Pizza Party

I had a brilliant idea to let the boys help make pizzas for dinner because, theoretically, kids will eat food they help prepare.  It started out great!  The boys had a lot of fun

N spreads the sauce on ours

M spreads the sauce on theirs

N's photo of M sprinkling cheese - it's pretty good!

N tests the pepperonis before adding them...ick.

The making of the pizzas was fun!  Even the watching  of the pizzas in the oven was fun.  The actual eating of the pizzas?  No, thanks.  We barely got them to taste one slice! 

Maybe it's because M burned his finger on the stone and insisted on wearing these all night afterward.

And then I turned 34 yesterday.  Here's my birthday snuggles with my little boys last night.  They love this book, "My Little Train," and ask for it every night.  They know all the words.  Here, they are shouting, "To my pocket!  To my pocket!" which is where the little kangaroo wants to be dropped off by the train.  They are so fun (when they're not testing my patience)!

Sigh of Relief

Do you recognize this place?

It's our dining room!  

Thanks to my mom (and isn't everything thanks to Mom?) she and I were able to make our townhouse look like a cozy home again - and a lot less like a daycare!  Instead of visiting the zoo or the MOA, we vacuumed, dusted, mopped, laundered, Magic Eraser-ed, and appliance-painted throughout Friday evening and Saturday.  I even scraped a booger off a wall in the boys' room!  It was all worth it to stand back to see the house sparkling like it hasn't in...um, a really long time.  And to take a picture because, you guessed it -it looks like this again - note the nasty clever rug underneath and the Wal-Mart's best vinyl tablecloth.  However, I do love this picture because it's one of the first meals the 4 of us shared at the table - pancakes, our weekend tradition. 

Then today, our "fun" plans were hampered a by a cancellation, the afternoon naps that weren't, a teething boy, a tummyache, a headache, and missing Hubs' call from Mumbai.  Boo.

But now...a sigh of relief.

I just found out that the showings went well and that we already have an applicant for our townhouse!  Wow, thank you, God.  It looks like this unbelievable Big Move is going to happen! 

Lots of snuggles with Grandma during the waking hours

Big Boy Seats

Like so many other milestones, I knew this day would come.  I was (somewhat) prepared for it in that I own Fisher Price Spacesaver High Chairs (no, this is not an ad nor will I receive any compensation for this blog entry - I just think they're cool).  They attach to your dining room chair and also serve as a booster seat without the tray.

After nap, I give the boys juice and a snack.  So, like nearly every day, I made their juice cups up and gave them to them first - because they are always "sir-see" when they wake up.  I decided on a cheese-and-crackers snack for them, and as I was slicing the cheese, they each pulled out a dining room chair, climbed up, and sat there with their juice cups, like they were waiting for a snack!

This may sound quite mundane and boring, but I assure you, I did not teach them how to do this, ask them to do this, or expect it in any way, shape, or form!  I was going to lift each kid into his high chair when I got the snacks on their plates and feed them off their trays like I do every day.

So this was their snack time yesterday:

They were so proud of themselves!  I've allowed them to eat like this just a couple of times when visiting others' homes, but never here!  So I spent a portion of my afternoon scrubbing down the high chairs, wiping down the walls, moving the table and finding new chairs to make the seats slide underneath the table ledge for dinner.  Here's what I came up with:

That's chicken nuggets being dipped in Chick-Fil-A sauce (again, I just think it's awesomesauce and Daddy brings it home for us every time he flies through ATL, so you can imagine we have a stash) and green beans with milk for dinner.  It was a moderately successful meal.  I say "moderate" because N figured out how to push off the table and tip his chair back (is he my kid or what, mom?), which is going to be a challenge. I remember falling backward and whacking my head a couple of times.  Why do kids do that?  I can't explain it even though I was one of those kids. Also, I knew we would need a cover for my oh-so-beautiful-but-impractical-yes-mom-you-were-right-when-we-bought-this-seven-years-ago-that-it-wouldn't-be-good-for-kids table ASAP.  I bought a lovely vinyl tablecloth and clips last night.  It is bee-you-ti-full!

We officially have Big Boy Seats at the table.

And I like it. :)