Snip, snip

About a month ago, Elliott and Emerson had their first real hair cut from my mom's stylist (thanks, Debbie! You did an amazing job!)  I've been cutting their hair myself since a couple months old when I couldn't stand the long hair that grew down their necks under that inevitable bald spot that babies get. But I'm not a professional and the boys were way overdue for an official haircut.

Suckers provided a nice distraction and Emerson barely noticed the haircut:

Elliott didn't like the cutting around his ears too much but he did really well sitting still too:

 Handsome boys!

Where's the Paper Mommy?

Yesterday we spent the afternoon lounging at the beach, playing in the sand, splashing in the water and finding shells. We had a picnic dinner, at least Jason and I did. They boys only ate Cheetos.  That's it.  Oh and Emerson had some sand too.

We thought ice cream would be the perfect end to our beach day but wisely wanted the boys to eat some nutrition-filled dinner before eating dessert so we headed to McDonald's.  The boys gobbled down some apple slices, french fries and Elliott also ate the meat patty off his hamburger.  Declaring dinner to be a somewhat success... we got both of the boys an ice cream cone.  It was late, so we just let them eat them on the way home while strapped in their carseats. I just assumed they would make a total mess and I'd clean the carseats when I got home along with cleaning out the pounds of sand we brought home from the beach.

Well, I looked back a few minutes into the ice cream eating event, and Emerson had devoured his ice cream before it had had a chance to melt!   Minutes later, I looked back, and the cone too was gone! He smiled, waved his hands at me and declared "all gone!"

Elliott also successfully ate his ice cream with no mess!

But then Elliott looked at his cone:

And he looked at Emerson whose cone was all gone....and Elliott wondered:
"Where's the paper mommy?"

Oh Sunny Day!

This is what happens when the sun finally comes out and we get to go outside and play:

Pilots

Jason brought home a couple of 787 airplanes from work.  We ventured outside to practice our flying skills. You can catapult the planes quite a distance. Here is Elliott giving it a try with Jason:

The two little pilots tired of it quickly but the big pilot kept at it. 

Crash landing (one of many)

Emerson preferred to dig with his plane:

Negotiating

Negotiating for computer use has become a new issue in my house this week. With Elliott!

Elliott has figured out how to use the mouse really well and loves www.starfall.com. From the time he wakes up, he asks to play "starfall" and it is hard to say no since the website is full of learning games.

This is what I hear now:

"Mom, when is it my turn?"

"If I eat all my dinner, can I play starfall?"

As he is going down for a rest: "Don't turn it off, okay? I'm going to play when I get up."

When I've asked him to come to dinner: "I'll be there soon. I've got some work to do first."

More blog posts coming soon, really! I have several things I've wanted to write about. However, I have found it difficult to have time on the computer this week because I've had to fight for a turn!

And no joke: I just had to replace the battery in the mouse a few seconds ago...I'm sure because Elliott has been using it SO much.

For now here are a couple of quick pictures of the little artists:

Time to Go

I've been trying to get ready to leave this afternoon on a retreat. I've been busy making soup (twice, the first batch was terrible as 1 large bottle of salsa accidentally poured in is apparently not the same as just 1 cup), packing, catching up on chores so I don't leave the house a total mess for Jason.

So Emerson was a bit....unsupervised. He entertained himself with our tub of winter mittens, hats, and scarves for a while as I as packing in our bedroom and then wandered off. To play nicely in his room, I imagined. Or hoped. Except he doesn't do that EVER. I gained momentum in getting ready and packing since it was so quiet and didn't check on Emerson for who knows how long.

Until I realized it was time to go to pick up Elliott from preschool. Only minutes before I needed to be on the road.

I found Emerson. Happily playing in the bathroom. SOAKED from head to toe (well, not really the toes since this week he had decided to always always always wears boots and except when I make him take them off to go to bed). Bits of wet toilet paper on the floor, toilet, walls, bathtub, EVERYWHERE.

I was so charmed by his "Look What I Did, Ma" face and sense of proud accomplishment that I couldn't do anything but take pictures.

After preschool, Elliott and I had a little conversation about shutting bathroom doors.....because it is only cute the first time a toddler makes a total mess of the bathroom.

I'm Back

Yes, I fully realize it has been a very long time since I've blogged. It has been so long, that not only did I forget the password to log in to my own blog, but I also forgot the password for my own gmail account that is associated with my blog. It was quite a process to get back here this morning.

My only excuse for not blogging for so long (and I think it is a good one) is that having a second kid forced me to limit my activities and I decided eating, sleeping and making sure my kids survived were priorities. Its not just that a second kid is more work, its that they tag team me so often. When one is sleeping, the other is awake. When one is playing quietly and independently, the other is playing in the toilet. Again.

But alas, I'm getting used to this two-kid thing. (and we're pretty sure that's our limit given Jason's second try at a vasectomy.)

So this week, we took our two little guys outside for some fun in the snow. Elliott totally got the memo that playing in the snow is a fun activity. Emerson did not. He tolerated us dragging him out on three different days but made his dissatisfaction very clear with his pathetic whimper every time his boots touched the snow.

Here we are getting ready to go out.

Notice our very classy sled:

Emerson preferred to stay next to the garage and totally away from all snow:

Elliott enjoying snow adventures: