So...

system restore to 10 days ago- check.
download updated version of virus software- check.
run a full computer scan- check.

and i did it! yay! no more virus!

i'll be able to post pictures again. aren't you all so excited. ;)

Ugh!

it appears that my computer, you know the one with all the pictures of my darling children, the one with several months of not backed-up beautiful pictures of my sweet and darling children, has gone and gotten itself a virus. it is seriously possessed. i'm just slightly on edge about this.

***

i'm going to start my "do over" for my diet on monday- starting on the first seemed like a good thing. i'm also starting to plan out my days and meals a little better. more organization for me and the kids seems like it might be a good thing. we will see how it goes though, history has shown that i'm really not an organizer or a planner...

***

it is snowing and blowing here, again. i guess it shouldn't surprise me though, two years ago we had a blizzard in march. (remember that mommee, it was such a great birthday gift for you! ha ha!) i'm really just ready to start our zoo, playground, metropark trips back up and none of those things work well in the snow- can't push strollers in the snow and sprout is not up to walking very far on his own. well, i guess i should rephrase that. he walks but just not where you want him to go! ;)

***

here's hoping i have access to my computer with pictures again VERY soon!

Really??

the sprout is going to turn TWO in one month. TWO!

it isn't that i'm sad about it. i'm not. i love this age! he is so much fun. i would not wish him back to being a baby because this is just plain better. the problem is...
can nearly two years really have passed already?? i mean, really, where did time go?

it doesn't seem like that long ago that he was born. it doesn't seem that long ago that he looked like this...

and didn't we just have his first birthday??

i guess not. because now he looks like this:and i guess that does look like "nearly two" after all. :)

Hey Mom!

"hey mom..." "hey mom..."
i heard this about 100 times last night. everytime was it followed by a bad preschooler joke. yesterday the bean moved outside the knock knock joke box and... well the jokes were odd to say the least. why did she laugh SO hard at these:

bean: "hey mom, why did the pan start on fire?"
me: "i don't know, sweetie. why did the pan start on fire?"
bean: "because it had too much grease in it! ha hahahahah ha ha ha!!!!!"
me: "oh.....????"

bean: "hey mom, why did the shirt say hello?"
me: "ummm.... gee, i don't know."
bean: "because he had a mouth!!! ha ha ha ah hahahaha ha!!!!!!"
me: "really? wow, that is a good one....."

she is quite the comedian, isn't she? ;)

Crafty Tuesday

last week was mardi gras so of course we made masks! with a mask pattern, some traced hands, assorted buttons, gems, feathers and some streamers you can be ready to go on fat tuesday!! :)


i guess i should say bean made a mask. she is the crafty soul. sprout was not interested in such a project. he did express his creativity by pouring an entire bag of buttons all over the table and floor though. ;)

you see, sprout isn't one for crayons and coloring. markers... well, he does naughty things with those. (like writing on walls and himself and well, you get the idea.) he always tries to eat stamps and ink pads. crafts don't do anything for this kid UNLESS there is paint involved. the boy LOVES to paint. though i'm not sure he understands that it is supposed to go on the paper...

yes, it is all around his mouth because he always seems to have to taste it too. if he would have stuck his tongue out you would have been able to see that it had a stripe of blue too. really.

i think you can see why he paints in just a diaper, can't you??

he is just a little paint monster and it is a TON of fun!


...maybe next week i'll be crafty instead of the kids! ;)

Getting Goofy

they were laying on the floor watching nascar with their daddy and they looked so cute i had to get the camera. well, they noticed the camera right away and they started being a little giggly and silly. they laughed and laughed... about what, i'm not exactly sure.

it seemed that if one was going always going to peek at the camera to see if i was still taking pictures.

then they came after me. and i mean they got CLOSE.

and tried to touch the camera lens while i was trying to shoot pictures.

but then they were nice enough to strike this adorable pose for me all on their own.

if only sprout didn't have pizza on his face.... ;)

Oh yes he does...

sprout has a new favorite phrase. one you can actually understand. one that he uses to answer 99% of the instructions i give him and about 90% of the questions that he is asked. what is it?

"nohwhay!"

it is great. oh, yes, it is!
just imagine my day...

me: "sprout, let's go inside now."
him: "nohwhay!"

me: "sprout, time for nap."
him: "nohwhay!"

me: "sprout, come here so we can put shoes on."
him: "nohwhay!!"

and i'm sure you know what he does after saying it, don't you? if you are thinking that he dashes in the opposite direction you are correct. if you added him crawling under the dinning room table to hide you get bonus points.

of course i'm not helping any when i yell "yes way!" and chase after him, am i?

Seems logical...

bean was eating a cheese stick. "mom," she says looking thoughtful.

"what is it?" i ask her.

"welllll, sponge bob is on the package for the cheese sitcks that we had at school..."

"and?" i prompt as i continue to prepare lunches.

"but the cheese sticks are round..."

"soooo?" i reply plopping sprout's lunch down in front of him.

"well, i don't think sponge bob should be on the package. he is square, not round."

i stop for a second and take that in.
"so you are saying that sponge bob should only be on packages of square cheese sticks? that makes sense to me, " i say smiling.

then as i walk back into the kitchen she says, "or sponge bob needs to be round."

ok. i guess we could go in that direction too.
hmmmmmm. sponge bob round pants.... um, no. on second thought i just don't think i can go with that one. ;)

Holy Snow!!

we've had a lot of snow. this past monday/tuesday was the third snow storm this month! i'm not a snow hater by any means, i actually really like it BUT this is starting to get a little ridiculous. i mean the poor magpie is having trouble going out to do her business...

the snow is actually deeper than her legs are long. but since some of the snow has been here a while and is compacted she is not sinking all the way down. now you may be thinking that i should dig the poor dog a path. well, we did that one year and she simply refused to use it. she just bounds through the snow like a deer. i think she likes it. but i still haven't figured out how or where she is doing her business out there....

there is at least 20 inches of snow on that flower pot. we've had more actual snow fall than that but some of it was quite wet and heavy and compacted down and iced over a bit. i'd say if you added the 3 storm totals together you would easily get over 2 feet.

here you can see the paths that the magpie was created through the back yard...


and you are wondering where the kid tracks are right? well, the bean and sprout have both been quite sick and miserable so we have been STUCK INDOORS, OMG! (no, i'm not suffering from cabin fever, why do you ask??)
here is a shot out the front door...

as you can see, i hadn't gotten off my butt and shoveled yet.
and look! the mailman really does come even in these conditions! here are his foot prints as proof!! ;)

and yes, there is more snow in the forecast however it is just a slight chance... i think.

***update: they changed the forecast. it is going to RAIN for two days. ugh! it is going to be some kind of ugly sloppy mess out there!! ;(

A boy and his Bubpy

sprout loves dogs... well, i guess i should say he loves "bubpies". he calls all dogs "bubpies" which is a sproutism that means "puppy". ;) bubpies say "baah baah baah". or "bark bark bark". one of his favorite bubpies is the magpie. their relationship has grown quite a bit over the past year. the magpie often allows sprout to hug and snuggle on her.

they really do get a long even though the magpie looks a little put out! ;)

he just loves his dog, i mean bubpy, SO much. :)

Oh i was supposed to be doing that working out thing, wasn't I......

um.......... i need a do over on that losing weight/getting healthy thing.

you see, i'm at the point where i'm afraid to step on the scale and the wii fit for fear of what they will tell me. (the wii fit can be quite shaming, let me tell you!)

am i saying that i haven't worked out in a month? am i saying that i haven't been paying attention to what and how much i've been eating? what? stop looking at me like that!! FINE, i ate lunch at a pizza buffet saturday then sat on my ass and ate junk food whie i watched the olympics for the next 2 days, does that answer your questions??

i'm in search of motivation...
anyone got some that i can borrow?

Crafty Tuesday

it was valentine's day so of course we were crafty! we just had to make valentines for bean's friends and teachers at school. we saw the little owl valentine in the family fun magazine and bean loved them. so, we took a trip to target and found some valentine's pencils in the dollar spot- 10 for a $1! yay! we came home and found some paper in the closet. the valentines cost us only 10 cents a piece because all we had to buy was the pencils!!! we ended up with these:

we also made flower bouquets for her teachers out of egg cartons, tissue paper, and chenille stems. bean totally preferred this project. i basically made the owls myself, all she did was glue on the hearts. but the flowers she painted and glued, all mommy had to do was put on the stems. they turned out looking like this:

they looked pretty cute spread out over our table this morning... yeah, school was closed last week on valentine party day and monday for president's day and today for a snow day! so we are hoping to hand out our adorable crafts tomorrow. darn snow days! ;)

don't get me wrong, i actually really like snow days, i just don't like them on school party days!

so were you crafty this week? let's see what you got! :)

*** as of this evening they have closed school for tomorrow and offically canceled the valentine's party at bean's school. boo! :(

Someone thinks she's funny...

four year olds tell some very interesting jokes. they think that they are hysterical. and us adults usually end up sitting there shaking our heads and wondering what the hell they are laughing about.

bean is really into knock knock jokes. 99.9% of them make NO sense at all. but every once in a great while one actually makes a little bit of sense and might even make us laugh for real. here is a sampling of some of her better ones...

"knock knock!"
"who's there?"
"lamp!"
"lamp who?"
"lamp, you need to put a light bulb in me!"

"knock knock!"
"who's there?"
"peanut butter cup!"
"peanut butter cup who?"
"peanut butter cup i'll eat you up!"

"knock knock!"
"who's there?"
"peanut butter!"
"peanut butter who?"
"peanut butter there is nuts in you!!"

"knock knock!"
"who's there?"
"ask me a again and maybe i'll tell you!"

bwah ha ha haha ha!!! i just LOVE that last one!
oh! and she makes quite the fashion statement too. ;)

Happy Valentine's Day!

sending you hugs and love from bean and sprout!

Happy Valentine's Day!!