Never Underestimate A Two Year Old

Jon and I have a very basic three step system in our home for breaking the rules. For the first infraction, you get a warning. If you do it again, a time out. If you come out of time out and do it again, you lose dessert. It's very easy, and the kids usually avoid doing whatever it is for the third time since they both have major sweet tooths.

Until last night. Madison broke the rule three times and lost her dessert. She was crushed, but I had to stick to my guns in order for her to learn her lesson.

She was such a good girl for the remainder of the day. At dinner time, she gobbled down her spaghetti and kale dinner like a champ. She voluntarily helped clean up the arts and crafts room, which was quite a mess from all the projects the girls (mostly Kaylee) had done that week.

Then 6:45 rolled around and it was time for dessert. I knew I was in for a hurdle. I took out the platter of homemade m&m cookies the girls and I had baked together the night before. I saw Kaylee's eyes light up and not too far behind her comes Madi, running in to the kitchen and sitting in her spot. But Madi could not get dessert. I offered to read Madi a book on the couch while Kaylee finished her cookie, but she wanted nothing to do with it. All she wanted was a cookie. The waterworks began. I sat there patiently explaining how she had not listened to me earlier and how she lost her cookie. The waterworks continued.

I decided to start vacuuming the family room to drown out the noise. I saw Kaylee had finished her cookie as she ran to the playroom to get her vacuum to help me out. I was shocked when I turned off the vacuum and heard complete silence. Madi had adjusted easier than I thought.

I made my way to the kitchen to get Madi ready for bath time only to find her sitting in Kaylee's spot eating leftover cookie crumbs straight off the table with the biggest smile on her face. I tried my hardest to not laugh when I asked her what she was doing. Her response was "Mmm... sooo delicious!" I was completely outsmarted by my two year old!

Our little sneak :) 

School Days

There go my little girls to their first day of school...

Kaylee's 4th Birhday Party

With each birthday the passes I swear to Jon that I will not hold next year's party at my home. My reasoning being I spend a significant amount of time prepping, cleaning, baking, etc. pre-party,  and become increasingly aware of the damage to my home post-party.

That being said, I never realized how expensive birthday parties could be outside of the home. So once again I caved and held Kaylee's 4th birthday party at our home. And thanks to Pinterest, I was able to make all the games for the kids on the cheap, which is right up my alley :)

 Jon came up with the ingenious idea of hanging balloons upside down from the ceiling to avoid paying for helium!

The girls and Gemma :)

Pinata Time

The birthday girl took the first swing.

Madison gave it a shot.

 

So did Thomas and Hanna.

 

We still weren't getting anywhere near the goods, so Uncle Jimmy helped out.

 

Candy time!

Playing the fishing game.

Kaylee's cupcake cake

Kaylee and her best friend, Lily.

Madison, enjoying Kaylee's new presents.

 

 

And just like every other year, after a few hours of cleaning the home and pulling out the Bissell for blue frosting stains, I solemnly swore to Jon next year's party will definitely be held elsewhere. I guess only time will tell :) 

 

Summer Lovin'

Our summer has been wonderful so far- tons of playdates, beach days, Stefanie came to visit, and Jon and I went on a REAL vacation (five whole days child-free). It's seems in the midst of all this I've also taken a holiday from blogging. Here are some pictures to catch you up on the past 2 months:

Beach Day at Howard Beach

 

 

4th of July 2012

Madison & Uncle Jimmy

Kaylee doesn't like the sound of "fire booms"

Hanna, Kaylee & Madison

First day on our cruise :)

haha

Chef Madi

Kaylee custom designed this tool belt out of puzzle pieces and a piece of string.

Madison's hide and seek spot.

@ Omo's birthday dinner at Outback

Our greatest investment yet- the swingset!

Cuties

We hope everyone is having a great summer too!

xoxo, Christina 

Four Rehms and a Playdate

Last week I had to opportunity to watch my beautiful niece and nephew for the afternoon! I made sure to get a good night sleep since I was going to be way outnumbered :) The kids had such a great time!! I knew Kaylee and Hanna would be fine together, so I would have to really focus on the younger ones, but to my surprise Madison and Thomas hung out the entire time together and shared a lot of giggles!!!

We were outside on the swings when Hanna informed me my plants were dying and that I needed to "take a hose" to them. So we filled up the water table and watered plants with buckets :)

Hanna watered the most.

After all that water, we had to change into dry outfits. Kaylee and Hanna wanted "fancy" outfits.

They also requested Rapunzel braids.

Madi & Thomas playing with the kitchen.

Once they were done, the girls started preparing a "birthday feast."

 Madison & Thomas fed each other Special K cereal for about 30 minutes. And laughed the ENTIRE time. I couldn't stop laughing either.

Madi making sure it really gets in there.

The girls read each other princess books.

We made our own personal pizzas!

Kaylee added on all the toppings 'just like Hanna' but once it came out of the oven, she removed all of her toppings- haha!

Madi hoarding the green peppers :)

Thomas put on the most toppings and even wanted more pepperoni after this picture.

Ready for baking! Thomas took a nibble out of his- he couldn't wait any longer :)

Yummy!!

The kids ate like champs.

After dinner the girls wanted to watch Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. They probably sat through 15 minutes of it.

Can you tell Madison has a zero attention span for movies?!

Kaylee's New Big Girl Room

Another project has finally commenced!! It is such a great feeling when weeks of budgeting, planning, and prep work finally come together just as you had envisioned it.

Kaylee has been asking for a pink room for quite some time (her favorite colors are pink and lighter pink) but I just couldn't wrap my head around the thought of staring at bubblegum walls for the next few years. I came up with some colors that I think will keep her happy for years to come. We compromised on cream walls with pink stripes. We all love it!!

 The stripes are only on one wall. They are a lot of work!!!

Our community had a garage sale a few weeks back so I headed out early to see if I could score a cheap dresser that I could paint for her since I like the idea of mix-and-match furniture. I think it gives a little personality to a room. As luck would have it, I found this dresser just three doors down! It was ugly, but I knew it had potential. It's solid wood and the insides were beautiful!

A few days later, I came across this bookshelf on Craigslist. I figured it would be a great addition to her room since she LOVES to read. It needed a little work, but was only $20, located right around the corner from my house, and was also solid wood.

Our original plan was to buy Kaylee a new bed and give the starter furniture to Madison. But after searching consignment shops and Craigslist for a few months, I fell in love with this beautiful white ornate bunk bed set that can be separated or bunked. The woman was asking way too much money for the set and was never able to sell it at the price she wanted. So I made her a low offer and after about a month and a half, she accepted it. I posted Kaylee's old furniture on Craigslist the day we got the bunk beds and the next day they were sold! It all worked out perfectly. The bunk beds had to be repainted, but overall I feel the extra work put into the set was worth the savings. They are truly beautiful!!

Here is Kaylee's new room:

The dresser color is called Tahiti Blue. It's so pretty!

Added bonus- the drawers hold more clothes than her old dresser! We still have two drawers to spare!

While I was looking through the Pottery Barn catalog for inspiration, Kaylee found a flower lamp she really liked. The Pottery Barn one didn't exactly fit our budget, so I went to Joanne's and bought $6 worth of fake flowers and gave new life to her old nursery lamp.

Our new and improved bookshelf.

The floating pom-poms were made out of Wal*Mart tissue paper. They cost me about $5 and are perfect for a girls room!

The girls enjoying the new bed. 

I still have to paint Madison's bed and dresser, but for now her crib will suffice. She loves it and still isn't trying to climb out of it. Kaylee absolutely adores her new room!! It's so much fun to get her in the mornings and have her tell me all the things she loves about her new room. It makes all the time and effort well worth it. I can't wait until Madison and I are able to come up with a plan for her room. I'm sure in a year or so she will know exactly what she wants. In the meantime, I will enjoy the break from painting and projects!