Whoever Said Four Was The Age of Reason...

... Definitely has never met Amelia. All of the following conversations took place within the last two hours (God help me .)

Me: "You need to put some lotion on, your skin is really dry. "

Amelia: "No, I'm not putting any lotion on today!"

Me: "Yes, your arms are really dry and you keep complaining that they're itchy. Put some lotion on."

Amelia: "No!! I'm not putting any lotion on and if you put it on me I'm going to wipe it right off!!" At which point she charged out of the bathroom and slammed the door. 

***

Me: "Do you want to watch tv up here while I put laundry away or do you want to go downstairs and see what the boys are doing?"

Amelia: "I want to watch tv downstairs."

(She doesn't move.)

Me: "Ok... So go downstairs, the tv is already on down there."

Amelia: "I want to watch upstairs."

Me: "What do you want to watch?"

Amelia: "Whatever's on."

Me: "Whatever's on Nick Jr?"

Amelia: "Yes... I DONT WANT TO WATCH DORA!!!"

Me: "Oookay what do you want to watch?"

Amelia: "Doc McStuffins, I want a new Doc McStuffins. "

Me: "Well there's no new ones, there's just..."

Amelia: "YOU PICK IT!! JUST PICK WHICHEVER ONE YOU WANT THEN!!" She literally starts screaming, laying on her back and kicking her feet in the air. Mike has to come upstairs to see what the commotion is about. 

***

Amelia: "We learned about different places in school today, like Boston is a place and China is a place. "

Me: "That's good, what did you learn about them?"

Amelia: "We learned that rice comes from China and we tasted it."

Me: "That's right! What else did you learn?"

Amelia:  "We learned that pizza comes from China too. "

Me: "Umm... I don't think pizza comes from China, honey, maybe you learned it comes from Italy, or --"

Amelia: "PIZZA COMES FROM CHINA!! DON'T TELL ME WHERE PIZZA COMES FROM BECAUSE I KNOW IT COMES FROM CHINA!!"

That Time of Year Again!

That time of year again -- to sign Charlie up for spring baseball! Unfortunately he misses the cut off by 3 days so is once again in instructional baseball this year, but it's probably just as well because starting with the 8 year old league Quincy offers baseball year round -- even a winter league held indoors at the sports complex in Marina Bay -- and it can get pretty cut throat apparently. So just as well that he's in the 7 yr old league this year. 

Charlie, for his part, is looking forward to it!! 

Back At Gymnastics

And still working on that forward roll ;-)

Officially Signed Up

For my next 1/2 marathon, Boston's Run To Remember on May 25th! Guess I better get my butt off the couch!

I'm also planning to sign up for a full marathon, the Baystate Marathon on October 19th, but registration doesn't open until March 1st so I still have another month to chicken out :-P

Lunch Date

Amelia's friend Vivian and her baby sister Isadora came over for lunch today -- here are a couple pictures of the kids on the couch enjoying some pirate booty. Isadora seemed to take a particular liking to Charlie:

Fun Shaped Waffles

(Because my children pay far too much attention to the Eggo waffle commercials)

A Sample...

Of the random conversations I have with Amelia all day long: 

Me: "Come on it's time for bed. "

Amelia: "But I didn't even get my bunny in to the x-ray room!!"

Me: "Well she's just going to have to wait in triage until tomorrow. What happened to her anyway?"

Amelia: "She broke her arm."

Me. "Do your bunnies have names, anyway?"

Amelia: "OF COURSE they have names !! This one is Sissy and this one is Emily. How could they not have names? Everyone has a name!!"

Me: "Oh, well, I've never heard you call them that... Hey whatever happened to Cinco and Beepa, anyway? Do you still have them?"

Amelia: "Oh they died a long time ago. "

Quincy In A Blizzard

A Good Afternoon For S'Mores

With. 8-12 inches of snow forecasted for tonight and Amelia's dance class already cancelled, we decided it was a good afternoon for S'Mores!

Amelia's 4th Birthday Video

Another Birthday In New Hampshire

We headed up to NH today to celebrate Amelia's birthday with Grammy and Grampy ("I'm turning 4 *again*?! When am I going to be 5??")

We had a ham dinner and cake and ice cream. The kids had a super fun time playing bingo with a real bingo cage with balls that you spin to call the numbers. Grammy let us take it home, so now we have a fun addition to game night and also a very fun way for Amelia to practice reading and recognizing her higher numbers. (Thank you Grammy!!)

Here are some pictures:

Birthday Girl

Amelia's party was this afternoon at the Weymouth Club; she had a great time and Charlie was a super helper in the party room, passing out cake & ice cream like a pro. Here are some pictures, with  video to follow. 

A Little Too Much Fun At Our Work Xmas Party

(Which we belatedly had last night. )

The Facts Of Life According To Amelia

Amelia: "How did you and Daddy make me and Charlie?"
Me: "Umm..."
Amelia: "Did you mix us up like cookie dough and bake us in the oven and then you took us out and we were alive and you said 'It's Charlie and Amelia!'??
Me: "Uhh yeah it was pretty much just like that... Only just a tiny bit different..."

Sick As A Dog

Charlie, who began to complain of a stomach ache after Taekwon do on Friday and could barely eat any dinner at The Cheesecake Factory , became violently ill Friday night. He started vomiting at about 11pm and managed to upchuck all over his bed , his bedroom floor and the bathroom floor before making it to the toilet. It took Mike and I almost an hour to clean up that first round, and then he threw up two more times and had multiple episodes of diarrhea that let's just say not all happened in the toilet. 

He was down for the count yesterday, not moving from the sofa all day, but today he seems just about back to his normal self. 

Mike and I rallied last night and after laundry, changing sheets, throwing out toothbrushes and disinfecting the bathroom with Lysol, we put the kids to bed early and had a date with wine, cheese, bread, and bacon wrapped dates while we watched the Partriots game. 

Unfortunately Amelia has just started to complain of a stomach ache so I am keeping my fingers crossed for her !!

Birthday Dinner

Amelia enjoyed every minute of her birthday today, sharing birthday cupcakes at school and thoroughly enjoying all the hugs and birthday wishes from her little preschool friends. 

We went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner where she wore her birthday crown and beamed and said "Thank you, I'm four years old today!" to the many staff and strangers who stopped to wish her a happy birthday. 

Happy 4th Birthday Amelia!!

Making Cupcakes!

Amelia helped me make two dozen cupcakes this evening for her to bring to school tomorrow for her birthday, and both the kids taste-tested them. 

Trying To Get Back In The Swing Of Things

After the holidays and an exceedingly long winter break thanks to 2 well placed snow days, we are desperately trying to get back into the swing of things, with some New Years resolutions to boot! 

I have started back on a healthy diet after eating absolute crap for the last six weeks, which means taking the time to prepare and pack lunches for work instead of buying it there.

We finally got back to the gym last night after a long absence -- I, at least, hadn't been since the first week of December. I ran 3 miles and did about 300 crunches and now I ache from head to toe. Talk about out of shape!

Mike has been on a house cleaning/rearranging kick so not only has he much improved the living room, but he threw out the futon in Charlie's room giving him tons more space. We also bought a card table and chairs for the living room with the idea of forcing a game night on the children once a week. 

This week I also stupidly decided to see what would happen if I didn't put Amelia in a pull up the night before last (she had been dry the night before) and so of course she wet the bed. Then last night I put her back in a pull up and she did the sleep-peeing thing again where she somehow pulled her pants down and peed all over the bed in the middle of the night, which she did a couple months ago. Dry pull up, wet everything else. So I've now been up changing her sheets at 1am TWICE in a row and am hoping for a quiet night tonight. 

Friday is Amelia's birthday so in addition to the usual chaos I have birthday cupcakes to bake tomorrow night , and we are going out to dinner Friday night to celebrate. Her party isn't until the 19th -- a mermaid themed party at the Weymouth club's indoor splash park -- so at least I have another week to get ready for that. (Phew!)

Never Too Cold For Pinkberry

I Guess She's Not Afraid Of The Ferret Anymore

The Rest Of The Blizzard

The rest of our snow storm passed uneventfully; we got about 18 inches of snow and didn't lose power despite the high winds. Tomorrow brings new adventures in the form of record breaking cold; it's supposed to be -5 tomorrow morning when I head to work. 

Here are some pictures from today:

Walking to work, still snowing:

And after the storm:

The kids didn't leave the house today or yesterday and to say they have cabin fever is an understatement!! Mike promises to get them out tomorrow, now that the roads are clear. 

First Snow Day Of 2014

With snow all day today and a blizzard forecasted for tonight school was cancelled for today and tomorrow, giving Charlie an extended Christmas break to a full 2 weeks (today was supposed to be his first day back. ) I took the day off today and Mike is taking tomorrow off. The kids enjoyed home made brownies, popcorn and a few movies today, with Amelia being the only one to venture out in the snow (for all of about ten minutes. ) 

Here are pictures, stay tuned for how walking to work in a blizzard goes tomorrow :-P

New Layout For The New Year

After nearly ten years we finally got around to rearranging the living room/dining room area to give us a reading area and a tv watching area. Generall consensus: why didn't we do this five years ago??