Spring Break

Day 1 - Hit Target early so Nick could spend his allowance on a Bakugan. Met friends for play, lunch at Johnny Rockets and a viewing of Rango. Fell asleep on ride home. Notice lollipop still in mouth.

Day 2 - Cousins are in town. Head to Grammy/PJs for a day of fun at the zoo.

Days 3-5 - Waterpark! Headed to Wisconsin with the kids for three days of waterpark fun. I thought it was a midwestern thing, but someone explained to me that indoor waterparks are everywhere nowadays. Just not around when I was growing up. Peri got to test out her new bikini. Nick loved the Lazy River and the water slides.


Day 6 - Chris back from business trip. Heather needs a vacation.

Spring

Spring is officially here. Well at least per the calendar. Peri and Nick are so excited to be able to play outside again. Look - no hat! P's teacher sends me photos during the day. I love it.

Dance

Nick’s school has a mother/son dance. Doesn’t that sound nice?! I was so excited. Got all dolled up while Chris explained to Nick how to treat girls on a date. Nick was adamant he wasn’t going on a date with me?!?! How quickly he forgot about all our dinner and movie nights! My little guy is growing up. When we walked in they had a vase of flowers where you could buy one for your mom. Nick fished a dollar out of his pocket and then looked at me like “you gonna buy your flower?” Luckily the mom running the table asked him which color he wanted to buy me and took care of it. Jeesh. After all the dancing we do at our house, imagine my surprise when Nick wouldn’t dance with me. He just wanted to run from room to room with his friends. They also had a photo booth and he wouldn’t take a picture with me. What a lame date. Nick and I both came home bellyaching to Chris. Maybe the father/daughter dance will be better.

Skating!

Check out our fast skater! He’s the one who apparently can’t stop. I'm the one who can't stop to figure out how to change the view on videos...



Looks like after two years of learning the basics, he might actually get to pick up a stick next season!

Knucklehead

This could be a funny home video. Nick learning how to dribble in one of his first basketball practices. Wait for it...Wait for it...

Leprechaun

Somehow Chicago or the schools or someone has turned St. Patrick's day into another full blow holiday. Nick woke up Thursday and was looking all around. When asked he said he was looking to see what the Leprechaun had brought for him! Luckily I had asked C to pick up some green sprinkled donuts the night before. But as Nick was going downstairs he said "I hope he brought me some gold coins!" Jeesh. Lunchtime found me at CVS hunting for chocolate gold coins. Found them! But I'm still mad that my little things (green milk, donuts) to make the day special were suddenly expected and the Leprechaun got credit for them!

Travel buddies

Nick is a SUPER traveler. He started when he was little and never let us down. Two hours to MomMom and PopPop? No problem. Overnight to Spain? Piece of cake. Hong Kong? Bring it on. I just assumed our easy baby Peri would be the same way. And she was when I could control her in the Baby Bjorn. But now that she’s an active toddler, she’s a terror traveler. Running around the airport laughing as I try to catch her while juggling our carry on bags and comfort Nick who’s yelling “Mom-she’s getting away. I’m scared!” Our plane was delayed leaving my folks and then sat on the runway in Chicago waiting for a gate to open up. We used up all of our diapers before we even left NC, so we both walked off the delayed flight home covered in poop juice. Don’t ask. I will be drugging her for the flight to Italy this summer.

Dictionary

Peri’s vocabulary has really taken off the past few months. She’s got her basic body parts (nose, mouth, ears, eye, chin, cheek), the lovable belly (which she then pulls up her shirt/dress to show you – hoping she grows out of this one before HS spring break), knees, snow, Nick, Heather, snack, doll, jacket, sock, brush, spin, tickle, etc. Then she came up with her first two word sentence! “No Kiss”. Poor Chris was the receiver of that one.

Die Die Die!

We went to GA a few weeks ago to celebrate Nolen’s first birthday. Shannon and I shared a bed (no, Chris wasn’t with us) with Nick in a sleeping bag on the floor and Peri in a pack & play. Well, the first night found all four of us squished into a queen bed. Peri was beyond tired after a day of activity and was screaming and rolling all around the bed. At one point she actually fell off the end of the bed. That will count towards my “Mother of the Year” award, I’m sure. She would scream and Nick would giggle. I would then hiss at Nick to stop giggling. Poor Shannon pretended to sleep. At one point Peri started yelling “Die Die Die!” over and over. Nick got the nerve up to speak and said “Mom? I think she’s saying DIE!” Shannon then piped in with a scared voice “I think so too!” Seems we were in bed with the exorcist baby. I was a little worried until last week when she was walking around the house saying “Die die die”. Well, wouldn’t you know that it’s her way of saying “dolly”. Nick still thinks she's out to get him. He and Chris witnessed Peri with a pen today saying "Die Die Die" as she made Chucky movements with the pen. She says it with a smile, so it can't be evil. I'm trying to teach her to say "redrum" - ha!

Shave?

What do you mean I have a little something on my chin?

Own Little World

At what age do kids realize the universe doesn’t revolve around them? Peri lives in her own little world. She thinks every kid she sees under age 2 is a baby. Often they are her same age, but she insists on calling them baby. She also uses doll and baby interchangeably, so the entire time we were with cousin Nolen, she called him “Doll Doll”. Peri and Nolen are seven months apart, so we thought they’d be great friends. I still think they will be someday, but Peri wasn’t very interested in him at his birthday party. Every time he touched her she just grunted. One day she came downstairs to find him awake and waved at him while happily saying “Night night!” As if to say “time for you to go to bed so I can get all the attention and play with your toys”. Oh Peri…

And Nick. He will sit on the couch in the mornings and give orders “I’m cold. I’m hungry. Where’s my breakfast? Can you turn on the TV?” while I run around like his maid. I usually reply with a “what do you say” to which the reply is “please”. But I think we might have a bigger problem than manners here!