Halfway There and New Feet

I apologize for the delay in posting. It has been a little crazy here since before Thanksgiving and I'm trying to catch up on things this week and I'm only halfway done. I've done the laundry but only halfway as it still sits in baskets waiting to be put away. Only half the house is clean as I am having to REALLY clean up from all the dust our flooring project has created. Finally, only half of the Christmas tree is decorated (this is priority number one on the kids to do list). I think I've lost half of my brain in the middle of all this mess. Soon (hopefully by Sunday) our house will return to normal mode as Daddy only has to finish the floor in the last half of the family room and then we're done!!
One quick funny story. While we were visiting Daddy's side of the family at Thanksgiving, Ketchup had a birthday and is now five. I asked her the day before her birthday if she thought she would look different the next day (like a five year old rather than a four year old) because of the remark she made about her brother still looking like a two year old. She said she would look different. So the next morning she woke up and came right over to me instead of the mirror. She asked me to measure her feet to see if they were big five year old feet now. Well, what do you know they had grown overnight, and she had new five year old feet to go with the big five year old girl!

Naptime Psychology

The good days of daily naptime have left our family. We now have an hour of rest time every day in which the kids have to stay in their rooms and read (20 min), play by themselves (20 min) and then play with each other (20 min). This seems to work well enough most days, but then there are those times when a nap is necessary. In order to get them to both sleep we have to all lay down together in mommy and daddy's bed so I can keep them both contained and increasingly quiet so that they will actually fall asleep.
Yesterday was one of those days. As I struggled with them to get them to go to sleep, I noticed that there are several stages they go through before the precious quietness of sleep reigns in our house. I thought I'd share:
Stage 1 - Bargaining - I have already given the countdown to taking a nap and yet they still try to negotiate for more time. "Just one more minute (translation-maybe if we keep playing she'll forget about the nap)." Didn't work, so we move on to the next phase.
Stage 2 - Denial - I'm sure if you were outside our house yesterday, this stage would have been very evident by the screams and cries of "NOOOOO" coming from both kids. I don't know why they think this will change my mind; it just convinces me even more how tired they are.
Stage 3 - Bargaining part 2 - They try to convince me that they are dying of thirst or hunger and if they could just get a drink or a snack then they will go to sleep. I also thought about calling this the guilt trip phase because they act like I'm torturing them by not letting them get that life-sustaining drink that they didn't need just 10 minutes ago. Then again maybe they are thirsty from all that screaming, but they still had to wait.
Stage 4 - Blameshifting - This is Ketchup's area of expertise. She will lay really still for a while as her brother sings and moves around and then she will sit up and blame him for waking her up. She thinks that I'll fall for it and let her get up since she supposedly already took a nap.
Stage 5 - Physical Resistance - Both kids will do anything to keep themselves awake. They might kick their legs up and down or wiggle their fingers in some type of repetitive way. This is the stage I look forward to because I know that soon after those crazy leg kicks or finger games that we will finally reach the all important Stage 6....

Sleep! Finally it is still and quiet.
I guess I forgot that there is usually a stage 7 where mommy tries as quietly and slowly as possible to get out of the bed without waking them up so that I can enjoy these few precious moments.

Big Fun!!!!

Ketchup and Bounce had their birthday party today at bounce house place here in town. They had a wonderful time. When I asked Bounce tonight if he had fun, he said "Big fun, mommy." That is a good answer. He then went on to clarify that I only had "little fun" because I didn't go down the slide. I may not have gone on the slide, but I did have fun because I didn't have to cook or clean. That is my kind of party!

Another reason why we homeschool....

Some days school does not go so well and they may not learn as much as I like, but the time that Ketchup and Bounce spend together is a blessing. I have been told on multiple occasions how well they play together. Right now they are sitting together on the same chair watching Veggietales. This is a good moment. They do have their moments of fighting and selfishness (like their mommy sad to say), but overall, they love each other and get along great. In fact, the other day Bounce gave his big sister a big hug and told her "You're my best friend."
I know this will probably not last forever, but for now I will enjoy these sweet moments. We are studying family and Thanksgiving this week and next and I am blessed to have such a wonderful family and sweet children who love each other so much.

"But he still looks two"

Bounce turned 3 yesterday. Hard to believe that he is already three, but I'm trying to use that to my advantage by telling him that he is three now, he can't whine like a two year old.
Ketchup was a little confused that "he still looked two". How could he be three when he still looked the same to her.

Daddy and I listened as they were playing with some of his new toys last night and thought this was so cute, so I'll recount it for you.

K: You have to go save the world (her toy to his spiderman toy)
B: I don't want to.
K: Well then who is going to save the world then?
B: God will save the world.