Bubbles

I don't know quite how it happened, but sometime between first steps and running, Cullen has affectionately become known to me and Jim as Bubbles.  It's probably because we originally called him Wubbles, which I annoyingly turned into Wubbles Bubbles and then dropped the Wubbles.  Or maybe it's because he is my Bubbles.  My absolute favorite picture from my wedding day isn't even of me, it's of one of my best friends blowing bubbles while waiting for us to leave the church; just got a major rush of feeling like this nickname may have been more perfect than I ever thought.

As kids, we all delighted in bubbles; I swear I can hear my little one's happy screeches in pictures where they are chasing after bubbles. And it's that feeling of unequivocal joy that bubbles bring that Cullen- our Bubbles, has brought to us.  He's my little Bubbles, spreading joy and happiness wherever he tumbles.

Consistency

Surprisingly enough, this delicious looking lunch is on my overall wellness plan.  

So far, I've been stepping it up with the walks and have stopped eating line a linebacker.  

I've been documenting it via pictures, hopefully I will be able to see some results soon!
Posting this gives me motivation and accountability, so thanks for reading!

I'm Not Even Going to Argue

I know for a fact that I'm not the only parent that struggles to get their kids up, dressed and off to school (yes, we call daycare, school); however, I'm just wondering when everyone else's struggles began.  Did they start at 2 years old?

Almost every morning when I go into wake Cullen up, before his even opens his eyes, he screams, "No!"  And I say, "no, what?"  He says, "no, I don't want to go to school!"  I then diplomatically tell him, "you don't have a choice, you're going."  But, what I really want to say is, "listen, dude.  This is the best you're ever going to have it.  You go to school, hang out with cool little kids all day long, have no homework, splash in puddles, get waffles and cheerios for breakfast and take not one, but two naps a day.  I would kill to have your life!"


Once we're downstairs, it turns into a battle of wills, with me almost always giving in, unless it's extreme.  And what exactly does that mean?  Well, it means that pretty much every day, Cullen brings in everything but the kitchen sink to school.  Some days, I try to play it off like he's bringing in stuff for show-n-tell and that we've taken some liberties with the "letter" of the week.  For example, this week is D, so he brought in a truck, which happened to be of the "dump" style.  Wha-lah, a dump truck for the letter D.  Other weeks, even I don't believe my own smoke.  All last week for letter C, he brought in a pan.  (Think about it...)  A pan is a circle, circle begins with C and bada bing: we're in show-n-tell business.  And still there are times, I just tell the teachers, "sorry, this is the only way I can get him in here."  They just shrug and say, "that's fine."

So, this morning, when he decided that he wanted to take in his new cement mixer and his pan, while wearing his "bunny ears," I decided that I wasn't even going to argue.  "That's fine." I said.  "Just sit over here so I can get a picture, ok?"  And that's "how we do" in our household; documenting all the nonsense, so years from now right now, we can all have a good laugh at one another's quirkiness.

A New Spin

Here's a new spin on a series of posts called, Texting with Megan.  This time, it's Emailing with Megan.  Her and I were discussing a potential educational stop on an otherwise fun, leisure filled trip, here's how that went:

My email: We must go see the totally lifelike Founding Fathers.
Her response:  That's great!  A little education in the mix is a must!! Jk! That's boring! I'll stay back in the room and watch Maury. 

Not So Much

Sometimes, I can get the boys to take great pictures... other times, not so much.  

I hope you enjoy this not-so-much series that we took while on vacation.

I'll Admit that I...

In the interest of keeping it real, I'll admit that I look at myself my reflection every morning in this window near the entrance to the building I work in... and if that makes me vain, then I don't want to be un-vain.

A Helping Hand

Sometimes when your little brother drops his lollipop and starts to cry, you lick the dirt off and say, "here, Brother!" and hand it back to him.

But when Brother decides to drop it 5 more times and your parents aren't looking, you get tired of handing it back, so you stick it in his hair.  There, now it will not be dropped.

Obsession

I'm obsessed with-a-many things.  It goes in patterns or waves.  It used to be Pinterest now, it's Wanelo, it was Facebook, and now, it's Twitter; so, you get the point, my tastes are ever-changing.  One thing I have become obsessed with recently (as you can tell from the ole' blog) is "action series" shots of my boys.  I love every time I get a great picture and by having a rapid succession of them, it means that there are more for me to look it.  To be honest, I even downloaded an app on our iPad called Fast Camera, which takes pictures really fast.

I'm particularly obsessed with jumping.  Cullen does a lot of jumping, like a lot, a lot (he even likes to watch video of himself jumping!) of jumping, so I've been trying to capture those in air moments.  The other day when we were at the park, Cullen conquered his rock and then decided that he wanted to jump off.

Here's how that went:

When to Push it

Recently, my once fearless little head chef has become a timid little line cook, not that there's anything wrong with that.  As a parent, I think it is my responsibility to take calculated risks when it comes to encouraging my cubs to participate in things; I'd never intentionally prompt them do something that would make them have nightmares, but when I think they're missing out, I'm gonna push.  And it just so happens, we had one of those, whether to push or not?! moments the other day.

One of Cullen's newest sayings is, "it's too scary for me!" which, as a fray'd-cat myself, I can relate to.  Bungee jumping- no thanks.  Skydiving- I'll pass.  High Dive- that scares Mommy!  But if it's a pretty mundane activity that I have no reason to fear, I'll push myself.

So, that's what I decided to do the other day at the park when Cullen was adamant that everything was, "too scary for me!" I decided that he was going to try it, he may not like it, but by golly, he's going to try it.  And just as I had suspected, he liked everything that he reluctantly went on.  The Swings (which he used to enjoy)- loved it.  The Big Boy Slide- conquered it.  That Big Rock- climbed it.

I guess this is par-for-the-course of parenthood.  Your kid says no I can't and you remind them that, yes, in fact, you can; and maybe, just maybe, those can't moments turn out to look something like this:

Reaction

Most of the time, my babies don't pay any attention to what I wear or what I look like- thank goodness!  However, that all changes when I wear red lipstick.  Arden is fascinated and Cullen likes to have me kiss his hands to leave "red lips" behind.  It has become a real obstacle course trying to get out of the house without my face or the kids' faces being smeared in a lovely shade of red.

Free of Charge

It started as just something that I wanted to do and has become something that I do.  Everyone in our family is known for something, be it an outrageous moment, a good recipe or a both.  Well, I've become famous for my chocolate covered pretzels.

So, just a little toot of my own horn at the product from this weekend, which I consider to be a great quality for the price (free of charge to the recipient) since I just Googled the price and it's about a dollar a pretzel online.

3 Pictures

Here's a nice little moment I captured the other day at the park.  

He's so proud to be motoring around on the big kid park equipment- 

and truth be told, he's going to be more fearless than his brother!

Truimph

The most memorable moments I have in life are triumphant ones; having children, getting married... you get the gist; succeeding when it counts.  So when my little guy decided that he was going to conquer the, "big rock!" at the park, I nervously looked on.  He's flexible, but he's a little guy and he doesn't always know that.

So, when he scaled that rock and proved me wrong, I was happy to see him rubbing it in my face- as I would have done and still do.  Check out Cullen's ascent to 2 year old glory.

Thanks!

Seriously, a great big thanks to anyone and everyone who has ever read and is still reading this blog, 

whether it's due to threats from me or not.  

Thanks times a million and one and "good on ya!" to everyone!

Simple

Arden started walking at 10 months, he was side stepping and hanging on with a Mighty Mouse grip for weeks before that but he never had the courage to let go; and once he did let go, he didn't have the confidence to put down his arms.  They were constantly outstretched, braced for an inevitable fall.

But these days, he's got the "moves like Jagger" and swagger to match.  He was stepping out the other day at the park with his new skills.  This picture makes me marvel at how graceful and fluid he's become; walking is now simple for him to do and yet so beautiful for me to watch.

Shake Your Booty, Rock!

Our recent vacation to the Bahamas will forever be known to me as the, shake your booty, rock! vacation.  It's not what you're thinking though.  Shake your booty, rock! was all I heard for an hour straight from Cullen while he was in the pool, where he invented a game that involved throwing my sunglasses while screaming,

"SHAKE YOUR BOOTY, ROCK!" 

and then searching the bottom of the baby pool with his feet to retrieve them.

Hilarious and heartwarming, but my sunglasses were majorly f-ed after his game.  I guess that's also something I learned on this vacation, Cullen's toes are kinda super-humanly strong... now, we just have to figure out how can he capitalize on that!  Tightrope walker, maybe?

Before his career really blossoms, here's a look at some of the goings ons of the vacay.

Brothers

For anyone that has 2 boys 14 months apart, just wait... this will be you one day.  

And like me, I suspect that you too will be loving every single minute of it.

A 10th of a Point

In Olympic style commentating, here goes The Jump:

Commentator 1:  Next up, Cullen.  He's been very successful with these jumps all season, Ellie.
Commentator 2:  Yes, I know, Mike.  Let's see how he does.  The crowd is now waiting...
Commentator 1:  Oh!  So, close.  If only, he'd stuck that landing Ellie, that could have been a perfect 10!
                           But that hop's going to cost him a 10th of a point.
Commentator 2:  Oh I know, Mike.  But, he's a baby, so he's happy with it.

Read Across the Wall

Please note that this was supposed to be published on March 2nd, which will make more sense after you read.  However, due to a technically difficulty because I did not press the right button, that didn't happen.  So, without further ado, here's a post that's being posted in the present but was meant to be shared in the past.


A few months ago, I stumbled upon this intriguing idea: condense an entire book into a work of art- could this be best two combinations going?  Probably?

When done, it looks a little something like this:

 

Now, keeping in mind that I have never seen this in person, I'm just assuming that it's awesome, although probably not actually meant to be read in lieu of the book itself.

So, in case you've been swept up in the current of  Theodor Geisel's Birthday, a.k.a. Mr. Badass himself, Dr. Seuss, and plan on celebrating National Read Across America Day by strolling aimlessly through your local Barnes and Nobles, why don't you dare to be different and visit Spineless Classics and pick up one of these prints of your very own.

A Possibility

There is a possibility- of the smallest kind, that I may have found a photo editing program more amazing than Picnik.  It doesn't have most of the awesome features that my beloved Picnik has, but for a free app, it's product is awesome.  Check out PixelWorks to see for yourself what you can do with your photos.

Here are two of my favorite edits of pictures that I've previously posted.