Monday, May 20, 2013

did i mention?

 it's time for another random jumble of photos. for example, belated mother's day pictures.
 John made me my favorite breakfast: poached eggs on buttered toast sprinkled with sea salt. and orange juice, please don't forget that orange juice. or the cute flower. it was DELICIOUS
 this is photographic evidence of two things: 1. that fact that he likes to take off his zipper pajamas (on the right side of the picture) and 2. the fact that he is adorable
 i don't care if two is technically a toddler. he is still my baby
 Madsy went to a strawberry farm for her first official elementary school field trip. they got to pick their own strawberries and bring them home. they were amazing. wow, so good.
 i hate carpool, but I love seeing the happy face of my girl when I show up. also, really wish my van had a fancy "open itself" door like everyone else in the carpool line. instead I do it the old fashioned way where I run out and open it and load Maddy up and run back because the door is a little heavy for her to always be able to open. Even though I would like the easy van door, I like not having a car payment better than gadgets. :)
 John and I took a date a while ago. there are always long periods of time between our dates (because we are cheap/broke). but we wanted to see the tom cruise action movie. i'm such a boy, i love action movies.  and here is John in his happy place: aka him with a giant bucket of theater popcorn. us fisk kids were never allowed to get movie theater treats growing up (the few times we went) because it was so expensive. my mom made us sneak in fruit snacks ha! I remember how shocked i was when John bought a huge bucket of popcorn and a soda the first time I went on a movie date with him. now I make sure he does it every time because he never buys himself anything and that is his one splurge. it's endearing to me.
 this is also endearing to me.

poor guy, the things I make him do. when Maddy saw this picture on my phone she could not stop laughing.
 beans from kindergarten

 grant helped me smash the ritz cracker topping with his plastic hammer. it worked great and he was one happy camper let me tell you.
Some chalkboard art that Maddy made me
 Mr. G being cute
 sometimes I feel like baking. but I will tell you that I never feel like doing the dishes. funny thing that.
also, in case you were curious, I made pita bread (a first) and it turned out pretty good, but not so amazing that I wouldn't buy them in future.
 you may have heard we are under contract for a house. I thought about posting some images from the listing photos, but I read somewhere that images are searchable and people can find your address that way. so here I am being safe and giving you a drive by picture of the outside.
 notice the awesome walkway to the front door. raise your hand if you can picture little trick or treaters coming up and down that walkway (or more likely cutting across the grass). me! also, red front door. :) also, big trees. also, happy.
 we took the kids to a frozen yogurt place to get out of the house on the weekend (it's one of those that you can regulate how much goes in the cup and they weigh it). so we gave them a little bit of yogurt and then they load on their favorite toppings, which is really a kid's favorite part anyway, right? good, cheap fun. on a sidenote, whose eyes are bigger in this picture, Maddy's or the frogs?? ha I still get told all the time how pretty and big her eyes are.
 here is Grant, who sat on Dad's lap for approximately five seconds. and then got back down on the concrete floor pretending to be a puppy again. someday maybe I won't shudder to think of the grossness of him on all fours on a public floor. two year olds are complicated dirty little folks.
but did I mention cute? oh yes, the cutest.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

it's in the details

He loves carrots dipped in ranch (anything dipped in ranch). He hates having his face wiped and people cutting his food for him. He always--without fail--asks the same two questions every morning when I get him out of his crib, "Where Daddy? Where Maddy is?" He wishes he could live outdoors except that he is really afraid of bugs. He is only a really loud tantrumer in the library (all other tantrums seem to be normal volume). He has his own language of made up words--his binky is called Nana (short for Num Num or Yum Yum), and his blankie is called Gull (short for Snuggle). He has a gap toothy smile. He loves to hit stuff with his BoomBoom (his play hammer). He wants to watch Cars 2 fifty times a day but doesn't like to play with cars all that much. He is our snuggler baby, much snugglier than his sister ever was, but he doesn't want to be snuggled at any other time than when he just wakes up. He loves to shoot Nerf guns, keeps trying to potty train himself, and loves helping me in the kitchen. He is very convinced that he can crack eggs by himself if I would only give him a chance. He unzips zipper footy pajamas and strips them off during the night every.single.time. He had stitches by the time he was a year old. He loves to chase his sister and play hide and seek.


She seems to lose teeth in pairs within days of each other. She loves to bird watch and tries to tell me every bird is a "Spotted Warbler" (a bird mentioned on a Max and Ruby television show). She loves dinosaur museums, non-fiction books, and HORSES (still). She is particular about her clothes now and yet does not understand the concept of matching. She calmly lets me brush and style her hair, but always requests a bun if given the choice. She wants to be in dance class and karate and hates thunder and lightening. She has an infectious adorable giggle that makes us laugh when she finds something really funny. She doesn't like most breakfast foods except bacon and sometimes pancakes. She comes home from school hot and sweaty from running around at the playground hard every day. She LOVES other people--can't get enough of other kids and finds them endlessly entertaining. She is a friend to all (unless you twist her hand, and then all bets are off). She admires my jewelry and has started her own collection of heart shaped necklaces. She loves boxes with locks and miniature keys, ice cream that have bright colors, and used to pronounce flamingos "fallingos." She is very smart and a terrible liar (and thankfully hardly ever even tries to lie as she also happens to be amazingly obedient). She has one of the most tender and sweet hearts of any child I've ever met. She tolerates her little brother, but said for her birthday she would like to send him to ballet class so that she could get a minute to herself.



these are my children in a very tiny nutshell.

no one could know them the way that I do, or love them in quite the same way (although daddy certainly loves them as much as I do), but still, even then it is not in the same exact way. i am here with them day after day, hour after hour. I worry over them almost constantly, like a humming sound in the background of my life that I am almost unaware of and yet can't shake. I worry about their eating habits, their amount of hours slept, whether they have friends or not. I wonder if I am disciplining them enough or too much. I lie awake laughing at something they say. I lie awake crying over something they muttered. I hug them, kiss them, shelter them, get mad at them, run to them when they are hurt and crying. I play the rolls of tough cop, mean mom, jailer, banker, teacher, counselor, and chef. I mess up every single day. And every single day they show me that despite those mess ups, they love me anyhow and are turning out just fine despite it all. my love for them is in the million little things I have learned about them and from them and by having them. it comes from all of those tiny details.

its impossible to really express what being a mother can do to a woman. i wish i could write it better. all I know is it is by far the most difficult thing I have ever done.  i try to remember, when the moments get tough, that though the hours are long, the years are getting shorter. these moments become more and more precious. and if I had it all to do again, I wouldn't hesitate for a moment.

Happy mother's day to all of you. and to my children, i love you.