She Ate the Yellow One

I picked Sassy up from preschool today, and she insisted on holding her revered artwork in her car seat. The masterpiece consisted of an uppercase and lowercase letter "C" decorated with various foam stickers. It was beautiful and fabulous!

So, we are driving along and I, although I know I shouldn't, was on my phone with Miranda. Now, a couple of things happen when you are on the phone and driving simultaneously. Markedly, the insane ability to drown out any and all ramblings uttered by your two-year-old. Well, almost any and all... Suddenly, I hear Sassy exclaim, "I ate the yellow one!". I stopped mid-sentence and swung my head back, exorcist style. "You WHAT?," I ask. "I ate the yellow one, I ate the yellow one," she replies in song. "I gotta go, Miranda," I say.

Why is it that I cannot find any pertinent information when I google "dangers of ingesting foam stickers"?? Stupid Internet...

--She's Stuck--

She hadn't been awake more than 2 hours on our first morning home, and Sassy managed to get herself into quite the predicament. We were sitting in the basement, the three of us. I was in the recliner feeding Little A and Sassy was up to no good. She was pulling out all her puzzles without intention of reassembling them. She dumped a huge wipes container of crayons (half of them broken) onto the carpet and proceeded to peel the paper off one by one, leaving a trail as she went. She just couldn't find a toy interesting enough to occupy that little brain of hers.

So, she went over by the stairs and stood inside her Parents brand drum. The drum is clear, hard plastic that holds several other musical instruments inside for storage. I told her she was being silly, and she laughed and laughed. She thought it was hilarious that she was standing inside her drum. Then, sooner than any one of us could blink, she managed to sit/slide/squat inside the drum. She was packed in there like a little stink rat. She laughed and said, "I stuck, Mommy". I said, "You're a silly goose. Stand up and come over by Mommy." She said, "I can't Mommy, I stuck." She really didn't budge.

I set Little A down and went over to do some investigating. Yeah, she was stuck. Like... stuck. I lifted her by the hands and the entire drum unit left the ground. I tried to hold down her knees and get her back to straighten out. Nope. She was wedged in there. Plus, she had her little legs crossed, so she didn't even have the leg strength to push off and try to get up that much. After a few moments of this, I started to get a little panicky. I mean, seriously, I couldn't get her out of the darned thing. I told her to sit still (...as if she had an option) and I ran to get the phone and call Tyler. Of course, he thought it was HI-LARIOUS. I began to find the humor in the situation a little, especially because Sassy remained completely calm. I told her to talk to Daddy and tell him what she did. Here are some shots of her stuck in the drum and on the phone with Ty:

Finally, he talked me through how to geometrically, 'engineerically' remove her from the drum and with a twist, turn, and pop, she was out. By this time, Sassy was a little upset and all she wanted from Mommy was to, "hold you". So, after some holding, cuddling, hugs, and kisses, she decided it would be best to point out her battle wounds to myself and the camera:

My personal guess is that she won't be attempting to sit in her drum any longer. That's not to say that the drawer of her dresser or the bin in her toy box or the little space under the couch won't somehow appeal to her...

... And Home Again

Back to KS... ahh! I never thought I'd utter that statement, but it is SO nice to be home again! Our Chicago trip was nice. It was great to spend time with the fam and have everyone meet Little A. We had a fantastic Thanksgiving feast thanks to Aunt Kath and Uncle Rick- one of the best I can remember in years!

We made the most of our visit, running back and forth to the city 3 days in a row for visits, plus a trip to Rockford, so needless to say, I would rather not see the inside of a vehicle for any extended period of time in a long, long while. We drove through the night on the trip there, totalling 13 hours. The trip home was spent during the day, equaling 15 1/2 hours. It's so give and take- you either drive through the night peacefully while the kids sleep but zombie-like and in fear of falling asleep. Or, you drive during the day and stop 15 times, provide 100 snacks, and listen to Alice in Wonderland three times... in a row... I'm not sure which is worse. All I have to say is "You're Welcome family of mine"!!

To Nana's House We Go...

---SANITY--- This is why you do not tell a 2-year-old any plans of what is to come ahead of time. At all. Honestly. For the sake of sanity... for days now, I have been hearing about "Nana" and "Graycop" (grandpa) and "Caw-go" (Chicago). Sassy has been talking about what clothes to pack. What doll to bring. She wants her butterfly doll. 15 minutes later, and, oh wait- now she wants her lamb doll. And don't forget her green shoes. Oh, and we'll have to bring the pictures we had taken for Nana. And the skeleton picture she made weeks ago that has been hanging on our fridge and it probably crusted over in food-prints because Sassy wants to take it down and hold it every time we eat. We'll need to bring that, too. Sassy needs her "ice cweam bag", as well, to hold her "colowing books and cwayons", because what would our trip be without those?? I am exhausted, and I am not even close to being packed and ready to go. I need a nap!

But, just to brighten your day, here is a really cute picture of the girls...

Gingerbread Village

This morning, we took a trip up to Gingerbread Village, which is a fund-raising event for The Assistance League of Wichita. You basically pay a small fee to tour a little pathway of about 20 or so gingerbread houses, and then each person gets a kit to sit down at a table and construct their own. It looked like some high school kids were volunteering by going table to table to show you how to construct the actual house. Good thing, too, because ashamedly, I wasn't quite sure how to do it.

Anyway, we saw some really cool gingerbread houses, a gingerbread farm, and a gingerbread castle. Sassy loved decorating her house, even though 90% of the candy and cereal ended up in her mouth rather than on her house. Big shocker! Every time I would tell her to put it on the house or that she'd had enough, she'd just give me a sheepish grin and ignore everything I had to say. Shocker #2. All in all, worth the trip.

Some of the cool houses we did not make:

And, the beautiful one we did:

The Car...

So, last night we were all in the car on the way to run some errands. Sassy was in big girl panties like she has been. Ty and I were talking in the front seat, and she was in the back just rambling on and on to herself, as always. As a parent, you get the innate ability to tune out most of the babble and only pay attention to the important things. Well, as I hear her say "...in my panties", my head whips around and I question, "What's in your panties?!?", not fully wanting to hear her response. She looks at my like I'm an idiot and says, "MY BUTT"! I thought I was going to die laughing! So, for all of you who may be wondering, her butt is, indeed, parked in her panties.

Mint Chocolate Cookies

Last night, we decided to make Mint Chocolate cookies. Sassy has been getting into helping in the kitchen, but last night, she took it to a whole new level. We began talking about baking cookies before dinner, and from then on, she had a one track mind. She kept asking and asking and asking about it. Finally, when we said it was time, she said, "I haf to go get somefing" and ran to the basement. Moments later, she reappears decked out in apron (with no shirt, mind you), chef's hat, and oven mitt. It was SO funny!

She was a big help. She plowed through about half a bag of chocolate chips while Ty made the first part on the stove. Then she helped pour it the flour, use the mixer, etc. She was so excited!

(Warning- child endangerment ahead...)

We even let her lick a beater.. raw eggs and all. She looked so cute, I had to pull out the video camera, too. I even made a comment that the tape will be destroyed if she comes down with salmonella!

She was pretty pooped, and the dough had to chill for 30 minutes before shaping the cookies, so we decided it was her bed time. She didn't even care! Ah, the ignorance... er, innocence of children!

Today, after playschool, I told her we could go home and have one of the cookies she and Daddy baked last night. For the whole way home, she rambled about making cookies. I look back in the rear-view mirror, and I see her with her hands together making circles out in front of her, saying, "I stirred and I stirred and I stirred"...

I don't ever want to imagine the day when she sounds any more grown-up than right now. **Sigh**

3 Months...

Yesterday, Little A turned 3 months old. 3 months!!! Seriously, I think that was the quickest 3 months of my life! Yet, again, it feels like she has been a part of our family for so long.

She is just the sweetest, most content little baby. She loves to smile and coo. So precious!

Picture Day

New pics of Sassy and Little A:

Pajama Time, Potty Training, & More...

What an eventful few days we have had! First, I would just like to say that Sassy is doing AWESOME with her potty training! She is still having accidents here and there, but she has been in big girl panties 100% of the time besides nap and bed all week, and she is almost there. I am so excited for her! She is so proud of herself, and she should be. Go, Sassy!

Yesterday, we had a play date at our house, which was fun for all. We were going to go the children's theater last night, but Ty was running late, and I just didn't have the courage to do that by myself with both girls. It worked out ok, though, because Parents As Teachers had a pajama story time/play date at the school library, and Sassy had a really good time. She made two crafts, played with the story board, listened to Bear Feels Sick and had animal crackers and juice. Each kid took home a free copy of the book, as well!

This morning, Lynzee and I took the girls to Kohls and to McDonald's for lunch... a rare treat. The girls are napping right now, and it's off to a birthday party this afternoon and dinner with Tom & Lynzee. Busy, busy. Enjoy a few pics:

-Sassy listening to Little A's heart with her homemade stethoscope-

-Sassy practicing her "knife skills" on the watermelon-

-Little A and her goofy grin-

-Sassy mid-jump in front of the house this morning-

-Mommy and Little A's self-portrait-