Buddy Boy and the Green Shirt

So, you know how two-year-olds are famous for their stubbornness? As you already know, we experience this daily, but yesterday was a new low (or a high, depending on who you are in the story). Buddy is obsessed with wearing green. He only has three green shirts and he wants to keep one of them on at all times. Well, yesterday, they weren't so easy to find (blame the laundry!) so Superman had to force him, amidst much screaming and carrying on, to wear a different shirt. Well, Superman reported that he cried and screamed so much in the car on the way to day care that Superman eventually pulled over, stripped the kid clean of his shirt, and took him to day care shirt-less. That is how strong-willed my cute little boy is. Can anyone say "trouble ahead?" :)

Garage Sale Madness

So we had our first garage sale. VERY exciting. CBC and I got up early to get everything organized--I had no idea how important this was to her until she started selling :) Seriously, the kid talked to anyone and everyone, encouraging them to buy this and that, marking things down price-wise, and offering them deals. It was very entertaining! My favorite part of the whole deal was when she would comment on our things to people, such as "yeah, that toy doesn't really work that well" or "that toy is really annoying; that's why my mom wants to sell it" or "well, it's kind of broken, but you can fix it really easily." LOVED IT and LOVE HER! She's so much fun! Anyway, we made $100, got rid of some stuff, and happily took two boxes to Goodwill. Super success!

Buddy, though, was not so helpful. He wanted to keep his toys, so he kept getting everything down, playing and scattering toys. He eventually threw (figuratively) a tantrum and threw (literally) toys at visiting shoppers. That was exciting, too :)

Planner Extraordinaire

Superman has officially been recognized for all his hard work in Enumclaw with a title change--he is now the Planner (versus one of two Assistant Planners) for the city! We are so proud of him--he has sacrificed a lot of family time for work in the last 6 months and he definitely deserved this. Super job, Superman!! :)

Potty success and Take Your Kid to Work

So Buddy boy is a success with potty training! And he knows he's successful--he loves to go to the bathroom and then tell you what a big boy he is :) He's also quick at demanding a sucker in return for his good behavior.

In other news, Take Your Daughter or Son to Work Day was April 22nd this year. CBC got to enjoy a half-day at the University of Washington. We put her to work shredding, which showed her office expertise, and then she did an office supply scavenger hunt. She was a pretty cute employee, and it was obviously a highly successful event, since she still couldn't tell anyone what I do for a living, but she could definitely say she wanted to work for the University of Washington!

THE DOG

I kept thinking I was forgetting something when I was writing last night. I forgot to update about the dog! If you're following this blog at all, you'll know that CBC wants a dog more than almost anything else. So Superman had until the weekend of April 24th to report back to CBC--and he said she could get a dog!! (BIG shocker--go Superman!!!) CBC has until Christmas to earn enough money to buy her own dog. We are paying her to do chores around the house, and can I just say that I should've been doing this for years?! Neither Superman nor myself did the allowance thing growing up, so this is kind of a test run, but it's working so well! I get help with the dishes and the laundry and cleaning and everything. Love it! Anyway, she also has to read a book picked out by Superman by Christmas, but if she follows through, we're going to get a dog. So exciting! Now if we could just find the right one. We need a hypo-allergenic dog since Superman is super allergic, and we really want a poodle mix--like the labradoodle or the goldendoodle. So far, I keep hearing they're $1,000 so I'm thinking that's not going to happen. I don't think CBC could ever do enough chores to earn that much money! If anyone has any leads on a poodle mix, please pass them on!!

Buddy using his big vocab and his painting skills

Where does the time go?

How did May sneak up on me? I am somehow surprised by May's arrival, without all the nice sunny weather I am wishing for. I've been trying to eat healthier than normal (which for me would mean eating a vegetable a month or cutting down to 4 Dr. Pepper's a day--okay, slight exaggeration but you get the point). Anyway, I've joined a gym that I visit occasionally (and if any of you have suggestions on how to get by on less than 5 hours of sleep a night successfully, I would love to hear them!) and I go jogging with a good friend at least twice a week during my lunch break, but I am seeing no results at all. Makes me super frustrated, and then apathetic, followed by wanting to go back to my old habits. Ah, whatever.

This post is probably going to be a long one 'cause we've been SUPER busy at our house. Two weeks ago Superman got sort-of fancy tickets to the Mariners, so we enjoyed them (see pics). Kids were pretty great most of the time and it was fun to see them get so excited. Food was good, too :)

Then we decided to dig into another painting project, so we painted our great room (kitchen and living room combo). Coincidentally, the color we agreed upon was "Twilight"--I personally find that pretty darn hilarious. Once we put it on a wall, we realized that was a crazy color for so much space, so we went back and had them darken it. You can check the contrast out between our original wall color and the new one in these pictures. Let me know what you think! All I know is my husband is the bomb and is seriously able to do pretty much anything--I can honestly say I am amazed at his skills and talents. I am also jealous, but being the lackey comes with perks--I'm in charge of Buddy, so I get to take 3 hour naps with him to keep him out of Superman's hair :) I LOVE our new color; hope you do, too! And I hope you enjoy the funny pics of the kids painting. Buddy was killing me in his tidey-whiteys today after church :)

In other news, CBC was picked to be included in a music program within our school district, so she'll actually be attending a new elementary school next year where they will teach her to play the violin. We are so excited!! She and I checked the classroom out this week and enjoyed having some extra Mom/Daughter time. Her OCD has been affecting her again, and manifesting in different frustrating ways. Makes me feel bad for her, and I really need to remember to be way more patient. This new school is a definite blessing because she's been having boy/girl issues with her best friend that have been painful. Those of us who are tomboys can relate to how painful that is--it's not our fault when we can do things better than the boys! She's started reading a Choose Your Own Adventure Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew from my collection, and is really enjoying it. She also jumped off the diving board again in swimming lessons. Fun!

Buddy's vocabulary is increasing daily. This week, he came in from the ride home from school and said "I missed you!" to me before I had said anything else. Absolutely made my day. So cute!! I'm not so great with the video in this blog, but I'll try to put one in that shows him talking. Funny!!! He is responding to something CBC said about him not being stupid. He's doing well potty-training and has found a new love--Trix cereal. This morning, he ate three bowls, which is really a lot for Buddy, who can get by on one gogurt a day.

Last thing--next week is the Mother's Day program in church, and I will be playing the piano for the kids in sacrament. I have a feeling it will be entertaining for all :)