One Final Tour

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Did I fail to mention I was in Jamaica last week? Oops. More details to come...right after I finish shaking all that white sand from my suitcase.

Master Bathroom

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Master Bedroom

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Hall Bathroom

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Evelyn's Room

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Oops..the real video of Isaac's Room

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Isaac's Room

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*Yes, the kids' rooms generally tend to look like this each evening. I have created a place for each toy to "sleep" and everything goes back into its designated place each evening before baths. This might sound like a very daunting task, but it really only takes us about five minutes (everyone helps clean up...not just Mommy and Daddy do this chore). Also, we strive for one toy (or group of toys) to be cleaned up before another is pulled out. This cuts down on the tornado effect.

Welcome to Our Living Room

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Friday Finds

I am a terribly curious person when it comes to how other people live. This perhaps explains why I majored in psychology and why I have to be quite careful about my reality show viewing habits. Fellow man simply entertains me.

Much to my delight, Jen at The Amazing Trips (a blog I stumbled across years ago and have been following ever since) blogged a day in the life of being a stay-at-home mom to triplets and a toddler.

The clothing changes alone of her kids will entertain you.

If you are curious as to how other mothers spend their days, click on the links below.

enjoy!

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Epilogue

Quote of the Day

This afternoon Isaac approached me and said the following statement:

"Let's just keep Evelyn because she is hilarious."

Mother of the Year

Yesterday was not a stellar day here at casa de phillips.

Both kids (and their mother) were a bit on the grumpy side, we had to attempt to get 15 bright red iced cupcakes to preschool without mishap, there were lots of things to tend to on the home front, and a particular three year old little boy absolutely refused to take a nap.

Did I mention that everyone was grumpy?

Part of our morning involved a hurried case of shoe shopping for one Miss Evelyn P. Sunday at church she complained of her shoes being too tight, so much so that she left services in her socks. Yesterday morning as I attempted to put on her adorable little Keds tennis shoes (purchased brand new at a consignment sale for $5) she had a complete meltdown about "My shoe too tight!". Being the kind and compassionate mother that I am, I told her they were fine and to stop fussing.

We went through our morning, managing to deposit Isaac and his cupcakes at school, and eventually found our way to a store in hopes of finding cute white church shoes at a great price. Apparently no one purchases white dress shoes for little girls after Easter weekend because they are NO WHERE to be found. As we dashed into a few stores, Evelyn attempted to hurry along beside me, all the while fussing about her shoes.

Fast forward to yesterday evening (after many tears, many cries of injustice, and some frequent visits to Time Out...seriously, it was not our best day) when the children were being excused from the supper table. I happened to catch a glimpse of the back of Evelyn's foot and what did I spy....a nice, red, shiny blister.

And with that I would like to thank the Academy for my nomination as "Mother of the Year."

It seems as if her little feet have grown overnight and her shoe drawer filled with cute size 5's has been rendered useless. I made a quick run last night to Kohls and scooped her up some new shoes and some pretty band-aids to cover that icky ol blister.

***

Monday was E's birthday. Here is her look when her immediate family popped into her room that morning to wish her a "Happy Birthday."

It is hard being two, huh?

Fortunately the attitude changed when she was told of presents and a waffle waiting for her in the living room.

Before Christmas I found the Rose Petal Cottage on mega-clearance so we purchased it and saved it for Evelyn's birthday. It only took me two days and bucketloads of patience to put this thing together. I have now come to understand exactly why it was on clearance...

Having children close together is a really great thing sometimes and a challenge at other times. Isaac has done really well with this whole birthday thing but has been plotting a strategy as to when he will get a long, uninterrupted turn with the new toys Evelyn has received.

Despite a monsoon that hit our area on Monday morning, the children and I stuck with the plan of meeting friends at Chuck E. Cheese for some birthday fun. I have a secret about CEC....go early (they open at 9am), don't order any food (really, it is not that good), and just let the kids play games. A good time was had by all using this formula.

The one comment Evelyn gets a lot is about how tall she is. I believe this picture conveys just how long those legs actually are.

This morning I took Evelyn for her two year well visit. After a complete screaming fit over having to be weighed and measured, it was determined that E. is somewhere between 37 and 38 inches tall. Supposedly, if one doubles their height at the age of two that is how tall one will be as an adult.

People, double 37 inches and you have over 6 feet.

I have no words for that statement at this point in time.

The well visit did confirm that Evelyn indeed has horrible, horrible allergies and eczema. I was quite honest with our pediatrician and simply said, "Our daughter is grouchy a lot. We think she does not feel good the majority of the time." It is hard to admit one's child is a grump, but I am hoping if we can clear out all the snot in her sweet head she will be a bit perkier. Her feisty streak will still be there, but hopefully the grumpiness will be gone.

Evelyn is getting a blood test done tomorrow to determine the extent of her allergies and we are taking some new directions with medications to see if we can eliminate the crud she deals with on a daily basis.

***
I mentioned cupcakes at the beginning of this post. Because Isaac has a summer birthday, he does not get to celebrate his "regular" birthday at school. Therefore, he celebrated yesterday with these car themed goodies. It was nothing short of a miracle that these iced treats actually made it into school without leaving traces of red frosting in their wake.

***

Isaac is still grumpy today. He is having some sleep issues, which makes him a big mess of emotion. This morning was Cowboy Day at school. Below is the expression he gave me when I requested a smile for the camera.


At least his sister managed to smile....

***
Well, I am off to polish my trophy for "Mother of the Year". Talk to you later!

Memory Lane

Two years ago today Miss Evelyn entered our lives. For some strange reason, we live blogged her birth. If you have never read those posts, and are interested in reading the nonsense I typed under the effects of an epidural, check out the links below.

Beginning

8:00 AM

9:00 AM

10:30 AM

11:45 PM

1:30 PM

2:30 PM

She's Here!

9:40 PM

Anatomy of a Mother's Day

I have a vivid memory of copying some poem off a blackboard in elementary school very carefully in loopy second grade handwriting. The poem was for Mother's Day cards and I remember thinking how touched my mother would be when she read this copied poem I had created for her. I had a bit of a dramatic streak as a child and I am sure I envisioned my mother weeping tears of gratitude as she opened this pink card filled with eraser marks and crayon-drawn flowers.

I am sure she was touched and I am pretty sure that handwritten card is tucked away in my special drawer (my mom keeps drawers of all of my brothers' and my special things)...and I am also pretty sure my mom would have been really happy that year if I had presented her with an hour of peace and quiet to go along with my handwritten card.

I have had a fabulous Mother's Day this year. I think Woodrow Wilson did all mothers of our great country a honorable favor when he established this day of recognition so many years ago. He just left out one tiny little detail....the fact that Moms still have to be moms on Mother's Day.

In order to avoid the large crowds, we went out for our Mother's Day meal on Saturday evening. Despite arriving at the restaurant super-early we were faced with a thirty minute wait. The children had been at their grandparents all day and I had arrived with a small purse...one that contained no survival items needed for a thirty minute wait with young children.

A tank of lobsters and joyful grandparents helped us through these thirty minutes and we finally were seated at our table....only for Evelyn to COMPLETELY. MELT. DOWN. over a chocolate milk straw issue.

Fortunately we were seated at the very back table of this fine establishment so I only had to pass 50 or so odd diners on my loooooooooong trek to the door as I attempted to exit with a tantruming toddler in my hands.

Happy Mothers Day to me. Isn't Mommyhood glamorous?

Evelyn calmed down (mainly due to the fact temperatures in our area dropped yesterday and she was too cold to have a fit outside for an extended amount of time), we returned to our table, and proceeded to finish our meal. Service was not great at this particular restaurant, both kids were a bit testy, and I began wondering why we even attempted to eat at somewhere that does not incorporate "Playplace" into their general decor.

But we survived and I think I ate some shrimp.

This morning I woke up to find an email with this link

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=4hD.3wZ8KQccXSvEk_P_ejEzMzA4MjM1&referred_by=3805849-UGRul9x&p=moveon )

in my inbox. Isn't my husband terribly clever? After the usual marathon of getting children up, fed, dressed, disciplined, hair fixed, disciplined some more, hair fixed once again due to an impromptu gymnastics session on the couch, disappointment handed out when Mommy would not allow anyone to color in their church clothes, my ownself dressed and groomed; we finally arrived at church.

Children were deposited in their respective Sunday school classrooms and I settled in on the pew next to my husband. We were about four songs in when a teacher approached us during service and said that Evelyn was sick. I went to retrieve her, expecting to see some sort of tummy issue and wondering if our dry cleaners would be able to salvage her pretty dress, only to discover that she was not sick at all. The teacher felt that she did not need to stay in the classroom due to her runny nose. The teacher was new and I refrained from going into long detail with her about how Evelyn's nose has been running for two years and that she was not contagious, but decided to simply scoop up our little girl and remove her from the class.

Evelyn, Tobe, and I hung out in the church study during services rather than enduring a long struggle of getting a wiggly, loud little girl to sit still during the sermon. After church, we all headed home for some pictures (which I used marshmallows to bribe the children in order to get a few smiles out of them) and lunch.

Naps were taken, time was spent outside (in which one child had to be placed in time-out for attempting to sit on his sister and the other child had to be placed in time-out for attempting to feed her brother wood chips. Sheesh. Who are these children some days?), dinner was consumed, baths were administered, stories were read, backs were rubbed, lights were turned off....and this Mommy is tired.

Being a mom certainly is not glamorous at times, it is beyond exhausting some days, it causes the strangest phrases to tumble from my mouth ("Do not stick the bell pepper in the bubble container" Seriously. I said this not even six hours ago.), it creates laughter and frustration all in the same minute, and it is the most wonderful thing ever.

Happy Mother's Day, Blog World!

My Early Mother's Day Present

This is my early Mother's Day present to myself: Dressing my children in coordinating outfits.

Do you think they will still go for this in ten years?

The Facts of Life

"You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both, and there you have...The Facts of Life. ."

1980's television. I sure do miss it amidst all the reality stuff that liters the airways these days. Sure, a hit TV program about an alien keeping residence with a normal American family does not really make a lot of sense nor does a program depicting brothers (and eventually cousins) settling all disputes and injustices in their county resemble a normal existence....but they were entertaining and I never once had to pick up my phone to vote someone off.

(Alf, anyone? Perhaps "Dukes of Hazards"?)

One television series I dearly loved as a kid was the "Facts of Life" (Did you remember this guy was Jo's boyfriend???). It was fun story lines, the girls ran a college bookstore which appealed to my organizational sense, and I thought the fashion was divine.

As many of you know, Lisa Whelchel who played "Blair" on this program eventually found a niche speaking about her faith, parenting, and her role as a mom. I have read a few of her books and check her website on occasion. Yesterday I was fortunate enough to catch her two minute interview on our local morning news.

She was promoting the upcoming "Women of Faith" tour and her role as a speaker this summer, along with several other women. When asked how she manages to be a public speaker, an author, an avid scrapbooker, a teacher (she homeschools), and a full-time mom, Lisa replied with the answer I wish every woman/mom/wanna-do-it-all-right-now person could hear.

She laughed and said, "I don't do it all at once. That just isn't reality."

Ahhh.

Lately Isaac has really been into asking me what I want to do when I grow up. I have attempted to explain to him that I am indeed "grown-up" (I think I am, however I did just make an Alf reference a few paragraphs ago), how I used to be a teacher before he was born, and some dreams I have for myself in upcoming years. This answer does not seem to satisfy him because the question keeps popping into our conversations.

Today I approached my answer in a new way, hoping to provide a better understanding for him. I asked him about the cotton seeds he, Tobe, and Evelyn just planted a few weeks ago.

I asked him if once they put the seeds in the ground the cotton plant immediately popped out of the soil.

He said the obligatory "No" and we discussed how we have to wait a few weeks to see those first tiny green leaves emerge and then wait even longer to see the actual plant form. We talked about how it takes several months for our cotton plants to go from tiny seed into a cotton producing thing.

His eyes may have glazed over just a bit and his sister's cries for raisins coming from the seat next to him may have drowned out my words, but I wanted him (and Evelyn...once she got over her raisin cries) to understand that life is not immediate. We cannot have all, be all, do all, and experience all at once. I wanted him to understand that although Mommy is technically "grown-up" her definite path is not set in stone. That she, like everyone else, has been granted time to grow and move through life, experiencing things in seasons and in stages.

Life takes a bit of time, a bit of cultivation, and a lot of care to be able to go from tiny seed into productive adult.

It's the facts of life.

Before Someone Called Me "Mommy"

Before I entered this stage of life known as "Mommyhood" I would never have imagined the following scenarios would actually occur in my life:

*Going out of my way to drive past such important landmarks as the "pink and red hot dogs", being on constant look-out for school buses, and referring to our local train as an actual person, going so far as to speculate what said train does in his "off-hours" (visit his grandparents, take a bath, lay down for a nap, etc).

*Using my t-shirt for an emergency Kleenex (It was a work-out tee and I had just returned home from the gym. If you have seen the extent of Evelyn's allergies, then you know this was a justified move.)

*Discussing whether or not Handy Manny and Kelly from the Hardware Shop have a thing going on (thanks, Kinda!), understanding what a digi-medal is, and singing the theme to the Little Einsteins while grocery shopping.

*Being able to cause an instant case of the severe giggles in my children simply by reciting the phrase, "Goodnight, mush." Proceeding to say this phrase repeatedly simply for the reaction of said children.

*Creating new words to replace perfectly good words already established in the English language. For instance, we refer to this type of drink as Monkey Milk, we call an overstuffed stationary chair the "Rock-Rock" chair, and refer to a stuffed pink bear as "InkInk".

*That there are days when I want to do a dance of joy when 7:45pm rolls around and the 3 foot and under crowd is safely tucked in their beds for the evening.

*I would get a bit misty-eyed watching my daughter run around a mall playplace, thinking back to the first time she visited such a location....as an infant in a baby sling.

*That two little people can drive me a bit batty, make me laugh hysterically, and cause me to feel immensely blessed...all in the span of 23 seconds.

Anyone have one to share?

***

A few people have asked about the watermark (savethephillipsfamily) stamp on the lower right-hand side of my pictures. I started doing this about six months ago to help prevent the stealing of our pictures. As we all know, the Internet is a public place. Although copyright laws are somewhat in place for items on blogs, people can still take things off of a blog and claim it as their own....including pictures. By placing a watermark on pictures, such thievery is discouraged (I am sure some super-tech person could figure out a way to photoshop the watermark away but that seems like quite a bit of effort for a photo of a french fry cake or a snapshot of the interiors of my closet).

Picassa allows their users to watermark their photos with marks that are not distracting or obnoxious. Check it out and see if it works for you!

Unplugging

We have various play phones laying around casa de phillips (ironically, we currently cannot find the real cordless phone that resides in the living room...but that is another post for another day). Often times the children will scoop up one of the play phones and make urgent phone calls. It is during those fleeting seconds that I get to hear what I sound like on the phone through the talk of my children. Typically they call Nanny (my mom) and usually throw in a few dramatic gasps before yelling "good-bye!" and tossing the phone aside (Hmmm...wonder why I cannot find the phone).

Motherhood is nothing if not humbling.

About a year ago, Isaac and Evelyn were being babysat by some family friends while our family attended the funeral of my great-grandmother. During that babysitting experience, Isaac informed one of the ladies that he needed to check his email. He was so serious and matter-of-fact about this statement that she actually paused for a moment and contemplated whether or not this almost three year old little boy did indeed have an email account (he does not).

Despite the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom, I am routinely "plugged-in" to the outside world via email, blogging, Facebook, and my need to Google everything rather than actually taking the time to discover an answer on my own. As we are approaching summer, I am contemplating what I want to accomplish over those three hot months with my children. I am also contemplating how I can unplug myself just a bit (don't worry, the blog will still be around. I have yet to tell about how the ducks and their new fence). Do I really need to know what a random acquaintance is doing everyday via Facebook? Should I dig out an actual phonebook rather than Googling the phone numbers of local business? Will my children actually have email accounts before they enter elementary school?

Anyone else contemplating unplugging just a tad this summer?

I enjoy reading the blog Girl Talk and these two posts (here and here) really address the need for mommies to unplug just a bit and keep the focus on their family and on raising children effectively. Just a little food for thought.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to check on the Facebook status of the girl who I used to carpool to Kindergarten with and look at the 10 day weather forecast before going to bed.

E's Classic Diner

Have I mentioned the Evelyn loves french fries?

"Love" actually is too mild a word to describe the feelings Evelyn holds towards any sort of cut and deep fried potato.

I thought we should celebrate her passion for this particular food at her second birthday. A simple french fry party eventually turned into a 1950's classic diner themed soiree.

So...welcome to E's Classic Diner.

A good friend of mine lent me this large number "2" saying I could paint it anyway I wanted. I opted for hot pink with black polka dots. I also opted to allow the kids to help paint this larger number, which turned out to be a great exercise in patience for me.

...an exercise I do not plan to repeat anytime soon.

Did I mention there were costumes involved?

Isaac wore the classic white t-shirt with sleeves rolled up and hair slicked back while Evelyn bopped around in a pink poodle skirt and initial tee.

A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.

We transformed part of the kitchen into the classic diner with just a few signs

Hot pink cupcakes were served

Along with a French Fry Cake, complete with fake ketchup.

At some point, a few party-goers attempted to explain to Isaac who The Fonz was and teach him to say, "heeeeeey".

This is the end result of such instruction.The outside was also decorated

(I have more outside decor pictures but Blogger is being a real jerk about moving pictures around)

The kitchen hosted all of the food...the food we eventually placed in these empty bowls (why did I not take a picture of the table with food on it??).

E's Classic Diner served french fries (three kinds!), mini corn dogs, mini cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, fruit (to make up for all those fries), and marshmallows.

Did I mention that I dressed up as well?

I meant to make a name tag that read "Flo" but forgot until yesterday...24 hours after the end of the party.
Singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out of the candles.

Realizing that this fry was indeed NOT made of potato.

E. was unsure at first and then warmed up to the pound cake french fry.

Evelyn in all her (almost) two year old cuteness

The party was great fun and we only had to rush all the children inside once due to rain. Evelyn loved the poodle skirt and refers to it as "my pretty party poodle skirt." After a much needed trip to the dry cleaners (it has mud, ice cream, grease, and who knows what on it), the skirt will be added to her dress-up collection.

Isaac played his role of supportive big-brother well, offering to give tours of the kitchen and allowing me to put large amounts of gel in his hair. Because their ages are quite close, he was quite happy with a lot of the presents Evelyn received mainly because he feels like they only add to his own toy collection.

Evelyn had a blast, savoring time spent with family, friends, and her beloved french fry.

Party Post

Party pictures and details coming soon. It has been a loooooooooong afternoon here at casa de phillips and the party post has been delayed.

Check back soon.

From Under the Pile of Birthday Streamers

Evelyn's birthday party is tomorrow and I am no longer cursing our local weathermen now that the predicted rain chance has been moved to Saturday afternoon. I am sure all meteorologists in our area are breathing a small sigh of relief.

Because we are gearing up for this celebration of Miss E's second year of life, I am going to keep this post short and sweet and full of links. Enjoy!

*Great Tips on Getting Those Kids to Listen

*My dad and brother actually made my 6th grade Science Fair Project for me due to my lack of interest and/or scientific ability. That project won second place in my fine home state's contest. I do not know who was prouder: me or my dad. Big Mama talks about doing her own school project here that will have you laughing out loud.

*My mom has read this book and I am really anxious to read it as well....but my usually stellar public library does not own a copy. Boo.

*If your kids are not already responsible for chores around your house already, here is a great post about inspiring such responsibility in little ones.

*I am dying to make these tasty treats. Yum!

Happy Friday!