Littles adventures

Apendage

2012-01-24T00:19:00.000-08:00

Baby G is such a baby. He insists mama's take him everywhere, do everything, see everything...I have learned to do a great many things with only one hand. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Note his expression: He really is entertained every time we're cooking.

Sap

2012-01-24T00:14:00.000-08:00

You know those pets that get all hyped up because of separation anxiety? Ya, well go ahead and call me Fifi.
MacDaddy is away on business and I'm up late looking at old pictures, attempting to "go to sleep". Which doesn't help, of course. It just makes me miss him more.
Thankfully the kids offered to go to bed with me, so I "wouldn't have to sleep all by myself". It helps me having my chicks surround me or maybe it's the toasty body and deep sleep noises? Either way, my eyelids got some weight on them yet.
But until he comes back I'll be sleeping in his t's and promising not to chew up the pillows.

Someday is today

2012-01-14T21:40:00.000-08:00

So you know you're finally getting old enough to admit that you eat terribly and actually do something about it. Well, I eat terribly. And today I did a little something about it.
I'm not making big changes, I'm not being revolutionary. Because, let's face it, I have the self control of a chicken with feed. I figure if I can start small maybe it will domino. I've done big changes and they don't stick. I've got kids with sandwiches I have to finish for them, a MacDaddy who wants whatever he wants and will most likely share, when he's not looking. And there should be room for coffee, wine and the occasional cake. Eh, hem.
I'm not looking to weigh myself everyday. I actually don't believe in scales (never have). I'm not figuring there will be any dramatic change, perhaps only in my psyche.
Well MacDaddy, shockingly, agreed to this little change with me. And so for 30 days (in which we reevaluate) we replace one meal (breakfast) with juice. No not apple juice or oj. But REAL juice. As in blending, juicing, juice. It involves real fruit, veggies, herbs squeezed to a pulp.

First day down and it was actually so darn tasty. MacDaddy wasn't so very sure it would be tasty, because really, it looked like barf, but thumbs up from both of us.

Tomorrow's a new day. Bottoms up!

Road trippin'

2012-01-04T23:10:00.000-08:00

So MacDaddy's new job has him traveling a lot. Like A Lot. And since he was going to be gone the week after Christmas, he may have begged a little for us to come with him. And that folks is the glory of home schooling, because we did. Books and all. Just like that.
Seattle bound we went, o'darkthirty the next morning.
With school books and swim suits we spent the week hotel living.
The hotel was right on the water next to the sea plane "airport", so the boys were plenty busy watching boats and planes. It didn't get old. The view was fantastic. Especially at night. Absolutely glorious.
The hotel had a hot breakfast of our piggy choice every morning. We spent the afternoons between swimming and book learning and the evening's catching up with old friends (the best part!). The kids and I even managed our usual fun Friday (our day off) adventures.
And if I may gloat a little, I've become quite adept at driving downtown Seattle. I'm a little amazing.

Hotels are for lounging.

Poor picture of a beautiful city.

Making forts.

Making phone calls, making trouble.

MacDaddy's work has a Segway (or two), they're basically awesome and I need one.

See the little red bag? Ya, we went there. It was pretty darn cool.

Took MacDaddy some dinner for a late night working. Chopsticks? Yes, please.

This is probably the introductory doll...Oiyh.

This amazing bead pig was irresistibly scary.

Now where to next?? We can't hardly wait. I mean if I'm not home I don't have to clean my house right? Right?

The Best Things

2012-01-04T22:47:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic and fantastically busy Christmas. Everyone was thoroughly spoiled. (Someone should really work on this I'm thinking, eh hem...) We spent time with lots of lovely lovely family. Perfection really. But my most favorite things I get to see everyday. Every day is Christmas. For sure.

Until next year. It just may take me that long to recover.

In the darkly earlies

2011-12-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve, I'm the only one awake in the wee morning hours. This is not uncommon. After multiple trips to sooth Baby G back to sleep, I found I wasn't able to go back to sleep.

Some alone time and coffee and early dark morning next to the Christmas tree. This has always been one of my favorite things to do around Christmas, even if it makes me a little sleepy later.

And quite alone time rarely happens these days. And I'm ok with that.

But in the stillness I give myself time to reflected and ramble (without interruption) on the year gone by...

Gratefulness:
I'm grateful for each day given. For the time I get to spend with my kids every day. For provision. New employment. Church. Vacations. And busy schedules.
Joy:
Finding it in the small things, baby G, Georgi carrying the hymnal around begging to sing just another one. A cup of coffee and a good book.
Mercy:
New every morning.
Kindness:
Watching little G and Georg play endlessly together and miss each other when their apart. Neighbors. Little G anticipate Baby G waking up to play. A heavenly Father who cares to give generously to us.

This year has not been an easy one by far. With multiple changes. And a mamas who's gotten stretched beyond capacity. But it has been grand. God has been so good and faithful, even when I've lacked much faith or joy. I have been continually reminded of His kindness to me, every day. And usually in the "small" things.

I'm so grateful for all this year has brought. From homeschooling, even when it means forgetting to cook dinner, once again. Getting snuggles from baby G, even when it's in the middle of the night. MacDaddy having a job he enjoys, even when he's gone more than he's home. Family, even when we have to say and do hard things. Vacation, even when it means traveling with young children. Having little kids, even though that means I just might not get a shower. Church, even when it's hard to get everyone ready on time.

We give generously because we've been lavished on. We serve because He served. We love because we are loved.

Enjoying everyday more and more...Merry Christmas

Early present

2011-12-24T07:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas came a little early for my kids this year. It came around two weeks ago, of it's own volition and it hasn't left yet.
It could be the left over ham it keeps getting. It could be the overly large doggy bed MacDaddy set out for it (I won't tell you about the heating pad he almost bought it, no I won't), it just might be that it likes knowing that anytime time the kids see him they make haste and much kerfuffle to see that it's loved and cared for, it may be that he finally trusts us. It just may be that mama has a small, teeny tiny, soft spot for the darn cat, but that may also be exaggerating.

Meet Presley.

Now Presley isn't our cat. We didn't even name him. We are renting, we are not allowed to have cats. This has been a great reason to tell my sweet girl that while she may love kitties dearly, she must love them from afar.

But Presley comes from a shady home (a few doors down), allowed to come and go as he pleased, not treated entirely well, but he wasn't starving obviously. However his owners moved and he did not. This is no surprise. But being the independent type, he's managed just fine on his own.

He's extremely active and not one to cuddle. However after a week of visiting with the kids, he's allowed them to hold him at will and no one's been scratched. He even manages to purr, a lot.

And this particular photo was taken during a 25 minute session of little G snuggling with the cat on the doggy bed. A cat that doesn't really trust people or like snuggling, so far as we knew. And I didn't know Little G was capable of being so still and so sweet for so long. This melts me. It also made me put little G in the shower once he came inside.

Now it may be the darn cat has wormed it way in, it may be this generous time of year, but each of us in our way; from MacDaddy checking to make sure Presley's not too cold in the early morning, to mama giving it ham (ham!), to the kids trying to sneak it in the house and baby G excitedly giving it gentle pats, that this cat may have found exactly where it needs to be.

Thank you Mr. Carrey

2011-12-24T07:16:00.000-08:00

Recently as part of Georgi's school we read Mr. Popper's Penguins. A fantastic book, absolutely great.

Have I told you I love homeschooling? Especially all the great literature that comes with our chosen curriculum. I'm pretty darn pleased with it, that's for sure.
So, just like when we finished Charlotte's Web, I told the kids once we were done reading Mr. Popper's Penguins we could rent the movie.

Now I was a little apprehensive about getting the movie. Jim Carrey does not always (think mostly) produce great content for children's movies, his overthetop humor usually leaves me annoyed and I knew the movie wasn't going to be like the book, hardly at all.

And it really wasn't like the book, but it had the kids enamored with the penguins and laughing hysterically at all Mr. Popper's antics. Little G especially. Absolutely entertained. Plus it gave me the chance to ask the "what was different, what was the same", a little knowledge testing about the book.

In all it was a good read and a pretty good movie rendition (if only it would get more people to read the book!). And watching Little G enjoy the movie was completely worth it, that boy definitely does not hide excitement well.

Big things come in small packages

2011-12-22T23:56:00.000-08:00

True to form MacDaddy wanted "everyone" to open a Christmas present early. It is, after all, the Eve, of the Eve, of the Eve.
And true to form, I once again out did myself, if I do say so myself. Or something like that. You see I've been looking for the PERFECT (being type A that I am) Christmas gift for hubs for months. Months I tell you. And so what I've ended up doing is just buying a lot of presents that were fill ins. Eh, hem.
Well about a week ago I found it. It was exactly what I was looking for. Gift perfection we'll call it. Yes I'm bragging a bit TOO much. Excessive excitement will do that to a person.
And so when he decided that we had to open a present early I wasn't about to argue, my only condition was that I got to pick his out from the pile.
I'm all about presentation folks, after all it has present in it. And I kinda get ahead of myself, or hubs mainly as he's really just happy to open his dang present and I'm happy to make a production of it. I love anticipation and entrances and riddles! ooh.my.goodness.

The kids were pretty darn excited for daddy to open something

ANYTHING getting opened after weeks of waiting...

So what he really opened was a riddle. Tee hee. This apple does not fall far from the tree. Hi Dad!

And apparently baby G also is of the same lineage.

Oh the cleverness of me!

Ta Da! Now I know old antique chairs aren't really very exciting for most of you. But for a picky hubs who needs an office chair and only wanted one specifically like this, which also happens to match his antique desk. I'm pretty proud of me, yes siree!

Me = Christmas present win.

Now of course he wasn't the only one to open a present, but more on that later. For now I'm basking in some shopping glory.

Jammies

2011-12-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

So much to the consternation of MacDaddy...We let the kids open one present early. Now typically they get this present early every year and they always open it early (although they, nor hubs, ever seem to remember this).
Now MacDaddy did not believe the kids should open a present early. Well, let me rephrase. Not the present I wanted them to open early. You see we knew it was going to be jammies. And he's not a fan of jammies and clearly did not think the kids would enjoy anything other than toys. But I told him he should trust me on this one, so we went ahead with the plan. And he's still in shock, two hours later.

The littles were told they could open one present early, of mommy's choosing, then we would do something fun with said present.
They all opened up their jammies and were absolutely thrilled. I believe Little G said something to the affect, "I just love my jammies SO much and I don't know why!" They kept going into much (too much) detail on their love for their jammies while they proceeded to put them on. Them silly kids. Teaching us much about a grateful heart I'm sure...

Then skipping out on bedtime all together we piled into the car to drive ever so slowly around looking at Christmas lights. I love looking at all the lights (with heated seats:). Even baby G was pointing and saying something to the effect of "Oooh, Oooh." This definitely won't be the last night we do this, for sure.

Naughty

2011-12-18T16:57:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as "why I never get anything done".

Vacuum

2011-12-18T16:54:00.000-08:00

Nutcracker

2011-12-18T16:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, so maybe I haven't posted in a while. It's really not for lack of things to say or show, but I've been so busy, what with Tim out of town during the weeks, homeschooling, etc and I'm really trying to take some time to spend with the kids during Christmas (even more time than I usually do) and do special things.

So in the spirit of enjoying the busy-ness around us, I took my girl (and some girly friends) and we went to a local production of the Nutcracker. Leading up to it I read the Nutcracker story (a book I still have from my childhood) and watch youtube clips of the ballet. In trying to describe what she'll be seeing I told Georg it's like a story without talking. To which she chimes in, "Like a book without words AND pictures?" Not exactly, and needless to say, I'm pretty sure she got it.

It will easily become our Christmas tradition me thinks. It was fun and she loved all the dancing, music and sugar plum outfits.

We even managed to get ourselves a little gussied up. See? I have heels. Anything can be fancy in heels, right?

Grown Ups

2011-12-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

Right after we drove back home from our PDX flight, we continued North to home then on to Seattle (after dropping off the two oldest with Gma) for MacDaddy's Christmas FancyPants party.

I did tell hubs that I don't make good arm candy and if he could please recruit someone else, that would be great. But since Georgi was under age I did indeed have to attend.

The company put us up in the #1 hotel in Seattle (is this self proclaimed, cause I don't trust it, haha!), which happened to be where the PioneerWoman stayed while here (I won't mention Led Zepplin, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles because really the PioneerWoman stayed there, sheesh).

The bosses daughters babysat baby G in the room so we could dine in luxury. Eh, hem.

The realities of a baby in a luxury hotel with easy access to the toilet paper.

Rustic luxury.

Bad pic, but you get the ideer. Little black dress. I've yet to decide if nylons are for old ladies. I'm thinking yes. MacDaddy voted for nylons, blah. Purple shoes not shown (I have a small wild side, very small). And the dress is classically gorgeous, but I just can't seem to convey that. New model please!

Yum-O, but for the record, he's playing games on his phone. Yes sir.

While I didn't drink too much (open bar) I managed to eat splendidly. It's amazing how really, really, REALLY good food tastes. I know, because I savored every last smidgen. Darn nylons.

Disneyland Vacation

2011-12-06T23:48:00.000-08:00

Oh my lands! I don't know where to begin. Like, at all. We had so much fun, we saw so much, did so much...
So we left at o'darkthirtyearly in the morning. It was so sleepy out. Baby G was up at 4am and didn't really go down until 8:30pm. Oh my yes.

The kids were absolutely perfect travelers! I was amazed. I expected some whining or perhaps a meltdown provided by baby G. Nope, nada. They were just perfect.

They were all so cute on the plane. You could definitely tell they'd never flown before. Little G upon take off says, "Everything looks like toys!" and once landed and looking at all the palm trees Georgi says, "I didn't know they had palm trees in Alaska!" (we flew Alaska air...:) And on the cab ride to the hotel she tells the cabby (who's Middle Eastern), "Well in OUR country, we don't have palm trees." I love kids.

At 6:30am, it just doesn't get any more exciting.

First stop, Disneyland (well maybe hotel, briefly). Favorite thing so far, the ducks.

The kids' favorite cartoons are Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers. Needless to say, this was exciting.

Baby G love Mickey Mouse.

Mama's favorites.

Celeb siting #2. Tom Bergeron. It was so exciting. Lyd has the video I must confiscate. Sshh...

My favorite ride. The kids changed daily. Georgi is our brave one and will go on anything you let her (mama had to put her foot down a few times as daddy is a thrill seeker too), Gid would rather know exactly what it does and is before he commits. So occasionally needed a little encouragement. Baby G's favorite would probably be Small World.

Pixy Hollow.

Pirate ship that we rode on.

My three. I happen to think they're awesome. There were no tears (out of normal, probably less actually), no complaining...They were great. We did a TON of walking and they trooped on through. You can tell I'm amazed. Blessed really.

Late night eats. We did DL with my sis (her hubs and fam) and my little bro and sis. My other sis couldn't make it, and that was sad:(. We really had so much fun and we all get along well. It was just perfect. 'Cept the part where they got sick (then we got sick), but we love em anyhoo.

Matchy matchy. They totally love each other, it's so sweet.

Best in character had to be the MadHatter. Hilarious. Little G was too nervous to talk to him.

It was the perfect time of year to go. Weather was perfect and everything was decorated for Christmas. Absolutely gorgeous!

Baby G's favorite character, Sully. He kept making doggy noises at him. So funny.

Mr. Incredibles

Sacked out. We were all jealous.

Airport waiting...

Kisses for Auntie

The boys are sleeping.

So all told, the trip was amazing. We did CA Adventure and Disneyland. Multiple times. It was so fun. Everyone had a great time. I kept telling MacDaddy that I wish I could capture (picture) everything my eyes were seeing. It's all in the details folks, there's nothing that wasn't thought of. No garbage, no smoking, no shoving, I actually can't even recall hearing any foul language (not that there wasn't any!). The parks were just pristine. Sure there were lines, but you can work around that too...Then seeing all the Christmas decor and parades...I could go on. You really should just see for yourself, just don't wait 3 yrs like we did, unless it makes it that much better.

The kick off

2011-12-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Before we left for Disneyland and after Thanksgiving, we had to squeeze in a little Birthday celebration for Little G. We didn't have much time, appetite, or energy left so we headed to Red Robin so someone else could cook and sing. We are so fancy.

And for the girls that sang to him, he says, "Those are the best girls EVER!"

See ya'll, guys really are easy to please.

I just love me the busy dude.

5 is the new 4

2011-11-25T22:50:00.000-08:00

Today my little G turned 5. I swear he just learned to walk yesterday. And now he's asking me to teach him to read? Seriously. If he doesn't knock this growing up stuff off, I'm going to have to resort to swaddling him again.
He still lets me kiss him and snuggle him whenever I want, I just have to be prepared to be tackled, this is nothing new. He's still a turkey. Clever tho he may be. He can be excessively sweet for no reason. He can be ornery for the exact same reason.
Oh how I loves him.
He likes cycles, will ride his bike all day in the rain, his people, everything is play, and stories. He wants to grow up and live at Gma Judy's house forever and marry Georgi. I have a feeling I need to work on his lifetime goals. At least one of them...
He likes to sing when no one's paying attention and hums when he eats a particularly tasty meal. Ssh don't tell him he still does this.
He turns Lego's into guns and planes, puts on Georgi's dress ups when he's feeling especially spunky and sensitive sam.
Happy Birthday to my Little G. Love you so much.

Fall Babes

2011-11-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

29 Reasons

2011-11-16T17:23:00.000-08:00

1. Because I need a redo
2. I'm resistant to change
3. This keeps my parents young
4. I want to be a young grandma
5. I want to have all my kids by the time I'm 30
6. Why do I feel so old?
7. Sorry I got distracted
8. This means I'm not 30 yet
9. I like not being 30
10. I get to say I'm in my 20's
11. Because MacDaddy is older than me anyway
12. I like Bieber and it's still ok when you're in your 20's
13. Maybe not, I have no excuse
14. I'm ok with that
15. I have too many grey hairs
16. I need to remedy this
17. I got distracted again
18. Dementia doesn't happen in your 20's
19. I don't think...
20. I'd much rather shop at Forever21 than The Naturalizer (hi Dolly!)
21. I haven't started using wrinkle cream yet and I'm worried it might be too late
22. I'd rather have a 30th Birthday bash than 40th
23. Because I don't want to be called ma'am
24. I prefer younghotthing...sorry mom
25. Is a perfect number me thinks
26. Backwards is the new forwards
27. Less candles, more cake
28. Chocolate please
29. Because it's my birthday and I'll do as I wish! ornotbecauseihavekids
30. No comment
31. I'm not bitter or in denial. At. All.

There will be Candy

2011-11-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

This year I dressed up my kid littles and took them trick or treating, by myself. I'm waiting for my prize, thank you.
They've been so wound up to go, I couldn't put it off another minute. I'm thinking next year I'll dress em' up as Sleepy Time and everyone go's in jamies. Yes ma'am.
We went after dinner, when it's super dark. I took very few photos, you're welcome.

Party party

2011-11-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Since all my babes happen to be born real close to holidays, it makes themed birthday parties pretty easy or hard, or predictable. Either way. So for Baby G we did a costume birthday party, because when mamas spends all that time making costumes, you had better wear them more than once.

My birthday baby. He do love me.

There was a ton of food. There was also a ton of hungry people.

Note to self: treat salsa like soup, make more and provide spoons.

There was a goddess Divine, escorted by a redneck ninja, ya wrap your head around that one.

We had to put this little moo out to pasture. With her cud.

Everyone's in disguise.

Baby like his sugar.

Time with the bros. It's almost like the stooges, they were quite entertaining.

And there were presents.

We were so grateful to everyone who came and squeezed into our little house and got into costume! And forgave me for forgetting the costume prizes that are still in my cupboard. Eh hem. We had fun and are thankful for each of you loving on our little man!

Team Avatar

2011-10-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

My kids and MacDaddy happen to be slightly more than obsessed with Avatar: The Last Airbender, the cartoon series. It's pretty darn entertaining, if I do say so myself.
And given that there are three main characters, it was a pretty easy decision for Baby G's costume/Birthday party and Halloween candy heist what the kids should go as.
So after going to Goodwill, Value Village, the fabric store and little stops, lots of cutting, sewing and modifying, painting and all the inbetweens. I give you team Avatar!

This is what they're supposed to look like for reference.

Sokka and his goofy boomerang skills

Sokka and Katara are brother and sister in the show as well.

Katara and her water bending skills.

Aang is master of all elements, meet baby Avatar, master walker.

The kids were thrilled with their costumes and baby G seemed to get right on board with it all. And I found out that I can indeed sew without a pattern and use a little creative juices and artistic liberty and still be pleased with the end result.

And now to use these master skills to rake in the candy. For mamas.

Mister Sister

2011-10-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

Given that Little G's hair was down past his shoulders (although because of his beautimous curls it didn't seem that long), people kept commenting on my sweet "daughters" and mainly because we had a costume to complete, I finally shaved off some locks. I'll admit, it was a bit harder for me than I anticipated. He does have beautiful locks...

And now to the shearing:

While he looks entirely like trouble, and he is, he really did sit still for the hair cut, surprisingly.

We've also decided that little G really is too pretty for ponytails too, even with shaved sides.

Birthday Baby

2011-10-26T15:09:00.000-07:00

It's my baby's birthday. He is one. This is not possible because he's still a baby and I'd like to keep it that way. Yes sir.

Here's to 12 months of super Gunnar. He has single handedly trained us all to love him immensely.

O'Dark: Thirty

2011-10-26T00:36:00.000-07:00

This time, almost exact time, one short, long year ago was one of the worst, most glorious middle of the night/early morning ever.

This time last year I was pacing the floor, wondering if this just might be time.
This time one year ago, I was packing a bag.
I called the hospital.
I woke up my mamas.
I packed a little faster and a little more panicked.
I yelled at MacDaddy that we were wasting no more time, this mamas had to go. Now.
I'm pretty sure I died on the short ride to the hospital.
I died again while they checked me in.
I threw a tantrum when they said I wasn't dilated far enough for a "real" bed. And decided to skip past the next 5 stages in two minutes. That'll show em.
I attempted to walk the hall to my room. I remember crawling, but hubs said I walked.
I told hubs he could call my mamas after I stopped screaming and crying and screaming.
This time last year you were in a hurry.
You had finally decided your 9lb rotundness had no more room.
You came in a hurry.
But as soon as you were out you just wanted to be, by me.
You nursed for an hour and a half.
You peed on me.
You cried at the same nurse every time. You'd even give her the frowny face.
You snuggled in and was completely happy, on me.
All. Night. Long.
You were absolute perfection. Worth every moment of the worst pain in my life.

Happy Birthday to my baby Dude. You are amazingness.

Therapy

2011-10-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

There's something about the act of coloring that is soothing, calming, mesmerizing. Listening to a little bit of music and surround yourself with paper and color. It sometimes is what's needed for a day off school. Rather than truck em' to the zoo, library, etc, etc...Mama's choose a day in to just be. Not do, be.

And really it's cheaper, faster and more efficient than any therapy this mamas might need. Lemmetellyou.
While Little G may not just be like the girls can, he'll quietly climb over our chairs and flip around on everything possible. And that's ok too, he's being what he needs to be.

Here's to our one hour therapy session, compliments to Pandora, colored pencils and fall-ish inspirings.

Dizzy

2011-10-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

PumpkinNoggins

2011-10-20T23:41:00.000-07:00

We did a little pumpkin carving. Ok, so I did a little pumpkin carving. The kids squished the pumpkin guts and baby G tasted all the happenings. And he thought it was darn tasty. Yes sir.

I'm not any good at pumpkin carving and I didn't do any fancy schmancy stuff, but they're done and my kids are happy and that's the point. Oh and I treated myself to some cinderella pumpkins too, so there.

Baby G, other wise know as the pumpkin eater.

Little G trying to duplicate his angry/sad pumpkin face.

That's better.

And Princess Georgi Girl. Or should I say Queen, because that girl had so many demands to her slave mama that she got hearts, because that's as far as my talent and knife skills go. So there.

Mouse Ears

2011-10-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

For close to two years now we've been planning on going on a vacation that never quite worked at the time. Not a last minute vacation of the camping sort, but a real, real vacation. One that requires planning and plane rides (yes, I'm hyperventilating a bit). Booya.

After actually planning and tickets purchased our real, real vacation is only somewhere around a month away, we should know, we're counting the days, literally. But we kinda had to tell the kids before they found out anyway. Eh, hem.

D-land baby, yeah.

Oh and Lyd, you know what? You're coming too.

Eh?

Yep, that's right. Celebrate it.

Oh and I couldn't tell them until I got their t-shirts done, because I'm cheap like that.

And here's my tutorial:

Buy cheap shirts + sew on felt mouse ears.

Wrap:

Watch the magic:

Somewhere out there is a video of the whole sha-bang floating around. It contains violent scenes of screaming and rolling around laughing. I'll spare you the gory details. Yes sir.

Cabbage

2011-10-04T23:02:00.000-07:00

Today's been one of those pondering sorts of days. Ya'll might wonder where I actually have time to ponder. I wonder this too...when I'm not pondering.

You see I'm exactly who I never thought I'd ever come close to being. And the funny thing is, I like it here.

I didn't picture having three kids. I never dreamed I'd be spending around 500 hrs a year breastfeeding, then times that times 3 kids and multiple years. I for sure wouldn't be homeschooling. Or sending hubs off to work with breakfast, coffee and lunch every stinking morning. Not to mention the ironing. I mean really. Must we iron? Can't we call a truce and everyone be wrinkly? It's worth a mention.

I get a lot of people who look at my kids running circles around their makeupless mother who maybe brushed her hair that day and say, "MY! Don't you have my hands full!" Now I recognize that while I may look exhausted and overwhelmed (and I just might be), my hands are full of the best things imaginable. And while I give a polite smile in return, a smile is just an upsidedown frowny face. Believe you me.

Recently someone told me in reference to their one and only boy (Baby G's age), "One and DONE!... one and done." While I realize this was meant to be an exclamation of relief, freedom and positivity. His real reasons boiled down to finance and "all the work!". Really? Really? Times that times three, then we'll chat. But really I was saddened for him.

Because while I realize "it's worth all the work", that's not eventually for me, it's current. The joy is daily. The reward is daily. Now times that times 3, buddy.

And while I sit in bed at o'tooearlytogotobedaccordingtomostofyou:thirty with my hairs still undid and half my jammies on and cabbage in my cleavage my heart is full, my feet are tired. I am incandescently happy with the direction my life was given. I'm exhausted in the best way possible, even as I miss them while they're sleeping...

Content with three, willing for more...

Zoo life

2011-10-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Friday is our school day off. Maybe it's mommy's day to clean the house and actually do some grocery shopping, but really who's kidding. We like to spend it going out, doing something fun, like the zoo.
So on Fri I packed up the littles and took them to the zoo. We got there shortly after the zoo opened so the handlers were still feeding all the animals and some of the animals were even doing tricks. The sun was shining and most of the exhibits had few visitors, so I felt as if I'd reserved the zoo for party of 4 for the morning. It was fantastic. Absolutely perfect.

Baby G was perfect. He was totally captured watching all the animals.

Peek!

The meerkats were baby G's favorite. He was pretty darn excited to watch the little diggers. And curiously enough they'd watch him too. They could have cared less about me or the kids watching, but they were quite curious about my baby dude.

Other random corny busyness

2011-10-04T21:57:00.000-07:00

See there's this thing called life we've been livin. And then there's school and then there's endless kid little entertainment and then some sewing. So here's a few photo's that in no way sum everything up. At. All. And they're not in order. At. All. eh hem...

The Tower of Babel

All important inch worms.

School distractionator

Corny baby

Bargain bins

The Bees Knees

2011-09-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

Baby G is now 11 months old. It's what he is.

He has decided that while he may have been a little later in his arrival time than his older siblings, he will indeed be walking before them. He will now take three uninterrupted steps together. And if determination means anything, he'll be walking in force in about two weeks.

He's a rocker, through and through. He'll dance to classical music, if he must, but baby dude really just wants some beats man. He loves to dance, he loves to sing. And the dude's got rhythm.

He says mama when he wants something like um, mama. He says dada, but he's just blabbering.

He's eating more solids-ish. He's getting more teeth and he loves to bite toes. You've been warned.

He's an upstager. If I'm reading to the kids, he must talk louder.

He's shy and serious around people other than "his" people. And he's starting to love daddy now.

We are all quite taken with this little dude. Every last one of us and mostly me.

UpCycled

2011-09-21T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I buy hubs clothes I miss the mark. You see he doesn't like baggy tshirts. He also doesn't like it when they're too short or too tight - I feel the same. And because no stores are uniform in their sizing, across the board, well I'm left with a shirt he won't wear.

Insert DYI and his shirt is now mine. Thanks Aimee for the ideer. And Georg for your photography skilz.

It needs one more ruffle and I like to add a sassy belt, but you get the idea. Also in case you're wondering, hubs thinks it's hot. In case you were curious. Eh hem.

While you were sleeping

2011-09-16T00:09:00.000-07:00

Just in case there was confusion about a mother's work being done and her getting to rest when all the kid littles are put to bed. Let me enlighten you.

9:00pm - baby G goes to bed
9:20ish - so do the kids
After which I crash into bed but can't sleep, this is normal for me...So I lay awake (watching Hell's Kitchen - oh.my.lands.) hoping and waiting for a back rub. That was last night, it's 11:45 tonight and I'm still waiting. Hi Hubs!
11:30 I may have started to doze off.
1:30am - Georgi greets me with a sweet, albeit emotional, smile stating she threw up. Yeah me. I also check on the garage door (Did I mention I'm hyper nervous about this stuff) which hubs managed to NOT close. This is why I don't sleep, I'm sure of it.
2:00am - I'm finally done cleaning up the mess (need I say chunks? Oiyh) and making a new bed (she did NOT make it to the bathroom, to which she was desperately sorry - Is it normal for a 6 yr old to apologize for not being able to leap off her bunk and aim a most disagreeable dinner toward the toilet? I thought not).
2:15am - Georg and I finish some needed snuggles and off to bed for both of us.
2:30am - Did I mention baby G does not sleep through the night, um cause he doesn't. Sheesh.
3:00am - I think I may have dosed off a little.
6:15am - baby G's back up until...
7:15am - After putting baby G down again I attempt to get up for the day, it was a difficult attempt. To which I go down, make some coffee and drink it in bed, just waiting for it to kick in. Quick shower and by 8:30 kids need to rise, day needs to begin. Breakfast for everyone. Off to swim lessons and home for school.

Now you all may be wondering just where is hubs during all this midnight commotion? That's an excellent question and I'm sure he'd be happy to answer you. Feel free to ask.

I've also heard some rumors (or flat out statements) that all women are crazy. Well I'm here to tell you they're absolutely correct. Just ya'll try my sleep routine and let's see if crazy don't come calling. Eh, hem.

And finally...Some people have dreams. Dreams of being richer, smarter, prettier, etc. While I wouldn't mind any of those I'd just settle for some dreams, as in the kind you get when you get sleep. Preferably 6 (or more, I'm not picky), uninterrupted, glorious hours of sleep. Thank you. And good night.

Mmm...Smells like learning

2011-09-12T22:07:00.000-07:00

You're off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting,

So...get on your way!

*I just may be in a slight Dr. Seuss kick. Considering I used to not be a fan, perhaps I'm making up for it. Perhaps...

Today was our first day of the 2011-2012 school year! I was so excited to be starting this year. I love the books that we have and extra stuff we're dipping into. Also we managed to squeeze in a meeting today for a local homeschool co-op and it looks like we may be getting into that as well (although I'm wondering if I'm not over scheduling my young kids, hmm...).

Of course I stayed up late last night making lesson plans and making sure I'm prepared for the week ahead. There is such a thing as over planning, of which I would know NOTHING of. Eh, hem.

But when you're surrounded by beautiful books and a glass of wine it's kinda hard not to stay up too late. Right? RIGHT?

The day was greeted with excitement and anticipation. Even baby G was wound up. Maybe it was the all access pass to school supplies?...either way, we all got a good jump start on the day.

Overall the day went fantastic, the kids did great. They were all excited to be there and excited for school. We were done in a timely manner, even with a late start. I know not everyday will be like this, but I hope most of them will! Happy new school year!

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

Mac Mama

2011-08-31T19:44:00.000-07:00

So we all know that hubs is really MacDaddy and he's been trying to convert mamas. Well I truly do love anything/everything Mac, I just need a little more convincing to spend triple the $. Eh hem.

Well MacDaddy's been trying to convince me that we NEED an iPad, he just hasn't figured out why. He still can't (as if that's ever stopped him before!). And I've managed to put off the purchase since before the iPads even came out. Yes indeed.

Turns out in all my homeschool research that I've been doing and the fact that I did indeed marry MacDaddy, I've convinced myself that I NEED an iPad for homeschool use. Booya. And since hubs naturally agreed that I needed one (shocking I know), guess what I got today. Wait, let me emphasize the "I".

How do you like them Apples? Mmm, perfectly done.

You may now refer me as MacMama, yes indeed.

Hick Baby

2011-08-31T19:26:00.000-07:00

*This is in no way a paid advertisement - I wish...

Things done and things doing

2011-08-30T23:12:00.000-07:00

Well I'd like to say things are slowing down, but they aren't. The only photos I've managed to take are on my iphone (aka little buttons of happiness) going at warp speed.

Baby dude has decided to not only be 10 months old now, the turkey, but be sick. We aren't entirely sure what he has, but we are sure he has plenty of attitude, lacking in sleep and insists on being held at all times. And he's taken to screaming. Happy happy joy joy.

The kids have been plenty busy too, tea parties included. Here it's tea and crumpets or what's better known as cool-aid and poptarts. Yes, I am that mom. Oh and apparently we've adopted the neighbor kids. I'm pretty darn sure of it.

We've done way too much craigslisting (love and loathe) lately. Which means we've bought a truck - aka happiest hubs ever.

And sold a car for more than we paid for it (after driving it for two years + mileage + cracked windshield + shift needing adjustment). Oh how I love being a deal seeker. Yes ma'am.

I'm also selling on my etsy, without posting (how does this happen?!), taking the kids camping next weekend, hubs is away without us this weekend (yes I'm pouting) and I've yet to figure in when school should actually start.

Now, who's ready for chocolate? All in favor of self medicating treatments raise your hand. Toes count too, at least in my case.

Campaigning against Smear

2011-08-22T22:33:00.000-07:00

So baby G is still really not in a huge hurry for baby food. He still gets everything he needs from me. I do give him dinner when we all sit down to eat, but other than that he's not so interested. Maybe I should try harder, but the reality is is that I just don't like the feeding solids stage. Because it's really not solids, it's just a gooey mess. And he's not all that thrilled about goo either and I don't blame him. I'd rather eat what I'm eating too.

And when every meal turns into bath time it gets a little old or ridiculous or outta hand. I mean really.

This is your public service announcement.

Lobsters and man flesh

2011-08-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sometime it really, really isn't necessary to say "I told you so", it just really isn't. Because when I told hubs he should put sun screen on or come in for a sun break, he said no, he wasn't getting a sun burn. And when I told him again an hour later he's getting toasty, he still thought his pasty white belly was in no danger of a sunburn.

Then when he finally came in he saw no sunburn on his person whatsoever. Because you know he really didn't have a sunburn. Nope. Nada. Not at all

So I told him that if he decides his skin is a bit tender or itchy, I just might remind him that he doesn't have a sunburn, it's all in his head. Silly boy.

See? Ya'll don't see no stinking sunburn, right? I though not.

And I am sorry for the man flesh. I will try to do better.

Qtips

2011-08-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just need 3 extra minutes and you'll do anything to get them. This includes letting your baby have free reign in the bathroom cupboard. And it probably helps his orneriness that he's just so darn cute. True story.

You'll noticed around 18 seconds Baby G gives a little jump. This is what happens when he's just so excited all mamas going do about his behavior is video tape it.

Big box of happy - learny things

2011-08-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

After much consternation, anticipation, research (research, research, research), attempts at doing everything, ideals of unschooling and somehow creating brilliant children while not doing anything at all. I finally chose a homeschool curriculum. Or two, or three. But I just ordered one-ish. So there.

I did my best to not try to do too many "add ons" because I was advised that there are so many great, perfect, wise choices, so just choose one. And stop looking. Period. Just one. Just one, just one, just one.

Given my love of great literature Sonlight would have been an easy choice, if Veritas Press wasn't out there. Then all the fun Timberdoodle things, oiyh. See my inner battle. Yep, apparently it's not over.

Well I finally drank the Sonlight KoolAid, so that's what we're doing. I've done a highbred of it last year for Georgi's Kindergarten and did a full PreK program the year before. And after looking through my own books at what we currently have I realized I have a whole lot of Sonlight and Veritas Press books, just in my own library. This also changed my mind about having Little G do school as well. I had most of a Core P4/P5 program, so just a little adding to it and it's all come together.

So this is what the kids are doing:
Little G is doing the full P4/P5 (that PreK) in Sonlight
Georgi's doing:
Sonlight's 1st Grade: History, Language arts, Handwriting, Reading, Science, among some fillers.
Math we will continue with Abeka. She's responded really well to Abeka and has completed the 1st grade, so we'll continue with their 2nd grade program. And of course, plus add ons.

I opted to not do Bible through Sonlight, although doing all the other subjects, I'm sure it will be in there to a certain degree. But instead the kids have Awana's (lot's of memorization!), devotions with daddy, Bible books/stories we're reading and catechism.

I'm excited, yet nervous about jumping in now. Although I've been "homeschooling" for two years now, Georgi was younger and I could get away with fudging - a lot. So now it's getting down to some serious fun! Or something like that.

I'll be attempting to stick to a 4 day school week (like last year). And reserve Fridays for fun Zoo / NW Trek, library and various hm trips. Or unfun grocery shopping. At any rate, Friday will be a day off.

The kids will continue with swim lessons through the school year, I'll probably start piano lesson with Georg, they'll both have Awanas and I'd love to have Georg in ballet and Little G in ANYTHING that gets some energy out, but in attempts to be true to hm, I'd like to also actually BE home, so we'll see...

And since I'd finally ordered my books, packages have been showing up everyday, it's been glorious. Like Christmas. We do love books. Mamas, Georgi and baby G especially.

Baby G not happy about books that are "no touch".

Trying to make space, so re-organizing the school room, again...

Low grade temp

2011-08-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

The other night as hubs and I put the kids to bed, sat ourselves down on the couch to actually watch something that didn't involved cartoon characters, we could hear the kids messing off upstairs. This is not unusual. But about 5 minutes later they troop down, all smiles.

Mamas, "Whatcha guys doing?"

Georg, "Bro just bonked his noggin."

(Little G has big smiles) *mamas slightly suspicious now*

Little G, "But I'm ok!"

Mamas, "Alright, so you can go back to bed then."

Georg and Little G together, "BUT WE'RE NOT SLEEPY"

Mamas knows they REALLY are, but looks at her hubs and says, "Sorry, but I just can't get grumpy at this. It's too funny."

And hubs, being a bit of a sugar daddy says, "Wanna watch a movie?" Uh, duh.

To which he allows them to watch a 2 hr long movie....eh?

And being that we are mild Bieber fans. And I must say mild because this is what we watched and we in no way compare to his fan club (if you consider crazy people a fan club). So Bieber fever is not us. Although I might have to add that if you haven't jumped on the Bieber train, you just might be missing out on some great dance parties, I mean really.

I was a little apprehensive letting my six year old girl watch other six year old girls (not to mention the plethora of other girls/ladies/women) obsessed with a boy, but I'm thinking for now, she's a little more grounded in reality. I'm hoping at least.

And we all managed to make it through the late night, middle of the week, for no good reason, just because we can, movie night. Well most of us...

Berry goodNESS

2011-08-15T23:21:00.000-07:00

It's that time of the year when all the REALLY nummy fruit and berries come on. Actually, my favorite, cherries, are just finishing their season and soon so will blue berries, but I was able to finagle a bunch of both.

This year I got 150 lbs of organic, local blueberries. I usually get a lot and they about fill up the freezer. But actually I don't think I even got enough! Haha! We eat a lot of blueberries in this house and I try to buy all we'll need, when they're ready, for the whole year. They're the most amazing berries! I think I brag about them every year, but they really need the recognition.

7 of 10 boxes

Yum O

And these are organic folks.

And you know how when you get plumped up/steroid fruits and veggies they my look gorgeous and ripe but they are a bit bland? Not these babies, bigger just means more great flavor and all the better.

I. Can't. Stop. Eating.

See how happy my sis is to see me?? Or maybe it was the baby I was holding? Na, I think it's me.

Here's everyone bagging the loot for the freezer.

While the blueberries are local. Unfortunately it's not entirely local to Oly. Just to my folks. So since I wan't able to make it down to get some (I had already tried once a week-ish ago, but he was sold out for the day) I was able to somehow convince my sister to pick the up for me and have my mom drive them up here. And they're awesome, cause they did. Or I have awesome mind control powers. Hmmm...

So I go to a local farm stand during the week for produce and um, they were having a deal on their bings. Like $1 per pound and I'm kicking myself for not making my family wait in the car even longer so I could get more. I got around 10lbs of that goodness. Oh, my lands! I usually just get cherries to eat raw since they're too expensive to do anything with, but at that price?! Shoot! I'm making me a pie! And so I did, the end.

I'm not even a pie fan, but it was pretty darn tasty. And I'm not the only critic. The end. Again.

Kid Littles

2011-08-15T22:55:00.000-07:00

My Georgi girl.

Little G. Oh my turbo!

Baby G. Baldy.

Baby Faces

2011-08-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Baby G's a nut. Absolute nut. He has personality, for sure. And it doesn't help that he has two older sibs to keep up with. But we do love him. He keeps us all smiling and entertained.

No I did not put the cape on him. The minions are sneakery enough for that.

But they don't call him "speedy Gunnar" for no reason. Eh hem.

The anticipation is almost too much to bare.

To which I will breath and drink coffee

2011-08-12T11:08:00.000-07:00

Ya'll I've been gone, busy beyond and on hyper activity schedule.

The kids are all wore out and you know what that means for me.

So today we're having some downtime. IF I can quell the urge to NOT go garage saling. This is a difficult thing. But since all my littles are sick, I'm gonna try and hunker in. Poo.

Things that we've been up to, as in a small snippet and definitely limited viewing...

Maximusspideyboy

$1 movie Wednesdays!

Lots and lots of bike riding. Baby dude LOVES bike riding.

Swimming at cousins

Celebrating a special girls 1st birthday. She's headed out of the country,

please note the ticket and excitement.

There will be cake

When Laura Ingles goes swimming...

More camping with more cousins.

Hold on tight!

Slip and slide

There was lots of roasting. Some eating, but lots of roasting.

Case in point.

Nine months

2011-07-27T22:21:00.000-07:00

Baby G is getting bigger. I think. He's definitely doing a lot more and he's growing out of things. But he's my baby. And we like it that way. He's got his own personality, that's for sure. Right now it's 10pm and he's laughing at me from his bed, if that tells you anything. It's only funny if mommy notices him though...Hmm. Time for bed, for sure.

He loves to dance and sing. He does this quite often while we're on bike rides.
He doesn't like strangers and has perfected "the stare".
He laughs when the kids laugh.
He has fallen down the stairs, commando and yes, it gave me a heart attack.
He climbs over, onto, under everything.
He pulls himself up and is crawling everywhere. The kids call him Speedy Gunnar.
He doesn't like his car seat, but he's tolerating it.
He is still not sure he wants to start solids (at least not anything mashed) and I'm totally with him on this.
He says "Uh, Oh" and I think that's a pretty appropriate first word.
He has six binkys and I only know where three of them are.
He has a little bald noggin, which makes it especially kissable.
And he's still not sleeping. The stinker.

Must go hold and kiss. For sure.

Camping

2011-07-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

On Monday I decided to take the kids camping on Thurs. Why do I do this?? I don't know. My parents church camp was meeting just outside Cannon Beach. And I really can't say no to anywhere near that part of the OR coast. It's so glorious.

And since hubs obviously had to work I determined to do it on my own, sort of. And darn it if I didn't. We pulled into the camp site a bit after 9pm and I was grateful that it wasn't entirely alone as I had people helping unload my car and set up my tent, in the very dark.

I'm so thankful that the drive down and the first night were no indication of the rest of the weekend. Let's just say I MAY have opted to find the nearest hotel and stayed a week.

But every days a new day and Friday was fantastic. Notice I did not say easy. I have little kidlets. But they had so much fun and I had fun just watching them. The beach was amazing and beautiful. The bike rides were fun. And hubs decided to come late, late Fri night to join in the weekend. I think riding his cycle down was too much temptation to pass up.

Baby G's first camping trip

Little G put approximately 47.3 miles on his bike.
If he was off his bike he was 1. at the beach 2. eating 3. sleeping.

Beautiful beach, beautiful weather, beautiful Georg

Cousins in the limo

To the Beach!

Hi Hubs! We're all playing, you're working - boo.

Baby G would shove his fingers back and forth in the sand, he couldn't get enough.
It was pretty tasty too.

A hole is to dig.

Sand angels

This is Daphne's person. She loves him. She's a dumb dog, but don't tell him that.
He spoils her rotten.

Beach baby

Georg had her first real taste of road rash due to some kamikaze bike skills. She got back on though.

The kids had decided they wanted to spend about 12 more days camping. I could've done more, I wasn't entirely ready to come back home. Shocking I know.
And to top it off Baby G was superb all the way home (in traffic too). I was a bit surprised how well things went and am actually looking forward to camping again. And the kids are beyond ready, baby G, however, is liking being home. And I need 3 weeks just to catch up on all my laundry.

Busy Body

2011-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

The reality is women need conversation. They need to know everything about everything and everyone, at all times. They can't help it.
One of the phrases hubs hears all the time "I need details." I need to know what the persons facial expressions were when they said ---, what were they wearing ---, how did they react to --- and so it goes. I need to know exactly what's going down, where, were and who's there. At all times.
Apparently I have a daughter who's just like her mama, because when hubs and little G were having a "boys only" private convo, it about killed her intuitions not knowing all the details.
And so she made it known, after the fact. By a strategically placed note on her brother's bed.

If you need a little help deciphering...
Georgi love you and she wants to join in your talk.
(The picture is of her on one side of the door and Little G and hubs on the other side talking on his bed)

New to the herd

2011-07-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

Now that my kids are riding their own bikes I decided it's time to get my ~~lazy butt~~ baby dude out there too. I have a bike trailer, but since baby dude's such a little guy, I didn't really want him bouncing around in it, by himself. Plus it's big and bulky and a pain to take camping and such.

So while I was looking for a bike helmet that would fit his tiny noggin, I came across something I thought would work nicely, in addition to a tiny helmet.

Turns out my little man LOVES bike riding. He loves speed especially. I think this little dude is going to be my turbo. He makes me nervous already. Oiyh.

But for now I can keep him strapped in and in close proximity. And mamas loves that.

Two by Two

2011-07-20T22:48:00.000-07:00

So hubs picked out his darling little princess's birthday present. And what does he come home with, but an ant farm, naturally. While I'm not entirely thrilled with having to not only pay for ants eh, hem or have them in my house, the kids are enjoying watching the ants do what they do, tunnel. And at least the LED lights have some pink for our little girl, or something like that.

Posers

2011-07-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

So we recently got to see a cousin of mine who is sweet as can be and who also happens to take professional photos. Yay!
Here's a few...

You're awesome Kristin!

Sneakery

2011-07-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

So at a particular moment at our 3 day family reunion (my side), we couldn't find Georg. Or more accurately, Georg didn't want to be found. But parental determination, being what it is, won out. And this is where we found the sneaky stinker.

Back behind a trailer, in the corner, with a big ol' bag of chips. She apparently needed some quiet time away from all the kids to meet her salt quota. Where does she get this?? I have my suspicions.

Snapshots

2011-07-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Family reunions, swimming, cousins, cousins, cousins, birthdays, VBS, family, sleepovers, swimming lessons, wedding, waterfights, bikes riding, gsales, visitating, mud, cycles, food and food and food. Now times that times about 5 and you may have a peek into what we've been up to lately. And blogging about it has definitely taken a back seat. And since I have no intention of catching up here's a peek of a peek.

My baby Girl turned 6.

The card her bro picked out for her...It was a toss up between princess's and Spiderman.

It was a difficult choice.

My sis I don't see nearly enough of an baby Ava, who needs kisses from me. I'm sure of it.

Food, food and more food.

Mud and trails.

Cycles, yes please.

Lovins.

I love me some cowboy.

Meow

"Spiders don't smile"

Bros

Clearing trails with Gpa.

Swimmings

Chickens

Outdoorsy weddings with pretty girls.

Maude and Bernadette

Baby bubbles

My Dogs are Barkin

2011-07-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

I'm WAY behind on posting, yes, I know this. I'm WAY behind on pictures (and I got me some great ones), yes, I know this.
Wanna know what I'm up to? Probably not but here's one day, of many many busy ones.

Get all kids up and ready and fed
Take kids to Summer Hummer (VBS)
Drop off Goodwill items
Take baby G home for nap
Make hubs breakfast (he didn't get home from work until 5am - grr)
Clean kitchen
Clean some carpets
Make lunches
Feed baby
Pick up kids from Summer Hummer
Run errands while kids eat lunch on the go
Feed baby again in the car while NOT driving
Take kids to swim lessons (buy last minute suits b/c brilliant mama forgot their swimming bag, for the 1st time I might add at home)
Bring kids home
Feed baby
Clean bathrooms
Do laundry
Vacuum
Put together new baby toy and gain two new blisters
Clean carpet
Make dinner
Feed baby, play w/ baby, hold baby while doing everything (he's terrified of the vacuum)
Play w/ kids
Put the kids to bed w/ sing songs and prayers
Finally finish shampooing carpets (have I mentioned I hate carpet yet?? cause I do)
Clean Kitchen
Get myself some much deserved ice cream
Netflix and bed, yes thank you.

Growing independence and loosing locks

2011-07-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

My Georgi girl has decided she's had enough with her long, beautiful, blond, curly locks. The stinker.

I'm the type of mama who lets her littles decide about their hair. Maybe that's a bad thing because little G has an uber-hawk with curls and my little girl has decided to chop her curls off and baby G, well, so far he's undecided.

I let her think about it for a while. I wasn't willing to let her chop it off at the first whim, but she'd been talking about it for a while and finally tonight she was adamant. It must have been the six-year-old spunk she discovered. She even decided how long she wanted it cut and went around the house for an hr holding it to the length she wanted gone. Well if persistence doesn't pay off...Sheesh.

I'm sure gonna miss her curls!

And yes, she loves it. She's pretty darn excited about it.
And no, little G still doesn't want a hair cut, the turkey.

Firecracker

2011-07-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

Today my Georgi girl is 6. 6!!! And I can't handle it.

She has grown so much the last year...

She's lost her first tooth.

Her hair is down to her buns (you just can't tell cause' it's curly).

She is mama to everyone.

She talks non-stop when excited.

She's always late or the very last one out the door (I'm not looking forward to this in her teenage years).

Went to Sparkies and thrived.

Is excelling in swimming lessons.

Loves her brothers immensely.

Wants to do everything I do.

Loves her cousins.

Thinks whatever she/we make should be instantly given to someone.

Enjoys being outside and nature best.

Learned to ride a two - wheeler.

Wants to have six kids when she gets married and asks me how many more I think "we" should have.

Still think I'm cool, but I'm starting to embarrass her more. Yay me!

We have been blessed by each day she's in our lives. She is sunshine and sweetness. I get asked a lot if she really is that sweet all the time, "like at home". And yes, yes she is. In God's kindness He gave me a daughter that bring so much joy to me. She really is a delight.

Happy Birthday Georgi Girl! The mamas loves you.

Inability to say No

2011-06-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's a curse really.

So when our neighbor, who was moving, asked if Georg wanted her daughter's old Barbies, My Little Pony castles and PetShop houses, who am I to say no? I mean really.

Not to mention I didn't figure it'd be two huge boxes of this (is this normal for little girls??). And like, 20-or-so Barbies. Is it possible to play with 20 or so Barbies? This is new to me.

And now where to put it all...

Does it make me a bit neurotic that I insist everything be washed, entirely? I didn't think so. The lining up of the Barbies (and Ken!) is Georgi's work, she just MAY take after her mamas and her neurosis.

Barbie bath (and Ken!).

Now who needs a Barbie?? We've plenty to spare.
And since I'm now addicted to watching Hoarders. You can be sure they ain't all staying here. No ma'am.

Jim Bob the Centerpiece

2011-06-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Baby dude absolutely hates, loathes and despises being left out of anything. It's a good day when I can be a foot away from him without his protesting. And I'm ok with this. Because I'm entirely certain that at 18 a foot away will be probably too close for comfort. *sighs* I'll take it when I can get it.

Anyhoo...So this is what dinner looks like with baby dude and his fruity cheeks.

And his uber large and horrendously crooked first tooth. Darn if we don't love our little country hick.

Time better spent

2011-06-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to spend less and less time on the computer. Only doing what's necessary. And apparently blogs aren't necessary.
We've been busy, we've been out of town. I've been cleaning the house out of every possible item I don't need/want, having gsales, going to gsales, two kids riding two wheelers, school, playing, gma's house, hubs is over worked and mama's underpaid (we all know mama's are always over worked, it's what we do) and somewhere in there Baby G is now 8 months and mostly sleeping through the night - sort of.

And so I thought I've been pretty busy, but then I peered at the calendar for the next 3 weeks and boy do I have it coming.

Not to mention my baby girl turns 6 in a week. This is not possible and I'm not ready for it.

And as a side note: my hubs loves NW summers. I, however, am not a fan. I would love some heat and sunshine please. I have yet to break a sweat or get a tan. Mama needs sun!

Sorry for the random randoms. I pull from what I know.

Upstaging

2011-06-20T23:55:00.000-07:00

Little G's been wanting to ride a two wheeler for a while now, but mamas wasn't willing to hold the back of the bike for hours on end. So he was instructed to coast to learn how to balance. He's been practicing here and there.

Well we went to the motorbike shop to get daddy's *eh em* Father's Day present. And later after the gift was opened he asked daddy if he could have a cycle (the boy dreams big, lemme tell you). Daddy happened to mention that he has to ride a two wheel bike first.

So he spent all day Saturday out practicing his bike, by himself. Absolutely determined. And he conquered it. He's a two wheeling dude. And Georg was left in the dust, unpleased.

So Georg managed to spend this afternoon practicing. She wasn't about to let little G glory, on his own, for very long. Not only is she up and pedaling, but she's making this mamas particularly nervous with her level of speed. Do they put restrictors on bicycles?? I'm thinking they need to.

And now baby G would like to get in on all the action. Baby dude loves action.

Forgetful Fairy

2011-06-17T08:43:00.000-07:00

Late night love notes to a disappointed daughter will hopefully make amends...

The long and the short of it.

2011-06-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

I was way way way over due to get my hairs cut. I do this a lot. Grow it long, chop it off. It has something to do with rarely getting to go get my hair cut, but whatever...

I also like to do this post baby. And since it'd been a little while since Little G had been a baby, well, it'd just been a while.

The long awaited before and afters:

The reality of trying to take my own picture. This is why there really isn't ever a picture of me.

And I'm ok with that.

More than twice my hair length just had to go.

This is day two, no washing and not styling. Yay me.

I forget how heavy long hair is...

Much much shorter in the back, it's just not that easy for me to take, ya'll.

Being a bit camera shy, this was hard for me. I will now go back to my shell and not post another pick of me until my next grow out session. Thank you.

As a peacock

2011-06-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

Things that make me proud:

Big G lost her first tooth.

Baby G's scoot-scootin. And he's also getting his first tooth.

My boys, they play together. This makes me exceptionally happy.

Otherwise known as food

2011-06-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

Baby G is still growing by the mama's milk. On a rare occasion, I'd try a food with him, maybe once a week or so, when he'd show enough interest. Hates avocado (this makes me undeterred, but sad at present), loved mangos on the first go, but doesn't want to look at them again.

I'm really not in any hurry to start the solids process with him. Little G waited patiently until 8 months hit and was a slow starter, so I figured baby dude could at least wait until then too (he's currently 7+ months).

But lately he'd been showing some particular angst during dinner. So I whipped up some cooked apple/cereal/mamas milk concoction and you'd think the babe hadn't eaten since Christmas! I've been making this for about a week now and bumping up the portion size each time and he has eagerly anticipated each bite.

He isn't so excited about any other meal times including food, so we stick to dinner. It's our little social gathering anyhoo. So maybe he's just trying to keep up with the rest of us.

So in an effort to only give my baby dude fruits and veggies and try another food. Here's to food the way it should look.

In case you were unawares, this is baby food:

Mangos - aka nectar of the gods

Mamas ever-lovin sweet potatoes

Tunnel of love

2011-06-07T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Prude

2011-06-07T21:29:00.000-07:00

Something that's been ruminating, marinating, rumbling and otherwise gnawing in my noggin' is this idea, or ideal rather, of modesty.

I guess it started with our minication at Great Wolf. I was in a last minute search for a swim suit for Georg (In my packing rush I realize that her swim attire was either too small or too used, whoops), so I stopped off at the Walmart's and tried to find something in the 5t area that wasn't a bikini, too hideous, too low, too high and just short of actually putting shorts and a tshirts on my baby girl. I didn't come away unscathed.

I hoped what I had bought would work, but after having her try it on at the lodge, it wasn't. Hubs concurred. In fact, he's worse than I am. It was indeed too low and hideous at the same time. And so I managed to hike up one of her old swimsuits in a last hoorah and am grateful that they spent most of their swimmy time with life jackets on. Score.

And then when my eyes did occasionally avert from their intense focus on ensuring my littles were indeed not drowning, I had to struggle to find material, spandex, ANYTHING amongst all the skin. Ugh. And I remember that this is the one part of summer (other than school being out), that I simply loathe.

You see I'm one of those "prudes". I'm still surprised to find women who normally dress modestly will have no qualms about dawning a bikini, if you can call it that. I'm pretty sure their underwear would be more appropriate.

I also believe that there's really only about 3% of the female population that can actually get away with it, or look good in it. Of that 3%, 96.4% of those are under the age of 3 (and while I love baby bikini chunks, I still like my kidlets in age-appropriate attire, and there's just no age where bikini's fit in). And for the remaining percentile, well while I might hate you a little, I'm pretty sure I still would if you were in something that left a little more to the imagination - MmK? And me? Well I'm pretty sure I'm just gonna be a hater until my stretch marks, surgery scars, whiteness and mounds of fat have magically disappeared and I too can glory in my perfection while still NOT wearing a bikini - ha!

Now I could try and get all holy and spout off something biblical to support me. But I won't. For one, it's just not a hill I'm gonna die on and also because I'm pretty sure there's something in the good book about greeting my hubs in my sweats and fav "luck is for losers" tee (please don't ask why it's a favorite), instead of adorning myself like the trophy he married. Right? It's totally in there. Totally. Oh, how I laugh at me.

While hubs and I may be a bit strict already in what our precious baby girl wears (the poor girl can't even wear leggin's without shorts or a skirt on. Daddy don't like any booty huggin' going on, seriously. My man is par-tic-u-lar!), so far our little angel is unawares. And by the time she is, we hope that this influence has wiggled its way in so far down, she don't even know it's really mamas that doesn't like her daisy dukes, not her own ticklin' conscience (that'll come later - tee hee).

But for now I'm putting on the swimmy shirts and shorts, praying for more material and less skin, and teaching my little princess that when it comes to clothing, more really is more.

A Toast

2011-06-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

Here's to 7 months.

Bottoms Up!

Snap shots

2011-06-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

We had some friends and family over on Monday for the holiday. We went down to our local beach by our house. Then back home for food, fun, food, conversation, food, naps and food. It was fabulous, lemmetellyou.

Aaah, shucks.

Crabby

Aunties

Olydia's

TopsyTurvy

Dogpile with Gomer

Mini Vaca

2011-06-02T22:18:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of hub bub going on, for like the past 2 months. We have been a bit beyond wore down. So we decided to take a mini vacation. Last minute and when I say last minute, I mean we decided 3 hours before we actually went. Let's just say we like spontaneity, or something like that.

And we went here, because when the kids are having fun, we're having fun. And we surely did.

It was a blast, but I think hubs and I concurred that 2 days really is not enough vacation and we're ready for more. Yes ma'am.

Start em' young

2011-06-01T23:21:00.000-07:00

Lately baby G has been packing on the pounds. He needs to lay off the sugar lemmetellya.
So we decided we need to get him working off his chunk chunks.

Boot camp baby.

Swim lessons, drowning and neurosis.

2011-05-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

With summer a-comin, I've been signing the kids up for some activities. On the sign up list is swim lessons. And this is where I start to hyperventilate. They were in swim lessons last year and I think I lost two years off my life in those two weeks, not to mention my permanent case of monkey butt. TMI, I know, I apologize. It can't be helped. The monkey butt that is. Sorry I said butt, it won't happen again. I don't think.

I was reading this article a friend of mine posted and it was just a good reminder, scary mind you, of what I'll be doing during the entire 45 minutes of swim lessons. Sitting on the edge of my seat counting my kids heads above water, over and over and over and over and over...you get the idea.

You see, I love the water. Love swimming. But I'm just a bit terrified by it. Hubs learned pretty quickly that you don't dunk me. I will flip out and start wailing and sobbing and eventually pouting. I'm a bit ridiculous, yes. It terrified me as a kid and it still does. Even though I would count myself a good swimmer.

Now that I have kids, you can times that neurosis by about a-ca-billion and that wouldn't cover it. I'm down right schizophrenic. As if I wasn't already.

The very first time Georgi was in swim lessons at our local pool, I remember yelling at her swim teacher because one of her class mates was drowning, 5 inches behind the teachers back. Needless to say that child's mother had to excuse herself to the locker room to recover from her panic. Her daughter was fine, the mother I'm sure is still recovering.

The next year, same pool. I had to pull the same boy out three times in a row. This was in the shallow end.

And last year while constantly watching my kids during swimming lessons Little G's hand slipped off of the wall and was drowning on the other side of the pool, in the shallow end (most little kids can not touch in the shallow end, mind you). I yelled at the guard (there were three, two teaching and one on guard duty), but he couldn't hear me. The guard notice me running over there before he noticed my son. He got to him first. And it's a good thing. I almost excused myself to the locker room. Needless to say this still gives me a cold sweat. I'm quite sure there is one in every class who does this and naturally it would be Little G.

Now I'm not saying life guards are useless, in any way. But most of them are quite young. And youthfulness does not = maturity. And they also have more kids in the pool to watch than you. And there is no one who is more responsible for your kids than you. And you know if your kid is messing around in the water, or not. Or you should. I always figure two sets of eyes is better anyway.

So as I consider signing them up for swim lessons again, heart racing. I'm wondering if I'm ready for another round of edge-of-your-seat vigilance. I mean really. Can't they just wear life jackets until they're 21 and then it's their problem? I'm thinking yes.

So friends...At what age should swim lessons and being able to swim happen? I'm terribly curious to know what ya'll do. Help a girl out.

Comrade

2011-05-23T21:31:00.000-07:00

My little man he eats kettle bell for breakfast. No joke.

Closing and Awards

2011-05-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Life has been super busy. We've sometimes been home, I think. We did manage to take the kids to their last Awanas meeting of the year. And it was pretty sweet to see all the little kids, listen to their teachers and see what they accomplished. Them little turkeys are amazing, I'm just saying...

The little girl next to Little G is his gf, he's never too far from wherever she is. She's super cute, the teacher's daughter and sweet enough to put up with my son. He sure knows how to pick em. For sure. This whole gf business is a bit too much for this mamas.

Little G trying to take down a 200lb bear...Just like wrestling with dad. He's all over it.

Things you should know

2011-05-10T21:30:00.000-07:00

My daughters' a drummer.

Baby dude will sleep through the beats, if he must.

My Georgi girl is Dutch and she's got the shoes to prove it.

She's also a poser.

Complimentary tulip pictures.

Things I love: handmade onion play houses from recycled fabrics. Score.

Terrariums - love, love, love.

These are toe-lee-pops and they are tasty.

Seriously can't handle cute naky baby buns.

And my sons' an absolute nerd. He doesn't get this from me. At. All.

Tubby time

2011-05-09T21:10:00.000-07:00

My baby dude loves the tub. He loves the nakeds especially. But he really does love the tub.

I've been getting a little nostalgic already even though my baby dude's still a wee little dude.

Cause just 6 months ago he was this.

And now he's this.

It hurts my mammaries. Oiyh.

Tummy love

2011-05-04T22:00:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal...I did not get hubs an anniversary gift. Does this make me a rotten wife? I'm still pondering this.
The reality is is I'm entirely conflicted about Anniversary gifts because on one hand I want to get him something he likes (and motorcycle gear does not inspire Anniversary thoughts, right?), then I want to get some reminder of us or our wedding (whatever), then I only want to spend money on an experience with him (fancy dinner, night away, etc). So in an effort to do everything possible I do nothing. Well let me rephrase, I get nothing. Zip. Nada. For the man I love.

Well I did get him a card, but that wasn't even what he liked, because he happens to have an obsession with tacky, goofy, funny cards and we do not share this love of wackiness. There's more than one reason why we didn't write our own vows... So I even failed there, because I like a little more ~~serious~~ romantic tone in my verse and so I digress...

But I do, however, know how to cook. Fairly well, sometimes. And I've been wanting to make him something that he'd love, but never had, but had wanted to have. And I knew the perfect dish, from our late night hulu obsession. I've known it for a while, but didn't want to brave it. But what a better venue, right?

So the stage was set:

The kids were fed and watching a movie. Hubs managed to come home ~~early~~ just in time to see me all dolled up ~~in curlers~~ with curled hair and ready to serve him a fancy, adult dinner.

And this was the high point of the meal. Recipe yet to be perfected, but I think for a first go of it, it turned out pretty darn good. Good enough for hubs not to want his dessert. So I'd count that as success.

And yes, I'm still pondering a present, please heap the guilt on.

Reaping Rewards

2011-05-03T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hubs and I celebrate 8 years of weddedness today. Booya.

The day of my wedding (as in, with in hours of our vows), someone said to me, "The first years' the hardest." Now please say that in a "keep your chin up" tone. And I thought they had to be the craziest person alive to say this to someone hours before their wedding, or maybe I was the crazy one for actually getting married.

But the reality is, it's not easy. It's not always pretty. It's not always fun. Whoever talks about bliss in marriage has probably never been married or really doesn't know their spouse.

It's work. It's the hardest, most draining, most exasperating work possible. But, it's all completely worth it. Did you hear me? It's worth every minute.

Because at the end of the day, I'm exactly where I want to be everyday. The work you put in will reap benefits 10 fold and then some. The efforts are for good. Most times we labor together with joy. Serve with joy. Sacrifice happily.

And baby, we got a good thing.

Lord, make

us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, union;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, Grant that we may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console,

To be understood as to understand,

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

~St. Francis of Assisi

When it doesn't rain

2011-05-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

There's a beach and hiking trails, um, 5 minutes from our house. So we took advantage of the gorgeous weather (yesterday, today we're back to rain) and spent it outside, soaking in some vitamins. I even managed to get a little too much sun on my hair part and that's just weird.

We really do live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Darn rain.

Baby G though this was the most advantageous place for grabbing chubby fists full of hair. Which is part of the reason I think of short hair cuts every 2.6 hrs.

Please don't mind the neck wrinkle, it happens once you turn 30, so I've heard.

It's good to keep the kids on their toes, always. Or not.

He FINALLY caved and took a wee little nap.

Tree gnomes.

And to cap it off with Mexican coke (not THAT kind!), this kind. Yum.

Oh, and bbq and sitting outside.

Rollin' on by

2011-04-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

The months that is. Baby dude is officially 6 months old.
He's decided he really does want to wake up every two hours during the night, or play in his bed until he gets chilly enough from kicking off all his blankies and come in to my bed for warm ups, nursies and snuggles. We do this a few times a night. Yawn and coffee please.
He's an uber happy dude.
He likes his people, especially the short, excitable ones.
He rolls and shimmies everywhere and has just started to figure out how to scoot forward, when mad.
He thinks food is entirely delicious, until you give him some.
He's starting to mimic sounds and "babababababa" really is "mama", I promise you.
He thinks he's a big boy in his stroller and will refuse to lay back, car seat too. Oiyh.
He's getting a little chunkier, but still taller than wider.
And he loves to dance, particularly to this song. I do not make this up folks, it's just the way it is.

Baby dude and an avocado, first food.

1,2,3...recovery.

2011-04-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

It was once again one of those weekends where you try and fit it all in and then some and then you realize that no matter how early you try to go to bed, or want to go to bed the baby's still gonna wake up (multiple times, yawn) and you still have to get up early. Too early. And that's just how it is.

But it was a weekend full of weird kids and Easter celebrations, just as it should be. Always.

It all started with a weird parade (baby G was napping, so mamas stayed home), where my weird kids fit in perfectly.

This is what happens when hubs has the camera.

I really don't know why my son is so weird. Really.

Neighbor girl, my kids are obsessed.

She fits in quite nicely tho...

Egg decorating. I let my neighbor do all the work, while I took some pictures

and sipped on the sauce. Eh hem. Seriously eggs smell so much better when nursing a margarita.

Who knew?

Easters. Please say it with Nacho. Easters. Now please go watch Nacho. Lydia will thank you.

It was fun, not cold and we stayed dry. It was amazing to be a part of such an event!

My happy camper.

Little G asked what they were doing down there. And I told him people were getting baptized (say it like Nacho please, let's keep this going).
"What's baptized?"
"When you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior"...etc, etc. About a 15 minute conversation with a 4 yr old...Still ending in "Because you believe Christ died to save you."
"Well let's go get baptized!!" said my little dude.
And this is the point at which I tear up at his enthusiasm for the gospel. But it could been the band too.
And yes, he's been baptized and yes our conversation is far from over. How much more they understand and grasp then I am willing to communicate to them. Must work on this.

Jesus wins over football.

My happy dude. He got no Easter candy, but he did get a nap. And that makes everyone happy.

The hunt.

Who will get there first?

Got it.

Eye spy with my little eye...

The food was good.

And so were the hosts.

The end.

On schooling Girls and Poohs

2011-04-20T11:29:00.000-07:00

A small smackeral of learning for the day.

Dentist

2011-04-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

So I'm not the sort of mom who's up-to-date on dental appointments. At all. I didn't even keep up with them when it was just me. I mean really. Is there anyone who sees the dentist every 6 months? I know not one.

But because hubs lost his j-o-b, I'm slightly obligated to catch up on all drs and dental visits. Eh hem. This month is a medical torture month, I kid you not.

So I took the troops to the dentist. Baby G got a clean bill of no teethers, while the rest of us ~~fidgeted~~ ~~squirmed~~ ~~complained~~ waited patiently for the whole sha-bang to end. The kids did better than I would have figured for their cleaning. I was particularly anxious for little G's - better known as turkey's turn, and he did fantastically well.

I think I need lessons, because I, for one, do not sit well in the dentist chair. I tend to clam up. Literally. And I've been told, that's not the best way toward clean teeth. Rumors.

Anyhoo's it may have been the promise of toys at the end (no I'm not that prepared, but the dentist is). But they got through the whole process with ease and in style.

You can thank the kids for their photo journalism, I happened to be wrestling a bear. A very hungry bear, eh hem.

Tuesday blues and baby giggles

2011-04-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Cousins

2011-04-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to the cousins, my sisters' (one of them at least) kids.

We spent a long weekend down south. It was a busy weekend. With garage saling, family doings and interviews. But the kids spent a lot of time with their cousins. Not one fight or hurt feelings the whole weekend (I think that means my kids have finally arrived!). Just playing and playing and playing. It was fabulous.

Matchy matchy

The babes

My grandma and baby G

Ssshh! The princess is sleeping...

The sweet turkeys

Keepin it real

I have no greater joy than to see my (great grand) children walk in truth...

Sew Mama's Easter Inspirings

2011-04-14T16:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know that when you have girls you're supposed to sew them Easter dresses. I know this. It ain't happening. At all. Period. Well, at least not this year.

And when my sister said she was going to do up her boys in grey and girls in purple I should do the same. And because I always do what my sister tells me, or more like whatever she does. I did. Or at least I'm attempting to, or something like that.

Funny thing is is there's not a whole lot of grey for the 4 and under crowd. And when there is it's just too much foo foo. If ya'll don't know what foo foo is, watch this. So I had this brilliant idea to make him something, you know because I'm an expert at sewing...

So with a little ~~lot~~ ~~major~~ help from this tutorial, we wound up with something completely custom made (which also means I forgot to account for my Little G's appetite and subsequent rotundness). I even managed to teach myself how to do button holes on my sewing machine. I have finally arrived! And made buttons to match.

He was counting the pictures.

The yes, the belly will probably insist on having it unbuttoned...

Keepin' it real folks.

So while this is all fine and dandy. And now my kids will be decked out to match their cousins. It really is only for pictures. Because the reality is, they won't be seeing each other Easter Sunday, nope. We're headed here:

With sweatshirts, coats and blankets, I'm sure. And I'm totally stoked. Anyone else coming? What are your Easter celebration plans?

The daily dailies and then some

2011-04-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

We've been staying busy here folks. So busy, it took me approximately 23 minutes to figure out what day it is today. We'd not intended to have spring break, but gosh darn it if didn't happen.

We took a little trip to NW Trek. We will be going again, soon.

Those who can't take pictures of those who can. This is me, not sleeping.

This is quite possibly the sweetest thing ever, don't even try to argue. He's a happy dude.

Time with cousins from far away - to now here.

In case you can't tell, this is Little G with his face covered in lip gloss. I will not show you a picture of all the jewelry he had on either, nope, not gonna happen.

The beach with friends. This is the crab and the turkey...I'll let you decide.

Side note: And I hesitate to write this, Argh. But for those of you who haven't heard...
Hubs got another layoff notice (almost 2 yrs from his last one) for budget reasons, again.

We're looking at some transitions once again in our life. Now the reason I hesitate to bring it up; We're FINE, we're not angry, depressed or anxious (this is especially a big thing for me:). We're grateful, excited and hitting the ground running. He has 3 more months (P/T) left at his current job, should he decide to stay there that long.

So if you see that I'm a little sporadic here, that's normal anyway. But we're probably off galavanting, or packing - ha!

More to come, I'm sure...Life is never dull!

Frogs, snails, puppy dog tails and offroading

2011-03-31T22:02:00.000-07:00

Went for a walk with the kidletts today...

The whole walk Little G was walking in the "rain stream" next to our path. Splashing his whole self, undaunted.

Within minutes of arriving at our destination Little G walks right into the pond. Um, dude, you can't swim and your boots aren't that tall. Then he found two frogs he was desperately trying corral. Georg was keeping her distance for sure.

Case in point (turn it up a little for Georg's comments at the end - her mother's daughter):
*For those of you seeing this on Facebook, you have to go to my actual site to see the video*

And I broke in the new stroller - mamas style, offroad.

Morning Surprises, Compromises and the UPS man

2011-03-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Do rainy days mean pajama days? I'd like to think so.

This morning I woke the kids up to this:

The let down is that it comes AFTER their room is clean, baths have been had and school is done. Delayed gratification? Or motivation? Yes, we'll go with motivation.

I've been trying to convince little G that it is indeed time for a hair cut (we do this every few months, if you remember). Well in an effort of compromise - or because we've been missing buddy Max - or because he's an emo kid, we did this:

Before - you can see how desperate the need of a hair cut is. This is also the time in which I found out he stamped his belly button (ink stamp mind you) - I mean really, who thinks up this stuff?? Here I was all concerned that he was getting random belly button infectious disease - oiyh.

Afters

Either that or it takes me 1/2 the time and 2/3'rds less cleanup. Lazy mama? Yes, yes I am thankyou verymuch.

Not to be outdone, Baby G managed to roll his noggin' into a door jam. Which he was utterly shaken, then bitterly angry. Turbo - yes. Mama fail - yes.

And finally I do online shopping folks. I'm just a tad obsessed with Amazon and Etsy. I try not to check out my cart. I just like to put things in it. And think about it. Which usually means talk myself out of it.

Well I've been searching for the ultimate stroller. Although first I had to convince myself to not always baby wear, I was a bit determined this time around to only baby wear, but baby is hefty and mamas wants to dust off her running shoes - you know, to go for a walk or 3.

And I found it, it happens to be a mere $1200. I mean, it's worth it right? Right? Ok, so then I garage saled, I baby saled and I haven't found anything I like. So then I found one similar for not $1200 and I think I'll like it. I think I'll like it so much that I've put it into my Amazon cart 5 times to think about it.

Two days ago (thank you AmazonPrime!) I bit the bullet and checked out. Yes, folks I actually checked my cart out. A miracle I assure you. And now I'm just a wee bit excited to see the UPS man, I'm sure I'll be watching out the window for him all day. *clap hands while giddy*

Here's to attempting to not hug the UPS or squeal at him - it makes him nervous.

Then I noticed this morning that a new book I've been waiting for, for like over a year, was finally released. I did not hesitate to order it. It's a must read series. Not to mention the author goes to our old church. Does that make me sound important?

Oh, and tonight is Thai food. And that my friends, is a good thing.

The silent genius

2011-03-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

Or who's better know as the wild turkey...

So I've been holding back on homeschooling little G very much. We do some basic things. He knows numbers/letters and such. He doesn't write, he doesn't color. He memorizes some verses. But really when Georg and I do school together, he distracts us, or plays, or both.

In an effort to try doing some catechism with him, like I do with Georg (she knows 27 q&a's), I've started to "teach" him. I knew he knew the first 3, just by hanging out in the same room with us while Georgi does hers. So I pressed to see if he knew more. I just kept asking him the questions and he kept giving me the answers. Yep, he knows all 27. The turkey.

I'm thinking that's how I'm going to homeschool this boy. By osmosis. Yep. Just teach Georg and little G will be learning too. Glad I got that worked out.

5 happy guy

2011-03-26T18:24:00.000-07:00

Baby dude is 5 months today. And darn if he isn't just a happy dude.

I wouldn't call him an easy baby (is there such a thing??), he's intense, but he's happy. Especially if he's home, with his people, toys and fuzzy.

He rolls everywhere and has started scooting around. Is this normal? He's finally getting some chunkers, but he's a tall baby dude. And most of his clothes he grew out of height wise.

He's slightly obsessed with his Johnny Jump Up and can make himself a bit dizzysick, but still happy if left in it too long.

He hates his carseat and protests with back arches.

He's definitely not sleeping through the night, but prefers to snuggle mamas all night long. I'll take it.

He laughs when I laugh. He has a deep throat voice. He's quite vocal lately and likes to complain instead of cry, kinda the same, but more fun.

He's getting interested and grabby at all foods, or really anything within reach. Paper's especially fun.

He reaches out to be held. And naked is still of thing of the most happiest of things.

He could almost convince me to have 3 more, if I could just forget about the laboring thing - oiyih.

But ohmylands he's a happy dude and makes my heart especially happy.

Sunny with a chance of sandy

2011-03-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been relatively nice (slightly rainy) and relatively sunny.
That means the kids have spent hours playing outside. I mean hours. It include the jumperline - and yes, they managed to entice the mamas out there too. I should make it a daily work out. I really should. A water fight (in the rain), the sandbox and running around in their scivvys. Lots of "mud" pies and castle building. I love these nice weather days where my kids forget what a tv is and have to be bribed to come in.

1st Babysit

2011-03-23T16:26:00.000-07:00

My third babe is a cling on. He's entirely attached to me. So when mom offered to babysit all 3 I was apprehensive, yet eager to try. He gets the cling on thing from his dad, I promise.

It was only for 2 hrs (and darn it, it wasn't even a date), but for those two hours I didn't have to hold, entertain, nurse, rock, bounce, change poo, or worry who's tackling baby dude. He was fine. He was ~~mostly~~ happy. He survived. And so did I.

Here's to Baby G's first babysitters! Let's do it again REAL soon, MmmK?

Competition

2011-03-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's the update I've been not putting on for, like, forever...

So for the past few months, every Sunday afternoon we've been heading to the church where the kids do Awana's and Georgi's been practicing for the Awana Regional Games. Yes, big deal. I didn't realize just how big of deal it was until we went, two weekends ago (yes, I know that's how far behind I am).

Anyhoo, there were hundreds of teams from all over WA competing. And here I thought it be fun for her to have a healthy little competition. Well, it was and perhaps I was more overwhelmed than she was, cause mama don't do crowds. It was held at a fair grounds and it was an event! Lemme tell you.

Here it is in picture form.

Georg and her coachpastor.

This is her coachpastor willing the slowest team member (eh hem, Georg) to go a little faster - PLEASE!

When my little dude wasn't begging for every concession stand food imaginable, even while eating, he was taking pictures of the crowd - or what you might call, people we don't know.

The team - their all a buncha nuts.

When they announced our teams as third, my first thought (shame on me), was at least they weren't last! That is until they announced two teams tied for second. Doh! It's not about winning. It's not about winning. It's not about winning. Hey the kids were just happy with a medal!

Heaven as I know it

2011-03-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a whirl wind, of sorts - more on that later.

But yesterday was just what was needed.
Came home from church to the wonderful smell of dinner being ready. Don't you just love it when you have the fore site to have something ready? After which the boys went out side while baby dude was sleeping. Yeah me.

Georgi and I got to spend some quality time together, sewing (or what she refers to as zewing).

So with tea at the ready and sewing in hand I got to watch my little girl learn the trade I was taught by my mother.

More glorious than that, while she was sewing she was singing gospel music. This makes my heart happy.

She then proceeds to comment on how the men are outside while the girls are inside sewing, with the baby, because "that's what we do". Clearly my daughter was meant for a different era.

And she's back to singing again.

My day could not get any better.

Sisters

2011-03-09T15:27:00.000-08:00

So when it's raining and school is done and imaginations gear are churning, the kids will play together all day. They love each other. They love playing together. I rarely have to tell them to go play in their room, cause they already are. Usually I have to coax them out to be reintroduced to the family. Hello, I'm your mamas, you haven't seen me all day. Busykins.

Also they choose to play together. Even in a big group of kids they normally wind up together. I love that.

What they've been into today? Well everything, naturally, but particularly the dress ups.

He calls himself RaceCowBoy.

It was bound to happen. He's just so dern perty.

Luv. For the record baby dude is a baby fairy, fyi.

Who will also no longer be contained in a seat, just so we're clear.

The end.

Anatomy of a desk

2011-03-08T21:13:00.000-08:00

Do ya'll have this problem? You know where you clean your desk then it's like this the next day. I mean really. It's a bit ridiculous isn't it?

So we have the green drinks (tea and smoothie)
the two cameras (I'm trying to decide which one to get rid of) and subsequent camera box
the drums (left over from the kids' music show)
of course Sophie giraffe (thanks baby G)
the photo albums I'm trying to complete (I need to order photos, which consequently have a coupon waiting to be ordered
and the photos waiting photo books, oiyh
the external hard drive - HUBS!!
wine glass (empty, um yes)
multiple iphone boxes (once again, hubs, he's an addict)
old cell phone (headed for ebay)
oh, then there's the confiscated dart guns, please don'e ask me why
and see the large stack of files on the file-stacker thing, ya, those are all hubs, waiting to be gone through by him (for two years, eh hem)
random coupons manuals and lists (oh how I do love lists)

Does this not seem out of control. I need a bigger desk. Yes ma'am.

Anniversary

2011-03-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

Hubs called me up yesterday and pulled one of those, "So do you know what today is?" on me. The turkey. Because I had the brief ohmygoshIcan'tbelieveIforgot moments when I thought it was our wedding Anniversary. We weren't married in March, neither were we married on the 1st. Eh, hem. He loves a good laugh anyways...

So me being in the throws of schooling, laundry, cleanin, cookin, playin, readin, exhaustin, nursin, ifIhavetotellyouonemoretime-in...really, really couldn't look past anything that wasn't our Anniversary. I just couldn't. Thankfully I married a man that also can not keep a secret. At. All. He really has no clue what suspense is or what he should do with it. And that's ok, because I was still suffering the effects of thinking I'd gone and forgot about getting hitched, well at least the day I was hitched. I'm liable to do it these days.

Well folks it's the anniversary of us moving. Yep, we've been here a year, or we were moving this time last year, to be precise. And me finding out I was pregnant (the very same week we were moving), and uber sick. Funny how I can't seem to remember the moving part. I do remember being sick and packing and driving and wanting to die on a number of occasions.

In some ways it feels like forever ago, but then again just yesterday. We love this area and are so very grateful for hubs' employment/employer. We definitely love being closer to my family. But we also miss all our friends and family north and of course don't hardly ever see them, because we're "so very far away", like a whole hr, and a half. Sheesh.

So happy Olympia anniversary to us!

Now who's ready for a shindig north? It's about time, ya reckon?