.JPG)
.JPG)
Here is a video of Emma playing her piano. She LOVES this thing; often you wonder where she is at, and then you hear the piano and you know. This particular video was taken at almost midnight Thursday night; she has had trouble sleeping with her ear infection. She does not look tired at all in this video, but I was exhausted.
If the dishwasher is open, Emma is there, trying to decide what to try to pull out first.
Emma's first time in a swing.
Emma and Braden; she loves her big brother! (I love this picture; well, except for the red eye)
Rocking out on her piano again; she really does LOVE this piano. Braden loved it too when he was little, but Brooke never really wanted anything to do with it. 
If Emma isn't playing her piano, she is usually sneaking into the bathroom. She loves taking baths. Emma crawls in, pulls up on the side of the tub, and stares longingly into the tub; I joke that she is thinking about her next bath and plotting her next splash. Walgreens is where it is at!!!! Where do you go if you have a sick child that needs medicine filled, but you don't want to drag them out of the car once again? Walgreens' drive thru pharmacy of course, one of the best inventions known to mothers around the world, or at least in the great US of A! I had to take Emma to the doctor today, with the other 2 cuties in tow, because I thought she had an ear infection; sure enough, she does, so there is medicine to be filled. In the past, I would have trucked it to Wal-mart, dragged all 3 children inside, turned in the prescription, and would have wasted time in Wal-mart for 45 plus minutes waiting for it to be filled, only to go back and be told it was not ready. No more will I be a victim of the Wal-mart, slow as crud, not well versed in Southern hospitality pharmacy; I have discovered the amazing world of Walgreens. Walgreens came to bless our dear little town a few months ago, and now they have my allegiance; I will fill my prescriptions with no other!
I have a confession to make, I hate tantrums. Wait, I don't think that is strong enough; I detest, abhor, loathe, dislike with every part of my being, condemn, and spit upon tantrums! Why oh why must children have them? Why do my children continue to have them, day after day, week after week, month after month?! It is not like they are rewarded for their flair for the dramatic, but still it continues. "Mama, can I have a piece of candy?" "No, you can not." Then it begins: the whining, the crumbling of the body to the floor, and occasionally the kicking. My response as I walk away, "I don't think that will get you your candy, but if that makes you feel better, go right ahead." Or, "Mama, can I watch a movie." "No, you have watched enough television today." Again, the whining, the body crumbling or the body throwing in Brooke's case (she is a very dramatic child), and for good measure a few ear piercing shrieks (Brooke's specialty). Rich's response, "Come on Brooke, you can do better than that; I've heard you scream louder than that." Brooke eventually gets angry and looses her steam. We also often put the children in their rooms until they can mingle with society in a civilized way, and so we don't slowly loose our minds listening to them; feigning complete ignorance to their tantrum has also been a tactic of choice around the Maseda house, just pretend it isn't happening, and it will go away. You get the point, there are no rewards for the tantrums, but still they continue; they have improved and continue to do so as Brooke and Braden get older, but I want them to disappear, fade, melt away, come to naught, and cease to exist AND FAST!!!
What was supper like tonight? Crazy, chaotic, a zoo; yeah, I think those words would accurately describe what transpired tonight. To begin the evening, Braden informed me that the mashed potatoes and the green beans that I put on his plate were gross. I told him that I loved to know that he didn't appreciate what I had cooked. The conversation went something like this. Braden looks down at his plate and says, "This is gross." I reply, "I'm so glad to know that you don't appreciate what I cooked." With shock on his face Braden says, "I didn't say that." To point out the facts I reply,"You just said that the food was gross." Braden clarifies, "I just mean the mashed potatoes and the green beans are gross." (the only other things on the plate were grapes and pizza loaf) To make sure he likes some of the meal I ask, "So, you are saying the pizza loaf is not gross?" He reassures me, "No, I like the pizza loaf." Then he quickly adds, "Didn't we have this yesterday?" I add a new word to his vocabulary by explaining, "Yes, we are having it again, because we had some left over; we are eating leftovers." "We don't usually have leftovers, because Daddy is here; he usually eats most of it and takes the rest to work." This conversation was followed by a conversation about how Braden calls Rich Swiper the Fox, because Rich swipes our food and takes it to work. If the food is so gross though, I don't know why he cares. I would like to point out in my defense, that Brooke ate three helpings of green beans, three helpings of grapes, her pizza loaf, and her mashed potatoes, and she looked at me in the middle of her meal and said, "Mama, you are a good cooker!" Yay Brooke! Well, yay for the comment, but not yay for her behavior. After the critique of my cooking, Brooke and Braden pretended their forks were a mama and her son, Brooke proceeded to talk loudly in a made up language known only to her, Braden pulled his shirt over his head, Brooke kept getting out of her chair, Braden continued to sing, "Calling all super readers!" and "Super Why saved the day!", Brooke ran around the kitchen yelling to no one in particular, "I'm gonna knock you out!", and Braden then got on all fours on the floor and pretended to be a dog. While this was all going on I was chopping up grapes, beans, and bread for Emma, attempting to eat my own supper, trying unsuccessfully to start conversations with Braden and Brooke, and trying to discipline while keeping my cool, wishing the entire time that Rich was home. Sounds hilarious I know, but the humor of the situation didn't hit me until the end of the meal. At one point during the meal, I was thinking that I would probably look back at tonight and laugh, but I wasn't feeling any tinges of laughter, just frustration, exhaustion, and a longing for Rich to get his hiney home. It wasn't until I looked down at Braden on the floor, down on all fours, tongue hanging out, panting like a dog, that the laughter hit me; in fact, the humor of the situation and sheer ridiculousness of everything hit me so fast, I had to leave the table. I knew that there was no way I could keep the laughter in, so I quickly walked away to laugh in secret and then returned to the table. I thought that I had composed myself, but realized very quickly I was wrong. I had promised Braden and Brooke that we could play hide and seek after supper, but of course after their behavior, that was no longer an option. While Braden and I were still sitting at the table, waiting to see if he could at least stomach two of his gross beans, I told him that we wouldn't be playing hide and seek after supper. He innocently asks, "Why?" I thought, he has GOT to be kidding me, but I kept my cool and replied, "Let's see, you and Brooke have been crazy tonight, you were down on the floor pretending to be a dog...", and that is about as far as I got before I broke out into laughter and so did Braden. SEE, Rich NEEDS to get home; it is usually at this point that I cowardly run away from the table in a fit of laughter, while he stays and deals with the hoodlums until I am composed enough to return and put on the parent face. Don't get me wrong, I don't always loose myself to the laughter, but there are just some times that they are just sooooooooo stinkin' funny! I would like to point out though that I did quickly regain my composure and finish the conversation and the discipline, but I do so miss the other team member of the tag team! Hurry home BOY!
.jpg)
Well, it is official; Brooke turned 3 yesterday. It is hard to believe that she is 3 already; it seems like only yesterday I was in the hospital getting ready to have her, and now she is here and taking on the world. To celebrate her birthday this year, we decided to have a birthday carnival; the initial plan was to have her party outside, but the weather was obviously not in attendance during our planning meeting. We ended up making it work though; we just scaled back just a tad and brought the party indoors. The night before we set up the games, made the cakes, and Rich and the two oldest cuties worked on painting a clown for the Feed the Clown game. Since it was a party for 3 year olds and a couple older children, we decided simple was better. We had a fishing game, a Clothespin Game, a Bean Bag Toss Game, and a Feed the Clown Game, where the cuties threw bean bags into the clown's mouth. Last Saturday Brooke and I had gone to the store and bought little prizes for each game; we got enough so each child could go to each game 3 times. In addition to the other games, the party goers also played candy walk, just like the tried and true cake walk, just with candy and with a lot less work on my part. After the games, our guests and the party girl dined on hot dogs and chips, followed by two pink glitter smiley face cakes. Initially Brooke had requested a pony cake, but I subtly guided her towards the smiley face cake, with the promise of sprinkling pink edible glitter on them (which you can't really see in the pictures). Next year I might attempt a pony cake, but I knew we were already doing the princess package at the salon, and I just didn't think there would be time for everything. She loved the cakes though; in fact as soon as Elizabeth arrived, Brooke first took her to the kitchen to show her that she had two pretty pink glittery smiley face cakes. Well, after the food and festivities, it was present opening time. From all of her guests and her Aunt Heather she received the following: a bath time Dora (Emma also has enjoyed this gift), some miniature horses and fence, a decorate your own scrapbook, a coloring book (from Braden), books, pink shiny dress up heels (doesn't want to take them off-wore them to church today), a Princess book with a CD player, a Barbie, an outfit for the Barbie (of course loves the Barbie), and a Veggie Tales movie (watched it today). Rich and I got her a bicycle, a helmet, a purse with makeup, and a pink golf club. I guess I should say Rich got her the golf club; Rich has been promising Brooke for quite a while that as soon as she turned 3, he would take her with him to play golf. Now she is three, he is making good on his word; of course he has to make sure she is well equipped first, and did I mention he made sure she had a pink golf ball to practice with?! Brooke had a fantastic time, and she loved everything! I think her favorite gifts though were pink dress up shoes and her makeup. The bag is one of those you find at Wal-mart around Christmas, but I bought it after Christmas; you know $2.88 marked down to $1.44. She has carried that bag around ALL day asking me to open this and that, applying so much lip gloss that her lips are going to shine for days, and begging to paint her nails (which I guess I will have to do tomorrow). I'm glad that Brooke had such a good birthday, and I'm glad she really enjoyed herself; I guess now I need to start planning Emma's 1st birthday party. She is going to be 10 months old next week and a year old in two months; can you believe that?! Children seem to grown up so fast, no matter how much you savor the moments, and no matter how much you beg time to slow down, they keep growing and the time keeps slipping away. I guess I just need to keep grabbing that camera of mine and keep catching those moments in time and keep living each day like it could be my last. Live, Laugh, and Love; that's my motto.
