My Boys Love these...

Marbles! I found huge marbles that I'm hoping will not drive me crazy:)

I thought the marbles would go nicely with a cute personalized bag.

I have to say I think they turned out adorable!

And because I think he's adorable....

Who is your baby daddy?

Today I had to get Keenan a booster shot. Never mind that he already had this shot and its consecutive boosters when he was 2yrs. And that the school nurse already looked into it with the Health department. But when the state audits, we all listen...I guess. ANYWAYS...I decided to take both kids out of school since the appointment was late in the afternoon and I didn't want to miss elek getting off the bus. To the Health Department we went. Now let me just say I have absolutely no problem with the government programs - they are in place for good reasons and help people when not abused. Our appointment went quickly and smoothly, it is a new building and actually quite nice and set up really well. the boys and I were winding through the back hallways to checkout. As I was checking out elek -ever so helpful, wants me to get all the handout I could possibly need-says, "hey mom, do you want me to give you one of these numbers?" I glance down to a paper hanging from the tall counter-directly eye level for him. It was like watching day time TV. Who's your baby daddy? We do paternal testing! then it has all the phone # tabs at the bottom. Without thinking I say, "We already now who your daddy is-we don't need to test you to find out." The lady behind the desk couldn't contain her laughter! It was quite funny when I thought about it :) I would imagine working at the health department you get all kinds of everything. I'm glad we were able to make her day a little brighter! And I am so thankful for a divine plan to have families. I'm grateful that I don't have to spend my day stressing over who my baby daddies are. I'm so grateful there is only one for all four of my babies! And I'm so grateful that we love each other.

Elek's prayer

Elek said the breakfast prayer. It started out like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for this day. Thank you for blessing us to go to sleep last night....At some point....
bless our food....
Amen

Yep, that's right He's thankful that at some point in the evening-after being tuck in bed- that they finally went to sleep. How long did it take? Well, I guess it doesn't matter(which it really doesn't now-just annoying last night) In the end the result was the same: At some point...they went to sleep. And we woke up to start off a new day cheerfully together.

Treat bags

Not the best picts, but aren't these bags so cute!? And they were under 2 bucks to make! Yeah!

DripDripDrip....

Drip-drip....drip-drip-drip shhhhhs drip...

10pm

Kids asleep

No water is on

Drip-drip-dripp

check on kids

elek.bed.sleeping

keenan.wrapped in blankets.sleeping

camden.bed.sleeping

hmmm

bed check again.

keenan not in blankets

keenan!

yes?

walk into MY room

feet in cold water

dog is not at the house

turn on light.

Keenan. Sleep walking. Fully ASLEEP. PEED on my FLOOR! and I'm STANDING in it!!


Yes, my kids are known to sleep walk at times. Usually they look awake. the older they get the less it happens. Usually they just end up by my bed trying to tell me something they are dreaming about and I guide them back to bed.
Keenan must have been talking to me in his dream. He just kept saying "I really have to get it" whenever I asked what was going on. It didn't take long to realize he was totally asleep and thought he had peed in the toilet.
As gross as it was that I was standing in pee-it was so funny at the same time. In one of those "I can't believe this just happened" kind of ways.

I had to change my cloths and clean my feet really well. I just kept thinking there was pee all over me! And yes, he really had to go.

A lot.

Even for a Birthday...

...there will be green...



Camden wakes up, birthday morning, and finds his presents. Look at that sweet little morning face:)



Since green has been Camden's theme this year, we did a green themed birthday celebration!
He wore a green shirt and had a green dinner with all green table ware. He was in green heaven!



He's so pleased with his green cake:) It was a little weird not to decorate the cake up with some character, but green was all he wanted.



All out on the first try. He looks so old!



Checking out the goods with the boys!



Your one Happy Three year old. In-between all those ornery-three moments!
You've loved green all year long - much to my surprise. The other kids in nursery have started to have a fascination with green too, I guess they think It must be cool if you keep wanting it each week!
You love your nursery teacher and she indulges you in your love of green by giving you green balloons, play dough, crayons and toys.
You recently decided it was okay to color and that you really like to do it! You'll spend long amounts of time coloring flash cards and pictures.
You don't like to draw your own pictures though. You think you should be able to dictate to someone what you want, have them draw it then you color it.
You love when "your boys" come home from school and miss them all day when they are gone.
You like to go places, but as soon as we are in the van you want to go back to "my house." You don't mean our families house or my house but Your house!
You like to watch little bits of tv or movies. Once you've watched what you've deemed important you get up and turn it off-this really annoys your brothers!
You try to get out of a nap by telling me, "It's not dark outside!" I'm not sure how this ever came about, but you really think it is sound reasoning not to take a nap.
You love to give me four kisses at night. One on my right cheek, left cheek, forehead then chin. In that order and good solid kisses or you have to start over. Then you end with a "squeezy hug."

A mirror that just keeps coming to me

When we bought our first house, we had no bedroom furniture. We had a new futon bed that we loved. It was ours and we bought it together-it worked for us. Moving day was Crazy! I was at the old house directing and cleaning as we would fill a truck and send it up. You can imagine my Surprise when I went to the new house and everything was everywhere! As I walked through the very box filled new house moving boxes around as I went, I ended up in the master bedroom....where I found a bedroom set? My in-laws were surprised we didn't have a real-bed or dressers or night stands. So they gave us their very first bedroom set from when they were first married. It was very nice and thoughtful of them. It was 32 yrs old. The bed post arc-ed in a "falling over our head" kind of a way. And the wood floors did nothing to help us out in the sliding of the post. But there was an Amazing, big, wooden dresser mirror! I went to work painting the whole set white. It was lots better.

Several years later we moved across country. There was no room in the moving truck for the bedroom set. The whole set was left behind to be put on the curb for spring clean up (it was on its very last leg). The bed post had come off the frame and was thrown out earlier and the drawers were barely holding together.

Three years later we moved back to the area -the same house even. We were helping the in laws remodel there gigantic basement. I've often said things get lost in there... Walking through one day I was shocked to find the very same mirror from years earlier! After getting Shaun to drag this very heavy mirror upstairs-I took it home -only the mirror :) -with a plan....

To paint it Black and put it here:)

It once seemed so big now it almost seems small up in that big space. But I really do love it here. And I love that this mirror has found me again!

The dressers found me too...they were in a work shed -I thought the dash of white really lightened the place up:)

A crafty baby gift

My in-laws just had their 19th grandbaby! I wanted to make a "personal" gift. So, when I saw Mom enving this car seat cover - I thought it would be the perfect gift!


There is also that cute little diaper bag at the bottom.

It even snaps shut-to keep those diapers nice and clean:)



It's reversable...


And it will completly cover baby girl from wind and anything elts.

Doesn't she look so cute in there!

Schools in

My two big boys are at school today.

They both met their teachers yesterday.
Elek was so serious with his new teacher.
Keenan was completely oblivious to his.
Elek spent the day telling keenan of all the rules and play areas for his class.
Elek had the same teacher last year.
Keenan got a welcome to school bag with a big play dough and big skittles.
Elek got a pencil.
Elek wasn't impressed.
He was happy that he could put the pencil in a pencil pocket inside another pocket in his backpack:)
I spent the day before school prepping my almost three yr old that he would be staying home.

Camden looks adorable in his hand-me-down batman backpack he insist on wearing to the bus stop.
Camden and I had back to school donuts and I opted-out of exercising
That cute little boy and I were on a hunt for school shoes for the big boys
Two big cookies and a donut later we had groceries and shoes
Camden thinks his donut was "elitious" (code for delicious!)
His cookies were "higantic" and "amazing"

Those two big boys of mine are on their way home now....
I think we may have an early bed time after much talking over the big day.....

Projects

Here you go T =)

I made wash cloths to fit the little hands at our house.

They match our monkey bathroom

And with coupons and a gift card they were *free*

A little treasure painted brown and hidden in a garage

covered with stuff and left all alone.

It's very happy all sanded down and loved by a 2 yr old

Shower cutains I loved and cut up to make a window curtain

Summer pjs for my boys

All just the right sizes

Yup, still likes green:)

Moments that make me happy =)

My friend posted some picts of her kids with the grass up-front...I loved them and wanted to try it out:) I love that I caught Camden with his little hands on his face while checking out his big brother!

Happy, happy boy!

My Mom made herself a purse out of this paisly fabric. She had all these wonderful little pockets on the inside and she put quilt batting in between the layers to protect her stuff. I started thinking this would be wonderful for my camera on "little" outings. I have a jigantic camera bag that screams "come grab my really cool camera!" But this bag is so adorable! My Mom made a patern using my camera and a paper grocery bag. Yes, She is amazing! With 30 min before I had to leave to catch my flight we had made the outside shell part of the bag. When I got home I ran to Joanns(ya, I've been there a lot) found a cute striped pink fabric to line the inside with. Made two little pockets for my charger and cord. I used some left over green from my camera strap and used it on the strap, flower and button. Another friend and I were trying to figure out how I could get it closed and we came up with this metal snap covered in green. We figured out how to make that cute little flower...and this is the finished project. It took a villege (hehe) to make it and I LoVe it!!


Down at the bottem is the frog pond the boys love to be at! We even had a crawdad come to play!

An amazing, beautiful rain storm. Somewhere there was a huge rainbow. The zig zag lines are the rain.
It was raining

the sun was setting

the road was steaming

and the light was litterally sparkeling off every individual rain drop....

Kitchen

Before

After

When email fails, blog it:) I have tried to keep this a surprise for my "handyman" dad, I've avoided calling and bursting at the seams! We've always wanted to replace the blue..... three days of drying and a very smelly night of painting it's done! And for only 20bucks-fantastic:)

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Baby Boy! I think this picture sums you up perfectly! Always ready with a *grin*! Your crazy spikies that you have to make sure are "spiky" enough and bugs... Everywhere we go you can find bugs! On a recent trip to JoAnns you found a rolly-polly IN the store. It kept you busy the whole time we were there. Then on the way out of the store you found the breeding ground for the things outside and slightly to the left of the main doors. At garage sales you will check out the rocks in people 's yard for worms(until I make you stop). At Grandma's house you collect ladybugs... Always a bug on your list:)

Pin the lizard on the birthday boy!
You really, really wanted a live lizard for your birthday. At the pet store you beg to hold the lizards. Then you calmly tell me how cute they are and why we neeeeed one! I think you've narrowed it down to geckos.



We had a fun time at your outside lizard/buggy/bubble party! It was the first day in a week that it didn't rain. The yard was a bit flooded but you had such a good time anyways:) We had a "nest" of baby lizard eggs with stretchy lizards in them(I think this was my favorite thing to make for you!). We love you tons and tons :)

What have we been up to?

You ask...
Nothing really. And everything all at once.


Popcorn Popping.
I missed it, when all the trees were "popping" at the same time. But I still love it. I was twenty when I finally understood the children's song Popcorn Popping. I had never seen flowering trees before. I love them!



Easter.
I love that my boys know the Easter story. I love that they talk about it with so much reverence, sadness and love. It is one of their favorite Family Home Evening lessons. They'll request it all year. We have a plastic Easter egg filled with the symbols of Easter. We did a egg hunt with questions about Easter and "super words" on the back that led to a little treat. It was the most participated FHE in a while:) For weeks after the kids were doing egg hunts. Eggs filled with Lego pieces were every where. I went out of town for a weekend and I was looking for something in the suit case. What did I find? A yellow Easter egg with a Lego man inside:)
We did lots of Easter stuff with cousins. I think it was the first time my boys have dyed eggs. They loved it. So messy, endless options:) We had Easter egg hunts. At one place the kids got so. many. prizes. It was crazy fun!

Backyards.

So much fun:) The kids are big enough to climb trees. They don't even mind when the tree scratches them from foot to belly-they just keep going back for more:) Grass. Seriously -does it really grow this fast? I tried hacking at the front yard with a borrowed push lawn mower. 2 things about this: 1. It won't happen again. 2. I'm glad all the neighbors were at work. No witnesses is probably a good thing!

Craftiness.

I have no pictures yet, But boy have I been productive here! I made a very cute padded camera bag! Love it.

Made a camera strap, and my great friend fixed it so I could put the camera strap in it:)

I finally figured out how to cover up a arched window above the regular window in the kids room. Obvious to some, but I finally realized all I had to do is lengthen the curtains and raise the curtain rod. I found a cute shower curtain and cut it up and stitched it to the bottom of the regular curtains. Problem solved!
Made curtains for Elek's room.

Finally sewed a ripped out seem on a shirt and a seem on a pair of pj's for the boys, a stuffed puppy face from a favorite toy and repaired a loved blanket.

Elek picked out some material for some pj pants. And I actually made them:)

Pampered chef party.

It was so fun:) Thanks to everyone who ordered! I got a whole box full of fun kitchen stuff for only $40. Whoohoo!!

Love of ALL things green!

My little Camden boy...He loves Green. He calls it "My Green." He is mildly obsessed with this color. At first I thought he was just on a new little kick, but as the weeks then months have passed it has turned into much, much more! We went out of town for a few days - I packed a green shirt. Trying to get that thing off him was crazy. I finally let him wear it to bed rather than fight him. The next morning, well He wore it again then that night too. Finally it got into the wash and became a night shirt while we were gone. If the kids start grumbling over toys...just find a green toy and he is distracted instantly.

He needs a home for his green things. Keenan gave Camden this green turtle (inside) after Camden expressed his love for it. Repeatedly.

Can you tell where Camden was sitting?

While the other kids were building towers and things...Camden was pilling up green stuff. (He picked up those mickey mouse card in the paint isle at lowes.)

I walked into the livingroom and...not kidding...He was like this...All I did was tell him to say, Green:) There is actually a small yellow car mixed in those greens.

Just one of his stashes...

I though I would through this one in just for kicks! Camden wouldn't pick up any eggs at the hunt until He noticed Green eggs!

LIttle stinker ;}

While at the grocery store with Camden I turned to get milk out of the freezer. I look at Camden when I put the milk in the cart. He is grinning and sitting so nicely in the back of the cart. He makes eye contact with me. Blows me a kiss. Says "thanks." huh?
A big bag of donuts sits proudly on his lap.

Camden thoughts

Camden and I were having a little "together time" over sprinkle donuts and "chocat" milk while the older boys are at school. I started asking Camden what sounds different animals say...
me: what does a cow say?
c: moooo
me: what does a duck say?
c: ack, ack, ack (making little hand quacks too)
me: what does a puppy say?
c: roof, roof
me: what does a snake say?
c: (sticking his tongue out) ssss
me: what does a kitty say?
c: ow, ow ow
me: good! hehe:) what does a pig say?
c: piiiiggg, piiiiigggy
What a funny little guy:)

Keenan thoughts

While eating some delicious, homemade (yup, I had to through that in there) cupcakes - Keenan decided He needed to have them at his birthday party. Keenan is already planning his birthday party for this summer....
Dad: Why do you have a birthday?
Keenan: Because Heavenly Father and Jesus wanted to give us a day to change numbers.
Not quite the answer Shaun was looking for, but very funny:)

Goin Toothless :}

When Elek was born my Mom told me "I needed to dress up Elek's birth story because it was kinda boring." Well, six years and a full mouth later Elek has a eventful story to tell....

About nine months ago living in Maryland Elek's bottom tooth started to get discolored. I figured it would get loose and Elek would pick at it and the tooth would be gone. But that never happened. On New Years Eve the family had a party. During the party my sister-in-law asked about Elek's tooth. So we were chattin about it-Brianna asked if Elek would let her wiggle it. She promptly promised him a dollar if she got the tooth out. Brianna also set Elek straight about the Tooth Fairy. (His cousin told him the fairy was really just your parents pretending. I think I was more sad then Elek was about this because we hadn't even had a chance to have the Tooth Fairy yet -I was so disappointed.) So Elek sat on her lap and watched a movie while she wiggled that tooth. Then Grandma decided the tooth would come out quite nicely with needle nose pliers. What!!! I had serious reservations about this, but decided to let Elek choose. The next thing I know - Grandpa has a pink pair of needle nose pliers in Elek's questioning mouth. Elek's little head did a tight bob and the tooth was being held up in those pliers grip! Elek's (and my) eyes were huge and Elek was off to gleefully tell everyone he "lost" a tooth and that he was a dollar richer and the promise of money from the tooth fairy.

I just love that hole in his mouth. It makes me smile every time I look at him:) I started to reflect on when the boys were babies and they got their first teeth. I just love those toothy smiles. I guess I'm just a sucker for hole-y smiles!