Vacation

Kevin has been off all week for vacation, but we haven't done much vacationing. Although we stayed in town and didn't do much out of the ordinary, we've had a good time. We went to the zoo Wednesday. The weather was glorious and we did all of the important zoo things. This includes riding the train and the tram, eating a picnic lunch while shooing the peacocks away from our food, and seeing the elephants, manatees, monkeys, and cows (among other animals but these were the ones requested by Warner).
Warner has thoroughly enjoyed his dad's undivided attention. In fact, on Monday night he went to dinner with Kevin and some of Kevin's friends from work for a guys night out. They also built the Careful game tower a few times (and then Maren would knock it down of course).
And here is Maren hard at work taking appointments on my calendar and talking on Kevin's phone (actually it's his iPod but she thinks it's a phone).

Maybe one day my sweet husband will get a real vacation again. Until then, I'll enjoy his company at home during these pretend vacations.

Hang with me here.

I think my hair bow/hair accessory obsession began about a year ago. My mom made a few bows for Maren and a whole new world was opened to me: I could make the exact bows I wanted to match (each of) Maren's outfits. Genius! And so it began.
After spending more than I cared to know on ribbon, the next thought that crossed my mind was to sell a few bows to help finance the bow obsession. Thus, Fancy Flair. To date, I've sold about 80 bows and flower headbands. They're at a few retail stores and then I did my first craft fair this past weekend. I teamed up with two MOPS girlfriends who sell tutus and flower hats. Here is our adorable table:
I've only made a nominal amount of money and realize I'm most likely not going to make buckets of cash with this business. But, I find the whole thing really fun. I enjoy crafting things and feel like I've gotten a small piece of "me" back with this little artistic outlet of mine.

I mention all of this here, on my sweet family's blog, to get the word out for my little business. If you or someone you know is in need of a hair bow, flower headband, or hair bow holder (I just started making these and am in love with them), then please let me know! You can take a look at my "stuff" at www.facebook.com/fancyflair and send me an email with your order.
Okay. That's it. I promise the next post will be about the kids. Thanks for hanging with me.

Finally.

Seeing as I blogged about Warner's potty training last winter, one might have assumed he was potty trained months ago. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. He completely lost interest in the spring and refused to use the potty. Frustrated and exhausted, I decided to drop the issue for a while. I fought the battle intermittently, sometimes telling Warner he had to wear underwear, to which he would respond "No! I wear diaper!" and then a fit would ensue. It was not pretty.

A few weeks before his third birthday, we started talking about potty training again. Kevin and I would talk about how three year old's wear big boy underwear and use the potty. We told him that on his birthday, he wouldn't wear diapers anymore. I'm not sure why, but this approach worked. For the potty part. It was like the light bulb went off in Warner's head. After only a few accidents, he was soon running to the potty whenever he had to go, wearing underwear at preschool, during naptime, and even during the night. Amazing, right?

Well, the poop part wasn't so easy. Warner would tell me when he needed to poop, but once he got on the potty, he'd either say he didn't have to go anymore, or he didn't know how. We agonized over what to do, but something finally worked. When he needed to go, we put a diaper on him, then told him he could poop in it, but he needed to do it while he was sitting on the potty. Two nights ago, he did just that. So yesterday when he announced he needed to go, I told him to do what he did the night before, but this time he wouldn't wear a diaper. I left him alone in the bathroom, assuming it wouldn't work. 60 seconds later Warner yells "MOM! I pooped!"

I screamed. I jumped up and down. I cried. Warner wanted to save his poop to show Kevin when he got home from work, but thankfully he agreed to take his picture with it (don't worry I won't post that one) and then flush the poop. He got "a lot" of stickers for his potty chart and a whole bowl of candy corn for a reward. I'm sure he'll have a few more accidents, but he has pretty much sworn off of diapers, wanting me to put them away even. So I think I can safely say this boy is potty trained. Whew. One down, one to go.

Definitely a treat.

I've decided that I really like Halloween. I'm not into the scary part. In fact, I'm thinking about instituting a scary-free costume rule for the kids in years to come. But really, what's more fun than carving pumpkins, dressing up in costumes, and getting candy from your neighbors?
Warner decided a while ago that he would be a cowboy for Halloween. He relishes every opportunity he gets to wear his cowbuddy boots (as he calls them) and hat. You can see the boots a bit better in this picture:I wasn't sure what to dress Maren as, but since she had a tutu, I figured a fairy would be easy enough. She didn't mind the wings and seemed to like the tutu.Maren was all business with the trick-or-treating. She would walk straight up to a house (with or without Warner or parents to help), choose a piece of candy (or a handful), and carefully place it in her bag. Warner got off to a quick and excited start, running ahead of us to get to the next house, but he fizzled fast. It was cold and he was ready to go home before we got to the end of the street.
He really enjoyed handing out candy to the kids and would say "you're welcome" as he placed a piece in each bag, regardless of whether or not the recipient said thank you.
We carved pumpkins earlier in the day on the deck. Maren liked the seeds and goo and Warner thought they were disgusting. Warner did tell me what shapes to make the eyes and noses and thought that was pretty cool.

This was taken right before he caught on fire. Kidding! Kidding! Kevin was ready to kill me when I handed our son the flaming pumpkin. It's a great picture though, huh? I have fond memories of taking inventory of my loot with Meredith after trick-or-treating. We would plop down in the entryway of our home, dump out all our candy, tediously sort it, and then trade with each other. I think the whole process took over an hour.
Maren isn't big enough yet to take part in this activity, but I think Warner enjoyed going through the fruits of his labor from the evening.Happy Halloween!

Big girl

Maren truly believes she's as big as her brother. I suppose it's this way with most younger children. She plays trains and tools with Warner (when he's in a sharing mood) and even prefers Clifford and Thomas books to her more age-appropriate board books.
She can now climb up the rails of the swing set without assistance (I of course still hover behind her with hands ready to catch if needed) and thinks the clubhouse is the coolest place on earth. She spins the steering wheel and looks through the spyglass just like Warner, then turns around, gets on her belly, and zips down the slide solo. Warner will then say "Maren so big. She growing up." And he's right. Where has my baby gone?

Three

Although he's not officially three until Tuesday, we celebrated Warner's big day this weekend with a Thomas the Train party. This was the first year Warner had specific instructions for his birthday cake. He wanted Thomas (easy enough), pulling Annie and Clarabel (not so easy). After agonizing over what to do, I finally made a simple cake and literally plopped Warner's requested trains on top. He was happy and I think it looked better than my past birthday cakes (Curious George was a real bust, Elmo not so bad). I'm not sure why, but I have this thing about making my kid's birthday cakes. So until I give this up they are going to have to deal with these not-so-professional-looking birthdays. It tasted great though. I make a mean butter cream frosting. Warner loved opening presents, and would say "I wonder what's in this present" as he unwrapped each one. Along with the train theme, he got mostly Thomas gifts. He had a list of every engine he "needed" (not wanted) for his train table months before his birthday. This past week, as we read his Thomas books before bed, he'd say "I sure hope I get James (or Toby, or Diesel, or Gordon, or whichever one he was thinking of that night) for my birthday".

He also got Cranky the Crane and the quarry mine tunnel for his train table, which were both a huge hit. Maren was pretty excited about the Veggie Tales movies Warner got, and Kevin's parents got us a pass to the Children's Museum, so the birthday worked out for her, too. My parents weren't able to make the party, but they got Warner a big boy bike for his birthday.He's still working on braking and has had a couple falls, but for the most part he's handling it really well. I tear up every time I watch him ride it. He's getting so big. Three years already? My heart hurts at how quickly the time passes. We're so proud of our little man and can't wait for what's in store in the years to come.

And now for the kids

I'm beginning to look forward to the funny things Warner says each day.

Warner: Mommy, I need a purse.
Me: Why?
Warner: To put mine things in.
Me: What would you put in your purse?
Warner: Gum. Pink gum, green gum. Lot gum.
Me: Well, boys don't carry purses.
Warner: Why?
Me: I guess they use their pockets. That's just how it is.
Warner: That's just how God made it?
Me: Yes, that's just how God made it.

The "that's just how God made it" response is apparently something Kevin and I say because he's picked up on this phrase and uses it himself. The nice thing is, it's an acceptable answer to Warner's "why?" questions - for now. I wonder how long this will last.
Maren has developed a slightly concerning obsession with animal crackers. Her first item of business each morning is to walk to the pantry, open the door, point to the animal crackers, and whine until I tell her we can't have animal crackers for breakfast. She then stomps her feet and cries, as if this hasn't happened each morning for the past month and my response is a complete surprise to her.
After dinner a few nights ago, Kevin got out the Sam's-size bucket of animal crackers for Maren to enjoy for dessert. He put it on the ground and she reached both hands in and grabbed fistfuls of crackers. It might have been the best moment of her life so far.
Against my better judgment, I let my mother buy Warner light-up Cars shoes that also make engine revving noises. They are ugly but he loves them. So much. She also bought Maren light-up twinkle toes, so we won't have a problem finding our kids in the dark.So Warner has taken notice to what he wears. Now we just need to work on his fashion sense. I used to care more, but seeing how happy Cars shoes and Elmo or Thomas shirts make him, I've given in. A few days ago after getting dressed he announced: "I look pretty cool in my outfit today". How's that for self confidence?

Meredith's Miracles

I have been MIA the past few weeks primarily due to the planning and execution of the MMCCF 2nd Annual Golf Classic last weekend. In case you haven't heard, I'm now the president of Meredith's Miracles (I know, I know, pretty big deal - ha) as well as the fundraising committee chair, so the golf outing was primarily my responsibility. It is also our only "official" fundraiser thus far, so it's a huge deal to me. Thanks to the help of my family, lots of volunteers, and the rest of the board of directors, we pulled off a spectacular event.
I spent the day on hole #5 where the guys could pay $10 for a tutu and the ability to tee off from the ladies tee. Here is Kevin's team looking oh-so-pretty:
Two of Meredith's good friends, April and Jess, were at the hole with me taking pictures and helping with tutus. You'd be surprised by how difficult it was for the men to tie a bow.
Golf was followed by dinner and live music by Velvet Soul. I had the opportunity to address the group with a video another friend of Mere's, Sara Carpenter, made. I also spoke about the work the foundation has accomplished this past year and our hopes for the future.
Don't worry, I didn't speak with the tutu on. Maybe I should have though, to lighten the mood? Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who cares about this foundation and the work we're doing. But after raising $11,000 Saturday, I'm optimistic that God does indeed have big plans for the foundation Mere envisioned years ago.

Take a minute to watch Sara's video, and visit www.meredithsmiraclesfoundation.org to learn more.

Apples

Fall is my favorite time of year. Cooler temperatures, colorful trees, and all things pumpkin make me smile. Throw in a visit to the apple orchard and it's just about too much for me to handle.

Warner has been asking to visit an apple orchard to pick his own apples since reading "Clifford's Apple Picking Day" a few weeks ago. We were in Somerset for the weekend, so we went to Haney's Appledale Farm with Kevin's parents on Sunday afternoon.Warner was thrilled to run around and choose which apples to place in our bag.Kevin found a slug on one apple and showed it to Warner. Warner touched it, then said "I'm so brave".
After picking the apples, the kids were delighted to use the washing machine to clean a few apples to eat. They loved them. I don't think I've ever seen Maren eat that much at once. Or maybe in her whole life. She ate a lot. We really did cut up peeled slices for her, but she preferred taking the whole apple to her face.She even stole a few bites of the apple I was eating.
Maren also found a tractor out back and wanted so badly to ride in it. When I told her we couldn't do that, this is the response I got (click on the picture to see it larger).So now we're back home with more apples than I know what to do with. This afternoon we used the apple peeler/corer/slicer for the first time, and it was a definite hit.Warner could crank it by himself, so all I had to do was put the apple on the device and he'd do the rest. Pretty cool. Maren sat in her highchair to watch us and tackle quality control on the apples Warner sliced.
We made apple crisp today and our apple supply doesn't even look touched. Guess we'll be making lots of applesauce and other freezable apple items in the next few days.