Spring has Sprung!

We have been getting tons of rain and a few nice warm days over here. As a result, the flowers and trees are in bloom finally and it is so great. It really puts a smile on my face to see all the bulbs I planted in the fall come up and see it all filled in nicely. I can't wait to see what else comes up in the next few weeks. I have a few things I'd like to do to our landscaping this spring, we shall see if I get around to it now or it happens in the fall. Regardless...I am just so happy spring is finally here and the relaxing days of summer are just around the corner.

Here are my little green thumbs in training...they are good about helping me pick leaves out of the beds and spotting weeds. Jimmy is good about picking up (and throwing) rocks.

If he wasn't so cute....

Jimmy has been a handful lately. He's been a little you know what. Kurt got a taste of how things have been this past week this weekend, so it's not just me. Anyway, he basically doesn't listen and whines a ton if something isn't the exact way he wants it to be. Anyway, the only thing that is keeping him alive is that he is so adorable. Really. I don't think I could possibly produce a more beautiful child...which is why I am done. He has the greatest smile and cutest voice. He just has the funniest stuff to say.

• I was drinking a Diet Coke and he asked me what I was drinking...I told him "Diet Coke." Jimmy then held up his sippy cup and proclaimed "Diet Juice!"
• The other day he was sitting quietly in his room. I thought for sure something awful was going on, but he was sitting there reading 2 religious books (the only 2 in there of about 100) and he told me he was reading about God and that Jesus loves him.
• After his nap lately he wants to sit on the couch and just sort of wake up, but he does it like a little man, he kicks back with his back on the pillows and crosses his leg over his knee and just looks like he's done it for years. I am waiting for him to yell..."Kate, bring me a beer!"
• He also has also been using the statement "I Hate...." lately. I don't like it, but if only you could hear his little voice saying "I hate lotion!" You would crack up.

I Went to the Prom!

My moms group sponsors an event called the Mom Prom. It's held at our church, we have a DJ and it's BYOB. The best part is that it's girls only, so tons of fun, mostly dancing to some great tunes from our youth. This is the 4th year that we've done it. The first year it was just a small group of us that dressed up for fun and went out to eat and then dancing. So many people stopped us and asked us what we were doing and said it looked like fun. One of our friends thought that this would be something that others would like to do, why not make it a full fledged prom and see if we could raise money for a local charity. Well, it has evolved into a pretty big deal and we raised alot of money in ticket sales for St. Vincent de Paul and a local women's shelter.

I did not keep any of my prom dresses from high school...although there were some real nice ones in there, not that I would be able to squeeze into them. I kept a handful of bridesmaid dresses for I don't know what. The first year we had Mom Prom, I wore a dress that i wore in my friend Nikki's wedding. It's actually a cute dress. Last year I really wanted a southern belle dress and found a pretty sweet looking one on eBay. This year I wanted a more glamorous, screaming late 80s, early 90s dress. I think I outdid myself with my eBay find. I was able to accessorize it with gloves I wore in my friend Jennie's wedding and jewelry I wore in my friend Erin's wedding, both from 1999. My hair was a creation all in it's own. I haven't seen that much height since the 90s.
Ellen also found a dress on eBay and accessorized it with a few pieces from my vast collection of jewels. These were featured on myself in 1994, also worn with a black and white dress, that at the time I thought was "elegant" - it involved a short sweeping train. Such class.

The fun part about Mom Prom is going with your girlfriends. I am also lucky to call my neighbors friends. Here we are posing for the husbands & kiddos before we go off to the prom. Debbie (3rd from left) is wearing the dress I wore in my friend Jennie's wedding. Such a beauty. Cheryl (4th from left) is wearing one of our other friend's dresses. She described it as the dress that "most looked like a tablecloth" due to it's jacquard fabric.

We all headed to eat at an Italian Restaurant before. We got a couple of stares and I think that our waiter was a little flustered by us. I am not sure if it was because we were all so beautiful or if he thought we looked ridiculous and he'd never do such a thing as this in all of his 23 years. Regardless, it was fun and we had a nice time. Much like the proms of our past, but with legal alcohol and minus the teen angst.

Once we got to the Prom, we got a table and about 10 of us gathered around and scoped out the situation. There were lots of dresses, some of which we had seen or had worn at one point in our youth. There were a few nice looking dresses that didn't qualify as hideous in my book. They actually looked nice. Anyway, I think part of the fun is making it a little silly...so I will continue to do so. Here I am showing off how glamorous I am with my Cosmo, gloves and bracelet in the church gym.

Amy, Cherie & Lisa

These lovely ladies met us at the prom. They are some of my friends from my PreMom, Single days. Amy is wearing my dress from last year...it's quite a look. Cherie is wearing Cheryl's dress from last year that she also found on eBay and Lisa is wearing her original prom dress from 1991. They are looking pretty darn fancy.

But as I was dancing and just having a blast, I looked around the room and saw so many of my friends. It really hit me as I looked around. I have some pretty great friends...

• My moms group friends - are so critical to my sanity as a mom and have helped me really have a connection to our church community and our little suburb. These are the women I can just sit and talk about nothing with and just crack up. Not only do we share our faith in God, but we share the fact that we are stay at home moms and it's a hard job. So many think that it is easier than it is...but it's not. I need these women in my life...if for nothing more than that they get my life.
• My neighborhood friends. We couldn't have picked a better depreciating neighborhood to throw money at. Regardless of plummeting home values, i look out my door (front and back) and know that I have some great people to count on (and their husbands are great too). They are all like family. We break bread, share bottles of wine, boxes of mac & cheese, jewelry, chairs, whatever. We yell at each other's kids. It's like a commune, but no hippy clothes and I shave daily.
• My OLD Friends. Cherie & Amy. When I say OLD, I mean it in the fact that we go back 9 years (but they are older than me, by less than a year, but still, older). I actually met Kurt on a night out with Amy. Had she not been chatting it up with some other guy when I walked into the bar, I probably wouldn't have gone up to get a drink on my own at the bar, thus running into a guy that thought I was just about it. Something I really needed at that point in my life...who would have thought that i'd marry him! Today, Amy & I have the pleasure of being married to hard core Tiger Fans and have attended our share of games. Amy introduced me to Cherie (her high school friend) and we became roommates. We had some good times at that apartment, a memorable home party, TV nights, a non-existent 3rd roommate, followed by an awful 3rd roommate who wasn't shy when it came to time with her boyfriend. She met her husband through Kurt & I. We still do tons of stuff together with our kids, but recognize that it's fun to do stuff without them too.

Friends come and go in our lives, but really it's these relationships that sustain us. Even if you're not particularly close at that moment, what you had at one point helped you be who you are today. You never know when you meet someone what kind of impact they will have on your life. I looked at all of these girls and thought about how choices you make in life lead you down a certain path. I am so glad I chose a path with so many friends. I can't imagine my life without these fantastic ladies!

I am Such a Morning Person!

Anyone that just read that title, knows either someone has hacked onto my blog or I have totally changed personalities. I am SOOOOOOOOOO Not a morning person. I loathe getting out of bed every morning. I hate moving out of the soft, warm sheets. I hate interrupting my dreams. I have very vivid dreams most nights. It's like my own movies....every night. I actually look forward to it. Having to get out of bed puts an end to the show and forces me to attack the day. Now, when I say attack the day, i mean get out bed and make coffee. Seeing as how it is 2009, one would think that I would just set the timer on the coffee pot to have the coffee ready for when i meander downstairs...but I rarely do it. Why? Because if I set the coffee pot, then i won't get out of bed to get Kurt's coffee ready and I will sleep away the morning (or until the kids wake up). If I am forced to make coffee and put Kurt's lunch together, I will be awake enough in 10 minutes to function. I know, it's sort of crazy logic.

Lately, Julia has been waking up with Kurt. Kurt has known me a little longer than Julia and knows how to talk to me in the morning....in short bursts of repetitive sentences spread over about 20 minutes. Things like "Kate, get up!" "Kate, I need your help!" "Kate, I have to leave soon!" Nothing that requires any volley of conversation beyond a grunt to let him know that I have heard him. He knows that similar to how his body reacts at 8pm, mine is the same at 6am. We are polar opposites when it comes to our sleep patterns (among other things), he's a morning person and I am a night owl. Now, Julia doesn't get that you don't really "talk" to mommy in the morning. She wakes up ready to attack the day, cheerful, talking about whatever is important to a 4 year old (Going to Disney World, How she'll wear her hair, what she's eating for breakfast). Unfortunately, all of her talking requires responses and I can't deal with it until I have had my coffee. This morning was no exception. Kurt was running late and he put her in charge of waking me up. Bad move. She deviated from the short statements. She followed me downstairs with her incessant chatter. It took all i had to not tell her to SHUT UP (we don't use that word in our house). Here is a snippet of our conversation, rather her conversation with a zombie of a mom...

Julia Grace: Mom - Dad says to get up. Dad - she's not getting up. Mom get up.
a few minutes later, as I am stumbling down the hallway down the stairs to the kitchen
JG: Mom, Do we have anything going on today? Mom, when are we going to Disney? I think that Jimmy would love to ride Splash Mountain. You can scream. He likes to scream. Don't you think that would be coool? Mom?
Zombie Mom: Trying to keep it cool and not yell...Julia, can you talk quietly inside your head for a few minutes?
JG: Mom, I'd like to eat the Hannah Montana Cereal for breakfast. i am hungry. Mom, do you think Kylie would like to come over today? I hope she's not sick. Mom, can we watch Bearnstain this morning? Mom, what day is today? Is it the weekend?
ZM: Fumbling with the coffee, eyes half closed...Julia can you please go upstairs and talk to Daddy?
JG: Cheerfully runs upstairs to bug him about when we're going to Disney so he can silently scream in his head.

Ahh, silence...that's what i need...about 8 minutes of silence, making lunch, waiting for the coffee to brew...by the time I am ready for my cup I can function, Julia can ask all the questions she wants.

In addition to Julia's interrogations, Jimmy also got up. He's not a morning person. He wakes up like me, disoriented and you don't really talk to him much. We had a breakdown in communication regarding cereal this morning.

Cheerful Stay at Home Mom: Jimmy, what kind of cereal do you want?
Caveman Jimmy: Scowl My own.
CSAHM: What flavor, Cheerios, Cocoa Puffs, Mini Wheats or Hannah Montana?
CJ: I want my own!
CSAHM: I know, but what kind?
CJ: MY OWN!
Yelling SAHM: What. Kind. of. Cereal. do. you. want?
CJ: MY OWN!

I gave up. After 15 minutes of the same conversation, he eventually picked. But not after sounding pathetic with big tears on his face. Gosh, to be 2. Life is pretty tough.

So, top of the morning to all of you! May your mornings be filled with silence and a big ole cup of coffee (better yet with fat free french vanilla cream).

Easter

We decided to spend Easter in my hometown to spend time with Papa and Grandma Cindy before they left for vacation. We spent the night on Saturday at my mom's, so we didn't have to make the drive in the morning.

After church. we headed out to the farm where we ate and let the kids play and enjoy the sun. They had a great time!

My sister also took some great pictures and posted them here on her blog.

After spending the early afternoon with my family, we headed back home to spend some time with Kurt's family. We celebrated his Aunt & Uncle's (also Kurt's Godfather) 50th Wedding Anniversary. They married later in life and I am sure that they never thought they'd make it to 50 years. As always, there was so much food. Always way more than we could possibly eat. I guess that is a good thing, but it gets to the point where you have to laugh packing it all up. I will look forward to making the Ham Bone Soup that I love to make - get the recipe here. It's easy and really good! I look forward to it every year.

Sunday night brought lots of organizing of toys and candy that came to us from all of those that want to give the little ones some Easter treats. We love that everyone loves the kids, but sometimes it is a little overwhelming...all the stuff. Anyone that knows Kurt, knows he just loves to surround himself with clutter and kid stuff (hahaha). Anyway, we now have so much candy and chocolate...I am going to have to dole it out slowly and hopefully refrain from eating too much of it myself.

Easter Egg Hunt

As a kid I never hunted for Easter Eggs. I know this for a fact. I am sure that my mom will say that we did...but I know that we didn't. We dyed eggs, we decorated with them, but there was never a hunt for eggs. I can't have that for our kids...they will hunt for Easter Eggs...they will have fun doing it. So i told the girls that I wanted to do it and we put it together. The kids had fun, too bad it was FREEZING COLD!

The Kids Patiently Waiting to Start

Hopefully the kids will have great memories of Easter Egg hunts with their neighborhood friends for the year's to come. I don't want to repeat the cycle of my childhood. I mean, no egg hunt? What kind of parents did I have?

Visiting The Farm

Last Thursday we made the trek to the Farm to visit Papa and Grandma Cindy. Normally this wouldn't be all that out of the ordinary, but we thought we'd make the visit because the day after Easter, they left for a vacation...for 5 months! We aren't going to see them for 5 months! They will be part of a group that will be riding their horses from the Mexican border to the Canadian Border. They will be riding a little bit every day and sleeping in their camper at night. It should be a great experience for them. They are also blogging their trip, so check it out from time to time. Anyway...the kids had to check out where they'd be living for the next few months. They also brought lots of artwork to decorate the camper with. Julia had fun picking where to hang everything.

Playing on the Couch/Bed/Kitchenette

A trip to the farm wouldn't be complete without a ride on Noah...thankfully he was still there. He will be staying at another farm while they are gone. Hopefully it will work out, since i am sure that my cousins (who are house sitting) would not want to take care of a horse too.

Julia & Papa
Jimmy & a Cat..

Julia & Grandma Cindy

Jimmy, Papa & Julia playing with the cats

The kids had a great time playing outside and playing in the Camper. I am sure they will really miss Papa and Grandma Cindy while they are gone. Jimmy loves going to Papa's and talks about it at least every other day. Hopefully they will get the concept of "vacation" and that they will be back...5 months is a long time for a little kid and a big one.

Phrases the Kids Say and What they Mean

The kids say the strangest things if you don't know what they are talking about. They require some translation...

1. Shaker Cheese Please! We buy the giant canister of Kraft Parmesan Cheese from Costco and it gets replaced about every month or so. The kids put it on everything. They prefer the powdery kind to the fresh grated stuff. Anyway...they request "Shaker Cheese" on just about everything.


2. I want a Big Ball! See #1 - the shaker cheese gets balls of cheese and the kids like to eat the big balls of cheese. The challenge is to eat it without it breaking.


3. I'm gonna put you in the garbage. Somehow a few months back, we told Julia that we found her in the garbage when she was a baby. I have no idea why we said that...we were of course joking. But she went with it and asked all sorts of questions about it. Anyway, she knew we were joking and it got funnier and funnier. Well, Jimmy caught on and thought it would be funny to tell everyone that he's "Gonna Put You in the Garbage!" Kind of inappropriate, but it's funny in his little voice.

These little phrases and things they say and do I hope that I never forget, but I am sure that I will...thank GOD that I am blogging and keeping a record so I can smile in 25 years.

Julia in Makeup

Saturday Julia had her dance pictures taken. Her recital isn't for another month, but they do the pictures early enough so we get them before classes end for the year. We have had her costume for a few weeks, but she really wasn't interested in trying it on for more than 1 minute, because it was scratchy. I was worried that the pictures were going to be a disaster.

That was before I realized that she was going to get to wear makeup. She was so jazzed about getting to wear makeup that I could have wrapped her body in steel wool. We started to get ready about an hour and a half before we needed to go, because I was still anticipating disaster. O put her hair in hot rollers (a first) and then applied her makeup. Not really sure how much to put on or how to do it for a 4 year old. I didn't want her to look like a Jon Benet or versions of Lib and I as kids when our mom did our makeup for our dance recitals. Back then, there wasn't as much concern about what people would think about the kids makeup, what kind of parents you were, what creep was ogling your baby in drag. My mom piled on the makeup on us and i remember my face hurting from it all. I didn't want Julia's first experience with makeup to be that...so i toned my inner Maggie (my mom) down.

The end result was perfect. Did I mention that while I was trying to get her ready, Kurt was running in a 5K? Jimmy was running around acting crazy, Julia was having a hard time sitting still. Thank GOD for TV. The only snag was when Kurt came home and Julia was not listening and she got yelled at and started to cry....but she had full makeup on. I got her to stop before too much damage was done, but it came in the form of a Happy Meal Promise.

So, here is out little Living Doll...

TGIF and Ramblings...

Today is cold and rainy....a stark contrast to yesterday, which was warm and sunny. Just add it to the 100 reasons why I hate Spring in this state!

MSU is in the Final Four, which is being held downtown at Ford Field this weekend. Kurt is pretty excited...I am too, but he's a huge MSU sports fan. He may be getting tickets for Saturday's game, but won't know until tomorrow probably. But his buddy got him into a private party at Comerica Park to watch the game...which isn't such a bad deal. He does have a ticket to Monday's final game if MSU wins...that is pretty cool too. It will be a great guy bonding weekend for him!

Julia is at a playdate at a friend's house today, Jimmy is out of sorts without her. He told me he heard the doorbell ring and it was Julia back from her playdate. He doesn't want alone time with me, he misses rolling around and chasing Julia.

Jimmy was looking at the back of my laptop as I was surfing facebook afterlunch and brought his cars over to the back of it and said that the USB and other ports in the back of the laptop were garages...probably not a good idea to leave it unattended now...how do you explain that problem to Dell?

Our friends, Doug, Kelly and Paige, are leaving for Florida today...they are going to spend at week at Disney World. Julia won't stop talking about the next time we go to Disney. It is constant and it is starting to get on our nerves. We've told her that we're not going back until Jimmy is 6 or 7. We've also told her that it costs alot of money to go there and that we're saving our money. Her response is that she too is saving ALL of her money for Disney too. Nevermind that we aren't going to take another big vacation and go to Disney anytime soon. Kurt & I are resort vacationers...that is our idea of a vacation...drinks by the pool, reading a good book, dining out, maybe a little excursion. We won't...I repeat...WILL NOT go back to Disney until I go on that type of vacation. Money's tight (we are in a recession), but I will hold fast to my dreams. If we don't have enough money, perhaps we'll just have to leave the kids at home with the grandparents...darn it. Sounds like my kind of vacation to me.

Our friends also borrowed my car, since there is more room inside and the miles are free (thanks to Kurt's company leases). Anyway, so I am rolling this week in a super fly Lincoln MKS...I feel like I am too good for this town. What kind of stay at home mom drives a fancy car like that? We all drive SUVs, minivans, and the occasional mid size car, not pimped out sedans. I didn't realize that I had such bling taste until I drove this car...perhaps we will have to re-think our next lease, nix the practical 6 passenger seating for dual moon roofs, navigation and a THX sound system. I better not voice my opinion too much, because Kurt loves the car too and all I have to do is say the word and he's ordering one.