Day 55 - 2/24/13 - Shaving Cream Fun

Each week for homework Patrick has to write his sight words 3 times each and each in a sentence.  In addition, he gets to pick from a menu of activities.  This week he picked to write his words in shaving cream.  Both kids LOVED this activity, and I LOVED it too because I got the groceries unpacked quickly without "helping" hands and didn't hear any arguing or complaining for a good 20 minutes!

Karen

Day 53 - 2/22/13 - Swinging Beauty

Blogger is messing me up today.  Sorry for the out of order posts.

Lindsay was swinging and she never turns her nose up to a "photo shoot".  I had a hard time focusing with pushing her and trying to take pictures but we had fun!  I actually like the not so in focus look of these.  I also played a little with editing too.  Remember, I'm a novice here.  I'm also chronically indecisive so here are my four favorites!

Karen

Day 54 - 2/23/13 - Back to the Swing Thing

What is it with little kids and loving to twist themselves up on swings, let it untwist, and then twist up again?  I get dizzy just watching it.  Honestly, I'm kind of dizzy just looking at this picture.  Lindsay did this over and over again and giggled away.  I had to laugh.  Ahhhhhhhh to be young and carefree again.  If I didn't think I would throw up my lunch I might try it again, but the last time I was just swinging normal I felt a little sick.

Karen

Day 52 - 2/21/13 - Pool Progress Part 3

It looks as though we have enough wood to build a small house in our back yard.  But no folks, that is the wood to frame up the awesome deck that will go around our pool.  I love how it looks like the dogs are checking out the wood in this picture, but in reality Jazzy was hiding behind the wood and planning a sneak attack on Sparky.

Karen

Day 50 - 2/19/13 - Poor Peanut

The stomach bug hit Patrick.  He had a fever, slept a ton, and wouldn't eat a bite.  Although it was so hard to see him sick, both Will and I enjoyed the extra snuggles we got from him.

Karen

Day 51 - 2/20/13 - Fun Dip, Anyone???

JUST SAY NO to the Fun Dip!  Seriously, this is like speed to my children.  Thankfully they each only got one for Valentine's Day so we only had one evening of crazies!  I do have to admit though those sugar sticks are the best!!  Shhhhhh, Patrick actually got two but I ate the stick out of the other one and threw the sugar away.  Our little secret...

Karen

Day 49 - 2/18/13 - What a Good Daddy!

Lindsay has been on a nail polish kick here recently!  She wants her nails to be painted every weekend and she also enjoys painting other people's nail.  She asked to paint mine and did a beautiful job painting them alternating pink, orange and lime green.  I was actually impressed with how well she did.  Well, she asked her Daddy if she could paint his and being the good Daddy that he is he let her.  She was so excited.  She took her job very seriously but had to giggle every once in awhile at her Daddy's painted fingernails.  I loved every moment of it for several reasons.

Karen

Day 48 - 2/17/13 - Doggie Dress Up

When we play dress up, we go all out in our house.  Not only do we dress up, but we create a skit to go along with our costumes AND we include the dogs.  This time Lindsay dressed Jazzy up in a tiara and pearls and Lindsay wore a red sweatshirt and carried a basket.  Of course, Lindsay was Little Red Riding Hood and Jazzy was the Big Bad Wolf dressed up like Grandma.  I didn't get a picture of that one though because Jazzy was running around too much trying to get her tiara off.  Sparky, on the other hand, was very cooperative.  He was an alien who had come to Earth looking (hence the binoculars) for trouble.  Patrick was the helpful ninja sent to take out the alien.  I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time.  I love the creativity of my kids!!

Karen

Day 47 - 2/16/13 - Crafting Time Take 567

Have I mentioned my children like to do crafts?  Lindsay woke up saying she wanted to paint.  She had the canvas all set up and ready to go before 8 am.  Sigh.  She and Patrick agreed calmly (amazing) that they would paint a sunset.  We had a good 30 minutes of quiet time of them working together to create their masterpiece and I love it!!!

Karen

Day 46 - 2/15/13 - My Children

My children are my greatest accomplishment, my pride and joy, my life, my everything.  For that reason I love taking pictures of them.  They are my favorite subjects and I never tire of looking at them, smiling at them, and laughing with them.  So, I apologize if you are sick of seeing my little ones but be prepared for more.  (Since I think my mother and bff are the only ones that look at this anyway I guess it doesn't really matter.) 

Karen

Day 45 - 2/14/13 - My Loves

I tried to take a picture of the children with their ridiculously priced As Seen on TV Stuffies that they got for Valentine's Day, but none of them turned out to good.  So, instead I'm resurrecting two of my favorite pictures of all my loves!!!  We have an incredibly hard time getting a decent family picture so I take what I can get.  :)  Here are two that I love!!! 

Karen

Day 44 - 2/13/13 - Patrick Presents

I am so proud of Patrick!!!  Patrick stood up and proudly read his PowerPoint presentation (with some help from his teacher) and showed off his junk project, mobile, board game, and legend.  He did a great job!!

Karen

Day 43 - 2/12/13 - Can you see me now?

I can't even remember what prompted this silliness, but the kids had a blast looking at my camera through their binoculars and telescope and I had fun snapping pictures of it.  We all laughed.  Good times!

Karen

Day 42 - 2/11/13 - More Daddy Daughter Dance Pictures

One of the Mom's at Lindsay's school is the resident photographer.  She attends most of the events, takes a ton of pictures, and shares them with the parents.  She is awesome!  Here are some adorable pictures she took of Lindsay and her Daddy.  Melts my heart!!

Karen

Day 41 - 2/10/13 - Pool Progress Part 2

Pool is up!!!!  Next up - deck!

Karen

Day 40 - 2/9/13 - Bayport Fun

Daddy had some work to do at a friend's house.  Since this is one of our favorite places to be, we all went along.  We enjoyed a chaotic lunch with 2 tired kids and 2 crazy dogs, and then went back to play/work.  Patrick's favorite place is by the water's edge!  The dogs love just roaming, swimming, and chasing the chickens.  Always an adventure, always a good time.

Karen

Day 39 - 2/8/13 - Date Night

The Keene family had a different kind of date night last night.  Lindsay and Daddy went on a date to the Daddy Daughter Dance at her school.  They cut a rug, had some pizza, and Lindsay got her face painted.  She was beaming when we came home.  She was snuggled in bed with Daddy watching Good Luck Charlie.

Patrick and I went to his school for movie night.  Patrick was Mr. Popular.  I was shocked at how many kids of all ages knew him.  We ate some popcorn and pizza, snuggled up, and enjoyed Brave.  I loved getting to spend one on one time with my Peanut.  When we left, I asked him if there was anything else he wanted on our date night.  He replied, "How about icecream???"  My kind of date!!!

Day 38 - 2/7/13 - Working Hard

Patrick always wants to work at G and Grandpa's.  After Patrick asked for some rope from Grandpa, I had to go check out what he was doing.  Well, he had tied the rope to a tree and was using the rope to help him climb up the tree.  All boy!!!

Then I saw him run into the shed.  When he came out, his pockets were a little bulky.  He climbed up and this is what he did.  I guess the tress needed a little trimming.

Karen

Day 37 - 2/6/13 - More Puppy Pictures

It's been a few posts since I posted puppy pictures.  So here you go.  I actually got a couple cute ones of them together this time instead of separate.

Really, could they be any cuter?

I love this one.  Jazzy is in what we call the crouching tiger hidden labradoodle pose and Sparky is ready to pounce.  They play/torment each other all day.  It's funny to watch!

Karen

Day 36 - 2/5/13 - Ladybug Boy

I love my Patrick more than anything.  He is so creative, so imaginative, and so unique.  He often tends to get somewhat obsessive about things.  His most recent obsession has been ladybugs.  He hunts for ladybugs outside almost everyday.  For some reason, we have had a TON around our house recently.  We even found one in the car the other day.  (I've always associated ladybugs with my Gramma and Grandpa (not sure why), so I welcome the ladybugs presence.)  Patrick has been creating "ladybug habitats", feeding them, watering them, and occasionally loving them to death (literally).  He checked out a book from the library all about ladybugs and now we all know many interesting factoids on ladybugs.  Did you know a ladybug can retract its head into its body?

I love this picture of him sweetly looking down at his precious ladybug with his shoulders shrugged.

Karen

Day 35 - 2/4/13 - Peace, Love, and French Fry Grease

Have a mentioned recently how awesome my in-laws are?  Well, they are.  I can't even put into words how hard it is to be away from my family, but I am so thankful that I am blessed with such wonderful and caring in-laws.  They do so much for us!  They watch our dogs everyday for us while we work, they help with taking the kids to and from therapies, appointments, practices, etc., they watch the kids whenever Will and I need a night out together, they shower us with gifts, they teach and talk to the kids about so much and most importantly they show us love!

So, this weekend when we had a party for Jakey the dog.  My father-in-law, Mike, made his specialty - homemade fries!  This man is a frying machine.  I have never cared much for eggplant but couldn't get enough of his fried eggplant.  Lindsay wanted to help Grandpa so she became his assistant.  I felt a little emotional watching him talk her through soaking them, cutting them up, and then watching them work on frying them.  It brought back so many wonderful memories I had with my Grandmommy in the kitchen.  I am so glad that my children have both sets of their grandparents in their lives and that they are around to create such wonderful memories that I know they will treasure in the same way that I do.

Karen

Day 34 - 2/3/13 - If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked a Cake!

February 1 was my in-laws dog, Jake's 2nd Birthday.  Since we love any reason to throw a party, we decided to have a birthday party for Jake.  Will grilled up some chicken and chops, my father-in-law made his homemade fries with a little help from Lindsay (see next post), my mother-in-law prepared the sides, and I baked the cakes.  Now, I am not the best baker but I do enjoy it.  Both cakes were a HUGE hit!  

The human cake was a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cake.  Here is the recipe.  I adapted it a tad.  My frosting was a little runny and my cookie dough balls were not freezing fast enough so I just mixed the cookie dough batter into the frosting.  The end result was delicious!

  

The dog cake was made from this recipe.  I used the cupcake frosting recipe that was lower on the page to frost the cake.  I used shredded carrots for the wording, lined with treats, and, of course, rawhides for candles.  The birthday dog gobbled his slice in only 1 bite.  All of the dogs ate their slices in less than 5 seconds. I would say it was a hit too.  

Overall, I was pretty proud of my skills!

Karen

Day 33 - 2/2/13 - Pool Progress Picture 1

Yes, folks, we have bought a pool, an 18' x 33' above ground pool to be exact.  We are all very excited about it.  Will's going to build a nice deck around it in sections and hopefully it will be all ready to relax and enjoy this summer.  I thought it would be fun to document the progress in pictures.

Picture 1 - Boxes Delivered!

Karen

Day 32 - 2/1/13 - Good Day, Sunshine

I'm not sure what it is about this picture, but it moves me.  It's funny how art and photography can be so subjective.  I showed this to my husband and he said, "It looks like a big ball of light."  After many eye rolls and sighs, I laughed.  To me it reminds me of the innocence of childhood.  When you sat down with a piece of white paper and your yellow crayon and drew a big yellow circle with lines coming out of it to represent the sun....

Deep thoughts by Karen  :)

Day 31 - 1/31/13 - Neon Day

Thursday was Neon Day!  Wow!  It was a sea of neon at morning prayers.  Here's Lindsay sporting her neon gear!  I bought some neon bracelets and hair clips.  Instead of wearing just one, she wanted them all!  Battle not worth fighting.  The end result was pretty cute!

Karen

Day 30 - 1/30/13 - Crazy Hat Day

Patrick keeps close tabs on his stuff but he graciously (with a little coaxing) let me borrow his monkey visor for Crazy Hat Day at my other school.  What are the odds of both my schools having Spirit Week on the same week?  So here's a little self portrait taken on my phone again of me "monkeying around"!

Karen

Day 29 - 1/29/13 - Twin Day

It was Catholic Schools Week at the Catholic School I provide Title I services for.  Lindsay attends their 3 year program on the days I work there.  Monday's spirit day was Twin Day.  So, Lindsay and I were twins. Normally, there is a lot of whining and complaining when we get up in the morning and get ready but this morning she got up and dress all by herself.  She was very excited to wear a Hello Kitty shirt with Mommy and to not have to wear her uniform!  I cheated a little with this picture because it was taken on my phone but I think it's pretty cute!

Karen

Day 28 - 1/28/13 - You Might Be A Redneck If...

You Might be a redneck if you wake up on a Saturday morning and you're super excited to go to the Annual Truck and Tractor Pull.  This was seriously a labor of love on my part.  Usually this is my husband's gig but his back was out so I became the responsible party for this event.  Not much I enjoyed about this, but seeing my kids faces as the tractors raced across the dirt and pulled big equipment was pretty priceless.  I also have to say that the people watching was highly entertaining.  I think my kids and I were in a minority there having all our teeth!  After 2 hours of watching a variety of tractors, I was done.  Next year, Daddy will definitely be running that show!  In all seriousness, a day out with the kids is always a good day!

Karen

Day 27 - 1/27/13 - Bubble Close Ups

Here are my close up shots of the kids covered in bubbles.

Patrick

A friend of mine noticed that the bubbles are in the shape of a heart on his forehead.  That made me love this picture even more!

Lindsay

I know her mouth is cut off but I loved this one!

Karen

Day 26 - 1/26/13 - "Snowball" Fight

So, what do you do when you live in Florida and you are sad that all your cousins in Delaware are playing in the snow?????  You make fake snow with bubbles and let the kids go crazy.  We all had so much fun.  I dumped half a bottle of bubbles in the jacuzzi tub with the kids and turned the jets on.  The bubbles erupted and so did the kids.  We were all giggling.  Then I told the kids to go ahead and have a "snow"(bubble) fight and don't worry about making a mess.  They looked at me like I was CrAzY!!!!  (Quite honestly, I kind of am.)  Then when their fight was over, I scooped all the bubbles out and put them on the shower floor.  We had about 3 inches in bubbles.  They made bubble angels and played with the bubbles with buckets.  (I can't share any of those pictures because there were too many peek-a-boo privates.)  Here are some shots from their snow fight though.

Karen