Special Treat

Mark surprised us with a special trip to Chuck E Cheese tonight. Mimi and Papa met us up there to pick up the truck, play a few games, and eat some pizza. Max blew through 20 or so tokens and Mattie just liked counting hers and dancing. We had a good time and it was really nice to spend some time together.

.








Max was praying tonight and it was cracking me up. He said, God, I really like the book you wrote (his reader Bible), you're a really nice guy. Anyway, I thought it was funny, and he is really proud that he can read his Bible all by himself.

Weekend Update

This is the aftermath of movie night. It looks like Josh and Emily watching a movie. I thought this would help them sleep in Saturday. I was wrong, it just made me more tired. They both showed up in our bed that morning. It made breakfast interesting.

Friday!

Today Mattie and I disagreed on the frequency of her naps. I thought once a day was reasonable, and she thought never. I put her down to nap at her normal time, and went about my business (CourtTV), and about 10 minutes later, she comes around the corner. She sleeps in her big kid bed now, so she can get out. Her strategy is pretty good, though, for a two year old. She comes around the corner, with a big smile on her face and arms wide open, and yells, "Hi, Mama!!" Like, hey! I haven't seen you in a while, since you put me down for my nap, what was that, 3 or 4 hours ago? Really?! 10 minutes? I could have sworn I was out for hours!

So I put her back in bed. We did this twice, and finally, I don't hear anything from her room. I go to peek in on her and she is not in her bed. I look around her room, and she is not there either. I looked around and didn't see her anywhere and started to get a little worried, then I found her. She had gotten out of her bed and snuck into mine. She wasn't asleep, so I said, what are you doing? She said, Sleep! She never did take a nap.

We didn't do anything else today. I know I haven't had many pictures of Max lately, but all he does anymore is Guitar Hero. It's funny to hear him going through the house singing, "here I am...rock you like a hurricane!" or "Mississippi McQueen, you know what I mean." Not sure where he picked up McQueen.

This is also Movie Night, so I am about to go join them in my bed for a late night (8:00) movie. Tonight's selection is Scooby Doo: Curse of the Loch Ness.

Dancing Matilda

Mattie has this book Aunt Cinde gave her when she was born, called Dancing Matilda. It's about a little girl kangaroo who dances constantly. It's kind of annoying to read because it says, over and over: Dancing Matilda, dance and dance and dance and dance. So Mattie has picked that up, and turns circles saying, Dance 'Tilda, dance 'Tilda, dance 'Tilda.
Her favorite dancing partner is me (of course!), and if I'm not available, Giant Cinderella.







Mark celebrated his new job by locking his keys in his car at his current job. So who had to come to the rescue? Me and Max and Mattie. So we made Mark buy us dinner. Max was so excited about going into the "restaurant" (it was only Wendy's), he ate 10 chicken nuggets. He thinks anytime you go inside a fast food place is a cause for celebration. That sounds silly, until I realize I feel the same way about real restaurants.
Sorry, no pictures of the chicken nugget eat-a-thon.

Tuesday

Ok, sorry, sorry! This is actually Tuesday's post. I didn't even know ya'll were keeping up, until I miss a day (or two) and get in trouble. Well, thanks for looking, and I'll try to do better.


Anyway, yesterday was American Idol day, and we went to Tim and Amy's. Everyone had fun except Emily kept getting on Mattie's nerves. You better watch it Emma! I was surprised because when I asked Mattie if she was ready to go, she said yes. And when I asked her who she wanted to see there, she said, Ah...Emma...ah...'osh...ah...Emma...ah...Nana...ah...Emma...ah...Papa...ah...Emma....

Yesterday, Mark and the kids were playing Eat Brains.

That's a game Max and Mark have had since Max was a toddler, where one says (in a zombie-ish voice) "I want to eat your brains!" and you slowly move toward you victim.

Then you rush at them and tickle them and eat their brains. So yesterday, Mattie joined in and started eating brains, too.

She really gets into character. She wobbles back and forth with her arms out and tries to say, Eat brains! It's pretty funny.

Max is a pro and Mattie runs from him every time. Wouldn't you?

Mattie thinks she can play Guitar Hero, too. Well, brother can do it, so doesn't that mean she can, too?

This is Max's Grand Prize from Easter. It may take him awhile (as in days) to eat it, but I'm betting he'll get it done.

Happy Easter

So, one more holiday over. It was a great one, too. Max woke up at 5:45 and asked to stay up and go through his basket. I barely remember saying yes. I figured even if I said no, he would lay in bed awake. So later we all got up and looked over the Easter stuff, and got ready for church.
After church, we ate lunch with Mimi and Papa at Olive Garden. Then we came home for a quick nap and change, then off to Aunt Cinde's.

The kids hunted eggs with Cody and Chloe, and the grown-ups talked and watched basketball. It felt like a really long day to only be taken up by a only few sentences. Anyway, it was really fun, and everyone came home tired and full of sugar, with plenty for tomorrow, too.

Sunny Saturday

Today is preparation day for Easter. Everyone has a new outfit? Check. Colored eggs? Check. Baskets? Check. Candy? Check check.











Max and I colored eggs today during Mattie's and Mark's nap. He dipped the eggs, and wrapped the little Star Wars things around them, it turned out pretty good.



Mattie did eggs, too. she put stickers on plastic eggs. Less mess, and stickers: win-win.

Go, Go, Go-kart!

Last night Mark brought home a little present from Nick: a go-kart. I don't think they even worked last night, just drove around the parking lot. Anyway, this morning, we packed it up and went to the Community College parking lot to give it a try. The kids loved it.

The Showdown

So Mattie and I had our first real showdown. A full out, winner take all, battle of the wills. Here is how it went down:

The contender

The objective

The Stakes: Ultimate power!!

Max and Mattie had been having their afternoon snack as usual. Today is was fruit snacks. Mattie has My Little Pony and Max has Spiderman (they both refuse to eat the others). So we started cleaning up and I asked Mattie to take her wrapper to the trash. She said no. Just flat out, no. Ok, well, that's not going to work. I asked her several more times, just to make sure she understood, then warned her about time out. She still said no.

So she went to time out for 2 minutes. After two minutes, I asked her again to pick up the wrapper and throw it away. She kind of whimpered and said no again. So we went to time out again. We did this cycle a few more times. Max offered to pick up the wrapper, I said no. After about the 6th time out (no kidding), he offered to help me clean up the living room, I said ok and he jumped up, but when I said all but the wrapper, he sat back down.

So Mattie and I went round and round. It is a good thing her time outs are only 2 minutes, or this could have taken all evening. But, she eventually saw that what I was asking was reasonable, and she agreed that I had the authority over her, and that she needed to do her part to help keep our house clean, and she picked it up and put it in the trash can. Score one: mom.

Rain Rain

Today is the second day of spring break, and it rained all day. No big deal, we just did sidewalk chalk under the porch. And not much else, unless you count Guitar Hero. Max has been playing it as much as I will let him. I only let him do a couple of songs at a time. If you do it too long your eyes go crossed or something, watching that bar move so fast. Anyway, in just a few days he has really improved and can play any song.

We have been having trouble with our alarm system, beeping all the time, so Mark had to take a look at it. He had a special helper, though, to hold the flashlight and screwdriver. And what do you know, they fixed it and it doesn't beep anymore.