Morning Snippets

Ainsley: MOMMY! I want to show you something!

Me: What?

A: LOOK! (points to outside)

Me: What?

A: Outside! 

Me: (opens door) Show me.

A: (runs to a dandelion gone to seed) I want to blow it!!

Me: Have at it!

***

A: ("eating" a plastic ice cream cone) I want to play with my princesses now.

Me: Ok, but you have to pick up your magnets first.

A: Ok. Hold this. (gives me her cone) Don't eat any.

BEHOLD!

Sibling theft: Caught in the act!

Easter Treats on Friday

Humoring Momma While
Picking Out Colors

Last year, the day after Easter, I went to Target for 50 percent off Easter baking goods. I got this awesome bunny head pan for $2. I have waited almost an entire year to bust that baby out...and Friday was the day!

Xander has a bit of a cold and is a grabby little monster, so Ainsley and I waited until his nap to make the treats.

Doing the sticks. A keen eye will marvel
at my Roger Waters TShirt

I've become an old pro at making Rice Krispee treats. For my other busy Momma friends, I've found  it's much more manageable for you to make treats that are certain shapes if you break the recipe into thirds. Then Ainsley gets to pick multiple colors for her Rice Krispie treats. This particular time, Ainsley just *could not* decide between blue, green, purple, and brown. Thirds is easier because all of the items easily break that way... 2 cups cereal, 1 T butter, 3.5 oz marshmallow. But I love my kid, so I broke out the calculator.

Testing the Quality of the Purple

Then I got distracted by Draw Something: "Are you done with math, Momma?"

Silly Billies

Ainsley's job was to hand Momma sticks and help put them into the bunny heads. She proved moderately successful at that job...except for the stick we had to discard because she decided to put it between her toes.

Each batch made 6 bunny heads with a little left over. Ainsley, of course, was more than willing to test each batch. She, also of course, found the blue to taste best, as blue and yellow are her favorite colors right now. She was actually allowed to pick any color for the treats and yellow was one of her choices, but I vetoed that as a waste of coloring. I have to say I was pretty surprised at the choice of brown.

1) This is how X sits sometimes.
HILARIOUS.
2) What happened to my BABY?!

After Xander woke up, we decided to let him help decorate. Mostly Ainsley fed him sprinkles and he ate them. When we tried  to get him to put M&Ms on the treats he was all "Fool, why in the world would I put this M&M on a treat if I can just eat it? You are crazy people."

He ate about 4 M&Ms and then punked out to go watch Chuck and Friends on Netflix. Ainsley, on the other hand, was ALL about decorating some Rice Krispie treat bunnies!

Bunny noses and bunny eyes

I told Ainsley to give the bunnies pink noses and eyes that matched (though really I knew I didn't need to tell her that. We're on the same wave length, my lil' one and me). Every treat she decorated got blue eyes. My kid loves blue...she's obsessed. I did have to let go of my Mommy OCD issues in that she absolutely refused to put the M&Ms face side down. When I was telling her for the second time to put the words face down I had that moment of "Why?" in my head... I wasn't selling these. They weren't for show. Who cares? I'm pretty proud it only took me 2 times to come to that. (Plus, I put icing pupils on the bunnies to hide the M&M lettering anyway...my will be done. Buahahahah!)

Cuteness. 

The treats turned out pretty well. I had some green left over so I decided to try making a little Easter basket with M&M eggs. It turned out alright. I have to say, I think the sticks seem unnecessary, but I also think the kids would beg to differ. LOL.

Deliciousness at
the Speed of Light

After dinner, the kids bust into the Bunny Treats. Ms. A attacked her treat. Xander ignored it for a bit, then used it to drum for a while...and then somehow he managed a bite...discovered the deliciousness and It. Was. On. I still haven't tried one, but the wee ones seem to approve.  It took them quite a bit of time to eat their treats...they laughed and chewed and licked and had a generally good time. And then Xander started playing peek-a-boo with his. The cuteness became overwhelming. Video evidence below. Ainsley, of course, felt the need to perform for the camera...so have fun with that.

The Rice Krispies treats of our labor

Please to enjoy: The Stewart Children in Rice Krispie Treat Peek-a-bo

Ainsley's Stories

"Put these girls in the picture!"

This morning, when I went to get Ainsley out of bed, she said, "Not yet!" This morning, like many mornings of late, she's been deeply engaged in the stories she's created for her babies.

This morning, Ariel was dying and Hoth Luke Skywalker was kissing her back to life. All Ariel's friends (Mermaid Barbie, Butterfly Barbie, Weird McDonald's Happy Meal girl toy, Cinderalla, Big Cinderella, Walking Ariel, and Snow White) were all gathered around Ariel in concern. I was sent away so she could finish her story.

A has gotten VERY HUGE into playing out stories with her babies lately. It's cracking me up...and it makes me so happy to see her engaging so creatively.

Ainsley's Vocabulary Is Crazy

Naked fort.

I was putting away the kids' clothes just now. I put the basket on A's "fort."  In honor of my Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Parker, I made her a TV tray fort in her bedroom.

A: What are you doing? Don't put that on my fort.

Me: I am putting your clothes away. I'll move the basket off the fort when I'm done.

A: Well, that is *unacceptable.*

Me: (stifling laughter) I guess you'll have to learn to live with the disappointment.

All Toddlers Are Bipolar

The Highs

Frosting requires
concentration

Today, while we were playing with Donut Maker on the iPad, I was frosting the donut while Ainsley watched. As I frosted, Ainsley said to me, "That's very good, Mommy. I'm proud of you!" Then she hugged me. It was so sweet, it almost gave me diabetes.

The Lows

Of course, not 20 minutes later, when it was time to go to bed, she protested. She tried to seek refuge in Sean. When I took her from Sean, she squealed and protested like crazy. Then she tried to bite my face. Holy HELL, Momma was furious! I told her that she wasn't going to be having Yum Yums for her treat tonight.

Then came the drama of the fit throwing because of no Yum Yums. Then came the apology for the almost bite.

Ainsley: But I want Yum Yums!

Me: I told you that you won't be having Yum Yums tonight because you tried to bite my face and that's not acceptable behavior.

Ainsley: Well, I'm SORRY!


Me: Thank you for saying sorry. I'm very glad you are, and I forgive you. Let's have some hugs.

Ainsley: So, I can have Yum Yums?

Me: No, sweetie.

Rinse repeat for about 15 minutes.

Not giving that kid Yum Yums was both very easy and very hard.

Sleeping Babies: January Part I

 January 1: New Year Stewarts

January 2: Stewarts Got BACK

 January 3: Baby Sprawl

January 4: Ainsley Stretches; Xander Hugs

January 5: Lovin Babies

January 6: Curled 'Round Babies

January 7: Ainsley as ET; Xander as Brando

January 8: Up at 3am; Rough Night

January 9: Making Up the Sleep

January 10: Stewarts Hiding Faces

January 11: Scrunched and Sprawled

January 12: Ainsley's Zonked; Xander's Startled

January 13: Strike That; Reverse It

January 14: Bookend Stewarts

January 15: Flanked by Babies

The Park Remains Awesome

It was freakin' 60 degrees today...on January 31...in INDIANA. Those of you who claim that global warming isn't real are invited to reread that first sentence a few times...then shut the hell up.

WEEEEEEE!!!

Ainsley came with me to a meeting with Sarah, and we decided since it was so nice, we should really take the kids to the park.  So, that's just what we did.  We actually went to Johnny Appleseed Park first, but the river was high and there isn't a good fence between the park and the river and I didn't particularly want Xander to run, jump in the river, and die, so we detoured back to our usual haunt: Northside Park.

Ainsley and Big Sarah
CLIMB!

Now that he's older, Xander has become more enamored with the slides. After seeing Big Sarah climb up there, Ainsley gave the climbing wall a shot. I climbed a little and tried to entice Xander, but he was just all about the slides.

While we were there a WFFT reporter guy interviewed me about bringing the kids to the park and the good weather. He asked what the kids preferred to play in...snow or 60 deree spring-like weather. Ummm...no doy, dude. We'll see if our kids make the color spot at the end of the news....cause clearly "What kind of weather does your toddler like to play in" isn't exactly lead material. Or is it?!?!

After my thrilling interview, we decided to let the kids swing. Their love affair with the swing has returned...as evidenced below:

Of course, they cried when it was time to leave. Luckily we had a sandwich for Xander and the iPad for Ainsley. *whew* Don't worry kids, spring is just around the corner. Oh wait...not it's not.

Xander's Babies

So, as you may have noticed from the sleepin' babies series, our kids love their babies. Ainsley has a set three that she loves (she'll move additional babies in and out of sequence, but the original three remain)...and now Xander has his own three babies that he loves.

Happy, happy boy.

He's attached himself to the big bunny, Beebee. But this last week, Scout, the LeapFrog dog that Grandma and Grandpa Stewart got him for his first Christmas, and Ainsley's Care Bear, a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa Parker for that same Christmas, have joined the ranks. I find it really weird that both kids have three babies and that Ainsley has essentially given up the Care Bear. I guess she understands baby love.

Tired beebee

He's also doing this new thing that is so adorable it almost makes me want to have more kids...until I remember how much I hate being pregnant. The last few days between about 12 and 1, he'll bring his three babies and climb into the chair to sit with me. Then, he'll fall asleep. It's so cute I can't stand it, and I won't put him down for nap earlier because I love it so much.

I'm selfish. Sue me.