For awhile now, Emma has been asking to get pierced ears. I kept telling her she could do it when she was older, but she finally wore me down and convinced me that five years is old enough. Still, look at those sweet little un-mutilated earlobes. I'm going to miss them.We went to the mall on Sunday to get it done. I'd heard stories before about little girls who get them pierced one at a time, but freak out after the first one and don't want to get the second one done. I figured that would be the sort of thing Emma would be likely to do, so I said we were only going to do it if there were two people there to pierce both ears at the same time. Well, when we got there we tried every single place that does piercing and not a single one had more than one person working. Against my better judgment, we went ahead and did it anyway, and she completely wowed me with her bravery!She was smiling until the first earring punched through. After that she looked completely somber, but when Steve asked if she was ready for the next one, she just gave a silent, but determined, nod. I was completely amazed and impressed with her.

So far I think she likes them and I have to admit they do look pretty darn cute. Sniff, sniff...my little girl just keeps growing up!

There have been several events of late that I think are blog worthy, but I haven't found the time to actually sit down and write about them. Hopefully this week I can get all caught up. But first things first: Noah turned two years old today!Our whole day was unbelievably fun. We didn't start out planning to do a million fun things; it just ended up that way. One of the things we did was go sledding - just in time, because by the time we were ready to go back home, a lot of the snow had melted and we were sledding in half grass and half slush. We were all soaked, but it was warm enough that no one was cold. Even Noah managed to get completely drenched, even though Steve wrapped his legs in trash bags and his arms in freezer bags to avoid exactly that.I made Noah a birthday crown, which he loved so much that he wore it all evening, including at dinnertime. I guess next year when we get it out, we'll laugh about the cheese and ketchup that are smeared all over it. He also spent a lot of time messing with the train buttons on it so they are all hanging off precariously now. My plan was that these crowns would last throughout the kids' childhoods, but I'm suspecting Noah's may not make it that long.
We are planning to get him a train table to set up in the basement but we couldn't find a good one today so we just got him a little circle of track and two trains for now, which he absolutely loved. After he opened them, he sat on the floor pushing the train around and around and saying "Choo chooooo!" until it was time to go to bed.
Right now he is sound asleep in bed with Steve, still wearing his crown and clutching his trains in both hands. Happy birthday, my sweet boy.

When I was five, I received a little tea set from my grandparents for Christmas. I saved it with the intention of letting my own kids play with it, but since my own kids seem to have a knack for breaking things, it's just been sitting in a box in the basement. This week, Emma finally wore me down with her begging and her promises to take super extra special care of it.

I gave it to her right before Noah's nap so that she would have something to do while I spent who-knows-how-long getting him to sleep, and also so he - the primary destroyer of everything - would not be around while it was in use. After he was asleep, I came back to the living room to find a lovely tea party all prepared for us. Is there any better tea party fare than grapes and roasted edamame? I think not.I guess I wouldn't really know though, because I apparently have a lot to learn about tea parties. When I took my first sip of tea, Emma shook her head at me disapprovingly. "Oh, mommy," she sighed. "Don't you know that people at tea parties are supposed to hold their pinkies out?" Oh. Right.
Also, in case anyone is wondering about the mice, I'm happy to say that they are gone. When the exterminator came, he told me it could take two or three weeks for us to notice a difference, which sort of seemed like a rip-off to me. Luckily, we have not noticed any evidence of the mice - no scratching in the kitchen, no fluff on the oven door, no mouse poop, no actual mice - since the day the exterminator was here. I'm pretty sure they were gone almost immediately, which makes the exterminator worth every single penny we paid him!

My sister-in-law is doing a Menu Monday thing on her blog where each Monday she posts the menu she has planned for that week, and I like the idea so I'm going to do it too. I am not quite that organized because I never plan our menu on the same day, and of course today is not Monday, but I guess you just have to take what you get. This is what we will be eating this week.

~ Chicken Cheesesteaks with Peppers with grape, strawberry, kiwi fruit salad
~ salmon ravioli, whole wheat garlic bread, spinach salad
~ spinach salad with chicken, feta, grape tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette
~ baked tilapia, fingerling potatoes, spinach salad
~ Thai Pork with Peanut Sauce, brown rice, green beans
We had the Chicken Cheesesteaks on Sunday and I thought they were really good. I've been trying to pack the remaining sandwich in Steve's lunch for the past two days and he keeps "forgetting" to take it to work with him, so maybe he didn't like them as much as me.For lunches, we've been eating a lot of the most delicious salad ever: spinach, strawberries, feta cheese, and a basic balsamic vinaigrette. So easy, and so fantastically yummy. In fact, I was about to sneak into the kitchen and get myself some cookies 'n cream ice cream cake from the freezer, but I think I'll make myself one of these salads instead. (With maybe a teensy slice of the ice cream cake afterward.)

Last weekend my brother Andy came in from South Korea for the first time in almost a year, so the kiddos and I spent a few days at my parents' house hanging out with him and catching up.
Even though they hadn't seen him in so long, Emma and Noah didn't waste any time suckering him into playing with them. But really, who doesn't love a tea party?He brought us all gifts, including some snacks. I like to think I'm fairly adventurous in trying new foods, but I could not bring myself to eat those little dried fish. They still have eyeballs, for crying out loud! No eyeballs for me, thanks.

I realize that you're probably getting sick of hearing about the mice, but they are occupying a good portion of my thoughts these days so you'll just have to bear with me.

Steve and I are apparently both huge babies because, although we are not willing to share our house with the mice, neither of us want to set the traps and then dispose of the poor dead mice. I was planning to get some of the round traps, where you don't actually have to see the dead mouse, but then I read that mice give birth to a litter of three to five baby mice EVERY EIGHTEEN DAYS year round. Yeesh. No more messing around. I had an exterminator come out yesterday to check out the situation and give me a quote, then another guy came back today to actually start the exterminating.

Yesterday the guy told me that we also have mice in the basement. Now I don't want to go down there, even though we are about to be buried under mounds of dirty clothes and diapers. Then this morning I saw some little pieces of fuzz on top of the door of my oven. I thought to myself, "Weird. I hope this isn't mouse related." as I threw the fluff in the trash and promptly forgot about it. We left the house for a couple hours, and when I got home I was startled to see the entire 1/2 inch opening along the top of my oven door filled with more of the same fluff. I'm no mouse expert, but I'm pretty sure that is a bad sign. So, not only can I not do laundry, now I can't cook anything either.

Let the carnage commence.