Dressing Ourselves

Getting Dylan dressed has become such an ordeal and a feat that I've been trying to figure out how to survive such a simple task. So I decided that it is time to start working with Dylan on helping him learn how to dress himself.  He still needs a lot of help and guidance, but I feel that is expected.  He's learning that the tag in his clothes go in the back and that one leg goes through each side of the pants or else you can't walk right.  And most importantly his involvement in the process has helped us both survive this morning and night ritual much more peacefully.  Of course I must admit I have found that offering a "reward" of a peppermint for his cooperation and "trying" to dress himself helps dramatically along with words of praise and affirmation. 

The other morning Dylan was all set to earn his accolades and peppermint by dressing himself.  I usually have him get started and then I help out.  (This is what ideally happens as long as we are not in a time crunch.)  So we were both sitting on the floor in the kitchen.  As usual Dylan did a fantastic job of taking his PJs off.  Then the first thing we do after undressing is put our clean underwear on our bottom.  Dylan thought it would be "hysterical" to put his underwear on his head and then run around and dance and sing.  I had to just let this moment be and let go and so I watched him enjoying making himself laugh.  I was laughing too at him which he found delightful.  Dylan asked "Mommy, is this funny?"  I told him it was.  Then he looked at me and said "I am hysterical!"  That's my Dylan!  Always the entertainer and always looking to get a laugh out of you.

Dylan is so proud of his own "silliness." 

Dancing around and making Mommy laugh.

How can you not love this face?

Bon Jovi

It is no wonder that my kids love to sing and dance.  I have loved music for as long as I can remember living.  Even though God didn't bless me with the gift of a great voice, he did bless me with a deep rooted appreciation for music, rhythm, and a keen ear.  I love music of any kind and just about any genre.

There is just something about a song, the combination of the music and lyrics, that can just touch a place in your heart, light a spark deep within, or can change your mood. 

I'm going to the Bon Jovi concert and have been playing all things Bon Jovi on the ipod for the last several days.  (Note to Dylan and Zoe:  When you read this blog entry years from now, you'll know that your mom was hip.)  But as I listened to some of the same old favorites, the lyrics stood out in a different way this time as they made me think of things I'd like to say to Dylan and Zoe if only I had those words. 

Dylan and Zoe, here are some lyrics I want to share with you from my heart to yours that are from Mommy's favorite band of all time. 

"Believe that the sun will shine tomorrow

And that your saints and sinners bleed.

We weren't born to follow.

You gotta stand up for what you believe."

From "We Weren't Born to Follow"

"I'll be there till the stars don't shine.

Till the heavens burst and words don't rhyme.

And I know when I die you'll be on my mind

And I'll love you always"

From "Always"

"When everybody's in, and you're left out,

And you feel your drowning in a shadow of doubt

Everyone's a miracle in their own way

Just listen to yourself, not to what other people say...

When you wanna give up, and your hearts about to break

Remember that you're perfect, God makes no mistakes."

From "Welcome to Wherever You Are"

When you think that no one needs you, sees you or believes you

No one's there to understand

I am

I'll be there to be that someone

When you think that on one is there to hold your hand

I am

From "I Am" 

Spring Break

The other week was spring break and we had a blast!  Dylan was out of preschool for the week and I kept us busy, busy, busy!  Dylan and I both love living busy lives so we love to be on the go.  Zoe is more like her daddy in that she is just as content being at home or out and about.  So sorry, Zoe, if Dylan and I dragged you on a world tour!

Easter Monday David took off from work and we headed for Carowinds again!  We are certainly getting our moneys worth out of these passes.  The weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun.  Dylan said he was going to ride the roller coaster, but once there he decided it was too scary.  That's ok, we'll try again another day.  Next time I am thinking of what I can do to negotiate with him to get him to try it out.  I think he'd love the coaster once he gets on it. 

Daddy and his little girl.  Look closely as Daddy is really wrapped around Zoe's little finger ;-)

Zoe on her favorite ride - the carousel

D&Z enjoying their ride

Daddy and Dylan on the boats.

Tuesday we spent the day with our great friends, Greta, Judson and Joyner.  We hit the park as it was another gorgeous day!  We played for several hours and had a picnic lunch as well.  I love every moment we get to spend with Greta and her Js!  Thankfully they live right in our neighborhood and we get to see them each week.  What a blessing! 

And thanks to Greta for capturing many great moments on her camera from our day together.

 Joyner loves Zoe and watches out for her.  You can just say Joyner's name and Zoe's face lights up!

This picture of our little guys just makes me smile. 

Friends for Life!

Thursday we headed to Dylan's buddy's David's house which also happens to be the home of my dear friend, Lanie.  David and Dylan are only a few weeks apart in age and can be thick as theives and partners in crime at times.  David loves playing with little Zoe bug too so it's so nice the dynamics work well.  Who said three's a crowd?  It's not when it is these three!  I love getting to hang out with them any chance we get.  Unfortunately neither Lanie nor I took any pictures...next time!

Friday we ventured down south of the border a bit and visited with my dear friend Wendy and her daughter Burnley.  We played in B's play room and then headed to the park to play and picnic.  I was feeling quite daring so we went back to their home and skipped naps.  The kids enjoyed a little down time watching Olivia on TV.  Burnley performed a fashion show for us which Dylan and Zoe enjoyed.  We ended the day back outside playing in the yard and of course blowing some bubbles!  We all had a great day and it was a nice treat skipping naps and spending the day together with some great friends.

Beautiful girls!  B and Z just love each other!

The kids played hide n seek.  This is the girls looking for Dylan.  Or are they???

Burnley was hiding in the bushes. She had to say something to help D&Z find her.

This week made me once again reflect at how blessed I am to have such a happy, healthy family and such warm, fun and loving friends! 

Happy Easter

I'm running a bit behind on blogging these days, but I really wanted to document our Easter holiday. 

This was our first holiday ever where it was just David, Dylan, Zoe and I on our own.  In the past we have spent many Easters in Delaware with David's side of the family.  It's always a nice time of year to go up and see Grandma and Grandad.  It's also nice as it's a bit warmer and it is a great time to get a lot of the siblings and cousins together to see each other as we don't get to do that often enough with everyone so spread out.  However we haven't made the trip up to Delaware at Easter since Zoe was born as it is no longer as economical to fly up for various reasons and the drive is quite an ordeal with the kids so we wanted to hold on a drive until we could be there longer than 3-4 days.  My side of the family all went out of town together which left the four us on our own.  While we missed not being surrounded by family on either side, we really enjoyed our holiday with just the four of us.

Easter Sunday was a gorgeous day.  We all got dressed and ready upstairs and then came down to see what the Easter bunny had left for Dylan and Zoe.  Dylan was really excited about his Easter basket and especially the Cars lego toys and the Astroboy DVD.  Zoe wasn't quite sure what all this Easter basket stuff was about, but she was quite excited by it.  However, I think the kids most enjoyed finding treats inside the plastic eggs in the basket.

We headed to church for the morning service which was amazing.  It was a great start to our day and reflection on what this day was truly all about.  Afterwards, we had brunch/lunch reservations at PF Changs.  The kids were on their best behavior and we all had a nice, fun family meal together.  After naps, we managed to finally dye our Easter eggs and decorate them with stickers.  Then we all went outside for the traditional Shellenbarger Easter egg hunt.  This is a tradition on David's side of the family and one we have brought into our own home.  David hid all the eggs which were a combination of dyed hard boiled eggs as well as the plastic eggs.  Zoe did an amazing job at finding most of the Easter eggs.  Dylan was a little more easily sidetracked by other things than just the task at hand.  The dyed Easter eggs were quite a temptation and both kids eventually decided they would rather just eat some eggs than hunt for them.  We stayed outside for the remainder of the day.  David grilled us a delicious dinner which included salmon and pineapple among some other things.  We all ate outside on our deck and played until it was getting too dark. 

When we were getting the kids down for the night, Dylan told me he didn't want Easter to go away and I thought to myself of how I didn't want it to go away either.  What a glorious day of love and celebration on many fronts and a reminder to me that this life is not being lived in vane or without cause. 

 

Just Like Me

There have been numerous times when I've seen my kids do something or say something and I think to myself "Oh my goodness, that is so me!"  Like yesterday, I was working on cleaning the garage and Dylan was playing in the mess a bit.  David came home and Dylan asked "Who made this mess out here?"  I don't know if David looked guilty or I looked in his direction, but Dylan understood that the mess was Daddy's mess.  So then he looked at David and told him "Daddy, you made this mess, now you should clean up this mess.  It's a big mess and Mommy is cleaning it up.  Mommy works hard to keep this house clean and things in order.  So you can't get out anything else and play until you clean up this mess!"  David and I both couldn't help but to smile and crack a little laugh.  It wasn't so much what Dylan said, but how he said it and the fact that we all knew that Dylan was telling David the exact things I tell Dylan about his own mess and using the same tone I use.  WOW!  If you want to see yourself, just look at your kids as they are often a great reflection for better and for worse.

Then today I'm looking at pictures as I load them on the computer.  I stopped in my tracks when I saw the below picture of Zoe because I knew that little girl all too well.  Of course, I do because she is my daughter, but there was so much more.  In looking at this picture, I saw myself.  In this picture, Zoe has a remarkable resemblance to what I remember myself looking like at her age (my memory is from pictures, of course).

So whether it be physical appearance or personality, Dylan and Zoe are a reflection of their daddy and me.  As David and I rely on our own upbringing along with our values and beliefs, and with the grace of God, I hope our best traits will be those that are most dominant.  I think if Dylan and Zoe can pull in the best of both of us, then they will have no choice but to be pretty amazing people. 

Dylan and Zoe - I hope you will take on all the best traits of Daddy and I.  Always know we're doing our best and working as hard as we can to set a great example for you.  And always remember that Mommy and Daddy aren't perfect so we make mistakes and have flaws.  We hope you'll love us for all of our good and bad parts just as we love you just as you are.  Love, Mommy

Fantastic Fun

This weekend was a wonderful weekend on various fronts, but I'd say the highlight of Dylan's weekend was going back to Carowinds for it's first opening day of 2010!

Last summer David thought it would be a great family outing to get season's passes to Carowinds.  I must admit I had my doubts as it was already almost July and I wasn't sure if our kids would really be old enough to enjoy it.  However, it definitely turned out to be one of the best decisions we made.  We ended up going a ton and definitely got our money's worth from our passes.  It is a great family outing for us and we always have lots of fun.

So this year we all were ready to go as soon as the park opened.  Dylan is a little taller but still isn't able to ride any roller coasters.  This is a constant topic of conversation around here.  Dylan is so ready to ride a big roller coaster.  I look forward to his day coming as I know it will be here before we know it. 

This season Dylan is able to ride just about everything in the kid's area with the exception of the kiddie coaster.  Zoe is still quite limited and while she didn't seem to mind hanging in her stroller with David or me by her side while Dylan rode something last year, this year is proving to be different.  She wants to be able to do whatever Dylan is doing now and she isn't quite old enough to understand that she isn't tall enough. 

This weekend was just a start to some new adventures this year that we look forward to having at Carowinds.

Dylan sporting his Yankees jacket on the swings.  He wouldn't dare look at me because he knew I had the camera.  Look closely David and Zoe are in the background on the left side.

David and Zoe on her favorite ride.  Dylan and I were in front of them, but Dylan screamed out "NO PICTURES, MOMMY!" so I didn't even attempt to take one of him for fear and embarrassment to crash over me even greater than it already had from his loud scream.

Dylan riding the airplane.  I got this great picture before he saw me with the camera.

Zoe wanted to ride in the plane with Dylan.  We weren't sure if he was trying to push her out or if she was just leaning to the side.  Next time she'll be on the inside.

Dylan and Zoe on the train ride. 

The kids insisted we ride the train several times.  Each time Zoe kept making train noises (woo-woo) and moving her one arm up and down like she was pulling the train whistle.  It was too cute.  You can tell she is saying "woo" in this picture.

Dylan's Best Friend

We've had Renoir for about six years now and before Dylan and Zoe, he was our baby.  I often feel a bit ad for our little pug because he has definitely taken a little bit of a back burner since our family has grown.  He's no longer featured on our Christmas cards and usually doesn't make any signature lines.  We love him just the same, of course, but I know Renoir is no longer my best friend or the apple of my eye.  Luckily and thankfully someone else thinks Renoir hangs the moon...it's Dylan.  Dylan has loved Renoir since he came home from the hospital.  Renoir would cuddle up by my feet when I was rocking or feeding Dylan.  When Dylan would sit in his bouncy seat, Renoir would lay on the floor next to him.  And to this day, Dylan always asks where Renoir is and as long as Renoir isn't seeking cover from Dylan then he's usually nearby Dylan.  Dylan can sometimes be a bit much for our pug.  From the time Dylan could walk, he has wanted to hop on Renoir and take a ride as if Renoir were a horse.  Thankfully our little pug has a wonderful temperament and has always let Dylan tug, pull, or whatever on him.  And then when Renoir has had enough, he just leaves the room for a little escape somewhere. 

Usually Dylan doesn't like me to take any pictures of him, but he asked me to take some pictures of him and Renoir like I had when he (Dylan) was a baby.  So of course, I immediately got my camera and the two of them had some fun loving on each other.