Chalking

The girls love their chalkboard.
Some of their creations are so fun.
Madison made this mouse all by herself.
Isn't he cute?

Is that a House?

Our girls are crazy sleepers.
They use every inch of their beds from the time we put them down for the night until the moment they pop up in the morning.
Hanging off the side, half under the covers,

you name it- they've done it
but this one
this was a new one, even for these monkeys
Did someone drop a house on this good witch?

Nope, just her comforter.
And yes, she is sleeping in this photo.

Headdress, Cheers, and a Pedi

Most Sundays in our house start the same way.
Daddy wakes up and gets up when the first little girl peeps.
Mommy stays in bed as long as possible, hoping the girls (and Daddy) won't realize I'm actually awake and listening to the chaos.
May 23, this is what I found when I got up.

Those are Madison's sweatpants on Kennedy's head.
At lunch Kennedy's antics continued with an attempt to drink her milk with the table as a prop,

then borrowing Madison's tuppie for a quick 'Cheers!'.

As the day wound down Madison insisted on making her new glow in the dark insects bath toys
We had fun turning the lights on and off, bathing to the small glow of snails, butterflies, and crickets.

Mommy likes to utilize the girls' bath time for a quick foot soak every few nights.
It's the closest thing to a pedicure I have time for these days.
These crazy girls keep me on my toes...

Where's Waldo?

Notice anything unusual about this photo?

How bout this one?

Yep, little Miss Resourceful used a stepping stool to get up into the sink in her kitchen.
When I looked over and saw her she was standing up with her hands on the very top of the kitchen. I grabbed the camera as I dashed over to her. She already started her safe descent.
This crazy monkey is bound to make my heart stop one of these days!

Daddy's New Friend

We live in the desert.
Sometimes we find not so subtle reminders of this fact.
Example: Matthew's new friend

Matthew keeps a sweatshirt or jacket out front to throw on when he goes out to smoke a cigar.
Evenings are chilly here.
Apparently several days passed between Matthew's evening/weekend cigar time and this little guy decided to make a home of one of Matt's sleeves.
Luckily, Matthew always shakes out his jackets before he puts them on (note to self: start shaking out jackets- better yet- don't leave them outside in the first place!)

Of course, I was NOT a fan of the lizard.
Matthew insisted on proving the harmless nature of this little guy

by gently picking him up and moving him to the rose bushes.

He says this guy is a baby.
You mean his parents could be lurking?!
(I'm still not a fan!)

Mother's Day 2010 * edited*

Mother's Day wasn't exactly what I expected this year.
5:00 am- wake up to crying Kennedy. too tired to think. take her to bed on my chest. fall back asleep.
6:15ish am- wake up again to a not-so-sneaky-Madison sneaking into our bed. waking her sister in the process.
6:30ish am- Daddy gets up with the girls in an attempt to let Mommy sleep a little longer
7:30ish am- Mommy up again. this time to the sound of blood curdling scream in the living room. Kennedy bites Madison's face (yep, you read that correctly) while Matt makes his breakfast. Mommy jumps out of bed- explains the best way to discipline the 21 month old (wow- when did she get so old?!) and rocks the still screaming big sister.
7:45ish am- screaming appears to be over. Daddy looks at Mommy, laughs and says Happy Mother's Day.
8:30 am- Daddy offers to take the family to brunch if Mommy is interested. Mommy pouts about no pre-planned Mother's Day plans or treats.
8:40am- Mommy realizes some of the 'chalk' marks on the board are much thinner than others....hmmmm. Suspicions confirmed- someone 'chalked' with white crayon. Mommy grabs goo gone and gets to work, then discusses how this happened with Daddy. Each blames the other. We laugh.
9:00am- Call Gramm. Wish her Happy Mother's Day and relive the morning. She laughs and re-lives hers. We decide its best not to have expectations.
Noonish- Mommy begins the folding, piling, and hanging process with the mountain (see previous post) of laundry and starts yet another load.
1:30ish- Kids down for naps. Mommy looks for girlie movies to watch while tackling laundry.
1:45 pm- Daddy calls Mommy out to the front porch to see his new 'friend' (next post), then Daddy enjoys a cigar. Mommy keeps folding, hanging, sorting, washing.
3:15 pm- Girls wake up. Madison cries. She needs Mommy to snuggle her. We settle in between the mounds on the sofa that didn't make their way to the girls' room while they were asleep.

Mommy remembers how amazing it is to be a Mommy and how blessed she is to have babies to snuggle,

mounds and mounds of gorgeous laundry to fold,
an incredible house to clean,
a supportive and loving husband who
4:00pm makes Mommy a pitcher of Margaritas, starts dinner, hangs canvas pictures in the living room, and watches Mommy and the girls dance around the living room.
5:00 pm- begin watching Because I Said So on TV. every time I watch this movie I want to have more girls!
5:30 ish- begin making a cake...because it sounded good.
6:00pm ish- sat down to medium rare steak topped with garlic/wine sauteed onions and mushrooms, corn on the cob, and rice pilaf dinner I didn't have to make or clean up.
7:00pm- awaiting responses from friends- sit down to check email. spyware message pops up. uh-oh. remember norton is expired. gulp.
7:38pm- finish frosting strawberry filled, yellow cake with homemade cream cheese frosting

7:39pm- loving my KitchenAid mixer

Mother's Day 2010- a day to celebrate the subtle reminders and not quite expected blessings that come from being a mom.

My Mountain

We all have our daily mountains.
Those things we cringe just thinking about,
struggle to accomplish,
sigh at the mention of.....
lately,
for me

it's laundry.
Laundry is my mountain.

Sometimes literally.
This was my mountain of clean, piled up laundry the day before Mother's Day.
There is a basket under there.
I promise.

Bath time Mohawks

We love our bath time crazy hair.

Madison calls this a flower.

The mohawk always brings the biggest smiles, though!

Summer's Coming

Nothing says Summer is coming like a warm day and a cool, home made popsicle.
We survived our second week of May.
Made it to Madison's school just in time for the end of the Mother's Day breakfast, May 7
Delivered the truffle boxes to her teachers
and made it home in time for lunch, popsicles, sunshine, and naps

Oh, The Appreciation *edited*

The second week of May was pretty crazy for us.
In all actuality, the first part of the week wasn't bad.
Tuesday night- Friday- Crazy!
So here we are- Thursday.
Kids are in bed and it hits me- I knew there was a reason we had to stop at Michael's before we came home!
In case you didn't know, the second week of May was also Teacher Appreciation Week.
A few moms from Madison's preschool planned meals and treats for the teachers all week long, culminating with a huge potluck lunch Friday.
Since there are only 6 teachers and staff at the school (it's just starting out- this is only the second year), Mommy offered to make take home treats for the teachers instead of potluck food.
Tuesday afternoon Mommy started the process of making Oreo Truffles.
Step one: Crumb an entire container of Oreo cookies.
Mix with an 8 oz block of cream cheese.
Roll into cute little truffle sized balls.
Refrigerate at least overnight.
I started this process Tuesday because I knew there would be no time Wednesday between picture day and getting naps and packed for our trip south.
There were two batches.
One with regular Oreos and one with Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe-Joe's.
While the kids ate dinner and Matthew helped with baths I started the rolling process

Step Two: Melt lots of chocolate.
This time I used some white chocolate, some milk/semi-sweet combo.
Roll each truffle ball in your desired chocolate flavor and place on parchment paper to cool.
Once slightly hardened, roll in powdered sugar, drizzle with more chocolate, or just leave them to finish cooling.
I did some of each.
Somewhere in the middle of rolling my double batch of truffles I realized....
I had no containers for them.
Yep, my plan was to stop at good ole Michael's for some Chinese take out type boxes.
Since I forgot to stop and it was too late to run out, I had to make boxes.

Luckily it was Thursday so there was plenty to keep my eyes occupied on TV as I measured, cut, folded, and adhered the pieces for my boxes and sleeves.

Once all 12 boxes (6 tops, 6 bottoms) were complete, I placed each truffle in a muffin cup, created a checkered pattern with the different toppings, and put the boxes together.

12 pieces of 12x12 textured card stock
6 box bottoms
6 box tops
6 sleeves
6 cute punch tags
54 hand made and rolled truffles (ok, 60- we had to have a few for our house!)
Project completed just after 1am.
I appreciate my daughter's teachers, I really do....
I was raised by teachers (who were raised by teachers!), I know the importance of teachers...
but geez- next time I won't forget to stop at Michael's for the containers.
**9/15/2010- I linked up with the Creative Chicks Parade Recipe Roundup!**

A Little Daddy/Daughter Time

May 6, while Mommy unloaded the car from our crazy trip, the girls played with Daddy.
I love this shot of Matt and Kennedy laying on the driveway.
Please ignore his choice of foot apparel.
He wore boots to work, and was too cold to take his socks off when he got home, but wanted to let his feet breathe a little.
Silly, Daddy.

New Pool

After 45 minutes attempting to patch every known hole in last years' tiny inflatable pool, I gave up the ghost and shelled out another $9.95 for a shiny, new, Target replacement. Since we still have high winds during the day, even though temperatures are well into the 90s, it's too chilly to swim (think goosebumps, chattering teeth, and blue lips). Today Kennedy decided she wanted to get in the pool. This was her attempt. Box with picture of pool + toddler standing on top = Kennedy in the pool.

Madison, in High School?

After picture day, May 5th, the Shemenski girls napped, packed, and headed south to Simi Valley.
Well, Moorpark to be exact.
Our friend, Alyssa Gale had a project for her Parenting/Childhood Development class where she was asked to take a toddler to school for half a day.
Alyssa is an amazing young woman and quite a talented gymnast.
She received a full ride gymnastics scholarship to University of Utah for the fall!
I know, I know- she is not going to be a GymDog, but not everyone is perfect (wink)
None the less, Alyssa really wanted Madison to join her in school, so we made plans to make it happen.
We spent the night with our friends, Chris, Angie, and Noah on Wednesday night to avoid southbound morning freeway traffic.
That in and of itself was a fun adventure! The kids had a ball together, and Mommy, Angie and Chris stayed up WAY too late drinking yummy wine and catching up.
The next morning everyone got ready to go their separate ways.
We met Alyssa and her sister, Carinne at their house and followed them to school.
At first Madison hid from the camera

but when I offered to take her picture with Alyssa she was all for it

Kennedy and Mommy left Madison in Alyssa's capable hands and went shopping.
When we picked Madison up 3 hours later she had crafts, toys, and special treats!

Alyssa had to scoot back to class, so we didn't have time to chat about the morning.
When Mommy asked Madison what she learned in high school, her response, "I didn't learn anything". Alyssa told Mommy ahead of time Madison would be attending Anatomy, English, and the Childhood Development class. Mommy asked Madison what Alyssa's teachers talked about, Madison's reply: "I don't know, I just colored."
Seems to me she will fit in just fine in high school!
*
After her busy morning of 'learning' we planned to meet up with Alyssa's mommy, Darcy (Mommy's friend and Pampered Chef Director) for lunch.
Miss Darcy used to teach Madison gymnastics through Parks and Rec while Mommy was pregnant with Kennedy.
The girls just love Darcy!
We had lunch at Chili's, then went back to Darcy's house to play for a little while before the big girls got home from their full day at school.
Alyssa said Madison was great-quiet and polite in all her morning classes.
The Gale girls got ready for gym, we said our goodbyes and the Shemenski girls loaded up for a doctor's appointment.
Since we were going to be in town anyway, we made an appointment with our pediatrician to confirm the small rash on Madison's knee for over a month (more like two) was indeed eczema. Filed a prescription and were on the road for our long trek home.
No sooner were we down the street when Kennedy conked out.

Mommy drove by our friends Jason and Kelly's house on the way to another errand and they were outside working in their garden with their new, sweet twin baby boys so we stopped to say hello for a second.
Mommy jumped out to say hi and peek at the boys, then went back to the car to grab something for them and found Madison crashed out with all her 'doctor stickers' all over her face.

Daddy said traffic would be a nightmare, but the girls were asleep so we decided to head north anyway.
Luckily, we spent enough time on our short stop with the twins, the freeways were free flowing.
Unfortunately, half way through the ride the girls both woke up screaming.
Nothing a couple $.69 vanilla cones from McDonald's drive thru can't fix!
We made it home, stripped the car seats and the girls, made dinner, bathed the girls and got everyone in bed early!
It was a whirlwind of a trip, but what great fun!

Picture Day

May 5th was picture day at Madison's school.
When we found out Lifetouch offers sibling photos, we decided it was worth a shot (no pun intended)
Mommy searched the girls' closet, because let's face it- these girls didn't need any new clothes- and found coordinating outfits.
Kennedy and Mommy arrived to the photography room before Madison.
The photographer, Scooby, took some time to get to know Kennedy.

Then Madison arrived and Scooby started making the girls and some of Madison's other classmates laugh

When their sibling pictures were finished, Kennedy waited while Madison had a turn

Madison laughed and watched while Mr Scooby entertained Kennedy

We can't wait to see the finished products

It's hard to believe they won't be fabulous!

Virus

Hi Friends!
No- we are not taking another 6 month leave of absence.
Mommy's computer caught a cold.
A virus to be more precise.
It's not a happy computer.
Daddy seems to have fixed the problem....sort of.
More on that later.
Look for updates soon!
Mommy is relearning and reloading everything.
Seeing with new clarity!
Do you like my hints?

New Life to a well loved Bench

A few years ago we were at Aunt Kelly and Uncle Chad's house when Mommy noticed two little benches in pretty bad shape out by their neighbors curb.
'Out by the curb' is pretty much the universal sign for please take this because I'm sick of it.
Just to be sure, Kelly asked her neighbors when they returned home the next day, confirmed they were free for the taking, loaded them into her truck and drove them across town to us.
SWEET!
Now, did you catch the beginning of this story?
A few YEARS ago?
Yep, one of Mommy's many 'pending' projects.
When I saw these beauties I knew they had great potential.
After scouring the photo archives, I was unable to locate a photo in their original to us condition.
Let's put it this way, there were ten gagillion coats of half worn off lacquer and tons of rust.
At the old house I took a little time to hand sand and scrape most of the big chunks of lacquer off and the girls were pretty much using them that way.
Last fall I found a bright, fun pink color and decided to spray paint the wrought iron part of one of the benches.

Kennedy thought it was great just like that.
She loves the animals and thinks the bench is just perfect for her.
Well, after finding a $2.50 can of oops paint in a great chocolaty color last week, I knew it was time to finish this little lady.
Luckily, in the move Daddy located Mommy's sander (yep- Daddy got Mommy her very own sander when she started all these crazy projects a few years ago)

Just to give you a general idea- this is the second bench.
The big flakes of lacquer have been hand sanded or scraped off, but still needs lots of work.
This one is next.

Back to the bench in question
The pink animals held up great in the move- one less thing to re-do

After lots of sanding, the chocolate painting began

Doesn't it look so much better?!

It still needs clear coating for the wooden slats, but I was too excited not to post

The girls couldn't wait to get comfy

and now...#2.

any color requests?

Monday- Wish it were Sunday- wait...

It doesn't take much to get our days mixed up around here.
With Daddy working odd hours and, often times, weekends- our schedule is always out of whack. This 'weekend' was no different.
Daddy worked a nice long, crazy Saturday starting around 2:30am- yikes!
He quickly learned that long days make for a worn out Daddy if he doesn't take a little time for himself.
That being said, Daddy took Sunday and Monday off to make sure he had a full weekend of play with his girls.
Sunday, Daddy worked on two of his hobby airplanes and spent some time showing the girls how they fly.

Madison was amazed!

The girls watched the plane fly back and forth across the sky in front of the house.

There it is, Mommy!

(time to get Mommy's camera overhauled- see the spot in the top right corner of all these shots?)

Kennedy just cracked me up- as usual- with her crazy expressions

Even Sierra came out to play

After several hours of running around after Daddy's plane and helping Mommy plant some flowers, it was nap time for Madison.

She naps in Mommy and Daddy's bed everyday and usually does tons of wiggling before finally settling down.

Today was no different. Love the fabric around her head.

When the girls woke up we were back out for round 2- this time with an older plane of Daddy's.

It soared so high!

Have you seen Daddy lately?

He stopped shaving a while back....

something about this being like the playoffs at work....

Still thrilled over Daddy's 'pane'

OOOooo....

The Princess ring pop in her pocket above and hand below likely helped the energy level

a little pocket fuzz and dirt never hurt anyone

Madison loves finding 'treasures' when we walk down our dirt road.

Today she found a giant nail- the largest thus far!

Daddy started the day with two working planes.

By the end of the day he was back to zero. Gulp

This is my favorite series of the day: