SMILE

As the boys get older they are able to do more things independently. And as this is well and good some things are done messier than if I was assisting them. 

For example....

I love that the boys love brushing their teeth (and do a good job of it). These current tooth brushes came from Santa Claus and provide some quality spin action.

They brush top teeth then spit, bottom teeth then spit, cheese face then spit and then "freestyle" so they can go hog wild and dance a little bit while brushing.  We all have a good time and then the sink gets disgusting.

And as you can imagine I have to clean it up.  All that spit all along the sink that the water doesn't touch gives me the willies.  I'm proud of my boys but I have a feeling this is a gateway to all the gross things I will have to clean up in the future.

You Know It's Been A Long Month When...

Katie R.

For February being a short month and the fact that it is not over it has been a long, long month in our house.  

How do I know it's time for March to begin?

I have been stuck in the house for so long with sick family members, I long for my cubicle.  I only work 1 day a week now and this is my little piece of heaven.

My husband brought me flowers, which never happens, because he felt bad for all of the dinners he missed and time he has spent at work this month.

Look at all the McDonald's happy meal cups we have accumulated.  I know that there is at least one more Emmet missing.  With all the sickness, including me being laid up with a tooth infection for 4 days, the kids have had some questionable meals.  

There was a ridiculous amount of tv that was watched with cartoons to keep little ones happy during the day and with the Olympics in the evening that I heard Wes singing this at dinner last week.  (Yes it's the "We are Farmers" commercial)

There were of course some good things.  My parents visited and Joe and I went away for the weekend with some friends.  And with the tooth infection I received a lot of pain medications.  However for the most part I'm ready for March.

Hurt Feelings

I could hear Lincoln and Colby playing in the next room.  I could tell that a battle for a toy was ensuing and I waited in the kitchen to see if they could work it out.  It seemed to work out and the boys kept playing until Lincoln came sulking into the kitchen and announced that "Colby hurt my feelings!" I sunk to my knees to embrace him and console him and his feelings.  We had a little chat and he rallied and went back to playing with Colby.  I felt for my little guy and the fact that he was having feelings he needed help coping with but I was also proud of him for rallying so well and got back to playing.

Fast forward a few hours and I had heard...

"Isis Kitty hurt my feelings" (she sat on the blanket he wanted to use)
"The TV hurt my feelings" (It was off and he was not pleased with that)
"You hurt my feelings" ( I wouldn't give him a juice box)
"My bed hurt my feelings" (he didn't want to take a nap)

Clearly Lincoln found a phrase that triggered an immediate response and tried to milk it for all that it was worth. As imagined, my concern for him and his feelings became less and less every time something hurt his feelings. Well played Lincoln. Unfortunately you went to hard too fast and wore out it's welcome.

The Details

Matching cups, hats and decorations make a birthday party pretty but letting a 5 year old pick out all the accessories make a birthday party his own.  Luckily not getting my act together soon enough and not living in an area where my options are plentiful allowed Colby to run the show for his birthday party.  He had a theme....superhero, Star Wars Angry Birds. And really, who am I to make him narrow it down.  So off we went to our local party store to stock up on crap the necessities needed for a birthday party.  And boy did we get enough stuff...

 



 

We did the Captain America shield cake for the family birthday party and then Colby wanted the Spiderman, Darth Vader and Yoda cupcake toppings for the friend birthday party. It's a bit of a variety but what the hell....

 

 

I, for some crazy reason, agreed to buy a piñata for the event as well. After looking at EVERY piñata in the store we settled on a Spiderman one.  I called it an "indoor" piñata because instead of needed to smack it with a stick it had 2dozen or so ribbons on the bottom and the kids got to pull one at a time until it finally opened and poured on the floor for the kids to gather. I'll never buy the regular kind again! It was awesome and all the kids had several attempts to pull ribbons!

 

 And we had a wide variety of decorations...Marvel wall clings (soon to be moved to Colby's bedroom) Avengers streamers, Angry birds wall hangings just to point out a few.  We did not discriminate against any decorations.

Oh and then me and my homemade activities.  I present these with no grand ideas that my arts and craft skills are sometimes left lacking or maybe it is that I realize my audience and realize that 5 year olds are not going to criticize my coloring skills!

 

Pin the star on the shield or as I like to call it ode to sexy Captian America. Each child had a star waiting for them on arrival so they could play as many times as they like.  Some of the boys liked to all go at the same time which made for some good quality collisions.

And my next activity would have been way cooler if we hadn't received 2 feet of snow the night before. I had filled balloons with water and food coloring and cut up a tarp to show off a message for Colby.  Only a few balloons broke once thrown at the tarp but most sunk into the soft snow but the kids still thought it was really cool to throw water balloons so I still consider the activity a win.

It was fun to find them the next day and break the remaining ones that didn't freeze in the snow.  The food coloring made the snow look like rainbow sherbet!  I will definitely try it again on harder snow.

The kids all took home goodies bags filled with odds and ends and lots of candy from the piñata! I apologized to the parents on pick-up for the amount of candy they consumed and then sent them on there way.

Colby told me he had an awesome time so I think I continue to leave the decorating up to him. Great job buddy, I had a great time too!





Happy Birthday

Time does fly by and  it move especially fast when you have family flying in and friends coming over to celebrate an amazing boy's 5th birthday.  And yes, as Katie R. so kindly pointed out, it was my birthday as well.   I have many stories to tell and pictures to show (I attempted a food-coloring water balloon activity for the kids) but I wanted to say thanks for all the birthday love.  It was a great week and I promise to tell you all about it this week.

Colby had a great time celebrating....

And Lincoln was there to capture it all on film...

Happy Birthday, Katie D.!!!

Because Katie D. shares her birthday with a special little guy, I want to make sure to give her some special attention today.  I just wanted to take a second to say Happy Birthday to my friend who is always there when I need someone to "like" my facebook post, to watch my kids and most importantly to have a beer with when I need to bitch vent about something (which happens a lot).

Have a great birthday pal!!

Maybe It's Time I Put on Some Real Pants

Katie R.

Most of us have been there.  We gain weight and lose weight making our jeans sometimes look amazing and other times... well not so much.  Well last year during those times of... well not so much... I learned of the amazing world of leggings.  First I had one pair, then five and now it has become my official uniform of winter.  

So when did I realize that maybe I have a leggings problem?  Is it when my husband makes fun of me?  No that doesn't bother me as that man has more flannel than they brawny guy.  Is it when I realized I had gone all week and worn a new pair of leggings every day?  Nope that just means I put on clean clothes everyday and that is really something to be proud of.  Is it when I realized I hadn't worn half of my tops because they don't go with leggings? No that just means I'm conserving those for next year.

The day I realized I may have a problem is when we were at a gathering at a friends house and both of my kids, at separate occasions, went up to my friend and thought it was me because she had leggings on. That day I had decided to wear jeans and apparently I was a stranger in their eyes.  Luckily it was a good friend so I just walked away and let her deal with whatever they wanted.  However, it did make me realize that maybe I should start wearing real pants.

So am I planning on being leggings free?  Not quite yet, but today, which is a snow day, I did take a shower and put on baggie sweat pants so no one can say I'm not changing it up.

My official uniform.  Ignore the hair and make-up, I hadn't got around to that (and most likely didn't manage to get it done that day) 

Guess Who?

Nothing makes me happier then coming across anything that will entertain my boys for a morning.  Since the holidays have passed I've been trying to purge, trash and donate the surplus we have in the house.  This morning, the boys and I, went over to drop a box of goodies off at the local Salvation Army and decided to peek around a bit.  I was eager to look at the furniture to see if I could find any treasures and I did, two little chairs that will fit perfect with the boys table. (They are currently pink but that is easy enough to remedy) But I also spied in the board game area some classics from when I was a kid. I decided on Guess Who? and was eager to get home and see how the boys liked it.  I did have to pull the boys from the TV with the fuzzy feed of a Disney movie to the front of the store to cash out but all in all they did well and deserved that $2.50 I spent on the game!

 

 

The game is for ages 6 and up but with a little guidance and a lot of just playing around with the boards the boys really enjoyed themselves. 

 

Sometimes the old school games that we grew up on continue to stand the test of time!  And luckily these gems can be found for a heck of a deal around town!