"Is Daddy gone yet?'

This is the question that Benjamin asks me almost every single morning. Now before you start to think "why does Ben so desperately want Brian gone in the morning?" let me fill you in on some background.

I think before I may have mentioned that while Addie was a new baby I participated in the Leadership Institute. One of the faculty there told me a story about raising her daughter and how all children need a chance to be naughty, without being too bad. She gave her daughter the parameter that she could never eat anything blue. So this little girl took every possible opportunity she could to eat blue lollipops or blue candy. It didn't cause her any harm and the little girl felt like she was making her own decisions, etc.

So back to Ben's question... the kids and I have serious talks about words and their meanings frequently. They know that they are being raised to know the right names for their body parts and that other kids may not be, etc. They also know some words that are grown up words that kids shouldn't say like "damn" and "hell."

As you all know, Benjamin is a dance party music guru. Well one of his favorite songs is "Sexy and I Know It."We've had plenty of conversations about what sexy means and who can say it. Addie and Ben both know that sexy is a word that grown ups say about people they think are attractive, but it can't be your own mom or anything like that. They also know that they aren't supposed to say sexy at all, since it's really not an appropriate kids word. But that rule is tough to enforce when a song like Sexy and I Know It comes on (or any one of handful of other pop songs), so I told them that they can only say it to me, and that Daddy will be really mad if he heard them say it.

So each morning when Ben wakes up, he wants to know if Brian has already left for work and then he whispers "I'm sexy and I know it." It's very cute. Every once in a while he'll walk by me and say it under his breath and get the orneriest smile on his face. Adorable.

Hello, Happy Easter!!

My Easter kiddos were happy to go downstairs this morning to see what the Easter Bunny brought. Ben had just gotten his hat on Friday night and loves to wear it.

Some of these are out of order- sorry!

The Easter Bunny made her annual appearance at our house, which Addie and Ben believe happens at everyone's house. Look how grown up they are now!

Brian and Guppy chilled out and enjoyed the nice weather while the kids hunted for some loot.

Later on, we went to MomMom and PopPop's house and hung out with Graham.

Addie wore her 2012 Muddy-created-Easter dress, of course and looked adorable.

We went over to Muddy and Guppy's for Easter dinner too. Aunt Kim and Uncle Tom were there too, they just didn't make it into this picture. It was a really nice evening full of fascinating dinner conversation and yummy food.

Back to the hunt at our house, Addie and Ben each got a water balloon pump and balloons!

The Easter Bunny hid 12 presents around our front yard. This is when they had found 11 of them and the 12th was in the black flower pot by Addie's head. It was really funny to see them walk by over and over again.

The Easter Bunny commented on Guppy's use of his cane and mimicked it too.

Addie was SO THRILLED to find a real locket in her basket this morning. She was equally impressed that the cardboard it came on said "not intended for children under 14 years of age," which meant that the Easter Bunny believed she was mature enough for such a special necklace. As she told us later on, "It's so good the Easter Bunny got me the locket necklace, because the Easter Bunny's job is to make kids happy and that way no one in our family had to spend money on it." She is really excited to have it! And yes, I do realize that she looks like a teenager in this picture- it makes me shiver a little.

The Easter Bunny also brought them each their own tennis rackets, and rackets for Brian and me too! We spent the morning playing tennis out back with Muddy and with Guppy watching us. Really fun.

Overall, a wonderful Easter.

Hope everyone got to spend time with special people in their lives too.

Explanation about Ben's crying

I've been corrected. If you haven't read the blog post called Nanny McPhee yet, go read that one before you read this. Ok, back to the correction- remember how I said Ben was crying because Addie not taking her tooth out was prohibiting him from getting ice cream? Well, I've been corrected and reminded of what the real reason was.
It went something like this:
Brian: Addie, if you take your tooth out we can go get ice cream for dessert.
Addie: No way.
Brian: Really, Addie, you can pick Friendly's or Sweet Lucy's or Temptations. Your choice. Just pull your tooth out.
Addie: Not gonna happen.
Brian: Addie, if you just pull your tooth out we can go to Disney World.
Addie: Nuh uh, no way.
Brian: Not Disney or ice cream will make you take your tooth out?
Addie: Right.

So Ben was sobbing hysterically about not being able to go to Disney.
Once the sling-shot-heard-round-the-Volvo happened, Ben immediately stopped crying and said, "Yay! When are we going to Disney now?"
Uh oh. Daddy needs to be careful what he bribes with, right?!?!

Nanny McPhee

Addie aka Nanny McPhee was quite thrilled with her tooth progress today. Look how far out that tooth is! She ate dinner like this and was adamant that she wasn't going to pull it out.

At the end of dinner we offered that if Addie took her tooth out we could go get ice cream. Addie was all about not pulling it out, which made Ben leave in tears. He was so furious that she wasn't getting them ice cream.

In the car ride home, Ben was sobbing a major fit over not getting ice cream. As we got closer to each possible place, I offered to Addie to take it out. She kept refusing. Finally I reached back and offered to just touch her tooth. I gave a little push and that bad boy sling shotted across the car. She was a little stunned but was immediately proud of herself and the smile hasn't left her face since. Her adult tooth is visible already! I swear I'm never going to have pictures of her with teeth missing, they grow in so quickly for her!

Here she is in Temptations, the ice cream store. Woohee, isn't that space huge?

So we still can't find the tooth. We put a letter under her pillow telling the Tooth Fairy that it's in my car somewhere. I suggested we look tomorrow and if we find it, we'll put it under her pillow. I also offered for the Tooth Fairy to try to find it in my car herself.

Oh and after having spent a solid ten minutes searching my car for it, I've learned that there are a heck of a lot of crumbs on my floor that look eerily like a little girl's front tooth! I must've thought "I've got!" at least five times. Oh well.

Thirty-oneth

Addie loves to read, which shocks no one. She's into the Magic Tree house Series right now. At the Easter Egg Hunt this past weekend, the Easter Bunny gave each child a book. Addie chose a Magic Tree house book, the Summer of the Serpent or something like that. It's number 31 in the series. (Seriously, I should start writing kids books!).

Well Addie has been talking about the Serpent book. Tonight on the phone she spoke with Uncle Teb and mentioned her new book, which she told him was the "thirty-oneth" book. I corrected her and said, "thirty-first" and she looked at me like I had four heads. She again said, "thirty-oneth." I looked at her like she had four heads and said, "thirty-first." "Why isn't it thirty-oneth?" she asked. I said, "Addie is it, 'oneth, second, third...'?" She looked at me and said, "I'm still going to say thirty-oneth. It just sounds better." So if you hear her say it wrong, she knows what the right way is and just chooses to not say it right!

Addie's big treat for us

This morning Addie said to me, "I made you guys breakfast!" She was so proud of herself. She said, "they're sandwiches." I suggested she bring them upstairs for us to have breakfast in bed. She brought up two sandwiches and gave one to each of us. She was really excited for us to eat them. She said they were peanut butter and jelly.

Brian took the first bite and immediately Addie burst into fits of laughter. Brian said, "What is that?" And all I could smell as mint. She could barely contain herself as I opened my sandwich to see it filled with white stuff. I thought mayonnaise and by that time I was crying from laughing so hard, just thinking of Brian eating a mayonnaise sandwich. Well it turns out that it was toothpaste!!! She was so incredibly proud of herself. She shouted "April Fool's!"

What a blast.

Can't believe it!

Ben passed Basic Level I in ice skating yesterday and Addie passed Basic Level II! We knew Ben would pass, since this was his second six-week go-round, but I was shocked that Addie passed II! These are their badges that they are proudly showing off.