This & That

Oh and he's still cute even when he is so mad.  Tonight he got upset that Elizabeth wanted to eat the rest of his crescent roll, which he had just said he was done with.  She took one bite and changed his mind!  Brandon said to Elizabeth, "maybe you take a bite of his meatballs too!"  They never want something until they think someone else wants it!

Grant mad

 Elizabeth's meltdown this evening was over Dot Art.  Mimi got her this great "dot" paint for her birthday (seriously, both kids love it!).  Apparently when she wasn't looking Grant added dots to her artwork and "ruined it!" (image that said through lots of tears and the dramatic voice of a four year old)

On the way home from dance tonight I dropped some clothes off at the cleaners and they say "that will be ready after 5 tomorrow." Elizabeth says, "They always say that mommy!"  Then as we are driving home she says, "Mommy they did a really good job with this new sidewalk.  I am so glad they got it done before all of this rain."  What?? Are you still 4 years old?!

Grant has been slowing adding lots of new words to his vocabulary.  Elizabeth's name being one of them.  Grant's favorite color to say is PURPLE and he says it perfectly!  I also haven't changed a dirty diaper in over a week.  Grant consistently poops on the potty.  We are still trying to perfect the peeing.  Considering he isn't even two and half yet, I will take whatever we can get!

Elizabeth has decided that diapering Grant is a lot of fun.  Tonight she managed to do it all on her own. Upon completing the job she exclaimed "Mommy look what a good job I did!  Turn around Grant and show them! Oh, well his bottom is kind of hanging out.  I can fix it!"  Is there any irony that now that he almost out of diapers she takes an interest?

My mom and I took the kids to Howl-zoo-ween at the zoo last week.  It was a wonderful cold, crisp, rainy fall night!  The cowboy and cowgirl had a good time anyway and made out like bandits!  We even tricked their horses out with battery operated xmas lights.  

 Elizabeth's bud-bud Lauren had her birthday this week.  Friday we celebrated with her and I took some pictures of the kids together.  Their attention span was limited and getting three cooperative children is no easy task.

 Lauren took her training wheels off her bike so of course Elizabeth wanted to give it a try too!  I tired my dad's trick of having her wear a big t-shirt for me to hold on while she attempted to keep balance.  I am not sure she will master the bike without training wheels before the snow flies, but she gave it a good try and has a few good bruises to show for it.

Pre-school picture

Royal Princess Tea Birthday Party

A little girl in Elizabeth's pre-school class invited her to her birthday party.  The invitation was on a scroll and it was Princess Tea Party.  The whole event was so well done and very clever.  I think this was the first friend birthday party for most of the girls.  I bought Elizabeth a new Cinderella accessory dress up set that had a crown, necklace and gloves.  She wore her tumbling recital dress from this past spring and the new crown and necklace...no gloves!

The party was at a cafe here in town.  The room was decorated so nicely and so much attention had been paid to every detail.  The birthday girl even had her own silver throne chair to sit in!  The Fairy Godmother was there too!  Unfortunately my phone died right after I took the picture with Elizabeth and the Fairy Godmother, otherwise I would have taken more pictures.  The table was decorated so cute and all of the girls looked adorable!  You would not believe how quiet these eight 3 & 4 year olds were.  I guess they are all still getting to know each other.   They had finger sandwiches and applesauce with sprinkles and goldfish crackers.  Of course cake and ice cream came later.  They played Frog, Frog, Prince (instead of duck, duck, goose) and decorated a magic wand.  The girls all got goody bags when they gave the birthday girl her present and another take home bag when the party was over.   It was all so well thought out - I am still in amazement!

Under the Big Top

"One Ring" European style circus

Barnum & Bailey Orange County Chopper

The Ringling Bros & Barnum & Bailey Circus was in town this weekend.  After great effort I got us tickets to Friday night's opening show.  We went early for the pre-show in hopes of seeing elephants painting (holding the brush with their trunks and touching paper), but apparently that was part of last year's gig because that was not happening this year.  Elizabeth was very concerned that we had missed it, but I assured her we didn't miss it, they just didn't do it.  Besides, isn't this silly clown entertaining the children more fun?! It was actually a very good show.  It was a lot of entertainment (and variety of entertainment) for the cost.  

Backstage...yes that is the motorcycle sphere in the background

Elizabeth was so excited to wear the "Indian" dress that daddy brought back for her last fall - thank goodness it still fit!

The elephants might have not painted, but they did a terrific job.  For such a large animal they are extremely graceful.  Elizabeth loved them!  She actually told us that this was the best circus ever!  Not sure what she is comparing it to! Although on the way home she did say, "Mickey Mouse wasn't there mommy."  Two years ago I took her to a Disney on Ice show at the Civic Center - the same place the circus was.  Grant (who refused to nap today - which never happens) finally conked out half way through the elephants performance.  Poor guy - missed the best part!

I don't think any of us were really sold on the strong man from Ukraine, named Demitrio.  Just a tip B&B....when you are announcing that he is lifting 70 lbs cast iron weights and it looks like he is really struggling....you might tell the stage hands to follow suit because they waltzed in the ring, collected the weights onto to carts and lifted them quite easily!  Other than that the acts all seemed quite genuine.

Oh the circus...good, clean family fun! Well, the one act with the scantly clad dancers might have been a little PG-13...but that's ok!

Elizabeth's Visit to the Dentist

Thursday was picture day at school.  Elizabeth told me after the class picture, she was the first one to go for single pictures.  She is so photogenic and this is the first time I haven't seen her getting her picture taken, so I can't wait to see them!

I took Grant to music class while she was at school.  He hangs in there for about the first thirty minutes and then it starts to get hairy.  Honestly, the first thirty minutes aren't perfect, but tolerable.  I have decided he really just doesn't care for this class.  However, it is expensive and we have five classes left in the session so we will be trying to tough it out!  I might volunteer my dad to take him once and see how he does with him. Doesn't that sound fun Pops? ;)

Elizabeth and I had dentist appointments after lunch so my mom kept Grant and I went to pick Elizabeth up from school and we had a mini girls day.  I asked her where she wanted to eat lunch and she immediately said McDonalds.  I told her we could go there, but that she couldn't play in the play area because she had her nice picture clothes on.  She said that was ok.  (grrr)  I then mentioned that we could perhaps go some place different, like Michaels or Maria's Cafe.  When I described Maria's as a place that ladies have lunch she was in - plus it was the place where her friend had her princess tea party  last weekend.  (did I not post about the royal tea party??!! Oh I will have to catch up on that one!)

They served her water in a little tea pot with a tea cup and she was in heaven.  I am pretty sure she is sold on our girly lunch dates!  She was a perfect little lady and it was an absolute joy to spend that time with her.

Next it was off to the dentist.  I went first and she watched my cleaning for 45 minutes and then it was her turn.  I was so proud of her.  She hopped up in the chair and was ready to go - no hesitation.  She did great and got a good report - 20 clean teeth!  The dentist also said her bite looked good and the spacing of her baby teeth are perfect.  We can only hope that the kids have Brandon's teeth genes!  It looks like Elizabeth has the best chance of falling into this category.

Two Words....together!

Grant's speech is slowly progressing.  We have really been working with him to put two words together.  He will say (in his own Grant speech) "Thank you" and he will say "more" and "please" but not "more please."  It is frustrating for me, but I try to be very patient.  Yesterday in music class we sang a song that has the word "hot dog" in it and sure enough Grant said "hot dog!"  I was so thrilled.  Later that day he said it again spontaneously!  Go Grant!  Then he was crawling around in his play tunnel and he passed some gas and I heard him say something that sounded a lot like "excuse me."  I kept listening and he tooted (no polite way to say it!) again and he definitely said "excuse me!"  I was so excited to text his speech therapist to tell her that Grant's new two word phrases were "hot dog" and "excuse me!" Oh Grant, what will today bring?!  Right now you are laying with your sister on the family room floor pretending to read books that you grabbed from the office shelf.  So far Elizabeth has a told a story about Henri Matisse (thank you Fancy Nancy) and she said something that sounded like a prayer and a rhyme and a story about a princess and a king with very strong muscles!  I could hide behind the chair and listen to this all day!  Oh by the way, Grant's favorite new place to hide is to open the refrigerator and step inside and close the door the best he can.  He of course can't get it all the way shut because his body is in the way, but he really thinks no one can see him!

Baking with Daddy!

Brandon had a dessert craving after dinner and decided he wanted to make some cookies.  The kids of course wanted to help.  What a great experience for all of them!  Jessica had made a new Pinterest chocolate chip cookie recipe for the Dells and it was really good.  They all did a great job working  together.  Elizabeth said, "Daddy we get to all get to lick the beaters?"  That's my girl!  I have to say Jessica's were a lot better.  It is so hard to understand how two people can follow the same recipe and get such different results!  But in case any one wants to give it a try, here it is.  Secret ingredient is corn starch ;)

Best-Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

barely adapted from Anna Olson, Food Network Canada

Ingredients: 

3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened 

3/4 c. brown sugar 

1/4 c. granulated sugar 

1 egg 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

2 c. all purpose flour 

2 tsp. cornstarch 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/2 tsp. salt 

1 c. bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in.

3.  Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in chocolate chunks.

4.  Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges.  (The tops will not brown, but do NOT cook longer than ten minutes.)

5.  Let cool, on the sheet, on a wire rack for five minutes.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.  Makes approximately 3 dozen.  Try not to eat them all.

The Dells - 2012

Last year we went on a family vacation with our good friends to the Wisconsin Dells.  We had such a good time that we went again this year.  The kids were so excited!  Actually Elizabeth was so excited the day before we left that she woke up three times in the middle of the night asking if it was time to leave yet!  Last year the little boys (Grant & Brady) were just babies!  Brady had just started walking and Grant hadn't taken his first steps yet.  Wow, what a difference a year can make!  First we didn't have to pack the baby gate and we didn't have strollers.  Instead of being attached to our hips the "little boys" followed their older siblings and walked right into water!  They did a slide by themselves and were even able to do a family tube ride!  The family ride was probably the water park highlight for me. There was something about the entire family being able to enjoy the same thing that just warmed my heart.  Grant's eyes were as big as saucers when we got to the end (well maybe the whole ride, but it was completely black, so who knows!) His verbal response was "Whoa!"  When we asked if he wanted to do it again he quickly said "yes!"

A trip down the slide solo!

Yes they both came down on Brandon's back!

Love the smiles!

 The place where we stay has a small water park area in the building.  It is really just the perfect size for our kids.  This year we were able to sit back and just watch them make circles between the steps and the slide.  This is the infamous green slide that everyone was able to do by themselves. The other great part is this area is small and it doesn't get a lot of attention so it often feels like we have the place to ourselves!

We did the Ken-Ducky Derby race again this year.  The big kids were making a big deal about who was going to win.  We told them that it would just be great if one person in our group/family/team won.  We were really tying to instill a team spirit.  Grant ended up being the big winner and we were ALL very happy for him!

 We went to train restaurant (aka Buffalo Phil's) again too.  The kids still seemed impressed with the train delivered food.  Brandon however was not so impressed with his meal (lemon peppered fish, advertised as all you can eat fish fry).

The last night we were there the guys grilled out steaks for us.  While the grill was getting hot the kids feed the ducks.  I initially was not a big fan of grilling out and thought it seemed like a lot of work.  But the guys took charge and it ended up being a really nice relaxing evening.

The boys didn't golf this year but the girls still managed to find time to shop and have a little hot tub time (something the boys won't let us soon forget!).  Overall the kids all did really well and we all had a blast hanging out together.  Such a good time with great friends :)  Too bad we never got a picture of the 8 of us together!

Jessica posted different detail than I did so here is a link to her blog! http://schreurssnapshots.blogspot.com/2012/10/wisconsin-dells.html