Wordless Wednesday: Sandbox Fun

Sometimes it's incredibly hard to get them both to look at the camera at the same time so I just give up and live with the weird face or sideline glance pictures. :)

Wordless Wednesday: My Babies

Can you tell which baby is which?
(Zeke is now four but their baby pictures look very similar in some ways!)

My Life and Kids

I have a cousin who's really into music right now - he's the lead singer in a band that's headlining a lot of local places and gathering a devoted following. While visiting family this past week, we went to our local mall and I just happened to see him there. We chatted for only a few seconds before his phone started going crazy. He'd finish one call and it would start ringing again - meanwhile, text and Facebook notifications were chiming away. He had a show that evening and lots of people wanted to talk to him. One band was possibly going to back out and they were concerned. Others were just checking in, making sure of the time he was playing, etc. He apologized profusely and said, "Yeah, this is my life now." At that moment my son and daughter came flying by, chasing each other and giggling maniacally. I replied, "There goes mine!"

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Wordless Wednesday: Summer Kids

Wordless Wednesday: My Silly Girl

 

Wordless Wednesday: Zeke at the Fair

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Fun

Father's Day FAIL

I love to do creative and crafty projects with the kids for the holidays. I had the great idea this week that the kids and I would make a really neat t-shirt craft for my hubby. We'd get a white t-shirt of Daddy's and add a nice message with iron-on letters, like "Happy Father's Day!" or "We love you!" Then I'd get some blue paint, dip the kids hands in it and let them put some hand prints on the shirt. We'd present it to their Daddy on Sunday and he'd be overjoyed!

You see the disaster waiting to happen right?

My darling hubby is unemployed right now so it's a bit hard to do anything "secret" around the house, without his knowledge. So when he left to run some errands in town today, I saw my opportunity. I pulled down the ironing board and got to work. I started cutting out my iron-ons and to my dismay there were only a certain number of letters, like the single letter D. So we couldn't spell "Dad." That stinks. Only one P, so no "Happy Father's Day." There were also only 3 letter E's so we couldn't spell the kid's names - Elisha and Ezekiel. Too many E's. So I thought okay, nicknames then. "Zeke" and....nope, only one letter L! Ellie needs two. So we finally settled on "Zeke" and "Elisha." Okay, right, whatever. On to the ironing.

Note: Ironing is not really a little-kid-friendly craft idea. They can really only sit and watch. That lasted for a grand total of about two minutes for my son - then he was off sword fighting in the next room. The baby didn't even last that long. So I think well, that's alright - they'll be able to help with the hand prints.

I follow all the directions to iron the letters on to the shirt and flip it back to the front side to peel off the plastic and see my finished project. I start pulling on the plastic and the letters are stuck to it. I consult the directions and it says if this happens to iron the letters more. So I iron more. Meanwhile, the baby is busily dragging out a package of diapers and dumping them all over the dining room floor. My son is doing a similar task, only with practically every book on our bookshelf. I check the shirt and the letters are still stuck. I iron more. By this time, my kids have made a spectacular mess and are fighting - "MOMMM! ELLIE WON'T LEAVE ME ALONEEE!" "WAAAAHHHH! MAMA! MAMA!" I check the shirt again and the letters kind of look like they *might* be sticking to the shirt so I chance it and try to pull the plastic all the way off of one. Bad idea. The letter comes off completely, not attached to the shirt at all. Gaaah! So I put the shirt BACK on the ironing board, put the letters back on, put the press cloth over the shirt again and iron some more. The kids are now in my bedroom destroying things and jumping on the bed. I examine the shirt again and two of the plastic pieces come off the letters just fine. The rest come off in pieces or not at all. UGH.

So I think well, I'll just get the blue paint, have the kids make some hand prints and maybe I can draw the rest of the letters in with permanent marker. I gather the kids and dip baby's hand in the paint first. It immediately goes to her face. I wash her off and repeat. The hand goes to the face again. She refuses to make a hand print. I give up. It's either that or start ironing my head in frustration.

So that's the Father's Day present that WASN'T. It's currently on the floor of my closet in an angrily wadded ball. I think we're going to make Daddy a nice card this year instead. :)

My Weekend Update

Weekend update makes me think of Saturday Night Live. Perhaps I should have called this Friday Night Live, since the Friday night I had was...interesting to say the least. I'd been feeling kind of "off" since Wednesday or Thursday but Friday everything hit me full force. My throat felt like I'd been eating barbed wire, my head was pounding and I had cold chills. I had probably the worst night of sleep I've ever had. (Aside from the nights spent staying up with sick children.) I still feel icky but slightly better than I did. I think I'm on the road to recovery now.
We picked up my step-daughter on Friday afternoon to spend the weekend with us and she had a great time. My son gets so excited when we go get her that he can hardly wait! Her, my husband and my son spent a lot of time in the pool. My daughter's not a huge fan of the splashing so her and I stayed inside most of the time - which is probably better since I was sick, anyway.

Ellie says, "Come on, Mom...seriously?"

I got online for a short time on Saturday to post giveaway winners. We also had a wedding to attend that day which I got everyone ready for waaaay too early. I just figured since I had three kids to get ready this time and since I felt like crap, I better go ahead and allow quite a bit of extra time. Surprisingly they all got ready relatively fast. I tried to snap a couple pictures of the three of them looking all spiffy but it's exceptionally hard to get three kids to all look at you at the same time and smile:

Today, we intended to go to church but after another night of me up and down coughing and the baby not going to bed until later, we overslept. The kids are planning on hitting the pool once more before we take my step-daughter home. All in all it was a pretty good weekend, aside from me being sick. Now I just have to get the disaster house back in order this week! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Some Of Our More Chaotic Moments...

Note: No one was harmed {too badly} in the making of these photos. ;)

Wordless Wednesday: Cute Kids

Sorry for the lack of posts - I will hopefully be back to posting normally soon! We had a busy family weekend, it's my last week of babysitting and I'm now battling (possible) ear infections. Ugh! But for your viewing pleasure, I bring you cute pictures!

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Wordless Wednesday: Strange Sleeper

Yep, he's sleeping in a storage box! Kids will never cease to amaze me...

Wordless Wednesday: Mother's Day

My beautiful kiddos at church on Mother's Day:

Mother's Day

This status update in honor of Mother's Day has been floating all over Facebook recently:

To those mothers with children in your arms, and those who are expecting, to the mothers with babies up in heaven, and those who are still waiting for a miracle: Happy Mother's Day. You are ALL mothers.

And is that not the truth? I have friends who've gone through miscarriages, who are pregnant, who are adoptive moms, step-moms, moms of kids with disabilities, moms of big families and moms of only children. Mothers come in all shapes, sizes, colors and forms. I have an aunt who was never able to have children who has been very much like a "second mom" to my son. I'm so glad she's been able to be involved in his life. I have another aunt who has kind of been like my "second mom." We've always been super close and I love spending time with her and her kids.
I feel like I've gotten a lot closer with my own mom after having kids. You come to realize a lot of things she dealt with or went through as a parent and she's a good source of encouragement. Of course sometimes after a rough day, I just want to call her up and say "I'm sorry if you ever had a day like today when I was little!"
I hope all you mothers have a wonderful day tomorrow! And for anyone that has a mother, grandma, aunt or someone who is like a mother, remember all the things she has done for you. Celebrate her daily, weekly and monthly - not just once a year!

In our own world today, motherhood is rarely sufficiently honored. One day each year, there are brunches and corsages and little gifts of love. But the rest of the time? As a culture, we do not respect the great gift of mothering. Women's work in raising the next generation is taken for granted. Yet it is a vital service to humanity, one that deserves to be acknowledged continually.
-Patricia Monaghan

Wordless Wednesday: Pregnancy Belly Nostalgia

Because I'm feeling nostalgic today, here's some pictures of me 38 and 1/2 weeks pregnant with Miss Ellie:

Gaaahhhh, attack of the killer bellyyyyyyy! hehe

Wordless Wednesday: Pretty Girl

Gramma holding Ellie at a wedding shower

Wordless Wednesday: Windy Family Pictures

These are from Easter - it was sooooo windy that day,  hence the funny faces and blown away hair! :)

Wordless Wednesday: Visiting the Easter Bunny

Wordless Wednesday: Superman

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a flying Zeke!

My Babies & Other Babies

I have to brag on one of my "babies" for a bit, even though I guess he's not really a baby anymore. Zeke had to get a finger poke yesterday to get his iron tested and he was SO brave. I was worried he would be really upset but he just let the lady do it and didn't cry at all. He said, "Look Momma, I got a Garfield Band Aid!"
I also found out yesterday that he's 42 inches tall and 42 pounds - so I told him he's a square. :) Little Miss Ellie was 15 pounds, 10 ounces and 27 inches tall. She's still so tiny but she eats like a horse. (Although is that phrase really a good phrase to use? Do horses really eat a lot? Things to ponder...)
The kids are enjoying the weather getting nicer. Zeke could stay outside all day if I'd let him. Ellie is on the move, though - crawling all over the place and pulling up on everything - so I have to watch her pretty closely!

BzzAgent sent me an email about about a new documentary movie that's coming out (on my birthday!) called Babies and oh my GOODNESS, does it look adorable!





Click HERE to see the movie trailer.Note: I am a BzzAgent and part of the Babies Ambassador program. By promoting this movie I could win some prizes! I do however honestly think it looks ADORABLE and definitely will be watching it!