: week 11

March 8

Will went on a "nature hunt" in my parents' backyard Sunday after church. This past weekend it really warmed up and consequently we spent more time outside in the past seven days than we have collectively spent outside since January. It was a nice change of pace.

March 9

The first order of business after we picked Will up from preschool Monday afternoon was a ride through the car wash. Our poor car had a couple months of accumulated grime on the outside and the lines at the car wash were finally short enough that we were able to clean the car in a timely fashion. I wasn't about to wait in lines 20 cars deep (like we saw over the weekend) for a car wash.

March 10

Will made this puppet at school. He said its named it Tony John, but unlike his dad it has a mustache and wears glasses (but the glasses are to be like Will). He then gave the puppet to Lauren, unless he wants it back, in which case it is his again. Complicated gifting makes for lots of tears of frustration from both the giver and receiver.

March 11

Whenever I see Lauren ride a bike or tricycle I think of the guy driving an old lorry at the end of 101 Dalmations that mutters, "Crazy woman driver!" as Cruella runs off the road. She can peddle, but steering is another story. Luckily she's had lots of time to practice this week and has shown TONS of improvement. When TJ got home from work we went for a walk around the block and opted to push her in order to finish the walk in a timely fashion.

March 12

Thursday evening was our RS monthly meeting and this month we celebrated the RS birthday. As part of our program we had 8 sisters from the ward dress up as General RS Presidents from the past and share a bit of their personal history and the hallmarks of their tenures as president. As a woman who likes history, I quite enjoyed the night. 

March 13

Friday night we let the kids pick out their own mini carton of ice cream at Hy-Vee and then stopped by my parents to say hi to Laura. She's visiting for the week and we want to hang out with her while we can. 

March 14

We went outside to ride bikes, but the kids spent the first several minutes we were outside watching the kids across the street play basketball. TJ, Lauren and I have been hit with allergies this week and have started taking allergy meds again, so we were more tired than usual. We had a pretty low-key Saturday. Anthony helped with a move in the morning, and after dinner we went to a fun Pi(e) Night party hosted by our friends, the Chases.

2015 :: week 10

March 1

Will enjoyed playing some prophet memory on lds.org for awhile Sunday.

March 2

Will and I made some cookies for FHE Monday night. Can you guess which cookies he and Lauren rolled and put on the cookie sheet? Lauren wanted to make snakes and Will was quite taken with the idea. I wasn't sure how they would cook compared to the regular round cookies, but they turned out just fine.

March 3

It's pretty safe to say Lauren loves grapefruit. I had half as part of my breakfast Tuesday morning and she snagged the other half off the counter and went to town on it while watching Curious George. By the time she was done with it the inside was completely gone, all that was left was the peel. She had to change shirts because the shirt she was wearing was drenched with juice.

March 4

Lauren's bed is always full of treasures. She likes to hide stuff for later and play after she's been put to bed. I found her with legos perched on her headboard and you can't see it but there is basket filled with more odds and ends under her pillow. When I asked her how she slept with the basket there she said it "wasn't very comfy." She's in that awful stage where she doesn't want and really need a nap most days, but she could really benefit from some quiet time and more often than not falls asleep when we drive somewhere for more than 10 minutes in the afternoon.

March 5

The kids (especially Lauren) have been asking to play with play-doh for several days. I have a love/hate relationship with play-doh. The kids love it and will spend hours working on various creations, but they make such a mess and we end up with play-doh crumbs all over the place and smeared into clothes.

March 6

Friday the kids were excited to spend some time with Anthony. He spent the week in Huntsville, AL, which is where the NASA space camp is located. Mentioning rockets once to Will was all it took for him to become hooked. Here they are watching a youtube video of a shuttle launch.

March 7

Lauren was very pleased with herself for "helping" me frost a strawberry cake for a potluck dinner we hosted with a few of Anthony's co-workers and their families Saturday night. If this picture taken by my cell phone doesn't convince me to finally upgrade my phone (I've been eligible for months but am too lazy to do it) I don't know if anything ever will.

2015 :: week 9

February 22

Sunday night we "met" our newest niece, Leah. She was born February 17th to Melanie and Andrew in Florida. After dinner we chatted with them and had fun watching Leah sleep. Unfortunately, Leah likes to rest during the early evening and gets more alert (and hungry!) as the night goes on. She's a cutie and it's fun to see Melanie and Andrew as a mom and dad. We knew they'd be good parents because they've been an awesome aunt and uncle to our kids for years.

February 23

This week it was Lauren's turn to "be in charge" of the treats for our FHE. I gave her three options (chocolate pudding, chocolate chip cookies, or rice krispy treats) and she got to choose the one we would make. She chose the rice krispy treats, much to Will's chagrin.

February 24

Lately Lauren has really turned a corner with potty training. She's been able to hold her urine for long periods of time and rarely has accidents...wait for the qualifier...as long as I remind her to try about every 90 minutes. In the past two weeks she has started going on her own and it is amazing. She now puts her seat on top, pushes a stool over and climbs up all by herself. There might be a little light at the end of this long, frustrating tunnel!

February 25

The kids (especially Will) love to wrestle. Whenever Tony gets home the first thing they ask is if he wants to wrestle with them. They are currently on a Lion King kick, and enjoy pretending to be Scar, Nala, Simba and the hyenas.

February 26

Will has been scared of the vacuum for most of his life. He has hated the noise since he was about 9 months old and I have to give him a warning to let him know I am planning on vacuuming before I start. But last Saturday Anthony let him help vacuum and now he isn't scared anymore! When we were tidying up Thursday afternoon Will insisted that he help vacuum. Also, Christmas shirt and slightly large khakis on Will mean it must have been a mega laundry day.

February 27

I keep the digital files of the pictures I've taken over the past 10+ years on CDs in a filebox. I'm aware that this is not the most efficient or safest way to store them. I left it out last week (my fault) and Lauren got into it, taking every. single. CD. out of its case and making the most annoying, disorganized mess possible.

February 28

Saturday afternoon our credit union had a "Winter Beach Bash" to celebrate the grand opening of their new headquarters in Overland Park. It was a really fun outing on a cold and snowy afternoon. There was lots of free food and fun activities (face painting, balloons, caricatures) for the kids. Lauren at an entire Chick-fil-A sandwich by herself.