Baby Battles

Well, my sweet little angel baby has recently turned into an American Gladiator.   It's a war zone around here.  Each time I try and change a diaper, dress him, undress him, close the shower door, not let him crawl down the stairs, put him in his high chair, put him in his car seat, or take something from Gabe, it is a battle.  I call it baby battles. He has a swift- turn around and crawl away- move.  And then there is the screaming and growling.   He typically screams during these bouts and gets very angry.  The worst of all is the battle of the car seat.  It begins with an arched back and then screaming, crying, and a quick twist.  I have tried everything.  Most recently I tried Pavlov's approach by giving him a jelly bean each time I buckle him into his seat, but it doesn't seem to work the same for babies as it does for dogs.  I have decided to not go anywhere anymore.  I am a prisoner in my own home.  I may have won the battle, but Gabe has won the war.

Here's a little battle example.. 

Here he is being so sweet- pulling all the wipes out of the container!

Smile for the picture!  And meanwhile I try and sneak away the wipes-

Let the baby battle begin!! Give me back the wipes!

Oh, I'm sorry mom, look at how innocent I am - give me back the wipes, please?!

Oh mom, I have you wrapped around my finger!

The World of Harry Potter

The day for the much anticipated Harry Potter party came!  I sewed costumes the night before,  and went to the post office hoping that the kids ties and scarves had arrived an hour before the party.  They had! We dashed back home and I sewed more costumes- up the to moment we were rushing out the door.   I think the kids looked great and they had a great time at the party!

  Here is the host of the party.  Upon arrival the kids lined up and got a little bag of Galleons

Paul was a Prefect and got to help the First Year Students.

The Galleons!

Kyle was Harry Potter, Paul was Draco Malfoy, and Ellie was Hermoine Granger

On the left was a faux brick wall- the students had to tap the bricks in a certain pattern, then the door would slide open and they would be in Diagon Alley.

First stop- Flourish & Blotts

Here are some of the school supplies

Here is Kyle buying his school supplies.

Madam Malkins- Robes for all occasions.  All the kids who came without robes got one in here.

Ollivanders Wand shop.  The kids loved this one.   One student at a time entered the room.  There was an array of wands on a table.    The storekeeper  would choose one of the wands and have the child point it at a pile of cans and say a spell, and the cans would move.  Then he would say, "no, no that's not the right wand." Then he would give them a different wand and point it to a hat that was rigged and then the hat would move.  Then he would say, "oh yes, that's good".  Then they got to keep that wand. 

Here are some of the wands she made enough for all the kids- and there were like 20!

After Diagon Alley the kids went to the Leaky Cauldron for some Butter Beer and other delicious snacks.

Hermoine is even cuter in real life!

Fun delicious snacks at the Leaky Cauldron

Then the kids went to Hogwarts to get put into their classes.

The prefects were onlookers.

The sorting hat divided the first years into houses.  Kyle got put into Hufflepuff!

Ellie got put into Hufflepuff also! Then the group of students divided into their houses for some activities.

One of the activities was Quidditch.  Another activity was going through the Forbidden Forest.

Paul, I mean, Draco with the Tri-Wizard Cup

Ellie in Potions class

So cute!

She was paying such good attention. 

They had such fun things- like soda, and pop rocks that fiz, and nerds.  Each student made their own Felix Felicis (good luck) potion. And then got to drink so they would have good luck! 

Kyle listening closely

His potion!

Good looking student!

After all the games and classes the students went to Honeydukes and got to spend the rest of their Galleons.

Chocolate frogs

Pretzel sticks.

Golden Snitches

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Jelly Beans and other fun candies

I had to get a couple last pictures of Hermoine because she was just so cute!

Well, Benjamin and Jill- thanks for such an absolutely fun party!! It was so creative and magical!  We may just have a Harry Potter party someday- as we have been so inspired by all the fun thing you did!

An Invitation by Owl

Who needs the Martha Stewart to throw a party when you have friends like mine?  A couple of weeks ago a white helium balloon with an owl drawn on it delivered an invitation to Kyle.  The invitation was on parchment paper and sealed with a wax stamp.  It read:

Benjamin told my other kids they were invited.  I told them no- so they went straight to the source- my friend Jill.  She told them if they were Harry Potter fans then they could come.  Done deal.  We planned the costumes for a week and had a great time picking out the fabric and such.  The party was a huge success- that's the next post!

1 Year

I took Gabe to his one year appointment.  His iron was low the conversation went like this:

Nutritionist: "His iron is low, you need to feed him more meat."

Me: "Well, he's just a baby and I don't really want to feed meat to my baby yet."

Nutritionist: "He's not a baby, he's one."

Me: "What??!! He is too a baby!"

Nutritionist: "He's one year old.  He is not a baby anymore."

Me: "He IS a baby! He is MY baby! Don't say he isn't a baby!"

Nutritionist: "He's not a baby- look at him crawling everywhere and talking"

Me: "ughhh"

I can't believe how time just goes. He will always be my little baby.  All my kids will always be my babies.

Hello?

Can anyone see this post?  It seems as soon as I made my blog private no one has visited my blog.  I am not sure what is going on.  If you can see my blog please comment.  Thanks!

Problem Solved?

So, remember the post about Paul being bullied?  Well, it was 1 girl in particular- Lily.  The school counselor called her into his office and talked to her- 2 days in a row.  Paul and Lily ignored each other for a couple days after that.  Then they got put into the same group to do a project.  Paul said to Lily, "Lily, I don't care how mean you are to me, I am always going to be nice to you."  and she replied, "Paul, I know I have been mean to you and I am sorry,  I am going to start being nice to you." 
Since then, I swear they have been best friends.  I'm not sure how I feel about him being friends with the class bully that called him every swear word in the book.  I talked to him about that and he said that she doesn't swear around him anymore.  I guess it's better than the problem we had before.  I think???  Either way, I am super proud of Paul for telling her he was always going to be nice to her.   I have great kids and feel honored to be their mother every day.

Reinventing Valentines

This year I decided to officially make Valentines a "family holiday", as opposed to a "couples holiday".  I had the day planned out.  As a family we would have candle light dinner on the back porch with pink, heart shaped pancakes, eggs, bacon, and orange juice.  Then we would play dictionary and make cookies while listening to some Jazz.  We would all be laughing, dancing and just have a marvelous time!
Our day ended up going like this; Darren got home ate leftovers because he was to hungry to wait for dinner.  Then he decided he wanted to take the kids swimming.  I was too hungry to wait for them so I ate dinner while they were gone.  They got back and the kids ate all the bacon before it even made it to the table.  We never even got the table set for our candle lit dinner.  Then Darren laid down on the couch and was to tired to play games.  (he had been up since 4:30).  So I turned on the first episode of Downton Abbey and we watched that while the kids played Minecraft.  Then Darren went to bed and I made cookies with the kids till 10.    Not quite what I had planned, but when does life go how we expected it to?  We did have a good time- not marvelous but good.  And hey, isn't that what life is mostly made of? A lots of goods added up equals marvelous!