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

The Gingerbread House: Momma Lets It All Go!

Ainsley at work and Xander
at, well, eating.

Now that the semester is over, I can dedicate some time to serious chilling. Part of that is making some hard core memories with the chilluns.  Tonight's episode: the gingerbread house. 

For those of you unaware of my FB commentary, a friend Karly posted pictures of the gingerbread house she made with her kids. I decided that one of my rewards would be trying this with the kids. I was nervous because of my hard core perfection issues. But I decided to do it. If nothing else, I can use it as a "hey, I'm trying to work through my issues" moment with my therapist.

I had to threaten her to get
her to look at the camera.

I put the house together and made one major mistake: I cut the icing bag hole too large. This began the icing apocalypse...it was everywhere and it was nasty thick. 

I had the candies in a jar (I bought some extra M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses to supplement the nasty candy that came with the kit). In the minutes it took me to get things together, Xander assaulted the candy bowls. After a while, I had to hold him away from the dishes. Candy is awesome--no doy.

Bossing her little brother.
Yes, that's candy in his mouth.

I started just showing her how to put the candies on the icing and let her go. Of course, her first action was to follow my lead and use the same kinds of candies in the same places I had. Then she moved onto dividing the candies into their own piles. Candy segregation is important to Ainsley.

 A was pretty serious about the decorating, but X was more interested in flitting about the living room being all hopped up on sugar.

The mini-tripod Sean got me
for Christmas last year is
coming in handy.

As we worked on the house, I just kept thinking about what a hot mess it was turning out to be. Then out of nowhere, Ainsley says, "This is bad." I said, "No! It's wonderful!" Then we both laughed a while. It was one of those transcendent moments where I felt like when she's an adult A and I will have similar laughs like these. Plus, you have to give credit to A's aesthetic. The girl knows when a gingerbread house looks like a train wreck. If I'd just bought the gingerbread train kit, the metaphor would have been complete.

Deigning to decorate.

I didn't stress out as much as I thought I would. It was sticky and gooey and the candy is likely gross (save the M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses, natch), but we had fun. Sean was downstairs playing Star Wars Old Republic (or whatever the new one is called), and when he came up the first thing that Ainsley said was, "Daddy!! Look at my house!"  

Testing out her handiwork

"It's great!" says Sean.

"It's bad!" says, Ainsley. 

JUST like the one on the box!

Pumpkins!!

Going to Hilger's

It was sunless and spitty last Sunday when we went to get pumpkins for the house. We were supposed to go on Saturday, but Momma got her drink on Friday night and Just. Couldn't. Do. Anything. on Saturday.  Saturday was beautiful and sunny and lovely...but it wasn't happening.  So Sunday morning, we sent a text to Janine and Daelynn and Big Sarah and let them know we were heading out.

We went to Hilger's because we'd heard there was tons of fun there...and there was. The first big hit of the visit was the tire swings. Xander was a bit to small, so Daelynn pulled him in with her and I gave her some pushes.  Ainsley, however, was the perfect size for the tire horse swing. She rode that one for about 10 minutes.  Luckily, since it was cold and rainy, we were practically the only people there.

I overheard the Hilger's lady say that the day before was "a zoo." So, see kids...you got to play with stuff longer and to yourself because Mommy drinks! Aren't you lucky?!

This was some sort of
pumpkin education center that the kids
didn't really pay attention to...

Behind the barn was a fun area for the kids to run around and play with Big Sarah while Daelynn shopped for her pie hole and Janine and I chat. Janine informed me that they'd covered the hay bales with tarp so the hay wouldn't disintegrate in the dampness. One of my favorite things about hanging with Janine is I get to learn interesting little tidbits like that.

There was this plywood maze thing they made for the kids, and Big Sarah, Ainsley, and Xander had a BALL playing in it.

Daelynn returned with popcorn and then, for Ainsley, it *was on*.  Ainsley will cut you for some popcorn. So, of course, I got her a little bag. She had great fun after that eating and protecting her popcorn.

Because it was raining, the hay rides were canceled, had Ainsley been old enough to know what that meant, she'd have been disappointed...remember she has that weird obsession with hay bales.  Traveling out to the pumpkin patch was also canceled, so we picked our pumpkins from the ones they had gathered in front of the barn.  It's not like we're big into pumpkin patches, per se...so we were cool with that.

Because of her big ole hippie status, Big Sarah was showing the kids how to love and respect all the animals, gourds, etc. As this was DAY TWO of my hangover, I let her. Heh.

Ultimately because it was so wet and rainy, we couldn't stay very long...we picked our pumpkins and left. You can really see how wet the kids got in the picture to the left. No, Xander didn't pee himself, he was just playing in the pumpkins!

All the cool kids drive home
pantless with popcorn.

PAINTING Pumpkins

Ainsley: Brush
Xander: Finger

By far, what's much cooler than getting pumpkins is painting pumpkins. This year, I bought a few of those minipumpkin looking gourds for the kids to paint.  This has proven to be one of the wisest Momma moves I've made!

Day One Pumpkins

So far, we've had two pumpkin painting days...mostly I'm just letting her repaint over the same pumpkins because 1) I'm cheap and 2) she's 3 and doesn't care to complain yet. I'm sure next year each pumpkin will be a Work of Art like each piece of paper is right now.

Ainsley painted one pumpkin as her "princess' pumpkin. It's the one with pink, white, and green.  I find this hilarious!

Often when painting, Xander ends up getting bored and painting on the table, his face, the pumpkin, the high chair, and then just plain trying to eat paint. Thank goodness it's washable and non-toxic.  He's still a bit young for painting, so normally he'll paint a bit and then move to the bathtub.

As she is with everything, Ainsley is a very serious artist. She'll move from color to color, and when painting with the brush is very particular about not mixing the colors together. This makes me happy because I think it'd drive the OCD in me INSANE if her colors were all mixed up. I have a hard enough time when she mixes PlayDough colors together.

When we paint, I'll do some painting, but mostly I'm there to manage the mess.  As you can see from these pictures, this time (Day Two of painting), I'm being instructed by Ainsley when, where, and how to paint, and I'm trying to get Xander to actually paint instead of eating the pumpkin. Look closely at that picture (or click on it to enlarge it)...his mouth is covered with paint because he picked it up to chew on it as I was setting the timer on the camera.

THE POOL!!

So, Laura Romano got Xander a little pool for his birthday.  Today, now that I have a few things moved off my plate, I was able to dig it out for them.

Watching Ainsley OCD out

At first, Xander didn't want to have anything to do with it. I put him in an there was screaming. Lots of it.  So he hung out on the side of the pool for a while.

The pool has these blow up butterflies that velcro to the sides of canopy thing. Ainsley, of course, fixated on placing and removing them over and over and over.  Xander watched and occasionally messed up her groove. He got in trouble for that from Miss A.

Then I let the dogs come out, and they were thrilled to have such a fancy water bowl. Boomer and Sadie got to hang out for a while, but they ended up annoying us by barking like idiot dogs at the neighbor's Jack Russell terriers.  Annoying Jack Russell terriers. 

In the pool!

At least Sadie's embracing the pool made Xander more amenable to it.

At one point, Ainsley decided it was time for them to dry off...so she got out her towel and started drying herself and Xander off. I was able to get the towel away from her before she threw the towel into the pool.

Ainsley decided to smell the flowers on the porch...and requested I take her picture while she was doing it.

"I want picture, Momma!"

Ultimately, the pool was a big hit with a little boy.  I got a lot of pix of his cuteness.  

Ainsley, of course, threw a *huge* fit when we put the pool away: "WANT POOL!!!"

Xander's First Birthday Celebration....and Then Some

This past weekend, we had Xander's birthday party. I'll blog and post pics from it later—I didn't take a single picture, so I'm relying on my family to share theirs. Alysse took pictures as part of her present, so I know there'll be some kick ass pics to come.

But on Xander's birthday proper I had to work. So on my way home, I picked up some Dairy Queen and returned to my brood bearing gifts. Xander celebrating his birthday with hot dog and french fries and ice cream cake.

He quite enjoyed smearing the ice cream around in his tray....training for Saturday, I suppose. Once Ainsley saw I was taking pictures of Xander, she demanded her 15 minutes of fame.  Mostly it involved her jabbing at the camera and giggling insanely.

Now that Xander is a big boy, I decided to serve him dinner on a plate as opposed to on his tray like always. At Saturday's party, Reece Merritt came—he's 3 months old. I held him for a bit and had several "awww baby!" moments. But tonight, while Xander ate his meal relatively unattended and moderately cleanly and Ainsley ate solely unattended and cleanly, I had a moment of "ahhh."

Ainsley, again, got in on the picture taking when she noticed Xander was having his moment in front of the camera. I think it's pretty awesome that in this picture, she's 1) stolen Xander's birthday present bugs, 2) she's lined up said bugs, 3) she's insisted on a picnic that she's promptly ignoring.

Also, I've noticed that I post a lot of pics of my kids eating. That's weird.

My Puzzle Pieces!

Action shot

So, for those of you wondering where the blog has been, you should know that I'm taking a daily class in Muncie over the next few weeks while I'm teaching for IPFW.  So, ya know, pressed for time.

We spent this weekend—what I've dubbed Pajama Weekend—recharging. Sean ran a bunch of errands, one of which was a trip to Target that resulted in a new puzzle holder.  Ainsley's gotten VERY into puzzles lately, and in an effort to keep her stuff together, we got her an organizer.

Now, mind you, these puzzles and the organizer are for Ainsley and Xander. But if you were to ask Ainsley, it is hers.

When Sean came home, this exchange occurred:

Sean:  This is for you and Xander to hold your puzzles.

MY PUZZLE PIECES!

Ainsley: It's MINE.

Sean: Yours and Xander's. You have to share it with Xander.

Ainsley: Yeah, MINE.

Rinse and repeat for about 2-3 minutes.

Cut to our post-pool hangin' out session.  Ainsley is playing with the puzzles, and Xander has just woke up.

Because everything Ainsley does is awesome, Xander makes a bee-line for her.  Of course, that results in Ainsley screaming "MY PUZZLE PIECES!" at the top of her lungs in that weird dolphin-decibel squeal.

How Xander plays puzzle

We convinced her to share a couple puzzles with Xander. At first she gave him the boring shapes puzzle until we convinced her that she'd have a better shot at his not bothering her if she gave him a more interesting one.

So she gave him the farm.  To the right is Xander's answer to "playing puzzle." NOM NOM NOM NOM

Visit to Portage

Tired boy passes
out on Aunt Jill

We went to Portage the weekend before Easter to visit family.  It'd been a while since Xander had gotten to see much of the extended family--my awesome aunts and uncles. We had family coming to visit from West Virginia, some of whom I'd never met and some of whom I hadn't seen since 1993. So, even though I had a mountain of grading and work to do for my classes, the kids and I trekked out.  You rank, Faubers!

Before the WV crew arrived, we had an informal shindig with some family. Ainsley is still going through her awesome selfish phase, so every toy in the house was HERS and if an adult looked at it or played with it, she was fine.  However, if MaKayla even breathed near it, Ainsley squealed to the dolphins.  I should add that I didn't *bring* any toys, so all the toys that Ainsley was metaphorically peeing all over were ones that Jessica brought over so that the kids could play with things.  That's right, Ainsley was being selfish with MaKayla's OWN TOYS.  I was so proud.

Selfishness: In Action

*side note* Look, I know the selfishness is a phase, and I know that it's a sign of her confidence that she will assert herself with anyone and everyone (and yes I know where she gets that from, tyvm), but when she does it with other people's things, I start to worry that I haven't grown a confident little girl, but I've grown a bully.  This is also partially my baggage. I remember my cousins telling me when I was preteenish that I used to be "so bossy." I'm gonna give it another year; by then Xander will be big enough to assert himself with her and I think The. World. Will. Change. for little Miss A.

Forcing some sharing on Ms. A

So, my kids love men.  I understand this and know where they get it from—kids prefer the gender of their primary caregivers.

Grandpa Lee Roy has finally grown comfortable with Mr. Xander.  (Lee is nervous around tiny babies...Xander has moved into the age of hardcore Grandpa doting. This is never more prevalent when we go to Portage though.  While Xander is a Momma's Boy (in all of the good sense of the terms), he still digs hanging with Grandpas and Daddys.


Ainsley, being a big ole Daddy's Girl, has always preferred the company of men.  She particularly loves my cousin Jake. He's just the right kind of cornball for Miss A.

*side note part deux* A part of me doesn't want to have another kid.  Sean and I each have "one of our own." Plus I don't want the grown ups to be outnumbered by the wee ones.  We don't know if we're having anymore...there aren't any plans at this point in time.

On the other hand, both of my kids were enchanted by Beth's girls. Taylor particularly.  Taylor's at that perfect age of being a kid enough to still like fiddling and playing with them but being grown up enough that they feel like she's a grown up. (My kids also prefer adults to children.  I'm sure that'll get socialized out of them once school starts.)  You can see the abject joy each of them had with Ms. Taylor.

Bike riding is cold.

Homeless chic

Question: What trip to Grandma's is complete without a trip outside?  No trip!  Even though it was pretty cold out, Grandma and Ainsley got bundled up to do a little bike riding.  Xander and Momma stayed inside because we aren't Crazy People.

Bracelets were part of Ainsley's Easter basket from Grandma.
When we got home, this is how she decided to "play" with them.