The MEN

I love this picture... Shane is officially controlled by his kids..
notice his bling. He has been bedazzled by his daughter.  

Zumba

Today I went to ZUMBA! And danced for 80 minutes straight.

I was terrible at it, because I lack grace and coordination.

It was so freeing when one of the instructors announced that we should make the workout our own as she demonstrated adding style to a move. I loved that! Only problem was everyone still moved around in the same directions; like seriously! What she should have said is make it your own but don't have too much fun to where you run into people.

I learned several things:
1.) Centripetal Force does not work on me as much as everyone else, because somehow they swing their arms impossibly fast. I can't even move that fast; forget doing it on beat.
2.) "Um can you do that body roll in slow motion?" - Maybe I should have trained for the body roll parts.
3.) Don't stand by the old ladies... If they at their age are at this intense Zumba "Party" they are probably way jazzier than you and make you look like weak sauce.
4.) I learned that not everyone has to make sound affects with every move, but I do. I also name every move and yell it out occasionally like I am at a rock concert or something. It is really cool...

It was basically a ton of fun that I will be recovering from for awhile.

New Toy

It took Daphney and I awhile before we learned how to use this toy but as you can see it was fun all the same. Thanks Kirk and Pam!

Farm Tour

Jenny, Daphney, and I decided to boycott the high priced zoos and take a trip to VanWinkle's farm to see all the animals. We got to see baby lambs and calves, a horse, few chickens, couple dogs, and "rat" the fat cat. It was a ton of fun and Daphney loved getting to touch and see the animals we have read about actually in real life. Since then she has had more fun riding in a car because she watches for cows. At the end of the tour of the farm Daphney grabbed Bob's hand and made him take her to go and see more animals. It was super cute!

Daphney's Titanic

This one is simple to explain....

It took me ten minutes to release my child from the dungeon of the downstairs.

For my dedicated readers...

Daphney woke up from her nice peaceful nap and discovered she was alone in my parent's basement. I was sitting on the couch upstairs nursing Demitri as I hear the piercing wails, of a nap gone wrong, zooming the length of the basement and beginning to grow louder as she manages to reach the top of the staircase. There the sound stays not growing louder or softer.

Demitri decides to begin his wailing melody as he has to stop eating so we can check on Daphney. The song of my children is missing its usual melody of the drum of pounding palms on the door; I figure Daphney must not be stuck behind the closed door. However, as I approach chills run down my spine as I see her little fingers pried beneath the door and the floor. (The chills remind me of the ones you get while watching Titanic and see the lower class workers try to escape before the door locks them in the bottom of the boat... haunted me as a child.)

The intensity of my children’s cries increases as Daphney hears us approach and she begins to dig her fingers in farther into the cold tile. It took me a good 6 minutes to convince her to remove her fingers from under the door because as I would open the door a centimeter her hand would begin to resemble a pancake. We finally got her to painfully remove her digits, but she still would not back down the stairs in order to make room for me to open the door and save her. Daphney never actually managed to reverse down the stairs instead she smashed down far enough onto the floor that the door could open on top of her. It was quite the pickle for a bit. A few scrapes; consequently, just another day in the life of our Daphenator.

Time to Play

So after our last debunked pin I swore I was going to stick to traditional teaching methods but these two are fun and easy ways to play!
1.) Daphney and I came up with this one after a snack time, and she now stays busy doing it several times a day. We call it painting but we don’t actually use paint. This makes it not messy or toxic as you know she always has to drink out of the cup occasionally. All it takes is a leftover cup and a paper towel from snack time and a paintbrush. We are also cheap and hang up the towels so that they can dry and we can reuse them over and over again!

2.) Our second activity uses play dough, a skewer, yarn, and fruit loops or apple jacks. For this project, tape the yarn to the pointy side of the skewer and then slide play dough down the length of the skewer; the purpose of this is to prevent a mess- in case your child pulls the skewer out of the play dough while working. Now that the skewer is sturdy and pointed up your child can begin stacking fruit loops or apple jacks. While we played it was incredibly easy to incorporate talking about colors, numbers, and patterns. When the skewer is full simply break open the play dough and allow the cereal to slide onto the yarn. This makes a fantastic snack/necklace to be enjoyed later during a movie or on a stroller ride. It was a lot of fun and Daphney was entertained for quite a while!

Woes of a Second Child: #3

WOE #3: You go bald at a young age, because you are always being petted.
However, there is also someone always there to take
care of you and force you to have what you never wanted, but learn to love!

Fun in the SNOW!

I officially declare that we can't have anymore snow, because the video is finished...

My Bike Ride

Today I had this unexpected urge to conquer the neighborhood by way of Shane’s new bike. Shane told me as I left, “Don’t go down any hills.” I laughed and thought man he knows me well; if I were to go down hills I would never make it home because at some point I would have to trek back up those hills. But I soon learned the real reason why hills are the enemy.

 Picture an awesome sleek bike whose seat hits me at about the rib cage and handlebars that the rider has to lay horizontal to reach. I wanted to go on a stroll but really! You can’t stroll around on that vehicle and look cool… you are doomed to have to speed away arrow dynamically across the country side. So I stood in our driveway patiently waiting for the mailman to finish so I could attempt to hurdle myself upon that seat. I finally achieved my goal of mounting the beast the only problem was that I had to somehow squeeze my size 10.5 shoe into a tiny stirrup attached to the pedals. Didn’t they think I could keep my foot on the pedals without a strap?

 So there I was zooming down the path with one foot strapped in and fighting desperately to get the other into the stinking stirrup while trying to avoid the edges of the sidewalk. About half way through the bike ride I had success with my foot problem and decided to really push this bike with a slight decline. That was when it came… a 90 degree turn! This would have been a piece of cake if I would have thought to find the breaks prior. Turns out you have to lean even further impossibly forward to reach them while inactivating your plan for no longer having pavement under your tires. Speed was a terrible idea I opted for the rest of the ride to take it slow… and look silly. But not as silly as when I got home and realized I had no idea how to remove my wedged feet out of those stupid stirrups when the bike came to a halt in our front yard.

Maybe I will give the speed a break by taking up running for a while. :D

Bed Time

We have been working with Daphney to sleep in her own bed and not need us to lay there until she falls asleep.

PROCESS: Every night after Daphney is set with fresh pjs and a selected teddy bear under arm she rushes to her twin mattress that currently resides on the floor. There she kneels down and looks mom or dad up and down saying with her eyebrows, "aren't you going to kneel beside me". We finish praying for the kids at storytime, icecream, and puppies, and Daphney claps with delight. She smushes down into her boppy pillow and then smiles with her bright eyes as she pats her pillow indicating that she wants us to lay down beside her. That is when my heart breaks and I kiss her little cheeks and walk out the room and shut the door.

Consequently, that is usually when the monster attacks the door....Yesterday the worst thing happened.


I tucked her into bed and she smiled up at me with her normal bright inviting eyes and waved goodbye! 
It broke my heart more than it ever did when I had to leave her. I wanted to beg her to let me stay! Oh how will I ever stand this growing up thing?!

Precious Times

I love these pictures so much, but it was ten times better in real life. I love these pictures because it has my two munchkins wrapped in things that remind me of the support from all the people I love.

Daphney loves her boppy pillow, and has slept in it since she was about 4 months old. Thanks Grandmarry, I think that helped make the switch from a crib to the bed natural because she still had that for a home base.
Yes Daphney did not realize she was wearing the princess skirt wrong, but she loves it all the same and I can't bear to tell her otherwise. Thanks to my mother in-law for sending it! 

Marker in a Box

I normally do not like to share my failures as a mother unless there has been sufficient time to allow the horror story to mature into a comedy. Who likes everyone knowing that you have utterly failed?

So, I will not share this story. I will not tell you how in the process of one terrible nursing session everything was covered in marker. Thanks alot Pinterest; lets go back to only using paper to color. Debunked this pin!

ps. In getting my bachelor degree I learned that art can't be defined universally. Well I will tell you what it is not! It is not destruction! Even graffiti artists try to make something look better.

Update on the Little Man

He has some new sweet skills!

Kisses

Toddler's Stages of Kissing:

1.) Frozen Face Smash
2.) Accidental Drool Overload
3.) Master of the Loud Puckers 

4.) PERFECT Precious KISS

Needed Background: (Except towards Demitri), Daphney protects her kisses and holds them back to reward valiant effort. Shane and I work tirelessly for those sweet marks of affection. Yesterday my place in heaven was sealed when Daphney marked me as a blessed chosen object of her affection. 

It all happened so quickly, I was sitting there feeding Demitri as Daphney prepared to play on the play ground equipment. She headed for the stairs a waving her princess wave and smiling from ear to ear. Then her face screwed all up and and she looked in pain as surprise spread across her wide eyes and open mouth. She ran right over and planted a PERFECT Precious KISS there on my right cheek. She smiled again and with one final wave she ran away to the swings. 

This was the moment I knew I must have done her well... I WAS FLYING HIGH!

About thirty minutes later Daphney and I were working in the yard and I glanced at her and I could not believe my eyes.....

She was picking up rock after rock and planting a kiss on the top of each one. I must have watched her do that for 10 rocks, before I attempted to stop her. To protect her from germs? NO; this I did to try to protect my pride from being told that I was loved as much as a ROCK!