Happy Valentine's Day & belated birthday

Happy Belated Birthday to my sweetheart. Worth turned 37 on Jan. 25. Here is the cake Shane designed for her Daddy. I informed him that this was a monumental year for him because this is the first year I would have to buy TWO boxes of candles for his cake. Only 36 candles to a package.

And on the Valentine's side - I told Worth my ideal date tonight would be a pizza and an grown-up good movie after the kids are in bed, so that is the plan. And before you even ask, no I didn’t mean “adult video”. Shane and Gray awoke to balloons and candy this morning. Gray LOVES balloons and I even let them have a piece of chocolate after breakfast –– what do I care, their sugar rush will hit after they are in school.

We had another cold weekend .... trapped with the kids. Our big outing for the weekend? Sam’s Club. Okay, sad but true. At least there they can run and get a free snack – win, win. It is never as bad as I make it sound. We had a dance contest, read a lot of books, watched too many movies, ate pretty good and took long naps. But spring will be a welcome change.

We are gearing up for the "Princess Weekend in Tulsa”. Worth and I are taking Shane to see the stage production of Beauty and the Beast, staying in a hotel (with the all important pool) and going to a restaurant, which is so exciting to her. I have her a new dress, of course and pink glitter shoes. She is so excited. Gray is staying home so she will get 24 hours of all attention on her.

Gray is becoming more and more mischievous with time. He has been in more trouble in his 21 months than Shane has to this day. When you tell him not to do something he will look at you with a sideways grin and do it anyway. He is starting to crawl out of out of his crib. I am terrified of the day we put him in a big bed and un-cage the beast. Before I know it he will be out of bed, out the front door and hitching his way to NYC.

Long time gone

Okay I am going to try again to resurrect this blog. I have been so bad over the last year but the kids are changing so fast that we can’t possibly keep you all up to date unless I do entries here. So, I will make every effort to post here if you will stop by and read sometimes. I will keep the pictures coming too.

Here is a shot of Gray and Jeep this weekend. As you can tell they are in love. Well, this isn’t entirely true - Gray is in love and Jeep is in a permanent state of toleration. We are lucky the dogs have adapted so well to the kids.

We are all about to go nuts with this cold weather –– trapped in the house like a bunch of crazy people. The days start out good and then they slowly go down hill, parents nerves get frazzled, children get edgy wanting activity. Thanks to our friends that let us come visit and thank goodness for the mall’s play area but we are all ready for some time at the park. There is only so much Wiggles any of us can stand.

Happy 2007 and here is to my being a better blogger.

How to break a mommy's heart

I was scared and (I'll admit it) freaked out to be having a boy. I know what to do with girls, I have had 35 years to figure it out, but a boy?? Aren't they dirty, loud, smelly and I do like snakes but not in my house. But Gray is the most laid back, good humored, loving little guy I could have ever asked for. I realize that I will still have a smelly boy some day but that is why babies are so cute, so you fall in love with them before you have a room with a closed door, loud music that reeks of sweat socks (or other substances) when you do go in.

Okay, I got off on a tangent. Gray pretends to love me whenever I am around. The other day I found out the truth. His "teacher" at daycare is Ms. Kim and when I dropped him off he did a swan dive out of my arms and into hers. I told him I was offended and went to lean to give him a kiss and he turned away and buried his head in her shoulder - next step, remove knife from heart. He wouldn't even wave goodbye. Now, nobody needs to email me and tell me he is just a baby and he does love me - I know. But it is still a killer when your baby snubs you!

He is doing great. I have taught him to say A-Choo and bob his head. It is soooo cute have him say "choo" and then laugh in his deep raspy giggle. The other morning I came in to get him out of bed and I said good morning - he responded with a head bob and a "choo", he really likes to make me laugh.

Shane is good too. Very, very, very sensitive these days, cries at the drop of a hat, but I think normal and happy. Gray and her have discovered they can play chase - big fun for both. They talk to each other in the back seat of the car and are making up new games every day. Shane's favorite is to play Cinderella. Gray is Prince Charming, the dogs are the step-sisters, and I play the evil step-mother AND the fairy godmother. This skit comes complete with Shane running across the playroom and stopping mid-room, shaking off her shoe and then continuing to run. I am then expected to pick it up and look for Cinderella and fit the glass shoe to her foot. She gets the sweetest, eye-lash flutter look on her face - she might be an actress (what mom doesn't say that?)

We are all doing good here. Looking forward to spring and being able to take the kids to the park more and get out of freakin house.

I hate that is has been so long since my last post. I will work on getting better about that. I am sure that everyone can relate but I feel like I am in super busy mode all the time.

We had a wonderful birthday for Shane. She is still our “Pink Princess” but she is just exploded into a girly-girl – so what else were we to do but through a VERY pink party. We had pink cake (yes, I made it), pink balloons, pink streamers – we even had pink milk. Several little people came and lots of her adult friend. We even had Me-Mom and Pop-Pop there. She got lots of Barbies and dress up clothes. I think she had a great time. Our dear friend, Jamie, even came dressed up as Snow White! Check out the party pics -click here

On Shane’s birthday we took her out to dinner and let her eat ice cream – pink, of course. She got a ballerina outfit and even slept in it that night! She loves to dance and play mommy to her dolls. She is very sweet but we are going through a stage where she likes to challenge us. She should be a strong willed girl. She love to say “Mommy, I need to tell you something” very seriously – I say “Yes Shane” - “Ummmmm, I like Dora the Explorer” - that always cracks me up.

Gray is doing great – he is our own personal bulldozer. He doesn’t sit still. Shane use to sit on our laps and let us read books – not Gray. He is always on the go until he falls asleep. He is walking pretty good now, one month earlier than Shane. He looks like James Brown when he walks. At the last doctors visit he was up to 22 lbs. - not bad for 11 months.

About a month ago he had a ruptured ear drum but that is healing up good but we have found out he has asthma. We are hoping he will grow out of it but right now he is having to get use to an inhaler. Beyond that he is happy and healthy and has shed more blood in his short life than Shane has all her life. He loves to blow raspberries and walks around with his tongue hanging out. He says Mama and Dada pretty well – now we have to work on Shane.

Love to you all and more posts soon.