Pajama Day!!!

For weeks there has been excitement building in the little blue house about an impending, very important, day at school… PAJAMA DAY!  Unfortunately for the majority of the residents of the little blue house our places of work and school are not actually celebrating Pajama Day.  Firefly’s school is however, and I am telling you the boy has been off the wall excited.  For weeks he has been planning his pajama outfit,

It HAS to be my FAVORITE pajamas, Mommy- my flannel button down ones!

I am well aware that they are his favorite pajamas, given that it is a struggle just to get them away from him to wash them- this week however he let me wash them and didn’t wear them for two nights in preparation for PAJAMA DAY!  Then there was the choosing of the book which ended up being-Oh, the Places You’ll Go.  Originally it was going to be his FAVORITE book Violet the Pilot, but then Firefly discovered that March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, so it was a mad scramble to find a Dr. Seuss book that he wanted to bring in to share.  Finally, there was the stuffy selection- the boy has more stuffies than one can count, and they often alternate in FAVORITE status, but for today Knuffle Bunny was granted the honor of accompanying a bouncing, twirling Firefly to school.

Last night there was a lot of excitement- book picked out, Knuffle Bunny informed of his field trip, pajamas all clean and ready.

This morning, a bouncing little bug, followed by a very slowly moving, sleepy little brother, bounded into my room.

ITS PAJAMA DAY!!!  was announced, and I’m pretty sure the boy was in my room for about 2.3 seconds before bounding out to go to the bathroom.  Lightning Bug sleepily crawled into bed with me, and I prepared to get up for the day.  Then I looked at my watch.  It was not 6:15 (which is about 15 minutes earlier than we usually get up anyway), but 5:15. 5:15 AM- IN THE MORNING!  The excited little bug got up and got his little brother up earlier than they even got up on Christmas… CHRISTMAS!

I shuffled them back into bed, and the bounding boy returned at the real 6:15, which at that point I figured I’d might as well get up and twirl with excitement too- after all it is PAJAMA DAY!!

And honestly, who wouldn’t be excited?

PAJAMA DAY!!

Happy Leap Day!

I’m a big believer in celebrations (and excuses for celebrations), so of course Leap Day provided an excellent excuse for a celebration (which in my head always includes chocolate).  Not sure the little bugs actually understand what exactly the Leap Day is, although Firefly did express some distress about the thought of the poor, poor people who only get a birthday once every four years.  At dinner he said,

Lets close our eyes and wish the people whose birthday is today a happy birthday.

So, we closed our eyes and said happy birthday, and then we ate the “special Leap Day dessert” of gooey brownies with peeps.  Random, yet delicious, and bunnies leap right?

This post also would not be complete if it did not commemorate Firefly’s loss of his two front teeth.  He is super cute (and I am relieved, because the constant wiggling of the tooth hanging by a thread was super gross)

Finally in celebration we took some fantastic silly family pictures (and then I played with my new app that photos into sketches).  Happy Leap Day to all- next celebration 2016!

            

             

Silly Faces

We are fans of the silly face here at the little blue house, and there were plenty over the weekend- most of them are from a Maple Sugar Festival that Firefly insisted we attend after learning about it on a field trip this week. It was a blast, but really how could they go wrong- a gorgeous Sunday, games, crafts and maple syrup!

Just a pretty typical Lightning Bug expression

Check out the awesome snaggle tooth hanging by a thread from the middle of his mouth

The little bugs were trying to cover up the silliest face in the picture

Concentrating on willing sap out of the maple tree

I didn't know he was going to jump (don't worry I caught him!)

No idea where they get the silliness from

Brushing the snaggle tooth after a very fun weekend

Just some general silliness

Its been a busy winter (that felt fantastically spring like today!) here at the little blue house, lots to blog about, but little time to capture all of the silliness that has been ensuing.  As the mom of two small boys, I often find it easier to do things for the little bugs rather than making them do it themselves (particularly when we are all trying to get out the door and it takes me 2 seconds to put a shoe on a foot, and it takes a little bug 6 minutes 57 seconds (if he is actually paying attention to putting his shoe on), but more often then not I stick it out and cajole the boys to do their own work- even if it makes us late, because 1) they CAN do it, 2) if they can’t do it they really probably should learn how, 3) little bugs have a lot of pride in their accomplishments.

Recently, Lightning Bug learned how to button, and discovered on his own the next morning that he also knew how to unbutton!  It was a very proud moment, and a good learning lesson for me to LET HIM DO IT HIMSELF, PLEASE!  The other morning, while getting dressed he was talking to himself, making a lot of silly noises and seemed to be having some fantastic dialogue.

Mommy!  My pants just gobbled up my underwear!  My socks were trying to guard the underwear, but my pants made it past them!

I mean really- how can you not have a good day when that is how you get dressed?

And now, for some more of the silliness:

Lightning Bug- not really sure what he's doing, but this is a pretty standard face during meal time

 

Firefly got ahold of my camera, to experiment with some milky tear photos

 

Firefly celebrated his first 100 days of Kindergarten

 

Firefly lost one of his front middle teeth- he could not give me a smile with his eyes open

 

A little Valentinet’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all- Firefly was super excited that he sent this to me in the mail.  I was super excited that it is super cute- I love it 100%.

Scolded

Overheard this morning at o’dark o’clock (i.e. way to early for normal humans to awaken, but as we all know, children are not yet normal humans):

Firefly (very frustrated that Lightning Bug insisted on trying to sleep a little longer and kept turning off their room’s overhead light)- Lightning Bug! Stop that! If you keep playing with the light, you are going to get … (insert ominous big brother all knowingness) SCOLDED!

Lightning Bug (awake now and sitting up)- What is scolded?

Firefly (again very sure and all knowing)- Scolded is when Mommy says you can’t watch TV for a whole week.  

No idea where this came from- I can’t think of a time I’ve used the language scolded (we did once have a conversation about “grounded” which I think he is probably referring too, but I’ve never even threatened no TV for a whole week- mostly because they watch so little TV it would be a useless punishment, and if they are watching TV it would be much more of a punishment for me to turn it off).

Firefly’s warnings did get Lightning Bug to stop playing with the light, get out of bed and play with Firefly so, all in all his ominous admonitions worked!

Little Helpers

In the ever present rush of our busy lives it is usually much easier for me to do the household chores on my own then trying to wrangle the little bugs into helping. Now don’t get me wrong, they are still (sporadically) in the phase where grown-up jobs hold a certain mystique. Vacuuming, for instance, is a much sought after chore, although if I gasp ask one of the little bugs to do it there is a good chance I may be ignored, whined at, or just blatantly told no (that usually doesn’t end well for any of us) so many times I will simply offer it to one of them as a highly regarded prize- something only a very lucky few little bugs ever get to do. They haven’t caught on yet, and actually usually do quite a good job. Vacuuming and helping in the kitchen are the only chores that consistently really appeal to them. Putting away toys, setting the table, cleaning up art supplies are all done begrudgingly, sometimes with groans that would rival a most tortured person. Firefly broke into “It’s a Hard Knock Life” the last time I asked him to carry in something from the car… And yet I still hold onto the stubborn belief that helping out around the house is important (even if it is torturous-sometimes for all of us depending on the result). Now that Firefly is six I’ve required him to do his own lunchbox clean-up, which while he often moans about it, actually keeps him quite occupied for a bit. We’ll see what my water bill is after this little experiment, but he does it everyday, and gets quite into it.

Lightning Bug is not as ornery as Firefly (unless he is following his lead) and so is usually much more willing to jump in and help out- seeing grown-up chores as a game more than torture. The other day he offered to fold the laundry for me so I let him have at it. He did quite a good job and was very proud of himself (although about half way through he got distracted and started playing with Legos- baby steps).

I’m willing to loan them out – just be warned your kitchen may end up a bit wet, and your clothes may have a few wrinkles…