A Random Look into My Past Week

Just a few random photos/stories from the happenings around my house this week...

THIS is what happens when I'm trying to clean up raspberry applesauce out of the carpet in the hallway (Dont' ask. Had something to do with one little boy stealing another little boy's blue spoon, therefore leaving Boy B with no spoon?  I don't know.  There were two spoons on the table.  Why they needed to run their applesauce down the hallway is beyond me):

A 24oz bottle of Comet all over the kitchen floor.  Because Mom obviously wasn't A) frustrated enough at the red stains in the carpet and B) not busy enough cleaning those said stains out of the carpet and needed something else to do at that very moment. 

Luckily, I have an amazing husband, who, when he receives a phone call from his pregnant wife in tears over her already horrible day that had just become 100 times worse, leaves work early to take over cleaning and parenting duties.  Otherwise, those two little boys may still be sitting out on the curb.  (I will say, that as soon as David got home, my attitude improved greatly!  And, after consoling myself with some more ice cream and a good nights sleep, the next day was drastically better!  And no, I would never really put my children out on the curb).


This is one of the many lizards hanging out in our backyard this year.  He looks much smaller in this photo, but he is the length of my husband's hand...from thumb to pinkie.  He was very tame and calm, and almost let David catch him.   Almost.  That's okay.  I don't want and/or need two little boys figuring out that they can, indeed, catch the lizards if they really want to.

And this is my 20 week belly shot.  Had just rolled out of bed, so no hair.  No make up.  Pretty, right?  Anyway...so far this is still my "miracle" baby.  20 weeks and have still only gained 6 pounds.  My goal this go around is no more than 15.  And let it go on record, that if by some miracle, at the end of my 6 week recovery period I can end up weighing less than I did when I started this pregnancy, this WILL be my favorite child.  :)

There's our crazy week!  What went on at your house this week?

A Mother's Greatest Fear

Shortly after my youngest was born, I started having vivid nightmares of him being run over by a car.  He wasn't even walking then, but it still freaked me out.  He's now 2, walking/running everywhere, and I still have those same nightmares.  They still freak me out.

We've had a couple issues with him running off and running into the street or a parking lot.  Luckily, they've always been quiet streets, but we're still working to get the point across to him.  He thinks it's a game.  He loves the chase and just doesn't pay attention to where he's going.

I've always wondered in the back of my head if I would really throw myself in harms way for the sake of my child's safety and well being.  I know I always wanted to say I most definitely would, but I still kind of wondered.  Does that make me the worst mom ever?  Regardless.  Yesterday I learned, that without a doubt, I would do anything for the sake of my child's life.

Enjoying an afternoon of shopping with my sister and my children, in a split second, my youngest went from playing hide and seek with me in a rack of clothing to darting out the front door of the store, straight through two parallel parked cars and into the street - and oncoming traffic.  As I was yelling at him to stop; dropping my desired purchases on the floor and then screaming frantically at him as he ran into the street (and then dropping my purse, and it's contents all over the sidewalk), I was acutely aware of three things.

First of all, there was a car coming towards my son.  Secondly, there were dozens of people standing there just watching me.  Third?  I'm pregnant.  Not only was I risking my safety, but also the safety of my unborn child. My goal was to just get into the street fast enough for that car to see me.  I knew he wouldn't see my son.  Soon after I reached the street, I was able to grab my son's shirt collar and pick him up by it.  He was laughing hysterically.  I was shaking uncontrollably and was, again, acutely aware of everybody looking at me.  Heading back into the store to find my sister and older son, I had a couple of women ask if I was okay and give words of encouragement.  I greatly appreciated them!  I was so sure that everybody was just standing around judging my horrible parenting skills.  Once I found my sister, I crumbled.  Shaking, crying, and trying to scold my son who, at that point, finally seemed to notice the fact that I was crying and not laughing.

I keep finding myself questioning my parenting abilities, but I'm trying really hard to not let myself.  He is two.  He's quick.  I don't know what I would have done differently.  I do wish that just one of those dozens of bystanders would have tried to help in some way, but I'm trying to not judge them either.  It all happened so quickly.

Needless to say, this little man will not be walking on his own anytime soon.  He will be held, in a stroller or forced to hold somebody's hand; all of which he hates tremendously, for some time to come.  Most days, I love his strong-willed, independent, fearless personality.  But some days?  I wish he weren't quite as bold and fearless.  Right now I'm just glad we have more days to work on balancing it out!

Chalk Paint

I love Pinterest.  

And not just because I find so many fabulous new ideas, 

but because sometimes I stumble across ideas I already knew about but just forgot.  

This is one of them.

Chalk Paint

Equal parts of cornstarch and water, with food coloring (or liquid water colors) added. 

 I am out of red food coloring, so my colors are pretty boring...

But take it outside, give the kiddos some paint brushes, 

and you can enjoy quite a bit of quiet time while they are busy painting away!

I kind of wish I would have had some bigger paint brushes on hand, 

but they were happy with what they had.

And yes.  You may find that this paint is fun for fingers and toes too!

**PS?  Make sure all food coloring is safely tucked away before assuming your children are quietly having fun.  Otherwise you may be shocked to discover that your 2 year old was having fun...but in a way that dyed his skin green enough that he could be cast in Wicked as Elphaba's son.  Just sayin'. **

Spring Break Fun

We pulled out the swim trunks for the first time this season. I don't know if I should be happy about it or sad. It's so fun to have super nice weather to play in during Spring Break, but that also means that super hot days are not too far behind...

Anyway, the boys told me they wanted "this much" water:

Getting ready to run through!

It takes Brychan for-ev-er to decide to actually get in the water. 

He warms up slowly! :) 

However, once he's in full water play mode, he never wants to leave!

Sweet brothers.  I love that they are such good friends!!

What fun things did you do during your Spring Break?

Dinosaur Party

This weekend was my son's very first birthday party, which he has been "patiently" waiting for all week! He was allowed to invite 4 friends for his 4th birthday, and he knew exactly which four he wanted to invite.

We had a bit of a "Dino-bration" with dinosaur foot prints

Dinosaur cupcakes

(the cupcake toppers I bought from {Paper Clever})

And decorate your own dinosaur goodie bags.

We also had dinosaur party hats

And dinosaur eggs to hunt.
(I found that idea {here}.  She also has an {Etsy shop} which is where I purchased my invites, some tags and a banner.  In all fairness to her, she does sell some super cute dino party hats like the ones above.  However, I already had those in the works before stumbling upon her shop - so I promise I didn't rip her off! :) )

We also had a "dino dig" in the dirt pile in the back, complete with shovels, magnifying glasses and lots of mini dinos to be found.

Brychan was super excited and stood by the front door for 15-20 minutes waiting for his friends to arrive.

The one thing Brychan really wanted for his birthday party was a pinata.  I had no clue he even knew what a pinata was, but when I asked him, he told me right away "it's a pinata you hit with a stick and candy falls out of it".  Yep!  So, we had a T-Rex pinata, which Daddy ultimately had to hit to break open.

 Why is he only willing to sit and say "cheese" so perfectly when his mouth is covered in chocolate?

I think all the kids had a blast, but phew!!  Throwing a birthday party is hard work!!!   There were several things about the party that weren't perfect or that I wanted to be different, but in the end, I just had to tell myself that "they're 4 and they really don't care about that".  I think sometimes as moms, we get caught up in all the fun of planning and decorating that we get carried away in perfection.  My four year old isn't going to remember that the hats were imperfect, or that there weren't as many decorations as I had wanted.  He's going to remember that he had the Dinosaur party he asked for with a pinata and his best friends.  And that's whats most important!

Glitter Playdough

This week, we made glitter playdough.

A practice run for our glitter snow dough we're going to make next month.

I was going to just do plain white,

But then decided that more colors would be more fun!

After all, we're not talking about sparkly white snow today!

I know that making homemade playdough isn't new to many,

but just in case you haven't found a recipe yet,

here's one for you.

Classic Playdough

2 c. flour

1 c. salt

4 T. Cream of Tartar

2 T. oil

2 c. water

Mix in a pan on medium heat until it forms into a soft ball. Remove from heat.

As soon as it's cool enough to handle, knead it out until it's soft and pliable and ready to play with!

You can add food coloring, Kool-Aid or Jello for different colors.

And glitter is totally optional.

My boys sure enjoyed having "special" playdough today!

(My 3 year old sat at the table quietly playing for well over 2 hours!! Worth the glitter, I say!)

It's Peter Pan!

As promised, here are our Halloween costumes for this year. Peter Pan, Captain Hook, the crocodile and Wendy Darling. I originally posted about taking on such a huge project in making all the costumes here. It really wasn't so bad; I had quite a bit of fun making them AND I had the pleasure of realizing that I can do it!

My cute little family. We actually won a $30.00 prize for best costume Halloween night!

For Captain Hook, we bought a white dress shirt and some dress slacks at Goodwill for like $8.00 total. I ripped the collar and cuffs off of the shirt, and un-stitched the strip down the front with the button holes in it. I made ruffles from some left over white broadcloth I had, stuffed the edges in the button paneling down the front and sewed it back up. I then replaced the shift cuffs with ruffles. I cannot tell you how much I giggled over seeing so many ruffles on my husband's shirt! The pants I just cut off below the knee and put elastic in the new hem. The vest? My biggest accomplishment! I made my very own pattern from a fleece vest he has, and made the vest on my own. The sash was as easy as it gets, and his white socks? Some of my old white tights. I spent less than $20 on the entire costume - including the accessories we purchased.
And the cutest little crocodile? My biggest expense. I wasn't about to tackle that one on top of the other 3 costumes I was making. So, we purchased a crocodile costume and added a clock around his neck.
To make Peter Pan's costume, I followed this tutorial over at Make It and Love It. It was super easy, and all I paid for was the $5.00 pants at Target. I had everything else I needed!

My dress was the most labor intensive, and the photo above is the best photo we got of it all weekend (and, by the way? Cheap, shiny fabric is not conducive to flattering photographs. I swear it adds 20 extra pounds). I learned a ton of new sewing techniques making the dress, and am still quite shocked that I pulled it off. It fit perfectly the first time I tried it on and I didn't have too many problems getting it together. I'm debating whether or not I'll be brave enough to try something "real" to make now. We'll see.

So there you go! We had a weekend full of 3 different Halloween parties to attend, plus trick or treating last night, so the costumes definitely got their full use out of them! I'm already starting to plan for next year...

Hope you all had as wonderful a Halloween as we did!

Rockabilly Monster Mash

Last night, my sister asked for some help creating a "Rockabilly" hairstyle for her to wear to work this morning. One of her jobs is waitressing, and for Halloween, they were allowed to wear costumes rather than their normal work attire. The only stipulation was that hair had to be pulled back as usual.

So, this is what we came up with. She has a ridiculous amount of gorgeous, curly, red hair. So I piled the top half of her hair on her head, and wrapped the bottom half into two separate buns underneath. Tonight, she can let the buns out and have an amazing ponytail instead.

Of course, my boys wanted in on the action too. They wanted "monster hair". They got their monster hair and then had to practice their "monster hands".

They even got some "monster eyes". And the end result of playing in Mommy's vanity all night: 2 cute little monster boys and their favorite Rockabilly Lala.
Happy Halloween! Tomorrow I will have all the photos of this year's costumes! Have a safe and fun filled evening!!

Quarantine

We discovered Wednesday morning that my youngest has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. I'm sure many of you have dealt with this in your young ones, but for those who are unfamiliar with it: it is a viral illness that causes fever and painful blistering sores all over the child's hands, feet, inside of their mouths and, in my sons case, all over his little bum. It is highly contagious, so we have to stay clear of everybody until his rash clears up (which could be awhile). I'm hoping that either my oldest doesn't get it at all or that he comes down with it tomorrow so we don't have to drag this out for a month.

So far, yesterday was the worst of it. Kehlton was up all night Wednesday night, and by yesterday, the sores in his mouth were bad enough that he didn't want to eat anything (or take any medication!), just because he had too many owies. After a ridiculously short nap, he screamed for 2 hours solid. I finally reached my breaking point and called Daddy to come home from work. As soon as Daddy walked in the door, all the dramatics ceased. Of course.

But. Since Daddy came home, I was able to treat my oldest (who by this point was feeling severely neglected) to a little one on one time. With a little bit of masking tape, we turned the entire family room into a huge car track.

We had a ramp, a tunnel, a forest and a farm. There was room for cars and for little mice.

We had lots of fun playing, and are still having lots of fun with it this morning.

Even the sickie managed to have some fun.
For a little bit, anyway. :( Here's to hoping this doesn't really last for 2 weeks...

Just Because...

He's so dang cute.
And I love his huge, dark eyes!

It's so nice to have a photographer in the family.
Makes an average afternoon out to lunch an amazing photo shoot! ;)

(Now we're on a mission to get an equally cute black and white photo of big brother so they can be framed and hung!)

Reading Corner

My boys love books. I love that they love books! They have always had a corner in their room that is full of large, over stuffed pillows, and when I saw the idea to use spice racks from Ikea as book shelves, I knew it would be perfect!!

So, yes. These spice racks were $3.99 each (I was lucky enough to snag the last 2 that my Ikea store had, which is great since it was an hour drive for the sole purpose of getting them!). So for a total of $8, we have perfect, child friendly book shelves in their new reading area. I'm sure many of you have seen this all over blog-land; I've seen it in quite a few different places.
When I find the time, I plan on painting them so they match the rest of the room.
Excuse the horrible lighting! We have their window covered to block sunlight and heat. It works great, but makes for horrible photos.
The entire little reading corner. I have high hopes that it will be used often! I have another wonderfully inexpensive Ikea find that I will be adding to their room decor next week, so stay tuned!

Linking up here, here and here!

Cupcakes

So Brychan has been asking the last few days if we could please make cupcakes. He saw this one on my Pinterest page earlier this week, and that is what he wanted to me. Luckily for me, I was able to convince him that plain, chocolate cupcakes were good enough and we could make Cookie Monsters another time.

Cute, though, isn't he?

Photo from fun-gallery.com

Oh my goodness it was exhausting with 2 little helpers! Needless to say it took 4 times longer than necessary. But, they had a lot of fun, so it's okay.
They were really good about taking turns, and they are now "patiently" (and by patient I mean asking every other minute) waiting for the cupcakes to cool so we can eat them.

Sometimes the simplest activities are the most fun!


Ummm p.s.? It's a good thing this face is so cute cause his chocolatey little hands have just cleansed themselves on my white, down, mattress topper in the guest bedroom.