"having a sleep over jeremy's house" jeremy is rex's imaginary friend  - or rather, an imaginary friend that malloy made up for rex

 the kids have been playing this sleepover game for a week or so now. it involves bringing any and all the toys, blankets, books, they can find and dumping it in malloy's room. they sure can move it when they want to but come time to clean up and it's SO HARD! so today, i told them it was time to clean up. they didn't even try. so i tried again. i told them they had 10 minutes to clean up the room. when the timer went off after 10 minutes, the toys that were not cleaned up were going in a garbage bag that i get to keep. for the entire 10 minutes i encouraged them to clean up, but they still weren't that interested. i brought a garbage bag in at the 10 second countdown and malloy started scurrying as fast as she could to clean. when the timer went off, i put all of the toys in the garbage bag while the kids cried. (i know, i know mean mommy. trust me, i felt awful, but the don't listen too well anymore when it comes to cleaning!!!) at lunch, i told them that they could earn their toys back. each time they got up to awesome on their chart, they could get a toy back. they ate their lunch quietly and without a word. both kids got to get a toy back before naps. they were on their best behavior for the rest of the day and earned quite a few toys back already!

safina and emery came over to play for a few hours after nap. malloy was so excited to play with safina! they were calling each other "best friend forever". so cute! they played a lot of dress up. they were brides, princesses, and ballerinas.

 rex wanted to dress up, too! i gave him a superhero costume that grandma val gave me after halloween. he LOVES it! he calls himself "hulk batman" because it's green but there's a black cape with it. he wore the costume, including the mask, for the entire evening!!!

watching a movie and having a snack

monday: malloy was excited to go back to school! she napped well, rex didn't at all! we played with balloons the rest of the afternoon! rex got two balloons from the cashier at tops this morning. she said "well, you're a big boy!" and he said "yeah, i'm a goofer!" love him! 

i went out to dinner with some of my mommy friends. i was going out to the van quick to get my wallet. as i was closing the door, rex yelled "but mommy! i love you!" he thought i was just leaving without saying goodbye. it was really cute! 

today: we had a playdate at our house. only a few friends came. rex made a new friend, bryan. he's 2, as well. they were buddies pretty quickly! they were holding hands jumping on his bed together, playing with his firehouse, playing with trucks. it was great! safina and emery came over once school was over. malloy was so excited and waited all morning for her!
the kids switched for naps - malloy didn't nap today and rex did! she was quiet for 2 hours, though! when she came out, she told me "i won't be cranky". this afternoon, it was a bit warmer out so we decided to take a walk. we were out for about 2 minutes and malloy said "uh-oh. i peed in my underwear!" so i told her we had to go back home. she was beyond angry that we had to go home. she was screaming, yelling, and crying  the entire 2 minutes back to the house. then she was kicking rex and pushing me while yelling. she moved down quite a few pegs on her behavior chart!!! she made it to 5 minutes of time out. once her time was up, she came out calming, came over to me and said, "i'm sorry i yelled at you, mommy." i gave her a big hug and told her it meant a lot to me that she apologized. things were better after that. lesson learned, though! from now on, we will ALWAYS try to go potty before we leave the house. (which we used to do and then got out of the habit of for some reason!)
this morning, rex got a little overexcited about something and hit me in the face. he looked immediately regretful and got wide eyed. i told him that he needed to be careful and that he hurt me. he grabbed my chin where he hit me, made a fist and pretended to eat something. he took the hit off my face and ate it up so it was gone. it was the only thing he could think of to do. it made me laugh!! where do they come up with thus stuff?!

trying out a new hairdo

malloy and safina - photo courtesy of katie!! 

naptime adventures

malloy's in her room yelling because she wants to change her shirt. rex is trying to nap and he yells from his room "malloy you need to be quiet because i'm sleeping!" and she yells "OK! i will!!!" and then continues on whining and crying. made me giggle for a second before i went in and told malloy to knock it off.

friday: we had a fun playdate at gianna and kenadee's and got to play with friends we don't get to see anymore because of school. it was so much fun to play with brooke, ben, lena, and finn!! rex got a cool new mcqueen hat from leslie - it's awesome and he loves it! 

modeling their new hats

 saturday: nothing super exciting, we spent the day at home!

malloy woke up, turned the light on in the living room and just started playing. it's much better to wake up to the sounds of a happy child playing than a crying one! (which hasn't happened in a while)

fun with make-up! 

tried taking a picture of us with our make-up. bummed i cut out my face because malloy's is so darn cute! 

sunday: another lazy day at home!

cuddling with daddy (he crawled up and pulled neal's arm around him) 

malloy drew a robot for rex. she explained "this is me when i dressed up as a robot for halloween last year."

making some bread pudding

rex wearing all of malloy's hair ties

played with bubble wrap for a very long time this afternoon

uncle paddy came over to play for a few hours this morning. the kids were so excited for him to come over!!! rex wanted  to show him all of his squinkies and was jumping up and down when he got here. so cute!

bicycling

malloy was posing and having me take pictures

playing "grumpy old troll" with daddy

you have to pay a toll of tickles :) 

playing superheroes 

i just made juice - using the frozen concentrate can - and gave some to rex. it must have been really cold. he took a drink, winced, and said "it's frozen on my edge" while pointing to the inside corner of his eyebrow just above his eye. 'it's frozen on my edge' = brainfreeze.

tea party! 

our friends lena and finn came over  to play today!!! i was so good to see them!!  lena and malloy are on their way to the beach in this photo  :)

sporting some beautiful belle earrings

wearing her new hat that leslie made her - so awesome!!!! 

saturday: we had a little valentine's day party at grandma val and grandpa don's. we got to see roro, papa hank, aunt amy, grandma tappy and grandpa gary, and aunt norma! it was so great seeing everyone!!! the kids had a great time! 

they didn't take naps but rex cuddled with neal and ended up falling asleep on him. malloy and i played with paper dolls, played guess who, did puzzles, read books, and played computer games! it was so nice to spend so much time with her one-on-one!!  by dinner time she was exhausted. i watched her take a bite of pizza and then her eyes rolled and her head went down. i caught her chin and then had neal hold her so she wouldn't fall off the chair if she fell asleep again!!! i've never seen her that tired! 

making valentines for our  valentine party guests

waiting for grandma to fix her cinderella dress

my little princess

ring pops from aunt amy! 

puzzles

malloy now loves to play games on my laptop

sleep princess was falling asleep in her  food, so daddy had to hold on to her so she wouldn't fall! 

sunday: we hung out with grandma val and grandpa don in the morning. grandpa made a delicious breakfast - blueberry streusel french toast yum! then malloy did some crafts with grandma while rex played with his toys.   after lunch, we went to grandma tappy and grandpa gary's. we played for a bit before dinner. uncle ryan, kari, and bella came over for dinner, too! the kids were so excited to play with bella!! that had a great time together! 

making a purse with grandma

coloring

rex was making grandpa don laugh with his silly antics

malloy played beauty parlor - poured us tea, did our hair, and painted our nails (pretended to).  it was too cute! 

monday: the kids played with grandpa gary for a good portion of the morning. he built with blocks, made up a game for the kids to play, and read some stories. malloy and rex had so much fun playing with grandpa!!! then it was time to go to lunch with grandma val and grandpa don. rex fell asleep on the way there, but popped right up when we went inside! the kids got a cheeseburger sub, french fries, and a black and white cookie. then grandpa had to go back to work. we went to joann fabrics to pick out some material for an easter dress for malloy. the kids were hyped up on sugar from the cookie and ran around the store for a bit. i finally showed them that there were books that they could read - they sat right down and read all the books in the bin! (we were right next to them discussing material). malloy passed out on the way home - i thought rex would, but he didn't - little stinker! 

we played for a bit and made some cookies back at grandma tappy and grandpa gary's, then it was time to go to dinner! the kids did great out at dinner. the restaurant was playing a pop radio station and the kids LOVED it! they knew every song that came on and were singing away. rex's little face would light up and he'd say "i know this song!" 

after dinner, grandma val and grandpa don came over to grandma tappy and grandpa gary's. grandma val had to measure malloy and made a bust of malloy's body out of duct tape.

  it was a long day the kids didn't have too much trouble going to sleep!!! 

more computer games

playing a game that grandpa made! 

malloy did the dot to to all by herself , counting the while way. it went up to 40 i believe! 

checking out all the fabric at joann's with grandma val

being good kids reading books 

letting grandma make a cast of her body with duct tape

today: we got up, packed up, said out good-byes and drove back to buffalo. the kids were amazing on the ride. neither one of them asked for a single toy. they listened to imagination movers, fun, and laurie berkner and had some snacks. it was so nice!!! they didn't nap at all, so they just rested and watched some tv this afternoon. we went to the gym and then came home to daddy making dinner! both kids were exhausted and went right to sleep tonight!