Ross made this for me today.  In case you can’t read this it says:

I NO iT iS NOT MUDRSDAY HeRe iS YOUR MUDRSDAY PRESENTS.

Best.Present.Ever.  And, he spelled everything all by himself!  I love this.  He even took the foam dots from the middle of the flowers and used them as spots on the giraffe.  I am one lucky girl, I know all you other mudrs out there can relate.

Sometimes they fight so hard I think one of them is really going to get hurt.  And then, there are moments like this.  They love each other so very much and Francesca will give Ross a kiss and a hug “just because”.  Or Ross will join in a tea party simply because he was asked.  It’s times like these that make me forget about the times when they are swinging and kicking at each other.

This past Friday was Cub Scout Fly Up night.  Ross earned his Tiger Cub Badge - a big accomplishment and he was very proud.  Ross also had his very first loose tooth.  It was loose for awhile, the Saturday before flyup he went to the Bulls game and I thought he would lose it that night.  He didn’t.  In fact he held onto the tooth with all his might- he ate around it - he did anything he could to avoid losing the tooth.  Friday at the Pack meeting, one of the older Cub Scouts kept trying to pick him up.  He bumped Ross in the mouth and out came the tooth.  And Ross did what any boy would do with his first tooth.  He threw it away.

When I asked him why he threw it away, he said it was broken.  I then looked in his mouth to see if only part of it came out - nope, it was all gone.  Best I can figure it was so small that it looked to him like it was just part of a tooth.  We went home and wrote a note to the tooth fairy, explaining what had happened to the tooth and just where the garbage can was so she could retrieve it.  She must have found it because when Ross woke up the note was gone and a dollar was under his pillow.  Hopefully, he won’t toss the next one.

Francesca went through a brief period of not wanting to go to dance class anymore.  She actually missed the last 2 classes, one because she was sick and the last one because she didn’t want to go.  I wasn’t going to sign her up again, she loves gymnastics and wants to learn to ice skate so she can play hockey(!?!) so I was good with her taking those classes.  Every day for the last 2 weeks she has been asking to go to dance class.  When I remind her that she didn’t want to go anymore, she looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.  I guess we’ll be registering again for dance class.  I’m secretly happy.  I love to watch her in dance class and I hope she will get enjoyment from dancing.  I love music and I love to dance.

She might have “red eye” in the picture but here at home the words of the day are “pink eye”.  Yep, both Francesca and I have conjuctivitis, or good old, commonly called, “pink eye”.  Ross had brought a note home from school saying someone in his class had it.  Can someone explain how we ended up with it and Ross is just fine?  I’m glad he is fine, I’m just saying - how did WE end up with it?  Any how, it’s eye drops eye drops eye drops, 4x a day for 7 days for us.  Every time I pull the eye drops out Francesca says “Don’t buy that anymore, okay?”.  She hates eye drops. She pretty much makes this face when she knows they’re coming.  Today is day 2 1/2 so we have a way to go.  Mommy is so sorry Francesca.

This was at the auto show.  Just think, 13 years from now she’ll be on the road with the rest of us!  AAAACCCKKK!

“Old Buckethead” in better days.  With unseasonably warm weather these last few days, the snowman that the kids built is no longer in good shape.  Let’s just say that he’s off to the North Pole to return again someday!  But how cute the children are!  There is nothing cuter than kids dressed head to toe in snow suits!

Ok, not really.  But, since I was not posting on here at the time I know that when I look back later I am going to miss some of the photos I didn’t include.  So here is a little reminder, to me, of Christmas ‘09.  Ross turned 6 and Francesca turned 3 this past December.

They really enjoyed their trip to visit Santa.

They made Gingerbread houses.

We had pouts.

We had smiles.

We had a fabulous Christmas! There is nothing like Christmas with little ones to bring out the wonder.

While I was on my self-imposed, not-on-purpose blogging break, lots of stuff happened.  One very important thing was that Ross had his karate test and earned two stripes on his belt.  It was his very first test and it was very official.  He didn’t know how he did until he went to his karate class the week following the test.  His Sensei had a little ceremony for the kids who tested and then congratulated Ross on earning two stripes. He then very officially added his stripes (just like orange duct tape - ha!) to his belt.

Here he is with his Sensei looking all proud.  Congratulations Ross - way to go!

Life with little kids is never dull.  I was running around yesterday trying to complete some chores and grabbed the hamper from the bathroom.  I was carrying it through the kitchen so I could bring it to the laundry room in the basement when I tripped and fell smack dab on the floor, spilling clothes all over.

When I looked to see what had tripped me, there was a highly complex contraption made from balloon string which was tied to the refrigerator door and weaved in and around and through the high chair and the kitchen stools.

When I asked what this was (okay - truth be told, when I yelled “what is this?”), Ross replied “it’s a booby trap!”.  Very effective.

I must admit that today I find it funny and quite creative.  Yesterday, not so much.