What a day!

From the title of this post, you might think that we had a fun-filled, adventurous day. Well, sort of. I waited until this evening to write because if I had posted earlier, I'm sure I would've sounded like an angry, crazy, out of control mom! And now that things have settled down and it's time for the kiddos to go to bed, I'm looking back and thinking, "I guess it wasn't that bad!" Just kids being kids I suppose. Collin was such a sweet angel today, in comparison to his sister. I think our day started off with Collin running to me, screaming and crying because Ainsley bit him. And she did a doozy on his leg! She chomped HARD. No skin was removed or anything, but there's a definite, teeth-shaped bruise on his thigh. Then there was lunch time. Don't know what I was thinking when I allowed Ainsley to go solo feeding herself ravioli in tomato sauce. I mean, I know kids have to learn to feed themselves. But this was a disaster. She flung it all over the walls, blinds, herself. And then to top it all off, she thought it was a great idea to also pour what was left of it onto our dining room rug. Thank goodness for steam cleaners! I can't tell what the final result is after cleaning because it's still wet. Hopefully it won't look too awful once it's dried!

I'm sure there was some other stuff that happened, but I guess my brain is overloaded because I'm not remembering what it was! Other than the time spent working in the flowerbed. Ainsley loves to play in the dirt. I didn't actually take pictures of her after she was covered in it, but here are a few of the kids having fun outside this afternoon.

Random Happenings...

Well, it looks like Ainsley is on her way to the world of big-girl panties! She has been showing more and more interest and "signs of readiness" as the books say, in potty training. Now only if I can hang in there with all the accidents that are sure to happen along the way!

Jeremy's sister Kim and her family came into town this weekend for a visit. While they were here we all attended the wedding of their cousin, Sara, did lots of visiting, and had just a good 'ol time! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

And now, what you've all been waiting for! A song by Collin & Ainsley!

"Don't open the door Nana, Ike'll come in!"

Those were the words Collin told my mother while she was staying here with us during Hurricane Ike. Oh the wonders of a 4-year old's mind! My mother, or Nana as she's lovingly referred to by her grandchildren, came here from her home in Mont Belvieu to stay during the big, bad storm, and for a little while thereafter. We really enjoyed her company! The highlights of her stay were making pudding with Collin and Ainsley, and their trip to Chuck E Cheese's! I mean, how can you go wrong with THAT combo of activities?! I wish I would've taken more pictures while she was here. I mean, I planned to and told myself I would! But all I ended up with was a couple of pictures of the pudding making session.

So the hurricane came and did its thing and luckily we escaped with absolutely no damage. We were so blessed to have our home completely intact and had no power outages!

It was so nice to finally see the sun breaking through the clouds. It was something we hadn't seen it in quite a while!

After the storm blew through, the kids saw a tremendous opportunity to dust off their rain boots and splash like crazy!

Chalkin' It Up

It all started out innocently enough...

What was I thinking?! Well, here's what I was thinking. It's an absolutely beautiful Saturday morning out and my car could use a good vacuuming and interior wipe-down. Plus, the kids and I need to get some fresh air. So I got out the sidewalk chalk and sidewalk chalk paint to occupy Collin and Ainsley while I tended to my car. I finished up with the vacuuming and started wiping down the dash when I heard, "Ains, paint my nose now, Ains paint MY nose!" I thought OK, the paint's non-toxic and they're having a ball, so everything's fine. Then I hear sputtering and spitting coming from Collin, along with, "My mouth's on fire, paint is yucky!!"

By then I had finished cleaning my car, so I went to check on the situation. This is what I discovered.

I wonder what Kate Gosselin's reaction would've been. Obviously a bath was in order, so I asked Collin to keep an eye on his sister while I ran in to start the bath water. There was no way I was going to let them traipse through the house with this chalky paint substance on their bodies, head to toe. Literally. I witnessed Collin painting his toes.

Amazingly, in the 30 seconds it took me to walk inside and start the bath water, Ainsley had climbed into the driver's seat of my car and was pretending to drive. In my nice, freshly cleaned car.

Oh well. It cleaned off fairly easily. And they had fun. Mission accomplished!