Excitement Abounds

It is a pretty exciting day over here at casa de phillips.

To begin with, after showering and drying my hair I got all dressed up in one of my husband's finest sweatshirts from college. "Finest" meaning that there are no obviously holes. Yeah, I look pretty good today and fairly hip with my faded blue garb on.

Despite pleas over breakfast to head out to the local Bounce House establishment (affectionately known as "That Jump Place" around here)...which were shot down because we were just there yesterday...I managed to stir up some excitement about the idea of playing Play-Doh in the kitchen while Mommy cleans.

After the clearing away of dishes, making of beds, and dressing of children, Play Doh Fest 2009 began. At first my two little ones were a bit sad ol Mommy wasn't going to stick around to pick up lost pieces of doh or attempt to make tiny blue animals, but they warmed to the idea. Must have been the standard talk of "I didn't experience hours of labor with half-functioning epidurals to provide each of you with a sibling just for the two of you to not play together" that did the trick. Anyway, play-doh was cut, smooshed, and rolled with only one fight breaking out over who got to hold the apparently-beloved orange plate (Mommy ended up with it).

When the excitement of Play-Doh began to wan, we moved on to helping Mommy clean. The assigned task was removing the toys from the kids' bathtub so it could be scrubbed. Only one child managed to actually fall in the waterless tub and one managed to dump a cup of dirty abandoned water on his foot, so it proved to be a successful chore.

It was during the fuss that I heard some noises outside and glanced out E.'s window to spot someone moving into the house across the street. I must confess I harbor a bit of an 80 year old nosey lady inside me and proceeded to (discreetly) peer through the blinds in hopes of catching glimpses of our new neighbors, looking for signs of small children inhabiting the home as well. No tricycles or cribs were spotted, possibly due to the fact these new neighbors seemed to have hired a professional moving company who wrapped everything in heavy blankets.

Boring.

Despite the secrecy of the blankets, I continued to peer out the window every few minutes attempting to "know" our new neighbors just a bit more. I am almost positive no one noticed the peering of eyes coming from across the street.

And just in case my cover was blown, I acted as if I were giving the blinds a good dusting while I peered.

The morning wound down with a rousing game of "Animal Scramble", a Christmas present I promised we could open after the cleaning was finished (*Note: We don't usually open all packaging from Christmas/Birthday toys at one time. It is a bit overwhelming. I slowly ration them out over a few weeks so each toy can be enjoyed. I know this won't always work, but it makes things simpler at this point).

We found the game to be fun and could be played by both children. However I am a bit worried about the hearing of Isaac and Evelyn's generation because the talking portion of the game is LOUD (just like lots of other toys) and the manufacturers did not seem to necessitate the need for a volume control.

I am contemplating sending them a letter of thanks for this oversight, complete with a ten hour recording of the sounds of their game playing repeatedly.

After lunch (Evelyn is on a eating strike....she hasn't really eaten supper all this week and now is refusing lunch), books, answering 27 more random questions in a span of three minutes by a certain little boy, and hugs and kisses both kids went down for naps.

The life of a stay-at-home mom in freezing temperatures is pretty glamorous, wouldn't you say?

Anyone else have such an exciting morning?