A Day at the Zoo

Today has been a really fun day. I took Jack and Raphael to the Zoo (Jack napped the whole time), and we got tickets for the Chinese Acrobats show at the park later on. It was so fun to hang out with my little guy. He's such a happy kid, and has a great sense of humor. His favorite animals today were the Sea Lions.

I tried to get a perfect picture of us. I thought I had failed after three times, but realized these ARE the perfect pictures of us. :-)

What Kids Do

The day before yesterday I put Raphael down for a nap a little before dinner time. He was so tired and cranky that I figured he could sleep for a half an hour and "refresh". At first he cried, then everything was too quiet (I can usually hear him talking himself to sleep). By this time Marco was home and went to check on him. Raphael was sitting on his bed with a box of granola bars, all ten open, three of them eaten, the rest missing bites... He explained, "I was so hungry!!"
I am reconsidering keeping food in his bathroom linen closet. :-)

This morning started well. I left the kids at the breakfast table while I went to change my clothes, and then I hear Julianna screaming.

Me: Julianna, what happened?
Julianna: Michael hit me really hard in my stomach!
Me: Michael why did you do that?
Michael: I did not hit her! She was choking and I was trying to save her life by doing a Heimlich maneuver.
Julianna: I was not choking, I was just coughing!

Seriously? Does anyone want 4 kids?

Who Can Resist?

A baby that just came out of a bath and smells like honey? I can't... :-)

Daddy Bucks

Here I am again. I feel so anxious today. First day of school, and my sister Anna just had gastric bypass surgery. I have been so anxious about her surgery, but everything went fine. :-)
I feel relief when I write, so here I am trying to calm down and not eat all the cookies I just baked... :-)

Today we're starting the Daddy Bucks system at my house again. I got the idea from the magazine Family Fun, Sept/09 issue, page 31, and we've been doing it on and off since I first read the article. My kids love the system and are excited to start again (we stopped in the Summer).
Here is how it works: They get "Daddy Bucks" by doing their chores, homework, reading, etc and they can spend them on "Mommy's Mart" (video game time, TV time, ice cream outing, family game, etc). I print the Daddy bucks from the website festisite.com/money (with their Daddy's picture - they think it's really cool!) and they each have an envelope where they keep their money. The system works really well. This way I got my kids to help out around the house a lot more, and to have more control over TV/video game time. :-)

Oh I have to put pictures of Jack having his "tummy time"... He's just so darn cute!!!

Back To School

My alarm clock rang at 7am today, and to my surprise, Julianna and Michael were already in the shower. They were so excited to get to school early. Julianna made "Welcome" cards to all kids and teachers in her class. Michael made sure he looked his best. As a mom, I remember those days... now I can feel the joy all over again for them. The only problem is that I miss them so much when they leave!

Gap Jeans

I took Julianna shopping for a new pair of jeans for me. We went to Gap at the Galleria Mall, and she was way more excited than I was (I don't really like shopping for post-pregnancy pants :-)). I was looking in a rack of "destructed" style jeans, which had holes in them and looked faded. Julianna was clearly upset I was looking at those jeans. "Mom, why do they sell old jeans with holes? They look so ugly!" I answered, "It's in style right now, Sweetie." She replied, "Is the store called Gap because of the holes?" Lol :-)

Yep, that's me here... right!

Mom, I Accidentaly Ate Another Penny

"Mom, I accidentaly ate another penny," said Michael over tears. "What do you mean another penny? When was the first one? And why would you eat a penny?"
Michael, who is 10, admitted that when he is bored he does stupid things. I guess he learned a lesson here.
Punishment? I now call him Piggy Bank. Ha!