Kraken Wars and a Strategy Change

Dear Friends and Family,

It seems that we may have two pirates in the house!  The first thing I usually do when I wake up in the morning (lately the kids have been letting me sleep in until 6:45-7am...heaven!!!) is check the monitor to see if Will is awake.  Sometimes he will just play in his bed for awhile and if he isn't screaming and Claire is still sleeping, then I hit the snooze button (so to speak)! Well one day this week, I looked at the monitor to see Will playing with an octopus toy that one of my friends gave him. It looked like he was battling a Kraken! I'd say Will came out on top...

Although Claire's pirate ways have continued, she is currently choosing a new strategy for handling her Mama when she gets in trouble.  This week whenever I start yelling at her for being naughty she looks me in the eye and starts singing, "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world..."  I tell you, that girl is good!

Watch out! This cutie may look like an angel, and sing like an angel, but she is sneaky!!!

Will isn't a total angel either, or at least his mobility and curiosity are starting to keep me on my toes.  So just this week, Claire started to challenge me on nap time. I had just finished putting Claire down for her nap (or so I thought) when I got ready to feed Will his lunch and decided that I would indulge in a piece of chocolate cake while I fed him.

SIDE BAR:  Quick example of why I don't usually eat treats around Claire - I was snacking on some trail mix yesterday afternoon, when I noticed Claire hovering over my bowl and eating...
Me: Claire! Are you eating all of my m&m's?!
Claire: (calmly looking me in the eye with a mouth full of chocolate) Mom, it's going to be okay.

So, I just sat down to feed Will when I hear Claire coming down the stairs telling me that nap time wasn't happening. I jumped up and hurried to intercept her on the stairs so she wouldn't see the chocolate cake. I get her back to bed and as I'm coming down the stairs I hear clink, clink, clink... Oh no! I run down the last few steps to see Will with his hand deep in my chocolate cake! I rush to him and grab his hand before he can stuff it in his mouth, then I stuff his hand into my mouth so I can get the chocolate off.  Suddenly I hear Claire again, "Mom! I can't sleep!" Ahhh!!!  I grab a napkin to get the rest of the chocolate off Will then run back to the stairs and steer Claire back up to her room.  I go back down the stairs and again, clink, clink, clink... Oh No!!!  Let's just say that most of the time, strangers are walking up to me and saying, "Oh my! You have your hands full!"

I do have my hands full - full of cute kids!

This guy is so ready to go! Still army crawling but he can get around.

When he starts to pull up on things, then I'm in big trouble!

As for me, this week I was able to practice some more sewing.  I am excited to develop this skill since my first lesson with my mom.  I decided to start easy and make a pillowcase for Claire's bed.  She really wanted me to make her something. I used a minky fabric for the main part of the pillowcase and Claire loves how soft it is!

Will bounced in his jumper while Claire hovered and yelled at me to keep my hands away from the sewing machine needle...thanks, Claire.

I hope everyone is having a great week!

Love,

Bethie